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It's time to rearrange your speakers—quadraphonic sound is back. Well, at least in one instance.
A new LP documenting a live performance by electronic musician Suzanne Ciani is being released as a quadraphonic mix, and it's packaged with a piece of hardware that lets you listen to it in old-school, four-channel surround sound.
Long before the days of the 5.1-channel home theater, there was quadraphonic audio. This original surround-sound format, which employed four speakers for playback, became popular among analog audiophiles in the 1970s. If you had a quadraphonic rig in your living room (or bachelor pad), you could set up a pair of speakers in front of you and a pair behind you, then bathe in every note from one of the thousands of quadraphonic LPs available at the time—stuff from people like Santana, Three Dog Night, and Pink Floyd, along with reams of classical music.
The box set comes with a 180-gram vinyl pressing of Suzanne Ciani's 30-minute performance. You also get a hardware decoder that lets you listen to the record on four speakers.
Because it required special equipment and specially-encoded LPs, and because a format war divided the marketplace, quad faded before the 1980s. It was later superseded by digital multi-channel decoders from Dolby and DTS, and by digital surround formats like SACD and DVD-Audio.
But everything old is new again. LIVE Quadraphonic, out Monday, June 4, comes as a box set. In the box, you get a 180-gram vinyl pressing of Suzanne Ciani's 30-minute live electronic music performance. You also get a hardware decoder that lets you listen to the record on four speakers. It's a simple, raw circuit board with two inputs and four outputs. You plug in the stereo outputs from your turntable, then connect the board to four powered speakers and place them around you, putting one in each corner of the listening environment. This quad decoder, custom built by the Australian high-end audio company Involve Audio, sends the appropriate signal to each of your four speakers, lending a more defined sense of space to the music.
Any turntable can play the vinyl, and though the decoder that comes in the box does the best job of representing the quad mix, you aren't required to hook it up. If you have a modern home theater receiver, there's likely a Dolby Pro Logic II decoder in it, and if you flip that on and choose the "Music Mode" setting, it does a decent job of recreating Ciani's quad mix. Provided you're the precious sort of gear-hound who owns a vintage quad system, you can play the record on that as long as it handles the Regular Matrix/QS format.
Don't have a record player at all? You can stream the album, as it will be released on just about every digital distribution platform. Hell, even if you don't have four speakers, you can just listen to it in boring old stereo.
"Surprisingly, Suzanne and I discovered there are some psychoacoustics in it," KamranV, the producer and label owner behind the release, says about the stereo playback. "You get the perception of rear speakers even though there aren't rear speakers back there."
Old Sounds, New Ways
Ciani's live concert, captured in March of 2016, is filled with wooshes of cold metallic hail and washes of warm sonic fog. The bubbling tones wrap around the room in overlapping patterns that mesmerize as often as they confuse. The whole thing was performed in quadraphonic, and listening to the record on a four-channel system is the most faithful way to re-live the event.
Ciani began performing in venues rigged for four-channel sound in the late 1960s and '70s. Her chosen instrument for live performance, then and now, is the Buchla 200 modular synthesizer. It has a quadraphonic output module which enables the performer to generate sounds and send them to any of the four corners of the venue.
"This was Buchla's vision—a performable electronic music instrument," she says. "I adopted his vision."
Ciani is a pioneer in the world of electronic music. After earning a masters' degree in music composition, she worked for Don Buchla, creator of the eponymous synthesizer, soldering circuits and building the instruments for consumers. She also became a virtuoso player on the Buchla 200 system, a bizarre-looking box that uses dozens of knobs and a spaghetti explosion of brightly colored patch cables to create loopy showers of arpeggiated notes.
Later, Ciani formed her own sound design company to create digital scores for television ads, videogames, and Hollywood films. (These exploits are detailed in the 2017 documentary A Life in Waves.) Her career then transitioned into studio albums filled with romantic piano music and cosmic, new-age joyrides. Then, just months shy of her 70th birthday, Ciani found herself standing in front of her colorful Buchla once again. The San Francisco concert captured on LIVE Quadraphonic was her first public performance on the machine in 40 years. In the two years since, Ciani has taken her synth—a modern digital-analog hybrid Buchla 200e that's very much like the '70s version but, as she puts it, "has some of the advantages and disadvantages of digital"—around the world, playing solo concerts to adoring crowds.
These concerts are always presented in quadraphonic, with Ciani choosing the spatial coordinates in real time as she plays. "It's a non-negotiable part of the performance," she says. "I perform only in quad. It's such an essential part of the sound."
Hip to Be Square
This new release doesn't presage the mainstream resurgence of the decades-old tech, but it does come at a time when spatial experimentation among electronic musicians is on the rise. Venues such as The Cube at Virginia Tech and Envelop at the Midway in San Francisco have been built to house a new breed of audio performance that utilizes three-dimensional space as a dramatic element. The increasing use of virtual reality to broadcast live performances has also encouraged artists to start poking around more diligently in 360-degree and surround-sound formats.
Ciani's partner on this project, producer KamranV, has been working with spatial audio since the turn of the century, when he created several 5.1-channel mixes for mainstream artists (Beck, Nine Inch Nails) in the now-scarce DVD-Audio format. The idea was you'd pop one of these discs into your DVD player and listen to a surround-sound mix play out across all of your home theater speakers, including the sound bar and the subwoofer.
Of the hundreds of bands to try a surround mix, most weren't able to make it work properly. "Having the center channel and the subs interfered with the artists and producers as far as creating a sense of space," KamranV says.
Quadraphonic sound, which eschews the theater-like center channel and sub, is more friendly to songsmiths. "Using the corners and creating the space—that's much more musical."
KamranV's efforts to push quadraphonic sound forward have led him to develop a set of tools any musician or producer can use to make a killer four-channel mix. He's applied for a grant with the National Endowment for the Arts to create a quadraphonic plug-in for digital audio production that would work with all the popular software suites.
"The tools currently are available are analog, or they're things that don't let you do quad in real time," he says. "They all have their own quirks. I want to build a plug-in that will make it a hell of a lot easier."
If you think about it, quad is pretty close to the perfect format for mixing music in surround. Not only can it easily recreate (with some good reverb) the feel of the room in which the performance took place, but it's also easier to distribute. There's no need for propriety equipment. Quad mixes can be pressed to vinyl, ripped to MP3, or sent out in a Spotify stream. Players equipped to decode it can play back all four channels. Everything else plays it in stereo.
"Doing this on LP is a testament to the possibilities," KamranV says. "Pressing it on vinyl highlights that you can do spatial sound on any format."
Ciani is tickled to be the subject of this quadraphonic release, but she has bigger plans too.
"I've recorded all of my modern live quad performances," she says. "I haven't figured out how to get those out yet. If this works, it would be a great way to put those out as well."
LIVE Quadraphonic comes out Monday, June 4. Only 227 copies will be printed and sold at $227 each. Every purchase includes the LP and the quad decoder. The album will also be available for streaming. Ciani performs this weekend at the New York venue Ambient Church, and she'll mark Monday's album release with an on-air interview and a quadraphonic live stream on the internet radio station Dublab.
More Great WIRED Stories
- The first documented surround-sound concert was staged by Pink Floyd in 1967
- Climate change has made zombie ants even more cunning
- PHOTO ESSAY: Unreal views of the trippy colors in Ethiopia's Danakil Desert
- Nyan Cat, Doge, and the art of the Rickroll—here's all you need to know about memes
- Seakeeper's super spinning system keeps ships stable at sea
- Hungry for even more deep-dives on your next favorite topic? Sign up for the Backchannel newsletter
Read more: https://www.wired.com/story/suzanne-ciani-live-quadraphonic/


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Allegany College of Maryland
Education / Colleges and Universities
location on Google Maps.
in new tab.
on social media.
Allegany College of Maryland is a lifelong learning community dedicated to excellence in education and responsive to the changing needs of the communities we serve. Our focus is the preparation of individuals in mind, body, and spirit for lives of fulfillment, leadership, and service in a diverse and global society. We are committed to engaging students in rich and challenging learning opportunities within a small college atmosphere that is known for its personal touch.
Business Hours
Monday 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM
Tuesday 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM
Wednesday 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM
Thursday 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM
Friday 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM
Saturday Closed
Sunday Closed

subset: commoncrawl


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< Previous Project
FRASERS CENTREPOINT MALLSNext Project >
Great Singapore Sale Campaign
Besides driving sales, the objective also aimed at expressing FCM as a group of 9 malls. With every mall sharing the word "point" as part of their name, we utilised the visuals of 'pointing fingers' to establish a stronger association to this identity. The visual was also effectively incorporated in SMRT media advertising, which served to educated viewers on the various locations of each individual mall.


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The Other Side of Life is proud to present:
WOODEN INDIAN BURIAL GROUND (Portland, OR; on Mon Amie)
GANGLY YOUTH (Louisville, KY)
Monday, June 23rd
at NACHBAR
969 Charles Street (at the corner of Charles and Krieger)
9 PM, 21-and -over
WOODEN INDIAN BURIAL GROUND formed in Portland, Oregon in 2007. As a duo the band employed banjo's, chord organs, fuzz guitars and other various instruments, making a glorious racket across the Western, Central, and Southern United States. This incited an 11 track album of lo-fi experimental folk tunes that they self-released in 2008. The band grew in numbers and influence, playing shows under various names with various members until settling down with a stable lineup and signing with the Mon Amie record label in 2010.
Watch WOODEN INDIAN BURIAL GROUND's video for "Helicoptor" here:
After a bit of a hiatus and some lineup changes and whatnot, GANGLY YOUTH of Louisville, Kentucky return! Their sound is a mix of jangly noise, fuzzy pop, and a no-perfection required style. One might be reminded of bands like Sonic Youth, The Pixies, or warped cassettes playing favorite pop songs.
Watch GANGLY YOUTH play "What's Yr Weirdness" live here:
Check out the Facebook invitation here: https://www.facebook.com/events/763885653661664.
To join our email list, send an email to firstname.lastname@example.com. You can also join our Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/groups/232825523444477/. Twitter: @OtherSideShows.


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If you know me or have been following my blog for a while, you know that I love to read. So when I was contacted about reading a new book, where the main character is a Type 1 diabetic, I had to jump at the chance to read and review it. The Freedom Broker is K.J. Howe's debut novel and it is fast paced with lots of action and suspense.
Tag Archives: book review
Book Review – Madness, Miracles, MillionsPosted on
Recently, I was contacted by a PR rep for Joseph's Lite Cookies to review a book written by Joseph Semprevivo, the founder of Joseph's Lite Cookies. The book is titled Madness, Miracles, Millions. I was excited by this opportunity for several reasons. First, I love to read so I'm always looking for new books to […]


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I came into pole dancing purely by accident.
In 2004, a girlfriend who'd seen pole dancing on Oprah dragged me to an intro class at S Factor. I'd never been comfortable with exhibiting overt sexiness, so it wasn't exactly love at first fireman spin, but it was a titillating curiosity; a little secret I could hide under my work clothes and my public-facing good girl persona.
I don't have a gymnastics or dance background, so pole dancing was also an opportunity to be that dancer I'd always fantasize being — without any of the judgment or pressure to be perfect.
I joined Leigh Ann Reilly's Be Spun gym in 2008 and saw what was possible with the human body. Women and men contorted into unimaginable shapes, instructors and students seemingly levitated. These human beings were achieving the impossible – and I knew I wanted just a little bit of their superpowers. I began training every day, several hours a day.
What started off as something I did with friends for fun once a week, turned into a full-fledged love affair. I began competing in 2009 with little fanfare. Then I joined the cast of Kelly Yvonne's Girl Next Door show and discovered the art of pole, in which emotion, storytelling, physical prowess and vulnerability came together on stage to create something magical: pole art.
Under Kelly's mentorship and coaching, I started winning my first titles — first East Meets West/Tri-Pole Challenge's "Miss Pole-AM 2010," then the 2010 California Pole Dance Championship followed by the USPDF West Coast Championships that same year. This past April 29, 2011, I cinched the USPDF National Championships title.
Since then, I've put my nine-year career as a publicist on hold to embark on what surely will be a strange, surreal journey that will take me around the world. I invite you to join me on the road as this self-professed 'regular gal' starts a new chapter of her life. Welcome to my website.


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We're looking for the cream of the crop, the best of America's farmers markets.
Your recommendation can earn national awards and recognition for your farmers market.
Battlefield Farmers Market
Open from May to November. Fresh, local, delicious fruits and vegetables. Locally created baked goods, jams, jellies and homemade crafts. Most vendors are located within a 25-mile radius of our market. Grass-fed beef and other organic meats. We have "kid's days" on fourth Saturday of each month. Each years' final Saturday is our Annual Crafters' Day. The hours that day are from 8am-4pm.
Rock Spring, GA
Find Us:FacebookView Website
Saturday Hours: 8:00 am - 12:00 pm
Current Standings
- - - Nationwide
- - Georgia
- - Southeast
The most powerful tool we have to protect farmland is our fork.
When you shop at your local farmers market, you help family farmers thrive. What you put on your fork matters.
Follow @AmericanFarmlandTrust on Instagram and join the conversation using #OnMyFork.


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Giveaway – N30,000.00 Cash! – Closed
All you need to do to win the N30,000.00 which will be deposited directly into your account is:
- Buy What the Kitchen Told Me on Amazon or Lulu (better option for Nigerians).
- Review the Book and post your review as a comment on this post.
One commenter (winner) with the most in-depth review will be chosen By David Thoreau the author.
The contest is open from Monday 03 April 2017 and ends on Monday 17 April 2017.
- Please make sure your Name used for the purchase and Comment name on pynk360.com match.
- Account to receive the prize must also match reviewers name.
- Make sure the email address you comment with is valid, as that is the email address you will be contacted on for your payment details.
Good luck and happy winning.
PS: I told you David was my friend lol.


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Middletown, NY
Magda Cizek, 54, of Middletown, NY, entered into rest on Saturday, June 28, 2008, after a courageous fight with cancer. She passed away peacefully at home surrounded by her family.
She was born April 16,1954 in Rijnsaterwoude, the Netherlands, to Jan Gerrit Vanlperen and Antje Magdalena Schyff VanIperen.
She graduated from Middletown High School and was most recently employed by the Minisink Valley School District.
Magda is survived by her husband of 35 years, Frank Cizek, and daughter Meika Lena Cizek; brother, Cornelius VanIperen of Canada; sisters, Gertrude VanIperen of Florida; Lena (Bob) Maurizzio of Michigan and Edith VanIperen of Port Jervis; sisters-in-law, Annette Scesa of Goshen and Mary (Bob) McCaw of Massachusetts; brother-in-law, Michael (Eileen) Falina of Poughkeepsie; nephew, James (Theresa) Scesa of Milford, PA; several special nieces, nephews, and friends.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Otisville Presbyterian Church Memorial Fund.
A Memorial Service will be held at the Otisville Presbyterian Church on Saturday, July 5, at 10 a.m.
Arrangements are under the guidance of the Morse Funeral Home Inc., 33 Railroad Ave., Middletown, NY; 845-343-6918.
Magda Cizek
Middletown, NY


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INSPIRING STORY OF THE WEEK – "I AM A JEW" by Ian Schagen
by Ian Schagen
"I Am a Jew" is an inspiring story to give courage to those who vow to stand up to hatred and oppression.
This inspiring story shows the way to all those who want to make their voices heard.
When we think of concentration camps, we normally think of Poland and Nazi Germany. But did you know that in the 1940s there were concentration camps in Spain that were almost as bad? Ian's father spent two months in a camp at Miranda de Ebro, after escaping from Nazi-occupied Europe and crossing the Pyrenees into Spain. Eventually, he and about 130 other Dutchmen were locked up in appalling and degrading conditions.
Ian only heard details of this hellhole after his father, Piet, had died. It's a story to inspire and give courage to those who vow to stand up to hatred and oppression. This is that story.
Ian's father Piet was a soldier in the Dutch army, over-run by the Germans in 1940 and then disbanded. The soldiers were allowed to return to civilian life for a while. But in 1943 the Nazis decided to round them all up again and send them to forced labour camps in Germany. When Piet got wind of this, he and his companion Frans secretly made their way south, crossing the Pyrenees into Spain.
Although Piet and Frans were not Jewish, many of those who crossed the border into Spain at this time were Jews, trying to escape Hitler's 'final solution'.
The Spanish dictator Franco had guards stationed along the border to capture the many escapees. Piet and the other males of military age who crossed the border without proper papers arrived by crowded cattle truck at Miranda de Ebro. Conditions there were indescribable – so horrific that when Piet later wrote to his family, he refused to describe them.
Inspiring story of Piet, a man of courage
This story does not come from Piet's account, but from a letter Ian received from Israel after his father's death. It came from Alfred Frank, a companion of Piet in Miranda, one of the few Jews in the group of about 130 Dutchmen incarcerated there.
The Inspiring Story of an offer too-good-to-refuse . . . Or was it?
One day some representatives of the German embassy visited the camp. A Spanish guard ushered in a German officer and ordered the prisoners to stand up and listen to his speech. His proposal was enticing. "You can be released right then and taken back to Holland, with a guarantee of no reprisals and freedom from any forced labour. You will have two weeks in Madrid at a five-star hotel paid for by the German embassy, and then be given rail tickets home." That was the deal – but it did not apply to any Jews. "They could rot there forever!"
What Would You Do?
Can you guess what Piet and his non-Jewish companions did next? Here is a hint: Piet was raised to believe in respecting all people, irrespective of creed, colour or race.
Tales2Inspire ~ The Topaz Collection
Stories of Personal Awakenings


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|Journal paper
|Daniel McGehee
Cheryl Roe
Linda Ng Boyle
Yuqing Wu
Kazutoshi Ebe
James Foley
Linda Angell
|SAE 2016 World Congress and Exhibition
|Pedal misapplications may be rare, but the outcomes can be tragic. A naturalistic driving study with 30 drivers was conducted to gain a better understanding of foot pedal behaviors. Foot movements were observed from the moment subjects entered and positioned themselves in their vehicle, and continued through starting the ignition, shifting into gear, accelerating to driving speed, and finally, resting their foot after parking the vehicle. A coding methodology was developed to categorize the various foot movements and behaviors. Over 3,300 startup and parking sequences were coded. This paper describes the unique challenges involved in classifying foot movements and behaviors when drivers' intentions are not known. For example, hesitant or interrupted foot movements often occurred when a driver was transitioning from a gas pedal press to a brake pedal press. Such behaviors required definitions beyond what might be typically considered a "pedal error" (e.g., pressing the wrong pedal, or pressing both pedals simultaneously). Over 650 back-pedal hooks (foot catching the underside or side of the brake pedal when transitioning from accelerator), incorrect trajectories, uncertain foot wags, misses, slips, and other behaviors were observed. Understanding such foot movements and behaviors provides insight into how pedal misapplications can occur-and how they might be mitigated in the future.
|Brake pedals
Human Factors
Vehicle Drivers


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The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the "Act") requires every public authority (as defined under the Act) to operate a Publication Scheme.
The purpose of Community Health Partnerships Publication Scheme is to identify classes of information we make available or intend to make available to the public and to provide details as to how the information can be obtained.
Next to each class of information the Publication Scheme will indicate the manner in which the information is or will be made available to you.
If you are unable to find the information you are looking for in our Publication Scheme
FOI requests must be made in writing to CHP's Communications team.
Email: email@example.com
Postal address: Community Health Partnerships, Skipton House, 80 London Road, London, SE1 6LH
Please clearly mark all such requests URGENT - FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACCESS REQUEST" and provide as much detail as possible about the information you require.
Your request will be acknowledged and then responded to in full within 20 working days of the date of receipt.
Please note, we may charge for access to certain information, or information in a certain format. Details of any charges are contained next to the appropriate class of information.
Community Health Partnerships aims to be as open as possible.
However, information may be withheld from any of the classes of information listed below where we consider that the disclosure may fall within one of the exemptions contained in the Act.
For example, we may withhold information if its disclosure would:
If you are not happy with how your FOI request has been handled, then you may wish to make a formal complaint


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- Graphics
- Add-Ons
- Fonts
- Templates
- Articles
- Premium
This set includes 6 super high resolution photos of flowers.
This set features 9 high resolution food backgrounds that are perfect for culinary projects.
This set includes a set of overhead business image that are perfect for mockups, corporate presentations, and more.
This set includes 10 high resolution, stylish photos taken in a modern office environment.
This set includes 4 photos of the breathtaking Dolomites mountain range, complete with cloudy skies and snow.
These 7 photos feature retro cameras, lenses, film, and other photography gear that is perfect for both web graphics and print projects.
This set includes 3 high quality "mint pumpkin" stock photos. They are great for winter, spring, Valentine's Day, and much more.
These 10 free Christmas photos are high resolution and perfect for anything wintry or seasonal.
I'm glad to share with you today a small set of free photos that capture the grandeur and beauty of San Francisco late at night. All images come in high-resolution and can be used...
The freebie of the day is an inviting collection of 6 top view photos of various savory foods on a dark textured background. These images can be used freely in any kind of digital...
I'm glad to share with you today a collection of 10 high-resolution photos that capture the mesmerizing coast of Australia. All photos come in JPG format and can be used freely in...
A set of 10 beautiful stock photos bringing the sunshine and free spirit of San Francisco. Perfect for web design related projects, these shots would be a useful addition to your...


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Going beyond the standard workout for boxers, this innovative manual introduces a diverse set of training methods, integrating them into drill sets that build the athletic attributes for which past and present fighters are known. From Leroy Jones sparring with chickens and Ken Norton's 15 combined rounds of shadow boxing, sparring, and bag work to Ricky Hatton's staggering 12-round sparring bouts with a body belt and Kosta Tszyu's creative tennis-ball and head-strap punching apparatus, this guide highlights a wide vocabulary of exercises, all incorporating boxing-specific equipment. The drills can be performed solo or with a partner, and each piece of equipment is approached individually with detailed descriptions of routines, including floor exercises and drills with the heavy bag, medicine ball, horizontal rope, and jump rope. With two workout menus for weight training, this guide guarantees a regime to suit any individual need—be it professional or simply a desire to train like some of the best athletes in the world.
Boxer's Book of Conditioning & Drilling
- Product Code: 9781935937289
- Availability: In Stock
Tags: Boxing


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There is no "one" right carpet style for any room. It's all about how you live. The only right answer is to find a carpet style that reflects the way you live. Here are a few suggestions:
If you like a "FORMAL" look for your home - the suggestions are the same as for a tuxedo or evening gown.
If you like a "FORMAL" look for your home - the suggestions are the same as for a tuxedo or evening gown.
- Tailored
- Traditional
- Solid Color
- Maybe an accent color or a border
- Look for a pin-point tip definition on the face fiber
- Look for "accent" marks as found in velvets or velours
- Tight dense appearance - minimized vacuum marks
- Solid or tone on tone colorations
- Neutral colorations - although use of more color is gaining popularity.
- Berber styles with tight loops
- Loop styles in a "corn row" design
- Mid-level shag colors - goes great with leather furniture
- Twists / Freize in every color from neutral to vivid - hides everything
- Twist / Freize the tighter the twist the more care free - solids look more contemporary.
- Shag - the more the better. Looses pretzel crumbs, cereal, everything. If the shags too long, hard to vacuum.


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You are Bugs Bunny!
You are fun, friendly, and popular.
You are a real crowd pleaser. You have probably been out on the town your share of times, yet you come home with the values that your mother taught you. Marriage and children are important to you, but only after you have fun. Don't let the people you please influence you to stray.


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Consistent Hashing Explained: The What and the Why
Two nightd ago (and after a couple of beers), it took me about 10 minutes to explain what is consistent hashing and its benefits to a guy until he got the "aha" moment. But if I'd have to explain it in a more formal way and provide references I'd use Mathias' post.
via NoSQL databases


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I know it is already February 2015, but if I recall my memories of 2014, I would say it was a wonderful year. I mean the whole 2014 – from January to December. I am not good at words, but it was such a beautiful year so that I need to write about it here..
January gave me love and best friends
February showed me how to care and to be cared
March taught me to not be selfish and be more understanding
April taught me to be patience and wiser
May made me realized of how much I love my friends and how I will miss all of them
June granted my dream to see a different world
July made me the happiest and most grateful person
August introduced me to new friends and interests
September allowed me to be brave
October brought me to a quarter century life
November taught me to be more confident
December taught me to trust myself more and not be afraid to face the future
Terimakasih Tuhan untuk 2014, semoga 2015 akan menjadi tahun indah lainnya.


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I'm sure we are all aware that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and one of the ways we can show our support is by wearing pink. Our design team at CKC has a fun tradition of taking it one step further and sewing pink for our kiddos! This year is no different and here are some fun pics of the outfits we came up with. You might even notice a couple sneek peeks in there. Sit back and enjoy!
Morgan's daughter, wearing modified Parker's
(Morgan sews pink for her daughter every day in October! You can follow her on IG.)
Nikki's daughter, wearing a very special Chantelle's
Kristi's daughter, wearing Hattie's
Susan's little buddy, wearing Hadley's
Tiffany A's daughter, wearing a sneak peek
Tosha's daughter, wearing Brewster's
Tiffany Vela's daughter, wearing Tessa's
Candice's daughter, wearing Tansy's
Shannon's daughter, wearing a sneak peek
Shirley's daughter, wearing Tween Rayna's
Kara's daughter, wearing Seyla's
Kristen's daughter, wearing Tween Toby's
Stephanie's daughter, wearing a sneak peek
Elizabeth's daughter, wearing modified Hattie's
How fun was that?
If that wasn't enough pink for you yet and you want to see our pink outfits from last year -- along with a tribute to a very special person -- you can click here.
Above all, we want to give our love and support to our all our fans and their families who are fighting cancer. You are stronger than you may know. <3
Let's Create! ~ Kristen


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Evil Emperors Wild Consort
Chapter 160: Gu Ruoyun's Ploy (1)
Get more chapters for Wild Consort by reading on volarenovels!
To the people gathered there, Gu Xianglin's grim expression made it hard to suspect the true motives behind his altruistic words. After all, he was different from Second Master Gu. No matter how greedy he got, there wouldn't be a trace of it on his face.
Gu Ruoyun smiled; her clear pupils were full of ridicule: "Then shouldn't I be thanking you for bearing all that danger in my place?"
"Of course."
Gu Xianglin raised his arrogant face: "Ruoyun, Hundred Herb Hall is keeping such a high profile now. Haven't you thought of the danger they'll be in? Hundred Herb Hall has remained safe for the past three years, but it doesn't mean that no one will come to steal the pill formulas in the future! That's because those powers have been preparing for some important matters these past three years, so they didn't have the time to bother with your Hundred Herb Hall! Furthermore, the Beauty Rejuvenation Pills didn't hold much attraction to them. However, this time, with the birth of the Longevity Pills, countless powers will surely come to fight for it. As someone within Hundred Herb Hall, it's impossible for you to remain uninvolved!"
"Also…" Gu Xianglin paused for a moment before he sneered and said, "Our Cool Breeze Faction won't let go of such a great opportunity! Ruoyun, did you think a tiny Hundred Herb Hall could compete with the Cool Breeze Faction? I've been trying to persuade you on account of the Gu blood in your veins. If it were some other person, I wouldn't even be using words!"
It was clear that Gu Xianglin wasn't intending to leave until he got the Longevity Pill formula today! They had to bring out both pill formulas by any possible means!
"You're right. Our Hundred Herb Hall is no match for your Cool Breeze Faction."
Everyone thought that Gu Ruoyun would rather die than give in, based on her temperament. They hadn't expected that she would say something like that. The unexpected words made all of them stare blankly at the girl's pretty face in astonishment.
At this moment, none of them realised that a trace of cunning flitted across her eyes when she lowered her gaze.
Following that, she slowly raised her head. Her bright and clear eyes carried some cowardice as she spoke weakly: "Actually, the pill formulas aren't in Elder Yu's hands. It was because I had these pill formulas when Elder Yu took me in back then. If you want the pill formulas, you only have to ask me for it. As they say, a wise man submits to circumstances. I don't want to make an enemy out of your Cool Breeze Faction, so if you don't trouble me anymore, I'll give the pill formulas to you."
This was within Gu Xianglin's expectations.
He had thought a lot these past few days about why Hundred Herb Hall was so protective of the orphaned Gu Ruoyun, and why the haughty Ghost Doctor had become her disciple when Gu Ruoyun had never learned medicine.
It was clear that there was only one reason; that Gu Ruoyun had something that those two people treasured greatly.
The legendary pill formulas!
He really didn't know how Gu Ruoyun had gotten such a windfall. She was lucky to have found the pill formulas. She even used them to control Elder Yu and the Ghost Doctor! Hundred Herb Hall's pills must have been refined by the Ghost Doctor. Who else in this world could learn the art of refining pills so quickly other than her?
"Ruoyun, rest assured. Once I become the Faction Master of the Cool Breeze Faction, there'll be benefits for you too." Gu Xianglin smiled. He hadn't thought that things would go so smoothly.
Who said that Gu Ruoyun had become tough? That was because she had Elder Yu and the Ghost Doctor to back her up. Once she had heard that there would be many people coming to snatch the pill formulas, she had immediately become scared. Wasn't she obediently handing the pill formulas over now?
Previous Chapter Next Chapter


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For: JD Tractor. Car. Shop Equipment. & Antiques for Estate of Bill Coutts
Location: 1434 9th Conc. of Bathurst, Balderson, Lanark County, Ontario
Directions: from Perth, take Cty Rd 511, at Balderson turn left onto Fallbrooke Rd (Cty Rd 7), turn right to stay on Fallbrooke Rd, take 1st left onto 9th Conc. of Bathurst to #1434 (auction signs) (K0G 1A0)
Property is sold. This auction offers a good array of gently used, clean, household furnishings & lawn tools.
Bring a lawnchair & participate in the bidding to settle the estate.
Terms and Conditions:
Cash, Cheque, M/C, Visa, Interac – Catering


text:
Review: Marie Dean Coffee & Kokum Moisturizing Deep Conditioner in Chocolate
- Enriched with Organic Fair Trade Coffee, Aloe Vera, Organic Shea Nilotica Butter, Phytokeratin, Panthenol (vitamin B5) and Organic Botanical Extracts
- Hair is left silky, manageable and intensely hydrated
- Provides wonderful slip
- Moisturizes and penetrates hair
- Leaves hair super smooth, soft and supple
Thoughts: Yes, it has good ingredients. No, my hair was not left silky and intensely hydrated. It didn't provide wonderful slip. My hair ended up tangled. This product just did not work for me. I did try it multiple times and with the same results.
This product is packaged in a jar. If used/applied in the shower, water will get in in the container. This would be better in a pump bottle, but at least with the jar you can get all of it out the container.
The chocolate fragrance smells like chocolate chip cookie dough. That's one thing I loved about this.
Marie Dean Coffee and Kokum Moisturizing Deep Conditioner is available on the official Marie Dean site and the Marie Dean Etsy shop in 8oz ($22), 12oz ($30) and 16oz ($40) with unscented, chocolate, and vanilla as fragrance options.
Would I purchase it?: No. Although this product didn't work for me as a deep conditioner, it was truly the best shaving cream I've used, but I wouldn't spend that much to use it solely as shaving cream.
Below is my overall product rating:
Price: 3/5
Packaging: 3.5/5
Fragrance: 5/5
Performance: 1/5
Customer service: NA
Overall: 3.125/5
Follow Kinks Of Nature on Twitter (Twitter.com/KinksOfNature), Instagram (Instagram.com/KinksOfNature), Pinterest (Pinterest.com/KinksOfNature), Facebook (Facebook.com/KinksOfNature), and YouTube (YouTube.com/KinksOfNature) for the latest updates.
Kinks ;-)


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Four Cups #1
Four Cups: NO Wining. Too often, Kosher for Passover wines receive a pretty bad rap.
Here at Acker Merrall & Condit we tasted hundreds of Kosher wines, some great—some not so great, in order to curate a collection of around 25 of our favorites. After an exhaustive series of tastings, we have selected a few gems—some Kosher, some not, but all displaying both chutzpah and finesse.
First up: Light bodied Pinot Noirs -
2013 Goose Bay East Coast NZ, Pinot Noir $23.99 (Grade A-) For Passover
Planted in 1989 with the first commercial wine harvest in 1994, Spencer Hill under the Goose Bay label is the only kosher New Zealand winery. The wines are sourced from cool climate vineyard sites in Upper Moutere Hills close to Nelson.
Taste: Soft red fruit of cherry and strawberry dominate. Integrated silky tannins similar to green apple skin. This wine will pair well with most cuisines.
2013 Gilgal Galilee Israel, Pinot Noir $14.99 (Grade B+) For Passover
Within the Golan Heights lies a small refrain of volcanic soil, which is where this exceptional value Pinot is grown.
Taste: As close to a baby Burgundy as you will find. Lots of earth, bright cherry and mushroom.
2013 Martin Ray Russian River Valley California, Pinot Noir $19.99 (Grade B) Not for Passover
Located in the heart of Sonoma, this winery treats each of the many plots it farms individually and then blends for a consistent house style.
Taste: Much richer and riper dark cherry fruit and spice on the nose.
Bottom line:
If you like soft and elegant, then the Gilgal and Goose Bay are for you. If you want bigger and showier, Martin Ray is your wine.
Next Up: Bordeaux and Richer Red Blends
2014 Golan Heights Winery "Mount Hermon Red" Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Merlot, Petit Verdot $14.99 (Grade A) For Passover
Golan Heights Winery was founded in the early 1980s and produces wines from distinct high elevation vineyard sites nearly 4,000 ft in elevation. The area has been compared to Bordeaux and Tuscany for its beauty and prized land. This is a large winery employs 5 winemakers over 150 employees and practices organic farming.
Taste: Plum fruit, gaminess, fruit leather, earth. There is a sweetness on the nose of vanilla and cinnamon. The palate shows a light greenness to the wine, the fruit subtle and very simple. The tannins are present and lasting but the acidity is somewhat lacking.
2013 Hewitson "Ned & Henry" Syrah Barossa Valley, Australia $19.99 (Grade A-) Not for Passover
Founded in 1998 by winemaker Dean Hewitson. Hewitson had a desire to produce Old World wine with New World fruit purity. He settled in the dry-grown vineyards of South Australia's very best regions including the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and the Adelaide Hills.
Taste: Ripe blueberries, fruit forward, lasting tannins, long finish. Some alcohol on the palate, decent amount of cocoa and wheat.
Bottom Line:
Golan Heights for a wine with more Old World earthy notes and Hewitson for a fresher and more youthful appearance.
Cliff Korn has worn nearly every hat at Acker Merrall throughout the years, currently serving as Senior VP as well spending time in the California sunshine where he makes his own wine named "No Limit" http://nolimitwine.com
Matt Reiser received critical acclaim as the wine director of Boston's UpStairs on the Square for more than a decade. Reiser is a certified sommelier and joined the Acker family in November.
If you can't find these wines or wish to provide feedback you can call Cliff or Matt at 212-787-1700 or contact Cliff at email@example.com.
Part Two: Medium and full bodied wines.
Four Cups #1
Considering having a Men's Club Wine sale? See here.


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ASGCA annouces GolfCourse-1
The American Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA) has created GolfCourse-1 to provide those interested in building a new course or remodeling an older one with appropriate planning guidelines and materials. The new project was announced at a recent meeting of the ASGCA Executive Committee in Chicago.
President Damian Pascuzzo is forming a special ASGCA Task Force to develop and edit materials for GolfCourse-1. The ASGCA already has many of the materials in place and will be able to provide GolfCourse-1 materials to individuals, clubs, municipalities and investment groups by mid-February.
For more information visit www.asgca.org.


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Search results
Kiwifruit and Hardy Kiwi (Kiwiberries)
HYG-1426 Agriculture and Natural Resources 05/28/2020 Dr. Gary Y. Gao, Professor and Extension ... of Agriculture (USDA) through the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA). Information in this fact ... of this information can be used for growing hardy kiwi in home gardens as well. Kiwifruit Kiwifruit, ...
EPN Webinar-Women Owning Woodlands: Networks for inclusive land stewardship
Forests & Gardens), and Stephanie Downs (Southern Region Service Forestry Coordinator, ODNR Division ...
Growing Hardy Figs in Ohio
HYG-1439 Agriculture and Natural Resources 05/28/2020 M. Ryan Slaughter, Research Assistant II, ... the ground when temperatures are 20°F or below. In an effort to test how hardy figs will perform in ... a 2017 Specialty Crop Block Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture through the Ohio Department of ...
Be Alert for Spotted Lanternfly
ANR-83 Agriculture and Natural Resources 04/22/2020 Jamie Dahl, Forest Outreach Coordinator, ... Central State University Extension Ashley Kulhanek, Educator, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Ohio ... quarantined by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal Plant Health Inspection Service ...
Using the Forecasting System to Assess the Risk of Head Scab
application decisions. Here are a few guidelines for using the system and interpret the output: 1.) Go to the ... yellow, red, or gray. 2.) STOP. Before you try to interpret the map, make sure that you select: The ...
Milk Production of Ohio Dairy Herds (2016 through 2019)
different testing options offered by DHI, some herds opt for no release of records, lack of sufficient ... number of test dates, and given that some of the herds consist of other breeds than the ones shown. In ... United States Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service. ...
Household Water Use
AEX-420 Agriculture and Natural Resources 05/27/2020 Karen Mancl, PhD, Professor, Food, ... Agricultural, and Biological Engineering, Ohio State University Extension Household water use is on the decline, ... 7 gallons per flush of older fixtures. WaterSense labels show the fixture has passed third party testing for ...
Milk Prices, Costs of Nutrients, Margins and Comparison of Feedstuffs Prices
Feeds Results of the Sesame analysis for central Ohio on May 26, 2020 are presented in Table 2. Detailed ... results for all 26 feed commodities are reported. The lower and upper limits mark the 75% confidence range ... remember that SESAME™ compares all commodities at one specific point in time. Thus, the results do not ...
Cressleaf Groundsel in Hay
(fresh weight) of a species in the same genus as butterweed for a minimum of 20 days resulted in 100% ...
Economic Assistance Available for Dairy Farms
continues to be announced, so allowing time for final guidance interpretations before applying for ... businesses and agricultural cooperatives with no more than 500 employees may apply for EIDL, which provides ... programs will help with some of the resulting cash shortfall. Clarifications from FSA indicate that corn ...


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A blog based on my opinion pieces on current events, popular culture, social issues and theology. It is my hope that when you stop by, you'll learn something new or discover a different perspective on an issue that you may not have thought of before. Please feel free to leave a comment and start a dialogue!
Monday, 18 February 2013
Movie Review: Noobz
So what exactly is Noobz? Well it's supposed to be a comedic road-trip movie about a clan of gamers trying to get to the biggest gaming tournament in the country, celebrating gaming culture along the way. Honestly, that's a bit of a rote scenario for an independent film (see Fanboys for Star Wars, One Week for supposedly "Canadian" culture, etc), and Noobz really doesn't distinguish itself from the other similar movies in the genre... well, not in a positive way anyway. Why not? Well for one thing, it does a really, really poor job capturing gamer culture. While I didn't like Fanboys, its one redeeming feature was that it captured the Star Wars geek culture pretty well. Noobz is closer to One Week in that it shows a really stereotypical view of its subject matter... except, in the case of Noobz, this is a really BAD representation. The director and star, Blake Freeman, was actually a professional gamer... a decade ago. Based on the content of the movie, it seems like this is where all of Freeman's "research" came from, because it's a woefully outdated and portrays gaming as the domain of anti-social nerds. This MIGHT have flown back then, but this is 2013: basically everyone games now, and nerds are actually coming in vogue as well. You'd swear this movie was made by CNN or something based on the way it portrays gamers, not someone who is apparently one himself. Furthermore, he just completely fails to capture gaming culture in general. One of the most glaring examples of this is that there's a Frogger tournament at the same tournament that the main characters are at. However, only 2 people enter it because coin-op gaming isn't "cool" anymore. Now it doesn't take a lot of research to know that retro gaming is a huge subculture right now, and I wouldn't be surprised if such a tournament actually had more competition than a modern shooter. Another issue is covered here:
"There's a passing mention of Frogger, but the only gameplay footage from the fictional Cyberbowl video gaming championship is based exclusively on Gears of War 3. While it's clearly a form of product placement, it's a bizarre choice at that: Gears of War 3 isn't a championship level game by any means (especially with the atrocious host-advantage issues in multiplayer)."
Watching the movie, I actually speculated that this was the case, but it's nice to see it confirmed. That said, I'm not really all that knowledgeable about tournament-level gaming (I'd imagine that PC gaming, particularly Counter-Strike, would be probably the #1 choice for competitive play...?), but it's notable that this stuck out as clearly as it did.
In addition, Freeman shows only the worst aspects of gamer culture. You know that douche bag 12-year-old screaming racist and homophobic slurs on your headset every time you boot up a first-person shooter? Basically every character in this movie is that kid, except that they're like that 24/7 and not when they've got the anonymity that a headset provides. Sure, some of them probably are douche bags like that in real life, but Noobz disproportionately presents every gamer as someone with some sort of major personality flaw. The "heroes" are stereotypical dicks living the Jersey Shore lifestyle (with the "dudes" and "bros" thrown around CONSTANTLY throughout to cement this), and every single female character is either a grotesque hag or a sex object. And, of course, everyone is shocked to discover that the girl gamers are actually good at video games... this, unfortunately, is probably a stereotype which actually persists in this culture, but Freeman isn't exactly putting this part in here to make any sort of statement. I think the worst part about all this though is that Blake Freeman really seems to think that he's portraying gamers in a positive manner, because you get this sense all the time when the character Andy spouts off his ramblings about how major league gaming should be considered a real sport. While I'm not entirely sure I'd call them "athletes", pro gaming clearly takes a lot of skill and deserves some respect, but Noobz isn't doing this culture any favours.
I think it's also worthwhile to go deeper into each of the characters... because boy do they ever deserve to be torn apart. Each and every one of them is a one-dimensional stereotype: there's Cody, the slacker with major anger management issues. Next is Andy the optimistic dude-bro who's in love (read: wants to screw) with Rickie, a girl gamer on the other team (who isn't really given much characterization beyond "is hot"). After that is Oliver, the massive screw-up who is also an extremely flamboyantly closeted gay (the movie tries to make his sexuality ambiguous, but the scenes where he runs around in lipstick, screams like a girl, constantly tries to suck his friends' dicks, etc pretty much destroy any possible sense of ambiguity that they could have tried to foster, instead turning him into a hugely offensive stereotype). Finally, there's Hollywood, a disabled kid who I believe has a severe form of asthma... of course, everything about him revolves around his juvenile sexual fantasies and his breathing apparatus (apparently it's supposed to be funny when his air supply gets cut off and the kid is freaking dying in front of us). Seriously, even in the end credits he apparently writes a hit hip-hop single called "Let Me Breathe", because everything in his life apparently revolves around his disability.
As you can probably glean from the descriptions of the main characters, Noobz is offensive as a bus full of dead babies, but you don't know the half of it. The portrayals of Oliver and Hollywood are really the worst of the bunch (apparently gays aren't considered "men" in this), but there's also plenty of casual racism and sexism. Did you see the picture above of the black kid with the comb in his hair? I'm pretty sure you can guess exactly how they portrayed him in this. There's also a scene where an Indian gas station attendant acts like a ridiculously racist caricature, and tells the cops he's white so they won't discriminate against him. It seems like Freeman thinks that he's being clever and satirical, but it really doesn't come across that way: I mean, is are we really supposed to believe that he is making fun of racists by being racist and then simultaneously calling out racial profiling at the same time in some sort of inverse-satire cluster-f--k? Short answer: no. Instead, I really get the feeling that Blake Freeman is just a hardcore opponent of political correctness, suggested by the scene where the douchey little black kid gets a free ride on "DeezNuts Airlines" ("thank you for riding DeezNuts!" ...I did not make that up) because he claims that he's being racially profiled by a white attendant. While I hate political correctness as much as the next guy, Freeman isn't using offensive material to make a statement or to be satirical... he seems to just find offensive things funny for no other reason than it's offensive. Even in this department, they fail because they recycle the same old offensive jokes over and over and over again.
In fact, for a supposed "comedy", Noobz is deathly short on laughs. I can honestly say that I did not laugh at any of the jokes in this film, which is pretty pathetic. The only times I did laugh were in sheer disbelief as I literally yelled out "WTF, did they seriously put something that stupid in the movie?!?" This is pretty brutal in the scenes with Greg Lipstein (a play on Billy Mitchell) which might have been funny for the crew but translate really awkwardly to the rest of the audience who are sitting here thinking "what the hell is wrong with this guy?" Furthermore, the comedic set-pieces are really tenuously constructed. Take, for example, the scene I mentioned earlier with the Indian gas station attendant. Cody goes into the gas station to pay for their gas and get some snacks, but comes across this little shit of a girl. Of course, the two begin going at it, insulting each other with dialogue that doesn't reflect human speech in the slightest (that might be an odd criticism, but the dialogue in this scene is just totally out of tone with the rest of the film). Then the girl's mother believes that, because Cody is hugging her daughter, that he must be a pedophile and proceeds to taser him without explanation. Then the Indian gas station attendant launches into his ridiculous shtick. This is honestly some of the most contrived comedy I've seen in a movie, and it's just not handled very well (uhh, no pedo).
Anyway, in the end the "heroes" lose to the girl gamers (who were far more deserving of the prize money anyway), but get signed to Mountain Dew... except they don't, because 2 seconds later in the credits they reveal that the guy was arrested for impersonating a Mountain Dew executive (WTF!? Is that even a crime?!!), but I'm not really sure that I care, because the main characters were such huge douche bags and they didn't learn or earn anything from the events of the movie... so it makes things completely pointless. Congratulations, you just wasted an hour and forty minutes of your life!
Bottom-line: the only positive thing I can say is that Freeman is a competent enough director, but he severely needs some better material if he ever wants to amount to anything. Noobz is not that material. It has a bland story, non-existent comedy, garishly offensive and doesn't even portray its own subject matter with any sort of reverence. Unless you're looking for a really bad movie like I was, stay away!
2 comments:
I will point out that your review is spot on, except for one thing. The girls only won because Andy (Jason) fucking threw his entire team under the bus. He didn't even do it out of love, he just thought he did, and yet at the end... he's fucking the disabled kid's mother! What a complete ass!ReplyDelete
The proper solution for Mewes would have been to win, than to comfort his girlfriend and give her his portion of the prize money. After all, I'd say Moises' character needs it much more than any of those girls did.
And the Pixies deserved it no more or less than "Riegn". In I would spit on them for not being gracious in victory, not even acknowledging the fact that they should have lost. Then again, I guess it doesn't matter... the silver-lining (if you could even call it that) would be when Cody (Blake) beats the shit out Andy and Asthma-Dude (Moises Arias) joins in, using his oxygen tank.
The worst part though, was definitely that UNNECESSARY post-credits sequence. I mean what would anybody, (ANYBODY?) have to gain by posing as an executive for a cola company other than to DELIBERATELY give us, the viewers, and (to a lesser extent) the Noobs? Then Cody gets arrested for no good reason, Andy basically gives his gal the indirect-FUCK OFF, and begins a relationship with Asthma-Dude's mom. The rest as we say it, is (and rather thankfully) historical fiction.Replies
Thanks for commenting! Yes, this movie was a piece of trash, with lots of rather offensive "gags" (like all of the above that you mentioned) thrown in for nothing more than the LOLZ. More than likely someone thought that they were funny at one point or another during production, but when you throw it all together it makes for a frustratingly incoherent film.Delete


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Missing In Mexico by Stuart Gustafson
Aug 082011
Missing In Mexico by Stuart Gustafson
Book Details:
Publisher: AITE Publishing
Published: May 2011
Genre: Mystery Tourism
Website: Missing In Mexico
Sarah Johnson is a 19-year college freshman who, along with her roommate Mary, spent an extra week in Los Cabos, Mexico after a family vacation over the Christmas break. Unexpectedly, Sarah's not on the plane back to Seattle, and her parents hire Stan, a seasoned Private Investigator, to locate her. Even with local help and some promising leads in the town of San Jose del Cabo, he's unable to find her, and he returns to Seattle to inform the parents. Months later he receives a mysterious letter from someone who says she can help him locate Sarah, and he jumps on the next plane to Los Cabos. Will this be the lucky break he needs to find her? Or will she remain missing — Missing in Mexico?
Chapter One/Uno
Flight # 1476 from Los Cabos to Seattle
Saturday, January 5th
The voice over the intercom system announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, we trust you had a good time in Los Cabos, but it's now time for us to take you back to the States. The cabin doors have been closed, and Alaska Airlines flight 1476 with nonstop service to Seattle-Tacoma is ready for departure."
"Hey, wait. Sarah's not here; we can't leave without her," the girl in seat 14A yelled in a frightened voice. Mary reached up and pushed the flight attendant call button even as the flight attendant was already headed toward her seat. "We can't leave yet; Sarah's still down there," Mary continued, now reaching the point of hysteria.
"Please calm down, miss. Everyone's already onboard. You can look for yourself," the flight attendant said in a calm voice as she pointed to the window.
"What do you mean everyone's onboard? Sarah's not here; she should be sitting right here!" Mary pulled her tearing eyes away from the empty seat and looked out and saw that the boarding ramps had been pulled away from the airplane, but what she didn't see scared her. How come Sarah's not out there, running in a panic toward the plane? "Where's Sarah? She was just there with me. Where is she? Don't leave; Sarah's missing!" Mary cried out as tears began flowing down her cheeks.
The annoyed passengers felt a jolt as the plane was being pushed back. They were ready for their flight home from Los Cabos. But Sarah wasn't on board; she's missing – Missing in Mexico.
familia (fă·mĭl'·ē·ă) – family. Hay cuatro personas en mi familia. There are four persons in my family.
My Thoughts:
How would you feel if your daughter never returned home from a family vacation? That is the fate of Sara's parents when she disappears.
Missing In Mexico is a well written book, with very detailed descriptions of Los Cabos. You can "see" the city, it's streets, shops and plaza because the author is so thorough in his descriptions.
I loved that each chapter begins with the chapter number, a word, and then that word used in a sentence, in both English and Spanish.
This book was a lot "tamer" than the mystery books I usually read, but I still enjoyed it very much. The story kept me guessing as to what I was going to find out. It was a very clean read and would be suitable for teens as well as adults.
I did find that about half way through the book had some misspelled words, but not enough to really bother me.
I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes a mystery that is clean and doesn't have anything gory or violent happening.
Author Info:
Stuart Gustafson began writing in earnest after taking early retirement from the corporate world in 2007. His professional life involved travel and so it was natural for him to want to continue traveling once he didn't have to travel as a job. Now when he travels, it's for fun; it's for pleasure; it's to see new places in the world. The way he has chosen to combine his love of travel and writing is to write mystery novels set in exciting locations around the world where he likes to go.
His debut mystery novel Missing in Mexico is set in San Jose del Cabo at the tip of Mexico's Baja California peninsula, a charming location where he has spent 2-6 weeks each year for the past eight years. This is how Stuart researches his books, by immersing himself into the culture of the area, and getting to know the people and their charm. The best compliment Stuart has received was at a local event in San Jose del Cabo and some of the residents told him that Missing in Mexico was indeed about their town and would he please consider writing another book about San Jose or at least about Cabo.
His second mystery novel, set in Sydney, NSW, Australia, is already underway, and Stuart took five trips to Sydney in 2010 to conduct research of the area to once again ensure that the book, even though it's a fictional mystery novel, would still contain authentic details. Publication date for that book is set for early 2012.
Stuart has been married for thirty-seven years to Darlene and they have one daughter and one son. Stuart and Darlene live in Boise, Idaho.
Connect With Stuart:
Facebook: Facebook
Twitter: Twitter
3 Responses to "Missing In Mexico by Stuart Gustafson"
Thank so much for your review, Vicki! I'm glad you liked it :~) Thanks, too, for being a PICT Host!
A clean mystery is rare. Thanks for sharing this review.
I think this would be a mystery I could enjoy. Sometimes they can be a bit too graphic for me. Funny how sometimes graphic is okay and other times it really bothers me. I'll keep an eye out for this one.


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104 3rd Avenue E, Kelvington
Welcome to 33 2nd Ave NW in Preeceville, SK. Close to the school, and close to down town – the location is ideal for everyone! The side entrance of the home opens up into a large porch and has access to the basement. Right off the porch is the kitchen with ample cabinet and counter space. The dining room is located off of the kitchen. Past the dining room and kitchen is the large living room with 3 great windows! Down the hallway of the home you will find 3 good-sized bedrooms and a 4-PC bathroom to finish off the main floor. Throughout the main floor you will notice all of the great closet space. The basement is partially finished with two bedrooms, a 3-PC bathroom and the rest of the space is open for development. The backyard has a great garden space, and a large shed. Updates to the home include: windows (2006), front and side entrance doors (2006), furnace (2006), water heater (2006), shingles (2012) and water softener (2014). This property is a fantastic family home waiting for you! Preeceville is located 30 minutes away from Canora and an hour away from Yorkton. Call the listing agent today to have a tour of this fantastic property!
Satellite Dish, Dryer, Dishwasher - Portable, Fridge, Shed(s), Stove, Window Treatment, Washer
Full Basement, Partially Finished
Garden Area, Lawn Back, Lawn Front, Trees/Shrubs
Saskatchewan REALTORS® Association IDX listings are displayed in accordance with ARR's MLS® Data Access Agreement and are copyright of the Saskatchewan REALTORS® Association
The above information is from sources deemed reliable but should not be relied upon without independent verification. The information presented here is for general interest only, no guarantees apply.
MLS® System data of Saskatchewan REALTORS® Associationdisplayed on this site is refreshed every 15 minutes.


text:
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine Swedish upper secondary school teachers' and students' views and use of ICT in education.
Design/methodology/approach – In total, 25 individual teachers and 39 students in small focus groups were interviewed. A qualitative content analysis was performed using NVivo11. The analysis was conducted in three steps: with each individual teacher, the student groups and the cohort of teachers and students. A comparative analysis was also conducted.
Findings – The teachers' views and use of ICT are diverse. Teachers and students identify similar challenges when using ICT in education, e.g. time and subject, the shortcomings of a school's learning management system (LMS) and teachers' digital competence. Students report an extensive out-of-school use of smartphones and an extensive in-school use of laptops and LMS.
Research limitations/implications – The relatively small number of teachers and students in three schools make generalisations difficult. The examination of teachers' and students' views and use in the same context reveals new knowledge.
Practical implications – The study may influence teachers' use of ICT in education, based on a better understanding of students' use.
Social implications – The study may lead to a better understanding of teachers' and students' different perspectives and a more enhanced and sustainable in-school use of ICT.
Originality/value – The originality is that teachers' and students' views and use of ICT in education are examined at the same time. The paper contributes new knowledge about how teachers and students conceptualise and use ICT in upper secondary school practices


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|If you look closely, to the right of Man, behind the bush you can see Hailey heading down the road.
|Coming back
|If you look closely, to the right of Man, behind the bush you can see Hailey heading down the road.
|Coming back
it is hard to remember not to run to far when you are having fun :)ReplyDelete
Hari OM
It's good to keep testing the boundaries, but to know to bounce back, eh Hailey?! the coming back earns huggies and scritchies and treats... hugs and wags, YAM-aunty xxx
Good girl Hailey. Well done!ReplyDelete
YAY, well done Hailey, big luffs and hugs.
Butts stopping when you're full speed ahead in zoomie mode is sooooo hard isn't it.
Haf funs in the SNOW!!!
Loves and licky kisses
Princess Leah xxx
That's good she comes back, but I bet it still makes you nervous.ReplyDelete
wow bravo! It's fun to run to around... I agree and I'm proud that you came back, Lee... you are the bestest girl!ReplyDelete
Ohhhhhh we are loving your new camera!!!
Hugs Madi your bfff
PS thus far we are having sleet...burr but it is better than freezing rain
You always got to come back cause the humans have the food
Lily & Edward
Good job Hailey!ReplyDelete
EXCELLENT Hailey!! WE are proud of you TOO!!!
Go Hailey!!!! What a good girl!!
Dory, Jakey, Arty & Bilbo
Hopefully, Hailey will realise that running free is work staying around the house! We used to have a dog that escaped the back yard every day and then went around front to sit on the door step. Maybe Hailey is just 'having a look'.ReplyDelete
Good Girl Hailey!!!!
Mr Bailey, Hazel & Mabel
Well done Hailey!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Good job Hailey! You got a lot of snow now!
Keep Calm & Bark On!
Murphy & Stanley
We just took our dog down the driveway to get the mail. Coming back, my husband let her off the leash so she could run and play in the snow. She had a ball.ReplyDelete
Looks like fun!! We love snow zoomies!!ReplyDelete
Hooray! Good job! We hope you got a treat for that!ReplyDelete
Way to go, Hailey!!!ReplyDelete
Onya Hailey!! Did you get a treat for coming back. That's the best part, aye??ReplyDelete
Isn't it a great feeling when they come back!! You should be proud of her, it's a true reflection of YOUR hard work and dedication!ReplyDelete
Just look at all that snow!! How wonderful to run free in it, and to come back and not get lost!
Good job!
Hi hi hi! Ojo here! Cousin Lee, I have a hard time too. I see something or smell something, or something just looks like fun, and I start to run and I completely forget about my people and everything else around me. I always come back... Except for the time it was stormy and I lost the scent of my person and Cobi had to put her nose down and find me. (She has training at tracking with her nose so is she very clever and did this when she was asked to!) I guess I am lucky in that I don't usually disappear for more than 30 seconds (unless I've caught something and I'm eating it!), and I almost always do big loops around and keep an eye and nose on my people, so I get to go off-leash every day. But only in very, very safe and very, very big places. So here is the moral of my very long story - keep coming back and don't go too far and keep making your Lady proud, and then you'll maybe get to go off-leash more often! Right?ReplyDelete
Good job, Hailey! :DReplyDelete
Playing in the snow is so much fun it MAKES you run, run, run.....bravo for Hailey being able to do that but still come BACK!
Hugs, Sammy
Yay....great job, Hailey! The better you are, the more you get that privilege!ReplyDelete
Great job on coming back. That is always hard. ;) Have you tried giving her a visual boundary and training that? Brown dawgs will run through our unfenced yard, but we have taught them visual boundaries. We use little lawn flags where there is no physical marker.ReplyDelete


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Cycler teenage girl-boy swap story
Wow, I really struggled writing a title for this that could explain what the film was about and wasn't five hundred words long! Cycler is the story of a teenage girl who for four days every month turns into a teenage boy, and I mean completely, even with full male anatomy, and after the four days turns back to a girl.
The successful book series is to be adapted into a film, and I find that fascinating because there's a huge scope for this project and how it could turn out on screen.
I haven't read the Cycler books (Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com) myself, so perhaps someone else could tell us what tone they take, although since they are described as a "young adult" series I imagine the tone is pretty light, but coming to film the scope is broadened somewhat.
The story of Jill, who for four days every month completely turns into a boy, could really delve into the psychological as well as physical strains it would place on someone. Now I'm not just talking about the social peer pressure from other teenagers, the problems of what to wear and how to behave as a boy, and the tugging between social groups, no that's what I expect from a "young adult" series and what will no doubt end up being the final film.
No, I mean something much more deeper and fundamental. The psychological effects of a woman actually being a man, the problems of suddenly waking up with a whole range of different hormones rushing through your body that, at a prominent time of sexual awakening, would be pushing you on to do something that yesterday your body just didn't want to, or think of doing. That intensity of hormone induced sexual feeling alone would be an immense thing to deal with.
Then there are all the revelations that the plot could deal with between being a girl and a boy, and not just on a superficial level or a "hey look I've got a willy!" level either.
However I fear that the story will go superficial and will be much more light hearted than we would hope for as the story from The Hollywood Reporter tells us that the Lauren McLaughlin written series of novels has been bought and the write up reads like this:
The novels tell the story of Jill, a suburban teenager who for four days each month turns into Jack, complete with male anatomy and 17-year-old-boy fantasies. Jill has maintained her life of ordinary teenage worries, such as going to the prom and dealing with crush, but that changes when Jack, tired of being locked in his room, begins to escape, causing damage to her social life.
Yes, that sounds very light and joke filled indeed. "Damage to her social life"? Oh the missed possibilities.
However Cycler has Susan Montford and Don Murphy as producers, and they have a real mixed bag of films behind them going from adult to teenage with a real bent towards the more adult fare. I wonder if they might see the vision here?
What am I saying? It's Hollywood. We're looking to the light hearted, social life destruction story.


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A woman turned into corn cobs; beheaded or multi-limbed bodies staged on absurd backdrops involving plastic rabbits or disproportionate fruits: at first glance, Wang Zhibo's paintings create incongruous encounters between unrelated objects and human figures. With theatrical settings and symbolism hinting at both classical and modern painting—from Michelangelo's torsos to De Chirico's unsettling town squares—Wang's work is a clash of time and cultures that reflects the constantly shifting and overlapping visual languages of today's globalized world.
The title of Wang's latest solo exhibition at Shanghai's Edouard Malingue Gallery, "He No Longer Looks Human," refers to a passage in the New Testament describing the appearance of a beaten and disfigured Jesus before his crucifixion. The text can also be read metaphorically: in bearing this suffering and dying for our sins, Jesus ceases to be the mere flesh and bones of a mortal body, and becomes a holy being. This duality between the physical and the symbolic body is at the heart of Wang's new series. While she continues to treat limbs as objects, examining their surface, history and expression, she pushes further her exploration of human gestures to embrace the complexity of their socially constructed dimension.
Untitled (2018) juxtaposes four mismatched legs, one of them a sickly green; a dark-skinned downward-reaching arm; and an array of fruits, including bulging, oversized berries and melons in a composition that is simultaneously classical in its reference to Dutch still life paintings, yet rendered in a starkly unconventional style. The rules of perspective are not respected, and the eyes wander though a disorganized yet harmonious space in which shapes and forms dialogue well, with colors and textures of the fruits echoed in the skin of body parts. The legs and arm are presented in an artificial arrangement, and the unnatural colors and textures of the legs suggest that they may be from dismembered statues rather than humans. The arm, though, grips the green foot in a motion that suggests a human subject, making the viewer question whether the limbs are, in fact, sculptures, and thus interrogating the relationship and differences between human beings and objects.
Wang moves beyond the tangible world to the virtual realm in Sitting (Saint 1, 2, and 3) (all 2018), three portraits based on archetypal images of political figures—combining typical poses that convey authority, and religious symbols—against a backdrop of swirling, geometric patterns that resemble computer screen savers, introducing a digital language to the work. The dotted patterns do not, in themselves, carry meanings that we are able to decode, reflecting the ambiguity surrounding constructed, virtual realities. Furthermore, faces of two of the figures are blurry and almost deleted, while the head of the third man is open at the back, as if in a state of disintegration, depicting the characters as mere images, easily manipulated and fundamentally unreal.
Wang takes this erasure of the body even further in Female! (Self Portrait) (2018), a painting of a woman facing away from the viewer, separated from a gorilla by a semi-transparent screen, flimsy as a bride's veil. The figure's face is completely featureless—like so many of the obscured, deformed figures in Wang's works—focusing attention on her athletic, muscular physique. The body seems poised to fight, though the gorilla is in an impassive pose—could the gorilla she faces be a projection of herself in animal form? The fleshy pinks, bruised purples and deep browns, a palette reminiscent of Francis Bacon's figurative paintings, refer directly to the body, yet the removal of visible facial features subsumes humanity and identity under a deeper animality.
As a painter, Wang has compared herself to a farmer, painstakingly shaping not the land, but rather the forms depicted on her canvas. This manipulation and distortion of shapes, textures and colors in the works in "He No Longer Looks Human" reflected the artist's ongoing quest to represent the inexhaustible dimensions of constructed and perceived realities.
Wang Zhibo's "He No Longer Looks Human" is on view at Edouard Malingue Gallery, Shanghai, until May 6, 2018.
To read more of ArtAsiaPacific's articles, visit our Digital Library.


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Advance reports suggested that the film version of The Clan of the Cave Bear might be among the most laughable goofs of recent memory—evidently preview audiences were hooting at the film, and Warner Bros. has been postponing the release since it was first announced for last summer.
The movie arrived a few days ago (without an advance screening for the press, often a bad harbinger). As it turns out, it's not as inept or as ludicrous as had been rumored.
It's not particularly good, mind you, but it's certainly not Heaven's Gate among the cavemen. Or should we say cavepeople, since the film projects a post-feminist attitude upon the hapless Neanderthals.
I'm one of the last English speaking people to have avoided Jean M. Auel's book, but I assume this feminist theme is carried on from the source material. It has been adapted for film by John Sayles, who often writes screenplays for hire so he can finance his own, self-directed movies (The Return of the Secaucus Seven, Brother from Another Planet).
I hope Sayles makes something good from the fee he got for Cave Bear, because there's certainly not much of him in it. Sayles' gift for dialogue is, understandably, not in evidence, since the characters speak in grunts and hand signs (there are subtitles and narration).
The story is barely there: About 35,000 years ago, a young, blonde-haired tyke named Ayla, whom we are to understand is Cro-Magnon, is picked up by a band of dark, hairy Neanderthals and brought into their clan by a witch doctor (James Remar) and a medicine woman (Pamela Reed). The little girl is raised by these sympathetic people until she becomes the long-legged Daryl Hannah (from Splash), who shows early signs of wanting to play with weapons, heretofore a male domain.
Her struggles are primarily with a mean boy (Thomas G. Waites), an early espouser of the Playboy philosophy, who will someday lead the tribe. He wants her thrown out of the cave, and she must kneel in his presence and submit to his sexual needs. Only the men are allowed to hunt, and the women provide them with food. Jeez, these guys are really Neanderthals.
Ayla becomes the first feminist when she finds a slingshot and starts aiming stones at a stump of wood, which begins her journey toward self-sufficiency.
The film is really not that awful. But it seems there are some stories that can be conjured up in prose that can't be similarly treated in movies, and this is one of them. It's tough to believe the gorgeous Hannah (who is otherwise pretty good) as a Cro-Magnon woman who will someday evolve into modern man. She's already there, even if she doesn't shave her legs.
Michael Chapman, the former cinematographer whose only previous film as director was All the Right Moves, gives everything a respectful, ordinary gloss. However, there's an exciting scene in which the young chieftains battle an enormous bear, and the bear is one of the greatest I've ever seen in the movies.
One question: if Ayla brought her proto-feminist ways to bear on such an early form of human civilization, how did we fall so far behind again in the succeeding 35,000 years? I guess we'll have to look to the sequels to find out.
First published in the Herald, February 12, 1986
No sequel would there be for the movie series, thanks to this film's reception. And when I say "Heaven's Gate for cavemen," I don't mean Heaven's Gate was bad, but that Heaven's Gate was the standard for big-scale flops. Although I suppose if we apply the latter definition this movie was the Heaven's Gate for cavemen.


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Now before you call the Equal Opportunities Commission or whatever new beauracracy is handling such matters at the minute, we're talking about mixing products.
Quite often contractors will find themselves at a job with insufficient quantities of the products required. So they will ask us if they can put conversion varnish on top of polyurethane, water based on top of solvent based, two pack on single pack, and a partridge in a pear tree, just to finish the job.
The short answer is NO. Neither the wholesaler or the manufacturer can, or should, warrant your work in the case of ANYTHING going wrong, and we do mean anything. It could be delamination, excessive and early yellowing, frying, orange peeling, bubbling, tackiness, or bird flu.
(That last one was a joke. We couldn't warrant you against bird flu even if you don't mix products)
Would you rather put your customer off for another day so you can stock up on the right gear, or spend another three days on a full resand?
However, in times of desperation, some contractors at least want to know if their planned undertaking has been done before, and if the person in question got away with it. We can only answer honestly if we know of any such thing. But that doesn't mean you should still go and do it- see the above paragraph!


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The Vivisect Playset is returning for it's fifth installment on December 5th at our San Francisco location. Luke Chueh has helped us curate another amazing show and the artist lineup is incredible!
Alex Pardee, Amanda Visell, Amy Sol, Angry Woebots, Anthony Ausgang, Ben Strawn, Brendon Flynn, Charlie Immer, Daniel Elson, Dia, Ghostpatrol, Isaac Pierro, Joe Ledbetter, Johnny Crap, Kamala Dolphin Kingsley, Lauren Moyer, Lindsay Campbell, Luke Chueh, Mari Inukai, Matt Dangler, Mayuko Fujino, Melissa Haslam, Moira Hahn, Paul Barnes, Peek-a-boo, Pete Gronquist, Roland Tamayo, Scott Radke, Thomas Han, and Walt Hall.
We already have some preview pics for you because you read our blog and we like that...
Mari Inukai
Ben Strawn
Paul Barnes
Peter Gronquist
Scott Radke
Lauren Moyer
Seriously, the work is so good and we still haven't seen all of it yet. I think this is the best Vivisect Playset of all five years!
Thinking back to the year we opened, Jensen and I have been through a lot. Five years is a long time and it's crazy to see how much our lives have changed. Here are a few funny pictures from our grand opening in Los Angeles back in 2004...
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
The Vivisect Playset (Round 5)
Labels: Luke Chueh, Vivisect Playset
1 comment:
- G1988 said...
Yes, I was fat.
- November 25, 2008 at 6:07 PM
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Freedon given to be naked……crosses limits !!!
Hello Readers, My name is Sri. I am going to share an incident of mine which happened during my childhood. I think I was 10-11 year old then. My parents both used to work. So during summer , winter holidays they used to leave me at Bhagirathi aunty's house. She was mummy's best friend. Bhagu … Read more Freedon given to be naked……crosses limits !!!


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WOW, this was a knockout chat with more than thirty participants and TONS of great links and information shared, all on the hot topic of the use of story apps to enhance and build literacy skills in children. If you had to miss it, get caught up with the 19-page transcript above, and add the weekly #storyappchat event to your Google Calendar so you'll be sure to join us for the next one (October 7 at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT).
P.S. While the text in the transcript preview window looks wonky, it shouldn't when you download it to your own PC and open it up with Acrobat Reader. If anyone has trouble reading the transcript, please let me know.


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The real estate site Babelimmo offers thousands of real estate ads, for example flat Olbia-Tempio or flat Sardegna.
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Wikipedia: "The TGV Atlantique (TGV-A) is a class of high-speed trains used in France by SNCF; they were built by Alstom between 1988 and 1992, and were the second generation of TGV trains, following on from the TGV Sud-Est.
105 bi-current sets, numbered 301-405, were built for the opening of the LGV Atlantique. Entry into service began in 1989. They are 237.5 m (779 ft) long and 2.904 m (9 ft 6.3 in) wide. They weigh 444 t (437 LT; 489 ST), and are made up of two power cars and ten carriages with a total of 485 seats. They were built for a maximum speed of 300 km/h (186 mph) with 8,800 kW (11,801 hp) total power under 25 kV.
Modified unit 325 set the world speed record in 1990 on the new LGV before its opening. Modifications, such as improved aerodynamics, larger wheels and improved braking were made to enable test run speeds of over 500 km/h (311 mph). The set was reduced to two power cars and three carriages to improve the power-to-weight ratio, weighing 250 t (246 LT; 276 ST). Three carriages, including the bar carriage in the centre, is the minimum possible configuration because of the way the sets are articulated.[citation needed]
The TGV Atlantique's world record was beaten on the 3 April 2007, by a TGV POS set on the LGV Est, which reached a top speed of 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph)."
France is affectionately referred to as "the Hexagon" for its overall shape.French history goes back to the Gauls, a Celtic tribe which inhabited the area circa 300BC until being conquered by Julius Caesar.The Franks were the first tribe to adopt Catholic Christianity after the Roman Empire collapsed. France became an independent location in the Treaty of Verdun in (843 AD), which divided up Charlemagne's Carolingian Empire into several portions.The French monarchy reached its zenith during the reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King, who stood for seventy-two years as the Monarch of all Monarchs. His palace of Versailles and its Hall of Mirrors are a splendid treasure-trove of Baroque art.The French Revolution ended the rule of the monarchy with the motto "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity!" On July 14th, 1789 angry mobs stormed La Bastille prison and began the Revolution in which Louis XVI, his wife Marie-Antoinette and thousands of others met the guillotine.One decade after the revolution, Napolean Bonaparte seized control of the Republic and named himself Emperor. His armies conquered most of Europe and his Napoleonic Code became a lasting legal foundation for concepts of personal status and property.During the period of colonization France controlled the largest empire in the world, second only to Britain.France is one of the founding members of the European Union and the United Nations, as well as one of the nuclear armed nations of the world.Text by Steve Smith.


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Every modern multi-media campaign has to include phones. They're a phenomenal tool. We've pioneered new and innovative ways to put phones to work for you. Think of it – in a single hour, hundreds of thousands of calls can go out, carrying your critical message to people who can act on it.
Here's just one example of a telemarketing campaign that we've done recently.
Case Study The Cook County Board had a problem. The budget was in dire straits – what new tax could they impose as a fix-it? They set their sights on a new leasing tax. If you could rent it, they likely would tax it. Cars, hotel rooms, even videos were among the vulnerable targets.
As might be expected, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce was unhappy at this prospect. We partnered with the Chamber to launch a phone campaign zeroing in on four county board members just days before the scheduled vote.
Automated calls swept through large tracts of Chicago voters. All in all, we clocked about 250,000 calls per hour. But there was a special feature: voters answering their phone were given a take-action-now option. They could be connected directly to the offices of the county board members to register their opinions on the proposed tax.
Our telemarketing effort prompted such a huge grassroots swell of opposition that the county board could not pass the tax.
This is especially remarkable given that we'd had only three days to try to end-run the tax initiative. No doubt about it, the phone blitz was the hero.


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I am now developing "Hours " into a performance piece and as part of this process actor and writer Tim Crouch will read from the opening section of the book while images from the publication are projected.
This will happen on 21 October 2017 at 7pm at Fabrica, 40 Duke Street, Brighton BN1 1AG
After the reading the audience will be encouraged to provide feedback, which will shape the development of the piece into a full-length theatrical event.
This event will also be the launch of the book and copies will be available to buy.
Refreshments available plus a pay bar.
The event is free but places are limited so booking is essential. Please follow the link to Eventbrite below


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Blue Shield of California Foundation helps domestic violence organizations form strategic partnerships.
AARP and Experience Corps merge to take a national senior volunteer and student literacy program to scale
Louisiana SPCA uses strategic planning to affirm priorities and strengthen core services in animal welfare
Colorado AIDS Project merger creates a unified voice for HIV/AIDS services statewide
NAACP's strategic plan creates a powerful vision to honor its legacy and guide its work in the 21st Century
Drawing from our unparalleled experience helping nonprofits build relationships for greater impact, we have developed an array of tools, articles, and research on nonprofit collaboration
and nonprofit mergers and alliances. Explore these resources to learn how you can use collaborative strategies to expand your reach, deliver more effective programs, create administrative efficiencies, and advance your mission.
If you're new to nonprofit collaboration and strategic restructuring, or for a look at our core materials on the topic, see "Getting Started." Check "Digging Deeper" for more detailed perspectives on nonprofit partnerships.
The Collaborative Map – Collaboration can take many forms, from casual cooperative relationships to more integrated partnerships
Nonprofit Collaboration Infographic – An infographic showing how funders can support strategic collaboration and how nonprofits can engage in these kinds of partnerships. (Developed by the Foundation Center, with La Piana Consulting and the Tides Center.)
Meeting Your Match: How to Identify, Assess, and Engage a Potential Merger Partner – A brief outlining practical advice and specific steps for early-stage exploration of nonprofit collaboration
Collaboration and Strategic Restructuring Podcast Series – A series of short podcasts answering common questions about nonprofit strategic restructuring
The Nonprofit Mergers Workbooks, Parts I and II – Our two ground-breaking, practical guides for nonprofits on all aspects of the strategic restructuring process
Merging Wisely – A thought-provoking article helping nonprofits and foundations weigh merger as one of many strategic options
Laying the Groundwork for Collaboration – A blog post suggesting three first steps for nonprofit leaders just beginning to consider collaboration
Mergers: A Cautionary Note – A brief article comparing nonprofit mergers with for-profit mergers and asking: When is merger the right choice?
The Strategic Restructuring Self-Assessment Tool – An introduction to our self-assessment tool helping nonprofits gauge their readiness for strategic restructuring
The HOPE Program and Sustainable South Bronx Case Study – A parent-subsidiary partnership that has strengthened the delivery of job training and career retention programs in New York City.
Merger Integration Checklist – The integration process following a merger agreement is essential to achieving strategic goals; we advise clients to begin with the ten functional areas of integration summarized in this checklist
Federated Nonprofits – A series of articles exploring the strengths and challenges of large, geographically-dispersed nonprofit networks
Health Center Collaborations – A brief look at motivations and considerations for collaborations involving federally qualified health centers (FQHCs)
Building Collaborative Capacity in Communities – A look at how a combination of data, education, and funding is building community capacity in support of nonprofit strategic restructuring in Chicago
Reimagining Service: A Case Study in Cross Sector Collaboration – How a time-limited, multi-sector campaign helped change the narrative on volunteer engagement
Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative – Case profiles from the Los Angeles multi-funder collaborative to help nonprofits use strategic restructuring to increase their impact
Mergers That Make a Difference – A co-curated collection of case studies and blogs exploring effective nonprofit mergers
Models of Strategic Restructuring Case Studies: Chattanooga Museums – A case study on an administrative consolidation featuring finalists for the 2009 Collaboration Prize
Models of Strategic Restructuring Case Studies: Ready, Set, Parent! – A case study on joint programming featuring finalists for the 2009 Collaboration Prize
Models of Strategic Restructuring Case Studies: Crittenton Women's Union – A case study on a merger featuring finalists for the 2009 Collaboration Prize
The Human Services Strategic Restructuring Pilot Project – A report summarizing a funder initiative of 18 grantmakers supporting nonprofit partnerships in Ohio
Strategic Restructuring among Domestic Violence Organizations – A series of reports developed for the Blue Shield of California Foundation – Blue Shield Against Violence
Strategic Restructuring for California Community Clinics – A collection of reports developed for the California HealthCare Foundation
Arts and Culture Mergers – A brief article highlighting trends in mergers and strategic restructuring among arts and culture organizations
Why Nonprofits Should Explore Shared Administrative Services – A brief article on some of the benefits of administrative consolidation among nonprofits
Funder Collaboration in Support of Strategic Restructuring – A summary report from a March 2012 convening of funders with experience in supporting strategic restructuring
Which Comes First, the Partnership or the Plan? – A brief article on how various planning processes can support and inform nonprofit collaboration
SAGE/Task Force LGBT Aging Leadership Initiative: A Case Study in Collaboration – Shared leadership leads to shared success in advancing the field
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