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Sasha Landskov
By Joe Arterburn
Many predator hunters go afield without thinking about the scenario in which they will be a central figure. The scenario is this: the camouflaged hunter conceals herself or himself in a remote location, in this case let's say in rural Texas, where both coyotes and bobcats are common. Sitting virtually motionless, the hunter produces a sound with mouth call or electronic call, usually imitating a distressed rabbit or other small animal in hopes of drawing in a coyote or bobcat looking for an easy meal.
Sometimes coyote hunters use howls and barks to entice a coyote to approach, but in any case, the idea is to draw the predator close enough to shoot it with a rifle or shotgun.
While attacks on predator hunters are uncommon, you may have heard stories in which a predator charged the caller or a bobcat approached so stealthily the caller didn't notice until the bobcat pounced. (Turkey hunters who likewise conceal themselves and produce calls sounding like turkeys have been surprised by coyotes and bobcats. But that's another story.)
Most coyotes and bobcats are so wary of humans, just seeing or smelling a person sends them into full flight. Nevertheless, here are precautions to consider when predator calling.
Set your remote-controlled electronic call 30 or 40 yards from where you sit. The predator will focus on the source of the sound. A decoy near the caller will also keep the predator's attention away from you.
Sit back-to-back with a companion, or at least sit so between you both you can view 360 degrees. If more than two, you can each cover certain angles to assure a full view.
Sit with your back to a tree, bush, rock outcropping, anything that provides cover from behind. It will also help conceal you.
Be alert. Don't let slow periods lull you to inattention. Slowly, slowly, slowly turn your head to scan for incoming animals. Listen. And watch other wildlife, they can tip you off to approaching predators.
And, of course, all hunter safety rules apply. If hunting with a companion or companions, be sure everyone knows where everyone else is located before starting to call. It is wise to sit close enough to see each other.
Discuss who will shoot if a predator approaches. Divide terrain equally, like pieces of a pie, so each hunter shoots only in the appointed direction. It can be exciting when a predator approaches, but no matter the excitement or how fast the action, under no circumstances should anyone risk a rushed shot in the direction of someone else. Never.
Be sure you are the only hunters in the area. Confirm that with the landowner or, if on public land, be sure no one else is in the area. If they are, make sure they know you are there too. If another hunter approaches, make sure you are seen—and not by waving a camouflaged arm. It is better to carry an orange hat which you can wave or don to get their attention. Plus, you can wear the orange hat as an added measure of safety as you carry your hard-earned coyote or bobcat.


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In How to Manage MS-Related Fatigue, pharmacological and non-pharmacological strategies to combat fatigue were discussed. MS fatigue is not the same as simply being tired, or muscles which are fatigued after a good work-out, or the desire to sleep in on a Saturday morning. MS fatigue can be debilitating and interfere with daily functioning.
Even before I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, I was T.I.R.E.D.!!!
After diagnosis it got worse, to the point where I needed to take 2-3 naps daily just to make it through. So I mentioned this to my neurologist who gave me some samples of a medication to try. Those samples were for Provigil, a prescription medication used to improve wakefulness in adults who experience excessive sleepiness due to one of the following diagnosed sleep disorders: obstructive sleep apnea, shift work sleep disorder, or narcolepsy.
Modafinil (Provigil ® / Cephalon, Inc.) is not approved for MS-fatigue but is commonly used off-label for that purpose. When I first tried it, the effect was not immediate. It's not the type of medicine which guarantees that you are peppy in 30 minutes. However, I did start very conservatively by trying just half a 200mg tablet. After a few days I tried a full tablet and finally had a day where my brain felt "normal." I could think clearly and only needed one nap. What a blessing!
As I experimented with finding an optimal schedule to take the medication, my neurologist suggested that I take one pill upon waking and an additional half tablet before noon. That finally provided me with the ability to function through my evening teaching schedule. I teach music lessons to children and adults on most weekday afternoons and evening. Before trying Provigil, my fatigue level had reached the point where I was literally falling asleep while teaching piano lessons. A bit embarrassing and nonproductive.
A challenge with Provigil, however, can be insomnia. The medication needs to be taken in the AM, because if it is taken too late in the day, you may have difficulty going to sleep at night. If you can't go to sleep and end up getting too little sleep, you will certainly be more fatigued and sleepy the next day. It can be a vicious cycle.
Now, I don't use Provigil daily like I needed to for a while. If I'm having several days in a row where the fatigue is becoming oppressive, I will take half a tablet in the morning and maybe the other half tablet at noon. I find that this gives me just enough assistance to be able to function.
Some people have described feeling jittery or 'wired' on Provigil. I have not felt either. But my good friend Joan shared with me that it made her suicidal and in fact this is a side-effect discovered during postmarketing reports. Drugs provide benefits but also carry risks.
I find that a combination of fatique-relieving strategies is most useful. The activity accomplished during physical therapy sessions has helped tremendously in improving my MS-related fatigue. Talk to your doctor to discuss how fatigue may be interfering with your daily functioning. Medication may not be the answer for you.
Another problem with Provigil which has been reported by MS patients arises from the fact that it is not FDA-approved for use in MS fatigue. Too often insurance companies will not approve the prescription without prior authorization, and sometimes not at all. The current price is about $11 per tablet which, if you need two daily, translates into $660/month or $7920/year. Not an inexpensive pill.
So for me, Provigil has been a wonderful life-saver. It helped to bring me to the world of functioning individuals. Even with the benefits of physical therapy, I still need Provigil on a few occasions. I'm thankful that it is works and is available when I need it.
What is your opinion and experience? Have you tried Provigil? Did it work for you? Why do you think that's been your experience (it helped or did not help)? I look forward to reading your responses.
The following is [important safety information](http://www.healthsquare.com/newrx/pro1544.htm) for Provigil which is a federally controlled substance (C-IV) because it can be abused or lead to dependence. Keep PROVIGIL in a safe place to prevent misuse and abuse. Selling or giving away PROVIGIL may harm others, and is against the law. Tell your doctor if you have ever abused or been dependent on alcohol, prescription medicines or street drugs.
PROVIGIL may cause you to have a serious rash or a serious allergic reaction that may result in hospitalization or be life-threatening. If you develop a rash, hives, sores, swelling, or trouble swallowing or breathing, stop taking PROVIGIL and call your doctor right away or get emergency treatment.

PROVIGIL is not approved for use in children.
If you experience chest pain, depression, anxiety, hallucinations, psychosis, mania, thoughts of suicide, aggression, or other mental problems, stop taking PROVIGIL and call your doctor right away or get emergency treatment.
PROVIGIL does not replace sleep and may not stop your ES (excessive sleepiness) completely. Do not drive or do other dangerous activities until you know how PROVIGIL affects you. Avoid drinking alcohol while taking PROVIGIL.
PROVIGIL has the potential to be abused or lead to dependence. Please use only as directed.
Tell your doctor if you have: history of mental health problems (including psychosis), heart problems or had a heart attack, high blood pressure, liver or kidney problems, a history of drug or alcohol abuse or addiction, or are pregnant, planning to become pregnant, or breastfeeding.
Women who use hormonal birth control may have a higher chance of getting pregnant, while taking PROVIGIL, and for one month after stopping. Talk to your doctor about other birth control methods while taking PROVIGIL.

Common side effects of PROVIGIL are headache, nausea, nervousness, stuffy nose, diarrhea, back pain, anxiety, trouble sleeping, dizziness, and upset stomach.
You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit [www.fda.gov/medwatch](http://www.fda.gov/medwatch), or call 1-800-FDA-1088.
For more information, ask your doctor, or call 1-800-896-5855.
**Additional information regarding Provigil can be found on the non-profit non-biased source - [Provigil Web](http://www.provigilweb.org/).**** Lisa Emrich is author of the blog _[Brass and Ivory: Life with MS and RA](http://brassandivory.org/)_ and founder of the _[Carnival of MS Bloggers](http://msbloggers.com)_.**

subset: commoncrawl


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I once wrote a song whose gimmick was telling time by the number of drinks rather than the number of hours and minutes. I'm not about to write another one, but that particular song did not exhaust all the possible variants.
What I'm getting at is, I just realized that the full version of "Time Has Come Today," when played on the jukebox in the afternoon at a bar in downtown Oakland, lasts around 3/4 of a pint. That's one long ass song. Or a quick ass drinker. Not sure which.
Gawker has a good point about the NY school system's decision decision to scale back recruitment of teachers from overseas:
Seriously: How will they possibly succeed in college if they're not familiar with math classes taught by those with no command of English?It's not just math classes, though... Writing essays that can sound impressive to English speakers as well as to the non-English-speakers who grade them is a valuable skill that I didn't learn till my sink-or-swim college years.
Here's another Google contest, featuring recent web search terms that brought people to this blog over the past couple of months, divided into basic categories. The winner is my totally subjective favorite.
1. Simple Questions:
what is happiness?
is living in a bubble realistic?
will I get frank's job?
what's cool to do with an electric guitar?
what's the big deal about the stupid bay area?
what kind of women does billie joe like?
what's a orgy?
what's a hamburger?
funny things not to do in london
suggest some songs for slappin leather dance
willie ames tattoos
extremely gross pics
the importance of hippies
breast descriptions
songs that violates a group of people
no facial hair "i can't grow facial hair"
my girlfriends detest me
I hate spunk
libraries are the sexiest places
fuck this isn't working
he said he needed his space but it was breakup
And the winner is:
to what extent are redneck jokes classicist and inappropriate?
Bill Quick has a new novel, a thriller called Inner Circles, which he has published as an e-book.
In the original series of comments, since removed to clear up the inline comment clutter, there was some discussion over whether or in what way this kind of publishing could be a wave of the future that might submerge and kill publishing as we know it. I had to agree with the guy who said that the editorial apparatus of traditional publishing was pretty crucial, and that the inevitable temptation to skip that step (or more accurately, those steps) would weaken the force of the self-pub tsunami considerably. Few writers realize just how much they need to be edited. I sure didn't. I know Bill knows what he's doing, and he's an experienced, published writer, unlike many of us - still, as a rule, publishing houses do more than just print up hard copies, and I'm sure I'm not the only person whose book would have totally sucked if it hadn't had the benefit of being worked over and ripped apart by teams of professionals. For me at least, writing a novel was a close to experiencing pure chaos as I've come - I really needed a hand from someone outside the situation to help bring some order.
At any rate, Bill's commenters who have read his book are beginning to offer post facto copy-editing suggestions. I suppose this wiki-type approach could work, though I'd worry about having too many cooks/kooks in the cyberkitchen. Rick Heller tried the open source novel editing experiment a ways back. (Whatever happened with that, Rick, by the way?)
Besides the too many kooks issue, my main worry would be that under such a system, I'd feel like my book was never totally finished. I mean, I do feel like that, and I probably always will, in the same way I harbor wishes that I could still be tweaking various albums. But being forced to admit it's over may be the difference between the neurosis of vague regret, on the one hand, and total, dangerous, barking insanity on the other. I mean, it is for me, as far as I know.
Terry Teachout pulls out an interesting factlet from a P.G. Wodehouse biography: the fee paid by Cosmopolitan magazine for the serial rights to Thank You, Jeeves in 1932 was $50,000, which would be over $600,000 in today's money. Cosmo has changed, publishing has changed, and we have changed...
Well, folks, I've been pretty lax on the blogging front. If I don't act fast, these few posts will soon evaporate and condense in the archives, leaving nothing but links. It's happened before and it'll happen again.
What I've been doing: (a) the Suicide Girls gig; (b) trying to work on a second novel; (c) sorting out songs from the first novel and trying to figure out what to do with them; (d) writing my own songs and recording demos; (e) getting the band together, as always.
I'm pretty lazy, so I'm not saying I've got too far with any of it, but at least I'm getting out of bed and putting on pants and so forth (which is by no means a sure bet, let me tell you.) Fortunately I seem to be running out of internet and the TV schedule isn't making my dreams come true, so ultimately that means that more novel will get written. Because it has less competition for what's left of my attention span, right?
Longtime readers of this blog may remember Ethan Stoller, the man behind the "band" Dynamite Ham, and his longterm concept album project contrasting my songs with those of Frank Loesser, by means of quirky and imaginative covers.
Well, now the album, entitled I Believe in You, is actually available. You can order it here. You can hear samples here. Quite something.
Damian Counsel posted this analysis of the Shouty Woman song in pop music. Some Anastacia fans discovered the post, and now they're setting him straight in the comments.
My friend found this on Craig's List:
I don't understand why some of you women have a problem when a guy posting a pic or e-mailing you a pic of them with "NO SHIRT ON". How can you assume that there is something wrong with him or have a problem with him just by seeing a pic of him shirtless.
HAVE YOU LOOKED AT MOST MAGAZINE COVERS AND BILLBOARDS THESE DAYS?? I would assume since you have a problem with guys sending shirtless pics then you would have a problem dating male fitness cover model and most male celebrities.
Maybe, you don't like guys who send shirtless pics because your insecure with your own body and feel uncomfortable seeing a shirtless guy because you "WOULD NOT WANT ANYONE TO SEE YOU BARELY DRESSED"
So, if you have a problem with a shirtless man picture, that basically says that your insecure with your own body and prefer a man who is insecure with his.
This just tells me that most of the women on CL don't deserve a sexy man that's fit an athletic looking.
All you shirtless haters deserve a "HAIRY BEER BELLY" FOR A SOLE MATE.
I spent this weekend feeling superfluous and mostly rather out of place in Los Angeles at this conference/convention for an organization with the least memorable acronym I've ever come across: the SCBWI. It stands for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. ("SCBWI" rolls surprisingly easily off the tongues all the regulars over there, but I found it impossible to remember, and eventually I just started saying random letters whenever I had to refer to it. As long as there's an S and a W in there, it seems to work. They should really assign it a pronunciation like SCSI/scuzzy - you know, "scabby we," or "suck-a-buoy.")
Anyway, I met a lot of people involved in the publishing racket, my film rights agent, my literary agent and his assistant, and various other writers, agents, and publishers, and I got to hang out with my editor from Delacorte whom I had only met in person a couple of times before. I was mistaken for some famous guy I never heard of who was in prison in the 70s. It was actually pretty fun, despite the air of surreality.
On Sunday, I did a brief set of King Dork-related songs at this private party at a bookstore in Beverly Hills. I played "King Dork," plus three songs from the book itself: "I'm Still Not Done Loving You, Mama," "Thinking of Suicide?" and "I Wanna Ramone You." Plus "Even Hitler Had a Girlfriend" for good measure. They gave away copies of the galley, and I tried to schmooze with people as best I could, which may not have been all that good, but people seemed to think the songs were funny at least. I've never done anything like it before.
Random bizarre moment: my tete-a-tete with Rhea Perlman, who also has a book coming out. We talked about our books and she was very friendly and sweet, but I don't think I held up my end of the conversation all that well because I kept thinking "I'm standing here talking to Carla..." which was distracting. When they left, Danny DeVito waved to me with a copy of the galley saying "hey, good luck with it, buddy." Crazy.


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Often, smaller, volunteer-driven renovation projects are made possible through donations of property.
In 2011, volunteers spiffed up the counselor living quarters by paneling walls and installing a donated bathroom vanity. Future projects include nursery renovations, finishing the counselor living area, and landscaping. For these projects, donations of high-quality vinyl flooring remnants, multiple gallons of paint, caulking, and other supplies help keep costs down.
In 2013, canoe parts were needed for repairs. One volunteer purchased the new parts and repaired the older canoes himself. Other donors contributed a gently used ping-pong table and two foosball tables, and another guest sent an exercise bike. All of these items are very much appreciated!
Sometimes, guests also donate to help enhance the staff 's working conditions. A few years ago, a guest donated a new washer and dryer, plus paid for the installation, so that our staff could do their laundry on site. Another guest donated a Wii system to provide our counselors with something to do during their down time.
If you have something you think might benefit Camp Brosius, please talk to Allison Plopper. She will consider camp's needs and either gratefully accept your contribution or respectfully decline it, if it is not needed or difficult to accommodate, so that others may benefit from your generosity.
Current Wish List
- New or gently used infant toys or infant saucers
- New or gently used soccer balls, footballs, basketballs, and other outdoor games
- New or gently used riding toys for kids
- Craft supplies such as fabric, paints, stickers, school-supply type items, and more
- New or gently used board games for rainy days
- New or gently used books
- New or gently used karaoke machine, kid-friendly DVDs (rated G or PG, please), and other entertainment for movie nights
- Hearty flowers, bushes, and trees that will enhance the Brosius landscape
- Power tools and garage supplies that you no longer use but are in great condition
- New rescue boat
- New or late model camp vehicles (to save money from annual van rental, and our current camp vehicles are aging)
- New or late model gators or golf carts


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Philly Magazine's Best of Philly: 2013 Winner for Best Film Fun
Philly may not have a repertory cinema, but the weekly screenings at this University City complex for students come pretty close. There are fun flicks, such as cheesy sci-fi tales (Star Trek III: The Wrath of Khan, 8/23) and bad 80s movies (The Legend of Billie Jean, 8/30), foreign classics (The Red Balloon, 8/10), and more serious and obscure diversions, like the upcoming Jacques Rivette (9/5-7) and Sergei Parajanov series (9/14-17). I-House, as it is known, is for the film fan who is just not satisfied by Netflix.


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While I was getting my hair done this morning, I got a phone call from Dustin. I went ahead and answered it because he was at work and it could have been an emergency (although I felt horrible because it's rude to talk on your phone while sitting in the chair). He said he talked with our builder and I had to go pick out our front door. Panic set it! My hair stylist is in the middle of building her first home too, so we spent the majority of my appointment talking brick colors and everything that has to be picked out. I told her that I probably needed to get on it when it came to picking stuff out, but that I just hadn't. And then I got that phone call. So I went to go pick out our front door--I'll do a post on that later after it gets installed!! My biggest decision was double front door or single front door with sidelights--ahhh, decisions!!!
Okay, so this post isn't about our new house. It's about our current place where we live. I took some pictures of our apartment during the big snow storm because I wanted to document where we spent our first year as husband and wife (and I had plenty of time ha). I know I'll love looking back on this and remembering all the fun we had in that little apartment!
Looking in from our front door.
Our first big purchase together. We bought this before we got married and had it shipped to an empty apartment that no one lived in :) I loved picking out the fabrics! This was taken from the stairs.
An antique dresser that we use as our TV stand. This was given to us by our school nurse from when we were in high school. She is wonderful. The door right behind it leads to a half bath. Double doors hides the washer and dryer.
Our first Craigslist purchase! Funny story behind that, but we got a deal on this table and chairs. Also, the pictures on the wall are my absolute favorite and were our first wedding gift from my best friend's mom aka my second mom.
The kitchen. I'm sure you can pick out what it my least favorite part of this kitchen. Thank goodness I only have to look at those counter tops for just a few more months!!!
View from the kitchen island. See how bright it is outside? That's because of the crazy amount of snow outside!
Our stairs leading up to two bedrooms and one bathroom. I've given up on putting a picture in that frame. I'll do it when we move into our new house haha
They start framing our house tomorrow!!! I'll do another update post soon!


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Losing One's Voice/
The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.
- Marcus Tullius Cicero
I lost my voice yesterday. It was the weekend, so I wasn't being paid to talk to anyone, but it was stressful. Whispering at young children doesn't work very well, and snapping your fingers at them like dogs is both disrespectful and ineffective. My wife didn't like it either. Today my voice is coming back and, luckily enough, all I have to do today is read and write - no vocal ability required!
However, what I have to write about today is the loss of a voice that isn't mine. The loss of another voice. Of another, and another, and another, and another, and another. The loss of as many voices as there are days, the silence they leave behind that of the grave, the silent chorus singing at us from above, as unheard now as they were in their last moments. These voices belonged to many: Sandra Bland, arrested in Waller County, Texas, for not using her signal while changing lanes, and Rexdale W. Henry, arrested in Philadelphia, Mississippi for failure to pay a traffic citation, and Ralkina Jones, arrested in Cleveland, Ohio after arguing with her husband at his workplace. All three died in police custody over the last week. I can't speak for them.
These voices belonged to Troy Goode, hogtied face downward in view of his family on an EMS gurney outside Memphis, Tennessee, and Bruce Stafford of Hendersonville, North Carolina, arrested for selling stolen puppies, who died after a 'brief physical altercation' with officers during his booking. They belonged to George Mann, shocked with a Taser outside his garage in Stone Mountain, Georgia, and Anthony Ware, who stopped breathing after officers pepper sprayed and handcuffed him in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Jonathan Sanders, exercising his horse in Stonewall, Mississippi, before dying in an encounter with a police officer now accused of choking him to death with a flashlight, had a voice. Christian Siqueiros of Montclair, California, had a voice until a group of police officers restrained him, allegedly by sitting on him; he died of a heart attack a short time later. These voices belonged to William Jeffries, who died of a broken neck after Jeffries was arrested for public intoxication, and to Shane Gormley, who died of a heart attack after being Tased four times during a struggle with a State Trooper in Ogden, Utah. All these people died in July of this year, and their voices are mute now. I can't speak for them, nor would I wish to. I can only speak for myself.
One of the things I love about the work I do is that I never, ever have to speak for another person, because the kind of work I do at the university that employs me is mostly talking to another person. In the writing center encounter I speak as a reader, as myself, to an author who is working to speak for themselves as clearly and powerfully as they can. As a scholar I narrate my experience of reading texts to other scholars, as a teacher I teach students about composition and about literacy, all so the texts can accrue more meaning for readers and the readers more possibilities for making their own meaning, in their own voices. I don't have to speak for anyone but myself, just as I am now.
What I wonder, though, is what I have to say for myself in the face of this loss of so many voices. What can I say, in the absence of the dead and in the presence of those who should have protected them? What do any of us have to say in the face of this? I asked myself this very question all of the last school year, carrying Mike Brown's name around in my heart as I taught students who weren't left to bleed out in the street in Ferguson, Missouri, before their first semester of higher education. I ask myself this every time I hear about another voice silenced.
I firmly believe that what we do, as people involved in writing center work, is to amplify voices, to multiply their strength and complexity and individuality as much as we can while we can hear them. As of time of writing, the silent chorus has added at least 658 members since January 1st. We can't do anything with silence.


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I. Love. Breakfast. Food.
AM in the PM is one of my favorite go-to dinner options. However, since I try to keep my meals as balanced as possible (30% Carbs, 30% Fat, 40% Protein) I can't always go to my local diner and order up a stack of pancakes. Which brings me to my newest and most adored find...Flap Jacked Protein Pancake Mix.
JUST ADD WATER. That is it! 180 calories per serving, 2.5g Fat, 28g Carbs, 7g Fiber, and a whopping 15g Protein. Incredible right? And the best part is- they actually taste GREAT with "no additives, no preservatives, and no artificial ANYTHING!"
I like to incorporate some berries or sliced bananas, and of course a drizzle of syrup.
Let me know what you think!


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|Rediff India Abroad Home | All the sections
5 fears of a first time investor
Hemant Rustagi, Moneycontrol.com | December 01, 2006 10:16 IST
Equity funds are slowly and steadily emerging as an effective vehicle for a lay as well as a sophisticated investor. It is amazing to see the way more and more investors are including equity funds in their portfolio.
However, there are many investors who have been watching from the sidelines and have yet not taken the plunge. There are many fears that pose a dilemma to these investors. While each investor has his own perspective, some of the common fears are:
Let us analyse each one of these and see how a first time investor can conquer these fears and benefit from investing in equity funds and build wealth over time.
Aren't equity funds risky?
A first time investor needs to understand that every investment carries certain degree of risk and the potential to earn is directly linked to the degree of risk taken. For a long-term investor, it is essential to ensure that he earns positive real rate of returns i.e. rate of return minus inflation.
Equities, as an asset class, have the potential to achieve this. No doubt, equity markets can be volatile over the short-term and that makes equity funds a risky proposition in the short-term. However, it is also a proven fact that over the long term the stock markets go up and provide better returns compared to other asset classes.
The good thing about equity investing is that the "risk' can be minimized by adopting a proper strategy to invest as well as by building a portfolio of quality equity funds. On the other hand, a haphazard approach to investing as well as selection of funds can put one's hard earned money to risk.
Therefore, an investment in an equity fund should be made essentially for the long term and not to become rich overnight. It is quite common to see many new investors getting carried away with the euphoria in the stock market and taking extra-ordinary risks. The most important thing is to understand the consequences of your decisions and do not allow emotions to dictate them.
Isn't the current level too high to invest?
As the stock market continues its upward grind, many investors often wonder whether this is irrational exuberance in the stock market or this rally still has some steam left in it.
First and foremost, the current level of the market at any point of time should not deter a long-term investor from making a beginning.
That's because investing in equity funds is a process and not one time activity. The best way to benefit from equity funds is by investing on a regular basis and to have a long-term view.
Do I have enough money to begin investing?
Many investors feel that to invest in equity funds they may require large sums of money. The fact, however, is that one can begin investing in some of the equity funds with even a sum as small as Rs 500.
The key, however, is that to make this humble beginning into something meaningful, one need to invest on a regular basis. That's why; a Systematic Investment Plan can be the perfect option for a beginner. SIP helps an investor a timing the market and benefit from "averaging" as well as "compounding". It is a proven fact that compounding is a powerful tool for a long term investor and can do wonders to one's savings.
Once an investor enrolls for SIP, it is important to continue with that for years and even increase the amount as and when he is able to do so. Remember, equity funds are your best bet to build a lump sum to achieve any of your long-term investment objectives like buying a house, to provide for a child's education and to ensure a comfortable retired life. While you may experience lots of ups and downs during this marathon race, you need to carry on.
Which fund to invest in?
While one of the major advantages of investing in mutual funds is the variety of funds that are available to investors, it can be quite a daunting task for a new investor to select the right ones.
It is quite common to see many new investors making the mistake of investing in every fund that comes their way. Though the scheme selection should be the final step in the investment process, many investors make this as a first step and end up developing a hodge-podge portfolio. No wonder, their experiences deter many new investors from investing in equity funds.
A new investor should begin with diversified funds. In fact, large cap funds can be an ideal way to start and then gradually other funds like mid-cap, specialty and sectors funds can be included in the portfolio. Investing in existing funds, rather than the New Fund Offerings, can be a good idea. Remember, existing funds have a track record and a portfolio to ascertain the quality and the future prospects.
Also, avoid the temptation of investing in a fund just before it pays the dividend. It is important to understand that dividend payments by the funds are a process of distributing gains to its unit holders and only those who remain in the fund for a considerable period benefit from it in the real sense.
When one invests in fund just before the dividend is paid, one receives a part of one's own capital back in the form of dividend and not a part of the gains of the fund, as is commonly perceived. At the same time, since the dividend percentage and not the quality of portfolio or the composition of it, becomes the main criterion, there are chances of investing in a fund that may not merit an investment otherwise.
Who can help me invest in mutual funds?
There are many sources like individual and corporate advisors, banks and portals like www.easymf.com that can help you invest in mutual funds. To find out a mutual fund advisor in your area, you can visit the website of Association of Mutual funds in India www.amfiindia.com and access information about advisors in your area.
However, it is always advisable to do some due diligence before finalizing one. After all it is a question of entrusting you hard earned money to someone for the long-term.
If you are investor waiting to invest in equity, the sooner you get over these fears, the better it would be. Succumbing to these fears can have a profound and detrimental effect on the growth of your hard earned money.
The author is CEO, Wiseinvest Advisors Pvt. Ltd. He can be reached at email@example.com more on mutual funds, log on to www.easymf.com


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Politics & Government
GOP's Toomey the winner in Pennsylvania Senate race
PHILADELPHIA — Republican Pat Toomey beat Democrat Joe Sestak to win Pennsylvania's open U.S. Senate seat Tuesday, according to unofficial returns.
With over 98 percent of the districts counted, Toomey had nearly 51 percent of the vote, to Sestak's 49 percent.
The Senate race presented voters with a clear ideological choice between a Democrat occupying his party's left flank and a conservative Republican leader.
Sestak, a former Navy admiral and second-term member of the U.S. House from Delaware County, has been a loyal ally of President Obama, backing the financial-system bailouts begun under President George W. Bush, the federal stimulus package, and the overhaul of the health-care insurance system.
Toomey, who began his career as a Wall Street investment banker and later helped start a family chain of sports bars, is a staunch conservative who represented a Lehigh Valley district in the House from 1999 to 2005. After that, Toomey was head of the Club for Growth, a Wall Street-backed free-market advocacy group that campaigns for lower taxes and less regulation on business.
Read the full story at philly.com


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A Reason To Survive (1)
ARTS has been a strategic accomplice to the aerospace trade for 15 years, supporting companies all through Europe to optimise their enterprise processes for manufacturing and personnel. This conference will explore the theme of researching the arts and dementia by way of keynote speakers, workshops and panel debates. Finger knitting is a much easier and safer manner for teenagers to knit than to use needles, and it improves handbook dexterity and hand-eye coordination. As part of the overview, DCMS has opened a web-based survey asking for suggestions on the Arts Council, which is open for submissions until September 20. HAVE YOUR SAY BY CLICKING HERE. This Christian humility is just not the identical spirit that is conveyed by lots of the conventional Eastern martial arts.
I used to work on quite a lot of natural crafts outdoor when we lived in the woods however not so much now that we're in the city. Martial Arts is excellent for you, bodily, mentally and socially; you need to give it a try! Fine arts film is a time period that encompasses movement photos and the field of film as a nice art form. The initiative's mission is to energize and unify artists and arts organizations and connect the Bergen County community to the arts. Make these really cute little burro finger puppets by following the tutorial that you're going to find at Crack of Dawn Crafts.
Eclectic Martial Arts that mix elements of many types is large in enterprise in America right this moment. Priority shall be given to centres that: are working with young individuals for whom access and inclusion is a matter and who will use the grant to support them to pilot, embed or develop their Arts Award work with these teams. Extend your inner capabilities with the extremely qualified personnel at ARTS and enhance your organization's success. Morris felt a deep appreciation of the superb crafts that had been individually produced in the late Middle Ages by skilled craftsmen.
The FFIII and FFIV Trading Arts Figures are based mostly the 3D remakes of those video games, which I performed on iOS; I suppose they originally had been released on Nintendo 3DS. If a martial arts teacher does not instruct on when it's proper to struggle and when it's wrong, he isn't totally teaching his students. Donna enjoys utilizing her arts background to create fun craft initiatives with a particular focus on utilizing repurposed or useful household materials. Older youngsters may additionally get pleasure from these rainbow craft actions that assist children be taught colours and construct wonderful motor expertise with tracing, cutting and pasting actions. From what I've heard, each arts self-discipline's presentation is coming together great!
This makes a pleasant little container for treats for a party or for the varsity children. Over the years, God has allowed me (through my martial arts coaching) to minister to lots of of people on this planet. Yes, it seems martial arts works in another way for various people, however I assume what an individual learns by martial arts operates in one facet of their lives or one other. His life and work have been spent on the front traces of the neighborhood arts and activism actions.


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By Carlos Whittaker: I met a girl the other day named Jamie Grace.
The second she told me her name all I could think about was the pressure. Oh the pressure. Was that some kind of sick joke?
I mean can you imagine?
What if your name was Scotty Humble? Or Sally Patience? Who had the bright idea to place these attributes of God in our names?
I got to thinking…
If God was gonna name me something that reflects who I am, He'd probably have to name be Carlos Anxious.
But if I became more of who He was, and started to allow him to reflect who He was in me, then the obvious shift in last name would become Carlos Trust.
I don't know Jamie Grace. I don't know if she is filled with grace or not. She may be the most grace giving human on the planet. And I think on this blog we would all attempt to live in that place.
Where are you at with your core sin last name? What would it be? And if God came in and provided you healing for that last name? What would it become?
Trying to become Carlos Trust…


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Oxygen was discovered independently by Joseph Priestley in England and Carl Scheele in Sweden. The existence of such a gas as oxygen had been theorized as long ago as the time of Leonardo da Vinci. Others had isolated oxygen before Priestly and Scheele but didn't recognize it.
Priestly discovered oxygen on Aug. 1 while in the employ of the Earl of Shelburne in Wiltshire, England. He discovered it through heating mercury oxide or lead.
Carl Wilhelm Scheele discovered oxygen around the same time as Priestly, but because Priestly published his findings first, he is given the credit for the discovery.


text: In Karis Church, we don't have "small groups." We don't gather together simply for Bible study. Our end goal is not simply fellowship together. Our groups, what we call "Missional Communities," seek to reach a particular people group or place in our city with the gospel of Jesus. We want these MCs to expand across our city, across Mid-Missouri, and beyond. Be a part of a gospel community on mission with us. Check out all of our groups here.


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ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) Theatre Star won the $60,000 feature for older fillies and mares by three-quarters of a length at Santa Anita on Friday.
Ridden by Gary Stevens, Theatre Star ran 1 1/8 miles on the turf in 1:47.52 and paid $5.60, $4 and $2.80 as the 9-5 favorite.
Rhagori returned $4.80 and $3.20, while Moulin de Mougin was another 1 1/4 lengths back in third and paid $2.80 to show.
Theatre Star ran for the first time under new trainer Tom Proctor after being privately purchased by Glen Hill Farm and transferred to his barn.
The victory, worth $36,000, increased Theatre Star's career earnings to $103,400, with four wins in five starts.
Stevens and Proctor teamed up for their 11th victory in 29 starts at the current meet, where they are winning at a 38 percent clip.


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Ichiban comply with retail codes of practice thanks to automation
Ichiban UK Ltd is the largest sushi manufacturer in the UK. The company produces both own label and branded authentic sushi for major retailers in a growing UK market. At their single site in Suffolk they employ over 450 staff in a 24/7 operation, last year alone they cooked around 1,200 tonnes of rice.
Ichiban's challenges
Ichiban UK Ltd contacted OAL to investigate the implementation of a label verification and date code control system in response to the introduction of stricter rules, regulations and codes of practices set by retailers. Breaches of these codes of practice can result in substantial fines as well as loss of reputation.
The increasing consumption and popularity of sushi meant any installation needed to minimise downtime to maintain capacity. Ichiban UK hoped to use the installed system for both compliance and to drive operational efficiency and productivity on the shop floor.
Technical automation solution
OAL Autocoding was installed across four packing lines at Ichiban to ensure the correct label, date code and price has been applied to products. A touch screen terminal was installed on each line that linked to scanners, C Wrap labellers, Ice printers (Ice Thermal Transfer labeller), and Mettler Toledo checkweighers with a master database of products. A fifth mimic terminal was installed in the Low-Risk area for operators to carry out routine quality checks and to scan outer case label barcodes, ensuring products are packed in the correct case. Three interesting features of the system are:
2D coding & scanning
2D barcoding and scanning allows Ichiban to scan products without using the EAN barcode which means all areas of packaging are traceable (to ensure the correct version of labels are used). This simple system reads every single code that passes through the scanner, compares it to the job inputted within the system by the line operator. If a mismatch error occurs the line completely stops which takes away the risks which ensure they meet the retailer's requirements and are completely compliant. Unlike 1D barcodes, 2D barcodes provide complete control over the version of packaging used. 2D barcodes are not under the control of the retailer, so can be adjusted when there are any minor changes to the packaging to ensure that old packaging is not used.
OEE performance
If an incorrect label is on the line, the line stops and a supervisor must investigate before the line can restart. Operators must then record on the touchscreen terminal the reason for the stop thus collecting actionable data. The data is both highly accurate and can be used in real-time so actions can be taken if any issues occur. The automatic system replaces existing manual production logs, proving more accurate and reliable data.
Promo labels
The OAL Autocoding system provides assurance over the correct use of promo labels. By applying a 2D code to the front of the label or printing a 2D code onto the backing paper the label can be scanned. If the product does not require a promo label, the scanner will either detect the wrong barcode or will detect a consecutive no read and stop the line.
The OAL Autocoding system has provided peace of mind to Ichiban UK Ltd by securing the label, date codes and price on their packaging. The system was installed quickly with minimal factory downtime.
Ichiban UK uses the system to identify and improve production performance as the OAL system automatically records downtime. The accurate date is then used to proactively prevent issues arising on the packaging line.


text: Modern Slavery-used to be an oxymoron. Most people don't even know it exists. For some people, it may be happening right under their noses. Maybe we should be a little more careful about trying out that new sports bar down the road, or going to get an escort from the airport to go to your hotel. It may just be a hoax. Most human trafficking rings have a front for their business, so that they will be a little less conspicuous. That front can also be a trap to get other women into slavery. So, when we say that we are fighting modern slavery, it's not as crazy as people think. Human trafficking is the second biggest illegal trade in the world, next to the drug trade. Help us fight human trafficking by promoting awareness of the issue to the world.


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From neck and back pain to sports and automobile accident injuries, we treat a variety of ailments. Our kind and compassionate staff makes you feel comfortable in our office and works to ensure your injuries and pain are able to heal promptly and fully. Visiting Vinton Chiropractic Clinic is perfect for people who have tried a number of other treatments that didn't work or who want to try the chiropractic alternative before using medication or surgery.
In business for more than 30 years, chiropractor Dr. Teass and the rest of the staff at Vinton Chiropractic Clinic in Vinton, Virginia, are adept at providing efficient, complete care in both chiropractic and acupuncture therapies. Dr. Teass possesses a Doctorate of Chiropractic from the original Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa. In addition, he has completed more than 300 hours of training in acupuncture, as well as post-graduate training in X-ray and orthopedics.
After practicing in the Roanoke Valley for more than three decades, we've come to know many of our patients very well; we even treat the grandchildren of some of the patients we saw when we first began our clinic in 1983. Allow our family to help you heal through the use of natural, gentle chiropractic therapy.
Thank you for your interest. For questions or comments, please use the information listed here. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Phone(540) 613-1745
Hours of OperationMonday, Wednesday, Friday: 8:00 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.Tuesday, Thursday: 1:00 p.m. - 5:45 p.m.
Address300 Virginia Avenue W, Vinton, VA 24179We are located in a large, one-story red brick building across the street from Precision Fabrics Group and just down the street from Wells Fargo Bank. Our office building also houses National Optical.
Service AreaServing Roanoke, Vinton, Salem, Bedford, Goodview, Stewartsville, Huddleston, Wirtz, Moneta, Daleville, Troutville
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Well, they aren't famous yet, but we'll do our bit. My daughter Maria's softball team, the Purple Dragons, played a spirited game today against the Red Cobras at Pinewood School in lovely Mounds View. Maria batted in the 2 hole and made the most of her opportunity, getting 4 hits in as many plate appearances. Not much to report on the fielding front but the team looks pretty good. They are playing in a 3-team in-house league for the Mounds View Softball Association, so there will likely be further grudge matches against the Red Cobras and the other team in the league, the oddly monikered Blue Tacos.
It's going to be a fun summer, but your humble correspondent thinks he has half the infield dirt of Ramsey County on his shoes right about now. But when you want to know what's going on in 7-10 in-house fastpitch softball in the Mounds View School District, this is where you'd better be looking.


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Whether you want a van for a house improvement mission or move, or for commercial use, our fleet is obtainable for daily, weekly and monthly leases. The Vans brand promotes the action sports activities lifestyle, youth tradition and artistic self-expression by the help of athletes, musicians and artists and through progressive occasions and platforms such because the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing®, the Vans U.S. Open of Surfing, Vans Pool Party, Vans Custom Culture, Vans Warped Tour®, and Vans' cultural hub and worldwide music venue, the House of Vans.
Throughout the 60's, 70's and eighty's Disney Cast Members wore Vans as a part of their uniform- this represented the start of a treasured relationship between Vans and Disney and has seen quite a few beloved Disney characters similar to Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, Donald Duck and one zero one Dalmatians all that includes on basic Vans styles all through the 80's.
Hi i when i get to a certain rev van loses energy and wont rev no more,so i has im going along switch engine on and off it cures it until i go over sure rev a rev of about 2000 i cleaned the EGR valve which was baked by the way,however still not cured the problem and i cant see it being the maf sensor because it runs advantageous till over certain rev any ideas good friend.
Although conversion vans are comparatively rare in the campgrounds we have visited, they usually most likely hadn't entered my thoughts much outside of a childhood love for Scooby Doo's Mystery Machine, again in the vanning heyday of the Seventies, the more analysis we did, the more it made sense of us to increase our choices with out growing our size or budget too much.
I am positive that we will see extra of them sooner or later (but we are going to see larger numbers of RV 7s because the RV 6 package is no longer being produced by Vans). There are other issues that can go fallacious with these vans that can affect the running, but as the MAF is a fairly easy fix that always solves numerous problems, then it's a good start line.


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Bring the Oscars to your home, and become the most critical movie critic ever known with this movie night gift set, it contains everything you need to sit in the quiet comfort of your own home and secretly judge a tonne of films without ever being held accountable for your slander. This is a great gift for a movie buff or a budding film journalist, and it comes complete with an A3 hotdog poster that contains the ingredients of different hot dogs from around the world, and is topped off with iconic hotdog holders and popcorn bags.
The final piece of this gift is a critic's notes journal, which will allow you to practice the processes it takes to become a successful critic, wading through the rubbish that seems to have become a standard in modern day Hollywood. Make sure you get this gift asap, as it will be perfect for any film lover, providing them will the tools they need to have novelty film nights at their house.


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New Products Added!
Just in time for Christmas and holiday gift giving, we have Cole's artwork on notecards! There are two options available, a small notecard set and a larger notecard set! They are packaged and ready for gift giving! Go to BATCOLE GEAR and look at the neat options! There are shipping and local delivery options once you checkout-
Thank you also for shopping online through Fundsponge! We had a very successful November! We have also partnered with Kroger Community Rewards-- so if you shop at central Indiana Kroger's, check out our OTHER WAYS TO HELP page for information on how to link your Kroger's Plus Card, and Kroger's will donate a percentage of your grocery sale to the Batcole Foundation!
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I'm sorry that I'm such a downer. I live for the summer, beaches and dresses.
Anyways, it's been pretty warm, and I think it's probably only dipped below freezing less than 5 times (if that even). It's usually really cold here starting in November, and we get blizzards and all of that other good stuff all throughout the winter season. However, it's not like that right now. The other day I was able to go out in just pants and a short sleeve shirt because it was 72 degrees. That was just last week!
Our heat bills during the winter time can range from $150 (at the lowest) to sometimes $300. Right now it's around$50 to $60, which is amazing! All of this extra money is going towards our vacations.
When the BF and I first moved in together, around 4 to 5 years ago, we first rented a small house (we're talking like 500 square feet total).
At first, we never paid attention to the amount of heat that we would use, and our first (and second and third) bill was around $400 for a super tiny house. So obviously there are ways that you can save and watch your heat spending. Now we have a house around 2,500 square feet and our bill is extremely smaller, even when it is cold out.
There are numerous ways that we cut back on our heat bill:
- The weather definitely helps
- There are a lot of unused rooms in our house. We have a 4 bedroom house, and we really only use 1 (ours of course), so we usually close the vents in the 3 three other rooms to redirect the air. I've always heard that you shouldn't close more than 15% to 20% of your vents or it's bad, but I'm not sure if that's true. Does anyone know?
- This is going to sound crazy, but we always make sure our back doors are completely closed when we let the dogs out. If we just let them out really quick and don't shut the door, our little dog tends to open the door wide open to come back in, and most of the time we won't notice for quite awhile, and this wastes a ton of heat
- I bundle up. I would say we, but the BF insists that he's always hot. I like to be bundled regardless if it's hot or warm, but when I'm at home I tend to wear pants, layered tank tops and a sweater
- Someone is usually always home, since the BF and I have completely different schedules. I start work at 8 am, and he starts work around 4pm. However, we do try and lower the heat when no one is home, not too low though, just to around 70
- We keep the temperature at 73 degrees. I'm not sure if this is low or high, but it seems to be perfect for us
- We have new windows in our house that don't have a crazy cold draft. This helps a lot
What we need to do in order to help our heat bill lower even further:
- We could lower the temperature more, but right now since it's a decent temperature out, we're not too worried with saving a ton of money on the heat bill. What does everyone else set their thermostat at?
- Our doors have a horrible draft, we need something to block the draft underneath
- We could buy space heaters, but for some reason these scare me because I'm afraid of a house fire
- Could get special block out curtains. We've thought about this, but haven't gotten around to it. How much do these usually cost?
What else could we do?Are there any other things that you're doing to save money?
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'Storied Streets' a family project, with Susan Sarandon guiding the way
By Gina Piccalo For Los Angeles Times.
April 15, 2015
Just a few weeks after college graduation, Jack Henry Robbins accepted the invitation of a homeless man and rode a city bus with him from Santa Monica to skid row.
It was the first stop on Robbins' nine-city cross-country tour as director of "Storied Streets," a new and startling documentary that his mother, Susan Sarandon, executive produced. There, he and his young crew came face to face with the stereotypes they so earnestly sought to dispel.
"That was by far the one place I felt in danger," said Robbins, 25, talking about skid row this month amid the dark wood and leather of the dean's office at his alma mater, USC, where the film was being screened.
"And that's the part of being homeless that scares us, the people who are aggressive and on drugs or mean to you or threatening. The truth of it is, though, that's a small percentage of the people who are homeless. As we went into different parts of America, it was way less threatening."
The film comes when documentary has proved to be an especially influential and news-making medium, exposing government espionage (Oscar-winning "Citizenfour") and a celebrity cult ("Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief"), reopening a cold-case murder ("The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst") and questioning animal-training practices at Sea World ("Blackfish"). Cable networks have taken note of the renewed interest, with HBO and Showtime, plus online streaming service Netflix and others, entering the production and distribution game.
"Storied Streets" is one of eight films selected by Sarandon, as this month's guest curator, for AMC's subscription-based streaming service SundanceNow Doc Club series. Every month, the service enlists a high-profile artist to choose his or her favorite documentaries to feature for the next month.
Sarandon chose "Storied Streets" and another documentary she helped produce, "Waiting for Mamu," about Nepali social worker Pushpa Basnet, who rescues Katmandu children from prisons where they're held with their incarcerated mothers. That film helped earn Basnet CNN's Hero of the Year Award in 2012.
Also on Sarandon's list were the Oscar-nominated Hurricane Katrina documentary "Trouble the Water"; the Canadian film "Pink Ribbons, Inc.," which deconstructs the false hope of the famous breast cancer campaign; and the Sundance Jury Prize winner "Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry," a profile of the outspoken Chinese artist.
"What 'Storied Streets' and 'Mamu' have accomplished is incredible, and Harvey Weinstein hasn't even gotten behind them," quipped Sarandon. "Now when you make a documentary, you have to know what you're aiming toward."
The Oscar-winning actress is as famous for her progressive politics and social activism as she is for her film roles. When Thomas Morgan, a Charlotte, N.C., investment banker with filmmaking aspirations, landed in her New York pingpong club looking to make a documentary about homelessness, she offered to executive produce and bring in her son to direct.
"So many of these people could be contributing to society," said Sarandon. "It's all about imagining possibility. Which is the only absolute truth. If you take possibility away from people, I don't know how you go on."
By early 2014, Sarandon and Morgan had formed their own documentary production company, Reframed Pictures, in her Chelsea loft in hopes of using "Storied Streets" and their other films to spur social action. Sarandon said the company now serves as an "idea lab."
"Storied Streets" not only launched her son's career and her production company, it has already prompted Sarandon to testify before Congress on hate crimes against the homeless and has reached 30,000 viewers through a coordinated streaming effort with the National Coalition for the Homeless during Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week last November. Hulu and M-GO are also streaming the film this month. By fall, the film is expected to make its TV debut via various PBS affiliates.
Robbins is tall and lanky with a friendly smile like his father, Tim Robbins, whose 23-year relationship with Sarandon ended in 2009. He has a gregarious demeanor that's more at ease on the set of the TV mockumentary he's now directing for Comedy Central than on skid row at midnight. As he reflected on the film, Sarandon, 68, sat next to him, exuding a quiet sort of gravitas.
In August 2011, the younger Robbins and his crew caravanned from skid row in two cars to Las Vegas to Denver to St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo., to Kentucky, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., ending in New York. They stayed in cheap motels and with relatives along the way. Meanwhile, Morgan, the film's producer, and a separate crew conducted a few interviews near his home in Charlotte, including with children camping out in the woods with their destitute parents.
Robbins' crew was a young group, all film-school friends from USC whose relative naivete and discreet technology granted them access to people he believes might have steered clear of more seasoned filmmakers.
"Everything was done very small, to not draw attention," Robbins said.
They filmed on hand-held digital video cameras with small boom microphones that attached to iPhones, giving an intimacy and immediacy to each portrait. In one, a former homeless schizophrenic-turned-activist describes the nightly beatings he endured from strangers. In another, a college-educated, homeless veteran blends in on a subway car because he has nowhere else to go.
In Denver, the crew spent all afternoon outside dumpsters with some longtime addicts scavenging for scrap metal. Robbins perched on a curb to record their stories of car accidents that led to painkiller dependency that led to heroin.
"It was quite an interesting circumstance to be cut loose from college and be interviewing people who were cut loose from civil life," said Robbins. "To be thrust into a subject matter like that was really eye-opening, touching, grounding."


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If you are having Internet issues today, Feb, 28, 2017 – you are not alone. According to BGR, a massive Amazon Outage is affecting many Internet users on the East Coast – that would include us.
At the moment it is not affecting Your Local News websites, but it is put a hold on today's News Blast. The powers that be report it is being handled.


text: Share: Comments Print August 19, 2014 at 8:39 AM Three state fish records broken this summer Posted by Mark Yuasa (David Hickman of Richland with his record tiger muskie. Photo courtesy of Washington State Fish and Wildlife.) A few state records were officially verified this summer by state Fish and Wildlife. David Hickman of Richland broke the tiger muskie record with a 37.88 pound fish he caught July 26 in Curlew Lake in Ferry County using a white spinner bait. The fish was 50.38 inches long. The new record tiger muskie record beat out the previous record set in 2001, and held by John Bays of Chehalis with a fish caught in Mayfield Lake in Lewis County. Shaylynn Bird Sullivan from Sierra Vista, Arizona, caught a 0.45 pound prickly sculpin July 1 from the Columbia River in Chelan County. Sullivan hooked it by trolling a shrimp just downstream of the Rocky Reach Dam. Sullivan beat the previous record a 0.41 pound fish caught in 208 by Jeff Frederick at Priest Rapids Lake in Grant County. Josiah Brenner, age 9, of Vashon set a new state record when he caught a 0.76 pound Pacific staghorn sculpin on Aug. 3 at Tramp Harbor in King County. Brenner caught the fish on a herring, and was half a pound heavier than the old record from 2000 held by John Moore who caught the fish at Padilla Bay in Skagit County. Comments


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Fund's donation will help artistic children
Youngsters have received a boost to improve their artistic skills thanks to a donation.
North Tyneside Disability Forum's (NTDF) Youth Project has received a range of arts and crafts materials, thanks to the Northumbria Police Charities Fund.
Afshin Malekain, community engagement officer at NTDF, approached the police fund to help secure resources and materials to support its work with children and young people aged seven years and up.
Braille paper, clay and mod rock, pens, crayons, paints and fabrics are all in place thanks to the fund, which will enable the group to run activities across evening term time and half-term holiday periods.
Sue Adams, chief officer, said: "We are really grateful to Afshin for his support and hard work.
"It's this sort of help that makes the range of projects we run, possible. The materials will benefit around 120 young people of all abilities and disabilities."
NTDF is wholly reliant upon charitable trust monies.


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Friday, September 28, 2012
E-readers (Including Kindles) and Tablets on Sale starting at $39.99 Right Now at Cowboom!
E-readers (Including Kindles) an tablets are on sale for $39.99 right now at Cowboom with free shipping! They seem to be going fast! http://www.cowboom.com/deal-of-the-day.cfm. If they are sold out try refreshing the page as they keep loading more.
All Lamplighter MP3 Downloads on Sale for $14.00!
Yes, we are still here! Hope to be posting more often soon, but in the meantime here is an incredible deal I wanted to share:
For a limited time you can purchase ALL of Lamplighter Theaters MP3 Downloads for a total price of $14.00! This is a savings of $361.00! They also have two sets of e-books available at $7.00 each, as well as an e-book/MP3 combo package. Click here to order: http://www.modularmerchant.com/clients/lamplighter/category/21/Special-Offers Not sure how long this incredible sale will last!
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Rewriting the mess they give you takes almost as long as writing it all from scratch.
That was on a brand-new website.
Now, here's a website that I've had for years:
The problem is, most spinners don't understand language the way you do.
What they produce reads like something you'd get from a 2-year-old with a thesaurus precisely because they WORK like a 2-year-old with a thesaurus.
They don't understand that a word can have more than one meaning.
So they don't get that "book" can mean both "a novel" and "make a reservation". Which is why the articles they produce don't make any sense.
Spin Rewriter's got a huge — and growing — table of synonyms.
But unlike most spinners, it goes much further than that.
It looks at the whole article. It doesn't just look up words — it analyzes them to understand their exact meaning.
And this means that Spin Rewriter understands what you're trying to say, and can rewrite your articles intelligently.
This approach is called Emulated Natural Language.
And it's how Spin Rewriter can deliver hundreds of human-quality articles time and time again.
Well, we could talk about algorithms and machine learning and all that boring stuff.
But it's better just to show you:
Normal spinning
ENL spinning
Original text:
Original text:
Spun text:
Spun text:
Because the spinner doesn't understand context, you end up with "his kids is able to novel the vacation for him".
ENL understands that "book" can have two different meanings and picks the right one. It also understands the difference between "is" and "are".
Is this the kind of content Google is going to like when it finds you? No. It is not.
ENL understands how language works. And BECAUSE it understands, it gives you the results you NEED.
Here's an example of what ENL Semantic Spinning will give you:
Just imagine for a second, being able to produce ten times the amount of articles that you can right now.
Imagine being able to run more websites in less time.
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Let's be clear: we're here to stay.
Spin Rewriter has been around for 8 years. And from the moment it was first released, we've been supporting it and updating it.
Over 158,000 accounts have been created. Millions of articles have been spun. Half of the online marketing industry professionals are using Spin Rewriter — because we work.
There's a lot more where this came from.
Check out the Testimonials page for hundreds of glowing comments from our users.
They're no different to you. But thanks to Spin Rewriter they've become content publishing MACHINES. Able to target as many niches and keywords as they like.
So... do you also want a go?
The world's best spinner just got taken up another notch.
We've updated the ENL Semantic Spinning engine to include even more synonyms and sentence structure variations. We've further improved the machine-learning backbone of ENL.
We've beefed up the servers to make everything run faster and smoother.
And here's what you're getting when you activate your Free Trial today:
Here at Spin Rewriter, we keep it simple.
Step 1:
Paste your article text into the editor.
Step 2:
Hit the button and let Spin Rewriter turn the whole thing
into something completely unique.
Prefer to do this manually?
Not a problem — Spin Rewriter can suggest context-based synonyms
for every word to make it easier for you.
Step 3:
Hit 'Export' to generate as many variations as you want.
You can export up to 1000 new spun articles at once.
And that's it. The whole process takes about 2 minutes.
Want proof?
We're the spinner recommended by Easy Blog Networks — one of the most popular PBN providers on the internet.
Their whole business revolves around staying in Google's good graces...
So if anyone knows how to stay safe, it's them.
Virtually every big-name SEO tool integrates the Spin Rewriter API.
You can use Spin Rewriter with all of these tools, and dozens of others. Simply plug in your Spin Rewriter account and you'll bring the power of ENL Semantic Spinning straight into these apps:
Side-by-side comparison of original and spun text
Directly compare your original and new spun articles so you can immediately see the difference. This makes it incredibly easy to see at a glance how unique your new text is.
Stock photo integration
Add relevant public domain images to your articles — just select which ones you want, and Spin Rewriter will automatically add a relevant selection between paragraphs.
Deep spinning
Spin Rewriter can automatically add nested spintax to your articles.
This massively multiplies the number of variations you can get from just a single article — meaning that with Spin Rewriter, every article goes much further.
Sentence and paragraph-level spinning
Other spinners are limited to changing words.
Spin Rewriter understands phrases, sentences and even whole paragraphs. This gives you results that are more unique, and STILL read better thanks to the ENL Semantic Spinning technology.
HTML formatting
By default, Spin Rewriter is set up to provide content that's ready to be cut-and-pasted into WordPress blogs. And if you want HTML, just flick the switch and you'll get a fully marked-up version ready to go.
All popular spintax styles supported
We want to make sure you can use your Spin Rewriter articles with every other system out there. That's why we support all 5 of the most popular spintax styles. Just choose the one you want to use and push the button.
Works on all devices
Spin Rewriter lives in the cloud which means it will adapt to every device you have. Desktops, laptops, tablets, phones... Spin Rewriter feels right at home on all of them.
Collection of detailed video tutorials
We want to make it easy for you to use Spin Rewriter to its fullest potential. That's why we have prepared a collection of more than 10 detailed video tutorials. Armed with these tutorials, your spin-fu will be a thing to behold.
Paragraph creation
Stop rewording. Start creating.
Spin Rewriter can find additional information in your existing paragraphs and create entirely new content on its own.
With completely new paragraphs, your original article is masked even further — giving you content that would pass even a side-by-side comparison.
List shuffle
Smart list shuffling detects unordered lists and puts the elements in a completely new order, increasing the uniqueness of your articles.
But don't worry — it won't touch your numbered lists. You won't find a 2, 5, 8, 3, 4 list on Spin Rewriter's watch.
Ignore original words
Create something completely new. You can set Spin Rewriter to only use alternative synonyms when creating a new version of your article, and NONE of the original words will make it in.
This is EXTREME spinning — and it's how you guarantee total uniqueness.
Copyscape integration
Connect your CopyScape account and you can get an instant assessment of whether your article passes the uniqueness test.
(Spoiler alert: It will. Every time.)
Grammar and spell-checker
If you start with an article that's riddled with grammar errors, your spinning's never going to work well.
Which means you end up spending those extra hours fixing not one, but 500 versions!
Spin Rewriter's grammar checker makes sure that your articles would pass any English test, even if you don't know (or care) what a third-person past-participle is.
Word and character count
Making sure that you've got a range of different lengths of articles on your websites removes an obvious red flag for Google.
Spin Rewriter gives you word and character counts for every created spun article, so you can make sure you've got the variety that'll make your websites look perfectly natural.
Parallel processing
We're constantly improving our algorithms to make the best possible use of resources — and for non-geeks, this means you'll not only be able to spin all kinds of complicated articles in seconds, but the spinning process is also getting faster all the time.
Mass export
Generate up to 1,000 variations of your article at once.
This means with just one button-press, you can create enough content to fill your blogs, your satellite sites, even your entire PBN.
Save for later
Sometimes life happens.
Even when you need to take a break while in the middle of a project, Spin Rewriter will save all your work and make sure nothing is lost. Even automatically.
Manual and automatic spinning
Want to create your own spintax? Not a problem, just select some of the suggested synonyms or type brand new ones into the editor.
Want Spin Rewriter to do it all for you? Even easier. Hit the button and the algorithm will automatically spin the whole thing for you.
Bulk Article Spinning
Got more than one article you want to spin?
Spin Rewriter can handle all of them at once, giving you the ability to create virtually unlimited content instantly.
Better Yet...
Watch (Hands-On!)
What Spin Rewriter Can Do:
That's not a typo.
You can get full access to Spin Rewriter — completely unlimited, with all features — for the sum total of $0.00.
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Absolutely no money will change hands today. After 5 days, if you're happy with what Spin Rewriter can do, you can decide if it's worth your investment.
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These days, people expect more than just text from their content.
And that means Google also wants more than just text to boost your rankings.
If you want your websites to look natural, you need multimedia. Videos. Photos.
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Enter your keywords, and Spin Rewriter will go fetch a load of related videos from its built-in database of over 8 Million videos.
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Extra media. Extra uniqueness. Extra power. — All for free.
Big Content Search is exactly what the name suggests.
It's the biggest, baddest network of free content on the web.
You can find high-quality articles on virtually any topic here — all of them with rights to add to your websites, under your own name.
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With Spin Rewriter, you can use those to create up to 10,000 pieces of content.
Should keep you going for a month or two.
What you've got here isn't another marketing tool that'll be forgotten in 3 months.
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Always like the concept of the U2 iPod, and now it's been updated with a new lower price (still garners a premium, though, according to some recent blogs.
Obviously, you've seen the band involved in promos for Apple's products and now with Disney so involved with movie downloads on iTunes, will we see a Disney iPod from Apple?
I know you can get Disney skins, but how about a real one?


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Barakah – Zahara de los Atunes
This charming restaurant is located at the Paseo del Pradillo in Zahara de los Atunes, just a few meters away from the beach. Enjoy an excellent menu based on traditional recipes with a modern touch at this lovely restaurant decorated with white walls and beautiful furniture in a light tone.
Barakah is the right place to discover the main local products, with fresh fish, Almadraba tuna and Retinto beef are the aboslute gastronomic highlights.
You can taste all of these dishes cooked in different ways at their luminous outdoor terrace, inside at its pleasant dining room or at the private dining room, which is ideal for those who want to enjoy a meal with family and friends.
There is also an interesting bar, where they serve tasty tapas.
Definitely an wonderful place for a great meal in Zahara de los Atunes.


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Capitol Alert
Democrat Ami Bera getting hit from left – and right
As he faces withering critiques from organized labor over trade, Rep. Ami Bera also is taking early fire from traditional foes.
The National Republican Congressional Committee launched a paid web advertisement Monday accusing the second-term congressman of lacking originality when it comes to authoring guest commentaries.
The Elk Grove Democrat has acknowledged that "widely used and disseminated statements" appeared in a column he wrote last month for The Sacramento Bee. In the piece, Bera explained his support for the president's request for so-called "fast-track" trade promotion authority.
The NRCC ad charges that Bera is "only worried about making his party leaders happy and not standing up for Sacramento families."
"California families deserve better than a representative who would rather copy and paste liberal talking points than stand up for his constituents," NRCC spokesman Zach Hunter said.
Meanwhile, the AFL-CIO, which last week announced its own paid ad campaign targeting Bera, is charging he'll "do anything to keep his job – including shipping your job overseas."
Bera countered in a written statement that supporting trade authority will create jobs and grow the local economy.
However, a union spokesman suggested a Bera vote for the trade deal would further erode labor support, something he's relied on to narrowly win – and defend – the suburban Sacramento County swing seat in 2012 and last year.
A group called the Progressive Coalition for American Jobs has placed web ads supporting Bera and other pro-trade Democrats.
Democrats denounced the GOP ads.
"While the NRCC has resorted to a low-budget, inflated personal attack, Representative Bera is busy fighting for the hardworking people of his district," said Barb Solish, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Christopher Cadelago: (916) 326-5538, @ccadelago


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"Museums in Libraries, Libraries in Museums": Beth McKillop, Deputy Directo...
On Friday 2nd December the Library of Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin will host the public lecture, 'Museums in Libraries, Libraries in Museums' by Beth McKillop. Beth was Deputy Director of the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum from 2010 to 2016, leading collections, curatorial and research programmes. Her lecture will reflect on museums and libraries in the 21st century, from her unique perspective of 11 years at the V&A and 20 years in the British Library's Asian Department. Her talk will have an international perspective, and will look at changing patterns of provision and engagement in museums and libraries around the world, with a focus on recent initiatives at the V&A.
The V&A is home to the National Art Library and the Archive of Art and Design. Beth will explore how these rich curatorial and information sources are incorporated across the physical and virtual museum. She will discuss plans for V&A East, a new museum for East London, in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park at Stratford, and will outline new thinking about museum and library collections as a kind of encyclopedia of the material and digital world.
Beth moved from the British Library to the V&A in 2004, becoming the Museum's Deputy Director in 2010. Her early training was in Chinese language and culture, and she began her career by cataloguing and researching China's books and manuscripts. Later she broadened her interests to include Korean collections. Her gallery projects at the V&A have included the Samsung Gallery of Korean Art (1992); the V&A New Ceramic Galleries (2009/10) and the Buddhist Sculpture Galleries (2009).
In the information management sphere, Beth championed a digital infrastructure project at the V&A, the award-winning 'Collections Management System', which ran from 2010 until 2014. The system benefits were: reduced duplication and reuse of data; consistent processes and data management; elimination of backlogs; and savings on IT licenses.
Most recently Beth has worked with her colleague Professor Bill Sherman, to develop a V&A initiative to transform museum-based research by establishing VARI, the V&A Research Institute. VARI has secured multi-year funding from the Mellon Foundation to create a unique space for nurturing curatorial/conservator expertise, scholarly training and practical skill. Since January 2016, the new Institute has been pushing ahead with teaching and training, and with collaborative research projects. In time it will publish its work in print and digitally. It will work through discrete and diverse projects including 'Encounters on the Shop Floor: Embodiment and The Knowledge of the Maker'; 'Opening the Cabinet of Curiosities'; 'The Leman Album: An Enhanced Facsimile'; and 'Digital Dickens'.


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Linux Virtual Private Servers.
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Downland Premium Collection Egyptian Cotton Double Fitted Sheet.
This 100% Egyptian cotton fitted bed sheet is soft and smooth, and with a 180 thread count, provides you with the touch of luxury needed for a great night's sleep.
100% Egyptian cotton.
Available colours: Cream, White
Available sizes: Double, King Size (price varies according to size)
Dimensions: 135 x 190 x 25cm (Approx.)
Browse more luxurious Bedding, from pillowcases and duvet covers to bed sets and fitted sheets.


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The Robertson Trust provide funding towards the post of our Manager. Active Communities was also selected by The Robertson Trust and Evaluation Support Scotland to be part of their Community Sport and Learning Set. This allowed us to develop monitoring and evaluation tools which effectively measure our work at Active Communities.
We have also been selected to be part of the Youth Work in Sport Initiative, which is a partnership between the Robertson Trust and the Rank Foundation. This initiative funds a post for a trainee youth worker within Active Communities, allowing them to gain practical work experience while they study for a Diploma in youth work.
We are grateful for the funding support that The Robertson Trust has given us, but more importantly for believing in us as an organisation and helping us to grow and develop.
Active Communities was successful in winning the NHS contract to deliver the community led health in Renfrewshire. This contract will run until December 2016.
Through the contract we aim to:
Hearty Lives Renfrewshire is funded by the BHF for the next three years to address some of the known health inequalities in the communities of Linwood and Ferguslie Park. The project will target young people aged 11-18 to reduce the Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) risk factors of low physical activity, poor eating habits, smoking and poor self-esteem.
LloydsTSB have provided us with funding through their Henry Duncan Awards. The funding will be used to towards the salary of our Operations Manager. This will allow us develop and build on the pilot programme we completed last year (How Active is your Community) and to further develop the volunteer Active Community Champions programme. The focus would be on older adults, improving health & well being, tackling health inequalities, enabling independent living and reducing isolation of older people by encouraging them to get involved in our activities.


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In this column I would like to discuss one of Alfred Rose's most popular songs, Anv Konknni Zannam (I Know Konkani), which he sang along with his wife, Rita Rose. Given that the issue of language – particularly 'mother tongue' – is being hotly debated in Goa presently, this particular song provides an opportunity to reflect on a serious issue about the Konkani language that is rarely spoken about.
The song is a duet featuring one singer as a crooner who desires to get a break into the Konkani tiatr industry and the second singer, Alfred Rose, essays the role of an interviewer, scrutinizing the singing skills of the crooner in question. However, there is one problem: the crooner cannot speak Konkani 'properly'. Her Konkani is highly anglicized, which provides much fodder in the song for ridicule. For example, when this highly anglicized Konkani is being scoffed at, the crooner protests saying "Mhaka eok chance diun, why don't you try". To which the 'interviewer' retorts: "Try try try kitem kor mhunntai try,/…Osli Konknni bhas Goenkar uloit zalear,/ Konknnichi, zali chili fry".
Further in the song, the aspiring crooner actually tries to demonstrate her Konkani skills – albeit in her anglicized Konkani – by singing some popular mandde (or Indo-Portuguese folk songs in Konkani). When she is abruptly stopped by the 'interviewer', the aspiring crooner sings, "Why are you angry, I'm very sorry,/…I've asked my daddy, I've asked my mummy,/To teach me to speak real Konkani". What needs to be noted is the emphasis placed on "real Konkani". At this point, the song takes a preachy turn, wherein Alfred Rose sermonizes about the necessity to speak Konkani. I would argue that this song also reproduces some of the oppressive strands of Konkani language politics. But more on this later.
Alfred Rose as the 'interviewer' superciliously reasons with the crooner saying that in Africa she would speak Swahili, in Germany she would speak German, and Arabic in Arabia, so how did she forget Konkani, which undoubtedly is her 'mother tongue' owing to the fact that her parents are Goans? It is at this juncture that the crooner reveals that in reality she did not forget the Konkani language; rather she was feeling "shy" to speak Konkani. Further, she had learnt Konkani from the cooks (kuzner). Hence, Alfred Rose sings that when the parents speak Konkani, why should the children be brought up in English? Rather than treating Konkani as a second-class language, we should all be proud of it, he adds.
Although 'shyness' is given as the cause of the crooner not speaking in 'proper' Konkani, in reality it is the shame and humiliation associated with speaking Konkani publicly that generally prevents people from robustly using the language. This feeling of shame and humiliation is not a rarity, but in fact is deeply symptomatic of the public experience of Konkani. This means that one would not experience this shame or humiliation whilst speaking to or conversing among friends and family, but would certainly do so in a Konkani language classroom or while interviewing for a job, both situations that require fluency in the Antruzi dialect and the nagri script in the Goa of today. These feelings are strongly tied to the caste system, and dialects are markers of caste, religion, and region that are used to discriminate people who associate with such dialects.
Within the current Konkani language establishment, Romi Konkani and the various types of accents and dialects other than Antruzi-nagri Konkani are not given public legitimacy. Hence, many bahujan Catholics and tribal peoples across Goa feel shamed and humiliated to speak their Konkani outside the comfort zone of friends and family. In fact, on the public level, speaking and standing up for these non-Antruzi-nagri forms of Konkanis would certainly be nothing short of an ordeal by fire! Being humiliated for speaking other forms of Konkani is a very serious problem.
It is this problem of a large number of Goans, of feeling shy, ashamed, and humiliated, that is not taken into consideration by either Alfred Rose in his song or even by Romi Konkani activists. Instead, what is generally done is to blame the mass of Goans (for instance, the Catholics) for failing to serve the Konkani language – and thus their Goan identity – by refusing to speak or support it publicly.
Further, by emphasizing on a 'real' and 'proper' Konkani, this song also privileges a singular form of Konkani as acceptable. Making fun of anglicized accents can also mean that the 'foreign' influences on Konkani need to be shunned. This particular song (along with others) of Alfred Rose reproduces a vision of language politics in Goa that values only the Konkani language. If such prejudices were handed down by the dominant or Nagri Konkani establishment, it can be observed that the Romi Konkani activists have not done much to rectify the problem.
So in conclusion one can say that Alfred Rose was both right and wrong simultaneously. He could see the problem but not in its entirety and seriousness. This has been the failure of Konkani activism till now. Perhaps, this is also one of the reasons why the mass of Goans demand English for the primary schooling of their children. In this grim scenario, English seems the only way out of being shamed and humiliated on a daily basis. Before we can read, write, speak, and preserve Konkani forever (vach, boroi, uloi sodamkal), this chronic shaming and humiliation needs to end.
(First published in O Heraldo, dt: 2 September, 2015)


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There's plenty of skin in GoDaddy's upcoming Super Bowl campaign, but not in the way you'd expect.
The company this morning released a sneak peek of one of its upcoming Super Bowl ads — breaking with tradition under the leadership of new CEO Blake Irving, the former Microsoft and Yahoo executive. Irving has vowed to move away from the over-the-top objectification of women that long defined the company's ads during the big game.
The ad, featuring a bunch of male bodybuilders and Danica Patrick in a muscle suit, promotes GoDaddy's online services for small businesses. Check it out here, and let us know what you think in the comments below.