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Sheila Jackson Lee
|Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Texas's 18th district
|Assumed office
January 3, 1995
|Preceded by
|Craig Washington
|Member of the Houston City Council
from the at-large district
|In office
January 2, 1990 – January 3, 1995
|Preceded by
|Anthony Hall
|Succeeded by
|John Peavy
|Personal details
Sheila Jackson
January 12, 1950
Queens, New York City, U.S.
|Political party
|Elwyn Lee
|Yale University (BA)
University of Virginia (JD)
|House website
Sheila Jackson Lee (born January 12, 1950) is an American politician. She is currently the U.S. Representative for Texas's 18th congressional district, currently serving in her 13th term in the House, having served since 1995. The district includes most of central Houston. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
Early life and education
|Congresswoman Jackson Lee "Kneeling in Defense of 1st Amendment", speech in the House of Representatives, September 25, 2017
Jackson Lee was born Sheila Jackson in Queens, New York. Her parents were both immigrants from Jamaica.[1] She graduated from Jamaica High School in Queens. She earned a BA in political science from Yale University in 1972, followed by a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1975.[2] She is a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.[3]
Early political career
Jackson Lee made three unsuccessful attempts at local judgeships before becoming a municipal judge from 1987 to 1990.[4] Jackson Lee, along with Sylvia Garcia, was appointed by then Mayor of Houston Kathy Whitmire. In 1989 she won the at-large position for a seat on the Houston City Council, serving until 1994.[4] While on the city council, Jackson Lee helped pass a safety ordinance that required parents to keep their guns away from children.[5] She also worked for expanded summer hours at city parks and recreation centers as a way to combat gang violence.[6]
U.S. House of Representatives
In 1994, Jackson Lee challenged four-term incumbent U.S. Congressman Craig Washington in the Democratic primary.[4] Washington had come under fire for opposing several projects that would have benefited the Houston area.[7] Jackson Lee defeated Washington in a rout, taking 63% to Washington's 37%.[8] The victory was tantamount to election in this heavily Democratic, black-majority district. In the general election, she defeated Republican nominee Jerry Burley 73%–24%.[9]
During this time period, Jackson Lee was never challenged in the Democratic primary. She won re-election during this time with at least 76% of the vote.[10]
For the first time in her congressional career, Jackson Lee was challenged in the Democratic primary; her opponents were Houston City Councilmember Jarvis Johnson and Sean Roberts. She defeated them 67%–28%-5%.[11]
It was reported that in October 2010 Jackson Lee was "asking the Department of Justice to investigate whether tea party groups are intimidating black and Hispanic voters in her district." She requested that Attorney General Eric Holder send poll monitors to make sure that a local group wasn't stopping people from voting.[12]
She won the general election with 70 percent of the vote, the lowest winning percent of her career.[13]
In 2012, Jackson Lee was not challenged in the Democratic primary and won the general election with 75 percent of the ballots cast.[14]
In 2014, Jackson Lee defeated Republican Sean Seibert by a margin of 71.78% to 24.76%. Jackson Lee received 76,097 votes, Seibert received 26,049 votes, and Green Party candidate Remington Alessi and independent Vince Duncan received the remainder.[15][16]
Four Republicans competed in the March 1 primary election for the right to challenge Jackson Lee in the November 8 general election. Lori Bartley, with 5,679 votes (33.7 percent), led the field and faced a runoff on April 24 with the second-placed contender, Reggie Gonzales, who drew 5,578 votes (33.1 percent). Two other contenders, was Sharon Joy Fisher with 4,405 votes (26.1 percent) and Ave Reynero Pate (7.13%), held the remainder of the ballots cast.[17] Bartley then won the nomination over Gonzalez, 58 to 42 percent.[18]
In the general election, Jackson Lee defeated Bartley by a margin of 73.5% to 23.64%. Jackson Lee received 150,157 votes, Bartley received 48,306 votes and Green Party candidate Tom Kleven received 5,845 votes.[19][20]
In the 2018 Republican primary, only 2016 candidate Ave Reynero Pate filed. In Democratic primary Jackson Lee defeated Richard Johnson 85.3% to 14.7%.
In the general election, Jackson Lee received 75.25% of the vote, the Republican Pate received 20.81% and the Libertarian Luke Spencer and independent Vince Duncan received the remainder.[21]
Prior to the 110th Congress, Jackson Lee served on the House Science Committee and on the Subcommittee that oversees space policy and NASA.[citation needed] She is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus,[22][23] and a CBC whip.[7] She is known to be gaffe-prone and has a reputation for treating staffers poorly.[24][25][26]
Foreign policy
In 2000, she favored permanently normalizing trade status for China, arguing that it would aid both human rights and Houston's economy.[27]
Jackson Lee traveled to the 2001 World Conference against Racism in South Africa, and has backed sanctions against Sudan.[28] On April 28, 2006, Jackson Lee, along with four other members of Congress and six other activists, was arrested for disorderly conduct in front of Sudan's embassy in Washington. They were protesting the role of Sudan's government in ethnic cleansing in Darfur.[29]
Jackson Lee has urged better relations between the U.S. and Venezuela, which she describes as a friendly nation. She said the U.S. should reconsider its ban on selling F-16 fighter jets and spare parts to that country. The U.S. State Department bans such sales due to "lack of support" for counter-terrorist operations and Venezuela's relations with Iran and Cuba.[30][31]
In July 2010 Jackson Lee said: "Today, we have two Vietnams, side by side, North and South, exchanging and working. We may not agree with all that North Vietnam is doing, but they are living in peace. I would look for a better human rights record for North Vietnam, but they are living side by side."[32] It was noted that Vietnam had not been split for four decades, and that the current government of Vietnam does not consider South Vietnam to have ever been a sovereign state.[33][34]
Jackson Lee condemned President Erdoğan's wide-ranging crackdown on dissent following a failed July 2016 coup in America's NATO ally Turkey.[35]
Jackson Lee is active on immigration issues.[36] She has proposed increasing border security and increasing opportunities for legalization among those living in the United States. She has opposed a guest worker program, saying that the idea of guest: "connotate[s] 'invite, come,' and, at the same time, it misleads because you ask people to come for a temporary job of three to six years and they have to leave if they don't have another job and I would think that they would not."[37]
Criticism of Tea Party
Speaking in July 2010 at the NAACP national convention, Jackson Lee compared the Tea Party to the KKK.[38]
In an October 2016 interview on MSNBC, Jackson mistakenly denounced Wikipedia in place of WikiLeaks. The story was concerned with the Hillary Clinton email controversy, with Jackson's exact quotation being "You know that I'm going to first of all denounce the use of this intrusion by Wikipedia through the Russian intrusion," "This is what it's about. Espionage just like what was said over these last couple of days. We need to be concerned about the intrusion of Russia and Putin in these elections."[39]
Health care
Jackson Lee said in January 2011 that repealing the health care law would be in violation of the Constitution. She argued that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is constitutional under the Commerce Clause, and that repealing it would violate both the Fifth and the Fourteenth Amendments.[40][41][42]
At a Homeland Security Committee hearing on radical Muslims in the US, held in March 2011, Jackson Lee said that Peter King's hearings were helping al-Qaeda and "going the same route as Arizona." She complained that the hearings were scaring Muslim Americans and called them "an outrage."[43]
On September 27, 2013, Jackson Lee introduced the Essential Transportation Worker Identification Credential Assessment Act (H.R. 3202; 113th Congress), a bill that would direct the United States Department of Homeland Security to assess the effectiveness of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program.[44] The bill would require an independent assessment of how well the TWIC program improves security and reduces risks at the facilities and vessels it is responsible for.[45]
LGBT rights
Jackson supports LGBT rights. In 2009, she voted in favor of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a bill that expanded the federal hate crime law to cover crimes biased by the victim's sexual orientation or gender identity.[46] In 2010, she voted in favor of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act.[47]
Jackson supports the Equality Act, a bill that would expand the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. She voted in favor of the bill in 2019.[48] Jackson criticized Republican Representatives who opposed the legislation on religious grounds.[49]
Hurricane naming
Jackson Lee complained in 2003 that storm names were too white. "All racial groups should be represented," she said, and asked officials to "try to be inclusive of African-American names."[50]
Foreign travel
In May 2015, The Washington Post reported Jackson Lee took a trip to Azerbaijan paid for by the government of that country.[51][52]
Confederate flag
On Thursday, July 9, 2015, Jackson Lee and others who were engaged in a debate over the Confederate battle flag produced an erroneous reproduction of what they thought was the original flag. The original battle flag contained 13 stars representing each state of the Confederacy as of 1861. The flag that Jackson Lee presented to members of Congress contained 17 stars.[53]
United Airlines issue
On December 24, 2017, United Airlines allegedly gave a passenger's first class seat away to Jackson Lee. United Airlines claimed that the 63-year-old passenger had canceled her flight, which the passenger denied and alleged that the airline threatened to kick her off the flight for her complaint and for trying to take a picture of Jackson Lee. Subsequently, Jackson Lee released the following statement:[54]
"Since this was not any fault of mine, the way the individual continued to act appeared to be, upon reflection, because I was an African American woman, seemingly an easy target along with the African American flight attendant who was very, very nice...This saddens me, especially at this time of year given all of the things we have to work on to help people. But in the spirit of this season and out of the sincerity of my heart, if it is perceived that I had anything to do with this, I am kind enough to simply say sorry."
Committee assignments
|Committee assignments
|115th Congress (2017–19)[55]
Caucus memberships
Jackson Lee is or has been a member of a number of caucuses, including:
- The 9-11 Commission Caucus
- The Building a Better America Caucus (BABAC)
- The Congressional Caucus on Global Road Safety
- The Congressional Human Rights Caucus.
- The Congressional Algeria Caucus
- The Congressional Pakistan Caucus
- The US-Afghan Caucus
- Veterinary Medicine Caucus[56]
- Congressional Progressive Caucus.[57]
- House Baltic Caucus[58]
- Congressional Arts Caucus[59]
- Afterschool Caucuses[60]
- Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus[61]
- United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus[62]
- U.S.-Japan Caucus[63]
Treatment of staffers
The Houston Press reported in 1998 that five of Lee's staffers quit that spring: "According to Lee's former Capitol office executive assistant and events scheduler Rhiannon Burruss, the congresswoman's abrasive ways not only drove off staff members but irritated Continental Airlines staffers to the point where one suggested she fly on a competitor instead."[64][65]
In 2011 she was reported to have one of the highest staff turnovers in Congress and to be one of the worst bosses. The Huffington Post and Houston Chronicle reported that she had gone through 11 chiefs of staff in 11 years.[66][67] The Huffington Post stated that "Jackson Lee regularly appears on Washingtonian magazine's list of the "Best and Worst of Congress" as the "meanest" member of House of Representatives."[66][68] That reputation as the worst boss on Capitol Hill continued; in 2012 Washingtonian again listed her as the meanest member of the House,[69] a report in 2013 concluded that "the veteran Texas Democrat had the highest turnover rate for all of Congress over the past decade."[70] She again topped the 2017 edition of the biennial Washingtonian survey[71] and 2018 turnover statistics.[72]
Resignation from the CBCF
The New York Times reported in January 2019 that Jackson Lee planned to resign her position as the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. The move came in the wake of a lawsuit filed by a former staffer earlier in January that claimed the staffer was fired in retaliation for her planned legal action related to an alleged rape by a supervisor in 2015. The resignation came the day after the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence announced it would not support making Jackson Lee the lead sponsor of a law to reauthorize the federal Violence Against Women Act.[73] She also stepped down from her chairmanship of the House Judiciary subcommittee.[74]
Personal life
Jackson Lee moved to Houston after her husband, Elwyn Lee, took a job at the University of Houston. Her husband now holds a dual position of Vice Chancellor and Vice President for Student Affairs of the University of Houston System and the University of Houston, respectively.[2] They have two children.
See also
- Politics of Houston
- List of United States Representatives
- Women in the United States House of Representatives
- ^ Iton, Richard (2010). In Search of the Black Fantastic: Politics and Popular Culture in the Post-Civil Rights Era. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199733606.
- ^ a b "Sheila Jackson Lee: Biography". House.gov. Archived from the original on September 25, 2010. Retrieved September 14, 2010.
- ^ Magagnini, Stephen (January 1, 2008). "Pride and comfort; National black sorority 'gathers for the specific purpose of being selfless'". Beaumont Enterprise. Beaumont, Tex. p. B.1.
- ^ a b c FELDMAN, CLAUDIA (February 19, 1995). "SHEILA JACKSON LEE GOES TO WASHINGTON". Houston Chronicle. p. 6.
- ^ ROBINSON, JAMES (April 23, 1992). "Council moves to keep guns away from kids". Houston Chronicle. p. 1.
- ^ "FOR CONGRESS, DIST. 18/Recommending nomination of Sheila Jackson Lee". Houston Chronicle. February 13, 1994. p. 2.
- ^ a b Tim Fleck (February 20, 1997). "What's Driving Miss Shelia?". Houston Press. Archived from the original on August 9, 2011.
- ^ "TX District 18 – D Primary Race – Mar 08, 1994". Our Campaigns. n.d. Retrieved June 13, 2013.
- ^ "TX District 18 Race – Nov 08, 1994". Our Campaigns. n.d. Retrieved June 13, 2013.
- ^ "Candidate – Sheila Jackson-Lee". Our Campaigns. n.d. Retrieved June 13, 2013.
- ^ "TX District 18 – D Primary Race – Mar 02, 2010". Our Campaigns. n.d. Retrieved June 13, 2013.
- ^ "Sheila Jackson Lee wants DOJ to monitor tea partiers at polls". Politico. October 28, 2010.
- ^ "TX – District 18 Race – Nov 02, 2010". Our Campaigns. n.d. Retrieved June 13, 2013.
- ^ "U.S. House District 18 Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Houston)". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
- ^ Texas Secretary of State, State of Texas, Austin, Texas, November 2014. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
- ^ 2016 World Almanac page 557.
- ^ "Republican primary returns". Texas Secretary of State. March 1, 2016. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
- ^ "Election Returns". Texas Secretary of State. May 24, 2016. Archived from the original on June 10, 2016. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
- ^ Texas Secretary of State, State of Texas, Austin, Texas, November 2016. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
- ^ 2018 World Almanac page 559.
- ^ Texas Secretary of State, State of Texas, Austin, Texas, November 2018. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
- ^ "Membership". Congressional Black Caucus. n.d. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
- ^ Wright, James (September 23, 1995). "Who's Who in the Congressional Black Caucus". Afro – American Red Star. 104 (6). Washington, D.C. p. B1.
- ^ Jacobs, Ben (March 13, 2014). "The Constitution Is 400 Years Old and More Pearls From Sheila Jackson Lee". Daily Beast.
- ^ Perera, John-Henry (December 26, 2017). "Jackson Lee again named 'meanest' Congress member". Houston Chronicle.
- ^ Tully-Mcmanus, Katherine (January 17, 2019). "Former staffer sues Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee for firing her after rape allegation". Roll Call.
- ^ "Small firms to get help in exporting". Houston Chronicle. October 7, 2000. p. 2.
- ^ LEVINE, SAMANTHA (April 30, 2006). "DELEGATION WATCH / Jackson Lee backs her vow on Darfur / Calls her arrest a statement on the war and genocide". Houston Chronicle. p. 10.
- ^ Jim Doyle, Five members of Congress arrested over Sudan protest, San Francisco Chronicle, April 28, 2006. Retrieved September 25, 2006.
- ^ "Jackson Lee wants ban on fighter jets reconsidered". Archived from the original on February 25, 2007. Retrieved February 22, 2007.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link). Houston Chronicle. February 21, 2007
- ^ "Jackson Lee tries to smooth Chavez ties / Her Venezuela trip, she says, was an attempt to protect jobs here Archived 2009-07-12 at the Wayback Machine." Houston Chronicle.
- ^ "Sheila Jackson Lee Catches Flack for Citing 'Two Vietnams'". CBS News. July 16, 2010. Archived from the original on July 18, 2010.
- ^ "Sheila Jackson Lee says there are two Vietnams: North and South". PolitiFact.
- ^ Miller, Henry I. "Politicians Worthy Of Respect Are A Rare Commodity". Forbes. Retrieved August 15, 2012.
- ^ "Helsinki Commission Urges Turkish President to Lift State of Emergency". csce.gov. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. October 17, 2017.
- ^ Bill Swindell, "Texas Democrat gets praise for immigration efforts", Government Executive, November 27, 2006.
- ^ Sheila Jackson Lee, "Illegal Immigration's Impact on the U.S. Economy", NPR, August 26, 2005.
- ^ "Sheila Jackson Lee on the Tea Party and the Klan". The Atlantic.
- ^ "Rep. Sheila Jackson confuses Wikipedia with Wikileaks". October 22, 2016.
- ^ Phil Klein (January 18, 2011). "Sheila Jackson Lee Says Repealing ObamaCare Violates Constitution". American Spectator. Archived from the original on August 19, 2012.
- ^ "Sheila Jackson Lee, D, Says Repealing Obamacare Is Unconstitutional". Fox News Channel. Retrieved May 7, 2015.
- ^ Mark Hemingway (January 19, 2011). "Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas: Health care repeal violates the Fifth Amendment or something". San Francisco Examiner.
- ^ Oliphant, James (March 11, 2011). "Muslim 'radicalization' hearing a success, say Rep. Peter King, Republicans". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "CBO – H.R. 3202". Congressional Budget Office. Retrieved July 27, 2014.
- ^ "Bill introduced to assess TWIC card". WorkBoat.com. October 8, 2013. Archived from the original on August 5, 2014. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
- ^ "Final Vote Results for Roll Call 223".
- ^ "Final Vote Results for Roll Call 317".
- ^ "Final Vote Results for Roll Call 217".
- ^ "House Debate on the Equality Act". C-SPAN. May 17, 2019.
- ^ Brandon Keim (August 26, 2009). "What's in a Hurricane Name?". Wired.
- ^ Higham, Scott; Rich, Steven; Crites, Alice (May 13, 2015). "10 members of Congress took trip secretly funded by foreign government". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
- ^ Bresnahan, John (May 13, 2015). "Azerbaijani oil company secretly funded 2013 lawmaker trip". Politico. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
- ^ Swanson, Ian (July 9, 2015). "House Dems display incorrect Confederate flag". TheHill. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
- ^ "Rep. Jackson Lee suspects she was accused in United incident because she's 'an African American woman'". NBC News. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
- ^ "Committee Information". United States House of Representatives.
- ^ "Members of the Veterinary Medicine Caucus". Veterinary Medicine Caucus. n.d. Retrieved October 12, 2018.
- ^ "Caucus Members". Congressional Progressive Caucus. n.d. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
- ^ "Members". House Baltic Caucus. n.d. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
- ^ "Membership". Congressional Arts Caucus. n.d. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
- ^ "Members". Afterschool Alliance. n.d. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
- ^ "Members". Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus. n.d. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
- ^ "Our Members". U.S. House of Representatives International Conservation Caucus. n.d. Archived from the original on August 1, 2018. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
- ^ "Members". U.S. – Japan Caucus. n.d. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
- ^ Fleck, Tim (May 14, 1998). "Flying Miss Sheila". Houston Press. Archived from the original on January 6, 2000. Retrieved December 25, 2017.
- ^ Dealey, Sam (February 11, 2002). "Sheila Jackson Lee, Limousine Liberal". The Weekly Standard. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
- ^ a b "Sheila Jackson Lee, Worst Boss in Congress? Goes Through 11 Chiefs Of Staff in 11 Years". HuffPost. June 20, 2011.
- ^ Molly Harbarger (June 20, 2011). "Cuellar sees heavy turnover in Washington staff". San Antonio Express-News.
- ^ Jonathan Strong (January 24, 2013). "Report: Sheila Jackson Lee is 'worst boss' on Capitol Hill". Houston Chronicle.
- ^ "Best and Worst of Congress 2012". Washingtonian. August 29, 2012.
- ^ Luke Rosiak (January 22, 2013). "Who are the best and worst bosses on Capitol Hill?". The Washington Times.
- ^ John-Henry Perera (December 26, 2017). "Jackson Lee again named 'meanest' Congress member". Houston Chronicle.
- ^ Nolan D. McCaskill (March 21, 2018). "The 'Worst Bosses' in Congress?". Politico.
- ^ Chamberlain, Samuel (January 23, 2019). "Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee to step down as Congressional Black Caucus Foundation chairwoman in wake of ex-staffer's lawsuit: report". Fox News Channel. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
- ^ Fandos, Nicholas (January 23, 2019). "Sheila Jackson Lee Leaves 2 Posts After Aide Says She Was Fired for Reporting Sexual Assault". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
External links
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sheila Jackson-Lee.
- Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee official U.S. House site
- Sheila Jackson Lee for U.S. Congress
- Sheila Jackson Lee at Curlie
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Profile at Vote Smart
- Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
- Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress
|U.S. House of Representatives
|Preceded by
Craig Washington
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Texas's 18th congressional district
|U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
|Preceded by
Mike Doyle
| United States Representatives by seniority
|Succeeded by
Zoe Lofgren


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A Preacher Curl uses a special bench to support the triceps and isolate the biceps to build the arms.
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Protects Against Natural Disasters
When tornadoes ripped through the Midwest in early March 2012, destroying entire neighborhoods and towns, special teams of insurance appraisers descended on the hard hit areas to help people file claims. When the storms hit on March 2, State Farm reported that it had received 6,700 home claims by March 6 [source: Pontoriero].
Whether it's an unexpected windstorm, a tornado or hurricane, homeowners insurance will pay for the repairs, even if the house or its adjoining structures were destroyed. Beware! Some natural disasters, such as earthquakes, require special policies [source: Home Insurance]. Moreover, flooding is not covered in most homeowner policies. Instead, you have to purchase separate flood insurance from the federal government's National Flood Insurance Program [source: Allstate].


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You ever hear the one about the cop, the songbird, the psycho and the mafia princess? Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is a twisted tale told by Harley herself, as only Harley can tell it. When Gotham`s most nefariously narcissistic villain, Roman Sionis, and his zealous right-hand, Zsasz, put a target on a young girl named Cass, the city is turned upside down looking for her. Harley, Huntress, Black Canary and Renee Montoya`s paths collide, and the unlikely foursome have no choice but to team up to take Roman down.
Releasing online on Prime Video, on 29th July 2020.


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"An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah."
Matthew 16:4
What the adulterous body of Christ requires is not a revival, but a resurrection. Yet a true resurrection requires the body to be fully dead. That which does not die cannot be raised. We think that we shall save the church by trying to keep her alive, when it is God Himself who seeks to complete her death. For "unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." We have before us a choice between the fellowship of man and the fellowship of God. We are so eager to postpone the inevitable, even unto the exclusion of ourselves from glory; but the body of Christ is comprised of those who will die to the elements of this world. Let us therefore abandon all hope in keeping ourselves alive in the world's eyes, and let the Lord be pleased to crush our idolatrous spirit. The Spirit and power of God is unto those who so humble themselves, and He will raise them up.
So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit."
1 Corinthians 15:42-45


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Hello everybody – my thanks, as ever, for being patient whilst this next update finds its way on to the internet. I'm sorry there was no February or March update; these turned into yet more hard months, mainly for health reasons, and finding the time and more importantly the mental space to sit down and type out a thousand words about this kind of stuff was surprisingly hard. However, as of now I have four main things to update you all on:
So, my health has been less-than-great in the last few months since the previous update. On the plus side, the complication I discussed in previous posts seems to have faded away, and has just become something to keep an eye on. Naturally the complication has seriously boosted my several stress and misery levels, but right now it isn't causing too many issues. Far more worrying is the fact that a month and a half ago, I got a symptom of the thing that almost killed me four years ago for the first time (this first sign being a particular kind of pain/discomfort). This, as I'm sure you can appreciate, is a strong emotional trigger for me, and I have not been in a good place these past few weeks. I now have to wait at least another month or two in order to see whether or not any more symptoms develop, or whether it was/is "just" a false alarm. That said, this new symptom itself has faded, which is either a good sign (it means nothing) or a bad sign (the first symptom also faded last time before the deadly symptoms kicked in), but the lack of being constantly reminded of it has meant I've been able to actually get stuff done. However, I want to add that I have deeply appreciated the support I've got here, on Twitter, and elsewhere, especially from others with serious or long-term medical issues. It really has meant a huge amount to me. So: hopefully this will the end of it, no more symptoms will appear, a month or two from now I can be confident the disease hasn't returned, and can, again, start to properly get back on my feet. If not… then we'll have to see.
In times when I've been able to think straight, work has been going well. The University of Alberta has proven to be a really great working environment, both in terms of people and in terms of the practical, everyday structuring of work – which is to say, nobody minds if I work from home, or in a cafe, rather than from my office. I'm now a good 25% of the way through developing and writing my next book, and all that has just been sent off to the publisher we (my co-author and I) want to work with for the project. Once the contract is handled, I'll be able to actually announce it a little more "formally" than I've been doing so far; it's about streaming, and I can't wait to show the outline to you all. I also have more several papers coming out soon, which will be posted here (and the new site) as and when: one about analysing crosswords and other paper puzzle games from the perspective of understanding them as pre-digital "casual games"; one about cheating in card games within casinos; one about depictions of "deep play" in cinema, so films like Battle Royale, The Hunger Games, Would You Rather, Saw, 13 Tzameti, etc; and at least two more on Twitch and live streaming (focused around disabilities and mental health, and emotional labour, respectively). More soon on this front…
Game Dev
In the last few weeks, for pretty much the first time since my health took such a serious downtown around August last year, I've actually opened up the URR file, taken a look around, familiarised myself with it a little bit, and started to figure out what precisely needs doing to get the 0.8 release out. As ever, it remains achingly close to completion; I need some more time on the conversation system, then some bug-fixing, and then we're done. I still hope for a return in April, assuming my health does not take a turn for the, er, even worse. However, as I've said before, it just can't be a priority for me at the moment, as much as I wish it could, but hopefully, finally, things might change soon. I hate how much this is dragging on, and I hate how much the project has floundered; but life is very tough at the moment.
New Website
I've started the development work on a new website (one does, after all, have to proceed on the assumption that one will live to a normal age, right?) and I'm pleased with some ideas that have been coming together. As before, the plan is still to create a new website to combine my academic and game dev stuff, and also to deal with some of the issues on this site. When I set up this website I didn't really know what I was doing, and now the site is really beginning to buckle under its own weight. Frankly, I lack both the technical ability and the spare mental space to fix it, despite the very patient replies from my hosting company's customer support. For that reason as well, it's time to move to a new site. On this note: if anyone reading this knows of an experienced website designer with a good body of work I can look at (even better if they make games-related websites), so let me know. The new website is probably going to be WordPress again, but I'm looking to pay for a totally custom layout. If you know anyone who might be interested in this work – and also design work on two other websites for work projects – do let me know. All will obviously be paid!
In the next couple of months I have quite a few engagements coming up; after two-thirds of a year of illness and not really having the strength to travel (although moving country obviously didn't help), it's good to be getting out there again. I'm off to a conference in Canada in mid-April to talk about disclosure statements in video game reviews, then I'm Skyping into a UK conference to talk about Twitch streamers and moderators, after which in late April I've been invited to speak at the Rio Esports Forum on the labour of the Esports career, then a talk here in Edmonton in early-May on videogames-and-gambling, and finally a Skype into Prague to talk about Esports cheating and game integrity. My health issues have really meant I just haven't had the time nor the strength to do any of these things, but with the potential improvements above, I'm in a slightly better place now and strong enough to resume some wider dissemination and engagement. But still – the last eight months have been rough, and in many ways have pushed me back to a place I thought and hoped I'd left behind years ago. As ever, my profound appreciation goes out to all those who read this blog – hopefully the rest of 2018 will continue to pick up. I do hope you are all well, and I'll update you all again soon, hopefully in the much nearer future than this time…


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Westworld is a new series. Basically it is an artificial world made for people to enter amd play out their fantasies in the wild west. In the series there are AI robots who play out certain roles simulating fear, pain, lust etc.,.
My question is that if you enter this world and it is impossible to distinguish these "artifical" people from real people are you morally justified in commiting acts that you would be uncomfortable to commit on real people?
I can see some moral justification for exploring some subtle moral boundaries, but for acts such as rape and murder (committed in the series) that simulate the pain of a real human can this be morally justified by an individual. Logically, on the surface at least, there does not seem to be a direct problem because you know the person you are abusing is not a real person. I imagine most people have thought, in passing, about committing such acts and felt uncomfortable with such thoughts so I question the effect of physically acting out such things in a physically artifical world.
What are your thoughts about what you would consider morally justified? Would you try and kill one of these artifical people purely out of curiosity or do you prefer to think you'd find it too morally repulsive to carry out the simulated act?
I do find that when I really think about this it worries me that I am uncertain about how far I would push my moral boundaries and what damage this could cause to me.as an individual long term.


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Title: The Price of Dreams
Disclaimer: It goes without saying that I don't own GW, Lokie, or the court of the fairy Queen.
Note: I intend to expand this and make it original... and hopefully much scarier.
Once upon a time.. in an alternative universe, Heero Yuy thought had never met Duo... Instead, he lived in London in the year 1603. He was the horse master to a powerful lord and he was very good at what he did. He was a powerful man, strong and devoted to his duty.
He was told to marry and he did. He loved his wife as much as he could and he loved his baby even more... the baby had violet eyes and soft brown hair and he felt as if this daughter were his true child. He swore to everything he found holy that he would protect his family from all threats.
When the child turned three years old, Heero woke with a very bad feeling, as if some shadow were coming over his house.
His wife told him was being very silly though... he had work to do.. he was to accompany the Lord into the city to see new horses, to help him buy them and he shouldn't be so silly over a child's 3rd birthday. She'd hardly know the difference between one day or another... but Heero had a very, very bad feeling.
As he left the house... he smelled lilacs... but there were no lilacs in season.. it was impossible. All of his horses were in a very bad mood and he soon lost himself in his work. It wasn't possible that he was hearing violin music.. in the stables...
Work gave him a sanctuary from his growing and unnamed fears. A few minutes before the Lord was to arrive, he paused to wash his face, change his shirt, get a drink of water... and he would have sworn... by anything that was holy or unholy... that he saw the shadow of a violinist... a woman with a long braid that swirled in shadow when he lunged out the door to catch the joker... but there was no one there, not even the servants... who seemed to be all off doing some important thing far from his home and the stables.
The rest of the day was the greatest of irritation for him. His lord was wroth with him, the horses on auction were all little better than cart horses, he saw no less than four black cats, one of which had violet eyes... it was impossible and he began to wonder if someone had bewitched him. So he did what any man would do. He got an ale.
Then, feeling slightly guilty, he went and bought his daughter, Helen, a length of cloth for a new dress and his wife, Rose, a new basket. Feeling a little better, and silly at himself for jumping at impossible shadows, he passed by a slender violinist who played on the street... with that long dark braid, but his hat pulled low of his eyes. Heero felt even better... as he must have seen this violinist at some point.. it had just been his imagination... He threw a couple of coins into the minstrel's tin. He intended to keep walking, but the man caught his hand. "I'll read your fortune."
The man's voice was sweeter than his playing had been, deep and mellow, warm honey and sage. Heero drew his hand back, shaking his head. "A man's fortune has nothing to do with chance and everything to do with what he works towards."
"Tell me then, gentle sir," the man said, hat still pulled over his eyes, "What work can you do to stave back the hands of the Reaper? What do you think you can buy life with? A man may not know whose eye he may have caught."
Heero's fist doubled up, ready to give just reward to the gypsy man's insolence! How dare such a one lay hand on an Englishman and then give threats against a man's family!?
The violinist was gone though, no more substantial than London fog... utterly gone, but Heero's coin lay on the walk, glittering silver against dirt. A sense of dread wrapped cold around him as he picked up his coin. Helen! Rose!
Astride his horse, a great grey stallion with hooves that could smash armor, he leaned into the rush, urging his mount on, eating the road as he raced home.
The fae offer no logic nor reason when they come to claim their own and no pity to spare.
Coldness and midnight clung to him like pitch, seeping into his bones as he raced, growling at his gray to reach longer with his stride, to move with all that he had.
Candle and fire light burned warm and welcoming in the window of his home as he approached. The drive was long and wide, built for bringing in horses and mending the Lord's great carriage, but it had never felt so long as when Heero leaned forward, feet in the stirrups, body forward over the gray's neck as if that could get them there faster.
Then the light flicked and was no more.
Shaking, he had no breath to scream, no reason left understand that his wife had probably just extinguished the light for the night. He slide from his saddle, knees too exhausted to stand at first. On his hands and knees, he crept towards his door, one hand pulling his dagger free.
Violin music floated in the dark of the night, a sad and mournful tune.
Pulling himself to his feet, Heero pushed the unlatched door open. The very faint sliver of the moon left no light inside the cottage. The last of its strength was to glimmer over Heero's blade.
"Rose," he called quietly, echos of war that he thought he'd put far behind him calling him into deadly caution now. "Rose."
"She sleeps," the voice of warm honey and sage said, "I can give you gifts, Heero."
The lamp by the window, which was always kept burning until he got home was still hot and it took only a little blowing on it to bring it to life. Blade in one hand, light in the other, Heero glared at the daring Gypsy man, but now... he was more a devil, with ears rising to points above his silky dark hair and a sheen of unnatural beauty to face. He sat on the kitchen table, feet tucked under his thighs, violin across his lap. "What are you? What have you done to Helen and Rose?"
The violinist jumped down from the table with cat like grace, bow in one hand, violin in the other. "I am Her Majesty's fiddler, baring the blood of Loki, ageless and completely unafraid of your blade, gentle sir." The man smiled, a gentle and tender smile that reached into Heero in ways that should not be possible, not with a demon, not with a man.
"Get thee behind me Satan!" Heero moved to try to get the creature away from his beloved daughter and wife.
Duo sighed, smirked. "But I shall give you a gift. You don't want your daughter carried off by the Wild Hunt, do you?"
"You will never touch my daughter!" Heero growled, now between his family and the strangely familiar man. "I will never let you harm her."
Bow still in his hand, Duo touched his chest and looked slightly mortified. "I don't want to harm her and really the court doesn't either, but she bares the blood of Loki as well. Come now, you remember the 'dream' we had under the Oak three years ago? You remember how your wife grew with child when you returned home? I know you haven't forgotten."
Heero made the sign of the cross. "My sins are my own! You shall not touch her. I will burn for my unholy desires, if I must, but you will not have her!"
Duo actually looked offended, his jaw shifting side-to-side for a moment. "The only way to save her is to give yourself to the Wild Hunt. You will never be free of Underhill and if you think my touch is unholy you're as innocent as the driven snow."
"What must I do?" Heero asked. Helen woke slightly, her pudgy hand reaching out to take hold of Heero's hand where it reached to protect her. He was fast enough to know that if he were carried to Hell he would never see his baby again, never hear her laugh, never see her grow into a strong and happy woman. Hot tears slipped free when he blinked. "I will do anything to protect her. If I am taken to Hell, who will protect her?"
"I will watch over her," Duo promised. It was an easy promise to make as she was his daughter as well. He unfastened his short cloak, held it out Heero. "Cover her with this and they will not see her and will take you instead. If you do so there will be no turning back, not matter what you see or what fearful events take place."
Heero nodded, took the cloak which was light as spider silk. He kissed his daughter's forehead, wiped away his tear that hit her cheek, then hide her under the devilish cloak.
Almost as soon as he'd done that, the most calamitous roar filled the cottage, roaring as if a great war party rushed past. He felt strong hands grab him, ripe him off his feet and he screamed, but there was no air in in the spectral train of the Wild Hunt, not until he was completely pulled within. Held in the powerful arms a warrior who was tall and slender with silver hair that waved like a pennant behind him, he saw only the tiniest flicker of lights coming back on in his cottage, the startled cry of his baby, then he passed through the veil separating mortals from the world of the immortal fae....
And thus did Heero Yuy leave the land of the living and dying to live for many centuries in the court of the Fairy Queen.


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How To Use The Secret Art of Consultative Selling To Prospects
I'd like to talk about one of the most misunderstood methods of life insurance selling – it's called "consultative selling", and although many of you may have heard this term used before, I guarantee that very few of you are using this method to its full capacity.
You've all heard the expression, "Telling is NOT life insurance selling!" Unfortunately, this is what 95% of the salespeople I come into contact with are doing with life insurance selling.
The old mentality of "If you throw enough stuff against the wall, some of it is bound to stick", does not apply to life insurance selling.
The only thing your prospect cares about is "What is In It For Me?" So, all of you agents and advisors who keep asking me why I don't use a flip chart in my sales presentation, I want you to listen up…
No One Cares One Iota What YOU Think They Should Like About Your Product!!
The only thing the prospect cares about when they agree to meet with you is that you can provide the solution to their problem. Pretty simple, huh?
The only catch is "How do you find out what their problem is, or emotional hot button really is?" The answer is, "You close your mouth after a brief introduction and ice breaker, and let them tell you what they're looking for you to do for them."
A lot of salespeople start by pitching right away – Boy is this wrong!!!
What you should be doing instead is saying something like this, "Mr. & Mrs. Prospect, I'll tell you anything and everything you want to know about my services, but before I do that I'd like to find out some more information about you. So, if you don't mind, I'd like to ask you some questions, is that O.K.?"
Did you catch that? You have just learned how to create instant rapport with your prospects, and how to get them to immediately open up to you without any hesitation.
O.K. So what do you do next? You take out your handy dandy yellow lined pad, and you start asking your prospects questions. Not just any questions of course, but questions that are related to you solving their problem.
By the way, I suggest that you start by asking the easy, non-threatening questions first, and then, once they feel comfortable with you, you can start asking the sticky questions like, "Can I see your tax return?", or "Have you been saving for your child's college education?", or "Have you put anything away for retirement?"
Do you see what I am doing here? I am asking emotionally charged, leading questions that will switch my prospect over from the logical side of the brain to the emotional side of the brain, which is a lot easier to sell to.
The logical side of the brain makes decisions very slowly, while the emotional side of the brain makes impulsive decisions based on feelings rather than pure logic!!!
Now, since we want Mr. & Mrs. Prospect to sign up for our program that day, it is essential that our life insurance selling is geared to their emotions as well as their logic. "Stop right there Brian, you just told us that we are supposed to be selling to the emotional side of the brain, and now you're telling us we're supposed to sell to both the logic and the emotions, which one is it?"
I'm glad you asked that question because this is a very important point that few salespeople understand.
People buy based on their emotions, but they want to back up their emotional decisions with logical reasons for their purchase…
If you don't mix facts and figures in with your emotional sales presentation, your prospects will end up with "Buyers Remorse". Buyers remorse will set in a day or two after you leave, when your prospect has a chance to cool off and think about their decision. If they don't have logical reasons to back up their emotional decision, they will regret buying from you, and will probably ask for a refund.
Therefore, you must give them enough factual ammunition to ward off any life insurance selling killers, like their family or friends who don't understand what you do, and decide to tell your prospect that they think they wasted their money on your service, or that they heard these types of services were scams.
All of these things are untrue, of course, but you better make sure that you have given your prospect enough cold hard facts and benefits to deflect this criticism, and still feel good about their purchase. In fact, if you do this…
Many of the friends and relatives who were originally skeptics will end up giving you a call to schedule an appointment since you did such a good job educating your prospect!!!
Anyway, let's get back to what we were talking about earlier. You were at the point where you were asking the prospect emotional, leading questions that, if done properly, will let you know exactly what problem the prospect is looking for you to solve.
One other thing, while you are asking these questions, it is absolutely essential that you take notes on your yellow note pad about the answers your prospect gives you. This shows your prospect that you really do care about what they're saying, and that you're not just asking these questions for the hell of it. Also, make sure you are giving your prospects good eye contact throughout the entire question asking phase, or they will think you are shifty.
Now, after you are finished asking all of your questions, it's time for you to make a transition into the presentation part of the interview. This is where, like a doctor, you have listened emphatically to all of their "symptoms", and now it is time to "prescribe" a solution to their problem.
To make this transition seem natural, I suggest that you say something like this, "Has anyone ever discussed your financial situation with you before?", or "How much do you know about financial planning?" They will probably say something like, "We know very little about financial planning".
At this point, you say, "Well, what I'd like to do is explain to you how financial planning works, what I do, and then we'll decide whether or not it makes sense for you to become a client, O.K.?"
What you've now done is the following – you have made the meeting very non-threatening by offering to educate them on a topic they know very little or nothing about, and you have also, in a non-threatening manner, set them up to understand that they will be asked to make a decision at the end of the meeting, but only if it makes sense for them to get involved.
Now, at this point, you whip out your good old yellow pad, and you give them a simple down-to-earth presentation of the benefits of using your services.
Oh, I almost forgot, there is one more thing that I always do during a sales presentation. I sit next to my prospects. I never sit on the other side of my desk. I want my prospects to feel comfortable with me, like I'm on their side, and you cannot accomplish this feeling by sitting across from your prospects. So, if possible…
Always Sit Next to Your Prospects!!!
As you go through the presentation, I want you to weave in what you learned during the question and answer part of the interview. Spend a lot of time focusing on the benefits and solutions that they told you they were looking for. Spend less time on the features and benefits that didn't seem to be as important to them.
If you do this properly, you will make them feel like your service is customized especially for them, which is exactly the way you want them to feel.
Everyone wants personalized services, no one wants the "one size fits all" mentality.
I also want you to make sure that your prospect understands each and every feature and benefit that you describe to them. A lot of people will nod their head politely, even if they don't understand what the heck you're talking about. You don't want this to happen because if you lose your prospect's concentration, you will also lose the sale.
The way to make sure that this doesn't happen is that, every now and then, you say something like, "Do you understand what I'm saying here, if not, please let me know?". This simple statement should make your prospect feel comfortable enough to tell you that they are confused about something you are saying. It will also make them feel like you really do care about them.
Anyway, towards the end of the presentation, you will be getting ready for your final transition into the close. A lot of salespeople do beautifully up to this point, and then get nervous, and give off strange vibes to the prospect, who responds by stalling, and saying something like "I want to think this over." Now, I know most of you have never been stalled before, and you always close on your first appointment (Yeah, right), but for those of you who would still like to know how to close up to 10 out of 10 prospects, I want you to say something like this at the end of your presentation, "Well, that's basically what I do, do you have any questions on anything that I didn't cover here?"
If you did my presentation properly, most prospects will say something like, "No, you pretty much covered everything, the only thing you didn't tell us is how much you charge?"
Now you got them exactly where you want them, they are so anxious to use your services that they are actually…
Closing YOU!!!
Here's what you say when they ask that question, "Mr. & Mrs. Prospect, did I explain to you what my fee structure is, or how my guarantee works?" They will say, "No, you never explained it to us."
Then you say, "Well here's the way I work, I give you a written guarantee that you must be absolutely thrilled with my financial advice or you can ask for and get a full refund of my entire fee anytime within your first 3 months of working with me. This almost never happens, but if for some strange reason it happens in your case, we will be happy to refund your fee in full."
And then comes the clincher, you use a non-threatening trial close like, "So, Mr. & Mrs. Prospect, does this sound like something you would be interested in?"
If they say "Yes", which in my case about 9 out of every 10 do, then you follow up by saying, "Great, then all I need to do to get you started is to fill out this financial questionnaire, which shouldn't take us very long, O.K., Mr. Prospect?", and then you fill out the questionnaire so you can get started.
Related Articles:
"Listening" – The One Crucial Sales Skill that Every Agent Can Improve


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Learning Conversations
Raising Standards through Structured Professional Dialogue
Are you looking to:
- improve the quality of Teaching & Learning in your classrooms?
- develop a culture of reflective practice in your school?
- provide personalised CPD for middle or senior leaders?
Lesson Observation and Coaching:
Over the last 15 years, the Devon Primary SCITT has developed an extremely successful model of CPD centred on paired lesson observations and 'learning conversations'. Critical to its success has been the professional dialogue, rooted in evidence from lesson observation, which has explored teaching decisions, and their impact on children's learning.
Personalised – each conversation is personal and focused on specific learning successes and needs. This increases relevance, resonance and impact on practice;
Owned – active participation in identifying, analysing and exploring aspects of their practice leads to deeper understanding, enabling teachers to apply their learning more successfully in other contexts;
Sustainable – developing skills in self-assessment, analysis and evaluation leads to genuine and continuing professional development;
Widely applied - Learning Conversations support a culture of openness and collaborative responsibility for improvement. They develop coaching skills and encourage an approach to professional dialogue that can be used successfully with colleagues in wider leadership roles.
Pattern of Training for Raising Standards through Structured Professional Dialogue:
Experienced Trainers can offer a day's training at your school for selected member(s) of staff, comprising:
- 2 paired lesson observations of trainee or experienced teachers
- Moderation of judgements, identification of strengths & developments, with evidence
- Modelling and discussion of a learning conversation
- Observation of the member of staff conducting a learning conversation, with further coaching and feedback provided.
Cost: £350


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AM:PM PR Colleague Returns from Cross-Country Bike Trip
Earlier this year AM:PM PR colleague Bill MacKenzie traveled from Los Angeles to Boston (and places in between) on a cross-country bike trip, fulfilling a childhood dream. This week he was featured in a Hillsboro Tribune article and we have reprinted the article here with permission, along with a couple of photos from Bill's ride.
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Going cross-country on two wheels
Hillsboro Tribune – July 22, 2013
By Doug Burkhardt
Bill MacKenzie is finally home in Oregon after what he characterized as "a grueling, but fun, 3,459-mile bicycle ride from Los Angeles to Boston."
As he relaxed and savored his recently completed cross-country bike journey, MacKenzie — who worked for 15 years in Hillsboro as Intel's communications manager in Oregon — said he well knows the United States is a very big country.
"But ever since I was a kid, when my parents gave me a shiny black English three-speed bike, I've wanted to cycle across the country from sea to shining sea," he said.
MacKenzie decided to make his dream become a reality early this year as he neared his Feb. 1 retirement from Intel Corp.
"I thought about it for years," he said. "I created a poster for my gray cubicle wall. It was a map of the U.S. with a line drawn across it to show a bike route and the words, 'If I can dream it, I can do it.'"
Even with endless determination, however, MacKenzie, who lives in Lake Oswego, knew training was also essential.
"I trained vigorously, either riding my bike outdoors on 25-mile to 100-mile trips or indoors on a trainer at Club Sport in Tigard," he said.
MacKenzie also located a company called Crossroads Cycling Adventures that specialized in assisting cross-country cycling expeditions.
"They said they would carry our bags, have vans on the road to keep us safe, arrange our meals and put us up in hotels along the way," MacKenzie explained. "I've done one-week camping rides before, but had no desire to do it all across the United States. The company's leader assured me I didn't need to be an Olympian to do the ride, so I made the leap and signed up."
MacKenzie said he made sure he had all the necessary bike upkeep and travel items and kept it all within the 30-pound weight limit set by Crossroads Cycling, which is based in Littleton, Colo. After that he arranged for Lakeside Bicycles in Lake Oswego to ship his two-wheeler — a U.S.-made Trek road bike — to the starting point in California. And then he booked a flight to L.A.
West Coast launch
There were 25 riders in MacKenzie's group. The youngest was a 22-year-old woman from England and the oldest was a 76-year-old man who had once climbed Mount Everest.
"We launched at Manhattan Beach, Calif., on May 11, after dipping our rear wheels in the Pacific," MacKenzie recalled.
According to MacKenzie, the group of cyclists bonded as they traveled through 117-degree heat in the California desert; across never-ending hills in Missouri; and in daunting thunderstorms in New England.
"Our route taught us history lessons every day," said MacKenzie. "It took us through desert in California, over the Continental Divide in New Mexico, along historic Route 66, to Dorothy's house at the 'Wizard of Oz' park and the Dalton Brothers' hideout in Kansas. We rode the Lewis & Clark Trail in Missouri, crossed the swiftly flowing Mississippi River into Illinois, rode alongside the Erie Canal in New York and pedaled through historic Concord and Lexington in Massachusetts."
MacKenzie said the trip reaffirmed his own sense of optimism and pride in the country.
"Every single day of our trip was an adventure," said MacKenzie, "and no matter where we went, American flags were flying, reflecting American pride in our past and faith in the future. Flags lined the streets and flew from just about every home, enveloping you in good feelings."
'You're in Kansas'
In Kansas, the team of bicyclists — most of whom came from urban environments — learned a bit about cultural differences when faced with their own preconceptions about city life as contrasted with life in a small farm town.
"One day a rider commented in a restaurant that he'd parked his bike near a window so he could watch it in case somebody tried to steal it," said MacKenzie. "A man in a nearby booth overheard his remark and said, 'Son, you don't need to worry about that here. You're in Kansas.'"
Not every town offered a positive feeling, however. Ironically, MacKenzie said he believed a town that had been celebrated in a classic rock song from the early 1970s had lost its way.
"There was Winslow, Ariz., made famous by the Eagles song, 'Take it Easy,' along the old Route 66," MacKenzie explained. "A dying town, it seems to continue only so it can showcase its mention in the song."
Residents of another town put their sense of humor on display. In Hillsboro, Ind., MacKenzie and his fellow bikers got a good laugh out of the banner townspeople had set up to greet their arrival.
"Hillsboro had a large welcome sign at the town's border saying, 'Home of 600 happy people and a few old soreheads,'" he recalled.
On June 28, after 49 days of traveling on two wheels, MacKenzie's band of bicycle adventurers arrived in Boston, where they engaged in a celebratory "front-wheel-dipping" ceremony in the Atlantic Ocean.
"In a downpour, of course," he said. "I got a lump in my throat and a few tears rolled down my cheeks as I realized we'd finished. It was truly the trip of a lifetime."


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Join us on Saturday, April 17, at 2:30 pm and hear guest speaker Michael Edmonds present "Bunyan's Progress: How the Private Jokes of Lumberjacks Became America's Best-Known Folk Hero." Edmonds, a Wisconsin author, will share new discoveries about Paul Bunyan's origins among working-class loggers in the 1880s. He'll recount a saga of lies, hoaxes, thefts, and greed that carried Bunyan out of the woods, into print, onto the children's shelves in every public library, and ultimately onto YouTube. He'll also describe how printing and publication forever changed the oral tales, and share some of the earliest authentic Bunyan stories as they were told aloud by Wisconsin lumberjacks during the 1880s and 1890s.
Michael Edmonds is deputy director of the Library-Archives division at the Wisconsin Historical Society, where he has worked since 1982. For the last decade he has overseen the Society's efforts to digitize collections, leading the teams that have put nearly half a million pages of manuscripts, rare books, journals, and photos onto the Web. He has also taught at the University of Wisconsin as an adjunct lecturer since 1986. He writes the weekly syndicated newspaper column, Odd Wisconsin, and the blog of the same name. His most recent article, "More Groovy than Woodstock" -- about the Grateful Dead's visit to a rock festival in rural Poynette, Wis., in 1970 -- appears in the current issue of the Wisconsin Magazine of History (Spring 2010). His book, "Out of the Northwoods: The Many Lives of Paul Bunyan," on which his April 17th talk is based, appeared last fall. Signed copies of the book will be available for purchase.


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VIDEO | Rally Time Sports Bar in West Bend prepping for volleyball leagues
Author: Judy Steffes | Posted in Business, Event, Washington County, West Bend No comments
May 20, 2018 – West Bend, WI – Rally Time Sports Bar, 1373 N. Main Street, in West Bend is getting ready for the outdoor volleyball season. Leagues are forming for volleyball and bags.
This week landscapers dug out a foot and a half of sand at the volleyball court. Fresh sand was added and graded and a new net is also being installed.
Keep an eye on Rally Time's page and stop in if you would like to sign your team up for this year's league.


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The IEEE International Conference on Sensors and Nanotechnology (Sensors and Nano 2019) is a conference with the scope spans from sensors and nanotechnology. It provides a platform for presentation, discussion, and exchange of state-of-the-art information including the latest research and development in sensors and nanotechnology-related fields. We welcome contributions from both academic and industry-based researchers. It brings together researchers, developers, and practitioners from diverse fields including international scientists and engineers from academia, research institutes, and companies to present and discuss the latest results in the general field of sensors and nanotechnology.
This technical conference organized by IEEE Malaysia Section Sensors and Nanotechnology Joint Councils Chapter (Sen39/Nano42 CH10820) aims at bringing together researchers from industry and academia to gather and explore various issues and trend in the field of sensors and nanotechnology.


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Don't Sleep on the Coloradan Frac'ers
by Matthew Johnson
If you list out the companies with the most frac spreads in 2016, you are going to be looking almost exclusively at the heart of oil country, Texas Oklahoma and New Mexico. Just go right down the list and you will see the market share is dominated by EOG (based in Houston, Texas), Chesapeake (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma), Pioneer (Irving, Texas), XTO (Ft. Worth, Texas), Anadarko (The Woodlands, Texas), and on it goes.
If you break down the number of frac jobs completed last year, however, you can see that there are some fairly significant players basing their operations in Colorado. Anyone keeping tabs on the business should watch these companies. The energy business is in the Rocky Mountain region is succeeding and benefitting from Denver's popularity. It is routinely named among the fastest-growing cities and best places for business and employees.
Discovery Natural Resources
Discovery completed about 45 frac jobs in 2016. It is a private oil and gas company headquartered in Denver. Interestingly, even though it is based in Colorado, the company is currently focusing its efforts on the Permian Basin in West Texas. The company touts over six million barrels of oil production per year from more than 1,000 wells covering nearly 120,000 acres of land. The company has said that it is well poised to handle market downturns, and press reports back that up. E&P Magazine reported last year that the Permian Basin was handling the drop in oil prices better than any other region and that Discovery has continued to drill and relentlessly optimize its operations.
Extraction Oil & Gas
Extraction Oil and Gas frac'ed 54 wells in 2016. Like Discovery, Extraction is based in Denver. But Extraction actually remains focused on producing in the Rocky Mountain region. The company was founded in 2012 and highlights its work in the Greater Wattenberg Field of the Denver-Julesburg Basin (commonly called the DJ Basin). The company just had its initial public offering in October 2016, and it was considered wildly successful at the time, however it appears that they're experiencing some volatility as the calendar turned to 2017. It raised more than $630 million at a share price several dollars higher than expected. It was the biggest energy listing in the world since the oil price crash in 2014, and the company seems poised for future success.
Keep Track of the Marketplace
Data on frac'ing operations is typically cobbled together from months-oil public regulatory filings. Primary Vision works to approximate real-time data by collecting public and private information and then applying sophisticated math models, advanced cross-validation algorithms, and artificial intelligence to fill the gaps. Our extensive data on hydraulic fracturing in Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma and across the rest of the U.S. (plus Alberta, Canada) is now available for sale in our new National Frac Spread Count Report. To learn more, visit www.fracspreadcount.com or contact us at email@example.com.


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Just In Time Incorporated
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Your responsibilities as a death prevention agent may include:
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It's all in a day's work at Just In Time Incorporated!
1 player
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Software subject to license (us.playstation.com/softwarelicense). Online features require an account and are subject to terms of service and applicable privacy policy (playstationnetwork.com/terms-of-service & playstationnetwork.com/privacy-policy). One-time license fee for play on account's designated primary PS4™ system and other PS4™ systems when signed in with that account.
'Just In Time Incorporated' is trademark and copyright Second Wind Interactive 2018.


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We are part of a great community in Humboldt County, California.
We would like to extend a special thank you to the Humboldt County Headwaters Fund.
Stargazer Barn is also proud of our affilations with Humboldt Made, California Grown and Certified American Grown Flowers.
Follow us on Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to join the Stargazer Barn Business Community
Read More about our local community and our Barn Raising here.
We are Proud to be #AmericanGrown and #CAGrown.


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Sign up for our fortnightly e-newsletter to stay up to date with our latest market intelligence, partnership marketing opportunities, tourism events and news.
Follow us on Twitter: @VisitBritainBiz for inbound tourism news and @VisitEnglandBiz for England tourism news.
Join our discussion group or follow VisitBritain for inbound tourism news and VisitEngland for England tourism news.
Contact us
To get in touch with our team, use our contact finder. Or view our network page to find addresses for our offices around the world. For Press queries only please contact Tracey Edginton 020 7578 1098.
After submitting the Tourism Sector Deal to Greg Clark, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Steve Ridgway speaks about the importance of tourism getting government backing for a Tourism Sector Deal.
The Government has now published the next stage of the Modern Industrial Strategy, with tourism now recognised and included.
August highest month ever for overseas visitor spending in the UK
More than 60 travel trade and industry suppliers from across the UK are set to showcase why Britain is a must-go-now destination to buyers from across China at VisitBritain's annual 'Destination Britain China' event.
VisitBritain has announced a partnership with Birmingham and the surrounding areas to promote more of England's regions


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So with some time on my hands, I thought I would share some homemade festive eats.
A very simple and easy recipe for pinwheels made to look like a Christmas tree. These are green wraps filled with hummus, strips of yellow, orange and red peppers, rocket and spring onions.
Vegan sausage roll bites in two flavours: apricot and yellow pepper; the other was beetroot and horseradish served with Smoked Paprika Ketchup.
Black chickpea and sweet potato frittata bites.
As well as the homemade chocolate 'salami', I made another festive bookmarked recipe from the Green Gourmet Giraffe, this time for Gingerbread Cookies. This was also actually an excuse to play with my box of eclectic cookie cutters.


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Hi Gardiner,
You are right. I have a SR ticket with Dell currently and they changed motherboard and DC in since the noise is loudest when laptop is plugged in. The noise level came down however it's still present.
Dell will make another swap (probably another motherboard) and see if they can eliminate the coil whine. I'm not very hopeful. The Engineer who came to my house acknowledged the noise is something abnormal and we shouldn't experience it. However they don't seem to be able pinpoint what's causing it.
Just got my top of the line XPS 13 9360 (16GB i7 QHD LCD with Ubuntu). I can also hear coil whine. I can also hear noise in headphones when plugged directly to laptop's mini jack.
Is there chance of getting normal unit or should I just return it and get the refund ?
just read through this tread. Almost every XPS 13 is suffering from this issue. there is i would say no chance to get a coil-whine-free XPS 13 as for now. I myself had two of them, each came with this for me unbearable whine.
If you can not get used to this sort of noise then I would recommend to return it and go for another ultrabook.
Status update for you.
I've received one capture so far and I do hear a noise while the system is under stress. It's the same noise gardiner.d has pointed out in his video here.
I'm working on getting more captures and will be presenting this noise to Dell engineering in the near future to get their take on it.
I'll be in touch with more updates.
Justin C Dell Technical Support | Project Sputnik
Dell Support is also on Twitter! https://twitter.com/DellCaresPRO
That's very good to hear!
I can now confirm for you that Dell is working towards are hardware solution for the coil noise. I will be in touch with more detail in the near future.
Justin C Dell Technical Support | Project Sputnik
Dell Support is also on Twitter! https://twitter.com/DellCaresPRO
Awsome. Looking forward to that.
I have the Skylake version of the XPS 13 (9350) and have had issues with coil whine as well. In my case the degree of noise is very dependent on the frequency state the processor is in, with maximum noise levels when in low frequencies (<1.2 GHz) and when in 'turbo mode' (3.1 GHz). The the extent of the noise also depends on what operations were run on the processor. Scrolling in the browser while on battery would drive me (and the cat) nuts.
After a lot of trial-and-error I figured out that using the intel pstate 'powersave' scaling governor (the default on most recent kernel/ubuntu versions) and setting the "min_perf_pct" to a level between 50-80 percent minimizes coil-whine during normal usage.
To give it a shot, first check that you're using the p_state 'powersave' governor by verifying that the following command returns 'powersave' for each CPU core:
cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor
Then run the following as root:
echo -n 80 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/intel_pstate/min_perf_pct
You can vary the minimum performance percentage from 0 to 100. In my case 80 worked best but results may be very CPU/board dependent.
Note that setting a minimum performance percentage means that the core frequency never drops below a certain value. In my case all cores idle around 2.5 GHz (without the performance threshold they would go as low as 800 MHz). In theory this could affect battery life, though in practice I haven't noticed any reductions - probably because the processor is still using all its powersaving C-states.
Off course it would be better if this problem is fixed at the hardware level, but in the mean time I hope these tips may be useful for others. I'm not an engineer but I suspect that coil whine is a difficult problem to solve completely because there are many components involved. The increasing number of frequency/power states of modern processors might also be increasing the likelihood of resonance occurring, potentially explaining why later XPS models are more affected.
If that can help... I bought my XPS 13 (9350, not 9360) in April 2016 and this issue appeared within the last weeks only (never heard such a noise before and I've also been using it in the evening with no ambient noise). Unless an IC component got damaged, it really looks like a regression issue due to a driver update (OS=Win10).
To me, when the noise appears, it is unbearable. This can be reproduced especially on web pages with scrolling areas. Could it be due to an agressive change in the video driver?
To Dell engineers, is that a hardware or software issue?
If it's a hardware issue, does it need to be returned for repair?


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Classic Rock Trivia April 20, 2013Posted by mark allan wolfe in markallanwolfe.com, music business, music video, personal, silly things.
Tags: Bukka White, classic rock, classic rock trivia, David Gilmour, led zeppelin, mark allan wolfe, markallanwolfe.com, pink floyd, roy harper, Snowy White, wolfiesmusicpublishing.com, zeppelin iii
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Well as with you all I am trying to get my head into the day knowing I need to do something but doing something completely different. How many of you can relate with that statement. I guess it goes back to my teenage years, knowing I should have stayed in school but wanting to get high and play guitar and jam to explore the inner mind. Oh wait I digress all the same . Here is some really cool trivia I bet some of you did not know. I stumbled onto something which l;ed me to something else and then the thought of Hey why not share this with my online friends. So here we go thanks for joining…


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Syrian Army Liberates 32 Aleppo Villages
Syria's military forces recaptured 32 villages near the northwestern city of Aleppo from terrorist groups, the Arab country's army announced.
According to the army's statement released by SANA, the villages are located in an area of 250 square kilometers northeast of Aleppo.
"The General Staff of the Syrian Armed Forces said that the Armed Forces detachments… were able to liberate during a large-scale military operation against Daesh more than 32 villages and farms on a total area of over 250 square kilometers to the northeast of Aleppo," the statement said.
"The operation… is expanding the safe zone around Aleppo and allows (the troops) to increase the scale of the military operation against Daesh (ISIL), expanding the Syrian armed forces' zone of influence and establishing control of the roads between the north and the east of Aleppo," the Syrian General Staff added.
On December 15, Syria announced the liberation of Aleppo from the foreign-backed terrorists, with President Bashar al-Assad praising the victory as "history in the making and worthy of more than the word congratulations."
The Syrian security forces had encircled Aleppo in July 2016 after closing off the last terrorist-controlled route into the city.
Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with various terrorist groups, including Daesh (also known as ISIS or ISIL), currently controlling parts of it.


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My friend then proceeded to present me with the best idea I had heard in quite a while. It was simple, scalable, and impactful, but he had not taken any steps to implement it. So I quoted his fridge at him. We'll see what he does about that in the future. (not mentioning any initials, BRANDON!!!)
That whole conversation got me thinking about revivals and movement dynamics in human culture. I would love to see a new movement born. One that has no leaders, but strong catalysts. Its content would be the gospel, and its propagators would be ordinary Christians with extraordinary vision and self-sacrifice.
If you remove all of today's Christian buzz words (mission, movement, missional, gospel-centered, just to name a few) you discover that the movement has already happened repeatedly and that there is already a word for it: Revival.
In order for revival to happen people must believe that it is possible and work toward that reality. And that is where we come back to the magnet. Except, as Christians we focus more on God's potential than ours. I suggest this question: What would you pray for if you KNEW that God would bring it to pass? In this question we have the seeds of revival in the hearts of all Christians everywhere.
Dare to answer that question. Dare to pray those prayers.


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Don't let your personal information fall victim to cyber theft.
With the popularity of sites like Amazon, ASOS, and Zappos, it's no wonder that online shopping is so ubiquitous. Unfortunately, data thieves are also well aware of this fact, and are keen to harvest your personal information for their own nefarious purposes. So it's in your best interest to learn how to protect yourself and your data while shopping online. There are a few easy steps that computer whizzes and novices alike can take to make sure data retains its privacy.
Get the basics in place, first.
Before you engage in any online shopping, you need to have some basic security measures in place. Your passwords should be complicated and certainly not uniform across programs. Antivirus software should be kept up-to-date. You will also need to learn to spot malicious content in your day-to-day computer activities. Beware of emails with unusual attachments (even if they're from friends!), and attempts at social engineering. If you share a personal computer, make sure that everyone who uses it is aware of necessary security measures. There are numerous ways that cyber thieves can get a foot in the door, so don't make it easy. For some extra tips on basic security, check out the Department of Homeland Security website.
Beware of making purchases in public places.
This warning is two-fold, actually. First, avoid making online purchases when connected to a public Wi-Fi. Using your personal data plan or routing your transaction through a VPN are much safer ways to make your purchase. Second, absolutely avoid making purchases on public computers. You risk working on a device that may be subject to lax security and therefore malware, and you risk having the device remembering your information for future use.
What was that about VPNs?
Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are essentially an extra layer of data protection. They allow you to transmit data that is encrypted and therefore more resistant to theft. The tricky thing about VPNs, though, is that there are loads of them out there to choose from. Luckily, you can consult the help of professionals that offer reliable product reviews of the top contenders in the market. There's a great review on Secure Thoughts that covers some of the most popular VPNs out there, and will help direct you to the service that is right for you.
Your browser can help you, too!
There are a few ways to tell if a website is secure or not, as Symantec's Norton can attest to. But the most obvious tell is that secure websites will have an SSL layer of protection, meaning the website URLs will begin with "https://" rather than just "http://" or something else entirely. Some browsers also make it obvious by adding a little padlock icon on or near the URL bar. Do not enter your personal information into websites that may not be secure.
Proactively monitor your bank statements.
Too many people fail to check their bank statements regularly. This means that any suspicious transactions not flagged by your bank can make it through unchecked, and gives cyber thieves continued access to your funds. You can also check with your bank to find out about any extra security features they offer, such as additional verification measures. If you're concerned that your bank doesn't offer the security you'd prefer, consider doing some research
before switching to a new bank.
Following the tips we've just described will certainly help you protect your data, but it's also best practice to keep up-to-date on new ways in which you can protect your personal information. Technology is constantly changing, and cyber attackers are keeping up, too. Be sure to keep up on tech news and to reevaluate your security measures regularly. Don't let your security measures become outdated!


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My birthday wish has come true: I'm back in the south west. I have 4 days here to enjoy catching up with friends and visiting old haunts.
I like to go away for my birthday each year – it always makes it feel extra special.
It's my birthday today, slap bang in the middle of the Easter weekend, so I get to have 8 days off work but use only 4 days' leave. We've driven down, which explains the other 4 days – 2 days down, 2 days back, staying over in chambres d'hôtes en route. (More about those another time.)
We're back staying in Castillonnès, in Lot-et-Garonne, of course – it's like our second home.
In fact, in 2016, we were considering making this our home and opening a business here. Ultimately, we decided it wasn't quite busy enough here to make it viable throughout the year.
Instead, we're here just as holidaymakers.
We're staying at our friend Keeley's house (main picture and above). It's a large house, whose front door opens onto the arcades and the central square.
Today, Damon and I are off to Bergerac to do a spot of shopping – and to stop by some vineyards to pick up some much-needed supplies. Our friend Jenny has already been and bought us a load of wine en vrac to bring back for everyday drinking, so it's wine to put in our cave that we're after today.
Tonight, we're staying in the village. Alex, a Russian-born, Cordon Bleu-trained chef, runs a small restaurant here – and we're off to his for dinner.
"Damon and I are off to Bergerac to do a spot of shopping – and to stop by some vineyards to pick up some much-needed supplies"
I don't know what's on the menu, but his food is always delicious and he offers wine pairing to go with it. I could match wines with the food myself, but I love it when other people do it for me – it means I get to try wines I might not necessarily have picked myself.
Most importantly, I get to spend time with 3 of my favourite people – Damon (of course), Keeley and Jenny. A happy birthday indeed!


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The weather in Florida is different from Arizona, in that it is much moister here. But there are very many similarities between the two places also. It is relatively warm year round, the winter is the nice time to be outside, the seasons are not so obvious due to the lack of changing colors, etc. The biggest difference for us so far has been humidity and the storms. We get a lot more storms in Orlando than we did in Phoenix and a lot more rain in general.
When we told people we were moving here, the word 'hurricane' came into the discussion usually. Over the years Orlando has not been hit by a lot of hurricanes. We are 45 minutes from the east coast and a little further from the west coast of the state. But of course right before we moved here Orlando was hit by a number of hurricanes. So it was fresh on the minds of everyone.
This is probably a bit premature but I can say that this year's hurricane season has been very mild for us to this point. One tropical storm came our way and when it went over our area, it brought less rain than we get with many normal summer showers. It did hit up north pretty hard, but really didn't do anything in Orlando. We are pretty thankful for that. We've had our hands full, getting moved in and settled, making adjustments. It is nice we didn't have any natural disasters on our plate too.


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Stranger Comics has yet to release a single issue, but the upstart company already has an adaptation of The Untamed is already in the works. Written by Sebastian A. Jones, The Untamed follows "a man who makes a deal with the devil to be released from hell for seven days to reap vengeance on the seven souls who murdered him and his family." Gotta admit, that's pretty badass.
Jones will pen the adaptation himself, with Eureka co-creator Andrew Cosby making his directorial debut. Lloyd Levin is one of the producers on the film — with credits for both Hellboys and Watchmen, he certainly has the resume for the project. Hit the jump for the official press release.
Independent comic book publishers rarely get the stunning Hollywood deals right off the bat, let alone before they officially release their first comic book. So it is with great pride that STRANGER COMICS announces that their first title, THE UNTAMED, has been acquired by visionary producer Lloyd Levin (WATCHMEN, HELLBOY, TOMB RAIDER). This marks the first time in history a comic company has sold its maiden property as a feature film before the official launch of the comic book title.
Written by Sebastian A. Jones with art by Peter Bergting (DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, FRAZETTA'S CREATURES) and Darrell May, THE UNTAMED is a dark fantasy tale following the story of a man who makes a deal with the devil to be released from hell for seven days to reap vengeance on the seven souls who murdered him and his family. But his quest for retribution turns to one of redemption when he's given a second chance to make the right decision, even though it may cost him his immortal soul.
The film appealed to Levin on many levels and he's eager to start preproduction. "The tale is Untamed and so is the filmmaking," said Levin who is assembling an elite team of renaissance entertainment pioneers. Levin will produce with Andrew Sugerman (CONVICTION, SHOP GIRL) and tyro screenwriter and producer Jones. Set to direct is Andrew Cosby (Co-Founder of BOOM! Studios, Co-Creator of EUREKA), who has passed up many other opportunities to make THE UNTAMED his directorial debut.
Said Cosby of the film, "We want to do for fantasy what THE MATRIX did for cyberpunk, and what the THE DARK NIGHT did for superheroes. Like those films, we consider ours to be an important evolution in the genre. It's dark, powerful, gut-wrenching stuff, unlike anything that's currently being done." Perhaps this revolution is why Levin sees THE UNTAMED not just as the first film of a potential franchise but as one of many interconnected properties. "Sebastian has spent twenty years developing the characters and the world of ASUNDA where the story takes place. This is a fully realized, incredibly detailed and immersive universe, and the tale of the Stranger and THE UNTAMED is just one of many," says Levin with an eye to the future.
STRANGER COMICS was founded by Jones to protect the rights of THE UNTAMED and the world of ASUNDA, but the company's plans go far beyond this initial offering. STRANGER aims to become the premier brand for quality in the digital age, and the company has numerous other titles either in production or in development. At STRANGER, Jones is partnered with visual effects guru Ken Locsmandi (THE MATRIX, DONNIE DARKO, APOCALYPTO) in a strategic alliance that ideally positions the company for the coming digital revolution.
Stranger Comics (Asunda, Black Eye Dog and Arcane Imagination) is a multi-platform publishing company based in Los Angeles. Born from a desire to take storytelling back to the days of yore; Stranger Comics is set to offer entertaining and exceptional stories. The company is also passionate about remaining green. All comics are printed on recycled paper.


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Take advantage of Agra car rental services. BookCab offers Agra taxi cab services at very competitive prices. Our extensive cab network in Agra allows you to board the cab from any locality in Agra. Agra is one of the popular cities in Uttar Pradesh State located in North India. Agra has may sight-seeing places to offer.
Behta Hajipur is one of those places that do not need an extensive introduction. Behta Hajipur is a well known city located in the district of Uttar Pradesh. Behta Hajipur has lot in store for anyone visiting it. There are many popular places to visit in Behta Hajipur. The main languages spoken in Behta Hajipur are Hindi,Urdu.
Planning on a trip by road? Sounds good, however hiring a car from Agra to Behta Hajipur can get very tedious, especially during holiday breaks, if one has not planned in advance. Well the easiest way to do so is to log onto www.bookcab.in and book your cab for the time span you're looking at. One can even avail ongoing discounts or packages which Bookcab may have during the said time period. Bookcab, has a range of cabs to choose from Tata Indica to Rolls Royce, as per your requirements. You can book a cab at any time from Agra to Behta Hajipur and back and be assured of the best of cars and service from Bookcab. So friends, get going and check it out!
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The European Retina Meeting 2017, will be held at the International House of the University City, in the South of Paris very close to the Montsouris Park.
Clicking on the address of the venue 17 Boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris you will find the exact placement on google maps.
You will easily reach the venue by RER B or tram T3a.