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FYWBTG – Awakening to Help
"Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.
"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' So he got up and went to his father.
"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate."
Speaker Profile
Speaker Profile
James Kim
Synergy Church
Pastor James Kim is the Founding Pastor of Synergy Church. He earned a Masters of Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA and a Postgraduate Degree in Scripture & Theology at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. Pastor James grew up in Uganda, Africa as the son of a medical missionary, and spent his teenage years in Brazil before coming to the United States. He has a passion for preaching, teaching, and evangelizing in a postmodern, global context.


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Mercedes' AMG division has introduced the new generation E63 and E63 S models, with the latter being the most powerful and fastest E-Class of all time.
Revealed on Wednesday ahead of a world premiere at next month's Los Angeles Auto Show, the duo of 2018 E63 sedans have dropped the outgoing models' 5.5-liter twin-turbocharged V8 for AMG's smaller displacement, but more potent, 4.0-liter force-fed V8, and now get standard 4MATIC four-wheel drive across the range.
In the base E63, the eight-cylinder lump churns out 563hp (571PS) and 553 lb-ft (750Nm) for a 0-60mph in 3.4 sec (0-100km/h in 3.5 sec), while in 'S' guise, it produces 604hp (612PS) and 627 lb-ft (850Nm) allowing Merc's M5 rival to reach 60mph in 3.3 sec (100km/h in 3.3 sec). Both models have a restricted top speed of 155mph (250km/h), though the available AMG Driver's package raises the limit to 186mph (300km/h).
If for any reason you want to show your frugal side by cutting down on fuel consumption, the new V8 can be turned into a four-pot via the cylinder deactivation system that's available in the "Comfort" transmission program the between 1,000 and 3,250 rpm.
A standard nine-speed Speedshift MCT (Multi Clutch Technology) automatic transmission with steering wheel paddles channels power to all four wheels. While Mercedes doesn't offer the option of a rear-wheel drive only model anymore, the E63 S 4MATIC does come with a special 'Drift Mode' feature that delivers power exclusively to the rear wheels as standard. The mode is activated in the "Race" drive program using the shift paddles, provided that ESP is deactivated and the transmission is in manual mode, and it remains engaged until the driver deactivates it again.
Predictably, AMG has made all sorts of upgrades to the E63's chassis, which include a specially tuned Air Body Control system, new suspension parts on both ends, a mechanical rear differential lock, three-stage ESP, and an electromechanical speed-sensitive sports steering. Stopping power comes courtesy of a high-performance braking system with 360mm discs sporting six pot calipers up front and 360mm discs with single pot calipers at the back for the E63, and larger 390mm front discs for the 'S'. Optionally, Mercedes offers ceramic carbon discs measuring 402mm up front and 360mm at the rear.
You'll be able to tell the E63s apart from their lesser E-Class siblings through the model-specific front grille, bumpers, extended wheel arches that house 19-inch rims (the 'S' gets 20-inch wheels), four-pipe exhausts and a discrete rear spoiler, with AMG also spiffing up the interior with unique trims.
After its LA show debut, the new E63s will go on sale next March in Europe and from the summer of 2017, in North America. An estate version will be introduced next year.

subset: commoncrawl


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Post from America
Alys is currently on a plants and gardens tour of the USA and sends this post from California.
Hello from the U.S !
This is the Mojave Desert, the part known as Joshua Tree, a single street town full of gentle hippies and old school homesteaders and then a great expanse of desert. Hot, dry, terrifying, beautiful, wild and weird. The desert is everything and nothing you might expect.
The indicator species is the Joshua tree, Yucca brevifolia. They come in every twisted comic shape you can imagine and can in time reach up to 40 feet high, which is an impressive height for something that doesn't have growth rings (as a member of the Agave family, Yuccas are monocots).
The park ranger, at Joshua Tree National Park, told me that the straight, upright Joshuas have never bloomed, those that branch have and thus those with lots of branches have done a fair bit of flowering.
It's thought that below freezing temperatures damage the growing ends of the branch stimulating flowering and more branching. This plant is key to surviving in this desert - it provided the Native Americans with food and materials. The tough leaves were used to make baskets and shoes, the flowering buds eaten raw and seeds were roasted. Alive or dead these plants are home to many animals. We found a hollowed out trunk had been made in a lizard motel with the Yucca night lizards sleeping the day off before a night of work.
Below the Joshua tree is another Yucca, the Mojave yucca, Yucca schidigera. It's pretty easy to tell them apart as Y. schidigera has longer wider leaves and fibrous thread curling along the leaf margin.
For any plant in this desert, germination is a risky business, time it wrong and there will be no rain for another nine months. We arrived after the first long burst of rain and you can feel the desert soaking up life.
The Joshua tree only germinates after several burst of rain and you can find the young plants sprouting from the shade protection of other plants, such as this one literally sprouting from underneath a prickly pear cactus.
It's pretty exciting seeing so many weird and wonderful plants. Most of the desert looks dead, lots of bare-branched plants and buff-coloured stalks, but everything just in waiting.
A black-bush that may look dead, but is actually alive. It sheds all its leaves in the summer to conserve moisture.
There was this incredible tiny little plant — all thread-thin sandy stalks — which I presumed was dead and yet on another plant there were delicate mauve flowers. Imagine...the plant has no leaves, no visible source of food and yet it's only just beginning on the most energy expensive and fragile process of reproduction. I mean the thing's still got to make seeds!
Something so ephemeral looking had a whole other world below the ground. When you first get to the desert it looks as if someone has placed all the Joshua trees on a grid, like an orchard and apart from the opportunistic young Joshuas, most plants are no where near their neighbours. Above may look half baked but underground these plants have amazing root systems and it becomes quite clear that the spacing is nature's way of making sure everyone gets enough water. You find almost no surface roots. I guess they would be burnt dry in minutes on a summer day which easily reaches 115F (46 deg. C).
Take this buffalo gourd, Curcurbita foetidissima, which although rather pretty, is completely inedible (by us at least, The Audubon Society Deserts book says it would induce madness) and has an extensive root system. A single species can have up to 100 pounds of fleshy roots.
The desert is truly beautiful, but it's also scary. Perhaps it just because I'm too pale for this climate, but the minute I stepped out of the car, slathered in, as Nabokov put it, 'oceans of lotion and streams of creams' I felt a sort of primordial fear that I don't belong here. And then my cousin let out the most blood curdling stream.
And there it was, perfectly adapted to its home, sauntering across the path — a desert tarantula. The guide book said it was pretty harmless, no worse than a bee sting and entirely sure that it didn't want to bite us, but on the look out for a mate. But I am telling you a spider that big is freaky scary.
Alys Fowler is a garden writer and presenter of BBC Gardeners' World.
Comments Post your comment
Comment number 1.At 16:53 11th Oct 2010, superfal wrote:
Really envy you your trip. The photo's are great and you write a good story. You are a breath of fresh air.
Comment number 2.At 18:44 11th Oct 2010, VirginiaRankin wrote:
aaaaaaargh! (blood curdling scream)
Comment number 3.At 18:58 11th Oct 2010, JulietCaswell wrote:
Excellent post, the hipstomatic photos are great! Joshua Tree is amazing, jealous you were there! The tarantula is... terrifying, ah!
Comment number 4.At 19:21 11th Oct 2010, physalis wrote:
what a wonderful experience!
Comment number 5.At 19:55 11th Oct 2010, morris wrote:
Comment number 6.At 19:58 11th Oct 2010, morris wrote:
how long did you stay? very interesting.
Comment number 7.At 23:33 11th Oct 2010, meredith wrote:
This sounds like a REALLY fascinating trip for gardeners used to the luxury of water and gentle temperatures. We're hoping to head out that way at Christmas this year, and though we'd originally thought we'd plan a side-trip to 'Death Valley', your article has me now leaning towards the Mohave. Must see a Joshua tree in all its parched and crooked glory.
Thanks for the blog!
Comment number 8.At 18:58 12th Oct 2010, Sarah Eyton wrote:
Wonderfully written and I love the photographs! I think that the BBC should commision Alys Fowler to do an 'around the world' gardening show - because if they don't some other channel will! As a previous comment said, she is "a breath of fresh air"
Comment number 9.At 22:30 13th Oct 2010, ronsrecord wrote:
Fascinating - great to read a gardening article that's something a bit out of the ordinary - one can get a little bored with Jo and his potatoes!! Cool photography too!! thanks alys.
Comment number 10.At 11:41 14th Oct 2010, hereisabee wrote:
Alys in Indiana country, it's always worth remembering that the native Americans did not live in the remote ares from choice. Originally they lived on fertile land, then as European settlement succeeded they were pushed into the wild places?
Comment number 11.At 12:25 14th Oct 2010, lillyofthevalley wrote:
What a amazing trip you had! Facinating article. My kids loved the photos especially the spider.
Comment number 12.At 13:55 14th Oct 2010, nicolal wrote:
Beautifully written and fascinating. Thanks
Comment number 13.At 23:58 14th Oct 2010, Stuart Netherwood wrote:
Makes this a must visit spot upon next trip out to Palm Springs! Thanks!


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23 Jul
Transitional Shades offer you the privacy of a window shade, the softened view of a sheer and the option of raising or lowering your shade with privacy and light control at every level.
You create the open and closed (room darkening) effect when two fabrics pass by one another with opposing sheer and semi-opaque sections.
Allure Transitional Shades give you the ability to raise and lower your shade while still controlling the amount of light for a cozy environment.


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Garden Pots for Instant Impact
Adding a few Garden Pots filled with plants to your garden is a great way of instantly improving the appearance of your patio, deck or front door. It is amazing the effect a few garden pots overflowing with flowering seasonal plants can have on your garden. If they are carefully positioned where you can see them from a window or as you approach the house they can be appreciated all year round. It does not matter at what time of year it is, there is always some plants available which can be put into pots and can add colour to your garden.
If you don't have time to fill up your garden pots yourself we can re-fill your existing garden pots with new plants or we can provide you with new garden pots and fill them
with plants of your choice.
It costs on average €18 per pot (30/40cm size) to re-fill your garden pots including fresh compost and plants. If you have a selection of pots you don't have time to fill with summer bedding now is the time to act. Give us a call now.
Whatever style you are looking for we can provide from Contemporary through to Cottage or Mediterranean, by careful selection of both the pots and plants.


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As garbage piled in the Saudi streets, 23,000 Ethiopians have surrendered to Saudi authorities after a clampdown on illegal migrant workers began in the oil-rich kingdom last week, stirring clashes after frustrated workers took to the streets. The clashes "occurred because the illegal workers were frustrated they did not have a way to surrender to the police," Ambassador Mohammad Hassan Kabiera told the English-language Arab News daily, AFP reported on Thursday.
The workers took to the streets to voice their concerns, prompting "clashes with some youths in the neighborhood", he said.
"We have been informed that so far about 23,000 Ethiopians have handed themselves in," Kabiera said.
The Ethiopian workers' surrender followed clashes earlier this week between police and Ethiopian migrants on Saturday that led to the deaths of three people in the poor Manfuhah neighborhood of Riyadh.
On Tuesday, Ethiopia said three of its citizens had died during clashes in the Gulf kingdom, without elaborating.
"The act of killing innocent civilians is uncalled for, we condemn that," Foreign Ministry spokesman Dina Mufti told reporters, saying he had been informed of the death of three Ethiopian citizens.
The troubles followed the kingdom's move to round up thousands of illegal workers starting from November 4, following the expiry of a final amnesty for them to formalize their status.
Among them were foreigners who overstayed their visas, pilgrims who had sought jobs, and migrants working under one sponsor trying to get jobs elsewhere.
Having an official sponsor is a legal requirement in Saudi Arabia and most other Gulf states.
Nearly a million migrants — Bangladeshis, Filipinos, Indians, Nepalis, Pakistanis and Yemenis among them — took advantage of the amnesty to leave.
Another roughly four million were able to find employers to sponsor them.
Expatriates account for a full nine million of the oil-rich kingdom's population of 27 million.
Despite feeling the loss of the everyday work the foreign laborers provided, Saudis largely have cheered the campaign.
Al Riyadh daily quoted Prince Khalid as defending the campaign, saying it "does not target a specific group but all illegal" workers and residents.
"We will continue these campaigns until we ensure all residents in our country are staying legally," he said.
Residents have taken matters into their own hands on several occasions, despite police calling on the public not to make citizen arrests.
Workers from neighboring Yemen also face harassment.
Yemeni Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Tawakkol Karman posted a picture last week on her Facebook page of what appeared to be a Saudi man in his car grabbing hold of a Yemeni man for a police officer.
Fresh violence erupted in Riyadh's Manfouha district later on Wednesday, resulting in the death of a Sudanese resident.
At least 17 expatriate workers were also reported injured as they clashed with local residents, police said.
On Wednesday, Saudi media quoted Riyadh governor Prince Khalid Bin Bandar Bin Abdul Aziz as saying that "casualties and deaths have not surpassed three Saudis and two foreigners", again without giving details.
Saudi columnist Abdul-Rahman al-Rashed cautioned Saudis to remember that without "a strong state and oil revenues" they too may have emigrated in search of work. "Those deprived of the chance of a proper life can understand the feeling of those wanting to seek a better life," he wrote in the Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.
Comments (20)
Daily News - Daily World EU News


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Enjoy feel-good music, improve your stamina, strength, flexibility and balance, while having lots of fun! Chair based exercise inspired by yoga is an excellent option for those that can't or don't wish to get down on to a yoga mat or are worried about how to get back up.
Gentle movement through the joints and muscles help to improve dexterity and circulation. Core strengthening and balance exercises help prevent injury from falls. Guided breathing sequences help deepen connection to body and relax the mind.
Jessica will guide you through 60 minutes of chair-based movement and laughter to feel good music from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.
Cost £2


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The Compass – A New Concept by Steve Cockerill
If every time we go out on the race track, the wind direction was stable and the course configuration was perfect, there would be no need for a compass. However, this is far from the truth. The black art of reading shifts using boats around you and the angle of the waves can get very confusing in the height of the race – but can be solved with the use of a compass. It can be a very useful tool for pre start line bias, using it as a transit, beat strategy and an indication of changes in the wind pattern, but more importantly the wind-shifts upwind and downwind. I am not saying that I stare at mine hoping that it tells me the secret shift for the next beat, but it tells me valuable information all the way around the course:
- Off the start line – I am on the headed tack, I must tack now.
- Around the leeward mark – I am on the lifted tack – wait, be patient.
- The whole fleet is in my window – we have a 30 degree lift – I had better foot off and get in front of the rest of the fleet before the next shift back.
- It has occurred to me that there are many ways of considering the speed of a boat in a race:
- There is the basic boat speed, knots through the water
- There is the VMG towards the wind speed – velocity made good speed considered on all legs which monitors your ability up wind and downwind to appreciate how high/low you can sail your boat before the increased height/depth in the course compromises the speed through the water.
- There is the 'round the course speed' which is the ability to use the VMG speed you are able to create and make it count towards the next mark in the race, by sailing all the lifts and not the headers. It's a numbers game!
I like to tell the story of the first practice race at the Torbay Laser Nationals in 93. I started 30 seconds late uncertain of my speed through the water and needing a confidence boost. I ignored the other boats and tacked when my compass told me, taking the 7 shifts to the first mark. Half of the fleet were on the right tack on the first shift, then a quarter on the next, then an eighth on the next and so on, I found myself in 8th at the top mark, very satisfied that Laser sailing was just like any class sailing, sail the right shifts all the time and you will be ready to count the result at the end of the regatta. At no time had I compared my speed to anyone, I had not even thought who I was sailing against, it was just a matter of mathematics. I was not yet a very fast Laser Sailor, but I could point the boat in the right direction. The best way to see the racing line or lane markings in our sport is with a compass. Fundamentally it should provide you with the information that tells you if you are on a lift (sailing higher than you were previously) or a header (sailing lower than you were previously). Before we start looking at the ways this information can be displayed – perhaps we should consider the importance of wind-shifts on boats in a race.
The diagram 1 below shows how boat A has sailed less distance than boat B.
A more mathematical explanation of shifts shows, if a 10 degree shift on 2 boats 100m apart – see diagram 2 above.
Assuming L and R tack through 90 degrees, and have identical boat speeds and are 100m apart. The solid triangle shows that, if L were to tack (and loose no distance tacking), she would sail distance x, R would sail distance y, which shows that they would meet. In the dotted triangle, the wind has backed 10 degrees. The distance x' is much smaller than distance y', and by subtracting one from the other, we can determine the amount by which L has gained. Diagram 2 shows the 'mathematics' of the situation.
In a 10 degree header, boat L gains 25% of the distance of separation. Which means a 25 meters gain. Consider the time it would take to make the distance back in a race! Imagine if the boats were half a mile apart, then the gain made by L would be 200m. No wonder corners look so juicy, but are sometimes so very bad!Let us look at the types of compass on the market that are meant to help us see this racing line. The original compass provided the sailor with a heading in degrees that needed you to remember two 3 figure numbers (the heading on each tack) and keep an idea of how the lifts and headers effected the number, i.e. for starboard, header = number gets smaller and lift is number gets bigger – opposite for port tack.
The 'compucourse' is a very useful aid for these types of compass. You can set the wind direction and it tells you the bearings of starboard and port tacks and some help with the line bias. It was however, always difficult to see the heading of the boat when hanging out of the side. The more small course racing style compasses have ingeniously used tactical scales to provide the information in a more palatable style to the sailor. The tactical scale is visible from each side of the boat in a normal position. Most of these types of compass do give the bearing of the boat, but it is often not very clear and often involves a straight look at the top of the compass from behind to see the magnetic scale. Not a 'normal' sailing position. Silva have long been the accepted 'classic' Laser compass using a tactical scale that divides conventional scale into 20 units, marked 0 to 19, each corresponding to 18 degrees. 5 units is 90 degrees - nice number. The viewing lubber lines give the sailor an easy pair of numbers to remember. For a northerly wind (at 0 degrees) the helmsman reads 0 on the tactical scale on the starboard lubber line and given a tacking angle of 80 degrees the viewer sees 10 in the port lubber line. For every starboard number the port number is ten difference. So 1 on starboard is 11 on port. This would have been an 18 degree shift to port. It makes me think "take the 11 shift quick before it goes back to the 10". I can remember races by the numbers all the way around and I can exchange "I got a 13 on the port tack approach to the top mark!" banter back in the club.
I can still remember the number 7 all the way in from the right of the course to lead at the first mark of the first race on Sunday at the Plymouth Qualifier by 40 seconds. I had sailed the port tack on an '18' off the start line and just waited for it to go back. It had been swinging between 18 and 17 in my previous practice beats, so I waited for the '17' and tacked and sailed into the center of the course near the top mark on a '7'!Those who play the numbers game understand.
Tactical compasses give much more than just the wind-shifts – I use mine for the line bias. The 5 unit difference giving the 90 degrees on the Silva gives a simple measure of the bias, and also an idea of current wind pattern. Lets get back to that Sunday. Starboard tack had been 8 to 7. At head to wind the compass read 3 to 4 on the middle lubber line (5 numbers bigger). When the gun was about to go the wind was in the 4 region on the middle lubber line (i.e. 8 on starboard). So tack immediately was on the cards. However, the port end of the line had been 7 ½ so the port end would be biased at the start. Remember the pin end of the line and the middle lubber should tell me the same number as I could sail on starboard tack for an even start line. If I have to point below the pin end to get the same number, then the port end is the favored end, if I point above it, then the starboard end is the favored end.
The 10-minute warm-up told me that the port end was favored only in the left shifts and that the average wind made it even. I was conscious that I wanted to go right to get to the favored current so a starboard end start was OK and a quick tack to port was OK until we got the '17' wind-shift back when I should take the shift back to the center of the course. The clear drawback for all analogue compasses is that they are all set up for a specific tacking angle. The tacking angle in the Laser does vary from light to windy conditions – so sometimes the numbers are not quite as sweet as they should be i.e. '17' & '7.5'. I have seen some people add extra lubber lines in different colours that they can use in different conditions, but it always seems messy.
The latest development in compasses has been the electronic compass such as the 'Tacktick'.
The 'TACKTICK' race compass
With ever more efficient circuitry and solar power supply together with the development of the accurate flux gate measurement of the magnetic field, programmable electronic compasses just make the numbers game a little easier and in some ways cheaper. I imagine I hear you say – thank God for that – having got lost in my explanation above! With help from the sailor prior to the start of the race, it logs the wind direction and the tacking angle. This is done internally by measuring the angle of both port and starboard tacks and from them it works out the wind direction. All shifts from then on are relative to this pre - programmed wind direction and are shown as a lift or header depending on the tack. This little programming bit takes a minute before the start by pressing one button. The sailor has to then sail for 20 seconds or so where it measures perhaps the last 5 seconds of angle, then asks the sailor to tack before measuring the angle again . If the wind later goes right and the info looks a little silly, the sailor can alter the internal wind direction with a push of another button, the tack angle remains constant. The game is still the same however, do I take this little header now or wait for a bigger one and risk a lift? But the info is clearer, the devise is lighter and it also has a handy built in racing timer for the start thrown in for the price of a normal analogue compass!
The display of the shift is presented as number of degrees header or lift relative to the pre set wind direction. The main display shows magnetic direction, on the more advanced ones it also shows wind direction. However, currently these compasses are not legal on the Laser – so why am I telling you about them? Well there may come a time when you are asked to vote on accepting this style of compass and you now have some information on them. Most classes have accepted the electronic compass with open arms, where as others have resisted it as they see it as making the sport a little easier.
I think this standpoint might be that held by the Laser Class - who have so far resisted the electronic compass. Perhaps it is the possible programmable aspect that offends the true 'at one with nature' part of Laser Racing. With this in mind - Tacktick have recently hit back with a new development that simplifies the setting up and removes the 'programmable' nature of the device. Steve Cockerill worked closely with Tactick to come up with a non programmable electronic compass that offers the same info as that available via the analogue compass with its lubber lines - yet gives the sailor a better overall picture. With a split screen display - the new T060 Micro Compass is not only light, but also displays the approximate wind direction whilst sailing. It does this by showing direction minus 45 degrees in the left screen (as seen on Port) and the direction plus 45 degrees in the right screen. This effectively gives the sailor the wind direction at all times (assuming the boat tacks through 90 degrees). This perceived tacking angle can be changed to become class specific by a pre-set on the compass - so if you point higher than 45 degrees to the wind - then there will be a pre-set just for you. There is also a setting just to show the direction you are pointing - just in case you want to do the sums in your head! So ideally - once you have set up the tacking angle for the Class you are sailing - the compass gives you a clear idea of the wind direction - bigger the number - the more right it has gone - the smaller the number - the more left it has gone - - how cool is that. Even more of a bonus - if you know where the forecast direction is moving to - at least you can see if it has got there! No longer do you have to ponder - does 8 mean 240 degrees??
View our on-line shop compass selection
View our on-line shop compass selection
Personally, I do not care how easy it is to see the shift – I just wish there were a device that could help me predict the next one! I am sure that many would find the investment in a compass a cost effective way of adding round the course speed for many seasons to come. It is a way to dial into the risk management numbers game!


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Let's be honest... it's been a rough old ride for Sam Fisher, the protagonist of the Splinter Cell series.
In the last Ubisoft blockbuster, he was lied to about the death of his daughter and betrayed time and time again.
Yet, the king of the shadows is back creeping around in the dark and hanging from pipes in the ceiling - plus he's working for the Man again. Actually, it's a woman in the form of President Patricia Caldwell
Following on from events in the last game, Conviction, she has ordered the formation of the 4th Echelon. Super Sam is in charge of this unit who are trying to stop Blacklist – a countdown of escalating terrorist attacks in the US.
'Nuff said. Check out the new trailer which shows some seriously sneaky takedowns and the return of those gloriously green NVGs.
Splinter Cell Blacklist is out August 23 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.
For more, follow @MirrorGamer


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Slava! A Political Overture
About the WorkComposer: Leonard Bernstein
© Richard Freed
Bernstein composed this work for Mstislav Rostropovich's first season as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra, and Mr. Rostropovich conducted the premiere in this hall in the orchestra's concerts of October 11, 12 and 14, 1977. The NSO's most recent performance of the piece was conducted by Leonard Slatkin on May 14, 1998. A performance conducted by the composer, taken from a 1987 concert celebrating Mr. Rostropovich's 60th birthday, is preserved in the set of compact discs issued by the orchestra last fall in celebration of its 75th season.
The score, dedicated to Mstislav Rostropovich, calls for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, E-flat clarinet, soprano saxophone, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, snare drum, tenor drum, bass drum, chimes, crash cymbals, suspended cymbals, glockenspiel, ratchet, slide whistle, steel pipe, tambourine, triangle, vibraphone, xylophone, marimba, whip, wood block, electric guitar, piano, pre-recorded tape, and strings. Duration, 4 minutes.
For the second week of his first season as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra, in October 1977, Mstislav Rostropovich invited Leonard Bernstein for a program of his own works, in which the two musicians shared the podium and Mr. Rostropovich performed also as soloist in a work composed for him. In addition to the well known suite from the music for the movie On the Waterfront, conducted by Mr. Rostropovich, there were three premieres: Bernstein conducted his new Songfest (settings of thirteen American poems, for six solo singers and orchestra, which he recorded here following the concerts), and, with Mr. Rostropovich as soloist, Three Meditations from "Mass," for cello and orchestra. The third premiere, actually the work that opened the program, was the piece Bernstein composed especially for that occasion, and in fact so close to the concert date that it had to be listed in a separate insert in the program booklet: the "political overture" Slava!
That title, as listeners familiar with Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov know, is the Russian word for "glory"; for that opera's coronation scene, Mussorgsky set that word to the old traditional tune known as "the Slava," a tune quoted earlier by Beethoven in the scherzo of his String Quartet in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2 (the second of his three "Razumovsky" Quartets), and subsequently by Rimsky-Korsakov and other Russian composers. "Slava" is also a nickname given to men with such names as Miroslav, Vladyslav and Vyacheslav, and by far the best-known bearer of that sobriquet is Mr. Rostropovich himself, who is "Slava" to friends, family, colleagues--and indeed everyone who knows him or speaks of him. That is the context in which Bernstein's overture is titled, but there is a reference to the traditional musical "Slava" as well, very brief and in an altered rhythm, at the end of the piece.
When Bernstein received our Slava's request for a "rousing new overture," he took his basic materials from his musical play 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, which had been introduced in Philadelphia the previous year; although that show was unsuccessful, its setting seemed to point to it as an apt source for welcoming Slava to Washington, and the exuberance of the themes definitely met his expressed specification. The score is marked "Fast and flamboyant."
Jack Gottlieb, in his notes for the premiere, wrote that the first theme is "a vaudevillian razz-ma-tazz tune filled with side-slipping modulations and sliding trombones. Theme II comes from the opening of the show, a canonic tune in 7/8 time. Instead of a conventional development section, there follows another kind of development, heard on tape, which will literally speak for itself [a parody of political oratory]. The two themes reoccur in reverse order.
Near the end of the piece the two themes are presented together with the fleeting citation of the Russian Slava theme as noted above. The other "new material" at the end is the chanting of the name "Slava" itself by members of the orchestra. (In the original version, it was the name of Slava's dog Pooks, since departed, that was chanted.)
The first performance of this piece, in October 1977, was actually the first world premiere Slava conducted as music director of the NSO. The Bernstein performance included in the orchestra's 75th-anniversary set of commemorative recordings is the only item in that collection performed under a conductor who was not the orchestra's music director.


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text: Quiet Reprieve January 21, 2013 Wip I'm taking a quiet reprieve from the school holidays, and all the journalling, journal making and painting faces practice, to finish this (well at least this layer). Now I'm standing back, looking, dreaming, thinking, imagining and wondering what else this painting demands of me. The soft dreamy colours here make it a pleasurable task (as does the G&T at hand). I don't know where this is going, I had some ideas a layer ago but I'm not sure they apply anymore- wondering what does. Happy Painting Everyone


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Posts Tagged 'Obama'
Obama Moves to Massively Expand Covert Military Abroad
Via The New York Times, President Obama has just ordered a "broad expansion of clandestine military operations" in an attempt to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat Al Qaeda". The 'covert operations' will likely include anything from target assassinations, 'drone' attacks in Pakistan, secret bombing campaigns, money transfers to client states (a la Karzai and Maliki), and many things in-between. This is a significant move for a variety of reasons, not least of which stands the utter lack of public consultation for such a policy.
Mr. Greenwald has a timely essay on why Mr. Obama can undertake such extreme actions in the absence not only of opposition to his imperial policy, but indeed, any discussion whatsoever. Our major news outlets have reported the order in classic 'objective' style, assigning as little controversy to it as possible and treating it instead as a run-of-the-mill executive action. But it is interesting to examine why, in this year 2010, after nine continuous years of war, public opinion is such that a unilateral expansion of our secret military complex can occur with as little discussion as imaginable.
First, Mr. Greenwald notes, because this military expansion is taking place under a "Democratic" President, it creates the illusion of so-called 'bipartisan support'. Back when President Bush was carrying out covert operations in Yemen, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, etc., they were painted as the actions of an 'extremist' administration, one which regards the opposition with disdain and made a point of treating international law with utter contempt. However, after 18 months of military escalation, these wars are as much Mr. Obama's (that is, "Democratic" wars), as they were Mr. Bush's. As such, the number of "Democrats" willing to risk their political futures by opposing military action has dropped precipitously, as have the number of war-opposers in the general population. Specifically, the subset of people for whom Mr.Obama can do no wrong will automatically agree with his war policy – or if they disagree, put forth some excuse as to how Mr. Obama 'has no choice'.
The biggest reason Mr. Greenwald identifies, however, is the complete lack of documented impact these wars have on our livelihood. It has been often mentioned that, unlike in Vietnam, very few Americans have had to go to war against their will. Our press is largely censored as to the true cost of our warfare not only on the beleaguered people of Iraq and Afghanistan, but even our own soldiers. Recall the recent dust-up when our Secretary of War, Robert Gates, "harshly condemned" the media's display of a flag-draped coffin. And that was just one soldier, who had admittedly died in combat, but whose grisly death we had been totally shielded from. As much as possible, we citizens are encouraged not to think about our military "commitments" abroad, and instead to simply carry on with our daily lives, a few dollars shorter than the day before, a little more ragged perhaps, but still inestimably "proud" of our "commitment" to "democracy in the Middle East". One wonders just how far that pride would take us if more than 1% of the US population was involved in our military escapades, as the statistic stands now.
But beyond that, what Mr. Greenwald hints at but never explicitly states, is the psychology of powerlessness to which we citizens are routinely subjected. We literally have no say in what our government does abroad, and we have less and less of a say in even its domestic policies. In the 2008 elections, both candidates were unabashedly pro-war, Mr. Obama more so than even his most fervent supporters might have dreamt. For whom are we to vote if we wish to exit Iraq and Afghanistan immediately? Which Congressman, which Senator would even entertain such a possibility? To whom do we donate that we can be sure our paltry $50 will not be rendered irrelevant by the millions of dollars industry interests donate in order to keep these wars going? It is an implacable question, one made all the more urgent by President Obama's dramatic escalation of our already over-stretched 'commitments'.
The feeling of powerlessness can lead to apathy, but also to fear. When one recalls the brutality to which previous "anti-war protesters" have been subjected in the US, including savage beatings with nightsticks, water-cannons, ear-splitting sound emitters, tear gas and rubber bullets, it is not hard to imagine from whence this fear of dissent arises. Recall, also, that since the Homegrown Terrorism Act of 2007 passed, civil disobedience – the mere act of peaceful protest – has been defined as 'terrorism'. And once you are accused of 'terrorism', citizen or no, you are immediately stripped of every right you think you have.
This latest move towards military hegemony is particularly insidious, and I suppose it follows that Mr. Obama merely announced his policy, in true decree style, with little or no discussion. With one stroke of a pen, Mr. Obama has resserved the right to carry out military operations anywhere around the globe, from "surgical strikes", bombing campaigns, ground incursions, assassinations, or, indeed, anything his enigmatic mind may wish. It is worth remembering at this point that Mr. Obama also reserves the right to assassinate US citizens in their beds (that is, far from a battlefield), and 'render' accused terrorists to a global prison complex where no defense attorney dares enter. There, they can be beaten, tortured, or even murdered, far from the watchful eye of the Red Cross.
It is easy to imagine this latest move on the part of Mr. Obama is merely a continuation of Mr. Bush's odious policies. It is that, of course, but its implications go far deeper. Mr. Bush's covert actions were largely piecemeal: an assassination here, a few 'drone' attacks there, maybe some 'cash assistance' to some friendly dictator or another for spice. In contrast, Mr. Obama's new 'national security strategy' systematizes these covert acts of aggression, and sets up, in essence, a new governmental body, with no congressional or popular oversight, to carry out his murderous will around the globe. It is difficult to overstate the significance of this 'overhaul', yet it is even more difficult to convince anyone of that significance.
Mr. Hitler once coined the term for the Germans as a 'sleep-walking people', but the same could easily be said of Americans (or, for that matter, anyone else). We face, in our generation, a confluence of crises of which we are only just beginning to see the magnitude, and unfortunately the first step to solving a crisis is to realize it exists, something for which, at least with regards to our present constitutional crisis, we still have quite some ways to go.
Hamid Karzai: The NYT's Faithful Client
The New York Times has a rather fluffy article in today's issue about how Abdullah Abdullah, the gentlemen from whom Hamid Karzai stole last year's election in Afghanistan, was given a "cold shoulder" from the White House. The United States, it seems, did not want to give an impression of "doubt" that Mr. Karzai, whose brother is Afghanistan's biggest drug kingpin, is serious about "combating drugs and corruption". A more clear and direct vote of confidence for our faithful client in Afghanistan, one can hardly envision.
The article stands as a tract to justify Karzai's illegitimate rule in Afghanistan, but it does more than that. The most interesting quote comes halfway through the piece:
"There is no point in rolling out the red carpet for a guy who is wanting recognition for being himself," said a senior European diplomat who is involved in Afghanistan. "The world doesn't work that way. Karzai is the elected leader of Afghanistan."
Forgive me, but why did this "senior European diplomat" need anonymity to state such a trite banality? Did they really need to hide his identity so that he could spout the US governnment's "line" with an air of objectivity? And who is this mystery diplomat anyway?
A clue comes in his final statement: "Karzai is the elected leader of Afghanistan". Now, it should be clear to anyone who has even loosely followed the debacle of Afghanistan's election last August that Hamid Karzai is not the rightfully elected leader of Afghanistan, that he fabricated at least one-third of his votes, that he engaged in widespread voter intimidation and ballot-box stuffing, and that nearly every international monitoring agency declared the election in which Karzai won a sham.
The only "senior European diplomat" who has consistently apologized for Karzai's election "engineering" is Kai Eide, who summarily fired his subordinate, Peter Galbraith, for breaking the story that one-third of Karzai's votes were fraudulent last October. Kai Eide is one of the most odious UN officials working for Afghanistan, one who has consistently and repeatedly covered up for Hamid Karzai's staggering corruption, his lawless reprisals against dissent, and his slavish devotion to the US occupation of Afghanistan. It would make perfect sense for him to lend his "expertise" to the New York Times for a hit-piece on his best buddy Karzai's biggest rival.
But the article is even more insidious than that. Nowhere does it even mention that Karzai's August 2009 victory was fradulent, save for a single mention that Abdullah Abdullah, Karzai's vanquished rival, "accused the Karzai government of profound corruption and electoral fraud", a sling which could be interpreted as mere sour grapes, if it didn't happen to be true. An uninformed reader, after digesting this one-sided pap, would come away with the clear impression that Hamid Karzai legitimately won the August 2009 election, and that the United States is correct in giving his losing rival the "cold shoulder". This is a falsehood and a fallacy. Karzai did not legitimately win the election, and the US is wrong and undemocratic to deny the rightful victor, Abdullah Abdullah, an audience with President Obama, who, after all, is leading a vicious occupation of his country.
A sad showing from the once-venerable Gray Lady.
Justice Stevens
Still traveling, but I want to briefly touch upon Justice John Paul Steven's recent retirement from the Supreme Court, which is an extremely crucial event in US jurisprudence and will likely have far-reaching ramifications on issues as diverse as campaign finance, torture, kidnapping, indefinite detention, abortion, and nearly every other issue on which the Supreme Court has given a narrow decision in the last fifty years.
Unlike the Sotomayor-for-Souter swap that occurred last year, Stevens retirement presents the first real opportunity for President Obama to re-make the Supreme Court. Stevens, who will turn 90 this year, has led the so-called "left wing" of the Supreme Court for nearly forty years. The New Yorker ran an excellent piece a couple weeks ago detailing Stevens's long and storied career which I highly recommend reading to get an idea of what a significant force he has exerted on American jurisprudence. The last justice who still remembers World War II, Stevens has been a consistent champion for individual rights, limiting Executive Branch power, and upholding anti-trust legislation. The past decade saw numerous challenges to President Bush's theories of unlimited executive power come before the Supreme Court, and many of the most dangerous powers assumed by Presidents Bush and Obama (suspension of habeas corpus, interrogation by torture, warrantless wiretappaing, etc) were struck down in narrow 5-4 majorities.
It is difficult to overstate Stevens's role in providing at least a nominal limit to the President's power. He not only voted with the majority in those decisions, he was the majority's intellectual leader. Were Stevens not on the bench when the Supreme Court was deciding, say, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, we would not have even a theoretical limit to what the President can and cannot do.
All this makes President Obama's selection for Stevens's replacement crucial. The establishment press is now reporting that Elena Kagan has emerged as the "frontrunner" for Stevens's seat. Glenn Greenwald has a good rundown of her major characteristics, and she appears a "centrist" candidate, equally likely to please "both sides" of the aisle, and is sure to undergo a swift and painless confirmation.
To appease the "left", Ms. Kagan takes solidly pro-abortion and pro-gay positions. To satisfy the national security fanatics, Ms. Kagan supports an expansive view of executive power, including the power to detain "terror suspects" indefinitely. According to the LA Times (via the Washington Independent), Ms. Kagan has explicitly stated that the President can hold 'enemy combatants' without trial:
Harvard Law Dean Elena Kagan, President Obama's choice to represent his administration before the Supreme Court, told a key Republican senator Tuesday that she believed the government could hold suspected terrorists without trial as war prisoners.She echoed comments by Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. during his confirmation hearing last month. Both agreed that the United States was at war with Al Qaeda and suggested the law of war allows the government to capture and hold alleged terrorists without charges.
This is not a fair trade. It is important to realize that Ms. Kagan's colorful opinions on Executive power fly directly in the face of the most significant Supreme Court decisions of the past decade: Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, and Boumediene v. Bush, all of which upheld the rights of 'enemy combatants' to be treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention (i.e. not tortured), be tried in a regularly constituted court, and challenge their detention in accordance with the Sixth Amendment. Given Ms. Kagan's stated opinions, one can only conclude that her nomination to the Supreme Court would signify a palpable shift to the "right" for the judicial branch – that is, a shift away from the idea of "separation of powers" and toward a theory of an all-powerful executive.
Congress has long since lost almost all of its independence to massive corporations and executive bullying (remember the Iraq war?), but the Judiciary has still retained at least a modicum of separation from the executive-legislative conglomerate. Ms. Kagan's views regarding executive power during "war time" (and let's not forget that this 'war on terror' is supposed to last 50 years) throw our independent judiciary into considerable danger. She should not be confirmed.
Oilman T.Boone Pickens Says Peak Oil is Here
Via the Christian Science Monitor:
Speaking in a Senate committee hearing, the legendary Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens said that world crude oil production has topped out.
"I do believe you have peaked out at 85 million barrels a day globally," he told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Tuesday, according to Reuters.
He noted that the United States is consuming "21 million barrels of the 85 million and producing about 7 of the 21, so if I could take just a minute on this point, the demand is about 86.4 million barrels a day, and when the demand is greater than the supply, the price has to go up until it kills demand."
And when Mr. Pickens speaks about energy, the world listens. His ability to read markets has vaulted him into the ranks of the world's wealthiest people. His hedge fund, BP Capital, manages more than $4 billion in assets.
This is about a year and a half old, but the trends Mr. Pickens identified have only progressed since he made his pronouncement. The Obama Administration, on the other hand, refuses to believe in the "Peak Oil theory", instead plumping for something called the "undulating plateau", which has absolutely no scientific basis. So naturally, he's doing nothing about reducing our reliance on liquid fuels.
Folks, we are in a lot of trouble.
John Yoo and the Self-Satisfied Defense
John Yoo, the primary author of the legal memoranda that gave President Bush the power to detain and torture anyone he likes, has written a slimy op-ed in the Wall Street Journal defending his ethical lapses. I know that Mr. Yoo is a big-shot Berkeley Law professor (and I'm just a 22-year-old nothing), so for fear of sounding ignorant I suppose I won't give his article too much time. But it does beg for comment.
He begins, detailing the marvelous gift he bestowed upon President Obama:
Barack Obama may not realize it, but I may have just helped save his presidency. How? By winning a drawn-out fight to protect his powers as commander in chief to wage war and keep Americans safe.
He sure didn't make it easy. When Mr. Obama took office a year ago, receiving help from one of the lawyers involved in the development of George W. Bush's counterterrorism policies was the furthest thing from his mind. Having won a great electoral victory, the new president promised a quick about-face. He rejected "as false the choice between our safety and our ideals" and moved to restore the law-enforcement system as the first line of defense against a hardened enemy devoted to killing Americans.
This is confusing for so many reasons. As I'm sure Mr. Yoo knows, President Obama has endorsed kidnapping "terrorism suspects" and holding them indefinitely at various sites around the globe. He's opposed to any further investigation into our torture policy (something for which I imagine Mr. You would be quite grateful), and has, in fact, expanded the legal black hole at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, where no defense attorneys, judges or prosecutors can set foot.
Mr. Yoo mentions that President Obama has ordered Guantanamo closed (actually, Obama hasn't closed it yet, and probably never will), but no other evidence to suggest President Obama has endorsed a meaningful review of executive power. I just don't understand how one promise that anyway went unfulfilled means Obama is "[determined] to take us back to a Sept. 10, 2001, approach to terrorism", as Yoo later writes.
Then Mr. Yoo complains of being "hounded" in the form of a superficial Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) review. I admit I have not read the report, but Mr. Yoo claims:
OPR's investigation was so biased, so flawed, and so beneath the Justice Department's own standards that last week the department's ranking civil servant and senior ethicist, David Margolis, completely rejected its recommendations.
Which says more, perhaps, about the Office of Professional responsibility than it does about the tactics which Mr. Yoo authorized, which include being forced to stand for weeks while shackled to the ceiling. And, of course, Mr. Yoo doesn't deign to mention that the very "enhanced interrogation techniques" that he advised Presidents Bush and Obama to use, and defends in this article, are unconstitutional according to the Supreme Court.
Mr. Yoo lauds himself for sitting through the tedious hearings, even though he was under "no legal obligation to do so" and even though they had no impact on his lucrative professional career. Why should he make such a non-sacrifice?
I did not do this to win any popularity contests, least of all those held in the faculty lounge. I did it to help our president—President Obama, not Bush. Mr. Obama is fighting three wars simultaneously in Iraq, Afghanistan, and against al Qaeda.
Forgive me, but if one of the wars is specifically against al Qaeda, whom are we fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan? Are those merely "wars" in the general sense of the term, with no clear enemy or end? If they are, Mr. Yoo's lengthy and repeated defenses of executive rule-by-decree during "wartime" means he advocates for a vast and permanent expansion of the President's power. I don't get it. Is that what he's trying to say?
He ends his "op-ed piece", which was really a self-serving polemic, with a bizzare example from five years ago:
n 2005, a Navy Seal team dropped into Afghanistan encountered goat herders who clearly intended to inform the Taliban of their whereabouts.
The team leader ordered them released, against his better military judgment, because of his worries about the media and political attacks that would follow. In less than an hour, more than 80 Taliban fighters attacked and killed all but one member of the Seal team and 16 Americans on a helicopter rescue mission.
So, according to John Yoo, those few American deaths justify the indefinite detention of any and all goathearders (and anyone else we might happen not to trust). Do not bother asking Mr. Yoo why it is we're in Afghanistan in the first place, who it is we're fighting, or what our ultimate goals are. That's not his department.
The Coming Totalitarianism
Chris Hedges in Alternet with one of the most well-written dissections of our modern politics I've ever read:
Democracy, a system ideally designed to challenge the status quo, has been corrupted and tamed to slavishly serve the status quo. We have undergone, as John Ralston Saul writes, a coup d'état in slow motion. And the coup is over. They won. We lost. The abject failure of activists to push corporate, industrialized states toward serious environmental reform, to thwart imperial adventurism or to build a humane policy toward the masses of the world's poor stems from an inability to recognize the new realities of power. The paradigm of power has irrevocably altered and so must the paradigm of resistance alter.
Too many resistance movements continue to buy into the facade of electoral politics, parliaments, constitutions, bills of rights, lobbying and the appearance of a rational economy. The levers of power have become so contaminated that the needs and voices of citizens have become irrelevant. The election of Barack Obama was yet another triumph of propaganda over substance and a skillful manipulation and betrayal of the public by the mass media. We mistook style and ethnicity – an advertising tactic pioneered by the United Colors of Benetton and Calvin Klein – for progressive politics and genuine change. We confused how we were made to feel with knowledge. But the goal, as with all brands, was to make passive consumers mistake a brand for an experience. Obama, now a global celebrity, is a brand. He had almost no experience besides two years in the senate, lacked any moral core and was sold as all things to all people. The Obama campaign was named Advertising Age's marketer of the year for 2008 and edged out runners-up Apple and Zappos.com. Take it from the professionals. Brand Obama is a marketer's dream. President Obama does one thing and Brand Obama gets you to believe another. This is the essence of successful advertising. You buy or do what the advertisers want because of how they can make you feel.
We can march in Copenhagen. We can join Bill McKibben's worldwide day of climate protests. We can compost in our backyards and hang our laundry out to dry. We can write letters to our elected officials and vote for Barack Obama, but the power elite is impervious to the charade of democratic participation. Power is in the hands of moral and intellectual trolls who are ruthlessly creating a system of neo-feudalism and killing the ecosystem that sustains the human species. And appealing to their better nature, or seeking to influence the internal levers of power, will no longer work.
The absurd idea that the marketplace alone should determine economic and political constructs led industrial nations to sacrifice other areas of human importance – from working conditions, to taxation, to child labor, to hunger, to health and pollution – on the altar of free trade. It left the world's poor worse off and the United States with the largest deficits – which can never be repaid – in human history. The massive bailouts, stimulus packages, giveaways and short-term debt, along with imperial wars we can no longer afford, will leave the United States struggling to finance nearly $5 trillion in debt this year. This will require Washington to auction off about $96 billion in debt a week. Once China and the oil-rich states walk away from our debt, which one day has to happen, the Federal Reserve will become the buyer of last resort. The Fed has printed perhaps as much as two trillion new dollars in the last two years, and buying this much new debt will see it, in effect, print trillions more. This is when inflation, and most likely hyperinflation, will turn the dollar into junk. And at that point the entire system breaks down.
All traditional standards and beliefs are shattered in a severe economic crisis. The moral order is turned upside down. The honest and industrious are wiped out while the gangsters, profiteers and speculators walk away with millions. The elite will retreat, as Naomi Klein has written in The Shock Doctrine, into gated communities where they will have access to services, food, amenities and security denied to the rest of us. We will begin a period in human history when there will be only masters and serfs. The corporate forces, which will seek to make an alliance with the radical Christian right and other extremists, will use fear, chaos, the rage at the ruling elites and the specter of left-wing dissent and terrorism to impose draconian controls to ruthlessly extinguish opposition movements. And while they do it, they will be waving the American flag, chanting patriotic slogans, promising law and order and clutching the Christian cross. Totalitarianism, George Orwell pointed out, is not so much an age of faith but an age of schizophrenia. "A society becomes totalitarian when its structure becomes flagrantly artificial," Orwell wrote. "That is when its ruling class has lost its function but succeeds in clinging to power by force or fraud." Our elites have used fraud. Force is all they have left.
Obama Covers Up FBI Fraud in Anthrax Case
You may remember the so-called anthrax attacks in 2001, which were widely cited as a reason to attack Iraq. The lasting image in the run-up to the war is of Colin Powell sitting in front of the UN, shaking a vial of anthrax and saying "We know this came from Saddam". Of course it didn't. And for years afterward, no one quite knew who the mysterious "anthrax attacker" was.
Then, in 2008, the FBI came out with its decision that the anthrax attacker was one Bruce Ivins, an apparently disgruntled Army biodefense expert who committed suicide just days before the justice department planned to formally charge him. Since Mr. Ivins was dead, the FBI saw no need to gather any additional evidence or reveal what evidence they had already gathered. Case Closed!
Not quite. Glenn Greenwald and several other bloggers have cast deep aspersions on the FBI's investigation, stopping just short of calling it a fraud. In his sublime article, Greenwald noted several unresolved questions in the FBI's investigation – questions which, it would now seem, will never be solved. Also see this, this, and this.
Greenwald isn't the only one with questions. Last Thursday, Rep. Steve Holt called on Congress to begin a new investigation. As he wrote in a letter to Congress:
To date, there has been no comprehensive examination of the FBI's conduct in this investigation, and a number of important questions remain unanswered.
We don't know why the FBI jumped so quickly to the conclusion that the source of the material used in the attacks could only have come from a domestic lab, in this case, Ft. Dietrick. We don't know why they focused for so long, so intently, and so mistakenly on Dr. Hatfill.
We don't know whether the FBI's assertions about Dr. Ivins' activities and behavior are accurate. We don't know if the FBI's explanation for the presence of silica in the anthrax spores is truly scientifically valid. We don't know whether scientists at other government and private labs who assisted the FBI in the investigation actually concur with the FBI's investigative findings and conclusions.
We don't know whether the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Postal Service have learned the right lessons from these attacks and have implemented measures to prevent or mitigate future such bioterror attacks.
You can read the full letter here. Rep. Holt joins Senator Pat Leahy, Sen. Chuck Grassley, Sen. Arlen Specter, and several others in expressing deep skepticism on the FBI's narrative. What would cause all these senators and representatives, from both sides of the aisle, to question the FBI's findings?
And on top of it all, President Obama has threatened to veto an intelligence budget bill (a move which I would normally be all for), because it carries a provision to investigate the FBI's handling of the anthrax case. Why would he do this?
Well, according to him, an investigation "would undermine public confidence in a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe of the attacks and unfairly cast doubt on its conclusions,". To tell you the truth, that statement did far more to undermine my confidence in the FBI than any investigation would have.
This whole thing stinks of a cover-up. At this point I think it extremely likely that the anthrax scare was deliberately put on by the Bush Administration (at the cost of five lives) in order to drum up support for the Iraq War. It was just too convenient! Think of how many speeches in which President Bush or one of his flunkies accused Saddam of manufacturing anthrax. The only thing that made those threats credible was the anthrax attack that already happened in the US.
So the FBI, under immense public pressure to find someone responsible decides upon Bruce Ivins. But they know if the case went to court, their fraud would be exposed. So they "arrange" for him to commit suicide, thus precluding the possibility of a trial but still closing the case once and for all.
Then President Obama uses his muscle to make sure the case stays closed, by threatening his first veto over the matter. It's all too easy.
Also, see this. Dr. Meryl Nass is an expert in the subject, and was intimately involved with Bruce Ivins's research. She rounds up 16 major holes in the FBI's case against Bruce Ivins, including the fact that no autopsy was performed on Ivin's body (so we're supposed to just take their word that it was a suicide).
Remember, without these anthrax attacks, President Bush would have had a far more difficult time convincing the country to go to war with Iraq, and many think he could not have done it. The FBI's case is full of holes and begs for a more thorough investigation. Ask yourself: why is President Obama so intent on letting sleeping dogs lie? What does he think this investigation will reveal? Why is he willing to veto a major intelligence bill to make sure that Bruce Ivins remains the sole anthrax perpetrator?


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Botanicotourist enters the Phycocosmos
I'm about to leave Rhodes, a Greek Island in the very west of the Mediterranean Sea, after a couple of days at 'Exploring the Phycocosmos: a European Perspective'. This rather grand sounding event was the fifth European Phycological (you know, the study of seaweeds, phytoplankton and other algae) Congress.
I learnt all sorts of interesting things about algae - including some more about my favourite group, the freshwater red algae - but I'll spare you those details. Instead some naive botanical observations from my first visit to a Greek Island, albeit within site of Turkey.
This one was a surprise, to me (remember I haven't visited the Mediterranean much). It's called the Sea Daffodil (Pancratium maritimum). Thanks to Lynda for this next lovely close-up
In the early autumn bleakness of the general vegetation this is quite a shock on the beach front, just above high tide level. As you can see, the leaves dry off before flowering (there are few 'pig face' plants crawling around their bases in the top picture).
Like the image at the top right of my blog, this flower is pollinated by a hawk-moth, but in this case not one with a 30 cm proboscis! I expect this means the flowers would produce a lovely perfume in the evening - might stroll by later...
Another plant fact about Rhodes Island is that there are 'more than 400 bee plants' on the island. This comes from the Melissokomiki Dodecanese bee keeping company brochure, so it must be right. I take it that 400 species are polinated by bees (and at least one by a hawk-moth).
In our conference satchel we all got a bunch of flowers, dried flowers. They are the flowering stems of Sideritis raeseri, Shepherd's or Mountain Tea. It's said to be good for the 'urinary system, trichoid vessels and heart'.
It's a plant also known to the Ancient Greek botanists Dioscorides and Theophrastus. In their time (according to Wikipedia) 'Sideritis' was used generally for plants that healed 'wounds caused by iron weapons during battles' and hence the name meaning 'he who has the iron' (Mr/Ms Wiki also gives an alternative derivation, from the shape of the outer floral part, the sepal, which is a little like the tip of a spear. Still, a plant with a bit of a history.
In my next botanicotourist picture is a row/avenue of Stone Pine (Pinus pinea), I think. The bark and canopy shape look about right and I'd expect it to grow well around here. Or are they, as Lynda has suggested, Pinus brutia (the Turkish Pine, made famous as the 'Lone Pine' from Gallipoli). A lovely street tree in any case, and if Stone Pine, as species I've already admired at Kew Gardens.
And as an (?ex)Australian I notice the eucalypts of course. I didn't check this next one's identity but presume it's the River Red Gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis), with some lovely cacti in the foreground...
This one I think is Tamarisk (Tamarix), sometimes called Salt Cedar. It's a troublesome weed in various countries, including Australia, but grown in China to combat salinity and soil erosion, I think (lot's of 'I think' in this post as I type hurriedly from my hotel room).
In the old town of Rhodes one of the most striking trees is Cupressus sempervirens, the Mediterranean Cypress. Also called Pencil Pine and Graveyard Cypress (in Australia it is commonly grown as the latter), this forms wonderful vertical lines against the grey stone of the castle and wall.
And this is a Plane Tree, as you and it can plainly see. With the far from plain Lynda next to it!


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Foo Fighters Cancel European Tour After Dave Grohl's Leg Surgery
The band's frontman broke his leg onstage last week during a show in Sweden.
The Foo Fighters were forced to cancel the rest of their European tour after Dave Grohl fell and broke his leg onstage in Sweden last week.
The band announced the news on their website Tuesday (June 16), following Grohl's surgery on Monday. "Due to injuries sustained in Dave Grohl's fall from the stage during Foo Fighters' June 12 show at Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden, doctors have required the cancelation of the remainder of the band's dates in the U.K. and Europe," a statement reads. The affected dates are June 19 and 20 at London's Wembley Stadium; June 23 at Edinburgh, Scotland's BT Murrayfield Stadium; June 25 at Werchter, Belgium's Festivalpark Werchter; and June 26 at England's Glastonbury Festival.
Grohl also posted a personal message lamenting the news. "My doctors have advised me to lay low for a while," he wrote. "The most important thing now is for me to recover from the surgery, to keep my leg elevated so as to keep swelling down and prevent any infection/complication that could do long term damage. I'm not out of the woods yet, folks… Which means, and it kills me to say it…..the doctors have told us to cancel shows. I'm really so sorry, guys. You know I hate to do it, but I'm afraid it's just not physically possible for me at the moment. We're doing our best right now to work out a plan, so bear with us. You know we're good for our word. But for now, I need to make sure we have YEARS of gigs ahead of us…."
Read Grohl's full message here.
This article originally appeared on Billboard.com.


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Company Profile
Independent Registered Investment Adviser
Founded in 1984 in Nashville, TN
Serving 70 Institutional Clients in 18 States
Caters to the Larger Institutional Investor
Actively Managed Customized Portfolios
Specialized Investment Strategies
Seasoned Senior Portfolio Managers
Professional C-Type Corporation Owned by Current and Former Employees
WCB provides fixed income and equity management strategies primarily for institutional investors. The company currently manages approximately $3.7 billion for 77 clients (70 are institutions) headquartered in 18 states. The firm manages two or more customized portfolios for 33 of our institutional clients.
The company is structured as a Professional C-Type corporation which was founded in 1984 and is 100% owned by current and former employees. The heritage and culture of the firm date back to 1974 when its founder, Weaver Barksdale, and John McDowell (retired), began working together at Commerce Union Bank (now a part of Bank of America) in Nashville, Tennessee.
All the senior portfolio managers at WCB on both the fixed income and equity management teams are seasoned professionals, and each has at least twenty years of hands-on investment experience.
The firm is managed so that its goals are strictly aligned with those of its clients. The only source of income is from fees charged in regard to portfolio management. WCB is not involved in investment banking operations or broker/dealer services.
The hallmark of the firm's investment management capabilities calls for each client to have their own customized portfolio(s), as opposed to being part of a predetermined master portfolio, commingled account, or mutual fund. Over the years, this approach has worked exceedingly well for WCB's clients. The company has distinguished itself in the management of such portfolios, providing specialized strategies that conform to specific guidelines, directives, or statutory regulations primarily for such organizations as state and local governmental entities, insurance companies, non-profit healthcare systems, associations, foundations and other institutions.


text: Time & expensesHere you'll find a collection of information concerning billable time, business expenses and mileage recording. Alongside tutorials supporting time and expense recording in the inniAccounts software, you will find guidance on what classifies as an allowable expense, expense reimbursement, unbilled time and more. Time Time, expenses and mileage FAQs How does unbilled time work? Can I track time using hourly & day rates? Do I have to use inniAccounts' time tracking? Expenses Basics Your guide to business expenses An introduction to business expensesDay to day New feature: Importing personal business expenses Business expensesAdvanced HMRC exemptions – Benchmark scale rates Reclaiming the cost of a Christmas Party Charging your clients VAT on expenses Expense reimbursement without using Payslips Recording overseas expensesFAQs What is the 24 month / 2 year rule for travel expenses? Can I repay my personal expenses without using payroll? Do I have to pay tax on expenses? Do I need to retain expense receipts? Why are expenses important? Can I claim expenses before my company was formed? Mileage Day to day Entering and repaying mileageFAQs What are the HMRC approved mileage rates? Can I claim for fuel as well as mileage? Why should I claim mileage?


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The Hottest Live Photos of 2014
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Haim perform at KROQ's Red Bull Sound Space in Los Angeles, California on January 15th, 2014.
Ula Ruth perform at Mercury Lounge in New York City on January 14th, 2014.
Parquet Courts perform at Acheron in Brooklyn, New York on January 14th, 2014.
Young The Giant perform a private concert for SiriusXM listeners at The Studio at Webster Hall in New York City on January 13th, 2014. The show aired live on SiriusXM's Alt Nation channel.
Against Me! perform at The Stony Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey on January 10th, 2014.
Neil Young performs at Carnegie Hall in New York City on January 9th, 2014.
Haerts perform at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York on January 8th, 2014.
The Weeks perform during the Communion New York January Club Night at Rockwood Music Hall in New York City on January 7th, 2014.
Solange Knowles performs at the Prince Bandroom in Melbourne, Australia on January 7th, 2014.


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The patient went to a rural hospital in East Burma with a fever and was diagnosed as having a straightforward case of falciparum malaria. He was treated with the vital antimalarial drug artesunate, labeled as made by the company Guilin Pharmaceutical in China. This drug is usually extremely effective, yet the patient went into a coma and died.
The researchers, led by Paul Newton (University of Oxford), analyzed the artesunate tablets that had been used to treat the patient and found that they were fake, containing just 20% of the amount of active drug present in a genuine artesunate tablet.
When genuine artesunate was given to 600 patients with straightforward falciparum malaria in a study in East Burma, every single patient survived. Newton and colleagues conclude that the 23-year old man died from being given fake artesunate.
"Counterfeit artesunate continues to circulate on a vast scale in mainland Southeast Asia," say the authors. So far, only the Guilin Pharmaceutical brand of artesunate has been counterfeited.
Genuine artesunate is relatively expensive, creating a demand among poor, vulnerable people for cheaper alternatives--the counterfeiters, say the authors, are thus preying upon the poor.
Newton and colleagues fear that an epidemic of fake artesunate may also follow in the wake of the genuine artesunate that is being imported for use in sub-Saharan Africa, where the burden of malaria is greatest. The high cost and the shortage of genuine artesunate in Africa provide a favorable situation for the spread of fakes, which could put the lives of thousands of children at risk.
Fake artesunate was found in Cameroon in 2005, and fake dihydroartemisinin (a related antimalarial drug) was reported in Tanzania in 2001.
"Because of inadequate systems for the monitoring of the quality of antimalarial medicines in Africa," say the authors, "and because few have looked for it, counterfeit artesunate may already be widespread."
"We make no apology for the use of the term manslaughter to describe this criminal lethal trade," they say. "Indeed, some might call it murder. Somewhere, people are directing a highly technical and sophisticated criminal trade."
Preventing an epidemic of fake artesunate in Africa, they say, will require concerted global action, including ensuring that genuine artesunate is made affordable to the poorest.
PLEASE MENTION THE OPEN-ACCESS JOURNAL PLoS MEDICINE (www.plosmedicine.org) AS THE SOURCE FOR THESE ARTICLES AND PROVIDE A LINK TO THE FREELY-AVAILABLE TEXT. THANK YOU. All works published in PLoS Medicine are open access. Everything is immediately available without cost to anyone, anywhere--to read, download, redistribute, include in databases, and otherwise use--subject only to the condition that the original authorship is properly attributed. Copyright is retained by the authors. The Public Library of Science uses the Creative Commons Attribution License.
Citation: Newton PN, McGready R, Fernandez F, Green MD, Sunjio M, et al. (2006) Manslaughter by fake artesunate in Asia--Will Africa be next? PLos Med 3(6): e197.
VERSIONS OF YOUR REPORT: http://dx.
PRESS-ONLY PREVIEW OF THE ARTICLE: http://www.
Related images for press use: http://www.
Caption: Genuine (left) and counterfeit (right) Cotexcin (Dihydroartemisinin) from Tanzania (Photograph by Manuela Sunjio)
Related images for press use: http://www.
Caption: Genuine (right) and counterfeit (left) Arsumax (Artesunate) from Cameroon (Photograph by Manuela Sunjio)
Paul Newton
Wellcome Trust-Mahosot Hospital
Mahosot Hospital
Thanon Mahosot
Vientiane, Vientiane 0
Lao People's Dem. Rep. (Laos)
About PLoS Medicine
PLoS Medicine is an open access, freely available international medical journal. It publishes original research that enhances our understanding of human health and disease, together with commentary and analysis of important global health issues. For more information, visit http://www.
About the Public Library of Science
The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a non-profit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource. For more information, visit http://www.


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Watch This: Bioengineered Kidney Transplanted Into Rat
When a patient's kidney stops functioning, the existing options are limited to transplant or continual dialysis. Now scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston are a little closer to having a third option: transplanting kidneys that have been "upcycled" from previously unusable tissue.
To make these functioning and transplantable organs, the researchers begin with unusable donor organs. We'll use the rat kidney in the film below as an example. Flushing the kidney of its natural cells leaves behind a structure of proteins, which the researchers repopulated with stem cells. In an oxygen- and nutrient-rich growth medium, these kidney and blood vessel cells multiplied and the regenerated rat organ eventually started to work like a normal organ.
"The tissue became functional," said Harald Ott, one of the team's researchers, in the film. "These kidneys began to make rudimentary urine."
To further prove the effectiveness of the method, the researchers transplanted the bioengineered kidney into a live rat, where it continued to do its kidney job. The research paper, published in Nature Medicine yesterday, says the potential outcomes aren't necessarily limited to animal test subjects.
"Ultimately this is a very translational kind of research," Ott said. "It's very much focused on driving this all the way down to the bedside, getting this to the patient."
Watch the film below to find out more.
Video courtesy of Nature Medicine


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Create One Web Design for All Devices
If the idea of designing an iPhone portrait and landscape web design and an iPad portrait and landscape design — just for one web page — has you feeling overwhelmed, here is some relief.
The Safari web browser does a good job of displaying most websites on the Internet, even if those sites aren't specifically designed for these two devices. If you want the simplest option for any or all of your websites, you can create one design that's "good enough" on the desktop as well as on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
If you decide to create just one design, make sure to follow these guidelines:
Don't use Adobe Flash. Sorry — this is a bummer for Flash developers, but unless Apple changes its stance, anything designed in Flash doesn't even work on an iOS device. As a result, don't use Flash in any of your sites.
Create a design that's no more than 980 pixels wide. Although the iPad displays designs as wide as 1024 pixels in landscape mode and only 768 in portrait mode, Safari automatically resizes your web page design if you create a page and don't make it too wide.
Keeping the number of pixels to between 960 and 980 is ideal if you want your site to automatically size effectively. Keep in mind, however, that automatically resizing images can lead to blurry text and changes to your designs that may leave them less than pixel-perfect.
Create designs that extend more than 600 pixels down the page. If your sites fit perfectly on a monitor with a resolution of 800 x 600 pixels, they're probably too short to look good on an iPad. In this figure, you can see an example of the space left over in a web page that was designed to fit in fewer than 600 pixels from top to bottom.
If you're looking for the "Goldilocks" design option (not too long and not too short), design your pages to look like the one shown in here. In this site for actor Yuval David, you see how the iPad displays a page that's 970 pixels wide and nearly 2000 pixels from top to bottom.
Notice that the entire design is automatically enlarged in landscape mode to fill the 1024-pixel width and is reduced to only 768 pixels wide to fit in portrait mode.
For the best results, test your web page designs on an iPad or iPhone to make sure that your front page fills the entire screen in portrait mode. Also ensure that text and images don't become too blurry to read or look too distorted when they're automatically enlarged or reduced.


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Karaoke Sundays
Event Date:
Sunday, 9:00 PM, year round
Check our Full Event Calendar for specific dates and times.
Event Time: 9 pm - 2 am
Host: Molly Bloom's Irish Pub
Contact: 519-271-2778
Gemstone Entertainment presents Karaoke Party!
No cover and must be 19 years or older.
Cost: Free
Location: Molly's Bloom Irish Pub, Stratford, 26 Brunswick Street, Stratford
Website: mollybloomsstratford.com
View Host's Info Back to Events


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There should be a federal law to keep smartphones out of entertainment venues. There can be nothing more irritating than trying to enjoy a play or a movie surrounded by people who don't even have the decency to set their phones on "silent" when sitting down. Phones ring, beep, emit noises and lights when notifications, emails, and calls arrive on them, which annoys those around the "perpetrator" – and when said "perpetrator" acts on the notification (answers the phone, starts typing a reply or – horribile dictu – starts playing a game when in the audience, it may annoy those trying to perform on the stage (at least it doesn't annoy the actors on the silver screen).
There are so many things already that can keep the smartphone users' attention away from the world around them. There are texts and calls, social networks, dating apps, websites, blogs, news readers, shopping apps, and the list could go on forever. And soon, another distractive business will likely find its way to these useful yet totally annoying devices: real money online games. Pennsylvania's government is working on the legalization and regulation of online casino games and poker rooms, which might not be a problem as a whole – but it will add one more thing to the list of annoying deeds people do in the dark.
While people are unlikely to instantly start playing casino games on Wild Jack once the law is pushed through – and it will be, as PA's state budget plan has already factored in $200 million in online gambling revenues. For one, international operators like the Wild Jack will be shut out of the local market – a policy that may sound restrictive but has been proven by others (namely New Jersey) to work. And it's also New Jersey's example that shows that the $200 million target is not as far-fetched as it may sound: NJ's online gambling tax revenues exceeded $100 million since 2013, not counting the license fees paid by the casinos for the chance to go online.
What does this mean for the gaming community in Pennsylvania? For one, millennials will get a more convenient and easy way to play their favorite games (those with a taste for such a form of entertainment, of course). Unfortunately, though, they will get one more thing to compete for their attention, keeping their eyes on their phones while going out, driving, or watching a play at a local theater, annoying those around them… and perhaps those who try to do their best on the stage.


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Originally published January 18, 2016
This BeyeNETWORK article features Phil Bowermasters interview with Bill Franks. Phil is an independent consultant and analyst specializing in big data and analytics, and Bill is chief analytics officer at Teradata. Phil and Bill discuss the how the Internet of Things is going to revolutionize the world of analytics.
Recent articles by Phil Bowermaster
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Mom Heart Own Your Life Conference, Colorado Springs
What do I do after a momentous weekend with hundreds of women at a mom heart conference? I sleep extra late, I take my boys out for a meal, I take a hot bubble bath and then I take a nap and finally end the day watching a spy show while eating chocolate chip cookies. I have taken a sore throat with me from the hotel, so I am pampering myself. Tomorrow, I will begin to get back to normal.
So, a number of sweet friends sent me messages, voxers and texts and I decided to let some of them share with you what most stood out at the conference and thoughts they are going to keep with them in their homes this year.
"Say no to your children. Teach them to honor you now so that they will be able to accept a "no" from God and honor His direction in their lives when they are older. If they learn to obey you now, they will be prepared to obey Him when they are older."
"Your life is not your own, but God wants you to own your life for His glory."
""When a challenge or test comes my way, I will respond out of what I have invested deeply in, all of my life. I need to constantly refresh myself in the Word so that my well is deep enough for whatever I face."
"Many mothers are under the illusion that some children do not resist training. All children resist training even when we are doing the right things. This is normal."


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Glass Ornaments
It's December 12th, are you decorating your Christmas tree yet? I love the look of vintage blown glass ornaments next to the frosted color C7/C9 peanut lights on a Christmas tree. When it comes to Christmas, sometimes the old ways are the best. Today's illustration speaks to just those old ways. This design best mimics my memory of the "what-seemed-like-ancient" boxes of glass ornaments my grandparents brought out to decorate their tree. They were sparsely designed boxes, a little worse for wear (seeing that they lasted so many decades) that contained glass ornaments of many different shapes, nestled in a green corrugate (or sometimes shredded newsprint). Now I realize the spartan nature of the packaging was probably due to the fact that they were blown by an actual glass artist. An artist who's main concern was making good ornaments and keeping them safe for a specific customer, rather than having catchy packaging for some store shelf.
Today's bit of Christmas cheer shows just how those delicate glass ornaments are made. Albeit, this process is a bit more modernized than maybe the ornaments my grandparents had. But to my delight, it still involves a lot of human care and craft, no machines necessary. The part to watch for is most definitely the silvering solution and lacquer. After the ornaments are blown into molds (still done by human hand) the clear glass is filled with what seems like a magic solution... and I'll let you find the rest out for yourself.


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So for the last few years we all dress up in our fancy wear and watch the pre show and start of the awards in our best attire. Each year as the kids get older and know more of the movies, the debate gets heated for who is going to win.
This year I so wasn't in it. My husband asked and I think I grumbled something under my breath because I have been sick with a cold (I sounded like death for two days) and I am cookie Mom for the girls troop so between the money being due and cookie booths, I was tired, oh so very tired.
Than my husband asked again about just dressing up and I said okay. The kids than convinced me that we needed to throw a party and they caught me in that moment where I said yes and than I decided to do it as quick as possible.
I decided to make some red velvet cupcakes and while they were baking, we went to Pinterest and found some adorable printables from We Heart Parties. I used some of those as well as a cutout of Oscar. I quickly created the cupcake toppers using MDS. The kids were a big help and here are the pics from our party.
My spread!
Shirley Temple's any one?
Always helps when you have a left over box mix of red velvet in the pantry
Gyros were already planned for dinner!
Of course you need popcorn
Miss O and her Oscar ballot
Mr. L and his cupcake (he was slightly annoyed at me)
The whole family!
Minion was dressed as well (kids did it)
Thanks for stopping by!


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According to Myrtle Beach realtors, not all home sellers are able to successfully close a transaction. The real estate market has become even more challenging as the competition becomes tighter. And if you don't know what you're doing or if this is your first time to sell a home, you might want to spend time preparing yourself before going in.
To help you in this venture, professional Myrtle Beach realtors have shared some of common home selling mistakes you should watch out for.
Selling the house as is
If you walked throughout the house and noticed some necessary repairs and fixes, you have the option to sell it as is – of course, at a much lower price – or spend time to have the repairs made and sell it at a significantly higher price. Aside from having the opportunity to sell the house at a more reasonable and profitable price, you will also be able to attract more potential buyers. Don't forget that in some instances, a beautiful house that is a bit pricey gets more offers than a cheap house that requires lots of repairs.
To ensure that you successfully sell the house, offer it at a price that is reasonable and beneficial to both you and the buyer. Do not list a ridiculously high price if you only made a few of the necessary repairs and fixes.
Selling at your own price
One thing you should keep in mind is that real estate properties rarely appreciate in value, especially if there were no improvements or renovations made on the property. So before you go ask a high price for the house that you are selling, it is necessary that you conduct research and analysis.
According to real estate professionals, any house is worth an amount dictated by the current market. This is why you as the seller need to spend time looking at the current real estate market and finding out how much houses similar with the one you are selling are worth. For faster results, enlist the assistance of Myrtle Beach realtors as they have a wide network of connection to provide for any information that you may need.
Selling without professional assistance
Contrary to what most people think, hiring a realtor doesn't actually cost you money. And selling a house by yourself is not likely going to help you save money. Even though hiring professional assistance will cost money, you'll end up saving more than the amount you paid your realtor.
Here are some reasons why you will save more money by hiring a realtor:
- Quick, easy, and free access to information that you need in order to sell your house quickly and at a reasonable rate.
- Professional negotiation skills that will help you secure a high rate for the house and possibly sell the house at a higher rate.
- More potential buyers to inquire about the house.
Indeed, working with Myrtle Beach realtors could make all the difference in successfully selling your home. Call Jerry Pinkas Real Estate Experts now to inquire about their professional services.
Jerry Pinkas Real Estate Experts
604 N. 27th Ave
Myrtle Beach, SC 29577
Where you only work with certified and licensed Myrtle Beach realtors.