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A Basic History of the United States, Vol. 1
Publisher's Summary
This first volume covers our heritage, our links to England, how the colonies grew, the mighty force of religion in early America, and the oppression felt by the colonists. It describes why our ancestors fought for their beliefs and their efforts to create a government limited in scope by checks and balances, so that it would not have the power to oppress the people.
Critic Reviews
"For Carson, history is the product of the actions of countless individuals, each under the influence of certain ideas. And Carson explores those ideas, ideologies, and 'isms.'" (The Freeman)
"The [six]-volume Basic History has gained a well-deserved reputation for combining insight with simple narrative style." (AudioFile)
What members say
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- Jared Lee McHatton
- 07-18-07
A Promising Series Degenerates
This series of books could fill a needed gap in basic historical literature, and begins in the first and second volumes with some promise. Sadly, it devolves into nothing more than a platform for Carson to vent his prejudices, which turn out to be myriad. You have to go into this with the understanding that Carson is an ultraconservative fundamentalist Christian and writes from that perspective. That comes through loud and clear from the beginning, and is all right in the first 2 volumes, because he still provides a fair narrative of the events occuring in the period covered. That begins to change with the third volume and becomes becomes all consuming by the fifth. He completely forgets history and substitutes ideology. Along the way we are treated to a dose of racism, antisemitism, reactionary economic theory and conservative dogma. All that might have been all right, if he hadn't forgotten the purpose of the books. We learn that slaves didn't have such a bad life, that railroads didn't screw the farmers in the late 19th century, that antitrust laws were an unconscionable imposition on the legitmate accumulation of capital and that FDR was the main cause of the depression. I stopped there, being unable to go any further. I stuck with it until he began to torture fact to bend it to his ideology. I would steer clear of these books.
44 of 59 people found this review helpful
- John M. Mulholland
- American Fork, UT USA
- 05-17-11
History is a lot more interesting on my own
I listen to these books and realize that there is a lot about history I don't know. I probably should have learned it in school but now that I really want to learn it understand it a lot better.
I find it fascinating that right off the bat people like Hamilton were trying to look at the Constitution broadly and how the Supreme Court operated and how the President declared many things unconstitutional.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
- Nina
- Tulsa, OK, United States
- 02-26-11
The Colonial Experience
This work is fairly comprehensive. It delves into the beliefs and systems in place prior to the birth of America and gives a great back drop for the stage on which America was born. It is impossible to understand America without an understanding of the philosophies that were prevalent at the time. It is also impossible to understand American thought without understanding Christianity as a belief system that created American democracy and society. This work was well done and is a must to have in any library.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful
- Amazon Customer
- 04-14-09
Excellent for Students of American History
Clarence B. Carson delivers an excellent general overview of American history in six volumes without getting caught up in the naturalism and statism of our modern times. He presents history as something that we can learn from and use to guide us in the future. He manages to rise above the cacophony and emotions of present day and give a balanced perspective of our nation's history. He is a voice of liberty and shows clearly how the idea of liberty has eroded into collectivism. But he also avoids deifying the Founders and presents the very real tensions that have existed from the beginning.
If you have accepted the premises of philosophical naturalism and believe that "history is bunk", then this series is probably not for you. But if you are desiring to gain a deeper understanding on the historical American way of thinking and still believe in the "American Experiment", then this series is sure to satisfy.
The various charts and timelines scattered throughout all the volumes can be a bit tedious for the audio book format and having a paper copy on hand is highly recommended. But the series is still well worth the listen.
5 of 8 people found this review helpful
- Nancy
- Bethesda, MD, United States
- 10-23-09
Excellent when taken in context
I applaud the author for his brave stance in presenting history as it was, without diluting any unpleasantness for the sake of political correctness. In today's American era of tolerance, with everyone tripping over each other to extend acceptance, it is surprising and liberating to have an author embrace and relay the mindset of an era to the degree that can be found in this volume. Let's face it folks: this nation was founded by God fearing people. And, this first volume of the Basic History of the United States unflinchingly presents the history exactly as it occurred, without any pandering or posturing to those who are opposed to telling it like it is. Our nation's forefathers were Christian, and certainly God fearing and, like it or not, this nation was built upon Christian beliefs and values.
Regardless of whether we love it or hate it, or are indifferent to it, the truth is the truth. And like any excellent historical account, this book presents the truth. It is ridiculous and counterproductive to condemn the writer for his political and religious stance when he is writing a historical, verifiable account. I dare say the same would not have been done had Muhammad, the Dali Lami or even Sun Tzu been the author or the subject matter.
The contrast between the morals of America's people then and now is as striking as it is troubling. We have truly lost our way.
Furthermore, the benefit of the book's information should far outweigh any assault on anyone's sensibilities, liberal or otherwise. Should be required reading.
6 of 10 people found this review helpful
- Denis Dimick
- Los Alamos, NM USA
- 12-01-14
Just couldn't get into the book
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
Once of the few books I've returned. Sometimes books just didn't convert over to audio that well, this is one of those cases


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Lady Gaga didn't shy away from dropping F-bombs and disparaging every part of her former assistant's character during an Aug. 6 deposition, The New York Post has recently learned.
The pop star's ex-assistant Jennifer O'Neill sued her in December 2011, claiming she was so severely overworked she's now owed more than $380,000 in unpaid overtime, The Post reported at the time.
During the videotaped August deposition, Gaga launched into a tirade against her ex-assistant, calling her a "[expletive] hood rat who is suing me for money that she didn't earn," the Post reported, citing court records it obtained recently.
O'Neill, who earned a $75,000 salary while working for the pop star, claims she worked 7,168 hours of unpaid overtime.
O'Neill also says she didn't get breaks to eat or sleep and was routinely called to deal with "spontaneous, random matters in the middle of the night," the Post reported in 2011, citing court papers.
Gaga's Aug. 6 deposition focused on whether O'Neill actually worked hard, whether she was a kind person, and the kind of relationship she had with the pop star.
But these two excerpts, as reported by the Post, really tell you all you need to know about the hearing:
"One of the biggest problems I had with Jen is that I felt like she didn't enough lay out all my stuff for me" while traveling, Gaga said. "She would only open a couple of bags, and it was very stressful for me because then again on my off days I couldn't really have a day off because, you know, I weigh 115 pounds, and I was trying to move these huge, big luggages all by myself in the room, and I did it all the time — by the way, she was asleep until 12:00 most of the time, so I was very often waking up and moving my own luggage and doing [expletive] by myself, and it was — it was a problem that I had,"
"She's just — she thinks she's just like the queen of the universe. And, you know what, she didn't want to be a slave to one, because in my work and what I do, I'm the queen of the universe every day."
Gaga goes on to claim her assistants are actually spoiled and get to sleep on Egyptian cotton sheets, fly on private planes, party with celebrities, and shop at designer boutiques.
Her camp has bashed the lawsuit in the past, calling it "completely without merit," according to the Post.
Head over to the Post for the full run-down of the deposition.
DON'T MISS: PETA Strikes Back At Bebe For Allegedly Lying About Fur Clothes >


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NISD will hold its eighth annual Winter (Dance) Spectacular on Wednesday, Dec. 16 at Brennan High School. The event is part of the Fine Arts Holiday Music Series.
News Archive
Alamodome Management today confirmed graduation dates for Northside ISD high schools. NISD will hold 12 graduations in June 2016, ten of which are held at the Alamodome. The other two will be held at the Paul Taylor Field House.
Northside ISD announces that 100 percent of teachers are classified as "Highly Qualified." In accordance with Section 2141 of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act and the Texas State Highly Qualified Teacher Plan, the local education agency (LEA) is required to submit a report annually on whether the academic subject area classes are being taught by Highly Qualified Teachers.
Hundreds of fine arts students will be featured in a variety of holiday concerts and performances at elementary, middle, and high school campuses throughout Northside ISD.
This year's NISD theme is "I am Northside Proud" and schools and departments are showing their pride in all kinds of ways. Pride can mean being proud of who you are, what you have accomplished, and what you strive to achieve, among other things. Click here to see how one school shows its pride.
"Should I buy my home in NISD?" "Should I send my kids to Northside schools?" "Is NISD a good place in which to locate my business?"
STRAIGHT Talk is a series of subject-specific publications and videos that enlighten the public and staff about a variety of issues and their impact to NISD. In this week's STRAIGHT Talk video, NISD Superintendent Dr. Brian Woods discusses what makes us Northside Proud and public education proud. He shares his concerns regarding privatizing public education. Click here to watch.
Adjusting to the demands of high school is easier for the freshman class at Marshall High School with guidance from their mentors in the senior class. A unique mentor program provides ninth graders with weekly support from their peers.
Herbert G. Boldt was known as a humble man, a skilled auto mechanic, a dedicated business owner, and a role model for students. Though not a teacher, he shared his craft and guided young people to reach their full potential.
What is a Thanksgiving dinner without cranberries? Thanks to students from Northside ISD's Learning Tree After-School program there will be enough cranberries for the 25,000 guests expected at the 36th annual Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner this year.
Northside ISD students and staff recognize the importance and significance of the selfless contributions of our veterans. There were Veterans Day celebrations and recognition ceremonies at schools throughout NISD where parents, grandparents, siblings, and employees who are veterans were saluted.
In School Bond 2010 and School Bond 2014, voters approved the construction of 12 more schools and major renovations and classroom additions to older NISD schools. Those 2010 schools are completed and the School Bond 2014 projects are well underway.
Students at Mead Elementary School are learning a very special lesson from t-shirts being worn by their teachers. The shirts promote blind awareness, and help educate seeing students about the needs of those who are visually impaired. The idea was formed due to the fact that there are four visually impaired students attending the school. NISD has a total of 110 blind students' districtwide.
Last night, Trustees discussed and took action on several items: approved the 2015 certified tax roll; reported on various campus events and activities; and approved other business items and administrative appointments.
Northside ISD's financial house is in order. In fact, for the past 13 years, NISD has earned the highest financial rating awarded by the state according to David Rastellini, Deputy Superintendent for Business & Finance.
Does your child use a reliever medication more than three times per week for symptoms? Does your child have to limit physical activities due to asthma? Mark your calendars for Wednesday, Nov. 11 to attend a free Asthma Education Session for parents at Brandeis High School beginning at 7 p.m.
The Air Force Band of the West performed at Pease Middle School, and delivered more than great music. The month of October includes both anti-bullying and Red Ribbon weeks, and during their performance, the band shared a powerful dual message.
Here is a roundup of Veterans Days activities planned at several Northside schools on Wednesday, Nov. 11.
Two Northside ISD PTAs have been named 2015-2017 National PTA Schools of Excellence. Murnin Elementary School and Pease Middle School are among 124 schools from across the country to receive this special designation, and are the only schools in San Antonio to receive it.
Last night, Trustees discussed and took action on several items: approved the attendance zone for Fields ES, recognized Pease MS and Murnin ES as National PTA Schools of Excellence, and appointed department and campus administrators.
WATCH D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) is a one-of-a-kind, school-based father involvement, educational initiative of the National Center of Fathering. The organization has two goals: to provide positive male role models, and to provide extra sets of eyes and ears to enhance school security and reduce bullying.
Clark High School students visited the Great Barrier Reef, Yosemite National Park, and ancient Greece all without leaving their classrooms. The 450 students used virtual field trip simulation technology, called Google Expeditions, that is currently being piloted by Google across the country.
Students at Hector Garcia MS saw a need and literally took to the streets to fix the problem. As part of a Social Studies project, the safety-minded students worked with City Hall to get a sidewalk installed in front of their school. Click here to learn more about the project.
The annual NISD College Night will be held Monday, Nov. 2 from 6-8:30 p.m. drawing more than 140 colleges and universities from across the nation.
Four Northside schools are semifinalists in the 2015-2016 Silver & Black Give Back Team Up Challenge – Warren High School and Brauchle, Michael, and Northwest Crossing elementary schools.


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Queueing Analysis: Finite systems
North-Holland, 1993 - Computers - 546 pages
Queueing models have been used very effectively for the performance of evaluation of many computer and communication systems. As a continuation of Volume 1: Vacation and Priority Systems , which dealt with M/G/1-type systems, this volume explores systems with a finite population (M/G/1/N) and those with a finite capacity (M/G/1/K). The methods of imbedded Markov chains and semi-Markov processes, the delay cycle analysis, and the method of supplementary variables are extensively used. In order to maximise the reader's understanding, multiple approaches have been employed, including the derivation of the results by several techniques. This elaborate presentation of new and important research results applicable to emerging technologies is aimed at engineers and mathematicians alike, with a basic understanding or a comprehensive knowledge of queueing systems. It will be of particular interest to researchers and graduate students of applied probability, operations research, computer science and electrical engineering and to researchers and engineers of performance of computers and communication networks. Volume 3: Discrete Time Systems will follow this volume to complete the set.
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arriving message assume batch busy period process busy period started carried load condition is given dB(x defined denote derive elapsed service exceptional service exhaustive service exponentially distributed FCFS system G-limited identical idle period imbedded Markov points initial condition initial delay joint distribution joint probability Kronecker's delta Laplace transform LCFS LST W(s M/G/l/K system marginal distribution Markov chain mean length mean number mean response mean waiting message in service message of class messages arrive messages served messages that arrive method of supplementary multiple vacation model normalization condition Note number of messages obtain performance measures Prob Prob[L probability density function probability distribution pushout quasirandom queue size distribution remaining service remaining vacation Section semi-Markov process server is busy server vacations service completion service facility service period set of equations single vacation model steady-state Substituting time-dependent process unfinished virtual waiting


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This Christmas, I got several text messages from my Mom on her new iPhone 3G. Several of them included emoticons in the body of the text like so:
I know she hasn't jailbroken her phone or installed any apps from the App Store. I do know that she has iOS 5.
What are the step-by-step instructions to enabling emoticons on an iPhone?


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March 16, 2010. I remember it so vividly. I was in an in-patient drug treatment facility, 21 days sober and angry at everyone. When I got the news that my HIV test was confirmed positive, I thought I was receiving my death sentence. I now know, that was actually the moment I was blessed with a new life.
I grew up quite sheltered, in the small farming and military town of Yuma, Arizona. When the AIDS epidemic first surfaced in the early '80s, the terror of the disease was my biggest fear. I stayed out of trouble as a child, was a gifted classical pianist and had hopes and dreams of making my mark in the world.
In Yuma, if you were talented, well rounded and intelligent, you competed in the Miss Yuma County Pageant, which afforded scholarships and the opportunity to be a role model in the community. In 1995, at 20 years old, I was crowned Miss Yuma County, and in 1996, earned the title of Miss Arizona. I competed in the Miss America Pageant in September of 1996. During my reign as Miss Arizona, I implemented the first state pageant/state government community service platform in the country, educating adolescents and teenagers about the effects of violence in dating relationships. I was making my mark.
When that experience was over and I was no longer having to adhere to its rules and regulations, I stayed in Phoenix to go to school and experience life. I had some deep-rooted issues regarding my self worth and suffered from depression, and it didn't take long for me to find my escape. Rather, a solution to my problems.
Very quickly, that driven young woman was driven right into an addiction that took away every hope and dream, made me cross every line I said I would never cross, and destroyed my soul. I began to absolutely hate the person I was becoming, but didn't know how to stop. The drugs eased the pain, were always there when the relationships or jobs ended and by 2008, it was so dark that I set aside any of my values or beliefs to get "well." I didn't care about living and was pretty sure that no one would care if I died. I began to have major consequences for my actions and on Feb. 21, 2010, I checked into treatment for my drug addiction.
When the doctor suggested that we do some blood work, I asked him to include an HIV test. It had been a few years and I had heard rumors about someone I was personally involved with. Aside from the rumors, I had never actually met anyone that was positive. Imagine, 34 years old, to have never known ANYONE and to be told that I was.
All the fears about whether you would like me, if you thought I was pretty ... my roommate at the rehab asked to change rooms, people were afraid to eat and drink after me ... in 2010!! Unreal! So after processing the information for a few days, I started talking and started learning. I started to see my situation as a blessing that saved my life and that my past experiences gave me a voice and a platform in which to make a difference.
I talk very honestly and openly about my status, because I believe the more it is talked about, the more we can chip away at the social stigma attached to it. It can infect and affect anyone, but our best defense against it is knowledge. I am co-infected with hepatitis C as well. I know I will live a very long, very healthy life as long as I am proactive in my awareness of my status and take care of myself. I have self worth and a purpose and today I carry myself with dignity and grace.
In the last year, I have been asked back to the stage at Miss Arizona to share my story as a symbol of hope in the final night of competition at the Miss Arizona 2012 Pageant; have been the keynote speaker for Barb Eldridge's Team Rychard, benefiting the AIDS Walk Phoenix; was the top Individual Fundraiser for the entire AIDS Walk Phoenix, on the top Team Fundraiser "Team Rychard"; had the opportunity to speak at the AIDS Walk to share a little bit of my story; and have been hired on by Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS as the new Prevention Interventions Facilitator. My dreams have absolutely become my reality and I am so extremely grateful.
I firmly believe that by sharing my story, how it affected my life, and actually changed my life in a positive way because I am "positive," I can affect change and make a difference in the advocacy of HIV/AIDS. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my story.
Want to share your own "Day One With HIV" story of finding out your diagnosis? Write out your story (1,000 words or fewer, please!), or film a YouTube video, and email it to email@example.com. In the coming months, we'll be posting readers' "Day One" stories here in our HIV/AIDS Resource Center for the Newly Diagnosed. Read other stories in this series.


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First, university entomologists confirmed that Western corn rootworm (WCR) could break through the efficacy of the Bt toxin Cry3Bb1. Now, as a number of entomologists feared, a second toxin called mCry3A has succumbed to repeated pressure from WCR in some continuous corn fields.
Confirmation of the latest rootworm-resistance problem with mCry3A was made this summer in Iowa by Aaron Gassmann a researcher at Iowa State University. The practice of continuous corn and the repeated use of hybrids with the single toxin in those fields likely contributed to the control breakdown in all cases.
Gassmann had suspected the presence of resistance, prior to making the confirmation. "Bioassay data from 2011 showed that whether the rootworm was from a field with Cry3Bb1 or mCry3A, they were able to survive exposure to either of the two toxins," he says.
Similar genetic makeup of the two Cry3 toxins available in corn hybrids contributes to the cross-resistance. "Western corn rootworm respond to the toxins in similar ways, so if they're resistant to one they're probably going to be resistant to the other," Gassmann explains.
That does not bode well for a third toxin, Cry34/35Ab1, which is exhibiting some rootworm-control weakness in the field, Gassmann says. At this time, though, no resistance has been confirmed.
What this means for farmers in 2014 is that they need to think about diversifying their management practices for western corn rootworm and moving away from reliance on traits alone to manage the pest. Here are recommendations that Janet Knodel, North Dakota State University Extension entomologist, offer for farmers' consideration:
Practice crop rotation and avoid planting continuous corn. Rotating to a non-host crop such as soybean will help break the life cycle of WCR.
Control any volunteer corn or grassy weed hosts. Any volunteer corn that survives into late June will allow the larvae of the resistant gene pool to survive. If volunteer corn is allowed to silk, adult females will be attracted to the field for egg laying. Be aggressive in controlling volunteer corn and adopt a zero-tolerance policy.
Use a different Bt corn hybrid, preferably with multiple Cry proteins. Most of the pyramided Bt corn hybrids, such as SmartStax RIB, perform well when resistant corn rootworms are present; however, these hybrids rely on one protein (Cry34/35Ab1) for effective control.
Use a soil insecticide at planting to ensure control of larvae and prevent corn lodging. Soil insecticides do not change the Bt selection pressure on corn rootworm in the field, since insecticides are effective only around the root zone, Knodel says. However, the benefit of using a soil insecticide will depend on whether the Bt trait is still effective and whether resistant corn rootworm is present. Soil insecticides are generally only about 70% effective for control of corn rootworm larvae. Overall, granular soil insecticides at planting have performed better than seed treatments and liquid soil insecticides.
Gassmann recommends the use of soil insecticides at planting with non-CRW Bt corn only.
Monitor the efficacy of control. Dig up and check some corn roots this summer to evaluate whether your WCR control measures are holding or slipping; plan your corn hybrids and management practices accordingly the following season.
First, university entomologists confirmed that Western corn rootworm (WCR) could break through the efficacy of the Bt toxin Cry3Bb1. Now, as a number of entomologists feared, a second toxin called mCry3A has succumbed to repeated pressure from WCR in some continuous corn fields.


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Used Ford ecosport cars for sale
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In a public school system where almost half the students don't graduate, Shannon Hastings could have been just another dropout.
Her mom died when she was 14. Her father lived out of state. She drifted from one relative's home to the next, often paying rent for a spot on the couch. She moved four times in as many years, switching high schools three times.
But last weekend Shannon, 18, joined fellow National Honor Society inductees to walk across the stage and pick up her high school diploma. In the fall, she's headed to the University of Illinois at Chicago on a $20,000 Dell scholarship, awarded to at-risk students who show academic promise.
"My mom was always the person who said 'education first,'" Shannon said. "Her memory, her smile, I keep it in the back of my mind. It keeps me on track."
Over the last decade, CPS graduation rates have risen steadily, with 55.8 percent of students last year having earned their high school degree within five years. As the new CPS leadership tries to drive that rate even higher, they'll be overhauling high schools, trying in part to address how to engage those students struggling with broken families, violence and poverty.
At Hope College Preparatory High School in Englewood, Shannon has not been alone in facing challenges. Most students come from the surrounding rough-and-tumble neighborhoods of the South Side where gangs, drugs and family conflict pull them in one direction and school in another.
Out of 680 students, about 100 are homeless, living with other family members or in shelters. Almost 70 percent of the kids have only one parent, and many students have lost family members to violence. Some teens fail at school because they're dealing with pregnancies.
But Shannon, a teen always at the ready with her backpack on, has overcome the odds, forging ahead despite the turmoil surrounding her.
"With the cards she was dealt, it could easily have destroyed her goals and brought lack of motivation," said Shannon's guidance counselor, Contrice Kendall. "Instead, it actually increased it."
Shannon's troubles began the day of her eighth-grade graduation. Her mother, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, suffered a seizure and never recovered, dying within five weeks.
Shannon and her mom had once been inseparable. Now the young teen was on her own. All she had left was what her mother had ingrained in her — a love of learning.
"Once my mother passed, I had to become an adult," Shannon said. "I had family, but no one wanted to take on another teenager. I had to pay rent. I had to get my own clothes. If I didn't know something, I'd go on Google and figure it out. It made me independent."
Her sadness over her mother's death, she kept bottled up inside, not shedding a tear until, at the funeral, she read a poem she had written: "I wish I had one more day, just 24 hours with my mother. Just to hear her say I'm her baby or feel her kiss and touch. Just to tell her one more time I love her, but I can't."
"She broke down; she was inconsolable," said her aunt, Shirlon Hastings.
Shirlon Hastings invited Shannon to stay with her. Shirlon said she wanted to take guardianship of the girl but didn't because Shannon had a father. Instead, she gave Shannon the room she had once shared with her sister, Shannon's mom.
She extended her medical and dental insurance and applied for Social Security benefits for Shannon. When the benefits began coming in—about $1,000 a month—the aunt bought Shannon a bed set and helped her open a bank account, but began charging $300 rent.
Shirlon Hastings said everyone who was living in the house at the time was contributing to housing and food costs. But Shannon said when she began asking her aunt questions about the Social Security checks, it led to conflict. Her aunt said she never misused Shannon's money, and the conflicts came because of the young teen's rebelliousness.
From a bedroom at the aunt's house, Shannon moved to a couch at a cousin's home during her sophomore year. There, the rent kept changing, eventually escalating to $500, Shannon said. She left there, too, and moved in with a teacher at Chicago Vocational High School, the school she was then attending.
Somehow, she maintained her grades at As and Bs.
"My living situation was a struggle," Shannon said. "I didn't let it affect my school. I would come to school with a happy face like nothing was going on."
When school events came up, she'd tell teachers about not having a parent, sometimes attending meetings alone. Other times, she'd call various relatives, hoping someone could make it there for her.
At the end of her sophomore year, her father stepped in, moving Shannon to his house in Georgia, where she also lived with her brother and stepmother.
"A lot of things she didn't tell me," he said. "Had she told me, I would've taken her to come and live with me (sooner). Her problem with me is that I don't live in Chicago. Her problem with her family in Chicago is that they always seem to be manipulating the situation."
Still, after a summer trip to Chicago at the end of her junior year, Shannon decided to return to her maternal family. Shannon said her father traveled for work and was rarely in Georgia, and she missed her family. Soon she was back to paying another cousin, Tasha Hastings, to sleep, eat and do homework on another couch.
Tasha Hastings said she asked Shannon to contribute $300 every month to teach her responsibility.
But this time around, even if Shannon couldn't find the nurturing she craved from her relatives, she found it at school.
Her old middle school, now a high school, was the only one willing to take Shannon for senior year when she arrived last fall.
Soon, boy trouble landed her in her guidance counselor's office, and there she found not only a sympathetic ear but an empathetic one. Kendall had lost family at a young age too: her dad died when she was 14, and her mom was murdered when Kendall was 18. The counselor was not only left to take care of a younger brother, but also became a single parent. Still, she managed to complete college and have a career.
Every day, Shannon stopped by the counselor's office at least three times, checking in with Kendall and mooching goodies, chatting about her day before heading for home each night. This was where she came to find out about her grades, apply to college, apply for scholarships, plan her future.
And her counselor has been imparting some important life lessons too—about trusting boys, friends and even family.
"People come in and out of your life. Don't get so wrapped up in friends. Keep your guard up," Kendall told Shannon recently.
"Start loving yourself," she said on another day. "When you begin to love who you are, you don't have to look for it in someone else."
At the National Honor Society induction last month, students brought their parents to mark the achievement. Shannon asked Kendall to come.
At graduation, Shannon's father traveled into town for the event. He got a hug. An aunt and several cousins showed up to cheer her on. They got smiles. But when her counselor told Shannon she might not make it, Shannon broke down in tears. Kendall changed her plans, helped Shannon with her graduation robes and drove her to the ceremony.
Now that Shannon has graduated, Kendall plans to stay on as a mentor to keep her on track in college. Meantime, Shannon's dad has moved her in with his brotherin Chicago, who isn't charging rent and also will keep her focused.
"I know where I'm going in life," Shannon said. "Once I get an education, it will take me wherever I want to go. I'm doing all this for my mom because I know that's what she would've wanted."
In a public school system where almost half the students don't graduate, Shannon Hastings could have been just another dropout.


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The Von B³low Affair
Delacorte, 1983 - Crime - 372 pages
Here is a fascinating behind-the-scenes account of the most publicized trial of the decade -- a trial that was not only front-page news but was televised in its entirety. In a wealth of material never before published, William Wright gives us the step-by-step story of the events that led to the conviction of Claus Von B³low for the attempted murder of his wife, Sunny. It is all here: the results of interviews with Sunny's children, her mother, her close friends, and her maid, and a long, exclusive interview with Claus himself. We are given every aspect of the trial from testimony to public reaction. The Von B³low Affair is a riveting portrayal of a case that captured everyone's imagination, and at the same time a dramatic picture of high society at its highest and lowest levels. - Jacket flap.
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Common terms and phrases
Aitken alcohol Alexander and Ala Alexander's Alexandra Isles Alfie Annie Laurie arrived aspirin Auersperg barbiturates bathroom bedroom blood sugar B³low trial called Clarendon Court Claus Von B³low Claus's closet coma Cosima courthouse courtroom December 21 defense dinner divorce doctor drinking drugs evidence Fahringer Fahringer's Famiglietti Famiglietti asked felt Fifth Avenue friends Funkenstein Gailitis gave Getty Gurley Huggins husband injected insulin insulin level insulin test John Sheehan Joy O'Neill Judge Needham jurors jury Kitzb³hel knew Lambert later lawyers living look Maria marriage married Martha Von B³low Meier Millard Miranda mother murder needle never Newport Hospital party police problem prosecution questions Reise Reise's replied returned Rhode Island Richard Kuh social Stock story Sunny Von B³low Sunny's Susan talk television tell testified testimony tion told took wanted weeks wife wife's witness woman York


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Student or Learner
Could someone tell me how to determine if noun/pronoun should stand before adverb/preposition or after it when this noun/pronoun is used with phrasal verb?
Here are some examples - "give smth up" or "give up smth"; "check smth out" or "check out smth"; "fill smth in" or "fill in smth" etc.
Thanks, but I just wanted to know if there is any rule to distinguish separable phrasal verbs from inseparable ones.
Most lists and dictionaries will tell you, so it is a case of using that to know. It's not an area governed by rules.
Thank you.


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It's the time of year to say thanks and to show our appreciation towards others. Nothing says more about Thanksgiving than thankful words and great food!
The WarmlyYours office is filled with even more gifts and gratitude this year as we celebrate this Thanksgiving with donations, raffles, and gift baskets.
And who else better to thank than the local troop's families!
A local restaurant called Smokin' T's has sponsored an event to help support local military families by providing each family with a Turkey Meal Package. Smokin' T's goal is to extend warm heartfelt thanks to those children and spouses whose fathers or mothers bravely protect our country. The Thanksgiving Family Meal Packages can feed 10-14 people and contain delectable foods such as whole smoked turkey, green beans with mushrooms, mixed green salad with ranch dressing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sage stuffing and giblet gravy, mac and cheese, petite corn muffins, pumpkin pie, and cookies.
To help Smokin' T's show gratitude and thanks to local troop's families, WarmlyYours donated $270 which allows us to feed two families.
Yet, donating to local troops is not the only way WarmlyYours chose to celebrate Thanksgiving! We also shared our thanks around the office!
A Thanksgiving raffle was hosted in the WarmlyYours office with the prize being a Grand Gathering Gift Basket! In order to win the raffle, WarmlyYours staff had to submit emails that expressed what they were thankful for this thanksgiving. The emails were then printed out and placed in a bowl to be drawn at random.
Many of the staff members expressed thanks for their families, friends, and health, as well as thanks for their career, the military, and their co-workers.
On Monday, November 19th, an email was drawn at random and the winner was announced. The winner of the raffle was our Director of Information Technology, Christian Billen. His emailed stated,
"I am thankful for the constant opportunity to learn and evolve at WarmlyYours."
Along with Christian's thankful email about WarmlyYours, others shared their thanks for their family. Jennifer West, our sales representative shared,
"I am thankful for happy and healthy children. Watching them learn and grow each day reminds me of how blessed I truly am."
And some exclaim their gratitude for future events. Our Marketing Assistant, Jessica Farrier, wrote,
"I am thankful for a loving family who cares for me and wants the best for me. I am also thankful that in less than 7 months I will be marrying the man of my dreams!"
Thanksgiving is one of our most favorite times of year because it affords us the opportunity to exuberantly express our blessings and appreciation towards those around us, whether it is through a local charity or emails from co-workers. WarmlyYours is grateful for our amazing customers and colleagues who keep this company radiating warmth.
We won't share your information and you can unsubscribe at any time with a single click.


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Robert B. Reeves necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 211 diseños de 53 diseñadores freelance.
The Reeves Law Group
The Reeves Law Group is a well-known law firm that represents victims of injuries and accidents. We handle a broad range of personal injury cases which include vehicle and motorcycle accidents, wrongful death, serious and catastrophic injuries, slip and fall accidents, trucking accidents, construction injuries, defective products and many other types of injury cases.
Mainly California residents who have been involved in an accident or been injured due to someone else's negligence.
We currently need our logo to be refreshed and given a new look. The newly designed logo should portray that our law firm has dedication, passion and expertise. The logo should not be overly busy, but it should be more than just fancy font. The logo will contain our firm's name, which is "The Reeves Law Group"
Please go to http://www.robertreeveslaw.com/site31.html to see the look of our recently revised website. I have also included a screen shot of our site, if you are unable to get to our site. The new logo will be prominently displayed in the top right corner of our website, so please take that into consideration designing your submissions.
The attached PNG file has some sample logos of various law firms and law related corporations. Please review the sample logos to get design ideas for our logo.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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$1,699.00 $2,599.00
The silver plated version of the popular Gemeinhardt 11A alto flute will certainly be a winner for use in schools and flute choirs. The response is excellent through all registers, and the Y-arm mechanism is stable and strong. The silver plated finish will provide a durable finish for years of enjoyment at a budget-friendly price. Note - The straight head joint version (11A) is pictured. This unit ships with a curved head joint.


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agivera necesitaba un nuevo diseño de página web y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 47 diseños de 12 diseñadores freelance.
W2O Medizintechnik AG / W2O Medical Technology Corporation
Our Company develop and distribute the complete range of products, equipment and services for the ophthalmic surgeon. Our website (http://www.w2o.de) is 10 Years old and need a completely new design including our new CI/Logo which is in pictures enclosed.
Our audience is made up of ophthalmologic surgeons, eye-clinics, manufacturers and distributors of medical ophthalmic technology products.
Most of our customers will come to our site for product and specification assistance with a slice of info about this company. This audience is not interested in searching through multi layers to find what they need. Clean, simple and informative is what they seek.
A web design that is nobel and scientistic but makes the user feel the power in our lines (products) and the need to come to us for information and product recommendations. The layout must be usable for multiple pages/sections.
A product catalog shall be integrated.(Sorry - means to be integrated in the menue!!)
Layout must allow the content to be read easily.
Language will be german & english
Prefered colours are to take from the Logo which is enclosed. Yellow/grey/black
Some written kind of type can used from the enclosed examples / for example in the menues or else.
ad on from october 15.2009
the intro site as well as all other sites should contain a second menue with the following menue: / (probably on the left side):
- vorderer Augenabschnitt
- hinterer Augenabschnitt
- Instrumente
- Verbrauchsmaterialien
- OP-Einrichtung
- Geräte
- we care - Services


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In March 2018, we ended the Tunes To Teens program.
We appreciate the positive feedback we've gotten from students and directors who have participated in Tunes To Teens over the years. They have given us permission to share their comments with you.
"I just wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed the CD I received through the program. I have had a great time listening to it. I think this is a fantastic program! Keep it up!"
Student, Sidwell Friends School Chamber Chorus
Washington, DC
"I want to let you know what a success the CDs have been. I had been a bit mystified as to what the reaction would be, but soon the CD player on the deck was playing the Nylons (this IS Canada you know!) and then STREETNiX and then the college and high school groups as everyone wanted to share what they had received. I'm sure they will do as you had hoped--create, enliven and encourage an interest in a capella singing in our young singers as they move on to high school. Thanks again for including us in this marvelous project!"
Ken Henderson
Director, Truro Junior High Vocal Ensemble
Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada
"Thank you for all of the CDs! My kids LOVE them! We are using them in an evaluation program on Fridays. Students bring their CDs in and play their favorite song off of that CD. Then the chorus evaluates both the performance and the arrangement. It's a lot of fun! Thanks again! "
Jenny Gordon
Director, Landrum Middle School and High School choruses
Landrum, SC
"The students have been presenting their favorite songs from each CD in class and it has been a lot of fun to hear their reactions to the music. They love it! They were really excited to hear other high school groups doing some great a cappella. I believe they have truly been inspired. One of my students even decided to make arranging an a cappella piece part of his senior project. Thanks so much for all of your support."
Tamara Cox
Director, Serrano High School choruses
Phelan, CA
"My instructor handed out these Tunes To Teens CDs within our group to swap and trade with each other after listening to each one. The CD I received was The Best of High School A Cappella: Class Notes '98. I absolutely loved it.
I also think that this program is really terrific, giving teens a chance to experience a different kind of musical style than they're used to. So, thank you for this brilliant program and the chance for me personally to be exposed to a style of music I've never been introduced to before."
Student, Westbrook High School Chamber Singers
Westbrook, ME
"Our cds arrived, and it was just like Christmas! I discussed each cd, what type of group it was and some song titles, and then the fun began! The ripping of celophane commenced and they all started looking for the nearest cd player.
We will be sharing in class this way: after each student has listened to their cd, they will share one with the class and discuss something about it - why they chose it, style, performer, etc.
This is a great idea, and I know it will have the effect I am hoping for - to generate more interest and development of acappella vocal jazz singing in our school. "
Jane Vanderhoff
Teacher, Garden City High School Applied Music Class
Garden City, KS
"I explained your program and passed out the CDs today. Of course, they were thrilled. Thank you so much!"
Courtney Birch
Director, Sidwell Friends School Chamber Chorus
Washington, DC
"Thank you very much for the wonderful CDs. I let the kids choose their own, and the level of interest was extremely high. We listened to a few songs before we started our rehearsal (The Nylons proved to be quite popular), and the kids will bring in particular songs over the coming weeks which they think the class will enjoy. Your program has had the desired effect: every kid was intrigued and excited to get a new cd of a cappella music, and that is very, very neat."
Molly Deich
Director, New Brighton Middle School 8th Grade Advanced Choir
Capitola, CA
"I wanted to thank you for starting Tunes To Teens. I received the CD Wonders of the World by Five O'Clock Shadow. I think a cappella music is so neat because everybody does it a little differently. I've actually listened to it quite a bit, and I think it's cool to hear the unique style of Five O'Clock Shadow and the distortion they use. Thank's again for starting this great program!!"
Student, Westbrook High School Chamber Singers
Westbrook, ME
"I got the BOCA '97 and '98 CD, and I absolutely love it. I am in a high school based acapella group myself, and the CD has given me some ideas and motivation! Thanks so much."
Student, Sidwell Friends School Chamber Chorus
Washington, DC
If you have any questions about Tunes To Teens, or if you would like to participate, email Chris Tess at firstname.lastname@example.com


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Responsible for the planning, implementation and maintenance of this website is:
Tel.: +49 711/38005-12
Managing Directors
Referrals and links
Privacy policy
This disclaimer is to be regarded as part of the internet publication which you were referred from. If sections or individual terms of this statement are not legal or correct, the content or validity of the other parts remain uninfluenced by this fact.


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Build a custom leash O-Ring Leash to match your collar. Choose your own width, length, hardware and leather colors. Handcrafted at the California Collar Co. workshop in Los Angeles and backed by a lifetime guarantee.
1/2″ width : Designed to be used with our 5/8″ collars. Can also be used by those looking for a lightweight leash for larger dogs.
5/8″ width : Designed to be used with our 5/8″ and 3/4″ collars. This is also a good option for larger dogs with good leash manners.
3/4″ width : Designed to be used with our 1″ and wider collars. A good strong leash in a width that feels comfortable in the hand.
1″ width : For stronger large breed dogs only. Keep in mind that leather leashes are much heavier than the nylon leashes you'll find in pet stores.


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Subscribe To Christopher Nolan's Interstellar Won't Follow Paramount's Digital Mandate Updates
I've already subscribed
Remember when Paramount made headlines (and not in the best way possible) by revealing that the Anchorman sequel was going to be their last feature rolled out on film stock, and that the drive to digital was in the studio's immediate future? Yeah, well, Christopher Nolan wants nothing to do with that.
The director's sci-fi thriller Interstellar will be one of a select number of "exceptions" Paramount will allow to its hard-and-fast digital rule, according to The L.A. Times. The paper cites a letter penned by Rob Moore, vice chairman of Paramount Pictures, who states:
"Although we anticipate the majority of the studio's future releases to be executed in digital formats across the U.S., select exceptions will be made."
You know what I want to see more than Interstellar? Footage of the poor Paramount exec who had to meet with Nolan and try to sell him on digital. How long do you think that meeting went? Ten minutes, tops?
It's refreshing to hear that certain filmmakers have enough clout and muscle with the studios to put their foot down and argue for film. Of course, financially, it's an industry killer. Digital will be the way of the future, but directors like Nolan, Spielberg and possibly Abrams have the power (for now) to fight for film if they want to. Then again, Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street will go down in history as "the first Paramount feature to be released nationwide entirely in digital," according to Moore.
So Nolan's film will be released in November in both film and digital. We know that Nolan filmed chunks of his movie with IMAX cameras, but it's unlikely he'll allow any parts of his film to convert to 3D (though the idea of taking a trip through a wormhole in Nolan's film in 3D would sell millions of tickets).
Interstellar stars Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine and Bill Irwin in the story of … well, we're not 100% sure. With Nolan, few ever are. Here's the studio's snyopsis:
Mainly based on the scientific theories and script treatment of renowned theoretical physicist, Kip Thorne. Interstellar is set to be released in November 7, 2014.
And here's the trailer Paramount shared. It tells us nothing, but it looks great… IN FILM!


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The Rio the World Cup didn't show
Editor's note: This story contains strong language.
Two days after Brazil crashed out of the World Cup, on Thursday morning, one of Rio's foremost sanitation activists, Leona Deckelbaum, came down to Copacabana Beach to work.
She couldn't help laughing.
Tourists swam in the ocean across the street, and up and down the coast in both directions. In a city with a terrible sewage system even in the fancy neighborhoods and no complete sewage or water service in any of the 900-plus favelas, this is a terrible idea.
She had numbers, and a twinkle in her eye.
Last year, she said, the water at Copacabana was safe for swimming only half the time, and roughly the same at Ipanema, Leblon and Leme. In January, one of the busiest beach months, only two days at the famous Ipanema were safe.
"Because of fecal matter," she said.
Every second in Rio, she said, 4,700 gallons of sewage spills into the ocean. Up and down the coast, open pipes along the beach just dump the waste right into the water, and on bad days, locals call the visible stain of human waste the "black tongue." The amount of feces in the water, she said, is 195 times what the U.S. considers acceptable, and 78 times what Brazil considers acceptable, and while this is profoundly disgusting -- Leona stopped swimming when she learned the numbers -- it is also cosmically perfect. There is the Rio that visitors see, whether swimming in the water or watching a soccer tournament on television, and then the real Rio, beautiful but flawed, hiding in the cliché.
"Everything's turning to shit," Deckelbaum said, "and nobody here is doing anything."
A letter from Rio
The World Cup ends Sunday. The Brazil of last June's protest movement, when those two separate Rios briefly became one, seems like a different country from the one that has hosted this tournament for the past month. The people most invested in the outcome of that movement, the disenfranchised and those working to give them agency, are waking up this morning, looking at what happened, and what didn't, and trying to understand why. Some are looking for a miracle during the 2016 Olympics, as they looked for one during the World Cup, while the city's activists are back to fighting the daily battles they've been fighting for generations.
Before the World Cup began, those protests had created an expectation -- or a fear, depending on whether you were making money or having your tax dollars spent -- that, when the cameras turned on for this tournament, the protesters would return to the streets. That didn't happen, not on a scale large enough to scare FIFA or Brazil, or create meaningful change. Sports writer Dave Zirin, who was tear-gassed during this World Cup while covering a protest, wrote a few days ago about this disconnect between life on the streets and in the media coverage of that life, and he started the piece by quoting the head of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, mockingly asking, "Where is all this social unrest?"
As I typed that last sentence, at 8:59 in the morning on Saturday, I got an email from Patrick Granja, perhaps the bravest of the cadre of photographers and videographers who've covered the protests and police violence in the past year. A few months ago, a journalist was killed by a protester during a demonstration, with Patrick standing a few feet away. Last year, Patrick was wounded by an exploding tear gas grenade, and he proudly shows off the scar on his calf. He's been a guide into protests and shared his sources and also his credibility with the leaders of the movement.
This is what his email said:
"Dude policie went to 60 protesters houses this morning. We are in drci policie station and there are 12 people arrested here already. Dom Hélder Câmara Street, 2066."
Seconds later, he wrote a second email.
"F---ing dictadure."
On the surface, there has been no unrest or unhappiness during the World Cup, but beneath there's been a hidden battle to make sure nothing got in the way of the party Brazil was throwing for the world. There was an alleged shootout in a favela between drug traffickers and the Brazilian army a few hours after the Brazil match on Tuesday. Did you read about it? Did you see it on the news? Today, maybe there will be a big protest -- one is scheduled for the afternoon -- or maybe it won't escalate beyond a few hundred marchers because movement leaders are sitting in jail cells.
Robocop versus a saxophone
The protest movement tried to find its legs in the past month, wobbling and ultimately falling under the yoke of police violence. The day of the opening match, Brazil against Croatia, a group marched from the traditional starting place of Rio protests, the Cinelandia Square in the center of town. The group, shadowed by heavily armed riot police known as Robocops, marched peacefully to Lapa. Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to break it up, sending a violent message.
Deckelbaum was there.
Amid the violence and fear, one moment stands out to her, a sign of hope. The protesters faced down with the heavily armed, and armored, cops. A musician, after a long gig the night before, stepped into the no-man's land.
Everyone watched, tense, and then he lifted his saxophone to his lips.
A fellow musician began to shake a tambourine, and another plucked out a rhythm on a mandolin, and together they began to play. For 20 minutes, in the middle of a standoff that felt as if it could become violent with one twitchy move by either side, the musicians played traditional music, called forro, which every protester and soldier knew. The songs sounded mellow and sort of like a eulogy, too, and then the saxophone player put his instrument down and approached the soldier.
Nobody knew what was about to happen.
"We are all on the same team," the musician said. "All you want to do is feed your children, and all we want to do is feed our children."
The cop took off his helmet, and the men looked each other in the eye. They talked. Leona started crying. People around her started crying, overcome by this tiny piece of humanity in a community that's felt increasingly under siege.
'They are not using rubber bullets'
The violence has changed how a generation views its country.
"We don't actually live in a democracy," said Theresa Williamson, of Catalytic Communities, one of the most respected groups working in Brazil.
Williamson wanted to meet me at a place in the cool hillside neighborhood Santa Teresa, where she and some friends watched the Argentina-Netherlands semifinal on a big television screen. They celebrated with caipirinhas because the joy of the World Cup had seeped into every corner of Rio de Janeiro, even among the political activists.
Williamson hasn't been to a protest this World Cup, not because she doesn't care but because she has a daughter and the parent won the internal debate against the activist. Last year, she saw up close what the government would do to protect the status quo, and it frightened her. She went to a large protest, then tried to get a metro home to her daughter. Station after station was closed, and she realized that the government had shut down the subway system. Later, she'd realize that the government had also turned off all the security cameras, leaving the police free to operate.
The attack against peaceful protesters seemed coordinated -- volleys of tear gas, rubber bullets. That was the largest protest of the June movement, and afterward, they kept growing smaller and smaller until what happens now can hardly be called a protest at all, sometimes feeling more like people talking a walk.
The police violence worked.
"I stopped going to the protests because I have a daughter," Williamson said. "People aren't changing their opinions. People are scared. People are scared to death."
The night Brazil lost, the gunfight between the army and alleged traffickers happened in a favela called Mare close to the international airport. In May, just before the World Cup began, the government had sent more than 2,000 soldiers to occupy the neighborhood, establishing a forward operating base in an old factory. They ran razor wire on top of the factory walls and set up checkpoints, manned by soldiers holding automatic weapons. "We don't like them coming with the flag, as if they were playing war," says a young woman named Pie Garcia, who works for a nongovernmental organization in Mare.
I went to Mare this week, and it felt occupied, militarized. It seemed as if the postmatch violence there wasn't because the fans were lashing out over the loss but rather at the feeling of being a prisoner in the place they call home. On a community Facebook page, people reported that a soldier was wounded in the shootout. Local soldiers said they weren't allowed to talk about the incident, at a checkpoint and at the forward operating base, and then via a news release, the army responded to ESPN by saying that there had been a confrontation but that nobody had been wounded, and that the police had not shot at citizens, merely firing their weapons into the air to scare them. In his office, sitting next to Garcia, a photographer named Davi Marcos pulls up the Facebook dialogue of residents discussing what they were seeing and hearing. "It's difficult to know," Marcos said. "If he was wounded, they wouldn't let anybody know that, especially in this moment."
Three days ago, I met back up with Granja, the photographer who's been so helpful. We found a restaurant and ordered some sandwiches, and he described what life had been like the past month. Most of the protests had been small and localized, people trying to brave the violence and still go into the streets. Patrick said he saw good action only once -- like almost every war correspondent, he's an adrenaline junkie -- on the night of the first match in Rio, Argentina vs. Bosnia, in the Maracana.
"I can show you this video," he said, pulling out his phone.
He and a colleague shot the footage a block or two from the stadium during the game. It's shaky because he's running. Police clash with the masked anarchists. Patrick runs toward a policeman, zooming in on his hand, and he captures the cop pointing his handgun and pulling the trigger. Later, journalists pick up the spent shell casings from the ground and film them. It certainly appears, although it cannot be proved, that the police are firing live ammunition.
"They are not using rubber bullets anymore," Granja says, and he lets the video play, and the images don't look as if they are happening a block from a game watched by millions of people. The protesters being fired upon didn't see any of the match or cheer Leo Messi's goal. The fans watching the game on TV couldn't see the muzzle flashes or smell the burning Molotov cocktails thrown by protesters at police, or hear the unmistakable sound of brass landing on the street, bullets paid for by the people now dodging them.
It's like they were never fired at all.
Back to the long haul
With no mass protests, the activists returned to their small daily struggles, even as the World Cup played out in the country and around the planet. The day after Brazil lost to Germany, Jose Martins de Oliveira woke up in the Rocinha favela and handed out fliers, as he does every Wednesday, trying to make the government provide plumbing instead of constructing an enormous cable car that Oliveira says the favela doesn't want. The slogan is "No to white elephants, yes to basic sanitation."
Oliveira is a quiet man, with curly gray hair and a long beard, and he's been fighting this fight for decades. When he first started in the 1960s, he imagined it wouldn't take long. Deckelbaum, who works for a successful action group called Meu Rio and introduced me to Oliveira, understands. She started her citywide sanitation push last November, and finally stopped in March, focusing on just one favela rather than all of them. Sanitation is a problem that often seems too big to fix. She said that people working for equality in Rio have always understood that the road would be long, but the sudden swell of popular support last June allowed many of them to believe that perhaps solutions might come quickly. The lack of protests during the World Cup was disappointing. Change again appeared that it would come slowly.
On Thursday, Oliveira woke to find his sewage backed up again, so he called the city. In the 1970s, after much negotiating, the government agreed to install pipes for part of Rocinha if the residents provided the materials. That system, though old, remains, but the rest of the favela just dumps sewage into open drains that run eventually into the sea.
Oliveira led the way through Rocinha to one of those makeshift sewers.
As he walked the streets of his neighborhood, life moved in a familiar pattern around him. Favelas are often misunderstood places. I've certainly misunderstood them. The public violence between drug traffickers and police defines them, in the media and in the popular culture. People like Williamson who work every day in favelas are constantly battling stereotypes and misconceptions. Mostly, favelas are just neighborhoods, where people struggle with poverty, yes, but also with the things everyone struggles with. Chicken in Rocinha costs four dollars a kilo (2.2 pounds). Hot dogs are less than half that.
When we reached the drain, which led from the upper reaches of the favela into a big pipe that funnels sewage down to the beach, Oliveira said he used to drink fresh spring water from this place as a child. Now it is full of raw sewage, identifiable by the smell, and piles of trash, from discarded motorcycle helmets to empty packs of Marlboros. Fruit trees grow from the muck, and children eat the fruit. Infected mosquitos breed in the filthy water. When Oliveira arrived in Rio, decades ago, his first job was carrying buckets of water.
"Water is life for everyone," Oliveira said.
A year ago, the federal government gave 1.6 billion reais to the state to improve Rocinha. The residents wanted sewage and water. The state wanted to build them a cable car from the city to the top of the favela, as they'd done in a sprawling North Zone favela. The government agreed to do both, which residents knew was a lie because the last time a similar project took place, just four years ago, the government built all the things that could be photographed for campaign ads, like a sports complex and some public housing, but never got around to sanitation.
Activists did research about the cable car built in the North Zone and found that only 10 percent of residents use it and that more than 10 percent of the residents had to be relocated to build it.
They found out something else, too.
Many different companies can build the sewage system, and Brazilian law requires at least three bids. Only one company can build the cable car, which means the contract can be awarded without a bid, allowing the usual kickbacks and corruption to be buried in a budget that cannot be challenged.
What now?
With just one more match to go and 13 months removed from a million people in the streets, none of the problems that put those people in the streets have been solved, which poses a question: What comes next?
The games have ended, but the consequences of them continue, pressure building, anger and discontent forming slowly into potential action, as it did a year ago.
"Now the Cup is finished and everyone is going back to reality," says Yvonne Bezerra de Mello, who runs an educational project for at-risk children in Mare. "In the favelas, nothing has changed. I used to say we didn't have our French Revolution yet. But we are on the road to having big problems in Brazil. It started in June. After the World Cup, these are going to come back for sure, more and more."
She is trying for little victories, because what else can she do. Last week, she took a group of about 40 of her students to a World Cup match in Maracana. None of them had ever been inside the stadium before. "They've never been to the Maracana," she said. "They've never been to the Christ, the Sugarloaf. These things are forbidden for them. We have two cities."
Brazil remains corrupt, with a failing education system and one of the world's most unequal economies. The political action needed to solve these problems seems impossible given Brazil's current political system, which is greased by corruption and constant back-scratching needed to assemble a governing coalition. There are nearly 40 parties, a whole sea of acronyms, from the PT and the PSD, to the PMDN, PSDB, PSC, PPS, and on and on. There are Pentecostals, neo-liberals, conservatives, leftists, right wingers, socialists, communists, Marxists, anarchists, and a whole other swarm of philosophies and ideologies, and they feud with each other as much as they fight for actual change. Granja said the activism of last June temporarily united many groups and brought energized young people into the streets. But now the fad is over, and, although the real activists remain, some of the protesters have moved on to other things.
"It's not fashionable anymore," Granja said. "The TV turned them into criminals."


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She lifted the hearts of an entire nation when it was at one of its lowest points in history. She later went on to serve her country in diplomacy abroad. She was, really, the first woman who could claim to have been America's Sweetheart, and she claimed that title with her singing, dancing, and acting before most children would finished the first grade. Her staying power lasted at least long enough for our family to grow up on her films, 40 years after they were made.
And now Shirley Temple Black belongs to the ages:
From 1935 through 1938, the curly-haired moppet billed as Shirley Temple was the top box-office draw in the nation. She saved what became 20th Century Fox studios from bankruptcy and made more than 40 movies before she turned 12.
Hollywood recognized the enchanting, dimpled scene-stealer's importance to the industry with a "special award" – a miniature Oscar – at the Academy Awards for 1934, the year she sang and danced her way into America's collective heart.
After she sang "On the Good Ship Lollipop" in "Bright Eyes," the song became a hit and the studio set up Shirley Temple Development, a department dedicated to churning out formulaic scripts that usually featured the cheerful, poised Shirley as the accidental Little Miss Fix-It who could charm any problem away.
Her most memorable performances included four films she made with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, a black dancer 50 years her senior and a favorite co-star, she later said.
They were first paired as foils for cantankerous Lionel Barrymore in 1935's "The Little Colonel," in which 7-year-old Shirley tap dances up and down the staircase, remarkably matching the veteran Robinson step for step.
Here she is in Bright Eyes performing her signature song:
Normally the passing of a film star of that era of natural causes would not be news, but this was no ordinary film star, either. Shirley Temple became an icon during the Depression of hope and optimism, and her cultural impact during that period and for decades afterward cannot be overestimated. She had a remarkably long career for a child star in an era when they were even more disposable than today. One of my favorite performances of hers came in The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer when Temple was nearly 20, playing the starry-eyed teen who becomes infatuated with Cary Grant — a marvelous screwball comedy that also starred Myrna Loy, and well worth the time to track it down.
Shortly afterward, Temple left acting behind for marriage and family life. The LA Times article has all of the details of her post-celebrity life, the highlight of which for her was her three years as US Ambassador to Czechoslovakia from 1989-1992. She was there for the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Iron Curtain across eastern Europe.
Temple never seemed at ease with her former life, but never seemed to need to reference it, either. The fortune she made as a little girl had disappeared before she got out of acting, but as the Times notes, she never seemed to resent it. She had moved on to live a full life, even while the rest of America remained in love with our national sweetheart — generation after generation.
Rest in peace, Shirley, and Godspeed. Thank you for all the lovely memories and your service to the country.


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|Image from here
- It is great exercise (especially for the arms and legs).
- It is stimulating, and never boring because no two trees are the same.
- It can be done anywhere! Luckily where we live, we have trees are all around us and many of them are perfect for climbing.
- It enables you to connect with nature. Sitting high in the branches of a tree you will find a sense of wholeness that only being in nature provides.
- It offers something for many of the senses - touch, sight, smell, hearing (probably not taste unless you are a one year old who is still into 'mouthing')
- It is cheap!
- It can be done all year round. Even in the chilly winter weather we are experiencing in Sydney at the moment, the bare trees are ripe for climbing!


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Find in this WebRing sites belonging to individuals and organizations who are actively involved in the rescue of and or placement of rescued animals of any species and breed (including mixed). Pictured on this page: in a 2008 photograph taken by Wikimedia Commons member Galawebdesign, a cat in an animal shelter looks right at you, asking to be taken home. Of the photo on the NavBar, the photographer, Wikimedia Commons member Nhandler, says "Photo of a dog behind a chain-link fence at the Paws and More No Kill Animal Shelter in Washington, Iowa. I took this picture. This looks just like my dog Yuma. He was from a shelter in Evanston Il."


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UConn's Breanna Stewart wins AP Player of Year
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Breanna Stewart, who helped Connecticut go undefeated this season, has been selected as The Associated Press' women's college basketball player of the year.
She is only the third sophomore to win the award, joining former UConn star Maya Moore and Oklahoma's Courtney Paris.
The 6-foot-4 star received 20 votes Saturday from the same 36-member national media panel that selects the weekly Top 25. Balloting was done before the NCAA tournament.
Chiney Ogwumike of Stanford was runner-up for the second straight season, receiving eight votes. Odyssey Sims of Baylor was third with six votes and Kayla McBride of Notre Dame received two.
Stewart averaged 19.4 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.8 blocks this season to help UConn reach the Final Four for a seventh straight year.


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Miller on Madigan
The rich irony of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan denouncing somebody else for attempting to be a "kingmaker" is so obvious and laughable that I can't help but wonder why a guy who's been a take no prisoners kingmaker himself for so long in this state would ever think of saying such a thing.
You may already know the story. The Better Government Association and the Chicago Sun-Times took a look at some of Madigan's campaign petition passers to see if they had government jobs.
What they found wasn't surprising at all. Seventeen of 30 people who passed Madigan's nominating petitions worked for the government. Another 12 had at one time worked for the government.
Power tends to feed off itself. The longer you're around, the more power you tend to have, and the more power you have, the more you can get. And Madigan has been around Illinois and Chicago politics forever. He is at the top of the heap as far as state government power goes.
Ideologically, Madigan has moved with the times. He favors both medical marijuana and gay marriage, for example.
Politically, the man is anything but postmodern. He's the 13th Ward Democratic Committeeman, and he runs his ward like it's been run for a century or more.
Running an old-time organization, however, requires old-style patronage, and Madigan is a master at finding jobs for his precinct workers.
A good case in point is Patrick Ward, a Madigan precinct worker. Ward was already drawing a public pension while working at Metra, but he wanted a raise and hadn't received one, so he asked his sponsor for help. Madigan made a couple of calls, then backed off when the man who ran Metra objected to political interference. That guy eventually resigned with a golden parachute and a vow of silence. But when the media got wind of it all heck broke loose and all fingers pointed to Madigan.
The Sun-Times and the Better Government Association's investigation team took a look at Madigan's most recent nominating petitions, noticed Ward was a circulator then took a look at the other names.
The BGA sent people door to door to talk to the other circulators and see if they were the same folks who popped up on their government employee searches. Some of those precinct workers alleged that they and their families were harassed, and Madigan got angry.
So, Madigan unleashed a diatribe against the BGA and its leader Andy Shaw for being on "an unrelenting journey to become a kingmaker in Illinois politics." He also blasted the organization for trying to undermine the Democrat Party.
Madigan is fiercely protective of the loyal members of his 13th Ward organization, who are almost like family to him.
A statement simply denouncing the BGA's tactics would've been reasonable, although still ironic considering how personally aggressive and "unrelenting" Madigan's House campaigns can be.
And some of the BGA's political motivations and top contributors are also fair game. The group preaches political cleanliness, yet it doesn't always associate with the cleanest of the clean.
But all Madigan did with that "kingmaker" comment was turn the BGA's Shaw into a folk hero and help Shaw raise lots more money. You'd think Madigan would comprehend the public consequences of such an over the top claim.
Word going around is that Madigan may also be trying to head off another ongoing BGA probe. But all he may have done was whet the group's appetite.
The Speaker has really been off his game the past several months. He literally ran away and hid from Chicago reporter Chuck Goudie a few months ago, which resulted in a humiliating story on the Chicago media market's most-watched TV station.
He publicly tossed his own daughter under the bus after she blamed his resistance to retirement for her decision not to run for governor.
And Madigan insulted Senate President Cullerton last May by telling a Sun-Times reporter that Cullerton displayed a "lack of leadership" on pension reform.
Partly due to his daughter's aborted gubernatorial bid and partly due to the Metra "scandal," polling has shown that the public's awareness of Madigan has grown this year. And the public definitely doesn't like the guy. So, he's only hurting himself and his members with stunts like this BGA attack.
Madigan is valued at the Statehouse for being the most grown up of the grownups. But he's simply not acting that way of late.
Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and CapitolFax.com.