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Norquist says Virginia has spent less than 1 percent of budget surpluses on roads
Grover Norquist, one of the most influential voices in the United States against raising taxes, is opposed to Gov. Bob McDonnell's transportation plan.
McDonnell's proposal to generate $3.2 billion over five years relies, in part, on ending the state's fixed 17.5-cent per gallon gas tax and increasing the 5 percent sales tax to 5.8 percent. The plan also would raise the annual $41 registration fee for most vehicles to $56.
Norquist, who is president of the Americans for Tax Reform, says those two parts of McDonnell's plan qualify as tax increases. He has warned the 30 Republican state legislators who have signed his organization's pledge to oppose tax increases that support of McDonnell's plan would break their promise.
Norquist says Virginia should find a way to fix its roads without raising taxes. One way to do that, he said during a Feb. 7 radio interview, would be to earmark the state's budget surpluses for transportation.
"There's been over $1 billion in surplus over the last three years, the legislature has spent less than 1 percent of that on roads," Norquist said on the John Fredericks Show. "So if you can't prioritize unexpected revenue because the economy grew faster than you were planning, when can you begin to prioritize roads?"
We wondered whether Virginia really has spent less than 1 percent of its surplus on roads during the last three years.
We contacted Paul Blair, a spokesman for Americans for Tax Reform. He said Norquist's statement was based on press clippings and budget presentations the McDonnell administration made to the General Assembly during fiscal 2010, 2011 and 2012. The total surplus for three those years came to $1.4 billion.
Blair also cited administration figures for the amount of the surplus each year that went to transportation: $32.7 million in 2010; $67.2 million in 2011 surplus and $0 in 2012 surplus. That comes to a total of $99.9 million in surpluses that went to the state's Transportation Trust Fund.
Blair acknowledged those figures mean that the amount that went to transportation is not less than 1 percent, as Norquist said. Less than 1 percent would mean less than $14 million of surplus went to transportation over the last three years.
"Initial information provided by members of the state legislature was incorrect. The actual amount spent on transportation projects is $99.9 million, roughly 7 percent of surplus funds," Blair wrote in an e-mail. "The facts remain: when presented with the opportunity to designate more money to the Transportation Trust Fund from annual surpluses, the legislature generally designates the money to any and everything else."
Blair declined to identify the legislators who he said provided the wrong information. He said 7 percent is still a low number, adding that a 2007 state law calls for ensuring that 67 percent of "undesignated" surpluses are required to go to transportation.
"To circumvent state law on the amount of money required to go to transportation from a surplus, the legislature ensures that the 67 percent of 'remaining funds' is very little," Blair said. "In 2012, it was a whopping $0."
We spoke with Neil Miller, Virginia's deputy finance secretary, who confirmed $99.9 million has gone to the Transportation Trust Fund from the 2010 and 2011 surpluses and no money at all went there from the 2012 surplus.
About two-thirds of the sum -- $61.7 million -- was earmarked for the Virginia Transportation Infrastructure Bank, a state program that lends money to localities and private entities to help pay for road, rail, and other transportation projects.
About half of the three-year $1.4 billion surplus that McDonnell announced in August comes from revenues that exceeded estimates. Most of the rest comes from allocated money that was not spent.
Miller explained in an e-mail that various state laws mandate where much of the state surplus money has to go.
For example the state's constitution requires that a portion of the surplus be deposited in the rainy day fund, used to cushion Virginia through lean budget cycles. The fund was drawn down during the Great Recession and received a combined $211 million from the 2011 and 2012 surpluses.
Virginia law also requires a portion goes to the state's water quality improvement fund, which got $103.7 million of surplus money over the last three fiscal years. Another $47.7 million went into a reserve fund for disaster relief. The General Assembly often adds to the list by approving budgets that allocate in advance portions of surpluses that might occur for other priorities, such as a bonus paid to state employees last December.
There have been proposals over the years to boost the portion of surpluses that are funneled to transportation. In 2007, Republican's unsuccessfully sought to reserve half of all future budget surpluses for road maintenance.
Democrats have opposed the efforts. One reason is that the surplus comes from the state's general fund, which draws largely from income and sales taxes to pay for education, public safety and health programs. Transportation is primarily funded by a different set of revenues: federal grants and state taxes on gasoline, vehicle sales and licenses. Many Democrats have insisted that surpluses should be returned to general fund programs.
Democrats and some senate Republicans also have noted that the state does not always end its fiscal year in surplus, and argued that Virginia needs a long-term, dependable source of new revenues to solve its transportation problems.
A final note: The major parts of McDonnell's transportation plan have been approved by the House. The Senate has passed a more ambitious plan that would generate $900 million a year by increasing the gas tax and pegging it to inflation, raising vehicle registration fees and empowering localities to impose a local sales tax for transportation projects.
House and Senate negotiators are trying to reach a compromise before the General Assembly's scheduled adjournment on Feb. 23.
Our ruling
Norquist said the state legislature spent less than 1 percent of its surplus over the last three years on roads.
His organization acknowledges that number is wrong. The correct figure is 7 percent, a difference equaling at least $86 million. We rate Norquist's statement False.


text: I just wrote an op-ed for The Crimson about why Earth Day sucks. I believe that it creates a soporific effect that does not translate into sustainable long-lasting behavior. There is also data that supports this trend. Every day is Earth Day. When the one billion people to participate in Earth Day bring those green behaviors to other days of the year, then real change will be feasible and easy. The environmental population needs to reconfigure their strategies so that we're creating a movement, not a moment. We can do it. We can effect the change. Check it out:

subset: commoncrawl


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What's Your Number? (2011)
The Social Disease Network
What's Your Number? won Kicking the Seat's latest "Send Me to The Movies" poll. After hearing this, my friend, Karen, suggested that my fans might not like me very much.
I'd like to think the voters have a genuine interest in the film and want to know my thoughts on it. Under no circumstances would my dear, dear readers set me up for an awful night at the theatre, eager for a review packed with venom and regret. You see, gang, I live in a world of sunshine and lollipops, far from the cynical, black skies of Cavity Town.
Seriously, though, I didn't have a terrible time at the movie--though the film itself is beyond terrible.
What helped me through 99 minutes of recycled, raunchy rom-com?
Four words: Anna Faris' fake lips.
Okay, four more words: Anna Faris' fake tits.
Wait, here are four more still: Joel McHale's ass-double.
I don't mean to be a pig (not today, anyway), but "What's Your Number?" could just as easily apply to the amount of times the main cast has gone under the knife as the amount of sexual partners the film's characters have had. In fairness to McHale, I'm pretty sure the shots of him waking up in bed sans sous-vêtements featured a stunt-rump (sideburns = dead giveaway)--so, yeah, I'm mainly going after Faris (aka Scary Movie Barbie).
Why "go after" Faris at all? Well, I've got to have something to write about, don't I?
Also, I'm convinced that the problem at the heart of What's Your Number? is that, like the character she plays, Faris has fallen for the rampant societal sexism that bogusly assumes women must act and look a certain way to either get ahead or find true love. Movies like these, even the ones written and directed by women, do more to harm their target audience than to help them. They paint women as insecure, materialistic harpies whose lives would be perfect if they could just land the perfect man, move into the perfect condo, and wear the perfect couture dress down the aisle in their storybook wedding (similarly, movies like The Hangover and Hall Pass denigrate men with storylines involving hedonistic, arrested-development pursuits of wealth, drugs and twenty-something tail).
But this is just light, fluffy escapism, right?
Sure, if you're a Kardashian. For the sentient and self-respecting, however, What's Your Number? is a puzzling exercise in excess whose wise inclusion of Chris Evans in the cast is the only thing that prevents it from being this year's Sex and the City 2. Faris stars as Ally Darling (I shit you not), a Boston resident of unspecified age who breaks up with her latest dipshit boyfriend the same week she gets fired from her marketing job. She reads a Marie Claire article on what the number of sexual partners a woman has says about her as a person.
After some quick jotting, she realizes she's slept with nineteen men, a fact she finds sufficiently whorish. Ally vows to give up promiscuity and save the twenty-spot for her future husband. To accomplish this, she enlists the aid of her across-the-hall neighbor--a womanizing, wannabe musician named Colin (Evans)-- to help track down all of her exes. She figures that among the puppeteer, the politician, the exuberant foodie, and the rest of her fling-filled rogues gallery, at least one of her conquests might be both single and far removed from the immature "phases" that caused her to dump them in the first place.
I won't spoil the ending by telling you who she ends up with,** but I'll share some other surprises. What's Your Number? features a wedding, a dress-shopping scene, a drunken engagement toast, a gaggle of naughty bridesmaids, and lots of "just the tip" jokes. The cynical part of me thinks this whole movie is really a 99-minute infomercial for Kristen Wiig's summer blockbuster (now available On-Demand and in stunning blu-ray high-def!), but I'm pretty sure it's just a case of genre tropes laid bare--the same way the worst slasher movies disregard motivation and character in favor of fake boobs and CGI gore.
Speaking of fake boobs, let's get back to Faris. At some point (recently, I believe), she got some work done. Whether you want to blame a superficial Hollywood culture that insists a woman of thirty-five look "younger" in order to stay on top (or, in Faris' case, a comfy middle), or just a series of bad decisions on the actress's part, the fact is that her looks have become distracting. While I was busy not laughing at co-writers Gabrielle Allan and Jennifer Crittenden's "jokes", I was scrutinizing the downright bizarre behavior of Faris' lips.
She didn't go the Lisa Rinna route and have floatation devices installed on her face. Instead, she paid for what appear to be mini-Botox-injections on each side of her mouth, puffing up the top part instead of the pink of her lips--giving every smile a novocaine-overdose quality. She's had other modifications, too, such as the aforementioned boob job--as evidenced by the gravity-defying firmness on display in scenes where she's clearly not wearing a bra. In short, the last decade has seen Anna Faris go from looking like the girl next door to one of Hugh Hefner's Girls Next Door (appropriate, I guess, for the star of The House Bunny***).
This is all very mean, but no meaner than making hard-working people pay for sexist, humorless garbage that some marketing tool has the balls to call "entertainment". The only reason I wasn't outright offended and bored by the film was because I had so much fun guessing what procedure Faris had done to which body part, as well as playing Sir Alec Guinness' famous Darth Vader quote about being "more machine than man" on a loop in my head. I also appreciated Chris Evans' dopey, inevitable-boyfriend (Oops!) routine. He has so much fun in this movie being naked and hypocritically calling Faris a crazy ho-bag (paraphrasing here) that I wondered why he couldn't have spared some of that free-wheeling charm for Captain America.
This sort of brings up the age-old issue of whether or not women are as funny as men. I don't think there's a distinction to be made, but you wouldn't know that from looking at the films marketed to each sex. Maybe because raunchy female comedies are still in their infancy, their creators spend too much time shouting "Vagina!" from the highest rooftop instead of actually saying anything original or, dare I say, funny. You don't see male-centric comedies where men talk about jock-itch or power-tools for hours on end. So why can't someone get a true girl-power movie off the ground? One in which jokes about PMS, cookie-dough ice cream, and appletinis with the girls are considered so insultingly elementary that they're scrapped after the first draft?
I hope the reason these witless chick flicks are so ubiquitous is because they're cheap enough to produce that even a halfway decent opening weekend guarantees the species' survival. The other possibility is almost too depressing to consider: that there's a large, hard-core audience for this kind of film, one that views the struggles and triumphs of these desperate, ditzy heroines as some kind of wish-fulfillment. I guess living that kind of sad, unexamined life might drive me to get rid of the real parts of myself, too.
*Some have called it a "break from reality".
**Of course I'm kidding!
***Ironic, too, 'cause the point of that movie was valuing what's inside over superficial ideas about beauty.


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Please select from the tags below to filter your results.
RCP president Professor Jane Dacre responds to the release by the government of a new tobacco control plan for England.
In a report out today the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has raised significant concerns about the quality of investigation processes led by NHS trusts into patient deaths.
Only 57% of NHS trusts have a mental wellbeing policy in place to support staff, according to new audit results from the Health and Work Development Unit (HWDU) at the Royal College of Physicians (RCP).
A major new report from the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) and Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) says that smoking in people with mental disorders is neglected by the NHS.


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Summer has come, soon the air will be filled with mucus filing pollen, and I'm cooked up in an office with lots of free time. What better way to pass the time than to do some delightful Discogs archaeology!
I started off with looking at the discography of some good old fashioned industrial tape labels, since it's been a while I enjoyed some harsh rhythmic melodies. I got caught up with the Insane Music label and their myriad of compilation tapes. Some really fantastic stuff there, and I noticed Kopfschmerztablette, a classic and favorite industrial bands of mine. But hey, what is this release, Objekt Zwei Oder Einfahrt Freihalten? Haven't seen that one before, and the label, ZNS Tapes? A short-lived, German, tape label from the late 80's – early 90's, with a focus on abstract, experimental, industrial, music. And their entire back catalog is available online? Now were talking!


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For the past two weeks, while Jamesdon was in the US, the boys and I have been getting settled into our new home. When I say home, I do not mean a physical home (we still don't have one of those), I mean the place where we are going to be doing ministry. I have been spending the past two weeks investing in the people that we are going to serve alongside. The boys have started school and while Nehemiah is still adjusting to the whole idea of school, Daniel is thriving! Everyone already knows Daniel ( I think it helps that he has a "funny" accent, wears glasses, and has a "mzungu" family!). Daniel loves going to class, taking porridge, playing with his new friends, and sharing all of his snacks with other kids.
Nehemiah has become the focus for most of the students. They love to touch his hair and face, but unfortunately Nemo doesn't like it and had a hard time adjusting to all the attention, but it is getting better each day that we are here. It didn't help that Nemo ended up getting really sick this past week.
It was so tough to see my little guy in so much pain. We are staying about an hour outside of Kampala, but made the trek into town and spent half of the day at the hospital trying to rehydrate and medicate him. The doctors found an amoeba in his digestive tract, which caused an infection in his colon. He refused to eat anything for a few days and was vomiting anytime I gave him medicine (even with anti-vomiting medication). But he is now back to his old self. It helps that his daddy is back!
I have had such a great time the past two weeks. It is always hard to adjust to no running water, which means pit latrines and bucket baths, but the family that we have been staying with have been amazing. We have been so blessed to have a place to stay where we are just an extension of the family.
It was hard not having Jamesdon here, but it has allowed me to dive in and get working. I have started teaching Chemistry and Biology to Donela's secondary students. I am also teaching science lessons to the higher primary classes. This is a bit of a new element for me, but I love that it allows to meet many of the students and work with a lot of the staff at the school.
I have also had an awesome time learning how to greet each of the staff in their mother tongue. Because there are people from all over Uganda in Bombo, mostly because of the military barracks, most of the staff speak different languages. This has been a way for me to get to know the staff on a more personal basis (So far I know how to greet in Luganda, Swahili, Ateso, Luo, and Acholi, not bad!). Nemo and Daniel have even learned how to greet and respond, but only in Luganda.
It has been such a blessing to not only get to be involved at the school, but to get to learn so much more about the different ministries that Align ministries is partnering with here. Jamesdon will be serving as a Project Supervisor and I will be doing teaching/communications/staff development. If you are interested in learning more about the organization we are working with please visit their website www.alignministries.org.
In the last month, God continues to confirm that Uganda is where we are meant to be… for now! We are currently committed to stay here until August, even if we receive Daniel's paperwork before that, due to the clear path that God has created for us to stay here and work with people and an organization that we love and respect beyond words. We have been so blessed throughout this entire process and God just continues to rain down His blessings on our family!


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Networking vital for career planning and growth
Rachel Morrison/Pioneer
Making contacts through social networking sites offers convenient ways to network.
When it comes to networking, Public Relations Coordinator Cordell Jordan said students can't expand their horizons enough.
"Who you know can be just as important as what you know," Jordan said.
NewsOK.com Online Editor Richard Hall agrees.
Hall, who worked part-time at OCCC before being offered his current job, said teachers, social networking and interning are some of the best ways to network.
He said students should introduce themselves to people in their career field and be knowledgeable about what those people do.
That can lead to great networks in the future, he said.
"Everyone benefits from everyone," Hall said.
He said students also should make a point of attending job fairs and getting to know key players there, and maintaining a good rapport with professors. Hall said one never knows who those network sources might know and how they can help.
Psychology major Dayshaun Burns said she participates in organizations to help her meet and network with people at school and outside of school.
Hall said interning is another good way to make the most of your networking.
He said he got his start at NewsOK.com by interning one summer.
When his internship ended, he was offered a job as online editor.
"Networking is important to everyone," Hall said. "No one gets to where they are without networking."
Student Employment and Career Services Director Debra Vaughn said networking online is valuable as well.
Making a second Facebook account for professional use, and uploading videos and a multimedia résumé at that site is a good way to network, she said.
Vaughn said career counselors are calling social networking sites like Facebook a second résumé.
Hall agrees.
"Social networking is an invaluable tool," he said.
Student Employment and Career Services Coordinator Judi McGee agrees but said students need to think twice about what they post.
She said social networking can also generate negative results if a person posts anything inappropriate or allows others' inappropriate posts or pictures to appear on the site.
McGee said many employers check potential employees' social network profiles before hiring.
Many people set their social network profiles to private, but federal employers can get past privacy locks under the Patriot Act, Vaughn said.


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I know you love your pets, but unfortunately the pet policy here has changed and I can no longer allow pets. When you sign your lease, you'll sign a "Pet Prohibition Addendum" that prohibits pets from being in your apartment.
There are residents here who have pets. They moved in before the policy change and will continue to have pets until they move out.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Pet Policy
Posted by Jay Samples at 7:00 AM
Labels: Pets


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BBC America and the BBC Worldwide have announced today that "Doctor Who" will launch a global world tour to introduce Peter Capaldi as the new Doctor ahead of the new season launch in late August.
The trip will see Capaldi, companion Jenna Coleman, and the show's lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat visiting seven cities across five continents over twelve days. The trio will take part in a series of media and fan engagements to publicize the upcoming season to a global audience.
The tour begins August 7th in Cardiff and London in the UK and will run through Seoul, South Korea; Sydney, Australia, New York City, USA; Mexico City, Mexico and end in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 19th.
Details about the tour are available at DoctorWho.TV
Source: BBC


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"Boy Drone" is the older brother of "BabyDrone" born with a particular concept.: Common smaller drones have the disadvantage of having a very short autonomy, this reduces the fun.
EPTA Design tries to give a solution.
Using "Thin-film solar cell" technology, potentially, you will not need to stop the fly to recharge or replace the battery: On sunny days, the autonomy is all day!
The technology requires to increase the surface to be exposed to the sun, this gives to Boy drone a unique, clean and efficient design.
In this case it is the technology used that radically influences the style.
More power allows you to set up more features. A camera and lower sensors can be added value.
Let's imagine using a lower monocoque carbon shell. Guaranteed performance!
The architecture of this drone is not subject to aerodynamic study. The attempt is to make a product capable of flying, of course but which has a friendly and non-aggressive language.
The "Baby and Boy" brothers are characterized by common distinctive elements that diversify them from other drones.
The helices of Boy drone, for example, are mounted under the (horizontal virtual) assembly line of all the electronics. This is because we wanted the propellers not to interfere with the superior photovoltaic film technology.
The legs of Boy drone are equipped with the 4 position lights and a simple suspension system for softer landings in the little feet


text:
Journey's End
"Are you sure you got everything?" Charles turned around and faced Vincent in time to see him tie the drawstring at the top of his bag.
"Yep," Victor replied without looking away from his task, "I checked twice and there isn't a trace of us or any thing—he sniggered—or body to be found."
"I don't know." The turmoil in Charles' stomach was a clear sign of his distress. "I'm just having one last looked around." He turned on his spot, taking in every detail of the small cabin they'd shared for three months, before opening, inspecting and closing every drawer. Victor was right, apart from the two bags they would walk away with, there was nothing in this tiny space that hadn't been there when they'd first set foot in it. Even the bed looked as if it had never been slept in. It had been bloody hard work but they'd done a great job.
Charles gaze landed on Victor and his stomach tightened as the result of a completely different emotion. He couldn't believe they'd walk off the ship they'd called home for months in a few short minutes, make their way to the train station together, part ways, and probably never meet again.
"Are you really sure there's no way…?" He didn't finish the sentence. They'd had this discussion at least twice a day for the past week and no matter what he'd said, Victor's reasons for having to part were far more rooted in reality than Charles' need to stay together was.
"I'm sorry." Victor's voice was soft, his tone heavy and sad. "I wish it was different. If I could see a way for us to stay together and actually have a life, I'd never let you out of my sight again." He turned his head and stared at the bed.
Charles didn't look in the same direction. He couldn't look at the place where they'd slept, where they'd come together, had found each other, and where they'd discovered a love neither of them had ever expected to experience. When a thumb brushed across his cheek he realised he'd started crying.
"Don't!" Victor said, sounding choked. "Try thinking about it as something we have won, not something we're losing." He paused for a moment, and Charles watched his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed hard. "We'll walk off this ship and you go back to your life, just as I'll go back to mine. And we'll always have the memories of these twelve weeks to look back on. Imagine if we hadn't met. We could so easily have ended up with different cabin partners." Victor's eyes glistened. "Ending it now is horrid. Not having had the experience—not knowing you the way I do—would have been worse."
Charles nodded. Victor was right. They had no other choice. Look at what they'd already had to do.
The disembark whistle blew and without a word they both picked up their bags and swung them over a shoulder.
"Shit" It weighs a bloody ton." Charles grumbled.
"What did you expect?" Victor sneered, but Charles saw him fighting to keep his balance too.
"Remember, we're supposed to be happy we've reached the end of the journey." Victor reminded him.
Charles didn't know how he managed it but by the time they were on terra firma again they were chatting, smiling and laughing as if today was the best day of their lives. Ten minutes later they entered the train station, found a deserted corner and dropped their bags. They inspected each other's shoulders, making sure their striped shirts were still clean before giving the two bags a last, hard, stare.
"I do feel bad." Charles said.
"Me too. But what else could we do?" Anger crept into Victor's voice. "The fool should never have barged into our room without knocking first. He couldn't be trusted to keep our secret and now he'll never be able to share it."
661 words.
I hope you liked my flash and would love to hear from you in the comments.
More stories based on this image can be found in the Monday Flash Fics Group on Facebook.


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Daniel, Yes, CSS having explicit versioning would be one way to fix this once and for all. But given that the CSS group insists that it will never need versioning --- analogous to hTML asserting it's the same across versions (another assertion I dont believe)-- the Last Call issue raised by the forms and xhtml groups is particularly telling. Given where we are in the email discussion, I'd recommend that the Forms and XHTML WGs change this to a "formal LC objection " Daniel Glazman writes: > > Steven Pemberton wrote: > > > * Because of CSS's versioning mechanism, it is a Bad Thing if rules > > change meaning across versions > > Steven, that's the point : CSS has no versions... only levels. > I have said many times in the past that we now need to get rid > of levels to move to versions. > > </Daniel> -- Best Regards, --raman Title: Research Scientist Email: firstname.lastname@example.com WWW: http://emacspeak.sf.net/raman/ Google: tv+raman GTalk: firstname.lastname@example.com, email@example.com PGP: http://emacspeak.sf.net/raman/raman-almaden.ascReceived on Wednesday, 2 April 2008 21:16:37 UTC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.1 : Tuesday, 6 January 2015 21:13:56 UTC


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This thread is in response to a review for Alan Wake on the Xbox 360. You are encouraged to view the review in a new window before reading this thread.
Add a new post within this thread...
Author: LowerStreetBlues
Posted: May 23, 2010 (08:22 PM)
Actions: Register for a free user account to post on the forums...
This review needs some proofreading: "afore-mentioned" and "right trigger right trigger" offhand. I also noticed some unnecessary commas and wordy constructions that give the writing a lulling rhythmic quality ("After Wake first finds himself in the darkness of the woods, he returns to it over the course of those first three episodes") -- something to be mindful of in the future.
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"Attacker throws animal semen over girls in Bury. The substance was analysed by police and later identified as animal semen. In each incident, the offender was described as being a white man, aged between 25 and 35 and was carrying a bag."
Yes I feel desperately sorry for young girls in question. And this man obviously needs to be stopped or at least just restricted to the Bury area.
But CHRIST has anyone given any thought to the animals in question and how this man acquired the substance.
I like hamsters.


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East, West, North, South and Midwest alike, if there is one food that transcends the American culinary culture, it's undoubtedly BBQ. The Carolinas, Tennessee, Missouri or Texas — as we know there's truly no one right way to smoke, grill or marinade meat. Recently, I've been dining amongst gods of the pit including Big Ed Mitchell and his unconventional blending of east and west flavors (no not Asian, vinegar and dry rub!), and the late-great Billy Mays, included for his excitement for stain removal, providing diners with the comfort of knowing that it's okay to pig out because stains incurred from moist, tangy meat are merely part of the experience.
Recent visits to the annual Big Apple BBQ festival in Madison Square Park, Lambert's in downtown Austin, TX and Blue Smoke in NYC have made me continuously crave messy, sloppy, dirty, and filthy, ribs, pulled pork, beef brisket, slaw, beans, and of course… beer.
Looking for a good sauce? Give FunniBonz a shot… especially the spicy


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Happy Tuesday to all readers! Hope all are healthy and happy as possible today.
Well, the number of dead tree print magazines that have failed (or "shuttered" in industry talk) in 2009 has fallen off by approximately 200 per year over 2008 and 2007…Going down from 640 to 420 or so.
Could be that print mags have reached some sort of bottom and found new business models and niches that have spurred some success in their survival rates.
Vanessa Voltolina of Folio magazine has the following statistics:
The year that was 2009 is drawing to a close and data from online magazine database MediaFinder.com reports that 428 titles have ceased publication in 2009, through December 14.
While any magazine going out of business isn't good news, the silver lining is the total number of foldings this year (although anything could technically happen between now and December 31) is down significantly from 2008 (613) and 2007 (643).
But while the number of ceased titles may be fewer than years past, there have also been fewer launches. There were only 275 startups this year versus 335 in 2008. Regional magazines topped the list with 21 launches, including Maine Magazine and B-metro Birmingham.
Regionals, however, also topped the list of shutdowns (34), with titles such Atlanta Life and Denver Living going under. Business magazine shutdowns came in second (16), with casualties including BusinessWeek Small Biz, Condé Nast Portfolio and Fortune Small Business.
The Health category had the second highest number of launches (15), including Scottsdale Health and Natural Awakenings. Food titles came next with 14 new magazines such as Food Network Magazine, Edible Queens, and Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade.
Magazines that ceased publishing early in the year and have since relaunched were not counted as closed, said a MediaFinder spokesperson. But titles like Vibe, which shuttered in June, but has already relaunched, is still counted as shuttered.


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4 Ways to counteract overthinking and catastrophizing
If you overthink heavily for, say, an entire year, that's a lot of time thrown away as you would have accumulated a lot of time in your own head instead of doing productive things. There are things we can do in order to cut down on the overthinking, though.
Ah, yes, overthinking! One of the worst things a human being can do to his or herself. You've definitely done it before, so you know exactly what is and how it can absolutely destroy you. There are people out there that spend the whole day doing it. Crazy, right? It's so easy for a person to fall into this trap. It becomes almost like an addiction. They begin thinking about something, but they then need to dig a little deeper in order to convince themselves that it's okay – it never works out, though, as the thoughts become even worse and more negative.
If you overthink heavily for, say, an entire year, that's a lot of time thrown away as you would have accumulated a lot of time in your own head instead of doing productive things. There are things we can do in order to cut down on the overthinking, though. It can be beaten. It will always be with us because our brains are amazing and are constantly picking up patterns and memories, but we can lower its intensity in this regard.
Here are a few ways of doing so:
Recognize That It's Never, Ever, Ever As Bad As What You Think
The first idea we'll talk about is through the act of doing a little more thinking! It's a little counterintuitive, but it'll help. You need to realize that what you're picturing in your head is absolutely not going to happen. Something along those lines may occur, but your catastrophic thoughts are not going to come to fruition – at all. You're creating a storm in a teacup for absolutely no reason. Get out of that little imaginary instance!
Don't Stare At Social Media As Much (Or At All!)
Social media has done a lot of good in terms of bringing people together, teaching people, and making businesses more prosperous. It has its drawbacks, though, and those drawbacks are pretty heavy. When you get a little too deep into the world of social media, you can find yourself caring too much about the littlest thing that's on there. You might start developing relationships that don't actually exist. You might view someone else's fictional life as something that you want – no matter how realistic it actually is (which, a lot of the time, it's not). Social media has a great way of making you feel worthless if you go down that rabbit hole too deeply.
Try A Little CBD And Similar Products
CBD Oil has become very, very popular over the past couple of years due to its ability to help with the likes of anxiety and depression. It doesn't fix a person straight away, but it can soothe their minds. It works with a lot of people, so even if it's a placebo, it might be worth considering! It contains traces of the cannabis plant, so it's still quite a taboo oil at this stage, but it's not like heading to a marijuana store and getting some sweetleaf concentrates every few days. The psychoactive and addictive elements are removed, leaving the traits that are best for mental recovery and relaxation.
Don't Idle
Do something. Do anything. This is probably the best piece of advice you can possibly receive. When your mind is on something, you don't have the mental capacity to worry about stuff like you were before. You're too busy focusing on the task at hand. Obviously, you're only putting the worrisome thoughts to the side for a bit, so they won't vanish forever, but if you can get into the habit of placing them aside, then that's a great first step.
New York City to repeal 'conversion therapy' ban to safeguard broader LGBTQIA protections
So-called "conversion therapy" is the term most often attributed to practices which seek to change, suppress, or divert the sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression of people who do not fit the presumed norm of cis-gender heterosexuality. This is widely recognized – including by the World Psychiatric Association – to be based on junk science, and cause deep and lasting trauma on those upon whom it is inflicted.
Backing out in the fight against hate as a step to hinder hate.
In New York City in the US, council speaker Corey Johnson introduced a bill which would see the city's ban on so-called "conversion therapy" lifted. This seems like a bad move, but it is seen as a needed effort to – ironically – safeguard protections for the human rights of LGBTQIA people by avoiding a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the ban reaching the Supreme Court and setting a nation-wide precedent for "conversion therapy".
So-called "conversion therapy" is the term most often attributed to practices which seek to change, suppress, or divert the sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression of people who do not fit the presumed norm of cis-gender heterosexuality. Also called reorientation therapy, reparative therapy, reintegrative therapy, gay cure therapy, or, more recently, support for unwanted same-sex attraction or transgender identities. These practices are widely recognized – including by the World Psychiatric Association – to be based on junk science, and cause deep and lasting trauma on those upon whom they are inflicted.
In the US, 18 states ban "conversion therapy" on minors, including New York state. The city's ban preceded the state ban and is among the most comprehensive bans in the country, as it applies to "any individual" offering any form of "conversion therapy", not just licensed health professionals, and bans such practices on all people, not just on minors.
The constitutionality of the comprehensive city ban was challenged through a lawsuit filed in January 2019 by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), an organization designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, using pseudo-human rights language to argue that adults have a right to such "therapy". Lifting the ban is a move to avoid the lawsuit reaching the conservative Supreme Court and setting a precedent allowing the harmful practices to continue.
Maria Sjodin, deputy director of OutRight Action International, said that "ADF's challenge and the necessary move to repeal the ban on conversion therapy in New York City is symptomatic of the growing attack on human rights, and the human rights of LGBTQIA people in particular, that has soared in the US under the current administration. Initiatives such as the Commission for Unalienable Rights, and broad attacks on gender and sexual and reproductive health and rights, have emboldened groups such as the ADF to be more visible, and ramp up their attacks on the human rights of LGTBQIA people and women."
Sjodin added that "proponents of so-called conversion therapy have begun using human rights language to support their efforts, claiming that those who want such services have the right to them. But make no mistake – this is not an effort to safeguard freedom of speech, or the right of LGBTQIA people to seek mental health support, but rather an effort to make more people conform to outdated perceptions of cis-gender heterosexuality as the only acceptable norm."
The report "Harmful Treatment: The Global Reach of So-Called Conversion Therapy" issued by OutRight Action International last month found that so-called "conversion therapy" practices are prevalent across the world. Total bans on such practices exist only in four countries (Ecuador, Brazil, Taiwan, and Malta), with a further ten, including the US, having partial or policy bans in place.
"The existence and prevalence of 'conversion therapy' is directly related to just how deeply unaccepted and feared LGBTIQ people are in many societies around the world. These practices hinge on the belief that cis-gender heterosexuality is the only accepted norm, and gender identities beyond the one assigned at birth and same-sex attraction are an anomaly, a sickness, and something to be 'reoriented', changed or 'cured', if need be by brutal, inhuman force. It is shocking that over forty-five years after the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the Manual of Mental Disorders, and over 20 years after it first condemned 'conversion therapy', there are forces fighting for these harmful practices in the US," Sjodin ended.
Health & Wellness
Fathers may protect their LGB kids from health effects of discrimination
LGB individuals who report being discriminated against but who feel close to their fathers have lower levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a measure of inflammation and cardiovascular risk, than those without support from their fathers.
This is assuming members of the LGBTQIA community have accepting fathers, of course.
Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals who report being discriminated against but who feel close to their fathers have lower levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a measure of inflammation and cardiovascular risk–than those without support from their fathers, finds a new study from researchers at NYU College of Global Public Health.
The findings, published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology, suggest that fathers can play a role protecting against the negative effects of discrimination and, surprisingly, mothers may not play the same role. More generally, the study illustrates how prolonged exposure to stress can hurt sexual minorities.
LGB people experience stress and discrimination related to their sexual orientation, including dealing with stigma, microaggressions, and the process of coming out. Research shows that prolonged or repeated exposure to stress, including discrimination, leads to the production of inflammatory proteins such as CRP and raises one's risk for heart disease.
"I'm interested in understanding how discrimination gets under the skin and is linked to poor health outcomes," said Stephanie Cook, assistant professor of biostatistics and social and behavioral sciences at NYU College of Global Public Health and the study's senior author. "What factors make people more resilient and can protect them from these health effects? We know that social support can act as a buffer, but wanted to better understand the role parents play in how their children experience discrimination and its health effects."
In this study, the researchers analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Adults 24 to 33 years old were surveyed about their sexual orientation, how close they felt with their mothers or mother-figures and fathers or father-figures, and whether they felt discriminated against or treated with less respect than others in their day-to-day lives. The researchers focused on 3,167 adults describing their relationships with their fathers and 3,575 describing their relationships with their mothers. Blood samples were used to measure CRP levels.
The researchers found that when LGB people felt discriminated against in their day-to-day lives but described being close to their fathers, they had lower CRP levels than other sexual minorities who were discriminated against but did not have close relationships with their fathers.
Relationships between LGB people and their fathers can act as either a buffer or an additional source of stress. On one hand, positive social support from a father appears to protect sexual minorities from harmful experiences related to discrimination. On the other, poor social support from one's father–for instance, fathers who do not accept their children's sexual orientation after they come out–may lead to exacerbated stress and less ability to shield against harmful experiences related to discrimination.
Interestingly, the researchers found that closeness with mothers did not act as a buffer for LGB or heterosexual individuals who experienced discrimination.
"We often talk about the importance of support from mothers and how mothers can help buffer the negative effects of discrimination on health broadly. But this study suggests that we've been neglecting the role of fathers, and their role is really important when it comes to their LGB children," said Cook, who leads the Attachment and Health Disparities Research Lab at NYU College of Global Public Health.
"If we're trying to understand the effects of discrimination on sexual minorities and figure out what we can do to intervene or prevent these outcomes, we should look beyond support from just peers and mothers to include fathers in our efforts," said Erica Wood, a research scientist in the Attachment and Health Disparities Research Lab at NYU College of Global Public Health and the study's first author. "For instance, professionals can work with fathers who reject their children because of their sexual identity to show them the importance of the father-child relationship in reducing the negative effects of stress."
Nearly 1 in 2 swingers uses recreational drugs to intensify sex, survey suggests
Half the respondents (47%) thought drug use during sex was "unhealthy," yet very few thought it was either "unwise" (14%) or "dangerous" (15%).
Nearly one in two swingers uses recreational drugs to intensify the experience, with women more likely to do so than either straight or bisexual men, suggest the results of a Dutch survey, published online in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections.
But the practice is associated with a significantly heightened risk of unprotected sex, the responses show.
Swingers are couples who have sex with others and singles who have sex with them. Although they identify as straight, they also engage in same sex behaviour. The available evidence suggests that drug use among swingers is relatively common, but little is known about their beliefs and intentions around this activity.
To explore this further, the researchers analysed the responses of swingers who completed an online survey on the perceived pros and cons of recreational drug use, and its possible consequences.
The survey, which was advertised through Dutch swinger websites during May and August 2018, was completed by 1005 swingers (response rate 68%).
Over half of respondents (58%) said they engaged in swinging at least monthly; for around a third (30%) the frequency was once every 3 months. And for around one in 10 (12%) it was once or twice a year. The average age of the respondents was 47.
More than four out of 10 respondents (44%; 443) said they used drugs during sex. Among women, this proportion rose to 51% compared with 44% in bisexual men and 39% in straight men.
Among the general public, men are more likely to use drugs than women, prompting the researchers to suggest that women might use to enable them to take part in esoteric sex acts with multiple partners.
Half the respondents who said they used drugs during sex did so once a month. The most commonly used drugs were ecstasy/MDMA (92%), GHB also known as liquid ecstasy (76%), and laughing gas (69%).
More than two thirds (69%) said they had used four or more different drugs during sex in the preceding 6 months. Downing at least 3 units of alcohol during one session was reported by 42%.
For around two thirds of respondents, the reasons for using were to prolong sex (68%), increase arousal (66%), release inhibitions (64%), and intensify sensations (61%). Most described drug use as pleasurable (94%), acceptable (84%), or exciting (66%).
Unprotected sex was more common among those who were using drugs than it was among those who weren't: 46% vs 34% for vaginal sex; 22% vs 13% for anal sex. Condoms were rarely used for oral sex, irrespective of drug use.
Three quarters of the drug users had been tested for a sexually transmitted infection compared with just over half (56%) of those who didn't use during sex.
Half the respondents (47%) thought drug use during sex was "unhealthy," yet very few thought it was either "unwise" (14%) or "dangerous" (15%).
Nevertheless, one in four said that using drugs during sex had an adverse effect on their health and around one in 15 (7%) thought they might become addicted or felt uncomfortable having sex without drugs. One in five said they felt depressed in the days following drug fuelled sex. But only 4% planned to stop using altogether.
This is an observational study, and as such, can't establish cause, and the researchers had no information on the swingers who didn't respond to the survey.
"This study among a large group of swingers shows that drug use during sex is highly prevalent. [Sexual health clinics] should discuss drug use during sex among swingers and provide information on safe sex and drug use, while acknowledging the perceived benefits, such as the increased quality of sex," the researchers conclude.
Easy access to modern tech has changed the face of multiplayer gaming
The main way in which the multiplayer gaming world has changed as a result of easy access to modern technology is the way in which it's now possible to play against each other no matter where each participant is physically located.
Anyone who took a stroll around a gaming arcade in decades gone by, such as the 1980s, would have found people playing against each other on everything from an ice hockey table to a pinball machine. But one thing that has changed in recent years is that it's now much simpler to play against each other in a game battle – and that goes for gamblers looking for a global poker promo code, quiz fans using mobile apps, and wargamers battling it out over the web.
This article will explore the role of tech in the changing gaming scene.
Geographical distribution
The main way in which the multiplayer gaming world has changed as a result of easy access to modern technology is the way in which it's now possible to play against each other no matter where each participant is physically located. The other player could be someone you know, and it could even be the case that you are playing against someone in the next room or you could play against a random person you've never met who is based anywhere in the world.
These exciting opportunities have come about largely as a result of the availability of superfast Internet connections, and the rise in access to broadband. It's also partly down to changes in screen size, too: larger screen surfaces mean that it's now possible to split a screen and see what your single competitor is, or your multiple competitors are, doing with total ease.
Speed of games
The speed with which multiplayer games can take place is also a very important development. It's now also possible for players to send messages internally which are instantaneous, and which allow the gamers involved to make informed and fast reaction decisions. This is especially important for those who are gambling online: in a game such as poker where every second of response counts for your strategy and your interaction with others, fast in-game turnaround times can be critical.
Communication and collaboration
Multiplayer games have always emphasized the role of collaboration. But now, the communication choices are maximized. You can still recreate that feeling of sitting next to each other and participating in a game if you wish, perhaps by using headsets and webcams. If you prefer to speak by text, however, that's fine, too. This extended level of choice is a key hallmark of the technological age of gaming – and one that many who operate in multiplayer contests are grateful to have, especially if the culture around multiplayer gaming is one that doesn't initially appeal.
Save and restart
The routine involved in multiplayer gaming has also changed as a direct result of changes in technology. Previously, you would have had to save your game and follow a cumbersome process to restart it – and if the progress was saved on a game disc, you'd need one designated participant to look after it. But modern technology means that each participant can auto-save progress. With game data now stored in the cloud, meanwhile, all participants can pick up where they left off, and enjoy customized and personal performance data even if they've been playing together.
Types of game
And finally, it's worth exploring how technology has delivered new types of the multiplayer game. Take the example of quiz or word game apps: while playing a multiplayer game like this was once something that could only be done using board games or quiz sheets at a planned, designated event, it's now the case they can be played on the go no matter where you are. This, in turn, means that leisure habits have changed, with games now being played on commutes, during lunch breaks, and even while other leisure activities – such as watching television or going to the cinema – are happening concurrently.
Modern technology has touched almost every aspect of life, and multiplayer gaming is certainly no exception to the rule. Activities which were once essential for a multiplayer game to function, such as all participants gathering in the same room or heading down to a physical arcade to play games together, are now seen as retro rather than a required part of the process.
Thanks to the rise in superfast Internet connections, the changes in physical dimensions of screens and the arrival of webcams and microphones, everything from how gamers play the games, to how they communicate and where they save their work has progressed to improve the game playing experience for everyone.
Health & Wellness
Gender identity conversion efforts associated with adverse mental health outcomes
Reported exposure to conversion efforts before the age of 10 also was associated with greater lifetime odds of suicide attempts.
"Conversion efforts" to try to change a person's gender identity to match their sex assigned at birth were associated with increased likelihood of adverse mental health outcomes, including suicide attempts.
This is according to a study helmed by Jack L. Turban, M.D., M.H.S., of the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.
The study, tiled "Association Between Recalled Exposure to Gender Identity Conversion Efforts and Psychological Distress and Suicide Attempts Among Transgender Adults", and which appeared in JAMA Psychiatry, involved nearly 28,000 transgender adults from across the US. This observational study is based on the results of a survey distributed through community outreach to transgender adults in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, some territories and overseas U.S. military bases.
Of 27,715 transgender adults who responded, 19,741 (71.3%) reported having spoken to a secular or religious professional about their gender identity, and of these, 3,869 (19.6%) reported exposure to gender identity conversion efforts.
That exposure was associated with severe psychological distress during the previous month and prior suicide attempts during their lifetime compared with transgender adults who reported talking about their gender identity with a professional but weren't exposed to conversion efforts.
Reported exposure to conversion efforts before the age of 10 also was associated with greater lifetime odds of suicide attempts.
Limitations of the study include its inability to determine causation; it didn't capture conversion efforts by others such as family members; and it's possible that some adults with worse mental health might have sought conversion therapy.
The study findings support that gender identity conversion efforts should be avoided in children and adults. Professional organizations, including the American Psychiatric Association, have called conversion therapy for gender identity unethical and ineffective, and some countries have already outlawed the practice.
Running safety tips that are rarely spoken of
When looking online to consider the mainline (and yet completely coherent) running safety advice, it's all the same. Find the right shoes, keep your form up, listen to your body, breathe well, stay hydrated, look around your environment. All of this is important. Yet the following running advice is rarely given to keep people safe.
Running is a beautiful sport of course, but it's much deeper than that. Humans once survived by endurance hunting, that is running so far and long that animals simply became exhausted trying to get away, leading us to secure dinner for that evening.
Running is in our DNA, our bloodstream, and our bodies are remarkably well adapted for it. Running is completely free, and one of the most popular methods of cardiovascular exercise. Running is a representation of life, hard at first, but quickly adapting to grow as something in your control, and you get out of it exactly what you put into it.
However, running safety is never something you should ignore, no matter how natural the activity is. Yet when looking online to consider the mainline (and yet completely coherent) running safety advice, it's all the same. Find the right shoes, keep your form up, listen to your body, breathe well, stay hydrated, look around your environment. All of this is important. Yet the following running advice is rarely given to keep people safe. We hope to break that trend now.
Keep Valuables Hidden
It's not uncommon for many to listen to music while they are running, or to keep other worthwhile equipment on them. If wearing top of the line running gear, excellent running shoes and perhaps even nice running shades, you can often stand out as someone with a little wealth. This can lead someone with bad intentions to take note of you, and if you are tired at the last leg of your run, you might find yourself less equip to run off or fend them off.
This is why keeping your smartphone hidden through zipped pockets, ensuring that wireless headphones are only used in relatively public areas or that you keep an eye on your environment as much as you can will make the most difference.
Understand Your Rights
It is your right to run where you can, on pavements, through public woods, and on public footpaths. However, it can sometimes be that when construction work is taking place, or other unclear diversions between the road and the pavement are causing you confusion, that you are impeded or even hurt by motor vehicles or those who haven't a runner's best interests in mind.
This is where understanding where to find the legal representation you need and deserve can make the most difference over time. Understanding your rights to this end might just help you seek the compensation you deserve.
Consider Your Eating Habits
Running fasted or running with a light breakfast is often the preferential option for many morning runners, but it is essential that they build up to these habits and keep them consistent rather than letting them fade every weekend, or jumping into a hard fast immediately. When you find what's right for your body and give yourself enough time to digest food, you are in the best possible position. But you certainly need to be careful.
With this advice, we hope your running habit can become even safer than it is now.
New York City to repeal 'conversion therapy' ban to safeguard broader LGBTQIA protections
Being LGBTQ+ means nothing
Fathers may protect their LGB kids from health effects of discrimination
Nearly 1 in 2 swingers uses recreational drugs to intensify sex, survey suggests
The sign of beauty
Non-binary pronoun 'they' added to Merriam-Webster dictionary
Trans woman hacked to death in Bolinao, Pangasinan
'Labanan ang hamon ng buhay'
Easy access to modern tech has changed the face of multiplayer gaming
Bulacan holds 1st LGBTQIA summit
Behind the bars on LGBTQIA life in prison
Clarifications given on SOGIE Equality Bill; focus on 'facts over fake news' pushed
Trans woman hacked to death in Bolinao, Pangasinan
Gay entrepreneur Ricky Reyes – earlier sued for discriminating gay man with HIV – expresses opposition for equal rights
Jesus Is Lord Church founder cum politician claims SOGIE Equality Bill will only promote 'special' rights
SOGIE Equality Bill does not create, ascribe new rights – CHR
Robredo stresses SOGIE Equality Bill backing amid hesitant support from pols, says VP spox
'Conversion therapy' predominantly perpetrated by people acting in name of religion, pseudo-healthcare
'Give attention to people who actually suffer discrimination and violence' – Sister Mary John Mananzan
'Practice what we believe without inciting hate'
'Labanan ang hamon ng buhay'
'Practice what we believe without inciting hate'
'Patuloy na itaguyod ang SOGIE Equality Bill' – LGBTQIA activists
Perya ng buhay
The lone drag queen
'Pride remains a protest'
A devotion to public service
The dancemaker
Rainbow rising in Bataan
A life in pink
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text:
Kristy: Being pregnant on the streets was the hardest thing I've ever been through in my life. It's very dangerous, as a woman, out here. There are so many more opportunities for men, than there are for women. Did you know that there's 20 something shelters for men and there's only 4 for women and they're always full.
The father didn't want to have anything to do with us but I had one friend, James, who really protected me when I was pregnant. This guy swung a metal rod at me while I was asleep, at 4 o'clock in the morning, and James went after him. He was my savior out here.
So, I had my daughter and gave her up a month ago to a beautiful family that couldn't have children. She only weighed 5 pounds 8 ounces.
BW: Was she premature?
Kristy: No, she wasn't, but out here on the streets it's a very hard thing to take care of yourself. I didn't eat right or sleep well out here, so she was very small. She's doing well now, though. Fortunately, the people at the lesbian bookstore are really sweet and let me sleep on the front porch. It's sort of a neutral territory where the police can't mess with you.
BW: That's great to hear about a business being so kind and welcoming, while other businesses are installing spikes to keep homeless people from sitting in front of their building.
Do you get updates on your daughter?
Kristy: Yes, it was an open adoption. I get to see her for the first time next week. *smiles* Her name is Emily Rose.


text:
A mantle surrounds the body.
We start out hottest on the inside.
This heat gradually reduces until
at some point, we cease being ourselves
and become air.
A membrane surrounds the body.
This is the definition of a point of contact
(the surface of a flame is one such location).
Listen, you said, there is a limit
to what can be felt.
A dominant sense of the mantle
surrounding the body. Even so,
in force and splendor,
if a locus is a collection
of points, the horizon
is a seam. See how the sky
transmutes itself at the point
where the earth seals to air.
This is the thinnest
kind of connection.
If it could, the earth
would throw off the sky.
A sematic warning:
at night the sky is always purpling.


text:
Localizing search efforts is a great way for advertisers to take their direct response marketing to the next level. From large brands with physical store locations, to franchise model organizations, to manufacturer-dealer relationships, localized search allows advertisers to provide the most up to date information to searchers and helps effectively funnel digital traffic into brick-and-mortar stores for offline purchasing, support, or even just pick-up.
Historically, search advertising has had one primary goal: Drive people to the website so that they can purchase online. However, that basic reason to spend paid marketing dollars on PPC is quickly evolving.
With the proliferation of mobile devices and digitally connected users on the go, paid search is the new "phone book" yet, search real-estate is limited on mobile devices, making it even harder to organically show up on the first page for more generic non-brand searches (indicating potential new customers).
There are several benefits to localizing your organization's search efforts. Customizing messaging for users in a particular market can communicate the right per store promotional information and even lead to innovative marketing tactics like "offline flash sales," only communicated digitally.
More importantly, paid search acts like a digital marketer's Nerf gun online.
When particular market locations are doing well, you can use PPC to "fire potential customers" into top store locations and capitalize on physicality. Conversely, under-performing markets can receive supplemental advertising efforts to help improve a store's presence.
This can work across many types of advertisers:
- National organizations can help support local franchisees, improve consumer messaging, and limit wasted ad spend by local businesses who aren't necessarily digitally savvy.
- Manufacturers who work with dealers directly can use their PPC dollars to help create new prospects for top partners locally, thereby increasing everyone's bottom line and improving relationships.
- Restaurants with multiple locations can reach on-the-go users and get top of mind with the most local and up-to-date promotions in that key moment of the customer decision-making process.
With the right structure and analytics in place, local search can be a tool advertisers can use to capitalize on regions where business is strongest, or become a lever that can supplement marketing in underperforming regions in order to increase awareness and improve sales.
Here are four tips to effectively "localize" your search marketing:
1. Organize Your Campaign Structure
The organization of your campaign structure should be based on how your store locations are segmented, and how you plan to allocate budgets.
For example, if you have multiple retail locations within particular markets, metro level targeting may be all you need, whereas if you only have one location per market, you may be able to zero in on particular zip codes that are serviced.
2. Determine a Comprehensive Search Structure and Keyword List
Apply this across all markets in order to improve efficiencies. Kenshoo's profile system is an excellent way to group multiple campaigns into location-based groups for localized optimization, allowing for customized bidding strategies per market.
3. Customize Your Messaging by Market
For organizations with multiple offline locations, promotions tend to be customized based on competition within that market. Coordinating search messaging with other local marketing tactics (TV, radio, print) allows organizations to capitalize on the buzz generated by more traditional efforts.
4. Clearly Define Your Goals for Individual Markets
When possible, ask yourself how this KPI can be effectively measured in reporting and if there is a way to attribute offline KPIs back to search campaigns where budget is being spent locally. Data visualization tools like Tableau are an excellent way to take geographic data and visualize in a user friendly way for making decisions.
In an evolving digital and mobile landscape, connecting with consumers at a local customized level has become extremely important. Proper digital tracking and analytics allows paid search to be a powerful tool for CMOs to use and impact the brick and mortar bottom line.
Online search is the phone book for the next generation of consumers. Brands who are able to provide the right information at the right time and place will be the ones who best resonate with consumers in the future.
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text:
The Garden of St Erth, BlackwoodGarden of St Erth at Blackwood. Nestled in the Wombat State Forest, Blackwood is a very small little township with just a local pub and cute cafe / deli punctuating the quiet streets, the main reason to visit Blackwood however is the lovely garden of St Erth.
The gardens are situated up a winding and hilly road, but once arrived you're rewarded by a very pretty 1860's sandstone building and several garden spaces housing a mix of drought tolerant flowers and plants, alongside fruit trees and organic vegetables (including many heirloom varieties). The home-grown produce is put to good use at the rather delicious St Erth cafe where it's imperative to partake in a cup of tea (Earl Grey of course) and whatever yummy home-made cake is on offer!
There's a little nursery on-site for seeds and plants (including some of the heirloom varieties) and it's also home to The Diggers Club which promotes sustainable gardening practices. It was a lovely lazy day and perfect way to spend a sunny Sunday.


text:
These Schmidt® blasting systems in 10 and 20 cu. ft. sizes are designed to meet contractor needs for larger projects or are common in industrial/blast room applications. Smaller than a bulk tank yet larger than the standard 6-bag pot, they can easily accommodate multiple outlets for increased productivity.
The 10 cu. ft. system is available in either MV 2®/ComboValve® configuration or as a pressure-hold system using the Thompson® Valve II controls. The 20 cu. ft. system is a pressure-hold system only.
A wide range of options is available for these blasters to customize them specifically for your blasting operation.
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text:
To Kill A Mockingbird
presented by The Henderson Rec Players
Aug. 10 at 8pm, Aug. 11 at 8pm, Aug. 12 at 8pm and Aug. 13 at 2pm
Based on Harper Lee's classic novel, To Kill A Mockingbird is told through the eyes of young Scout Finch, who lives with her older brother, Jem, and their widowed father, Atticus, in 1930s Alabama. When Atticus, a respected lawyer, defends a black man named Tom Robinson against false rape charges, the trial and tangent events expose the children to the evils of racism and stereotyping.
The production is presented by The Henderson Rec Players and directed by Betsy Henderson, department chair and instructor for humanities and fine arts at Vance-Granville Community College.


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Media Interviews
Frank, A. (2018, August 29). Pipelines In British Columbia: What's Behind the Controversy? The Jon McComb Show, CKNW Radio.
Frank, A. (2017, March 20). Flooding, Climate Change Cause for Concern in Fraser Valley. The Runner.
Frank, A. (2016, October 4). Commentary on Pacific Northwest LNG Approval. Kash Heed Show, 107.7 Pulse FM.
Frank, A. (2013, September 13). Issues Management & Crisis Response: The UBC Rape Chant. CBC Almanac.
Frank, A. (2013, June 10). Pipeline and Oil Tanker Politics in British Columbia. Vancouver Co-Op Radio's "The Rational."
Frank, A. (2012, December 12). Opposition growing towards Northern Gateway pipeline. News 1130.
Frank, A. (2012, December 11). Enbridge pipeline poll story. CBC Radio News, Prince George.
Frank, A. (2012, December 3). Are Canadian progressives insane? AM 900 CHML, Hamilton's News Talk Leader.
Fort McMurray Today – Foreign influence a concern at Gateway hearing
Financial Post – Tiny port, new energy battleground
Vancouver Sun, Calgary Herald & Edmonton Journal – Make Sacred Headwaters gas drill ban permanent: eco-groups
BCLocalNews – Gitxsan hereditary chiefs ink deal with Enbridge
Vancouver Sun "Power Play" blog – Renewed Opposition Conspires Against the Oil Sands
Vancouver Sun "Power Play" blog – Premiers Pumping for Petroleum Sales in Asia
Globe and Mail – Tanker Ban would be 'strange' policy: Enbridge CEO
Toronto Star – 2 U.S. firms wash hands of tar sands
Canadian Press – Two major U.S. retailers say they'll shun fuel produced from oil sands
Barbara Yaffe – Oilsands Trouble in B.C.
Vancouver Sun – Enbridge project's potential hazards making opponents edgy
The Province – BC Last hope for dwindling caribou
Embassy Magazine – Activism against corporations is becoming harder to ignore
ITbusiness.ca – Electronic waste
Axiom News – Aboriginal Stakeholder Engagement
HAZMAT Magazine – Tread lightly: How to communicate the business case for sustainability practices
Ethical Corporation – Corporate responsibility in Canada: A national brand?
Ryerson Alumni Magazine – Growing support for eco-commerce
The Oliver Chronicle – Technology meets creativity for former Oliver student this summer
The Oliver Chronicle – Pocket Desert Alliance Group takes on Aquila
The Oliver Chronicle – Aquila target of more concern


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Malda Industrial Growth Center - Phase I
Growth Centre snapshot (Malda I.G.C. Phase-I)
|Gram phanchayat
|Bhabuk gram phanchayat
|Total Area of Land
|164 acres
|Allottable area
|148 acres
|Area Available for allotment
|6.0 acres
|No. of industrial units
|Lease Premium
|Rs. 22.86 Lakh per acre
Road connectivity:
The site is connected by National Highway 34 which connects Malda to Kolkata city as well as districts like North 24 Parganas, Nadia, Murshidabad, Uttar Dinajpur etc.
Railway connectivity:
The nearest railway station is Malda station which is about 8 kms from the Growth Center.
Port connectivity:
The closest sea port is Kolkata which is at a distance of about 368 km to the Growth Center.
Airport connectivity:
Nearest airport is at Bagdogra, located at a distance of 224 kms from Malda. The closest major airport is Kolkata, which is about 360 kms away from Malda town.
Physical features
The Growth Centre is providing lease holding to various industrial units for setting up their plants based on plan approved by WBIIDC.
Infrastructure Availability
|At a glance:
|Internal Roads
|Street light
|Water supply system
|Surface drainage system
|Administrative office of WBIIDC
Roads and internal transportation
Paved Bituminous internal roads are providing facilities of entry and exit to all Industrial units within the Growth Centre.
Malda Industrial Growth Centre Phase - I
There are two approach roads as access routes for industrial units in the Growth Center.
Approach 1 - Two lane National Highway with paved shoulder which is being upgraded to 4 lane highway is maintained by National Highway Authority of India
Approach 2 - This consists of all the internal routes of the Growth Center and is being maintained by WBIIDC.
West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL) is supplying stable and quality power to the Malda Industrial Growth Center. WBSEDCL has set up a power substation in the Growth Center.
WBIIDC has made requisite arrangements to ensure continuous water supply to the Growth Centre by pumping out ground water through overhead water reservoir.
Street Lights
Street light system is in existence at internal roads of the Growth Centre. WBIIDC has also taken initiatives for solar powered LED street light installation towards utilization of renewable energy and reduction of carbon footprint.
Drainage and Sewerage
Drainage of treated industrial and storm sewer is facilitated through network of surface drains.
Industrial Units
There are 73 industrial units in Malda Phase I growth center.They are :
Sukjit Starch Industries producing Starch Glucose
Indian Oil Corporation - L.P.G. Bottling plant
Matri Water Product Pvt. Ltd producing Packaged Drinking Water
Milap Rim Industry producing Cycle Rim
Key Industrial Performance Parameter :
|No. of industrial units
|Total employment
|1041 persons
|Investment (In INR crores)
|Units employing more than 100 people
|Units with investment more than INR 10 crores
|Types of units
|Agro processing, Starch and Chemicals, warehousing, petroleum products and plastic products, engineering units
Raw Material procurement and consumption Centre
Since the industries in the Growth Center are majorly small to medium scale industries, they source their raw material from nearby locations and have their distribution centers in neighboring districts like Murshidabad, Birbhum, Bardhaman and Dinajpur. The raw materials are procured from and finished goods are dispatched generally to around less than 300kms.


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Tuesday September 17, 2019
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Jan-30-2013 11:17TweetFollow @OregonNews
Improving Afghan Lives Through ResearchSalem-News.com
Opium, Eradiction, and Transition: Observing Helmand and Nangarhar.
(KABUL) - With the transition inching closer everyday and eradication season oncoming, David Mansfield's latest work on opium in Afghanistan could not have appeared at a more critical time. David alerts policymakers and development experts alike of the complexity of recent reductions in opium poppy cultivation. David's work, evidence-based and nuanced, does not simply compare Helmand to Nangarhar, but offers deep insight using what James Scott refers to as state and non-state space within each province.
The paper is immersed in opium, and contextualized to the socioeconomic and political processes that shape opium eradication and is shaped by opium cultivation. David's visits to the provinces of Helmand and Nangarhar, built upon years of research, reveal that extending the reach of the Afghan state and expanding the opium ban to areas that have traditionally experienced less government engagement has resulted in unpleasant and counterproductive consequences. It has: hampered state formation; fueled rural discontent; and, presented new opportunities for the insurgency - three features that will need acute attention if eradication and a smooth transition are both to be pursued at this ominous point leading to the Transformation Decade.
All Bets Are Off! Prospects for (B)reaching Agreements and Drug Control in Helmand and Nangarhar in the run up to Transition is available for download at www.areu.org.af.
About AREU
Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit is an independent research organisation based in Kabul. AREU's mission is to conduct high-quality research that informs and influences policy and practice. AREU also actively promotes a culture of research and learning by strengthening analytical capacity in Afghanistan and facilitating reflection and debate. Fundamental to AREU's vision is that its work should improve Afghan lives. AREU was established in 2002 by the assistance community working in Afghanistan.
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21 Day Sadhana - calm and peacE
Morning Sadhana -21 Minutes
Do this Video Every Day!
This set starts with Alternate Nostril Breathing to balance the left and right hemishpheres of the brain and calms the nervous system. We then do two rounds of Aham Prakasha Kriya ("I am light") to strengthen the aura and and brings awareness to enrgetic field. Very meditative.
Followed up by the silent witness. Sit in silence and focus on the breath or if the mind is active you can silently chant So on the Inhale and Hum on the exhale ("I am that, that I am").
Daily Reset
6 minutes
This set starts with the 3-part breath. This breath practice is calming and grounding. Then we move to Aham Brahmasmi Kriya. The meaning of this mantra is "I am Divine, I am one with all, I am the universe". It increases intuition and teaches the art of when to stand with fierce presence and when to surrender into deep devotion.
Evening Meditation
8 1/2 minutes
The Prana Vayu kriya is a subtle, meditative kriya to balance energy (the 5 vayus: Prana, Apana, Udana, Vyana Samana). Great to do to calm and center.


text: LOS ANGELES, Jan. 11, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Boingo Wireless, Inc. (NASDAQ:WIFI), the leading distributed antenna system (DAS) and Wi-Fi provider that serves carriers, consumers and advertisers worldwide, today announced that it will participate in the 20 th Annual Needham Growth Conference, to be held January 17-18, 2018, at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel in New York City. David Hagan, the Company's Chief Executive Officer, and Peter Hovenier, the Company's Chief Financial Officer, will present on Thursday, January 18, 2018 at 11:20 a.m. ET. The presentation will be webcast live on the Internet, and can be accessed by visiting the Investor Relations section of the Company's website at www.boingo.com. The webcast will also be archived and available on the website for 90 days. About Boingo Wireless Boingo Wireless, Inc. (NASDAQ:WIFI) helps the world stay connected. Our vast footprint of DAS, Wi-Fi and small cells reaches more than a billion people annually, making Boingo one of the largest providers of indoor wireless networks. You'll find Boingo connecting people at airports, stadiums, military bases, convention centers, and commercial properties. To learn more about the Boingo story, visit www.boingo.com. Boingo, Boingo Wireless, the Boingo Wireless Logo and Don't Just Go. Boingo. are registered trademarks of Boingo Wireless, Inc. All other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners. CONTACTS: PRESS: Lauren de la FuenteVice President, Marketing and Communications email@example.com(310) 405-8517 INVESTORS: Kimberly OrlandoADDO Investor Relations firstname.lastname@example.com (310) 829-5400


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Socially irresponsible companies are organizations that operate in a way that doesn't take into account social, economic, environmental and cultural implications. Being dishonest with customers or sacrificing the betterment of a community to make money quickly are primary examples of social irresponsibility.
A company is socially irresponsible when its actions or activities cause harm to a key stakeholder. Along with customers, suppliers, employees and community members are key stakeholders for most businesses. Misleading suppliers or failing to pay bills on time are examples of irresponsible social behavior with suppliers. Paying unfair wages or providing poor working conditions are irresponsible actions toward employees. Building roads or putting up signage without thinking about the effect on the community at large demonstrates a lack of social responsibility toward the community. Some citizens also consider it socially irresponsible when a company doesn't give back financially or volunteer to the communities that support it.
Environmental irresponsibility is typically viewed as part of or an extension of social irresponsibility. When a company pollutes the environment or fails to operate with sustainability, it is acting irresponsibly. Making money in ways that harm plants and animals, instead of preserving them, is socially irresponsible. Socially and environmentally responsible companies are generally expected to help preserve natural resources through reuse, renewal and recycling.


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Can truth be thought of as a rainbow of various ideas? The following writing is a short essay i wrote in a college class that illustrates the complexities of truth using color as an analogy. My hope is that as we explore our own ideas about fashion and color, we will see and value the beautiful subjective truth in each other's opinions. While also maybe finding deeper, universally shared truths that we can apply to how we wear what we wear.
Spectrum of Truth


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Out now on PlayStation4, Xbox One, and PC
Performance Parts in Need for Speed Payback provide you with some of the deepest and most strategic choices seen in a Need for Speed game to date.
Any newly purchased car will come with a selection of stock parts already applied to it, but to compete with the best you're going to want to apply some upgrades. Parts come in six categories; Block, Head, Turbo, Exhaust, ECU, Transmission and you'll be wanting upgrades across the board to ensure you remain competitive.
There are many ways to acquire parts, such as winning events which will award parts at random. You will also be able to purchase items through the Part Shops ever changing stock.
There's also the Targeted Roll system which allows for a little more choice in terms of your chosen part, but comes at the expense of a few of your unwanted parts which need to be recycled.
The level of your parts is one of the most important factors when it comes to upgrading your performance. The higher the level, the more performance you're going to get.
The level of your parts also help determine the tier of your car. If you've got a car with a set of level 1 parts applied to it, it'll be Tier 1.0. Equip another car with level 18 (maximum level) parts and the tier will increase to 3.99.
Take your performance further by equipping parts with associated perks.
Perks provide an additional bonus to many of your cars key performance areas; Top Speed, Acceleration, nitrous, Air and Braking. Get lucky and find parts with multiple perks to really push your performance to the next level.
Brand synergy is also of vital importance. Equip multiple parts from the same brand to receive an additional bonus to your performance. The performance increase all depends on the type of brand and what they specialize in, so pick carefully.
Build up your dream car from stock all the way up to supercar. Equip a few Air perks to your off-road baby and watch her fly over those desert crests. Match those Americana branded parts for a huge Nitrous bonus for your Racing beast. Build your car, your way and fill your garages with a collection of very sweet machines.
To learn more about customization in Need for Speed Payback, head on over to our Customization 101 page and start planning out your dream build.
© 2019 Electronic Arts Inc.


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by Trever Bierschbach
I know, I know, a day late. Yesterday was a crazy day full of trips to the grocery store, working the grill, good ol' American libations, and finally fireworks. Yesterday was Independence Day, the day we celebrate the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Yeah I know you all know that, so let's move on to the deeper meaning.
In the summer of 1776 (dates are debatable) 56 men signed a letter to King George, saying that they would do anything, lose everything, and suffer even death in order to be free from the Crown. The Declaration of Independence wasn't just a letter saying that we were going to be free, and why. It was a death warrant, with the victims signing their own names. John Hancock is quoted as saying "There, I guess King George will be able to read that," in reference to the size of his signature. King George had poor eyesight, and Hancock wanted to be sure that if he was going to sign his life away to his new country, the King would know it.
I read the Declaration again yesterday, a copy is run in our local newspaper every year, and I was amazed yet again by the prose. The intentional use of words, and the insight into human nature found within. One of my favorite lines, and pertinent even now is:
"Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."
This quote is important, especially to answer that age-old question "Why are you raising a fuss now?" We get it all the time from political opponents. "Why didn't you say something when Bush was in office?" "Isn't it convenient that you speak up now that there is a black president in office?" I always say, well first of all I wasn't involved in politics when Bush was in office so I didn't feel like I had any place to complain, and second, read above. People will long suffer minor evils, before they get rid of something they are used to. It took a long time for the founders to settle down to declare independence. It has taken us a long time to realize what is happening and start to become vigilant again.
Another line that I find very telling is:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
This line has several parts that give us insight into the minds of the founders, and when inspected carefully you will find that it debunks many commonly held beliefs about the founders. First is the commonly quoted, and sometimes reviled line "All men are created equal." It is said that some pushed for this line to say white men, or landowners, or educated men, but it doesn't. Many modern critics say that the use of men implies that they did not include women, or that the fact that slavery wasn't abolished with the founders, that the line is hypocritical. As for the argument that the use of the word 'men' was non-inclusive of women, I will simply point out that in that time, and even until very recently, the use of the male pronoun was very common and many times meant humanity. Saying 'all men' just rolls off the tongue, and is more poetic than 'all humans'. The stories of female patriots, nurses, the fact that women could vote in some states at the time (yeah look that one up, crazy to know that women voted before 1920) debunk the notion that the founders were sexist.
The tougher issue is slavery. The founders knew that trying to abolish slavery would have torn this newly founded country apart. It was not possible to do it at the time and create a place where eventually everyone would live free. I argue that the founders intentionally placed weapons for abolitionists to use in the future. This very line in the Declaration has been used numerous times to support the abolishing of slavery. Thomas Jefferson, one of the biggest 'hypocrites' to some, wrote laws making it impossible for new states to come into the union unless they outlawed slavery, though those laws were overturned by southern legislators. I contend that the Declaration's wording is intentional, and instrumental in future fights to abolish slavery in this country.
The next part that sticks in my mind is "endowed by their Creator." It has been used many times to say that the founders weren't Christians, and therefore this country is not founded on Christian morals. The founder's own quotes and actions refute this. I am no Christian and I am not threatened to think of the founders as Christians, or that this country was built on Christian morals. The term 'Creator' I believe was intentional, and all-inclusive. They didn't say 'God', and that too was by design. In their wisdom, and tolerance for other faiths, the founders wanted everyone who read the Declaration to find a connection in this line. Whoever you believe your creator to be has given you these 'unalienable rights' from the moment of your creation.
Lastly, the final part 'pursuit of Happiness' was originally the right to 'property'. Many abolitionists feared this would forever cement slavery in America, with people defending their right to their property, which many in the south considered slaves. The fact that it was changed to 'pursuit of Happiness' shows that they were laying the groundwork for future Americans to combat slavery in this country in a time where it would be more feasible. Even waiting until Lincoln's time nearly brought this country to an end, can you imagine how hard it would have been in the late 1700's?
We need to remember the men who pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor so that we may live in this great country. We need to remember them by being better Americans to each other. Leave hate in the past, and work toward a future where we can have debate without the fear of reprisal. This country has come a long way, but we have forgotten how it all started I believe. We have gotten lazy and complacent, we no longer pay attention to those we have entrusted with our rights, and part of the problem is we are too busy arguing with each other. Let's pledge to each other that we won't play that game anymore. We won't fight amongst ourselves while politicians run to the bank with our money. We will work toward compromise, for the common good, not step on each other for the greater good. We need to invoke their example, and strive for equal opportunity for all, equal justice for all, so that everyone has the same chance at success in this country.


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Recently, while promoting her new movie The Fault in Our Stars, actress Shailene Woodley stirred up a bit of controversy when she said she was not a feminist because "I love men, and I think the idea of 'raise women to power, take the men away from the power' is never going to work out because you need balance. With myself, I'm very in touch with my masculine side. And I'm 50 percent feminine and 50 percent masculine, same as I think a lot of us are. And I think that is important to note. And also I think that if men went down and women rose to power, that wouldn't work either. We have to have a fine balance."
But a lot of feminists took serious issue with her statement, arguing that feminism does not mean you are pro woman and anti man, but that you are pro equality between the sexes. Today, on Entertainment Weekly Radio's Women on Pop, Woodley stood by her comment.
"I think that the word 'feminist' is beautiful, just in the same way that I think the word 'democrat' or 'republican' or whatever you are is beautiful," she said. "But any sort of label in my mind, segregates, there's a line between people. And it creates segregation and it creates discord, and I don't abide by that." But she does insist that she does not think that feminists "don't love men." But it's the "words" and "labels" she doesn't identify with. In fact, she says the whole kerfuffle following her interview proved her point. Hear her thoughts below.
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