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March Group C Qualifiers came to an end, not without controversy. OTF's Joe Maskivish sums up the two matches against Guatemala…
Tag Archives: Jurgen Klinsmann
Improving the US National Team: Homecooking and Patience
US National Team Coach and Technical Director Jurgen Klinsmann has taken on the role of punching bag since July. It has been the rockiest stretch of his tenure so far, following a fourth-place finish in the 2015 CONACAF Gold Cup, a crucial loss to Honduras by the U-23s in Olympic soccer qualifying, and then last Saturday's defeat to Mexico for a berth in the 2017 Confederations Cup. One of Klinsmann's former players, Landon Donovan, suggested that this degree of failure would cost a coach his job in another country.
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"Dos a Cero", Remember the Alamo, But Don't Forget Your Raincoat
True to the mission statement of OTF, my recap of last night's United States vs. Mexico match will be a mix of analysis, insight and fluff. I'll mix it up by starting with some insight, followed by some fluff and a snippet of analysis.
Insight: Is a "Friendly" Ever Friendly?
The term "friendly" is a misnomer of sorts when the term involves United State vs. Mexico. Regardless of where played or what's at stake, a "friendly" match between the US and Mexico can be anything but friendly. As the highlights of the pre-game show demonstrated, shoving matches and stare downs are common place…
USMNT: Peter Vermes said what?
USMNT editor Austin Fido has another look at Peter Vermes' views on player fitness… Continue reading
International Friendly Preview: USMNT vs. Honduras
Austin Fido has a glance at USMNT and Honduras, two CONCACAF teams off to divergent starts to the new World Cup cycle… Continue reading
International Friendly Preview: USMNT vs. Ecuador
It's Landon's last day, but Austin Fido wonders whether USMNT vs. Ecuador might be the start of something for a new name or two… Continue reading
International Friendly Preview: USMNT vs. Czech Republic
The United States begins its long march to Russia 2018. OTF's Joe Maskivish takes a look at the upcoming friendly in Prague…


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I had the privilege of spending 10 nights in the arctic in Svalbard in late March, it's located 2,000km north of Oslo, Norway. A geographically remote place it's the most northern permanent settlement in the world The North Pole is about 1,300km north.
8 of these nights were on the MS Origo exploring the fjords of Svalbard looking for polar bears and other wildlife to photograph. I have included a short film "Kingdom of the Ice Bear" made 2 years by our expedition leader Joshua Holko, the film was shot later in the season than we experienced.
Unfortunately we only saw 3 polar bears, but seeing these magnificent animals in their natural environment was something I will never forget.
What did surprise and sadden me was the naturist onboard told us 90% of fish caught in the area that were tested had some form of plasticised evident. This was so surprising given the pristine environment we were in. Yes Dallas is starting to turn green!!
You may ask was it cold, the answer is hell yes, the 2nd day out it was - 29 and when the chill factor was factored in call it -50. The Captain later told us he has never experienced colder weather!
We went as far north as the conditions would allow, the sea ice stopped our voyage at 79'43'38' for the technical minded, this well inside the arctic circle which starts at 65'.
The landscape is brutal, harsh yet very beautiful
My advise is if you are thinking of visiting a wilderness like this do it now while you still can.
More photographs can be found on my website www.atstudioeleven.com.au under travel Norway. I have many more images yet to process so come back frequently.

subset: commoncrawl


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Salty Dogs
At these Down East dog
trials, creativity prevails and
cheating is encouraged.
One glance at the scruffy collection of canines gathered on thedocks in Rockland, Maine, and you know: This is no ordinary dogshow.
The four-legged contestants at this year's Boatyard Dog Trialsaren't the kind of pups to preen. They seem more concerned withhaving a great swim than reaching the finish line. As organizerDave Getchell explains, "Perfection is not required here."
The idea for aquatic dog trials grew out of a column in Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors magazine. And publisherJohn Hanson Jr. says they've stayed resolutely informal from thestart: "A wet dog takes the preciousness out of this event," hesays. "We don't show up on Westminster's radar."
In this marquee component of the annual Maine Boat, Homes & Harbors Show, dogs compete in theobstacle course, a freestyle trick portion, and a free-for-allstick chase. There are three rules that may (or may not) beenforced. First, someone on each team must get wet. Secondly,cheating is encouraged, and bribery is a given for those who reallywant to win the treasured "Pup Cup." The third rule: There are noother rules. The judges' decision is final, and seriousness of anykind is strongly discouraged. "The idea is to avoid getting toocompetitive," says Dave. "It's about dogs and their people doingsilly things."
As dog-and-handler teams prepare to parade through the showgrounds, some grand posturing goes on. "You guys have already metand growled at each other," says Dennis Gallant to his teammate,Sadie, as they check out the competition. The defending champ,Boris Bearenaugf, an imposing Newfoundland, and his owner, CarltonJohnson, confidently join the group.
Though other contestants may lack experience and size incomparison, all have heart and style. Tyler, a Chihuahua, arrivesthe morning of the trials wearing a bright red life jacket andyawning deeply-obviously unimpressed by his opponents. His owner,Celia Knight, says, "Tyler has been training to get along with thebigger dogs. Mommy will be fetching the stick."
Jake, a 9-year-old black Lab, got the nickname "Black Vac"because of his fondness for crumbs and other people's lunches. Helost the 2003 trials for failing to cheat. His freestyle trick,devouring treats, was also suspect. "Eating is not considered atalent for a black Lab," says owner Barbara Hart. This time out,Jake sports a sailor suit and a few new tricks. During thefreestyle portion, Jake catches a spring line from an incoming boatand pulls the craft to the dock. Bribes of homemade cookies arethen ferried to the judges. "A black Lab giving away cookies is a trick," says Barbara.
Jake's main competition, Soldado, performs a more elaboratefeat-climbing a ladder and helping to pull a rabbit out of herhandler's top hat. It's enough to get her into a head-to-headstruggle for the championship. But Jake's supporters wave signs andchant his name during the tiebreaker, resulting in his triumph."The first year we played it straight-no cheating, no bribery,"says Barbara. "This year we decided to step it up."
Bestin Show
More images from the 2005 Boatyard Dog competition.
PamperYour Pet
You and your pooch will travel in style with thesebeach-friendly products.


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Wait…is it legal for you to use a VPN?
If you could hide your identity online, say whatever you wanted, look at whatever you wanted, download whatever you wanted, with no way of it ever getting back to you, would you do it?
Well, there is a way to do that and it is called Virtual Private Network or VPN for short. It is a technology that puts a third party server between you and the Internet. It allows you to remain anonymous online. So if you can download whatever you want, stream content from anywhere, make anonymous comments, hide your identity (basically all the good stuff) why is it not illegal?
Great question ! The answer can be both easy and complicated. Let's start with the really complicated and, by far, my favorite answer. It was written by Stan Hanks on Quora and, while I am confident his answer makes sense, I have only a vague idea what he really said. That is entirely my fault, I am sure. His basic premise is that you can legislate against the use of VPNs but trying to enforce that legislation would be futile. He then continues with a technical explanation why he believes that is the case.
First, let's look at what a VPN really is.
Simply put a Virtual Private Network (or VPN) is software that enables you to establish an encrypted connection to a server. This server then forwards your traffic to the Internet or any other destination of your choosing (a corporate network for example) and channels responses back to you, allowing you to remain anonymous and the data sent to remain private between you and your VPN server.
What do people commonly use VPNs for?
In contrast to what you might think, most people use VPNs to access region restricted content or download copyrighted entertainment, basically the stuff the copyright police is all up in arms about.
Other uses are protecting the privacy of your Internet connection, circumventing firewalls, securely accessing corporate networks, hiding your real identity and the like…
So, if it is not illegal, does that mean using a VPN is legal?
In the strictest sense of the law the answer is clearly "yes." The problem is that the question is vague and therefore the answer probably meaningless. However, the question is important because it can mean the difference between freedom and, for some people, prosecution.
In the strictest sense "legal" refers to the law and laws are specific to each country. This means there is no single answer to the legality of VPNs, because the answer is country specific. Fortunately there are very few countries that legally forbid the use of VPNs. If you live in one of those countries you probably already know. For the rest, and vast majority, of us encrypting our Internet traffic is completely legal.
But I can use it for illegal purposes?
Yes you could – just as you can legally own and use a gun to protect yourself, which is perfectly legal at least in the US, or choose to murder someone with it, which is clearly illegal. Just because a technology can be used for illegal purposes, doesn't make the technology itself illegal. Let your moral compass be the judge.
So what about downloading copyrighted content?
Many people are unaware that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a US-specific law, signed into effect by US President Bill Clinton in 1998. While copyright holders love to make it appear as if the DMCA applies worldwide, that is simply not the case; therefore, unless you are in the United States you will not be getting any DMCA notices…ever!
This does not mean that you can safely pirate copyrighted material, but it makes it very difficult for US-based copyright holders to pursue illegal downloaders outside the United States because they will have to go through the legal process of the country the pirate is located in, which in most cases isn't worth the effort.
But I got a letter from a lawyer demanding money?
Then there is the issue of copyright trolls. Copyright trolls are entities that either own copyrights or represent copyright holders (or claim to do so), often in an unduly aggressive and opportunistic manner, for the sole purpose of making money through litigation.
They often send cleverly written, threatening letters offering an out of court settlement for a reduced fine instead of a scary-sounding lawsuit with an unpredictable outcome.
The best thing you can do if you receive such a letter is to toss it. Yes I said it…toss it! Let them pursue their phony claims in court. Chances are they won't, as it's just too much work to deal with troublemakers like you!
Isn't violating terms and conditions illegal?
Violating a company's terms and conditions is not the same as breaking the law (unless of course you are committing an illegal offense in the process). Which brings us to streaming content that wasn't intended for you, or, in other words, watching content that isn't available in your part of the world can be a violation of a company's terms. For example, using a VPN in Germany is legal, but accessing the BBC's iPlayer from Germany in the UK violates the BBC's iPlayer terms and conditions. Streaming the US version of Netflix outside the US is another great example, a practice Netflix publicly condemns, but also earns money from.
There are many more examples of violating a company's terms and conditions: examples are downloading copyrighted movies from torrent sites, sending SPAM, illegal computer hacking, any type of fraud, executing DDoS attacks, dealing drugs, selling arms… you get the idea. Many of those cases are clearly spelled out on your VPN provider's terms and conditions page. But, bluntly put, even your VPN provider is making money off people who are violating their terms and conditions and certainly reserve the right to suspend or even terminate an offender's account, and yes, it does happen.
However, all of these companies are walking a tight line between legal and illegal uses of their services that they have to balance with protecting their user's privacy and, of course, company profits. So, where does that leave us?
Using a VPN is perfectly legal unless you live in one of those few countries that has laws that prohibit the use of it (Iran or Saudi Arabia for example), but don't let clever rhetoric confuse you. Even if it were illegal, enforcement would be difficult, if not impossible, to accomplish.
What you use a legal technology for is, as always, entirely up to you. Just like with guns in the US, you can use a VPN for legal or illegal purposes, and you do so at your own peril.
Be aware of the difference between breaking the law and violating a company's terms and conditions. Breaking the law can land you in jail while violating some company's terms might get your account suspended.
In the coming months and years we will see a flurry of articles and legislative proposals surrounding these issues. Content providers are already lobbying heavily for legislation protecting their profits in many parts of the world (currently in Australia, where Netflix just opened up shop), trying to enlist ISPs to do their bidding, attempting to outlaw VPN services, criminalizing circumventing geo-restrictions etc. The Internet doesn't work that way and unless they update their business models to better reflect the current state of affairs, they will, sooner or later, be out of said, not models, but business. Chances are they will win a few battles, but I predict they will loose the war.
Image Credit: Tori Rector


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More games! NEVER ENOUGH GAMES
-Gratuitous Tank Battles: Have not heard great things. Get Gratuitous Space Battles instead, wait on this until you're really certain. $7
-Indie Bundle VIII: Man these things have been a mishmash. Hoard, not worth it, Swords and Soldiers seems fun looking, Demolition Inc is interesting but flawed… I mean it's just such a mishmash. I can't imagine someone interested in all of these. Worth it if you want all of them? But, you won't. $10
-Krater: Interesting, but flawed. Get if you like flawed weird gems. It's kind of an old-school RPG, only a bunch of shit isn't working the same, usually for the worse? That makes it sound terrible, just try the demo it's probably worth it if you like the demo. $7.50
-The Witcher 2: Yes. Yes now, yes get it get it now it's the best fucking RPG. It's so good, so good. They even updated it for free with a bunch of extra shit just because they love us. It's fun, engaging, reasonably complicated, it manages a bunch of shit people keep whining about games being unable to do. $16
-Alan Wake: I've heard middling things. Nice high-production-value game, decent but repetitive action and a mildly interesting but mostly wasted narrative. I wouldn't bother unless you're really intrigued. $7.50
-Fallout New Vegas: I've heard amazing things, go for it! Fallout 3 was actually pretty fun, worthwhile. It's one of those games I never actually finish finish though which nags at me forever so I'm not into it, you should give it a shot though. $5
-Amnesia The Dark Descent: Fun! Go for it. One of the only scary games, even if people keep acting like it's the most frightening thing in the world, and it just ain't. $5
-Sniper Elite V2: I've heard decent things. Kind of inherently repetitive though. I wouldn't bother for $25, it's a series of pot-shooting exercises.
-Plants vs. Zombies: Fun times, not worth $10, definitely worth $2.50
Yesterday's Deals:
-STALKER: YEP. Get it, now. Yep. It's a fun, weird, strange shooter/RPG that just you cannot get any other way. Nothing else is quite like it, you need to give it a shot now. $3.75
-Age of Empires Online: NO. $2.50
-Thief Deadly Shadows: The whole series is such a touchstone, this is a necessary purchase. At least Deadly Shadows, the latest best-looking one. I've heard it's less interesting than the early ones, but it's probably worth not seeing super early-gen 3D $2.50
-Super Meat Boy: The best platformer, yes. $3.75
-Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion: Instead, grab the Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity deal, it's only $5 and you'll get essentially the same dang game. Pony up for Rebellion if you're really into it. $25
-Total War Mega Pack: Eh. They're big, impressive, but I've never really felt that much for them. Fights are huge and impressive but not nearly fun enough, and the strategy AI isn't quite smart enough to be fun. $12.50
-Indie Bundle VII: Dungeons of Dreadmor is definitely worth it, the rest I'm not certain about. I've seen Vessel and it seems like a good puzzler, and Avadon is from Spiderweb Software, who make good shit. Yeah, go for this one. $10
-L.A. Noire: Supposed to be wonderful, but like Alan Wake it's leaning more production values than actual gameplay. Unlike Alan Wake, the gameplay it does have is interesting and reasonable uniquely focused on investigation and interrogation. Go for it at $5, come on.
-Carpe Fulgur Collection: Only get Reccetear, but get Reccetear. It's a weird sort of almost Diablo clone, but you also run a cute little item shop oh man it's the best. $5


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Taking control - The Cirencester Conference 2006
For the first time since the turn of the Millennium a proper organic producer conference has provided a forum for debate on the future development and direction of the UK organic sector.
Over two days at the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester some 170 delegates set about analysing the state of their movement and plotted a remedial course. In doing so a new mood of optimism was tangible. The strength of the conference lay in the "self help" nature of its organisation, put together by a network of groups and individuals to address technical and policy matters. The slide away from principles, uneven application of standards, incomes under pressure, business survival, poor and patchy representation were all on the agenda.
As one grower commented "the second age of the modern UK organic movement starts here."
Others agreed and were just as succinct in their soundbites – "Intensification is a dead end"…"Are we (in the organic sector) made to be mainstream"…"What has happened to our revolutionary, anti-normal stance"?
Amongst the delegates, Soil Association director Patrick Holden, accepted that in recent years there has been over centralisation and marginalisation of individual producers. "We, in Bristol, are not the organic movement – you are," he said.
And he made promises of reform to include the possible exemption of small growers from annual inspection and certification and pointed to a new SA apprentice scheme to help new, young blood into the organic sector.
Where better to illustrate the very point of the conference than in the poultry sector? Launched at the conference was a new organic poultry body – CROP, the campaign for real organic poultry, modelled to some degree on the real ale group CAMRA. The driving force behind CROP are Pam and Ritchie Riggs, who run a small "real" organic poultry enterprise in Devon. Driven by the over-industrialisation of their sector where mass produced birds and eggs with the same organic logs attached and at the same price sit alongside their prime poultry produce, Ritchie decided it was time to act. CROP's aims are –
- To kick back at over industrialisation
- To equip consumers with knowledge to make informed organic choices
- To take control of the production process
- To encourage the addition of poultry to mixed organic farms as management tools
- To promote the very highest levels of poultry welfare and slaughter practice
- To influence and lead the rest of the organic poultry sector
Horticultural growers too came together in the re-launch of the Organic Growers Association (OGA). Key goals of the new OGA are to give effective, independent grower representation, to provide information and services and to produce a new organic horticultural journal. Already 40 growers have signed up and the target is to reach 400 OGA members.
But the products of Cirencester far exceed the launch of CROP and the new OGA. A new coherence of thought has been achieved, new confidence instilled that individual producers can make a difference. The message is - don't be swept along in a tide of globalised industrialisation. Organic is different. It has to break the conventional mold, not let conventional break it.


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EcoLogo - industries.ul.comEcoLogo offers third party certification of environmentally preferable products comparing products/services with others in the same category, develops rigorous and scientifically relevant criteria that reflect the entire lifecycle of the product, and awards the EcoLogo to those that are verified by an independent third party as complying with the criteria.
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text: Something a little lighter today. It's a day of rest. Back to school with Terl. I wonder which teacher voted this? Why would a teacher recommend this book? But why would they be offering it on a "USB Key drive"? Do they also have a special edition hand calligraphied on lambskin parchment by medieval monks? AND a t-shirt? OMG, how can anyone resist? … [Read more...]


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Who doesn't love the idea of rummaging through somebody else's trash? For me, watching empties videos on YouTube is for me much better than haul videos because you get to find out what a product is like as often, just after a haul you will still have that 'new purchase euphoria' that can cloud your mind. It sometimes is a measure of a product that after you have finished the whole thing, you still want to use it, and indeed repurchase it while other products you cannot wait to finish because you feel like they are not that good.
Since my blog started I have been more conscious of the products I use and how much makeup I have acquired and decided to make an effort to pan products in order to reduce my collection, this is an update on my first project pan as well as my empties and the things I will throw away.
Freedom pro strobe palette
This palette was the gift that just kept giving, it has taken what feels like a century to finish this palette but I have finally got to a point where I feel I can justify putting it in the bin because it is at the point of breaking out of the pan. I know there is the darker shade that I have not used. (6 product look) but I feel like I have got my £10 worth out of it anyway. This palette was a great and versatile contour palette and I got so much use out of it; the bronzer has been my go-to bronzer and the highlight is an intense white which 'pops' if applied with a damp brush.
Replacing with: Makeup Geek contour single in Infidelity
Elf eyebrow pencil and NYX micro pencil
I finished the Nyx pencil at super speed so I moved onto the Elf pencil which I put in my disappointing products post. I felt like I had to finish this off although I didn't like it; it was soft in formula and was not as precise as the micro brow, however, by the time I had finished it I did not mind it, it gives you a more natural brow and would be great for somebody who already has great brows. I also love the shade, it is perfect for me as it has a cool tone about it that is not too heavy.
Replacing with: Freedom brow pomade in Ash Brown
Rimmel lipliner in East End Snob
This was another product that I managed to get through at break-neck speed, I just used it as a lipstick every day as it was such a neutral colour. The formula is quite soft and I had a few times where it broke off due to the heat, which further helped me get through this. I find that this colour is a touch too pink for me and would just rather use a nude lipliner and top it up with whatever colour I choose. I would not purchase these lip liners again on account of I can buy Essence lip liners cheaper and they are better than the Rimmel ones.
Replacing with: Collection lip liner in nude pink
Products I am still panning
Essence two in one eye primer and Seventeen phwaor paint concealer.
I have made considerable progress with these products but they are still unfinished. The Essence primer I use every day and I feel like it will never end and I have not been using the Phwaor paint as much as I have not been using a heavy duty concealer, the only time I have been using this is when I have been doing a cut crease or I have been doing s special look and sharpening my brows with it.
Adding to project pan: Ps Love Pro concealer in Ivory because I am not impressed by it, it does the job but the coverage is not as good as others.
LA Girl concealer
This was another product on my disappointing products on account of it being the wrong shade for me. I do not understand the hype surrounding this concealer as my Rimmel concealer does the same job, is a better shade match for me and has lightening qualities that make it the perfect highlighting concealer. I will not be repurchasing this item again, even though it is cheap it doesn't perform the way the Rimmel concealer does.
Rimmel Lasting Perfection concealer
This is my holy grail concealer at this point, I have tried many concealers and nothing quite matches up to this one although I have not tried any higher end concealers like the Tarte Shape Tape that everyone adores. This concealer does everything it needs, it covers, highlights and brightens my face, it is magic. I already have a back up ready to come out once I have finished using the PS love concealer which is not a patch on the Rimmel one.
NYX HD Foundation and Nyx HD primer
This is another product that I am not sure about, they were ok but I would not get excited about them and I would not by them again as at about £8 I can get cheaper primers and foundations that are better. The foundation, although a light coverage did tone down some of the redness in my face and balance things out, it felt good on the skin but I much prefer my Rimmel foundation or even the Primark foundation. The primer I am on the fence with, I do not know whether it did any good, it felt good but I am not sure it helped my foundation that much.
Superdrug micellar tonic
This was an impulse buy, I was browsing Superdrug and I ended up coming out with this Micellar water. The thing that lured me was the whole 'hydrating' thing, I usually use the Derma 10 micellar water that you can get cheaper from Home Bargains but I thought I would splurge and treat myself. This product smells lovely but it does not take my makeup off as well as the Derma 10 one. I cannot say that I have noticed a big improvement in my skin but maybe I will now I have stopped using it, I will keep you posted.
Nivea moisturiser for dry and sensitive skin
I got this because I had used a Nivea moisturiser in the summer and loved it so figured I would try the brand again. This moisturiser is a good one, it hydrates and works well with my dry, sensitive skin, however, the scent is so strong it is a pass for me. This moisturiser smells much like the old-fashioned smell that many skin creams had when I was a child, a floral base and overpowering like the smell of suntan lotion. I much prefer creams to have a mild scent or have no smell at all as I just end up not wanting to use it on my face.
Makeup Revolution I heart makeup setting spray
I feel like there is a trend emerging to this blog post, products that have been ok but have not wowed me and this setting spray is the same. I was in need of another setting spray after I used up my ride or die setting spray, the Slay All Day by Gerard Cosmetics and I was buying from Tam Beauty so I thought I would try this as a cheaper alternative. The setting spray does its job, however, the spray does not have a fine mist and so I have ended up using this product quicker in comparison to the Slay All Day. I also have another Makeup Revolution spray, the illuminating one, that I prefer and if I run out of my favourite and need a cheaper alternative, I would get that one over that one.
Throwing away
LA girl lip liners in wine and mauve
I do not to have much luck with the LA girl brand, I bought these a while back because I love the mechanical style lip liners and these were a reasonable price, I should have saved my money. These lip liners were dry and hard to work with when I first got them, I came back to them to try to use them up for project pan but I found they had gone even worse and were so hard to use that I decided just to throw them out instead. I will stick to my Essence lip liners that I know do the job for me.
PS eyebrow pencil in dark brown
I got this in a recent Primark Haul as a cheaper alternative to the Nyx Micro Brow and for £1 it is not the end of the world that I am disposing of this one. This brow pencil is so soft, something that I dislike. Also, this colour is way too dark for me. I was so excited to try this pencil out, I started doing my brows, noticing that it was harder to work with as a pencil and then stepped back to inspect my brows and saw what looked like Groucho Marx, it was a disaster. I am all for a strong brow but this was just too dark for my complexion and did not match with my purple/pink hair. I much prefer my brow products on the cooler side and not as strong as this.
So there you have it, these were some of the products I have panned, used and threw away. I hope you enjoyed this look through my trash, what products are you trying to pan, let me know in the comments?


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Above Ground Pools Installation: Considerations to Remember
admin October 13, 2017 Comments Off on Above Ground Pools Installation: Considerations to Remember
Above ground pools are recommended for homes that don't have a lot of space to work with. These swimming pools also fetch more competitive prices than inground pools, and installation usually takes faster. With that said, it is important to remember that just because there are fewer technicalities to consider… Read more »


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Objections made to the doctrine of Original Sin are oftentimes based on the implication that it is somehow cruel and unjust. The conclusion is drawn that if this doctrine is true and we have an inborn aversion against G-d and his word in our heart, then we cannot help being sinners. And if we cannot help being constituted sinners by birth, we cannot be held responsible for this status, or accountable for the actual sins flowing from it. I think that this objection is based on a misunderstanding, which, in the following explanation, I hope to dismantle.
We should keep in mind that mankind's being in the state of Original Sin is related to G-d's plan and work of redemption in Messiah Yeshua. The fact that G-d didn't destroy Adam and Eve after they had sinned, but blessed them with posterity — and explicitly blessed the seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15) — does make clear that G-d was perfectly justified in having us born in the state of Original Sin. The justification is that his work of redemption made it possible for us all to repent and to become again his beloved children. G-d would never have blessed Adam and Eve with children if there existed no plan of redemption. It is a plausible assumption that in that case G-d would simply have destroyed our first parents, which would be in line with the warning which accompanied the prohibition of eating from the Tree of Good and Evil: "in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:17).
The children born of Eve were thus themselves a sign of G-d's mercy and part of his plan of redemption. For the Redeemer was to come of Eve's seed. All mankind, except Adam, is Eve's seed, but the Redeemer was to be this seed par excellence, namely its purpose and destination.
From this perspective it only seems logical that Yeshua came into the world by means of a Virginal Conception. If there was to be a man in this world who didn't suffer from the moral damage and defects of the Fall and didn't share in our common aversion against G-d, then that man had to be created by a new and special act of G-d. This happened when Yeshua was generated by the power of the Ruach HaKodesh in the womb of the Virgin Miryam.
The difference between the creations of Yeshua and Adam is that Adam was created an adult from the dust of the earth, while Yeshua was created through a Virginal Conception. If Yeshua had been created in the same manner as Adam, as an adult from the dust of the earth, he would not have been the seed of the woman mentioned in Gen. 3:15, and for the same reason he could not have been reckoned the seed of Abraham and of David.
The essential thing to consider here is that G-d could only grant the blessing of posterity to Adam and Eve because of this future Redeemer who was to be born of the woman's seed. If the Redeemer was not to come as the seed of Eve, then G-d would not be 'justified' in having granted posterity to Adam and Eve. After sin and consequently death were introduced in the human sphere through the Fall it would have made no sense anymore to bless Adam and Eve with posterity, unless there was a future hope, a perspective of redemption, for mankind.
The reason why G-d permitted his world to be filled with the sinful posterity of Adam and Eve, and even blessed this offspring, was that the future Redeemer was to come as the ultimate goal and destination of exactly this offspring. In this manner G-d was 'justified' by letting sin increase and abound through the multiplying of the sinful human race, since he had in mind the excellent goal of the coming of that man who would be the turning point of this sad history and mankind's Redeemer from sin. Thus it became a true principle of salvation history that "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound" (Rom. 5:20).
From this principle of salvation history it can be inferred that the doctrine of Original Sin imposed no cruel or unjust fatality on mankind, since, by reason of the coming Redeemer, all had the possibility to derive benefit from his yet future merits and thus were able to escape their sinful condition. All who suffered from being born under the curse of Original Sin, and from their own actual sins, had the occasion to repent and to return to G-d because of this Redeemer's all-sufficient merits which, in anticipation of his appearing, could be bestowed on them. The very fact of their being under the condition of Original Sin was proof of the reality of the coming redemption and their possible participation in it.


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This quizz was provided by - Match Special
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Thank God For Sex Or This Could Become A Serious Problem
1 comment:
- isabella mori said...
- Wednesday, August 27, 2008 12:48:00 PM
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This site is dedicated to the spirit of Hunter S. Thompson. The Gonzo approach is a TRIBUTE to him.
In my spirit, I write what I want and say what I think. Don't expect anything to be run through a PC strainer. Do expect typos & missteps.
ATTENTION: The author accepts no responsibility for your spontaneous anger, personal outrage, blurred vision, headaches or any Post Traumatic Stress Disorder you may experience related to your visit.
This quizz was provided by - Match Special


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Spyro - Enter The Dragonfly - Platform: Gamecube
Brother Doug's Ice Hill Slide: More time
Get to the part where you can go off a big ramp. Instead of going
to the ramp as usual, take a left. If done correctly, you should
have some time to spare, and you will win a Dragonfly.
Dragon Realm: Unlimited lives
In the Dragon Realm (the one with the Dragon Spirit) go towards
the Dragon Dojo. There will be three sheep. Kill them, then go
across the river and kill the three sheep there. Then, return and
kill the first set of three sheep. Keep doing this until you get
the desired amount of lives.
Jurassic Jungle: Monkey puzzle
After talking to the initial professor at the start of the level,
eliminate whatever is around and cross the lava chasm. Get rid of
another Dino after safely getting to the other side, do what needs
to be done (i.e. collecting gems and such) and enter the temple.
Watch out -- once inside the temple, to your right, there is
another Dino. He will zap you if you do not notice him. After
getting rid of him, cross the lava using the round pads. You will
then see another professor. Talk to him and learn what he has to
say. After he is done babbling, enter the room with the big monkey
at the far middle containing a dragonfly in its chest, and five
smaller monkey statues (two on the left, three on the right, each
with a different color gem). Eliminate what is around, and pause
game play to take in the area. Look to the walls for guidance for
the puzzle. Glame the different gems in this order: Red, Green,
Blue, Purple, Yellow. This will release the dragonfly. Note: It is
easier to freeze everything except the chameleons in the level --
just freeze and charge.
Jurassic Jungle: Crash Team Racing reference
Talk to the professor in front of the room containing the statues
with the gems at their pedestals. Talk to him again and he will
say something similar to "Needs more speed, maybe I should add N.
Oxide." N. Oxide is the final Boss in Crash Team Racing.
Thieves' Den: Easy speedway win
In the racing part of the speedway; in order to beat the last
thief you will need to pass through the star located on the left
side of the lighthouse, at the end of the lap. Hitting all or most
of the stars will increase your chances.
Speedways: Easy win
When racing in the speedways, if you get into third place, you can
no longer flame or rocket the last two competitors or your
position will stay the same. Instead, find as many warp stars as
you can, stay with the red dots, and complete the challenge.
Oliver and Nathan: Get through gate
To get through the gate with the lightning bolt on the lock, ram
into the lock and you will get on the other side.
Get through fence
You do not need Ice Breath to get to the other side of the fence.
Just charge through the lock and you will be on the other side.
Entering electric door
When trying to get into the electric door in the first world you
do not need the electric breath. All you have to do is charge into
the electricity sign.
Extra lives
Every eight butterflies that Sparx eats will gain you an extra
Approach a dragonfly slowly so that it does not fly away from you.
It still will run away -- try a jump spin move.
Upside down gems
Flame a chest or char a vase. If done correctly, will have upside
down or sideways gems.
Mid air glitch:
Submitted by: somebody
First, go to LuLu island. Go to where the blue rafts are in the water. Then ground pound
on the edge while holding the controll stik up. (You may half to do this a couple times.)
You will notise Spyro will be in air higher then he usually goes. Hope this helps.


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Tom Tomorrow's Charlie Hebd'overload
It could have been because of the socks, or perhaps the box of chocolates that were tasty enough for sure but didn't last more than 48 hours. But for whatever reason this year I decided to buy myself a Christmas present and got myself a 12 month subscription to Sparky's List, a.k.a. the Tom Tomorrow support group. For a small amount of US Dollars I now get to read the next week's This Modern World cartoon a day or two before it hits the public, in a mail delivered to my mailbox that comes with extra commentaries and thoughts from the man himself.
And it's great. And I recommend you all go over and sign up by using this link. You can now pay using PayPal, too. Happy Christmas to me.
But the reason for today's post is to warn you all that with his latest strip, entitled "Charlie Hebd'overload", Tom Tomorrow has knocked it straight out of the park. Brilliant, do they award Oscars for these things? Anyway, look out for it in the next few days.


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"it takes a lot of paint to keep her good looking; its not the initial expense that breaks you, its the upkeep "
The other day i had a site visit to Lindisfarne,Holy Island. This is just off the Northumberland coast. After walking a good couple of miles in the muddy terrain in surprisingly warm winter sunshine i had worked up a very good appetite and the thought of fish and chips was very alluring. This was more so since my mates kept going on abt it. Lindisfarne is a very remote Island and the first few places that we found that suggested that there may be food inside were a few old pubs which boasted of an exciting history.
The pub which we happened to go in was a proper sailors pub,not surprising since the pub was located very close to the beach.
After a filling lunch of fish and chips and a cold Red Bull to match my mates pints, i had a walk around the pub, and then i came across this poster framed and hung on the wall. I used to always wonder why a ship is called a She, now i know why 🙂
I am no male chauvinist btw 🙂


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The Orlando Magic play at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. The Orlando Magic arena is a great venue to take in a NBA basketball game. All sections in the Amway Center provide a view of the court, but there are good seats in every individual section. See the Amway Center seating chart for more information about the best Orlando Magic seats at the Amway Center.
The Orlando Magic Amway Center NBA arena is split into distinct sections. See Magic Courtside Seats, Magic Superstar Seats, Magic Loge Seats, Magic Club Seats, Magic Terrace Seats, or Magic Promenade Seats. The best Magic seats for a home NBA contest depend on the amount you want to spend on a Magic ticket. The Orlando Magic team website and the Amway Center box office both sell tickets, but Magic tickets for sold-out games or popular contests can only be found on the secondary market. Make sure you consult an Orlando Magic seating chart prior to making an expensive Orlando Magic ticket purchase. Visit the links to find the best Orlando Magic seats for every section in the Amway Center.
The Amway Center was dedicated on October 1, 2010 and replaced the Amway Arena as the new home of the Orlando Magic NBA franchise. The Amway Center is situated in the downtown Orlando, Florida as part of the city's official master plan. The Amway Center is also the home of the Orlando Predators of the Arena Football League and has hosted WWE wrestling events. The capacity of the Amway Center is 18,500 seats for basketball. Look at the Orlando Magic seating chart for more details.
Amway Center: Home of the Orlando Magic
Amway Center: Home of the Orlando Magic
photo: © www.MagicSeatingChart.com


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Monday, December 31, 2007
Senescente mundo
Why is there something, rather than nothing?
That there is anything at all, much less ourselves...
The Book of Genesis describes Elohim calling things into being and over six days the basics of the world were made. Hard work. He had to take the Seventh Day off.
Now our scientists tell us that in fact the universe is about 15 billion years old and that it exploded into being from a speck of "infinitely" dense something smaller than an atom. Thus were space and time born.
Of course, I want to know what was going on 15 billion and 1 years ago. How did that speck get there?
And the implication of this theory is that what makes me up, and you, matter and energy wise, was also present somehow in that speck.
It was Pliny, I believe, who used the phrase "senescente mundo homines et senescunt", "the world having grown old, men grow old as well." I'm sure he had no idea how.
Happy New Year.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Cracks in the Anglosphere
The Orwellian nannyism of the British state reaches new depths, with its uberVictorian passion for surveillance and control for the sake of safety and protection: spy cameras --of which Britain is full-- will catch drivers who use cell phones, eat or smoke! in their vehicles. Sanctions start with fines but could get you two years in prison. Do these people have no pride left at all?
And in Canada, my second country, the same corrupting drive shows up in the "Human Rights Commissions", with unelected lefty bureaucrats eating away at free speech under highminded motives of protecting the
Saturday, December 29, 2007
The Pen and the Sword
With thanks to Kevin Slaughter of Scapegoat Press ("Blame Us.), who posted a form of this review from The Weekly Standard at the Fraternal Order of Androphiles. What a tangled web. My intemperate "reflections" follow it.
The Write Stuff
The hunger for literature among student officers.
by Mark Bauerlein
12/24/2007, Volume 013, Issue 15
Soldier's Heart
Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point
by Elizabeth D. Samet
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 272 pp., $23
In Patton, the 1970 film, one of the intriguing traits of the general as played by George C. Scott unfolds not in front of that mammoth American flag, or at a party with a lumpish Red Army general, but on a quiet grassy lane in the hills of Tunisia. On a somber afternoon during the North Africa campaign, Patton directs his jeep onto a knoll dotted with ruins, then steps down to resurrect an ancient scene to Omar Bradley (played by Karl Malden) as trumpets echo in the distance.
"It was here," Patton says. "The battlefield was here." He means the Battle of Zama, where in 202 B.C. Roman legions under Scipio routed Hannibal's Carthaginians and ended the Second Punic War.
"I was there," Patton mutters before reciting lines of his own creation on "the pomp and toils of war . . . the age-old strife . . . when I fought in many guises and many names."
The scene borders on kitsch, but Patton's historical sense and literary voice save it. They signify, too, a larger point. In the midst of a major military action, Patton still feels the presence of the past and resorts to poetry to express it. For him, the finer arts complement the martial arts, the general and the humanist are one.
In Soldier's Heart, Elizabeth Samet's memoir of 10 years teaching English at West Point, Patton is, she remarks, a favorite of the cadets, and the same combination happens over and over. She arrived in 1997, a fresh Ph.D. from Yale (Harvard B.A., an all-girls prep school in Boston before that), uncertain how she might fit in. Straight off she saw that "a West Point class is not the gung-ho, red-state monolith an outsider might expect." Cadets come from all regions, income groups, and ideologies--some carrying on a family tradition of service, some whose parents protested the Vietnam war. Most of all, belying the Rambo stereotype, they like novels and poems and plays. In class they read The Iliad, Beowulf, War and Peace, World War I poetry, and also Pope's Essay on Man, Dickens's Bleak House, Matthew Arnold's "Literature and Science," the curious lyrics of Wallace Stevens, Diderot's plan for the Encyclopédie.
Out of class, they keep at it. Lieutenants in Iraq who took her course three years earlier write back to ask about her current syllabus. Another stationed in Korea tells her, "Someone once told me that 'the most important book you will ever read is the first one after your graduation.' I wish I could remember what it was--I have done more reading since graduation than I would have ever thought possible." Still another writes from Mosul, "I have been rolling through books here at a pretty steady clip," and when he returns to the States, he reports, guiltily, that his reading has slipped.
Samet attributes these young people's literary fervor precisely to their combat future. While freshmen down in Manhattan at Columbia and NYU think about jobs and paychecks they'll secure after graduation, and hook-ups they make before it, cadets have a rigorous regimented existence in class and out, and they know they will assume command of 30 men and women when it's over, probably in a hot zone. The prospect throws them into hard questions of life and death, duty and sacrifice, courage and leadership, and they probe great works to figure them out. Samet's chapters ramble from episode to episode, sprinkling reflections on the war on terror, Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib, and her own frequent place as "the Only Woman in the Room" (a chapter title), but the plebe readers are what hold the book together.
All of them, Samet included, "feel a palpable pressure to consider every moment's practical and moral weight." The pressure magnifies the import of Macbeth contemplating the murder of Duncan, Penelope waiting for her husband, Stevens's "Oh! Blessed rage for order"--Samet doesn't have to convince them to respect Shakespeare, Homer, and the rest. The war has done that already.
To anyone who teaches English elsewhere, the enthusiasm is wondrous. One semester, a trio of plebes won't let her alone: "Around whatever corner we met, we would immediately resume discussion about a point left unfinished in class, about the books they were reading." Compare them to students in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), a massive annual study of college kids. Asked in 2006 how often they talk to their professors outside of class, fully 43 percent of first-year students answered "Never," while 39 percent gave a middling "Sometimes." While Samet's students beg her to recommend books, when NSSE asked freshmen how many books they had read on their own in the previous year, 24 percent answered "None" while 55 percent opened a measly one-to-four.
So much for the anti-intellectualism of military cadets. Many other myths about them, too, explode in Samet's portraits. When she gets the job at West Point, a Yale professor informs her, "You'll humanize them." But when she thinks back upon her Harvard/Yale years, she finds them an induction into "doubt and disenchantment," whereas "West Point won me back to a kind of idealism." She finds little sexism in the place, either: "Being a woman is immaterial to many of my colleagues." And while the 1960s counterculture "helped to make the American soldier come to seem a rather strange and exotic creature to many civilians: an anachronistic conformist," Samet encounters "outrageous, uncompromising individuals" and "arch-rebels," and alumni remain "concerned that cadets' minds be exercised with sufficient vigor."
How far the literary virtues of West Pointers extend through the armed forces is an open question, but the institutional commitment to books runs deep. During World War II, for instance, the Army distributed more than 100 million volumes to the troops. Samet's father remembers the Armed Services Editions, pocket-sized paperbacks of classics and potboilers ranging from Zane Grey to Edna St. Vincent Millay. Today, the Army Library Program maintains kiosks in Iraq, Bosnia, and Afghanistan, along with more than 125 libraries on bases around the world.
The commitment goes back to John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who authorized the founding of the United States Military Academy in 1802. Samet quotes Adams on one rationale: "I was too well informed that most of the officers [in the Army] were deficient in reading: and I wished to turn the Minds of such as were capable of it, to that great Source of Information." Jefferson thought the officers of the time inclined to aristocracy, and he hoped the curriculum would instruct them in republican principles. Both of them would agree with the British general William Francis Butler, whose summary opinion about the education of soldiers Samet quotes approvingly:
The nation that will insist upon drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its thinking by cowards.
This explains why the West Point years have affected Samet so deeply. She pledges to cross that line of demarcation, and while her colleagues at Ivies and state universities ponder at length their role as teachers in a post-9/11 world (always an adversarial role), Samet and West Point have had to act on that question daily from September 12 onward, and they've produced an ironic outcome. Literature, history, and philosophy matter, and they do so less to students and teachers in the cozy quads of the college campus, ensconced in libraries and symposia, than they do to bedraggled, bored, and anxious officers sweating it out in the desert.
Mark Bauerlein, professor of English at Emory, is the author, most recently, of Negrophobia: A Race Riot in Atlanta, 1906.
USMaleSF, profesor of nothing in particular, is author of a lot of this and that, most recently this followup rant:
This book intrigues me. I have read some other reviews, mostly from typical mainstream media, most of whom are looking for ways to ignore her deep respect for these guys and turn her into one more schoolmarm for the "mission civiliatrice" amongst the violent, testosterone-infected thugs of the army. Not sure if I wanna shell out the cash to buy it yet. But this does provide an excuse for a rant! So all is not lost.
Although the all-volunteer military strikes me as a great stroke of genius, one of its downsides is that it allows the Boomer elite...my own people, unfortunately...to live lives in which they have never met a single soldier and don't know anyone who knows one. Consequently, with the pacifist hippy bilge which killed off so many of their braincells in the sixties, along with all the dope, they are free to indulge in contemptible fantasies and rank class snobbery about the American military. They know jack.
Part of my re-education as a righty was to inform myself about the state of the US soldier, sailor, etc. Not only, did I discover, that the military is the most thoroughly and successfully racially integrated sector of our country, but that, contrary to some dipwad bookstore clerk's opinion (not to mention Jean de Kerry), they can actually read and write and think. And the number of graduate degrees among the officers is amazing. To say nothing of the brains and skill and uncommon integrity and initiative among the grunts.
I will plead guilty to some idealization, for reasons obvious both to me and my shrink. But the post-Vietnam stereotype of the soldier as either a war criminal or a pathetic victim is just bullshit. Pure bullshit.
I know two military guys only. Both gay men, emphasis on the last syllable. One's dealing with the catastrophic effects of an IED; he's a writer who can range from raunch to philosophical speculation to an ambush passage combining wonder and attention that takes your breath away. The other's been out of the Corp for years, but he'll always be a Marine. He is edgy and thoroughly intimidating to most people just on first sighting. (One of the reasons he likes me is that he yelled at me when we first met and I didn't run). But this guy could give you a course on classical music, modern literature, as well as guns, motorcycles and proper knifing technique. When he got jailed for taking on a meth-freak who was beating a dog, he whiled away the time in the tank by recounting "Of Mice and Men" to his fellow inmates.
I recently wrote him about some man trouble I'm having. What came back was a combination of profanity and humor, Gerard Manley Hopkins' poetry, some theological reflections on love and awe, and a promise to keep watch with me "however it fooken plays out".
Part of what burns my aging ass about the contempt in which soldiers are held by the high-minded keepers of our kulchur is that it is of a piece with their contempt for men. Regardless of gender, so many of the soon-to-be-decrepit Flower Children hate manhood in all its classical forms while they congratulate their whiny privileged selves about their higher consciousness and evolved whateverthefuck, when they spend most of their lives living in a cartoon.
Most of them don't have the right to breathe, compared to my two friends: men, real men, who, omigod, can read.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Christmas Eve
In my post the other day, I noted that part of being a man was recognizing that there are better men than you, recognizing and honoring them, and taking your proper place in regard to them.
And it is Christmas, which I love...along with the now-ending weeks of Advent, which I like even more.
And it was recently pointed out to me by a new friend that beneath my wit and brain, I have a sentimental streak.
Christmas usually emphasizes the Mother and the Son. Perhaps it is the season of my own soul, with my own father's life so visibly diminishing, that makes this Christmas story more about the Father and the Son. St. Joseph, the foster-father, usually in the background, stands out for me today.
So, combining the above items, at Christmas, I offer a link to a story about a man who is far and away my superior, and one which brought tears to my eyes.
Saving Ala'a.
Merry Christmas.
Friday, December 21, 2007
James Roday (above left), as Shawn Spencer on Psych. I love this guy. I wish I WERE this guy. Not really, but kinda. He makes me laugh. I like guys who make me laugh.
Man I've been seeing, an English prof. Wrote me an email that sounded sort of old-fashioned to me. I reply: "I bet you're the kind of man who would still use the subjunctive mood to describe conditions contrary to fact." His comeback: "If I were that kind of man, I would use the subjunctive with you!"I find this very erotic.
Tried a private vintage bottle of red wine given me as a gift by a colleague. The soles of my feet got all tingly and then I fell asleep for two hours.
Thanks to the Discovery Channel, I know know that in addition to ancient Egypt and Babylon, there was a great Hittite Empire in Anatolia, peopled by IndoEuropeans. At the height of its power, it dissolved in an instant due to...civil strife. How many civilizations commit suicide?
Because Islam is a religion, and a Third World religion, it gets a pass from the Left, both the religious and the irreligious Left. What if Marxism, instead of being atheistic, had been a form of theism, with Marx as its prophet. Would that have made it less evil, less lethal?
Part of being a man is recognizing that there are better men than you, honoring them for it, and taking your proper place in relation to them.
An unexpected pleasure of my middle...ok, late middle...years is flirting. It can be quite intense...there's a shower-at-the-gym story there...or ad hoc and one-time. But it's very playful. Lots of laughing and smiling. Something people may not imagine among gay men.
I have a friend, a fine man whose friendship honors me, who hates the bitter dogmatists.
When he talks about them, he becomes bitter and dogmatic.
I wish I had a dog. His name would be Billy.
I like the pleasure of my own company of an evening, a cigar, a glass of vino or brandy, the comfort of my living room couch, a couple of good TV programs, and no one to bother me.
I find myself missing human company more than I used to and enjoying it more when I have it.
I live in a city where a whole range of natural and common human reactions are considered beyond the pale. Progressives are so repressed.
A friend told me about the Christmas gifts for his partner: a full CD set of the songs of Noel Coward...and a new set of leather stirrups for their sling. How gay is that?!
I have changed quite a lot, much for the better, in the last few years. Folks who know me tell me this. But some of my deepest character flaws remain and grow even more intractable.
I didn't eat enough avocados this year.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
I just discovered, some months late, that he married his boyfriend Aaron last September in Massachusetts. I can say this, at least, for Andrew, that he has most excellent taste in men. I wish them both the best.
PS (Andrew is the shorter one).
The Discovery Channel has a series, Last One Standing, where a group of Western athletes participate in the fights and ordeals of various tribal cultures.
Today, as part of an Andean Indian event where they have to race up a mountain and carry down chunks of ice, each participant must get ass-whipped three times as an offering to the mountain god before heading up there. Most of the guys went thru it. Two refused.
One of them is an American black guy who could not get over the associations with slavery. I'm not in his skin, but it seems to me that the very fact that he was an unquestioned and valued part of this project and that everyone undergoes it as a religious rite makes it very different, indeed, the opposite of subjugation. One of the other white guys, who'd already been whipped, even offered to engage in a (second) mutual whipping with him, both of them standing up, just so he could remain part of the group. But he couldn't get past it.
And the Indian shaman or coach or whatever, in a stunning display of ethnic arrogance and total lack of respect for or sympathy with other peoples' cultural meanings, simply said, No whipping, no participation, no exceptions. You're out.
The other is a white guy who is a vegan...and who refused to participate because, get this, he refused to participate in "violence". This whole series is a celebration of tribal forms of institutionalized male violence!
Both these guys will get a kind of a pass. The black guy for sure. And the vegan, well, people told him that he had to stick with his convictions, no matter what.
I just wonder what would have been the response if one of the Western athletes were a Jew or a Christian who took seriously their religions' proscription against worshipping false gods and refused the whipping because it was an offering to an idol. I bet that they would be criticized for their lack of multicultural respect.
And no one dared to critique the ethnocentric and fundamentalist Indian official who excluded the two Westerners.
All this in the midst of a project which appears to be an unabashed celebration of testosterone.
PS. I note, too, that the title of this all-male show is not "Last Man Standing", but "Last One Standing."
Sometimes images and narratives come along which encapsulate too much.
Due to complaints by the women soldiers in the squad, a traditional Swedish marker for one of Europe's supposedly elite military groups...this is sounding funny already!...the rampant lion, had his leonine willy removed. Says volumes about Europe and what it has come to represent.
As one blogger opined, he's amazed they even allowed them to keep the sword.
Friday, December 07, 2007
No Homos In Iran...or at least, one less
The poor misunderstood Iranians, whose President was invited to Columbia University to deny that there are any homos there and then was cruelly insulted by his Jewish host, once again show the joys of multiculturalism.
Testing Religion
It is one of the oddities of current culture that religion is both so sacred that it cannot be debated in public and so irrelevant that it need not be debated in public. If you ask about the particular tenets of faith, you are accused of descending into theological niceties. So most people ascend into generalized vacuities. All in all, it shows that for the cultural elite, religion is actually a private vice or mind-fetish which ought to be kept behind closed doors and not spoken about in polite company. I think that pretty well defines the meaning of secularism.
PS. I would certainly vote for a Romney over a Clinton; my beef is with the limits of the discussion, not with Mitt's Mormonism. He apparently managed to govern Massachusetts without turning it into Little Zion.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
We Are Not One
Well, the English Do-Gooder who insulted the Prophet via teddybear is back home in formerly Great Britain. She is all apologies. Can you spell dhimmi?
And such luminaries as Whoopi Goldberg and her fellow feministas chide her for her cultural insensitivity. Yeah, Whoopi, those lynched black boys shoulda known not to look a white woman in the eye down there in Dixie.
Yes, we are all one happy global community, no? Deep down, we are all the same.
Well, maybe deep down we are all the same. Makes sense; same species and all.
But we don't live "deep down". We live on the surface of the planet.
And here, we are very very different. They don't call The Other "Other" for nothin'.
I have an acquaintance who has some Muslim friends. He says they are "embarassed".
Too bad. Unless they are out in force in the streets denouncing the insane barbarity
of their Ummah-mates in Sudan (those wonderful folks who brought you Darfur), then
their private embarassment is as pathetic as their whole religion.
And where are the Brits who will stand up on their hind legs and teach the Sudan
Ummah a lesson? But Britain has evaporated.
What a disappointing lot.
Saturday, December 01, 2007
My Pet Muhammads
Unfortunately, my TeddyBear Muhammad is out of town this week at a solidarity rally for Gillian Gibbons and my Dog Muhammad is sleeping, so I brought out my KoranReadingPig Muhammad to say hello to the Ummah.
Are your feelings hurt, Ummah?
Too bad.
If I were a Muslim and not a barbarian, I would be mortified beyond speech.


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Planning ahead with an advance care directive will ensure that you get the medical treatment you desire and deserve in the event of illness or incapacity.
People are living longer than ever before. According to data compiled by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the life span of the average American is 78.7 years, several years longer than it was just a generation ago. Now it isn't unheard of for people to live upwards of 100 years. Not only are we living longer, but we are maintaining active lifestyles longer, as well.
However, as our bodies age, we can develop more medical problems. Arthritis, heart disease, lung disease, cancer and other conditions are common among the elderly. Once we reach a certain level of physical maturity, we become more susceptible to serious injuries if we are involved in a fall, car accident or other mishap. Knowing that we aren't invincible, many of us have taken the important step of drafting a comprehensive estate plan that includes provisions on how our assets should be distributed to our loved ones after we die.
A key component of every estate plan - and one that is often forgotten, particularly if a boilerplate will form or "do it yourself" package has been used instead of an experienced estate planning attorney - is an advance health care directive.
What is an advance health care directive?
The term "advance health care directive" is unfamiliar to many people. These documents have often been referred to in the past as "living wills." Yes, an advance health care directive can serve the important purpose of educating your loved ones and medical care providers about the type of life-saving care you'd prefer in the event of an emergency (such as "do not resuscitate" orders), but, contrary to popular belief, it can do other things, too.
Care directives can be very narrow in scope, detailing that all a person's care is to be provided at a particular hospital or facility, or under the supervision of a named primary physician. They can dictate that certain steps be taken in the event of incapacity (such as attempting CPR if a person stops breathing or using a defibrillator to restore a normal heart rhythm) and forbid others (such as putting the patient on a ventilator or using artificial nutrition supplementation in the event of brain death).
Directives can also establish which - if any - family members or friends have the authority to make health care decisions on behalf of the patient. For example, it may be that you want medical treatment decisions made by your older, more responsible son instead of your lovable but less organized daughter. You can easily structure an advance care directive to reflect your wishes.
What about the authority to use my accounts to pay my medical bills?
Another important document that goes hand-in-hand with an advance health care directive is a "durable power of attorney for finances." While the advance care directive gives someone the authority to make decisions about your medical care, a durable power of attorney for finances gives the person you choose the authority to access your funds to pay for medical care, even if that person isn't named on your back accounts. A good estate plan should include both of these documents.
Advance health care directives are an important part of your well-rounded California estate plan. To learn more about these vital legal tools, and how they can be used to ensure that your wishes are carried out in the event of your illness or incapacity, consult a skilled estate planning attorney like Fullerton's Barbara J. Dibble.
Keywords: estate planning, will, trust, advance health care directive, durable powers of attorney for finances


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My Favorite Stores: Where I Shop for Clothes!
Happy Sunday! Sometimes I get questions on where I like to shop, so I decided to make a list of my top favorite stores. I have a very specific style, and quite frankly, I am very picky when it comes to clothes. I hope this list is helpful! 🙂 Altar'd State: The first time I went to this store, I…View Post


text: In November, a million months away now, I was invited to the Isle of Man. The vulnerable adults team there wanted to start to develop a Hoarding Task Force along similar lines . I visited IOM social services and talked to the staff, then was taken to see some clients, then for a quick interview on the radio and the following day I did a days training. The article below was written by some of the team . I am hoping to return soon to do more work with them.


text: What's Included Students who choose to study abroad in Dublin with API at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) choose from a range of undergraduate classes open to Irish and international students. What's Included? Highlights Pre Departure Services plane-trip-international Pre Departure Services Advising @api Online System Orientation Materials and Resources Access to International Phone Plans API Alumni Network Social Networking Scholarships On Site Services hotel On Site Services Airport Reception On-Site Orientation Housing Excursions (overnight, day, international) Tuition Medical and Life Insurance Resident Directors Social and Cultural Activities Welcome and Farewell Group Meals Volunteer Opportunities Housing Housing Re-Entry Services human-resources-businessman Re-Entry Services Re-Entry Materials and Support Post-Program Evaluation Transcript Alumni Network and API Ambassador Program View all opportunities and amenities Application Requirements Minimum G.P.A. 3.1 Open to juniors & seniors Completed API application University Approval Form One letter of recommendation Official transcript Program of study statement Passport-sized photo Entry requirements: Valid passport with supporting documentation


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- "I was once the man known as Grantham Blakeley. Look for me in the mouth of the panther. Please... release me."
- ―Grantham Blakeley[src]
Grantham Blakeley, better known as The Forlorn Watchman, is the ghost of a dead sailor who wanders the shores of Niben Bay.
He has a set routine that starts at 8 pm at Brawnwatch Camp and ends with him near Fort Irony, looking out over the bay. The Hero can only speak directly to him while he is looking out over the bay, towards the Mouth of the Panther.
The Forlorn WatchmanEdit
Asking about rumors in Bravil will reveal for the Hero that there is something ghostly happening outside town and people will point to Gilgondorin at the Silverhome on the Water.
Talking to Gilgondorin will reveal that the Forlorn Watchman is a ghost that appears every night at 8 pm in Bawnwatch Camp, southeast of Bravil. Upon being encountered, he will lead the Hero to a location close to Fort Irony. There, he leaves a cryptic message and turns to face Emma May's resting place.
His shackled skeleton is at the bottom of the ship, indicated he either drowned or died from starvation. Freeing his remains causes Blakeley to appear to the Hero, thanking him and says a map to his buried treasure is the reward. He then walks for a short distance before disappearing to the afterlife.
- He shares a surname with Angelie Blakeley, who lives in the Imperial City's Talos Plaza District.
This section contains bugs related to Grantham Blakeley. Before adding a bug to this list, consider the following:
- He may not respond to attempts to talk to him, even though he is facing out over the water at Fort Irony.


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Forster's Tern
Breeding adult
Medium-sized tern with pointed wings and a long, forked tail. Breeding adults have a black cap and a black-tipped orange bill. Note white underparts and pale primaries.© Steve Tucker | Macaulay LibraryCalifornia, May 06, 2017
Breeding adult
Short-legged tern with a long, forked tail that extends beyond the wings when resting. Breeding adults have a full black cap and a slender, black-tipped orange bill.© Brendan Klick | Macaulay LibraryMichigan, May 15, 2016
Nonbreeding adult
Short-legged tern with a thin black bill. Spends the winter in marshes, coastal beaches, lakes, and rivers.© Tom Johnson | Macaulay LibraryFlorida, January 13, 2014Not all videos have sound
Nonbreeding adult
Nonbreeding adults have a black eyepatch, an unmarked nape, and a slender black bill.© Jonathan Irons | Macaulay LibraryNew Jersey, October 07, 2018
Immature birds are pale gray above and do not have shoulder markings. They have a black eyepatch, pale gray primaries, and a black bill.© Andrew Dreelin | Macaulay LibraryNew Jersey, September 14, 2017
Juveniles are mottled rusty brown, white, and gray with a black eye patch.© Ryan Schain | Macaulay LibraryMassachusetts, August 13, 2011
Nonbreeding adult
In flight, note gray tail and pale gray primaries with black tips on nonbreeding adults.© Alex Lamoreaux | Macaulay LibraryFlorida, February 15, 2017
Nonbreeding adult
Nonbreeding adults have a black mask and entirely white underparts. The wings are silvery from below with black tips on the primaries.© John Whitehead | Macaulay LibraryFlorida, February 05, 2017
Breeds in marshes with open water and large stands of islandlike vegetation. Spends the winters in marshes, coastal beaches, lakes, and rivers.© R Painter | Macaulay LibraryAlberta, June 20, 2015


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March 21-April 19
Creating a narrative that helps you to make sense of your emotions does not help you to be true to them, Aries. Too much story telling can lead to distancing yourself from what you're actually experiencing. Be brave enough to drop into your feelings and to deal with whatever your find this week.
April 20-May 20
Instead of figuring out the "right" thing to say concentrate on how to speak in a direct and honest way. Don't get your point across, Taurus, communicate the things that you need the other person to hear. Express yourself in ways that allow for your true meaning to get heard this week.
May 21-June 21
This is an excellent week for beginnings, Gemini. Whether you focus your energies on cultivating new attitudes, learning a new skill or concept or opening the door to a new person or thing entering your life, you are likely to grow from it. Take responsibility for what you start and enjoy the ride.
June 22-July 22
Sometimes the path to becoming free is through the very brambles that bind you. You may be feeling sad and stuck, but evading those feelings will only make them worse. You are going through a loss or a major fear of impending loss this week, but don't let those feelings define you. Find and release what you need to let go of, Cancer.
July 23-Aug. 22
Being a boss and taking accountability for the direction and content of your life is awesome. You are capable and driven. The only danger is that you heap things on top of each other and end up overwhelmed and unable to come through on all of your commitments. Pace yourself, no matter how confident you're feeling this week, Leo.
Aug. 23-Sept. 22
You can be in the greatest relationships with the all-time best people and still have problems. It's important to be honest with yourself about how you're participating with others this week. Do they know what's going on with you or are you expecting them to guess? Are you over-talking things and obscuring the point? Pursue clarity, Virgo.
Sept. 23-Oct. 22
Follow through on your plans and trust your instincts, Libra. This is not the time to kick back and navel gaze. You are running high energy that will help you get things done this week, and get 'em done successfully. Don't be scared that action will disrupt the peace you have in your life. This week it's nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Oct. 23-Nov. 21
You have responsibility to yourself, Scorpio. This week you must have enough vision and self-love to be willing to delay gratification. Your goals need to be executed over the long haul, but don't loose faith! With patience and perseverance you can get exactly where you need to go. Invest in your future.
Nov. 22-Dec. 21
Don't give up, Sagittarius. Even if things aren't going as you want them to and obstacles seem insurmountable, you need to stay in the game. Learn from your mistakes and pay attention to the evidence that is being presented to you about the people and situations around you. Accept where you're at; it's the first step towards change.
Dec. 22-Jan. 19
You've got all these ideas about the right way to do things that are outdated if they ever worked at all. Strive to create more flexibility and fluidity in your thinking as you come up with new ideas and revamp others. Reject your old, rigid attitudes in favor of a kindler, gentler, and more compassionate way of living.
Jan. 20-Feb. 18
Center your life on the things that make you thrive, Water Bearer. You've been around the block before and you know that you're not very good at compromising your happiness for long. You need to make some choices this week and the best way to do it is by prioritizing things that you can sustain with a whole heart.
Feb. 19-March 20
Putting a good face on things is nice but it won't get the job done, Pisces. This week you must cope with stressful situations even if they bring up alarmist reactions in you. If you're willing to let go of your old worn out ways all will be for the best.
Jessica Lanyadoo has been a Psychic Dreamer for 18 years. Check out her website at www.lovelanyadoo.com to contact her for an astrology or intuitive reading.


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Fashionable Versus Traditional Designs
Kitchen cupboards similarly do not should be lowered away of the counter prime. The characteristic options of a shaker type door are a square framed design with an inset flat centre panel. Kitchen Ideas is a design and cabinetry company situated in Hadley, MA. Specializing in semi custom- full custom cabinetry, vanities and counter tops. The furnishings, lighting fixture together with the closet devices could make kitchens right into real dwelling locations.
You can browse a number of our luxurious, customized-made kitchens in the gallery above or, in case you desire, use the menus beneath to seek out out more about each of our individual ranges. Those that are remodeling their kitchens are making space in each their flooring plans and their budgets for these facilities. Knotty Pine Kitchens Pines are mostly grown in the Northern hemisphere and are extremely essential within the industrial world and is widely used within the making of customized and fitted kitchens, home windows and roofing and flooring. Painted kitchens are also obtainable from our 'in depth' pallet of colours, which lets you customise the look of your kitchen, so that it seems precisely the way you need it.
In 2015, the National Kitchen and Bath Association reported that desk or home workplace house has been created in a majority of latest kitchens being designed by their members — roughly two-thirds of them. The manages of the drawers are an instance of specialist workmanship as it seems as if the deals with are scooped out from the cabinets. Colors reminiscent of white, cream and gray are guaranteed one of the crucial common kitchen design requirements. Ensure to debate the type of flooring along with your design professional at Carefree Kitchens and Lighting. At our store in Louisville, Colorado, our group of knowledgeable craftsmen designs and builds cabinets exclusively in your renovation project. When getting ready for the installer; make sure the outdated cupboards are removed prior to the arrival of the new cupboards. Usually, individuals will transform their kitchen to get rid of dark and cramped areas.
Right here the island is a cerused French white oak… The very tight grout traces of the tile below are also tres stylish. At Bellcraft Kitchens our designers remodel older properties by creating welcoming and practical kitchens that help a recent life-style and add worth to your own home.
Our designers and craftsman take satisfaction in offering homeowners with White Plains kitchen renovations that add luxury and enhance property worth whereas remaining with an affordable price range allowance. Modern kitchens, as a rule, permit far more storage than the kitchens of the past. Leinster Woodcraft are specialist in one of these manufacturing and you may see their kitchens by visiting the hyperlinks beneath. Color Blocked Kitchens — Two-tone and color blocked kitchens were stylish in 2015, and we count on to see them stay widespread in 2016 as effectively. Pair a graphic patterned surface or a vibrant, solid color laminate with the clean strains of chrome steel – this are ideal for wooden, granite and other fashionable kitchen design materials. The charm and class of the Avonlea stable oak painted kitchen is clear in each aspect of its design. Obviously, everyone needs to save money in terms of modern kitchen design.


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I have stitched some of my very favourite poetry quotations and added motifs to enhance them. Some of these are freebies, some Hungarian folk motifs, some come from books or I designed (or re-designed)them myself.
Eventually, when I gather my courage to sit down to it, they will become a "book", that is I plan to put them in a folder and also do more. I apologize to those who don't understand Hungarian, please believe me these are really wonderful poems. I have found English translations but they don't always do justice to the originals.
Kihímeztem a legkedvesebb verssoraimat, és illusztráltam is őket. A minták egy része
ingyen minta volt, vagy magyar népi motívum, vagy valamilyen könyvből számazik, néhányat én terveztem (átterveztem).
Here is what I have so far:
Eddig ennyi készült el:
József Attila: Reménytelenül (részlet)
In English:
excerpt from Without Hope by Attila József
Upon a branch of nothingness
my heart sits trembling voicelessly,
and watching, watching, numberless,
the mild stars gather round to see.
(Translated by Zsuzsanna Ozsváth and Frederick Turner)
See the whole poem, and some more here:
Nagy László: Ki viszi át a szerelmet
WHO WILL CARRY LOVE OVER by László Nagy
My soul if at last for ever sinks,
who will love the cricket- violins?
Who'll breath flames on frosty branch?
on rainbows who'll be forever stretched?
Who will love crying the rock- hips
silently, to become soft lumped fields?
Who'll coddle, coming out of walls, these
fountains of hair, arteries?
And for ruined believes whose force
will build cathedrals out of curse?
My soul if at last for ever sinks,
who will deter hawks over the seas!
Who will with his teeth, in high tide,
take Love over to the other side!
(Traslation by Peter Szabo)
Well, this next one is not really poetry, it is a Hungarian folk song, the text is what I sang in the alto in the Kodály rendition.
Ez nem igazán költészet, magyar népdal, méghozzá a Kodály feldolgozásnak az alt szólama.
Csokonai Vitéz Mihály: A Reményhez (részlet)
excerpt from To Hope by Mihály Csokonai Vitéz
With jonquil and with daffodil
you planted all my garden,
and introduced a chattering rill
to be my orchard's warden;
you did bestrew my laughing spring
with many a thousand flowers,
the scents of Heaven did you fling
to perfume all its hours;
Depart from me, O cruel Hope!
Depart and come no more;
for blinded by your power I grope
along a bitter shore.
I see the meadows overcome
with dark consuming blight;
the vocal grove today is dumb;
the sun gives place to night.
(Translated by Watson Kirkconnell)
See the whole poem here:
This is the album I bought to put them in but it still needs a nice cover and I couldn't figure out yet what to stitch on it.
More to follow, watch this place! :D


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Jack's new book, 'Having "The Talk" With Your Parents About Retirement' is coming out by year end 2012 from People Tested Publications!
This new book continues to explore Jack's Four Keys to a Safe Retirement: Financial Preparedness, Health & Wellness, Mental Attitude and Staying Involved. This book provides a game plan for the adult children of retiring or retired parents to discuss these crucial aspects needed to ensure a safe and lengthy retirement for their parents.
Look for more information on the book coming soon!
Here's part of the first section from the book:
If you have parents who are in their advanced stages of life, you are aware of the many challenges that exist for them. You may even have become acutely aware of how these challenges also impact you.
Care giving for a parent or even another elderly family member can make your already harried life even more difficult.
Maybe you've had a frustrating chat with a parent that covers the gamut from their burial wishes to how they should get someone to clean their house.
It seems that ultimately we all end up having a conversation with our parents about such things as their financial estate, end of life considerations and living arrangements. The problem is quite often that we have these conversations TOO late.
Often we have them in times of crisis or when there is little that we can do to change or "soften" the impact of these decisions. We end up having discussions about living arrangements at times when it's either impossible or will incur significant financial damage to do what needs to be done.
Or we have discussions about moving money into trusts when a parent is hospitalized only to realize that a "look back" provision will significantly hinder these plans.
Let's not forget those situations that occur after a sibling or family member had an "expectation" that they would receive a certain item or holding of value only to find that different plans were made. This "unspoken agreement" results in a lengthy time of "not speaking" among family members.
The reality is that there are many things that need to be considered with an aging parent.
The book that you are holding was written to help the adult child to address these areas of concern for them and their parents. The intent of this book is two fold:
- First to give you an overview of what are the areas of concern that an adult child should be aware of for their aging parents. I'll cover not just the financial matters of concern but rather, we'll need to explore these topics in a more holistic manner which will include health matters, both physically and mental, and the need to create, nurture and maintain a social structure for our parents.
- Second, my goal is to provide you with a mechanism and resource that will allow you to have these conversations at a more appropriate and earlier stage so that proper planning can take place to allow your parents (and you) to enjoy this phase of their lives.
In much the same manner as your parents presented 'the talk' to you as children and young adults around topics such as sex, drugs and life, there's a time (and a responsibility) for you to have 'the talk' with them around the topics that are vital to them in their later stages of life.
Just as 'the talk' that they gave you took many shapes and forms, so will this 'talk'. It may not be the "Hallmark" version of a sit down around the dining room table (but it may be). It may be a 'talk' that occurs in pieces over time, perhaps in the car or on multiple visits. The point is that 'the talk' will occur in many different ways for people.
Although I'll provide you with some good mechanisms for having 'the talk', the reality is that you'll have to do what feels right and most appropriate for your own situation.
The point however is to do it! And do it early.


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The adoptive transfer of immune cells for cancer, chronic infection, and autoimmunity is an emerging field that has shown promise in recent trials. The transgenic adenocarcinoma mouse prostate (TRAMP) is a classical mouse model of prostate cancer (PCa) and TRAMP cell lines were derived from a TRAMP mouse tumor. TRAMP-C2 is tumorigenic when (subcutaneously) s.c. grafted into syngeneic C57BL/6 host mice (Foster et al., 1997). This protocol will describe the adoptive transfer of purified CD11b+Gr1+ double positive (DP) myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) and CD3+ T cells in the TRAMP-C2 prostate cancer mouse model in order to establish the intrinsic functionality of these immune cells and to determine their role in tumorigenesis in vivo (Yan et al., 2014).
Materials and Reagents
This work was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health (RO1 155145 to YX); and the Mary Fendrich-Hulman Charitable Trust Fund to YX.
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