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GSA Wins Telly Award for Documentary Film About Art Recovery
Video Length: 22 minutes 48 seconds
By Diane Park
WASHINGTON, April 26, 2011 – The documentary film "Returning America's Art to America," showcasing GSA's effort to recover lost and stolen artwork from the New Deal era, has earned a bronze 2011 Telly Award.
"Like a wanted poster, this film has led to the recovery of valuable WPA art," said GSA Inspector General Brian Miller.
As the official custodian of these commissioned pieces, GSA works with other federal agencies and the art community to recover the lost and missing pieces, and put them back on public display. Since the film's release in October 2010, two more pieces of artwork belonging to the federal government have been recovered, and recovery of one more is in progress. Additionally two other pieces have been voluntarily relinquished to GSA.
GSA won in the government relations category.
Founded in 1978, the Telly Award is one of the most sought-after industry awards with more than 10,000 entries each year.
Download above video: mp4 (3.66MB) | mp3 (2.06MB)


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FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter expressed today (12 June) grave concern and worry about the alleged illegal detention of Palestine football players.
The reports FIFA received state that in apparent violation of their integrity and human rights and without the apparent right of a due process (trial), several Palestine football players have allegedly been illegally detained by Israeli authorities. In particular, the mentioned reports refer to the Palestine player Mahmoud Sarsak, whose health is in a very delicate state due to the fact that he has been undergoing a hunger strike for approximately 90 days in protest of his alleged illegal detention.
Due to the aforementioned graveness of the situation, FIFA urgently calls on IFA to draw the attention of the Israeli competent authorities to the present matter, with the aim of ensuring the physical integrity of the concerned players as well as their right for due process. The matter came to FIFA's attention following correspondence with the Palestine Football Association, several international media reports concerning the football player Mahmoud Sarsak and a FIFPro media release.

subset: commoncrawl


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The World Health Organization is warning that domestic violence is at epidemic levels worldwide. The agency issued a report last week saying domestic violence is "a global health problem of epidemic proportions," with one-third of women in the world having been physically (slapped, pushed, punched, choked or attacked with a weapon) or sexually assaulted by a former or current partner.
Forty percent of women killed worldwide are killed by an intimate partner.
WHO says screening for domestic violence should be added to all levels of health care.
But not every culture takes the problem seriously. The UN says more than 600 million women live in countries where domestic violence is not considered a crime.
Thirty-seven percent of women in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia will experience it at some point in their lifetimes. The rate is 30 percent in Latin America, 25 percent in Europe and Asia and 23 percent in North America.
Clearly, women need more protection in all cultures.
The Center on Domestic Violence at the University of Colorado-Denver says to end violence in the lives of women and children, three strategic approaches are needed, calling for leaders to gain knowledge and skills to confront domestic violence and contribute to helping end it, for research on solutions to the problem and for collaborative work between academics and people who work to prevent domestic violence.
The strategies could be a good starting point, both statewide and worldwide.
Work must be done to change attitudes around the world so women do not face dangers in their own homes, at the hands of those who supposedly love them.


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Watching a movie at home with family and friends is a great to unwind after a busy week of work. With summer breezing in, why not make movie night more special by having it al fresco? Watching a movie outdoors is a memorable way to catch up on Hollywood's string of summer blockbusters. Here are some ideas to make your outdoor movie party an epic blockbuster:
Set the Stage
Whether you're setting up an outdoor movie theater in the backyard, driveway, or the rooftop of a building, finding a spot that provides optimum viewing distance and lighting is important. Make sure your audience sits at comfortable distance from the screen, and avoid areas where street lamps or lighted signs can cast a glare on the screen.
Offer your guests a variety of comfortable seating options, such as folding chairs, ottomans, or lawn recliners. You can also lay down some mats, sleeping bags, or blankets for anyone who prefers to watch lying down. If the evening gets chilly, throw out some pillows, cushions, and quilts to keep everyone extra cozy.


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Search results
Clinton County Harvest Outlook and Farm Bill Program
Management, Director, CFAES OSU Extension • Ben Brown- Assistant Professor Dept. AEDE, CFAES- Agricultural ... Risk Management • Dale Hertlein – Clinton County Executive Director, USDA, Farm Service Agency • Tony ... Nye – CFAES, OSE Extension Educator Agriculture & Natural Resources Registration Needed: Please ...
Extending the Growing Season Workshop
vegetables. Topics will focus on what to do before frost.-Container Gardens & Fall Crop-Row Covers and Low ... agricultural producers and backyard enthusiasts of all stages from beginner to experienced. This is part of ...
Agriculture Hall of Fame Nominations Sought
Applications are being accepted for the 2019 Hardin County Agriculture Hall of Fame through the ... end of business on October 15. Nominees must have made their major contribution to agriculture ... The purpose of the Hardin County Agriculture Hall of Fame is to recognize and honor outstanding ...
Extension Master Urban Farmer Program Offered Fall 2019
Interested in farming on a local and urban scale? Ohio State University Extension and Toledo GROWs ... is collaborating to offer the Master Urban Farmer Program in Lucas County. The class will meet on ... Session topics include: animal husbandry, bee keeping, speciality crops, soils, IPM, business planning and ...
Edibles in the Landscape
Botanical Garden and want to see this plant in its glory, it can be found along the north/south drive across ... the Rose Garden. This is the local office to bring in samples to ID or garden related questions to be ... mass, or as a single specimen. It does well in most sites, but does prefer a well-drained soil. An added ...
Monarch Butterflies Workshop
The final summer garden program 'Monarch Butterflies' is scheduled for August 17. Come and learn ... Monarch caterpillars in the Friendship Gardens and learn how to raise them until they emerge and are able ... plant to help attract monarch butterflies to their garden. There will be books and butterfly containers ...
Market Gardener Training Program
market gardens for fruit and vegetable production and 35 have started other urban agriculture ... Extension's Urban Agriculture Program in Cuyahoga County. This ten week course will provide a foundation in ... urban agriculture and small business development to prepare participants to start their own enterprises ...
Ohio Celebrates Local Foods Week
a community garden in the neighborhood, an urban farm, a CSA (community support agriculture) farm, or a more ... What excites me in the summer, is a quick trip out to the garden to harvest a fresh tomato or two. ... local economy. Agriculture is Ohio's number one industry contributing jobs for one in seven Ohioans, and ...
2019 Ohio State Fair Wrap-up
without risk. I discovered I love quilting, so I will keep quilting, learn more techniques and teach ...
Dean's Charity Steer Show Partners 4-H Youth with Local Celebrities for a Great Cause
On July 30, Cathann A. Kress, Vice President for Agricultural Administration and Dean of the ... College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, along with Ohio Cattlemen's Association and ... Charities of Central Ohio (RMHC). The event brought together the community to celebrate agriculture and ...


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Our solid hardwood molding is manufactured from the finest kiln-dried Appalachian stock. It is available in most domestic species, including oak (red or white), cherry, hickory, maple, poplar, and walnut. In addition to our standard profiles, we can also manufacture any custom molding style you may need.LEARN MORE


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For some of you this post may seem superfluous and that is fine. For those of you that have an interest in Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) and have zero background knowledge in economics I recommend starting at the link above that says Index. As noted in the About link, it is mostly a deconstruction of Bill Mitchell's work into what I believe to be more manageable pieces. There are only two significant categories, LayPerson and Economics – the Economics category is the more advanced post. You should have little trouble following the category Economics if you read the blog posts in sequence. Admittedly, you may have to read some posts twice to understand them fully.
For the people that have had some economics training or some form of economics background, I recommend placing your mouse cursor over the Resources link above and selecting MMT for Economists from the drop down lists. I give you fair warning though many of the propositions you hold to be true will be challenged along the way, the very foundation of your economic thinking may be challenged.
The FAQs or Frequently Asked Questions are still very much a work in progress and you are welcome to add your own. Other things you might like to see are Audio Visuals listed on the Video tab and the drop-down section Fiscal Sustainability Teach-In. Yes they are two distinct links. The latter are individual videos whilst the former are playlists you might like to view and review.
The Resources and Other tab also provide links to written pieces on Modern Monetary Mechanics often called Modern Monetary Theory but it is only a theory in its recommendations or prescriptions, not the description of how modern money works today. And of course there are a few links to check out under Links in the right side-bar towards the bottom of the page.
Feel free to comment on making changes to the above so it can be more easily understood.


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He's offended countless Muslims, been described as a "grub" on Sydney radio and been in court over a domestic dispute, and that's just in the past fortnight. When it comes to the shooting of Nathan Abela's house, it seems there is no shortage of suspects.
Just last week, Nathan Abela posted footage of himself on YouTube standing outside an Islamic school in Chullora.
The 24-year-old had made the journey there from his home in Greystanes, apparently aiming to educate people about what he believed was occurring behind the large fence of the Waterloo Road school.
The footage he took, containing his controversial and extremist views, was uploaded online for anyone to see.
"Why have we got a fort in the middle of Sydney?" he asks in the footage.
"...Why do we need Fort f---ing Knox in the middle of Sydney with a mosque in it and children like this? So I daresay they're keeping and locking up people inside there because it's a massive complex."
One week on and it appears that Mr Abela, the president of the western Sydney chapter of the anti-Islamic Australian Defence League, could do with a similar security fence around his home, after it was sprayed with bullets overnight in what police say was a targeted attack.
Mr Abela claims that up to eight bullets were fired through the front window, narrowly missing him as he dived for cover. He suffered a minor injury to his shoulder while diving over a table and doing a commando roll. He was not shot, and neither were his mother and 15-year-old sister, who were upstairs at the time.
The gunman or gunmen then took off in what witnesses told police was a silver Audi.
Plenty of detractors
Thursday night's shooting appears to be the culmination of simmering tension between Mr Abela and many people who had taken exception to his and his organisation's extremist views.
The Australian Defence League, based on the emergence in early 2009 of the English Defence League, says on its Facebook page that its aim is "standing up against Islam now, not when its [sic] too late".
Mr Abela has posted several YouTube clips in the past week that include the slogans "Love of country leads me" and "ban Islam".
His anti-Islamic have led to online threats, including that he should be "demolished", while his mobile phone number was also published online and people were urged to call him at any hour.
"I'm surprised this didn't come sooner," said Wissam Haddad, the owner of the former Al Risalah Bookstore in Bankstown, following Thursday night's shooting.
Mr Haddad said he had been trying to get Mr Abela's public pages closed down to avoid inflaming tensions.
"He's offended 2.8 billion Muslims by insulting our prophet; he has numerous AVOs out against him; he's even offended Ray Hadley."
Mr Abela last week had a verbal stoush with 2GB host Hadley, who accused him of secretly and illegally taping a conversation with Hadley's personal assistant and posting it on YouTube.
Mr Hadley described Mr Abela on air at the time as a "liar", a "grub" and a "cowardly bastard".
On Friday morning, Hadley once again denounced Mr Abela, as well as the actions of the shooter or shooters.
"To the people that shot up his joint - for God's sake, I mean, you could have killed his mother or his sister who were innocent bystanders," Hadley said on air.
"The simple fact of the matter is that you've now given this lunatic a platform that he doesn't deserve and all of a sudden his hateful, vengeful rantings will be out there for all people to see and that's not good."
After viewing the footage from outside the Islamic school in Chullora, Hadley also suggested that Mr Abela may have some "mental health issues".
Indeed, Mr Abela recently told a local court that he did suffer from mental health issues.
On Wednesday, he applied to have a domestic stalking/intimidating and breach of AVO matter dealt with under mental health legislation in Liverpool Local Court.
The charges relate to a domestic dispute with a woman.
Straight to camera
Following Thursday night's shooting, Mr Abela uploaded a new YouTube clip in which he recounted how the bullets were fired into his loungeroom.
Speaking to the camera, Mr Abela says: "Hello fellow Australians. I've just been shot at. It's not good, but it means nothing, in that we are never going to be silenced for speaking the truth. So I'm bringing you exclusively in my house of what we as Australians now have to put up with for speaking the truth."
Mr Abela then describes how he was sitting in his computer room on the ground floor, while his mother and sister were in the upstairs bedrooms, when he heard a knock at the front door and someone yelling his name.
"It was highly suspicious, because people don't knock at the door, and when police do or whatever they don't knock on the door like that, so I knew it was a split-second decision. If I didn't answer it, they were going to shoot upstairs because that's where the bedrooms are and it was 11 o'clock," he said.
Mr Abela said he then walked to the front window, knowing that "they didn't want a friendly discussion, these blokes".
He claims the men yelled: "Nathan, is that you?"
Mr Abela said he responded that it was him, because he did not want the men to target the upstairs bedrooms.
In the video, Mr Abela then dramatically recounts how he leapt over the lounge chair and table as shots rang out.
"The minute I said 'Yes, it's me' I jumped from about here over the lounge, over the table, landed somewhere about here, rolled, was ready," he says.
"I could have either went here, went up, went there, went back here, crouched and ran in the dark," he explains, pointing the camera at his possible escape routes.
"Many options, but I won't tell them what option I was going to take, but I jumped from there to there. It was a pretty far jump, considering I had to jump high. It was an interesting jump."
He says the men fired seven or eight shots before driving off "like it was a circuit".
He then says he believes he was targeted for speaking publicly about his views.
Police said the investigation into the shooting was in its early stages, but they believed it was a targeted attack.
A NSW Police spokeswoman would not comment on whether police believed Mr Abela's involvement in the anti-Islamic group was linked to the shooting.
Police have urged anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or to use the Crime Stoppers online reporting page.


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The IRISBOND DUO Communicate & Work bundle includes:
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- A USB cable
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- The Irisbond Duo eye-tracker
- Tablet Accessories
- A USB drive with the Primma and EyeLearn software
- Remote installation
- Technical support
- Software updates
The IRISBOND DUO Learn for Tablet with pedagogical support bundle includes:
- The Irisbond Duo eye-tracker
- Tablet Accessories
- A USB drive with the Primma and EyeLearn software
- Remote installation
- Technical support
- Software updates
- Pedagogical support (see the Definitions section for more information)
These are the definitions of products and services provided by Irisbond sold separately or in bundles (see the Products and Services section for more information).
- Pedagogical support. Pedagogical support consists of 2 phone sessions, each lasting a maximum of 2 hours, and a follow-up after a month with a special education professional appointed by Irisbond. Follow-ups can take place via email or phone.
- Environmental control. The BJ-254 infrared device and its remote installation.
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- Technical support. Any necessary support will be provided during the warranty period via phone, email and if needed, via remote connection.


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When True Blood premiered on HBO almost six years ago, in 2008, the final Twilight book had just been published, breaking records left and right. The gleam's come off since then, off vampires in general and but especially this show, but I believe it still has some things to tell us. Things about philosophy, America, the existence of faith in a secular world. People fucking all kinds of different ways. Sometimes all of these topics at the same time.
It can be a lonely world, but there is beauty in it. Also there are spoilers in it, from here on out.
You could say that the show has been a story of one chick's sexual awakening, but that wouldn't be accurate. She sexually awoke pretty much immediately and it's been pretty much nonstop since that point.
I think what she has spent seven years awaking to is more the fact that our culture is about knocking your teeth out of your mouth any time you fail your heteronormative performance act. Like okay, if you or I don't have a boyfriend for a bit, no big deal! They come and go. Boyfriends were invented by the Hershey Company of Pennsylvania anyway.
But if Sookie Stackhouse doesn't have a boyfriend, then as soon as the sun goes down armies of super-strong, super-fast rapists will come burn down her house and suck her blood out of her body until she is dead. I would say this makes it more important, objectively, for Sookie Stackhouse to have a boyfriend than most people. (She is what you would call a "Charlotte." Also a "metaphor," but watching people try to discuss the allegory in this show is always very disheartening.)
A big part of the arc in season one was about falling in true love, and how dorky it is...
...but also how amazing! Sometimes it can be like a drug that makes you masturbate on somebody's porch in the middle of the day. Sometimes it can be like a drug that gives you a four-day erection. Sometimes it isn't even like a drug, sometimes it's as simple as the common experience of getting brutally ravished by a creature that crawled out of the ground onto you.
In the end Sookie was abducted by a serial killer and Bill ran into the sun to save her, which set him on fire, and basically without anybody's help besides Sam Merlotte, who smelled a vest, she saved herself. Then she saved Bill by burying him in the dirt so he wouldn't be on fire anymore. And sometimes that's what love is like also.
Is Sookie Cool? Not very cool at this time. Nobody seems to care that she has a debilitating mental disorder, because she is cute with giant boobs. Sic infit.
Is Bill Cool? Super not cool, but way cooler than he will be.
What is up with Eric? He is kind of a Bobby Bottleservice to be honest.
Are Sam or Alcide a factor? Sam is secretly a dog, and we know not yet of werewolves.
Eric enters the picture and Sookie consoles him after the death of his [father slash boyfriend slash little brother], but they are not yet in love. Bill and Sam end up working together again to save Sookie from the crazy-ass GOOP Goddess Maryann Forrester, who is trying to make everybody orgy the Dionysus Apocalypse into happening, using a meat statue and a giant egg.
(Generally this what people are talking about when they say that the show started out super serious and very intellectual, but in later seasons it has become utterly ridiculous: Not enough meat statues and giant eggs making people have ecstatic orgies like in the good old days, where you practically needed a Master's Degree to take yourself seriously.)
By season's end, the question is: Will Sookie marry Bill, now that it's legal to marry a vampire? (No, because he has been kidnapped. Also because then there would be no Ben, and fuck this whole show if there's no Ben.)
Is Sookie Cool? She is pretty cool in this season. She stomps and yells a lot more.
Is Bill Cool? If you like boring things then Bill is very cool.
What is up with Eric? He has a twinkle in his eye and a dead Godric, which even he knows is the best thing about him, and a great best friend named Pam who is also very cool and the second best thing about him. (The third best thing about him is, a lot of the time he talks like Kermit the Frog and doesn't even know he's doing it.)
Is Sam a factor? Sam is never going to be a factor. He is a cutie but he is no fun at all.
Eric and Sookie go to Mississippi to rescue kidnapped Bill, and they meet Alcide, a Mississippi werewolf with almost as much baggage as abs.
Like Sam, Alcide is a non-starter, because Sookie is not into boring people at all. Unless they are boring old Bill, who is now basically out of the picture due to becoming boringly evil and having boring neck-twisting sex with his boring old mom-girlfriend.
Turns out Bill isn't just a little bit evil, he is actually the evilest—and in fact, he has been setting Sookie up since the jump to be in love with him, because of her magical fairy blood. We still don't entirely understand what is going on with him yet, but it's that he is always the Brenda Chenowith. He is always totally sure that he has it all figured out, but really it's just digging underneath to new ways of hating himself and being repressed, because the answer is: The answer is never the answer for longer than it takes you to find it.
We were built that way, so we would always keep moving, and it's what makes me love Bill the most, because he tries the hardest, with so little tools and so little result, ever. Bill is like when Ferris Bueller says that Cameron's so anal he craps diamonds, only instead of crapping diamonds Bill eventually turns into God. (Spoiler alert, Bill is such a sadsack it turns him into God. Like, a shitty ineffective God that has comas for no reason all the time. Very Bill.) Anyway, due to all of this lying and Eric being so weird all the time, Sookie breaks up with all of her boyfriends and runs away to live in Actual Faerielande.
Is Sookie Cool? Even when she's taking a stand, she doesn't really seem to be taking a stand. Even though everybody she cares about is having their most sex-slave, horrible, trigger-warning season, she is mostly still just concerned with herself: Not cool. Also she doesn't have sex with Alcide, which demonstrates that she is fucked in the head.
Is Bill Cool? Twists a chick's head all the way around while fucking her, which is baller. The chick is so awful that when she's in flapper times, she is even worse than how flappers are. A thing I didn't even think was possible.
What is up with Eric? Murders a dude while fucking him, which is baller. The guy sucks, and also his husband spends the next season carrying him around in a giant crystal jar and eventually Sookie puts him down a garbage disposal while laughing the hysterical uncanny laughter of the Fae.
Are Sam or Alcide a factor? Alcide is huge, and covered in what are called "muscles" (and in personality he strongly resembles my favorite character from the books, Calvin Norris, who on the show is total garbage), but he's not really a factor. Sam... gets really into bitching at this point, and from here on out what he mostly does is bitch.
This is the halfway point of the series, and it's also when Eric is turned into a giant baby by a witch inside of another witch.
So what does ol' Sookie Stackhouse do? She fucks that baby.
Sadly it is like this, desultory, like a Skyrim handjob from an unpracticed Harry Potter:
Despicable. (Although to be fair, the descriptions of sex with Eric in the books range from "whimsical, if physiologically dubious" to "full-on, unforgettably gross," so maybe don't complain.)
In the end, both Bill and Eric are in love with Sookie because of her magical fairy ways, and they agree to die for her. It is even dumber than it sounds.
It is such actual bullshit that Miss Pam just blows up the witches with a missile launcher to shut everybody up.
Alcide and Sam both try again to be Sookie's boyfriend, and once again they are flatly f-zoned and she Chooses Me. (Herself.) Eric and Bill take over the vampire government I think? But Sookie doesn't care because she's too busy murdering people such as Debbie Pelt, an amazingly gross tragic werewolf lady who even when she is "keeping it together" she makes Sookie seem like she is on top of things.
Is Sookie Cool? This is where she starts getting awesome, because they finally evened out her sarcasm level. Where before she bounced from simpering to caustic, now she's just generally over everybody's shit all the time, which results in some great one-liners. Plus, no more Debbie.
Is Bill Cool? Yeah but not as cool as Pam. Also, they finally fess up about how he's been manipulating Sookie since day one, which is some non-consensual bullshit. However, Bill is struggling with what being evil is, which will soon bear delicious fruit as he becomes great.
What is up with Eric? He becomes a toddler that gets fucked by a grown woman, in Narnia.
Are Sam or Alcide a factor? Maybe for like one second. At this point they are both off in their own shitty adventures that nobody cares about, not even them. Besides Sam's wonderful baby brother Tommy, this is probably the #1 best thing about either of them for most of the series:
That'll just cheer you right up in my experience.
Alcide and Sookie finally hook up, because Eric and Bill are off doing something dumb I don't even remember. Having threesomes with spooky people and rollin' on molly. Season Five isn't really about Sookie for a lot of it, but she does keep following clues about how her parents died that end up with her finding out she is actually married already, to some kind of a Rob Zombie monster that wears a jolly big hat.
But even this is still not as interesting as how the whole season Bill has been working on turning into God.
If Bill Compton was Natalie Portman in the movie Black Swan, and Lilith is Mila Kunis, then Billith is Natalie Portman at the end of Black Swan. (Sookie is, at this point, kinda the Winona Ryder. Ben is, I guess, the five seconds of perfection you get during the one scene where Sebastian Stan is in that club with them.)
Is Sookie Cool? Sookie is pretty cool! She day-drinks peach Schnapps and fucks a werewolf, which I don't know about you but that sounds like a pretty good day. Her main hobby now is just saying fuck it, to everything.
Is Bill Cool? What is cool is how Bill is now a mystery to everyone, even himself. Even when he's killing everybody he knows and this whole cult he has been having sex with, he's still just like, "What is my overall deal?"
What is up with Eric? He is so great this year because even though he is part of the Authority of all Vampires, he still tells them to their face that they are stupid and vampire government is stupid and vampire religion is stupid and Bill is stupid and everything is stupid. Every episode he just tells one to thirty people the secret truth of how they probably should suck it.
Are Sam or Alcide a factor? Alcide is a wrong time/right place kind of guy for sure, but this is where the fans could no longer overlook his suckiness by focusing on his charisma and giant sick body. The suckiness was just too powerful.
We meet Ben Flynn, the all-time greatest of Sookie's boyfriends to me. Everybody runs around being worried about Bill or mad at Bill for being God, but Sookie just wants to date Ben. The reason for this is: He is the greatest. I would go into detail but it's more of a 20 Questions deal where you ask, "Is he the best X?" and the answer is always Yes.
Too bad that he is actually the monster to whom Sookie was promised in faerie matrimony when she was too small to fight back (but old enough that her parents were for sure that they hated her). We don't know if she has figured all this out yet when she cooks him dinner and invites him to investigate her brassiere area, but yes, turns out it's all a honeytrap! Her coolest moment of life.
She is going to nuke her magical fiancé into a fine fairy jelly, probably, right up until Bill shows up and is such a dick he makes Ben seem okay. Ben wants to kill all of the fairies in the whole world, and Bill is trying to save all the vampires in the world from a future threat. (Both of these things happen eventually, but we won't fully understand how until the next season.)
In this picture you see Bill remembering a time four thousand years ago when he was a Goddess and had sex with faerie Ben and turned him into a vampire and so what that means is that Ben is a vampire and a fairy and the son of Lilith, the Goddess that Bill currently is.
What that means—besides that we are living in a Golden Age of Television—is, when Sookie marries Ben, who is Jesus and the Devil, her mother-in-law will be her ex-boyfriend Bill, who is also God.
This causes something of a short-circuit in Sookie's telepathic head and she marches around town trying to make everybody be her boyfriend. Not even Sam will go for it this time, so Sookie stops by her stupid dead parents' stupid graves and tells them to eat some shit: Since nobody else is up for it, she will become a vampire fairy. Fuck it.
Sookie and Ben will suck each other's blood, back and forth forever, which is a metaphor for being married.
But then she pulls a cold/fast one on Ben about how maybe they should date before getting fairy-married, and he gets violent, in both word and deed, and that's it for Ben. He is a little bit of a Bridezilla due to waiting to get married to this chick for like four thousand years and then she can't commit. Sad to see him go—I do tend to find a healthy sense of oblivious entitlement quite the aphrodisiac—but I'm afraid straight-up abuse is a dealbreaker no matter how many nuclear bombs I can shoot out of my body.
After he ties Sookie up and says really mean things to her and threatens to dance her around a maypole without her consent, Sookie teams up with her brother and their fairy grandfather Rutger Hauer, and they get Ben up in the Stackhouse upstairs bathroom/dimensional portal to Fairy World they happen to have, and they murder him.
On his wedding day! You better not try that shit on my wedding day. My wedding day will be perfect.
Is Sookie Cool? This is her coolest season by far. This is really when she takes over as the coolest person on the show (from being the worst), because she does not give a single fuck anymore and because she can shoot lasers out of her fucking body at you if you don't come correct. She yells mean things at her dead parents, tries to bang Sam, and then plans her own death—in about an hour she does all these things—essentially because she's in a crappy mood. Incandescent.
Is Bill Cool? This is when Bill became my favorite character on the entire show, because even when he is God mostly he is still just about fucking everything up. Like one day he randomly decides to be a terrorist and blow up all the True Blood factories, then immediately rethinks what he did and just goes, "Whoops." That's every day, the whole time Bill is God. Everything bad that happens on the entire show is Bill's fault? But most especially this season. "Whoops, I kidnapped a Japanese man and kept him as a pet and then completely forgot about it. Whoops, I killed every vampire on Earth except for the exact ones from our town where everybody knows what a douchebag I am. Whoops!"
What is up with Eric? His stupid fucking sister mostly. To Sookie, Eric is like when you have a college-age boyfriend senior year but then when you yourself get to college you're just like, I was so darling senior year when I thought we were both so grown up, even though that was like, four months ago. "Not falling for that again! Now what do you call this, Jägermeister? Got a little bit of a kick, huh?"
Are Sam or Alcide a factor? Sam is Mayor and having a baby, and (with Bill, of course) comes up with a very fucked up plan for Bon Temps. Alcide ends up with Sookie at the end of the season, and they are quite a healthy looking couple, but he is living in the clouds if he thinks that's going to last. (Soon he will literally be living in the clouds, playing a harp, wearing a giant toga as large and bright as something Christo and Jeanne-Claude might drape against a living landscape.)
God, aka Bill, has saved the vampires of the regular cast plus some new vampires, while accidentally turning all the other vampires on earth into zombie vampires. So he both saved the world and also fucked it, but either way he's not God anymore. Just an undead man without a Sookie and so many, many feelings. (My favorite feeling of Bill's feelings is "kidnapper," but he doesn't feel that feeling nearly as often as I would like. Here is a photographical rendering of Bill feeling very kidnapper on a porch.)
Sookie is finally dating Alcide, which is great but also sucks, since he's not a vampire and can't take part in their dumb plan of Everybody Gets A Vampire Boyfriend: The vampires drink your blood, and become your bodyguard. Symbiosis, and everybody's on the level that Sookie has been on the whole time, which is that if you are under a supernatural threat, you better get intimate with a lesser danger.
Sadly, Alcide is no help in the zombie department, so Sookie leaves him naked in the shower and gets Bill to help her get all the zombies in the area to come attack her. (A Very Sookie Plan.) This goes not very well, but luckily Sam and Alcide are there, in animals form, to help Bill save her instead of doing his usual thing of always fucking up all the time.
Alcide is not happy with Bill for endangering their girlfriend Sookie, but before he can kill Bill, he is shot through his magnificent head and now Sookie has no boyfriend. Just another pile of meat.
Is Sookie Cool? So far Sookie is cool, in that she lives a life of compassion and wants to save everybody in town, even though they all think mean slut-shaming thoughts at her knowing full well that she has ESP.
Is Bill Cool? Bill is so cool. Bill is cool as Bruce Lee in my opinion. Like the iceberg of his self-hatred always flipping over to reveal new shitty sides of him and his many problems to solve, my heart has flipped over to being all about Bill Compton, all the time.
What is up with Eric? His wang caught on fire, and now he has zombie disease. Nobody knows what happened between those two events but you would not go broke betting that it involved boobs.
Are Sam or Alcide a factor? Until quite recently Alcide was a very sexy factor. But now he has gone over the Rainbow Bridge forevermore.
Mayor Sam got outed as a dog-person by his hillbilly constituency so now he has zero cultural capital to work with. Also his pregnant child-bride is the captive of zombie vampires and her only defense right now is waitress witches, doing waitress magicks.
What have we learned? It is not very feminist to need a man in this world, but it is a truth universally acknowledged that you need a person in this world, unless you are an emotional John Galt that is broken and inside of you it is only Bitcoins, so either Sookie is a dim bitch that lives in a sexist universe where she always constantly needs multiple boyfriends, like the posters might put in your head, or there is something else going on that's a little tougher to get to. Something kind, but a little too big, I think.
Other people are countries where you don't know the language yet, and you might never find out why you got deported, and without them you will die. That is the scariest thing there is. Before there was even a movie much less a TV show called Catfish, so always, it has been possible for me to tell you that I love you, and for me to be lying.
If everybody in the entire town (which may well be the last town on Earth, thanks to the zombie hordes) is being reset emotionally to Sookie's level—dependent and interdependent on your greatest fear, for your survival, mixing fluids and bodies, swooning and terrified, deeply nourished—of course that is scary.
But it is also the way that what began as the tale of one woman's precious fairy vagina has become a fairytale of our own precious America—perhaps, of all humanity. I mean, I am being a little bit of an asshole about it but I would like to live in a world where we all understood that we are all equally dirty because that would mean we are all equally clean. That everybody gets out alive.
And for a town full of people who use to scream "fangbanger" as a sexual epithet, to have come to inviting these people into their homes and making them an essential part of their family unit, because it is more important that we all survive than it is to make sure the other side burns: No matter what the birth pains are like, that's a world that makes more sense to me than what we have.
Ironically though, Sookie and Alcide were the only people with no vampire boyfriend, which did not work out for anybody. (Except maybe Bill.) But now her spare boyfriends are: Having dog-babies with young girls, rotting giantly in the forest, or off dying of zombie disease. Or they are Ben, who lives only in the dreams of very lucky boys and girls.
So unless almost-perfect Ben Flynn comes back from being a puddle of guts in Faerielande and apologizes for ignoring Sookie's boundaries (my personal preference), I guess it's Bill's turn up. Which is fine, because no matter how we've felt about either of them at any given time, good or ill, at least you could always say Those assholes really deserve each other. The kindest thing you could probably ever say about anyone in love.
Morning After is a new home for television discussion online, brought to you by Gawker. Follow @GawkerMA and read more about it here.


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In a new series of random finds (I do, occasionally buy things other than make up, honestly, like bacon and books), I present to you today, SOAK – a clothing detergent (is that the right word?) that is very eco-friendly and great for delicate items.
I got some sachets to try (£1.65 from here) – apparently you can just put your item in a bucket or sink or whatever, and put this stuff with it and 'soak' it.
I think this will work rather well for….– For Bras
– For lacy things
– For cashmere
– For delicate knick knacks
I actually wanted these to begin with because I had seem some other people talk about it and both me and Mr Candy have sensitive skin and get the itchies – quite often laundry detergent is to blame, but then again, what do you expect when you get Buy One Get One Free Spar Ocean Breeze 99p Powder.
They say:
Soak™ the stuff you care about most. Keep the fibres you love looking great with Soak. This rinse-free formulation is perfect for washing your laciest lingerie, your softest sweaters, hand-made quilts and even baby clothes. Soak is gentle and deliciously scented with fabric-friendly ingredients that revitalize fibres so they look great and last longer.
Soak is available in three fresh fragrances; Flora, Aquae and Citrus, also in Scentless.
Soak's products are designed to meet or exceed international product quality standards. Soak is biodegradable, phosphate-free, non-toxic and dye-free. The company uses a recyclable label substrate and water-based, environmentally safe inks.
Its also a really lazy way for me to get my underwired bras clean basically, I can just put them in the basin (if they will fit – ahem) and put one of these in.
I quite liked it – easy to use and nicely scented. Its not the cheapest thing though, but I will get some specifically for things like my wooly jumpers and underwear.
Soak – worth your time or waste of time?


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It seems one of the few things the Legislature and Gov. Deval Patrick can agree on in the debate over the state's 2014 fiscal year budget is a dollar-a-pack increase in the tobacco tax - the fifth time the tax has been increased since 1992.
Editor's note: The first in a four-part series on tobacco in Massachusetts.
It seems one of the few things the Legislature and Gov. Deval Patrick can agree on in the debate over the state's 2014 fiscal year budget is a dollar-a-pack increase in the tobacco tax - the fifth time the tax has been increased since 1992.
Beacon Hill isn't the only place where politicians agree on tobacco levies. Forty-seven states have raised cigarette taxes a combined 105 times since 2002. Only California, Missouri and North Dakota have avoided the temptation, according to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.
Raising tobacco taxes is an easy political choice: there is little opposition and plenty of support. But as Massachusetts grows more dependent on tobacco revenues now approaching $1 billion a year, the use of a sin tax to balance the books raises questions about who pays, where the money goes and how long it will last.
"We have a budget shortfall, but it's not fair that smokers should be required to plug up the hole," said Michael Siegel, a Boston University community sciences professor who has studied the issue of smoking for years.
The fairness of cigarette taxes is often left out of the debate, but national studies indicate they are regressive. The poor and under educated have much higher smoking rates than those with higher incomes and college degrees. Those who have studied the science of tobacco addiction say more of the tax money should go to programs targeted for this group.
But the trend has moved in the other direction. Faced with budget gaps, a succession of Massachusetts governors and lawmakers have diverted tobacco tax revenue away from anti-smoking programs. Since 1994, funding of such programs has fallen by $48 million, according to the state health department.
The steady rise in the cost of cigarettes alone has helped reduce smoking rates, but that indirect success suggests tobacco taxes might not be a sustainable form of revenue - especially by 2025 when the state stops receiving some $250 million annually from a settlement with tobacco manufacturers.
"Tobacco taxes help balance the budget and drive down consumption, but it's not necessarily a stable source of revenue," said Andrew Bagley, research and policy director at the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.
Massachusetts first turned to tobacco taxes in 1939 when it placed a nickel levy on a pack of cigarettes. Since then it has raised the tax 11 times. In the last two decades the increases have come faster and bigger.
A 1992 ballot initiative nearly doubled the cigarette tax from 26 cents to 51 cents. The levy went to 76 cents in 1996, $1.51 in 2001 and $2.51 in 2008.
Both the state House and Senate have voted this year for a plan first proposed by Gov. Patrick to increase the cigarette tax from $2.51 to $3.51 to raise a projected $165 million for improvements to the state's transportation system.
The bump up would make the state's cigarette tax the second highest in the country, below New York's $4.35 and just above Rhode Island's $3.50 per pack.
Tobacco revenue is not limited to taxes. Massachusetts has been getting around $250 million annually from a 1999 master settlement among the major tobacco companies and 46 states.
Including the latest proposed increase, the state would receive an estimated $980 million next year from tobacco taxes and the national settlement - a significant figure at a time when the state is still struggling with anemic sales and income tax revenues.
While there isn't much debate about Big Tobacco paying for its past sins there are questions about how fair it is for smokers - who are poorer and less educated - to shoulder the cost of their "sins" - especially when their tax dollars aren't used to help kick their habit.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the national smoking rate is about 19 percent among adults. In Massachusetts, that number is around 16 percent.
But a 2011 CDC study reported that 29 percent of people below the poverty level smoked, versus 17.9 percent above the poverty line. Education, which is strongly linked to income, is also a factor; 45 percent of GED earners smoke compared to just 5 percent of those with graduate degrees.
Darryl Kounter, a spokesman for CDC's Office on Smoking and Health, says there are many theories about the disparity, including the possibility that children in higher income families don't try cigarettes because they don't see their parents or friends smoke.
"There are a lot of factors and I don't know if anyone has tried to discern that definitively," Kounter said.
Dr. Denise Jolicoeur, the program director for the Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control at UMass Medical School, thinks low-income smokers may lack the resources to quit, due, in part, to a decrease in funding for cessation programs.
Proponents of higher tobacco taxes say additional revenues are needed to fund anti-smoking programs. But more and more of the money has gone to the state's general fund. Of the $815 million Massachusetts received from tobacco taxes and the big tobacco settlement this fiscal year, less than 1 percent, or $4.1 million, went to cessation programs.
"In Massachusetts, the Legislature took away much of the funding for cessation programs prior to 2001," Jolicoeur said. "The impact has been a reduction in access to face-to-face counseling for smokers and a decrease in the amount of tobacco treatment specialists being trained."
Scott Harshbarger, who was the Massachusetts attorney general who helped win the national tobacco settlement, calls the shift in funding "a great disappointment."
"The litigation was designed to further the public policy that was already in this state," he said. "It was designed to change the behavior of and reduce the use of tobacco by adults."
Boston University's Siegel says that by using the taxes to pay for the general cost of government or special funding for transportation infrastructure the government will need smokers to keep smoking.
"It really creates a perverse incentive where the government loses the motivation to take significant action to reduce cigarette consumption because we're going to lose transportation funding," he said.
To be sure, raising the cost of cigarettes does affect the rate of smoking. The Massachusetts Department of Revenue reported that when the state raised the tax in 2008, the number of packs purchased by adults dropped from 278 million to 225 million.
But the success of higher taxes in driving down smoking is a double-edged sword.
So far, rising tax rates have stayed ahead of declining smoking rates, but if taxes continue to increase the cost of cigarettes budget writers could see a decline in the revenue they have come to rely on, including the quarter billion dollars in annual Big Tobacco settlement payments that end in 12 years.
Michael Widmer of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation says it could be dangerous to count on a future of steady tobacco tax revenues.
"There are two major caveats to keep in mind. One, Will we keep seeing a decline in smoking over the next decade? Two, Is there a breaking point where the tax is so high that it leads to a sharp reduction in smoking, and the state loses revenue?'" he said.
This article was written by Emily O'Donnell and Allison Thomasseau based on reporting by O'Donnell, Thomasseau, Cole Chapman, Petros Kasfikis, Lindsey Reese, Brooke Singman, Deedee Sun and Mike Trinh, all in the Boston University State House reporting program.


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30 Wednesday Jan 2013
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Libertarian does not equal libertine. Libertarianism is strictly a political philosophy that has to do with the proper role of government. That's it. Libertarians can be socially conservative, socially liberal, libertines, or indifferent. Being personally socially conservative does not make you less of a libertarian.
03 Thursday Jan 2013
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So my recent YouTube video titled "Addressing the Lack of Female Libertarians" has created quite the stir online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nASPjBVQkQk
My main point was that women tend (key word) to be more socially conscious than men. We tend to be more concerned with being socially accepted and fitting in with our peers. From my experience as a woman, there is a lot of societal pressure on women to conform to what is considered "normal" by popular culture standards. That may not be the most pleasant thing to hear (to some people) but it is the truth the way I see it.
The pressure exists for men too, but I believe it's not nearly as much.
Men generally care less about fitting in, there probably isn't as much pressure to conform, and their male peers likely don't judge them as harshly for being "different." They tend be less social and don't care if their interests seem nerdy to others– video games, anime, Star Wars, etc. There are far more male atheists, which is typically seen as an alternative viewpoint.
Libertarianism is not widely accepted in mainstream society. Not because our ideas aren't right (contrary to some people's view, I believe our philosophy has little to do with the lack of libertarian women), but because most people have no idea what a libertarian is– therefore, it's "weird and strange." It's a funny sounding word that a lot of people have never heard of.
Women that express different viewpoints are more likely to be ostracized by their peer group. I probably care less about fitting in than most women, but I have been excluded for being different. Even over silly stuff like my hair wasn't straight like the other girls.
As my Facebook friend wrote, "To all the people hating on Julie Borowski. You might not agree with her. You might not understand what she's talking about. But as a former sorority girl who was active in my campus libertarians club, I can tell you that I did not tell a single of my sisters about my political activism – because I didn't want to be alienated."
I can definitely relate to this. I found out about Ron Paul at the end of my freshman year in college and I remember women started looking down upon me and thinking I was strange for my Ron Paul "obsession" — as they called it. When I told them I was thinking of starting a libertarian club, they gave me a weird look and told me to stop being a "nerd." I became an outcast to my female peers because of my political views.
But it was "cool" to be a liberal activist. I remember my friends doing activism for Darfur.
The video is simplistic and generalizes because it is a 2 minute YouTube video.
I was attempting to show that some women believe that being liberal is "normal" due to popular culture. Liberalism is everywhere in popular culture. Popular women's magazines promote casual sex which I disagree with– but my views on casual sex have nothing to do with my libertarianism. It was merely a point to show that popular culture is well, liberal. Abortion is also a liberal viewpoint that is promoted by pop culture. Though some libertarians are pro choice.
I then poked fun at current pop culture that is targeted at women. It has always been funny to me how popular culture women's magazines have really expensive products in them and then support taxpayers funding birth control. If you can afford $200 lipstick, you should be able to afford birth control. Of course, if you watch my other videos you'll know that I like my videos to be more on the fun side.
Not all women are the same and we do not all fit into gender stereotypes. Clearly. Most libertarian women that I have met have been confident and care far less than the average person about what other people think about them. To proudly and publicly hold a belief that is outside the mainstream– you have to be a certain type of person.
As my Facebook friend continues to say: "Just because the situation isn't the best doesn't mean it shouldn't be acknowledged and that she doesn't have a point. Freedom should be popular. Everyone is welcome to these views. — The problem is that these views are not necessarily welcome to everyone else."
I do not think women are "stupid" or incapable of thinking on their own. I just realize that there are a lot of societal pressures on women to act and believe a certain way. There are likely numerous reasons why there are far more males than females in the libertarian/liberty movement but this point should be made: men are more likely to embrace views outside the mainstream.
I want more men AND women in the libertarian movement. That's why I want to make it a part of popular culture.


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Washington D.C., Feb 14, 2014 / 01:13 pm ().- Today's secular culture conflicts with authentic love and a reality-based view of the human person, said scholars at a recent panel in the nation's capital.
"Sanctity is not a moralistic act," said author and scholar David Schindler, but rather, "a way of seeing, acting and being."
The author of "Ordering Love: Liberal Societies and the Memory of God," explained in a Feb. 10 lecture that true sanctity is "seeing reality for what it most truly is," and it is this concept of sanctity that Catholics must reclaim in society, rather than giving into the modern understanding of the self.
Schindler, who is the dean of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and the Family in Washington, D.C., spoke at the institute alongside Peter Casarella and Patrick Deneen, both professors at Notre Dame University.
Love, Schindler said, is central to the order of society and the self. Love is both "a moral intention" and an act, revealing reality through what is true and beautiful.
Schindler pointed to children as an example, noting that "we see in the child a personalization of what is good and true and beautiful by virtue of its very given-ness" and "innocence." Children also reveal the idea of existence and love as a gift, he said.
Love is "already implicated in truth," Schindler continued, and is intimately linked with the intellect, as humans come to understand things through a relationship with them, and better love them through knowledge.
However, "the culture doesn't see things in their wholeness, but in a fragmented way," breaking love and understanding apart and abstracting both, he said. This fracturing of love and truth loses track of the complete essence of reality, so that "when you finally bring them back together, you'll find that you've falsified both."
This mistaken understanding, Schindler said, can be seen in recent U.N. documents criticizing the Church's teachings about the family, the body and the self. The report "epitomized the logical endpoint of a liberal culture" because it "instrumentalizes" the familial relationship and dismisses the role of the family and love.
"Only the saint," he suggested, "can abstract properly," because only someone who can understand the relationship between truth and love has "some sense of how the world relates to God" and acts upon it.
Schindler argued that Christians should look to transform society by emulating Christ, entering "the culture by following the way God enters the culture" by focusing on creation, loving and being wholly present. He cautioned Christians against trying to gain power by the world's standards and then trying to influence culture, but instead suggested that Christians live out the basic ideas of Christianity and sanctity.
He pointed out that Jesus did not convince the "elites" of his day. "I'm not saying we don't enter into the culture," he clarified, "just that we do so with realism and hope."
Casarella, noted that Schindler's ideas are not new, but have a long history, most notably promoted by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who would become Pope Benedict XVI.
"Man's being resonates with some things and clashes with others," Casarella said, pointing to Mary and the Apostle John as an example for love and "service to the Lord in the face of secularist abuses of action."
Deneen agreed with Schindler that the modern world separates love from truth, but argued that Schindler only addressed part of secular liberalism's shortcomings.
He argued that liberalism is defined not only by a realism that separates reality into parts, but also a utopianism that seeks a "complete redefinition of the self."
The liberal project separating love and knowledge also seeks supposedly realistic answers to pressing questions aiming to redefine nature, Deneen said. This "conquest of nature must inevitably include human nature," and eventually this "instrumentalism turns in on itself."
While at its outset, he acknowledged, "the liberal project was positive," offering concrete ways to assert individual autonomy and freedom, secular liberalism has developed to the point of actively seeking to "make us into those creatures it posits we are."
Liberalism "gives us no choice" and forces us to be "autonomous" and unlinked from society and one another, he explained, warning that this is a false vision of reality and freedom.
Tags: Love, Human Person
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I so love this! I do not even think of it as a game but more of an essential especially if you do a kind of work involving (or have an interest in) visuals/colours. Thank you so much for the suggestionmommacude wrote:Wow I love this one!! Thanks!!KittySneakers wrote:Blendoku deals with colors and putting them in order. It sounds easy, but it's not!
I also love Need for Speed No Limits. It can be like SFP, time consuming, especially if you want to unlock limited edition cars/events. But I didn't like any other racing games I tried and this one really appeals to me.


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Cycling in Melbourne Australia
June 1, 2012 to June 16, 2012 – Indonesia Cultural immersion experience while cycling along coconut palm fringed beaches, past lushly vegetated tropical mountains in one of Indonesia's most isolated and thinly populated provinces. Trip will… Organized by Colin Freestone | Type: touring
June 1, 2012 at 12am to June 8, 2012 at 7pm – Cambodia If you or someone you know has been impacted by disability, Cycle Power Cambodia is one way you can make a difference by raising funds to support this worthy cause. Join champion handcyclist , Disabi… Organized by Disability Sport & Recreation | Type: fundraiser


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'Duets' Week 2 Recap: Superstars + Amateurs Perform High-Profile Songs
On tonight's episode (May 31) of 'Duets' -- the second ever -- the superstars and their amateur partners performed some of the most famous duets in history. They're going big on this show. Next week will find one of the amateurs being sent home, so things are heating up.
Here's your PopCrush recap of how things shook down this evening.
KC and Jordan Meredith showed their soul on the torchy Pink/Steven Tyler duet 'Misery.' Meredith was in the bottom two last week, which was more shocking than her shock of magenta hair. At the end of the song, Clarkson said, "Sing it, girl," but Meredith's voice cracked until the last power note.
Clarkson sang 'Whenever You Call' with Jason Farol, whose slight rasp added to the song's heft. It was a rebound from last week, as well. They exhibited an easy, breezy chemistry, too, but he was criticized for clinging to heavily to the "Kelly umbilical cord." He "exploded" when he stepped away from her and let go.
The Lege and Bridget Carrington sang 'I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me),' popularized by Aretha Franklin and George Michael. They hoped for a rebound from last week, with Legend chalking it up to poor song choice. Carrington came into her own at the end of the song when she hit her stride on those runs. It was a fun and playful duet.
Johnny Gray had to bow out of the competition, with no reason given other than unforeseen circumstances, so Legend had to rapid fire audition a replacement. He chose Meleana Brown, with whom he sang 'Endless Love.' What an entrance, Mel. She sparkled and shined -- with both her dress and her voice! It was lovely, classic, on point and passionate, which aren't always mutually inclusive. She rocketed to the top of the leader board.
The Sugarland singer and John Glosson tore through 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough,' respectfully sticking to the melody, since it's so definitive. Glosson has one of those pretty male voices that you don't stumble upon every day.
Nettles hit the stage with J Rome to perform the upbeat 'You're the One That I Want' from 'Grease.' The two were flirty, playful and they sang the song terrifically. It could have been good or bad, but it was very, very good. Rome showed off his swagger, and even added a little range to the end of the song.
With Olivia Chisholm, the well-coiffed Thicke performed 'Where Is the Love?' It was a sexy, dreamy ballad, and these two exuded and exhibited a nice chemistry. She has a truly pretty voice.
When he got onstage with Alexis Foster, Thicke crooned 'You're All I Need to Get By' while playing piano. They played off one another beautifully with swagger, but the duet felt disconnected due to the presentation, with him seated behind his instrument and having physical distance from Foster.
At the end of the night, Meleana Brown and J Rome were tied for first, with Olivia Chisholm at the bottom.


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This week's band is one of several recently suggested to us by the inimitable Petunia-Liebling MacPumpkin, who could probably do a way better job than us running this blog if she were so inclined. They're a French group called Rockets, or sometimes Les Rockets or Roketz or even Silver Rockets to avoid being confused with a much less interesting American band called Rockets. And they did the whole '70s glam/proto-disco/space-rock "We are aliens and we have come to your planet to boogie" thing the way only a bunch of '70s French dudes could.
Rockets started in Paris way back in 1974 under the name Rocket Men. Dressed up in matching silver suits with shaved heads and silvery gray facepaint, they no doubt caused quite a scene in the French rock clubs of the day. Their otherworldly appearance and heavy use of synthesizers and vocoders suggested a strong Kraftwerk influence, but there was more to them than that: The very first track on their 1976 self-titled debut album, for example, was "Apache," a funked-up version of a faux-Spaghetti Western rock instrumental recorded by a 1960 British skiffle band called The Shadows. They later covered Canned Heat, too. So their influences ranged pretty far beyond Ziggy-era Bowie and Krautrock—although that was clearly all part of the mix, too.
By 1979, Rockets had begun to enjoy some commercial success, at least in Europe, where their third album Plasteroid sold out in some countries almost as soon as it was released. By this time, they had developed more of a pop/New Wave sound and outfits that appeared to borrow rather flagrantly from Ace Frehley's Spaceman look. But they had also perfected a highly entertaining live show that featured lots of robot dance moves and a scary, bazooka-like device with which lead singer Christian Le Bartz could shower the audience with sparks. [Update: There was a YouTube video of them doing this on an Italian TV show, but it's sadly since been taken down, so you'll have to take our word for it when we say it looked awesome and genuinely dangerous.]
Rockets peaked, both commercially and creatively, with 1980's Galaxy, a brilliantly campy piece of space-rock/synth-pop with blacklight-ready cover art and high-concept songs about space travel and cyborgs and other bits of sci-fi geekery. It sold over a million copies worldwide, but the band began to unravel soon thereafter. By 1983, both lead singer Le Bartz and drummer Alain Groetzinger had quit the group, followed shortly by their longtime producer, Claude Lemoine, and their bassist, "Little" Gerard L'Her. With a new British lead singer, Sal Solo, the remnants of Rockets squeezed out two more albums, 1986's One Way and 1992's Another Future—the latter of which gamely tried to update the band's sound with some Brit-rave beats, but without much success. By 1993, the band was effectively defunct.
But nothing helps revive musical careers like a healthy dose of nostalgia—so you will not be surprised to learn that as of 2000, Rockets have resumed their existence, albeit in heavily watered-down form. The closest thing they still have to an original member is keyboardist Fabrice Quagliotti, an Italian who joined the group in 1977. Although we're not sure exactly when it was shot, we're pretty sure this video is Rockets in their current incarnation. The spark-shooting guitar is kinda cool, we guess, but go-go dancers? Seriously, guys? They're like a bad Eurovision band now. We prefer to remember them in their spacey and slightly awkward late '70s heyday, like in this video:
Or even when they were getting all arty and high-concept with guest female vocalists in the early '80s, like in this clip:
So thanks for the tip, Petunia! Who knew that over 20 years before Daft Punk, French people were already dressing up like robot/alien space creatures?
- Les Rockets (site dedicated to the "old" Rockets, in Italian)
- Rockets home page (fan site, with an excellent bio we cribbed most of this post from, in English and Italian)
- Rockets & Rocketsland (official site of the "new" Rockets, in Italian)
- Rockets.com.ua (Ukrainian/Russian fan site)
- Rockets on MySpace (appears to be a fan page, not recently updated)


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Russia takes volleyball gold at Universiade Games in Kazan
Kazan, Russia, July 17, 2013 – Russia's national volleyball team have won gold at the Universiade Games after Sergey Shlyapnikov's team defeated Poland with the score of 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-19). That was the third victory in a row at the Universiades for the volleyball players who also won gold in Belgrade in 2009 and in Shenzhen in 2011.
Japan's men's team took the bronze medal of the tournament beating Ukraine in three straight sets. Maksim Zhigalov from Russia's national team (who plays for the Belogorie Club) was named the most valuable player of the tournament.
Russia also clinched gold in the women's competition after they beat Brazil in the final with the score of 3-2 (25-27, 25-21, 25-21, 16-25, 15-10). It was the eighth victory of the women's national team of Russia/Soviet Union at the Universiades. Russia's women's team also won the World University Games in 1997, when they defeated the United States in the final match.
Thailand took third place in the women's tournament after beating Poland with the score of 3-1.


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Jamie has been on the lookout for new musical talent to join him at The Big Feastival to play in front of crowds of up to 15,000 food and music fans.
Jamie's Summer Jam, sponsored by the very kind chaps at Birra Moretti, was launched as an antidote to X-Factor and The Voice with only original material being accepted.
Jamie received more than 800 entries, which is unbelievable, and the quality was at times breathtaking.
After endless deliberation, tears, tantrums and beers, the judges have come up with their shortlist, the bands have now been invited to come to London for the final on July 7th.
So in no particular order the finalists are:
Fickle Friends – These guys have created a beautifully bright sound. Sweet with a gritty edge and a really modern riff. Their individual talents are obvious but together they have really hit it off.
Brightlight City – A completely familiar sound, but done with the support of a really brilliant bit of songwriting. "Feels Like" is instantly likeable with great energy, good hooks and good looks.
The Dirty Perks – We loved the mod-rock thing going on with these guys. Slightly gnarly but still with a massive sense of fun and tongue-in-cheek. "Oh, Oh, Oh" Could be a massive a show-starter.
This was the best yet, amazing quality and very exciting new music. It was almost impossible to get it down to three tracks. I look forward massively to seeing the three play live…good luck and keep your eye out for the video vote in a few weeks. Also can I just add a very special thank you to Birra Moretti for their support, great stuff, cheers. See you at The Big Feastival.Jamie


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With 22 years of advanced snowshoe development and inspired dealer support, we at Atlas are continually looking at ways to improve dealer and customer interactions with Atlas Snow-Shoe Company. In this vein, we are excited to inform you of the launch of Atlas Authorized Repair Centers (ARC) as an opportunity to better service your customers. To help customers receive faster service, we will be moving all non-warranty repair services to designated Authorized Service Centers.
Our Seattle facility will continue to perform all warranty service work, and our qualifications for coverage under the Atlas warranty policy have not changed. The addition of the Authorized Service Centers for non-warranty snowshoe repairs is to improve our dealer and customer service with more efficient service and faster turnaround.
Products that are purchased from a retailer must be returned to the point of purchase. Dealers will then process the repair or warranty claim with Atlas on behalf of the consumer. To better understand this change, see the new procedure below:


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Baltimore Sun reporters Jeff Barker and Don Markus and editor Matt Bracken weigh in on the three biggest topics of the past week in Maryland sports.
What is the central issue in the legal skirmishes between Maryland and the Atlantic Coast Conference as the school prepares to join the Big Ten next year?
Jeff Barker: There's an issue of jurisdiction. The ACC says North Carolina – not Maryland – is the proper venue to air the dispute. Maryland disagrees. There are suits ongoing in both states.
But the debate centers on the ACC's $52 million exit fee. Here are three points of contention:
** Is it fair? The university says it's anti-competitive, not allowing the open market to work as it should. The ACC says the fee has been important in keeping the conference stable and that Maryland has made no valid antitrust claim against it under state law.
** Is it enforceable? Maryland says the fee was imposed last year without sufficient notice given to members. The ACC says the member presidents approved it, and that it is binding.
** Has it been applied too soon? Maryland says it has not formally given notice to the ACC that the school is leaving for the Big Ten, and that it would be premature for the ACC to begin collecting any withdrawal fee.
Other schools and conferences will be watching how the courts treat the exit fee.
Says Maryland: "This is the highest penalty ever assessed … (the) largest penalty in the history of intercollegiate athletics."
Will Maryland be playing Navy in football and Georgetown in men's basketball any time soon?
Don Markus: The short answer is probably no. With the Terps going to the Big Ten in 2014, and the league itself going to nine games in 2016, there's really no room on Maryland's schedule. The Midshipmen are expected to join the newly named American Athletic Conference in 2015, but who knows how many of those former Big East teams will have jumped ship by then?
That doesn't mean the two schools shouldn't try to figure out a way to meet, at least every two or three years. Instead of Maryland playing a South Florida, which it will do next season, or even a Texas, which was added for a home-and-home before the Terps joined the Big Ten, why not meet Navy at M&T; Bank Stadium or FedEx Field?
I thought about this when the Terps did a Coaches Caravan cruise Thursday night out of City Dock in Annapolis. The Military Bowl is moving to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in December, meaning that the Terps could wind up there as the No. 8 ACC bowl invite. The Midshipmen, as long as they win at least six games, are contracted to play elsewhere.
Sailing on the Severn River – right past the Naval Academy – might have stirred the conversation in that direction because a couple of fans asked Maryland athletic director Kevin Anderson about playing Navy. Anderson said he has spoken with his counterparts in Annapolis. I hope the discussions are serious, because Maryland needs a rivalry game going forward.
The Big Ten announced last week its 2014 schedule and for now – and probably the foreseeable future – Maryland's regular-season finale is scheduled against Rutgers. I'm not sure how you feel, but I don't exactly see that firing up the masses to come out to Byrd Stadium on the last Saturday in November. The feeling up in New Jersey is probably mutual.
Navy would be different, but the Midshipmen don't have to worry about a rivalry game in their new league. They've already worked it out that they will finish the regular season against Army and I'm sure they will continue playing Air Force as well. Regardless of how the new AAC works out for Navy, its rivalry games are in place.
Getting to play Georgetown might be easier, but certainly not easy. Since the flap between the two schools caused Anderson to announce that he was not going to let the Terps play the Hoyas in any sports if they couldn't play against each other in basketball, there's been some thawing in the relationship.
Anderson mentioned Thursday night that the Hoyas' field hockey team will be practicing and playing at Maryland this season while Georgetown's field is being refurbished. But he also admitted that there is one rather large obstacle – alluding to the size of former men's coach John Thompson – in the discussions about basketball going any further.
I think that as time goes on, the Terps could try to reach out to Thompson and forge some sort of truce. Heck, even he and Lefty Driesell buried the hatchet after all those years, with Thompson reportedly working behind the scenes to get Driesell more serious consideration for the Naismith Hall of Fame. I can see the same thing happening for hoops.
The Terps certainly need a local basketball rivalry to get their fans excited, and the Hoyas would be the perfect choice. Maryland plays at the Verizon Center this season against George Washington in the BB&T; Classic, something Mark Turgeon is doing begrudgingly. Why not play Georgetown instead and have a Kentucky-Louisville thing going every year?
Maryland will certainly develop rivalries in the Big Ten as the years go on, but it's going to take time. The networks love rivalry games, so why not take the initiative and get Navy on the football schedule every few years and Georgetown basketball every year, or every other year to start. It makes perfect sense.
Now that the NBA draft lottery is set, where might Alex Len land?
Matt Bracken: The sophomore center from the Ukraine is poised to become Maryland's first lottery pick since Chris Wilcox went to the Los Angeles Clippers with the No. 8 pick in the 2002 NBA draft. Here's a quick look at where several national media outlets project Len to be picked.
** DraftExpress.com – Len to the New Orleans Pelicans at No. 6
** NBADraft.net – Len to the Minnesota Timberwolves at No. 9
** CBS Sports' Jeff Goodman – Len to the Charlotte Bobcats at No. 4
The big man from the Ukraine is incredibly skilled for a 7-footer, and Michael Jordan's franchise is in desperate need of a center who can score in the post.
** SI.com's Chris Mannix – Len to the Portland Trailblazers at No. 10
The Blazers need a starting center, and Len oozes potential. He's a physical 5-man who rebounds well, protects the paint (2.1 blocks per game) and can play with his back to the basket. A stress fracture in his left ankle will keep him out of individual workouts. That could hurt his stock, as teams would like to see signs of a diverse offensive game. But that could work well for Portland, which needs some muscle alongside LaMarcus Aldridge.
** Yahoo Sports – Len to the New Orleans Pelicans at No. 6
Len is a big, athletic two-way center but is also injured, coming off ankle surgery. However, it does sound like there's a good chance he'll be ready for the start of the season. The Hornets have Anthony Davis and Ryan Anderson at power forward, while Greivis Vasquez has the inside track for another season at point guard, and Eric Gordon is the starting shooting guard as long as he's healthy. They could easily be looking for another SG option here, and would also welcome a replacement for Robin Lopez at center, or a small forward other than Al-Farouq Aminu. If any of the previously mentioned players are still on the board at No. 6, I could see the Pelicans taking Porter, Bennett or Oladipo here. But if they're all gone, Len makes a lot of sense.
** NBA.com's Scott Howard-Cooper – Len to the Portland Trailblazers at No. 10
Expect the Blazers, already playing a lot of kids and in position for a playoff push, to explore trade possibilities to add a veteran or maybe multiple players for much-needed depth.
** Sporting News' Sean Deveney – Len to the Minnesota Timberwolves at No. 9
Len didn't show much in his season at Maryland, but he played more of a defensive role for the Terps. The Wolves have to guard against Nikola Pekovic's free agency, as well as his frequent injuries.