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Already the midterm of the Google Summer of Code, and I didn't post updates like I wanted. I guess thinking and hacking is still more easy and fun for me than writing. However, let's correct that.
The least I can say is that the warp tool is in better shape than the cage tool the same time last year. The reason is simple, I learned a lot last year, and the warp tool need similar skills, and even reuse some part of the code.
That said, here is the report:
A quick screencast:
Each actions on the canvas are implemented as a Gegl operation that produce a relative coordinate buffer, that is inserted in the render graph. The final image is computed with a map-relative render operation.
This is what still need to be handled:
As I'm more confident this year, I'm going a bit deeper and I work on related things, especially in Gegl. An interresting thing is that the warp tool is structurally close than a paint core, and is therefore a step closer to a paint core based on Gegl in Gimp.
That's it ! This summer again, i will participate to the Summer of Code program !
My last year's contribution was for me a huge challenge, a way to learn a LOT of things, to meet and work with some very interesting people, and a big source of pride (even for my family, here we can see how much Google's name mean something for the society nowadays).
This year, I'll use the knowledge I learned last year to rewrite the old plugin iWarp as a real internal Gimp tool. His pretty name will be the Gimp Warp Tool). That's a feature that has been asked and waited for long. Here again, this tool will fit in the 'big picture', the future of Gimp (Gegl, live on-canvas preview, ..).
On a more personal note, it's clear that my task this year is less challenging than last year (another deformation tool, structure relatively close..), and it's kind of too bad. Nevertheless, it's always great to work on a big project like Gimp, and users return it well most of the time. And hey, it's cool to have his brain working during the summer =)
This time, I should be able to do the job right the first time (as opposition to the cage tool, that was kind of a prototype at the end of the summer), and avoid the 3 or 4 partial rewrite that was needed after the deadline. With a bit of luck, this tool can be included in Gimp 2.8. The start of the coding period is in fact not so far !
Expect news !
It's been a while since i didn't post update here. There even was months without any change, especially when I got the idea to write a small ERP suitable to a Junior-Enterprise. I spend somes hours on it today, and I feeled like it was time for a small changelog:
There is still some bugs to catch, the more obvious is that the image shift from the cage after a return in edit mode. But promess is made, it will be ready for the Gimp 2.8 release ! By the way, further work in the cage tool will be done in the master branch of Gimp, ne need to checkout a particilar branch.
To celebrate all this, I made a quick screencast with a lizard as the victim. Enjoy =)
A quick post to let you know that i started a refactoring of the Gimp cage tool. It's a mandatory step to achieve a good quality and a solid basis to implement new things. It happens here by rewriting the frontend code as a state machine (as described here a few days ago), change on the data structure, documentation, and a lot of small fixes and simplifications.
In the future, a multi-points selection should come in a few days in the soc-2010-cage-2 branch. This editing mode will work in a similar way as in the path tool.
A proportional editing mode, similar to what you can find in Blender should come too.
Maybe i'll start to getting satisfied of my work someday… =)
That's it ! For now 48h, the new Cage tool in on master branch of Gimp ! It will be, unless big surprise, in the next release, the 2.8 !
A big thanks to my mentor, Alexia Death, and Michael Natterer (Mitch) to take care of this merge, and for the cleaning step that come with.
Somebody did a quick review of my cage-based deformation tool for The Gimp and published it in a Gimp community website. It's on GimpUser.com !
A video of the tool in action is included !
It's so cool to see that peoples like my work and find it usefull =)
Also, Devv, big thanks for the review and the video !
I really need to find some times to fine tune and clean all this (UI and optimization, mainly) …
To stay in the present, here is the state of things. My tool is in majority done. I mean that the core works well, and it's usable for a classic utilisation. There is still some teething problem to correct (for instance, it doesn't works on mask), love to give to UI, and it will be ready for code review and inclusion in master branch of Gimp. At least I hope =)
Some news here. In recent days, I talked a lot with my mentor and the others Gimp'dev. In my projet, I'm now in a state where a good part of things works. The idea is now to move from a prototype to a more cleaner and efficient form. In my case, since I've done a lot of experiment and workaround, it mean almost a full rewrite. The background is good, but the form isn't. However, this work is quite fast and already well advanced.
Along with that, I started a algorithm that will compute the inverse transformation. Let me explain. In the majority of processing is the inverse transformation is used (we run over the target image, and we fetch pixel that should be there). It allow to achieve good image quality, in particular by avoiding aliasing. The problem in my case, is that the Green Coordinates, which form the basis for my transformation, only describe the forward transform. We therefore obtain images like that of my last post. Cheating is possible, but it's still not ideal. The idea here is to calculate the direct transformation, to see where it goes, and interpolate for each target pixel the position in the source. It sounds easy, but in fact, no. But things are moving !


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While working onthis week's feature about Hugo Ortega
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, I needed someone in the restaurant industry to explain the situation honestly. Understandably, no restaurant owner in Houston wanted to come out and say he was hiring illegals. So I e-mailed Tony Bourdain, who is not only a television star and a best-selling author, but is also one of the most outspoken chefs in America. He supplied me with a long quote on the subject. I couldn't use all of it in the article, but you can read the full quote below. --Robb Walsh
"People have differing opinions on what we should do about immigration in the future. How open or how closed our borders should be. Fine. But let's be honest, at least, about who is cooking in America NOW. Who we rely on--have relied on for decades. The bald fact is that the entire restaurant industry in America would close down overnight, would never recover, if current immigration laws were enforced quickly and thoroughly across the board. Everyone in the industry knows this. It is undeniable. Illegal labor is the backbone of the service and hospitality industry--Mexican, Salvadoran and Ecuadoran in particular. To contemplate actually doing without is to contemplate mass closings, a general shake-out of individually owned and operated restaurants--and, of course, unthinkably (now) higher prices in the places that manage to survive. Considering that our economy and employment picture is now largely based on us selling hamburgers to each other, the ripple effects would be grave. I know very few chefs who've even heard of a US born citizen coming in the door to ask for a dishwasher, night clean-up or kitchen prep job. Until that happens--let's at least try to be honest when discussing this issue."

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Rose, Mark. Authors and Owners: The Invention of Copyright. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1993.
Copyright is a modern phenomenon, rooted in both the development of capitalism and the pervasive concept of the individual author/genius. These two forces – economic and philosophical – drove the development of copyright law in early modern England, starting with the 1710 Statute of Anne. Rose uses historical court cases, bills, Parliament and legal records, essays and broadsides arguing about copyright from the era, and other histories of copyright law to write his history, which focuses on the development of copyright law in 18th century England. Rose explains the evolution of copyright from a printer's privilege that acted as a form of government censorship to an individual author's free and independent right to his property, which was deemed original due to his personality. Copyright reifies both the individual author and the individual work/text, is equated with real estate/landed property, and is used to distinguish between public and private works. Though copyright now is extended beyond literary texts and prevents the rapid, affordable circulation of texts (what it was supposed to protect and allow for), it's not going away any time soon because both our economic system and our vision of our selves as individuals are so tied up in the system.
Quotable Quotes
"Copyright is not a transcendent moral idea, but a specifically modern formation produced by printing technology, marketplace economics, and the classical liberal culture of possessive individualism" (142)
Why don't we "abandon copyright as an archaic and cumbersome system of cultural regulation" (142) – explains why we can't
"The institution of copyright stands squarely on the boundary between private and public" (140)
"The attempt to anchor the notion of literary property in personality suggests the need to find a transcendent signifier, a category beyond the economic to warrant and ground the circulation of literary commodities" (129)
"The House of Lords bore witness to the radical instability of the concept of the autonomous author. After all, authors do not really create in any literal sense, but rather produce texts through complex processes of adaptation and transformation. Literary property is not fixed and certain like a piece of land…All forms of property are socially constructed and, like copyright, bear in their lineaments the traces of the struggles in which they were fabricated" (8)
Notable Notes
the modern marketplace as the "circulation of signs", like paper notes instead of hard currency (129)
three levels of public/private covered by copyright: 1. unprotected commons v. privated protected 2. unprotected ideas (like patents) and protected expression 3. unprotected fair use and protected
copyright is cartography, not geography – a perspective, an orientation to look at the world (141)
perpetual v. limited copyright
comparision of copyright to patents (14 year limit) – is authoring like inventing? Hierarchy of mental and manual labor, mechanical v. divine inspiration, ideas v. expression
18th century emergence of paternity metaphors…plagiarism (kidnapping)
copyright is actually a compromise – either authors should have perpetual or not, so a limited term seems arbitrary
English booksellers holding on to guild system (Stationers' Company) vs. Scottish printers wanting to compete in a capitalist model….
16th century- texts as actions (needing censorship), society bound by fidelity, patronage
18th century – texts as objects (someone's property), society ruled by capitalism
dual concepts of property and propriety…why copyright was necessary
Donaldson v. Becket (1774) – copyright not perpetual
John Locke
move to establish authorship beyond the materiality of the pen and ink. What does it mean to author a work? To own a work? What do you author or own? Removing the work from the social fabric from which it was made reifies the author (88)


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With the earnings reporting coming out now for the first quarter of 2012, it's instructive to take a look at a few turnaround actions and strategies.
We provide CFO services, typically for businesses of $1 million to $30 million in revenue, but we are always trying to learn lessons from businesses of all sizes, large and small.
The first lesson we learned from watching the financial news this quarter is that leadership can really matter. Sometimes the hardest decision to make is to fire a CEO, especially when it's the CEO himself making that decision. That's just what happened at Ford:
Ford began its turnaround in 2006 when Bill Ford Jr. fired himself as CEO and hired Alan Mulally from aviation giant Boeing Co. The automaker used the billions it borrowed — which Mulally calls a "giant home improvement loan" — to close plants, shed brands and cut its global workforce by one-third. Ford has paid back much of that debt. It also resumed paying a dividend last month for the first time since September 2006.
What was interesting to us, that we didn't know until we read that story, was that one of the things that Ford used as collateral for the billions that it borrowed was the iconic blue oval with the word Ford inside of it. That was an asset that the company was able to use, and because of the turnaround of the company it should be able to get that out of hock this quarter. Good for them.
Another method of getting a turnaround is to introduce a new product. Sometimes that works, and sometimes not.
HTC reported a terrible first quarter, but said that it expects a massive turnaround based on a new Android phone coming out soon. If that product doesn't absolutely take off, well, there may not be another product or a change in leadership that can help it at that point.
The other thing a company can change, other than leadership and products, is strategy. That's what Nokia is reportedly doing.
The first-quarter results unveiled last week were no great surprise, coming just days after Nokia issued a profit warning that flagged the impact of intense competition on its devices and services division. It was the second disappointing quarter for Nokia, which is in the midst of a complete strategy overhaul at the hands of Chief Executive Stephen Elop. As part of the shift, Nokia is focusing on cost savings and accelerating innovation, and has made Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Phone the operating system of choice for its smartphones, instead of its own Symbian system.
Will the strategy of partnering with Microsoft be smarter? Microsoft is dealing with it's own strategic troubles, especially on the consumer side, so it will be interesting to see if Nokia and Microsoft working together will be able to build something to offer a bit of competition to Apple, which reported that it broke its own record for the number of iPhones sold in the first quarter of this year.
Anyway, if you'd like to talk about leadership, products or strategy, or anything else related turnaround actions and strategies, please contact us.
B2B CFO® is the nation's largest CFO firm providing small and mid-market business owners with CFO services on a part-time basis.
We are more than 200 CFOs with over 6,100 cumulative years of experience. No matter what your company's issues or needs are, it is highly likely that we have already successfully handled similar situations and have worked in your industry. No accounting firm or independent CFO can match us. All this experience is available to any business owner engaged with a B2B CFO® Partner.
Feel free to forward this post to others in your network who might find the topic useful or who may be interested in learning more about working with an experienced CFO.


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We use Exchange 2010 SP2 on a Windows Server 2008 R2 box. Constantly throughout the day people here/outside the office are asked to enter their usersnames/passwords. It syncs with the AD account info.
I know there's an issue when users are wireless and they unplug the physical LAN. even though the connection is maintained while it defaults to the physical LAN it kicks back the usersname/password prompt. (They all use Outlook 2010.)
Sometimes the phones (droid x/iphone ect) prompt as well.
Has anyone experienced this issue?


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Источник информации:официальный сайт ВОИС
Для удобства навигации:Перейти в начало каталогаДела по доменам общего пользованияДела по национальным доменам
Rusconi Editore S.p.A. v. Gfa Studioimmagine Di Ingegnieri Giuseppe
Case No. D2001-0759
1. The Parties
Complainant is RUSCONI EDITORE S.p.A., having its registered offices in Viale Sarca 235, 20126 Milano, Italy. The Complainant's authorized representative is Avvocato Mariacristina Rapisardi, Studio Legale Rapisardi, Via Serbelloni 12, 20122 Milano, Italy.
Respondent is Studioimmagine di Ingegnieri Giuseppe, Via G. Rizzo 123, Milazzo (ME), Italy. The Respondent has not authorized a representative in this administrative proceeding.
2. The Domain Name and Registrar
The domain name at issue is <autoefuoristrada.com>; hereinafter referred to also as the "Domain Name". The registrar is Network Solutions, Inc.
3. Procedural History
The WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (the Center) received a Complaint (hereinafter the Complaint) by email on June 7, 2001, and in hardcopy and exhibits on June 11, 2001. On June 8, 2001, the Center acknowledged receipt. On June 13, 2001, the Center transmitted via email to Network Solutions, Inc., a request for registrar verification in connection with this case. On June 14, 2001, Network Solutions, Inc. transmitted via email to the Center, its Verification Response, confirming that the registrant is Studioimmagine di Ingegnieri Giuseppe and that the Domain Name registration is in "active" status.
The Center transmitted on June 18, 2001, to Studioimmagine di Ingegnieri Giuseppe the Notification of Complaint and Commencement of the Administrative Proceeding by post (with attachment), and by fax and email without enclosures.
On July 6, 2001, the Center received the Response from the Respondent and on July 9, 2001, acknowledged receipt.
On July 11, 2001, in view of the Complainant's designation of a single member panel the Center invited Mr. Luca Barbero to serve as a Panelist and transmitted to him the Request for Declaration of Impartiality and Independence and a Statement of Acceptance.
Having received Mr. Luca Barbero's Statement of Acceptance and Declaration of Impartiality and Independence, the Center transmitted on July 13, 2001, to the parties a Notification of Appointment of Administrative Panel and Projected Decision Date, in which Mr. Luca Barbero was formally appointed as the Sole Panelist. The Sole Panelist finds that the Administrative Panel (hereinafter referred to also as the Panel) was properly constituted and appointed in accordance with the Rules and Supplemental Rules.
4. Factual Background
The Complaint is based on:
- Italian Trademark no. 578993 filed on July 28, 1992, granted on October 29, 1992, formed by the wordings "AUTO & FUORISTRADA" for the goods and services belonging to classes 16, 38 and 41;
- International trademark no 592967 granted on October 29, 1992, formed by the wordings " AUTO & FUORISTRADA" for the goods and services belonging to classes 16, 38, 41 and extended to Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, Benelux, Spain, France, Portugal e Switzerland;
- Italian Trademark no. 406269 filed on May 10, 1982, granted on February 24, 1986, formed by the wordings "AUTO IN FUORISTRADA" for the goods services belonging to classes 16, 38 and 41;
- International trademark no R522947 granted on May 30, 1998, (renewal of the international trademark no. 522947 granted on May 30, 1988), formed by the wordings " AUTO IN FUORISTRADA" for the goods and services belonging to classes 16, 38, 41 and extended to Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, Benelux, Spain, France, Portugal, Switzerland;
(copy of the registrations is enclosed to the Complaint).
The respondent registered the domain name <autoefuoristrada.com> on November 3, 1999.
5. Parties' Contentions
A. Complainant
The Complainant is a famous publishing firm owner of magazines distributed in Italy, Europe and the rest of the World.
Among the most important magazines published by the Complainant, is "Auto & Fuoristrada" advertised for the first time in June 1982, with the name 'Auto in Fuoristrada' changed into the present one in September 1992. The magazine deals with cars, in particular with off-road vehicles including news concerning the main novelties of the field as well as the price list regarding both second-hand and new cars. Thanks to its articles, edited by skilled journalists able both to provide the readers with detailed information (of a technical and functional nature) about the products described therein and to point out the most interesting novelties available on the market, from the beginning, the magazine has achieved a great success among the public. The Panel was provided with a comparative study on the sales of three Italian magazines of the segment according to which the Complainant's publication ranks first.
The Complainant states that from the circumstances described in the Complaint and from the number of registered trademarks in Italy and abroad, "it can for sure be stated that the trademark 'Auto & Fuoristrada' is provided with the requirement of notoriety, at least in Italy and the absolute identity between the name of the domain object of the present complaint and the registered trademarks of which the Complainant is owner does not need any further illustration".
With reference to the absence of rights and legitimate interests of the Respondent with respect to the instant domain name the Complainant notes that:
• At the beginning of the dispute on November 23, 2000, the site corresponding to the domain in re, registered in November 1999, resulted under construction.
• the Registrant appears to be a not better precise 'entity' named Studioimmagine di Ingegnieri Giuseppe which does not appear to be owner of trademarks formed by the word 'autoefuoristrada';
• the registrant is not known personally, as an association or commercial company with the name corresponding to the registered domain. In fact, as already said, the registrant of the domain is 'Studioimmagine di Ingegnieri Giuseppe'; the administrative contact was Mr. Ingegnieri Giuseppe.
It is also highlighted to the Panel that in the web site corresponding to the domain name <autoefuoristrada.com> the services of a firm called 'Moto Giovane' whose business consists of converting and customising motorbikes of the 'Moto Guzzi' brand are offered. The Complainant concludes that the domain name in dispute "does not identify the individual who registered the domain name, nor the firm being advertised by means of the corresponding site – nor does it correlate with either of these in any way."
Addressing the issue of bad faith the Complainant to the Panel that "the domain name in dispute does not correspond at all with the content of the site which has the name: that site is in fact advertising a business which converts and customises Guzzi motorbikes".
The Complainant concludes that also in light of the "proven public awareness of the periodical published by Rusconi", it is "clear that the person who registered the domain name <autoefuoristrada.com> did so with the aim of attracting Internet users to the site of the company 'Moto Giovane' which might then benefit from a degree of 'popularity' which it could never otherwise expect: it should be borne in mind that this firm, 'Moto Giovane' is located in a tiny village in the province of Messina."
B. Respondent
With reference to the Trademark right, the Respondent highlights the graphic representation of one of the trademarks of the Complainant and the fact that the trademark is composed by two Italian generic words "auto" and "fuoristrada", which are linked by the conjunction "e" (and). The term "auto" is an abbreviation for car and the term "fuoristrada" means off-road vehicles , i.e. vehicles used for sports competitions on difficult routes, including motorbikes, according to extract of the "Vocabolario della Lingua Italiana" Treccani, Vol. 2, pag. 553.
The Respondent provides the Panel with the outcome of searchers conducted into major search engines for the term "auto e fuoristrada", quoting and annexing the result; for instance, on Excite Italia 378 pages, on Virgilio 180 pages, on Lycos 130 pages, on Google 117 pages, on Altavista 92 pages, etc. The search produced a variety of sites related to car and off-road vehicles, referring to manufacturing companies, retailers, motor-races, motor-shows, sporting clubs, travel reports, sale offers, car and motorbikes concessionary agents, spare parts retailers, services for sports motoring, etc. Moreover, if a search is made regarding sites containing the two words "auto" and "fuoristrada" used together, thousands of results can be found as pet the example of Google which produced 15,200 pages and Excite Italia which produced 9,898 pages.
It is also submitted to the Panel that a search for the term "auto e fuoristrada" in the site of the Commerce Chamber of Italy, disclosed five Italian enterprises registered under this name, as per list annexed to the Response.
Accordingly, the Respondent believes that there is a substantial difference between the Complainant's trademark and the term "autoefuoristrada", which: a) comprises two generic and highly descriptive words, b) does not refer only to the Complainant's services (the magazine), c) is commonly used in Italy without implying or recalling any connection with the magazine, as demonstrated by the results from the search engines therefore the trademark has not acquired a secondary meaning.
The Respondent quotes a number of WIPO and other Dispute resolution Provider decisions supporting the above thesis.
With reference to the issue of rights or legitimate interests and in response to the Complainant's allegations, the Respondent highlights the following.
StudioImmagine (Translation: Studioimage) di Giuseppe Ingegnieri is a Italian firm based in Milazzo (Messina), established in 1991, and regularly registered under Italian relevant legislation. Among its activities, the firm offers support to local, national and international companies in promoting and developing their image, in particular through multi-media technologies and the Internet. The clients of Giuseppe Ingegnieri, owner of StudioImmagine, according to the information provided to the Panel, are also major companies active in different fields including automotive, food distribution and media.
In November 1999, aware of the fact that Internet represents the future for the promotion of companies' image - the principal interest of StudioImmagine – and with the aim of getting more and more specialized in Internet service providing, the Respondent registered with Network Solutions six domains referring to general and sectorial market categories, i.e.: <autoefuoristrada> (translation: cars and off-road vehicles) <aziendeitaliane.com> (translation: Italian firms) <fotocamere.com> (translation: cameras) <imbarcazioni.com> (translation: boats), <ittiturismo.com> (translation: sea tourism) <vivaistica.com> (translation: plant nursery).
The Respondent explains that the comprehensive business plan – which has been already partly implemented - was to offer portals (including website development and management) and related services to Italian firms in general (mainly in <aziendeitaliane.com>) and specifically to those belonging to the five respective above-mentioned market sectors (i.e., cars and off-road vehicles, cameras, boats, sea tourism and plant nursery).
The Respondent provided to the Panel a printed small leaflet on the portal <aziendeitaliane.com>, a print out of the web page with the list of clients and host firms and a review of the portal appeared on a Italian Internet magazine, "PC PRATICO". The respondent informs the Panel that the current focus is on the development of the general portal, but there are plans for the five portals, such as <autoefuoristrada.com> which currently hosts the website of one firm ("Moto Giovane") dealing with motorbikes.
The Respondent believes that this information proves clearly that the registration of the domain name <autoefuoristrada.com> is part of a coherent business plan, and that the Respondent has all the rights and legitimate interests with respect to the domain name.
As to registration and use in bad faith, in response to the Complainant statement that the domain name has no correspondence with the content of the site which is hosted there, i.e. <motogiovane.it>, which is the site of an Italian firm called "Moto Giovane", which converts and customizes Guzzi motorbikes. In this regard, the Respondent pointed out that the Italian word "fuoristrada" means any off-road vehicles including motorbikes, as stated in the extract from a well-known and respected Italian dictionary enclosed to the Complaint.
According to the Complainant, the Respondent registered this site under the domain name <autoefuoristrada.com> in order to attract Internet users to the site of the company "Moto Giovane", profiting of the alleged "popularity" of the Complainant's magazine. In this regard, the Respondent has attached to the Response the statistics of the monthly visits to this site from July 2000, to June 2001: such visits have varied from a total of a minimum of 12 visits during the whole month of July 2000, up to a maximum of 46 visits during the whole month of January 2001. According to the Respondent this clearly shows the "non-existent" popularity that the site has acquired in relation with the Complainant's magazine. In addition, the Respondent believes that the Complainant's comments with regard to the firm "Moto Giovane" are "out of place and derogatory, being this firm duly established and functioning".
Respondent notes that the domain name was not registered or acquired for the purpose of selling, renting, or otherwise transferring the domain name registration(s) to Complainant and the Respondent has limited domain names registration to the five market sectors indicated in the business plan. It is also clear that, had the Respondent been acting in bad faith, it would have registered, instead of the five domains mentioned above, other domains, such as those relevant to the issues covered by the Complainant's magazines, or covered by other magazines.
The domain name was not registered in order to prevent Complainant from reflecting the mark in a corresponding domain name. The Respondent provided information of a search it conducted on the Internet and found that the Complainant already owns the sites <autoefuoristrada.it>, <autoefuoristrada.net>, <autofuoristrada.it> <autofuoristrada.net> which to date are not active.
The Complainant and Respondent are not competitors and the domain name was not registered by the Respondent primarily to disrupt Complainant's business. The Complainant and the Respondent work in two different lines of business, being the Complainant a publishing house and the Respondent a developer of firms' image. There has never been in the past any whatsoever relationship, contact or common interest between the Complainant and the Respondent.
The domain name was not registered by Respondent in an intentional attempt to attract for commercial gain Internet users to the Respondent's web site or other on-line location, by creating a likelihood of confusion with the Complainant's mark as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of the Respondent's web site, product or service.
Furthermore, well before receiving notice of the dispute – that is, when the 6 domain names were registered, in November 1999, – the Respondent had a clear business plan for use of the domain name in connection with a bona fide offering of goods or services, which is being implemented.
6. Discussion and Findings
According to paragraph 15(a) of the Rules: "A Panel shall decide a Complaint on the basis of the statements and documents submitted in accordance with the Policy, the Rules and any rules and principles of law that it deems applicable." Paragraph 4(a) of the Policy directs that the Complainant must prove each of the following:
(i) that the Domain Name registered by the Respondent is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or a service in which the Complainant has rights; and,
(ii) that the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the Domain Name; and,
(iii) that the Domain Name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.
6.1. Domain name identical or confusingly similar
The Complainant has provided evidence of ownership of Italian trademark no. 578993 filed on July 28, 1992, granted on October 29, 1992, consisting of the wordings "AUTO & FUORISTRADA" for the goods and services belonging to classes 16, 38 and 41; international trademark no. 592967 granted on October 29, 1992, consisting of the wordings " AUTO & FUORISTRADA" for the goods and services belonging to classes 16, 38, 41 and extended to Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, Benelux, Spain, France, Portugal e Switzerland; Italian trademark no. 406269 filed on May 10, 1982, granted on February 24, 1986, consisting of the wordings "AUTO IN FUORISTRADA" for the goods services belonging to classes 16, 38 and 41; international trademark no R522947 granted on May 30, 1998, (renewal of the International trademark no. 522947 granted on May 30, 1988), consisting of the wordings " AUTO IN FUORISTRADA" for the goods and services belonging to classes 16, 38, 41 and extended to Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, Benelux, Spain, France, Portugal e Switzerland.
In view of the above, the Panel finds that the Complainant have proved that the Domain Name is identical (obviously but for the suffix .com), to the trademark of the Complainant according to paragraph 4(a)(i) of the ICANN Policy.
6.2. Rights and legitimate interest
The Complainant must show that the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the dispute domain name. The Respondent does not assume the burden of proof, but does assume the burden of production and may establish a right or legitimate interest in a disputed domain name by demonstrating in accordance with paragraph 4(c) of the Policy:
(a) He has made preparations to use the domain name or a name corresponding to the domain name in connection with a bona fide offering of goods or services prior to the dispute;
(b) He is commonly known by the domain name, even if he has not acquired any trademark rights; or
(c) He intends to make a legitimate, non-commercial or fair use of the domain name without intent for commercial gain to misleadingly divert consumers or to tarnish the trademark.
In light of the Response provided to the Panel and of the descriptive nature of the Complainants' trademark, it is a borderline question as to whether a legitimate interest of the Respondent in using the domain name <autoefuoristrada.com> can be denied. Under the Policy, the Respondent must demonstrate a legitimate interest in the domain name. It is then up to the Complainant to rebut the Respondent's assertions. It must be recognized that for the Complainant such negative proof is often difficult and, therefore, the requirements of proof cannot be too strict. Nevertheless, the panel finds that a decision in favor or against the Respondent need not be taken on the question of legitimate or fair use, since the Panel arrives at a clear conclusion on the question of bad faith, see Deutsche Telekom AG v callisto germany.net WIPO Case No. D2000-0951.
6.3. Registration and Use in Bad Faith
For the purpose of Paragraph 4(a)(iii) of the Policy, the following circumstances, in particular but without limitation, if found by the Panel to be present, shall be evidence of the registration and use of the Domain Name in bad faith:
(i) circumstances indicating that the holder has registered or has acquired the domain name primarily for the purpose of selling, renting, or otherwise transferring the domain name registration to the Complainant who is the owner of the trademark or service mark or to a competitor of that Complainant, for valuable consideration in excess of the holder's documented out-of-pocket costs directly related to the domain name; or
(ii) the holder has registered the domain name in order to prevent the owner of the trademark or service mark from reflecting the mark in a corresponding domain name, provided that the holder has engaged in a pattern of such conduct; or
(iii) the holder has registered the domain name primarily for the purpose of disrupting the business of a competitor; or
(iv) by using the domain name, the holder has intentionally attempted to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to the holder' s website or other online location, by creating a likelihood of confusion with the Complainant's mark as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of your website or location or of a product or service on the holder's website or location.
Respondent did not offer to sell the domain name to Complainant for valuable consideration in excess of the holder's documented out-of-pocket costs directly related to the domain name. Respondent is not engaged in a pattern of registering domain names in order to prevent the owner of the trademark from reflecting the mark in a corresponding domain name as it has only registered, as gTLDs, the six domain names quoted in the Response (plus, prima facie, a seventh one <vetrina.org> meaning "window" again of descriptive nature) and the Complainant has successfully managed to register i.e. <autoefuoristrada.it> <autofuoristrada.net> and <autofuoristrada.it> and <autofuoristrada.com> (none of which currently is pointed to an active web site).
The Respondent is not a competitor of the Complainant and, also in view of the generic terms at issue, there are no sufficient elements indicating that the use of the web site "autoefuoristrada" prima facie, will be likely to create a likelihood of confusion with the Complainant's mark as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of the website, aimed at generating commercial gain for the Respondent.
Furthermore, as stated in prior decisions, a Complainant must tolerate that other entities make use of a conjunction of two generic words and therefore it is not confusing for the relevant customers that the domain name and the trademark co-exist. See Welltech ApS v. Dave Gardner WIPO Case No. D2000-1145. The name in question is an obvious conjunction of two common words, "auto" meaning the same in Italian and "fuoristrada" meaning off-road vehicles. Common words and descriptive terms are legitimately subject to registration as domain names on a "first-come, first-served" basis. See Zero International Holding GmbH & Kommanditgesellschaft v. Beyonet Services and Stephen Urich, WIPO Case No. D2000-0161; EAuto, L.L.C. v. E Auto Parts, WIPO Case No. D2000-0096; Asphalt Research Technology, Inc. v. National Press & Publishing, Inc. WIPO Case No. D2000-1005.
Therefore, the panel finds that the Complainant has failed to prove that the Respondent has registered and is using the domain name in bad faith.
7. Decision
In light of the foregoing, the Panel decides that the Domain Name registered by the Respondent is confusingly similar to the Complainant's trademarks, but the Complainant has not established that the domain name <autoefuoristrada> has been registered and is being used in bad faith.
Accordingly, the Panel concludes that the domain name <autoefuoristrada.com> should not be transferred to Complainant.
Luca BarberoSole Panelist
Dated: July 30, 2001
Источник информации: https://internet-law.ru/intlaw/udrp/2001/d2001-0759.html
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Chris Emerson, better known as What So Not, isn't just another twerk-inducing, bass-dropping, face-melting DJ. After all, the Aussie artist hasn't traveled an easy road: following a split with former collaborator FLUME, What So Not expanded his vision of what electronic music can be. These days, his shows are narrative multimedia experiences that burn the fucking house down.
CONVICTS caught up with What So Not the week before his show at Terminal 5 for a little impromptu surf trip at Rockaway Beach. In between catching waves, What's So Not gave us the lowdown on his creative process, self-discipline on tour, collaborating with American rock band 'Toto,' and the mystery of his ever-evolving hairstyles.
Hey, mate. How was the ocean today?
It was pretty amazing. At first, I think I was one of the only people out there to start — which is very unusual coming from very crowded beaches, and surfing in brown water full of garbage and seaweed with all sorts of gooey things running through my fingers at home. I got one barrel as well which I don't think is common in these kinds of conditions, so I was very happy.
A pleasant surprise I'm sure. Tell us what a day out in the water does for your headspace.
I find it resets the way I approach everything. Even musically-I'll come back from a surf and look at a project completely differently. I see flaws, I see mistakes, I can hear things a lot better and I can apply it all. I am sure it's the same for a lot of people after they reset their mind.
That has to be crucial out on the road. Tell us about What's So Not's current tour?
On this tour, everything mattered. I had to go into each venue every single day, have a look at how everything was, chat to everyone, see if we needed to shift something to utilize the rooms and the spaces and the theaters that we were in.
Any crazy stories on this-or other-tours?
There's a lot of them that I would never talk about on camera. I probably can't give you any of the ones that are interesting enough to be spoken of. Generally we're pretty well behaved. Sometimes we're not.
Can you write on tour?
You can either sit there and watch TV and nap all day, or you can get up and exercise and drink coffee and write music all day, so I choose to do that. – See more at: http://convicts.nyc/convicts/what-so-not/#sthash.zuvsYZbZ.dpuf
Have you always kept it so low key on the road?
I used to be a bit of a larrikin when I was younger. Like most people. When I did my first couple of shows in America, they were crazy. I was so zonked and I'd flown from Australia to New York to LA to Las Vegas. I didn't have enough money at the time for a tour manager and I fell asleep. It's the only time I have been late to a set in my entire life. It was my own fault.
How did the crowd take it?
They were pretty mad, I played for an extra hour for them. It was a real turning point in my life. I have a really big opportunity to do some great thing and I'm not going to fuck it up by going out and partying. I just needed to not take this for granted and put the the work in. A lot of Australian acts would kill it for one year, then they would get caught up and everyone would forget about them. Looking at people that had the opportunities I was about to get, then seeing them blow it and saying 'I'm not gonna let that happen' was vital for steamrolling forward with everything.
Did that moment lead to any lifestyle changes?
I pretty much stopped drinking from that point. I'll do a show and have one beer or have a glass of wine or something.
How was touring without a tour manager?
I used to do a lot of the management for What's So Not, as well as produce, perform and tour. I had to deal with all this monotonous admin bullshit all the time just to keep everything moving and everything going, so I had to kind of trick my mind — I'd have my turntable playing all this music I had collected. It would sink in subconsciously.
Why was that trick necessary, though?
Creative artistry is so different from working hard. You have to understand the way your own mind works and understand how to draw out the different components in order to achieve what you want.
So how do you balance your own vision against input from others? Or even the crowd's response?
To some degree, you have to care about what people think. Certain people have very good opinions on things and may be a bit wiser than you. But at the same time you have to believe in yourself. You gotta have faith in your own vision and your own perception and understanding of the world and sort of just follow through with it. Too many people get caught up in limbo because they aren't making decisions. Sometimes you're going to fuck up and do dumb shit and that's the best thing that can happen to you, because you're either not going to do it again, or take a different direction in life.
Words of wisdom. What's on the horizon for What's So Not?
This year I started actually writing my own video clips, and then co-producing them. I started creating my own apparel, which we just launched. The concept is to write more than a song, more than an album: it needs to be an entire experience, an entire world. The fun comes when you break that mold or change the patterns that people react to. Now every time I write a song I write a short story that the song is about, even if it's just an instrumental or a beat. There's always quite an expansive underlying message that maybe not even clear at all — but I know what it is, and I'll find some way of representing that in some other art form.
How is it collaborating with other artists since splitting with your old co-producer Flume?
One group that I had a chance to work with recently that really blew my mind was Toto. I was lucky enough that it all came together — Joe, Steve, Luke, and David came into the studio and were like, 'My son said you were cool'. First off these guys were session musicians for the stars — for Michael Jackson, [Steve] Lukather is now in Ringo Starr's band. They came in and I played some demos, some bits and pieces, some chords. I played them this one chord progression that I'd written and recorded and they were like 'that's the one!'. Lukather grabbed his guitar and starts riffing over the top. Steve and Joe start humming these melodies, then David starts hounding me to use the synthesizer and put some wild arpeggiations over the top — it was this crazy, new age way of jamming. It was almost like we were playing as a band. It was very cool. I've been slacking on finishing it. It sort of fell back in the order of things that I've worked very hard to polish off, but it's high on the agenda now that I've put my 'Divide and Concquer EP' out there.
Lastly, we've got to ask about the hair.
It's been through some waves: I had bleach down the middle; a bright pink mohawk. Then I had blue then I had yellow. I'm keeping it a little chicer now.
Thanks, mate. Be good out there.


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Free Canon in Jazz Version piano sheet music is provided for you. So if you like it, just download it here. Enjoy It!
Canon, here is a jazz version for Pachelbel's Canon. Johann Pachelbel was a German composer, organist and teacher who brought the south German organ tradition to its peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secular music, and his contributions to the development of the chorale prelude and fugue have earned him a place among the most important composers of the middle Baroque era.
Pachelbel's Canon combines the techniques of canon and ground bass. Canon is a polyphonic device in which several voices play the same music, entering in sequence.
* Please open with PDF reader.


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Merry Merry
// December 24th, 2006 // Life
Merry Christmas and all the best for 2007 to all my loyal readers. Lord knows you've put up with a lot of boring posts this year, and those boring posts have been few and far between! So thanks for sticking around. We're off to the Wairarapa for Christmas – New Years, may try and have some computer free time. So see you in 2007.
One Response to "Merry Merry"
Merry Christmas to you as well.


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Jim interviews top podcaster Adam Carolla, talking about his new format, podcast revenue models, and portable dishwashers.
Download the podcast from iTunes, or play it below:
For years we've praised the concept of "time-shifting" as a unique advantage of today's digital media. No longer are we forced into a do-or-die option of being present at a live event or face the consequences of missing it completely.
We can use a DVR to record a World Cup game in the morning for viewing later that day, stream Saturday Night Live on our laptop via Hulu on Sunday morning, and forgo commercial-filled drive-time morning radio in lieu of an iPod's worth of our favorite podcasts.
Since his live morning radio show was canceled in February 2009, that's exactly what entertainer Adam Carolla (Loveline, The Man Show, Crank Yankers, Dancing with the Stars) has done. He's amassed an army of loyal listeners that have downloaded The Adam Carolla Podcast millions of times, making his show a mainstay at the top of the iTunes charts.
But now he is "getting the band back together" and attempting to combine the best of both worlds. He's brought back nearly the entire staff from his former radio program, including news co-host Teresa Strasser, producers, announcers, and even sound effects wizard "Bald Bryan," who is able to insert his comical sound bites into the podcast on the fly.
However, in an interesting turn away from time-shifted content, Carolla's goal is to get people to tune in daily to keep up with current events, essentially creating a drive-time morning show via podcast.
The format allows him to avoid long commercial breaks, escape the watchful eye of both program directors and the FCC, and do what he does best – rant at will on any given topic – packing the show into 90 minutes vs. the four hours of live drive time. The plan is to record the topical shows late in the afternoon or evening, so that they are ready for download each morning.
Will the new format be a hit with fans? And just as important, can he generate enough revenue to keep everyone happy? It's hard to bet against him given his success thus far.
I sat down with Carolla in New York City while he was in town promoting another of his myriad of projects — with more and more of them venturing into the realm of social media — a user-generated video contest called the Klondike Everyman Challenge.
As a fellow podcaster that also enjoys weaving heavy doses of pop culture into the conversation, I brought up a unique similarity that we both shared: our families both owned ugly, hulking portable dishwashers in the 70s. This set off a classic Carolla rant that users have become accustomed to, reflecting back on his cheap parents and meager upbringing in North Hollywood.
On the topic of generating revenue, Carolla has been fearless in trying new ventures. While the daily show is entirely free to download, he urges listeners to support the program in one of several ways.
Revenue streams for the Adam Carolla Podcast:
– An archive 2-disc DVD box set of the entire first year of digitally mastered downloads ("We sold a few thousand")
– A store with t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, and stickers
– Pay-to-download for a select few podcast episodes
– Short pre-recorded and "live read" ads before and during the show, covering products as diverse as flowers for Mothers Day, souped up computers, BBQ grill accessories, and adult movies.
– Live, in-person performances in LA and other cities
So when I ask him what source has been most successful, he responds that any individual tactic isn't a lot of money, but you start to get a cumulative effect with multiple sources of income.
Without missing a beat, he says, "You know, you add them all together and in the end you're still broke, but eventually you have enough to afford one of those portable washing machines."
Download the podcast from iTunes, or play it below:
Also see: Episode 47: Thoughts on Adam Carolla, Bill Simmons, and more
Interesting photo credits:
Yellow dishwasher: 'Jeremy' successfully selling it for $40 on 'Nova Scotia Classifieds' in 2007.
Connector hose: 'FantasyGoat' on gigposters.com, using it as part of his still when creating homemade moonshine.


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There are many misconceptions about credit scores out there. There are people who believe that they dont have got a credit score and some who believe that their credit scores dont really matter. These kinds of misconceptions can ache your opportunities at jobs, good interest rates, and even your opportunities of getting an apartment.
The truth is, if you have got got a bank account and bills, then you have a credit score - and your credit score matters more than you might think. Your credit score may be called many things, including a credit hazard rating, a FICO score, a credit rating, a FICO rating, or a credit hazard score. All these terms mention to the same thing: the three-digit number that allows lenders get an thought of how likely you are to refund your bills.
Every clip you apply for credit, apply for a occupation that necessitates you to manage money, or even apply for some more than sole types of apartments, your credit score is checked.
In fact, your credit score can be checked by anyone with a legitimate business need to make so. Your credit score is based on your past financial duties and payments, and it supplies possible lenders with a quick snapshot of your current financial state and past repayment habits.
In other words, your credit score allows lenders cognize quickly how much of a credit hazard you are. Based on this credit score, lenders make up one's mind whether to swear you financially - and give you better or worse rates when you apply for a loan. Apartment managers can utilize your credit score to make up one's mind whether you can be trusted to pay your rent on time. Employers can utilize your credit score to make up one's mind whether you can be trusted in a high-responsibility occupation that necessitates you to manage money.
The problem with credit scores is that there is quite a spot of misinformation circulating around, especially from some unscrupulous companies who claim they can assist you with your credit report and credit score - for a fee, of course.
From ads and fishy claims, clients sometimes come up away with the thought that in order to hike their credit score, they have got to pay money to a company or go forth credit repair in the custody of so-called experts. Nothing could be additional from the truth! It is perfectly possible to pay down debts and encouragement your credit on your own, with no expensive aid whatsoever.
But before you begin boosting your credit score, you need to cognize the basics. You need to cognize what a credit score is, how it is developed, and why it is of import to you in your mundane life.
Lenders certainly cognize what kind of information they can get from a credit score, but knowing this information yourself can assist you better see how your mundane financial determinations impact the financial image lenders get of you through your credit score. A few simple tips are all you need to cognize to understand the basic principles:
So where can you get these simple tips?
You will desire to read my other article at:
And then sign-up for the free ecourse at:


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As BIG as Texas with a Sound to Match – Announcing The Sunshine Kids Gala headliner – Huey Lewis and The News!
For 25 years, we've been supporting the outstanding efforts of The Sunshine Kids, a very special non-profit organization providing a variety of programs and special events for children receiving cancer treatments in hospitals across North America. Over this time period, your combined contributions have made it possible for countless kids to find their place in the sun.
Coming Tuesday, February 16, you will be able to obtain Preferred Seating for our special closing event at Sales Convention featuring Huey Lewis and the News AND help raise money for this worthy cause.
Each Preferred Seat is $30 (plus a service charge of $1.50)
Seats may be purchased by section, row or individually
Your Full Registration or Social Registration badge guarantees you a seat, but with exclusive Preferred tickets, you'll have the luxury of choosing where that seat will be. Sit with your friends and colleagues and avoid the rush as the doors open!
Help us help The Sunshine Kids. Get ready to purchase your Preferred Seats via the banner ad link on REsource Center Homepage!
The Sunshine Kids (SSK) is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to serving children with cancer. Established in 1982 in Houston, TX, The Sunshine Kids Events provides a variety of programs, free-of-charge, for children receiving cancer treatments in hospitals across North America.
For additional information on how you can support The Sunshine Kids throughout the year, visit the "Community Programs" section of REsource Center


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The HEAR Network has a dedicated Policy and Campaigns officer, Mhairi McGhee.
HEAR knows that our members, charities and community organisations on the frontline, are in the best position to campaign and lobby for inclusion and rights. Our members have an authentic voice, know what is needed to reduce discrimination and promote equality and many are 'user-led'.
HEAR does not campaign for our members, instead we help them do it for themselves. Mhairi's role is to support London's VCS (Voluntary and Community Sector) to campaign and lobby for improved rights and services for disadvantaged communities in London.
• HEAR connects organisations with campaigning experience and those starting out
• HEAR shares methods, pathways, tips and information across equality streams
• HEAR get our members in a room with (or inbox of) policy makers, commissioners and service providers
• HEAR is a point for exchanging members' research, information and case-studies
• HEAR collates and disseminates information from our members to promote understanding of intersectional and pan-equality issues
• HEAR promotes lived experience and being user-led as the best way to overcome exclusion and discrimination
Our current policy and campaign themes are Disabled Asylum Seekers and Refugees, Pan-Equality Hate Crime, LGBTQI+ Diversity and Mental Health Equality.
These are big topics, but topics that many of our members have been working on for some time and that will benefit from sharing experiences and expertise.
HEARs Policy and Campaigns work is funded by Trust for London.


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Happy 4th of July!!
Just a reminder, while you're enjoying cold beer and fireworks tomorrow, the brave folks protecting the freedoms we're celebrating are probably humping a 200 lb rucksack through some god-forsaken-shithole, thousands of miles from cold beer, fireworks, and loved ones.
Quote of the Day:
Wine Me, Dine Me:
By now we all know GMO food is bad for us. But did you know the top 10 worst GMO foods?? 2 of them surprised me!
Round the World:
A new crop of "wonders of the world" was released by UNESCO this week. How many make your bucket list??
Body Lovin':
Overdid it at the gym?? 3 yoga poses for sore muscles.
Luscious Locks:
Wet hair at work is a no-no. Or is it??
Out and About:
Where to see fireworks in Western Mass this weekend.
Where to see fireworks in CT this weekend.
There's no crying in baseball!!
Bushnell Park – Friday night
I know, I know!
"Where's all the wicked awesome local music?!?"
I've got a four day weekend clouding my vision kids.
So I only have a few morsels of musical shenanigans for you this week.
Saturday – Tony Lee Thomas @ O'Laughlin's in Pittsfield, MA
Sunday – The Kings @ The Wales Irish Pub in Wales, MA
I promise I'll do better next week!
Giggles and Such:
Let me mustard up some courage!
In case of bad day, break glass.
The freedom to not give a fuck.


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When Ukraine's interim leaders took power at the end of February, acting Prime Mininster Arseniy Yatsenyuk referred to his government as the "kamikaze cabinet." Their role was to stitch up a state that had been torn apart by the winter's revolution, holding it together until a new president could be elected and the healing process could begin. That election will be held on Sunday, and the winner will take over a nation crippled by Russian aggression, internal strife and economic maladies which have left Ukraine close to ruin. Though not exactly a political suicide mission, it will be one of the most overwhelming burdens a leader could take on his shoulders.
Here's what you need to know.
Who's running?
Ukraine's electoral authorities whittled down the list of candidates to 21, removing oddballs and malcontents, including one Darth Vader impersonator who tried to get on the ballot. That left the field stacked heavily with political veterans and insiders, many of them tainted in the eyes of voters by the corruption of Ukraine's familiar elites. Only a few of the candidates are newcomers who were thrown into the ring by this winter's revolution. On the far right, there is Dmitro Yarosh, the leader of a militant party of ultranationalists called Right Sector. On the opposite side of the spectrum is the socialist Olha Bogomolets, who heads a dermatology institute while moonlighting as a singer-songwriter. Neither of them stands much of a chance.
The dominant issue of the elections – how to stop Russia from further dismembering Ukraine – has made military toughness a prized electoral attribute, at times overshadowing the other pressing question of the vote: how to get Ukraine's economy off of Western life support. One of the most visible candidates, Oleh Lyashko of the Radical Party, even went so far as to issue a video of himself interrogating a captured pro-Russian separatist, who is shown in the clip handcuffed and bloodied, wearing only his underwear as Lyashko grills him on his ties to the Russian security forces. In today's Ukraine, this is what passes for a campaign ad.
Who's likely to win?
In all the major polls, the projected winner by a landslide is Petro Poroshenko, an industrialist known as the "Chocolate King" because he owns a confectionery company. He was the only billionaire to take a leading role in this winter's revolution, once even climbing onto a bulldozer and trying in vain to calm a mob of protesters. His political career, which included stints as foreign minister and chairman of the central bank, has both hurt and helped him. Level-headed voters see his political past as a sign of his ability to lead the country out of its economic malaise and to negotiate with Russia as well as the West. But those who demand a radical renewal of the political class are put off by his links to the oligarchy.
It hasn't helped that Poroshenko owes much of his popularity to a backroom deal. In March, another leader of the revolution, the heavyweight-boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, agreed to bow out of the race and throw his support behind Poroshenko. Before announcing that agreement, the two of them met in Austria with one of Ukraine's most prominent power brokers, the oligarch Dmitro Firtash, who is fighting extradition to the U.S. on charges of corruption. The endorsement from Firtash, who has longstanding ties with the Kremlin, has allowed Poroshenko's rivals to denounce him as a Russian stooge. But that does not seem to have hurt his standing in the polls. Of all the candidates, he still seems to be the only one with both the political experience and the revolutionary street cred to pull Ukraine out of this winter's revolt.
Will the winner be legitimate?
Pro-Russian militants in eastern Ukraine have been fighting for weeks to derail these elections, or at least to erode their legitimacy. They have partly succeeded. Senior officials in Kiev admit that it will be impossible to hold elections in large parts of two eastern regions, Donetsk and Luhansk, where many polling stations have been attacked or taken over by separatist fighters. That means hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of people in the country's east will not have a chance to vote Sunday.
Those who do cast a ballot will not have much of a pro-Russian candidate to choose from anyway. The two most vocal Kremlin allies in the race have been repeatedly attacked while on the campaign trail. One of them, Oleg Tsarov, withdrew his candidacy in late April, citing concerns for his safety. Those attacks are indicative of the anti-Russian mood in much of the country, but in the long run, they will also make it harder for the winner of the race to claim a mandate to rule the entire nation. Many voters in the Russian-speaking east of Ukraine will claim that their voices have not been heard.
Still, the elections are a crucial step toward normality after this winter's rebellion. Oleksandr Turchynov, whom Moscow has dismissed as the leader of a coup with no legitimate right to hold power, has been Ukraine's interim President since February. On May 23, however, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he would "respect the choice of the Ukrainian people," signaling more clearly than ever that he does plan to start a dialogue with Ukraine's new leader.
What does Russia want from these elections?
Russia has already achieved many of its core objectives in Ukraine. Annexing the eastern regions, as Putin did with the Crimean peninsula in March, would be costly for Russia – financially, politically and militarily – so Putin seems to have taken that scenario off the table for now. At the very least, he has stopped threatening to invade Ukraine and has pledged to pull his troops back away from the border.
But whoever wins the presidential vote this weekend will not be able to ignore the Kremlin's demands going forward. In the course of this conflict, Russia has forced its way back into the center of Ukrainian politics. The separatist rebels in the eastern regions have dug in for a drawn-out insurgency against Kiev, and by funneling support to those rebels, Moscow will be able to destabilize Ukraine from across the border as easily as turning on (or off) a tap.
That will make it far more difficult, if not impossible, for Ukraine to move ahead with its integration into the European Union or the NATO alliance – the outcomes that Moscow has most wanted to prevent. In that respect, Ukraine's new President, regardless of his or her politics, will likely be a hostage to Russian influence for years to come.
What does the West have at stake?
The West has pledged tens of billions of dollars in aide to Ukraine over the next few years, and to prevent that money from getting pilfered, it needs a leader who will carefully manage Ukraine's economic affairs. Though they may not always admit it, the U.S. and Europe also want a President in Kiev who can negotiate with Russia, as all sides would prefer to see the conflict resolved without having to hit Moscow with further economic sanctions.
Those sanctions could put serious strain on many European economies, particularly Germany, that need Russia not only as a trading partner but a source of oil and gas. So they will likely encourage Ukraine's new president to negotiate with Moscow, even at the risk of alienating an electorate that has grown deeply hostile to Russia in the past few months.
What are the chances of another revolution?
Ukraine has had two popular uprisings in the past decade, and the Maidan protest camp, which served as the epicenter of the last revolt this winter, still stands in the center of Kiev as a reminder to the incoming president: There could always be a third. Street protests in Ukraine have become something of a national pastime, and the public demand for radical reforms has been amplified by the dozens of protesters who died defending the Maidan and its ideals. That sacrifice will be thrown in the face of any president who fails to live up to the revolution's demands.
So far, the Russian aggression has kept the warring factions in Ukraine more or less united against a common enemy, but these alliances have frayed amid the presidential campaign. In the coming months, as power and influence is divvied up, the losers are likely to accuse the winners of selling out the Maidan. That could make the new president the target of a fresh rebellion in the capital.


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One of the new things that I wanted to add this week was more time outside of my safe place— my house. I decided that the right mix of days of when I leave the confines of my house would have to vary based on times. I needed to test different levels of anxiety at different times of the day.
On Tuesday I had a meeting with the local author that I am working with on a major freelance project. This meeting would serve several purposes for my social anxiety. The first was that it was morning and I wanted to test how much I could take when my anxiety isn't so high. This would be a good test. Also, I wanted to gauge my anxiety levels so that I compare then to how anxiety is at my worst (4pm – 7pm.)
The meeting lasted about two and half hours. For the most part, with a 2mg dose of Ativan, I was able to function normally. After the meeting, I ran a couple of errands before heading home. My focus was on what I was doing, and specifically if I experienced any increased anxiety in my car in the morning. I did experience some anxiety, but it didn't lead to a panic attack in my car when I first got in.
What interests me here is that in the first five minutes of driving are very tough inside my car with my driving anxiety. It was that way Tuesday morning but it wasn't so extreme like when my "worst panic attack ever" happened. It was manageable. This was interesting, and I was out of my house Tuesday for a total of three hours. This was a good step in the right direction.
Right now it is all about working towards finding my triggers. My anxiety hits its peak around 4 pm like clockwork. Yesterday I wanted to test how I did in the car by taking a couple of short trips. The first was about a five-minute drive down the street to the gas station.
I knew it would be hard because my social anxiety had already peaked when I left my house at 4:30 pm. As I was driving I could feel myself on the edges of a panic attack. The first sign was a shortness of breath. Then a little numbness in the tips of my hands. I didn't lose control. I did some mindfulness breathing while I was driving and it helped.
I have able to exit my car and take a breath. It felt as if the walls were closing in on me but I managed. In the back of my mind, I thought about my past experiences and worried that this trip could end in a panic attack. I put gas in my car a proceeded down the road to my second stop.
I had to pick up something on my local Best Buy and by the time I got there I could feel some control again. My trip was short in the store and if I started to work on my thoughts. I thought about how I am taking control in the moment. I thought, how if I could stay focused I could start to fix my panic attacks and social anxiety issues.
I made it home and my level of anxiety was okay. I wasn't in a full-blown panic attack, maybe a mild one. It was a test and not an easy one. My next step is going to be going out for tea at my local coffee shop (non-caffeinated) and try to push myself to stay during my worst anxiety time of 4-7 pm. The length of time is important. I can do things like reading a book or listening to music while I am there.
What I am working on is exposure therapy. I have to get used to leaving my house when my anxiety hits it peaks. I need to learn to fight it and get to a point where I control my social anxiety. I have so many plans for the summer, and it's now or never when it comes to working on my panic attacks and social anxiety.
The last thing is that I am looking at getting a camera so that I can go out and take pictures. On the days where I am home I can leave for a while since I live in the country and takes pictures around my house. I can get out without leaving too far from where I am safe. It serves as a hobby outside my writing, school work, blog, and freelance work.
I wanted to ask my fellow photographer bloggers what is a good camera and a good price range. I have some experience in photography so I was looking at Costco because they have great deals. I want a good camera in the range of $500.00 and no more than $800.00
Always Keep Fighting.
J.E. Skye
Upgrading The Bipolar Writer Blog to Business
I am looking to expand The Bipolar Writer blog to new territories that include having the blog sell books for other artists (if I can make everything work). I am also looking to sell my own book here on my blog. I hate asking for donations but I have to do what I can.
Photo credit: unsplash-logoElijah Hiett


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You are here:
AES-GCM/XTS/LRW Accelerator
The EIP-38 - AES/GCM/XTS/LRW Engines are specifically suited for next generation processors deployed in networking and storage appliances that need to support combinations of AES (with its regular feedback modes), AES-GCM, AES-XTS and LRW-AES.
The EIP-38 AES/GCM/XTS/LRW Engines do not only meet vendor requirements for very high throughputs, but also for fast integration and cost-effectiveness.
The EIP-38 AES/GCM/XTS/LRW Engines do not only meet vendor requirements for very high throughputs, but also for fast integration and cost-effectiveness.
- Wide bus interface
- Basic AES encrypt and decrypt operations
- Key sizes: 128, 192 and 256 bits
- Key scheduling in hardware
- Hardware reverse (decrypt) key generation
- Non-feedback modes: ECB and CTR
- Feedback modes: CBC, OFB (128 bit), CFB (1-, 8- and 128-bit)
- AES-LRW with CTS (D5)
- AES-XTS with CTS1 (D18)
- AES-GCM (using AES-CTR mode and GHASH)
- Basic GHASH operation
- Fully synchronous design
- High-speed AES-XTS / AES-GCM solution
- Data Path Integrity Protection
- Silicon-proven implementation
- Fast and easy to integrate into SoCs
- Flexible layered design
- Complete range of configurations
- World-class technical support
- Documentation
- Hardware Reference and Programmer Manual
- Integration Manual
- Verification Specification
- Synthesizable Verilog RTL source code
- Self-checking RTL test bench, including test vectors and expected result vectors
- Simulation scripts
- Synthesis scripts
- Configurations:
- Many different configurations available:
- All modes, GCM+CTR+OFB mode only, or XTS+ECB only mode
- XTS+ECB only modes is also available with Data Path integrity
- Multiple cores ranging from: 1 to 14 cores
- Gate counts ranging : 96-778k gates, depending on mode and number of cores
- up to 1.4 Ghz
- up to 128 bits/clk
- For more information about this product or the all the different configurations, please contact Rambus: https://www.rambus.com/contact
- Even though the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm was designed to allow high-speed implementations, its regular feedback modes such as CBC, CFB, and OFB are not ideal for supporting very high-speed networking applications.
- The AES-GCM and AES-XTS algorithms do not use these regular AES feedback modes and allow very high-speed encryption and authentication by enabling an implementation to make use of parallelism.
- Typical uses cases for AES-GCM and AES-XTS are high-speed transmission (virtual private networking) and disk storage (protection of data at rest). For transmission protection, AES-GCM can for instance implement authenticated encryption at the network layer (IPsec) or at the data link layer (IEEE 802.1ae).
查看 INSIDE Secure AES GCM/XTS Engine 详细介绍:
- 查看 INSIDE Secure AES GCM/XTS Engine 完整数据手册
- 联系 INSIDE Secure AES GCM/XTS Engine 供应商
- UFS 3.0 Host Controller with AES Encryption compatible with M-PHY 4.0 and UniPro 1.8
- AES-GCM Multi-Booster
- DPA Resistant AES Core
- Symmetric Cryptography Engine: High Performance AES-GCM/CTR IP Core
- Symmetric Cryptography Engine: High Performance AES-GCM/CTR IP Core
- INSIDE Secure 800G Multi-Channel MACsec Engine


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*** (out of four)
What, like you've never made the same mistake twice? In Thailand for uptight Stu's (Ed Helms) wedding to Lauren (Jamie Chung, who's part Korean, not Thai), charismatic Phil (Bradley Cooper), insecure savant Alan (Zach Galifianakis) and Stu again get black-out wasted and spend the remaining pre-wedding hours piecing together their night while searching for someone they lost (Lauren's 16-year-old brother).
The buzz: I know, I know, I'm an idiot for not liking the slow, misogynistic first "Hangover," which lazily relied on gags involving tasers and old men's butts. Arriving in theaters despite Mike Tyson's tattoo artist's lawsuit taking issue with the unlicensed, Tyson-esque tattoo on Stu's face, "Part II" comes from different writers who hopefully have crafted a better non-Vegas sequel than "Ocean's Twelve."
The verdict: Now this is male bonding through f'd-up adversity, compared to what previously felt like acquaintances drunkenly coming to terms with their own simmering anger. In the stranger, funnier "Part II," the mystery of what the devil happened last night actually leads to wild places, and the so-called "wolf pack" blends together more effectively as the characters progress beyond bland identities as "the cool one" or "the weird one." Racial insensitivity has been toned down (though not eliminated), and the film's indifference toward female characters is at least a step up from the original's hatred of them. Replacing the first movie's cynicism with more jokes and some of Stu's moral compass, "Part II" becomes a ridiculous, often hilarious demonstration of what mostly upstanding people are capable of when the safety is switched off.
Did you know? When Stu claims he wants brunch at IHOP to count as his bachelor party, Phil insists that bachelor parties shouldn't include cantaloupe. Everyone knows that honeydew is the badass of the melon community.
Watch Matt on "You & Me This Morning," Fridays at 7 a.m. on WCIU, the U


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The application of games to technology, as manifested in computer (console) based, virtual environments and with physical robots, has provided a fruitful avenue for studying cognitive and emotional phenomena. It has also provided a means for facilitating and understanding about learning processes and clinical deficits within learning and decision making.
Our workshop seeks to promote cross-talk between different disciplines engaged in the use of games to study cognitive performance and learning and for applications of strategic importance within Sweden (i.e. AI and education, Ai and healthcare). Lectures and discussion groups will illuminate areas for cross-disciplinary collaboration aimed at furthering the use of games driven by artificial intelligence algorithms and technologies and utilized to evaluate emotional and cognitive facets of the gaming human agent.
The format of the two-day workshop entails presentations from a number of invited speakers with internationally-renowned expertise in the use of games, artificial intelligence algorithms and emotion evaluative systems for basic research and for pedagogic and clinical applications. We will invite contributions, open to peer review, from the wider public to participate at the event. The workshop will also include panel discussions and a dedicated session among the speakers and organizer(s) designed to illuminate common research directions and future collaborations.
Föreläsare: TBA
Datum & tid: 2020-05-11 kl 09:00 till 2020-05-12 kl 17:00
Kategorier: IT
Plats: Lindholmen Conference Centre, Lindholmspiren 5, 402 78, Gothenburg
Kontaktperson: Robert Lowe


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The Mysterious City Golden Prague game is a Hidden Object game, one of more than 400 free Games you can download and find at Free Ride Games.
Your peaceful morning is interrupted by a frantic knock on your door. Your beloved professor has gone missing from the museum where he was last seen. It's up to you to explore the beautiful and historic city of Prague including intriguing museums and mysterious castles. Discover the clues the professor left, and piece together what happened before it's too late.
Download The Mysterious City Golden Prague for FREE and enjoy:
* Over 30 unique scenes to explore
* Three challenging mini-games
* Explore the beautiful, historic city of Prague
* Unlock wallpapers featuring amazing scenery
Free Ride Games is the only place where you can download over 400 top games for free, including Hidden Object games, Time Management games, Match Three games, Sports games, Puzzle games, Arcade games, Card games, Board games, Flash games, Fashion games, Food games, Online games, Word games and many more. We have hundreds of choices from the leading game publishers like iWin, PlayFirst, Sandlot Games, Mumbo Jumbo etc. Download The Mysterious City Golden Prague game for free now.
Back to Games/Adventure


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In SharkBite either become the shark or join your friends in a battle of survival against the boat eating shark. Use your weapon to fight off the shark or avoid it all cost! At the end of each round use your shark teeth to buy more exciting items! Update: - Bait Bucket V2: Throw bait into the water to distract the shark! Find it in the Washed Up Store in the Lobby area! - EASTER! Join the group Abracadabra for a MEMBER tag in chat. Anyone can join the game group Abracadabra (Owner of the game) Please make your suggestions and bug reports on the wall there, we read everything. Developers: Simoon68 & Opplo Composer: BSlickMusic
Private Servers
There are currently no running games.


text: Last week I had a special request from a friend of mine. She asked me: "Did everybody forgot what's Christmas really about? Last year I tried to find the perfect cards for my family, but I didn't!". So I sad: "You're right! Let me try something!" And here is what I did two nights ago. Hope you all remember what is Christmas really about!


text: Violence-torn Baghdad looks as if it is under permanent curfew Security measures come and go, they say, but the daily death rates continue to increase. And if there is one word to describe the most enduring constant in addition to nearly daily car bombs, curfew would be it, most Iraqis agree. Curfew hours in Baghdad last from 9pm till 5am every day and are extended on Fridays, the Muslim holy day. But in addition to the government curfews and motor vehicular bans, Iraqi civilians are imposing a self-styled exile of sorts avoiding busy streets, market places, bus stops, stations and most restaurants. Whenever the level of violence spikes, Baghdad looks as if it is under permanent curfew – a city deserted and parched under the summer sun. "One would not go out except for very necessary reasons," said 40-year-old Jaafar Ibrahim of the Baghdad Municipality Administration department. "The dangers are extremely high nowadays and you can see the streets almost abandoned because of the threats of car bombs and sectarian militias." he added. Fleeing the violence Wandering about the streets of the capital city, one is reminded of the last days of March 2003 when US forces were approaching the outskirts and its residents were fleeing to other parts of the country. Those that stayed hunkered down in their homes with whatever provisions they had hoarded. Now they find themselves fleeing again. "One has to think of women and the little ones," said 43 year old Raghib Omar who fled the city for Mosul, 380km to the north. "My name is an additional reason that puts me through highest risk of being assassinated by sectarian militias and my family will not be safe anyway," he said referring to the rumoured targeting of males traditionally using Sunni names. Other Iraqis say their self-imposed exile within their own homes is biting in their pockets. With unemployment rampant, finding a job is a rarity. Keeping it is a miracle. "There is no income what so ever except for government officials and the rest of us can not get a bite for our children," complained 35 year old car trader Yassir Fadhil who had to stay in his house because he could not afford to cross the border to Jordan or Syria like many other Iraqis did. "I guess we will stay here and face our destiny with honour rather than go beg others for a low job abroad." He added bitterly. Blame the Zarqawis While Shia and Sunni residents of the city agree that terrorism is tearing the social fabric apart, they disagree along sectarian lines as to who is behind the violence. "It is the Zarqawis and the Saddamis who are ruining the country," said 30-year-old Daawa party member Riza Ali. Shias blames Saddamists andal-Qaeda fighters for the killings"People are afraid of going out because of the car bombs and foreign suicide bombers who are killing any one that moves in the street." But 25-year-old computer engineer Salim Hakki of Karrada district says he is targeted by Shia militias just for being Sunni. "And Americans are covering up for the militias by allowing them to move freely during curfew hours while arresting any Sunni who has a simple pistol at home for self defence. That is the reason why most Sunnis fled Baghdad for safer cities and towns or to neighbouring countries" Sectarian militia Both US and Iraqi government officials are now blaming sectarian militias for the collapsing security situation in Baghdad, Basra and Diyala where a mixture of Shia and Sunni families once lived in mixed neighbourhoods. Most Iraqis believe the Mehdi militia lead by young Shia cleric Muqtada Sadr to be behind much of the violence. In 2004, Sadr gained notoriety for having stood up against US forces in both Sadr City - named after his father, a revered Shia cleric - and the holy city of Najaf. Since then, he has consolidated his power by allying with the Daawa party, lead by former Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. Reluctant forces With nearly 30 seats in the new Iraqi parliament, Iraqi forces are reluctant to move against al-Sadr or his militia. "Regardless of who and what is causing this, Baghdad remains paralysed and no one can disagree with that assessment," admitted Ali al-Yassiri of the ministry of national Security. Sunnis see the hand of al-Sadrloyalists behind sectarian killingsHe told Aljazeera.net: "Mistakes are too many to count and every one is responsible. Citizens are not fully co-operating with us and most of us have agendas that sometimes conflict with the high national interests. "The only hope we have now is for the reconciliation plan to succeed and for all Iraqis to give loyalty to the country rather than sect or party." After a few moments of reflection, he corrected himself. "Baghdad is dead, my friend, not paralysed." SOURCE: Aljazeera


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Wang Yi Holds Telephone Talks with Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski
In the evening of March 5, 2014, Foreign Minister Wang Yi held telephone talks with Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski. They discussed the situation in Ukraine.
Wang Yi stated China's principle position. He expressed that China supports the mediation efforts of the international community and hopes a political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis could be found at an early date, so as to effectively guarantee the legitimate rights and interests of all ethnic groups in Ukraine, to avoid the escalation of tensions, and to safeguard regional peace and stability.
Radek Sikorski said that the Polish side is willing to keep contacts with China on finding political settlement for Ukrainian crisis.


text: Did anybody see Jerry talking to Babe Laufenberg about the Cowboys? He was asked about a contract extension for Red, and basically said that Red is a better coach today, and that his gaining experience has been on "our dime." He said the experience gaining has come on the fans dime and the fans are owed the opportunity to cash in. In other words, the fans have patiently paid the price with Red, and payday is almost here - and HE, that is Jerry, owes it to all the Cowboy fans to stick with Red. So Cowboy fans, Jerry is sticking with Red just for you!


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Vevčani Karneval
This past weekend I traveled to the village of Vevčani in Macedonia to experience their annual new year's celebration and carneval. The festival takes place on the 13th – 14th of January each year, and it is supposedly a tradition that stretches back 1300 years or more.
Fellow PCV Chris and I arrived in Vevčani on the evening of the 13th after the first parade with few expectations. We hadn't been able to discover too much about the events, but we had heard rumors of the festival's greatness. We were instantly thrown into the mix of festivities and had an amazing time. The weekend was by far one of the most personal, memorable and fun travel experiences I have had since arriving in the Balkans.
The night of the 13th, the entire city gathered in a frenzy of multi-generational traditional music and circle dancing in the square from 10pm on. Beer tents kept everyone warm and if you looked out over the dancing crowd, swords and tridents and masks and stilts peeked up in time with the music, silhouetted against the stage lights. Chris and I found the circle dancing much the same as in Albania, if not more frenetic because of the energy of the holiday. The whole event was surreal – I was splashed with mud and we counted down to a "new year" as the fireworks went off at midnight just as it began to rain.
In the morning, Chris and I discovered that the rain had apparently turned to snow during the night. A foot of fresh powder greeted us as we ventured out to explore the town in daylight. While peeking into a pen full of sheep the homeowner on the front steps of the house next door called her daughter out to talk to us. Turns out she knew a little English, and they invited us inside for coffee.
In the house, the family's twenty-something son and his four friends/cousins were all well into the rakia and were in the process of putting on their costumes and cheersing/dancing away the morning. The mother poured us a glass (they serve raki hot and sweetened here) and turned up the volume on the traditional music TV channel and started singing and dancing around the table. Everyone else joined in….and then the mother smashed a glass against the wall during a fit of impassioned dancing.
It was fantastic. Another unbelievable example of the unhesitating generosity I've encountered in the Balkans.
One thing that struck me in this home was that our visit was so natural. Unlike many Albanian hosts I've had, they didn't go to any extra fuss for us or force anything on us. Even when the boys left to go visit the homes of their friends and family around the village and they invited us to come along, it was completely comfortable and sincere. No pressure. We looked at each other and said okay and headed out after them into the snow.
For the rest of the morning and well into the afternoon we were with these boys/men in four different houses. Each one was set up to receive us and other costumed revelers with food and lots of warm raki. We learned a little Macedonian, and, as the day progressed, we encountered just about all the men in town – all dressed up and in various states of sobriety. At around 2 we ended up back in the center of town and a chaotic "parade" of sorts ensued with all the costumed villagers and kids making merry around a bonfire. Many of the costumes are burned as part of the festivities. The guys we were with took good "care" of us and definitely made sure we had a good time.
Among the costumes we encountered throughout the day were Obama, Angela Merkel, cowboys, a series of trees and lots of devilish/ghoulish creatures. I gathered that the villagers are very proud of their costumes and work on making them all year long. Many are of a traditional type – the guys we were with had older costumes that represented membership in a "krewe" of some sort – but many are also metaphorical or satirical and have to do with current events or political issues, most of which I didn't understand.
After taking a break from the revelry, Chris and I walked past the bonfire again, only to meet up with two of the guys we had been with all day….still drinking and hanging out with a few stragglers. They immediately said "Chris, Laura – you are coming with us," and took us to their upstairs family home in the center of town for dinner with their family. The food was fantastic and everyone had that tired post-holiday dazed look on their faces so it was okay to sit at the table and just be silent and tired and take it all in.
I couldn't stop smiling.
Photos are up on the photos page…and check out this video for an idea of what it all looked like.
Also – this article quotes the festival as " always [being] held on St. Vasilij's day – the beginning of the New Year according to the Julian calendar." One of the houses we visited was the house of a man named Vasili. I now understand why they made a big deal about his name and the day.


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Does the average Republican know the difference between a journalist and a political pundit?
By admin ~ December 9th, 2012 @ 3:09 pm
It is the job of the first one to gather up facts, organize them logically, and convey them to the public.
It is the job of the second to try and spread the ideology of a particular group that is desirous of political power … you know, like the folks on FOX News. They don't have any training in real journalism and, therefore, have no concept of the ethic of objectivity. If it's dishonest to fool you into thinking they "deliver the news," well hey, it's just part of the job.