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Today's guest blogger is Curt Miller, a professional magician who will be performing his two-hour theatrical illusion show at The Hobby Center for The Performing Arts on May 28-19, 2010. This is the largest magic show to appear in Houston in over twelve years. He will also appear in the HMNS Magic! exhibit August 16-29. Click here to view showtimes.
|Enter the illusion in Magic! at HMNS. Magician Curt Miller
will be performing live in the exhibition Aug. 16 – 29.
I'm a professional magician, and it's one of the greatest jobs in the world. Every night, I meet new and interesting people, and I get to bring a little joy, laughter and amazement to their lives. The art of magic is universally appealing; people of all ages, nationalities and backgrounds appreciate it. I find it fascinating to look into my audience and see a five-year-old and a corporate executive both equally enjoying the show! I'm spoiled with my job because I know before I walk onstage that the audience is going to have a great time. It's not so much because of me; there's just something really appealing about watching someone do the impossible; especially when it is presented in a fun and entertaining way. About twenty years ago, I coined the tagline "Magic plus Comedy equals Entertainment," and I still believe that today.
I started performing magic when I was 11 years old and I had business cards when I was 13. Back then I dreamed of someday having a large theatrical Illusion Show in the tradition of the Great Blackstone, Thurston and Doug Henning. Realizing this dream, of course, was incredibly difficult, and it took over 30 years! Thousands of dollars were spent on props. Assistants had to be hired and trained, a theatre director was hired to take the show to a higher level and endless rehearsals were scheduled. It was all well worth it though, and I'm very proud of the show we've created. I have an absolute blast each and every time we perform it. I get to make people appear, disappear, float in mid-air….how cool is that?!
To keep my passion for being a magician, I am always working on new and wonderful illusions. At our upcoming Houston show at The Hobby Center for The Performing Arts (May 28-29), I am debuting an original illusion that's been in development for several years. Inventing new magic is a real challenge as so many great illusions have been created in the great history of magic. My new illusion is a twist on a classic. It's called "The Miller Self-Sawing." That's right, I am going to saw myself in half! It looks amazing, and I'm really proud of it. Hey, worst case scenario I can be in two places at once! I hope to present this illusion at my appearance at HMNS in August as well.
By the way, I am often asked if I can make a person's husband, wife or kids disappear. I am pleased to announce my Summer 2010 Special: for every relative I make disappear, you get the second relative absolutely free!
How much do you know about magic? It's time to see through the illusion! The Magic! exhibit is now open at HMNS; check out a preview of what's in store at the video below. Throughout the run of the exhibit, check back here for exclusive videos and descriptions of the unique items on display


text: .Dd April 5, 2007 .Dt CC_crypto 3cc .Os .Sh NAME .Nm Common Crypto .Nd libSystem digest library .Sh DESCRIPTION The libSystem \fBCommon Crypto\fR library implements a wide range of cryptographic algorithms used in various Internet standards. The services provided by this library are used by the CDSA implementations of \s-1SSL\s0, \s-1TLS\s0 and S/MIME. .Sh OVERVIEW \&\fBlibSystem\fR contains the Common Crypto collection of algorithms. Digest and encryption algorithms contained in this library are optimized for speed. The algorithms have been collected from various sources and chosen for their performance characteristics. Since libSystem is linked into all executables it is preferable for applications to use these functions rather than implementing their own versions. .Sh NOTES To use the digest functions with existing code which uses the corresponding openssl functions, #define the symbol COMMON_DIGEST_FOR_OPENSSL in your client code (BEFORE including .In CommonCrypto/CommonDigest.h ). .Pp You can *NOT* mix and match functions operating on a given data type from the two implementations; i.e., if you do a .Fn CC_MD5_Init on a .Ft CC_MD5_CTX object, do not assume that you can do an openssl-style .Fn MD5_Update on that same context. .Pp The interfaces to the encryption and HMAC algorithms have a calling interface that is different from that provided by OpenSSL. .Sh HISTORY The Common Crypto collection of functions started to become available in OS X 10.4 and later. .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr CC_MD5 3cc , .Xr CC_SHA 3cc , .Xr CCHmac 3cc , .Xr CCCryptor 3cc

subset: commoncrawl


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濫交守門員 3
Abella Danger , Kristina Rose , Jill Kassidy , James Avalon , Whitney Wright
Swingers Getaway Vol. 3 When Abella catches the man next door having an affair with a strange woman, definitely NOT his wife, she's both shocked and aroused. She decides to tell the man's wife, a friend of hers, about his illicit affair. But she laughs it off saying she knows all about it. They have a unique sexual life style. They enjoy swapping partners with other equally libertine couples. Intrigued, she discusses it with her own husband, Chad and discovers he'd had thoughts about it, and a colleague of his, who's married to a beautiful young woman, even approached him about it. Now intrigued, Abella says she's willing to give it a try, and discovers she gets off on the idea of cheating with permission.


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10 User Reviews of Carnival Magic Cruise Ship
We traveled this October 2014 on Carnival Magic and like a dummy I did not lock up my costume jewelry thinking it was only valuable to me. They were between 23 to 70 years old. Now I admit I am really stupid but had them buried in a rather tall bag. Well when I got home 4 necklaces, a ring and some others items I probably do not know about were missing. They were in a cardboard box and a tie jewelry bag. The cruise line said that if the items are not found in 30 days they will be deemed "lost" and it is my word against theirs that I even had these items. In one of the pictures taken on the ship I was wearing one of the "lost" necklaces. My opinion is that the Carnival Staff knows of this policy so it is very easy to have items deemed "lost". Spread the word that Carnival Cruise Lines Policies make it easier for items to "lost" and be sure to lock up every item no matter how valuable they are.......
We travelled on the Carnival Magic July 7-14,2013. We were not impressed at all because of the mediocre service from the cabin to the dining room. When we first arrived at our cabin it had trash from the previous guest. If questions were brought to guest services, there was an I don't care attitude.
The head waiter at out table for dinner was not pleasant. He rushed us to order and we felt as if we were annoying him if we needed service. The assistant waiters were great.The food was food until Wednesday night. That is when is went downhill. Nothing tasted delicious.
Our children did enjoy the water park.it was great.
The two shows that we were able to see we're just okay. Other shows on the ship were in the club areas that could not accommodate all those that wanted to attend. So we were told to come back at the next showing, but the other thousands of people that were turned away would also try to return, so we gave up.
I was waiting for an announcement for the chocolate buffet, but it never came. My daughter over heardother passengers talking about it and that was the only way we knew about it.
Another thing that was not advertised was lunch in the Italian restaurant on Lido deck. We thought we had to pay extra for that, but again we heard other guest discussing how they ate free for lunch each day there.
I will say that the excursions to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel were fantastic. Overall the service, food and accommodations was not worth what we paid for this cruise.
Our family will not be traveling on the Carnival Magic ever again. When the Carnival Conquest sailed from Galveston, service and food was excellent.
Cruise first day was 01/01/2012. I put 12/31/2011 as the start date because 2012 was not listed as an option.
I have cruised 23 times, this being number 13 with Carnival. I am a Platinum Past Guest with Carnival and Royal Caribbean.
As a VIP (Platinum), embarkation was fast and easy as registration was quick and the long lines were avoided.
My room was on floor 6 above the Ocean Plaza, but I felt like my room was in Ocean Plaza when there was live music playing there. Apparently there is no type of insulation or acoustic barrier between floors 5 and 6 in that area. Other than that, the room was nice but nothing special and the bathroom was the same as on most other Carnival ships. The TV channel selections left a lot to be desired. There were no sports channels (ESPN, etc) as there were in the bars with televisions. So if you wanted to watch sports you had to go to a bar. The room stewards were very friendly and did an excellent job.
The Lido dining area was about the same as other Carnival ships, with along buffet line instead of separate areas like on other cruise line ships where salads, breads, entrees, etc are separate. The food was not as good as expected. Replenishment of foods was slow at times and you had to wait.
The waiter and assistants in the Southern Lights dining room did a great job but the food was nothing special. On most cruises, the Maitre D sings, however in this dining room we had a singer trying to be a Maitre D. I don't know why he was there other than to sing as the rules/restrictions on clothing were not being enforced and he never came near our dining area. On casual dining nights, baseball caps could be seen in the dining room, with 3 men at the same table with baseball caps on every casual dining night. On formal night, men with jeans and sandals were observed. Carnival should either enforce the dress codes/restrictions or eliminate them.
The food and service in the Cucina Del Capitano was very good. The extra charge has been raised from $10 to $12.
The Pizzeria service was very slow in the late evenings with long waits for pizza as none was prepared.
There never seemed to be deck chairs/loungers available, while a great number of them were occupied only by towels. Reserving of deck chairs was not enforced as some people left a towel on their chair/lounger and were gone for 60 minutes or longer to eat, etc. There was no Caribbean/calypso music played in the pool area even though this was a Caribbean cruise. No bands played in the pool area and it would have been nice to hear music with steel drums or other type of band music instead of DJ crap.
The Red Frog Pub was a good addition, their signature beer is good and the bartenders were friendly.
The Casino staff wasn't very friendly and drink service become very slow after becoming an "ON US" customer.
The shows were nothing exceptional as compared to other Carnival cruises and cruise lines.
Arriving back at the ship on a tender in Grand Cayman took a long time as a previous tender was still unloading passengers because there was only a single scanner to process everyone through and passengers were prevented from leaving the tender as the lines waiting to be scanned were too long for the waiting area on the ship. Passengers were stopped a few times from leaving our tender until the lines shortened up inside the ship.
The ship was late arriving back at port due to dense fog which closed the port down. As a VIP, I was instructed to go to the Northern Lights dining room to wait for disembarkation. There were no people directing and/or signs designating which area was for VIP's, self assist passengers, others, etc in the dining room, which was a zoo. Disembarking was a disaster and took more than an hour after leaving the ship to retrieve luggage. I was one of the first off the ship as a VIP (Platinum) in category Group 1. While waiting for Group 1 luggage to be delivered to the luggage pickup area, I observed that luggage for groups 12, 22, 25, 26, etc was being brought to the area before Group 1. When we were finally able to retrieve our luggage, processing through customs was fairly quick.
Waiting for a cab took another hour or more as there were no cabs waiting in line and they were arriving one at a time every 5-10 minutes. We finally left the port area about 3:00 PM which is 5-6 hours later than when we left from previous cruises there. Although much of that time was related to the fog, the 2 hours for retrieving luggage and getting a cab could have been 15 minutes or less if properly handled.
Again, I was one of the first to retrieve luggage and to get a cab. I'm sure it was even worse for the 3,000+ passengers who followed.
October 2015 will be my 4th time on this ship. I love it!!
I got engaged on this ship! Married 7 months later and I could be more pleased with this ship and it's staff!!!
First let me lead off by explaining that we took our first cruise in 1991. I'm not sure how many cruises we've been on but it exceeds twenty. We have had 5 cruises with Carnival. I am always amazed by people who find so many negative issues on a cruise and then write a negative review. I usually conclude they are just negative people as I have always enjoyed my cruises, but some are better than others. I could never imagine writing a negative review, until I took a cruise on the Carnival Magic into the Western Caribbean.
When we departed Galveston It was only 45 degrees, windy and very cold. The heater in the room didn't work but the AC had the room at about 50 bone chilling degrees. I called customer services and waited 25 minutes with no answer (I attempted to call them on four other occasions just out of curiosity and never got an answer. Finally I concluded the phone didn't work.). I found our room steward who got a maintenance person to come. He couldn't fix it so he turned off the AC and just lefton the ventilation. I still had to stuff a towel in the vent so we didn't freeze. It was allegedly fixed but we felt the thermostat was only cosmetic and never worked. I continued to use a towel to control air flow out of the vent. On the way home we used the hair dryer to heat the room. In talking with other passengers we found several with HVAC problems. Repeated attempts to call customer service went unanswered. Attempts to dial "O" for the operator yielded no ring and therefore no answer )Out-of order phone).
We enjoy the shows and entertainment on cruise ships and were in shock on the third night (A sea night) when there was no show. Instead of a show, the dancers taught passengers three dances and then held a dance off. We watched because there was nothing else to do. Actually we were chuckling that somebody from Carnival thought this was what passed for entertainment. On the fourth night there was only one show which was held at 10:00 pm. On the night of their "big show" they opened the doors twenty minutes before show-time. People began lining up at 40 minutes before. There was no organization for the lines and it could have been a disaster given the crowding and line cutting that took place. It was obvious that Carnival had no idea how to manage a crowd. It was totally disorganized and tense. People were getting irritated at each other and one wrong word could have resulted in a real mess.
On our first port stop we had horrible weather with high winds an torrential winds. Many tours were cancelled and there was little to do in Mahogany Bay forcing many people back on the ship. We tried to eat at 1:00 pm and there was no place to sit. Once we found a table I observed several tables that were not cleaned-up for 20 minutes. The buffet was under-staffed, it appeared they never adjusted the staffing to compensate for the over-whelming extra demand. It appeared that under-staffing was a theme for this ship. Returning to the ship after being in Cozumel we decided to get a piece of pizza to tide us over until dinner. The was only one person making and serving pizza. I was the sixth person in line and it took over 15 minutes. It appeared he was trying to custom make pizza's rather than mass produce. There needed to be 2-3 people to meet the crunch.
Even the entertainment staff was short. On Celebrity or RCL they would have had two male and two female singers but Carnival had only two vocalists. Even the show band had only six instrumentalists. Overall Carnival seems to be short staffing to try and milk as much profit as possible. This was also illustrated by the actions of Carnival during our torrential rains. Carnival was right there with poncho's to serve the passengers but of course they made them available for a modest fee. How many people bring poncho's on a Caribbean cruise? Everything on a cruise is to make a profit, but this bordered on ridiculous.
The buffet was horribly organized. No matter when we went we had to hunt for a table and wait in long lines. Nothing is worse than standing in long slow lines while you are trying to relax on vacation. Carnival really needs to study how RCL sets up their buffet to minimize lines and crowding. Given the size of the Carnival Magic the food stations were poorly organized. In several cases we gave up on the long waits and slow lines and just ate what we could get to.
Our dining room service was excellent. Tatianna was our head waitperson and was a good as any we have ever experienced. Unfortunately the food offered by Carnival has taken a dramatic downward spiral. Carnival was once the best at sea. We always looked forward to "Lobster Night." We remember having the waiters bring extra lobsters around to keep everyone happy. This year it was "lobster and shrimp." It was hard to tell what was smaller. The lobster could not have been more than three ounces and it was tough. The selections for dinner were uninspired and lacked the creativity from previous years. We have seen a decrease in overall food quality on cruise ships over the past 10 years, but nothing like the slide we've seen on Carnival.
Carnival seems to have engaged in a race to the bottom of the cruise industry. Formal night is now "cruise elegant" which is less formal than most casual Fridays at work. Many men wore golf shirts to the "cruise elegant" dinner. Norwegian Cruise Lines has given up on Formal Night, Carnival should just give up too. I have many fond memories of past Carnival cruises, but this cruise will be my last with them. I will definitely seek cruises with RCL, Holland American, and Celebrity who seem to be better managed. I hope in future years Carnival can get it back together.
The Cruise itself was o.k. we had a pretty good time. The food was really not all that good or fresh for that. Our room attendant was PERFECT and our formal dinning team with Arsana was Fabulous. What happened on the cruise and during will blow your socks off. This type of SCAM should be put on AMERICAN GREED!
On the second day of our cruise, mind you we had just been on one full day with the first day having to give Carnival in Galveston our Credit Card numbers to allocate them with your Sail and Sign card. On the second FULL day of our cruise we went to the Spotlight lounge for a little Comedy and we ordered a drink. Well the lady comes back and says that our card is NOT working that I will have to go to Guest Services (CON ARTIST services) and fix the mess up.
So after the Comedy I go and I happen to get the only person that is working at Guest Services and I let her know that my Sail and Sign card the card that you swipe for EVERYTHING,is not working and it was just working 24 hours ago, when I boarded this ship. She writes my Credit Card number down and swipes it in their little machine and states all is well, that she was not sure what happened with my card.
Well, we are at Sea for two days so on the Fourth day of the cruise we are in Jamaica and when we get their we turn our phones on, because our children are going one way and we are going another. So we had set up with ATT to have Texting service only in Jamaica. When I turn my phone on, I noticed there were 7 missed calls. I could not call them back because of the expense, so they would have to wait. So we did our excursions and got back on the Ship.
Day five in Caymen Islands we purchased some items, paying cash and used another credit card that we had called letting them know we would be in Caymen Islands, Jamaica, and Mexico. We get back on ship and sail away. Day 6 we are in Mexico, and we tried to use our Credit Card the same one we had put on our sail and sign card on the ship and they told us it was declined. We knew it could not be because we have a 25,000 limit and we knew we were NO WHERE NEAR THAT!!! So we had to use cash.
Last day at sea and the day before we get home and we signed up for the Carnival Card to earn points. Thank the Lord we did, because we would have been denied with our other card, because unannounced to us it had been closed due to unauthorized usage in Canada. (I wonder who the guest service person knows in Canada?) So we get off when we dock in Galveston and we get to our car and I immediately call our Credit Card Company and research our usage and History. We were told that on September 3, the day after the card would NOT work for us on the ship there were purchases made for Gas in Canada and others in Canada and then they looked up where we had called stating we would be in Cayman, Jamaica, Mexico so the Credit Card Company knew it was fraud and they closed it and it would be up to two weeks before we would receive another one.
AHHHH! we do everything with that card. So we attempt to write a letter and an email and let Carnival know what has occurred and all they could say was, call the authorities where we live and they will cooperate with everything. Well if any of you know when you get your card stolen the people who are using it, are sure not going to be going to the same gas station and getting gas and smokes, drinks etc on an everyday basis. They are long gone using our card or at least trying to.
So I write CArnival back saying the fraud Dept with our Credit Card has closed the account to stop the hemorrhaging and we will have to once the statement comes in, just let them know which ones are ours and which ones are the thieves who got our card numbers along with all codes from the only person that had it in their hands while it was out of ours in 15 seconds. The Con Artist Guest Service Person. Needs more money so she is Selling Credit CArd numbers to her friends back home. AHHHHHHHHHHH and Carnival I Care Dept. can only write a letter saying Call the police and we will talk to anyone we need to.
Well the new CEO is names Arnold Donald who took over Micky Arison's position after being the CEO for over 30 years after his father BUILT this Company, however there was the Triumph that went up in flames, then the other ship that had to have Coast Guard go help them home with all the clients, I say he went out with a BANG!!!!
So do you trust Carnival's employees well, if you want. Oh, the lady St. Ahmad that wrote me the letter said they have extensive guidelines to make sure their guest sensitive information is not stolen. I had to remind her that I am sure that Enron had guidelines for people NOT to steal from their employees and look what happen? Someone got greedy as in this case! I also had to let her know that you can go online and see all the people who buy these machines to make their own Credit cards that match what you and I are carrying right now in our wallets and purses. All the thieves need is some particular numbers and secure numbers on the back. and WHOLA!!!
This was our first cruise. We were on the Carnival Triumph. We had a lot of fun on both aboard the ship and the excursions. We went with several other couples, and one of the couples were Platinum members so we had access to a lot of information first time cruisers would not have had without a lot of research!
The food was wonderful. Due to the issues the ship had, it has been refit with the "2.0 upgrades". The dining room and staff were wonderful. The food was awesome. The chocolate melting cake was delicious (it was hard to try other deserts)! The ice cream cafe was wonderful. The Casino was a lot of fun. They had table games (poker, blackjack, etc...) as well as a wide variety of slot machines from penny on up. The Lido deck was one big buffet. The diet when to heck in a handbag on this ship.
The staff members on the ship are from all over the world. English is not their first language and you might not be able to get a lot of help from those not directly in customerservice.
We attended several shows and all were very well produced. The adult comedy was hilarious. The main auditorium, which can seat several hundred people, was well laid out.
The only real complaint I can say about the ship is it is not handicap friendly (I suspect this is true of all cruise lines). My girlfriend hurt herself and had to use a wheel chair towards the end of the trip and there were a lot of places we could no longer access. Unless you have the trip insurance, you will have to pay to rent a chair.
If you want your picture taken, then this is the ship for you! They were everywhere (This also got to be annoying after a while).
Drinks are a bit pricey so be careful (but they are good!) If you drink a lot of soft drinks, get the soda card. I will be taking more cruises with Carnival!
Holiday Cruises? Think Twice!
My family and I just returned from a Western Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Magic out of Galveston. We sailed from Dec. 30-Jan. 6. My husband, daughter and I have been on eight or more cruises. We thoroughly enjoy the cruising experience…everything from the food to the activities to the ports of call. We have chosen Carnival in the past because of its children's activities. Our daughter is an only child and absolutely loves mixing and mingling with other kids her age in the Circle C. Carnival is the fun ship, after all! We really do believe that a cruise vacation is a good value for our money. This time, we brought along five extended family members as a treat. So…if one follows the price of cruises, one knows that holiday cruises can be expensive.
Just as I've always remarked to my spouse, I'd rather not fly during Thanksgiving or Christmas. As it turns out, embarking on a cruise at this very busy holiday time was not the best of ideas, either! One morning I heard the cruise director state that there were about 4600 guests aboard. Notcrew, only guests. Every cabin must have been filled to capacity (three or four or more). I honestly believe that the crew was overwhelmed. Dinner service was off, lines were longer, activities were not as varied, the theater shows were not performed well. One crew member told me that the three weeks prior to my cruise had been exceptionally busy.
My husband and I especially enjoy the outdoor theater screen. Out of the seven evenings, there were just two that allowed for movies. Other nights were devoted to football…Time of year for Bowl games! (Get why I'm saying think twice?) I am a fan of football to be sure, but these same games were broadcast in cabins and at least one bar area. So, we were a little disappointed not to have watched more movies. New Year's Eve was especially busy after the first theater show. We reasoned that every passenger wanted to eat early because the line for anytime dining was so long that we had to think of eating at the buffet upstairs. It was just a crushing scene of people; no organization to the "line" and unlike anything we'd experienced even on a Spring Break cruise.
I was disappointed in the types of activities on this cruise. In a nutshell, if one is a trivia enthusiast, then one has plenty of opportunity to nurture that hobby! I like trivia games too, but it just seemed like overkill. The standard activities like Bingo, art auctions, sports games, etc., are alive and well. In Carnival's defense, however, I must comment that on our rainy Saturday there were plenty of board games and card games to keep people busy. In fact, as I walked the ship on that day, just about everyone was involved in some type of game.
As stated above, my husband and I have cruised many times.In fact, we just sailed the Carnival Triumph out of Galveston in August and could not have had a better time. We've been on RC, Holland America, Princess, Carnival and Celebrity. I've never felt the need to write a review. I felt especially compelled this time around because of our experience. This New Year's Eve cruise is one we'd rather forget. We have come away thinking that we wasted our money. Service was not up to standard and the amount of people just overwhelmed us. We will cruise Carnival again, but we'll choose a better time of year. Lesson learned!
This is more a "diary" I kept rather than a review. We all have our own opinions and I will let you make your own. I will say that despite the shortcomings, we had a great time. Like everyone else in this world, we adapt to our circumstances and do not let bad things get us down. That does not mean those things did not happen or that they should be excused though. This certainly isn't perfect and all inclusive, but was what I chose to write at the time.
Day 1: In the morning we had breakfast at the motel. We confirmed our arrangements to leave the car there and get Discount Cruise Parking to pick us up at the motel and take us to the terminal, along with a trip back upon our return. The cost for this was $20. They took us right to the front of the Carnival Magic, who arrived at the port early in the morning. We started toward the entry area and found where to drop off our main bags and left them. We continued walking and found a separate entry doorfor VIP's that prevented us from having to go all the way to the end. Inside this door was a trail with few people that led to the room where VIP cruises are checked in. After a very easy check in we were sent on our way, without having to wait in zones like everyone else to get our picture taken for the card and sent to board the ship. The whole process took about 30 minutes and we were on board at 11:30.
We relaxed for a while before heading to the Lido deck for lunch. There are several different varieties to choose from. The same obnoxious people who stand in the walkway, stop for no reason, cut in front of you, crowd you in line, take their sweet time, etc. that are on every cruise were on this one. With 3700 people on the ship, that can't be good. I eventually found somewhere to get a salad, coleslaw, and chicken marsala to call lunch.
Elevators are typical of a Carnival ship. There is no logic to where and when they stop. Everyone has caught on early to just get on one and ride it out whether it is going the direction you want to go or not. I've never seen a whole load of people who want to go up get on an elevator that goes down and back up above the original floor without anyone getting off until that point. This makes every time you need to use the elevator a chore. Not easy to use the stairs with everything so spaced out on the ship.
After lunch we were able to get into the room. There was a bottle of wine along with a notice we would be getting drink and photo coupons from Bon Voyage, courtesy of the casino. We also got a plate of 6 double dipped chocolate covered strawberries from them this afternoon. We spent the afternoon getting familiar with the ship, particularly the casino. Being a new ship, this casino has all newer slot machines, most of which require at least a quarter to play. That should be interesting.
The room was the typical small inside cabin. The television actually is more user friendly than before…it shows exactly what channel is showing, and it is easy to check menus, account charges and other information. The muster drill was held in inside areas around the ship. We were in the main theatre…they noted about 1,000 people were meeting in that location. It is about time Carnival stepped up from the lunacy of having it on the outside walking areas.
We went to dinner and after a short wait were led to our table. We were presented our drink tickets (8!) and two $15 off photo coupons at our table. I had a pasta dish for a starter and sweet and sour shrimp for the entre. Chocolate melting cake for dessert. We tried the "tofu steak" on the side…pretty gross stuff. Spent the rest of the evening in the shops and casino. I went to a Superstar Live karaoke type show (good) and the welcome aboard show (bad) for about 10 minutes before calling it a night.
Day 2: Went to the Lido deck for a lackluster breakfast. My omelet was pretty good, but the powdered eggs and slimy bacon wasn't worth much. Used some of the eggs and ham to make a sandwich and went with that. Omelets take too long to make…seems like the heating plates are not as hot as they should be. The cook even seemed impatient, using the time to do some other tasks behind the counter as they were cooking…this resulted in burning my wife's omelet. There were at least ten people waiting for an omelet…my first experience of the long lines to come. Relaxed a bit in the casino and went to work out in the gym before lunch. They no longer use lockers with keys, but instead have a bank of 16 lockers with cheap plastic knobs and light metal mechanisms. Many of the lockers do not work properly, from the plastic knobs being stripped to the metal catches being bent. One three foot bench sits in front of the lockers that apparently is supposed to serve 16 people. There are two nice large showers, but otherwise, the locker room is insufficient for its needs. Carnival has bigger locker rooms on smaller ships. Went to Cucina del Capitano for lunch. They offer a free pasta bar for lunch. Very good food, I had linguini with meat sauce, Italian sausage, and chicken, and some lasagna that had roast beef for the meat. Relaxed a while before going to the cabin crawl arranged by our Facebook group. When we returned to the room, a bottle of wine and a plate of double dipped chocolate covered strawberries were waiting for us. Someone special sent these to us. Yummy! Shortly before dinner, the gross "crepes" provided to Platinum guests were delivered. We ate one piece of shrimp and two small pieces of bread, and some unidentified fruit before throwing the rest away. What is it with the raw fish anyway…if Carnival thinks that is this popular a dish, they need to invest in a market study. Dinner was a pasta dish for a starter and pork ribs for the entrée. Went to the show of Marcus Monroe, a "comedy juggler". So so.
Day 3: Went to the Lido for breakfast to find the same long lines. Settled for another egg sandwich for breakfast. We spotted a "steak and egg" that looked pretty good, but the steak was rarer than rare. More good food in the trash if they can't cook it right. Had my morning workout at the gym. We had lunch at the Oceanside BBQ on the 5th deck. Another long line for an outdoor cookout that sent smoke to all the balconies above it. I had small thick burgers and soft chicken tacos. Many people tried to take up the small seating area near the grille, some placing their garbage on the table to "save" it. There are plenty of better places to eat inside and on the other side of the ship though. Only thing close to drink was soft and hard drinks for sale at the "temporary bar" they put out there. I went to the one inside and got water. Seems like a dumb place for a cookout…common sense says put it on Lido. I went to the cruise group meet and mingle. This cruise group was the best planned one I have ever been a part of, having set up events on board and excursions on land. In mid afternoon, I noticed less than 10 people in the burrito bar for the first time and took advantage of that even if I wasn't hungry. Very nice selection of items to put in the burrito. One strange thing is you tell them of your choice of a wheat or jalapeno tortilla, and they walk to an area behind them, grab a tortilla and put it in a bin, apparently heating it up. This takes about a minute, so ten minutes of every line of ten people is spent on this task alone. They fill the tortilla with what you tell them, roll it up, and put it in a plastic basket with tortilla chips. Would be nice to have some queso there for them…oh well. Burrito was delicious. There was a pretty sorry menu at the restaurant tonight so we went to the Lido area for the first time for dinner. Surprisingly few people were there – and they apparently expected it, using only one main food serving area, resulting in still another long, slow line. We went to the deli in back and found few people and quick service. My Turkey on a Country Roll sandwich was delicious as always. There is actually no show tonight. They are having what appears to be some dance class with the band and Carnival Magic Dancers, where "lucky contestants will be chosen to have one on one training with a Carnival Magic Dancer and to perform in our Carnival Legends Production". What a rip. There will be a beach party at 10 on Lido.
Day 4 – Jamaica – Docking was delayed 2 hours due to the wind. We shopped the pier shops including a few that were open in the shopping center next to the pier. This is the first time we have noticed anything open in this area. Only got a few drinks. We had breakfast in the restaurant and I got an omelet and eggs benedict without having to endure the lines. We went to the Burrito Bar for lunch, the line being much shorter with everyone off the ship. Couldn't find anything better than the gourmet burger in the restaurant for dinner. I don't believe it was 8 oz as advertised, and they forgot the guacamole. The show was a boring magician act, although some of the stuff he did was pretty good. Magicians nowadays put so much fluff, lights, and music in their shows very little of what they do is actually a magic performance.
Day 5 – Skipped Port – The winds in Grand Cayman did not allow safe operation of the tenders so the port authority closed the port. They supposedly considered another area of the island but decided not to do that either. They said that spending the day at sea would allow us to arrive at Cozumel an hour early…interesting math there. Oh well. Breakfast in the buffet, waiting in line for an omelet. The guy was fiddling with the plug and knobs on one burner, which apparently had quit operating altogether. Still pretty slow getting these out. I still think they are not heating properly. We had lunch in the Lido deck – nothing special there. At dinner in the restaurant, they put us in about the worst table available, next to two food stands next to the side door in and out of the restaurant. Very entertaining as we watched them drop our starter lasagnas on the floor, requiring them to reorder. They also gave us two different dessert menus. We both had filet mignon with contort ribs, which was ok, though they indicated our order preference of "well done" actually meant we wanted them "burnt throughout". Great. The show was an initial performance of a bunch of 70's music…a day early due to not stopping into the port where the Motown guy was flying into. They moved that show to tomorrow. The performance was pretty good and a lot went into the stage sets and costumes. They had in interesting event in the 3rd floor lobby. This is an atrium to the top where they put a snow machine at the top. Turning this on sprayed "snow" in the air to flow down to the bottom, creating a nice winter scene. This area is one of the music areas provided that allow one to just relax, read, or do nothing.
Day 6 – Cozumel – Ship arrived shortly after 9. We didn't even fool with a real breakfast today, just getting some French toast and waffles in the line by the pool. Got off the ship for a couple of hours. They actually had some lounge chairs on a sandy area where we could relax for a while on a make believe beach. An area was set up for massages as well. We didn't take advantage of them, but it was nice to see more than just the cruise sponsored shops on the pier. We got a salad for lunch on Lido and relaxed in the room for the afternoon. The restaurant has nothing special so we skipped dressing up for formal night. I had a salad and steak in Lido. The show for the night was the Motown one that was supposed to be the night before. He was ok, but put a lot of fluff in the show, wasting time bringing people on stage to "dance" to whatever it was he was singing. Among the "Motown Classics" he sang was Twisting the Night Away, Friends in Low Places, Sweet Home Alabama, and Rocky Mountain High…what a joke. He didn't have 45 minutes of Motown material for both shows combined. The later one had a couple of different songs as promised, but the same old BS wasting time he should have been singing. Saw our first bit of seat saving stupidity when after we took the time to go downstairs to the third row on the side, some idiot laid down across the bench saying it was all saved. This kind of crap is what happens when rules are not enforced. Carnival might as well start including "seat saved" pages with the electronic documents that we can all print off and use to save seats. It would have saved us the effort going for them this time. In between the shows, I went to the comedy club for a little R-rated comedy – the guy was a riot.
Day 7 – Sea Day – Breakfast in Lido with powdered eggs, bacon and sausage which I made a sandwich with. There was also a small dish labeled "Eggs, sausage, and fries" that was mostly made up of onions with some fries and barely any sausage and egg. They seem to be trying to invent different varieties of Eggs Benedict, using raw fish, rare steak, and now sausage, failing miserably. Room steward did not bother to clean our room this morning. We called about it and someone showed up about 3 pm claiming they would do it now…unfortunately we had all our clothes out packing, and could not allow it at that time. They did do the evening cleaning, but skipping the morning one when they usually provide the customs forms and disembarkment information meant we did not have it and had to go searching on the third floor to get it. Wanting to try the Wok dishes at least once this week, I went about 2:10 to find about 10 people in line in front of me. It took almost an hour to serve them and me. Lines were so slow people were snacking on the vegetables directly from the dishes in the line. Some of us got enough for two people so our family members would not have to endure the line. (This does not take additional time to cook in the wok). They were trying to put the food in two small bowls from the pan. They had no large trays that would have been perfect for the task, and of course there were none at the beginning of the wok lines. Some people went clear to the back of the ship where some were located and brought them back for several of us to use. Lines at this station were long all week. We went to dinner in the restaurant where I had frog legs and the Bacon Mac & Cheese…ho hum. We spent the rest of the time at the comedy club and the casino before calling it a night. Breakfast starts at 5am with Priority disembarkment scheduled for 7:45. They are kicking us off the ship earlier and earlier every time.
Day 8 – Kicked off the Ship – Shorter lines in Lido allowed me to get an omlet today. Add a little sausage and potatos and our final meal on the ship is done. Went back to the room and relaxed until 7:00 when we went to the restaurant to be escorted to the luggage area with other Platinum guests. As it was expected to happen at 7:45, I started to boot up my computer to kill some time. Soon everyone was getting up to leave. We heard no announcement about what was going on, so we followed the group assuming it was the Platinum cruisers that were leaving. Turned out this was the self assist group that was walking off. No luggage was yet placed in their areas, and we would have to wait off to the side before it is available. This occurred at around 8:00 am. So now we see why they do not normally let us off the ship until a certain time, and why you must carry ALL your luggage to self assist. It was interesting seeing the luggage being brought in and unloaded by staff and the porters. I always thought the porters were just a bunch of money grubbing bums preying on their catch. The wife went to get our pieces of luggage while I guarded those we carried off the ship and went to meet the wizard. He briefly looked over our passports and the customs form and sent up on our way. We had a short wait for the van from Discount Cruise Parking who loaded up the luggage and dropped us off at the Hotel.
The theatre is no bigger than the ones used for smaller ships. This makes it difficult to get ANY seat, much less a good one, unless you get there at least 30 minutes early. This is aggravated by holding bingo games before every show, as they do not clear out the theatre after the game to allow fair game at the seats.
I bet 90% of the announcements on the ship go unheard as you generally cannot hear them in the rooms. There should be a way to hear them directly in the room, either by a switch allow guests to turn on the speakers in the room or on one of the tv channels. As is, the only reason to make announcements that few hear are to cover their butts, so they can say they made them if something bad happens.
There seem to be the exact same number of elevators on this ship as there are on smaller ships, making it difficult to move the increased number of people. It was also noticed not all elevators were usable for whatever reason, by the big "X" noted on the display quite frequently. As usual, they do not stop on all floors where the buttons have been pushed, and full elevators seemingly stop on every floor only to have waiting guests run to an opening elevator and unable to get on. It would also seem that the banks of elevators that have an adjacent bank of atrium elevators could be linked together on the same buttons instead of guests having to push both. Carnival should seek the advice of large business owners who depend on having people where they need to be efficiently to make a profit to retrofit these elevators.
Lines for the omletes, burritos, and wok are excessive for the area they are in. These lines block access across the ship and to other food areas.
An outdoor barbeque on the 5th floor on the side of the ship with smoke going up the ship in the path of a bunch of balconies??? Yeah, that was a great idea. (NOT!)
Hi friends! Last month the wife and I enjoyed a pleasant cruise on the Carnival Magic! Lots of our old friends were on board which made it even a grander time for all.
The musical group, Maroon 5, were featured guests and performers the night before our cruise began and Carnival Cruse Director John Heald was in attendence to M/C the ceromonies and joined us onboard for the sailing. As most of you know, it is never a dull moment with John around...
Our cruise was the first cruise for the Magic from a USA port and we are PROUD that Galveston was chosen as her home port. Texas will stand tall for her always! The cruise was a 6 day affair that was to go to Costa Maya and then to Cozumel. The wife and I were looking forward to visiting Costa Maya as we went there in 2004 aboard the Grand Princess on her first trip from Galveston. But, alas... it was not to be on this trip as the good ship was still suffering from problems with her stern thrusters from an earlier outing. The trip ended upgoing to Progresso for an overnight stay and then to Cozumel. A HUGE... did I say huge, disappointment.
The Carnival Magic is very well laid out and easy to manuver through. We chose an inside cabin but were located directly over the casino. I said to myself late one night as I tried to sleep... "Self! Do NOT ever choose a stateroom over the casino again!" You would think that someone like me, with 13 cruises on my ledger, would have known better. But... We were easily whisked away to either show rooms, the restaurants, and the lido areas. Even though the ship had 4400 guests onboard it never, ever felt crowded! Being allergic to cigarette smoke, our excursions through the casino were fine because the smoke was not an issue. The Red Frog was fun as were all of the distractions. The wet area was amazing with so many different gizmos and attractions. The ropes course was a bit tough for this old man but fun. The food was excellent everywhere and the staff were fabulous. We chose to sleep in each morning and were never bothered by a knock at the door by our room steward.
Overall, the ship is a success to us and we will be on here again soon. I just hope that thruster thing is fixed by then.


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Great, funny, easy read! A good clean who done it. I hope there will be more books in this series.
Great fun easy read! Funny, suspenseful and endearing. A good clean who done it with no blood and guts.
Very quick read. I spent most of my time wondering how she could be managing a booth when she seemed to only be in it about 5 minutes a day. Not a mystery, not a romance, but cute enough.
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Why do atheists inspire such hatred?
The question, "Why do atheists inspire such hatred?" was the on-screen title of a televised discussion segment[1] hosted by Paula Zahn, which aired on CNN on Jan 31, 2007. The discussion followed a prerecorded piece[2] about two atheist families who say they were discriminated against because of their beliefs (or lack thereof).
The segment[edit]
The panelists, all of whom were theists (two Christians and a Jew), included:
- Karen Hunter, identified as a "Pulitzer Prize winner"
- Debbie Schlussel, "Atty. & conservative columnist"
- Steven A. Smith, "ESPN analyst"
The questions asked by Zahn in the segment were:
- So, do you think atheists should keep their religious beliefs secret?
- Are any of you [panelists] going to defend them here tonight?
- What happened to "love thy neighbor" and that we should able to practice free speech?
- How do you believe they [atheists] are imposing their beliefs?
- When you look at the statistics that atheists are the most hated of all the minorities, above gays... [Okay, not a question, but a comment. All the panelists seemed not to believe the statistics were accurate.]
- Can you explain to me where you feel the assault, when 97% of the folks in this country claim to worship some kind of god, so you have 1 to 3 percent of this population that doesn't believe in God — who are they hurting?
Although some reasonable statements were made, each panelist raised several points that were clearly incorrect or misleading, or based on various fallacies. The following remarks are paraphrased in many cases, but try to adhere to the intent of the speakers.
- Points raised by Karen Hunter
- Atheists believe in "nothing".
- "When does it end? I mean, we took prayer out of schools. What else do they want?"
- Atheists don't have good PR or marketing.
- If atheists had "Hallmark cards", maybe they wouldn't feel so left out.
- Atheists "need to shut up" and "let people do what they do", and "stay in their [place]" [the actual word used is not intelligible, but the meaning is clear from the context].
- Atheists are "crying wolf all the time".
- Taking prayer out of schools left a lack of morality in schools.
- Prayer was "taken out of schools" because "an atheist went to court". [In fact, regarding the two most relevant Supreme Court cases, Engel v. Vitale involved nine parents of students in New Hyde Park, New York, and the case Abington Township School District v. Schempp was brought by a Unitarian Universalist resident of Abington Township, Pennsylvania.]
- If you don't want prayer in school, then don't pray.
- You can't pick an atheist out of a crowd. [True, but presented as an argument against the statistics that indicate atheists are the "most hated of all the minorities".]
- According to the latest Harris poll, nonbelievers constitute about 8 to 12 percent of the population.
- Atheists aren't hurting anyone, and I don't personally have any problem with atheists.
- Atheists shouldn't "impose on my rights" to have prayer in schools, say the Pledge of Allegiance, or honor my God.
- Points raised by Debbie Schlussel
- Atheists discriminate against those who are religious [more than the other way around].
- America is a Christian nation.
- Atheists don't complain about cases of religion in school settings when the religion being promoted is Islam.
- Atheists are "the intolerant ones".
- Freedom of religion does not mean freedom from religion.
- "Obnoxious" Michael Newdow took his Pledge of Allegiance case to the Supreme Court, while his child [on whose behalf the case was brought] "didn't know what was going on". [In fact, Newdow won in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, so it was the school district who appealed the case to the Supreme Court.]
- In Europe, there are more atheists, they have "lost God", and "the Church is not that strong".
- "Europe is becoming Islamist, it's fast falling, and intolerance is increasing."
- The United States has not become "like Europe" because "we have strong Christians, and because atheists are not strong".
- Points raised by Steven Smith
- You are entitled to believe what you want, as long as you aren't imposing your beliefs on other people. [The first reasonable argument presented in the discussion.]
- Atheists mainly encounter problems in "red states", not in places like New York City.
- Everyone I know loves the Lord.
- Atheists don't "need to shut up" because "there's a whole bunch of people in this world that we can look at and say they need to shut up, and they certainly don't". [An odd argument, to be sure.]
- I don't believe that atheists are the most hated minority group.
- Atheists want to take "under God" out of the Pledge of Allegiance, saying that's a Christian thing, but what if you're a Muslim? What if you're somebody of a different belief? If we're "inclusionary", why don't we include all things? But we're not, and that's my point. [The exact argument being presented here is not clear, but it should be pointed out that while the phrase "under God" was originally supposed to refer to the Christian god, in fact Jews, Muslims and Christians all worship the same god.]
During the latter stages of the discussion, a wall-sized monitor in the background was displaying the question, "Are atheist tactics too militant?"
As pointed out by Matt Dillahunty on The Non-Prophets, instead of "Why do atheists inspire such hatred?", the question should have been phrased, "Why do some people hate atheists?"
Atheism doesn't "inspire" hatred. In fact, atheism doesn't have anything to do with hatred or love, war or peace. It is simply rejection of theist claims.
Some atheists do in fact unleash "hate" against theists, but that is not part of the "teachings" of atheism (mainly because there are no teachings), and such atheists are not acting on their "atheist beliefs" (i.e., the lack of belief in any gods) but upon other beliefs separate from, but perhaps compatible with their atheism.
On the other hand, one could easily turn the question around and ask, "Why does religion inspire such hatred?" This question not only makes more sense than the original one, it has several possible answers:
- Indoctrination
- Religious forms of nationalism
- Divisiveness and sectarianism
- Competition
- Prejudice
Religion has spread a lot of hate not only around the globe, but also down the generations. Not only are atheists targeted, but other theists who do not share the beliefs of other theists. (In fact, the minority theist group is often labeled as "atheists" by the dominant one.)


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In addition to NJ TRANSIT bus service, Private Bus Carriers offer service throughout New Jersey. Below is an alphabetical list of Private Carriers with a listing of areas they serve and contact information.
Community Coach Lines
Hudson Transit Lines/ Short Line
Olympia Trails Bus Co. Inc.
Orange-Newark-Elizabeth Bus Inc. & Independent Bus
Rockland Coaches, Inc. - Red & Tan Lines
Suburban Transit Corp.


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Endless Jewellery Bracelet Green Leather 19cm 12102-19
12102-19 Endless single green leather bracelet in green 19 cm with a stainless steel clasp, simply choose from the endless collection of beautiful charms and personalise your bracelet.
Brand Endless Jewellery
Supplier Model No. 12102-19
Collection NEW
Colour Green
Metal Stainless Steel
Packaging Endless Jewellery
Gender Ladies
We offer Free UK next day delivery on orders over £50, in stock items will be sent the same day when ordered before 4pm. All our items are dispatched using a Royal Mail tracked signed for service.
We offer worldwide shipping, charges will be calculated in the checkout for deliveries outside of the UK.
For more information about our delivery services available, contact us on 01335 453453 or email us at email@example.com.


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Run an Experiment Across Subdomains
Suppose you are running a test on your main page, www.example.com, but your conversion occurs on a subdomain of your site, checkout.example.com. To successfully run your experiment across multiple sub-domains, you need to make a few changes to the experiment code and to the Analytics tracking code.
1. Change Your Experiment Code
For your experiment with multiple sub-domains, you need to add this code just before the experiment code on your original page (replace example.com with your site's domain name):
_udn = "example.com";
Your experiment code will look like this:
_udn = "example.com";
<!-- Analytics Experiment code -->
... Contents of the experiment code ...
<!-- End of Analytics Experiment code -->
2. Change Your Analytics Tracking Code
If you haven't already modified your Analytics tracking code for sub-domain tracking you may want to add the
_setDomainName method to your Analytics tracking code on all pages of your site.
In your experiment code, the value of
_udn should always match the value of
_setDomainName in your Analytics tracking code.
The resulting Analytics tracking script should look like this:
<!-- Analytics Tracking Script -->
<script type="text/javascript">
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXXXXX-X']);
_gaq.push(['_setDomainName', 'example.com']);
(function() {
var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
<!-- End of Analytics Tracking Script -->
3. Alter the Cookie Path
By default, Analytics sets the cookie path to the root level (/). However, if you altered the location of the cookies by setting a sub-directory as the default path for all tracking using
_setCookiePath for your Analytics Tracking script, then you should set the
_utcp global variable with the same cookie path.


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The New York City Charter School Center
charter schools in NYC
students on charter school wait lists
of charter school students are economically disadvantaged
With an intense focus on developing stronger applications for NYS authorization, our Apply Right program will help your planning team get your school vision off the ground.
Discover what goes on inside NYC's public charter schools. Our videos and pictures introduce you to school leaders and charter parents as well as provide insights on school culture and community engagement.
Our Online Resource Library offers exemplars, trainings, guides, templates and more to support best practices within public charter schools.
The Charter Center sets the record straight on NYC charter schools. Learn more about charter school achievement, demographics, facilities and more.
Opening a school is a complex process. Our programs and supports help guide you through the maze of operations requirements, including human resources, finances, student enrollment and more.
charter school students in all 5 boroughs


text: › Academics » Art Home Program Overview Art History, B.A. Studio Art, B.A. Areas of Study Prospective Students Career Opportunities Research & Internship Opportunities Meet Our Faculty Current Students Facilities Studio Space Contact Art Gallery Schedule and Workshops Art Summer Camps Plan a Visit ›Apply Now ›Give to Furman › intro photo 1 palette intro paragraph boldAt Furman, we know liberal arts skills are essential to becoming successful artists and visual thinkers. intro paragraphNot only does FUART provide you with an awareness of issues and beliefs beyond yourself, but it also teaches you to think critically and to solve problems creatively—skills that can benefit you in any career. Whether you choose to major in studio art or art history, or you simply want to expand your visual interests, our faculty will work closely with you to help you become a competent scholar and artist. Our large studios, small class size, and wide array of courses will provide you with the tools and private space you need to develop your talents and learn how to market your work. A studio art or art history degree from Furman will provide you with the foundation for a variety of careers, including gallery management, architecture, advertising, interior design, photojournalism, and art education. call out photo 1 Student Design Competition call out description 1Now accepting submissions for "Sleep When You're Dead," 24-hour student design competition. Learn more. call out photo 2 Major in Art call out description 2If you're talented and passionate, find out why our program is the right fit for you. Become an art major. call out photo 3 Meet our alumni call out description 3Discover where a degree in art can take you. Meet our alumni. call out photo 4 Furman Art Facebook call out description 4Follow us on Facebook to keep up with the latest developments in our department. View the Furman Art Facebook page. Main Content Column 1 12:1 Student-to-faculty ratio 200+ Students enrolled in art classes at Furman 24 Hour access to the Thomas Anderson Roe Art Building


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Embattled rapper DMX has threatened legal action against Oprah Winfrey's TV network unless bosses remove online clips of a recent interview in which he breaks down over his lifelong struggle with drugs.
The "Party Up (Up in Here)" hitmaker, real name Earl Simmons, sat down for a discussion with spiritual coach Iyanla Vanzant for an emotional episode of "Iyanla: Fix My Life," and revealed all about his addiction issues, claiming he will "always have a drug problem, until I die."
He also confessed that the paranoia caused by his heavy drug use almost drove him to commit suicide on multiple occasions, saying, "I thought about blowing my head off a few times. The only thing that stopped me was… I have children."
The show aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network earlier this month but DMX – who has fathered 10 children with multiple partners – claims the candid chat was only supposed to be about his addiction to women and that questions about his substance abuse troubles were not cleared with him before he went before the cameras.
He has now accused Vanzant of duping him into talking about his personal pain and is demanding OWN executives take down footage of the interview from their website.
He tells TMZ.com, "Iyanla set the whole thing up to make me look bad for ratings… That lady is toxic… My last words to her were that she can suck my d– and she still can."
However, Vanzant has dismissed the allegations, insisting DMX, who has been in and out of jail as a result of his drug troubles, is in denial because he had the chance to walk out of the two-day interview there and then – and he didn't.
She also claims DMX signed the release form to allow the episode to air and suspects he's only now regretting the interview because he's not ready to seek professional help.
She says, "He freaked out on himself… (His accusations are) not accurate. Absolutely not accurate. And he never left, hello?! He never left and came back the second day to tell us he wasn't coming back. It means that some part of him wanted to be there… (He can be helped) but it takes a willingness, and I'm not sure the willingness is there."


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Conciliar Press Begins 2010 with a Move to Chicago
After over three productive decades in Ben Lomond, California, Conciliar Press is expanding its operations by moving to a new operations center and warehouse in the Chicago area. The Chicago facility began taking orders in early January, and with this centralized location, shipping will be more efficient. In addition, extended hours will allow for more cost-effective customer service and will keep operating costs to a minimum.
The toll-free number, 1-800-967-7377, remains the same, and at www.conciliarpress.com, customers can shop online. Conciliar Press operates under the Conciliar Media Ministries (CMM) umbrella, along with sister company Ancient Faith Radio, and is a department of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese.
The move to a Midwest based warehouse and fulfillment center allows for both companies to be run from the Chicago area. Father Peter Gillquist, one of the company's founders, says "The move allows us to serve our customers even better than in the past." Father Peter recently relocated to Indiana and remains on the board, providing a guiding influence over the operations of the company. John Maddex, President and CEO, says "the move is a positive step and provides a productive climate for growth as we build on the heritage of Conciliar Press."
Read an interview with John Maddex here.


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Deck Is Designed To Move Down To Reveal A Pool
There are certain luxury items that become necessities, rather than enjoyable amenities, for the very wealthy. From heated bathroom floors to parking elevators that you take up to your apartment (whilst you remain in the driver's seat), conveniences that seem outrageous to the 99% quickly transform into must-haves for the remaining 1%. The latest to join the ranks of the absolutely-essential to the elite is the disappearing pool, also known as the hydro floor. Initially designed to accommodate the monied masses living in congested cities and therefore dealing with space limitations (think New Yorkers, Londoners and the like), these technological marvels have become the de rigeur feature of interior design to show off to neighbors and friends in certain ZIP codes. The video below shows one example of how these statement amenities work.
The wooden deck version featured was designed by Agor Engineering Enterprises Ltd, and it turns what looks like just slats of timber into a full-size swimming pool through use of a hydraulic system. The firm mainly constructs what they term "moveable floors" in private residences in Israel and London (again, areas where space is a concern and which prize any innovation that makes a single space multi-use), and their portfolio features various moveable floors in a variety of sophisticated residences. As is frequently the case with consumer goods too precious for the average purchaser, the price is "available upon request."
Agor isn't the only company designing and building these features, and it doesn't seem that any version can be had in a middle-income home. Indoor versions can cost up to half a million dollars, depending on how extravagant the design. Of course, as with any product new to the market, certain concerns do exist, but those are dismissed with different technological advances in materials and design. Worries about aging and splintering are assuaged by designing decks with specially engineered lumber that does not splinter, and maintenance becomes a nonissue because filtration systems run constantly beneath the hydro floors, keeping the water clean and at a predetermined temperature.
From wooden outdoor decks to beautiful indoor tiles, there are several options for the newest must-have in pricey homes. It won't be long before every million-dollar-plus home features a hydro floor - you heard it here first.
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OAKLAND — The Athletics are baseball's grunge band: raw, pure noise. If they don't like something, they will let you know. They believe they have the baseball gods behind them tonight at O.Co Coliseum as they try to avoid being swept out of the ALDS by the Tigers.
"This series ain't over,'' closer Grant Balfour promised yesterday. "We've overcome a lot this year.''
The A's are in a 2-0 hole and believe Tigers reliever Al Alburquerque showed them up in the 5-4 loss at Comerica Park on Sunday by kissing the baseball before throwing out Yoenis Cespedes at first in the ninth inning.
"That was pretty bizarre," Oakland reliever Travis Blackley said of the incident. "If he had anything between his ears, he wouldn't have done it. The only way to get him back is that when he gets on the mound again and we stick it to him. I know he's just put a target on his back when he gets out there.
"And, if anyone you don't want to have a target on, it's probably us. You can celebrate after getting an out, a fist pump, but that's just taunting. … He's not [Justin] Verlander, especially when he is just flipping sliders in there.''
Added Balfour: "I wouldn't kiss a ball. Maybe he's got a baseball fetish.''
"He doesn't believe in baseball gods, but I do,'' Jonny Gomes said.
"Where we are right now,'' Gomes said of the A's plight, "it's the same grease we've been using all year, but just a different pan. The baseball gods are on our side, so far, but they're really testing us. Whoever made this season 162 games was an A's fan because we needed them all.''
And now they need to win three straight at home to advance to the ALCS.
The A's have been here before.
"I think we've had four or five season-ending losses throughout the year, where everyone [else] threw in the towel,'' Gomes said. "The most recent was the extra-inning one in New York. 'How do you come back from this? This is just devastating.' Well, we won the next day.''
Then he listed what the A's have been through this season.
"Our heart and our soul, Kurt Suzuki, got traded," Gomes said, "one of our ace pitchers, Brandon McCarthy, was in the hospital and had brain surgery, our other guy, Bartolo Colon, tested positive for steroids, our starting third baseman [Scott Sizemore] blew his knee out in the first game of spring training. Some dude kissing a ball in between the lines isn't going to bum us out at all. But you can tell he doesn't believe in baseball gods. I believe in baseball gods. Baseball gods take care of that kind of stuff.''
Brett Anderson (4-2, 2.57 ERA) will go for the A's against Anibal Sanchez (4-6, 3.74).
Oakland right fielder Josh Reddick said the A's will remain bold.
"We have a great amount of confidence,'' he said. "We've swept New York, we've swept Texas, we've swept Boston, so we are not going to change the mindset with the Tigers in here.''
Brandon Inge was teammates with Alburquerque in Detroit.
"He's unique," Inge said. "I'm sure he's going to regret it. I did a double-take when I saw it. For us in here our ultimate retaliation would be to win three.''
Unique Al said he has no regrets about the kiss even though his teammates and manager were not happy with it.
"I don't think I did something bad to the hitter,'' he said. "I was excited about the game; it was my first big out. I don't understand why they are upset.''
Tigers manager Jim Leyland said Alburquerque had no bad intentions by the kiss, but …
"I don't think it was the right thing to do," Leyland said. "It wasn't a smart thing to do, but I can honestly tell you that there was no way Alburquerque or any members of the Detroit Tigers would ever do anything intentionally to offend another team.''
Still, the A's are ready to make some noise.


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Sunday, July 30, 2006 6 comments
Today I went to Six Flags.....so I don't overshadow this bit of info, the summary of that was it was a relaxing (hot) day, but I got to do and see (and eat) some of my favorite things (I love the Spongebob 4D 'ride'!), they have over 10 new rides this year, thanks to a bunch of Six Flags around the country closing. BUT I'm so glad I was prepared by Holly for the price of parking=FIFTEEN dollars! Just a few years back it was 8, which was outrageous, but in addition to that, 15 pays for the 'cheapest' parking....way out where the TRAM comes to get you! To get close enough to the Park to HEAR it, much less SEE it (maybe I stretched that a BIT, but I think it makes more of an impact!) you have to pay 20, or 30 for 'premium.' Six Flags is great, but it's not Disneyworld! I think that's the last 15 dollars they will be getting out of ME for quite some time.....The ticket prices have almost doubled as well, you would think that would cover it. On top of all of that, there are no longer guys who direct the traffic to the next lane....so they cut employees, raised prices and segregated parking sessions.....nuts! Whew, it's just a good thing I'm filthy rich.....ha ha ha, I sit around all day laughing at the clever little jokes I tell myself!
Tags: Dallas Area Activities
Artistic Differences....
Saturday, July 29, 2006 1 comment
Tonight the Mariams came over for Jody's birthday for a cookout....amidst a really yummy meal I mentioned a frustrating experience I've been having recently with MUFFIN.....I've set up a table to start on my scrapbooks (with the end of summer looming ahead) and she WON'T MOVE OUT OF THE WAY. When I pull her off, she pops back up, slapping that tail (note the tail moving in this picture as well) and refusing to move....annoyed that I would DARE enter HER space. Hello, doesn't she see the pictures, the stickers, the glue sticks? I'm about to paste her little butt down to a page if she doesn't get out of my way. So far I just have two hairy pages accomplished and the table has been up for over a week (those of you with cats understand how something that weighs ten pounds can out smart, out last and out wit you each step of the way). Aunt Lois suggested she wanted her picture taken because she doesn't get enough spot lighting on my blog....so here Muffin is HELPING. This evening I laid out the beginnings of page number three and when I came back all the pieces were knocked on the floor, despite the threats to life I imparted on her fuzzy head before I left the room. It's not even that she CAN'T sit on the table, it's just that I'd like just a little piece of the six foot table for MYSELF. In a side note, some of you may not know this, but Muffin's Mom is Holly's kitty. Recently, during a daring acrobatic trick that involved a nap on a high counter in a box wavering on the edge her Mom, Lindsey had a little accident, she didn't land on her feet, and she ended up breaking her leg. I went by today to see her little shaved leg and stitches, carrying gifts (in the form of canned tuna). She's so sad looking and yet so cute in her little cone blue head collar (to prevent her from licking her stitches), as the vet said, she looks like a little blue flower :O( Maybe this is what is causing Muffin to be so obstinate....but how do you explain the stubborn attitude during the other 15 years of her life?
Wednesday, July 26, 2006 3 comments
You know I really have a problem with the fact that I feel my dogs are misunderstood. They have such a bad reputation with my family and friends, but I want to know how many of you look this cute sitting on my couch? Lilly is sprouting wings she's such an angel. I think YOU guys are a bad influence on MY dogs, not vise versa! I tell them all the time they are little angels just 'thrown' down from heaven (they are dogs so they don't really grasp the meaning behind thrown versus falling). Marie, this ones for you, I think this covers the dog quota for awhile!
Tags: Pets
Roughing It.
Sunday, July 23, 2006 3 comments
This weekend I went camping with my Mom, Holly, Jason, Tonya, Taylor and Xavier. We headed out to Tyler State Park (about two hours from here), which I have been to a million times before, but it was a 'million' years ago when the earth was cooling and I was much younger! Mom, Holly and I have put in our time in a tent, so we got a shelter this time (but we still slept on the floor) and the rest pitched a tent on the site. Mom, Holly and I pretty much swam, ate, swam, ate, swam, ate and walked all weekend, and the others did a lot of the same, with the inclusion of fishing and boating on their agenda....I'm attaching a link to a little slide show if you'd like to see evidence of this weekend's journey. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AZMmrNw0YsmLtA It hasn't rained here in way too long, but it poured all weekend in Tyler, it was such a relief, and we had plenty of sun for swimming, but the rain was so nice to see, and it really kept things cooled off, though the lake was still comfortably warm from the same heat we have been getting, and very low because of the drought! P.s. Last night our site was invaded by raccoons...they were climbing a tree to get to our trash until Holly and I bravely walked to the dumpster to toss it, but they were cute....just a little too loud!
This ones for Marie....
Thursday, July 20, 2006 4 comments
the picture....not the dog! She requested more pictures of the dogs (the whole slide show dedicated to them wasn't enough-that's my kind of friend).....here is Lilly's summer position....in bed, under the fan with the ac blowing on her.....life is "ruff"....that's so lame I ALMOST had to delete it!
Tags: Pets
Happy 27th Birthday to Me :O)
Tuesday, July 18, 2006 3 comments
Today I have officially celebrated my entrance into my 27th year of life :O). Mom took the day off work and we went to see "You, Me and Dupree" which was a cute movie, but definitely not something I'd take a child to see! Then we went and got pedicures this afternoon. My phone rang all day and my internet beeped with well wishes and I appreciate them all, it always makes me feel special to be remembered, every year I get older, but I feel more blessed because of the number of thoughtful gifts, call and gestures coming my way from such an incredible support group of friends and family :O). This evening my family and I headed out to the Magic Time Machine for dinner, if you have ever been there it is a restaurant where all the waiters dress up in costumes, tonight we had GI Joe as our waiter, in addition you sit in different thematic rooms, we sat in the dunce cap this evening. Dinner was good, and the cake and more gifts were excellent afterwards....another great start to another great year! P.s. Today it was 107 degrees, it is the hottest day in the past 3 years!
Tags: Special Occasions
Clean Sweep
Saturday, July 15, 2006 2 comments
This morning: Mom, Lois, Holly and I went down to the Bon Ton District (just learned the area's name) of Dallas.....we volunteered via the Global Day of Prayer to go and clean up the community in this area. It is 102 degrees today, so you can imagine it was a HOT day. It's always interesting to be able to reflect on your life versus those in your local areas. It was a sad thing to witness. We, personally, filled over ten bags of trash and then some, including glass beer bottles, a few glass beer bottles, and a couple glass beer bottles. When I heard about this project and I heard they were expecting 1500 volunteers to clean up this one community I imagined walking down a street and picking up a bottle here or there, and I thought the rest of us would be fighting for pieces of trash....how could one community need 1500 volunteers, right? I just can't believe the number of unsafe objects we found, I kept thinking about my childhood and the neighborhood I grew up running around in. There were fields of glass and sticker beds everywhere in this area, debris and all sorts of trash. It was sad, but rewarding....I think we could do this for the next twenty days and still not have it all cleaned up, it was like a landfill of trash where dirt and grass should be, I think in the end it does look a lot better, everything got a little bit cleaner....except me :O). We saw very few cars and even fewer people and no children this time.....it was so silent, but the evidence of the residents was all around. After that we swung by the downtown Farmer's Market, which I vaguely remember going to as a child....it was very neat. There were four looooong rows of covered vendors with their fresh goods and samples. I think we bought enough fruit and veggies to start our own farmer's market in Plano....
Monday, July 10, 2006 No comments
I just finished reading "The Case For a Creator" by Lee Strobel. I've read "The Case for Christ" and "The Case for Faith" because I was fascinated by Lee Strobel's story. If you don't know he was an athiest who believed in Darwanism etc growing up and only after his wife became a Christian did he start exploring Christianity.....his intention was to prove to everyone why there was no way it was a rational, valid stand and in turn he discovered there is no worthy evidence against Christianity and all signs point towards God and specifically Jesus. This latest book had a lot of 'big terms' for me, it really dealt with the different theories regarding how the universe was created and in the end science points towards a Creator, God and not scientific processes, though it also deals with how God reveals himself through His Creation so we know Him better and what we learn about him through each element. It's actually amazing (and not so much when you think about how evil is so rampant) to see all the scientific 'coverups'.....I learned about these scientific theories in junior high and high school that so many rely on that are never really portrayed 'scientifically' (the things that went wrong, the substances that were controlled, the elements of the experiments that had to be manipulated and twisted that in any other circumstance nobody would ever allow to to be a valid experiment.) In fact, I was thinking about the lessons still being taught in our science book in 6th grade that doesn't address the different variables. They have been so manipulated and controlled to try to fit into the other theories it's insane, and the longer I'm a Christian, the more I see how saying you are a Christian or bringing up anything regarding your faith can offend people like no other subject, which seems like a lot of evidence for Christianity in itself. I was at a dinner party last fall where a similar line of discussion came up regarding scientific evidence, and though the point is never to win a debate, you can win a debate and definitely walk away without making the impact necessary, it's always good to have more knowledge so I decided to add this book to my summer reading list. My brain literally hurts after some of the chapters b/c of all the technical and scientific terms. There were a LOT of times the scientists he interviews for the book use phrases like: zillions upon zillions (3 lines at times of the word zillion) of the likelyhood of things like-planets in other clusters that could be like earth, life coming from nonliving elements, the mind (soul) versus the brain (my favorite chapter, actually)....it was fascinating, I'd recommend the book, it's well written, very 'journalistic' (Strobel's career was a newspaper reporter). I think he had a good point though, there is so much evidence that so many people refuse to look at because if they do "the truth you uncover is going to demand a response." Just be ready to think....and yes, the term 'globular' is used....it made me smile.....it describes a star cluster, or am I the only one that didn't know that? I'm going to add it to my vocabulary list of favorite words to use.
Tags: Faith
"Spring" Cleaning in July...
Saturday, July 08, 2006 1 comment
Some of you have received the DAILY updates on my cleaning projects (which I know you have been waiting breathlessly for), but I've completed project one "The Utility Room", my crowning glory. As I told a couple of people this week I knew I had a problem....I mean, I was on a cleaning streak when I found myself cleaning the cleaning products. It's so clean you could lick the floor.....trust me, Max was my test dummy and he's still standing.....though when I say you, I only mean if you are K9 and already have a reputation for eating gross things....but I think you get the point......so my next project is my room.....I'd take pictures, but you would want to move in....so this is as close as I can get. I found a great deal on a couple of baskets, but it looks like I've found other uses for them and need to go grab a few more.....
Tags: Home "Repairs"
Once Upon a Time....
Wednesday, July 05, 2006 1 comment
Some of you may not know this, but July 5th is another holiday in the line of FABULOUS events to be celebrated in July :O)! Happy Anniversary to Maurine and Jeff....3 years ago I was getting my hair done in Tampa, Florida after spending the 4th rehearsing and eating Spaghetti....regardless of time passing, I'll always remember the wedding with a smile and many vivid details due to the thoughtful planning included throughout each part of the day! I listen to the cd I got as a favor on every road trip (or plane trip) I take....and anyone that hears it wants a copy, you can only imagine how much more meaning it has with such fabulous songs and fabulous memories to go along with them....and your picture sits in my office in my favor frame! I can't wait to see what year 4 brings into your lives! I hope to see you sometime in the coming year....These are the ONLY shots I have saved on my computer, and who knows where I even scrounged it up(but don't post just seem more fun with pictures?)....I'm including them so other's can 'imagine' and so you have a face on my blog! :O) Have a great one...enjoy your traditional chicken dinner
Here's Something Original....
Tuesday, July 04, 2006 2 comments
HAPPY 4th of JULY! I love this day! July 4th and Thanksgiving are just so jam packed with fun traditions. Today, family (including Taylor and Xavier who are here for the month of July) came over for a BBQ (a not so fabulous attempt at twice baked potatoes (though they looked good), I wouldn't recommend them; brick hard (forgot about them) rolls and crispy sausages (that 'looks like Max,' my favorite)) and an ice cream sundae bonanza afterwards. Evening activities included games: HORSE (JULY 4 in this case), heated Ms. Pacman tournaments and a rainy walk (I truly am soooo glad it finally rained though) and finally firworks :O)! July 4th is just the essence of what summer is all about. The only thing missing was a swim, but there was too much cooking going on for that today.....never fear, I'm sure I'll catch up later this week! I hope your July 4th ended with a bang!
Tags: Family, Special Occasions
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To report spills or illegal dumping into storm drains call
efforts to protect water quality in our streams and rivers.
much do you know about Stormwater Pollution?
stormwater runoff and its effect on water quality.
Chlorine Kills Vegetation
Bear Creek Watershed
Colorado Non-Point Source Program
Stormwater Regulations
Colorado State University Stormwater Center
Colorado Stormwater Council
The City of
Lakewood, along with other local governments along the Front Range, protects
the quality of its water. Under the National Pollution Discharge Elimination
Systems (NPDES) permitting program, the City is required to identify and
eliminate the sources of pollution that enter the storm sewer system and
discharge to the waterways.
When it rains, contaminants
like litter, animal waste, automobile fluids, fertilizers and pesticides make
their way into storm drains and pollute nearby streams, creeks, rivers and
lakes. Stormwater pollution can create health risks for children, kill aquatic
life and contribute to neighborhood flooding. By controlling what enters
neighborhood storm drains, we can reduce the pollutants entering gulches,
creeks and rivers.


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Our Friends from Coworking Cologne just posted some very nice pictures of regular Gym Lockers that they hacked a little bit. Now they are serve as a special form of "Office Trolleys" to store office supplies. I thought this would be a nice addition to the Ikea hacked whiteboards, posted over here last week.
At betahaus Berlin personal storage is an important issue since most of the desks are flexible. We do have a couple of lockers already that are frequently used by betahaus people but we would love to come up with a more creative approach. Hacking the Gym - Locker would lead into this direction.
I'd say it's time soon for an office hackday, maybe in the end of June. Let's get through the DMY Maker Fest and some odc-organisational days and workload and schedule a weekend in June to collectively hack the office. A little bit of forechecking: What about the 25th to 26st of June? We do have the Match "Portugal - Brasil" on Friday, but there is a "WM Studio" at betahaus anyway, so we actually could watch the game AND hack the office. ;)
Some more picture from Coworking Cologne and Jack in the Box I guess.
[gallery link="file" columns="2"]
Talk to you soon,


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Hone Harawira's opening speech in Parliament
Are you a progressive voter wanting the next Government to take social justice and the economic reform to generate that social justice seriously? Enter stage left - MANA.
I want to begin by expressing my gratitude for the broad support for MANA's Education (Breakfast and Lunch Programmes in Schools) Amendment Bill or the Feed the Kids Bill as it has become known, including the Child Poverty Action Group, Every Child Counts, Unicef NZ, Save the Children, IHC, Poverty Action Waikato, the Methodist and Anglican Churches (Methodist Public Issues and Anglican Action), Te Rōpū Wāhine Māori Toko i te Ora (Māori Women's Welfare League), PPTA, NZ Principals' Federation, CTU Rūnanga, the NZ Nurses' Organisation, and the Māori Medical Practitioners' Association.
During election 2011, one of MANA's main pledges was to fight for government funded meals in poor schools, and in 2012 we drafted the bill to honour that pledge. That was immediately followed by the Children's Commissioner's Expert Advisory Group on Solutions to Child Poverty recommending the introduction of a government-funded food programme in low decile schools, and a major policy speech late last year from the leader of the opposition calling on government to provide free meals to children in low decile schools.
At this time I want to thank those political parties who have already indicated their support for the bill, including Labour, the Greens, the Maori Party, and the newly independent Brendan Horan who has given me his assurance that if the bill passes he will refrain from singing to the house.
I'm not sure exactly when the bill comes before the house but I am hopeful that there will be enough support for it to get to Select Committee.
During election 2011, MANA also made a commitment to a programme of 20,000 houses in 2 years.
That kaupapa was picked up in 2012 by Labour with their commitment to 100,000 houses in 10 years, and enhanced by the Greens' own housing proposals announced last week.
In 2013, I expect MANA to continue to provide leadership in the fight for better housing for all New Zealanders, especially those in dire need right now.
We want to see an end to policies which make it harder for poor families to access affordable housing, we want to see a rebuilding of the state housing stock, and we call on the new Minister of Housing, to take a fresh approach to this problem, to talk to and to listen to those people being hurt badly by current policies – people who are being forced out of state houses in communities like Glen Innes, Maraenui and Porirua; people in rural areas like the far north being forced to live in unacceptable conditions with no hope of any help, homeless people in Christchurch, Auckland and elsewhere; as well as those church and community groups working with the homeless and families on low incomes.
On another housing related matter, I wish to invite all my parliamentary colleagues to the court case arising from my arrest at a housing action in Glen Innes last year. The case has been set down for hearing on March 19 but may have to be moved to another date to accommodate the growing list of witnesses who have offered to speak in my defence. I fully intend defending the case myself with the assistance of a number of lawyers who have offered their help at no cost.
The third plank in MANA's election 2011 campaign has yet to be picked up by anyone else here, though I expect it to be adopted a lot sooner than people might have thought some 15 months ago, and that is of course the Hone Heke Tax or the Financial Transaction Tax as it is known elsewhere in the world – a proposal that had most political parties and political commentators sniggering during the campaign 2011, but which is quickly becoming recognised in other OECD countries as the only sane way to increase government revenue without stealing it from the poor, by making the banks pay for the financial crisis they created.
A few days ago the European Commission approved a proposal to implement exactly such a tax on all transactions between financial institutions within those 11 member states that have approved it, without it affecting citizens or businesses – a tax that would raise a minimum of 57 billion dollars a year.
The Hone Heke Tax is clearly an idea whose time has come. I look forward to opposition parties coming out more openly in support of it over the next 12 months.
On behalf of MANA and the people of New Zealand I would like to thank the New Zealand Maori Council for their efforts to stop National's plans to sell off our state assets, by instigating a court action over the Maori interests in water. In particular I would like to thank MANA president Annette Sykes who was a critical player in the Tribunal hearings last year and remains a key player in the high court hearings due to start later this week.
The efforts of the Council and those hapu and iwi who have supported their case, have forced the government to delay its asset sales programme, giving the rest of the country time to push the petition for a referendum on asset sales. The challenge now is to complete the petition, and for all parties and organisations opposed to the sale of state assets, to pressure the government to hold a referendum on asset sales to test their argument that that's what New Zealanders want. It isn't of course, and MANA stands ready to do its bit to help put an end to the madness, of selling our kitchen to somebody else, and then having to rent it back for the rest of our lives.
And as we move towards an end to the Treaty Settlement cycle, I wish to remind the house that the Treaty lives forever, and that anyone thinking the Treaty will become null and void after treaty settlements have ended, is sadly mistaken. The Treaty is a taonga to Maori, and the foundation of all constitutional arrangements in this country, and all attempts to write it out of legislation will be resisted mightily.
Much has been made of the Maori Party capturing the headlines with a messy leadership challenge these last few weeks, and calls from Maori Party members for me to come back and take over the leadership of the party. So let me make this clear. I have no aspirations to lead the Maori Party - those calls have come from Maori Party members themselves.
I am comfortable and proud to lead MANA – a vibrant and active political force with a clearly identified constituency, te pani me te rawakore, the poor and the dispossessed, and policies aimed specifically at addressing their needs first, because people matter more than profit.
But as I did right after election 2011, I want to again extend the hand of friendship and whanaungatanga to my colleagues in the Maori Party, and to remind them that there has to be a link between the fact that their membership has gone from 24,000 when I was there to just 600 last year, and their continued commitment to a government and its policies that have destroyed Maori families, and Maori hopes and aspirations.
I call on the Maori Party to walk away from that relationship and return to their roots, and I stand willing to take up the offer by the Ratana Movement to host any discussions which might lead to unity and a MANA MAORI alliance.
MANA clearly has the vibrant and energetic membership and the strong and positive leadership … the only question is whether the Maori Party is open to unity.