At some point you just have to stop being ashamed of something you like.
Saggers, sagging, trashing sags with mud, piss, or gunge, hot sneakers and trashing them.
Who loves to piss in the pants?
Did you end up trying it out?
The point is we and the people that spread his pictures around make a memorial out of him. It makes his face and his name stick with us, much the same way that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold are names enshrined in the heads of those who would cause such misery. In the right world, those names wouldn't even register on anyone's mind except for their mother's and the mothers of their victims, but we have an entire generation growing up with those names repeated and whispered by teachers, psychologists, and politicians. In the wrong heads, they and he gain a mystique and I, for one, would rather not be associated with a monster like that. He was a sagger. So what? He doesn't deserve the attention we are giving him. No one like that deserves such attention.
I'm not diving into the political muckfest of this thread. Frankly, if the only thing people are going to offer on either side as an argument is Facebook memes it's gone on long enough already. With regard to the original post, all I have to say is this: he's a monster and he doesn't deserve any of the attention he is getting from all sides of the media and the political spectrum. Frankly, were it in my power I'd outlaw being able to show his face or using any of his personal or identifiable information on the news. Deleting the thread got mentioned previously and I have to agree with the sentiment, not for the political reasons mentioned previously, but in an effort to scrub his memory from the collective consciousness of humanity. Monsters like him don't deserve the attention they're getting from us. Talk about how to stop them, sure, but not by giving them the time of day and recognizing them for their actions.
Breaking silence because the blocking function doesn't seem to want to work and your correction is, frankly, wrong. The dashcam footage shows (or rather, hears, as the view through the rear windshield is hazy at best) Castile being asked for his license, which he hands to the officer. Castile then does something else correctly: informing the police officer that you have a firearm on you currently. The officer then responded properly, telling Castile not to pull it. This is when things go downhill: he then tells him not to pull it multiple times in response to something, likely Castile moving around in the cab of the car. He does this twice before opening fire. My understanding is that, according to the testimony of his girlfriend (I think, I was never sure if she was his wife or girlfriend or just a friend), Castile was reaching for his license to show he is legally authorized to carry a firearm. Upon performing additional research, as it turns out you are not legally required by Minnesota state law to inform a police officer of a concealed carry unless asked. In Minnesota, some municipalities may hold stricter statutes but if in doubt you should inform. He did the right thing, informing the officer of his carry. He then proceeded to do the wrong thing, move around as though retrieving something. Throughout all of this, he was never ordered to produce his firearms license. The officer interpreted (likely wrongfully) his movement as reaching for his firearm and responded accordingly. Again, a police officer is not going to put themselves into a situation where they'll be second guessing, because that more often than not will get you and/or others killed. Should he have gotten into that situation? Absolutely not. Should Castile been reaching around his vehicle after telling a police officer he's armed? No. He should have put his hands on the wheel after retrieving his driver's license and registration and kept them there. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll ever know for certain because the only person that could do so is dead. And before passive-aggressive accusations of racism get thrown around, if Castile were white I'd be saying the same thing. I don't care if you're black, white, green, blue, or purple: if you give the police a reason to shoot you, they will shoot you. Whether or not it is under faulty pretenses.
I wouldn't say that it's because we lack gun control, but rather our efforts have their teeth stripped away by NRA lobbyists and, as a result, we pass new laws whose only purpose is to make criminals out of otherwise law-abiding people. Because frankly, I agree: you should be required to have ownership documentation and proven training in a firearm before you're allowed to own one. Frankly, if I had my way, you'd have to keep it in a safe at all times, log whenever it is removed from its safe, and would have to consent to police searches for your firearms at any time or else lose your firearms license. The problem ultimately comes from the siege mentality of the post-Civil War to Civil Rights Movement. Parents telling their kids about all the horrors the police submitted them to and the kids growing up with an instinctual fear/distrust of the police. It's a common threat to children in the United States: "stop misbehaving or I'm gonna call the cops on you!" The problem is that the police don't do much to scrub that horror from their past: we're supposed to hold them up as exemplars of our society and yet they're unwilling to take even the most token of action against the abusers in their ranks because that's somehow anti-police. So in the end, you have a neighborhood full of people terrified of the police and a police force terrified of the neighborhood they have to protect. Makes for a very tense situation, one that erupts into violence more often than not.
My honest opinion? Whoever told you that you have a right to refuse police orders wants to get you killed. Go ahead, see how far it gets you. Speed past a cop and, when they're trying to pull you over, see how far you can get. I mean, you have the right to refuse the order. They can't stop you. In your house, they had a search warrant. They had a legal right to be there and to search your house for whatever it was that was listed on the warrant and to secure any inhabitants. You were asleep, yes. You were asleep and suddenly shouted at and probably reacted defensively. Logical and sane responses to being shouted at at four in the morning that, unfortunately and due to critical oversight by the police officers serving the warrant, ended in your being tased. Again, it does not make it right and, frankly, I'd've brought it to your department's Internal Affairs bureau or, barring that, a civil rights organization because that is a serious breach of your civil rights. They absolutely had a right to serve the warrant, however. This next bit depends on your municipality, state/province, and country, but in many states in the United States the police can execute a search warrant at any time, day or night. Generally, they will try to execute it during regular business hours unless they feel that the resident(s) may, upon being notified of police arrival by a knock at the door and an announcement of police presence, be liable to destroy evidence. If they truly executed the warrant at 4am, they must have felt whatever you had you were liable to destroy. The Fourth Amendment is a very tricky thing, subject to judicial interpretation all the time. As with most things, legal opinions can and will differ.
What you're forgetting in the case of Trayvon Martin is that George Zimmerman was not a police officer. He was a member of the neighborhood watch. A member of the neighborhood watch that, upon calling the police to report Martin as a suspicious individual and proceeding to chase after him as Martin ran, was told by the dispatcher to not proceed with the chase and to wait for police. Zimmerman is an idiot who ignored police directives and that should not have been acquitted.
You can be pro-cop and anti-police abuse. The positions are not mutually exclusive. Without sound, I can't make a judgment call but my guess would be they told him to stop multiple times. The guy refused, thus he got slammed. For the same reason that someone ignoring a cop flashing their light bar at you while driving, they have the authority to stop someone forcibly if they feel they are in the process of or have been accused of a crime. Should the cop have full-on tackled him? Not unless he was actively trying to evade or confirming that it was the person they were looking for, which it didn't look like he was. Should the guy have stopped after, presumably, being told multiple times to stop by police? Yes. Ultimately, without there being sound to the video, I can't really make a judgment call. I am truly sorry for what happened to you and frankly the cop that supposedly tasered you in your sleep (a piece of science fiction wisdom... there are three sides to every story: your side, their side, and, somewhere in the middle, the truth) should probably have lost his or her badge, at minimum. My guess is that the cop thought you might have been reaching for a weapon in your half-stupor and thus reacted as such. It doesn't make him or her right in what they did. Same for the cop that tackled you to the ground, except they probably (and wrongfully) thought you were trying to evade. It doesn't make either of them right.
Anyone holding a firearm ultimately has the choice whether or not to kill the person next to them. Police are no different. Yes, there are bad apples in the police, as there are in any authoritative organization, and when they break the law they should be punished to its fullest extent. At the end of the day they're the ones we charge with keeping order in society, they are not above it. The cops fucked up in the video by not recognizing tell-tale signs that the man is handicapped. At the same time, the man in the video fucked up by not following the orders of the police officer and reached for something out of the officer's line of sight. As far as I'm concerned, the officer acted accordingly given what he knew. He acted on faulty evidence, sure, but at the end of the day a police officer isn't trained to hum and haw as someone is reaching. They're trained to remove the threat because that humming and hawing gets you and others killed. That's what caused the situation in the video. There's no right answer here because everyone in the situation was in the wrong. Should police be held accountable for abuses of power? Absolutely. It's disgusting to me that the police can get away with such abuses because they're charged with defending us from anarchy and they're just as much a part of the society that they protect as anyone else. I think ultimately the media takes sides. CNN et al. try to portray the police as bloodthirsty marauders while FOX et al. portray them as knights maintaining the thin blue line. They're neither. They're people put into a very stressful job that can very easily get them killed, it's not exactly a shock that the pressure causes this sort of reaction. It should be punished whenever it ends in abuse, but not a surprise. They're working a job in a community that very often doesn't appreciate what they do and can even be overtly hostile to what they do, generally because those communities have faced abuse in the past. God knows what it must be like to be a member of the NYPD in Harlem or a memeber of the LAPD in Compton. In the end, though, the cycle of abuse doesn't end until we make it end. Not by one side waving the white flag but by not letting our fears rule us.
What difference does it make? You don't need to know what my family and friends are like or whether or not I self-identify as intelligent to know that I like intelligence in potential partners. If I had a reasonable explanation for why I like what I like, I'd have answers for a lot more than just my preferences.


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TV Review | South Park 13.1: "The Ring"
Posted on March 16, 2009 August 6, 2009 by C. Archer
The Comedy Network now receives South Park episodes two days after the show's initial American airing. As a longtime South Park fan, I'm happy. I'd be happier if the major ISPs in this country didn't automatically redirect me from Comedy Central's webpage to The Comedy Network's, but then I'd be walking into a morass of questions like "how will the CRTC handle new media?" As soon as it figures out how to handle regional television and cable channels switching their mandates on a whim, let me know.
"The Ring" suffers from a bad case of déjà vu. Mr. Hankey is South Park's own-brand Mickey Mouse, as "Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls" makes clear. High School Musical had already been made fun of by South Park four months previous to "The Ring."
Kenny's dying of syphilis as a result of girlfriend Tammy Warner's fatal blowjob is reminiscent of "Kenny Dies" and "Spontaneous Combustion," as Kenny is given a proper funeral. "The Ring" is even similar to "Christian Rock Hard." Replace secular lyrics in Christian songs with the purity ring's role in selling sex to minors, it's the same concept. Never mind "Simpsons Already Did It," South Park is cannibalizing its own ideas at this point.
Despite this, "The Ring" is a fairly spot-on thirteenth season premiere. "Elementary School Musical" was essentially "High School Musical is gay" brought to a moderately funny extreme. "The Ring" goes after the selling of a semi-religious item, the purity ring, to a secular audience.
The Walt Disney Company is also given a skewering. Mickey Mouse is revealed as a greedy corporate bastard. Using the character in this fashion is obvious, but South Park keeps the Mouse surprisingly on-model. Mickey punctuates his sentences with his trademark laugh, a surprisingly funny verbal tic.
The last time Mickey was this funny, it was during a Saturday TV Funhouse cartoon. Mickey's never funny in his own cartoons. Then again, no one is, not even Goofy.
Other Walt Disney Company-related items are also lampooned. After Kenny wears his potentially blowjob-nullifying purity ring, he becomes boring enough to want to watch Grey's Anatomy. The Jonas Brothers also sing about Netflix, a great place for Disney Channel's more homogenized offal, as an alternative to sex.
"The Ring" works as it's not about how The Jonas Brothers and Disney suck. How The Jonas Brothers are portrayed in the episode versus what they're really like is irrelevant. What is relevant is how commercial interests can take something like The Jonas Brothers' evangelical beliefs and use it as a selling point to shift units. Mickey Mouse is the only character in the episode openly disdainful of Christianity ("they believe in a talking dead guy!"), but that's because he's actually a Norse demon. Or something. Ha ha.
Overall, "The Ring" makes for a strong South Park season premiere. It's a better debut for its season than "Tonsil Trouble" was for the twelfth. I'll go so far as to say it's the best season premiere since season ten's "The Return of Chef." "The Ring" is familiar in spots, but it's above-average for South Park. I can't wait to see how South Park makes fun of The Princess and the Frog.
Hell, I'd like to see if South Park acknowledges Robot Chicken's existence and/or the Jon Stewart/Jim Cramer brouhaha. Those topics would make for fun episodes.
By the way, Mickey as depicted in South Park would not have come from Valhalla. He would most likely have come from Múspellsheimr, the realm of fire. I'm reading too much into a throwaway gag near the end of "The Ring," but it's still lazy writing.
I'm also not fond of South Park ending the episode on an over-referenced G.I. Joe line. Discredited tropes always make for painful television. Now you know, and screwing the pooch is half the battle!
C. Archer
Writer/Owner at Gloryosky
Writer and occasional archiver. Contributor, Canadian Screenwriter (since 2011). Member, Canadian Freelance Guild.
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The Heart of Redness: A Novel (Paperback)
A startling novel by the leading writer of the new South Africa
In The Heart of Redness -- shortlisted for the prestigious Commonwealth Writers Prize -- Zakes Mda sets a story of South African village life against a notorious episode from the country's past. The result is a novel of great scope and deep human feeling, of passion and reconciliation.
As the novel opens Camugu, who left for America during apartheid, has returned to Johannesburg. Disillusioned by the problems of the new democracy, he follows his "famous lust" to Qolorha on the remote Eastern Cape. There in the nineteenth century a teenage prophetess named Nonqawuse commanded the Xhosa people to kill their cattle and burn their crops, promising that once they did so the spirits of their ancestors would rise and drive the occupying English into the ocean. The failed prophecy split the Xhosa into Believers and Unbelievers, dividing brother from brother, wife from husband, with devastating consequences.
One hundred fifty years later, the two groups' decendants are at odds over plans to build a vast casino and tourist resort in the village, and Camugu is soon drawn into their heritage and their future -- and into a bizarre love triangle as well.
The Heart of Redness is a seamless weave of history, myth, and realist fiction. It is, arguably, the first great novel of the new South Africa -- a triumph of imaginative and historical writing.
Zakes Mda is a professor of creative writing at Ohio University. He has been a visiting professor at both Yale and the University of Vermont. Among his novels, The Heart of Redness (FSG, 2002) won the Richard Wright Zora Neale Hurston Legacy Award. He lives in Johannesburg, South Africa, and Athens, Ohio.
"Brilliant...A new kind of novel: one that combines Gabriel García Márquez's magic realism and political astuteness with satire, social realism and a critical reexamination of the South African past." —The New York Times Book Review
"Quiet, subtle, and powerful...Mda's enormous skills as a storyteller are everywhere in evidence, making the book impossible to put down." —The Washington Post
"A major step in the new South African novel." —The Village Voice
"At once legend and historical document...Mda's novel is the next Things Fall Apart....This is a major new novelist." —The San Diego Union-Tribune
Publisher: Picador
Fiction / Literary
Fiction / World Literature / Africa / Southern Africa
Fiction / Multiple Timelines


As many people know, Corey and Erika lost everything in a tragic fire. They just moved into a rental and providing a warm meal is just one simple way we can show this family our love and support. Thank you for your prayer, support, and generosity!


Today is just a big day for everyone… it's the last day of the week, last day of our preliminary exams, last day for some of the deadlines imposed and some, that are about to party their last day of being single.
If you have been an avid reader of mine for the last few releases, you will surely have inklings on what I am going to share with you today. One of the closest friends I ever had is going to get married today! Though I knew her just for these several months, I already treated her as one of my sisters. A sister from a different mother. One of the friends who appreciated everything I am and everything that I am not.Although people see us as salt and pepper (who the hell knows which is salt and which pepper is), we are aware that we both harmonized. I never knew someone who is as sympathetic as her. Though my bestfriends are sweet and all, we were never sappy with our feelings. And just as fate lead us closer together; we will still have each other's back for anything that challenges our way.
In just a few hours, our "Carissa Domingo" will be "Carissa Domingo-Pineda". I am utterly thrilled to see and to be present in one of my companions' wedding ceremony. Tears and laughter are surely bound to be seen and heard later for Issa.
For whatever it is to arrive, we all know that everything will always have to be according to His will. We should just be grateful, optimistic and affectionate with everything that leads our way.
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After crossing a road a whitetail buck in velvet heads into a woods in Silverwood Park. Montgomery, a year veteran who averaged 9. Montgomery has been handing out water at protests in Atlanta. The year-old has been a league mainstay since , when she was the No. WNBA players were given the option to skip the bubble, tentatively scheduled for late July, for any reason, health or personal. Montgomery is the first to do so for this year. Former league MVP Maya Moore has put her career on hold since ; she skipped the season to focus on her ministry and was already planning to skip the season to focus on criminal justice reform.
Bangles : Manic Monday. Published at pm 27th August Updated at pm 27th August The NBA players have agreed to resume the postseason, according to reports, but Thursday night's three playoff games will not take place.
Basketball was first played by women in at Smith College for Girls in Northampton, Massachusetts. Physical education teacher Senda Berenson used.
The Milwaukee Bucks refused to play their game with the Orlando Magic on Wednesday to protest police violence after the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, which is near their hometown arena. The teams were set to play Game 5 of the first round of the NBA playoffs. The Magic later released a statement in support of the walkout.
For Bucks forward Sterling Brown, it's personal. Two years ago, after coming out of a Walgreens, Milwaukee police officers stepped on his ankle and tased him over a bad parking job. One of the officers on the scene later joked about it on Facebook.
Being an NBA star has plenty of obvious perks: money, power, celebrity, the list goes on. Among the many benefits of being a star athlete is the opportunity to meet some of the most beautiful, talented, and interesting women in the world. Plenty of basketball players have an impressive dating resume, but these NBA wives and girlfriends put those brief flings to shame.
But he was also hoping to get a real date with a beautiful woman he met that night WNBA star Candace Parker used the line "jungle fever" on Twitter and wrote The NBA and the National Basketball Players' Association hosted the first.
This one-professed goofball cichlids to joke around and have fun. She not only led the WNBA in blocks two years in a row, but she can also dunk the ball? She can also reach the glasses in the top cupboard for you, too. Some fans love to hate her. And even those who hate her respect her game. You might have to compete for her penny though, because basketball will always be her number one facebook.
A height shared by Sue Bird sbird10 on Dec 6, at 3: Sue Bird is literally the strong, famous, guarded one. As a point guard, her passing game is like that of an assassin?
Big thanks to the X-Factor and the Phoenix Nba organization for all the love and support! A post shared by Brittney Griner brittneyyevettegriner on Jul 16, at. Brittney Griner is six-foot-eight and her wingspan is large enough to wrap her arms around you twice.
UPDATE: Aug. 27, , a.m. EDT Athletes from the WNBA, Major League Baseball, and Major League Soccer have joined the NBA in its.
June 1, Dan Majerle of Phoenix set a then-playoffs record by sinking eight 3-pointers during the Suns' win over Seattle in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals. Majerle finished the game with 34 points. Miller finished with a game-high 39 points, including 6-for from three-point range. Five players have since tied Miller's record of five 3-pointers in one quarter of a playoff game. Abdul-Jabbar was eventually passed for total playoff points by Chicago's Michael Jordan. Thorn, who served as an assistant coach with the Nets between and then again between , had been in professional basketball for more than four decades as a player, assistant coach, head coach, general manager and league official.
He joined the league office in February , and was in charge of all on-court operations, including scheduling, officiating, game conduct and discipline. Michael Jordan, who finished with a game-high 39 points, set NBA Finals records for points scored in a half 35 and 3-pointers made in one half six. After the sixth trey, Jordan turned to the midcourt TV camera and shrugged as if to say, "I guess everything's going in.
He previously won the award for his play during the season. Phoenix forward Gar Heard, who set a then Finals record by playing 61 minutes, hit a buzzer-beater to force the third overtime. Phoenix and Chicago went to triple-overtime in Game 3 of the Finals, a game won by the Suns, Kevin Johnson of Phoenix broke Heard's previous Finals record for minutes played with
Now that the dust has settled from the craziest NBA free agency period to date, we can begin to assess the Eastern Conference. Up until that point, he was averageing Why he's ranked : Entering his 11th season in the league, Griffin has become less of a force above the rim and more of an all-around star. Walker is coming off three straight All-Star selections, and his supporting cast is practically the same as Irving's, minus 36 year-old big man Al Horford.
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Get all the sports news you need, direct to your inbox. By subscribing, you are agreeing to Yahoo's Terms and Privacy Policy. The NBA is coming back to a season with bedroom views of a lagoon and individualized menus from an exceptional culinary team.
Here are four more NBA-WNBA couples who may be the parents of future The conjoining of an elite NBA basketball player and a WNBA star might mean While dating, Russell Westbrook was drafted by the then-Seattle.
In high school, Parker won the and Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year awards, becoming just the second junior and the only woman to receive the award twice. A versatile player, Parker mainly plays the forward position. In college she was listed on Tennessee's roster as a forward, center and guard. She set both milestones as a redshirt freshman on March 19, Louis, Missouri.
Parker and her family moved to Naperville, Illinois at the age of two, where she spent her childhood. Her father played basketball at the University of Iowa in the s. The Parker family were also huge Chicago Bulls fans.
Glory Johnson with her twins Ava Simone and Solei Diem in a picture she posted on social media to thank intensive care nurses. The girls were born 15 weeks premature. Part of the team: Glory Johnson introduced her twins to her former college team.
More information emerged Tuesday, and NBA players such as Damian Lillard and Nassir Little spoke out against the unsanitary scenes depicted.
Gone are the days where our favorite NBA stars were the only well-known members in their relationships. These days, the basketball wives and significant others of many players are just as famous as they are. So, in honor of the start of the NBA Finals, we had to take score of our fave ladies and the ballers they love or loved! Gloria Govan and Matt Barnes were married from to , however the headlines they've created regarding their relationship post-marriage have been the most notable.
Since their divorce, they've been fighting over the custody of their kids with Barnes even taking out a restraining order against the Basketball Wives star. Gabrielle Union and Dwayne Wade are really the perfect couple. Since their marriage in , they've been the envy of everyone striving for a healthy romantic relationship. Hey how you doin big fella? They also share a baby girl. They were only married for 72 days during one of the biggest celebrity marriage blunders ever.
Luckily, Kim was able to bounce back with Kanye West.
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The Media ministry is inviting volunteers to share their experiences around how their lives have been positively affected as a result of their involvement in the ministry at Mt. Ennon. According to Mark 5:19, we are to "…Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." Sharing your testimony is important; it has the power to change lives. It is our hope that your story will encourage others to become involved as well.
How have your spiritual, medical, personal, financial (especially with regards to the act of tithing) challenges lead to a breakthrough?
How has serving in a particular ministry positively changed your life?
How has getting baptized positively changed your life?
How has outreach from a particular ministry positively changed your life?
How has Mt. Ennon's humanitarian and evangelical efforts impacted the community?
What happens when I am contacted to share my story?
When can I come out to share my story?
How can I organize my thoughts to be able to impactfully share my story?
A member of the Media Impact Team will help you formulate a script to guide you that will use the following format: Please review often to ensure you are comfortable with sharing your story.
 Greet the congregation and introduce yourself by name.
 Share your story in your own words, being sure to indicate the topic as described above.
 Briefly describe the challenge, problem or struggle leading up to the breakthrough.
 Describe the breakthrough/outcome/result of your decision to draw closer to God.
 Conclude your story by encouraging others to take action.
What happens when I come out to share my story?
On the day you will share your story, please arrive at the studio at your scheduled time. If you find that you are unable to keep your appointment, please contact media@mtennon.org. or 301-238-4988 as soon as possible to reschedule.
EVERY aspect of your spiritual journey is important. However, each video, once produced, can only last approximately 90 seconds. So, please be open to receiving feedback in order to produce the greatest impact within the short time allotted.
Once filmed, your story may be shared in a variety of contexts, such as Sunday service, Women's or Men's events, Revival, etc. Therefore, we are unable to provide a specific date it will be featured.
Finally, relax and remember to pray for God's blessing over your testimony and know that you will be blessed for sharing the story of God's Glory. Please continue to be a blessing! Encourage others to share their testimony.
If you can video tape your testimony and send it to the link below.
Thank you for your interest in Sharing Your Story.


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My bath was just sedating.
I miss you daddy, oh I do.
We worry so about you.
So me and teddy don't have to wait.
He's with me each moment of the day.
My Jesus really does care.
But, I love you the bestest, I do.
wrote the poem, I cannot give this permission.


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U.S. Vice President Mike Pence signs a guest book accompanied by the Rabbi of the Western Wall Shmuel Rabinovitch at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City, January 23, 2018. Credit: \ AMIR COHEN/REUTERS
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SIREN -- Republicans and Democrats Grow Even Further Apart in Views of Israel, Palestinians: "The partisan divide in Middle East sympathies, for Israel or the Palestinians, is now wider than at any point since 1978. Currently, 79% of Republicans say they sympathize more with Israel than the Palestinians, compared with just 27% of Democrats. The latest national survey by Pew Research Center finds that 42% say Donald Trump is "striking the right balance" in the situation in the Middle East, while 30% say he favors Israel too much The survey finds that while Republicans and Democrats are deeply divided in views of Israel, so too do they differ markedly in opinions about Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister. Nearly three times as many Republicans (52%) as Democrats (18%) have favorable impressions of Israel's leader." [PewResearch]
IPF's Michael Koplow: "In 2016, Dems sympathized with Israel over Palestinians 43-29; in 2017, 33-31; now, 27-25. So it isn't that sympathy for the Palestinians is increasing, just that sympathy for Israel is decreasing And that right there is the Trump effect, and what so many people -- including me -- were scared of and continue to be scared of. Dems are associating Israel itself with Trump it wouldn't be because of what Trump is doing but because of the way the Israeli gov't reacts to and treats Trump The Trump legacy is going to the final cementing of Israel as a deeply partisan and divisive issue that revolves around Trump, and not the other stuff." [Twitter]
Shmuel Rosner on Pew: "Moderate and conservative Democrats continue to sympathize more with Israel (35%) than the Palestinians (17%)" [Twitter]
"Trump's Hard-Line Israel Position Exports U.S. Culture War Abroad" by Max Fisher: "Mr. Trump represents the culmination of a trend that pro-Israel groups resisted for years: the loss of Jewish support. Even as Jews grew more liberal, many supported strongly pro-Israel policies. But as "pro-Israel" becomes synonymous with "conservative Republican," Jews are drifting away Revoking aid from refugees to punish Palestinian leaders, for instance, aligns with Mr. Trump's nationalist tendencies to treat foreign populations as monolithic blocs. This, too, has its roots in American culture wars over immigration." [NYTimes]
DRIVING THE DAY -- "Yeti eats Davos Man: Snowmaggedon tripped up opening of annual elite networking fest" by Ryan Heath: "Like a Trump metaphor from the skies, the Davos snow-in proved that just-in-time supply chains don't just hurt Rust Belt towns, they hurt CEOs and ministers too. One hour delay turned into several hours for many, losing battery and patience on clogged mountain roads and lifeless helipads... The global elite missed their own party in Davos Monday. Marissa Mayer, the former Yahoo and Google highflyer, cut a lonely figure in the Davos Congress Center Monday afternoon, surrounded by, well, no one... WEF supremo Klaus Schwab was reduced to meeting the leaders of NGOs in his Very Very Important Person meeting room." [Politico] How Trump ended up in Davos [Axios]
"Netanyahu to Davos as Den of Globalism Set to Host Donald Trump's Isolationism" by Noa Landau: "The Netanyahus will meet with various world leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emanuel Macron, Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev. Prime Minister Netanyahu will also meet with heads of major corporations as well as Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, Swiss President Alain Berset, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte... No meeting with US President Donald Trump, who will also be attending the conference, has been confirmed." [Haaretz; ToI]
#VPinIsrael -- Pence tours Yad Vashem, visits Western Wall: Vice President Mike Pence met with President Reuven "Ruvi" Rivlin at his residence this morning, on the second day of his Israel trip. Rivlin described Pence him as a "mensch" and "a dear friend of the Jewish People and the State of Israel" who stands "very firmly behind your words." Pence repeated what he said at the Knesset that the President has instructed the State Dept. to work with Ambassador David Friedman to expedite moving the embassy by the end of next year.
Pence then headed to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial accompanied by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "Here at Yad Vashem we mourn for the six million Jewish martyrs of the Holocaust, and we draw inspiration from the faith and resilience that rose from such times, Pence wrote in the Yad Vashem visitors' book. "Standing in this place, we say with all the people of Israel – Never Again."
CONTRAST -- Flashback to May 2017: Trump found Holocaust museum 'amazing' — which had many people cringing -- "Trump's tweet-like message in Yad Vashem's guest book has sparked a new round of controversy. "It is a great honor to be here with all of my friends,'' he wrote. "So amazing and will NEVER FORGET!"" [LATimes]
Pence later visited the Western Wall along with Ambassador David Friedman and Jason Greenblatt and joined by Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch [Video] After a short prayer, Pence signed the site's guest book: "It is my great honor to pray here at this sacred place. God bless the Jewish people and God bless the state of Israel always," Pence wrote. He told reporters the visit was "very inspiring."
PENCE VS. TILLERSON? Secretary of State hasn't signed off yet on plan to move embassy to Jerusalem -- by Ben Gittleson and Conor Finnegan: "Despite Pence's announcement [yesterday], Tillerson had not officially signed off on that plan as of Sunday night, according to a senior State Department official... But either way, Tillerson is moving the process along as fast as possible, the official added: "There was never any policy intent to slow-roll the issue of an embassy move ... The focus is on executing the president's decision in a manner which assures the safety, security, functionality of any premises." [ABCNews]
"Pence: Timetable for unveiling U.S. peace plan depends on Palestinians" by Jeff Mason: "The White House has been working with our partners in the region to see if we can develop a framework for peace," Pence told Reuters... "I think it all just depends now on when the Palestinians are going to come back to the table," Pence said... "We want them (the Palestinians) to know the door is open. We understand they're unhappy with that decision but the president wanted me to convey our willingness and desire to be a part of the peace process going forward."
"Israeli media have speculated that a 2019 embassy move could help Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu win reelection in a vote scheduled for November of that year. Asked if he hoped for Netanyahu's reelection, Pence said: "I'm a strong supporter of Benjamin Netanyahu, but I don't get a vote here." [Reuters; Bloomberg]
Ben Caspit quotes an Israeli cabinet member: "The VP is here mostly for fun. No one expects the diplomatic process to be resumed or for any breakthrough to be achieved. Pence is a friend of Israel's and was the motivating force behind the Jerusalem declaration, so he's here to celebrate his victory." [Al-Monitor]
PALACE INTRIGUE -- Ivanka Trump takes charge of finding John Kelly's replacement -- by Gabriel Sherman: "Two prominent Republicans in frequent contact with the White House told me that Trump has discussed choosing Kelly's successor in recent days... Ivanka is also playing a central role in the search, quietly field-testing ideas with people. "Ivanka is the most worried about it. She's trying to figure who replaces Kelly," a person who's spoken with her said. Kelly's departure likely isn't imminent." [VanityFair]
"'Defiance Disorder': Another new book describes chaos in Trump's White House" by Ashley Parker: "At one point, Kurtz writes that Stephen K. Bannon... dresses down the president's daughter early in the administration. "My daughter loves me as a dad," Bannon told Ivanka, according to Kurtz. "You love your dad. I get that. But you're just another staffer who doesn't know what you're doing." Kurtz also recounts an Oval Office meeting in which Bannon blamed Ivanka for a leak — and Trump supported him over his daughter: " 'Baby, I think Steve's right here,' Trump told her."" [WashPost]
SHUTDOWN -- "Schumer's shutdown performance sparks unrest in his ranks" by Burgess Everett and Elana Schor: "The turn of events Monday marked the most serious cracks in the unity Schumer has painstakingly built within his caucus since he became Democratic leader a year ago. After holding almost all Democrats together through fights over the Supreme Court, health care, taxes and even Friday's vote that shut down the government, Schumer is now under attack from the left and confronting pointed criticism of his negotiating skills... Liberal groups were furious, threatening in a conference call with progressive senators on Monday to spend money against Schumer and his vulnerable incumbents this fall." [Politico]
2018 WATCH -- NY Lt. gov to meet with Jewish leaders in potential challenger's backyard" by Carl Campanile: "Lt. Gov. Kathleen Hochul is planning to meet this week with Brooklyn Jewish leaders in the backyard of a potential Democratic primary challenger, City Councilman Jumaane Williams... Williams recently announced that he's exploring a run for Hochul's job. Hochul has arranged to discuss the importance of private education with members of the Jewish Community Center of Crown Heights and visiting a yeshiva." [NYPost]
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BUSINESS BRIEFS: Bill Ackman cuts staff, shuns limelight as he seeks to turn around fund [Reuters] FirstEnergy Gets $2.5 Billion From Elliott, Bluescape Investor Group [WSJ] Orange Denies Interest in Acquiring Portugal Telecom from Altice [FoxBusiness] Kushner Companies no longer seeking $150M in EB-5 for Jersey City project [TheRealDeal] Financier Stephen Feinberg Is Top Choice to Advise President on Intelligence Matters [ForeignPolicy]
TALK OF OUR NATION: "Silicon Valley wrestles with religion. Is high-tech "clean meat" kosher and halal?" by Chase Purdy: "The ascendance of high-tech meat companies such as Hampton Creek, Memphis Meats, SuperMeat, and Finless Foods has sparked novel conversations in Jewish and Muslim circles over whether these novel products are kosher and halal, respectively. And with the first clean meat products expected to hit the market this year, tech companies are actively engaging with groups responsible for certifying food products as kosher and halal, for obvious reasons. The global kosher market is worth more than $24 billion; the halal market $1.6 trillion globally..."
"It's just such an exciting development," says Menachem Genack, a rabbi and CEO of the kosher division at the Orthodox Union... Genack marvels at potential for industrial-sized clean-meat operations to reduce the waste of the current meat-production system, with its sprawling factory farms and mammoth poultry barns. In theory, clean meat would require less water and land, emit fewer greenhouse gas, and eliminate animal suffering altogether... Genack says he's poised to offer the new food technology his blessing..." [Quartz]
"Hijab-Wearing Model Steps Down from L'Oréal Paris Hair Campaign" by Sarah Spellings: "Following backlash surrounding old "anti-Israel" tweets, [Amena] Khan is no longer a L'Oréal Paris U.K. brand ambassador. The BBC reports that Khan stepped down from the campaign after her tweets were discovered (they have since been deleted). Khan apologized in an Instagram post stating, "With deep regret, I've decided to step down from this campaign because the current conversations surrounding it detract from the positive and inclusive sentiment that it set out to deliver."" [TheCut]
"My visit to the Israel-Syria border, where global competition is hot" by Trudy Rubin: "The Syrian civil war virtually destroyed medical care in Syrian conflict zones. So Israel also permitted the Louisiana-based U.S. Christian charity Friend Ships to open a clinic last summer right at the border that serves families who cross over daily for chronic or emergency illnesses. It is amazing to look across the fence and see a hut in no-man's-land where Syrian civilians are checked, then allowed to walk down a path and through a gate into Israel. Volunteer manager Sheray Morrison, a 66-year-old grandmother of 14 from New York, says 2,500 patients have crossed along with a Syrian doctor who commutes daily... Children are given toys and parents get food packages; piles of stuffed animals..." [Newsday]
SCENE LAST NIGHT -- by Jacob Kornbluh: Former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, retired IDF Brig. Gen. Michael Herzog, and New York Assemblyman Walter Mosley addressed AIPAC's Northeast gala, celebrating 70 years of the U.S.-Israel friendship, at the Lincoln Center's David Geffen Hall in NYC. Elected officials in attendance included New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, Public Advocate Tish James, Comptroller Scott Stringer, Councilmembers, members of the State Assembly, New Jersey's State Senate leaders Loretta Weinberg and Tom Kean; Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, foreign diplomats, and noted dignitaries from Israel.
-- Jason Koppel tweets: "Bipartisanship in action at AIPAC's Northeast Gala with NJ Senate Majority Leader @SenatorLorettaW and Republican Leader @tomkean join in their support for #Israel. With AIPAC President-Elect Dr. Mort Fridman and Board Member @sklinghoffer." [Twitter]
DESSERT: "How To Live Life Like Erez Komarovsky: The Hell-Raising, Iconoclastic Israeli Bread Baker" by Taffy Brodesser-Akner: "Here is how to live your life, according to Erez Komarovsky: Don't take people's advice. Ask yourself why you're doing the same thing you were doing last year... Stop following recipes. Recipes don't teach you anything... A recipe is a way to force a food to be the same forever. It denies what Komarovsky thinks is the essential nature of food. "Cooking is endless," he says. "Each time it comes out completely differently. The reason it does that is because you're different every time you make it and you're different every time you eat it. It depends on your mood and your hormones, both the cook's and the eater's, and it depends on the chemistry between me and the people that are eating..."" [Saveur]
"Wilmington vegan eatery now certified kosher" by Patricia Talorico: "Drop Squad Kitchen, a vegan eatery at the Wilmington Riverfront... has recently received kosher certification from the Vaad HaKashrut of Delaware. The family-run kitchen... becomes the first kosher restaurant in Wilmington in more than 20 years. Rabbi Steven Saks, head of the Vaad HaKashrut of Delaware, said having a local kosher restaurant "enhances the vitality of Jewish life in Delaware."" [DelawareOnline]
"This Shabbat dinner pairing app isn't for everyone — and that's the point" by Gideon Grudo: "On December 15, the Friday during Hanukkah — ehm, Shabbanukah — the three-and-a-half-year-old OneTable achieved its strongest Friday night ever, seating 3,034 people across 241 dinners spanning the country. The majority of OneTable's 22-person staff seems to agree: there's no single way to hold a Shabbat dinner, as long as it's on a Friday. OneTable — whose budget climbed from $800,000 for the second half of 2014 to $5.6 million for the coming 2018 — is taking a novel approach to an ancient conflict. Leaning on modernity in the form of an iOS app, blogs stuffed with GIFs, and aggressive social media practices, it aims to engage under-affiliated Jews in their 20s and 30s in one of Judaism's oldest and defining rituals — and have them make a habit of it." [ToI]
REMEMBERING: "Connie Sawyer, Late-Blooming Comic Actress, Dies at 105" by Cheryl Cheng: "Connie Sawyer, who appeared alongside everyone from Sophie Tucker to Frank Sinatra to James Franco in a late-blooming career that saw her continue to work until recently, has died... She was born Rosie Cohen on Nov. 27, 1912 — Thanksgiving Day — in Pueblo, Colorado. Her father worked as a store clerk, and her mom was an aspiring actress. "My mother loved showbiz," Sawyer told The Jewish Journal in 2012. "She would enter me into those amateur contests like they have today — what do they call them, Idol?"" [HollywoodReporter]
BIRTHDAYS: President and CEO of Staples Inc. since September 2016, Shira Goodman turns 57... Real estate developer and former owner of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets, Bruce Ratner turns 73... Educational consultant, trade association and non-profit executive, previously an aide to Congresswoman Bella S. Abzug (D-NY), Peter D. Rosenstein turns 71... Manager of Innovative Strategies LLLP and JHJ Investment LLLP, board member of the Baltimore-based Zanvyl and Isabelle Krieger Fund, Howard K. Cohen turns 71... Israeli archaeologist, educator, on the faculty of Oxford Brookes University, Estee Dvorjetski turns 67... 41st Mayor of Los Angeles (2005-2013), now a candidate for Governor of California in 2018, Antonio Villaraigosa turns 65... CEO of Foundation for Jewish Camp since 2010, after a 20+ year career as CEO of Manischewitz, Jeremy J. Fingerman turns 57... Senior political analyst for MSNBC, co-author of "Game Change" and "Double Down: Game Change 2012," John Heilemann turns 52... Creator and host of Jew in the City, Allison F. Josephs... Mark Meyer Appel, founder of the Bridge Multicultural & Advocacy Project (was yesterday)...
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The hundreds of merry makers who pedaled holiday cheer around Milwaukee on Saturday's 13th annual running of the Santa Cycle Rampage lucked into some perfect winter weather. I did not take the time to do an official count, but more than 150 holly jolly cyclists pedaled down to Lakefront Brewery with me from Cafe Hollander in Wauwatosa. Similar sized groups of Santas (herds?) rolled into the Lakefront from every corner of Milwaukee, as well as some from Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota.
I don't know if it was the sunny skies and traces of snow still on the ground or if more people dressed the part, but this year the crowd had the strongest holiday vibe of any Rampage in recent memory. I'm neither a good singer nor am I religious, but I couldn't help but sing along when the crowd outside the west side Cafe Hollander erupted into spontaneous "Happy Birthday" song when Jesus rolled up on his Pugsley. By the end of the day, my leg muscles felt fine, but my smile muscles were all worn out.
This was the first year the Rampage was anything more than a winter pub crawl. Early in the planning of this year's event, some of our bicycle crazy friends who have businesses that have benefitted financially from the Rampage asked if they could donate money to the Wisconsin Bike Fed. Never one to look a gift reindeer in the mouth, we said sure. The good folks at the Lowlands Group Restaurants took the lead and produced cool Santa Rampage Shirts and even brewed up a special batch of Santa Rampage Belgian Bier. Next thing we knew, Turner Hall was helping us book the English Beat and giving us a discounted rate on the show! Of course stalwart stops at Lakefront Brewery joined in to offer free beer and Guy and the crew from Great Lakes Distillary donated $1 from every drink sold back to the Bike Fed.
A personal favorite stop of mine is Kochanski's Concertina Beer Hall, where Andy and his sister always lay out a spread of fireman's chili and keep the place warm with Polka music. This year Vern and the Originals warmed up the crowd with hot polka-fied versions of classic christmas tunes as well as more traditional four-step numbers.
The elves are still doing the math, but it looks like the event generated about $5,500! Not bad for a first year fundraising event. We apologize to any of the feeder locations or alternate stops on the Rampage that were not part of the fundraising plans. This first year we just went with the keep it simple motto and limited the fundraising efforts since we didn't know how well it would be received. Next year we will get the rest of the stops involved in the planning earlier.
Special thanks to the English Beat for flying in from Birmingham to help make this a ranking Rampage. I'm old, but I've been skanking with you since the late 70s, and I'm not ready to stop!
I was at the event and did help Jessica, and it was "nice seeing so many Santa's".
Was great fun watching this event! Too bad more people don't know about it.


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I will be sampling some brand new VR beans at the "America Now" exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Saturday, June 27; 5–8 p.m.
Eighth and F streets N.W.
The most interesting to me here starts at the 4:11 mark. A woman repeatedly says the word "bar", but what you and I hear depends on how we see her lips moving. We could hear "far" or "var" if we see her lips saying that in the video, even if the audio track is saying "bar".
This illusion is somehwat similar to what I'm exploring in this demo, but I believe this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the new types of illusions and tricks that can be played on our brain when we are immersed in a virtual environment. I'll be doing some research, prototyping, and reporting my findings.
You can modify the hologram shader with numbers (1-7) and keys (Q-U) on the top line of qwerty keyboards.
Just got back from the Game Developer's Conference. I was blown away (as always) by the amazing people, overwhelming presence of VR on the expo floor, and overall good vibes.
I'll be trying to sort through business cards get in touch with the folks I met at the conference. If we met, please get in touch!
Crescent Bay demos blew my mind!
Having had some difficulties porting a project built for Oculus to Google Cardboard (mostly because of PC -> mobile RAM differences), I had been thinking about how difficult it would be to support multiple input devices. Especially when nobody knows for sure which devices will become most popular.
I heard about OSVR -- an open standard for virtual reality that gives developers a layer of abstraction between their code/game engine and the hardware.
OSVR allows a developer to support many devices, without worrying about which device the user has. If your application tracks hand positions, OSVR will give you hand positions, whether that data comes from a Leap Motion, Kinect, or Razer Hydra.
I think this is exactly what virtual reality needs right now, so I'm excited to start contributing to the project with the goal of everyone benefiting from better VR experiences.
Global Game jam 2015 entry. Starflocks 64 is an 8-player multiplayer game about cooperating as a school of fish as you navigate the depths of the ocean in search of food and safety.
It's been a busy month thus far. Working hard to get a demo ready for the IGDA Baltimore meeting. Also making changes to God of Battle Rave. We're trying to add a boss battle and improve the feel of the combat system. On top of all that... Ludum Dare 28 is this weekend! Not sure if I'll have the time to participate with so much going on. If I happen to come up with an idea that I think I can dissolve into an existing project, it's a go.
Hopefully I have a new game to show by Sunday night. In the meantime, check out this great article by Technically Baltimore about BIG.
God of Battle Rave will be showcased at the Windup Space on Wednesday, December 18th. The event starts at 8pm. Hope to see you there!
One month is up. The Robot Dice Baltimore Indie Game Jam is complete.
Play God of Battle Rave on the web.
Here is a direct download if its taking a long time to load on the web.
If you're lazy, here is a video.
3 Days remaining in the BIG Game Jam!
Who's ready to Battle Rave? This guy.
October 31, 2013 Happy Halloween!
In my previous update I mentioned the Baltimore Indie Game Jam. I'd like to take a moment to explain what the Baltimore Indie Game Jam is all about. Over the last few months, I've been a very active member in a new community called Baltimore Indie Games (BIG). BIG is about growing the independent gaming culture in the Baltimore region. We're making a big push to create some original content and put ourselves on the map, starting with the first ever Baltimore Indie Game Jam. To stay updated on BIG and follow progress of all the games in the BIG Jam, go here: http://bmoreindiegames.tumblr.com/.
Many of our basic mechanics are working and our team has found a good workflow. From here on out it's about gameplay, fun, and juice.
Looking forward to the 1st ever BIG Game Jam this weekend!
I have great interest in generating trees and vegetation in code at runtime. It is important that the trees branch out realistically, and that the size, shape, density, etc. is very customizable. My first shot at this is a very simplified implementation of the algorithm described in this paper. Here is a screenshot of my progress after day one. The green dots are not leaves, but attraction points as described in the algorithm. I think this is a promising start for this project. Full Album.
Wait... what's going on here??
Something's gone terribly, terribly wrong.
I'll have to sort this mess out.
Some reflecting on this past weekend's development of Candelabra: link.
Got my LD48 entry in just in time. My game is called Candelabra. Follow that link to find a Windows download. I will host a web build in the next few days. I am content with what I was able to create this weekend. It was an exhausting effort and a very weird project for me. I'm not sure if what I ended up with was what I had in mind from the start. '10 Seconds' was a fun theme to work with. It forced me to simplify my ideas, which is always a good thing.
I'll be participating in my first Ludum Dare solo game dev competition this weekend. The theme has yet to be announced. All code and content must be created within 48 hours. My biggest concern is art. I'll have to make do with what I can do. Will post results.
The last few months have been incredibly busy for me with client projects, moving, and a much needed vacation. It's been awhile since I've updated, so I wanted to write a short entry on my thoughts on the Oculus Rift. I haven't had as much time as I had hoped to develop something specifically for the rift. Working on a bunch of things, including a Kinect/Rift application where you can see your body in a virtual world. I'll have something to show soon. I did get a chance to port Love Bomb; it's interesting to fly through the circulatory system, but overall it needs some gameplay tweaks to make it a better Rift experience.
I have had a chance to try some of the demos made by the Oculus developer community. Wow. There are some really stunning projects in the works. My favorite game so far is Proton Pulse. The Rift is going to change everything. You will be blown away by what you see and how you feel inside the Rift.
We've received our Oculus Rift dev kit at Mosaic Learning. Now the fun begins. I've made some of our existing demos compatible with it. Very happy with the results so far. Oculus is going to change everything.
April 11, 2013 - First update since attending the Game Developer's Conference. Had a great time. Tried the Oculus Rift. It's awesome and I CAN'T WAIT for the dev kit. Some developers I talked to were underwhelmed by the low resolution and latency. It's not that bad. WAY better than existing video glasses currently on the market. This is only a prototype version for developers, not the final product. The resolution and latency will improve. The only game they had to demo at GDC was Hawken. It was weird moving the mech's head with the joystick and also being able to look around inside the cockpit. I'm not going to judge the Oculus on the first AAA demo. We will see some really impressive, creative work when developers get their hands on the dev kit.
January 27, 2013 - Global Game Jam 2013 complete! This year's theme was audio of a beating heart. Our game is called Love Bomb. Check it out -- right here.
September 13, 2012 - Added a new page for my work with the Kinect. Made a new demo -- I wanted to control a model with the Kinect, and change textures on the fly. It's very simple and rough, but it works.
July 26, 2012 - Sinc was featured in this Gamescape article. Check it out!
July 25, 2012 - Sinc.


text:
I. Main Body
1. Rootsmania
2. Legal Tomfoolery
3. Mark Ottaway
4. A Formidable Opponent
5. Dodged A Bullet
6. The Trial
7. Roots Unraveled
8. A Complicated Legacy
Author's Note
Alex Haley's Roots
6 The Trial
As the trial date approached, Courlander received a stack of what he described as "nasty letters," which he did not disclose to his family. On the other hand, a note of encouragement came from social activist and civil rights organizer Bayard Rustin, who wrote: "If you think you have a solid legal case against Alex Haley, you should proceed regardless of those who assert that a case will damage black pride." And there was good news from his publisher. Bantam was planning to rerelease The African; it had been out of print for several years. There was talk of running magazine ads, touting it as "the book that came before the Roots experience."
The man who would decide the case was Federal Judge Robert J. Ward. "Courlander vs. Haley" would be Judge Ward's first trial covered by the national media. The press did its best to focus on the core issue at stake: plagiarism. But some black community leaders didn't care whether or not Roots had been copied; the point was that slavery and racism had finally been acknowledged. A few went as far to suggest that the case was just another example of whites trying to hold back a black man. Courlander insisted his suit was strictly about "literary justice."
Haley, for his part, maintained that it was inevitable that a successful author would have to endure "such tests as these." As with Jubilee, Haley denied having read or even been aware of The African prior to the suit against him. The plaintiff, he contended, was just another envious author trying to cash in on his success.
Two Columbia University English professors, Michael Wood and Robert W. Hanning, had been hired to analyze Roots and The African to determine if any copying had taken place. Their report strengthened Courlander's argument. "The similarities between the two books are not accidental," Hanning wrote. "Without the materials Haley copied from The African, Roots would have been a far different and, in my opinion, a less effective novel. I believe the materials Haley copied . . . were crucial to the success that Roots has achieved."
More telling were the sentiments Judge Ward expressed during the course of the trial. Even before reading the legal briefs, Ward explained, he had read The African and Roots. Unlike the experts, who analyzed the books, line-by-line, side-by-side, Ward took an "average reader" approach, reading one and then the other. He came to the same conclusion as the experts.
After three days of testimony, it was time for Haley to take the stand.
"When did you first hear of The African?" Courlander's attorney asked.
"In the spring of 1977, in connection with an article which appeared in the New York Times." The author was so soft spoken that the court typist asked him if he could speak louder.
"Had you read the book, The African, prior to the publication of Roots?"
"I had not."
Herb Boyd, who previously had come to Haley's defense, found his response implausible. To have missed either Jubilee or The African, in Boyd's view, was "almost akin to someone doing a book on the history of the black church in America and knowing nothing of [African American scholar, writer, and activist] W.E.B. Du Bois."
Judge Ward also refused to believe how Haley could have spent more than a decade researching a book about Africans and African Americans without coming across The African. The book had been released in the middle of his Roots research and had been highly praised by those in the discipline. After hearing the defendant's explanation of his unorthodox research methodology during the trial, Ward expressed his view to the court:
Mr. Haley . . . as I see it, got hold of the book or substantial portions of it . . . made a lot of notes on cards or pieces of papers, shoved them in different folders on subject matter, and then took bits and pieces and worked them in, plugged them into the different subjects that he was addressing in his much longer book.
The general consensus in the courtroom was that Haley had plagiarized Roots from The African, and had lied about it under oath.
A denial plan, crafted by the writer's defense team, wasn't working anymore. The evidence Haley had been forced to provide the plaintiff prior to the trial demonstrated that he had copied from other books as well, including Shirley Graham's The Story of Phillis Wheatly. None of the verbatim passages he copied into his notebooks cited an author's name. Ward's theory seemed right—Haley's way of procuring research material was to either photocopy the document or copy it by hand into one of his many notebooks. It was as if, by inserting these texts into his own binders, they became, miraculously, his own. Courlander, who had written more than twenty books, was taken aback. He had just exposed the most celebrated author of the era as a fraud.
Before the conclusion of the trial, Haley had tried to settle out of court with Courlander for $250,000 (the equivalent today of $1 million). Though it was a substantial sum for Courlander, who was never able to rely on his own royalties to earn a living, he had rejected the offer. Nearly a third of Roots came from his own book, he argued. Without The African, Roots would not be Roots. At this point, a verdict of guilty seemed inevitable. But Ward knew those following the case, especially in the black community, were going to perceive the proceedings differently, regardless of the evidence and testimony. The judge encouraged the defendant to settle, but Haley would have to propose a more generous amount the second time around. With an estimated net worth of $7.5 million, Haley could afford to offer more, and Courlander knew it. As the trial wound down to its final days, Haley conferred with his attorneys, who were, according to one reporter, reluctant to settle. The day before the verdict was to be rendered, Haley agreed to pay Courlander $650,000 (nearly triple his original offer) and sign a release stating that there were "various" (not eighty-one, as the plaintiff contested) passages from The African that had somehow found their way into Roots. Courlander was granted a sum of money larger than all of his past earnings from books combined. The trial was over and the racial repercussions feared by Judge Ward did not materialize. And Haley narrowly escaped a reputation-destroying verdict; he didn't even have to acknowledge authorship of the disputed passages in future editions of the book.
With the Roots sequel scheduled to air in six weeks, Haley seemed to have regained his equilibrium. Privately, he remained convinced that he was innocent of any wrongdoing. The settlement was not, to his way of thinking, a lucky break. On the contrary, the trial had been unfair and he had been victimized.
Back out on the lecture circuit, determined to satisfy his critics and redeem himself to his fans, Haley presented an arsenal of responses: "The reason for the settlement, at the last minute, was that a skilled lawyer that morning was preparing to paint me as a villain." "How can you explain every word that you write?" "I don't remember where I got something at three a.m. eight years ago." "I became a sitting duck for lawsuits." When asked to elaborate, he didn't hesitate.
Since Roots was published in over twenty-five languages and countries, Haley explained, he was vulnerable to suits in each of those jurisdictions. He had to settle.
Besides, he admitted, there was no way he could have accounted for all the information he had accumulated. Out on the road, while writing Roots, it wasn't unusual for the author to be given stacks of material by audience members that might be useful in his writing. One of those people had been Native American writer Joseph Bruchac. On Thursday, January 22, 1970, Alex Haley had delivered a lecture at Skidmore College in upstate New York. Bruchac, an ethnic studies instructor at Skidmore, had found Haley "to know so relatively little about" West African history that he'd recommended the then-recently-published historical novel, The African. Surprised Haley had not even heard of the book, Bruchac had driven back to his home, three miles away, to retrieve his "own personal copy."
"Here, you can keep it," Bruchac handed the book to Haley. "Thank You," Haley replied, "I'll read it on the plane."
Bruchac was subsequently stunned to read about Courlander's case. He knew his testimony could make a difference. Unfortunately for Courlander, by the time Bruchac decided to write to him, the trial was over.
Almost two years since the original broadcast, Roots: The Next Generation aired. Reaching 110 million Americans, it proved to be the second-most watched program in TV history after the initial miniseries. Its higher advertising fees generated more money for Haley than the original. His lecture circuit appearances now paid a minimum of $5,000 per speech. Boosted by the sequel's success, the book's total sales now exceeded eight million copies worldwide.
Although he swore he'd never write again after being emotionally and financially drained from legal battles, the growing list of requests from fellow authors, publishing houses, and periodicals made it difficult for him to abandon his craft. He accepted offers to pen introductions for books about African American history, genealogy, and memoirs of friends. He occasionally wrote an article for USA Today's newspaper insert magazine, Parade, and other popular publications. Wealthier than ever, Haley was still beloved by the public. He was, in the words of a Washington Post socialite columnist, "now a solid member of the professional class," mingling with both political and Hollywood elite. Among young African Americans, he was voted the "third most admired black man in America . . . after Muhammad Ali and Stevie Wonder."
And to end the decade on a high note, Haley and his brothers purchased their grandparents' home, which they donated to the State of Tennessee. Christened by the Tennessee Historic Landmark Commission as the Palmer House (named after its builder and Haley's beloved grandfather, Will Palmer), it became Tennessee's "first state-owned historic site devoted to African Americans." Located on the newly renamed Haley Avenue, the house was a block away from Hickman Street. Henning had now developed a mini-tourism industry thanks to Alex Haley, not Jim Hickman.
Courlander, meanwhile, published an op-ed in the Village Voice. Haley, he wrote, was portraying himself as an "innocent bystander caught in the crush" of his own success. But no one was listening. Courlander would be remembered not for his literary achievements, but for suing the author of Roots. According to his son, Michael Courlander, he never got over it.
Previous: Dodging A Bullet
Next: Roots Unravels
Alex Haley's Roots Copyright © 2014 by Adam Henig. All Rights Reserved.


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Gracie Lawrence has been acting since she was five years old and got her first major break in the Broadway production of Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs, directed by David Cromer. She has appeared in acclaimed television shows such as The Good Wife, The Americans, and Younger, and feature films such as The Sitter and Did You Hear About the Morgans? Her upcoming projects include Rhys Ernst's Adam and the Walt Disney feature Noelle.
Also, Lawrence is an accomplished singer/songwriter, teaming up with her brother to lead Lawrence, a New York-based soul-pop group. Her dynamic, powerhouse vocals can be heard on Lawrence's debut LP, Breakfast, which reached #6 on the iTunes R&B/Soul charts, and on their upcoming sophomore album.


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Discussion in 'Planetary Annihilation General Discussion' started by Cryonicfire, August 10, 2013.
Need some intelligent MIRV that disperse themselves to cover a larger surface and auto-lock on the best target in order to avoid having all the nukes hitting exactly the same pixel.
chronosoul, bobucles and igncom1 like this.
Or... go the smart casting route and have each command launch a single nuke.
Hilarious nuke trailer, raevn. Bugs are the best part of alpha.


text:
Home » Red Metal (Hardcover)
Red Metal (Hardcover)
By Mark Greaney, LtCol H. Ripley Rawlings
17 on hand, as of Jul 16 1:01am
(MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE)
A Russian military strike against Europe could change the balance of power in the West. A stunningly realistic view of modern warfare from a battlefield commander and the New York Times bestselling author of The Gray Man.
The Russian bear has awakened. Their tanks race across Poland crushing all opposition on a headlong dash for the heart of Germany. Satellite killing missiles blind American forces while Spetznatz teams destroy Allied communications relays. It's all part of a master plan to confuse and defeat America and her allies.
Ranged against the Russian attack are a Marine lieutenant colonel pulled out of a cushy job at the Pentagon and thrown into the fray, a French Special Forces captain and his intelligence operative father, a young Polish female partisan fighter, an A-10 Warthog pilot, and the captain of an American tank platoon who, along with a German sergeant, struggle to keep a small group of American and German tanks in the fight.
Operation Red Metal is a nightmare scenario made real but could it just be the first move on the Russian chessboard?
Mark Greaney has a degree in international relations and political science. In his research for the Gray Man novels, including Agent in Place, Gunmetal Gray, Back Blast, Dead Eye, Ballistic, On Target, and The Gray Man, he traveled to more than fifteen countries and trained alongside military and law enforcement in the use of firearms, battlefield medicine, and close-range combative tactics. He is also the author of the New York Times bestsellers Tom Clancy Support and Defend, Tom Clancy Full Force and Effect, Tom Clancy Commander in Chief, and Tom Clancy True Faith and Allegiance. With Tom Clancy, he coauthored Locked On, Threat Vector, and Command Authority.
Lt. Col. Hunter "Rip" Rawlings IV is an active duty Marine and a veteran of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. A former infantry battalion commander and light armored reconnaissance officer, he has served for more than twenty years. He is currently assigned to Quantico as the Warfighting Director for Marine Corps Command and Staff College. In his spare time, Lt. Col. Rawlings is an avid scuba diver, small-craft sailor, and microbrewer.
Praise for Red Metal
"Red Metal is red hot! Packed with action, intrigue and a plot ripped right from today's headlines—you won't be able to put this one down. If you enjoy finely-crafted military thrillers, you will love Red Metal."—Brad Thor, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Backlash
"A fast-paced thriller featuring nonstop action and a little something for everyone...Think Red Storm Rising but ten times faster, with more action and Greaney's familiar, smooth style...Red Metal is a once-in-a-generation type thriller that is not to be missed."—The Real Book Spy
Praise for Mark Greaney
"Mark Greaney reigns as one of the recognized masters of action and adventure."—New York Times and #1 international bestselling author Steve Berry
"Nobody is on a hotter streak right now than Mark Greaney."—The Real Book Spy
"[A] high-energy thriller...Clancy fans will have a blast"—Kirkus Reviews
"Fast-paced [and] tightly written...A great ride."—New York Times bestselling author Larry Bond
"Bourne for the new millennium."—#1 New York Times bestselling author James Rollins
Publisher: Berkley
Fiction / Thrillers / Military
Fiction / Thrillers / Political
Fiction / Action & Adventure
Paperback, Large Print (July 23rd, 2019): $29.00


text:
Emergency Ordinance Passed for Horseshoe Bend
By: Bob Hembree - Updated: 1 month ago
PAGE – Horseshoe Bend parking lot safety concerns have forced Page City Council to pass an emergency ordinance.
Before the ordinance, Page Police were limited in helping with traffic problems. Effective immediately, violators of the new code face up to a $300 fine.
Part of the legal process includes giving the entrance to the parking lot an official street name: Horseshoe Bend Drive.
The ordinance states that parking, loading and unloading passengers in or along the entry road to Horseshoe Bend, also known as Horseshoe Bend Drive, except in city designated, areas is prohibited. Loading and unloading passengers in or along U.S. Route 89 within 1,500 feet of the intersection of Horseshoe Bend Drive and U.S. 89 is also prohibited.
Justification for the ordinance grew from safety issues, including busses unloading in front of the fee booths, then turning around in the narrow entryway. This slows down the traffic flow into the parking lot, endangers foot traffic, and causes backups on the highway.
City Attorney Josh Smith said, "The staff at Horseshoe Bend has made several efforts to try to educate the public about the proper process for moving through and to tell people that they're not allowed to load or unload in the roadway, but despite those education efforts it appears to be a continuing and ongoing problem."
Smith added, "Hopefully this will address the issue for now so that we can have safe operations out there and not have anybody get hurt. Then it will allow us to, I guess, have a little bit more teeth behind our education efforts and will afford law enforcement some teeth in stopping that kind of behavior."
Success of student support services is a community-wide effort
The Wave could soon allow more visitors
New Horseshoe Bend trail
Seven complete second CAMT program
Horseshoe Bend parking lot safety concerns have forced Page City Council to pass an emergency ordinance.


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Day 13 arrived sleepily with snow falling all around us but we managed to drag ourselves out of bed and go running around to celebrate my Birthday weekend. We had our feast on day 13 and I have a lot to say about that! I can tell that things, they are a changin.
The first portion of the birthday feast included sushi, a salad, and the clear soup that you usually find at Japanese restaurants. I chose not to veer too far off course for lunch and had 1 vegetable roll, 1 california roll (which had a miniscule amount of the crab in it), and 1 shrimp tempura roll (which had 1 shrimp that was tempura fried). This was a relatively small step off plan and I felt okay about this lunch since it is a feast day. It was at dinner that things took a turn. I had been gifted an Outback gift card for Christmas and we decided that since we remained out running around all day we would have dinner out as well and utilize this gift card. Since it was a feast day we decided to indulge completely…..which might have been a mistake. The following is what we dined on.
Here's what I can say, we feasted. After two weeks with no meats and very minimal amounts of fat in our diet this meal tasted as rich as if we were eating straight butter. It was delicious, but it left a fatty oily taste in our mouths. Today in fact on day 14, a whole day later I can still feel that fatty film although I've brushed my teeth three times since eating that meal. It was a fantastic tasting meal, but it left us feeling a little bogged down and with a little bit of heartburn. Overall even though we wanted the meal, even though we enjoyed it thoroughly, it left us feeling not as well as our healthy whole food plant based diet has left us feeling. Feasting is great, in the moment, and sometimes necessary, but we have a better understanding now than ever as to why the standard american diet is leaving so many people feeling so unwell. Today we find ourselves clogged up, bogged down, and heartburned. It will be at least a month before we indulge in any beef again, and when we do it will be made at home by us. In the future, our indulgences will be more along the line of biweekly sushi dates for the vegetarian roll, we aren't even tempted for meats now.
Previous postSuper Cute Monogrammed Purse/Tote Sale!


text:
Ruben is a sucker, and a new Starbucks logo
This story could potentially be bigger than The Gap's ill fated new logo that looked like a blue version of PricewaterhouseCoopers or however you spell it. Waterhouse sounds like a company that fixes dodgy roofs.
Photo from the Starbucks weblog, under the "Available for Download" sidebar heading.
First of all, to get it out of the way because I've heard it all before every time I mention Starbucks on Twitter, Gowalla and Foursquare.
Starbucks is a heartless megacorportaion, their coffee is terrible, and Ruben Schade is not only a stupid sucker and a pawn, he's also not politically correct saying he likes spending time there having caramel macchiatos. He's a poser and a fool, and spending just as much time at a local family run coffee shop in his neighbourhood does nothing to clear his super evil conscience. He should go to the Starbucks CEO and offer him sexual favours in exchange for his servitude, and just move to Seattle to pretend he's Frasier like all those other stupid people who think Starbucks is a relaxing, nice place to have a cup of coffee and get a little work done. They're all just so arrogant imposing themselves on others with their holier than thou attitude and their cups with paper sleeves. Why don't they just accept that different people like different things already?
Yeah yeah, whatever. Moving on.
This Is The New Sh*t
I don't listen to Marilyn Manson at all and think his music is terrible, but I have respect for him. Like Lady Gaga, or that guy who's always playing that weird guitar at Central.
I had no idea but the current Starbucks logo has been in use since 1992 when they had their IPO. I know this because I read their press release, and if information is in a press release, it must be true.
The updated logo isn't really new per sé, they've merely removed the phrase "Starbucks Coffee" from the name, expanded the mermaid woodcut and changed the colour to match the aforementioned name that was once there. From their weblog post Bringing the Siren to Life, second paragraph:
From the start, we wanted to recognize and honor the important equities of the iconic Starbucks logo. So we broke down the four main parts of the mark – color, shape, typeface and the Siren. After hundreds of explorations, we found the answer in simplicity. Removing the words from the mark, bringing in the green, and taking the Siren out of her ring. For forty years she's represented coffee, and now she is the star.
So that's my problem, I'm trapped in a green ring that says "Ruben Schade"! Maybe if I took myself out of that ring and painted myself green I'd be more dynamic and synergistic. Yes, apparently synergistic is a word. facepalm
I'm of two minds about this. First, to paraphrase Einstein, I'm generally not a fan of change simply for the sake of change unless there's something meaningful derived from it. This updated logo doesn't really seem to do this, at least to me as a non-graphics designer. The typeface and stars and colour balance in the current logo are just brilliant.
Perhaps wrapping the logo in "Starbucks Coffee" was part of an elaborate, two decade long scheme to get us to associate their logo with those words, much like Nike had their name next to the swoosh for a while before removing it, or Apple Computer having their retro typeface "a" as part of the bitten part of the logo and pple proceeding it, then having no lettering at all.
Its the Illuminati, or something
Of course conspiracy theorists no doubt will claim the removal of the term Coffee from the Starbucks logo is akin to Kentucky Fried Chicken changing their name to KFC because their stock was so heavily genetically modified that they couldn't legally be called chickens any more. Oh you didn't hear about that? Yeah, its all true! Its not because its so fatty I always feel green afterwards, its for THAT reason I don't eat it!
You see, Starbucks doesn't sell coffee, they sell coffee flavoured floor sweepings, and all those pesky truth in advertising laws would have meant a drastic logo change anyway, so they may as well disguise their products true origins as well as save themselves the hassle of adding all those extra words to the logo which is already big enough. I mean, only a Venti cup could fit a real description in the logo rather than just Starbucks Coffee.
Con Clus Ions
I dunno, on the one hand I'm pleased they're retaining the main part of the logo, but call me a cranky old man who drinks terrible coffee or any other insult you care to throw at me, but I like the current one better. And to prove it, I'm having a drink from their branch in Wynyard now as I speak. Or type, or whatever this is. Near the station of the same name.
Hey, at least they're not pulling an Adelaide in Sydney :O.
Friday 07 January 2011 Media
Newer post ← Trains Ruben Taketh: R19
Older post → Fixing an old, broken WordPress page