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It's five thirty in the morning. The thermometer outside, the one that kept me awake entire nights not willing to move from 32 and more degrees at night, now shows 9 degrees. I have messages in my mailbox from my family worrying because I have been "inactive". My bank account scares the shit out of me. Yesterday, I tried to book a flight back to Berlin, surprisingly cheap. I could not complete the transaction because suddenly I had difficulties breathing. I am lost right now. I don't really know why. I cannot rationalise the notion of returning to Berlin being a mistake, because in our shrunken world a mistake like this doesn't exist. So what if I go back and find out it was a mistake? The return costs me maybe 200 € and six hours. Knowing this, why does this step feel so big?
When coming here, I had only one agenda: find out what I want to do. And I have come closer to knowing. I want to write. I have not received such honest and positive feedback for anything I have done so far in my life. But the longing for security has not been killed by the hope rendered by all of these responses, as much as they have given to me. Since I have received my diagnosis, in a hospital bed in Portugal, by a nervous assistant doctor, all I can think about is: security. It feels like a sign, because security has been all I could think about ever since I can remember. And for some odd reason that I have yet to discuss with my therapist, this has always meant mainly financial security. Money seems to be the only security I believe in. I do not believe in people always being there for you. I do not believe in luck. I think this is because I saw what happened to my mother. It taught me that everything you think you have can be taken away from you in a split second. In the tiny moment it takes a doctor to inhale, form the words, and articulate them. Put the words between him or her, and you, in this room, in the practice, or the hospital. I always was terrified of this moment, and yet, after almost twenty years of being terrified, not a bit prepared for it.
I always knew it would be me who would eventually hear them, not my sister. I always knew I was the one who would not get away. Who would not get this life we have had paraded in front of our eyes while growing up. The boyfriend slash husband you met at the youth club or handball league, the minor complications of thinking for a time he might fancy someone else, the satisfaction of finding out he likes you, after all, the entire small town notsoexcitingbutexcitingenough romance, the parties, the going home early, the weddings, the houses, cars, dogsorcats, the babies. I get so many mails nowadays, people sending me pictures of babies and weddings of sisters, brothers, old friends. I don't know which electronic face to make to these pics while living with a bunch of ERASMUS students in their early twenties in a house full of mice, dirt, drugs and cheap IKEA blankets. Am I pitiful or are they? Did I fail or did they? Am I on the wrong path, just kidding myself? Maybe I could have had all of that. I am quite sure I could have. Would I be sick now? I know this sounds petty, but I read that being unhappy for a long time is one of the few suspects in the nonexistent list of reasons for why people get MS. And this makes me angry. I think of all the damage my mother's sickness has done to me, and all the resulting wrongs. My studies, my inability to know what I want and, even if I had a suspicion, to stand up for it, my first job and why the fuck I felt the need to go through with it. All of this sorrow, all of this pain. I have felt so much pain in my life, and desperation. Mostly pain.
I imagine a blond female teenager somewhere in the north of Germany. She is quite popular in school. Her parents are fairly successful with their local business. She has friends. Her grades are OK, not so good that her peers dislike her but not so bad that she needs to worry. She gets invited to the relevant parties. She is not fat. In her world she has nothing to worry about. She sees a guy at a party. She finds out who he is and it turns out they have some mutual acquaintances. She lets him know she is interested. He checks her out too, friends, family, etc. Good enough. It only takes one party, one keg. Some goodwilling friends. Sometimes I wish I was her. I know her. I see her picture in my local newspaper. I get emails from her with the latest baby pictures. I was her, once, also. And I gave it away. Sound mind and everything. It took one trip to New York for an internship to end all of these prospects. And one ERASMUS semester, three years later, to finally have full security that this had been indeed the right step.
I will never forget how I felt, sitting on my enormous suitcase in Berlin Ostbahnhof Station, after returning from my ERASMUS semester in Warsaw. One second out of the train, I had smelled the Berlin air. It has a distinct smell to it, one that had once meant freedom when disembarking the train from the small town I call home. This time it sent me immediately into a choking crying fit. I remember desperately trying to stop crying when I saw my friends coming up the stairs with a bottle of sparkling wine, eager to welcome me. I could not. I get the same feeling now when I try to book my flight back. But what does that mean? Am I bound to eternally run away? Am I just pathetic? Fooling myself?
The experience with the exboyfriend who wanted the whole small town house kids car dog deal while I wanted New York, take away food and coffee to go made me believe that the right man for me waited in the big city. The next five years in the big city taught me that there probably is no right man for me. Now, here in Lisbon, against all odds (because the expectations for this life-changing event were so high I knew – or better, thought I knew – nothing would happen), I actually found someone whom I could love and who could love me. Emphasis on the word could. Because it turns out against all temporal convictions he is not for me. But still. At least hyperthetically, if time, place and circumstances were different, he may have been. In any case, what I have thought impossible is not so impossible anymore. Maybe it is possible that there is also someone out there for me. I am right now trying to come to terms with the questions: does this new knowledge make me more devastated or more happy? More weak or more strong? I don't have an answer yet.
Most of the time, right now, I feel only one thing: This is too much too ask. Oh, sorry, two things: This is too much to ask and why? Really: why? I am constantly screaming at the sky right now, from tiny streets, breathtaking viewpoints and the balcony of my living room. I want justice. I am a good person. I know this. I also know I am not much else. I am weak, hot-tempered, prone to drinking too much, eating too much, smoking too much, gossiping, bad at keeping secrets. But I am a good person. I do not deserve so much misery. Worrying about my mother, the old women in the street patting my hair, asking about her like she is already dead, the beingquietallthetime, the guilt hanging over her at the dinner table, the aggression from my father and my sister, directed at my mother, in their helplessness, but crashing into me as if into a bullet proof vest, leaving serious black marks.
When I really take the time to think about all of this, I arrive only at one conclusion: I deserve it all. The beautiful life. The sunshine and the flowers. The shiny cars and the happy puppies. The healthy babies and the trust funds. The eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. A happy life in oblivion. But I do not have it, and never will. I have to think about disability insurance and death. Money and career. Getting off my parents' back. Saving for my parents' old age homes. I know what I need to do to make sure all of these things are taken care of. I have already cut many a piece of flesh out of my loins, so to speak, to achieve these tokens of security. Portugal has screwed up this route. Now I am struggling to get back there, even if I am not convinced it is the right thing to do. But I do not feel I can risk finding out.
I do not regret the detours I have taken. I resent the word detour the second I am writing it down right now. No, I refuse to be sucked into this logic. I believe that it was all worth it, no matter what "security" it might have cost me. The people I have met. The nights I have spent. All those hangovers. All those last cigarettes of the night. The sunrises. The great, amazing, mindblowing songs I am able to understand. All the happy and all the frustrating moments in foreign countries. Because I have been in foreign countries. Because I have met people from foreign countries. Because I have had my feet in these fucking waters, have danced at these fucking parties, have jumped off these fucking bridges, have had these fucking fights and love declarations in English, language of my choice and life.
I don't know much about myself. It scares me. Maybe it's normal. It is hard to ask other people about this. I know I like English, I like TV series and stupid movies, wine and good food, many many songs, people who have a way with words, intelligent humour. People who have a way with images. Actually I never like these people but am always just jealous that it is not me achieving what they are achieving. But still I do not move all that much. But before coming here I did not move at all. At least now I have a document named "script Lisboa" saved on my computer. At least now I have love in my heart. And a lot to write about.
It is 07:50 am in Lisboa and light. I have worked a night shift in the kitchen of a cafe, preparing hamburgers. I have mixed caipirinhas and poured beers. I have mopped the floor. I have had a baby dog fall asleep in my arms. This was the first time I ever held a dog. It was mindblowing. I know people who have babies probably are offended. But for me it was an amazing moment. Maybe this is all I will get. But I am at peace with the suspicion that it is more than many will ever know.


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Clarity is the second most important factor in grading colored gemstones, and describes any inclusions (flaws) within or blemishes on the surface of a gemstone. The higher grades are usually given to gemstones that are "eye clean", with no flaws visible to the naked eye. However, flawless colored gemstones are very rare indeed, and will therefore command very high prices.
Thus, unlike diamonds, unless the flaws are very large and/or numerous, or likely to affect the durability of the stone, minor inclusions don't usually affect the price of colored gemstones. Indeed, with some gemstones they are regarded as acceptable - these include sapphires, rubies, garnet and peridot. Star sapphires, for example, aren't star sapphire unless they exhibit needle inclusions!
|From left: Very good oval kunzite, 17.31ct Very good oval paraiba tourmaline, 4.15ct Fair black opal cabochon, 7.24ct
Other stones, such as emeralds, beryls and tourmaline are very rarely found in nature without inclusions, and a long-established and industry accepted way of improving the clarity of emeralds, for example, is to fill them with oil or resin to make the inclusions less visible.
Because of the clarity differences between different types of gemstones, the untreated stones themselves are usually classified as Type I, Type II or Type III gemstones:
- Type I coloured gemstones usually grow with no inclusions visible to the naked eye, including aquamarine, morganite, tanzanite and blue topaz
- Type II coloured gemstones usually grow with some minor inclusions visible to the naked eye, including garnet, peridot, ruby and sapphire
- Type III coloured gemstones almost always have inclusions visible to the naked eye, including emerald and tourmaline
|From left: Very good pear-shaped citrine, 59.36ctGood round-cut demantoid garnet, 3.67ctVery good oval colour changing alexandrite, 5.36 ct
Opaque gemstones are graded differently again since by their nature they do not transmit light, but they should still reflect light well. they should not have any cracks or fissures, or feature undesirable inclusions. But as always there are exceptions! For example, inclusions such as veining can be acceptable - and sometimes even desirable - in certain types of stone, such as lapis lazuli.

subset: commoncrawl


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"Wok kaha karti thi ke zindagi ki achhayiyon ko dekho. Apne aap ko dukhi mat samjho. There is always something good about life. Be happy. Live it up. And she was right."
It happened one night. Raja sahib lost his will to live. His desire to go back to an adventures life. A new personal assistant kindled the flame in him.


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Spelling got pregnant 'too soon'
Tori Spelling's mother Candy says her daughter doesn't feel so great with her fourth pregnancy.
The reality star conceived her latest child just over a month after having daughter Hattie eight months ago.
But Candy says although she's "thrilled" at the prospect of becoming a grandmother again, she thinks Tori and husband Dean McDermott should have had a bigger gap.
"She's expecting on my birthday, September 20," Candy told In Touch. "But it's going to be a caesarean, so she's going to have it earlier.
"She's felt great through all her pregnancies, but she doesn't feel so great through this one."
Spelling conceived just six weeks after giving birth to her third child, Hattie, who joined big brother Liam, five, and sister Stella, four.
"It was a little soon," Candy said. "Her body didn't get back in shape, so I think it's a lot for her."
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Vietnam Human Rights Defenders Weekly July 25-31: Hundreds of Activists Beaten, Badly Treated as Vietnamese Communist Gov't Continues Persecution to Maintain Political Control
Vietnam Human Rights Defenders Weekly |Jul 31, 2016
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Vietnam's communist government has continued its persecution to maintain its political control, beating and harassing hundreds of local political dissidents, social activists and human rights advocates between January 1 and July 18, according to the statistics of Defend the Defenders.
Since the beginning of 2016, Vietnam's authorities have applied numerous measures to silence government critics, social activists and human rights advocates. Before and after the 12th National Congress of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam in late January, local security forces continuously harassed, intimidated and persecuted activists. Hundreds of activists had been detained, beaten and suffered other kinds of suppression in the first half of this year.
There were 17 cases in which dozens of Vietnamese activists were brutally beaten by police officers and plainclothes in police stations or on the street between January 1 and July 18. Due to these attacks, many activists suffered from serious injuries and needed medical treatment and recovery.
Vietnam's security forces also detained hundreds of activists during peaceful demonstrations, kidnaping dozens of them for interrogation or preventing them from attending peaceful gatherings or meeting with foreign diplomats. Many activists reported that they were placed under de facto house arrest during weekends and weekdays.
Vietnam has arrested a number of activists, including prominent human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai and his assistant Ms. Le Thu Ha, land rights activist Can Thi Theu and pro-democracy medical doctor Hoang Van Giang and charged them with controversial Articles 88 and 245 of the Penal Code. The detainees have been kept in detentions for months without being brought to court and have not been allowed to be visited by their family members.
In March, Vietnam imprisoned eight activists, including prominent blogger Nguyen Huu Vinh (aka Anh Ba Sam).
During the first session of the on-going 14th National Assembly, the country's highest legislative body, the 494-member parliament formally re-elected key state positions, including the top legislator, the president and the prime minister. The rubber-stamp parliament did not pay attention to the nation's urgent issues, including China's aggression in the East Sea (South China Sea) and the environmental disaster in the central coastal region caused by the discharge of huge volume of toxic industrial waste by the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant in Ha Tinh.
After being re-elected, NA's Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan criticized local activists for their criticisms of China's expansionism in the East Sea, saying their peaceful demonstrations caused social disorders and instability in the country.
The parliament has also decided to delay its working on the draft law on demonstration until 2018 despite the call of a number of legislators.
And many other important news
===== July 25 =====
Amnesty International Condemns Recent Attacks on Vietnamese Activists and Their Relatives
Defend the Defenders: On July 22, the London-based Amnesty International issued a statement to condemn the three recent attacks against Vietnamese activists and urged the Vietnam authorities to immediately and impartially investigate these incidents and bring the perpetrators to justice.
According to the non-profit human rights organization, throughout July 2016, there were several attacks against political activists, human rights defenders, and their relatives. These included three incidents within four days. The assault on July 10 against La Viet Dung, well-known for his online political activism, the attack against blogger and democracy activist To Oanh and the incident against Nguyen Trung Duc, a son of a former prisoner of conscience and human rights activist Ho Thi Bich Khuong three days later, bear striking resemblances and took place in circumstances that strongly indicate the involvement of police or of people working under police orders.
The three incidents outlined above were deliberate attacks. The circumstances surrounding these attacks raise serious concerns that these attacks were undertaken by or at the instigation of police, said Amnesty International.
Vietnam has a longstanding reputation of being one of Asia's most prolific jailers of political activists and human rights defenders. Amnesty International conservatively estimates that there are currently at least 84 prisoners of conscience in the country.
In recent years, physical attacks against political activists and human rights defenders have increased, with scores injured in vicious assaults committed by men in uniform or plain clothes known or believed to be police.
Vietnam Minority Group's Protest Met with Violence: Amnesty International
A spontaneous demonstration by ethnic and religious minority Ede in the Central Highlands of Vietnam on July 14 was violently suppressed, resulting in injuries to around 20 demonstrators, said Amnesty International. The arrests and incommunicado detention of at least seven demonstrators raises serious concerns about torture and ill-treatment, the London-based human rights group said.
A huge police operation in Ea Enao village, Buon Ma Thuot, Đak Lak province was initiated to clear crops planted by the local community on an area of approximately 100 hectares. The operation is believed to have been initiated in advance of the anticipated sale of the land – which is the ancestral land of members of the ethnic and religious minority group Ede that makes up the village – to a private company. In response to the operation, a spontaneous demonstration of around 400 villages took place which was quickly and violently suppressed by a group of armed police officers who were said to have outnumbered the villagers.
Dozens of demonstrators were beaten, including one pregnant woman being electrocuted with an electric baton, Amnesty International said. More than 20 villagers needed medical treatment but were turned away by clinics and hospitals in the area. At least seven demonstrators were arrested and are being detained incommunicado at an unknown location. Amnesty International has confirmed five detainees namely H Nuen Adrong, Y Pina Nie, Y Som Hwing, Y Tluk Hwing, and Y Nai Nie.
A huge police build-up remains in the vicinity of the village with military stationed nearby in Buon Ma Thuot city. Amnesty International has been informed that police have summoned local people who used Facebook to share information and images from the demonstration for questioning, and those using social media for these ends are being threatened with fines of between VND5 million ($225) and VND10 million.
Amnesty International calls on international community to pay attention to the case and write petition to Vietnam's government agencies and diplomatic missions to demand an end to the suppression of demonstrations by Ede villagers and full respect for the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression, including on the Internet; call for the immediate and unconditional release of all individuals arrested for exercising their right to peaceful assembly, and for access of individuals arrested and charged with recognized criminal offences to their family and lawyers of their choosing in line with international standards and any medical treatment they may require; and call on the Vietnamese authorities to immediately stop clearing of ancestral land belonging to the Ede people, and ensure free prior and informed consent in relation to any planning or development of the land in line with international standards.
New Parliament to Adopt Human Rights Laws: Re-elected Chairwoman
Defend the Defenders: Vietnam's legislative body National Assembly in the 14th tenure will constantly improve its legislative performance to ensure that the laws it approves are feasible and comprehensive, said newly re-elected Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan.
Speaking at a press conference in Hanoi on July 23 after winning the one-candidate ballot for the top legislator post, Ngan said the parliament in the new term will continue to institutionalize specific provisions of the 2013 Constitution and the 12th Resolution of the ruling Communist Party in its 12th National Congress, and turn them into specific laws to meet the demands of the national renovation and international integration.
The parliament would also continue to review, adjust, supplement and issue new laws on human rights, particularly on rights in the realm of politics, economics, civil society, culture and social welfare in accordance with the 2013 Constitution and the UN conventions of which Vietnam is a signatory, she said.
The legislative body will improve the economic law system to create a comprehensive legal foundation for sustainable economic growth in keeping with the principles of the market economy and the commitments that Vietnam had made in bilateral, multilateral and regional free trade agreements, she noted.
Regarding its monitoring task, Ngan said the NA will continue to innovate and improve the quality of its surveillance activities, especially the legislators' key monitoring role over the operation of the state.
"We focus on key issues concerning people, selecting the most vital and urgent plans that need the most extreme supervision. Those projects will be presented to the parliament for discussion and explanation at its sessions," she was quoted as saying.
She stressed the importance of efficient co-operation between the parliament, the president, the government, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuracy and the State Audit in the implementation of state powers.
Vietnam has many laws, however, the implementation is problematic as their interpretation is in favor of state officials, observers said.
The country has been criticized by the U.S. and other Western countries as well as international organizations for suppressing and imprisoning numerous local political dissidents, social activists and human rights defenders.
Recently, Vietnam decided to delay working on the draft Law on Demonstration until 2018 while the draft Law on Association met strong protests from local activists.
Vietnam Top Legislator Criticizes Activists for Voicing against China's Violations
Defend the Defenders: Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, who on July 22 took oath as chairwoman of Vietnam's highest legislative body National Assembly for the second time within three months, has criticized local activists for expressing their concerns about China's violations of the country's sovereignty in the East Sea (South China Sea), state media reported.
Speaking at a press conference in Hanoi on July 23, Ngan said some people and independent civil organizations have been vocal in protesting China's aggressiveness in the East Sea. Those individuals have done nothing for the country but caused instability in the country, she said.
In order to protect the country's sovereignty, there is no need to speak empty words about patriotism and incite others, she said.
She also reaffirmed Vietnam's stance of respecting international law and welcomed the recent ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague which rejects China's historic claims of nearly the entire East Sea, including the Vietnam-claimed Hoang Sa (Paracels) and Truong Sa (Spratlys).
The 13th tenure parliament in the 2011-2016 period when Ms. Ngan was vice chairwoman and later chairwoman from April this year, the legislative body occasionally mentioned the East Sea issue.
Vietnam has little tolerance for government's criticism and makes all efforts to prevent spontaneous demonstrations although the rights of freedom of expression and assembly are enshrined in the country's 2013 Constitution.
In the past six years, Vietnam's communist government has violently suppressed peaceful demonstrations of local activists who protested China's violations of Vietnam's sovereignty in the East Sea. Numerous anti-China activists have been imprisoned, suppressed, intimidated and tortured by security forces.
Responding to Ngan's comment, blogger Nguyen Truong Son said Vietnamese people have their right to speak up about all issues of the country, including the East Sea issue, and the parliament and its government, not ordinary people, have been paid by tax payers to work to settle these issues.
Prominent dissident Dr. Nguyen Quang A said the top legislator should not play down the roles of civil societies in addressing the nation's problems.
In the communist Vietnam, the government considers independent, non-registered civil societies illegal. Last year, then Minister of Public Security and incumbent President Tran Dai Quang labeled independent civil societies as "reactionary organizations".
HCM City-based Environmentalist Tortured in Police Station for Filming, His Mouth Sealed with Tape
Defend the Defenders: Nguyen Phuong, an environmental activist in Ho Chi Minh City, was held for hours and tortured in a police station in Phu Xuan commune, Nha Be district on July 18 after filming the facility, according to local social networks.
According to Tin Mung Cho Nguoi Ngheo news website, Phuong, 26-year-old activist often participating in anti-Formosa demonstrations in May-June, and his friend went to the Phu Xuan commune police to request the return of the friend's items which were illegally confiscated by the local police on June 30.
Police received his friend but did not let Phuong go inside the police station. Phuong took his cell phone to film the facility and then policemen detained him and took him to a closed room from 2 PM until mid-night without providing him food and drink.
At 11 PM, when Phuong's friends came to the police station to request the police to release him, he called for help. Ten policemen, in order to prevent him from shouting out, filled his mouth with a dirty rag and sealed it with tape. They also tied his hands with tape and started to beat the young man until he collapsed on the floor.
Later, a police officer came to interrogate Phuong, but the detainee refused to cooperate, just demanding for a warrant if they want to arrest him.
At mid-night, police released Phuong, advising him not to participate in demonstrations which will harm the country's stability.
Phuong said he was beaten by professionals as he felt great pain but the medical check-up found no trace of the beating.
Phuong is a student in Japan. He returned to Vietnam during summer holiday and on May 8, he participated in a peaceful demonstration to protest the toxic waste discharge of the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant which caused serious environmental disaster in the country's central coastal region. He was shocked after witnessing police officers and plainclothes violently dispersing protestors. Many activists, including the elderly, female and children, were brutally beaten by security forces.
Police abuse is systemic in Vietnam, according to the New York-based Human Rights Watch. The Ministry of Public Security admitted that 226 detainees and suspected people died in police's custody between October 2010 and September 2014. Police said most of these deaths were caused by illness and suicides while social networks and the families of the victims said their deaths were caused by police power abuse
Dozens of people were reported to have died in police's custody since the beginning of 2014.
Few perpetrators have been punished for their power abuse, state media reported.
World Bank: Human Rights All But Absent in New Policy
Human Rights Watch: The World Bank has refused to acknowledge its human rights obligations in its new policy framework, Human Rights Watch said today. The bank's third, and most likely final, draft of its new environmental and social framework, published on July 20, 2016, does not require the bank to respect human rights. Instead, it only references human rights in its non-binding "vision" statement.
A subcommittee of the bank's Board of Executive Directors endorsed the framework on July 20, allowing for its publication. It is expected that the framework will be approved when the Board of Executive Directors meets on August 4.
"In refusing to acknowledge its rights obligations once again, the World Bank anticipates it will be able to violate human rights without consequence," said Jessica Evans, senior international financial institutions researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Rather than using this review of key environment and social policies to advance human rights and cement its role as a leader in development, the World Bank has done the opposite."
Sources inside the World Bank told Human Rights Watch that World Bank management opposed language that would require the bank itself to respect human rights throughout its operations.
The new framework was in development for four years and includes some important reforms, including commitments to avoid discrimination and protect labor standards. It also requires governments borrowing from the bank to obtain the free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples who traditionally own, occupy, or use land or natural resources that will be adversely affected by a proposed project. But the World Bank snubbed calls from the United Nations, human rights groups, and many of its shareholder governments when it refused to include binding human rights requirements in its new policies.
China, an increasingly influential World Bank shareholder, was the primary opponent of binding human rights requirements that would apply to governments borrowing from the bank. Other key shareholders, including several European governments and the United States, have pushed for human rights requirements.
When the Board of Executive Directors meets to approve the framework, it should agree to an inclusive process for drafting a new and separate human rights policy, Human Rights Watch said. The board is made up of 25 government appointees representing the bank's 189 member countries. Such a policy should embody a commitment from the World Bank to integrate human rights into its work by analyzing human rights issues that are relevant to development in the context of its country strategies, to work with governments to comply with their human rights commitments, and to identify and address human rights risks linked to its investments or advice.
The World Bank's own research indicates that the majority of development agencies around the world had adopted or were adopting human rights policies by 2013. Few agencies had no human rights policies at all, a publication by the World Bank and the international Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development revealed. Many businesses and commercial banks also now recognize that they should respect human rights. The World Bank remains a laggard in human rights when it comes to its policies and practices, Human Rights Watch said.
The costs that people bear when the World Bank overlooks human rights are high. In Vietnam, the bank financed activities in drug detention centers where people were arbitrarily detained, forced to work, and subjected to punishments that sometimes amounted to torture if they refused to work. In Uzbekistan, the bank ignored, for several years, forced labor practices in agriculture, despite being the key financier of the government in that sector. Now, while the bank recognizes the problem of forced labor, it is continuing business as usual while the government threatens and detains human rights defenders seeking to expose ongoing labor abuses, including in World Bank project areas. And in Ethiopia, Pastor Omot Agwa, who worked with the bank's independent accountability mechanism to expose a range of abuses linked to a bank project, has been in prison for more than a year facing baseless terrorism charges.
The World Bank president, Jim Yong Kim, often quotes Martin Luther King Jr. In May, Kim suggested that King's call for "vigorous and positive action" for civil rights could apply to climate change.
"The Bank has been quick to adopt the rhetoric of human rights while opposing it in practice," Evans said. "Jim Yong Kim often quotes Martin Luther King Jr., but to quote King while leading the bank into another era of ignoring its rights obligations runs contrary to what King stood for."
World Bank: Human Rights All But Absent in New Policy
===== July 26 =====
Vietnam Lawmakers Criticize Gov't for Delaying Draft Law on Demonstration
Defend the Defenders: Vietnam's lawmakers have criticized the government for delaying the draft law on demonstration after 2017. The country's highest legislature National Assembly started discussion on the bill in 2014.
Lawmaker Truong Trong Nghia said rights to demonstrate is part of the human rights stipulated in the country's 2013 Constitution and the parliament needs to make a law regulating people's rights and obligations to implement the Constitution.
The state must assume its responsibilities for managerial work and by delaying a law that is constitutionalized, the state has yet to fulfill its mission, Mr. Nghia said.
He emphasized that demonstration must be understood as peaceful gatherings in accordance with the 2013 Constitution. Gatherings and publicity are the two major features of demonstrations, he said.
He noted that the more complicated an issue is, the better it should be managed by law. Law-based management is specific and civilized administration, he added.
Echoing Nghia's opinion, lawmaker Bui Van Xuyen said that the government should assign the Ministry of Justice to perfect the draft law as soon as possible and the Ministry of Public Security to give opinions on it.
The drafting of the law was started by the Ministry of Public Security under the government of ex-Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in 2011. However, the Ministry of Justice said that there have been mixed opinions about the draft law and it needs more time to be completed.
Earlier this week, NA's Vice Secretary General cum Vice Head of the Legal Committee Le Minh Thong said that the government needs more time to build the draft law before submitting to the parliament due to the difficulties and complication of the law.
Vietnam's pro-democracy activists have criticized the government for long delay of the draft law which is necessary to fulfill and protect human rights, especially rights to hold peaceful demonstrations and express their opinions.
Two Former Police Officers Remain to Head Vietnam Court, Procuracy
Defend the Defenders: Nguyen Hoa Binh and Le Minh Tri, two former senior police officers, have been formally re-elected by Vietnam's legislative body National Assembly (NA) to head the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuracy in the 2016-2021 period, respectively.
The formal ballot was taken on July 26 at the ongoing first session of the communist-controlled parliament which was formed on July 20 from winners of the General Election on May 22.
Mr. Binh, a former major general, was elected to the post by the 13th parliament in April. In the 2011-2016 period, he was head of the Supreme People's Procuracy.
Also in early April, the parliament formally approved the candidacy of Mr. Tri, a former lieutenant colonel, for chief of the Supreme People's Procuracy to replace Mr. Binh.
Meanwhile, the parliament also re-elected Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh as vice president.
Binh, Tri and Thinh are members of the Central Committee of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam which has ruled Vietnam for decades.
Recently, many Vietnamese police generals have been appointed to senior posts, including President Tran Dai Quang, Politburo member and Head of the party's Commission for Organization Pham Minh Chinh and Politburo member and Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh.
===== July 27 =====
Hanoi Encourages Overseas Vietnamese to Protest China's Expansionism in East Sea, Suppressing Local Anti-China Activists
Defend the Defenders: The communist government in Hanoi has encouraged Vietnamese people in foreign countries to participate in demonstration to request China to respect the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on the territorial and maritime disputes in the East Sea (South China Sea) but violently suppressed anti-China activists at home.
The state-run Vietnam News Agency has reported that Vietnamese in Germany, Poland, South Korea and Japan and other countries rallied in fronts of China's diplomatic missions in these countries to protest Beijing's violations of Vietnam's sovereignty in the East Sea.
These anti-China demonstrations of Vietnamese abroad have been organized or supported by the Vietnam's diplomatic missions in these countries, observers said.
Meanwhile, Vietnam's communist government has harassed local anti-China activists, persecuting them and preventing them from gathering to hold peaceful demonstrations to support the PCA's ruling.
A number of activists who participated in anti-China demonstrations in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and other localities had been beaten by plainclothes agents while Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, who was re-elected as chairwoman of the rubber-stamp parliament, criticized these activists, saying their peaceful protests aim to cause instability in the country.
The communist Vietnam has prioritized comprehensive strategic partnership with China, considering the giant communist nation as its closest political ally despite Beijing's increasing aggressiveness in the East Sea.
===== July 28 =====
Parliament Will Not Discuss Formosa Issue in 2016-2017
Defend the Defenders: Vietnam's legislative body National Assembly (NA) has decided not to put the environmental disaster caused by the Taiwanese Formosa steel mill on its agenda in the 2016-2017 period.
The communist-controlled parliament approved a resolution on its supervision program for 2017 which will focus on food safety and states administrative reforms, but failed to mention environmental issues, as many outspoken legislators proposed.
This could mean that companies like Formosa Ha Tinh steel plant, a subsidiary of Formosa Plastics Group that admitted in June that it had caused massive fish deaths along a 200 kilometer stretch of coastline in central Vietnam, may escape the scrutiny the public is demanding.
The NA's Standing Committee said it has seen serious public concern over foreign-invested projects that pose considerable risks to the environment.
The mass fish deaths have reportedly devastated local fisheries, disrupted people's lives and hit the tourism industry, while hammering the country's economic growth, according to the Standing Committee.
The legislature decided on environmental law enforcement at economic zones and trade villages nationwide in 2012, said Nguyen Hanh Phuc, general secretary of the National Assembly, as an explanation for the fact that environmental issues and Formosa's scandal have been left out of the 2017 supervision program.
NA's supervision teams drew up a plan for environmental issues in 2012 which is being implemented, Phuc said.
"For the environmental incident caused by Formosa, the government has taken swift action to find the cause and deal with the consequences," he continued.
The NA's Standing Committee has assigned its committee of science, technology, and environment to investigate and supervise the enforcement of environmental laws at industrial and economic zones in the central coastal provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue, including operations at Formosa's steel factory in Vung Ang Port.
"There should be a committee fully responsible for keeping Formosa under supervision. The Formosa scandal is not just a minor environmental incident, it's a major disaster," said lawmaker Vu Trong Kim.
The mass fish deaths started in April in the central province of Ha Tinh, about 400 kilometers south of Hanoi.
Farmers began to find dead fish on April 6 at aquatic farms near Ha Tinh province's Vung Ang Port. More dead fish were subsequently found washed up on nearby beaches.
The problem quickly spread to the provinces of Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien – Hue along a 200km stretch of the coast.
The Agriculture Ministry said the four provinces all recorded declining coastal fisheries in the first six months of this year. Specifically, fishermen in Ha Tinh province caught 6% less fish, Quang Binh- 8.7%, Quang Tri- 14.3% and Thua Thien-Hue- nearly 30%.
Few days ago, the parliament elected Vo Kim Cu, who was responsible for granting license for Formosa steel plant, was promoted to be member of the NA's Committee for Economics.
===== July 30 =====
Vietnam's suppression against political dissidents, social activists and human rights defenders in the period between January 1 and July 18
Defend the Defenders: In order to keep the country under a one-party regime, Vietnam's communist government has applied numerous measures to silence government critics, social activists and human rights advocates. Before and after the 12th National Congress of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam in late January, local security forces continuously harassed, intimidated and persecuted activists. Hundreds of activists had been detained, beaten and suffered other kinds of suppression in the first half of this year.
There were 17 cases in which dozens of Vietnamese activists were brutally beaten by police officers and plainclothes in police stations or on street between January 1 and July 18. Due to these attacks, many activists suffered from serious injuries and needed medical treatment and recovery.
Vietnam's security forces also detained hundreds of activists during peaceful demonstrations, kidnaping dozens of them for interrogation or preventing them from attending peaceful gatherings or meeting with foreign diplomats. Many activists reported that they were placed under de facto house arrest during weekends and weekdays.
On April 10, Hanoi's police arrested land rights activist Can Thi Theu, accusing her of causing public disorders under Article 245 of the Penal Code. In fact, she and other land petitioners attended peaceful demonstration to demand the government to respect human rights and return their land which was illegally seized by authorities nationwide.
Vietnam has still kept human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai and his assistant Ms. Le Thu Ha and in detention since December 16 last year for investigation on charges of conducting anti-state propaganda under Article 88 of the Penal Code. The two pro-democracy activists have not been allowed to meet with their family members since the arrest.
Police in Thanh Hoa have also kept pro-democracy activist Hoang Van Giang in detention for months in a trumped-up case, accusing him of possession of drug without solid evidence.
In March, Vietnam imprisoned eight activists, including prominent blogger Nguyen Huu Vinh (aka Anh Ba Sam) for their online activities which aimed to promote human rights in the Southeast Asian nation.
Family members of activists, including children of activists were also persecuted by Vietnam's police forces.
Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Gia Lai and Lam Dong were the localities where local police showed highest level of brutality and disrespect of law by conducting numerous arbitrated detention.
For details: Vietnam's suppression against political dissidents, social activists and human rights defenders in the period between January 1 and July 18
===== July 31 =====
Vietnam Activist Kidnapped While Cycling in Hanoi Streets
Defend the Defenders: Nguyen Van Dien, a Vietnamese pro-democracy activist and environmentalist, has reportedly been disappeared while cycling together with other environmentalists on the streets in central Hanoi, social networks reported.
On the morning of Sunday [July 31], Mr. Dien, 35, and nearly ten other activists rallied in Hanoi's center. They wore T-shirts with message saying Hoang Sa (Paracels) and Truong Sa (Spratlys) belong to Vietnam.
During their journey, the activists were followed by a group of around twenty individuals which are believed to be plainclothes agents, said activist Nam Phuong, one of the cycling activists.
Dien, who has participated in a number of peaceful demonstrations against China's violations of the country's sovereignty in the East Sea (South China Sea) and the Taiwanese Formosa Plastic Group, was in the last position. He suddenly disappeared at 10.45 AM when the group arrived in Hang Khay Street, said blogger Nam Phuong.
The activists tried to connect Dien by cell phones but received no answers.
Activists suspected that he was kidnapped by Hanoi's security agents. Blogger Nam Phuong said she recognized one of many men who were on a motorbike following the activists closely is a police officer of Trang Tien ward.
The activists came to Trang Tien ward police station to ask information about Mr. Dien, but the police rejected to holding him.
Until 11 PM, Activists are still staying near the police station to wait for him.
Other activists supposed that Hanoi police may deport him to his home province of Yen Bai. On May 8, Dien was arrested while participating in a protest against Formosa and was deported to his home town.
Vietnam's security forces have applied a number of measures, including assaulting, kidnapping, detaining and deporting local political dissidents, social activists and human rights defenders to silence them.
Vietnam's communist government has little tolerance for its critics and applied many measures to prevent spontaneous demonstrations. It has ordered the security forces to assault, kidnap and detain as well as block activists in order not to allow them to organize or participate in peaceful protests.
Last week, after being re-elected as chairwoman of the country's highest legislative body National Assembly, Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, member of the ruling communist party's Politburo, criticized anti-China activists, saying their peaceful demonstrations aim to cause instability in the country.
Since the beginning of 2016, dozens of government critics, social activists and human rights defenders have been brutally assaulted by plainclothes agents while hundreds of others have been detained to police stations where many of them were interrogated and tortured by police officers, according to the statistics of Defend the Defenders.
Vietnam's communists have vowed to maintain a one-party regime and made all effort to prevent the establishment of political opposition.
Vietnamese Security Forces Intensify Persecution against Liberal Publishing House after Publisher Awarded with IPA's Prix Voltaire 2020
June 6, 2020
Asian countries urged to honour right to freedom of expression, over pandemic fear
June 4, 2020
Tại sao làm nhục ca sĩ Mai Khôi?
June 4, 2020
Nhà Xuất bản Tự do của Việt Nam đượcIPA trao tặng giải thưởng uy tín Prix Voltaire 2020
June 4, 2020
Unsanctioned Vietnamese Liberal Publishing House Wins IPA's Prix Voltaire 2020 amid Intensified Crackdown and Censorship
June 3, 2020
Vietnamese Villagers Detained in Dong Tam Land Clash Are Still Denied Family Visits
June 3, 2020
Dân biểu Quốc hội Liên bang Australia chỉ trích Cộng sản Việt Nam vi phạm nhân quyền ở Hội nghị Nhân quyền Toàn cầu
June 2, 2020
Unsanctioned Vietnamese Publisher Among Four Finalist for IPA's Prix Voltaire 2020
June 2, 2020
Four Arrested and Three Injured as Thousands Strike at Taiwanese-owned Adidas Supplier in Vietnam
June 2, 2020
Nhà Xuất bản Tự do được đề cử giải Prix Voltaire 2020 của Hiệp hội Xuất bản Quốc tế
June 1, 2020


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Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP)
The LCAP is a tool for local educational agencies to set goals, plan actions, and leverage resources to meet those goals to improve student outcomes. This page provides resources to support the planning, implementation and evaluation of an LCAP.
LCAP Overview
The LCAP is a three-year plan that describes the goals, actions, services, and expenditures to support positive student outcomes that address state and local priorities. The LCAP provides an opportunity for local educational agencies (LEAs) to share their stories of how, what, and why programs and services are selected to meet their local needs.
The LCFF Priorities/Whole Child Resource Map provides LCFF priorities and whole child resources and supports to help local educational agencies, schools, and families serve the needs of California's diverse student population.
The State Priority Related Resources page provides links to resources for developing and implementing state priorities in the LCAP.
The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) Reports page provides access to search for the latest available LCFF funding and accountability data for individual schools, school districts, and county offices of education.
The Quality Schooling Framework (QSF) is the California educator's destination for timely tools and practices to guide effective planning, policy, expenditure, and instructional decisions at all schools and districts.
WestEd's LCFF implementation page includes links to videos to help local implementation of the LCFF as well as other materials.
- LCFF Regulations (DOC; Posted 06-Mar-2015)
- California Education Code, Sections 52060 - 52077
Frequently Asked Questions
- Local Control and Accountability Plans
- Unduplicated Students
- Parent and Community Engagement
- Charter Schools
- California Collaborative for Educational Excellence
More frequently asked questions will be added as they become available.
Review of COE LCAPs
For an overview of the County Office of Education (COE) Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) review process, see The Review of County Office of Education LCAPs by the CDE (PDF).
County Office of Education and School District LCAPs
California Education Code, Section 52065 requires that the Superintendent post links to all local control and accountability plans approved by the governing boards of school districts and county boards of education on the Internet Web site of the Department.
2017-18 County Office of Education and School District LCAPs
LCFF and Uniform Complaint Procedures
The LCFF and UCP Letter provides information about the LCFF and Uniform Complaint Procedures.
Email Updates
If you would like to receive updates regarding the LCFF via e-mail notification, subscribe to the LCFF listserv by sending a "blank" message to firstname.lastname@example.com. (To unsubscribe, send a "blank" message to firstname.lastname@example.com.)
Contact Information
For questions related to the LCAP, contact the Local Agency Systems Support Office at firstname.lastname@example.com.
For questions related to LCFF apportionments, contact the Principal Apportionment Section at email@example.com.
For questions related to the California Accountability Model and School Dashboard, contact the Academic Accountability Team at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Additional Details
Video Transcript
Interviewer: Let's talk a little about recovery from a run or a marathon.
Are there certain things that you've done that you've found successful? One
thing I've noticed at some of the marathons is chocolate milk, which I
thought was strange. Is that just kind of what your body is telling you, a
craving thing or can you explain that?
Dick: Chocolate milk, honest to goodness, of all the products that are out
there, a 20-ounce bottle, 16-ounce bottle of chocolate milk after a hard
workout, a hard, long run is one of the best go-to recovery drinks you can
come up with. It's got the carb. It's got the protein in there. It's got
the vitamins and minerals. It tastes good. It really does. I mean, I love
having a chocolate milk after... I had one this morning after a hard run.
It's like the perfect drink out there.
Being an ex-dairy farmer too, [??] milk a little bit, but recovery drinks,
getting something into your system after a marathon, a hard workout, within
a half an hour, preferably 15 minutes after you're done with that kind of a
workout, you're going to recover that much quicker. Then, you've got to
make sure you're getting the proteins in there too, because everybody is
craving carbos after a marathon because they just depleted their supply.
So you want some of that, but then you also make sure you get the proteins
back in there to help build back those muscles that you just got done
tearing down for 26 miles. Well, it's kind of like a little bit of the
puzzle is all put together.
Dick Beardsley was a world-class marathon runner in the 1980's. Here he talks about his favorite way to recover from long runs or any strenuous workout. He suggests chocolate milk, find out why!
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...1st and 2nd March 2014
2014 looks set to be a good year for enthusiasts of tractors, vintage vehicles and classic cars. A whole host of events are being planned and organised by Mark Woodward Classic Events and the Tractor World Show at the Three Counties Showground at Malvern is the first major show of the year.
Taking place on the 1st and 2nd March 2014, this indoor tractor show is one of the biggest shows of its kind. This year more of it than ever before will be under cover in case the weather is unkind. A massive marquee will increase covered space by a third, adding to the two halls that Tractor World already occupies. Featuring over 400 tractor & Implement displays from most of the major manufacturers including club displays, stationary engines, horticultural, farm model displays and classic Land Rovers, the show welcomes specialist tractor enthusiasts and family visitors alike.
Themed to celebrate golden anniversaries for Massey Ferguson, Ford and New Holland, this years' show really is a celebration of tractors in all their splendid glory. It is 50 years since the blues opened their factory at Basildon and Massey Ferguson launched their ground breaking 100 series, so visitors can expect a stunning show full of new, classic, vintage and veteran tractors and machinery.
Mark Woodward organiser of this and over 20 other events all around the country said "I love this event and always look forward to it, but this year's show looks set to be extra special. On Saturday the auction run by HJ Pugh has over 2,000 lots expected and on Sunday we've the vintage sort out and auto jumble, as well as the vintage tractor road run into the Malvern Hills. The new marquee will ensure that visitors can browse the trade and club stands and enjoy their tractors in comfort."
Amongst the trade stands of specialist tractor parts and spares, visitors can browse through tools, clothes, toys, books and models, Plus during the 2 day event they'll be competitions, prizes, talks, the chance to build a grey Ferguson with students from Lackham college, and the 2014 "Tractor Championship and Awards" will be announced.
Sponsored by Kelsey Media, publishers of Tractor & Machinery magazine, the 2013 show saw record crowds coming through the doors and this year looks set to be even bigger and better than before.
Three Counties Showground is not far off the M5 in Worcestershire. Advance online ticket prices are £10 per day for adults (£12 on the gate). Under 15s go free and there's a great value weekend camping pass for two adults for the advanced price of just £50 (£60 on the day).
1st and 2nd March 2014. Saturday - 9.00am - 5.00pm Sunday - 9.30am - 4.00pm
For entry forms, to buy tickets or for further information, please call: 016974 51882 or visit www.tractorworldshow.co.uk.
|First Post
|Special Show to Celebrate Tractors 50 Years...
...1st and 2nd March 2014 By Robin Buckland 1
|17/12/2013 11:07:45
by Robin Buckland 1
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Upcoming Showsno upcoming shows listed (solo, or for current projects)
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rd wraggett
Active / Available - Confirmed: Jul. 23, 2019
Label: Sir Real Records
Jazz, Modern Classical from Victoria BC
Instruments: Guitar, Composition/Songwriting, Arranging, Piano/Keyboards, Synths, MIDI Guitar details
Contact Detailsrd wraggett
Long time professional composer,guitarist. Has achieved awards and prizes internationally for music.
No audio samples have been linked to this profile.
Available for paid gigs
Available for serious projects
Available for lessons
Available for serious projects
Available for lessons
Listing last updated/confirmed Jul. 23, 2019


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Fineapple Sleep Boxer
With a colorful pineapple print and a soft cotton blend, these women's sleepwear boxers might make you hit snooze more than once.
- 2.5" inseam
- Relaxed, roomy fit
- Elastic waistband with ribbon drawstring
- Imported
Care Instructions: Machine wash and tumble dry low.
Materials: 60% Cotton 40% Rayon
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Ken Murray
Ken Murray has developed a singular path as a guitarist combining performance, composition, teaching and research. He has championed and recorded Spanish music from the early twentieth century, worked extensively with contemporary composers and has been active as a performer of Brazilian and South American musical styles. As a composer he has written a variety of works for guitar in solo and ensemble settings.
Murray has a strong commitment to performing contemporary music and has performed in premiere performances of over 100 works. An integral part of his activities has been working with Australian composers. He enjoys ongoing collaborations with composers who have written for him works for solo guitar, electric guitar and CD, electric guitar and ensemble, guitar and voice, large chamber works and music theatre pieces featuring guitar. His CDs and concerts have been broadcast on ABC FM and he has performed on the Austrian label Kairos (Italy), Mode Records (USA), Move, Tall Poppies and ABC Classics.
He performs internationally with Ensemble Three with Joel Brennan (trumpet) and Don Immel (trombone). Through their performances in Australia and overseas, a dedication to commissioning new works, and an ever-expanding catalogue of recordings, Ensemble Three has established itself as "an inspiring example of forward-thinking classical music culture in Australia" (CutCommon).
Murray graduated PhD from the University of Melbourne, where he is Senior Lecturer and Head of Guitar at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.


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What's your status?
December 24, 2009
Before they write a scene, a lot of authors carefully consider components like setting, goal, obstacle, conflict, and resolution, but how many think about status?
Today Mayor Tom Barrett visited my workplace for a short Q&A session for his upcoming 2010 gubernatorial race. He seemed like a nice guy but I found myself wondering how I would act if the two of us were alone in a room having a direct, one-on-one conversation together.
In terms of social status, he's the Mayor of the City of Milwaukee, and potential future Governor of the State – practically a couple of steps away from the Presidency; and me – well, I'm a couple of runs of bad luck from bedding down beneath a cardboard box in a back-alley.
But on the flip side of the coin I'm not a U.S. Citizen, and I don't have voting rights, so his political power has little consequence for me. I've had the experience of living in two countries (and on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line) while to the best of my knowledge he's only lived in one state his entire life – and, for the most part, only one city.
If this were a game of Top Trumps, his career experience would quash mine, while my world experience might quash his. So, in a one-on-one conversation with this influential man, would I be calm or flustered? Assertive or nervous? Would I maintain eye contact or shuffle around looking at my feet? Would I have something to say or would I be lost for words?
Who would control the scene?
It was my wife that got me thinking about the element of status in fiction. Status is a commonly used tool in improvisational comedy. During scene sketches, the comedians tend to play to a particular status on stage – a "pecking order" if you will, where each characters' sense of self-worth determines how they will act and how they will influence the events of the scene. A skit might have a number of status "transfers" or "inversions", where dominance is passed back and forth between characters, making it more dynamic and interesting for the audience.
Aside from the fact that us fiction writers have the luxury of taking our time and revising our decisions, we're really not that much different from improv comics. Sure, they can devise a coherent scene in real-time while it takes us days of hair-pulling, cussing and excessive caffeine consumption to get one right, but the techniques are similar. Status can be just as versatile a tool for the writer as it can for the improviser.
Think of strong scenes from your favorite books or movies and you'll probably discover they contain a heavy element of status competition or some kind of riveting status reversal. Right now I'm thinking of one of my favorite movie moments – the scene in "A Few Good Men" where the powerful Colonel Jessop arrogantly tries to leave the court stand only to be told by Kaffee, an inexperienced lawyer, to sit down because he hasn't finished with him yet – a brilliant and subtle reversal of power and the start of a scene so suspenseful that went down in motion picture history.
So how can we utilize status in a written scene?
Going back to my hypothetical one-on-one meeting with the Mayor, you can see that status in a scene isn't necessarily defined by social position. While the social rank might be crystal clear (e.g. judge and plaintiff, manager and employee, warden and prisoner, king and subject, teacher and student etc.) the person of highest status isn't necessarily the one with the highest social rank but instead the one who dominates the events regardless of social rank. For example, an employee might hold sway over his boss because he knows something the boss wants to keep secret; a kings' consult might be the real influence on the realm while the king is just a puppet ruler; a strong-willed waitress might be condescending to a customer… it's all about the underlying, sometimes unconscious, power struggle in everyday situations.
In writing, the status of a character can come through in a number of words and actions. The Improv Wiki has a wonderful list of behavioral traits that show if a character is high status or low status. Here are a few examples…
High Status Behaviours
Calm and collected body language
Maintaining eye contact
Speaking directly and with certainty
Not caring about other characters' reactions
Making leadership decisions
Ignoring other characters
Low Status Behaviors
Nervous and awkward body language
Not maintaining eye contact
Speaking in halting, indirect sentences
Asking permission or explaining ones actions
Looking for approval
Avoiding leadership decisions
I'd suggest if you want to use the tool of status in a scene, ask yourself three questions:
1) What is the status of each character as the scene begins?
2) What do I need the status of each character to be when the scene ends?
3) Is there a moment where an interesting reversal of power can take place?
These three questions can lead you down interesting pathways.
One final word on the balance of power. I have a theory (entirely unproven) that the very best power struggles are those that are subtle and close contests. There's not much tension or suspense in a scene where one character clearly has unbeatable power over another, but if two characters are almost equally weighted, and the reader knows that the balance of power could shift at any moment, well there's a page-turner for you!


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The thirty-second Dialogue Council Meeting was held with the analysis of the previous meeting approvals on the area of urban construction, the status of pea import, the examination of barriers to obtain bank facilities for production units and the presentation of the report on the Investment Guarantee Fund for small industries on the agenda was held at the Kermanshah Chamber of Commerce.
Keivan Kashefi, chairman of the Kermanshah Chamber of Commerce, said that the barriers to bank facilities payments is the main problem of the private sector and an impediment to the economical atmosphere of province. He pointed out that the economy of province is small and banks should help it.


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Universitas Gadjah Mada and The National Museum of Worldcultures are organising a conference to discuss best practices for museums in Southeast Asia. There is a call for papers out, which are due in November.
Museum of our Own: In search of a local museology for Asia
Department of Archaeology Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta
18th-20th November 2014
Over the last three decades there has been a rise in museum criticism. What were common practices in museology are now being challenged; especially the ways museums curate their collections, or work with their different stakeholders. Under the pressure of such critique, museum practices have changed significantly worldwide. Museums in the so-called West, for example, have been attempting to 'decolonize' their practices, if only partial and incomplete, confronting their colonial roots, while trying to develop new methodologies deemed more suitable for collections and display in the post colonial present. Similarly methodological shifts have been happening in areas of museum conservation and education.
Co-terminus with this rethinking of museums in the West has been similar developments in museology in so-called non-traditional museum spaces, including, and perhaps, especially in Asia, with significant rise in the number of museums as well as an increase in museum training programmes. Despite these sea changes, and the long history of established museum tradition in many non-western societies – in many instances since the 19th century – these local museums remain marginal institutions. In fact, the word 'museum' still remains uncommon within the cultural vocabulary of many such societies. Recently academics have tried to identify non-western museological models, where, for example, preservation practices that parallel those in conventional museums can be found. Still these models have not developed sufficiently. Nor are they sufficiently valorized and embedded within museum practice to have the desired effect of improving the status of museums in and the value of museums to these societies.
In response to the need to strengthen museum practice in several of these countries, numerous museum professionals travel to Europe and North America to study museology. This is complemented by a growing number of locally based museology training programmes in Asia. In Indonesia, for example, formal training programs in the field of museology were recently developed in a number of Universities. The archaeology departments of the Universitas Gadjah Mada and Universitas Indonesia have museology training programs at both the Bachelors and the Masters levels. These programmes were developed with the assistance of institutions in the West. But have these local based programs worked? Or, do those who return with 'western' museology training really impact the local situation enough?
Five years into the museology education programs Universitas Gadjah Mada, it is now timely to reflect on the state of museums and museum education in Indonesia and Asia in general. More than a critical assessment of the programs themselves, we want to ask questions about how to rethink museological practices that have been already defined in the West for our own museums. We now have museology training programs but do they sufficiently serve our needs? Is the limited valorization of local museums based solely in the fact that they are 'innately' western institutions or are there other, more practical reasons for their shortcomings? How do we further develop a training program that responds to local needs? What histories of museums should be mobilized to inform a local museum practice? What, we want to ask, is a museum of our own? The conference will be divided in a number of interrelated sessions addressing different topics in in museology, both at concept and practical levels.
More details here.


text:
- Details
- Specs
- Reviews
- What's Included
This double coax jack Decorator-style insert is the perfect solution for seamlessly integrating A/V components into your home decor. This single-gang insert boasts two gold plated, F-type connectors allows you to easily divert coax cables behind your walls for a professional look. Match this insert with a compatible single-gang wall plate, sold separately.
Specifications Manufacturer Calrad Electronics Manufacturer Product No. 28-110-P UPC 601520211107 Connector F-Type Color White
- 1x - Double Coax Jack Plastic Insert - White
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- 1x - Double Coax Jack Plastic Insert - White


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czasem zapala się od słowa"
/Halina Poświatowska/
"a splinter of my imagination
sometimes flares up from a word"
/Halina Poświatowska/
together with my 19 incredible (and way too modest) Artist friends we have just started the exchange of round robin art journals.
my intro pages
(the text says):
"words to taste" + random definitions cut out from a vintage dictionary
the back of my journal
i moja pierwsza strona z istotnym przesłaniem. :)
and my first page with a very important message which says:
"the most important thing is not to be afraid"
the circled word is the definition of "create"


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Friday, 7 January 2011
Beautiful day for a walk.
"Unfortunately" my day of training at Outward Bound was cancelled, oh well. I ended up going up the Ben with Joe and Fin. Neither of them had been walking in Scotland before and had very little experience of winter but after a day like today anyone could catch the bug. We had views all the way up with the only bit of cloud out to the west and we could see Ben Lomond, Cairngorm and the Lawers hills. The snow under foot was soft with a wind blown crust in places and with pockets of wind slab on a number of aspects. The North face was quiet today with a few teams on Ledge route and one team on Tower ridge. There looked to be a lot of snow on all of the routes but there is also a good build up of rime on the higher crags. Today I was working for
Abacus Mountaineering.
Joe and Fin bathing in the sunlight on the summit.
Enjoying the bum slide back down Red Burn.
Posted by
Scott Kirkhope
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Our team of professionals with over 40 years combined experience in the Life Science's Industries have researched countless ingredients to develop an effective, clean, natural and Vegan hunger management capsule. Our combination of natural extracts supply an effective natural blend to manage hunger.
Our products meet the highest quality and purity standards. 100% made and formulated in the USA we adhere with the world's most stringent requirements. Our products are manufactured in FDA registered facility that adhere to the strict GMP Guidelines.
Ultra Max BCAA Lean blend consists of 5000mg of Branch Chain Amino Acids and Glutamine for Lean Muscle recovery. Your body cannot produce BCAA's and they are essential for protein absorption. BCAA's are consumed during exercise and can only be replaced through food or supplementation. A deficiency may cause muscle lose therefore to insure optimal muscle recovery and retention proper BCAA supplementation is recommended. Retaining Muscle is a key to weight loss since muscle is key in defining your metabolic rate. Building muscle while you lose weight increases your metabolism and makes it easier to hit your fat-loss goals and maintain them.
Just put a scoop in about 8oz of water and preferably take post workout or in between meals. The delicious watermelon taste makes our Ultra Lean a pleasant drink. We recommend one scoop in the morning and one post workout for most people. It can be combined with your protein powder as well. Customers have recommended combining one scoop of Ultra Lean with one scoop protein in a Zip Lock bag for on the go convenience.
We recommend to take one scoop with 14oz of cold water or add to Clean & Lean protein shake after exercise. Can also be taken alone with water in between meals with a 14oz glass of cold water.
Arginine: which changes into nitric oxide (NO). Nitric oxide is a powerful neurotransmitter that helps blood vessels relax and also improves circulation. This promotes healthy blood flow and pumps during workouts.
Creatine: Has been known to support increased performance during workouts and supportrecovery.
Taurine: Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), the brain's key calming neurotransmitter, is essential for feeling happy and relaxed. It is has been said that Taurine acts like GABA in the brain. It has a similar structure to GABA and binds to GABA receptors. Taurine stimulates the release and formation of GABA. The stress lowering effect of Tuarine may help improve body composition and lose weight.
B-Complex Supports*:
First time users try with half a scoop and mixing with 6 to 8 ounces of cold water 30 minutes before exercise to assess tolerance. If well tolerated use between ½ a scoop to 2 scoops depending on tolerance. Once preferred quantity is established we recommend keeping with you in a zip lock or portable container Workout Accelerator to avoid missing workouts due to fatigue or laziness.


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Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Insurance Committee Chair Joseph D. Morelle today announced the passage of groundbreaking legislation to require accident and health insurance policies to provide lifetime coverage for the screening, diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) (A.10372-A).
The estimated number of children with ASD has steadily increased since the condition was first identified in 1943. According to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control, an estimated 1 out of 110 children are diagnosed with ASD.
Children with ASD demonstrate deficits in social interaction and verbal and non-verbal communication, and engage in repetitive behaviors or interests. Each of these symptoms varies from mild to severe. Although opinions vary on the best treatment for children with ASD, most professionals agree that early intervention is important.
This legislation addresses concerns related to the availability of health insurance for autism, including the types of medical care that is appropriate for this condition. Under the bill, the commissioner of health, in consultation with the superintendent of insurance and the commissioners of the Office of Mental Health and Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, are directed to identify minimum coverage options that are evidence-based, peer-reviewed and clinically proven treatment and therapy for which coverage would be required.
"It would be unconscionable to force New Yorkers to pay out-of-pocket for this common, chronic condition," said Silver (D-Manhattan). "Some studies have indicated that the annual cost of treatment can be as high as $72,000 a year. Current law is written so that ASD coverage is 'not excluded' in accident and health insurance policies, but we needed to make clarifications and ensure that families are able to get the best options available to treat this serious developmental disorder."
"Reliable health insurance coverage for autistic children is long overdue. Parents and youngsters have suffered with uncertainty for too long," said Morelle (D-Rochester). "No longer will parents have to guess what medical treatments their insurance carrier will or will not cover. This bill would give families peace of mind, allowing them to confidently seek the medical care their autistic child needs."


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Panama has long been recognized as an avenue for trade since the 16th century when Inca gold and silver filled the Spanish treasury by way of the galleons that sailed from Portobelo harbor on the Caribbean side of the isthmus on their way to Cadiz. The English privateers who sailed the coasts of the Caribbean coasts, such as Drake and Morgan, have obtained mythic status and rumors of Spanish wrecks off the coast abound. Portobelo was also the site of a twice annual fair that attracted visitors from throughout the region to trade in goods newly arrived from Spain, as well as goods produced in each of the countries. But the decline of the Spanish empire in the 17th century and the subsequent revolutionary wars in the early part of the 18th century meant that Panama was a sleepy backwater of Gran Colombia, as the new nation was known.
However, the discovery of gold in 1849 in California attracted the development of the Panama Railroad that shortened the trek from the east coast of the U.S. to San Francisco. The first successful land bridge between the oceans was an enormously profitable project in the New York exchanges. Later, Ferdinand De Lesseps, fresh from his successful construction of the Suez Canal, came to repeat his exploits in the jungles of Panama in 1880, but fate deemed his efforts should meet with colossal failure that broke the French treasury, along with Monsieur De Lesseps' sanity. Yellow fever and malaria decimated the work force and ultimately forced the bankruptcy of the effort. It would not be until the end of the century that, as a result of investigations carried out in Cuba by Dr. Walter Reed and Dr. Carlos Finlay, the mosquito was identified as the vector between the virus and the infection.
The delays in the arrival of the Pacific fleet during the Spanish American War spurred Theodore Roosevelt's efforts to build a canal but his overtures were spurned by the politicians in Bogota who were leery of Uncle Sam's designs on the area. The frustrations by the isthmian business interests in the face of the capital's resistance to the plans created the nascent revolutionary movement that culminated in a declaration of independence from Colombia in 1903.
One of the first acts by the young nation were dollarization and a signing of a treaty by the new government with the U.S. bequeathing in perpetuity a narrow strip of land on either side of the canal that became the Panama Canal Zone. A massive public health effort was carried out as the first stage of the construction program to safeguard the lives of the canal construction workers.
The successful construction of the canal meant the colossal project was inaugurated on August 1914, just as the First World War broke out in Europe. The canal was operated by the U.S. government as a federal dependency up until the implementation of the Torrijos-Carter treaties on 1977. Radical student movements during the early sixties caused serious riots in both Panama City and Colón and marked the end of the perpetuity aspect of the treaty and the beginning of Panamanian politicians' search for alternatives to having a U.S. colony in the middle of the country. Omar Torrijos, the military strongman, capitalized on the post-colonial tide sweeping the world to obtain the gradual return of Canal Zone territories with a final handover slated for December 31, 1999. The Canal Zone was a federal institution that also harbored more than 10 bases manned by all of the U.S. military services.
The post-Second World War era in Colon, on the Atlantic terminus of the Panama Canal, was one of a severe downturn in economic activity as a result of the cessation of hostilities. The booming nightlife that hosted scores of soldiers moving across theaters of conflict seeking a respite from the horrors of war had shut down and the city fathers were desperately seeking an alternative model to boost growth in the Caribbean hamlet. The hiring of an American consultant was propitious as his insight with regard to the U.S. Free Trade Zone law of 1936 seemed to fit the bill with developing an additional element to the passing of goods through the canal. The law was signed and took effect in 1948 but really took a few years to gather the traction necessary to attract customers to this innovative project.
The Colón Free Zone (CFZ) was the genesis of the Puerto Rican pharmaceutical industry as politicians there saw the success by pharma companies and their production efforts in the zone. Early Panamanian investors also saw the opportunity to offload cargo from the transiting vessels to build a buffer stock of inventory in the Free Zone, allowing for a shortening of the supply chain with relative speed to the traditional model of waiting for the production and dispatch of goods from the point of origin. Due to its central location in the Western Hemisphere, the Colón Free Trade Zone began to attract more and more traders who bridged the supply from China with the demand from small and medium merchants in the Central American, Caribbean and South American markets.
Few of the members of the board of directors of the Colón Chamber of Commerce in the late 40s would have believed how the object of their efforts has grown to become an important sector of the national economy after almost 70 years since its founding.
Today, the CFZ administers an operation that employs more than 25,000 direct jobs associated with the more than 2,400 business located there representing over 6 percent of the countries' GDP. The CFZ has grown to encompass an area of more than 800 hectares of land around the city of Colon. Three of Panama's five ocean ports are based on the Caribbean side, a scant few kilometers away from the zone. The Panama Railroad, now under the skilled administration of Kansas City Southern Railroad, has its Atlantic terminal a few meters away from a recently renovated airport which should soon begin to handle air cargo to and from neighboring cities.
The neighboring markets of Colombia and Venezuela have each in their own way, affected negatively in the exports from the free zone. In 2016, turnover exceeded US$10 billion in exports to the neighboring markets supplying a broad range of goods, such as pharmaceuticals, clothes, footwear, electronics, wine and spirits, perfumes and cosmetics, as well as a plethora of goods that supply the region's demands.
The Venezuelan economic meltdown, coupled with the Colombian restrictions on trade that compete with domestic producers, have made the Panamanian economy a primary destination for the goods handled there as CFZ users have sought vertical integration to capture additional margins at the point of sale. Panama has become a shopping destination, with millions of passengers taking advantage of the excellent price advantages on a myriad of goods found in the country thanks to the Colón Free Trade Zone.
Venezuela has gone from being the main client of the zone to a fourth-place position as the Maduro government mismanaged the world's largest oil reserve economy to the point that imported gasoline shortages have begun occurring in the formerly wealthy nation. Recent events would indicate that changes should soon arrive to that neighboring country but doubts about the speed of the recovery amongst the CFZ users should temper any optimism about a short-term economic rebound.
The value proposition of the CFZ is that of a midway point between the factory and the final point of consumption. Goods arrive primarily from Asia, the factory of the world and are shipped from multiple origins to the Free Zone to build a buffer stock of inventory to service the neighboring countries on a just needed basis, thereby reducing the new for higher inventory lessons under a longer lead-time scenario.
Multinational corporations have increasingly seen the benefits of bringing products produced around the world under one roof to service the more than 70 countries that can be accessed from the zone on a weekly basis by ocean and daily by air from the Hub of the Americas in the Tocumen Airport on the Pacific side. The Tocumen airport received more than 14 million passengers in 2016 and is increasingly an attractive alternative to connect with Europe and Asia with daily flights by the major airlines, including Lufthansa, Turkish, Air France, KLM, Iberia and Avianca, among others. Copa, the Panama flag carrier listed on the NYSE, boasts a fleet of more than 100 aircraft to service over 70 destinations on a daily basis, making Panama an interesting alternative for multinational corporations seeking regional headquarters conveniently located in the region.
More than 80 of the world's largest multinationals have considered the CFZ an ideal location for storing goods and performing value-added services such as labeling, pricing, promotions and assembly of goods customized at the moment of sale for the destination location. This value-added operation provides the thousands of jobs that are sorely needed in a traditionally disadvantaged area of the country, with double the unemployment in the rest of the country. A large Chinese telecom operation in the CFZ builds custom-made telephone equipment for contracts in the region. Employing more than 100 technicians in two shifts, this operation highlights the changing nature of the zone with regards to speeding up the supply chain and offering customization at the last moment. A major U.S. footwear retailer receives all of its China product in the CFZ, allowing for a cross-dock operation to build outbound containers with product in the freshest mix possible as determined by point of sale information in the more than 500 stores throughout the region. A large U.S. computer company is bundling its various products into a combo pack designed for the requirements of each of the countries it services.
With last year's news of the Panama Papers debacle, the offshore industry in Panama has attracted the attention of the multilateral agencies seeking greater worldwide controls on the tax haven status of the country. The OECD is reviewing the CFZ regime in light of the favorable treatment by Panama fiscal policy of profits on foreign trade. Panama's territorial fiscal policy regarding offshore profits is seen as possible harm to the traditional confiscatory tax policies in the G20 nations. Will the review committees recognize that the CFZ has been a good thing for the country?
The CFZ is also facing a challenge by Chinese SEZs, such as Yiwu and Guangzhou, that have attracted the former free zone clients to buy direct from the producers in China, bypassing the free zone merchants. Can the CFZ maintain its relevancy in light of the above challenges? The current Panamanian government has contracted the services of various consultancies to survey the best minds globally to try and forecast the possible scenarios for not only the Colón Free Zone but the other special regimes that have emerged due to the Free Zone's success. The example of the Panama Pacifico SEZ, a former U.S. Air Force base was the subject of a recent Forbes article1 highlighting the swords to plowshares aspect of that area.
Panama has recognized the benefits of the CFZ regime and proof of this are the rising number of SEZs that have popped up around the country. The Panama Canal administration has also recognized the potential of creating more space along the banks of the canal, permitting the construction of more logistics parks to house the increasing numbers of companies that are becoming aware of the potential Panama offers for the supply chain. The World Bank in 2016 recognized Panama's efforts in maximizing its logistics potential by awarding the country the #1 position in its logistics index for Latin America (globally #40), ahead of Chile (#46), the perennial leader in economic development in the area.
Conservative estimates place logistics as a sector providing over 30 percent of GDP in the country. With the recent inauguration of the Panama Canal expansion project that allows for over 90 percent of the container fleet of the world to pass, the country is well positioned to continue building on its infrastructure investments and aspires to become a global hub along with other zones like Dubai, Singapore and Rotterdam.
1 https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2016/03/23/inside-the-most-audacious-real-estate-project-in-the-world/#16f97e4d196f


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R.U.S.E., that they've decided to postpone the game's release until September.
"Following the massive feedback we got from the community during the Public Beta, we have decided to postpone the release of the final game to September 2010," a RUSE team member said over Facebook.
"While we understand how disappointing this news will be for many, rest assured that this is the best decision for R.U.S.E. and that this extra time will allow us to implement many of your suggestions and improve the multiplayer experience while polishing the overall game."
The list of things they are going to work on includes:
• The multiplayer menus and filters
• The unit selection
• The order assignment
• The unit behaviour and pathfinding
• The strategic AI behaviour
• The anti-lag policy and kick system
• and the game balance of course
It's good to see a developer that's brave enough to stand up and admit that they need more time, but we rather liked R.U.S.E., it will be a shame to have to wait longer for it.
We'll keep you updated.
R.U.S.E postponed till September
23 April 2010 | By Joe Robinson


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No, I really have no idea what that title means.. 🙂
Tuesday night was pretty quiet. Fhuun helped out by solo healing a 8 (I think, might have been 9) man raid into Zul'Gurub to try to get another Turtle Polymorph for our mages. Lost the 3 mages in the boss fight, but we did kill him.. The polymorph did not drop though. Ah well…
After that, I switched over to Fyra and did some questing in Searing Gorge. I got her to level 51 and I think it might be time to move into Un'Goro. I got her First Aid up to being able to make Heavy Mageweave, but I am not sure I understand why I would bother. Fimlys can make all the bandages if I need them and so it might just be a waste of cloth to level it.
I then went off for a bit to play Lost Odyssey. It is pretty good so far. Haven't really gotten into the meat of it yet.
I came back somewhat late and decided to try leveling Fimlys' fishing skill. I got him to 150 fishing up Oily Blackmouths and Rare Sagefish near Southshore. Was a little boring, but I got a lot of fish and now I need to go get my book to increase my skill above 150. I'll probably just go back there to do more leveling as I don't have to fight anything and I don't "miss" anymore.
Tonight is Fhuun's first run of Kara. Hope I don't screw up too badly… Hopefully my internet connection will be back up before then! Comcast is having some issues right now that look like a router loop. Hopefully they will figure it out soon.. 🙁
Well. Have a great day everyone and I'll be back tomorrow to let you know how the Raid went!..


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PornHub's Christmas ad wants you to give premium subscriptions to your grandparents
Christmas, like the Super Bowl is becoming the time of year when companies and their advertising agencies try to outdo each other. This year PornHub has joined the party with its new video for its Premium gifting service.
In the advert a family is celebrating Christmas together, replete with festive sweaters and obligatory Polaroid pictures.
However, all is not well. Grandpa is sitting alone seemingly not enjoying the celebrations taking place in front of him. His grandson, clearly recognising grandpa's 1,000-yard stare isn't from his days in 'Nam strolls over to offer him the gift of ad-free porn with faster playback and higher quality streaming.
Naturally a hug ensues and a single tear runs down his filthy granddad's face.
"With the holidays upon us, we wanted to provide our community with the opportunity to give the most touching gift of all to their loved ones," said Corey Price, vice president of Pornhub. 'Touching' being the operative word here.
According to Pornhub, the gift cards for are specially customizable, with the potential for personal messages to be added to the card. The cards can also be sent on the same day of purchase or at a future date.
➤ PornHub Is Attempting To Get People Into The Spirit Of The Holiday With Their Latest Ad [UpRoxx]
Read next: Shaquille O'Neal's Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn video game is as terrible as you could imagine
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