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Hope Is Cure for HIV
By Reggie Smith
August 15, 2012
A cure for HIV now seems more feasible because the world can visualize it. Although it is probably more appropriate to call what has happened in the person of Timothy Brown a "sustained virological response", like we do with Hep C, the fact that a human being seems to have been cleared of the HIV retrovirus is indeed promising. That is especially true for those who have had a hard time believing that it would ever be possible. Many of us, including myself, have had to make ourselves believe that a cure is possible and that healing is available to those who seek it.
I contend that the way to raise our collective human consciousness to the level needed to cure HIV, we will have to raise the energy around the belief that it is not only possible, but it is inevitable. That is why it is so important to have an atmosphere that is conducive to sharing honestly. We need to have a place where fear and intimidation do not keep us from saying the things that are on our spirit.
With HIV, hope is the mother of invention, and we need be able to explore those ideas that seem ridiculous. In some cases, capitalism can be a problem as much as it is part of the solution. Money, and the desire to have lots of it, will drive people and companies to fill the needs of those afflicted with HIV. HIV has become big business for many! Conversely, there are those that would suppress invention if it means changing the status quo -- and their personal cash flow. That is how capitalism works.
As I like to say though, it is really not about supply and demand, it is demand and supply! The market is used to telling us what we need, and making us believe it. In the case of HIV (and most things), innovation is driven by the energy that begins with the thought that a thing can be provided. In the case of HIV in the early years before medications, we were getting so beaten down by the HIV retrovirus that we only wanted to get to our feet to take a standing eight count and get out of the round. Now, we believe that we can win the fight, so we are swinging back. The key word is believe.
Hope is created in the mind and nurtured in the spirit. Seeing long term survivors sparks hope in those who are diagnosed with HIV, and that is an important part of healing. Seeing Timothy Brown experience a cure from HIV is a paradigm shifting event. I have cultivated the belief that a cure was possible and now, many others have too. Thank you for helping to raise human consciousness to a point where the demand cannot be ignored by the universe, and by those who have been working diligently to manifest this inevitable reality!
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RISE4WAR -- Focusing on Wellness, Awareness and Recovery
Reggie and Dionne Smith
My name is Reggie Smith. My wife Dionne and I have lived with AIDS since 1984. I am HIV+, she is not. We have experienced the suffering of families affected by HIV. With the love and support of many, we have focused on sharing holistic healing solutions for the infected and affected in an effort to diminish the stigma and increase awareness about the unmet needs of U.S. families and surrounding HIV. You are most welcome to share with me here and at my website, ReggieSmith770.
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Recent Posts:
November 15, 2016 - Structural Inequality Within HIV/AIDS Service Organizations Must End
November 15, 2016 - The Blessing of Desperation: My Journey to Reduce Stress After My HIV Diagnosis
November 18, 2015 - Which Black Lives Matter? 2015 U.S. Conference on AIDS Informs, Inspires and Reminds: A Blog Entry by Reggie Smith
August 24, 2015 - Truth, Reconciliation and Healing for Heteromagnetics: A Blog Entry by Reggie Smith
July 23, 2015 - You Can Live With HIV, But What Happens When You Do? A Blog Entry by Reggie Smith
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The opinions expressed by TheBody.com's bloggers are entirely their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of TheBody.com itself.


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When private investor groups began swooping into Florida to grab failing banks during the Great Recession, some analysts worried about the consequences.
"They were all the Wall Street guys we had kept out of banking," said long-time Florida bank analyst Ken Thomas. "They were the barbarians at the gate who, it was commonly thought, would care only about their investors, not the community."
Several years later, though, those private equity groups have become the new power base in Florida banking, and the institutions they control — including FCB and BankUnited — are among the biggest based in the state.
The groups raised billions of dollars for what became a gold rush to buy and resurrect some of the sickest banks — including several in Southwest Florida — through bargain-basement deals with federal regulators.
While those banks have continued to lend money and grow amid a rebounding economy, critics like Thomas wonder how long it will be until they decide to cash out for good.
"Private investors think in the short term, three to five years," Thomas said. "When the price is right, they are going to sell out."
In some instances, it is already happening. The big-shot investors in $12-billion-asset BankUnited, a once-failed bank in Miami Lakes that now is the second-largest based in Florida, just sold a sizable stake through a public offering.
And while the investors considered selling the bank last year, executives say this time they are expanding the shareholder base to boosts its buying power.
Looking to grow
At FCB, the new name for the former Florida Community Bank, chief executive Kent Ellert said its private-equity owners are looking to grow the bank, not sell it.
"We are very much in a growth and building mode," Ellert said. "Our goal is to be the best independent bank in Florida."
Since forming in 2009, Naples-based Bond Street Holdings LLC has bought eight failed Florida banks, including Florida Community and Peninsula Bank of Englewood and Sarasota. After a 11/2-year break, it just signed a deal to acquire Atlantic Coast Financial, in Jacksonville.
Adding those $774 million in assets would boost FCB to $4 billion, making it the fourth-largest bank headquartered in the state.
Ellert says FCB has originated $900 million in loans the past two years, with $200 million alone in the first-quarter 2013.
"We are very happy with the Sarasota market and Southwest Florida in general," he said. "We continue to see an absence of strong independent banking in that marketplace."
As FCBs and BankUniteds of the banking world have grown, though, many smaller banks have struggled to raise capital since the financial downturn, which impacts their ability to, in turn, make loans and grow.
But re-capitalized lenders, meanwhile, are having a positive impact here, said Tramm Hudson, a longtime Sarasota banker who retired last year as state president at Stearns Bank.
"The infusion of new capital is reinvigorating the lending capacity of the banks in our market," Hudson said. "We are starting to see new construction in both the residential and commercial markets.
"I see it as a positive sign that smart money views Southwest Florida as a good, long-term investment. A rising tide will lift all ships," he said.
Some of that lifting is occurring now.
Capital Bank Financial Corp., originally called North American Financial Holdings, has raised $900 million from investors to buy distressed banks in Florida and elsewhere.
Its first deal, in 2010, was for the ailing TIB Bank of Naples, which had a strong presence in south Sarasota County through its 2007 purchase of The Bank of Venice.
The company, led by former Bank of America executives Gene Taylor and Chris Marshall, went public last September with an initial public offering that netted $90.6 million for the bank and $77 million for stockholders.
The bank, now with $7.2 billion in assets, earned $75.8 million in 2013, although first-quarter profits were down.
Taylor said Capital continues "to assess selected acquisition targets" in the Southeast. But growing through purchases does not appear to be its primary focus right now.
"Our top priority for 2013 is to improve our core profitability," he added.
Lowering their stakes
The investors in BankUnited, which operates five offices in Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties, just unloaded 20 percent of their shares.
Some analysts say the private-equity bank owners may be itching to sell now because the economic recovery has not been as strong as initially expected.
Others maintain the businesses have chafed at the amount of oversight federal regulators have insisted on, in the wake of the collapse of so many lenders and the domino effect on the U.S. economy overall.
"Private equity wants out, and if they don't take them out in an offering like this, they'll likely push a sale," analyst Stephen Klein at Seattle's Graham & Dunn law firm told The American Banker, an industry publication.
"The whole idea of a regulated industry was foreign to them, and I think a lot of them just don't have the stomach for it," he added.
Those groups that have sold stakes are some of the largest players in Florida real estate, too.
Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group and W.L. Ross, high-profile investors that each held 14 percent of BankUnited, were lowering their stakes to 9 percent apiece. CEO John Kanas shaved his position, meanwhile, from 6 percent to 5 percent.
Kanas has said that taking one-fifth of the bank's shares out of private equity hands will "normalize" the shareholder base, leading to a higher valuation that can lead to more purchases.
But analyst Thomas believes it is only a matter of time until they shed all of their interest in the banks they've purchased and resurrected.
"If they get the right price, they would sell in a heartbeat," he said. "That's how the private equity banks operate."
Some bank buyers may be ready to cash out
When private investor groups began swooping into Florida to grab failing banks during the Great Recession, some analysts worried about the consequences.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
D. Lynn Jackson
Until the 19th century, abortion law was nonexistent and abortion was not seen as a moral issue. However, by the turn of the 20th century, abortion was legally defined and controlled in most states. The landmark Supreme Court case, Roe v. Wade (1973), marked the legalization of abortion but did not end the controversy that existed. Legislation at both the federal and state levels has added restrictions on abortion, making it difficult for women to exercise their reproductive rights. Social work's commitment to promote the human rights of women compels social workers to be aware of and involved in this issue.
Addictions: Tobacco
Mansoo Yu and Rachel Fischer
Tobacco use is a major public-health concern in the United States. Intervention and prevention strategies for tobacco use are an urgent public-health priority because tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death. To help social workers better understand tobacco use problems, this entry presents an overview, including definitions of terms, the scope and impact of tobacco use problems in terms of different segments of the population (that is, age, gender, race or ethnicity, geographic location, and education level or socioeconomic status), etiology of tobacco use (for example, biological or genetic; psychiatric; psychosocial; or environmental or sociocultural factors), policy history, tobacco prevention, clinical issues (such as cessation desire, treatment and success, or screening tools for tobacco use disorder and tobacco withdrawal), and practice interventions for tobacco use problems. Based on the information, the roles of social workers will be addressed.
Adolescent Brain Development
Jessica M. Black
Although it was once widely held that development through toddlerhood was the only significant time of tremendous brain growth, findings from neuroscience have identified adolescence as a second significant period of brain-based changes. Profound modification of brain structure, function, and connectivity, paired with heightened sensitivity to environment, places adolescence both as a heightened period of risk and importantly as a time of tremendous opportunity. These findings are of key relevance for social-work policy and practice, for they speak to the ways in which the adolescent brain both is vulnerable to adverse conditions and remains responsive to positive environmental input such as interventions that support recovery and resilience.
Adolescents: Pregnancy
Kathleen A. Rounds and Traci L. Wike
Although rates of adolescent pregnancy have exhibited a downward trend since 1991, the United States continues to have a significantly higher rate than other industrialized nations. Adolescent pregnancy, especially in early and middle adolescence, has long-term developmental and economic impact on the teen and her child, in addition to high social costs. This entry describes the current trends in adolescent pregnancy in the United States, and examines factors reported in the research literature as associated with adolescent pregnancy, discusses federal policy directed toward adolescent pregnancy prevention, and identifies various intervention programs.
Adult Day Care
Namkee G. Choi
Adult day care centers provide important health, social, and support services for functionally and cognitively impaired adults and their caregivers. The adult day care services are underutilized, however, because of the shortage of centers, caregivers' lack of awareness of and resistance to using services, and the mismatch between the needs of potential consumers and their informal caregivers and the services provided by the centers. To foster and support the expansion of adult day care centers, lessons learned from national demonstration programs need to be disseminated, and social workers need to be trained to provide essential services at the centers.
Advance Care Planning
Meredith Stensland, Sara Sanders, and Marla Berg-Weger
Advance care planning (ACP) is the process of determining and documenting desired wishes for the end of one's life. Referred to by such terms as end-of-life planning, advance (health) directives, and living wills, ACP is a relatively new concept within our society, having emerged as a social, political, and ethical issue in the United States only since the 1960s. Researchers and legislators have been challenged in their efforts to examine healthcare decision-making and design appropriate policy to guide practice. This article will define ACP, provide an overview of the history and evolution of the process and the associated legal and ethical issues, and describe the process with three specific populations. In addition, it examines the role of the social work profession in working with individuals and families on planning for the end of one's life.
Affordable Care Act
Stephen H. Gorin, Julie S. Darnell, and Heidi L. Allen
This entry describes the development and key provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), which instituted a major overhaul of the U.S. health system, much of which took effect in 2014. The key provisions of the ACA included an individual mandate to purchase insurance, an employer mandate to offer coverage to most workers, an expansion of Medicaid to all persons below 138 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL), minimum benefit standards, elimination of preexisting condition exclusions, and reforms to improve health-care quality and lower costs. This historic legislation has deep roots in U.S. history and represents the culmination of a century-long effort to expand health care and mental health coverage to all citizens.
Aging: Public Policy
Jeanette C. Takamura
Public policy advances in the field of aging in the United States have lagged compared to the growth of the older adult population. Policy adjustments have been driven by ideological perspectives and have been largely incremental. In recent years, conservative policy makers have sought through various legislative vehicles to eliminate or curb entitlement programs, proposing private sector solutions and touting the importance of an "ownership society" in which individual citizens assume personal responsibility for their economic and health security. The election of a Democratic majority in the U.S. House and the slim margin of votes held by Democrats in the U.S. Senate may mean a shift in aging policy directions that strengthens Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, if the newly elected members are able to maintain their seats over time. The results of the 2008 presidential election will also determine how the social, economic, and other policy concerns will be addressed as the baby boomers join the ranks of older Americans.
Alcohol and Drug Problems: Practice Interventions
Maryann Amodeo and Luz Marilis López
This entry focuses on practice interventions for working with families and individuals including behavioral marital therapy, transitional family therapy, and the developmental model of recovery, as well as motivational interviewing, cognitive-behavioral therapy, relapse prevention training, and harm reduction therapy. A commonality in these intervention frameworks is their view of the therapeutic work in stages—from active drinking and drug use, to deciding on change, to movement toward change and recovery. We also identify skills that equip social work practitioners to make a special contribution to alcohol and other drug (AOD) interventions and highlight factors to consider in choosing interventions.
There are a range of practice interventions for clients with AOD problems based on well-controlled research.
Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias
Carole B. Cox
Dementia is not a disease, but a group of symptoms so severe that they inhibit normal functioning. Alzheimer's disease is the most common type of dementia in older persons impacting not only the person with the illness but the entire family. Obtaining an accurate diagnosis is essential in order to assure appropriate and timely care and to exclude reversible causes of dementia. Social workers can play key roles throughout the course of the illness as educators, therapists, supporter and advocates for improved policies and services.


text:
Anyone see this concept car that Honda introduced at a recent auto show? This it the nearest thing to a bento car. Hello Kitty theme, perhaps they will even have nori textured seat coverings. Take a look. Hope Honda really makes this thing -- gotta have one!
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/09/30/tokyo-preview-honda-ev-n-concept-is-r... [1]
[1] http://www.autoblog.com/2009/09/30/tokyo-preview-honda-ev-n-concept-is-retro-adorable-has-unicycl/


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Transparent Element
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== Blue Transparent ==
== Blue Transparent ==
'''Blue Transparent Variants'''
'''Blue Transparent Variants'''
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''Prussian Blue''
''Prussian Blue''
Prussian Blue is an enhanced BT with a higher cyclical energy regeneration rate and compressed storage matrices, resulting in
Prussian Blue is an enhanced BT with a higher cyclical energy regeneration rate and compressed storage matrices, resulting in , higher output power sources. It is used primarily by the [[Neo-Prussian Empire]]
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== Purple Transparent ==
== Purple Transparent ==
== Red Transparent ==
== Red Transparent ==
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== Yellow Transparent ==
== Yellow Transparent ==
[[Category:Materials and Phenomena]]
[[Category:Materials and Phenomena]]
Revision as of 17:56, 7 February 2013
Transparent Elements (so named for their see-through quality) come in a wide variety of forms, usually defined by their color. Each is ABS of some kind but has a unique universal resonance signature, resulting in spectacular and often variable properties (depending on Koincidence, circumstance, and proximity to any given particulate matter). Transparent Elements, then, remain as one of the most potent resources in the entire BrikVerse and minifigs will do much to acquire even the smallest amounts. The Elements are almost always formed in some truly epic fashion and are not naturally occurring so far as anyone knows. Contrary to logik, however, their elemental nature cannot be denied.
Orange Transparent
Orange Transparent ABS (OT) is the most powerful substance known to minifigs. The only source of this material is the frigid planet of Iceworld, where ancient crusades against Robotic Ice Daemons dropped the temperatures to far below absolute zero.
Under these impossible and supernaturally cold conditions, even lasers froze, rendering all of the crusaders' weapons useless, save one: the planet-destroying Orange Laser. Thanks to its massive scale, a central core of destructive energy was able to punch through the cold, even as the outer layers of the beam froze solid and peeled away.
Bazillions of years later, the frozen shards of petrified laser remain preserved under continents of shifting ice, retaining all of their ancient world-destroying power for anyone with the secret knowledge and will to forge them into weapons.
Orange Transparent Variants
There are several alternate versions of OT in the BrikVerse.
Orange Transparent Clone
Original OT is very hard to come by. So some enterprising souls with more brains than brawn set out to make their own. It was theoretically possible to manufacture OT since the original supply was man made. They devised a plan to scour ancient legendary battlefields for microscopic bits of OT that may have been knocked loose in the OTC vs OTC battles. After thousands of years of searching, they found it, a single atom of OT.
Now with an original OT sample they could begin the scientific process of cloning it into a larger usable supply. It took over 100 million years to discover the best mixture of chemicals, power levels and environments that would grow more OT. They eventually got the process down to 1 million years to make enough clone OT to make 1 chainsaw. The trick was that each mass of clone OT needed 1 atom of original OT at its core. The self repair properties of OT took care of the rest. The atom of OT would scavenge the adjacent materials to clone itself, this is a slow process. The resulting clone OT is inferior to the original, but anyone who actually knows the difference first hand isn't talking.
Ancient Battlefields are now a source of conflict among those factions who wish to clone OT. Each atom of OT an explorer finds and sells at auction or to a private buyer could buy him a planet. Although a minifig could spend his entire life searching and still find nothing.
Of course there are still mad scientists on isolated moonbases that are running experiments to recreate the conditions that produced the original OT. None have been successful. We suppose that's what makes them so mad.
False Orange Transparent
Discovered in R. 2,010, False OT ABS or Artificial OT ABS (not to be confused with Orange Transparent Clone) is very similar to real OT ABS in color and ability but there is one major difference. This false OT ABS will not withstand the same strain normal OT will. False OT ABS, under particularly strenuous conditions, will potentially explode with astronomical force. Due to this explosive quality, it has been adapted for other teknology, such as high explosive grenades. The only way to tell the OTs apart is in their coloring. Regular OT ABS is a dark orange while the artificial stuff is much lighter in color. Professor Sharkhead is credited with the creation of FOT but his motives for doing so remain a mystery. Speculation runs rampant but, truly, folks are more interested in whether anyone can develop or has developed a FOT Chainsword.
Blue Transparent
Deep in the future, possibly near R. 3,955, minifigs of the Skadus System in the Galaxia Nehellenium wage a desperate war against the personified Concepts of Peace, Stagnation, Boredom, and Banality, the Four Horsemen of the BrikVerse. The very cosmos themselves were the weapons in the final war that could end the BrikVerse forever and, with the most primitive societies at the end of days rating a Tek Level of at least 8, the remaining factions wielded them with utmost proficiency. No one knows what happened, whether the universe was, is, or has been saved, only that the remnants of titanic Ice Moons litter the destroyed system and that nothing but the cold quiet of those shards and the phantom apocalyptic battlers sometimes glimpsed within them permeates that dead space.
Those colossal ice chunks are supernaturally cold, far colder than "modern" Science can reasonably account for, and bear the dread, slumbering energy of some future Blue Transparent (BT) teknology. Massive collisions within the Ice Fields of Skadus occurring in every iteration of the universe have scattered the element throughout its own galaxy and beyond but remains best concentrated within the dead system. Few have determined how to appropriately use the element, however, as the energies involved are far beyond their ken. Weaker concentrations of BT are extremely rare but are much more malleable in the hands of capable scientists. Such BT is slow to activate and, though it possesses impossibly deep reserves of energy, it's energy generation output is surprisingly unfocused and not overly useful in a military capacity. It has, however, been used in emerging Cold Fusion Teknologies thanks to its profoundly steady and never ending power supply.
Blue Transparent Variants
There are several alternate versions of BT in the BrikVerse.
Prussian Blue
Prussian Blue is an enhanced BT with a higher cyclical energy regeneration rate and compressed storage matrices, resulting in more responsive, higher output power sources. It is used primarily by the Neo-Prussian Empire.
Interactions with other Transparent Elements
Elements can have unique effects when combined; following are examples of how BT combines with other elements:
Blue Transparent and Orange Transparent is a combination of pure power. BT is completely supplemental to OT, reinforcing and strengthening the already potent element.
Clear Transparent
Titanic energies are required to tear open paths between universes and alternate dimensions and the process is not without lasting aftereffects. More than a mere rip in space and time, these passageways are rents in existence. Frayed beige fibers fall away to reveal the emptiness beyond existence. Even the space between the Astral Plate, which is itself the space between universes, and another dimension is possessed of a terrifying emptiness.
As reality struggles to make sense out of literally nothing, a residue forms around the tattered opening between realities. This Clear Transparent (CT), formed as it is of almost nothing, is virtually weightless. This base level Legitimitium is not exactly rare but is highly uncommon and sought out by creators wishing to provide both visibility and a small measure of protection in the viewports, windows, and cockpits of their buildings and vehicles. It is also sought out by individuals wishing to augment their physical abilities as it allows them to jump higher, levitate, and sometimes even fly freely about.
Green Transparent
Green Transparent Variants
There are several alternate versions of GT in the BrikVerse.
Zupponn Mining Co. Brand
Not precisely a true variant of GT, ZMC maintains a tight grip on the resource throughout virtually the entire civilized BrikVerse. In some galaxies, namely Galaxia Nehellenium, the group controls a monopoly. ZMC refines the ore with a proprietary process and nearly every refined chunk of the stuff floating around the BrikVerse is stamped with their mark.
Pink Transparent
The act of True Friendship is so exceedingly rare and disturbing to the BrikVerse that it actually warps the very fabric of reality whenever it occurs. Every particle in realspace buckles under the onslaught of good feelings and agonizingly transforms the color and function of everything within its radius.
Opaque colors are common, transforming the landscape with hues of pinks, purples, and lime greens. These places become sanctuaries for known users of this alarming power, such as the Fiends or the Pwnies, and wellsprings of Pink Transparent (PiT) flow there. The element serves as a power source for the creatures, fueling their desire to spread icky ideas about love and friendship throughout the universe.
Pink Transparent Variants
There are several alternate versions of PiT in the BrikVerse.
Feminine Product
Feminine Product is PiT that is especially charged with gender bias and iffy market research. In it's basic form, it's mostly harmless, just another color for characters to enjoy. Being feminine isn't necessarily a requirement for harnessing its power, equal to any other Transparent aside from Orange, regardless of what society has to say about it. However, in the hands of the biased, it becomes a powerful tool of separation...between genders and of life from limb.
Purple Transparent
Purple Transparent was first 'discovered' by a Cabal of Warrior Monks well-versed in the Farce. It first materialised when one of their number got pretty creative in his use of rich language - Warrior Monks of the Farce are known for their swearing. Instead of turning the air blue it turned purple instead, and the first known instance of Purple Transparent materialised.
No one knows the properties of Purple Transparent yet, but it always seems to appear in cultures where swearing is commonplace. This means it often materialises within foundries, military establishments, and red light districts.
Red Transparent
Nothing is more inherent to the nature of the BrikVerse and its inhabitants than the essence of violence and the drive for bloodshed. The very ideas are hardwired into their genetik and spiritual structures. Where ever that malevolence is purely expressed, Red Transparent (RT) grows. The more malevolence, the larger the deposit of RT. Battle sites, particularly ones charged with the emotional trauma of minifig's fighting with fierce purpose, are common repositories for the element. In fact, during conflict, minifigure blood does not flow but rather crystallizes upon forceful egress from the body. It becomes the coagulated essence of hatred and anger.
Red Transparent is extraordinarly powerful, burning with one of the most fundamental forces in the BrikVerse. It is for this very reason that it is also extremely radioactive and quite dangerous to handle directly. Virtually all known RT in the universe exhibits a property of energetic infection, wherein nearby briks are attacked on a molecular level and are matter transformed into Red Transparent. These contaminated briks lose all original function and become wholly RT, with all the same power and properties of the parent element. Sentient creatures are not immune to this process; even their minds will lose all synaptic cohesion and become transformed into the aggressive element. Luckily, this process is not immediate in most cases and requires long term exposure to the element.
Red Transparent Variants
There are several alternate versions of RT in the BrikVerse.
RIN Refined
The Republic of Independent Nations is perhaps the one galaktik civilization most familiar with the properties of Red Transparent. The natives of their HomePlanet Trion discovered massive deposits of RT early in their historical development, what they then termed, "magic crystals." Through life-long exposure and natural evolutionary mutation, the natives of Trion became immune to the element's harmful effects. Over time, the RIN have become intimately familiar with the inner workings of the element and have gained a particular mastery over it. They developed a refinement technique which enhanced its radioactive properties, creating such devastating, world-killing technologies as the RT Seed Bomb, a weapon that launches a sizable chunk of RT into a planet's core causing the briks there to become infected and lose their function...an effect that is not healthy for the planet or its inhabitants in the least.
Ritualized Sanguineus
The Sanguine Brotherhood, a cabal of blood ritualists, are well known for descending upon a battlefield once the fight is done and harvesting all the blood spilled there. The Brotherhood performs several eldritch rituals of Low Magik on the collected RT, turning the blood into all manner of enchanted ointments and potions. The most common form this Ritualized Sanguineus takes is that of the magikal amulets and talismans the ritualists wear about their persons. These serve as foci for a ritualist's spellcasting, enhancing the power of his hatred and channeling it into pure violence.
Smoke Transparent
Yellow Transparent
When the Great Maker first said "Let there be Light!" and flipped the switch in his playroom, those first rays of Light flooded the room and soaked into the Beige Carpet. As the Carpet spread throughout infinity, becoming the space between worlds, it carried with it the scattered remnants of that original Light and lit up the stars. No light in the BrikVerse can ever match the intensity of purpose of that original Light but the Carpet drinks it all in anyway.
Every time a Farcaster takes a shot of a battlefield, that light is captured and reflected dozens, hundreds, or possibly thousands of times as viewscreens go live all over the BrikVerse. Farcasters edit out the appearance of the yellow haze by adjusting white balance before the images go live but it still lurks there, comprising a part of that white light, and it multiplies exponentially as Beige Carpets everywhere are drenched in the light of those viewscreens.
Careful and clever miners know how to sift gently through the threads of the Carpet, that very fabric of the universe, to extract this ore. It is used, naturally, primarily as a light source by minifigs but if enough Yellow Transparent (YT) is layered together and significantly compressed, it can generate an intense heat and may serve as a power source or weapon of some kind.


text:
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Model No.︰
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Customers Also Bought
Product Description
Screen Type
3 x AA Batteries
Clock Size
18.0 x 4.0 x 10.8cm/7.1 x 1.6 x 4.3in(W x L x T)
Count Down
Light Sensation
- Automatic sensitization can save the energy
- Large LCD screen will show the time, date and calendar
- The blue backlight is really beautiful at night
- Nice appearance and large number can let you read it easily
You can see large LCD screen on this alarm clock
Beautiful blue backlight of this alarm clock is really beautiful
Alarm and snooze function of this desk clock
Do you have trouble waking up on time in the mornings despite desperate attempts to do so? Are you afraid you might lose your job or fail a class because you can't get up on time? While most people can simply set an alarm clock and get up at the desired time, almost everybody has trouble rousing themselves at some point, and many people frequently sleep through their alarms. If you're chronically late for work, or if you just need to make sure you don't miss your flight early tomorrow morning, read on
- Get enough sleep. It's hard to drag yourself out of bed after one night of inadequate sleep, and chronic sleep deprivation (a sleep deficit) makes the task even harder. Determine how much sleep you need and make sure to get about that amount each night. At a bare minimum, when waking up on time is crucial, you should try very hard to go to sleep for at least eight hours, even if you have otherwise restful sleep patterns. Your body can't "store" sleep
- Get into a rhythm. Your body's clock follows a circadian rhythm. If your rhythm is set properly, you may be able to regularly wake up refreshed without an alarm, but if it's not you'll wake up groggy or even sleep through your alarm altogether. Make an effort to get to bed and to get up at about the same times every day. If you work changing shifts or otherwise have to adjust your schedule, your rhythm will be thrown off for a while, but you can reset it over a few days
- Adjust for your sleep cycles. The typical human sleep cycle is 90 minutes. Adjust the time you wake up or the time you go to bed so that you sleep for some multiple of 90 minutes (6, 7.5 or 9 hours, for example), and you'll wake up more refreshed
- Get the right alarm clock. Some people need a very loud, harsh alarm, some can't wake up to the radio, and some find that gradual waking works best. There are even many varieties of alarms to stick near you that will vibrate to awaken you, including a vibrating pillow, wrist band, and devices that clip on to your pillow or go between your mattresses. Experiment to find the alarm clock that's best for you and your neighbor(assuming you want to be respectful of course!)
- Position your alarm clock so that you have to get out of bed to turn it off. It's quite common to reach over to the nightstand, turn off the alarm, and go back to sleep without even remembering doing so. If you have to get out of bed and walk across the room, however, you're more likely to stay awake
- Brighten up your bedroom. The body naturally wakes up faster when it's light outside, so keep your curtains open to use the sun to help you awake. If you need to wake up when it's dark, or if you live in a dreary, cloudy place, consider using a timer on your bedroom lamp or getting a light box or a bedside dawn simulator
- Use a very loud alarm like the windup clock pictured above. Place the clock inside a kitchen pot or other metal container turned upside down. Or sleep with headphones on so you get the jolt awake without disturbing others
- If all else fails, just put your alarm clock away from your bed, and extra loud. You wont be able to sleep, if you don't get up
- After setting your alarm clock, put it in a box, lock it with a key and put the key in the farthest corner of the house. You should be awake by the time you get it unlocked to turn it off
- Splash your face with cold water. The cold water will wake you up, and you can get a move on from there
- Make sure that your alarm is properly set before going to bed
- Make sure to remember all the reasons you need to get right out of bed
- Try putting a slice of lemon next to your alarm, when you shut off your alarm, lick or suck on the lemon. That'll wake you up for sure
1 x Alarm Clock
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Review: Herencia de Plata (Blanco) Tequila
Posted by Arctic Wolf on May 22, 2012
Herencia de Plata Blanco Tequila is a 100% Blue Weber Agave Tequila produced by TEQUILAS DEL SEÑOR, S. A. DE C. V., a mid-sized, fourth generation family company located in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. The company was founded in 1943 and currently produces a number of tequila brands which include, Reserva del Señor, Sombrero, Tekali, Herencia Histórico, and of course Herencia de Plata.
A sample bottle was provided to me by Westway L. LTD., who is the importer of this spirit in my home province of Alberta, and it was presented at a Tequila tasting event which I held for several friends on a lazy Sunday afternoon in March. Of course after the tasting event, I put the bottle through the paces of my review methodology to provide a review here on my website as well.
Here is an excerpt from my review:
"… The aroma from the glass is somewhat soft and earthy with hints of honey caressed by a very light smoke and even lighter vanilla. A smattering of white pepper and of zesty lime has risen into the breezes, and that punky agave scent we know so well has melted nicely into the citrus and pepper. The overall impression I receive from the glass is a clean, fresh, almost floral spirit which seems to entice me to have a sip …"
Here is a link to my full review:
Review: Herencia de Plata (Blanco) Tequila
I have also created a nice recipe for this spirit called The Turquoise Lament.
Please enjoy the review and the cocktail recipe I have provided, Cheers!
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Searching centuries of Narratives, Art, Nature, & Everyday Life for WHY human society changes & what those living before us declare in their own words & in their design & images of the world around them.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Birds at market & in the kitchen 1500-1800s
Joachim Beukelaer (Flemish painter c 1534-c 1574) Market Scene - Selling Poultry 1563
Pieter Aertsen (Dutch Northern Renaissance Painter, c 1508-1575) Martha Preparing Dinner Cooking birds
Bartolomeo Passarotti (Italian artist, 1529-1592) Les marchandes de volaille, 1577 Selling birds
Pieter Aertsen (Dutch Northern Renaissance Painter, c 1508-1575) Kitchen Maid in an Interior Preparing birds
Joachim Beukelaer (Flemish painter c 1534-c 1574) The Four Elements Air Poultry vendors
Pieter Aertsen (Dutch Northern Renaissance Painter, c 1508-1575) A Cook with poultry
Pieter Aertsen (Dutch Northern Renaissance Painter, c 1508-1575) Market Scene Selling birds
Floris Gerritsz van Scooten (Dutch artist, 1590–1655) Larder
Joachim Beukelaer (Flemish painter c 1534-c 1574) Kitchen Interior 1560s
Gabriel Metsu (Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1629-1667) The Poultry Seller
Joachim Beukelaer (Flemish painter c 1534-c 1574) The Well-Stocked Kitchen including fowl
Gabriel Metsu (Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1629-1667) The Poultry Woman
Bernardo Strozzi (Italian artist, c 1581-1644) Kitchen The Cook preparing the poultry c 1620
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (Dutch artist, 1606-1669) Plucking Fowl
Vincenzo Campi (Italian painter, c 1536-1591) Poultry Vendors
1651 Frans van Mieris the elder (Dutch artist, 1635–1681) Lady Stuffing a Bird
1680s Abraham Hondius (Dutch painter, c.1625–1691) Man with Dead Birds
Henry Walton (English artist, 1746-1813) The Market Girl
Nathaniel Bacon (English painter, 1585–1627) Cookmaid
Unknown English artist, A maid in a kitchen, seated by a table laden with birds and poultry
Henry Walton (English artist, 1746-1813) Plucking the Turkey
Gustave Courbet (French artist, 1819-1877) Girl with Seagulls Trouville
Henry Charles Bryant (English artist, 1835–1915) Market Scene 1878 Selling birds and poultry
William Henry Hunt (English artist, 1790-1864) Plucking the Fowl
Henry Charles Bryant (English artist, 1835–1915) Portsmouth Market 1883 Birds and poultry at market
Posted by Barbara Wells Sarudy at 12:44 PM
Labels: 16C, 17C, 18C, Animals, Food & Drink
Daily care of the dovecote 1802
The Domestic Encyclopaedia: or, A Dictionary of Facts, and Useful Knowledge by Anthony Florian Madinger Willich. London 1802
"PIGEON-HOUSE, or DoveCote: a structure usually of wood, for the accommodation and rearing of pigeons.
"Dove-cotes ought to be built of a moderate height, and spacious, so that the birds may find sufficient room to fly about them with ease; and, in case they spy an external object which should alarm them, that they can readily escape. In constructing the nests, it will he advisable to interweave wickers, in imitation of those formed by wild pigeons; as they will thus be more easily domesticated, and have no inducement to forsake their habitations.
"Should any repairs become necessary in the cote...it will be proper to complete them before the middle of the day; because, if the pigeons be disturbed in the afternoon, they will not rest quietly during the night, and the greater pan will perhaps sit moping on the ground, till the ensuing day. Such unfavourable accidents, in the breeding season, will either occasion the destruction of ninny eggs in embryo; or, if there should be any nestlings, they will consequently be starved.
"In Parkinson's Experienced Farmer, we meet with a remark made by a skillful pigeon-breeder, who cautioned him "against letting the first-flight fly to increase his stock," but advised him to take them without exception; because they will otherwise appear at the Benting season, that is, between seed-time and harvest, when pigeons are very scarce, and many of the young birds would pine to death, from mere weakness.—Pigeons rise early: and, as they require to be supplied with food only during the benting season, it should not be carried to the cote later than three or four o'clock in the morning: for, if it be served after that hour, they will hover restlessly about the house, and thus be prevented from taking their proper exercise. During the greater part of the year, they ought to provide their own food; as they will find abundance in the fields, from the commencement of harvest to the end of the sowing season...those which are constantly fed at home, will not be prolific.
"The utmost cleanliness ought to prevail in pigeon-houses: hence the holes should be carefully examined, before the breeding-season arrives. If any of the young die during the summer, they will speedily become putrid, and emit a disagreeable stench, which is extremely injurious to the inhabitants of the dove-cote: thus, from the insupportable filth, and smell, they are often unwillingly compelled to quit the eggs laid for a second brood; so that the principal part of the season is lost.
"Farther, as pigeons are very liable to be infected with fleas, all the nests ought to be cleaned; and, if it be conveniently practicable, they should be washed out, and the dung, or oilier impurities removed, immediately after the first flight is hatched: this business, however, should, on all occasions, be performed at an early hour in the morning; and the remaining eggs must likewise be removed, so as to render the habitation perfectly clean for the harvest-flight.
"Thus managed, pigeons will thrive and multiply to an uncommon degree; but, as they have a great antipathy to owls, which, sometimes enter their habitations, such intruders must be immediately destroyed, rats, cats, weasels, and squirrels are likewise their mortal enemies, and will speedily depopulate a whole dove-cote. To prevent these depredations, it will be necessary to examine the different avenues to the pigeon-house, regularly once a week, or oftener, and with minute attention."
Cooking the Birds from the Dovecote + a warning - "Cock-birds...are quarrelsome"
The American Domestic Cookery by Maria Eliza Ketelby Rundell New York 1814
"Pigeons: Bring two young ones at a time: and breed every month, if well looked after, and plentifully fed. They should be kept very clean, and the bottom of the dovecote be strewed with sand once a month at least. Tares and white peas are their proper food. They should have plenty of fresh water in their house, Starlings and other birds are apt to come among them, and suck the eggs. Vermin likewise are their great enemies, and destroy them. If the breed should be too small, put a few tame pigeons of the common kind, and of their own colour, among them. Observe not to have too large a proportion of cock-birds: for they are quarrelsome, and will soon thin the dove-cote.
"Pigeons are fond of salt, and it keeps them in health. Lay a large heap of clay near the house, and let the salt-brine that may be done with in the family be poured upon it.
"Bay salt and cummin seeds mixed, is a universal remedy for the diseases of pigeons. The back and breasts are sometimes scabby: in which case, take a quarter of a pound of bay salt, and as much common salt, a pound of fennel seeds, a pound of dill seed, as much cummin seed, and an ounce of sassafras; mix all with a little, wheaten flour, and some fine worked clay; when all are well beaten together, put it into two earthen pots, and bake them in the oven, when cold put them on the table in the dove-cote; the pigeons will eat it, and thus be cured."
There were even formal prayers for success in the dovecote
BENEDICTION of The DOVE-COTE, COCK and HEN ROOST, and OTHER AVIARIES.
From The Protestant's Companion: A Collection of Presevatives Against Popery published by T Brettell, London. 1829
"Everlasting God! before whose view are all the angels, and by whose nod all things are governed, who also, in thy excellence, doth not cease to regard the meanest objects which are necessary for human frailty, and who givest food to all flesh, and fillest every living being with blessing; as supplicants we implore thee to shed thy benediction on this pigeon-house (or poultry, or keep of geese, ducks and drakes, &c.), that redounding to us, thy servants, by the agency of thy grace, the glory of thy majesty may be exalted."
Degas' mystery birds
This is a painting, That I find just plain confusing - intriguing, but confusing. The Met says, "Degas made sketches of this composition in a notebook he used during his second stay in Rome in 1857-58. Originally conceived as a depiction of a pensive woman overlooking an oriental metropolis, the picture assumed a mysterious air When Degas added the two red ibises around 1860-62. "
Edgar Degas (1834-1917) Young Woman with Ibis 1860-62
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Women in Blue by Joshua Reynolds 1723-1792
Friday, February 22, 2013
Swiss artist Jean-Etienne Liotard 1702-1789 either adored chocolate or the chocolate serving girl
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) The Chocolate Girl 1743
Food historian Patricia Bixler Reber tells us in her blog Researching Food History - Cooking and Dining, that chocolate is made from the seeds of the cacao tree. Seed pods were picked, opened, & fermented for a few days, as they dried. In the 18th-century, the beans were roasted in a pan, pot, or roaster on the hearth. The shells were removed leaving the usable chocolate "nibs." The nibs were ground down into a paste by using a stone or steel metate & mano or in a choclate mill. Further grinding, conching, resulted in a smooth texture.
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss artist, 1702-1789) Madame Liotard and her Daughter
Marylander Pat Reber shared 2 primary sources from the 1700s explaining chocolate preparation. "The Cacao...a Seed...when they have been divested of their Shells by Fire, and are afterwards peeled, and roasted in a Bason, before a moderate Fire, they are pounded in a very hot Mortar. The Americans bruise them with an Iron Cylinder, on a flat Stone made very hot; they are then formed into a Paste, which is afterwards boiled with Sugar; and this is called plain Chocolate. But if it is to be enriched with a fine Odour, four Pounds of this Paste, and three of powdered Sugar, are worked together in a Mortar, or on some Stone..." (Spectacle de la Nature. Noël Antoine Pluche. 1766)
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss artist, 1702-1789) Le Petit Déjeuner
"The Cacao seeds are roasted like coffee...When the kernels are perfectly purified, they are pounded in a mortar of heated iron over burning charcoal, and thus reduced to a coarse paste, which is set to cool on a marble slab. A second rolling is bestowed with a steel cylinder on a smooth freestone, and as soon as the paste becomes sufficiently smooth, it is mixed with sugar in a hot basin and poured into tin moulds..." (The Encyclopædia of Geography, Hugh Murray. Phila: 1837)
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) La Chocolatiere c 1744
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) La Chocolatiere
Traditional Portraits of Women by Jean-Etienne Liotard 1702-1789
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss artist, 1702-1789) Mademoiselle Louise Jacquet
In 2006, the Frick Collection presented the works of Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702-1789), this artist's first in North America and one of his few anywhere. The review in the New York Times asked, "Liotard? He's a specialty item now, but in his era, Enlightenment Europe, he was a smash success. Even then he was seen as a maverick, a figure of contradictions. He was Swiss, but interesting; he was a stone-cold realist in an age of rococo frills. He had ultra-fancy patrons — princes, a pope, Madame de Pompadour — but a provincial education. He was a vigorous mover; he rarely stayed in one place for long. But he wasn't a shaker: he sparked no new style, inspired no disciples.
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss artist, 1702-1789) La Belle Lectrice
"His apartness was as much circumstantial as personal. He was born in Calvinist Geneva, far from a Parisan art world dominated by the fashions, politics and hierarchies of the Royal Academy. Rather than study history painting, the prestige genre, he started out as a portrait miniaturist, steady-income work. In a great age of oil paint, he was partial to pastel. But he also mastered enamel work, printmaking, watercolor and drawing, a true high-low mix.
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss artist, 1702-1789) Princess Louisa
"He had itchy feet. He worked in Paris for a while, traveled with a French patron to Italy, then with a British sponsor to Constantinople. Little of the art he did there survives, though the show includes...one of a European lady in elaborate native dress. Other artists might have made her exotic; under Liotard's clinical, detail-obsessed gaze she's an anthropological specimen.
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789 Empress Maria Theresa Archduchess of Austria
"...the large self-portrait, known as "Liotard With a Beard." Beards were out of fashion in 18th-century Europe. He had grown his while in Turkey. Long, full and unruly, it was a bold cosmetic statement and, it turned out, a public relations coup. Heads turned when he walked the streets of Paris. People called him the Turkish painter. Commissions piled up.
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) Charlotte Marie Cazenove 1765
"He kept moving. He went to Vienna, where he established a working friendship with the Empress Maria Theresa. It says something about Liotard's character that he maintained long-term contact with this particular court, the most austere and least corrupt in Europe. And it says something about his gifts that the empress gave him the commissions she did.
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) Jean-Etienne Liotard (1758-1822) 1760
"Other artists got to do big-gun official portraits, the kind that turned a pawky prince into Adonis or Zeus. Maria Theresa asked Liotard to draw portraits of her children, intimate pictures that a fond mother could carry on her travels. She had quite a brood, 16 children in all.
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) Johanna Gabrielle, archiduchesse d'Autriche (1750-1762) 1762
"Whatever Liotard was paid for these pictures, it was too little. He poured every ounce of his talent into them. Each seamlessly blends several mediums: black and red chalk, pencil, pastel and watercolor. Details are executed with a watchmaker's precision. To give the figures a naturalistic glow, Liotard colored the reverse side of each thin sheet of paper. Marie-Antoinette is bathed in a rosiness that you sense rather than actually see.
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) Lady Charles Tyrell (1705-1778) 1746
"The Vienna stays were harmonious interludes in larger journeys. Were Liotard working today, he would live in airports, waiting for the next flight to Venice, Milan, Darmstadt, Lyon. He spent two years in London, then two in Holland, where, at 54, he married. He shaved off his beard for the wedding. He didn't need it anymore. He was rich and famous, and ready at last to be a good Swiss householder.
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) Madame Pierre Lullin (1659-1762) 1762
"The portraits kept coming, of his growing family, of Genevan merchants and intellectuals. They are delightful, not just for their candor and skill but for their variety...and you discover that there was absolutely nothing he could not do with pastel.
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) Lady with a Jonquil 1750-59
"But his kind of realism was veracity, not verismo. Facts were his strength; truth of observation his goal. He delivers breathtaking flourishes, but always contained within solid forms. For him exactitude is the rule; but this means flaws are unavoidable, his sitters' and his own.
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) Maria Amalia, archiduchesse d'Autriche (1746-1804) 1762
"Is his the face of the Enlightenment? Yes, and the Enlightenment at its best. It speaks of no sanctity, no pretension, no Fall, no fear, no ideology, no "God's in his heaven, all's right with the world." It says: The world is all right, period. And all wrong. All everything. And the artist — worker, entertainer, recorder — is happy to be here, wherever here is. For Liotard it seems to have been pretty much everywhere.
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) Louise-Marguerite Marcet (1764-1788) 1785
"It is a concrete sense of hereness that makes his art refreshing. It makes every picture feel as if he approached it as his first and the last picture; as if no picture had a memory of any other; and as if each was an experiment, a flier to who knew where. Some took off; some didn't. He didn't fret over "great." He moved on to see what was next. He was wise that way, cool that way, modern that way."
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) Maria Antonia (Marie-Antoinette) archiduchesse d'Autriche (1755-1793) 1762
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) Madame Denis-Joseph La Live 1759
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) Maria Christine, archiduchesse d'Autriche (1742-1798) 1762
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) Madame Francois Tronchin (1713-1788) 1758
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) Maria Caroline, archiduchesse d'Autriche (1752-1814) 1762
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) Maria Elisabeth, archiduchesse d'Autriche (1743-1809) 1762
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) Madame Jean-Louis Maisonnet (1721-1812) 1755
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) Maria Josepha, archiduchesse d'Autriche (1751-1767) 1762
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) Madame Jeanne-Marie Liotard (1726-1789) 1752
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) Marie Anna (Marianne), archiduchesse d'Autriche (1738-1789) 1762
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) Madame Marc Liotard de la Servette (1783-1827) 1775
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) Madame Paul Girardot de Vermenoux (1739-1789) 1760-1770
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) Marie-Therese Liotard (1763-1793) 1779
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) Madame Sophie de France (1734-1782) 1750-51
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) Maria Fredericke van Reede-Athlone at age 7
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) Marie Jeanne Liotard (1761-1813) 1779
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) Marie-Therese d'Autriche (1717-1780)
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss-French artist, 1702-1789) Maria Josepha of Saxony, Dauphine of France.
See Jean-Étienne Liotard, the Unrelenting Eye of the Enlightenment by Holland Cotter New York Times June 23, 2006
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I recently spoke with a health care professional about a pain in my knee. The other day, I was walking when I felt my knee give a bit. Then something inside my knee kept biting me each time I took a step. Since I was on my way across the ECU campus to my final class for the day, I had no choice but to soldier on.
I recently spoke with a health care professional about a pain in my knee. The other day, I was walking when I felt my knee give a bit. Then something inside my knee kept biting me each time I took a step. Since I was on my way across the ECU campus to my final class for the day, I had no choice but to soldier on.
The young man who examined my knee told me:
�When I was 35, I thought I was bullet-proof. When I turned 45, I became a bullet sponge.�
My bullet magnetism seemed to come a bit later. At 45, someone stole my rechargeable batteries and replaced them with some cheap imitation. I rest more but feel less rested � sort of a Zen statement.
At 55, I became a napper. Let me take a seat, get warm and comfortable, and � voila! � the sleep-demon possesses me.
�What works, hurts. What don�t hurt, don�t work,� my dad used to tell me.
I am beginning to learn the truth of that adage. My knee is merely the latest problem area. For several years, my hands have decided to begin aching for no good reason. Sometimes, my wrist hurts. Another time, my thumbs decide to cause me pain. I move my hands and the sounds of a Rice Krispies commercial emerged from the joint.
My eyes do not hurt � so they do not work like they once did.
When I was in my 20s, my eyesight was a strong 20/20 with high definition settings. I could spot a gnat at 100 paces.
Just yesterday, I was trying to read the directions on a bottle of medicine. At first, I thought tiny ants were crawling across the label. I rotated the bottle, desperate seeking the magical angle that would allow me to read the words. Despite my bifocals, I needed more light � and a magnifying glass � to read the miniscule inscription.
Mom will soon be 85, 22 years my senior. Every time I complain to her about the ravages of age, she smiles and says smugly:
�Just wait until you add 22 more years.�
I cannot figure out if she is trying to comfort or scare me. Two more decades of disintegration is not appealing. Mom worked until age 80. She�s a tough old bird. I am not sure if I will make 65. Not sure I want to.
Once when I was traveling in Pennsylvania, I saw a Dutch proverb:
�We grow too soon old and too late smart.�
How much I would give to live parts of my life again so I could live smarter. I would eat better, exercise more, and make fewer excuses about taking care of my health. Much of what I suffer today comes from the accumulated effects of not taking care of my body, I think sometimes.
I am still mobile, but I am not nearly as agile as I once was. Hostile? I have to weigh the expense of energy against the item that provokes my hostility.
Most of the time, becoming hostile is just not worth the time and output of oxidation necessary to fuel that fire. I think I am mellower than I used to be. But my mellowness may actually stem from not wanting to waste limited internal resources.
I look over my classrooms at ECU and survey the 17-, 18-, and 19-year-olds. Often they display evidences of their dissipations from the evening � or weekend � before. They look tired and many seem unhappy about something.
I just want to give a sermonette on the virtues of proper rest, exercise, and diet. I want to warn them about the effects � present and future � of some of the typical college behaviors.
They would not listen.
I never did.
Still, I think of them growing four decades older. They will learn and live the reality of �too soon old and too late smart.�
Am I smiling?
Mike Parker is a columnist for The Free Press. You can reach him at firstname.lastname@example.com or in care of this newspaper.


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Quazza wrote:CjR wrote:Just caught the last 8 minutes, and I need to watch it through. Absolutely sickening! If we got a lead via Nelson's small balls, that's pure luck these days—and everyone knows that. Dumb ****, Don. Seriously, why is this f*cker still around?
And the refs were pure, unadulterated garbage.
see his interview after the game?
He apparently liked what he was seeing with Maggs at the 5, but maybe he left it too long
LOL! Senile Nelly. Yeah, I just read his interview. What a disgrace.
He didn't leave Mags in too long, he's been coaching the same sh!t too long.
When you get killed on the boards night in and night out, and don't even recognize it as a problem, it's time to call it quits.
The nerve of this guy to even look dissappointed or exasperated, when they just gobbled up our lead, going on a 12-0 run. Didn't call time out, didn't do sh!t!


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|2006-04-08, 21:59
|Link #1
Yuuki Aoi
Join Date: Jul 2004
Saiunkoku Monogatari (1st Series) The Story of Saiunkoku
A title based on a josei novel. Shows at 9 am Saturdays. I enjoyed it. There is a real story here, real characters and some amusing comedy.
The setting is a fantasy version of medieval China, called Saiunkoku or "Land of Many-Colored Clouds." The heroine Shuuri is the daughter of a high-born family that has become poor. She plays the erhu and earns money for the family, but is frustrated by their poverty. One day she is invited to the palace to be a tutor to the new young king. Beautiful young men in elegant robes abound.
The main character is the main attraction. Shuuri is played extremely well by Kuwashima Houko (Sango in Inuyasha, Kagura in Azumanga, Rose Tomas in FMA, etc., etc.). Seki Tomokazu (Sousuke in FMP, Rentarou in Futakoi Alternative, etc., etc.) plays the young king.
The setting is a combination of Japanese cherry trees and a slightly-off but enjoyable rendering of the Imperial Palace in Beijing. I loved the more-or-less Tang Dynasty Chinese costumes, especially Shuuri's.
The director is Shishido Jun, who directed Okusama wa Joshikousei (don't hold it against him) and some episodes of Beck. Wonderful Chinese-tinged music by Ryo Kunihiko (Twelve Kingdoms, Emma). Nice script by Yoshida Reiko (Kaikan Phrase, School Rumble, ARIA, Peach Girl, Scrapped Princess, episodes of Marimite, etc. -- and series composition for Canvas2....) The OP sung by Hirahara Ayaka is lovely, and so is the ED, written and sung by Tainaka Sachi, who does the OP in Fate/Stay Night.
ANN page
official site
Last edited by Kaoru Chujo; 2006-04-10 at 15:59.
|2006-04-09, 01:11
|Link #4
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2004
Age: 38
It doesn't really matter at what hour its broadcasted.
Saiunkoku Monogatari
Broadcast: April 2006
Its based on a novel thats serialized in the josei(young women's) novel magazine The Beans, and published under the josei(young women's) label Beans Bunko.
For now there are 11 volumes released of this novel, here are the covers:
A manga based on the novel is serialized in the seinen/josei manga magazine Beans Ace (this is a magazine for young men and young women)
Here's the cover of the first volume of the manga:
Since tha manga is based on a josei novel, its a josei manga (but the magazine Beans Ace is NOT a josei manga magazine, its a seinen/josei manga magazine. it has seinen manga and also josei manga)
Info from AnimeNfo.
Genre: Josei, Comedy, Historical Settings, Romance
Last edited by NeoSam; 2006-08-30 at 05:33.
|2006-04-09, 01:38
|Link #5
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
At first glance, many people will notice that Saiunkoku Monogatari has...
- an art style closely associated with the shoujo genre
- a fanbase of which the majority is female
- a heroine surrounded by numerous pretty boys in period wear
Does this mean male fans can't enjoy it? Certainly not. Does it mean female fans are more likely to enjoy it? Perhaps. Will these labels affect how popular the novels already are or the quality of the story? No.
|2006-04-09, 01:50
|Link #6
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2004
Age: 38
I guess I see how much you know about manga.
Last edited by NeoSam; 2006-04-09 at 02:56.
|2006-04-09, 02:05
|Link #7
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
NeoSam, when I asked, "Would you enjoy it less knowing it's running in a seinen/josei magazine?" I was directing it to the fandom in general, as is the case with the rest of the questions in my previous post. So please don't take them personally. I don't mean to imply whether you've watched or are to planning to watch this series. Personally, I couldn't care less.
|2006-04-09, 03:01
|Link #8
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2004
Age: 38
What I'm saying is that if you wanted to ask questions, you could have asked them in a different way; in a way that wouldn't have suggested that I was being flamed over the mentioning of facts.
|2006-04-09, 10:37
|Link #10
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
I've seen this series and i love it. The intro of the story tells something about the history of the country 彩雲国 (how the country was established). I found the first epi very informative. The story looks nice too. Lots of comedy too.
Last edited by miaka; 2006-04-09 at 12:15.
|2006-04-09, 12:04
|Link #11
shounen ai
sounds nice i'll definitly check it out.
too bad it's the manga's 1st cover which has the best art and yet the animation seems like more towards the later covers.
hope it'll get subbed soon, thanks for the information! ^^
|2006-04-09, 15:01
|Link #14
Join Date: Dec 2003
Ohh this show is already out? I look forward to it. ^_^ Love the artist!
How is the animation? I'm worried that it will get the usual shoujo anime low budget... pretty art that barely moves ^_^;
But still, looking forward to it. I love shows with this kind of setting! Hell, these days, I'm so sick of high school drama anime that anything NOT in a high school setting is appealing.
|2006-04-10, 07:39
|Link #16
Resident devil
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Philippines
Can anyone PM me where to get a raw which is NOT 646mb!
Given this animenfo description: "Ko Shuri is a daughter of a highborn family, but theyre badly off. To earn money, she applied a nice job. It is a tutor of a bad king who has just succeeded to the throne, and she has to live in his harem house as his wife."
Lol, I'm sold, regardless if the harem is actually more of bishies than bishoujos. A harem is good, oh yeah!
And yes, classification is very important, it is to inform the ignorant who immediately diss a title as "eww, its for kids." or "eww, its for girls". or "eww, its for boys." Labelling the exact target audience should not detract anyone open-minded to watch something, however it should inform those who do not even know they're the target audience.
|2006-04-10, 16:09
|Link #18
Yuuki Aoi
Join Date: Jul 2004
Here is my search URL:
I searched on 彩云
The .rmvb files, if you happen not to know, are Real Media files that RealPlayer and Media Player Classic will both play (if you have the Real Media plug-in for MPC). They're not quite as good as .avi files, but they are beautifully small. MPC is a better way to play them than RealPlayer because you can start and stop and jump backward quite easily, whereas you can't (or at least I can't) using RealPlayer.
|2006-04-10, 21:24
|Link #19
Eternal Dreamer
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Caladan
I'm in love (again). The art looks even better than FY. Actually last year I saw a pencil board of this series on sale at a con. I didn't know anything about it but I thought it was so pretty so I bought it. I'm so excited that it's coming out in anime form. (I downloaded a raw, all 600 some mb of it, just to realize it's mkv and I can't play it. ;_; ) Looks like I'll be checking every ten minutes to see if the sub is coming out.
|drama, historical, madhouse
|Thread Tools


text:
The sequel to "He Said Bye" is finally here! Ever since...
He Said Bye
- by Bri Rae
- Rating:
- Published: 16 Jun 2016
- Updated: 31 Aug 2016
- Status: In Progress
Bridgett Herman has a serious heart ache for a guy names Ryder Paisley. She's not sure he will ever like her though. She may even ruin some friendships while trying to create a relationship with Ryder. Will Bridgett, or called by her friends, Bri, ever be able to maintain relationships with friends and Ryder?
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text:
George Osborne and his Labour shadow, Ed Balls, are on a list of those attending this week's UK summit of the secretive Bilderberg group alongside the heads of Amazon and Google, both of which are under unprecedented political pressure over their companies' aggressive tax avoidance policies.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder and chief executive, and Google's executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, will rub shoulders with dozens of other figures from the global political and financial elite at the annual four-day meeting of the organisation, this year held near Watford. The group's lack of transparency has long caused critics to characterise it as a secretive cabal.
A list of about 140 participants, made up almost overwhelmingly of white males but described as "a diverse group of political leaders and experts from industry", was published on Monday by the organisation. It included only 14 women. The organisation said that those attending the summit at the Grove hotel would discuss topics including "jobs, entitlement and debt", "how big data is changing almost everything" and "can the US and Europe grow faster and create jobs?"
The list of 12 topics provided in a short press release also included, simply, "current affairs". It added: "The conference has always been a forum for informal, off-the-record discussions about megatrends and the major issues facing the world."
"Thanks to the private nature of the conference, the participants are not bound by the conventions of office or by pre-agreed positions. As such, they can take time to listen, reflect and gather insights. There is no detailed agenda, no resolutions are proposed, no votes are taken, and no policy statements are issued."
Attenders from financial backgrounds include Marcus Agius, the former chairman of Barclays who quit the post in the wake of the Libor interbank lending rate scandal, as well as Douglas J Flint, group chairman of HSBC Holdings plc, which was hit with a $1.9bn (£1.25bn) fine last December over allegations it had acted as banker for rogue states, terrorists and drug lords.
Peter Sutherland, the chairman of Goldman Sachs International, and Michael J Evans, vice-chairman of Goldman Sachs & Co, are the participants from the investment banking giant whose involvement in the sale of high-risk mortgage related investments has borne much of the blame for causing the 2008 global financial crisis.
As well as Balls and Osborne, other Britons attending include the Tory MP and minister Ken Clarke, and the former Labour MP and minister Peter Mandelson, who is listed as attending in his capacity as chairman of his strategic advice consultancy, Global Counsel, and as chairman of Lazard International, an investment bank.
This year's meeting of the group, which first met 1954 with the aim of shoring up US-European relations in the cold war years, will attract scrutiny from the media along with, as usual, a small army of individuals harbouring a range of theories about what is really discussed behind the event's closed doors. This year's summit coincides in the UK with the outbreak of a fresh scandal over lobbying and calls for a statutory register of lobbyists.
A small number of journalists have received precious invitations to go behind the curtain. This year they include Martin Wolff of the Financial Times, the newspaper's chief economics commentator, John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of the Economist, as well as a number of others including Lilli Gruber, an anchorwoman at the privately owned Italian television channel, La 7 TV, Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, a columnist at Turkey's Milliyet newspaper
Veteran participants include Henry Kissinger, the former US secretary of state, and Lord Carrington, the former Conservative politician and foreign secretary.


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Now that your holiday shopping is (mostly) done, it's time to wrap it all up. Enlist the kids' help making these festive gift bags: cut out the logo of branded paper shopping bags and tape a square of colored cellophane on the inside for a stained-glass window look.
See more holiday craft ideas for kids, plus gift ideas for everyone on your list!


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At Wabash, He is a Student; at Home, a Rock Starby Wade Coggeshall • November 21, 2006 Share:
Syud Momtaz Ahmed leads a double life. As a senior at Wabash College, he's a chemistry major helping a handful of other students and faculty conduct cutting-edge research into the use of silicon chips to dispense medicine and monitor health within the human body.
In his native Bangladesh, he's a rock star. Literally.
Ahmed, or Taz as he's known on campus, is the percussionist for the fusionist band Ajob, which means "weird." The group released its debut CD in September. The recording has spent several weeks atop the music charts in Bangladesh, drawing a large audience with its blend of native folk music and Western rhythms. Ajob currently has a music video that can be viewed on YouTube.
"It's something we all wanted to happen, and we were hoping it would happen," Taz says about the successful debut. "The fact it's well-received is appreciated."
What makes it even more satisfying is the fact Ajob took its time - spending three years recording the album - and making it on their terms.
"We didn't want to make a commercial album," Taz says. "Like you have artists in the United States who adjust their music so that it would be a top-seller. They would compromise and make music which is sure to be well-accepted and the in-thing for that time. We agreed we'd make our sound and present it to the public. We had so much fun doing it."
No idea was feared. Ajob, which also includes a singer, two guitarists, a bassist and a drummer, used pots and pans for additional cadence. They took some of the guitar tracks and played them backward while simultaneously playing them forward.
"If it sounded good to us, we thought it was good enough," Taz says. "That's the great thing about the album. We made it with a lot of love and care. We've nurtured it to the extent that we can truly say it's our product, to our liking. We left no room to compromise. We didn't do stuff to try to make people happy."
If there's any downside, it's that most of Ajob's members are attending college in different parts of the world. One's in Singapore, another in Australia. Taz was the first to leave Bangladesh. He has two brothers who've graduated from Wabash.
Taz's divergent lifestyles essentially began on the same day. Ajob signed its professional contract with Ektaar, the youngest band in that label's history to do so. Later that day Taz took his advanced-level exams for college eligibility and killed it.
"I was in such a good mood (that day)," he says.
Since then he's played for crowds numbering two to 800, comprised of people from every socioeconomic background.
"There have been days when I played away for almost three hours," Taz says. "What else can you ask for when you're 16-17 years old?"
Taz's music career, which started when he picked up the tabla in fourth grade, also includes the band Made in Bangladesh. That trio, which Taz joined when he was in high school, specializes in jazz remixes. Though they've never professionally released an album, Taz did post some of their music on the Internet. There were almost 6,000 downloads in a three-week span. Taz also knows it's been used in student fashion shows at Canada, Germany and Australia, and as background music in videos.
"I felt like I really accomplished something," Taz says of the response to Made in Bangladesh's music. "It was great."
He hopes to do more with that band one day, but like with Ajob, there currently are other priorities. Both of Taz's Made in Bangladesh bandmates are attending college stateside. Taz is aggressively applying for graduate school. He hopes to one day find a job in materials and solid state chemistry, move back home, work for a multinational company and travel extensively.
Music will fit somewhere in the equation.
"At the end of the day it doesn't really matter," Taz says. "I don't need money or any of that kind of stuff. I just want to play."
Even if music continues to be merely a pleasant distraction for Taz, he'll always cherish his role in it.
"The greatest part, especially in percussion, is no matter how the song is, its mood depends on how you perform it," he says. "You can make a song sound great, or you can make it sound horrible. Regardless, you have an opportunity to make that song sound as good as it can be. That's what I love about it. I can express the way I feel about a song through what I play."
Coggeshall is a reporter for the Crawfordsville Journal Review.
In photos: Ahmed in the classroom and performing with Wabash's world music group, Wamidan.


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Irene Rios-Knauf and her husband spent a year planning their August nuptials, but they didn't expect one raucous wedding crasher — Hurricane Irene.
Purchasing wedding insurance was also absent from the West Haven, Ct., couple's checklist.
"At no point did we even think about getting insurance," David Knauf said. "We figured, 'We have a building. We're going to have a wedding.' When in fact we had to cancel, we were thinking, 'Oh my gosh, what are we going to do?' We did a lot of scrambling."
Wedding insurance has become an increasingly popular option after several high-profile instances of severe weather disrupted bridal plans last year. A shaky economic climate has also fueled interest in the policies.
The average price of a wedding climbed last year to hit $27,021, according to the Real Weddings Survey, and in some regions, it can cost more than double that price. The escalating costs are prompting many couples to turn to wedding insurance to protect these hefty investments.
Travelersis one of several companies that offer policies to help couples recoup lost expenses when bridal plans go awry. Premiums vary depending on the level and type of coverage that couples-to-be choose to buy. Policies typically cover lost expenses related to severe weather, sickness, vendor or venue problems, attire damage and military deployments.
"When you think of the $25,000 investment, buying a car for $25,000, you'd never think of not insuring it," said Chantal Cyr, vice president of Travelers Wedding Insurance. "I think people are just much more aware of needing to protect their financial investments."
Since the economic downturn, wedding insurance has attracted more attention from brides and grooms who are walking on financial tiptoes.
"Cancellations are coming through venues literally taking your money a year before the wedding, and they may have already filed for bankruptcy, and they're not going to tell you," said Rob Nuccio, president of R.V. Nuccio & Associates, the program administrator for Fireman's Fund wedding insurance.
Customers can purchase up to $250,000 in cancellation coverage through the company's website. For bigger-ticket occasions, couples can call the company to seek more coverage. Nuccio's company once insured a $2.5-million wedding.
Mara Urshel, co-owner of Kleinfeld Bridal, a New York City gown shop, said desperate brides have turned to her business for last-minute alterations, when they received newly purchased dresses from shuttered bridal stores.
"During the recession period, I think quite a few stores went out of business and left quite a few brides stranded," she said. "Sometimes they got the dress — sometimes they didn't. And sometimes, they wouldn't alter it."
At Travelers , 31 percent of claims originate from vendor or venue issues. About a fifth of claims are due to sickness, injury or mishaps. Claims for vandalism or theft and weather-related claims follow closely. The company offers up to $175,000 in wedding expense related coverage.
Runaway brides and grooms are not covered under the policy since a couple's "change of heart" does not qualify as unavoidable, Cyr said.
Nuccio has offered change-of-heart insurance since 2007 although it does not turn a profit for the company. Brides and grooms cannot purchase these policies themselves due to a high potential for fraudulent claims among couples who sense their unions may be on the rocks. But parents or anyone else who is underwriting the wedding's cost can.
Despite its unprofitability, coverage to protect against cold feet generates press and the chance to create additional repeat clients for Nuccio's company.
"You've got to realize every time someone gets married, that's a brand new family, and that's potential to sell a homeowner's policy," he said.
Nuccio added that the economy has also fueled an increase in claims filings among customers, who are on the hunt for extra cash.
Kristin Koch, a senior editor at TheKnot.com, called wedding insurance "the ultimate back-up" and advised couples to have a detailed discussion with their vendors about what would happen if things go wrong.
If couples are not satisfied with a proposed contract, they should ask to amend it. Otherwise, they may not have any recourse in the event of a wedding disaster, Koch said.
In her six years as a wedding planner, Dena Davey, director of marketing at the Association of Bridal Consultants, has seen wedding insurance increase in popularity, especially for more expensive nuptials.
"I always recommend it," she said. "I'm not going to push wedding insurance, but I'm going to recommend it. Some people don't even know it's an option."
After unexpectedly sharing her special day with another Irene, Rios-Knauf has also joined the pro-wedding insurance camp. Although the pair recovered the majority of their cancellation costs and eventually held their reception several weeks later, they did lose some honeymoon-travel-related expenses.
She added that the couple's children from previous marriages will likely learn from their hurricane debacle.
"I think if they ever do have a plan to get married, if there is insurance offered, I think they'll take it," she said.
Questions? Comments? Email us at email@example.com. Follow Katie Little on Twitter @katie_little_.


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WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama Friday praised top energy and climate-change adviser Heather Zichal as the White House announced her departure.
Zichal, 37, plans to leave by year's end, the White House said. It did not say where she would be going or who would replace her.
Obama released a statement Friday describing Zichal as a "trusted adviser."
"Heather has overseen some of our biggest achievements in energy and climate change, including establishing historic new fuel economy standards that save consumers money, reducing mercury pollution from power plants to keep our kids safe, supporting the growth of homegrown clean energy that creates good new jobs, and enacting my Climate Action Plan that will help us leave a safer planet for our children," he said. "Above all, Heather's efforts have proven that strengthening America's energy security does not have to be a choice between economic growth or good environmental stewardship -- it can mean both."
The Washington Post said Obama personally appealed to Zichal to stay.
Dan Utech, Zichal's deputy, was mentioned as a candidate to replace Zichal, Politico said.
Utech is a former top adviser to Steven Chu when he was U.S. energy secretary and before that to Hillary Clinton when she was a senator.
Other names Politico cited include Kevin Knobloch, chief of staff to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and previously the head of the Union of Concerned Scientists; Gary Guzy, deputy director of the Council on Environmental Quality and an Environmental Protection Agency general counsel from the Clinton administration; and Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Zichal has been deputy assistant to the president for energy and climate change since January 2009 and gained the general responsibility of coordinating the administration's energy and climate policy in March 2011 after the departure of climate czar Carol Browner.
During her tenure Zichal coordinated the work of multiple agencies on issues ranging from air quality to global warming. She was key in pushing for stricter fuel-efficiency standards for cars and limits on mercury and other toxic emissions from power plants, the Post said.


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Investment Tip of the Day
Getting to Know the Economy – Key Indicators
Predicting the direction of the economy is no more clearer to a pundit spending decades of his/her life in than it is to a new young investor entering the world of money management. But there are indicators that can help point one in a direction of what is likely to happen.
When attempting to predict the economy one must look to leading and lagging indicators. Leading indicators are future predictors and largely are affected by significant economic movements. Governments make use of them to help predict and prevent potential recessions. Lagging indicators reflect historic performances and are only identifiable after trends have occurred. So although it is not a predictor on where the economy is headed it is a good measure of long-term trends.
The stock market is one of the most popular leading indicators because underlying stock prices are based on what companies predict they will be earning, and so the economy's direction is tied with earnings estimates.
Although the manufacturing sector continues to dwindle it is still a heavily scrutinized factor in determining the state of the economy. It affects the GDP deeply. So any increase in GDP reflects higher consumer demand for goods, which in turn represents a strong and growing economy.
Retail sales are also a good leading indicator because when sales rise companies tend to hire more employees to sell more goods which in turn floods more money into the hands of these employees who as consumers will tend to go spend it right away. However, the downside is that if those consumers buy on debt then if this gets out of control it could signal an impending recession on the horizon.
GDP, a lagging indicator, is the key measure of an economy's state. If GDP rises then the economy is strong. Because GDP is a lagging indicator it doesn't tell you what is going to happen, but what has happened; it is a good determinant if the country is entering a recession. If the GDP drops for more than two quarters then it is a strong indicator of an approaching recession.
If employers begin slashing wages and/or laying off workers it can indicate the economy is on a decline since a strong economy should reflect rising earnings to keep up with the average cost of living. When unemployment rates are high consumers have less money to spend which predictably contracts the retail sector, GDP, housing market, and stocks prices to list a few.
Ultimately the economy is directly linked to consumer activity and so when trying to understand the economy it is necessary to do personal research and not rely on TV figureheads for answers since they will have specific biased agendas that will cloud the truth of the economy.


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