Of course, my question to the American Psychiatric Association is...what took you so long?
Today [28 Apr 2007] the American Psychiatric Association (APA) sent an open letter to the news media urging them to stop airing the disturbing writings, photographs and video that NBC News reportedly received from Cho Seung-Hui, who committed suicide after murdering 32 students and faculty and wounding at least 29 others at Virginia Tech.
On behalf of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and our 38,000 physician members specializing in the diagnosis, treatment, prevention and research of mental illnesses, I urge all news media outlets to stop airing the disturbing writings, photographs and video that NBC News reportedly received from Cho Seung-Hui, who committed suicide after murdering 32 students and faculty and wounding at least 29 others at Virginia Tech.
The publicity of the Cho materials not only seems insensitive to the grieving and traumatized families, friends and peers of those murdered and injured, but also seriously jeopardizes the public's safety by potentially inciting "copycat" suicides, homicides and other incidents. Because the scientific evidence in this area is clear, the World Health Organization, in its 2000 report "Preventing Suicide: A Resource for Media Professionals," said: "Glorifying suicide victims as martyrs and objects of public adulation may suggest to susceptible persons that their society honours suicidal behaviour." Indeed, it is evident to many that the Columbine tragedy was a powerful force in Mr. Cho's writings. The media have an important role to play in limiting the power of such tragedies by choosing not to sensationalize them.
Some media have declined to publicize Mr. Cho's materials - a decision we applaud. However, some outlets, including NBC News, continue to use the materials. NBC News issued a statement yesterday in which it announced that, after thorough review, it has "limited our usage of the video across NBC News, including MSNBC, to no more than 10 percent of our airtime." While we trust this action was undertaken with the best of intentions, allowing the Cho materials to continue to constitute 10 percent of airtime demonstrates a lack of understanding of the potential impact the video and audio could have.
The massacre at Virginia Tech is newsworthy and it is the media's job to report on it, but we believe the media have a responsibility to balance the public's need to know against the potential danger of provoking copycat behavior. The APA urges, for the public good, that all media cease airing the graphic Cho materials.
Did you know there was a violent school incident on April 24, 2007, only a week and a day after what happened in Blacksburg, Virginia?
An intriguing reaction to the talk of copycats and predictions of further copycats a week after VA Tech appears to be developing within the editorial rooms of the US media: Silence. Don't talk about it. Maybe people won't know there are copycats?
Decades of research and common sense are confirming that the copycat effect exists. You can read several examples on this blog and in my book, of course. Nevertheless, in the wake of VA Tech, the American media appears to be pulling back from exploring the fact that examples of the multiple varieties of murder-suicides and school violence are occurring.
Or are they consciously not reporting on active school violence and will be less graphic during the next school shooting?
Is this the same media that said the people have the "right to know" when justifying the posting of the Cho images, words, and video? Excuse me for being a little confused.
Or are we seeing some subtle differences when events happening are not direct imitations of VA Tech (as if those were the only copycats), or if the examples occur in Canada versus the USA?
Would the media rather report nonstop on the false bomb threats and discovered plots as "the copycats," but overlook the ones that really do occur? Is there an ignoring of the three Houston area murder-suicides and the standoff and suicide in Maine last week, which were certainly part of the copycat contagion seen?
The situation that has been revealed today exclusively in two Canadian news outlets was definitely school violence, and this fact was not lost on the Canadian media. It even has echoes of the Bailey, Colorado, and Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, hostage incidents within it.
As some pupils played in the schoolyard yesterday during the mid-morning recess, a car came crashing through the school fence. A man got out of the vehicle, and students say he appeared to be in a fit of rage, and slapped and pushed six of the children.
A teacher who intervened to protect the children was brutally hit by the assailant, who then forced her into the school.
Inside, the man grabbed a nine-year-old boy and dragged him out, across the schoolyard and to a nearby gas station. There he took a nozzle from one of the pumps and sprayed the boy with gasoline.
"We didn't know if he was armed," principal Louise Bourgeois told TVA news. "He had circulated in the school and left by another door. Was he going to come back? He had just taken one of our students."
A teacher followed the man to the gas station and, along with a man who was pumping gas, pulled the child away from his assailant to safety. Shortly afterward, police arrived and took the 38-year old man into custody.
Ms. Bourgeois said she was shocked by the violence, and the entire staff and student body were traumatized.
Children who spoke to the media said the man firmly gripped his hostage and made his way toward the gas station.
Police said a man crashed his car into the schoolyard fence during morning recess, got out, walked toward the school, hit six children and then dragged a teacher who tried to intervene into the school.
Cho Seung-Hui, as The Smoking Gun discovered, used the email address Blazers5505@hotmail.com and bought his ammunition clips on eBay. We know what gun store he used to purchase his guns.
The Smoking Gun also posted the eBay pages showing that Cho apparently won the auctions on 37 rubber duckies (36 small ones, one large) from the online auction site.
Some talk show hosts are using this piece of information in warped ways to ridicule Cho, joking about Cho playing with the bright yellow plastic ducks in his bathtub. I have a more sinister possibility for their use. What if the rubber ducks were used for target practice?
As every little tidbit on Cho is rolled out, reporters are making it sound like Cho was engaged in product placements.
We are hearing about every mundane detail on Cho's purchases, of late. Cho used the USPS, not UPS or FedEx to mail his package.
He bought the chains he used to keep the doors closed from Home Depot.
Cho played the song "Shine" all the time.
I'm almost expecting to see a spoof ad on YouTube any day now showing a racially-profiled actor holding up a 9mm Glock and endorsing the gunshops where Cho bought his guns and ammunition.
Would this be a better outcome in the midst of this current deconstruction of Cho's life in the wake of Cho's glorification footage on NBC and MSNBC being shown, instead of a new fatal copycat incident with more deaths in the next few days? Of course it would. Only time will tell, but if history is a guide, I recommend awareness to what is happening all around you.
One thing is certain, this is not a time to laugh-off any potential suicidal-homicial warning signs.
Virginia Tech killer Cho Seung-Hui plagiarized other school-shooting psychos in a twisted show of one-upmanship. He used the Internet to research and learn from infamous school killers, including Columbine HS's Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, Duane Morrison of Bailey, Colo., and Kimveer Gill of Montreal, experts said.
In photos he sent to NBC News, Cho is seen wearing a black baseball cap backward, just as Harris wore in published images.
In others, Cho strikes poses disturbingly similar to those of Gill - who posted photos of himself online before his rampage last September at Montreal's Dawson College that killed one student and injured a dozen.
Gill's profile on the social-networking site VampireFreaks.com shows him pointing a pistol at the camera while holding a hunting knife in his right hand, just as Cho did his photos.
During his death spree, Cho chained doors closed - as Morrison did last year, when he held female students hostage at Platte Canyon HS and killed one. Cho mentioned "martyrs" Harris and Klebold in his videotaped manifesto.
"Cho was an empty vessel and he poured himself full from images off the [cable news and] Internet - the culture of Columbine, Dawson College and terrorism," said Loren Coleman, an expert on school shootings and author of The Copycat Effect.
"There's a psychological process that these shooters appear to be competing for the highest body count." Jill Culora, New York Post, Sunday, April 22, 2007.
Commentators filled air-time with speculations yesterday about this Clear Lake event being horrible to watch, as it unfolded in the wake of VA Tech. But they kept it on television until it ended with the discovery of the suicide of the man and that he had killed a male hostage three hours earlier. And that he had held a woman alive in the meantime.
Apparently the media remain unconscious to what they are doing. Let's see, the VA Tech tragedy and the NASA standout/murder-suicide are news events being squeezed in between the Anne Nicole Smith and Imus "news" and the Baldwin cellphone rants to his daughter. News as entertainment. But death news tends to be copycatted in many forms. College campuses are not the only sites we have to worry about.
Copycat situations have occurred on school and universities - in almost 30 states since Monday. But as I wrote and consulted about long ago, the school shootings set off other "rampage killers" too. Look and be aware beyond the schools.
I would not be surprised to see a "going postal" situation next week or another school shooting Monday or Tuesday, and then more throughout the whole next month. Right now the repeating action with be diffused and diverse - but the real events will be intense. The bar has been set higher by the media hype, and the results may be more brutal. Those bombs that did not go off at Columbine will be handled by youth who understand technology better. We are in dangerous times.
The copycat effect is a highly volatile phenomenon, spreading much like a match fire set to gasoline dripping across a service station lot. Individual violent acts portrayed in the media tend to spawn further events in the days and weeks that follow, though the subsequent events may be murder-suicides, mass murders, or mass suicides regardless of the precipitating event. Copycat murders and murder-suicides are real.
Publicity about a celebrity murder and murder-suicide serves as the spark to send a vulnerable, questioning, suicidal person in one of many directions. How the individual copes with the stresses leading to suicide, of course, varies from individual to individual, but by adding a model of behavior to the mix, via the media, pushes some people in a specific behavioral direction....[California sociologist] David Phillips has found an increase in both suicides and murder-suicides following other well-publicized suicides and murder-suicides, including in unrecognized aircraft accidents. Similarly, sociologist Steve Stack's 1989 study, the first ever on the effect of publicized mass murders and murder-suicides, showed the interplay between the media, murder, suicide, and murder-suicides. Stack explored their impact on lethal aggression by focussing on the stories of mass murder-suicides and mass murders that aired on two or three of the network news channels (ABC, CBS & NBC) from 1968-1980. Stack found that mass murder/suicides are significantly associated with increases in the suicide rate. He also noted that one special type of mass murder, publicized gangland mass murders, were associated with increases in suicide.
It became clear by the late 1990s that reports of workplace violence were not always just followed by other copycats of workplace incidents a day or a week later, but sometimes by other forms of mass and rampage violence as well. For example in the first week of November 1999, two workplace shootings on a Tuesday and a Wednesday shook the United States, which was already reeling from a long string of office and school killings for the year. In Seattle and Honolulu, the families of nine victims grieved as observers debated how to keep violence out of public settings traditionally considered safe. In Honolulu, seven people were shot to death when [a] Xerox technician...walked into a second-floor meeting room of the Xerox's offices and opened fire. He shot all the victims at close range with a 9mm handgun. In Seattle, the next day a gunman shot and killed two men and wounded two others in a shipyard office. Wearing a dark trench coat over camouflage clothing, the gunman had walked into the Northlake Shipyard building and proceeded down a long hallway and into a back office before wordlessly opening fire and shooting all four men in the room with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun. Two 9 mm guns, two Pacific Rim cities, two days of killings. Ten days later, another school shooting occurred in New Mexico.
When such clustering occurs, with its mix of violence types, the copycatting is spreading from one type of incident to another....The violence is everywhere and the media is gobbling it up, unconsciously spreading it in the process.
There were 15 people killed in the Columbine High School massacre.
NBC News got a package in the mail. I'm sure you've heard the news. Columbine is now confirmed to be part of the mental process of the VA Tech shooter.
NBC's and MSNBC's unfolding of this story demonstrates they have rather wholehearted published the VA Tech shooter's photos, some of his words, and his video. The way they have teased the public (e.g. "Turn in at 6:30 to see the exclusive video"; "See different photographs on MSNBC following NBC Nightly News"; "There will be more revealed on The Today Show in the morning") is so obviously a draw for higher rating. This is about the bottomline, when news becomes entertainment, a grab for more ad revenue. Death sells. If it bleeds, it leads.
The Columbine killers, I was not surprised to hear, were noted in the VA Tech shooter's materials. Cho Seung-hui called Columbine's Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold "martyrs". Harris and Klebold live on in their videos and got them broadcast; why won't the newest shooter wish to get his images shown to the world too. NBC fell right into his master plan.
Of course, not acknowledged by the graphic wall-to-wall cable networks is what a central role they have in triggering copycats. On "Hardball," on April 18, 2007, Chris Matthews made an under-informed remark about the "copycat effect." Matthews challenged the notion of the copycat effect by saying aloud that there had not been any copycat's of Columbine since Columbine. He said that it was odd that there had been a skipping of the eight years since Columbine, saying VA Tech was unique apparently, as if his facts were correct.
Based on the coverage I am seeing on television, should we expect more school shootings in the next month. Yes, there will be more copycats - first the bomb threats, then the discovery of plots, and hopefully not, but probably some actual shootings too.
Xeni Jardin at Boing Boing has a good overview of the Virginia Tech shooting today. It appears 33 dead are confirmed, including the shooter (described in some reports as an Asian male with a black hood).
Sadly, I saw this coming.
In an article based on an email I sent to a Canadian TV reporter Bridget Brown on September 18th and her followup interview, CTV noted that Expert predicted 'cluster' of school shootings, on October 3rd, 2006.
In that article, I was quoted as noting the psychological process that these shooters appear to be "competing for the highest body count." Sadly, we've seen that come true today.
Also, the news item from last fall noted: "He says that while the Pennsylvania shootings may not be the last in this cluster, the copycat crimes will likely slow down as we near winter. He says spring, and the anniversary of Columbine, could be enough to spark another cycle of tragedy." Again, my prediction of a reigniting of the school shooting wildfire during this very week was revealed today.
Interestingly, I am been interviewed by Canadian media today, and will be on the CBC tomorrow. The media north of the border seem less threatened by what I've said in The Copycat Effect: How the Media and Popular Culture Trigger the Mayhem in Tomorrow's Headlines. I was interviewed after the Dawson College schooling last fall frequently by Canadian television and radio stations, less by American programs.
Xeni Jardin wonders how I would feel about what I am hearing on the American cable news networks. To listen to CNN and MSNBC is to watch the news people stumble through this story.
These cable news people certainly should be aware that there is a copycat effect going on here. They have been reporting on this for ten years now, and can't see the legacy between wall-to-wall coverage and what happens when you elevate Columbine the way the media has.
Specfically today, there is something over-the-top being heard in some of the reports that this shooting today is the "deadliest" in American history. Also, incorrect information is being shared. These newspeople are misreporting on the profiles and the changes in it. Cable news earlier this afternoon misrepresented that this is an American-only problem. During the early evening, I just watched a report on CNN saying that the few historical non-American school shootings have been done by adult non-students.
Of course, this is simplistic. The American cable networks are ignoring Taber, Alberta (1999) to Erfurt, Germany (2002), and several in-between international events where the shooters have been relatively young people. The US media outlets are also forgetting that most of the fall 2006 American school shooting incidents involved outsiders, non-students and adults.
Last fall, as I told all that would listen, there was a shift in the overall North American shooter profile. It moved from one of mostly Caucasian males who were members of the student body to "outsiders." It began in earnest with the the youthful South Asian immigrant who became happier as a member of the cult of Columbine before his attack at Dawson College, and the two adult alleged sexual molesters who victimized young females in Bailey, Colorado and at the Amish school in Pennsylvania.
Will more of these happen? Probably.
There was a Columbine copycat shooting last week (April 11) in Oregon (with no deaths) in which the shooter said he got the idea after watching National Geographic's April 7th showing of "The Final Report: Columbine."
This VA Tech shooting comes days before the Columbine anniversary on Friday, April 20th.
I would definitely say we are going to be entering a period for the next month of many threats, many plots, and a few shootings.
Don't let your guard down. Awareness is key, communication is important, and quick response is a must.
New accounts from Gresham, Oregon, have noted that a Tuesday, April 10 school shooting appears to have been triggered by the shooter's viewing of the recent National Geographic Channel's "The Final Report: Columbine."
That individual, Chad Antonio Escobedo had watched the Columbine documentary and decided April 7 that he would do a shooting at his school because he was angry, according to the new court documents, as reported by KPTV, KATU-TV, and Oregon newspapers.
A 15-year-old boy charged with attempted aggravated murder after a shooting shattered some windows at a high school told police he was influenced by a television documentary on the 1999 Columbine shootings in Colorado.
Chad Antonio Escobedo appeared Wednesday afternoon in Multnomah County Circuit Court to face two counts of attempted aggravated murder along with two counts of assault and two counts of unlawful use of a weapon.
Ten students suffered minor injuries from shattered glass in the Tuesday afternoon shooting at Springwater Trail High School in this Portland suburb.
According to an affidavit filed by Deputy District Attorney Christine Mascal, Escobedo started forming the plan Saturday because he was "angry" at a teacher who had left messages at his home, telling his parents he wasn't doing well in school.
Another teacher is "mean" to students, he told police.
Escobedo also said he was angry at his mother because she would not let him live with his biological father in Eastern Oregon, the affidavit said.
The court document — which mentioned the Columbine influence — said that Escobedo left his house Tuesday morning [April 10th] carrying his stepfather's Winchester .270-caliber bolt action rifle and three boxes of bullets in the rifle's carrying case. He told police he hid the weapon in tall grass near the school before heading to class.
During lunch, he showed a bullet to several friends and told them he would shoot at the school. Instead of returning to class after lunch, he retrieved the rifle, put a bullet in the chamber and fired at what he thought was the classroom of the teacher who left messages at his house, according to the affidavit.
Coincidentally, the principal at Springwater — Larry Bentz — was principal at Thurston High School in Springfield when a student killed two other students and injured 25 in a shooting spree nearly a decade ago.
"When I hear lightning never strikes twice in the same place, I might question that," Bentz told KATU-TV in Portland.
But he said the circumstances were different in the shooting that broke windows at Springwater on Tuesday and the deadly rampage by Kip Kinkel at Thurston in 1998. Kinkel was sentenced to 112 years in prison in the Thurston shootings.
"I don't think there's any point in comparing the two events," Bentz told KATU.
Some of the Springwater students told KATU that Escobedo had warned them he was going to shoot at the school but they did not take him seriously or report him to a teacher or administrator.
National Geographic Channel will broadcast their hour-long documentary, The Final Report: Columbine about the April 20, 1999 shootings at Columbine High School, on Tuesday, April 3, 2007, at 10 PM Eastern Daylight Time.
The program will also be repeated on Saturday, April 7, and Tuesday, April 10, 2007.
The writing credit is given to Charles Fitzgerald, who previously has been a television producer/writer for documentaries including "LA Riots" (2006), "Iran: The Next Iraq?" (2005), and "American Justice" (4 episodes, 2004-2005).
The narrator is the well-known voice actor and narrator Tom Kane.


Functions to run operations with elevated privileges via authorize.php.
Because of the Update manager functionality included in Backdrop core, there is a mechanism for running operations with elevated file system privileges, the top-level authorize.php script. This script runs at a reduced Backdrop bootstrap level so that it is not reliant on the entire site being functional. The operations use a FileTransfer class to manipulate code installed on the system as the user that owns the files, not the user that the httpd is running as.
The first setup is to define a callback function that should be authorized to run with the elevated privileges. This callback should take a FileTransfer as its first argument, although you can define an array of other arguments it should be invoked with. The callback should be placed in a separate .inc file that will be included by authorize.php.
To run the operation, certain data must be saved into the SESSION, and then the flow of control should be redirected to the authorize.php script. There are two ways to do this, either to call system_authorized_run() directly, or to call system_authorized_init() and then redirect to authorize.php, using the URL from system_authorized_get_url(). Redirecting yourself is necessary when your authorized operation is being triggered by a form submit handler, since calling backdrop_goto() in a submit handler is a bad idea, and you should instead set $form_state['redirect'].
Once the SESSION is setup for the operation and the user is redirected to authorize.php, they will be prompted for their connection credentials (core provides FTP and SSH by default, although other connection classes can be added via contributed modules). With valid credentials, authorize.php will instantiate the appropriate FileTransfer object, and then invoke the desired operation passing in that object. The authorize.php script can act as a Batch API processing page, if the operation requires a batch.
system_authorized_batch_process core/modules/system/system.module Use authorize.php to run batch_process().
system_authorized_batch_processing_url core/modules/system/system.module Returns the URL for the authorize.php script when it is processing a batch.
system_authorized_get_url core/modules/system/system.module Return the URL for the authorize.php script.
system_authorized_init core/modules/system/system.module Setup a given callback to run via authorize.php with elevated privileges.
system_authorized_run core/modules/system/system.module Setup and invoke an operation using authorize.php.


So I get my mail today, and there's a big envelope from the IRS. This can't be good. I open it, and it's my tax return. With a notice stapled to it that they can't process it because I didn't include my W-2. Hello, IRS? I don't HAVE any W-2's, I was unemployed the whole year, that's why, you know, the line for "Wages, Salaries, Tips" shows "- 0 -".
I will have to see if I can get through to anyone at the 800 number on the form who can explain what I need to do to make them happy.
And to add insult to injury, my return is stamped April 19th, but I didn't get it today. Why do I suspect that if I'd owed them money, instead of them owing me a refund of what I had withheld, I'd have gotten it back two weeks sooner?
I can't help but think that asking the IRS to "Bite me" is like asking terrorists to "Bring it on."


Our PYO is Closed for the season.
Come on in to have your fermenting containers filled with fresh cider any weekend until Christmas Eve. We will have a special hard cider blend available Sunday, November 11th.
Our Farm Store is open daily 10am to 530pm for pies, cider, apples, cider donuts, fruit breads, local honey, jams & jellies.
Each year we support Alex's Lemonade Stand to help children with cancer. We have donated over $30,000 over the last 10 years! Please help support these young children if you can.
Thank you to all who helped to support a wonderful cause this year and in the past.


Chiropractic removes interference between the Nervous System and the rest of the body. Once interference is removed, the body functions better. As a result, there are many conditions that respond well to chiropractic care.
If you have any questions regarding any of these conditions or a condition not listed, call the office at 513-285-7482 to see if chiropractic can help you!


Choose a website hosting service that stands guard against malicious attackers!
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The Internet is a vulnerable place. Did you know that 2015 set an all-time record of nine mega-breaches and 429 million reported identities exposed through internet hacking? Even now, experts are averaging that half a million cyber attacks occur every minute. That's why you should never leave your website unprotected. Security is a must on today's World Wide Web, and the answer to a safe website starts with hosting.
But Why Me or My Website?
If you don't know much about Internet hacking, you may question whether you would ever become a target. Perhaps you don't consider your website to be of any interest to those who like to tap into domains that don't belong to them. "How could they profit from hacking into my website?" you might ask.
The truth is any site can easily become the next focus of mischievous or malicious activity. There are many reasons why hackers do what they do (Click here to learn about the main reasons why hackers hack). You don't have to be a major corporation or high-profit business to become a victim of virtual intrusions. It can and has happened to all kinds of websites. Some hackers do it just for fun—even though the results of such activity can be a headache or even catastrophic to the website that was unknowingly accessed and toyed with. The best thing a website owner can do is to make sure that their webpage is hosting by a safe and secure server that is vigilantly maintained and quick to respond.
Finally, a hosting and security team that is responsive!
We have members of our technical team who are specifically devoted to keeping your site updated with the latest modifications to our maintenance and security programs. Have a concern with your website? Maybe you need to post an update, but aren't sure how? With our support system, you never have to worry about your needs or concerns getting lost in our queue. Our support staff sees every submission that you send through our ticketing system and are quick to respond with the level of customer service you would expect from a friendly professional.
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Criminalists Jordan and Night Shift Paige talk about the show CSI. We discuss the science used to solve cases and all the character drama you can handle. Email us your questions - csirealitycheck@gmail.com And follow us on Instagram - @csirealitycheck.


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Kelsea Ballerini to have concert special on AT&T
Before ringing in 2018, Black River Entertainment recording artist KELSEA BALLERINI is topping off a "mountaintop" year with an exclusive one-hour television concert special, Kelsea Ballerini, presented by AT&T AUDIENCE Network tonight.
Filmed live from Nashville, Ballerini is offering at-home viewers a front-row seat to her milestone performance at Bridgestone Arena. Airing at 9 p.m. ET/PT on DIRECTV channel 239, AT&T U-verse channel 1114, and on-demand through DIRECTV NOW, the high-caliber footage was captured in front of a sold-out audience during the final U.S. date of her fall run on Lady Antebellum's YOU LOOK GOOD WORLD TOUR.
"Some of my biggest concert memories have been at this venue and Nashville shows are always super special," Ballerini shares. "To be able to bring fans into my tour world and share this epic night with them is really cool."
Mixing her history-making #1s from her GOLD-certified debut THE FIRST TIME – PLATINUM-certified "Love Me Like You Mean It," "Peter Pan," and "Dibs" – with breakout tracks from her acclaimed sophomore album UNAPOLOGETICALLY, such as the anthemic title track, "I Hate Love Songs," and Top 15 and rising lead single, "Legends," Ballerini's top-tier set further cements her Country music stardom.
Click here to see a standout first look of Ballerini's "Legends" performance, as revealed by Rolling Stone Country. A trailer and preview of Ballerini's post-show interview with AUDIENCE Music series host Ted Stryker is also now available.
As UNAPOLOGETICALLY continues to garner overwhelming support, illustrious outlets are including the poignant project on their reputable year-end lists. Spotlighted in The New York Times' "The Best Albums of 2017" and Rolling Stone Country's "40 Best Country and Americana Albums of 2017," UNAPOLOGETICALLY has also received a genre-blurring nod by BuzzFeed's "The Top 50 Pop Songs Of 2017" for the self-assured knockout "Get Over Yourself."
Beginning in February, Ballerini will welcome fans inside her whirlwind world of loss, life, and love, as she introduces UNAPOLOGETICALLY nationwide on THE UNAPOLOGETICALLY TOUR. From the Alabama Theatre in Birmingham, AL, on February 8, to the annual Stagecoach Festival in Indio, CA, on April 27 – with big city stops in Nashville, TN, New York, NY, and Seattle, WA in-between – she will be supported by special guest and breakout artist Walker Hayes. Rising star Bailey Bryan will also join for a special one-night-only appearance at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium on Valentine's Day.
For more information on KELSEA BALLERINI and VIP Experiences for THE UNAPOLOGETICALLY TOUR, visit KelseaBallerini.com and reach out to her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Fans can also follow along the tour with #KB2TOUR.
By Leslie Armstrong|2017-12-15T14:52:44+00:00December 15th, 2017|Categories: Music, Country, Nashville|Tags: Nashville, Country Music, Kelsea Ballerini, AT&T, concert special|0 Comments

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Rumor Central: Darth Vader's Role Expanded in 'Star Wars: Rogue One'
By Gio Ramos on January 27, 2016 • ( Leave a comment )
There was a time when I thought anything more than a Darth Vader cameo would overshadow and take away from the new characters in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Doesn't mean I wasn't excited for a cameo, but we're talking about Darth Vader here. One of the biggest and baddest villains in cinema history. Then I saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and how the presence of that iconic original cast didn't takeaway from establishing the new characters. Rey, Finn, and others ended up being as likable, if not more, than many of the original cast. Soon after, my worries about Darth Vader were completely gone.
Rogue One releases in December, and the biggest questions for me surround Darth Vader. What kind of role will he have in the movie? How tempted is director Gareth Edwards to play around with a Vader in his prime? A new and exciting rumor from JoBlo now increases my excitement, as far as the possibilities for the character go.
MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
The rumor states that Darth Vader will have a much bigger role than many expected. Prior to this, reports have mentioned that Vader would appear in a cameo, or very small role (via. Hologram). How big of a role will he ultimately have is still unknown. My guess is that he'll be calling the shots from a far distance for a majority of the movie. This also increases the chances I give that we'll see Vader in action, either using the force or in a Tie Fighter. Remember, the fact that Rogue One takes place between Episode III & IV means we already know the end game. This is also one of the rare opportunities to include Vader in a post-George Lucas era. I'm expecting bad things to happen to Felicity Jones' squad in this grounded Star Wars movie.
Other details have emerged from this rumor, including mentions of a new Tie Fighter design and the return of the AT-AT Walkers (most famous from the Hoth battle in ESP). Also, there will apparently be storm troopers dressed in black uniforms. Speculations on these trooper names include Death Troopers or Shadow Troopers. Lastly, there's word of a new droid that's said to be a "scene stealer" in the movie. The droid is said to be originally working for the Empire, but was reprogrammed to help the Rebels. The droid's structure is similar to C-3Po's but with a much different look.
I think it'll be a combination of awesome and nostalgic to see the AT-AT Walkers again. As for the droid, it does not surprise me one bit that a new droid could steal the show. If there's one thing Star Wars has consistently gotten right, its the droids. They've made fan favorites out of R2-D2, C-3PO, and most recently BB-8.
11 Months remain until Rogue One's release, so expect many more updates and rumors. For now, how does more Darth Vader in Rogue One sound to you? Will an expanded role take away from the movie and its new characters?
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story tells the story of a group of Rebel soldiers plotting to steal plans for the Death Star. The film stars Mads Mikkelsen, Donnie Yen, Ben Mendelsohn, Riz Ahmed, and releases on December 18, 2015
Tagged as: Lucasfilm, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Ben Affleck's Batman is the "Jury & Executioner" in 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice'
Our First Rumor Central Podcast Has Arrived, Recapping the Biggest Rumors of 2015!


The second is that sharing personal stories is not this magic bullet for connection or finding help. This truly has been the hardest year of my life, as it was prophesied on New Year's Eve last year to me that it would be, but I've not found that sharing my story – yes, it has been more than simply a list of complaints or bad things that happened this year; it has been real, terrifying vulnerability – has helped. The mountains of career advice I've been seeking vehemently are either too vague to be helpful or stuff I already know and have tried but didn't work or can't financially afford to try. I have asked and asked and asked and asked for help and I've not gotten it from the people who make a living – recruiters, disability service workers, churches – helping people. I am confused and frustrated by the incompetence, lack of follow through on commitments and general lack of functionality in the secular service sector, not least because the claim that we live in a meritocracy would mean that people who know how to do their jobs would have them while people who don't would not and that, in my experience, has been far from the case. But I want to focus on that last example – churches – here.
I was laid off two months ago this week. This culture makes it extremely shameful to be unemployed, which makes networking even more of a struggle than it already is for this socially anxious introvert. I feel my experience only qualifies me to do more things I don't enjoy and find painfully meaningless and my degree (theology) has not been an asset. I have spent too much time wishing I had been supported and seen by adults as a child rather than left totally alone to figure out what I wanted to do with my life (this lack of clarity has been and continues to be a major roadblock in moving beyond reception/office assistant/entry-level jobs that I can't build on and have never felt valued at).
So I realize finding a place to live while jobless is difficult. But that's exactly where the church should come in, at least in the Bible I read and studied while getting my theology degree. I regret this decision – the school I got it from has, to my knowledge, virtually no support for its alums, plus I have been asked in every interview I've had since graduating in 2010 what theology even is and why I majored in it; the answer to the first makes me sound like a flaming evangelical, which is not a good thing in the city I'm in and is not true anyway and I have no good answer to the second at the moment. But one thing I learned while studying theology is that God cares about the poor and those in need and makes serving them the main evidence for one's love of God.
There is a common argument against funding state or federal programs of social aid that claims, basically, that the government shouldn't be responsible for caring for the poor. Actually, as a person who cares deeply about homelessness, income inequality, racial and gender injustice and all the ways capitalism produces poverty and deprivation, I agree. It isn't the government's job to provide for its citizens. The only reason it's doing so (generally very badly in this country) is because the Church has completely failed to. And it was always and ever the Church's job.
If I'm not wanted in the work force, as I fear I'm not, maybe I can at least put my otherwise seemingly useless (in a non-neutral way) degree to work here. It's All. Over. Scripture. Both Testaments. Jesus Himself. The Apostle's teachings. Care for the poor. This does not mean a warm meal on Sunday mornings. This does not mean preaching to your congregation about caring for the poor "out there." It does not mean missions. Or, let me say it this way – and I know church bashing is fashionable among members of my generation, but just because everyone's doing it doesn't mean it's always wrong – none of those things, evangelism, prophecy, preaching, missions, mean anything if you are not taking care of your own first.
Why? "By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:35, NIV). It's not by going out with megaphones and REPENT OR ELSE signs and harassing people on the streets to turn to Christ or burn forever. It's not by approaching strangers at the grocery store and asking if you can pray for them, which is a one-time encounter that doesn't require relationship or the walking-with Jesus modeled but is a show-offy advertisement (sorry, I just spent some time down in Redding, visiting the famous church, Bethel, there, but more on that later). It's by the love congregants have for each other. If I can't find someone to sit with consistently on Sunday mornings even after attending a church for eight months, how is the church going to do anything close to what it's actually called to do, which is help people who are kind of exactly in my situation? If leaders in the church don't follow up on things they say multiple times they will do or have to be asked multiple times to do or flat-out ignore requests for help, how are they going to support members of their congregation who are struggling to find safe housing, jobs, community while going through marital strife or all three at once?
At this point, I'm simply too tired from a) hopelessness that I will ever break out of the cycles that are trapping me, especially since I've had to do most of my life alone, b) fear about how I will get my basic needs net, and c) asking for help (including from the church I attend) over and over again from organizations whose purpose it is to provide it and having to continually search for other possibilities since I've not found it to keep playing the church game, showing up expecting to give to a community who I don't feel supported by, or even really seen by when I am barely hanging on and trying to scrounge up any help I can get. It isn't enough for me, not after what studying theology has shown me the Church is supposed to be doing, to simply believe God is Provider. People aren't perfect, but actually, that has nothing to do with their ability to love (more on that later, too) and I'm tired of "I'm not God" as an excuse not to do what God has clearly called anyone who calls herself a Christian to do.
Previous Previous post: Can We Please Talk About How We're Talking About Stuff?


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The free speech Euros: Group E
As Europe's eyes turn to the football, Index looks at free speech in the competing nations
BY BENJAMIN LYNCH
Sweden fans before their match with Slovakia at Euro 2020. Igor Russak/DPA/PA Images
In celebration of one of football's biggest international tournaments, here is Index's guide to the free speech Euros. Who comes out on top as the nation with the worst record on free speech?
It's simple, the worst is ranked first.
We continue today with Group E, which plays the deciding matches of the group stages today.
1st Poland
Poland is divided. The recent 2020 presidential election was the smallest election victory since the end of communism in 1989. Its record on free speech is also increasingly problematic.
Incumbent president won the race to the Pałac Prezydencki with 51.2% of the vote. He is opposed to reform on LGBTQ+ rights as well as his extremely divisive abortion laws.
In January 2021, Duda's government imposed a law that allows an abortion only in cases of rape, incest or when the mother's life is threatened by the pregnancy. It caused country-wide protests.
Assistant professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Katarzyna Kasia explained in the recent winter issue of Index's magazine how the restrictions on abortion laws by Duda is indicative on regressive policy that threatens freedom of expression.
"I fear that Duda will continue his work as a strong supporter of the ruling nationalist coalition, obediently signing laws that will limit the power of the judiciary, freedom in academia and media, and the rights of minorities and women," she said.
Duda has attacked the Poland's independent media too, and thus the dissenting voices in the country have less of a platform to speak from.
This is due, in part, to the Polish state-owned oil company Orlen purchasing 20 of 24 regional newspapers previously owned by German company Polska Press. During the election there was mistrust around the media due to its German ties and accusations, therefore, that Germany was interfering in Polish politics.
All 24 of the papers have a combined readership of around 17 million people.
It is fairly clear that Orlen purchasing the papers is a deliberate attempt to change the editorial line to support Duda and consolidate support for him and his party, the Law and Justice Party (PiS). Four of the editors were recently fired, despite a court ruling by the Warsaw District Court to suspend the acquisition, pending a review.
Defamation laws also acta as a deterrent for open criticism of party officials. Under Article 212 of the criminal code, defamation is an offence that can be punished by up to two years' imprisonment. According to Reporters Without Borders, there is "a growing tendency to criminalise defamation".
Under Duda, the situation is unlikely to improve and there have been other attempts to control the narrative.
There is a bill supposedly designed to protect freedom of speech online and force social media companies to stop blocking content online by fining them, as well as the setting up of a "free speech council". However, there are concerns that this will have a negative aspect on free speech and encourage disinformation online.
A changing nationalist narrative is worrying and this now extends to Poland's role in the holocaust.
Two prominent Polish historians were forced to apologise to the niece of a former polish mayor. This, after the two had co-authored a book about Polish complicity in the holocaust.
Previously, the Polish government has attempted to criminalise any suggestion of complicity.
2nd Slovakia
Free speech in Slovakia is currently at the mercy of a hugely significant murder case.
In February 2018, journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancé Martina Kušnírová were shot dead in their home, around 50 kilometres from the capital Bratislava.
Kuciak was heavily involved in investigating both tax fraud relating to the then ruling Slovak party Smer, as well as report examining an Italian mafia organisation. The murders caused country-wide protests.
Prime Minister Robert Fico insisted there would be an investigation, but had shown repeated showings of disdain for the media, generating what non-profit Freedom House describes as a "hateful atmosphere". He was later forced to resign.
Two of the five original suspects were sentenced, and the retrial of influential businessman Marián Kočner in connection with the murders was ordered on 15 June. The judge ordered the retiral on the basis of "several mistakes" in the original trial that acquitted Kočner.
In a statement, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) spoke of the significance of the retrial.
"We welcome the Slovak Supreme Court's decision to cancel the acquittals of Marián Kočner and Alena Zsuzsová and hope to see full justice in the killing of journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová."
"This ruling is a crucial step toward ending impunity in Kuciak's killing and ensuring that all journalists can work safely and freely in Slovakia."
Any rightful conviction of Kuciak's murderers will surely be a positive sign for journalists working in Slovakia and symbolic of a country that holds such murders accountable to the law and deter any acts similar to this in the future.
Other journalists have also received alarming threats. In June 2020, journalist for online news site Aktuality.sk, Peter Sabo, received a pistol cartridge in his mailbox.
Independent media in Slovakia is lacking. Much of the country's news outlets are owned by a select few and there are also concerns over the impartiality of the public broadcaster Radio and Television of Slovakia after a number of its staff were sacked in 2018.
3rd Spain
The far-right is on the rise in Spain. Populist party VOX have been relatively successful in helping to create an atmosphere where journalists are being targeted.
In 2020, protests against the government's handling of the coronavirus crisis and VOX supporters were heard shouting abuse at Spanish reporters.
During the pandemic, controversy arose over the Spanish governments attempt to control the questions given in press conferences by ordering journalists to send questions into the press secretary beforehand. In response, over 400 Spanish journalists were forced to sign an open letter asking the government to reconsider.
The information released by the government during the pandemic was also problematic. Data journalists found that the information released by the governments was overly confusing. As the CPJ reported, one journalist explained why this was a problem: "In Spain, the government sometimes releases data on the number of people who have tested positive on viral tests, while at other times it also includes the number who have tested positive on antibody tests."
"Other reports contain different figures, such as the number of asymptomatic cases. The constant changes "hinder good analysis and projections," he said. To complicate things further, national and local data sets often do not add up with national authorities reporting far fewer deaths from the virus than the total number reported by local authorities."
There have been several notable attacks in the past few years.
Police have been criticised for being heavy-handed during protests. During the demonstration for Catalonian independence in October 19, there were numerous incidents of journalists being targeted by police and protesters.
Police detained El País reporter Albert Garcia after he documented the arrest of a protester, while French journalist Elize Gazendgel reported two separate occasions where she "received blows" from police. Both were wearing the correct, identifiable media accreditation.
Earlier the same month, a particularly appalling incident took place when Laila Jiménez of Telenico TV, was repeatedly pushed and subjected to abuse, as well as having vodka poured over her head.
Despite protests being of vital importance to upholding free speech in a democracy, the Spanish Citizen Security Law (also known as the "gag law") puts bureaucratic barriers in the way of organising a protest, where authorities must be informed beforehand. Sharing images of police officers that may "endanger" them is also prohibited.
Laws such as this have come under further scrutiny after the case of Spanish rapper Pablo Hasél earlier this year.
Hasél has been jailed for his lyrics, which are crass at best and he has rapped about a "noose for the king". But Spanish law deems these words illegal.
His arrest sparked widespread protests, particularly among Spanish youths. In response, the government has promised a review in to Spanish free speech laws.
4th Sweden
Sweden's record on free speech is encouraging and were the first country in the world to adopt a press freedom law, they also have a media ombudsman to deal with ethical issues.
However, one damaging defamation case could set an alarming precedent, concerning the finance publication Realtid.
The case has seen Monaco-based Swedish businessman Svante Kumlin use a vexatious defamation lawsuit against Realid after they began to investigate his company Eco Energy World.'
The lawsuit is also known as a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (Slapp) and are used by governments or large corporations to saddle a journalist (or anyone publishing allegedly defamatory claims) with long term court cases and legal costs.
The case is awaiting a judgement from to see if it can be tried in England and Wales, where defamation laws are not constitutionally protected.
In December, Index, along with free expression groups RSF, Article 19 and Defence and European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) expressed their concern over the matter.
The letter read "Realtid is being sued by Svante Kumlin, a Swedish businessman, domiciled in Monaco. Realtid had been investigating Kumlin's group of companies, Eco Energy World (EEW), ahead of an impending stock market launch in Norway, a matter of clear public interest. The investigation began in September when Realtid's reporters wrote about another stock market launch and discovered off-market sales of shares in EEW."
While Swedish journalists report in a relatively safe environment, there have been threats towards journalists foreign or exiled reporters in recent years. Turkish journalist Turkish journalist Abdullah Bozkurt was beaten by three men in Stockholm in September 2020 in an incident that was believed to be a threat to exiled Turkish journalists working abroad.
Critic of the authorities in the Chechen region of Russia, Tumso Abdurakhmanov was assaulted by two individuals in his hometown of Gävle, Sweden in February 2020.
Another deadly year for journalists
Index raises concerns over exclusion of journalists from UK Home Secretary's Rwanda visit
Attacks on journalists covering protests increase says new report
Benjamin Lynch
Benjamin Lynch is the editorial assistant at Index on Censorship
Latest posts by Benjamin Lynch (see all)
Suffering in silence: The poetry of Parwana Fayyaz - 22 October
"You'll Never Walk Alone": The words that comfort Andrei Aliaksandrau - 10 August
Slovenia no longer a safe haven for the free press - 8 July


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The Gold/Silver Ratio / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2009
The following is an interview I did recently discussing the gold/silver ratio. This topic seems to surface from time to time and Tom Jeffries and I explored it together.
Uranium, Looking at the Big Picture / Commodities / Uranium
The exogenous events significantly boosting uranium demand for China and India are far greater than the minimal and distant "ifs" of private sector reactor delays. Not to mention China has actually boosted reactor construction, while India made no delays and entered the world market. "Investors need to look at the big picture of the sector," says analyst Merrill McHenry, MBA, CFA, who presents Energy Report readers with an educational and thought-provoking overview of U308's fundamentals and future in this exclusive written interview.
Energy Firms See Positive Long Term Trends / Commodities / Energy Resources
By: Joseph_Dancy
While companies in the energy sector have not been on our quantitative screens for some time we remain over-weighted in the sector due to extremely attractive long term trends. Reserves in the ground in politically secure areas should substantially increase in value over the next few years. Developments last month include the following:
Lithium and Obama's Electrification of America / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Richard_Mills
America's future energy course is being charted today because of the ramifications of peak oil, because cars pollute too much, because of global warming, because America wishes to end her dependence on foreign supplied energy and to be blunt… Americans need jobs.
How to Profit From Resurgent Commodity Prices / Commodities / Resources Investing
By: Money_Morning
Martin Hutchinson writes: Commodities prices are surging.
World white sugar prices reached record levels on Aug. 10, largely because of booming demand in India where the government has lifted a ban on imports. Oil prices continue to hover around $70 a barrel, and gold is in the mid-$900 range. Meanwhile the CRB Continuous Commodity Price Index has surged to a level 30% above its March low.
Gold Up as Inflation Hedge / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2009
THE PRICE OF GOLD rose sharply as the US Dollar fell Thursday morning in London, touching four-session highs above $960 an ounce as world stock markets rose for the third day running.
Gold Rallies as U.S. Dollar Comes Under Quantitative Easing Money Printing Pressure / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2009
By: GoldCore
With the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) stating that they are going to keep US interest rates at a low level and continue quantitative easing, the dollar is under fire today. It has slipped against the six major currency pairs and gold is taking up the slack. In the meantime, gold has pared back some of its early week losses and is currently trading at $953/oz, up from a low of $941/oz yesterday.
Gold, Silver, Oil and Gas Continue to Trade At their Pivot Points / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2009
Commodities continue to trade at their pivot points while the pressure rises!
As mentioned in my last report precious metals are trading at support, this is referred to as a pivot point. With any luck we will see gold and silver rally Thursday and Friday, but it that fails I figure PM's will slide quickly to lower levels.
New Gold & Red Back – Building a Major League Profile / Commodities / Gold & Silver Stocks
As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information
With gold stocks, bigger is almost always better. When you look at the cash costs of the industry, almost all the lowest cost producers are major mining companies. Larger production means more ounces to amortize costs, so a lower cost per ounce.
Get Ready to Buy Gold / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2009
By: MoneyWeek
Dominic Frisby writes: Regular readers will know I have been looking for an 'entry point', a good time to buy gold sometime in the summer. Yet, except for a momentary blip a fortnight ago, there has been no sell-off of any great note. Gold continues to range-trade between about $970 per ounce on the upside and $910 on the down.
Unwanted Bequests of Gold, Debt and Bankruptcy / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2009
"If gold is 'past its day', what of toxic derivatives and today's deluge of US Treasury bonds...?"
JUST LIKE poor Pip in Dickens' Great Expectations, central banks keep inheriting unwelcome bequests.
Gold and U.S. Dollar Relationship / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2009
By: Jordan_Roy_Byrne
When it comes to Gold, there is actually too much focus or incorrect focus on the US Dollar. The fact is that throughout this bull market, Gold has been leading the US Dollar. In other words, the breakouts in Gold occur well in advance of the breakdowns in the dollar. Also, bottoms in Gold occur in advance of tops in the dollar. See the chart below.
Take Gold as U.S. Dollar and Euro Both Set to Fall / Commodities / Fiat Currency
Claus Vogt writes: In 1999 Europe started a unique monetary experiment by introducing a common fiat currency, the euro. Today, the euro is legal tender in 22 countries. There are, however, huge disparities between the economies and policies of these countries, which makes for equally huge conflicts of interest. This was one of the main concerns of the euro's opponents before its introduction.
Is Silver Overvalued, Undervalued or Priced Just Right? / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2009
By: Bill_Downey
From an investor standpoint the merits of owning physical silver has been laid out a number of times over the pages of the internet by some very astute analyst's who follow the metals markets. While physical silver is not new, it has recently come into vogue over the past few years as investors more and more are seeing the folly of fiat currency and those who control it and therefore turn to the gold and silver markets as a means of preserving wealth and purchasing power and yes, of course, speculation.
Gold Dips Ahead of Fed Decision on Interest Rates and Quantitative Easing / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2009
THE PRICE OF PHYSICAL GOLD bounced from new August lows Wednesday lunchtime in London, trading at $945 an ounce as the US Dollar pulled back from new two-week highs on the currency market.
Crude was little changed below $70 per barrel, while Asian stocks caught up with yesterday's sell-off in New York. European shares gave back an early 1% bounce as government bonds pushed higher again.
Gold Slips as Short-term Dollar Strength Continues / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2009
The continued, short term strength of the dollar has seen gold's safe haven and hedging attributes tested against the dollar today and the metal has slipped from $947/oz to $940/oz. However, these same attributes are coming to the fore against sterling.
Cheerful Prognosis for Dr. Copper / Commodities / Metals & Mining
Even if emerging economies' demands for copper were to falter, Jennings Capital Inc. Mining Research Analyst Peter Campbell sees plenty of polish on copper ahead. One big reason: Even a gradual climb out of recession will prompt North American and European manufacturers to replenish inventories as they begin restoring production to pre-crash levels. As for the copper companies themselves, he tells The Gold Report that some of the best bets lie with emerging producers that are prepared to augment diminishing supplies with new finds. Peter has his sights set on iron ore, nickel, aluminum and other base metals, too, but he calls copper "the best and clearest way by far" of participating in the evolving economic story.
Gold and Europe's Central Bankers / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2009
By: Global_Research
Charles E. Carlson writes: According to the Associated Press: ÈEurope's 19 central banks, including the European Central Bank, the Swiss National Bank and the Sveriges Riksbank agreed to put a new five-year cap on gold sales. These institutions decided that their annual sale of gold will not exceed 400 tonnes over the five-year period and total sales will not exceed 2,000 tonnes. The Swiss National Bank said it has no plans for any further gold sales in the foreseeable future. With gold holdings amounting to 1,040 tonnes, it holds a substantial part of its currency reserves in the form of gold." (http://news.ino.com/..)
Beware Gold is Setting itself up for the buy of a lifetime / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2009
Beware: Gold is setting itself up for "the buy of a lifetime." Only the resource we're about to share with you will help you prepare for it.
Silver Beating Gold as Miners De-Hedging positions / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2009
GOLD HELD FLAT Tuesday morning in London, adding 0.6% from yesterday's 7-session low as Asian stock markets rose but European shares reversed early gains.
Oil futures were little changed below $71 per barrel despite news that China's crude imports jumped by 18% in July to a new monthly record.


I just came home last week, not that I got a vacation but I have to stay at the hospital from the fever. It's boring when I couldn't do anything, just sleeping and eating (and I believe you know the food is not tasty at all). Anyway, I got a magazine from the hospital and I really want to try it (it's not too old, and it's great for me to have a food magazine when lying around). This recipe is Raspberry Ice Cream Bombe, and it's easy to make even when you just recover (like me), I strain the pit out but if you don't mind and just blend everything together, this recipe will be super easy. But in my opinion, the pit is annoying and the ice cream is smoother. I reduce the condensed milk from the original recipe, but if you like super sweet ice cream you can use up to 400 ml.
* If you want to remove the pit, use 500g of raspberry and strain to remove the pit before weight.
Whizz raspberry in a blender, add the condensed milk and cream and blend to combine.
Pour the mixture in to the cup and freeze overnight.


http://anidb.net/ch4046 [Hanabishi Kaoru] is a junior in college, living out an ordinary life of studying and friends. One day, he meets http://anidb.net/ch4045 [Sakuraba Aoi], an old almost forgotten friend, to whom he is apparently engaged. Together, the two rediscover aspects of their pasts that they had tried to suppress while setting out in their lives with one another. Unfortunately, there are a lot of unwanted guests who keep interfering with their romance.
Harem anime, this anime is essence of this genre.
A good harem anime. Similar to Love Hina for overall setting and to Oh! My Goddess for the main characters` relationship.
.. and the male character is not an annoying over-shy or stupid guy… That`s a good point.


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HomeBooksDr. Cushing's Chamber of Horrors – Chapter 25
Dr. Cushing's Chamber of Horrors – Chapter 25
December 15, 2017 Steve Sullivan Books, Creator Owned, Dr. Cushing, Free Stories, Horror, Monsters, Stories Comments Off on Dr. Cushing's Chamber of Horrors – Chapter 25
BREAKING NEWS! The current draft of Dr. Cushing's Chamber of Horrors is finished!
If you are interested in being a beta-reader, contact me! (Patrons will be given preference.)
IN THIS EPISODE: … Opal tries to put her past heartbreak behind her and see what the future holds…
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CHAPTER 25 – Separated by Circumstance
Opal Cushing – 1951 Fisher St.
The Next Morning
The early morning sun fell warm on Opal's face, chasing away the last vestiges of sleep, and any nightmares that might have lurked in the darkness.
She'd been doing better since the night of her outburst in Hyde Park. And the boys had been so pleasant and attentive in the days that followed. Each day, at least one of them would turn up with some small present for her—though actually Frank turned up most days.
The morning after the incident he'd arrived with flowers. Then Naveen had brought chocolates, Charlie her favorite tea (lemon blossom), and Barry a book on birdwatching. (She wasn't much of a birder—nor was he—but it was the thought that mattered.)
At least he didn't bring some sappy romance novel, Opal thought. Or anything that might remind me of Paul.
Paul…!
Annoyingly, he was still working at the waxworks.
Even more annoying, he still seemed to want to reconcile with her—but neither she nor her sister were giving him the slightest chance.
It still made Opal's heart ache (a little) to turn her back on him, but what else could she do? He'd proven beyond any doubt that—no matter how troubled his past or what curse he believed himself to be under—he couldn't be trusted.
And even if she'd wanted to make up with him now, even when Topaz didn't pop up to divert him, Victoria seemed to have developed some sixth sense concerning the handyman, too. Any time Paul seemed about to talk to Opal, Madame Duprix would swoop in between them like some great velvet-clad bat and spirit Paul away to do some task or errand.
Victoria isn't intercepting him for my sake. Opal felt sure of that. Did Vincent's wife have designs of her own on Paul?
The furtive way he glanced at the older woman seemed to indicate she did, and that he knew about it. He looked almost… guilty when Opal saw them together.
Opal knew she shouldn't care.
What did it matter to her, even if the pair were having a torrid affair? Opal squirmed at just the thought of it, but—even if that were real (and it wasn't)—that was really between the two of them and Victoria's husband. It wasn't any of Opal's business.
She did care.
Despite everything that had happened, part of her still longed for Paul—for the feeling of his strong arms around her, for the taste of his kisses…
Why can't I just let him go? she wondered as the sunshine through the bedroom window turned the insides of her eyelids a rosy pink.
Opal opened her eyes and gazed out the window. Looking at the blue summer sky, dappled with cottony white clouds, it was hard to believe there could be anything wrong with the world.
Today, I will let him go, Opal told herself. Today, even if I see him, I will not think about him at all. He's merely another hired hand to me.
Firm in her resolution, she sat up, and only then noticed that the bed beside her lay empty.
That's odd…
Topaz sometimes rose first, but usually, when she did, she made breakfast. Opal smelled no fresh aromas from the nearby kitchen, nor did she hear her twin bustling around the flat, nor could she sense Topaz nearby.
Where could she be?
Had one of the boys dropped by for an early morning walk? And, if so, why hadn't Topaz roused her?
The sisters had been out with their admiring foursome again last night. They'd stayed at a West End dance club until well past one, before Barry drove all them home. Now that Opal of it, she noticed that her legs still ached from cutting the rug all night long.
But it was a healthy ache. The dancing had done her good, gotten her mind off of… other things—things she remained determined not to think about on this new, glorious morning.
But where was Topaz?
Opal rose, threw on a dressing gown, and went to look.
She found neither her sister in the kitchen nor a note on the table, which indicated that Topaz had probably not gone out. (Her twin was very good about leaving messages if she ran an errand or something.) That meant Topaz was probably down in the Chamber of Horrors—though it was exceedingly early to be getting a start on the day.
Opal considered taking the servants' stairs down to the attraction, but that would have sent her past the handyman's room, and she didn't want that. Besides, that back entrance to the exhibits was always locked, now, and the Cushings' key was missing from its hook (further evidence of her sister's likely whereabouts). Not wanting to dig out the emergency key (or risk an unpleasant encounter on the back stairs), Opal took the front stairway down.
As she passed the second floor, a disquieting thought occurred to her. What if her sister was with him? What if the two of them were really carrying on in secret, the way Opal and he had been?
No! Don't think like that! Opal chided herself. There was no evidence that her twin was having an affair with anyone, never mind Opal's ex-lover.
Why do I think crazy jealous thoughts like that? I am over him! I am! I will not think about him even a smidge!
She was still telling herself that when she reached the front door to the Chamber of Horrors—unlocked, as she had expected.
"Topaz?" she called quietly as she opened the door and stepped inside.
Someone—not her sister—was moving around inside the chamber.
Opal froze.
Could Paul have snuck down here again to rob them? She and her twin had been very careful about locking all the entrances at night, including the newly cleared back stairway. She knew that the Duprixes had been just as vigilant.
Yet, a tall figure was moving around in the shadows to her left, near the mummy exhibit.
Taking a deep breath, Opal moved to the main panel and flicked on the light switch for that area.
"Oh!" the figure next to the mummy cases cried, and dropped something to the floor with a clatter.
"Vincent?" Opal said. She went down the short flight of stairs and across the exhibit floor to where the sculptor was standing, or rather, stooping to pick up what he'd dropped, which appeared to be some kind of paintbrush. "What are you doing here?"
"Me?" Vincent replied. "Just a bit of tidying up." He was standing in front of the mummy case of Bastiti's bodyguard, and looked very bedraggled—as though he might not have slept. And did he smell vaguely of smoke… or was that some ancient Egyptian embalming spice Opal was mistaking?
Vincent recovered his composure and grinned his wolfish grin at her. "You startled me, my dear."
"I startled you?" she said.
"Well, yes… I suppose we rather startled each other. You see, I came down here to derive some inspiration for my next sculpture of Bastiti. And, while doing so, I noticed things were a bit… untidy. So, I thought I'd spruce up a little before returning to my studio."
As Opal looked past him, she noticed that the mummy of Nekure did look quite a bit cleaner than she remembered it being. "You really shouldn't touch the exhibits, you know," she cautioned. "These mummies are very old."
"Oh, I realize that," Vincent said, "but that doesn't mean they shouldn't look their best—does it? We want them to be extra-presentable for the public, after all, don't we?"
"I suppose," Opal conceded. He didn't seem to have done any harm, but she couldn't help feeling that he wasn't telling her the whole story.
"Don't worry," he continued. "I was very careful—used a small painter's brush to dust with, as you may have noticed."
"I did," she said. But she sensed he was still withholding something from her. Opal frowned, not sure whether she wanted to know what was really on Vincent's mind, or if she was better off not knowing.
Not, she decided. So she asked: "Have you seen my sister?"
"Topaz? This morning? No. Why do you ask?"
"She's not in our flat," Opal replied. "I thought she might be in the exhibits somewhere."
"I suppose she could be," Vincent said. "I haven't been down here very long." He was sweating a bit now… But why? If Topaz had been here, she would have had a much clearer sense of his motives.
Vincent wiped his hands on his smock, having tucked his brush into one of the pockets. "Well, I'll leave you to it," he said. "Must get back to work. I'm sure your sister will turn up, but let me know if you need any help locating her."
"Thanks," said Opal. "I will."
With a courteous nod, he hopped up the stairs into the waxworks and disappeared from view.
What she'd said to Topaz the other night about them leading "odd" lives came back to Opal then, and that gave her an idea of where her sister might be.
Sure enough, she found Topaz sleeping in their father's old, overstuffed chair in the deepest recesses of the chamber, near the Ice Man exhibit.
Did she sleepwalk here, or…?
On the floor by Topaz's right hand lay an open book, Paradise Lost.
She came down deliberately. That's a relief. Topaz had gone through a bout of sleepwalking when the twins were younger—often associated with bad dreams—but her nocturnal wanderings had all but vanished after puberty.
Clearly, Topaz must have come to the chamber to read to her "friend," after the twins had returned home from dancing last night. Not surprising that Vincent hadn't noticed Topaz here, hidden in the shadows near the back of the exhibits.
The Ice Man stared at the sisters balefully from his frozen coffin. He looked like some dreadful ogre dressed in tattered Regency Era clothing.
Opal shook her head at her twin and sighed. "What a pair we make!" she said softly.
She thought about rousing her sister, but decided not to. It was still early, and the chamber wouldn't open for a few more hours; better to let Topaz sleep.
As Opal gazed lovingly at her sibling, Topaz shuddered slightly.
She's cold, Opal realized. Located mostly below street level, the chamber often remained chilly, even in the summer, and being next to the refrigerated Ice Man exhibit wasn't helping this particular spot to warm up at all.
I'll get her a blanket, Opal thought, and headed back upstairs.
Once in their room, she quickly changed into a skirt and blouse—In case I run into that lech Vincent again, she told herself—and then pulled the top blanket off the bed she and Topaz shared.
As she did, something flew off the nightstand and hit the floor with a dull thud.
"Our tarot deck," Opal observed, frowning. She didn't remember leaving it out last night—though maybe Topaz had?
With a shrug, she retrieved the box of cards from the floor and was about to put it back in the nightstand drawer, where it belonged… But then she paused.
It had been a while since she'd turned the cards. In the past, during difficult times, she'd used the tarot to help focus her mind.
What could it hurt?
Opal stuffed the deck into the pocket of the peasant skirt she'd thrown on, gathered the blanket into her arms, and hurried back downstairs.
She practically ran into Paul on her way down, as he emerged onto the second-floor landing from the servants' door.
"I'm sorry," he said sheepishly, avoiding her gaze.
"Will you please get out of my way?" she demanded.
He stepped back against the wall. "I'm sorry," he said again, still not looking at her.
"You should be," she said, sticking her nose in the air and starting down once more.
But her foot tangled in the hem of her blanket, which had worked itself loose in the near-collision.
Opal tripped… pitched forward…
Just before she could fall headlong down the steep stairway, strong hands grabbed her from behind.
Without a single word, Paul pulled her back onto her feet.
"I…" Opal began, flustered. "Thank you."
He nodded earnestly. "You're welcome."
"But it wouldn't have happened if you weren't charging out onto the stairs like—" Only then did Opal notice the battered valise he'd set down on the landing.
"I don't think I was charging, exactly," Paul said. "More of a slow meander."
Despite her best intentions, she couldn't help but feel for him. He as so likable—even if he was a cad.
She gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes, trying to remember her anger, despite his natural charm. "Are you leaving?"
He shrugged and picked up his suitcase. "I thought it would be for the best."
Part of her ached at the thought, but Opal managed to say, "Good!" She stepped back on the landing, out of his way. "Go!"
He looked at her, his eyes forlorn. For a moment, it seemed as though he might say something…
In her mind, Opal imagined the apologies he would pour out, and how she would reject them. Just talking to him was more than he deserved.
…But Paul merely clamped his mouth shut. He turned toward the front door and trundled down the stairs.
She straightened the blanket in her arms, so she wouldn't trip again, and followed.
"Is someone going somewhere?" asked an imperious voice from above.
Paul looked back to the second-floor landing, and Opal did, too.
There stood Victoria in a silken burgundy nightgown, gazing down on them, hands propped on her hips.
She looked ten years younger than she had when Opal had last seen her. The morning light must agree with her, Opal thought. Though Madame Duprix did look rather pale.
"I was just…" Paul began.
"Not planning on leaving, I hope," Victoria said. "We still have so much to do. And need I remind you, Mr. Shaw, you owe me—owe us, my husband and I. We've been very generous with you."
"Yes, ma'am."
Victoria's eyes narrowed. "And I expect to get my money's worth."
Paul merely nodded.
"I suspected something like this might happen, with you skulking about all the time," Victoria continued. "That's why I locked the servants' exit. We don't want you… sneaking off with anything that doesn't belong to you—or with your debts unpaid. Now put that bag back into your room, and let's get to work."
Reluctantly, Paul turned and ascended the stairs once more.
Opal pressed herself against the wall to let him pass. Despite her best efforts, his strong body brushed up against hers. And despite her intentions, her feelings for him welled up inside once more.
He glanced at her, his eyes sad, almost pleading.
"It's no use," he whispered. "There's nothing I can do. I'm sorry I hurt you. I never meant to." He kept climbing, and soon vanished into the doorway leading to the servants' quarters.
Victoria stared imperiously at Opal for a moment, and then, with a sweep of her skirts, turned and vanished back into the apartments she shared with her husband.
Opal sighed with relief, but her head spun with emotions.
What had just happened? Was Paul acting like a whipped dog because of what he'd done to her, or for some other reason? And was his subservience to Victoria part of that, or something else?
And why did Opal still feel anything for this man who'd betrayed her—betrayed her whole family?
She couldn't figure it out.
She wished she were Topaz, so she could read his emotions better, so she'd know what…
Topaz!
She'd gotten so wrapped up in her own problems (again), that she'd completely forgotten about her twin—even though she was standing in the middle of a stairway with a blanket for her sister clutched in her arms.
Being careful not to trip again, she hurried downstairs to the Chamber of Horrors, where she found Topaz still dozing in their father's chair, next to the Ice Man exhibit.
Gently, so as not to wake her, Opal laid the blanket across her sister.
Then she crept back into a shadowy corner of the chamber and sat down to think.
A ray of early morning sunshine crept through the narrow street-level windows and made one of the exhibits to Opal's left glitter.
The scales of the isda-asawa—the Filipino fish-wife.
Even the exhibits reminded Opal of Paul now!
What was happening with her life? How could she make any sense from these conflicting emotions welling up inside her? Why couldn't things be simpler?
She buried her head in her hands and leaned forward so that her elbows rested against her thighs, feeling she might go mad (despite the best efforts of her sister, Frank, and her other true friends).
Her right elbow touched on something hard in the pocket of her peasant skirt.
The cards!
Maybe the tarot could give her some focus, tell her how to move forward.
She retrieved the deck from her pocket, placed the box on the small table beside her, and held the cards in her hands. The pasteboard plaques felt unaccountably cold.
Should I do this? she wondered.
Topaz would warn against it. It was tricky, maybe even dangerous, to cast the tarot for yourself—even more so with just a short, five-card spread. But Opal didn't have time, or patience, for a longer reading.
She glanced across the chamber to where her sister lay sleeping, but could only see the corner of Topaz' blanket poking out between all the intervening exhibits.
Opal didn't want to wait for her sister to wake and help with the forecast.
She shuffled the deck while concentrating on her question and making a silent plea:
What does life hold in store for me? I wish I knew what to do next!
She cut the cards in the prescribed manner and then laid out five in a row.
She took a deep breath and turned up the first card on the right—her past:
The Lovers, inverted.
Didn't that just figure. Her love life certainly felt upside-down right now, and the meaning of the card couldn't be clearer:
Get hold of your emotions or trouble may follow with family and friends. Make the wrong choices, and you will suffer.
Certainly, all of that seemed to apply to her relationship with Paul. She should have been more cautious. But now… It was like closing the barn door when the horse had already fled.
The second card, still her past, but more recent…
The Ace of Wands, inverted. Your aspirations don't work out. What should bring happiness, doesn't.
Again, the eerie reflection of her life and her hopes for her relationship with Paul. She'd fallen so hard for him that she thought he might be "the one." As Topaz had warned, there was more to him than it had first seemed—hidden secrets and darkness… The darkness that led to betrayal… Darkness that hung over him still.
The darkness of a thief and con man.
But all that was behind her now, or so Opal wanted to believe. The future still lay ahead, and that's what she was looking for—hints to tell her what was to come and guide her forward.
The next card, the middle one, would illuminate her present situation…
The Fool, inverted.\
God! I certainly feel like a fool!
This upside-down illustration from the Major Arcana was clearly not just an admonition, but also a warning: You're being weak willed, and that will only lead you down the wrong path. By being selfish and self-centered, you will only add more anguish and suffering to what you're going through.
It was almost as if the cards were slapping her in the face, trying to wake her up.
Maybe that's what I need, another good, hard wakeup call.
But she also needed guidance going forward, so she turned up the next card to the left, the first card that would indicate her future, the future close at hand.
The High Priestess, inverted.
Will any of the cards in this fortune be right-side up?
Yes, her entire life did seem upside-down right now, including her fortune.
Because this was the fourth inverted card, she also knew that the wish she'd made had little chance of becoming reality. She wasn't sure she really believed in that old saw about your wish coming true if more tarot cards were upright than inverted, but… (Certainly, Topaz, who believed in the power of the tarot generally, scoffed at the wish thing as "superstitious twaddle.")
Opal tamped town her irrational disappointment about her wish not coming true—Did you really think the cards would tell you what to do next?—and concentrated on the meaning of the newest card in the fortune before her.
The High Priestess was a card of hidden influences, of workings behind the scenes that you couldn't know about. Inverted, it, too, held a warning: Don't take things at face value.
That's exactly what she'd done with Paul, focusing on his charm and handsomeness, and missing the damaged man beneath the façade.
This was a reminder not to fall into the same trap twice.
The High Priestess also made Opal think of Victoria, and maybe her husband as well.
Schemers, both of them!
Only one more card in the reading to go—the final card of her future. Would it, too, be inverted?
Pulse racing, Opal flipped it.
The Tower… Disaster!
The only card right-side up, and it was the worst possible one to get—the same one that had come up months ago, when the twins had been forecasting for their father. Then, though, it had been a presage of things that needed to be guarded against, things that might come.
And while this contained a warning, too, it was a much stronger one:
If I continue down my current selfish path, I will lose everything I hold dear.
She had to give up on Paul, fully and completely, just as she'd decided when she'd woken this morning—before their brief encounter on the stairs. If she didn't…
"Good morning," Topaz said with a yawn.
Opal nearly jumped out of her skin. Her sudden movement overturned the small table and spilled the cards of her distressing fortune onto the floor.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" her sister said. "I didn't mean to startle you. What's up?"
"N-nothing," Opal replied. "I was just fooling around."
Topaz rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Even dozing in a chair all night, she still looked beautiful, her blonde locks falling carelessly around her shoulders. Opal felt a twinge of envy—not for the first time.
"What did the cards say?" Topaz asked. "Who were you casting for?"
"They didn't say anything," Opal lied. "I just started. I was… I was reading for myself."
Topaz hugged her and kissed her cheek. "Silly twin!" she admonished playfully. "You know that never works well."
"Yes," Opal agreed quietly. "Yes. I guess you're right."
TO BE CONTINUED…!
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Remembering 9/11/2001
September 11, 2011 Steve Sullivan Books, Creator Owned, E-Books, Fantasy, Free Stories, Horror, Stories, World Comments Off on Remembering 9/11/2001
Ten years ago today, I wrote this story as a reaction to the terrible events of that day. In the days and weeks that followed, I wrote a number of stories about the events, as […]
New Editions of Old Favorites
January 25, 2011 Steve Sullivan Art, Blue Kingdoms, Books, By Genre, Creator Owned, E-Books, Fantasy, Horror, Monsters, Other Creator Owned, Stories Comments Off on New Editions of Old Favorites
In the midst of everything else I've been doing (working on Frost Harrow, finalizing Snowraven, publishing Paul McComas' book, Unforgettable), I've also found time to do 3 new editions of some of my older books […]


Haunted Road Trip Pt 2: Cadillac Ranch to Stull Cemetery | What's YOUR Ghost Story?
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Arson at MK Sikh temple
23 June 2010, 11:50 | Updated: 23 June 2010, 12:01
Police are doing more patrols in the Leadenhall area of Milton Keynes following an arson at the Sikh Temple in Phoenix Drive.
Two offenders set fire to the base of the flag pole at about 12.20am on Monday morning. The fire went out quickly and the two people ran off in the direction of Oldbrook.
The Sikh flag - which was flying at the time - wasn't damaged, but the orange fabric wrapped around the pole, which is common in the Sikh religion, has been burnt and some of it will need replacing.
A cyclist was seen going past the temple just as the offenders ran off, and police are keen to talk to that person.
Acting Chief Inspector Amanda Blake, responsible for local policing, said: "We are currently looking at CCTV footage of the area and I would urge anyone with information about this incident to contact the police.
"The Sikh flag holds great significance in the Sikh religion and naturally the members of the temple and the local community are very upset by what has happened. There is no evidence or indication that this incident was driven by racial or religious motivation.
"Any incident which has an impact on our communities is a concern for police and our partners. Our Community and Diversity Officers and members of the Independent Advisory Group are liaising with the temple and the Sikh community to offer reassurance and listen to any concerns or issues they may have.
"We will be increasing patrols in the area to offer reassurance and send out a message that this behaviour will not be tolerated in Milton Keynes."
Group Manager Ian Taylor from Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service said: "Officers from Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service went to the scene yesterday [Monday] afternoon to support the work our colleagues at Thames Valley Police have done to reassure the Sikh community.
"An officer and the fire investigation dog handler and dog have carried out a fire investigation and we are jointly doing everything we can to investigate the incident."
If you have any information about this incident, you can contact PC Amanda Hall on 0845 8 505 505 or call the Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.


Up for consideration is this Rare Beautiful Victorian Art Nouveau Vintage Antique 6 Convex White/Beige Slag Glass Shade Lamp. It is in very good to excellent vintage estate condition. This lamp base and shade have been married. The base is antique and features a base mounted on/off switch. We found the shade in a antique store in Arizona.
The base does have areas of tarnish or patina (see photos). The shade is probably early to mid century. There are chips in some of the slag glass (see photos). They are hard to see when the shade is mounted on the base (see photos).
There are areas of tarnish or patina (see photos). At some point there was apparently a candle burning near and over the lamp and some of the was dripped on the shade frame (see photos). We did make some limited attempt to remove some of the wax and will try to get more off when we have time. Please view all photos carefully as they are a part of the item description. It measure approximately 14.5 inches wide at shade, 5.5 inches in diameter at base and 22.5 inches tall. Thanks for viewing our listing! It's a fact some areas are safer and secure than others. Please check out our other items for sale and also others for sale at member mamasantiquessilverandsuch! Almost all of the items we offer are vintage, antique or simply pre-owned, consequentially, reasonable wear and tear is to be expected. We try to describe any damage or problems we are aware of. We always include a number of clear photographs, that are integral to the description.	So please review them closely. We are an older couple who travel frequently.
Most of what we sell are very fragile breakable items. The item "Victorian Art Nouveau Vintage Antique 6 Convex White/Beige Slag Glass Shade Lamp" is in sale since Tuesday, November 28, 2017. This item is in the category "Antiques\Decorative Arts\Lamps". The seller is "coinman5823" and is located in Clovis, California.


The thrill of the hunt and the discovery of something unusual! This drives me to bring my clients ... read moreThe thrill of the hunt and the discovery of something unusual! This drives me to bring my clients unique pieces to add and enhance their collections and homes.
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