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An engagement ring is an expensive, seemingly indestructible version of those red tags taped to furniture that say: Sold. Move on, prospective buyer. This one's taken.
At 20 I knew I'd never wear one. I wish I'd stuck to my guns.
A sorority may be an unlikely place to develop an aversion to engagement rings. In fact, I may have been the only sorority girl on the planet turned off by ritualized diamond envy. Sorority girls would gather in a circle, sing the sweetheart song and pass around a lighted taper adorned with baby's breath and roses. No one knew who was engaged until the bride-to-be revealed herself by blowing out the candle. Squeals, gasps and tears followed.
"Ahhhhh! Let me see the it!" the sisters would say, and the future bride would extend her hand to all who gathered to see the ring.
After she left, the comments really got rolling:
"Did you see the size of Susana's ring?"
"Yeah, what do you think? More than a carat?"
"It's sure bigger than Mary's. Hers was so small you needed a microscope to see it."
"I don't like pear-shaped. I wouldn't want one like that."
"She says the wedding band has diamonds on it too. Geez, that guy must be loaded."
I don't remember anyone asking important questions like, "Do they love each other?"
A few years later, I caved, and one of those rings ended up on my hand. I told him I didn't want an engagement ring, but he wanted to give it to me so badly.
"We're going to be married," he said, like a 5-year-old bringing daisies to the little girl across the street. "I want to buy you a ring."
I could have gotten engaged without the ring, but I had to admit, the diamonds were attractive. Those sparkling facets wink at you. They beckon, tempt and eventually seduce you.
He had asked me to marry him four times before I said yes. When I finally did agree, I meant it. Who knew he would turn out to be the one who was just pretending.
In those first romantic evenings he told me, "Don't worry, if we run out of cash, there's always credit." Why did I think that was funny? Why did I think he was kidding? He used fake money to pay for a real ring, all part of his fantasy world.
Giving me a chip of the world's hardest substance did not strengthen his spine. One day he realized this might be real life, a place he could not reside. He broke off the engagement just as I was starting to believe in the fantasy.
I did finally get married years later to another man, one who owned a plane and a Porsche. Credit was not an issue.
He told me that he loved me and wanted to be with me. I didn't love him, but I'd loved the man who bought me the engagement ring years before and look where that got me. No, love was a mistake, one that I was never going to make again.
"I don't want an engagement ring," I told him.
"Good, because I wasn't going to buy you one anyway," he said. "It's a waste of money. We should just take a trip instead."
That seemed reasonable. Except that we were going to spend money on trips anyway, trips to exotic destinations all over the world. We would spend money on anything that mattered to him — boats, planes, cars, vacations.
It wasn't about money. It was about what he valued. And I wasn't valuable enough for anything as superfluous as a diamond. I left him on another continent.
Years later I lived with a much nicer man. There was never any ring, but sometimes he would bring me flowers for no particular reason. Or he'd walk by and just stop to kiss me on the cheek.
Now I have a new boyfriend who sometimes will just stop and wrap me up in his arms.
I think, finally, I'm getting closer to what I was hoping for in that sorority house — someone who would answer yes to all the questions I couldn't give voice to when I was 20.
Will he be good to her? Will he be a reliable and loving partner? Will he encourage her to find her way in the world? Will he love her through her strengths and weaknesses? Will he see her as the full creation that she is, and not just what she can do for him? Will he know that she is precious beyond any diamond?
Lilli Cloud is a writer and marketing consultant in Los Angeles. L.A. Affairs chronicles romance and relationships. Past columns are archived at latimes.com/laaffairs. If you have comments to share or a story to tell, write us at email@example.com.


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New in labs: offline gmail
Web-based email is great because you can check it from any computer, but there's one little catch: it's inherently limited by your internet connection. From public WiFi to smartphones equipped with 3G, from mobile broadband cards to fledgling in-flight wireless on airplanes, Internet access is becoming more and more ubiquitous — but there are still times when you can't access your webmail because of an unreliable or unavailable connection.
Today we're starting to roll out an experimental feature in Gmail Labs that should help fill in those gaps: offline Gmail. So even if you're offline, you can open your web browser, go to gmail.com, and get to your mail just like you're used to.
Once you turn on this feature, Gmail uses Gears to download a local cache of your mail. As long as you're connected to the network, that cache is synchronized with Gmail's servers. When you lose your connection, Gmail automatically switches to offline mode, and uses the data stored on your computer's hard drive instead of the information sent across the network. You can read messages, star and label them, and do all of the things you're used to doing while reading your webmail online. Any messages you send while offline will be placed in your outbox and automatically sent the next time Gmail detects a connection. And if you're on an unreliable or slow connection (like when you're "borrowing" your neighbor's wireless), you can choose to use "flaky connection mode," which is somewhere in between: it uses the local cache as if you were disconnected, but still synchronizes your mail with the server in the background. Our goal is to provide nearly the same browser-based Gmail experience whether you're using the data cached on your computer or talking directly to the server.
Offline Gmail is still an early experimental feature, so don't be surprised if you run into some kinks that haven't been completely ironed out yet. We've been using offline Gmail internally at Google for quite a while (I've read thousands of messages and answered hundreds en route to visit my son and my daughter). And it's saved me more than once when my home network connection ran into issues (we have squirrels at home that love to chew through outside cable wires). Now we're ready to have a larger set of people try it out, so we're making it available in Gmail Labs for those of you who want to test out Gmail's latest and greatest and send us your feedback.
We're making offline Gmail available to everyone who uses Gmail in US or UK English over the next couple of days, so if you don't see it under the Labs tab yet, it should be there soon. Once you see it, just follow these steps to get started:
1. Click Settings and click the Labs tab.
2. Select Enable next to Offline Gmail.
3. Click Save Changes.
4. After your browser reloads, you'll see a new "Offline0.1" link in the upper righthand corner of your account, next to your username. Click this link to start the offline set up process and download Gears if you don't already have it.

subset: commoncrawl


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duh, care to tell me a free agent or a "less expensive player" that you think the Canucks should target instead?Diehard1 wrote:If they want to go after Kane that's fine, but Horvat and the 2014 pick should be off limits. If you can't get him without including those you move on and find a free agent or less expensive player to acquire via trade.
I'd prefer to give the 6th overall pick rather than Horvat as the main piece ... but given the stage where the Jets are, in trying to get into the playoffs for the first time in how many years in Winnipeg, I think they'd want a prospect that has one more year further ahead in development.


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LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwired - May 12, 2014) - Reed's Inc. (
The Company plans to release its first quarter results that day at approximately 1:00 pm Pacific Time followed by a management conference call for investors at 1:30 pm Pacific Time.
To participate in the call, please dial the following number 5 to 10 minutes prior to the 1:30 pm scheduled call time (800) 768-2107. International callers should dial (212) 231-2922.
A replay of the call will be available on the Reed's website at www.reedsinc.com in the "Investors" section following the earnings call within a day.
About Reed's, Inc.
Reed's, Inc. makes the top-selling natural sodas in the natural foods industry and is sold in over 15,000 natural and mainstream supermarkets nationwide. In addition, Reed's products are sold through specialty gourmet, natural food stores, retail stores, convenience stores and restaurants nationwide and select international markets. Its six award-winning non-alcoholic Ginger Brews are unique in the beverage industry, being brewed, not manufactured and using fresh ginger, spices and fruits in a brewing process that predates commercial soft drinks. The Company owns the top-selling root beer line in natural foods, the Virgil's Root Beer product line, and a top-selling cola line in natural foods, the China Cola product line. In 2012, the Company launched Reed's Culture Club Kombucha line of organic live beverages. Other product lines include: Reed's Ginger Candies and Reed's Ginger Ice Creams. In 2009, Reed's started producing private label natural beverages for select national chains.
For more information about Reed's, please visit the Company's website at:
http://www.reedsinc.com or call 800-99-REEDS.
Follow Reed's on Twitter at http://twitter.com/reedsgingerbrew
Reed's Facebook Fan Page at https://www.facebook.com/ReedsGingerBrew


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The president of Wal-Mart's U.S. operations, William Simon, announced in a keynote speech at the National Retail Federation conference that the world's largest retailer wants to be the biggest employer of U.S. military veterans. Simon, a Navy veteran, says his company will hire 100,000 military veterans over the next five years, so long as they have an honorable discharge.
On top of that, Simon said the retail giant will spend an additional $50 billion out of the company's $455 billion in annual revenue on American-made goods over the next 10 years, countering criticism that its products come cheaply made from countries like China.
Continue Reading Below
First Lady Michelle Obama has called Wal-Mart's initiative "historic". The First Lady, along with Jill Biden, runs the Administration's "Joining Forces" program, which zeroes in on finding work for unemployed veterans.
"Walmart is setting a groundbreaking example for the private sector to follow," the First Lady says.
Veteran joblessness is a significant problem, with the unemployment rate for post-9/11 veterans sticking at 10.8% in December, three percentage points higher than the overall rate. Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) already is likely the nation's largest employer of veterans. An estimated 100,000 military veterans work for Wal-Mart, out of the retailer's 1.4 million employees in the U.S. — a workforce that's the size of the entire U.S. military in and of itself.
Simon in his keynote speech says that the company isn't just launching the program for feel-good patriotism (or to counter negative PR from union protests).
"Hiring a veteran can be one of the best decisions any of us can make," Simon said in his speech in New York City. "They are leaders with discipline, training, and a passion for service. There is a seriousness and sense of purpose that the military instills, and we need it today more than ever."
He added: "Now we all know that hiring a vet can be one of the best decisions any of us can make. vets have a record of performance under pressure, quick learners and team players."
Simon noted that his "first job was as a dishwasher in a restaurant for $2.10 an hour." He said: "When I came off active duty in the Navy, I needed some time to make decisions. I ended up in another restaurant job – tending bar – and I can only say a heartfelt thank you to Tommy Condon's Irish Pub in Charleston, South Carolina."
Simon also said: "America is still the biggest manufacturer in the world. And I know according to urban legend Wal-Mart's shelves are filled with foreign products. But the truth may surprise you. Don't forget, we run a pretty large grocery business. According to data from our suppliers, items that are made here, sourced here, or grown here account for about two-thirds of what we spend to buy products at Wal-Mart U.S."
Simon also noted that "labor costs in Asia are rising" and "oil and transportation costs are high and increasingly uncertain. The equation is changing. And a few manufacturers have even told Wal-Mart privately that they have defined the 'tipping points' at which manufacturing abroad will no longer make sense for them."


text: Markus Rechberger wrote: > On 8/9/07, Steven Toth <stoth at hauppauge.com> wrote: > >> Markus Rechberger wrote: >> >>> On 8/9/07, Steven Toth <stoth at hauppauge.com> wrote: >>> >>> >>>> Markus Rechberger wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>>> Following patch adds a rather primitive way to temporary lock dvb >>>>> devicenodes, this can be useful for hybrid devices which use the >>>>> video4linux framework for the analogue TV part and the dvb framework for >>>>> digital TV if only one mode can be accessed at a time. >>>>> >>>>> Signed-off-by: Markus Rechberger <markus.rechberger at amd.com> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>> Call me dumb but I don't understand how this patch helps v4l devices. :) >>>> >>>> Allocation/management of a single card resource doesn't belong inside >>>> the dvb framework, these answers need to come from the bridge-frameworks >>>> (via callbacks from dvb-core or the analog equivalent) who are better >>>> placed to make the decision about hybrid tuners, bus capacity or >>>> allocation, in use devices. >>>> >>>> As a working example, I added similar support in my older HVR3000 tree >>>> where two frontends share a single transport bus. The code is old but it >>>> demonstrates a solution, much the my earlier patches for shared >>>> DVB/Blackbird boards also. >>>> >>>> I understand how this patch helps the current dvb tree, it stops >>>> multiple people opening a device but that's it. ... Or, maybe I've just >>>> missed to point. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>> Hi Steve, >>> >>> the bridge framework triggers locking these filehandles. >>> >>> >> http://mcentral.de/hg/~mrec/v4l-dvb-experimental/file/c0817d73a2a9/linux/drivers/media/video/em28xx/em28xx-video.c >> >>> line 434 >>> this locks the dvb nodes if someone tries to open the v4l devicenode, >>> it first checks if there's still something active at the DVB side. >>> >>> >>> >> http://mcentral.de/hg/~mrec/v4l-dvb-experimental/file/f9f3e6bdd6fc/linux/drivers/media/video/em28xx/em2880-dvb.c >> >>> Line 471 - 484 if this would go into the dvb core we'd have a callback >>> for locking the device nodes. >>> >>> >>> >> Your comment about lines 471-484 make sense, but that code is not >> referenced via a callback (that I can see in the DVB patch) ... which is >> what I expected to see. >> >> To do this cleanly in the dvb-core (or any v4l-core) I suggest requires >> callbacks into the bridge-frameworks and I didn't see those callbacks >> clearly defined in either your original patch, or your follow up >> patches. I was pretty sure I did something similar for the >> DVB/MpegEncoder shared bus support. >> >> Have you seen this? http://linuxtv.org/hg/~stoth/hvr3000/rev/4b846f1d939b >> >> Or more importantly this: >> http://linuxtv.org/hg/~stoth/hvr3000/rev/a619436699cc >> >> Can we just re-use that? >> >> > > Since I don't see any move forward from anyone again, can you extract > that locking callback and submit it independently? I can work around > the issue that the dvb core still tries to access DVB components after > a device has been closed, although you might have to verify that issue > within your drivers too. > > Sure, I'll prepare a patch later this evening. Regards, Steve


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A couple of weeks ago, just after International Women's Day, we had a coffee hour in the World Bank's Ankara office to watch short videos of five women that have recently started up their own business and transformed their lives and that of their families (stay tuned for the release of these films, currently being edited). Their stories were uplifting, but the discussion quickly turned to the dismal field of statistics. Commentators stressed that female labor force participation in Turkey remains at only half of the OECD level, that Turkey loses around 25 percent of its potential GDP because of this, and lamented that social norms and mixed political messages on the role of women in society were preventing greater progress towards gender equality.
So far and so familiar to those working on gender issues in Turkey; and yet, two pieces of evidence have recently caught my attention and left me hopeful that we will see a growing proportion of Turkish women at work in the years ahead.
The first piece of evidence comes from a closer look at Turkey's own labor statistics. The Turkish economist Insan Tunali has looked at the labor force participation rate of urban women in different cohorts, starting with those born in 1953 and ending with those born 30 years later. The striking finding, captured in Figure 1, is that participation rates have shifted upwards by around 20 percent between the 1963 and 1983 cohorts. As more and more families live in urban areas, the rise in labor force participation rates among young, urban women compensates for the decline of working women in agriculture. As a result, female labor force participation rates have been shifting upward since the mid-2000s by around 6 percentage points and among women in prime working age 25-55 even by 10 percentage points.
The second piece of evidence comes from research by Erik Meyersson published in the January edition of Econometrica. Dr. Meyersson examines the evolution of secondary education enrolment rates since the mid-1990s at the level of Turkish municipalities. Dr. Meyersson's interest is in the impact of Islamic rule on female school enrolment. The article uses Regression Discontinuity analysis to compare municipalities where candidates from the Islamic Refah party narrowly won in the 1994 municipal election with municipalities where they narrowly lost, and establish a causal link with secondary school enrolment rates for girls. The results establish a robust causal and positive relationship between Islamic rule and female secondary school enrolment (equivalent to a 3 percentage point increase on average), which remains positive even after 17 years. Dr. Meyersson's interpretation is that Islamic rule reduced barriers to female participation among the poorer and pious segments of society by making them more comfortable about sending their girls to school.
Combining both pieces of evidence, we may start to see a pattern whereby access barriers – whether socioeconomic or social-norm related – to education among girls are being eroded and this in turn leads to growing aspirations among women to enter the labor force. Indeed, among women who make it through higher education, labor force participation rates increase to 62 percent. Net enrolment rates in tertiary education are close to 35 percent for both men and women, up from just 20 percent just 6 years ago. So here, too, the trend is positive.
Does this mean that Turkey will inevitably follow the typical U-shaped pattern of female labor force participation during its transition from middle to high income (e.g. Goldin, 1994; Mammen and Paxson, 2000)? I believe this is quite likely. But that does not mean there is no room for policy to shift the entire U-curve upwards or bend the upward sloping part to make it steeper. Interventions such as improved child care facilities, more flexible work arrangements, including support for part-time work, balanced parental leave provisions (for both men and women) and continued public advocacy are all needed to close the gap that still separates Turkey from its OECD peers.
A particularly interesting question is whether social norms are indeed evolving towards greater gender equality in work life. Figure 2 reports results from several waves of the World Value Survey. The picture is mixed. While the share of respondents who believe men should have priority when jobs are scarce has been declining over the past decade, it is still more than 50 percent (and above levels in the 1990s). This matters, because Turkey's significant improvement in female labor force participation since the mid-2000s came at a time of record employment growth, with over 4 million jobs created since 2009 alone whereas the late 1990s were a period of economic crisis and poor job market performance. As Turkey enters a period of moderate growth, the key challenge will be to make sure women are not the first ones to suffer from a less buoyant labor market. That may be the real test of whether my optimism in this blog is justified.
Its nice. Try to have areas.
Its nice. Try to have areas.
Nicely done Mr. Raiser. It is
Nicely done Mr. Raiser. It is true that a declining or stagnant job market will impact on female labor force participation but I wonder whether it cuts both ways. lack of job opportunities for all may also mean that rather than risk having no breadwinner in the house both men and women may find it easier to have a woman working than no one working. Clearly, your point about shifting the entire u-curve upwards is an important one and all the measures you advocate need to be part and parcel of public policy as well as Donor involvement in this critical area for Turkey.


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Express. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express.
Ferdinand comfortable with Qatar trip
Rio Ferdinand has stood by his decision to fly to Qatar after pulling out of the England squad earlier this week as he manages his fitness.
The Manchester United defender was called up to the national team for the first time by Roy Hodgson but turned down the chance so he could adhere to a detailed pre-planned training and medical programme. Ferdinand was criticised by some after it emerged he was flying to Doha to appear as a pundit for Al Jazeera Sport television for the San Marino match.
However, the 34-year-old once again defended his decision. He said on Al Jazeera Sport: "I met the (Manchester United) boss (Sir Alex Ferguson) in London and we spoke about my regime and (I'm doing) what I've done at the last few international breaks - the same."
He continued: "I was pencilled in to have certain treatments, had them and then I've come away to have some rest time and to recuperate and get myself ready.
"I think obviously the situation with myself and the national team is well documented.
"But this isn't something that I'm doing differently. This is something I've done in past international get-togethers when I've not been involved.
"I've had a course of treatment that I've had to have and then to go and rest and get ready and recuperate - and that's what I've continued to do."
Ferdinand added he cleared the trip with United before flying out.
"I spoke to the club and the club doctors and the physios who have helped me organise the regime that I'm on," he said.
"But ultimately it was spelled out for us anyway."


text:
Ships within 2 - 3 days from our warehouse.
Model: D551TDST
UPC: 034449718165Finish: Chrome
The clean lines and dramatic geometric forms of this Dryden Single Hole 1-Handle High Arc Bathroom Faucet in Chrome with Touch2O.xt Technology are based on style cues from the Art Deco period. Touch on, touch off, or simply place your hand near the faucet. With Touch2O.xt Technology, it doesn't matter if you have two full hands or ten messy fingers. Tap anywhere on the spout or handle and the water is running. Turning off the water between tasks is easier too, saving water. Though fully designed for precise, responsive control every time, no matter where you touch. You can easily control and change the water temperature above the deck using the faucet handle. Proximity activation means no infrared sensors, and none of the interference that can come with them.
View all Delta products


text:
Status Report is included in our news feed.
December 20, 2012 |Volume 47, Number 10
Family cars in the leadLuxury models don't do as well in tough new crash test
Good or acceptable performance in the small overlap front test is a requirement for the new Top Safety Pick+ award. Thirteen cars qualify so far.
Volvo owners give thumbs-up to crash avoidance features
Owners of Volvos with advanced crash avoidance features find the systems useful, and the vast majority would want the technology again, an IIHS survey shows.
Combination side airbags reduce death and injury risk
Side airbags that protect the head and torso reduce the likelihood of death and upper body injuries in near-side crashes by 61 percent compared with no side airbags, an Australian study finds.
November 20, 2012 |Volume 47, Number 9
Changing mixDespite worries, aging population won't push up nation's crash rate
The expected growth in the population of older drivers isn't going to cause insurance claim rates to skyrocket even though older drivers tend to crash more than middle-aged ones, a HLDI analysis shows.
Research suggests guidelines for credible camera enforcement
A new report provides guidance on how to set up and operate camera programs to make them both effective and less likely to come in for criticism.
Speed-alert devices plus incentives can curb speeding
Research indicates intelligent speed adaption could help drivers keep speeds in check.
Risk of collisions with deer is highest during November
Vehicle damage from hitting an animal is more than 3½ times as common in November as in August, when claims are lowest. The high-claim period coincides with deer mating season, when bucks are likely to be roaming.
October 25, 2012 |Volume 47, Number 8
Boosters reach milestoneNearly all new seats provide good belt fit
Fifteen of 17 booster seats introduced in 2012 earn the top rating of BEST BET from IIHS, showing that manufacturers are designing seats to provide good belt fit for children. BEST BET boosters outnumber seats in any of the three other categories.
Freeway speeds rise as more drivers exceed posted limits
Drivers exceed speed limits on all kinds of roads, but the problem has worsened on freeways and expressways, a national survey of traffic speeds shows.
Choosing speed over safety in Texas
The decision to establish an 85 mph speed limit in Texas ignores decades of research that shows more people die in crashes when speed limits are raised.
Graduated licensing benefits older beginners in Australia
A study of recent changes to graduated licensing in Victoria, Australia, shows that restrictions can reduce crashes among newly licensed 18-20 year-olds.
September 20, 2012 |Volume 47, Number 7
By the numbersClaims information by make and model helps consumers choose safer vehicles
The latest HLDI information shows which vehicles have the most frequent claims for injuries and which end up with higher damage costs.
HLDI data online and at the dealer
Collision loss data from the Highway Loss Data Institute has been available at auto dealers for decades, but Congress is considering repealing the requirement. The good news is all that information and more can be accessed at online.
LATCH, belt reminders get lift; highway law supports teen driver laws, impaired driving research
The recently passed transportation funding law known as MAP-21 includes a number of important safety-related provisions.
August 14, 2012 |Volume 47, Number 6
Small overlap crashesNew consumer-test program aims for even safer vehicles
Only 3 of 11 midsize luxury and near-luxury cars tested earn good or acceptable ratings in the Institute's new small overlap frontal crash test. The test involves 25 percent of a vehicle's front end.
Real-world small overlap crash results in driver facial injuries
Hollyn Mangione knows first-hand what can happen in a real-world small-overlap crash. Hers left her with a facial fracture and laceration, concussion, whiplash, eye injury and dental injuries.
Truck tractors, buses could get standard ESC under NHTSA proposal
Electronic stability control, already standard on all passenger vehicles since the 2012 model year, could be required for new large truck tractors and certain large buses under a proposal being considered by federal regulators.
July 3, 2012 |Volume 47, Number 5
Special issue: crash avoidance
They're workingInsurance claims data show which new technologies are preventing crashes
Early evidence that advanced crash avoidance technologies are cutting crashes comes from a study of insurance claims. Forward collision avoidance systems and adaptive headlights show the biggest crash reductions in the analysis by the Highway Loss Data Institute.
Innovations aim to stave off crash threats from all sides
From curve speed warning to cross traffic alert to backup cameras, there's a long list of new technologies making their way into vehicles.
May 31, 2012 |Volume 47, Number 4
How to make young driver laws even betterGraduated licensing has saved lives, but there's room for progress
If every state adopted all five components of the toughest young driver laws in the nation, more than 500 lives could be saved and more than 9,500 collisions could be prevented each year.
Hail claims spiked in 2011
Insurance losses for hail-related damage to vehicles more than doubled last year compared with the previous three years.
Antilocks slash claims for newly insured riders
Antilock brakes cut crashes for motorcyclists of all abilities, but new riders seem to benefit the most, an analysis of insurance claims shows.
Michigan drops helmet requirement for most motorcycle riders
In a step backward for motorcycle safety, Michigan abandons its longstanding helmet requirement.
April 12, 2012 |Volume 47, Number 3
Keys to better LATCHAutomakers should follow 3 principles when designing anchors and seats
The LATCH system is supposed to make it easier to install child seats by standardizing attachment hardware, but only 21 of 98 top-selling 2010-11 model passenger vehicles have LATCH designs that are easy to use.
Parents' struggles show shortcomings of LATCH
When a group of parents attempted to install child seats in a demonstration, they confronted some of the same problems researchers identified.
Study confirms wisdom of linking fuel economy to a vehicle's footprint
Safety isn't compromised by vehicle weight reductions if they are concentrated in the heaviest vehicles, a federal study finds.
Institute responds to criticism of red light camera research
IIHS rebuts a Florida professor's critique of a 2011 Institute study on the benefits of red light cameras.
March 6, 2012 |Volume 47, Number 2
Alcohol ignition interlocksStudy shows devices reduce DUI recidivism
Requiring interlocks for everyone convicted of alcohol-impaired driving, not just repeat offenders and those with high blood alcohol concentrations, makes it less likely that people will reoffend, a study of Washington state's interlock law shows.
Effective belt reminders don't need to be relentless
Enhanced belt reminders that chime intermittently are just as effective as those that chime continuously for 90 seconds but are less annoying.
Interior padding reduces head injuries in crashes
Interior padding added to vehicles before side airbags became widespread has helped to cut head injuries, a federal study shows.
Teen passenger death rate starts uptick at age 13
The teen crash problem starts long before teenagers are driving as they travel as passengers of older friends who already have their licenses.
January 24, 2012 |Volume 47, Number 1
Estimated time of arrivalNew safety features take 3 decades to spread through vehicle fleet
New technologies could cut crashes dramatically, but don't count on them being everywhere tomorrow. HLDI finds it takes about three decades for safety features to spread through the registered vehicle fleet.
New bumper tests show easy fix for mismatch problem
Simple modifications to the bumpers of SUVs could save consumers thousands of dollars on repairs after low-speed collisions between SUVs and cars.
Final hours-of-service rule leaves 11-hour shift intact
Federal regulators are allowing truck drivers to continue spending as many as 11 hours a day on the road, despite scientific evidence supporting a 10-hour limit.
©1996-2018, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Highway Loss Data Institute | www.iihs.org
IIHS-HLDI in the Classroom
An educational resource for students and teachers


text: Hometaurus has 88 townhouses for sale in North Miami Beach FL. Search townhomes in North Miami Beach FL. See mls listings, photos, sales history. Try our real estate search now. The Hometaurus marketplace has a large inventory for townhouses and townhomes for sale in North Miami Beach. If you wish to sell or buy in North Miami Beach, contact us or send us an email for a free consultation.


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Welcome to the CRG Discussion Forum!Forum registration problems: Make sure you enter your email correctly and you check your spam box first. *Then* email KurtS2@gmail for help.Classified ads are not allowed on the forum.
12A build week and an X33 trim code (plus a bunch of other tag issues) equal a repro tag.
I give the seller credit for discolsing it is a restamped motor and his careful use of words like 'correct' vs. original.The tag looks like it was stamped on the same machine for not only the vehicle specific codes, but the 'blank' tag info as well (ST TR....)It is a nice looking car though. Is the drive shaft optional? Mike
Quote from: Mark on September 06, 2013, 11:12:42 AM12A build week and an X33 trim code (plus a bunch of other tag issues) equal a repro tag.so what was the first known week for X codes? (jerrys book says the first week of december of 68)


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text:
No Impact Man Movie Trailer
Can you save the planet without driving your family crazy?
This is a question Colin Beavan set out to answer in November of 2006, when he launched a project in which he, his wife, Michelle Conlin, his two-year-old daughter and his dog went off the grid in New York City. For one year, the family attempted to minimize their environmental impact. This meant no electricity, no garbage, no TV, no taxis, and no takeout food.
"The average American creates 1,600 pounds of trash a year. We're trying to reduce that to zero," Beavan says.
As Beavan and his family discovered, however, the project wasn't all about "no." The No Impact project meant more time spent together as a family, improved health as the family at local foods, and an added richness to their daily lives.
A film of the same name documenting the No Impact project was released in fall of 2009.


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By Shawn Langlois
"This time it's different" are the four most expensive words in investing, according to mutual-fund legend Sir John Templeton. Nobody's doubting him — but really, though, it DOES feel different this time. Just ask blogger Brian Lund.
After weaving an entertaining yarn about waterless urinals and "Beverly Hills 90210", Lund, in addition to dating himself, dared to postulate that "this bull market is changing the rules." Specifically, the birth, death and rebirth of momentum darlings like Netflix /quotes/zigman/87598/delayed /quotes/zigman/87598/lastsale NFLX fly in the face of accepted market wisdom.
Typically, when a high-flyer gets blown to bits, it rarely gets back on top. In faded Hollywood star terms, as Lund points out, they're Luke Perry stocks.
Remember him? Exactly.
Think BlackBerry /quotes/zigman/19622165/delayed /quotes/zigman/19622165/lastsale BBRY , Broadcom /quotes/zigman/66924/delayed /quotes/zigman/66924/lastsale BRCM and countless dot-com busts. Hard to image them getting a return engagement to prior highs.
However, "this market is so powerful that it has done the near impossible." And that's to turn a select few momentum names into what Lund calls Robert Downey Jr. stocks. From "Chaplin" to rehab and back to "Iron Man".
Just exactly how powerful is this market? Hitting 2,000 on the S&P doesn't really tell the full story. On a global scale, we've never seen anything like it, with worldwide equities reaching a record $66 trillion, according to Bloomberg.
What's more, this thing is going to keep defying gravity, if analyst recommendations are any indication. Which they're not. But let's say they are, just for entertainment purposes and to fill space during a late-August trading session.
There are currently 12,052 analyst ratings for S&P 500 stocks, per Bespoke Investment Group. Only 747 are sells, as opposed to 6,038 buys.
That sounds like it should mean something, but feel free to ignore whatever theory you come up with, because those numbers are roughly in line with the norm.
Key market gauges: Stocks are looking to add to the summer fun this morning, with futures on the Dow /quotes/zigman/21588489/delayed YMU4 and the S&P /quotes/zigman/20258909/delayed ESU4 showing signs of life. Asia /quotes/zigman/6959860/realtime XX:ADOW closed mostly higher, but really nothing to get too excited about. Same with Europe /quotes/zigman/2380150/delayed XX:SXXP . Just hesitant steps higher.
The quote of the day: "F***ing hell!" — Some little girl after seemingly nominating Santa in the Ice Bucket Challenge. Cute, so very, very wrong, and hilarious. All wrapped up in one 23-second clip (NSFW baby talk).
Earnings: Smith & Wesson /quotes/zigman/87396/delayed /quotes/zigman/87396/lastsale SWHC shares are getting blasted in premarket trading, down double-digits on heavy volume after the gun maker said that high inventories of "modern sporting rifles" industry-wide were causing it to cut its outlook. Ruger /quotes/zigman/242215/delayed /quotes/zigman/242215/lastsale RGR , as is often the case, is enduring a sympathy drop.
TubeMogul /quotes/zigman/36103757/delayed /quotes/zigman/36103757/lastsale TUBE is the huge winner this morning, with shares surging more than 30% on the back of some strong quarterly results.
Shares in Tiffany /quotes/zigman/243577/delayed /quotes/zigman/243577/lastsale TIF are up 1.5% premarket after the seller of luxury baubles beat on profit with a 16% rise. Also rallying on earnings is crafts retailer Michaels /quotes/zigman/35114294/delayed /quotes/zigman/35114294/lastsale MIK , gaining 1.4%.
The buzz: Spot the bubble. Snapchat, the gold standard in sexting, just garnered a $10 billion valuation, thanks to an investment from Kleiner Perkins.
The epic Apple /quotes/zigman/68270/delayed /quotes/zigman/68270/lastsale AAPL hype machine hasn't taken much time off this summer, so why start now? The latest is word of a bigger iPad. Investors aren't overly excited about the prospects, judging from the flatlining stock price. But here's why an understated Business Insider says it could be a "dream device".
Manchester United's /quotes/zigman/11335627/delayed /quotes/zigman/11335627/lastsale MANU stock, not to mention the soccer team, could surely use a lift, and they might just get one in the form of Angel Di Maria. The club paid a record $99 million to draw the Argentinian player away from Real Madrid.
And over in Europe, swelling hopes for a QE delivery from Draghi are driving bond markets higher. The yield on German 10-year paper /quotes/zigman/4869083/delayed DE10YT is at an all-time low, and Spanish and Italian yields are dropping, too.
The chart of the day: Are you in the prime of your life? If you're between the ages of 25 and 39, you're probably nodding your head. Here's a chart from a recent U.K. survey of more than 2,100 people and how they feel they are relative to their prime. Bless that sixty-something who said he's before his prime.
The chart also kicked off a great debate on Reddit, where "TheLastPureOne" wrote, "I feel like the ~10% of people who answered 'in my prime' at 80+ would've also said 'in my prime' in every other age group, had they been asked. That's the life I want to lead. I'm 19 now, and I'm going to be in my prime until I'm dead."
The call of the day: Indian stocks have been limping along lately, but the MSCI Indian index /quotes/zigman/8623286/delayed /quotes/zigman/8623286/lastsale INDA is still up more than 30% over the past 12 months. The fact that it's stalled since June is giving investors an entry point, according to Henry To. He said that "long-awaited economic reforms will propel economic growth for years to come" and that the bear arguments are outdated. To is targeting another 20% pop over the next 12 months. "Now, more than ever, is the best time to take advantage of India's new growth spur," he said. The Market Vectors India Small-Cap Index ETF /quotes/zigman/18928040/delayed /quotes/zigman/18928040/lastsale SCIF and the WisdomTree India Earnings Fund /quotes/zigman/1512813/delayed /quotes/zigman/1512813/lastsale EPI are worth a look.
Random reads: The Facebook /quotes/zigman/9962609/delayed /quotes/zigman/9962609/lastsale FB generation loves their cartoons.
This is your brain on too much "Simpsons".
Cheerleaders are on the menu at the Georgia Dome.
Pink Floyd legend Roger Waters says that "the moral perversity" of the U.S. position on Gaza is stunning. And he also wrote a poem.
Highlights from maybe the best surf contest ever.
Hurricane Marie is going to make for some fun times around here.
Need to Know starts early and is updated until the opening bell, but sign up here to get it delivered once to your e-mail box. Be sure to check the Need to Know item. The e-mailed version will be sent out at about 7 a.m. Eastern.


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text: On Sat, 2 Feb 2002, david silverman wrote: > The department here just upgraded the PCs, so there were quite a few > obsolete pentiumMMX computers with 64M laying around, so I thought I'd try ... > I have the $3 Scyld -8 CD. The front-end node seems to work fine. The slave > nodes, though don't get past getting an IP address. After getting the IP > address, it just keeps repeating 'neighbor table overflow'. This is one of the least useful messages from the Linux kernel. It is a general purpose network error, with a non-descriptive message. In this case I suspect that it means either "no ARP response" or "transmit packets were not marked as complete". > It seems to recognize the etherlink III 3c590 NIC fine during > bootup. What NIC do you have? Is it really an ancient 10Mbps 3c590, or some other 590/900 series card? > The PCs are > connected together through just a cheap hub. Prior to the arp, there was > the message: ***WARNING*** No MII transceivers found. This is expected if you really have a '590, but bad if you have a more modern card. > Reviewing the past > postings, I've seen people with similar problems, No similar problems have been reported. Remember that all problems look alike: "it doesn't act as I expected it to". The 'neighbor table overflow' message is a good example of a generic "it doesn't work" problem. Even when the system is functioning, you might still see the message. > I can't change the NIC and these PCs won't boot off a > CD. I'm not sure how to make a stage 2 boot floppy. We don't recommend using stage 2 floppies since they must be rewritten every time you update the kernel or network device drivers. The stage 2 boot floppy method is needed only for the rare motherboard/BIOS where Two Kernel Monte fails to start a new kernel. > Also, are only PCI NICs allowed? Yes. The framework exists for NICs on any bus type that supports Vendor+Device ID words. Note the "PCI" label in the /etc/beowulf/config.boot file. I'm guessing that you actually want to know about ISA NICs as booting devices, rather than support for Infiniband, USB 2.0 or Firewire NICs. No, there are both techincal and practical reasons why we can not support ISA NICs. Donald Becker becker at scyld.com Scyld Computing Corporation http://www.scyld.com 410 Severn Ave. Suite 210 Second Generation Beowulf Clusters Annapolis MD 21403 410-990-9993


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Gannett Co Inc, the largest newspaper chain in the United States, agreed to pay $1.5 billion in cash for television company Belo Corp, with an aim to making broadcast a bigger part of the business than newspapers.
The deal represents a 28.1 percent premium to Belo's closing price on Wednesday. It would almost double Gannett's broadcasting assets, making it the fourth-largest U.S. owner of major network affiliates, reaching nearly one-third of U.S. households, the company said on Thursday.
Continue Reading Below
If the deal is approved, Gannett's broadcast segment would contribute more than half of the company's pro-forma earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization while its digital and Broadcast segments combined were expected to contribute nearly two-thirds.
The transaction's cash portion values Belo at $13.75 per share. Gannett, the owner of USA Today - one of the country's biggest newspapers - will also assume $715 million in debt, giving TV company Belo an enterprise value of $2.2 billion.
Shares in both companies rose on the news and Gannett said it would generate significant free cash flow and increase its non-GAAP earnings per share by about 50 cents in the first year. It will also result in about $175 million of annual savings within three years after closing.
Gannett's shares were up 23.7 percent in premarket trading at $24.55 after closing at $19.85 on the New York Stock Exchange. Belo's shares soared 27 percent to $13.64 after closing at $10.73, also on NYSE.
Bill Smead, chief investment officer of Smead Capital Management, which lists Gannett as its third-biggest holding, said the purchase was good news for Gannett shareholders.
"With one-third of the country covered by their TV stations, no automaker or auto dealer can ignore their power in the U.S. This is an undervalued company and even more undervalued with an additional 50 cents per share in earnings the first year," Smead said via an emailed statement.
Belo owns and operates 20 television stations, with nine in the top 25 markets, and their associated websites.
The deal, which is expected to close by the end of 2013, will need antitrust approval, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval, and approval by holders of two-thirds of Belo shares, Gannett said.
It said Belo's directors and executive officers, who collectively own about 42 percent of the voting power of Belo's outstanding shares, have already agreed to vote in favor of the deal. Gannett expects to finance the purchase through cash on hand and accessing capital markets as well as bank financing.
J.P. Morgan Securities is provided financial advice and Nixon Peabody and Paul Hastings were legal advisers to Gannett while Belo's financial adviser was RBC Capital Markets and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz acted as its legal adviser.
(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Maureen Bavdek)


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Massachusetts voters, it seems, are partial to outsiders. Elizabeth Warren was a law professor and consumer advocate before she won election to the US Senate. And Deval Patrick was a little-known lawyer when he launched his first campaign for governor.
The most obvious Democratic heir to the brand, this year, is gubernatorial hopeful Donald Berwick. He worked briefly for Obama administration, but unlike his major rivals for the job, he is no creature of Beacon Hill. And he has pitched himself as a Warren-like figure in recent months – a fiery progressive propelled by a grassroots energy.
Yet the newest newcomer is struggling to get traction. He's polling at just 5 percent, 15 points behind Treasurer Steve Grossman and a full 40 points behind Attorney General Martha Coakley, his two rivals on the Sept. 9 primary ballot.
Berwick is not the only outsider to stumble this year; two other fresh faces, homeland security expert Juliette Kayyem and biopharmaceutical executive Joseph Avellone, didn't even qualify for the Democratic gubernatorial primary ballot.
Their travails have sparked a debate among political operatives and observers about why some candidates are able to grab the most coveted label in Massachusetts politics and others are not. And the evidence, they say, points to a volatile stew of factors: race, gender, political party and timing.
There is no official start to the Bay State's Age of the Outsider. But Philip W. Johnston, a former chairman of the state Democratic Party, says it goes back decades. "It's very clear to me that this outsider issue has been in play here since 1960," he said.
That was the year John Volpe, a Republican businessman who served in the Eisenhower administration, beat long-time-state-legislator-turned-Secretary of State Joseph D. Ward for the governor's chair.
The dominant figure of the 1970s and 1980s was Governor Michael Dukakis. He served as a state representative before he took the corner office, but was widely viewed as a liberal reformer — "an outsider from within," in the words of Democratic political strategist John Walsh. His successor, Republican William Weld, broke 16 years of Democratic rule by campaigning against the culture of Beacon Hill.
Weld passed off power to Republicans Paul Cellucci and Jane Swift before the next two outsiders — Republican businessman Mitt Romney, a Mormon in a heavily Catholic state, and Democrat Patrick, the state's first black governor — took their turns.
The lessons of the gubernatorial succession, observers say, are many. First: a Republican, just by dint of party, can claim outsider status in a deep-blue state.
Hence this year's Republican gubernatorial frontrunner Charlie Baker, a veteran of the Weld and Cellucci administrations, is putting Beacon Hill reform near the center of his campaign. In media appearances, press releases and fundraising pitches, Baker pledges to clean up the sort of patronage laid bare by the recent corruption trial of John J. O'Brien, former state probation commissioner.
Lenny Alcivar, a Washington-based GOP strategist who has worked on several Bay State races, said it is a wise strategy: "Every successful [Massachusetts] Republican campaign I can remember has included the candidate touting himself as the outsider."
On the Democratic side, figures like Warren (who grew up in Oklahoma) and Patrick (a Chicago native) have demonstrated the appeal of the literal outsider. But Democratic political consultant Lou DiNatale said race and gender have also played a critical role. "The outsider in Democratic politics — it's more about identity politics," he said.
That makes it hard for a white male like Berwick to catch fire in a Democratic primary, DiNatale said, and it allows Coakley — one of the best-known politicians in the state — to put some distance between herself and the Beacon Hill set that voters love to loathe.
Johnston, the former chairman of the Democratic primary, said Coakley's role as a prosecutor also helps: "When the voters are saying they want an outsider, what they're saying is they want someone who is honest and ethical and independent of the power structure."
Timing, observers say, can also play a role.
In 2010, Republican Scott Brown rode a powerful Tea Party surge to his stunning US Senate victory. And two years later, Warren unseated him with an equally well-timed critique of Wall Street.
It is not clear that Berwick, who has pushed for single-payer health care and an end to homelessness, has found the same sort of zeitgeist issue.
He points out that he is the only candidate in the Democratic primary to favor a repeal of the state's casino law, which will be on the ballot in November. But that vote will come two months after the Democratic primary. And the latest Globe poll shows likely Democratic primary voters favor keeping the law in place by a margin of 49 to 40 percent (the survey has a margin of error of 5.1 percent).
"It's not clear [opposition is] going to coalesce early enough on, in a strong enough way, to give Don Berwick what he needs," said Steve Koczela, president of the MassINC Polling Group, which found Democrats supporting casinos in an early July survey of its own.
Berwick, though, is pressing on.
His fund-raising has kept pace with Coakley's and Grossman's. And he counts more than 2,000 volunteers on his campaign. "I can sense the surge," he said. "I think you're going to see it."
On Wednesday afternoon, he was one of several candidates for statewide and local office making the rounds at the annual summer picnic Harvard University hosts for Cambridge senior citizens.
As the mostly liberal crowd noshed on roasted chicken on a bed of mozzarella, tomatoes, arugula and penne pasta, Berwick made the case against casinos and touted his plan to end chronic homelessness.
Cecelyn Morris-Bent, 71, a retired medical records assistant, was impressed. "I wish him good luck," she said.
But Morris-Bent added that she is leaning toward Coakley in the Democratic primary: "Number one, she's a woman."
Leah Dickstein, 79, a retired professor of psychiatry, said she is backing Berwick though. She likes his focus on health care. She says he seems honest. And she likes his outsider appeal.
"I've been an outsider all my life," she said.David Scharfenberg can be reached at email@example.com. Follow him on Twitter @dscharfGlobe


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Our Little Pony
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pretend to be into something just to get subjected to sexual harassment? i doubt that highly
it's not fun for either gender
The comic itself while enjoyable and the meaning is overall pretty clear. However in relation to the article as it's source the comic is rated against that pretty much falls flat on its face cause it missed the point of the article.
Also the panel with fluttershy cosplayer looking for the guy's cutie mark is really messed up when it comes to how the face was drawn. It is really over exaggerated to the point where it looks creepy and not human. Certainly an area for improvement.
I have a feeling few people will actually understand this comic (its quite clever). There should be a contest every time a new comic comes out and Grey Carter can say who wins and loses.
I will also accept "Sexual Harassment Fluttershy" as my new favourite character as well.
OK, fair enough. He's a sexist asshole. But not in the way the comic is suggesting. So I think my criticism of the comic still stands. He's sexist because he chose to make a big deal about their appearance, and implied it had something to do with their worth as a person. What he ISN'T is a "Geek Gatekeeper" who accuses women of being posers based solely on their gender.
Yeah, agreed. So long as we can agree he's an asshole I don't mind what kind we think he is.
I thought the comic was funny just for the pure ridiculousness of it. That being said you watered down your message by mixing it with MLP since most of the people in here won't read the linked article.
As for the article itself ... isn't superficially judging people by their "geek cred" and constantly trying to "out hipster" each other one of the communities greatest past times? In fact I can only think of a couple of forums where newcomers aren't treated with hostility. I guess "6 of 9" sounds a lot like "n00b" to my ears.
Oh sweet jesus. So many people not understanding...
And no, while harassment may seem awesome for us guys, just wait until it's a girl you find unattractive.
Even with attractive girls its annoying as hell if you've turned them down and they won't leave you the hell alone.
Isn't that the whole point?
That guy has no right telling anyone what to do or assuming what other people's motivation is based on things like looks and gender.
Yeah, I think the authors of this strip did too. I read the comic. I read the description below it. I read the linked article. I read the description again. Then I wondered what the fuck they were insulting the author of that article for. What they're insulting him for isn't what he even said in that article. Looking over this thread, I'm glad I'm not the only one who's confused by this.
Side note: I'd totally check out her booth.
I must say, I loled very well at this.
One could read the original blog response too, but as with many in the comments, the author missed the point of the original one too. Granted, the source probably could have been written better, I will give you that.
Basic point is, that while yes we can't judge everyone who cosplays in skimpy outfits as attention whores, someone eventually will want to talk to them (whether to hit on them, or just talk about what an awesome Emma Frost they make). But there's that realization once you DO start talking to them where they're totally disinterested in you, the con, the subject, and just don't really care, they just want to see the flashes and crowds.
It's like ticket scalpers or people who buy as many limited editions as possible to sell on Ebay later, but have no idea what the comic is about, they're just there to milk money (or in this case, attention) from people, and starve it from more deserving people.
Another vote for the "I get exactly what he's trying to do (thank you, Coldster) however I don't think its very well executed"
Where can I find myself a sexual harassment fluttershy? In fact, where can I find attractive girls cosplaying well? I'd pay to see that.
Edit: I rofl'd hard at "That ass is magic"
. . . This is a thing? ._. I mean... Anti-girl gaming stuff is incredibly stupid but... that applies to MLP too... Wat.
Looks like one more reason for me to not watch MLP, not to dump on those of you who do. Some of the fans are quite, shall we say, off-putting. I watch Adventure Time, though, because it's F^[email protected] bonkers, and awesome.
Honestly didn't get what this one was getting at. Its point seems a little fuzzy. Maybe my old pal Coldster can help me out :P
C'mon, spell it out to me. I can't brain today, i have the dumb.
To be fair, Bronies, you know, adult men calling pink ponies "cute" and a variety of names one should only use about, well, humans, and preferably real people, deserve almost all sarcasm and mockery heading their way.
I'll be the first to admit that there are ridiculous forms of fandom in anything. Gaming itself is pretty silly. But the amount of Bronies that I've even seen posting here, describing their love for fictitious ponies, and how they'd totally "date" them, it gives me enough creeps to last a lifetime.
We could lump them together with the furries and put them on an island somewhere, that would solve a multitude of problems.
Is that like South Park's Sexual Harassment Panda?
God damn the rainbow dash girl with the cigar alone had me laughing my ass off.
I don't know how that guy wanted to sound, but he comes off as a grade A douche from what I'm reading. So what if they are only there to cosplay and socialize? Their reason for being at the convention is just as valid as anyone else's.
I can't decide if the fact I understand the reverse satire is good or bad, though mainly I'm just bitter about all of it because gender is still a big thing. That and I have to be reminded in my slipping faith in humanity every day.
I think Im in love with this thread already. There are so many ways to interpret the comic and so many implications, not least for the authors possibly using ponies to stir the pot some and rack up some hits, that this thread could function as a fully fledged sociological experiment.
The hate, counter hate, opinions and thoughts are going to make this an interesting night for meme and internet cliche collecting.
Speak of the devil :P. And you move this thread one step closer to invoking Godwins law. Someone is bound to call that some kind of -ism. Maybe a fash? Who knows.
i'm a brony and i do love MLP but not in the same sense that you seem to be implying...
i know to difference between reality and fiction and don't aspire to date a fictional character. Sure there are those in the brony community that like sort of thing, but generalizing the whole fan base for what a small part of it does is pretty shallow-minded
this is why i may like the series but i don't ever plan to go to a con
Wow, brilliant work there Sherlock. :P
Basically, the comic is making a point about male geeks who respond to females at Cons, particularly attractive ones that defy the usually "geek" stereotype, with unwarranted hostility.
The point they're making is this: How would you feel if you liked something stereotypically girly like My Little Pony and everyone harassed you or thought you were an attention whore because of it? That's how girls often feel when they show up at cons, despite being genuinely interested in nerdy stuff.
Yeah, the comic's drenched in sarcasm and satire, so it's a bit hard to understand.
At first, I thought the women in the comic were just a bunch of gay men (not that there's anything wrong with that). To the artist of this comic, I think you need to give them more defined curves or soemthing, because this is not the first time I've made that mistake.
Either way, I am now looking forward to the MLP episode on sexual harassment. Unless it happens to Fluttershy, in which case I will be permanently scarred.
This isn't helped by the fact that there is a majority male component to the 'Brony' community. There is also the fact that they are actively looking to welcome more female fans to make the community look a little more well adjusted and so don't function like a 'typical' convention crowd.
I'm not saying the point isn't valid or even cleverly made but it would have worked better with a gaming convention setup rather than a pony one. It just seems a little... off in its current form.
There is also the fact that any male 'Brony' who was sexually 'harassed' by three women dressed as part of the mane six probably wouldn't mind. Like at all.
Did anyone actually read the text underneath the comic? It pretty much spells the point out for you; that this shit happens all the time to women, where women geeks and gamers for some inexplicable reason have to 'prove themselves' that they're not just posers. It's bullshit, pathetic misogynist crap.
Also no Rarity?
Well okay, so they do exist. I didn't have enough experience with cons myself to comment, I just felt that it sounded a little unbelievable to me. Apparently I was wrong, although I still kind of think a few bits of anecdotal evidence aren't proof of a widespread problem.
But still, I don't like the idea of acting like you have to create some kind of geek Inquisition to reject the eeevil wannabes. It's a public space (assuming they paid to get in or whatever else), and it's not as if they're drugging vulnerable nerds to be carried off for some kind of sick experiments. What precisely is the problem? That you feel these wannabes are so hypnotising that entire swathes of the nerd population will be swayed by their wiles? That they'll hurt your feelings by being rude about the things they're dressed up as?
I just don't think it's worth the trouble you'd create by treating every attractive woman at a convention with suspicion. And I especially don't think the guy who wrote the original post is the right guy to talk about it, since he seems to be an arrogant, judgemental prick. He can say he's not talking about 'proper' nerd girls until he's blue in the face, he still used the "out of 10" scale in the same article as saying that he's attracted to brains over looks. After implying that women are worth less if they're lower on the scale, too.
Yeah, problems like... Umm...
...The number of sexual assaults being committed against fictional creatures? Seriously, what problems are we talking about here?
Man there's a lot of whooshing going on in here!
Also Cigar Chomping Rainbow Dash is clearly superior.
There are two things in this world I hate most.
1. People who are intolerant of other peoples preferences and beliefs to point of alienation
Yeah, it probably would've been better with something that isn't notable for it's surprisingly huge male fanbase, like Barbie or something. He was probably trying to make it more relatable and/or attract more hits by alluding to Bronyism.
And I doubt you could ever really convince men that being sexually harassed by a woman is a very bad thing because our culture dictates that sex is something a woman generously gives and a man is happy to get, no matter the circumstances. That's an issue for another day. though.
My god. That comic actually reached critical mass levels of lampoon and sarcasm. I actually genuinely believed it had actually happened for a good few minutes there >< Tangently, should I feel ashamed for finding the cigar chomping one kind of cute?
On the actual topic at hand, having just read the article linked under the comic does raise some fair points, and the OP has missed that point. It's not about some elitist jerk juding you based on "geek cred" it's about /those/ sort of women that go to conventions, just so they can seek attention, because they imagine the stereotypical geek being there (which do exist), and feel empowered, because they KNOW that a lot of the men there will be infatuated with her being there. It's cruel and out of order as far as I'm concerned, you don't see me going to places where I envision underconfident, desperate women being just so I can feel superior.
Not only that, there is a large section of the article stating that calling women out to be judged on their geekiness in some asinine system is awful as well, so I'm not sure what the point is regarding the article.
Enlighten me anyone?
i saw what you did there...
Actually the idea of getting sexually harassed by a group of women engorges my sexual organ.
Even if it was someone grossly unattractive, the ego boost still happens.
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NIPSCO Choice is a voluntary program that gives you the opportunity to choose your natural gas supplier. We know that consumers like to shop around for competitively priced products and services, and this program gives you the same opportunity for your energy needs. NIPSCO is currently the only utility in Indiana offering such alternative supplier options to all its natural gas customers.
This image represents a typical customer's bill who purchases gas from NIPSCO. If you should choose to participate in the Choice program, your bill will be separated into two parts.


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When Gilles Thevenin bought the historic, all-but-defunct perfume house of Lubin, a dozen years ago, he knew he was picking up a trail that led directly back to the doomed French queen Marie Antoinette. But he had no way of knowing that, 10 years on, he would come across the formula for the last fragrance she ever wore—and that her last vial of perfume still existed.
The Lubin story begins amid the French Revolution, when the young Pierre-François Lubin became an apprentice to Jean-Louis Fargeon—perfumer to the queen. In 1798, after the conflict, Lubin more or less picked up where his mentor left off, and his success was such that he went on to become the purveyor to Empress Josephine and assorted ladies of the court, as well as to the merveilleuses (courtesans and fashion icons of the day) andincroyables (their male counterparts). By the 1830s, Lubin had become the first French perfume house to export to the United States.
Things got more complicated by mid-19th century, when the heirless Lubin sold his company to a French family, who held onto it until the 1970s, at which point it changed hands among a series of multi-nationals, notably Sanofi, Henkel, and Wella.
Enter Thevenin, the former director of creation at Guerlain, who came across the name while leafing through backlists of Wella stock. He begged his bosses for a chance to resurrect the brand. "Here I was, looking at one of the oldest names in luxury in the world, and no one in the company was interested," Thevenin recounts. At the time, the company's focus was the launch of Gucci Envy, the first fragrance by Tom Ford. Every day for 15 months, Thevenin lobbied the Wella board for the right to purchase Lubin. At last he prevailed, and quit his job.
Perfume-lovers tend to be obsessive, and this goes doubly, triply, or even more so for Thevenin, whose love of history in general and perfumery in particular make him something of a walking encyclopedia. Even so, he hesitated. "There I was—broke and daunted. I felt a little enslaved by the brand," he recounts. It was his friend and former boss Jean-Paul Guerlain who told him to pull it together. "He said that a pretty history is all well and good, but now I had to forget all that and do something from the gut."
For his first launch, Idole, in collaboration with star nose Olivia Giacobetti, in 2005, Thevenin reached back to his youthful travels in Asia, when he roamed freely along the maritime spice route, dealing in antiques and reveling in the local markets. Then he started picking through the archives—a few boxes with some interesting pieces, but not enough, he says.
He worked with perfumer Thomas Fontaine, a specialist in recasting vintage formulas for modern times, to re-interpret more traceable, modern hits such as Gin Fizz, whose original 1955 formula was inspired by Grace Kelly. (There is no proof, but it's been rumored for decades that Kelly was wearing the fragrance when she was officially proposed to by Prince Rainier of Monaco.)
Then, through luck and helpful connections, Thevenin was struck with a breakthrough. A perfumer who had started her career at Lubin in the 50s put him in touch with the house's previous owners, who agreed to provide a copy of Lubin's original formula books. In these relics, which Lubin began at the age of 10 and continued throughout his life, Thevenin came across a formula from the 1780s called Bouquet de la Reine (Queen's Bouquet), dutifully re-copied, as per custom, by a loyal apprentice. "It's a very short formula, but with a lot of personality," he notes. "But the last thing I wanted to be known for was dusting off old formulas," he said. "I wasn't really sure what to do with it."
He mentioned the potential project to a friend of illustrious aristocratic stock. As it happens, she already knew the story: One of her ancestors, the Duchesse de Tourzel, had been lady in waiting to the queen and guardian of the dauphin. On the eve of her departure to the Conciergerie, the queen entrusted the duchess with her last vial of perfume, which she had worn around her neck. The duchess survived the revolution and, in her memoirs, spoke of the shiny black vial as a talisman. Over the generations, the family came to call it "jade noir," or black jade.
In its modern, spicy "floriental" incarnation, Black Jade associates two staples of the classic French garden—rose and jasmine—with spices found in French colonies of the day, such as cinnamon, incense, sandalwood, and patchouli.
While 230-odd years and three degrees of separation from the queen is quite a story, for Thevenin this aspect is actually less compelling than the object as a talisman, which today lies secreted away in a vault somewhere (he does not despair of seeing it one day). "The queen's story was so dramatic and upsetting—we French are not so comfortable with that," he points out. "But the fact that the talisman brought good luck to someone gives it a hopeful note."
Black Jade by Lubin is now available at Aedes de Venustas and Min New York, N.Y.C. For other locations nationwide, e-mail email@example.com, or call 404-467-4319 for stores nearest you.
See below for a slideshow of Lubin Paris, current photographs by Xavier Granet.


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Biography: Life of Earl Hamner revealed
The creator of The Waltons, Earl Hamner usually finds his name under "author" in card catalogs. Now he can be found on the "subject" line. A new biography, Earl Hamner: From Walton's Mountain to Tomorrow, has just been released by a Nashville publishing house.
Hamner's biographer is Jim Person, who– while writing a scholarly article for the now-defunct Sherwood Anderson Review– wanted to find out more about the author of Spencer's Mountain, Hamner's book that served as the basis for The Waltons.
"I can't get used to saying the words, 'my biographer,'" says Hamner from his home in Studio City, California.
Hamner was amazed at the interest, but Person was quick to recognize Hamner's role in the history of television.
"I was surprised there were no books on Earl Hamner," says Person.
While best known for the earnest family drama that made "John-Boy" a household name, Hamner also wrote sci-fi for another venerated series, The Twilight Zone. And some fans may be surprised to learn that he created that steamy 1980s California soap, Falcon Crest. And it was his screenplay for Heidi that enraged football fans across the nation in 1968 when NBC decided to preempt the final minutes of a close Oakland Raiders/New York Jets game to air the story of the little Swiss miss.
"People think all I am is Mr. Walton," says Hamner. "I've done books and movies and radio. My life has covered the entire span of commercial TV."
"He did so much more than The Waltons," agrees Person. "He's quite a man of many parts."
Appropriately, Schuyler, the setting for Hamner's childhood with seven brothers and sisters that became the basis for the enduring Waltons series, is the first stop on the book tour with Person.
The biographer and his subject will sign at Polly and Jim Bob's Bed and Breakfast on August 13. The next day, he visits Charlottesville's New Dominion bookshop. Then it's on to Roanoke, Williamsburg, and Chesapeake.
The Schuyler visit promises to be bittersweet. His baby brother, James– Jim Bob in the series and the last Hamner to live in the family homeplace– died April 1, 2004, at 67. And their sister, Marion Hamner Hawkes, 74, who inspired the character Mary Ellen, died November 22.
"I think I can go to Schuyler," says Hamner. "Some feelings of sadness have melted away."
Author Person emphasizes that the new book isn't just a biography. "It's a fairly in-depth look at his works," he says. Person has written over 100 essays and reviews, as well as Russell Kirk: A Critical Biography of a Conservative Mind.
So in interviewing people for the book, did he turn up any skeletons in Hamner's closet?
"I looked high and low to find someone to say something negative about him," admits Person– to no avail. "Everyone who worked with him said Earl is a gentleman in a world where we frequently find ourselves surrounded by barbarians."
And those who speak highly of Hamner in book jacket blurbs include To Kill a Mockingbird author Harper Lee, crooner Andy Williams, with whom Hamner worked at NBC Radio in New York, and radio commentator Paul Harvey, who credits Hamner with making family values respected again.
"I'm very impressed with myself and getting a swelled head," says Hamner, who just celebrated his 81st birthday.
Person spoke to Hamner after the book came out. "Earl was ecstatic," says Person. "For the first time since I've known him, this garrulous man was speechless."
The first biography on Schuyler native son Earl Hamner is out, and he's as wholesome as you suspected.


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The Federal Maritime Commission issues this notice to alert consumers about the activities of an entity using the name Shippex Shipping Express (referred to as ""Shippex"" throughout this notice). Shippex should not be confused with Shipex LLC of Houston TX, which is properly licensed and bonded, and not related to Shippex.
Shippex is not licensed and bonded, but is offering, through its web site (www.shippex.net), to move household goods for consumers via ocean transportation to other countries. Shippex appears to be operating in violation of the Shipping Act of 1984, as it is unlawful to carry on such activities without a Commission issued license and without appropriate consumer financial protection, such as a surety bond.
Shippex allegedly has been collecting payment from consumers for the delivery of their goods to a foreign destination. Shippex may be related to an unlicensed entity the Commission is presently investigating for allegedly collecting payment from consumers for moving their goods to a foreign destination, but failing to deliver the goods as promised, demanding additional monies before delivering the goods, delaying delivery for an extended period of time, and threatening retribution against their consumer customers.
Any consumers that have arranged with Shippex for international shipment of their household goods or personal effects should immediately contact the Commission's Office of Consumer Affairs and Dispute Resolution Services (202-523-5807 or firstname.lastname@example.com). We will make every attempt to locate your goods and determine the status of your shipment.
This site is an official U.S. Government Website


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James Lutzweiler
"I can't imagine how to capture the journey I have been on since leaving Duquesne. But suffice to say, that program launched me on my career and provided me the links to get out and back into international development."
That was how, in 2007, Jim Lutzweiler summarized what he took from his experience in the Policy Center, ten years after he first came to Duquesne as a Peace Corps Fellow.
Jim served as a forestry volunteer in Ghana from 1994 to 1996. He established a tree nursery and tree planting projects in 40 communities in the rural northwest of the country and engaged in environmental education.
After leaving the Peace Corps he worked briefly for the Chicago Housing Authority, where he became interested in urban development and housing policy. He pursued this interest in the Policy Center, where as a Fellow he first worked on housing development at Manchester Citizens Corporation, then on laying the groundwork for a new initiative for local housing authorities, Lead Free Pittsburgh, at the Heinz Endowments, a prestigious Pittsburgh Foundation.
At the Policy Center Jim studied Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies and was instrumental in founding a student-led African conflict resolution organization, the Ubuntu Network. He also took the lead in cultivating a relationship with Catholic Relief Services (CRS), leading to his taking positions with CRS in Nigeria (where he met and married his wife Thelma) and South Africa.
In South Africa, Jim took a position with World Vision, the largest distributor of food aid in the world, which brought him back to the States as a food aid policy analyst. He prepared World Vision's Congressional testimony on food aid and spoke on panels at the World Bank and Congressional Hunger Center.
In 2007 Jim moved to World Learning as Director of Outreach. In 2009 he joined a South African-based organization, Joint Aid Management, as Vice President for Strategic Development .


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You're reviewing: NAVY KNIT COWL NECK SHORT SLEEVES SWEATER DRESS
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The Hearing Aid Compatibility Act of 1988 (HAC Act) generally requires that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ensure that telephones manufactured or imported for use in the United States after August 1989, and all "essential" telephones, are hearing aid-compatible. When Congress passed the Act in 1988, it specifically exempted "telephones used with public mobile services" (wireless telephones) from these requirements.
According to the FCC, a telephone is hearing aid compatible if it provides internal means (i.e., without the use of external devices) for effective use with hearing aids that are designed to be compatible with telephones that meet the FCC's technical standard for hearing aid compatibility (the technical standard is codified at 47 C.F.R. § 68.316). This is usually accomplished by inserting a telecoil in telephones that detects, or is compatible with, a similar telecoil in the hearing aid, and thus allows the hearing aid to "couple" with the telephone through an electromagnetic field.
To ensure that the HAC Act kept pace with the evolution of telecommunications, however, Congress granted the FCC a means to revoke or limit the exemption for wireless telephones. On August 14, 2003, the FCC determined that continuation of a complete exemption for wireless telephones would have an adverse effect on individuals with hearing disabilities, and that limiting the exemption was technologically feasible and in the public interest. Based upon these findings, the FCC established rules for the hearing aid compatibility of digital wireless phones.
In these pages you will find information and updates on both wireline and wireless hearing aid compatible phones. In addition, we provide information about Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS) which provide access to services to allow you to connect to others using a telephone when you can no longer fully hear on the phone.
To learn more about hearing aid compatibility visit: www.fcc.gov


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Shares of Western Union (NYSE:WU) plummeted more than 25% Wednesday morning after the world's largest payment transfer company took an axe to its full-year earnings targets amid rising competition.
The gloomier outlook from Western Union was issued Tuesday evening and triggered a slew of downgrades from major brokerages.
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The company said it earned $269.5 million, or 45 cents a share, last quarter, compared with a profit of $239.7 million, or 38 cents a share, a year earlier.
Excluding one-time items, the company earned 45 cents a share, up from 38 cents a share a year earlier and matching estimates from analysts. Revenue inched up 1% to $1.4 billion.
However, Western Union slashed its 2012 outlook, projecting non-GAAP EPS of $1.65 to $1.68, down from $1.73 to $1.77 previously. Even the high end of the new range would badly miss the Street's view of $1.76.
"Business was challenging, as soft global economic conditions, compliance related changes, and competitive pressures in certain money transfer corridors impacted revenues," CEO Hikmet Ersek said in a statement.
To combat competitive pressures and other issues, Western Union unveiled plans for a series of strategic moves, including increasing its pricing investment, continuing to invest in digital and cutting $30 million of annual cost savings by 2014.
Western Union's outlook downgrade and new pricing strategy prompted a number of analysts to downgrade the stock, including Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) to "market perform" from "outperform."
The new pricing strategy likely pushes any "earnings recovery to 2014 at the earliest, when potential market-share gains from lower prices should drive higher revenue," analysts at Evercore (NYSE:EVR) wrote in a note, Dow Jones Newswires reported. Evercore downgraded Western Union to "underweight" from "overweight."
On the positive side, Western Union upped its share repurchase plan to $750 million and raised its annual dividend by 25% to 50 cents a share.
Still, Wall Street hammered Western Union for the latest developments, driving its shares down 27.11% to $13.07 in recent trading on Wednesday. The stock had been trading roughly flat on the year before the selloff.


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Career Advice >> Browse Articles >> Workplace Issues
Is Your Employer Taking Advantage of You?
Larry Buhl | for HotJobs
Since the recession began in December 2007, more than half of all American workers have become unemployed, taken a pay cut, suffered a reduction in hours, or had to take a temporary job because they couldn't find a full-time position, according to the Pew Research Center's Social and Demographic Trends Project.
You probably don't need a study to tell you the job market is still less than robust. In such an environment, you might assume that employers are taking advantage of employees—by withholding raises and promotions, loading on extra work, and even eliminating fringe benefits long after their balance sheets are healthy.
Quiz: What's Your Money IQ?
And in some cases, you'd be right.
"Now that corporations have learned they can do with fewer workers, many are using it to their advantage, whether it is essential to their survival or not—and that trend could go on indefinitely," says Douglas McIntyre, editor of 24/7 Wall Street.
Mike Manoske, a business development manager and recruiter for the staffing and consulting firm Yoh, believes that that up to a third of companies that are raking in gobs of money are not sharing it. He adds that such stingy behavior is usually not due to greed but rather to "nervous senior managers who are worried the economic recovery won't last."
"There are a lot of organizations who say, basically, 'You're lucky to have a job now, so here's more work,' but nobody in management is communicating why they need to take on more work," Manoske says.
If you suspect that your long days, flat paychecks, and stingy perks are helping make someone at your company very rich, experts offer tips on assessing the situation.
Don't believe everything you hear or read. "The rumor mills are on hyper-drive now, and people hear and repeat only half the story, but they rarely validate it," Manoske says. "Most of the time, it's a lack of communication from the top and from managers that causes rumors and resentment to run wild."
Holly G. Green, CEO and managing director of The Human Factor, agrees that it's important to learn the full story. "The company could have gone into deep debt to keep the doors open but has now had one great quarter—a long way from full recovery but starting to do well. There are times when externally facing statements don't really tell the whole story, so you have to be cautious about assuming too much from them."
When in doubt, ask HR. Manoske shares a story of a colleague who was given a raise in January that wouldn't take effect until June. It was a moot point, because the colleague was laid off in May. "What he should have done is reached out to someone in human resources in February and asked, 'Where are we?'"
That's not to say that HR will always share information, or that they even know. But it's still important to ask, Manoske says. "If HR doesn't know the answer, they will almost always ask upper management, and if upper management receives enough queries, they'll be forced to better communicate and explain the company's method of compensating employees."


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Our best hope
IFAW's education programmes empower young people and communities to take positive action for animals.
- Our Animal Action Education programme reaches 5,000,000 young people in 40+ countries.
- Aboard our floating classrooms, children learn to respect and appreciate whales and other endangered marine wildlife.
- We teach community-based companion animal welfare from South Africa to Navajo Nation.
- We help local communities in Africa and Asia learn to live in harmony with wild animals.
New "Cats, Dogs, and Us" education resources: Free classroom-ready lessons for learners aged 5-14
Animal Action Education
- New for ages 5-14! Download our free Cats, Dogs, and Us lesson plans » and watch the companion classroom video online on Vimeo » or YouTube »
- Visit our Library Free resources for educators »
- Art for Animals Visit our Animal Action Art Gallery today »
Education news
Sonny the street artist is currently painting murals around the world highlighting imperiled species. He has chosen the Read more »
In 2014, IFAW embarked on an ambitious project to pay for the education of 60 students from the Olgulului/Olalarashi Group Read more »
For the past five days, the Masque Theatre has been packed to the rafters with chattering, excited learners – many Read more »
This World Wildlife Day, which this year has the theme of #ListentoYoungVoices, I want to encourage everyone to # Watch Video »
Our video team has been fortunate enough to chronicle so many of our successes over the years. Here is a rundown of our Watch Video »
At a standing room only event, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) was delighted to bring together CITES Watch Video »
On World Wildlife Day, I am proud to announce an extraordinary group of 34 young people, ages 18-25, from around the world Watch Video »
A training workshop to equip enforcement officers stationed at One-Stop Border Posts (OSBP) in Kenya and Uganda with skills to detect and deter transnational wildlife trafficking began today in Kampala, Uganda. The training workshop hosted by the Uga Read more »
On this year's UN World Wildlife Day, United Nations Environment, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) launched the 'Protect Our Wildlife Star' campaign with young celebrities Jevon Wang, Jun Read more »
Boosting law enforcement skills of stakeholders is critical to detecting, managing and adjudicating over wildlife cases In spite of evidence showing wildlife crime is linked to other forms of serious offenses, most countries apply wildlife policies a Read more »
Today marks World Rabies Day and reminds us that this disease, so rare in many places, still kills thousands of people every year. The large majority of the human deaths are children, and occur mostly in Africa and Asia. Official statistics list some Read more »
A unique effort to draw the attention of Chinese consumer to the plight of endangered species reaches a climax in Nanjing tonight with hundreds of thousands of shoppers having watched the animal picture show at the facade of a large building. The the Read more »
Tomorrow (Wednesday) the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW – www.ifaw.org) and the Wildlife Trust of India (www.wildlifetrustofindia.org) will welcome the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Con Read more »
For more than two decades, the International Fund for Animal Welfare - IFAW has joined with educators, parents and celebrit Read more »
It's been more than 40 years since a small group of concerned citizens banded together to stop Canada's cruel com Read more »
Each year in Canada, tens of thousands of baby harp seals are killed for their pelts. Read more »
Selfies have become social currency. It is no longer enough to visit the Blarney Stone. You need an upside-down kissing Read more »
When I meet Jonathan at the Amboseli Serena Lodge where he works, it is almost 8 pm; he just knocked off for the day. He is Read more »
I have a very vivid memory of the day my literature professor settled the fundamental question of the difference between Read more »
On this year's UN World Wildlife Day, United Nations Environment, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and The Read more »


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Flight of the Bubble Gum - White by Aaron Smith
Sink your teeth into Flight of the Bubble Gum, the chewiest magic trick since Willy Wonka turned Violet violet! The magician pops a piece of ordinary bubble gum into his mouth and chews. He blows a bubble, but the bubble isn't big enough for his liking. The magician pops another piece of gum into his mouth and chews. This time when he blows a bubble, it gets bigger and bigger and bigger! The magician takes the giant bubble out of his mouth and holds it with a cloth. The bubble begins to dance on the cloth and then it floats up and down the magician's arm. A complete Zombie-style routine ensues! In the end, a Snowstorm of bubble gum confetti flies into the air and the bubble is gone!
- Easy to do magic! Professional routine!
- Available in Bubble Gum color or white!
- The perfect Snowstorm for small venues!
- Zombie PLUS Snowstorm, bubble gum flavor!
With Flight of the Bubble Gum, you get a specialized Zombie-style gimmick used to float the "bubble" and propel the Snowstorm confetti, bubble gum colored balloons (color options available), a cover cloth, bubble gum colored Snowstorm confetti loads, and instructions for every aspect of the trick! A clever routine and innovative gimmick make it easier than ever to add a Zombie Floating Ball and Snowstorm in China to your show. Flight of the Bubble Gum is perfect for school shows, birthday parties, and anywhere else you find fun-loving audiences. It's amazing magic followed by an enchanting bubble gum