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'Chuck' recap: The big twist
I don't think anyone would ever claim "Chuck" was full of suspense. It's not a show where the spy plots ever contain much actual menace. Usually that's OK, since the show wants to be a goofy caper, an escape from the day-to-day drudgery of everyday life. But every time the show tries to raise its stakes even a little bit, this basic inability stands in the way of it being able to do so. Last season, I wrote about how what "Chuck" needs is a bad guy, someone that the characters can focus their efforts on defeating and how that could propel the show forward. So far, in Season Four, the series hasn't done that, outside of the phantom-like Volkoff, who's mentioned but never seen or heard. In this episode, the show brings Volkoff onto the scene in a big way, and it finally figures out a way to integrate a serious baddie into the world of "Chuck."
What's even better is the way that bad guy is brought into Chuck's normally cozy setting: through a twist. OK, it's not the world's biggest twist. If you didn't start thinking something was up with Timothy Dalton the second he showed up on screen, you've probably never watched television before. And if you didn't have a rough idea of his true identity and allegiance, the second his bloodily dying body "disappeared," well, then I don't know what to do with you. But that didn't make any less terrific the moment when he emerged in the lab, triumphantly reuniting with his charge, Chuck's mom. Finally, there was a bad guy who was worthy of our good guys, and, worse, his right-hand woman had just used a device to rob Chuck of that which makes him special and worthwhile in a fight: the Intersect. It's a compelling, twisty bit of business, and "Chuck" pulls it off amazingly well.
The "First Fight" of "Chuck vs. the First Fight" just happens to be the first big blowout between Chuck and Sarah (and with good reason, what with her role in capturing his mother). But the show writes this much more skillfully than it has the other Chuck-and-Sarah fights this season. This one actually bruises a little bit, and that the show contrasts it with an actual fight the two are participating in against the bad guys seals the deal. It feels like after a bunch of episodes in which emotional conflicts were clumsily grafted on to the spy stories, the show is figuring out again that it works best when the two elements combine more naturally, when the storytelling pushes the spy stuff to comment on the emotional stuff and vice versa.
One thing I'm wondering about is just how similar this plotline is going to be to "Alias." The show has Dalton's character (Tuttle, later revealed, of course, to be Volkoff) comment on how much he liked the show, and the fact that the character of Mary Bartowski seems like a big batch of constant reversals could shape up to be a problem. On the other hand, I really like what Linda Hamilton is doing with the character, and I will likely enjoy this "just when you think you've got her pinned down, she surprises you yet again" series of plot twists for at least a little while longer. When Mary betrayed her son by erasing the Intersect and then took up with Volkoff, it was heartbreaking. When she slipped Sarah the means to escape the explosion that took out Orion's lab, well, it made her seem even more mysterious. Which side is she on? Do the writers even know? Similar to how "Alias" played with the true allegiances of Sydney Bristow's mom right up until the end of the show, "Chuck" is trying to have its bad guy cake and give us moving, emotional storylines too. We'll find out if the show can figure out a way to get out of that earlier spy show's shadow as the season goes on. For now, Hamilton's sterling performance is enough to keep me hanging on her every moment on screen.
Or maybe it's the fact that she seems utterly committed to the seriousness of this storyline. It'd be one thing if the show were playing this as yet another goof, but when Ellie and Mary meet up again after years and years of being apart, the show doesn't even need to show us all of their conversation for the moments to play as movingly as they do. This is a girl who's kept getting her heart broken by her mother, over and over again, yet Ellie's always willing to go and meet her halfway because that's who she is. And now, it would seem, she's just going to get her heart broken again, even as she presses forward into figuring out the last few mysteries her father left for her. When she finds her dad's old Mustang (top down and a note to her conveniently left on the seat where she'll find it and not disturbed in any way), it's a nifty way to hook Ellie into the main spy storyline without having her find out about Chuck's return to the CIA too quickly. Ellie and Awesome have had their problems integrating with the storyline this season, but this episode promises some great stuff coming up for them.
Finally, there's everybody else, who mostly hang out around the edges of the storyline but get nice moments themselves, like Casey coming in to save the day at the end of the big fight sequence or Morgan hanging out in the bar and trying to act smooth, asking Chuck about the specials of the day. After a shaky start, "Chuck," Season Four, has found a way to use the majority of its characters very well in its most recent episodes. If it keeps this up, it could be on track for one of its best seasons yet, if not the best one. Here's hoping the streak continues.
Some other thoughts:
- Some very nice music choices in Monday's episode, I thought. Frightened Rabbit always makes the proceedings better.
- Nice touch, getting Scott Bakula back to read that letter. I know it probably cost quite a bit, but it's nice to hear his voice guiding his kids from beyond the grave. And what do you think that weird, glowy, green thing under the Mustang was supposed to be?
- "Chuck" has toyed around with taking away the Intersect from Chuck before, but always because that was what he wanted. Now that it's been taken from him involuntarily, I wonder just how much he'll fight to get it back and if he even can fight to get it back. Should be fun to watch.
--Todd VanDerWerff (follow me on Twitter at @tvoti)
Photo: Chuck (Zachary Levi, right) meets his mother's old MI-6 handler, played by Timothy Dalton. But all, as it always is with these things, is not as it seems. (Credit: NBC)
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The official death toll from the 6.3 magnitude quake reached 5,136. The tremor early on Saturday was centred just off the Indian Ocean coast near Yogyakarta, the former Javanese royal capital.
Government figures put the number of injured at 2,155, but the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said there were 20,000 injured and more than 100,000 homeless.
"I am still traumatised, especially when it rained last night," said Sartoyo, who had come to Yogyakarta's main hospital from a nearby village. "I heard help is on the way," he added. "We badly need tents, please note that. Do not forsake us."
Monday, May 29, 2006
Death toll in Indo earthquake exceeds 5000
Indonesian authorities now say that more than 5000 people have died because of the earthquake that struck Yogyakarta on Saturday morning. From Reuters:
Posted by I.Z. Reloaded at 2:43 PM
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Password management
The number of passwords to remember for a user has become a real headache. On average, a user must register 5 times on 5 different applications in one single day. Your users complain about the tightening of security at the expense of their experience? We can help you reduce your support costs and significantly improve the user experience of your users.


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Hugh Jackman proves once again he's a totally hot dad.
The Wolverine star was spotted in New York City picking up his daughter, Ava, from school.
No fancy clothes for Mr. Jackman when he's not working: He dressed super casually in jeans, a zipped-up hoodie, ski cap and sunglasses. He also held onto his daughter with one hand while carrying a scooter in the other.
You'd think a man this hot wouldn't mind filming close-up shots for his movies, but nope: Jackman apparently was terrified when he learned Les Misérables director Tom Hooper planned to include several close-ups in the big-screen adaptation of the hit stage musical.
So Jackman sought help from Tony Robbins to overcome his fear.
"Hugh has done so many successful films over the years but he felt uncomfortable—even at the times fearful—during close-ups," the self-help guru tells Haute Time, an online magazine about luxury watches. "He felt he needed to free himself of this before taking on the role of Jean Valjean. In live stage performances, the man has no fear, just unbelievable power and the certainty that he can move anyone in his audience.
"I had to help him find the same state, to bring the psychology and capacity he has onstage in front of the camera, and be able to trigger it at will," he continued. "To see him perform at his best and be nominated for an Academy Award was very fulfilling."


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Cosatu wants Zuma to step down
Another African National Congress (ANC) alliance partner, Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has joined the South African Communist Party's (SACP) call for President Jacob Zuma to step down, saying he is not fit to run the country.
Cosatu says the time has come for Zuma to step down and allow the country to be led by a new collective government.
The trade union federation says it will not communicate its decision with the ANC.
They backed Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to take the reigns from Zuma in December when the ruling party elected it's new leadership.
One thing they make clear is that while they want the President to leave office, they don't support the march by the DA to Luthuli House. They have called on their members to stay away from the march. They call it an act of provocation.Clement Manyathela, EWN reporter
They are saying we will sit and talk about strategies of how we take this forward, but don't join that march on Friday.Clement Manyathela, EWN reporter
Listen to Clement Manyathela below for more details...


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Posts Tagged 'homosexuality'
Religious Interest Falls in the USA. Voters Do Not Know Romney is a Mormon Not a Christian
I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I.Joseph Smith
A Pew study released found that many Americans do not know the religious faiths of President Obama or presumptive Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney. A third of Americans do not know that Romney is a Latter Day Saint, a Mormon! The Mormons have conservative views, especially on gender and homosexuality, and are intolerant of members' questioning official teachings.
The United Church of Christ, President Obama's church of choice, is more liberal on these issues. Unlike the Mormons, the UCC is not centralized to the extent that the Mormon sect is. It is not uniform across congregations because doctrinal issues in the UCC are left to the congregations, not to a central institute as is the case with the Mormons.
17 percent of Americans say Obama is a Moslem. In 2008, Americans were likely to correctly identify his religion as Christian. Political opposition to Obama as president aimed to remind voters of his pastor, Jeremiah Wright. But Pastor Wright's supposedly racist remarks actually showed them Obama was Christian.
The separate Pew Research Center "American Values Survey", which polled more than 3,000 adults nationwide, found that approximately one in five Americans don't have a religious affiliation at all—the most ever documented. It also found that 32 percent of the latest adult generation have doubted the existence of God—double the number of those who felt the same way just five years ago.
This survey found increased tolerance for difference in every age, religious preference and political group. The new generation is known for wanting to distinguish itself from its peers—to stand out so to speak—by adopting unorthodox ideas.
Criticisms of Mormonism
The doctrine of the Mormon Church separates it from Christianity according to the Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant religions, all of which descended from Jesus Christ and his apostles. Mormons had no apostolic succession by which the holy Spirit is passed from priest to priest from the original apostles, could not have been involved in the Nicene Creed, and Mormon cosmology with its plan of salvation including pre-mortal life, baptism of the dead, three degrees of heaven, and exaltation by which humans may become gods and goddesses on a par with Jesus is alien to Christian thought.
Critics have questioned the legitimacy of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of LDS, as a prophet as well as the historical authenticity of the Book of Mormon, and include claims of historical revisionism, homophobia, racism, and sexism and paedophilia. Evangelical Christians argue that Smith was either a fraud or deluded.
Was Jesus Asexual, Heterosexual or Homosexual?
Jesus's sexuality is utterly ignored by Christians. Why are Christians—like those represented by the Christian Coalition International Canada Inc—so upset to think that their incarnated God, Jesus, might have been homosexual? Though the gospel image of Jesus is that of a tolerant pacifist, a large proportion of Christians do not recognize this as Jesus, certainly in the way they think and behave themselves. Of course, the gospel image of Jesus is most likely concocted by the early Christians, but literal biblicists are supposed to believe in the bible literally read, and the bible literally read is ambiguous about the sexuality of Jesus. Indeed, the impression given of Jesus is that he had no interest in sex at all, and if that were so then he must have been a god, because no normal man could possibly not be sexually inclined.
Of course, one can eschew sexual activity in practice, but one cannot suppress it completely, mentally. The obvious explanation of Jesus not being sexually active is that he was a member of the order of Essenes, one branch of which did not indulge in sexual activity because it was considered to be symptomatic of humanity and not the angels, who were not sexual creatures, being immortal. The Essenes aspired to be angels, and so gave up sex. Thus they believed they were purer, more perfect and more adjusted to the heavenly life.
Now, it is possible that even this concept of sexual purity did not prevent the Essene monks from indulging in homosexuality. The reason is that they could have justified homosexuality as being non-procreative, and the angels were asexual because they had no need of procreation. Humans needed sex to procreate the human race because immortality had been denied them by God as a consequence of primeval sin, probably seen as sexual activity anyway. Let the punishment fit the crime, was God's principle in this reasoning. The human race were condemned to being sexual so that they could propagate themselves. A forbidden pleasure, stolen contrary to God's wishes, had led to sex being a necessity with all the anguish it produced. Homosexuality was not a necessity however. It was not part of the punishment because it was not for procreation.
The Pope an Enemy of Humanity
Richard Dawkins's speech delivered in Whitehall at the London rally against the Pope, 18th Sept 2010, was shorter than the full text, mostly because the rally was so huge—an estimated 15,000—that the speeches started late and had to be curtailed. This is the original speech from Dawkins's own website:
Should Joseph Ratzinger have been welcomed with all the pomp and ceremony due to a Head of State? No. As Geoffrey Robertson has shown in The Case of the Pope, the Holy See's claim to statehood is founded on a Faustian deal in which Mussolini handed over 1.2 square miles of central Rome in exchange for Church support of his fascist regime. Our government chose the occasion of the pope's visit to announce their intention to "do God". As a friend has remarked to me, presumably we should expect the imminent hand over of Hyde Park to the Vatican, to clinch the deal?
Should Ratzinger, then, be welcomed as the head of a church? By all means, if individual Catholics wish to overlook his many transgressions and lay out the red carpet for his designer red shoes, let them do so. But don't ask the rest of us to pay. Don't ask the British taxpayer to subsidize the propaganda mission of an institution whose wealth is measured in the tens of billions: wealth for which the phrase "ill-gotten" might have been specifically coined. And spare us the nauseating spectacle of the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and assorted Lord Lieutenants and other dignitaries cringing and fawning sycophantically all over him as though he were somebody we should respect.
Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II, was respected by some as a saintly man. But nobody could call Benedict XVI saintly and keep a straight face. Whatever this leering old fixer may be, he is not saintly. Is he intellectual? Scholarly? That is often claimed, although it is far from clear what there is in theology to be scholarly about. Surely nothing to respect.
The unfortunate little fact that Joseph Ratzinger joined the Hitler Youth has been the subject of a widely observed moratorium. I've respected it myself, hitherto. But after the Pope's outrageous speech in Edinburgh, blaming atheism for Hitler, one can't help feeling that the gloves are off. Did you hear what he said?
"Even in our own lifetime, we can recall how Britain and her leaders stood against a Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society and denied our common humanity to many, especially the Jews… As we reflect on the sobering lessons of the atheist extremism of the twentieth century…"
You have to wonder about the PR skills of the advisors who let that paragraph through. Oh but of course, I was forgetting, his senior advisor is that Cardinal who takes one look at the immigration officials at Heathrow and concludes that he must have landed in the Third World. The poor man was no doubt prescribed a bushel of Hail Marys, on top of his swift attack of diplomatic gout—and one can't help wondering whether the afflicted foot was the one he puts in his mouth.
At first I was annoyed by the Pope's disgraceful attack on atheists and secularists, but then I saw it as reassuring. It suggests that we have rattled them so much that they have to resort to insulting us, in a desperate attempt to divert attention from the child rape scandal.
It probably is too harsh to expect the 15-year-old Ratzinger to have seen through the Nazis. As a devout Catholic, he would have had dinned into him, along with the Catechism, the obnoxious idea that all Jews are to be held responsible for killing Jesus—the "Christ-killer" libel—not repudiated until the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). The German Roman Catholic psyche of the time was still shot through with the anti-Semitism of centuries.
Adolf Hitler was a Roman Catholic. Or at least he was as much a Roman Catholic as the 5 million so-called Roman Catholics in this country today. For Hitler never renounced his baptismal Catholicism, which was doubtless the criterion for counting the 5 million alleged British Catholics today. You cannot have it both ways. Either you have 5 million British Catholics, in which case you have to have Hitler too. Or Hitler was not a Catholic, in which case you have to give us an honest figure for the number of genuine Catholics in Britain today—the number who really believe Jesus turns himself into a wafer, as the former Professor Ratzinger presumably does.
In any case, Hitler certainly was not an atheist. In 1933 he claimed to have "stamped atheism out", having banned most of Germany's atheist organizations, including the German Freethinkers League whose building was then turned into an information bureau for church affairs.
At very least, Hitler believed in a personified "Providence", presumably akin to the Divine Providence invoked by the Cardinal Archbishop of Munich in 1939, when Hitler escaped assassination and the Cardinal ordered a special Te Deum in Munich Cathedral:
"To thank Divine Providence in the name of the Archdiocese for the Führer's fortunate escape."
We may never know whether Hitler identified his "Providence" with the Cardinal's God. But he certainly knew his overwhelmingly Christian constituency, the millions of good Christian Germans with "Gott mit uns" on their belt buckles, who actually did his dirty work for him. He knew his support base. Hitler most certainly did "do God". Here's part of a speech he made in Munich, the heart of Catholic Bavaria, in 1922:
"My feeling as a Christian points me to my Lord and Saviour as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who—God's truth!—was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was his fight against the Jewish poison. Today, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before the fact that it was for this that He had to shed his blood upon the Cross."
That is just one of numerous speeches, and passages in Mein Kampf, where Hitler invoked his Christianity. No wonder he received such warm support from within the Catholic hierarchy of Germany. And Benedict's predecessor, Pius XII, is not guiltless, as the Catholic writer John Cornwell devastatingly showed, in his book Hitler's Pope.
It would be unkind to prolong this point, but Ratzinger's speech in Edinburgh on Thursday was so disgraceful, so hypocritical, so redolent of the sound of stones hurled from within a glass house, I felt that I had to reply.
Even if Hitler had been an atheist—as Stalin more surely was—how dare Ratzinger suggest that atheism has any connection whatsoever with their horrific deeds? Any more than Hitler and Stalin's non-belief in leprechauns or unicorns. Any more than their sporting of a moustache—along with Franco and Saddam Hussein. There is no logical pathway from atheism to wickedness.
Unless, that is, you are steeped in the vile obscenity at the heart of Catholic theology. I refer—and I am indebted to Paula Kirby for the point—to the doctrine of Original Sin. These people believe—and they teach this to tiny children, at the same time as they teach them the terrifying falsehood of hell—that every baby is "born in sin". That would be Adam's sin, by the way, Adam who, as they themselves now admit, never existed. Original sin means that, from the moment we are born, we are wicked, corrupt, damned. Unless we believe in their God. Or unless we fall for the carrot of heaven and the stick of hell. That, ladies and gentleman, is the disgusting theory that leads them to presume that it was godlessness that made Hitler and Stalin the monsters that they were. We are all monsters unless redeemed by Jesus. What a vile, depraved, inhuman theory to base your life on.
Joseph Ratzinger is an enemy of humanity
- He is an enemy of children, whose bodies he has allowed to be raped and whose minds he has encouraged to be infected with guilt. It is embarrassingly clear that the church is less concerned with saving child bodies from rapists than with saving priestly souls from hell—and most concerned with saving the long-term reputation of the church itself.
- He is an enemy of gay people, bestowing on them the sort of bigotry that his church used to reserve for Jews.
- He is an enemy of women—barring them from the priesthood as though a penis were an essential tool for pastoral duties. What other employer is allowed to discriminate on grounds of sex, when filling a job that manifestly doesn't require physical strength or some other quality that only males might be thought to have?
- He is an enemy of truth, promoting barefaced lies about condoms not protecting against AIDS, especially in Africa.
- He is an enemy of the poorest people on the planet, condemning them to inflated families that they cannot feed, and so keeping them in the bondage of perpetual poverty. A poverty that sits ill with the obscene riches of the Vatican.
- He is an enemy of science, obstructing vital stem-cell research, on grounds not of morality but of pre-scientific superstition.
- Less seriously from my point of view, Ratzinger is even an enemy of the Queen's own church, arrogantly endorsing a predecessor's dissing of Anglican Orders as "absolutely null and utterly void", while shamelessly trying to poach Anglican vicars to shore up his own pitifully declining priesthood.
- Finally, perhaps of most personal concern to me, he is an enemy of education. Quite apart from the lifelong psychological damage caused by the guilt and fear that have made catholic education infamous throughout the world, he and his church foster the educationally pernicious doctrine that evidence is a less reliable basis for belief than faith, tradition, revelation and authority—his authority.


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, The source of water purifiers - Do you know why yant to bu
Many people often ask me whats the use water purifier? Is simply purify water, in particular water purifier filter function is floating in water, heavy metals, bacteria, viruses, chlorine, sediment, rust, microorganisms and so removed. It has high accuracy filtering techniques, not only for the tap water purifier heavily polluted areas applicable also to a conventional filter chlorine in tap water, and can improve the taste of water. (Source: Public Safety and the source of the water purifier number, invasion deleted) 01, water purifier How does it work? Example In four reverse osmosis water purification unit (1 a more than five micron PP cotton filter), the raw water from the inlet tube into the PE-PP cotton filter (coarse), filtered water, removal of sediment, rust solid substances. Then dried into the booster pump inlet valve (the water pressure was increased to 0.65MPa), and then enters the pre-carbon, odor removing heterochromatic water, organic matter, chlorine, filtered water so that water requirements meet the RO membrane. Next, the filtered water to enter the RO filter, the most effective removal of calcium and magnesium, bacteria, organic, inorganic, metal ions, radioactive substances, and the like. Here a two-step, the waste water was filtered through the waste port on the negative, water flows into the filter after the activated carbon, the activated carbon main role is to improve the taste, a good filter can be directly drinking water. Similar to other models works. (Source: Public Safety and the source of the water purifier number, invasion deleted) 02, there is no need to install a water purifier? I will not speak other pollution, one that tap water, drinking water daily through a variety of cleaning, disinfection means, water quality testing by the factory to achieve national health standards. And then through a long pipe and a secondary pressurized water tank flows into millions of households (It should be emphasized to achieve national health standards before tap water factory, to water your kitchen you never know) before flowing into households, the long pipeline through the complex terrain and roads, some of the pipes and sewage pipes cross. Because the water around the leak and clean up the little secondary pressure tank disinfection, the tank can not be spotless, and water pipes rust and many other reasons cause secondary pollution on water quality. (Source: Public Safety and the source of the water purifier number, invasion deleted) and then a test, there are different degrees of pathogenic microorganisms rust, lead, phenol, pesticides, contamination may be shocking situation. Many rural drinking water is directly pumped wells to their homes, although this water is natural water, but it contains a lot of bacteria, plankton, solidImpurities and toxic impurities. I believe we have seen here have their own answer. 03, how to choose a water filter? Not the most expensive is the best, not the best is the most suitable, according to the different choice of different types of water purifiers water quality. The North China water hardness, calcium limestone south water area, relatively high content of magnesium ion, easy to scale, should buy loose outside the tight polymer progressive art filter. (Source: Public Safety and the source of the water purifier number, invasion deleted) in urban and rural water chlorinated, more organic matter content, odor Harmonia heavier, more can choose the amount of activated carbon home water purifier. In short, your family must need a water purifier. (Source: Public Safety and the source of the water purifier number, invasion deleted)
- Want to drink water method is very important health d lo
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One of the biggest names in aviation has developed a jet engine that is more efficient, less polluting and cheaper to use than almost everything else in the sky, and it could revolutionize an industry facing skyrocketing fuel prices and mounting pressure to clean up its act.
Pratt & Whitney has spent the better part of two decades developing the geared turbofan engine that burns 12 to 15 percent less fuel than other jet engines and cuts carbon dioxide emissions by 1,500 tons per plane per year. It's being called one of the most exciting developments commercial aviation has seen in years, and it was a hot topic at the Eco-Aviation Conference, where the aviation industry spent two days charting the course to a greener future.
"It's technology like that geared turbofan that's going to drive fuel efficiency forward for this industry in the short and medium term," says Earnest Arvi of the Arvi Group. "Alternative fuels show great potential, but they're decades away."
Pratt & Whitney was just one of the heavy hitters at the conference, an unprecedented gathering that underscored the severity of the issues the industry faces. With airline passenger growth rates and aircraft emissions expected to double by 2020 and 2030, respectively, the pressure is on to address those problems quickly. The conference saw a lot of talk – and a little green-washing – about developing alternative fuels to replace jet fuel, easing airport pollution, and building greener aircraft to replace the industry's aging fleet. Nearly 1,000 planes flown by domestic carriers will be more than a quarter of a century old by 2015, and Boeing officials have said that more than 10,400 new planes will be needed in the coming decades and making them as green as possible will go a long way toward reducing commercial aviation's carbon footprint.
That's why Pratt & Whitney has so much to brag about with its geared turbofan, which significantly advances jet-engine technology. Current jet engines have fans that suck air into the combustion chamber, where it is compressed, mixed with fuel, and ignited. Then it's blown through a turbine, generating thrust. It works, but it's inefficient because the fan is connected to the engine and turns at the same speed as the turbine. Fans work best at low speed, while turbines work best at high speed.
Pratt & Whitney solved that problem with a gearbox that lets the fan and turbine spin independently. The fan is larger and it spins at one-third the speed of the turbine, creating a quieter, more powerful engine the company says requires less fuel, emits less C02 and costs 30 percent less to maintain. Pratt & Whitney has been torture-testing the engines, and its engineers have simulated more than 40,000 takeoffs and landings.
The company's VP of Technology and Environment, Alan Epstein, says the engine will not only cut CO2 emissions, but will also reduce nitrogen-oxide emissions, noise and – ultimately – ownership costs. "For the next generation of single-aisle aircraft, there's no question that engine performance will be key," he says. "Both economically and environmentally, this engine will deliver significant benefits."
The industry seems to agree and is lining up behind the engine, which Pratt & Whitney expects to have in regular service by 2013. It's already slated for jets currently being developed by Mitsubishi and Bombardier.
Pratt & Whitney isn't the only firm developing greener aircraft. Airbus is dabbling in alternative fuels and researching ways of recycling more than 6,000 planes slated for retirement during the next 20 years. Boeing is dabbling with hydrogen fuel cells and investing in algal fuels while pushing lighter planes like its 787 Dreamliner. Boeing says composite materials make up nearly 50 percent of the plane, which can carry as many as 330 people, making it far lighter than other planes its size. It is 20 percent more fuel-efficient and produces 20 percent fewer emissions than similarly sized aircraft, company officials say. Boeing is betting composite construction will bring huge improvements in fuel economy and emissions to commercial aviation.
Further gains could come from improving the nation's outdated air traffic control system, something nearly everyone at the conference said must happen. The current system is based on radar technology that dates to World War II, and plans to replace it with a satellite system known as NextGen are at a standstill while FAA reauthorization is stalled in Congress. But the industry has several other ideas, from allowing flights through military airspace to widespread adoption of a quieter, more efficient landing technique called continuous descent approach. Industry experts say adopting such steps could significantly reduce fuel consumptions and delays. The International Air Traffic Association says cutting just one minute from every commercial flight would save more than 1.9 million tons of fuel and 6.3 million tons of CO2 annually.
The air travel industry has taken a lot of heat for being slow to address its environmental impact, and some say parts of the eco-conference were just slick PR. But even some critics say the fact the industry is discussing environmental stewardship shows it's finally getting serious about the issue – if only because doing so is in its best interest. "Climate change could mean fewer coastal vacation destinations, inaccessible airports and a general economic malaise that cuts travel spending," says Liz Barratt-Brown of the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Looked at in that context, you could argue that the aviation sector has the most to lose from global warming."


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Recipe Recipe RecipeRecipe (click to expand) 2 tb Olive oil 1 md Onion, finely chopped 1 Clove garlic, -peeled and crushed 15 oz Can tomato sauce 1/2 ts Dried sweet basil leaves 1 ts Sugar 1/2 ts Dried oregano leaves 1 ts Salt 1/4 ts Pepper 1. Place olive oil, ...Read More »
Egg Foo Yung
Recipe Recipe RecipeRecipe (click to expand) 6 Eggs 2 tb Green onions; minced 1/2 ts Pepper 1 ts Salt 1 lb Bean sprouts 1 c Crabmeat or shrimp cooked ———————————–SAUCE———————————– 1 tb Cornstarch 1 tb Sugar 3 ts Soy sauce 1/2 c Water BEAT EGGS WELL. ADD DRAINED BEAN SPROUTS. ...Read More »
Cream Of Crab Soup
Recipe Recipe RecipeRecipe (click to expand) 1 lb Crabmeat 1/4 t Celery salt 1 Chicken bouillion cube 1 c Boiling water Dash pepper 1/4 c Chopped onion 1 qt Milk 1 c Butter Chopped parsley 3 T Flour Dissolve boullion cube in water. Cook onion in butter until tender, ...Read More »
Chow Fun Noodles
Recipe Recipe RecipeRecipe (click to expand) 2 tb Oil 1/2 lb Fresh shrimp; shelled 1/2 lb Pork; sliced 2 ea 12 oz. pkg Chow Fun noodles -cut into strips 1/2 ea Stalks celery; sliced 2 ea Carrots; sliced & slivered 1 c Green onion; chopped 1 tb Toasted sedame seeds ...Read More »
Beef Satay
Recipe Recipe RecipeRecipe (click to expand) 3 tb Corn oil 1 sm Onion, finely chopped 1 Garlic clove, crushed 1/2 ts Hot chili powder 1 1/2 ts Curry Powder 1 1/4 c Water 2/3 c Crunchy peanut butter 1 ts Light brown sugar 2 ts Dark soy sauce 1 ts ...Read More »
Beef Jerkey
RecipeRecipe (click to expand)1 1/2 lb Flank Steak Select a 1/2 inch thick flank or top round steak. trim away all fat then partially freeze until firm. Slice across the grain in a 1/4 to 1/2 inch wide strips. Place meat strips in a shallow dish or heavy plastic bag. ...Read More »
Avocado Soup
RecipeRecipe (click to expand)2 Large avocados 2 c Chicken broth Salt, pepper 2 c Whipping cream 2 T Cognac 2 T Sherry Frozen avocado shell cups Peel avocados and dice pulp. Puree pulp in blender container with chicken broth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Gradually stir in whipping ...Read More »
Yule Log
RecipeRecipe (click to expand) 8 oz Pkg cream cheese, softened 5 oz Bleu cheese spread 3 T Chopped sweet pickle relish 2 T Instant minced onion 1/2 c Pecans, finely chopped Blend cheeses, add pickle relish and onion. Shape into 10″ X 2″ roll; wrap in waxed paper. Chill ...Read More »
RecipeRecipe (click to expand) 2 tb Peanut oil 1 1/2 tb Grated fresh ginger 2 md Garlic cloves, pressed 2 Tofu cakes, crumbled 1/2 c Finely chopped scallions 2 ts Dark sesame oil 2 tb Tamari soy sauce 50 Wonton wrappers Bowl of lukewarm water Cornstarch for dusting Heat ...Read More »
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23 May 2015
23 May 2015
10:00 - 18:00
This has gone by now but it was such a success. So well organised and it must have been very well advertised because there were throngs of people at it all day. I never rested not even for a minute. Ah but would I have it any other way??


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Photo from YouTube/Netflix US & Canada
By Jasmin Suknanan
Staff Writer
If you don't know the story of Amanda Knox, it goes something like this: picture an average, hardworking college student – just like you and me. Now picture that student getting on a plane to Italy on a study abroad trip, leaving behind family and friends in the states. Now picture that student being arrested and charged with the murder of her roommate. Speechless? Yeah, so was I.
Eight years after her conviction, a documentary attempting to shed some light on Amanda's role in the mystery surrounding Meredith Kercher's murder was created. Since it's available on Netflix, and the story is admittedly intriguing, I decided that I had no excuse to not watch it.
The documentary relied heavily on the expose of a heavily misogynistic Italian police department – in fact, it was brimming with instances of the incompetent nature of the people handling Knox's case – and a vicious media presence. Simply put, the slut-shaming game in this documentary is strong. The media portrayed Amanda as a slut and played on the idea that the British roommate Meredith Kercher was a victim of an orgy gone wrong. They spoke endlessly about what a "party girl" Amanda was, and how she'd bring boys to the villa in which she lived all the time. They did not fail to make obvious their judgement of this as Amanda's lack of morals.
DNA belonging to Rudy Guede, a man from the town who'd already had a criminal record for breaking and entering, was found in multiple places throughout the crime scene. But that didn't matter because the police had already made up their minds that the beautiful foreigner was responsible for the death of a sweet girl, and there's no stronger evidence than the opinions of a biased investigator.
The presence of British journalist Nick Pisa furthered the general consensus of Amanda's character – she was a slut who killed her brilliant, studious roommate out of jealousy. Often appearing snide and insensitive, Pisa was the embodiment of what you'd think when you hear the word 'vulture.'
Throughout the documentary, Amanda was clearly still very shaken from what she had been experiencing over the last almost 10 years. She appeared at a near loss for words in some instances. I mean if you're wrongfully convicted of a murder you didn't commit, wouldn't you feel uneasy in front of a camera? Not to mention the fact that this was Knox's first on-camera interview since she was acquitted.
We can see a lot of the judgement that was passed against Amanda, but this still felt like it was just a small part of the full story. It might prove valuable to release a documentary focusing solely on the investigators handling the case. We got a small taste of what was going through their minds at some points of the investigation, but digging further to reveal how they collected the evidence and how they watched their case develop over the last eight years would be intriguing.
If you want to become more familiar with the horrific story of a girl who could be a psychopath in sheep's clothing, watch this documentary. And if you want to bear witness to the disheveling story of a girl who could be you, watch this documentary.


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Art, beach, competition, events, family, Long Beach, Los Angeles, sand, Things to do in LA, wigo
Beat the heat this weekend and check out the Great Sand Sculpture Contest at Granada Beach in Long Beach! This FREE event brings together some of the best professional sand sculptors creating unbelievable works of art. There will also be a community contest where amateurs and families can compete for prizes as well. Sculptures are judged based on uniqueness, difficulty, and how well they fit the theme of 'Sculpting Literacy in Your Community.' This event will have arts and crafts, vendors, live music, food, and a kids zone and all proceeds benefit the Long Beach Public Library Foundation. Sponsored by Kool-Aid, the Kool-Aid man will be on site all weekend long as well, so for a lot of family-friendly fun supporting a great cause, head out to Long Beach from 10 AM to 4 PM this weekend!
Location: Granada Beach – Long Beach
1 Granada Ave Long Beach, CA 90802
Date: Saturday, August 10th and Sunday, August 11th
Time: 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Website: http://lbsandcastle.com/


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Pez Mariposa, Butterfly Fish.
Cuban Fishing, 3/7/15: Peces Mariposa or Butterfly Fish are a group of tropical marine fish found in Cuba.
"Peces Mariposa, the family Chaetodontidae or butterfly fish, are a group of conspicuous tropical marine fish. Found mostly in reefs of the Atlantic , Indian and Pacific , are somewhat small, 12-22 cm in length (the larger species, such Lined butterflyfish , reach 3 dm). There are approximately 127 species in twelve genera. Not to be confused with Freshwater butterflyfish family of Pantodontidae .
They are generally diurnal and surface waters less than 18 m (some still reach 180 m), and these are very territorial corallivorous in the coral. In contrast, those who eat zooplankton form large conspecific groups. At night rooming in crevices and cracks of the reef and exhibits marked differences in coloration with the daytime.
They are pelagic spawning; that is, maintain their buoyant eggs in water becoming part of the plankton, floating in the currents until hatching. The small beings pass through the tolichtis stadium, where the body of post-larval fish is covered with sheets ranging in his head. This curious, armed stage occurs only other single family of fish; the Scatophagidae . Then the fish loses these sheets matures."
Source: Butterfly Fish.
Feature Image: Pez Mariposa, Cuba By Bernd Kirschner, Via Creative Commons.


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Galleri Opdahl is pleased to present the exhibition "Disclaimer" where Ole Martin Lund Bø has invited the artists Olli Keränen, Maija Luutonen, Linn Pedersen and Olve Sande.
"It1s beyond my control" John Malkovich in Dangerous Liaisons, 1988.
To take action. To plead guilty. To admit. To gain credibility. To demand credibility. Results based management. Success / failure.
The works in the exhibition Disclaimer represent a method of abstraction, by which most of the aesthetical scope has been surrendered. Abstraction is created by means of an aesthetical disclaimer. The works are results of preceding acts or procedures. They become performative abstractions.
What remains is the result of an act, rather than a desire for a certain outcome. Form follows action. The act itself recedes, while the work represents the absence of figuration, and thereby the image itself. Traces of actions already taken catalyse images unseen.
Upon instructions by Olli Keränen, I have executed his work "Stunt Buffet" on-site. A squid ink pasta dish is dropped from a ramp. The ink stains the wall and a sheet of plasterboard, creating the works on display.
Maija Luutonen often creates restrictions for herself. It could be a limited timeframe for her to work within. Or, it could be letting the length of her arm determine her reach of areas to paint, as evident in the work "The Thought You Most Likely Will Not Have". In International Paper, a painted A0 sheet has been folded into smaller A4 formats. The folds leave fractures on the surface, rendering the painting a sculptural dimension.
In "Floor Arrangements", Linn Pedersen shows photographs taken of material scraps accumulated on her studio floor. The sprayed clay fragments are spread out unevenly, indicating sculptural activities. The compositions resemble cartographic depictions or amorphous "abstractions".
Olve Sande has employed different procedures on how to prepare wall surfaces. The main idea is to apply the filler as evenly as possible before it dries. The procedure itself is quick and efficient. Mixing paint with filler, the artisans practical approach towards his medium blends in with the act of painting, upon which that act itself becomes the works only motif.
My own works are four paintings. The basis is how remnants of paint, left over from templates, create lingering motifs. During the process of executing the planned procedure, the initial idea fades, only to be replaced by an interest in the painting itself. The works are no longer documented proofs of an implemented idea, but rather paintings as results of restrictions.
Ole Martin Lund Bø
Installation photography: Erik Sæter Jørgensen


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Deep Throat: Running With Swords
werd: fox photography
werd: james niche
Some of you may have heard of her, but many in the current ACT:LIVE community may have not. Riley the sword swallower.
I met her at the Ludachrist show this past May, and have kind of lurked behind her since then.
She's an outspoken, brash - well, self-confessed bitch. But she's a lot of fun and can do things you only wish your girlfriend would dream of.
I sat down with her in High Falls this past week, got interrupted by an obnoxious woman visiting from Seattle (I mean that in the best way, if she's reading this), and got to find out a little more about what she does. Uncensored.
Peep this girl for those of you that don't know her. This was a fun interview for me. I got the fire breathing act and all.
ACT:LIVE: So does this type of entertainment run in the family?
Riley: I had a family member that was always doing forks and knives (swallowing) around the house, but I'm the only one that can do a sword or anything larger than a knife.
ACT:LIVE: Where did you grow up?
Riley: Webster/Penfield.
ACT:LIVE: Ahhh, where life is worth living, apparently. I spent my senior year there. Do you still live out there?
Riley: I still live out there, with the parents, yes.
ACT:LIVE: Milk it, I guess. (laughs)
Riley: Well, insurance costs and medical expenses are ridiculous for me. I have bipolar disorder and narcolepsy, it's much cheaper living at home paying those bills.
ACT:LIVE: Narcolepsy is what again? When you fall asleep a lot?
Riley: It's different than excessive daytime sleepiness; narcolepsy is where you can feel it coming on. Some people even hallucinate a little bit, like you're half dreaming.
ACT:LIVE: Does it ever affect your performance?
Riley: No, not really because I have adrenaline going.
So, I've been living at home to save money and have been doing this on the side. The sword swallowing isn't just a hobby for me either, it's a second income and a valid form of entertainment.
ACT:LIVE: I'd have to agree.
Riley: I think if less than a hundred people can do it out of millions, you have a market.
ACT:LIVE: What's the craziest thing you have swallowed?
Riley: Drumsticks, glow sticks. Glow sticks are really awkward because I can feel them hit the bottom of my stomach, they're very blunt. Once I start snakin' 'em in there it's more like an endoscope at that point.
ACT:LIVE: I know you have a hammer and nail in your routine, and I see a hammer in your case. What's all that for?
Riley: The big black rubber hammer is to pound the drumstick down my throat, it's for effect. I can do it without the hammer, but it looks cooler.
I use the little hammers to do the human blockhead. I pound a screwdriver into my face, in my nose to be exact.
ACT:LIVE: Wow.
Riley: The human blockhead routine any person can do, you just have to have the balls to do it. Your sinuses go up, then back, so it just depends on how big your sinus cavities are.
ACT:LIVE: Did you need to have an x-ray before hand to figure yours out?
Riley: No, but I did happen to have an MRI done when I was diagnosed with Narcolepsy. That's where I saw my septum is sort of deviated. I think I have one of the brain pictures on MySpace. Not everyone can say they have a picture of their brain. I'm gonna frame that some day.
ACT:LIVE: How does a typical show play out for you?
Riley: It depends on where I'm doing it. I've been doing a bit more burlesque lately, which starts with more of a strip-tease. I also incorporate the sword into that, while setting it on fire. I'll also throw in some comedy, depending on the audience, but audience participation is one key ingredient.
It also involves smoking a lot of pot so I can find the clientele more tolerable. (laughing) No, but really, all performers should be sober when working. Any level of intoxication can cause dangerous mistakes and accidents.
When I performed with My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, I spent a lot of time in the audience to get a feel for who I was working with and to see who would be good candidates to bring up on stage.
That show taught me a lot on how to be prepared and how to work with an audience.
I am also creating a new stage case so I can operate a little more "spur of the moment".
ACT:LIVE: Are hecklers ever a problem?
Riley: Hecklers and drunken guys are usually the worst, but in Long Island we almost had to kick out two drunken GIRLS.
Another sword swallowing female, whom I believe holds the record for most swords swallowed at one time (10 maybe?), was performing with multiple swords in her mouth while a man attempted to slide a folded bill onto her waist causing the swords to scissor and tear her insides. Not pretty.
ACT:LIVE: That was another question I had. Safety must be a huge issue for you.
Riley: Yeah, that's a story I always share with the security wherever I am working because I do not want to have to deal with the same problems in my life.
That's another reason that sideshow acts in general, need to be compensated fairly for performing as well. A lot of club owners and promoters think I'll be happy performing for free drinks or free promotion.
Free drinks don't pay the bills for me and they certainly won't pay my hospital bills when I get scissored someday. I know the economy is what it is, but they need to think more realistically. This is a valid profession and an extreme form of entertainment, not a dog and pony act. Remember, I AM PUTTING SWORDS IN MY BODY.
ACT:LIVE: Have you injured yourself yet?
Riley: No, nothing more than singing my nose hairs while fire breathing. I want to start letting people light their cigarettes off my sword while it's on fire.
ACT:LIVE: That would be dope.
Riley: There was a time when I swallowed a coat hanger and called myself the five foot three fetus. At Club Diablo, in Buffalo, it was a hit.
ACT:LIVE: Do you create your own costumes or do you buy them?
Riley: Yeah, I take a lot of random pieces, like that bra I had on earlier, and add my own flair to them.
We have another girl in the troupe that makes pasties, but I don't really go with those because I feel it distracts people from what I'm up there to do. Of course I add a bit of sexuality to the performance, but I'm not a stripper.
ACT:LIVE: How often are you out of town taking your act with you? (Lady with large ass and shopping cart rolls by on the bridge making it painfully hard to hear Riley or anything else for that matter.)
Riley: I'm not too far past Syracuse usually, but I have made it out to Long Island for a performance. It was at a fetish ball they were having there. A lot of people involved were pretty sick and couldn't make it out for the event, but it was an art show as well, so I displayed some of my paintings.
The Long Islanders all like to think they're tough so they were giving me a hard time before the show, but I think it's funny because those same guys would be hitting on me as soon as they saw my show. They like to try to find out what else I swallow. (laughs)
ACT:LIVE: I'm sure you get a lot of men asking the same old question.
Riley: I look at them and think to myself, "They are definitely under a foot long; they don't need a sword swallowed."
It's great I can talk about this stuff with you because in the mainstream media, certain topics have to be censored.
ACT:LIVE: I'm glad too, let's talk about more sword swallowing. (laughing)
Riley: One rule, don't sleep with anybody that knows. Tell them afterwards.
The worst was when a man was hitting on me with his knowledge of Arthur Shawcross.
I told him I was a Charles Manson kind of girl.
ACT:LIVE: So, you prefer to not be raped and dumped in a river, but to be stabbed and have your baby cut out.
ACT:LIVE: I wanted to plug your website for you, is that new or has it been around for a while?
Riley: It's been up for a while; I just started revamping it recently. I'm adding new pictures and material.
I manage the site by myself; I've been doing HTML since I was like twelve. I actually like talking about this for a change; I get bored with the sword talk. (laughs)
ACT:LIVE: Well, I'm going to end this with the plug of your website again, along with a plug on your upcoming events. Thanks Riley.
If you want to check out Riley's work, you can check out these links below.
A reminder, this Friday at TILT is a party that you really should be at. You can check out the interview below and find out more, but the Bachelors of Science are not an act to be missed. Peace Kiddies...
- Games
Right now we're listening to:
Reece Q "Space Bass" ("Quote To Self", 2008, ACT:LIVE MUSIC)
6 comments:
I like the "Running With Swords" part, that's cute
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Article/Publication Details
Reflected View on the Personal Afterlife
(Reflected View on the Personal Afterlife)
Organon F, 2018, vol. 25, No 2, pp. 196-214.
File to download: PDFBibTex EndNote Tagged EndNote XML RIS
In this paper, I try to argue that, from the methodological position of reflected equilibrium, it seems to be reasonable to build a theory of personal identity that enables a person to continue her existence after the biological death of her body. This conclusion is supported by the argument that our practice reflects that our identity-presupposing concerns reach beyond biological continuity. We have also good reasons to maintain such concerns and practices. As the best candidate to implement such concerns in a theoretical account of practical identity, I will identify the person-life view, where personal identity depends to a great extent on social conditions. I also show how this theory can implement the classical belief in the afterlife, and how it could conceptualize the difference of the afterlife from a physicalistic and a theistic point of view.


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Good Evening Munchkins!
Today I will be sharing with you all of my thoughts and findings with the Collection Highlight and Sculpt Contour Kit. I was very lucky to receive this from one of my friends for Christmas because he knows what a makeup freak I am, and I have been using it on and off since. The reason I say on and off is because I wear makeup mainly to school so I only want to use the things I know and love and not have to worry about being late because of my contour (though that has happened a couple of times, already!). Anyway, here is my review of the product!
The first thing I'd like to chat you through is the packaging. This is in a simple black casing with windows on the front in order to see the highlight and the contour shade with the name of the product/kit labelled clearly in a contrasting silver/white. I quite like the little window as it allows me to see which palette I'm picking up if I'm in a rush and it just makes everything a little bit easier. This is relatively large in comparison to my other contour kit and the pans for each product are also quite big and of a similar size to each other. There is also a small mirror at the bottom of the inner part of the lid which I'm not too keen on and I actually think, aesthetically, it would've looked better without this. I don't find any use for it due to it's size, either, and just use a normal hand mirror when doing my contour. It also doesn't come with a brush, which I don't mind because I tend not to use the brushes that come in compacts and it assures me that more time and money has gone into the product itself, so I'm not too fussed over that. The casing itself is plastic so it doesn't feel overly expensive but it makes travelling so much easier and I don't mind that if the product inside is worth it. It also clicks shut but easily opens and closes, so I don't have to stress about breaking a nail (when I have them!) or another part of my body but I know I can trust it to remain closed when travelling or general moving circumstances.
The colour of the kit I have (by the way, because it was bought for me, I know know if it is tiered in terms of colour or if it's one for everyone, so just bear with me on this!) suits my skin tone if I want a dramatic contour, though it is probably better for a tan! This has some orange-y undertones but is mainly a dark brown colour which I seem to spend forever blending out! It is quite cool-toned, so maybe it is better as a harsh contour for the paler version of my face! The highlight is quite champagne-y and is a bit too dark for me at the moment so, again, I will have to wait until Summer when I'm a bit more tanned to try that theory out!
The product itself is so, so pigmented! You need the tiniest amount and you have cheekbones to the God's! The contour shade is the most pigmented one I own despite being the cheapest, so it obviously wins on that front, as well as lasting all day long without fail! It is fairly easy to blend out, but it is one of those products where it's better to be safe than sorry by only using a little bit and gradually building up. I have used my usual setting powder and my beauty blender with excess foundation over it to try and cool it down a bit but it should be a gradual thing! I have learnt from experience! The highlight shade actually isn't that pigmented, and I'm much more of a highlight person than a contour. It is shimmery and beautiful for a day-to-day look, but I like my bold on a night out, which is when I would use the contour shade. It does last all day, but I wouldn't say it's as noticeably pigmented or bold as the contour shade. This is down to personal preference but I will put this in my day-to-day highlight collection when I'm going to school or whatever.
Finally, price and availability. This contour kit, as it's from Collection is available from Boots and Superdrug and retails for £4.19. Collection is renowned for being an extremely inexpensive brand with some of the best, staple products known to mankind! I think you would expect the highlight's quality and the cheaper packaging for this price, but the contour shade is just amazing considering! I think Collection, as a general brand, is perfect for people who are just starting out on makeup or don't wear it very often so don't want to spend too much money on it! I've even convinced my Mum to turn towards Collection, this is how far it's got!
Would I recommend it to you guys? Of course I would; if you don't mind packaging and love a neutral highlight but a bold contour, this is the kit for you! Also, for that price, how can you not say yes to it, even to just try it out? As I said earlier, though, it's going to get most wear on night's out so it could last me quite a long time!
And there we have it! I hope you have enjoyed this blog post – I love writing reviews so let me know what other products you would like to see mentioned on this blog! Also, don't forget to let me know what you think of this contour kit if you own it for yourself or whether I have now convinced you to try it!
Thank you so much for reading and I'll see you Sunday,


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Brian Buhrow <buhrow%nfbcal.org@localhost> writes: > [lots of details] Everything you said sounds ok to me. > Fortunately, I believe there is an easy fix for this problem which > preserves our ability to support the vlan extraction features of modern > ethernet chips while preserving the historical behavior of the NetBSD > stack. If we move the code that sends the packet to the bpf engine to just > above the code that implements the hardware decapsulation function in each > driver, I believe historical functionality will be restored while enabling > support for new capabilities in chips. I don't follow this. But if you have a patch, please post it. What I don't follow is that hardware vlan tagging support I think is about returning the packet as it would appear on the vlan and having the vlan tag in a control structure. So a packet which has been handled that way can't be sent to bpf_tap without reconstructing the on-the-wire representation. > Greg, if youre stil reading, I believe you can test much of this > theory by configuring a vlan on your vr(4) ethernet card, which doesn't > have hardware vlan tag extraction, and you'll see tagged packets on the > parent interface and untagged packets on the vlan interface when using bpf. Yes, I did that. > If you use bpf on a vlan tag capable interface such as wm(4), you'll see > untagged packets on both the parent and vlan interfaces associated with > that card. On netbsd-5/wm, I saw the packets on the parent, but not on the vlan. So I think there is more to it. > If my tests prove this scenario is right and the change I propose > fixes the behavior, is there any reason I shouldn't commit changes to > implement it? I think you should post it for review once you think it's ok. This is pretty tricky stuff and more eyes will perhaps avoid unintended consequences.
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Egypt Crash to Spur Demand For Strict Aviation Security: Emirates
DUBAI, Nov 8 (Reuters) Emirates Airlines President Tim Clark said on Sunday he expected the crash of a Russian passenger jet in Egypt would result in demands for stringent aviation security worldwide.
Speaking at the Dubai Airshow, Clark added that he had ordered a security review, but was not suspending any flights as a result of the disaster.
Daesh militants fighting security forces in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula have said they brought down the Airbus AIR.PA A321, which crashed 23 minutes after taking off from the resort of Sharm Al Sheikh a week ago, killing all 224 passengers. Egyptian officials have rejected that claim.
"Plane Broke Up Mid-air"
The Russian plane was flying on auto-pilot and appeared to break up in mid-air after a sudden noise but it is too soon to conclude exactly what brought it down, the lead investigator said on Saturday.
Ayman Al Muqaddam, head of a team of experts looking into one of Egypt's worst air disasters, said the cockpit voice recording would be analysed to identify the nature of the noise, which Western governments have indicated may have been a bomb.
Muqaddam said the auto-pilot was still engaged when the crash occurred and debris were scattered over a wide area of the Sinai desert extending for 13 km (8 miles), adding that this was "consistent with an in-flight break-up."
The black boxes recovered from the crash site showed that a "a noise was heard in the last second of the … recording." The recording will be send to a specialist laboratory for analysis.
Scientists have used such methods to examine the signature of dying cockpit recordings inaircraft bombings. Comparing the frequencies may help determine whether the sound recorded on the Russian jet comes from a deliberate or accidental explosion.
Muqaddam said his team, including experts from Egypt, Russia, France, Germany and Ireland, was considering "all possible scenarios for the cause of the accident" but had not yet reached any conclusion. He said structural fatigue, a fuel explosion and even lithium batteries carried by passengers could be a cause.
Referring to media reports that Western intelligence sources believe that the plane may have been brought down by a bomb, Muqaddam said no evidence related to those claims had been provided to his team.
Anger at West
His comments echoed the irritation expressed earlier on Saturday by Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who said that foreign intelligence about the cause of the crash had not been passed on to Cairo.
"The information we have heard about has not been shared with Egyptian security agencies in detail," Shoukry said. "We were expecting that the technical information would be provided to us."
He suggested countries now flagging the likelihood that militants were behind the crash should have heeded Egypt's repeated calls for coordination to combat terrorism.
"The spread of terrorism, which we have for a long time called on our partners to tackle more seriously, did not get through to many of the parties which are now exposed and which are currently working for the interests of their citizens to face this danger," he told a news conference.
Shoukry repeated his government's insistence that it was premature to reach conclusions, but security officials said they were checking video footage at Sharm Al Sheikh airport for any suspicious activity, in the clearest sign yet that they believe the Russian plane could have been deliberately targeted.
"We want to determine if, for instance, anyone sneaked past security officials or the metal detectors. We are also trying to determine if there was any unusual activity among policemen or airport staff," one of the officials told Reuters.


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This guest post is by Varda Epstein of CogniBeat.
Worldwide, about one in every ten people has dyslexia. In the U.S., Dr. Sally Shaywitz, a leading expert in the field, says that up to 20% of the U.S. population suffers from dyslexia. And yet, dyslexia is just one of any number of possible reading difficulties.
Any blogger who wants to reach the widest possible audience will want to be sensitive to the fact that some readers have reading issues. If you make your blog user-friendly for people with dyslexia and reading problems, it will stand out in the crowd. Those who enjoy blogs but find it difficult to read will reward your efforts by following your blog and recommending it to others who have reading difficulties.
Attracting and keeping readers with reading difficulties is not as daunting as it sounds. Most of what you need to know is stuff you're already doing. Good design and good writing solve most of the issues that make blogs illegible to the person with a reading problem.
On writing
Start by keeping paragraphs short and to the point. Those with reading issues find it hard to keep the place in a long paragraph. Shorter blocks of text are the ticket to readability.
In any event, good writing entails using just one idea per paragraph. That should be your rule of thumb. Keep paragraphs short and sweet to keep your dyslexic and other readers reading.
Layout, Fonts, and More
Don't double-space after periods, no matter what your teacher taught you in school. Once upon a time, manual typewriters necessitated using mono-spaced fonts. It was thought that double-spacing after periods would help make the ends of sentences more distinct.
Today, the fonts we use on the web have better proportions. As a result, double-spacing after periods has the effect of creating vertical rivers of white space within the text. This so-called "river effect" makes it hard for a dyslexic reader to find where sentences start and end. Single-spacing after periods, on the other hand, offers just the right amount of space between sentences.
Avoid high contrast between text and background colors. Too great a contrast may result in the blur effect for readers with dyslexia. In the blur effect, letters seem to swirl together. Don't use pure white for background or pure black for text. Instead, add a touch of gray to each to cut the glare and reduce the blur effect.
Use sans serif fonts. Sans serif means "without serif." Serif fonts have little hooks on the ends of the letter strokes. These hooks make letters less distinct to dyslexic readers and may cause a washout effect in which the text appears faint and becomes hard to see. Fonts that are sans serif come without those troublesome hooks. The most readable of the Windows fonts is Trebuchet MS.
Use bolding to make text stand out instead of italics. Italicized letters have jagged edges and lean to one side. These characteristics make the text indistinct and just about illegible to those with reading difficulties.
Bloggers often get just one chance to attract new readers. If the dyslexic reader has to struggle to read the text, that person will bypass your blog, no matter how great the content. By avoiding these simple design flaws however, you'll widen your potential readership and make your blog a pleasure to read.
Is your blog guilty of any of these no-nos?
Varda Epsteinis a content writer and editor for CogniBeat, a company that aims to help people with learning disabilities by offering AgileEye technology.


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We hope you manage to ride your bike this weekend in honour of the World Champs. If you did, well done you celebrate with some shopping.
If you didn't, commiserations, here are some great deals!
>> Struggling to get to the shops? Try 6 issues of Cycling Weekly magazine for just £6 delivered to your door <<
Campagnolo Chorus
£1019 £824
There's a romanticism to Campagnolo that cyclists love. It's good looking, Italian and it helps that it performs well, too.
Campagnolo Chorus comes with all the classic Campag technology, including Ultra-Shift, Vari-Cushion hoods and more.
Buy now: Campagnolo Chorus at Chain Reaction Cycles for £824
Endura Thermolite winter bib short
£84 £67
Thermal bib shorts are the perfect protection against the chills of winter. These Endura ones use hollow core fibre technology to trap a layer of warm air.
Usefully, it also makes the shorts lightweight and the added Teflon protection makes them tough, too.
Buy now: Endura Thermolite winter bib short at Chain Reaction Cycles for £67
Osprey Radial 26l backpack
£129 £80
Read more: Osprey Radial backpack review
Keep those lonesome winter riding blues at bay by carrying on commuting through the chilly months with this excellent backpack.
It has tons of useful features and loads of pockets and the 26l of capacity is more than enough for laptops, clothes, shoes and other work gumpf.
Buy now: Osprey Radial 26l backpack at Evans Cycles for £80
Gore Bike Wear 1985 GTX Active jacket
£199 £119
If you want to stay dry this winter then this is the jacket to get. The Gore-Tex technology helps keep the rain out whilst also keeping the jacket lightweight and easily packable.
Buy now: Gore Bike Wear 1985 GTX Active jacket at Evans Cycles for £119
More tidy deals:
Shimano Dura-Ace 9100 –
£999 – £666
Mavic Kysrium Pro Exalith Haute Route –
£975 – £613
Park Tool BB30 bearing tool set –
£49.99 – £31.00
Topeak Universal Chain Tool –
£10.99 – £6.99
Polar V650 with heart rate monitor –
£229 – £180
Shimano 105 pedals –
£109 – £64
Bell Stratus helmet –
£99 – £49
Garmin Forerunner 235
£299 – £221
Garmin Edge 20
£109 – £84
Shimano Dura-Ace 9100 crankset
£499 – £324
Giro Peloton cycling cap
£24.99 – £19.99
Specialized women's Pro SL bib short
£139.99 – £104.99
Specialized Elasticised shoe cover
£29.99 – £9.90
Shimano Ultegra 6800 compact chain set
£249.99 £159.99
Look Keo grip cleats –
£20.99 – £9.75
Mavic Cosmic Pro carbon wheelset –
£875 – £787.50
Louis Garneau knee warmers –
£19.99 – £15.99
That's all for this week, check back next Sunday for more awesome deals.


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Downtown Houses
- Studio-8
- 1-4
- 47
- 0.00- 2,850.00
Know It All
If you've ever taken a stroll in downtown Harrisonburg, you've seen that many of our houses have their own name – "Girls' House," "Crayola House," "Light House" – hung from a wooden plank or ornamented above the porch. Become part of this deep-rooted Harrisonburg tradition, and name your house to fit your own story! We offer one-of-a-kind bungalows, studios, and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…all the way up to 26 bedroom house options – each with their own unique floor plan. Voted by Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine as the "Best Biking Community", downtown Harrisonburg is home to many cyclists – a few pedals will land you in Court Square, the heart of Harrisonburg. You'll find that our Main Street encompasses many shops and restaurants to entertain friends and family for an entire weekend or longer (after all, Harrisonburg's Main Street was named a Great American Main Street!). Oasis Art Gallery, Walkabout Outfitter, Explore More Discover Museum, Clementine Café, Jack Brown's Burger Joint, Billy Jack's Wing Shack, Laughing Dog, Earth & Tea Café, Ten Thousand Villages, Heritage Bakery & Café, Bella Gelato & Pastries, The Yellow Button, Benny's Pizza, Three Notch'd Brewery and Pale Fire Brewery are just a handful of the locally-owned businesses that are within walking (or biking!) distance of our Downtown Houses. We invite you to live in a downtown house, and experience Harrisonburg, "The Friendly City" to the fullest by making the city your backyard!
- Variety of houses to choose from.
- Layouts are different in every house.
- Most houses offer off-street parking.
- Several houses with multiple kitchens.
- Many houses feature large yards.
Community Features
|Company Name
|Harrisonburg Electric Commission
|89 W Bruce Street, Harrisonburg Harrisonburg 22801
|Harrisonburg Water & Sewer
|2155 Beery Road Harrisonburg 22801
|Harrisonburg Trash
|Harrisonburg Recycling
|160 B North Mason Street Harrisonburg 22802
|Cable & Internet
Matchbox Realty and Management Services. 202 North Liberty Street Suite 101. 540-434-5150


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(Cannabist) Canopy Growth Corp., the largest company in Canada's rapidly developing marijuana industry, agreed to buy competitor Mettrum Health Corp. for about C$430 million ($321 million) to expand production as the government moves toward legalization. The all-stock deal values Mettrum at C$8.42 a share, the companies said Thursday in a statement, representing a 42 percent premium to Wednesday's closing price. Marijuana companies rose in Toronto trading, extending huge gains this year, with Canopy's shares quadrupling. Canada's plan to legalize recreational use in 2017 has attracted a wave of capital in anticipation of billions of dollars of new revenue. Expectations were further heightened on Wednesday after the country's Task Force on Marijuana Legalization and Regulation delivered a report to the government on how the drug should be legalized and regulated. The group said its recommendations will be made public in mid-December. The market value of Canada's six largest marijuana companies has swollen to more than C$3.6 billion.
Cannabis News Weeducation
Canada's biggest cannabis company makes $321M acquisition to boost production
on December 2nd, 2016


text: El Vacilón de la Mañana is New York City's top Spanish language morning radio show. It is broadcast from La Mega (97.9 MHz) and it is syndicated live to a number of different markets in the US such as Providence, Rhode Island; Miami and Orlando, Florida; Atlanta, Georgia; Hartford, Connecticut; and Puerto Rico. History During the first two… Read More


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I fell in love with You again today. I fell in love with all that You've sent my way
I fell in love because You loved me first. I fell in love because You quenched my thirst.
You taught me all that I know, taught me who I am and You know who I will be all because You live inside of me.
Sometimes its hard for me to understand but I trust that You have a plan.
My doubts and fears come and go but my faith in You will never do so.
At the end of the day all that remains- my love for You and Yours for me.
I was blind but now I see:
You loved me first, but knew I needed a love to feel and touch here on earth.
You sent me a man to love, You sent me a husband from up above.
I fell in love with him again today, I fell in love with the one you sent my way.


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The Annual Break-fast Festival
In the Islamic faith, there are 2 Eid Celebrations every year. In a previous blog, we wrote about the "greater Eid" (Eid el Adha),…Read More
In the Islamic faith, there are 2 Eid Celebrations every year. In a previous blog, we wrote about the "greater Eid" (Eid el Adha),…Read More
Is it a goose? Does it come from Egypt? Well, some interesting questions. I know that in South Africa (our home) there…Read More
As winter hits Egypt, this year (2019) has begun with snow on Mt Sinai, people rushing out to buy slippers, heaters, blankets and scarves……..Read More
WHAT IS A NILOMETER? Nilo = the River Nile Meter = a measurement of Apparently there…Read More
Recently I was in a restaurant in Cairo called: "Aish wi Malh". This is Arabic for Bread and Salt. I thought this was a…Read More
Attempting to try and explain the evil eye in a short blog is an intimidating task. However its prevalence in the culture in this…Read More
Ramadan is a month of fasting for Muslims around the world. But also key during this time is the "breakfast" (the breaking of the…Read More
Probably the thing that irritates, frustrates, annoys and drives foreigners to distraction is the concept of politely standing in line while waiting your turn…Read More
Where strength and a lot of water are required…! For some it can be a bit of a shock to discover that you have…Read More
Preparation for a wedding is complex and convoluted in any culture. Here in Egypt possibly even more complicated is the setting up of the…Read More


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The Art of War II: Betrayal
| 7 votes and 1 Reviews Write a Review
DVD: August 12, 2008
1h 43m | Action/Adventure
Agent Neil Shaw (Wesley Snipes) is called out of retirement as a Hollywood film consultant by the murder of his long-time martial arts mentor, "Mother." But Shaw soon finds himself in the midst of Washington intrigue as he uncovers a plot to assassinate several leading Senators and then finds himself set up to take the rap for a recent killing. With the help of "Mother's" daughter, Shaw goes deep undercover to save himself and to find out who's behind the plot, only to learn that there's more to this story than meets the eye.
|Josef Rusnak
|Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
|Dan Lyon, Kirk Shaw
|Wesley Snipes, Athena Karkanis, Lochlyn Munro, Lisa Marie Caruk, Pascale Hutton
|Jason Bourque, Keith Shaw


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There's nothing wrong with Damien Jurado that a good ass-kicking couldn't fix. While I'm not seriously wishing physical harm to the guy, it would do him a world of good to have an actual conflict to jolt him out of the psychedelic dream-state that produced this twee, disengaged album.
The thing is, he's a good, possibly great artist. The album has a pleasant sound to it – he's melodically gifted, and the music is generally fairly lush. Even in an album I disliked for its several flaws, I'll agree with his fans that he avoids unpleasantness – you would never snap off the radio during one of his songs.
Part of the problem is that he doesn't trust his voice to deliver his music. Instead, he wraps it in soggy layers of sonic glop – echo chambers, backing choirs, falsetto, strange mixing, and on and on. When he actually just sings, he's pretty darned good.
Another part of the problem is the material he wrote. This album is the second of two about a dream he had. He was wandering and encounters a group of space travelers or something out in the desert, and they're "Silver" Katherine and "Silver" Timothy and nobody, not even his most devout fans who are enthralled with this album, has any idea what in the hell is supposed to be going on. What we get is a basically meaningless dreamscape that sounds vaguely spiritual or even religious, but isn't quite. It's just weird.
Perhaps it's weird in a beautiful way. I suppose that one could get swept into the dreamy electronically-altered voice and sonic layers and really enjoy it. Personally, it didn't work for me. I found myself frustrated by the indecipherable meaning and sloppy sound.
Robin, on the other hand, really liked this album. She allows herself to go along with Jurado, and finds "richly orchestrated pieces that pull from many musical styles to weave the resolution of a journey." Good for her – she had a better time listening to it than I did.
Ironically, I may have paid too much attention to the album to simply enjoy it. Like I mentioned above, if the songs of this album showed up in a radio mix, you wouldn't turn it off. It only really gets on my nerves if I listen to an entire album of Jurado's silver navel-gazing, and I try to engage with it.
Now, if someone walks up to him, and cuffs him around a bit, he's going to use that musical talent to describe something that we can relate to. If Jake Bugg took him for a walk around the housing project he grew up in, or if Kacey Musgraves broke his heart and then called him up for a romp in the sack, he would probably snap out of his two-album dream and make some music that the rest of us would be welcomed to enjoy.
Next up: English Oceans, by the Drive-By Truckers


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"Objectivity is the partner of total power." How does one value the quality of a film? If film is art, then like all art, it's value can't necessarily be measured in as pure quantifiable logic but must be felt. And yet those "feelings" need to be of a certain quality. It needs to challenge, have […]
Tag Archives: Plutarch
Querelle – Fassbinder does Genet. (film review)
posted by lisathatcher


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Before I get to my review I have a confession…
I am a makeup brush hoarder!
I probably have more brushes in my collection than I'd care to admit, but trust me, it's a lot. I have always loved the quality of a particular brand of makeup brushes; Sonia Kashuk. Not only does this brand rival high end makeup brushes, but they also release many brush sets that are a fraction of the cost of one high end makeup brush! If you've been lucky enough to get your hands on any of these limited edition sets from Sonia Kashuk, you know what I'm talking about!
I recently tore apart a few Target stores in my area in search of the newest limited edition set by Sonia Kashuk, the "Art Of Makeup" set. Continue reading


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"Going all the way" with someone is special. It allows you to see them at their most vulnerable and paves the way to a "no judgement" zone between you and that special someone. When it comes to music, we create the same vibe. On our #GoAllTheWayWith series, we will give you an inside look at our favorite artists allowing you to go all the way with their music.
If you're casually scrolling through New Jersey native Aymber's Instagram, you might find a few things including a few photos of her boyfriend and mirror selfies on her page, but what sticks out most is her doing that she loves most: playing her guitar. As a self taught musician, Aymber easily makes her way into her fans heart with a quick strum of her strings, a smile and piecing brown eyes over her glasses. Because music from the soul isn't too common here in South Florida, Aymber's sound effortlessly becomes a breath of fresh air in the music scene. The music industry wasn't something that she was born into, but grown to love over these past few years and has quickly turned it into a passion.
The soft guitar strums started in 2012 after Aymber lost her job. "I remember just getting the job and then getting laid off in less than two weeks," says Aymber with a sigh over the phone. With her last paycheck in hand, Aymber stopped by the local check cashing spot, but spotted a guitar in the window of the store next door. "I used to cash my checks near a place that sold guitars, so I said why not. I have nothing to lose," says Aymber. With a brand new guitar in hand and no job, Aymber began to teach herself how to play. I would go on UltimateGuitar.com and look up songs to play. I'd practice and learn by memory to play popular songs and got my start there," says Aymber. Although she is unable to read music, it didn't stunt her career.
Music became a big part of her career after doing local open mics. "I would sing covers and a few things I wrote for small crowds," says Aymber. "Soon after, I met Ciara Rae, a country singer from Nashville and was asked to be a back up singer for her tour." Since music was something already close to Aymber, she joined Ciara on tour opening a new door into the music industry at such a young age. Traveling all over allowed Aymber to learn the "on the road" life and also extended her knowledge on live instrumentation while the rise of computerized beat machines and synthetic sounds grew to popularity on the internet. "Because I started in country music, I've always felt that live instrumentation is how its 'supposed to be'. The impact of live music to me hows hard work and dedication and you can't replicate hat on a computer," says Aymber.
Move On by Aymber
Track 3 // Move On
Although we're in an era of music that has transformed live music into computer generated noise, Aymber stays true to her self and what she was brought up on. "If I had a choice, I would always chose live music over performing with a DJ," says Aymber. "There's nothing wrong with those who do, but performing with a band allows you to control the music and create a vibe on stage."
Along with creating vibes on the stage, Aymber creates the same magic with her pen in terms of songwriting. Her last EP Easy is described as genuine, honest and fun and allows fans into her past relationships and stories of life. "Songwriting is my favorite part of being a musician. I wasn't popular in high school so I kept a diary. The first song I wrote, I opened my diary and wrote the song as is," smiled Aymber on the phone. "I keep my music super honest because I feel sometimes musicians can hide behind a beat, but lyricism is the most important."
Aymber keeps lyricism key as she spends time writing her new project. "I don't have a release date yet, but when's finished, you'll know. Since Aymber writes her music through experience and real life situations, we will wait for the story to unfold, guitar in hand.
Low Life by Future ft The Weeknd // Aymber by Aymber
Low Life by Future ft The Weeknd COVER by Aymber


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Tap On, Tap Off: Onscreen Keyboards and Mobile Password Entry
Password entry on mobile devices significantly impacts both usability and security, but there is a dearth of usable security research in this area, specifically for complex password entry. To address this research gap, the speaker set out to assign strength metrics to passwords for which they already had usability data,...Listen Now
In this podcast, the speaker will discuss the changing threat landscape for mobile platforms, and how this drives a corresponding set of new requirements for security. Instead of being shackled to past principles and philosophies, learn about approaches to security that enable and extend (rather than restrict) access to mobile...Listen Now
Runtime Manipulation of Android and iOS Applications
With over 1.6 million applications in the Apple AppStore and Google Play store, and around 7 billion mobile subscribers in the world, mobile application security has been shoved into the forefront of many organizations. Mobile application security encompasses many facets of security. Device security, application security, and network security all...Listen Now
Mobile Security Attacks: A Glimpse From the Trenches
Hackers today apply covert and persistent techniques to attack mobile devices. In this podcast, the speaker will explain about the latest threats on mobile devices from the team who uncovered iOS malicious profiles and HTTP request hijacking. The speaker will describe and demonstrate emerging mobile security threats: from physical, through...Listen Now
Ten Secrets to Secure Mobile Applications
Many high profile mobile apps have been in the news for failures to use encryption, bad web service design, and privacy violations against users. Join them to get a grasp on how to threat model mobile applications and what the top vulnerabilities and solutions are for them.Listen Now
Security and Wireless Emergency Alerts
The Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) service depends on Information Technology (IT)-computer systems and networks-to convey potentially life-saving information to the public in a timely manner. In this podcast, the speakers discuss guidelines that they developed to ensure that the WEA service remains robust and resilient against cyber-attacks.Listen Now
CommVault's Phil Philip Curran (@PhilJPhilip Curran) discusses how integrated snapshots and data replication technologies can quickly create multiple recovery-ready copies of production data without impacting server performance. In addition, CommVault's deep integration with VMware vStorage APIs for data protection (VADP) helps customers protect their virtual machines as they come online.Learn...Listen Now
Learn how wireless services provider T-Mobile US, Inc. improved cloud- and data-access services delivery to its enterprise customers. Listen to the podcast featuring Daniel Spurling, Director of IT Infrastructure at T-Mobile US, Inc and understand now T-Mobile moved from manual cloud provisioning services to a centralized service portal to better...Listen Now
The Manager of Managers Approach to Running Your IT Environment Virtual Event
Do you have a single console to view, control, and manage your IT environment? Is automation built into your monitoring strategy? As IT environments become more dynamic, your operations teams need a unified view for management and monitoring. Automatic detection, and automated monitoring setup and configuration are two ways to...Listen Now
Thinking ahead: Pragmatic steps for successful cloud transformations virtual event
Public, private, or hybrid, the cloud is creating an array of opportunities for business and IT. And it's reshaping IT as we know it. But incorporating cloud technology and services into the data center can entail multi-year transformations. The key to successful cloud transformations is developing a pragmatic strategy and...Listen Now