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Grindr is een geosociale applicatie (app) voor smartphones, bedoeld om homoseksuele en biseksuele mannen met elkaar in contact te brengen. Grindr werd gelanceerd in 2009 en telde in 2018 wereldwijd zo'n 5 miljoen gebruikers, waarvan circa 3,8 miljoen dagelijkse gebruikers. In 2013 waren er ongeveer 15.000 Nederlandse gebruikers.

Werking
De applicatie is beschikbaar voor toestellen met iOS, Blackberry OS (RIM) en Android. Door middel van geolocatie kunnen gebruikers van Grindr zien welke mannen zich in de omgeving bevinden. Deze worden in de user interface getoond door middel van kleine profielfotootjes, die gerangschikt zijn van dichtbij naar ver weg. Door het fotootje van een andere gebruiker aan te klikken, verschijnt een kort profiel met diens "stats" (leeftijd, lengte, gewicht) en de mogelijkheid om te chatten, foto's te versturen of de eigen locatie door te geven.

In 2018 liet de maker van Grindr weten dat het voortaan niet meer is toegestaan om discriminerende opmerkingen in een profieltekst op te nemen. Teksten waarin gebruikers aangeven dat ze geen contact willen met bijvoorbeeld Aziatische, zwarte, dikke of vrouwelijke mannen zullen door moderatoren worden verwijderd. Het blijft wel toegestaan om voorkeuren op een positief omschreven manier aan te geven.

Ontwikkeling
Grindr werd op 25 maart 2009 gelanceerd door het Amerikaanse bedrijf Nearby Buddy Finder, LLC. Het werd al snel wereldwijd gebruikt en op 18 juni 2012 maakte Grindr bekend dat er 4 miljoen gebruikers in 192 landen waren, waarvan 1,1 miljoen dagelijks online waren. Ruim 1,5 miljoen gebruikers bevinden zich in de Verenigde Staten en met 350.000 is Londen de stad met de meeste gebruikers. In Nederland waren er in 2013 ca. 15.000 gebruikers van Grindr.

In juni 2010 lanceerde Grindr een versie onder de naam DNR Social, genoemd naar Derek Hartley and Romaine Patterson, die als Derek and Romaine (D "n" R) op de zender Sirius XM Radio een populair programma presenteren, gericht op de lgbt-gemeenschap. De gebruikers en mogelijkheden zijn echter hetzelfde als op Grindr.

Op 8 september 2011 lanceerde Grindr een vergelijkbare applicatie onder de naam Blendr, die niet beperkt is tot alleen homoseksuele mannen en die ook mogelijkheden biedt voor het aangaan van niet-seksuele contacten. Naar het voorbeeld van Grindr lanceerde een ander bedrijf in 2012 de app Tinder, bedoeld voor het aangaan van heteroseksuele contacten. Voor lesbische vrouwen is er een vergelijkbare app onder de naam Her.

Gevaren
Gebruikers kunnen via Grindr anoniem contacten aangaan, wat een voordeel is voor mannen die (nog) niet uit de kast zijn, anderzijds brengt deze anonimiteit ook gevaren met zich mee, met name voor onervaren homoseksuele jongeren. Kwaadwillenden kunnen via misleidende (fake) profielen andere gebruikers tot dates verleiden waarbij, vaak met behulp van drugs, seksueel misbruik of diefstal plaatsvindt. Met deze combinatie van anonimiteit en risico's staan apps als Grindr in de traditie van oudere homo-ontmoetingsplaatsen als urinoirs, parken en parkeerplaatsen langs snelwegen.

In Engeland en Wales werden de apps Grindr en Tinder genoemd in een toenemend aantal strafzaken aangaande moord, verkrachting en kindermisbruik: 55 keer in 2013, 204 keer in 2014 en 676 keer in 2017. In Nederland kwam in februari 2018 de 17-jarige Orlando Boldewijn onder nog onopgehelderde omstandigheden om het leven na een date via Grindr en begin april van dat jaar werd een man in Dordrecht via de app naar een vermeende date gelokt en vervolgens door 16 mannen in elkaar geslagen. In het laatste geval constateerde de rechtbank echter geen specifiek homofoob geweld.

In april 2018 kwam Grindr in opspraak toen bekend werd dat gebruikersgegevens, waaronder de hiv-status, waren gedeeld met de data-analysebedrijven Apptimize and Localytics.

Externe link
 Officiële website

Software
Homoseksualiteit


EFL CUP : MANCHESTER CITY SINK LEICESTER CITY IN PENALTY SHOOT-OUT, 3-1, TO REACH SEMI-FINALS ! - Sports | Sports 24 | Sports News !
Home World Cup EFL CUP : MANCHESTER CITY SINK LEICESTER CITY IN PENALTY SHOOT-OUT, 3-1, TO REACH SEMI-FINALS !
EFL CUP : MANCHESTER CITY SINK LEICESTER CITY IN PENALTY SHOOT-OUT, 3-1, TO REACH SEMI-FINALS !
Manchester City win on penalties!
It finishes 3-1 after four spot kicks each.
Oleksandr Zinchenko with the winning penalty.


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Romelia del Carmen Agüero Oviedo (n. 4 de noviembre de 1940 en
Barquisimeto, Estado Lara) más conocida como Romelia Agüero  es una  Actriz de televisión y doblaje, Humorista y Locutora Venezolana. Reconocida por trabajar en los exitosos programas de humor: Radio Rochela (RCTV) y Cásate y Verás (Venevision).

Biografía
Egresada de la Universidad Central de Venezuela en Comunicación social, mención Audiovisual.

Carrera
Romelia Agüero es conocida por sus interpretaciones en RCTV y por ser la madre del también Actor de doblaje Juan Carlos Vázquez más conocido como Doña Griselda. En la televisión ha integrado el elenco de varias telenovelas, entre las que destacan Amargo silencio del canal Venezolana de Televisión y Gómez, La fiera, Residencia para señoritas, La dama de rosa, Cristal, Estefanía en RCTV. También ha aparecido en series de humor y comedia como Kiko Botones, El niño de papel, La pandilla de los siete y el más conocido de todos Radio Rochela de RCTV.

Programas de humor
 Cásate y Verás
 Kiko Botones
 El niño de papel
 Radio Rochela
 La pandilla de los siete
 Plaza Sésamo

Novelas y dramáticos

 1960 Amargo silencio
 1973 Raquel - Morela
 1978 La fiera
 1979 Estefanía - Belen Blanco
 1983 Marta y Javier - Enfermera Marquez
 1984 Azucena - Doña Rosalia
 1985 Cristal - Cachita
 1986 La dama de rosa - Doña Cleotilde Kebil
 1988 Abigaíl - Doña Blanca Cabrera
 1990 Anabel - Doña Josefina
 1990 Gardenia - Asunción
 1993 Dulce ilusión - Doña Gardenia Flores
 1997 Todo por tu amor - Delfina
 1997 Contra viento y marea -  Crisálida Quintana
 2002 Mambo y canela
 2004 Sabor a ti
 2011 Natalia del mar - Carmela Díaz
 2011 El árbol de Gabriel - Lucrecia

Reconocimientos
 Homenaje en Perú por Señó Manué (1979)
 Orden en 1ª Clase al Trabajo (1988)
 Orden Jacinto Lara
 Mara Internacional de Diamantes 2012, por 50 años de trayectoria.
 Ente muchos otros.

Referencias

Actores de televisión de Venezuela
Actores de teatro de Venezuela
Mujeres humoristas de Venezuela
Barquisimetanos
Actores masculinos de Venezuela

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The London NUT Regional Council tonight discussed the swathe of attacks facing public sector workers across London - and the communities we support. However, it also showed a clear determination to fight those attacks.
After an introduction from Megan Dobney from SERTUC, delegates reported on the fightback against pensions and cuts. Management attacks on union reps and the threat of Academies and Free Schools were debated. Reports from Tower Hamlets and Camden NUT confirmed that ballots for strike action were taking place in those boroughs against the cuts to education services.
There was anger at Cameron's attack on 'multiculturalism', as he pandered to the far-right on the day the EDL were marching through Luton. But there was also anger at Labour Councils who were carrying through cuts, instead of joining trade unions in fighting against them.
One delegate rightly condemned today's attack by the Institute of Directors on teachers' national pay and conditions. The IoD's demands have got nothing to do about boosting 'growth' but are all about the naked pursuit of profit - at our expense. They know that the potential power of collective union strength stands between them and the destruction of public services. They want to take that weapon away from working people. We have to use that power to protect our communities from the profiteers' attacks.
Chestnut Grove not Chestnut 'Gove'!


A few of us gathered for some more Show & Tell with some in-depth look at work that any one wanted to share.
Pat, Ren, Nancy, and Bev are watching Jeanne put her work up on the wall.
Jeanne started this piece in a GVQC workshop, and we think the color choices are terrific. The discussion included reviewing fabric and designs for border options.
Jeanne also showed us this completed piece in which she used fabric she printed from her photograph and her hand-dyed fabrics.
And Pat showed us her completed shibori-fabric quilt. Her quilting really enhances the lines created by the shibori dyeing.


Travel – Planes, Trains and Shoes!
Hello lover, I'm home! I've fallen head-over-heels for what must be one of the world's most fabulous hotels – a shoe-themed boutique bolt-hole in Virginia, USA.
The marketing motto of the state is 'Virginia is for lovers' and any lovers of shoes will certainly appreciate this fantastic find.
You can't miss the fabulous Craddock Terry hotel (www.craddockterryhotel.com) – its exterior is adorned with a giant red shoe.
The hotel was created from two former shoe factory buildings in downtown Lynchburg, in the foothills of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains.
The footwear theme can be found everywhere from the arty prints in the bedrooms to the items in the giftshop and even the room key cards.
Each guestroom door is also adorned with a shoe – so if you forget your room number, just remember that you were staying in 'stiletto' instead.
Close to the railway station, it was the perfect location for an overnight in Lynchburg – home to several historical Civil War sites and a compact downtown area filled with cool boutiques – before I hopped on an Amtrak train to explore the rest of this beautiful state.
Driving in America is so over – the hip people are now rediscovering the romance of train travel.
With gorgeously renovated train stations, spacious trains and super-low ticket prices, I let the train take the strain from Washing DC's stunning Union Station through Colonial Fredericksburg and on to funky Richmond, with its cool cobbled downtown area, its organic eateries and hip bars, before stopping off again in cool Culpeper.
I also loved the shopping opportunities in Reston Town Centre, an urban village filled with designer names and speciality shops.
A lot of people wouldn't think of visiting Virginia, but they're missing out on a true gem, and it's so easy to get to once you fly into Washington DC too.
The state is also famous for its wine trail – second only to California for the quality and variety of its wines. October is officially Virginia Wine Month, which makes it a great time to go as there are lots of offers and promotions on offer and all the restaurants and bars specialise in homegrown wines.
But it's not all girly treats – guys will love the Civil War history of each destination on the Amtrak route, and everyone will appreciate the fab restaurants and wineries such as the award-winning Paradise Springs Winery (www.paradisespringswinery.com) in Clifton.
Charlottesville is home to Thomas Jefferson's stately mountain home Monticello while George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens (www.visit.mountvernon.org) is America's most visited historic home.
A short 7 hour flight to Washington DC is the gateway to Amtrak Virginia's route. With just a few hours at most between each location and hotels close to the stations, it's the perfect way to see the 'rail' America. Visit www.virginia.org and www.amtrakvirginia.com for more details. Prices for a round-trip from Washington DC to Lynchburg by Amtrak start from just $29.


Most people are getting fed up looking at their cash earning next to help you nothing on deposit. Absolutely, it seems to make sense to Over the counter pyridium hold on and just sit on the cash, and yes, it is attractive to have survived all the likely troubles so far, but sup, the boredom of it all!
It does not need a lot of imagination to come to the conclusion that the USA will be the real first to make sure you come out of the recession. Evenly, it does not need a lot of visualization to realize that it cannot be feasible for GBP to be prodded " up " for ever or ride on the back of this or which usually sentiment or risk desire for foods.
It is not very easy to adore any currency these days. However, it is not hard to feel jittery about holding 1 type in particular, namely Sterling. Lately, when I think of GBP, I see an acrobat wobbling on a tight piece of string with no safety net below and a strong gale approaching. Today, getting rid of it, means you've got to get into another currency.
I would not expect miracles immediately, but I would expect to go forward in style during due course. The game isn't for tame little parrots, it is more for vultures. They have a knack designed for spotting prey, but small children a vulture is a calm bird.
If the urge to get a lot of currency action is strong enough and the feeling from sitting on non being employed money is unbearable, this can be a situation which needs careful handling. One must not enter into a state like an alcoholic just who craves for a drink, or even gambler who needs to have your bet for the sake of having a choice.
The weapons in opportunity have to be carefully maintained in tip top state, as must be the knowledge from when and how best to use them to obtain maximum results. Everybody gets a chance to attack it right at least once, and I am sure many of you will own up you have had that risk, only to see it go out of that window due to being 100 % unprepared to grab it.
The following does not mean that one should consider dicey prospects. It is prudent to know when not to progress, let go, and walk away. With all this in mind, I phoned my friend saying that in the event the need was so great with regards to have to get into some stage, then I would get rid of my own pounds pronto, and get inside dollars.
"I guess" he said, waiting for me to come up with an indicator without having to make it look like the person was fishing for recommendations.
Somewhere along the line, this has to be paid for in full. That will mean that the belt should be tightened, and whoever definitely will tighten it, will not be as well popular with the masses, mainly because is invariably the case. Although that of course, is a further matter.
I believe, I have the feeling that lately, the USD is beckoning and saying "Hey, come and get me before it's too late". It does not result in many people do not have a different feeling. This is just as well, since whatever market needs a buyer and a seller.
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Posts Tagged 'crime'
A Review of Fatal System Error
Posted by Scott Holstad on December 22, 2015
Fatal System Error: The Hunt for the New Crime Lords Who are Bringing Down the Internet by Joseph Menn
Fatal System Error is an absolutely scary as shit, totally frightening book about today's hackers and their ties to the Russian mob and how billions of US dollars in terms of identity theft and credit card fraud make their way to the Russian Mafia through this new breed of hacker. The author is a technology journalist who is a decent writer and the book could have been good, and at times, is, but it has some major flaws as well. First through, Menn, the author, traces the lives and paths of new cybercrime fighters in America and Britain, Barrett Lyon and Andy Crocker, as they develop ways to defend against hacker attacks and ultimately carry the battle to them. What they find out and how they did it is shocking.
Lyon, a young California computer geek helped a friend's company stop something called a DDOS attack (denial-of-service) in the early 2000s. This was fairly new and some hackers had figured out they could start using their computers and other people's computers in what later became known as bots and botnets to flood a person or company's single server with data requests, thus bringing it down and bringing it offline. They initially started doing this to offshore gambling sites, where there was majorly big money to be made, and they demanded "ransoms" of some $5,000, $10,000, $20,0000, and as time went by, as much as $200,000, payable in hours, or else these sites would be shut down on a big game day and these betting sites would lose many millions of dollars. One of these major gambling sites heard about what Lyon had done and hired him to quickly defeat a DDOS attack against its company, which Lyon did. The thing I don't really understand, since this became Lyon's thing and since the author made such a big deal about this for about half the book and made such a big deal about Lyon's computer genius, is that it seems to me that Lyon merely obtained and later bought large server farms to build up bandwidth and capacity to defeat the DDOS attacks – and it worked. But that's not genius! Anyone could figure that out! That's just brute force defense. There's no brilliant coding. There's not even any brilliant networking. No virus traps, no Trojans, no sniffers, nothing. Just server farms. Okay, whatever. He started his own company, with the backing of a number of these gambling companies he was now working for, all offshore, and which he rather stupidly and naively didn't realize were themselves criminals, er, US mobsters. So, he started his own business with mob money. At some point, he rats them out, loses his business, somehow survives, starts a new business, and discovers that the world of hacking has passed him by, as DDOS is a thing of the past and he has to catch up if he's going to sell his security skills. Lyon at some point started tracking hackers though various networks, finding that many of them were Russian punks, just teens. As part of this investigation, he came into contact with an English policeman named Andy Crocker, who was doing the same sort of investigation, but on an official basis for his government. Simultaneously, though acting independently, the two began to move in on the "bad" guys, watching as they transitioned from basic hacking to DDOS ransom schemes, then to identify theft and credit card fraud, and finally to government-sponsored cyber attacks on other governments and multinational corporations.
Andy Crocker was a British policeman, former military, now working a national task force dedicated to eliminating Internet crime. As noted, he came across Lyon while researching these hackers who were also hitting British gambling companies. He traced them, like Lyon, to Russia and other Eastern European countries, such as Kazakhstan, Latvia, and Estonia. Like Lyon, he was able to trace the originators of some of these DDOS attacks to actual hackers and found out some of their true identities and locations. He actually traveled to Russia to begin a cooperative effort with the FSB and MVD to locate, arrest, and prosecute these Russian hackers. And although it took great effort and a hell of a long time, they got three of the prominent ones, all young kids who had done a hell of a lot of damage and were responsible for millions of dollars of theft and destruction. But they obviously weren't the only ones, by far. There were thousands of others and these were low level hackers. They wanted to go after bigger ones. And to their dismay, they found they couldn't. One they tried to get was the son of the province's police chief and he was untouchable. The biggest, someone called King Arthur, who was allegedly making a million a day, was unknown and unreachable and was a god in the hacking world. They eventually found his country and he was also untouchable. Andy was told by everyone that no one could go after him. That no one could arrest him, sorry. Someone big was looking out for him. Crocker came to the conclusion that either the Russian mob and or, and more likely, the Russian government was using and protecting the big Russian hackers. It was depressing. In fact, after Crocker returned to England, the Russian prosecutor of these hackers who was so gung ho about prosecuting more Russian hackers was found murdered!
Another depressing thing was just how deeply into Russian society this world of hacking and cybercrime runs. Apparently, St. Petersburg is a monster crime haven. Apparently there's a mob organization so big and so powerful and so feared that they brazenly run ads advertising their services and skills openly and offer a home to over 100 big league hackers, carders, virus makers, botnet owners, scammers, spammers, crackers, etc. It's called the Russian Business Network (RBN), and although it's theoretically merely a network provider, it's widely thought to be a government-sponsored, mob controlled crime syndicate that is extremely violent, horrendously violent, and very dangerous. And there's not a damn thing anyone can do about it. It's completely protected. It seems that virtually everything seriously big, bad, and evil goes through the RBN. No one can penetrate it. It's a god.
The book goes on to assert that the battle against hackers and cybercrime has essentially been lost. That those who argue that real-time, live use of credit cards is riskier than online use are insane and dead wrong (which is interesting, cause I just read a carding book by uberhacker and now-Wired editor Kevin Poulsen stating this very assertion the author's denying). That over 30% of America's credit card numbers, as well as Social Security card numbers and other forms of ID, are in the hands of the Russian mobsters. This book was written in 2010. I imagine if this was true then, it's probably worse now. It's depressing as hell. Still, the two times I've been victimized by credit card fraud and theft, it's not been online; it's been live use theft.
The thing that really irritated me about this book, though, was that the author relied virtually exclusively on these two "experts" (one of whom I question is actually even a real expert) to write the book. Shouldn't he have sought out sources from CERT, the much maligned (in this book) FBI, Secret Service, FBS (since he went there), big name hackers (go to the source), white hat hackers, other security professionals, etc.? Why rely on two people who may have had five years of varying degrees of success in the mid-2000s, neither of which I've ever heard of, and I've heard of many major security professionals, when there are so many sources to choose from? It seems short sighted and it seems like you're limiting your book and your readers' educations and experiences. I don't like it. But that's what he chose to do, so that's what I have to live with. Still, I dislike it so much, and I dislike the fact that he focuses so damn much of the book on one figure who focuses almost exclusively on a hacking technique (DDOS) that went out of style even before the mid-2000s, that I'm knocking the book down from four stars max to three max. This could and should have been a much better and broader book and it wasn't. I think the author did the reader a grave disservice. Not a great book with unusual sources, but slightly recommended if you want to wake up sweating in the middle of the night.
I found a number of interesting reviews, one of which impressed me so much, that I'm going to print it here without the author's knowledge or permissions, but while giving him full credit and hoping he approves. I think he makes some excellent points about the book and they're worth reading.
Joe White rated it did not like it · review of another edition
Shelves: on-shelf, techread
Thank goodness for Goodreads reviews and bookswap. Reading the prior reviews I had low expectations for this book, and through swap I only wasted money on the postage.
The book can almost be divided into 3 segments. The author seems to only have interviewed two main participants against internet crime, and came away with an incomplete and incoherent understanding of any details of the problem. He almost attributes all the evil on the internet as having a denial of service as the source. Even during the second part of the book, which included the topic of identity theft, he was attributing most of the theft activity to DDoS. I think he just like to bring up the acronym.
Some of the problems I had with the book :
1. There were 90 pages attributed to crimes of US mafia figures, in which the dollar amounts of each occurrence were laboriously spelled out like a Bob Cratchet accountant listing personal losses and moaning about the inability of the FBI to pursue the Gumbas and delegate justice. Literary style could have been extended to a two-page spreadsheet report detailing the who, how, and how much figures. This segment of the book generated the feeling of watching a Godfather marathon movie session, and I felt really diverged from the intent of discussing internet crime in terms of how the internet is the enabling tool. I already suspected that mules carry money, people get killed, and identities are just handles to hide behind.
2. The swashbuckling crime fighting DDoS buster had a girlfriend to whom a few pages were wasted on. Since she was irrelevant to the overall topic, she could have been mentioned once for background, and not introduced as what might have become a significant character (but never did).
3. The mechanics of defeating a DDos attack were never detailed. The server farm set up in Phoenix had the bandwidth and number of servers to defeat an attack, but there were no details provided as to why it was specifically set up in Phoenix, what its components were, and how a direct attack defense was managed.
4. Because the author seemed obsessed with DDoS, he mentioned bots and botnets at least once on every 3rd page. He never described a bot to the laymen. He never made it clear whether a bot could consist of a virtual machine created for a purpose, or whether it had to be an independent 3rd party box belonging to an unsuspecting bystander. The author never fully explained the mechanics of a trojan horse implant, and didn't clarify the difference between a virus and trojan horse. He also never explained what can be done at the individual user level to fend off trojans and viruses, except in a short subject dealing with phishing emails generated by spam during — DDoS attacks. He never clarified that DDoS isn't necessary for phishing, and neither are bots.
5. Only once was it mentioned that one group switched to Macs because they seemed less susceptible to attack. He mentioned at least twice that you can't sue Microsoft for providing a faulty OS combined with a poorly updated integrated browser, because purchasing a machine with Windows provides only a license to use the software and provides no firm sale transaction in which a person owns the software running on the hardware that they do own. He did mention the Microsoft monopoly on the OS, but failed to mention that Microsoft was prosecuted in conjunction with monopolistic powers only related to installation of a browser. It was never mentioned that Microsoft to this day controls hardware vendor access to Windows, and if the hardware companies dare install anything else but Windows or MS products, they will be heavily penalized in regard to being able to install Windows. If anyone says the Dell sells Linux, I must say that I've only ever been able to find minimal hardware boxes in the very basic desktop configuration, and in selecting one of those choices, there is a radio selection button for the OS that would full form advance to a Windows selection. Phone inquiries were even worse at the individual customer level. Only institutional server customers could purchase equipment with Linux pre-installed. Same story at all vendors except Lenovo, and then only through individual providers.
6. The author in the last 50 pages provides a conglomerated synopsis of headline events and trends regarding contemporary internet warfare across national borders. China is mentioned as a war opponent in cyberhacking, but it is never mentioned that China manufactures a significant volume of the circuitry used in electronics and could very easily, using the subversion techniques described by R.J. Pineiro, hide logic bombs and covert data skimmers within circuit boards and components. This could happen to Apple and all the phone manufacturers, so that their equipment could be subverted despite the installed software. Of course the title of the book was "the hunt for the internet crime lords", so hardware subversion might have been beyond the scope.
7. Since the title was the "hunt for the New Crime Lords who are bringing down the internet", some credit must be given to the author for remaining in the hunt venue, and not providing the extraneous technical details that readers might be led to expect by the book-cover blurb adulations such as "A fascinating high-tech whodunit". The high tech here would be synonymous to an interstate highway providing speeders the ability to go faster.
8. The middle segment dealing with a physical legal pursuit presence in Russia, was in my opinion the redeeming revelation of the book. Life in Russia has never been painted as a Disneyland experience, but the adverse conditions both politically and physically presented here, really underscored the futility of pursuit of Soviet area bad guys in their home territory.
Posted in Writing | Tagged: book reviews, books, botnets, bots, carding, computers, computing, crime, cybercrime, DDoS, FBI, FSB, hackers, hacking, identity theft, RBN, reviews, Russian Business Network, Russian Mafia, technology, writing | Leave a Comment »
At the end of the past two years, I believe, I've written about what took place during that year, so I'm doing so again. Here's the synopsis, as best my memory can recollect.
In January, my mother celebrated her 84th birthday, so we spent a little time with her. The month was otherwise uneventful.
In February, we put our old house on the market and moved to our new house. We're pretty grateful for the trade. Our old house was in what looked like a nice neighborhood, but it was actually nearly a ghetto. It was very loud and had a lot of crime. Now, we're up on top of a mountain in a quiet neighborhood with no crime. We feel good about that.
February also saw the death of our beloved cat Toby. He was only six and it didn't seem fair. He essentially died of kidney failure, although we sadly had to put him to sleep (which seems to me to be a pansy way of saying we killed him). We had him cremated and keep his ashes with my late cat Rocky's ashes. We still miss Toby a lot.
We also got a membership to a good shooting range in February and have enjoyed that a lot.
March was pretty uneventful.
In April, I got a new car. I traded in my lemon BMW 530i for a 2011 Toyota Camry and couldn't be happier. I found it on Autotrader at a dealer in Atlanta and went down there, beat someone else coming to buy it — barely — test drove it, and left with it to come home. It's been a great car.
Sometime around April also saw the return of my head pain that I've had since 2010. I have trigeminal neuralgia, so I have to take a lot of pain pills and have had a number of procedures to try and combat it.
Additionally, Gretchen's birthday is in April, so we went up to Baltimore to celebrate it with her friends and family. We had a very good time. It was great to see everyone and we got to go to an Orioles game, a museum, some good restaurants and even saw some friends in Virginia on the way.
Finally, we celebrated our one year anniversary in April. It was pretty low key, but we had a good time remembering our wedding and honeymoon to the beach the year before.
In May, I got a SCCY CPX-1 9 mm through an online auction site for a very good price and a Beretta PX4 Storm at a gun show. Neither gun has turned out to be my favorite — a Ruger SR9c is — but I was happy to have them. Meanwhile, Gretchen turned out to be a pro with our Marlin .22 rifle.
I believe it was May, too, when Mom moved from here back up to Knoxville, her old home. It was sad to see her go, but it was good for her to be back with her many friends and at her old church, which she had missed. She got a nice one level condo and is living on her own. We do worry about her though.
In June, we thought we had a buyer for our old house, finally. We had had to lower the price three times and it was going for practically nothing. We were about to take an $18,000 loss on it. However, the financing for this buyer fell through, so we were back at square one.
In June, I also had a disability hearing. It was my second time in court for it and I was denied for the fourth time. However, my lawyer appealed. And the judge left open the chance that he might rule in my favor if my orthopedist provided appropriate information.
July was the one year anniversary of my father's death. That was very sad. We went to visit his gravestone in the cemetery where he's buried in Knoxville. In July, I also had the first of three neurological procedures for my head pain. It didn't really work, so that was disappointing.
We also had a new buyer for our old home in July. They were doing FHA financing though, so it would take awhile. They agreed to buy the house at very nearly the price we were asking. The closing was set for October.
I think August was pretty uneventful. I had been doing a lot of traveling back and forth between Chattanooga and Knoxville to help Mom out with things. That got old. We also started looking for a new church, even though I was on the vestry of our old church. It was simply too small and too old. We were the youngest people there and people were dying off and no one new was joining. It was a dying church. So we started going to other Episcopal churches, as well as Methodist and Presbyterian.
In September, I celebrated my 48th birthday and tried not to get too depressed.
During that month, I also had two more surgical procedures for my head pain, but neither helped. It was discouraging.
October came around and the financing for our house's buyer fell through the day before the closing. We were livid and so were they. However, our realtor worked the phones and found a new lender within two days, so they were approved and a new closing was set for about two weeks away.
I also had my third court hearing for my disability. My lawyers prepared me for disappointment. They said everything would hinge on what the medical expert would say and they didn't expect much. When the judge started questioning the expert, though, I was shocked to hear him say my back was too bad to work and that, combined with my trigeminal neuralgia and other assorted things, meant I couldn't work at all. So the judge finally ruled in my favor and I got disability. I was shocked and elated, because I had been trying for this for over three years and now finally I got it.
During this time, my insomnia had gotten worse and I was consistently getting up between 2 and 3:30 AM, which was frustrating.
We did something pretty fun in October. For my birthday, Gretchen got me Penguins tickets to go see them play the Predators in Nashville. So we went up there, went to Bridgestone Arena, which was nice, and saw the Pens win 3-0. It was very fun and we had a great time. We also had a fantastic meal at a nearby restaurant before the game. Oh, and there were a ton of Pens fans there too!
October is also the month for Halloween. We never had kids come to our house at our old place, but we had about 25 kids come to our new house, so we were tickled about that.
In November, we traveled to Saint Simons Island GA, where I used to live, to go to the beach and take a nice vacation. The weather was still good and we had a nice time. We also went to Savannah and Jekyll Island. It was a great vacation.
In November, we also finally sold our old house and with the money I was able to pay off all of my old student loans, which was a sizable sum, so that was great. However, we discovered a water leak in the kitchen the day before the closing. The buyers still bought the home, but we went through a nightmare getting repairs to the floors and cabinets done while these people got impatient waiting to move in. I don't blame them, but they drove me nuts.
Additionally, we had a new addition to the family this month. Ace, a three month old tabby cat, joined, per Gretchen's strong wishes. He's a bundle of energy, but he's been fun.
This month, in December, I finally got my disability award letter and a lump sum for my back pay. I also got my Medicare card, even though I'm retaining my Obamacare insurance cause it's frankly better.
We also found a new church we're joining next week. It's Rivermont Presbyterian Church, which is a UPUSA church. It's bigger with more people of all ages and has a number of Sunday Schools to attend, so we're excited.
We celebrated Christmas last week and had a great holiday season. We sent and got a lot of cards and exchanged some great gifts and had a good time. Of course it's also bowl month, so that's good.
In sports, my Steelers have made the playoffs, so I have big hopes for them. My Pirates made the playoffs for the second year in a row, but didn't get anywhere. There's always next year, right? My Penguins made the playoffs, but got bounced out in the second round by the Rangers, so that was disappointing. They're playing now and even though they have a TON of injuries, they're still having a good season. Meanwhile my Vols made a bowl game for the first time in four years and they'll be playing Iowa on January 2. I'm hoping for a win.
So, it was an up and down year. I still have head pain. I still have insomnia. Gretchen was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and lupus. That's bad. But we got a new house, a new car, paid off my student loans, and I got disability, so that's all good. We're hoping for a great 2015 and we hope all of you have a great 2015 too. Cheers!
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: beach, cats, church, crime, Dad, disability, family, Gretchen, guns, healthcare, home, homes, house, insomnia, Mom, pets, relationships, sports, student loans, surgery, travel, vacation | 2 Comments »
Snippets of 2013
Posted by Scott Holstad on January 5, 2014
Last December 31st, I wrote an End of the Year Post where I wrote about highlights (and lowlights) of each month. In fact, I did so for the previous year as well. Well, obviously I didn't this year. However, I thought I'd take some time to write a few snippets about some things that happened in 2013.
In April, Gretchen and I got married. We had a lovely wedding and an awesome reception attended by a number of close friends and family members. Then we headed for the beach at Gulf Shores, AL, where we had a blast. The weather was perfect, we did a lot of fun things, went over to Pensacola FL for a day trip, and returned home feeling good.
However, on July 28, my father died while mowing my grass, completely unexpectedly. I was at a meeting and had returned home just in time to hear him stop mowing. Minutes later he was on the ground moaning, and as Mom and I tried to give him CPR, he died. Ten minutes after we were at the hospital, the doctor came in with the bad news. It was devastating.
Three days later, our house was broken into while Gretchen was at work and I was on my way home from Knoxville with Mom. These thugs had kicked in our wooden front door and took our big screen tv and my iMac. We felt very victimized and we couldn't get anyone to come replace the door, so I sat up all night watching the door with my Glock to make sure we weren't invaded. The next day, we had a metal door installed. Days later, we had an alarm system installed. We felt a lot safer, but not completely safe.
On August 8th, Dad's funeral was held in Knoxville TN. About 1,000 people attended. I spoke, as did two others. Afterwards, Gretchen, Mom, and I had to stand in a receiving line for about four hours as everyone tried to speak with us. Many of my friends came, even from as far away as Nashville and Virginia, and I didn't really get a chance to talk to them because we were crushed with people. Family came from all over and that was nice. Sad circumstances, but good to see them.
I spent much of August and September traveling back and forth between Chattanooga and Knoxville with Mom to deal with funeral directors, pastors, financial advisers, lawyers, insurance professionals, and more. Mom has gotten increasingly flustered over the course of the year and relies on me a lot for things that Dad used to do for her, which truthfully doesn't make me entirely comfortable. But she's old and lonely and needs help, and I'm the only one there for her, along with Gretchen.
On a different note, I had only two very minor surgical procedures last year — one in October and one in December, both on my back. I don't think they've helped and am looking at major surgery or living in constant pain. Neither option seems good.
In sports, my Penguins nearly made the Stanley Cup last year and are doing well this year, while my Steelers recovered from a horrible start to nearly make the playoffs. The Pirates did make the playoffs for the first time in 20 years, and the Vols football team had a rough year, but with a new coach and decent recruits, so I have high hopes for the future.
A few months ago, Gretchen joined the bell choir at church, and last month, I was voted onto the Vestry. I am to be installed today. It's a weighty responsibility and I hope I do well.
A few weeks ago, there was a shooting with a fatality at our only local grocery store about a half mile from us. And there is so much crime in this neighborhood that even though we love this house, we're looking for a new one in a crime free neighborhood, probably closer to Mom — although she's thinking about moving back to Knoxville. We have found three good houses so far, with one being on top, so now we have to seriously clean our house and pick it up before we can put it on the market. The main problem is even though we live in a nice middle class neighborhood, the general area isn't too good and there's so much crime, that property prices are severely deflated and we're not bound to get very much for this awesome house and will have to pay a lot more for the next one. That blows.
On an unrelated note, after two months of trying, we were finally able to sign up for Obamacare last month! We're getting a great deal with Blue Cross with a $1,000 deductible for the both of us and a subsidy, making our payment only $35 a month! That's sweet. Last week, I paid our first premium. Gretchen's been without health insurance for over a year and desperately needs to see a doctor, and I've been on COBRA, which is about to run out, so we have high hopes for this. The only hitch is that it doesn't cover all of my meds, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that, but hopefully something will work out.
Finally, on New Year's Eve, we spent the evening and the night on the Delta Queen riverboat hotel, celebrating with a bunch of people we didn't know, listening to a covers band that ranged from horrible to decent, depending on the song. We had champagne and kissed at midnight, and we had a good time, although our cabin room was tiny. Heh.
I guess that about covers it. Hopefully 2014 will be a good year. 2010, 2011, and 2012 were horrible years for me, while 2013 was mixed, so I'm hoping 2014 will be the best of the bunch. Cheers!
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: church, crime, Dad, family, Gretchen, health, homes, houses, Mom, Obamacare, relationships, sports, surgery | 1 Comment »
Bad Week
Posted by Scott Holstad on August 8, 2013
Today, we're going up to Knoxville for Dad's funeral tomorrow. It's going to be a very long day tomorrow. We have 27 family members driving and flying in from all over the country. It'll be good to see them. I'm going to speak. I hope I do well. I hope I don't break down in front of 1,000 people. I really do miss Dad. I just got back from my doctor and he was shocked. He gave me a bear hug, which was nice. He's an emotional fellow.
However, Tuesday afternoon, I was driving home from Knoxville with Mom when Gretchen called. She asked if I'd left the front door open. Of course I hadn't. She then discovered it had been demolished, smashed to smithereens by some thieves. She called the police who filed a report, but didn't even dust for fingerprints. All they took was our 46″ RCA HDTV, a fancy surge protector, and my critically important iMac. It could have been much worse. They left the new PC, as well as Gretchen's laptop. The cats were somewhat traumatized, especially Toby. He wouldn't come out of Gretchen's closet for hours and he was jumpy all night. We were pissed!!! What assholes. And I have my resume on there, my books, my RRR stuff, my work, everything. Software. I hope that when I get a new Mac, my backups will work, or I'm totally screwed. Mom called the insurance company to get the homeowner's policy working. We should be reimbursed for the TV, the computer, some software (MS Office), and the front door. Meanwhile I had to stay up all night long to guard the house because we couldn't close the busted door and no asshole would come install a new one! I sat up all night! A friend called me at 4 AM and we talked for an hour and a half, which was nice. Helped keep me awake. I talked with contractors and Home Depot, etc., yesterday morning and most couldn't get to this EMERGENCY for another day or two, which wasn't going to work for me, and the others wanted to charge like $800 plus parts. I found a contractor through Home Depot who charged me $350 for parts and labor, which is awesome. He did a good job too. I guess we won't get a new TV or computer until next week, since we'll be in Knoxville for Dad's funeral for three days. Oh well. Guess we'll read a lot. Still, we feel unsafe here. We feel violated. Gretchen wants a big dog and I want ADT — an alarm service, which statistically cuts down on breakins. We just can't afford them right now. I may talk to Mom about it and we may get one anyway. It's that necessary. We live in a fairly decent neighborhood, but there is so much crime here, it's not funny. And this robbery was in broad daylight! How brazen. You'd think a neighbor would hear our door being kicked down.
So, what's next? That's my big question. Things come in threes. We've had Dad's death last week, our house robbed this week. What's going to happen next week? Gretchen wants to do a house cleansing. I'm not opposed to the idea, although I don't know how helpful it would be. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers these days. It's pretty rough.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: crime, death, depression, family, funerals, life, relationships, sadness | Leave a Comment »
A Review of Hell's Angels
Posted by Scott Holstad on April 30, 2013
Hell's Angels by Hunter S. Thompson
I read this book was Hunter S. Thompson's first book and I think you can tell. No real sign of "gonzo" journalism here, other than traveling with the Hell's Angel's on runs for a year. It seems very much like straight journalism, like he's right out of journalism school.
I couldn't finish this book, because in one word, it's BORING! Yes, that's right. A book about the Hell's Angeles is boring. It shouldn't be. The problem is, Thompson goes so far overboard, so out of his way, to portray this motorcycle gang as the biggest menace America has ever faced, that it's ridiculous and repetitive. And annoying. Okay, these guys are slugs. Big deal.
Hell's Angels, written circa 1966 — before Altamont — describes America's total fixation and fear about this perceived menace. And reading it now in 2013, it just seems somewhat quaint. Almost silly. Motorcycle gangs? We're talking about maybe, maybe 500 motorcycle gang members. Want gangs? Try L.A., where there are tens of thousands of gang members. Want a real menace? Try the punks with guns that are killing the hundreds of people dying each year in cities like L.A. and Chicago. The most trouble a Hell's Angel ever got into was a bar fight or two, with few exceptions. The subtitle is "A Strange and Terrible Saga." Frankly, it doesn't seem very strange and terrible at all. Try terrorism. That's strange and terrible. I guess the nuclear family going into the 1960s was scared to death of people who weren't straight laced, but it's kind of pathetic and the book drones on and on about how menacing these guys were, when they were just big punks. Big damn deal. Get over it. Now I assume if Thompson were still alive and he decided to re-write the book, it would read quite differently, but it's a disappointing book without much allure to it and I just couldn't finish it. Pity.
Posted in Writing | Tagged: book reviews, books, crime, gangs, Hell's Angels, Hunter S Thompson, motorcycles, reviews, writing | Leave a Comment »
The Dead Can Dance Concert
Posted by Scott Holstad on September 6, 2012
[Caveat — I can't get the darn pictures to line up correctly with the type, so I'm sorry for the jumbled page.]
Last night was the big Dead Can Dance concert in Atlanta and it was amazing! My buddy Chris D, who drove down from Virginia, hooked up with me here in Chattanooga and we went down to our hotel in Atlanta late yesterday afternoon. After checking into our suite, we went to a local Italian place recommended by the hotel staff. It wasn't bad. I had lasagna and I would give it a solid B grade. After dinner, we went back and changed into our Dead Can Dance t-shirts we'd gotten with the purchase of our tickets. Looking like concert twins, we left for the venue.
The concert was held in the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center, where the Atlanta Symphony plays. It's a three story marvel, very tall and high. Fortunately, we were in the orchestra section, down front. When we entered the center, Chris insisted on buying us DCD concert t-shirts, even though we were already wearing DCD t-shirts. I relented, cause he was as excited as a little kid. T-shirts in hand, we hit the bar, where Chris got a beer and I got a pinot grigio.
Me, at the Dead Can Dance concert
After a drink, we headed for our seats. We were elated when we were taken by the usher down to the second row, where our seats were practically dead center. It was virtually impossible to have had better seats! We giggled like school girls, knowing how close to the band we'd be.
Second row seats
An opening act came on at 8 PM, doing instrumentals to Arabic tambourines and Swiss drum-like instruments. Good world music. Finally, after a break, Dead Can Dance came on. Brendan Perry has aged, but looked great. He's shaving his hair and his goatee is white now, but he sounds fantastic. And Lisa Gerrard was stunning! She wore a black outfit with a gold cape and she looked regal as she gazed out over the crowded audience, smiling the whole time. There was a backing band of three keyboard players, two percussionists, and a bass player, while Brendan played the guitar and Lisa played her odd instrument, the name of which escapes me — I think it's a dulcimer. Since they're supporting a new album — which is fantastic, and their first since 1996 — they did a lot of new songs. All told, I believe they did six songs from the new album and three other new songs I'd never heard before, one a Moorish song that was 800 years old and another a Greek tune from the 1930s. They opened with "Children of the Sun" from their new album, Anastasis, and it was pretty powerful. Here is a picture of the band.
Dead Can Dance, Atlanta 2012
DCD played several new songs to start the show off before going to one of their old ones, "Rakim." Here's a picture of Lisa singing "Anabasis."
Here's a picture of Brendan doing "Amnesia."
The band continued mixing new and old songs, but they didn't play many of my favorite old Dead Can Dance songs, like "Cantara," "American Dreaming," "Salterello," and "Carnival Is Over." Oh well. Here's a picture of them doing "Yulunga."
One of the big highlights was of Lisa doing her classic, "Sanvean." It always brings tears to my eyes, it's so beautiful. It was an awe inspiring performance and I recorded it on my iPhone so I can always play it.
Lisa Gerrard performing "Sanvean"
Brendan & Lisa collaborating
DCD ended their show with another song from the new album, it's closing song, "All In Good Time." They then left the stage. The crowded roared to its feet and exploded. The ovation lasted a long time before they came out for an encore. They played a rousing version of "The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove" and another before leaving again. They got another standing O before returning for a second encore. This happened again, for a third encore, before the band gathered onstage to say their goodbyes and wave at us. Lisa blew the crowd kisses.
Goodbye DCD
It was a glorious concert and Chris and I were elated that we had gone, that we had such good seats, and I was particularly thrilled because I had waited some 25 years to see them live. Kick that off the bucket list, I guess. I've seen a lot of good concerts, some very good. Morrissey was great, The Cure played until 1 AM, I saw the Bauhaus 15 year reunion tour concert in Los Angeles, Nine Inch Nails was amazing, but this one was perhaps the best show I've ever seen. I'm only sorry my beloved Gretchen didn't get to make the trip with us. Perhaps another year.
Speaking of Gretchen, there was a sobering note to the evening. She called me while I was in the venue waiting for the show to begin, distraught. Her car window had been smashed out and her purse stolen, with everything in it. It was terrible, and we've spent the bulk of the day making the bank, DMV, credit card, and new car window rounds. What a hassle, and it was very worrisome. Chris and I contemplated going back to Chattanooga early in the morning, about 1 AM, but Gretchen went over to my parents' house to stay, so instead we left around 6 AM today and got back at 8. It's been a full 24 hours. It was an amazing show.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: brendan perry, concerts, crime, dcd, dead can dance, goth, great seats, lisa gerrard, music, new age, world music | 5 Comments »

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


QUIZ: Can you spot the vintage piece in these 5 outfits?
Style mavens from the SoBo Co. and Modern Mess show us how to mix old and new.
With NYFW 2017 in the books, attentions are turned toward updating our closets for a stylish season (hello, sweater weather!).
As much as I'd love a shopping montage, I don't exactly have the budget to go out and buy every single must-have item that Harper's Bazaar insists I should have. Plus, you'd stick out like a sore thumb rocking a runway look in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Not that we aren't fashionable in our own right — in fact, I'd argue our earnest Okie values of thrift, practicality and self-sufficiency might just put us on the cutting edge.
On that edge, you'll find The SoBo Co., where owner and stylish human being Lauren Spears is marrying name-brand resale and well-curated vintage. For this article, Lauren joined forces with Carley Johnson, owner of the boutique Modern Mess at the Boxyard. Though Carley's wares are all new, they are selected with the same care and discernment Lauren employs.
It turns out, these two are a yin-yang match made in fashion heaven, and their expert advice on mixing vintage pieces with contemporary finds will help you look stylish all season — without breaking the bank or over-contributing to fast fashion cycle.
In each of these outfits we put together, one item is vintage from SoBo Co., and one is brand new from Modern Mess. Can you spot the difference?
ProProfs - New or Vintage?
When it comes to vintage pieces, Lauren describes a "natural selection of clothes" — only the most well made clothing survives long enough to become vintage.
"Vintage clothes tend to be higher quality." SoBo has pieces from as early as the 1940s, still in perfect condition after being stuffed in a suitcase for decades. The jacket you get from a fast fashion retailer will likely not have the same longevity.
Often the biggest hurdle for newbie vintage shoppers is fear.
So, why do these outfits work? Lauren and Carley offer approaches you can use in your own ensembles.
Vintage Red Knit Poncho, $40; Fuchsia Diane von Furstenberg Top, $39.99, both from SoBo Co.; Patchy Denim Culottes by English Factory, $74, from Modern Mess.
If you simply saw it on the rack, you might not think a knitted red poncho is the height of fashion (more Meemaw than Model). But Lauren insists it's all about how you wear it. "The right poncho is timeless," she says, pointing out well-designed armholes and the quality of the material. Lauren pairs the bright red poncho with a more contemporary fuchsia top and saturated blue denim culottes — creating a trendy color combo that screams 2017. The patchy details of the culottes add a homespun, vintage feel which looks right at home with the kitschy-chic poncho. Plus, the silhouettes of both pieces mirror each other in a fun way.
Striped Metallic Tee by Glamorous, $36, Modern Mess; Vintage Miss Jackson's Blue Wool Skirt, $20 and Liz Claiborne Collection White Jacket, $38, both from SoBo Co.
Fashion's obsession with the throwback feel of velvet continues, as the striped tee from Modern Mess indicates. Since this contemporary top has a vintage feel and is already quite a statement, Lauren pairs it with vintage pieces that are more timeless, and will complete the outfit without competing for the spotlight. We all know that Miss Jackson's will never go out of style (RIP), and this pencil skirt in a bright hue looks like it might have come off the rack yesterday. As for a white jacket after Labor Day ... Why the hell not? Oklahoma weather doesn't play by the rules so neither should Okie fashion.
Pair a crop top with a long coat. Rich textures with smooth finished. Embroidered details with clean lines. Loud patterns with basic solids. And of course, new with vintage. And when vintage is all the rage, which piece serves which purpose is entirely up to you. In this outfit, it's hard to put a finger on which piece is the statement. Because they are paired together, they balance each other out.
You don't have to worry about clashing colors if they're all the same, amirite? Pulling together a monochromatic ensemble is not only a bold statement of your own fashion-forwardness, but also allows you to play with texture and shape in interesting ways. Bonus, you can also mix vintage and new to chic effect. And I don't care who you are, black on black will always be in style (#TheatreLife). You'd never want to mix a purple, heavily beaded top and a floral-patterned tulle skirt — but since they're both black in this instance, go right ahead! This instantly gives the vintage piece a contemporary edge. Get matchy-matchy with your colors — but not fabrics — to take Queen of England to YAS QUEEN.
Vintage Purple Top, $16.99, SoBo Co.; Embellished Jeans, $72, Modern Mess.
"Mix old and new by choosing a theme for the outfit," suggests Carley. In this case, the theme was "Prince concert." Because if you're the sort of person who rocks a shiny purple blouse, you definitely need some pizazz on your jeans, too, just so people know you mean it when you walk in the room. Carley anticipates the embellished denim trend to continue full-force into fall, and leaning into that trend can also allow you to make bolder choices in your vintage pieces.
Special thanks to our model, Regan Robertson.
Be careful and really look over a garment. Check for stains, holes and things that can't be fixed. Learn to discern between fixable and non-fixable defects.
Keep an open mind and don't be afraid to alter a piece. Just because it's vintage doesn't mean it's sacred! Make it your own.
Things with elastic waists, for instance, are especially easy to alter.
Remember, it's easier to cut out than add material.
Keep in mind that even with vintage clothing, there are trends. For instance, vintage denim jackets are big right now, but may be surplanted by another must-have vintage item.
Don't be afraid to try on a vintage size 14. Sizing has change a lot over the years, and if you are a modern size 4 or 6, you may fit into vintage 10 or 12.
Fresh off the inventory-shopping circuit, Carley shares what's in style this fall, and what's about to look off-trend.
1970s-80s-90s — Yes, all of it!
11 a.m.-6:30 p.m., Tuesday-Friday; 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Saturday; open Monday by appointment.
What are you doing this weekend, January 25-28?
Stumped on what to do this weekend in Tulsa? Take this short quiz and we'll plan the weekend for you.
Store-bought kombucha can be hard on the wallet. Have you caught the booch bug? Try making it yourself.


Is this a joke or what???
They can't seem to decide whether they are measuring things in ounces or grams. An app like this you would expect to be fairly self explanatory but when you create a food entry you are asked to enter a "portion" (measured in grams) but when you log your food intake you are not ask to enter a portion but rather a "serving size" which is measured in ounces. The whole app has the feeling of a bunch of modules coded by different people that have all be tacked together without any sense of a logical user interface. I give this app a score of "Epic Fail". Oh, and the only support information I can find is in Italian. So if you speak Italian and you're good at converting ounces into grams then maybe this app is for you. Did I mention that part of the UI is in English and part in Italian.
I was unable to add a user, enter portions, back out of a screen, you name it, nothing seemed to work with this app. Save your 99 cents and try something else, waste of time!
Waste of money. It's not quick or easy to navigate. If you want to look up calories for a food item it will take you several minutes to find it. Lacks basic foods. ("Oatmeal" has three options when you seek nutritional info, including "herring in oatmeal." But not steel cut oats.) And it doesn't list "calories." It lists "KCals." I don't need a math lesson. I need calorie tracking. There are better calorie-tracking apps. Like all of them.
This app stinks! No amounts for foods, how can they come up with a calorie count? And I really can't remember the last time I ate curry pigeon! I don't know where they are from, but it certainly not the USA! And you seem not to be able to look up foods, but have to go through the alphabet each time!only $.99, but not worth even that! Don't buy!
Wish I would have done my research. Seems some things get lost in translation. Very cumbersome to use. Wish I could get my money back.
This app is a waste of money. Not a lot of usable information and a poor format.


text:
(en urdu: ممنون حسین) va ser un empresari i polític pakistanès. Va ser president del seu país entre 2013 i 2018.

Referències

Presidents del Pakistan
Morts a Karachi
Persones d'Uttar Pradesh
Morts de càncer
Polítics indis
Morts el 2021


Hailing from Calgary, Josh and Jodi were visiting Vancouver Island for the holidays and I got to spend a lovely winter afternoon getting to know them. They area set to be married next summer at a beautiful farm outside of Duncan. They are both lovers of climbing, hiking and nature, so an outdoors engagement photoshoot was a must!
We spent the afternoon out in the quaint area of Shirley, BC playing on the huge rocks and exploring an old lighthouse.


Balmain continues to introduce a youthful energy to the brand's classic silhouettes. Expect expert craftsmanship and premium materials blended with sports-inspired elements and a contemporary finish, as showcased by these washed light blue stretch cotton stonewashed skinny jeans. Featuring belt loops, a front button fastening, a six pocket design and a fabric brand patch to the rear.


New efforts encourage Milwaukee County residents to contact the County Board; includes radio and digital advertising push.
"It really should be a no-brainer. It's better for the river. It's better for fish passages, for water quality to remove it. It decreases the flooding potential."
"There's a smell of hypocrisy emanating from the Milwaukee County Board and its decision to repair rather than tear down the Estabrook Dam. The decision will needlessly cost the taxpayers millions. It will also stand in the way of the remarkably successful, ongoing effort to return the Milwaukee River to its natural borders, which is broadly supported by the environmental community. Yet here is this liberal-leaning board, led the self-proclaimed "Queen of Green," Board chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic voting for the un-green, un-environmental option. Why?"
"Take the Estabrook Dam on the Milwaukee River. Discussing a vote earlier this month on whether to repair the dam, Broderick told Journal Sentinel reporter Don Behm that the dam is a costly albatross for county taxpayers. Paying for repairs "is throwing good money away," he said.
Broderick is right. If the dam is repaired instead of removed, taxpayers across the county will be paying for something that benefits only a few constituents who live along the river upstream from the dam. And, ask any expert or conservationist or angler, dams generally hurt river systems, not help them. The trend nationally is to take them down."
"Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele on Friday vetoed a Feb. 5 County Board action to fund up to $1.6 million in repairs of the Estabrook Dam on the Milwaukee River.
Without public notice last week, Supervisor Theodore Lipscomb successfully inserted the dam repair project into a list of 2015 major capital projects that was approved by the board's finance committee."
"Broderick described the dam as a costly albatross for county taxpayers. Paying for repairs "is throwing good money away," he said.
If state and federal environmental regulators require the county to construct a fish passage around the dam at the time repairs are made, the cost would increase nearly $900,000 to an estimated $2.5 million, according to a county consultant.
Costs of operating and maintaining the dam would add an additional $2.6 million to the cost of keeping the dam in place over the next 20 years, according to the consultant."
"Though Milwaukee County has repeatedly missed state deadlines since 2012 for repairing or removing the Estabrook Dam on the Milwaukee River, the Department of Natural Resources has granted the county two more years to get something done.
The artificial pond, an impoundment of water that would be held back by closed gates, must be drained to reduce risk of dam failure or other structural problems, pending repairs or removal, according to DNR officials."
"Not only is the option to tear the dam down the most environmentally friendly and sustainable, it's also expected to save $3.5 million over 20 years, money that will be better spent improving parks across the county," Abele said in a statement.
Removal would restore a more natural, free-flowing river and eliminate the accumulation of muck and debris upstream of the dam, according to the environmental report.
Abele's savings projection is based on the lesser cost of razing the dam, a difference of $800,000 from renovation. And the repair option comes with the additional cost of operation and maintenance, estimated at $160,000 per year.
"Milwaukee County parks officials have signaled for the first time their preference on what should be done with the aging Estabrook Dam: Tear it down.
John Dargle Jr., director of the parks system, said his department will formally recommend demolishing the dam on the Milwaukee River."
"The Department of Natural Resources has said the dam can't be placed into operation - and the pool filled - until the sediments are removed.
Industrial pollutants, including polychlorinated biphenyls, have been accumulating near the dam for decades. The pollutants are believed to have come from industrial sources upstream in the Lincoln Creek watershed."


text:
APPEARS IN Gun Laws Hunting
NRA Scores Important Victory for American Hunters and Sport Shooters
This week, the NRA claimed victory for beating back an Obama administration policy that would have essentially stopped American hunters and sport shooters from traveling internationally with their personal firearms and ammunition. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced on Thursday that it is returning to its previous system of facilitating the international transport of personal firearms and ammunition, after meeting with representatives from the NRA, firearms industry and sportsmen's groups, and key members of Congress.
"We are pleased that we have been able to reverse a bureaucratic nightmare that would have jeopardized the freedoms of law-abiding gun owners," said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action. "On behalf of our five million members, I want to thank Senator John Hoeven and Representatives John Carter and Chris Stewart for their work to protect American hunters and sport shooters from a web of bureaucratic red-tape when traveling outside the United States."
CBP recently began enforcing regulatory changes requiring Americans travelling abroad to comply with commercial export requirements when transporting firearms and ammunition outside the U.S. for personal use. Under these requirements, in order to take personal firearms and ammunition to another country on a temporary visit, the individual would have to register the firearm in the Automated Export System (AES), after completing a 30 question test with 34 pages of user instructions, and provide their transaction number to CBP.
As the AES is designed for commercial exporters, it requires all users to obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS in order to access the system. According to the IRS, however, EINs are issued for business purposes, and applicants have to specify a business reason for obtaining one. This left American hunters and sport shooters with no recourse. In today's announcement, CBP affirmed that it will allow international hunters to use the same paper system they have used for years, while it works with the Department of State on automating that system in the future.
This is the second high-profile defeat of a proposed Obama administration anti-gun regulation in recent months. Earlier this year, the NRA led the effort to defeat an attempt by the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco, and Explosives to ban commonly used rifle ammunition.
"It is clear that in the final years of his presidency, President Obama will stop at nothing to push his gun control agenda. This merely underscores the importance of electing a pro-Second Amendment president in 2016," concluded Cox.
To learn more about the NRA's efforts to resolve this issue, please click here.
Obama Administration Customs and Border Protection (CBP) traveling with a firearm International/UN Gun Control Issues
Astroturf: The Anti-Gunners' Playing Field
Taking Aim at the Arms Trade Treaty
Bolsonaro Expands Brazilian Gun Rights with Executive Order
NRA Continues Backing Supreme Court Challenge to NYC's Travel Ban
What "Unsigning" the Arms Trade Treaty Means for American Gun Owners
MSNBC Reporter Unwittingly Discovers the Importance of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms


I've been working on a project inspired by a suggestion (and the offer of bounty ) over from another thread. I thought I should stop derailing that thread and start my own project thread.
Basically, the idea of the project is an easy way for websites to integrate bitcoin payment. How it works is the user runs a website on their local machine, which is only accessible to them, then when the shop wants a user to pay some money, they simply send them to this local site, which handles sending the money and then redirects back to the shop site to finish the transaction.
will simply send 0.25BC to my laptop from my PC, and then redirect me to google.
-> Look into packaging the program up into a simple executable which you can run instead of bitcoin, and it will run in the background and kill itself when the bitcoin process dies.
Don't use 8080. Freenet Message System uses that port by default (on localhost), and I expect that there are a lot of FMS users here. It's also a registered port. I suggest using a port that isn't listed here.
"Look into packaging the program up into a simple executable which you can run instead of bitcoin, and it will run in the background and kill itself when the bitcoin process dies."
My only concern with this is that we need to open the JSON API, which is insecure. So easy for a trojan to wipe out a user's wallet.
If this feature were embedded directly within Bitcoin, there would be no need to open the JSON API, and security measures could be taken (such as a captcha to be entered before a pay could be fired, or a password).
I am not, however, a security expert. What do you think?
And alternatively, the JSON API itself can be password secured; would there be a man in the middle attack possible, though?
Lots of security issues to address, but great stuff. I can't wait to see this in action!
The JSON-API definitely needs some sort of security features. On Linux, you can use iptables to restrict the users who can access it, but that's hardly secure. If I want to access it from my website backend, then whatever user runs my httpd needs to be able to access it, and that's the user most likely to be compromised on my server!
Of course, a password wouldn't help that scenario too much, since the password would just be another variable in django's settings.py for an attacker to read, but still, it beats a blank!
This is definately a temporary solution, ideally this functionality would be built into the client itself.
A temporary solution could be to use a password which the user has to enter, that way the website connects to the bitcoin client (via https), the user enters a password to prove their identity and onlythen everything will work. However, that requires https support from the client - either way the client needs some work to make anything like this properly secure.
Of course, for now, bitcoin probably isn't popular enough to be targeted by a trojan.
- Allow sellers to specify the value of their goods and services easily.
- ping bitmarket for the latest exchange prices to allow automatic conversion between currencies.
I'm not certain how paypal is integrated into your site, but it should be fairly easy - simply direct the user to the payment address, then wait for them to come back to your site and when they do check that you've received payment off them.
The current problem I'm facing is that there is no way to identify who a transaction came from (and, in fact, there is no way to even get a list of transactions in json at the moment), this makes it very difficult to confirm that a person actually sent the payment - which is of course completely u nacceptable for acommerce application. If I can't find a solution to this I'll have to make some requests to satoshi and wait until he updates the client with some new features.
It's terrible, I know, but the only other option is to request changes to the client and wait until they get implemented.
if only one person knows that address, it's pretty obvious where bitcoins came from.
no need to know about generated coins on a payment-system, or about sending, when your system is only supposed to accept payments.
It's a good temporary solution, and the only drawback I can see is that it requires a different/separate install, as opposed to just being something server-side. Granted, I can't come up with an alternative either, but it IS a bit of barrier-to-entry for some people.
The current problem I'm facing is that there is no way to identify who a transaction came from (and, in fact, there is no way to even get a list of transactions in json at the moment), this makes it very difficult to confirm that a person actually sent the payment - which is of course completely unacceptable for a commerce application. If I can't find a solution to this I'll have to make some requests to satoshi and wait until he updates the client with some new features.
Absolutely, I realised a while after posting that you can simply have a unique address per transaction.
It is, I hope that ultimately this is just a proof of concept, and once it's shown to work it can be integrated into the client (using the same port and URLs).
*nods* It's a good initiative, and ANY development in the interest of bitcoins right now is good development.
I've been trying to encourage someone to write and release some sample Python code showing the recommended way to do the typical accounting stuff, but to no avail. It would be nice if you didn't have to re-invent the wheel like you're doing here. Search on getnewaddress and you should find a thread where I gave a small fragment of sample pseudocode.
Thanks Satoshi, I found those threads. However, those threads seem to be addressing the server side as far as I can see. I'm trying to address the client side of the problem by presenting a webpage to the user with a simple confirm or cancel button like paypal, that way the user doesn't have to switch to the bitcoin client to send payment.
Is there any chance of adding some extra security to the JSON API? A simple password is all that's needed for now I should think (and possibly a check to make sure that the API can be connected to from the localhost)?
You sound like you want to be integrating with the https://www.mybitcoin.com/ guys.
Nope, because mybitcoin requires that you trust the website, which partly defeats the point of bitcoin in the first place - every node is a bank, I'm trying to build a convenient interface for you to use your coins directly from a web interface.
Well what I'm proposing is basically a html bitcoin interface, eventually it should be built into the bitcoin client and there would be no difference at all between using the bitcoin interface and the web interface except that you don't need to leave the browser.


Ballaghaderreen in Ireland-West is a perfect choice for a great holiday or a fun short break in County Roscommon. Find out more about Ballaghaderreen below.
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Ballaghaderreen is family friendly self catering.
We have the following details listed regarding Ballaghaderreen accommodation accessibility but we would recommend that you always confirm these prior to booking with the owner or operator.
Ballaghaderreen is a great base to explore the wonders of County Roscommon and you will find plenty of activities near by.
Ballaghaderreen is at Lough Gara, County Roscommon. Check out the map below for directions, use the controls to zoom in.
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text:
Dice Stacking bzw. Würfel Stapeln oder Turmwürfeln ist ein Geschicklichkeitsspiel für einen Spieler, bei dem Spielwürfel mit Hilfe eines Bechers gestapelt werden.

Ablauf

Mit einem Würfelbecher werden mehrere Casinowürfel von einer flachen Oberfläche, insbesondere von einem Tisch oder einer Hand, aufgenommen. Anschließend wird der Becher kopfüber auf den Tisch gestellt, so dass die Würfel wie ein Turm übereinander gestapelt zu liegen kommen, ohne dabei die Würfel direkt mit der Hand zu berühren. Seinen Reiz erzielt das Spiel durch die verschiedenen Variationen bei der Aufnahme der Würfel sowie durch die Anzahl der aufzunehmenden Würfel und dem damit einhergehenden Schwierigkeitsgrad. Um eine große Anzahl von Würfeln aufeinander zu stapeln, finden tiefere Würfelbecher Verwendung.

Wettkampf

Damit Dice Stacking als Wettkampf gespielt werden kann, wurde von der WDSA (World Dice Stacking Association) ein umfangreiches Regelwerk erstellt. Spielbar wird Dice Stacking durch die Erfindung von Heiko Sehnert und seinem "DiceBoard", auf dem ein fester Ablauf an Bewegungen eingezeichnet ist. In zwei Disziplinen können hierbei die Dice-Stacker gegeneinander antreten, zum einen in der "Full-Area"-Disziplin und zum anderen der "Speed-Area"-Disziplin.

Die erste deutsche Meisterschaft im Dice Stacking fand am 24. Mai 2008 in Essen statt, bei der Maximiliano Pugliese als Sieger hervorging. Er konnte außerdem die zweite deutsche Meisterschaft vor Tim Dithmer und Martin Middendorf, die beide den zweiten Platz belegten, für sich entscheiden. Das Freestyle-Doppel, das bei der 2. Deutschen Meisterschaft neu hinzugekommen ist, gewannen Martin Middendorf zusammen mit Adrian Vogel. Die dritte Meisterschaft im Würfelstapeln fand 2010 in Bocholt (Nordrhein-Westfalen) statt. Auch hier setzte sich Maximiliano Pugliese gegen die Konkurrenz durch und erlangte, zum dritten Mal in Folge, den Titel "Deutscher Meister im Dice Stacking".

Rekord und Materialien
Weltrekordhalter für die meisten übereinander gestapelten Würfel ist der deutsche Zauberkünstler Enzo Paolo, der unter Verwendung eines speziell angefertigten Bechers, einen Turm von 23 Würfeln schaffte.

Der höchste "in Etappen" errichtete Würfelturm (zu sehen auf einem Video auf YouTube) besteht aus 40 Würfeln, die von Maximiliano Pugliese (Deutschland) in 4-er Schritten aufeinander gestapelt wurden. Dabei wurden in Form von sog. "Pointstacks" 40 Würfel übereinander gestapelt. Diese Technik zählt im Kreis der Würfelstapler als vergleichbares Medium.

Durch stark steigendes Interesse an dieser außergewöhnlichen Spiel- und Sportart versuchen Firmen und Privatleute das für ihre kommerziellen Produkte zu nutzen. Meist werden Billigprodukte angeboten, die kaum zum Dice-Stacken einzusetzen sind. Ausschließlich originale Kasino-Würfel bieten die Möglichkeit des schnellen Lernerfolgs und sind optimal für schwierigere Tricks. Casinowürfel eignen sich so gut zum Dice Stacking, da sie keine abgerundeten Kanten wie herkömmliche Spielwürfel haben. Außerdem sind die Punkte auf den einzelnen Seiten nicht gefräst, sondern wurden erst exakt ausgefräst und dann mit einem weißen Material wieder aufgefüllt. Dadurch bieten Casinowürfel eine maximale Auflagefläche und somit eine große Stabilität des Würfelturms.

Techniken

Upstack: Bei dieser Technik werden die Casinowürfel vom Tisch, der Hand oder anderen Oberflächen mit dem Becher aufgenommen. Danach wird der Becher mit den Würfeln auf dem Tisch oder auf anderen Gegenständen abgestellt und es bildet sich ein Würfelturm. Dies ist die Grundtechnik für alle weiteren Dice Stacking Tricks.

Downstack: Hier werden die Würfel von einem bestehenden Würfelturm einzeln in den Becher aufgenommen und anschließend wieder zu einem Turm auf dem Tisch abgestellt.

Pointstack: Der Pointstack gehört zu den schwierigsten Dice Stacking Techniken. Hier werden zuerst einige Würfel in einen Becher aufgenommen und mit einer speziellen Schwungbewegung auf einem Gegenstand abgestellt z. B. auf einem anderen Becher, einem anderen Würfelturm oder, wie es Thomas Fischbach bei "Wetten, dass..?" gezeigt hat, auf Nagelköpfen.

Diese 3 Techniken sind nur Grundtechniken und aus ihnen kann man sehr viele verschiedene Tricks gestalten.

Einzelnachweise

Siehe auch
Sport Stacking

Weblinks
 Dice Stacking, Videos auf YouTube
 Informationen über Dice Stacking, Website über Dice Stacking

Geschicklichkeitsspiel
Würfelspiel


text:
Israeli committee OKs 3,500 settlement homes in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (AP) — A local Israeli committee on Wednesday approved plans for the construction of more than 3,500 settler housing units in east Jerusalem, nearly half in a particularly controversial area, according to Peace Now, an anti-settlement monitoring group.
Peace Now said the construction of the homes would largely cut off the city from the southern part of the occupied West Bank, further complicating any efforts to create a functioning Palestinian state. The United States has repeatedly urged Israel to refrain from settlement construction.
The projects were approved by a municipal committee and will be considered by a district committee on Jan. 17. It would likely be years before any construction takes place, but Peace Now says once the approval process is underway, it becomes increasingly difficult to stop.
One plan would build 1,465 housing units between Givat Hamatos and Har Homa, two especially controversial settlements, further cutting off east Jerusalem from the Palestinian city of Bethlehem and the southern West Bank. Another 2,092 homes would be built elsewhere in east Jerusalem.
Israel captured east Jerusalem an the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians want for their future state.
Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move not recognized internationally and views the entire city as its capital. It considers the West Bank to be the biblical and historical heartland of the Jewish people.
Israel's current government, which includes parties from across the political spectrum, has ruled out any major initiatives to resolve the decades-old conflict but has taken limited steps to improve living conditions in the occupied territories.
The Jerusalem municipality says it is committed to building in all parts of the city for the benefit of Jewish and Arab residents. But discriminatory policies make it nearly impossible for Palestinians to legally build new homes or expand their neighborhoods, while Israel encourages the expansion of settlements intended for Jewish residents.
Authorities are advancing "far-reaching plans that post facts on the ground that undermine the possibility of peace," Peace Now said in a statement.
A similar plan to build some 9,000 housing units on the site of an abandoned airport in east Jerusalem was placed on hold late last year.
The Palestinians view settlements in east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank as a major obstacle to peace. Most of the international community — which overwhelmingly supports a two-state solution to the conflict — considers the settlements to be a violation of international law.
The last serious peace negotiations broke down more than a decade ago.