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2008-05-16: Promises To The Muse
Roleplay Logs » Volume 03: Corruption » 2008-05-16: Promises To The Muse
Summary: After a few relayed text messages, Peter stops in to find out what one of them meant. And for a change he isn't vague. Not when it comes to Novak Garibaldi and Elisabetha Belmont.
Date It Happened: May 16, 2008
Promises To The Muse
Kory's Apartment
The last few minutes, phones have been sending messages back and forth. Short text messages. A few moments after the last one was sent, seconds after it was read, instead of another message, there's suddenly someone in a room who hadn't been there a moment before. Peter stands, with his scar casting shadows across his face, dressed in dark jeans and a simple white undershirt that shows off the muscle tone he'd gained in the last few years of his life. "How did my mother's maiden name come up in someone else's dream? And what did you mean by… Thanatos?"
Kory is apparently destressing. There's a song blasting from her mp3 player through her awesome stereo system. It's not even in the front room, but Cibo Matto's distinctive sound is clearly audible. Kory has her cellphone in her hand, but is dancing and singing along at the top of her lungs:
"What's up, B? Wasabi!
I'm searchin' the city for sci-fi wasabi!
The start button has been pushed already
Obi Wan Kenobi's waitin' for me — * AAAAH!"
Kory jumps, dropping the phone and clutching at her chest in startlement. "Hello to you too," she manages, wryly, and hits a button on a remote sitting on the arm of the computer chair to kill the music as she stares at Peter. "Now…what were you saying?"
"Sorry," Peter says, standing there a little surprised as he glances at the woman who'd just finished dancing and singing. He really should knock sometimes, but then again… he can't help but show the hint of a smile tugging on the corner of his mouth. Just a hint. "I was asking how my mother's name came up in someone's dream… Her maiden name at least. And what you meant by… Thanatos. That's the… personification of Death. Twin brother of the personification of Sleep."
Kory raises her brows. Well, look at that. Mister Gloom and Doom is smiling. Sort of. Well, for him, anyway. "I was looking in the dream of somebody who made me curious. Thought maybe if I just did some silent observation fo his dreams, he'd give me information that might be useful to us." She nods, "Well, yes, I know the mythological Thanatos, but somehow I don't think that's what was going on here. This dream involved the formula. And helping his daughter…and stopping some sort of pain. As for your mother? She was younger. Looked maybe as old as you are now —" as opposed to how old Peter-from-the-future looks, aged before his time. " They had some kind of past. Plus…they're looking for Sylar. Not Gabriel. Sylar. So — you know, I was sort of alarmed at the possible connections."
Sylar. Thanatos. A man and his daughter. Any hint of a smile vanishes the longer that she speaks of this dream and the man who it might have belonged to. Something about the topic has brought tension to his neck, tightness to his jaw, and something much darker into his eyes. Peter doesn't need to hear that much more on the matter if only because… "You're talking about Novak Garibaldi and his daughter and student Elisabetha Belmont. I am aware of their… situation. I had hoped that they only became the way they were in my time because of what happened then, but if he's already dreaming of the things that…" He trails off, but not before something very deadly flashes past his eyes. "They're extremely dangerous. Elisabetha's ability— as far as I can tell— brings death and decay. And she's under the delusion that by destroying all life, she'll destroy all suffering."
"Yes, that's him. I thought maybe if I dreamwatched, he'd give away what he's doing for Pinehearst," Kory confirms, expression going alarmed as she sees the tension shift into Peter's body and attitude. "It's okay, Peter…" she starts, but then he goes on to describe more about the scientist and his daughter. Kory was on her way across the room to comfort him, and she pauses, stunned, as he describes their goals in the future.
"Well…" she says, on a rather bleak exhalation. "That explains what he meant about ending the pain. And why he dreamed about cracking the globe in half." She finishes her walk across to Peter and gently rests her hands on his shoulders. "It sounds like they're — not wrapped too tight — as my dad used to say. And it sounds like something's really off kilter if they think that death is the only way to end suffering." She shakes her head in annoyance. "For crying in the mud, do they not read Buddha?!" Her tone is frustrated, but quiet as she rubs Peter's shoulders gently. "Maybe I've caught it early enough to steer them away from it?" she offers, hopefully.
The hands on his shoulders don't soothe away any of the visible tension, really. Peter almost seems as if he's steeling himself for something he doesn't necessarily want to do. With his white undershirt shaped as it is, her hands actually touch bare skin. "I'm not sure you can ever truly catch these things early enough. I'll have to talk to my mother. See how she knows this man. If he's involved in these things then there's a strong possibility that… Maybe I should take care of this now." Take care of it. The way he says it shows he's not thinking of giving them a smack on the hand. His hands move up so he can grab her wrists and lower her hands down from him. "So that your Peter won't have to."
"Peter…just because you think this may solve your future, what you've asked me to do," Kory says, letting him take her hands. "…that doesn't mean you have to slice off another piece of your soul to help it along. Let me try to get through to them first before you do anything drastic." She pauses, and leans forward so he can see her face, "Please."
"Better my soul than his," Peter says as he continues to hold her hands, looking quietly into her face. There's that look again, but he doesn't push her hands away, or move back. Not yet. "If you think that you can talk to them, I won't stop you— but be especially careful." Shifting his hands so he's actually holding them against his chest, he takes in a slow breath. "The future— your future— needs you. He'll need you."
Kory meets Peter's eyes. "I will," Kory assures Peter, and there's a determination in her. A sort of silent promise under her words. "I'll be careful. Particularly given around somebody who makes things rot." She shudders a little. "Not for nothing did I get a degree in psychology. Maybe I can reach them." She frees one hand as she comes around front of him, and touches his cheek gently. "I know you believe you'll morph into a different person, but I see no good reason to cause you any more pain until the timestream aligns itself better." Gloomy, dismal, and hopeless or not, he's still Peter Petrelli, and Kory's instinct is still to help him, and protect him from his tendency to take on more burdens than he can safely hold up alone. "You trusted me to assemble the people on the List. You're trusting me to save the future. Trust me here as well."
"You don't know everything that I've already had to become," Peter says in the softened whispered voices as he finally lets go of her hands so he can step back, putting some distance between them. She doesn't know what kind of man he had to turn himself into in the last few years. What pieces of his soul he cast aside, which ones he ripped out. "I'm not worth saving, Kory," he says, before adding on, simply, "But I'll trust you to do what you can."
"Don't say things like that!" Kory whispers, earnestly as he slips his fingers away from hers. She extends her arm so as to stretch out that moment as long as possible. "I may not know everything you've done, or had to do," she admits. "But I know that at heart, you're still the same man who's my dear friend. The same man who only wants to make the world a better place."
Her eyes grow suspiciously bright as he tells her he isn't worth saving, but she murmurs, "Thank you," in response to his agreeing to trust her. "I'll keep you in the loop and let you know if you really do need to…" she doesn't voice it: 'take the nuclear option'.
Still the same man. Peter can't help but cast his eyes away from her, even to the point where he glances down at his hands, almost as if to ask himself… would she still say this if she knew, really knew? Who he was, who he became… and all the terrible things he had to do. The longer he thinks about it, the more he thinks she actually would. That's just who she is. "I'd like to have messages about what's going on, especially about this." Because of what he might need to do to insure that the two never complete their agenda…
"I'm glad you told me about this, Terpsichore." That last is said without the smile, but there's something in his tone that might actually be a joke.
"All right. I promise I'll keep you in the loop. Anything I know, everything I know — as soon as I know it." Kory nods earnestly. "This whole thing is too important. I know how much is at stake. Not just for you, but for all of us. I told you I won't let you down, and I won't."
Kory arches a brow at the nickname, then half-lids her eyes at him. "Clever you," she says quietly — is that a faint blush on her cheeks? It is. "I hadn't even showed anyone the tattoo yet. And of course. No secrets between us. Didn't we promise that a long time ago?"
"I know about your tattoo, but I called you my muse long before I did," Peter admits, though he'd like to be smiling about it. "That particular nickname is because I teleported in on you dancing." And thus the Muse of Dance and song came to mind rather quickly…
Of course the promise also got brought up. No secrets. And he's been keeping quite a few of them, and unfortunately… "I can't keep that promise. I'm sorry. Not about everything. But I do remember… and I sincerely wish I could tell you everything." And there's some secrets that he could share, personal ones, that he chooses not to. Like the reason he is watching her mouth more carefully than he might have otherwise… "I should go, though. I'm sorry I interupted your song and dance."
"Music helps me think. Dancing…well…" It burns off tension and excess energy so she's not always fidgeting or pacing, since she barely needs to sleep at all now since Sasha.
Kory is silent for a long moment after Peter confesses he isn't able to hold up his end of the promise. "I believe that," she says to him, expression still warm under the concern. She bites her lower lip in momentary introspection before she shakes her head. "It's all right," she tells him. "You know you're always welcome here." A significant change from the last time she saw him. She's had time to see how high the stakes are. "Don't be a stranger, okay?" As usual, her affectionate nature asserts when she has to say goodbye to him. "And be careful. You don't want to be yanked off the board too early." Temporal paradoxes are no fun for anyone.
That is a significant change, one that Peter notices as he tilts his head to the side. But instead of asking what changed her mind, he accepts it. It's a change he probably needed right now… "I'll take care of myself. That I can promise." It doesn't mean he won't disappear eventually. He'd not come here to save himself. He came here to save the man who hasn't had to become him yet. Closing his eyes, he vanishes the same way he appeared.
2012peterkory


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Q: Replace a data frame column based on regex I am trying to extract part of a column in a data frame using regular expressions. Problems I am running into include the facts that grep returns the whole value, not just the matched part, and that str_extract doesn't seem to work in a vectorized way.
Here is what I'm trying. I would like df$match to show alpha.alpha. where the pattern exists and NA otherwise. How can I show only the matched part?
Also, how I can I replace [a-zA-Z] in R regex? Can I use a character class or a POSIX code like [:alpha:]?
v1 <- c(1:4)
v2 <- c("_a.b._", NA, "_C.D._", "_ef_")
df <- data.frame(v1, v2, stringsAsFactors = FALSE)

df$match <- grepl("[a-zA-Z]\\.[a-zA-Z]\\.", df$v2)
df$match

#TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE

v2grep <- grep("[a-zA-Z]\\.[a-zA-Z]\\.", df$v2, value = TRUE)

df$match[df$match == TRUE] <- v2grep
df$match[df$match == FALSE] <- NA

df

#v1  v2      match
#1   _a.b._  _a.b._
#2   <NA>    <NA>
#3   _C.D._  _C.D._
#4   _ef_    <NA>

What I want:
#v1  v2      match
#1   _a.b._  a.b.
#2   <NA>    <NA>
#3   _C.D._  C.D.
#4   _ef_    <NA>

A: 4 Approaches...
Here's 2 approaches in base as well as with rm_default(extract=TRUE) in the qdapRegex package I maintain and the stringi package.
unlist(sapply(regmatches(df[["v2"]], gregexpr("[a-zA-Z]\\.[a-zA-Z]\\.", df[["v2"]])), function(x){
        ifelse(identical(character(0), x), NA, x)
    })
)

## [1] "a.b." NA     "C.D." NA

pat <- "(.*?)([a-zA-Z]\\.[a-zA-Z]\\.)(.*?)$"
df[["v2"]][!grepl(pat, df[["v2"]])] <- NA
df[["v2"]] <- gsub(pat, "\\2", df[["v2"]])

## [1] "a.b." NA     "C.D." NA

library(qdapRegex)
unlist(rm_default(df[["v2"]], pattern = "[a-zA-Z]\\.[a-zA-Z]\\.", extract = TRUE))

## [1] "a.b." NA     "C.D." NA

library(stringi)
stri_extract_first_regex(df[["v2"]], "[a-zA-Z]\\.[a-zA-Z]\\.")

## [1] "a.b." NA     "C.D." NA

A: Base R solution using regmatches, and regexpr which returns -1 if no regex match is found:
r <- regexpr("[a-zA-Z]\\.[a-zA-Z]\\.", df$v2)
df$match <- NA
df$match[which(r != -1)] <- regmatches(df$v2, r)

#  v1     v2 match
#1  1 _a.b._  a.b.
#2  2   <NA>  <NA>
#3  3 _C.D._  C.D.
#4  4   _ef_  <NA>

A: One possible solution using both grepl and sub:
# First, remove unwanted characters around pattern when detected
df$match <- sub(pattern = ".*([a-zA-Z]\\.[a-zA-Z]\\.).*",
                replacement = "\\1", x = df$v2)
# Second, check if pattern is present; otherwise set to NA
df$match <- ifelse(grepl(pattern = "[a-zA-Z]\\.[a-zA-Z]\\.", x = df$match),
                   yes = df$match, no = NA)

Results
df

#   v1     v2 match
# 1  1 _a.b._  a.b.
# 2  2   <NA>  <NA>
# 3  3 _C.D._  C.D.
# 4  4   _ef_  <NA>

Data
v1 <- c(1:4)
v2 <- c("_a.b._", NA, "_C.D._", "_ef_")
df <- data.frame(v1, v2, stringsAsFactors = FALSE)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


In 2003, I started tracking my net worth via excel spreadsheets. Then in 2005, I started posting monthly updates to networthiq which creates historical graphs to show progress.
I no longer use networthiq because the site is dying. For daily expenses, I use the free android app moneywise. This allows me to quickly enter costs when I'm out and about. There are probably better apps out there but I feel it's sufficient for my needs. At the end of the month I can email reports to my personal computer so I can then parse the data more carefully.
My average salary — gross, not net — over my 13 working years is 98K.
I'm 36 37. I graduated from college with a bachelor's degree in computer science in 1999 and went into software support. Since then I've moved around the field a bit, from QA to debugging to infrastructure and application server support maintenance.
When I left school I had 40K in student debt. I paid this off in 2002.
I started contributing to my 401(k) in 2003. At the same time I started to drop the maximum allowed into my IRA. In 2005 I started maxing out my 401(k) most years.
My accounts are held with Vanguard. I believe in passive investing through index funds and have never picked individual stocks.
I've held the following allocation since 2007.
I have an equity line of credit on my house which I keep close to a zero balance. I treat this as my emergency fund so I don't need to hold much cash. It's at 2.74% right now which is pretty cheap money.
Not starting my 401(K) contributions earlier. The first 3 years of my working life I didn't contribute a dime, even though my employer offered a match on the first 6% of salary. Related regret: Not maxing my 401(k) contributions between 2008 and 2010. Very stupid.
Not paying more attention to taxes until very recently.
I put too much money into my taxable accounts. My rationale was that I'd need this money in order to retire early. As it turns out, I didn't. There is a procedure which allows you to put money in your 401(k) or traditional IRA, roll it over to your Roth IRA tax free, and withdraw it from your Roth (again, tax free) 5 years later. Thanks to the Mad Fientist for this strategy. It works best if your post-RE income puts you in the 15% income bracket. Not following this strategy earlier has cost me tens of thousands of dollars. Frankly I don't want to sit down and do the math on it because it would be depressing as hell. I probably could have quit working two years ago — or be sitting on significantly more money.
Rebalancing even during gain years in my taxable accounts.
If you don't want to make the same mistakes, read up on tax strategies for taxable versus non-taxable accounts. Once you understand the basics, read the entirety of the mad fientist's blog. Then read it again. Then you'll understand why I feel pretty dumb about making the decisions I did. Reducing your tax burden is a lot more important than you realize. Especially when you're just starting out, it's really hard to focus on taxes because it seems like saving and investing is so much more important. But you have to realize that saving on taxes is a form of saving, and it can help shave years off of your FI goal.
I've shared more detailed info in the Mistakes Were Made post.
Other than 1) my first year out of college, when I spent like a fool and 2) the year I bought my house, I consistently saved over 50% of my net earnings. Some years I hit 70%, mostly due to earning more.
I stumbled upon the index investing idea early, reading Bogle's Common Sense on Mutal Funds. It made sense to me, and that's the path I've taken. Most of my friends and colleagues were into individual stock picking which felt like gambling and just never resonated. Bogle's book backs up the idea that individual stock picking as well as actively managed funds are both losing propositions and explains the reasons why in plain English.
I saved the entirety of every bonus I've ever gotten. Around 60K of post-tax money over 12 working years. After investment earnings on top of this amount, it has translated to about 110K in current net worth — 15% of my entire stash. For me this underscores the importance of saving extra money instead of using it to increase your annual cost of living.
My partner is frugal so we see eye to eye on most financial issues and rarely have disagreements over money. It's probably important to note that the numbers above represent my own net worth. These figures do not combine our assets. My SO happens to have a similar level of assets, making our total net worth roughly double the amount I've listed above. This means that we have likely over-saved, if anything.
How has nobody commented on this before? This is excellent stuff! You almost appear to write as though MMM, jlcollinsh, and the Mad Fientist are "above you" but you write some of the funniest material I've read in the financial independence space. This article also demonstrates your ability in getting right to the meat of the content, humor aside! No fluff, just your factual history, concrete numbers, and great recommendations. Perfect!


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Gang of Ghosts (2014)
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bobbysing27 March 2014
Neither spooky nor comic with all silly forced in stuff.
Hindi remakes of our regional cinema have always been there since decades and the idea has mostly worked whenever incorporated with some apt additions and much needed changes as per the Hindi speaking audience. Hence, before going into this particular direction, it is to be essentially understood that India is like a sum of many different regions, cultures and mindsets having their own lovable traditions and humour too. So a joke which might work in Bengal or Tamilnadu, may fall completely flat in MP, UP, Delhi or Punjab and the other parts of the country in all possibilities.
Therefore an almost scene to scene remake with just the translations made is not the right procedure to be followed and the director has to re-write the original script with all the major changes required keeping in mind his exact target audience and its key region. Unfortunately in his latest comic venture, veteran director Satish Kaushiksimply ignores and skips this most important step of making a remake and thus fails hugely in his attempt to deliver an enjoyable entertainer to the viewers. Moreover even the changes made to convert it in a Mumbai kind of film also prove to be a big downer, resulting in a quite weak product as per director's own set standards in the past. An official remake of Bengali hit BHOOTER BHABISHYAT (2012) directed by Anik Dutta, the film is supposedly a horror comedy which is neither spooky nor comic with almost 'none' entertaining moments in its 2 hours of badly written stuff performed by many known names.
It begins well but then takes too much time to come to the point (almost 20-25 minutes), before introducing the entire cast. Its basic plot talking about a joint home for a group of ghosts coming from various regions and time periods is surely interesting enough with a great potential to exploit. But the poor writing simply ruins everything and the silly adaptation even becomes unbearable in its second hour with too many forced in sequences and below average songs. Moreover the climax unimpressively tries to bring in the satire element too in vain, pointing towards the construction mafia operating in the major cities.
In the performance section, the entire cast ensemble including names such as Anupam Kher, Saurabh Shukla, Jackie Shroff, Chunkey Pandey, Yashpal Sharma, Rajpal Yadav, Rajesh Khattar, J. Brandon Hill, Vijay Verma and Meera Chopra utterly fail to deliver any kind of enjoyable act and the only two actors who do manage to leave some kind of impact remain Parambrata Chatterjee (also there in the original too) and Sharman Joshi. Taking about its comedy, the single joke which actually works comes from the veteran Asrani saying, "Main To Gareeb Aadmi Hun" in a hilariously helpless mode repeatedly. Mahie Gill tries hard to generate some laughter with her old time dialogue delivery style but she strangely gets only a few scenes in the film, contrary to what was being promoted in its promotional campaign. The camera-work doesn't add anything special in the film's mediocre treatment and the same can be said about its background score or art direction too coming up with nothing above the routine.
In all, this is a perfect example of how poor writing can make a complete mess of a fine, novel plot and also a film which clearly indicates that a remake should not be made just as a mere translation of the original taking the easy path (& avoiding all the re-working required essentially). On a concluding note, only a few weeks before we saw TOTAL SIYAPAA being rejected due to the same mistake made and now its GANG OF GHOSTS also strongly proving the point once again.
FilmyTown26 March 2014
Peaceful, harmless group of ghosts being dislocated by unscrupulous builders
A haunted mansion in Mumbai is to be demolished making way for a glitzy shopping mall. The gang of harmless Ghosts of different eras and social spheres residing in this house are to be dislocated.
A late zamindar is the boss of the house residing with a British Lord of the East India Company era, a yesteryear actress, a spoilt rich girl, an unhappy rock musician, a Bengalee and a cab driver. These ghosts decide to fight their own battle against rampant development and win it.
A remake of the commercially successful Bengali film Bhooter Bhabishyat, Gang of Ghosts comes up as mish-mashed comedy with sub-plots and undesirable buffoonery.
The grand old mansions and mills of South Mumbai are being razed to the ground to make way for swanky condominiums, malls and Multiplexes.
Some of these dilapidated disputed buildings were haunted by Ghosts who had taken shelter there over centuries. They were evicted and are homeless today. There is no rehabilitation package on offer. Politicians, media, intellectuals, civic society- no one gives a dam to them. After all, Ghosts can't vote.
Royal Mansion is one such heritage property which is rented out for film shoots to facilitate its maintenance. A heroine faints during a shooting allegedly sighting Ghost in a mirror. A filmmaker on a reconnaissance trip to the building gets to hear of a spooky story revolving around the house.
It is a pity that even the experienced actors like the buck-toothed Anupam Kher and Rajpal Yadav appear to enact their parts with seemingly no involvement, just taking it easy as walking around in a garden or a mall.
Saurabh Shukla, Parambrata Chaterjee (of Kahaani fame) and Yashpal Sharma appear as a bunch of loitering jokers without any sense of direction.
To top this all, there is Jackie Shroff with his Bombaiya style taporigiri which doesn't amuse at all.
mamlukman25 March 2014
All over the place, no cohesion, no plot, no characters
Warning: Spoilers
I'll have the honor of the first review. This is bad news. The good news is that is just over two hours--it could have been worse.
Acting: Why give poor Anupam Kher those weird teeth? To embarrass him? And, as usual, the British actor cannot act (I see he has been in a number of Hindi movies; isn't it time to take acting lessons?). As always, I find this astounding: A nation (UK) filled with outstanding actors, and yet Indian directors can't find any of them. Hopeless. All of the actors shout their lines throughout the movie. Why? It's just annoying.
There are three women in the cast, and I'm sure they might be appealing in another movie, but here they are just wasted. Despite what the song said, they are definitely not "hot". It's not necessarily their fault, they just don't get a chance with all the characters.
The whole first half of the movie is taken up by introducing all the ghosts. There is no time to develop an interesting story for ANY of them because there are so many, and it just becomes disjointed, repetitious, and boring. Is this a comedy? Drama? What? And because there are so many, you don't care about any of them--which is key to any movie. You have to cheer for some character. This movie doesn't give you the chance.
The second half introduces the plot, weak as it is. A developer wants to buy the mansion and build a high rise, dispossessing the ghosts. They have to scare him off to keep their mansion. But it's not by some ghostly activity, which might have had some interest. It's by the traditional bribes, threats, etc. We've seen all this before, except done much better.
But the main problem is the story, or lack of a story. There's nothing to hold your attention. There are no surprises, there is no tension. Sorry, this is just bad.
jg-39368 September 2014
Underrrated
For once a Ghost movie that was not scary. Very original premise.
Could do without the songs (FFWD it). This kind of a script actually does not need songs, at least not an item one. Still if the music was better, the songs could have stuck.
The script were a little weak and the pace was a little slow. But I thoroughly enjoyed it. Ghosts doesn't mean it has to be horror. The concept was really interesting.
The haveli was beautiful. And the way it ended, made it even better.
Of course, the cast assembled was great. They could have been used more. The comic potential of this cast was a lot more than used.
chandra-mehendrou25 March 2014
A Good remake
Amazing Remake of Bhooter Bhavishyat ...
The movie Gang of Ghosts has repeat value, good comic timing, a story that is extremely interesting and something people can't even imagine (the credit goes to the original writer of this story, however the original is slow paced and has many moments of boredom.)
Gang of Ghosts removes those elements and make the story tight and faced paced. The song 'Nai dungi' and 'Dasni sharaab di botalaan' are very good.
Chunky pandey is too cute in the movie ... Comic timing and dialogues are good too ... Gang of Ghosts directed by Mr. Satish Kaushik high on entertainment and comedy and it is also sensitive at many places.
namashi_131 March 2014
Average!
A remake of Bengali film Bhooter Bhabishyat, 'Gang of Ghosts' is an average fare, at best. A wonderful concept, that isn't utilized to the fullest!
'Gang of Ghosts' tells the story about a group of ghosts who have lost their shelter due to urbanization. The story starts with a struggling wannabe director who somehow crosses paths with a stranger. The stranger starts to narrate a story to him about a group of ghosts that stay together. The story that the stranger narrates shows the communal, social, linguistic & historical differences among the ghosts, as they belong to different eras. But, very soon these ghosts face an issue protecting their haunt from the hands of demolition.
'Gang of Ghosts' offers a terrific concept, but The Writing Material isn't power-packed. To give its due, the first-hour is fairly engaging & some moments are truly funny. But, the second-hour is weak. Also, The humor is clearly missing in this hour. Satish Kaushik's Direction is passable. Cinematography, Editing & Art Design, are standard.
Performance-Wise: Sharman Joshi, as always, delivers a sincere performance. Mahie Gill is strictly okay. Anupam Kher & Saurabh Shukla are superb. Parambrata Chatterjee is effectual enough. Jackie Shroff entertains in a cameo.
On the whole, 'Gang of Ghosts' holds limited appeal.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


In celebration of its fiftieth year the Lilium and Bulb Society of South Australia is proud to announce the establishment of a scholarship for aspiring green thumbs.
The Society is looking for one or more young persons who have a strong interest in nature, particularly growing plants from seed.
The scholarship recipients will be provided with all the materials needed to raise bulbous plants from seed, including mentor support. They will be recognised at a presentation in April 2016.
The Lilium and Bulb Society is growing and as well as Liliums, many members grow rare bulbs from all around the world. We are looking to encourage aspiring green thumbs of the future and believe the best way to do that is to help young people develop an interest which can then carry them through their lives.
While the recipient will need some support at home (a small amount of space as well as ongoing enthusiasm) we are looking for children that will have a core interest.
Maximum age to apply for the scholarship is 16.
We encourage any young person with a genuine interest in growing plants from seed to apply.


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The role of intellectual property rights for conserving biological diversity - Patent law treaty for protecting genetic resources and traditional knowledge-
Gil Mo Kang, Jae Ho Yeom, Seong Jae Doh, C. Mijin Lee, Suk Jae Kwon
Recently, controversy over intellectual property rights for protecting genetic resources and traditional knowledge has been emerging. Very active debates and global discussions are being carried out in various international organizations for possible approaches to be taken for these properties, and for the fair and equal sharing of the benefits from these intellectual properties. There is a need to evaluate adopting a sui generis system which is being pushed by developing nations, or adopting a policy which will guaranteee benefit sharing such as sharing royalties from marketing final products, technical transfers, capacity building, and participating in research activities. Also, it is very important to examine the legal issues concerning genetic resources based on Convention on Biological Diversity for the fair and equal sharing of the benefits with developing nations, at the same time assuring developed nations of access to genetic resources.
Ocean and Polar Research
https://doi.org/10.4217/OPR.2007.29.1.043
Published - 2007 Mar
CBD(Convention on Biological Diversity)
Genetic resources
Sui generis system
TRIPs(Agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights)
10.4217/OPR.2007.29.1.043
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Kang, G. M., Yeom, J. H., Doh, S. J., Lee, C. M., & Kwon, S. J. (2007). The role of intellectual property rights for conserving biological diversity - Patent law treaty for protecting genetic resources and traditional knowledge-. Ocean and Polar Research, 29(1), 43-53. https://doi.org/10.4217/OPR.2007.29.1.043
The role of intellectual property rights for conserving biological diversity - Patent law treaty for protecting genetic resources and traditional knowledge-. / Kang, Gil Mo; Yeom, Jae Ho; Doh, Seong Jae; Lee, C. Mijin; Kwon, Suk Jae.
In: Ocean and Polar Research, Vol. 29, No. 1, 03.2007, p. 43-53.
Kang, GM, Yeom, JH, Doh, SJ, Lee, CM & Kwon, SJ 2007, 'The role of intellectual property rights for conserving biological diversity - Patent law treaty for protecting genetic resources and traditional knowledge-', Ocean and Polar Research, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 43-53. https://doi.org/10.4217/OPR.2007.29.1.043
Kang GM, Yeom JH, Doh SJ, Lee CM, Kwon SJ. The role of intellectual property rights for conserving biological diversity - Patent law treaty for protecting genetic resources and traditional knowledge-. Ocean and Polar Research. 2007 Mar;29(1):43-53. https://doi.org/10.4217/OPR.2007.29.1.043
Kang, Gil Mo ; Yeom, Jae Ho ; Doh, Seong Jae ; Lee, C. Mijin ; Kwon, Suk Jae. / The role of intellectual property rights for conserving biological diversity - Patent law treaty for protecting genetic resources and traditional knowledge-. In: Ocean and Polar Research. 2007 ; Vol. 29, No. 1. pp. 43-53.
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abstract = "Recently, controversy over intellectual property rights for protecting genetic resources and traditional knowledge has been emerging. Very active debates and global discussions are being carried out in various international organizations for possible approaches to be taken for these properties, and for the fair and equal sharing of the benefits from these intellectual properties. There is a need to evaluate adopting a sui generis system which is being pushed by developing nations, or adopting a policy which will guaranteee benefit sharing such as sharing royalties from marketing final products, technical transfers, capacity building, and participating in research activities. Also, it is very important to examine the legal issues concerning genetic resources based on Convention on Biological Diversity for the fair and equal sharing of the benefits with developing nations, at the same time assuring developed nations of access to genetic resources.",
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text:
Home Football	Career length linked with increased dementia risk in ex-professional footballers
Career length linked with increased dementia risk in ex-professional footballers
2nd August 2021 0 comment
JAMA Neurology: Association of Field Position and Career Length With Risk of Neurodegenerative Disease in Male Former Professional Soccer Players
Researchers at the University of Glasgow have today (Monday 2 August) found that the longer an ex-professional footballer's playing career, the higher the increased risk of neurodegenerative disease. They also found that outfield players, particularly defenders, were more likely to have developed dementia than goalkeepers, whose risk was no different to non-players. The scientific publication, JAMA Neurology, published the findings.
What our expert had to say?
Dr Susan Kohlhaas, Director of Research at Alzheimer's Research UK, said:
"This well-conducted study of dementia risk in ex-professional footballers is another piece of a large and largely unfinished jigsaw when it comes to understanding dementia risk.
"Dementia risk is complex, caused by an interweaving mixture of age, genetics and lifestyle. This is interesting and useful insight into the difference in risk based on player positions and career length and could help inform future research or player management. However, there is still more to do in order to fully understand what is causing increased dementia risk in outfield players. This study did not look at all aspect of players' lives on or off the pitch to determine what may be behind the increased risk.
"Existing results from this research team have shown that former professional footballers may also get several health benefits of playing the game and therefore it's important to understand both the benefits and risks of playing professional sport as it relates to dementia.
"Football is close to the hearts of so many of us, and it's right that authorities and footballing bodies take sensible steps to mitigate the risk of injury to ensure players can enjoy the game safely at all levels. It is good news that further guidance on heading will be introduced into the English game from next season, with all professional, amateur and grassroots clubs involved.
"As the UK's leading dementia research charity, Alzheimer's Research UK is committed to improving the understanding of the risk factors associated with dementia. The charity contributed to the Department of Media, Culture and Sports review into head injuries in sport, and our Chief Medical Officer sits on the FA's independent medical advisory board.
"But with nearly one million people in the UK living with dementia, and a huge unmet clinical need, we need to see life-changing news treatments. We will continue to call on footballing bodies, player associations, and governments across to help fund dementia research now, not later, when it is too late.
"Life-changing research is the way to help find a cure."
Alzheimer's SocietydementiaJAMA Neurology
Team GB end 49-year wait for team eventing gold
Emily Campbell becomes Team GB's first women's weightlifting medallist
50 Greatest Goal Scorers in the History of British Football – Neil Beacom
Spartak wins the 2020 Parimatch Premier Cup
UPDATED HEADING GUIDANCE ANNOUNCED FOR YOUTH TRAINING SESSIONS – The FA


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Dr Chris Montgomery
Senior Lecturer in Dialectology
Jessop West
1 Upper Hanover Street
S3 7RA
c.montgomery@sheffield.ac.uk
I joined the School of English as Lecturer in Dialectology in 2012 and in 2017 I was promoted to Senior Lecturer. Prior to this, I was a Lecturer in English Language at Sheffield Hallam University, a post I occupied after completing an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Edinburgh.
My research focuses on non-linguists' perceptions of language variation. In particular, my present research examines real-time reactions to regional speech, and in particular which features naïve listeners respond to.
I have worked in the field of perceptual dialectology, and developed new methodological approaches to the study of non-linguists' perceptions. My research has focused on locations in the north of England and southern Scotland, and has discussed the role of (real and imagined) borders in perception.
In addition to perceptual dialectology, I am also interested in the wider field of folk linguistics and language attitudes.
I have a particular interest in new methodologies, and my research has investigated ways of integrating techniques used in the field of Geographical Science with those used in the study of language variation and perception, with a particular focus on the possibilities offered by GIS technologies.
I am also generally interested in language variation and change, computational sociolinguistics, and sociolinguistic and dialectological methodologies.
I teach on both the BA in English Language and Linguistics and the MA in English Language and Linguistics. I convene 'Varieties of English', 'A Sense of Place: Language and regional identity', and a module relating to language attitudes at undergraduate level. I contribute to 'Linguistics in Context' and 'Linguistics in Practice' at graduate level.
I would be happy to supervise students with an interest in any area of my research expertise.
Leach, Hannah and Montgomery, Chris (In preparation) Folk perception of Stoke-on-Trent English.
Montgomery, Chris and Moore, Emma (2018) The effects of salience, stereotypes, and co-present language variables on real-time reactions to regional speech. Language 94(3). 629-661
Corrigan, Karen and Montgomery, Chris (2015) Preface to the special issue on sense of place in the history of English. English Language and Linguistics. 19(2). pp 203-211
Montgomery, Chris and Stoeckle, Philipp (2013) Perceptual Dialectology and Geographical Information Systems. Journal of Linguistic Geography. 1(1). pp. 52-85
Montgomery, Chris (2012) The Effect of Proximity in Perceptual Dialectology. Journal of Sociolinguistics. 16(5). pp. 638-668.
Montgomery, Chris (2011) Starburst Charts: Methods for investigating the geographical perception of and attitudes towards speech samples. In Studies in Variation, Contacts and Change in English (eVARIENG) Volume 7.
Montgomery, Chris and Moore, Emma (eds.) (2017) Language and a Sense of Place: Studies in Language and Region. Cambridge University Press.
Cramer, Jennifer and Montgomery, Chris (eds.) (forthcoming, 2014) Cityscapes and Perceptual Dialectology: Global perspectives on non-linguists' knowledge of the dialect landscape. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Corrigan, Karen, and Montgomery, Chris (2015) Special issue on sense of place in the history of English. English Language and Linguistics. 19(2).
Moore, Emma and Montgomery, Chris (2018) The dialect of the Isles of Scilly: Exploring the relationship between language production and language perception in a Southern insular variety. In Wright, Laura (ed.) Southern English Varieties Then and Now, 39-73. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Montgomery, Chris (2018) The Perceptual Dialectology of England. In Natalie Braber & Sandra Jansen (eds.) Sociolinguistics in England, 127-164. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Montgomery, Chris. (2017) Maps and Mapping in (Perceptual) Dialect Geography. In Chris Montgomery & Emma Moore (eds.), Language and a Sense of Place: Studies in Language and Region, 128–146. Cambridge University Press.
Montgomery, Chris. (2016) The Perceptual Dialectology of Wales from the Border. In Mercedes Durham & Jonathan Morris (eds.), Sociolinguistics in Wales, 151–179. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Montgomery, Chris and Cramer, Jennifer (2016) Developing Methods in Perceptual Dialectology. In Cityscapes and Perceptual Dialectology: Global perspectives on non-linguists' knowledge of the dialect landscape. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Montgomery, Chris (2016) Perceptual Prominence of City-based Dialect areas in England. In Cramer, Jennifer and Montgomery, Chris, Cityscapes and Perceptual Dialectology: Global perspectives on non-linguists' knowledge of the dialect landscape. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Montgomery, Chris (2015) Perceptions of borders and boundaries in the North of England. In Hickey, Raymond. Researching Northern English. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Montgomery, Chris (2014) Perceptual dialectology across the Scottish-English border. In Watt, Dominic and Llamas, Carmen. Borders and Identities. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Montgomery, Chris (2012) Perceptions of dialects: Changing attitudes and ideologies. In Nevalainen, Terttu and Traugott, Elizabeth (Eds.) Handbook on the History of English: Rethinking and Extending Approaches and Methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 457-469.
Montgomery, Chris (2012) Mapping the perceptions of non-linguists in Northern England. In: Stoeckle, Philipp, Streck, Tobias., Schwarz, Christian. & Hansen, Sandra. (Eds.) Dialectological and folk dialectological concepts of space - current methods and perspectives in sociolinguistic research on dialect change. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 164-179
Montgomery, Chris and Beal, Joan (2011) 'Perceptions of language variation'. In: Maguire, Warren and McMahon, April (Eds.) Analysing Variation in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 121-148.
Montgomery, Chris (2010) Sprachraum and its perception. In Lameli, Alfred, Kehrein, Roland & Stefan Rabanus (Eds.) Language and Space - An International Handbook of Linguistic Variation, Volume 2: Language Mapping. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 586-605.
Montgomery, Chris (2008) Perceptions of Liverpool English. In A. Grant, Anthony & Grey, Clive (Eds.). The Mersey Sound: Liverpool's Language, People and Places. Liverpool: Open House Press. pp. 164-188.
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COLLEEN CARROLL CAMPBELL is an author, print and broadcast journalist, and former presidential speechwriter. She writes an op-ed column on religion, politics, and women's issues for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, blogs on those subjects for The New York Times and The Washington Post; comments about them on such networks as FOX News, CNN, and PBS; and discusses them as host of Faith & Culture, a weekly television and radio show that airs internationally on EWTN, the world's largest religious network, and on Sirius Satellite and Relevant Radio. A former speechwriter to President George W. Bush and the author of The New Faithful: Why Young Adults Are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy, Campbell contributes frequently to national publications and speaks to audiences across America.


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Van Buren és una població dels Estats Units a l'estat d'Arkansas. Segons el cens del 2006, Estimate tenia una població de 21.249 habitants.

Demografia
Segons el cens del 2000, Van Buren tenia 18.986 habitants, 6.947 habitatges, i 5.182 famílies. La densitat de població era de 486,8 habitants/km².

Dels 6.947 habitatges en un 40,4% hi vivien nens de menys de 18 anys, en un 56,2% hi vivien parelles casades, en un 14,7% dones solteres, i en un 25,4% no eren unitats familiars. En el 21,7% dels habitatges hi vivien persones soles el 8,2% de les quals corresponia a persones de 65 anys o més que vivien soles. El nombre mitjà de persones vivint en cada habitatge era de 2,67 i el nombre mitjà de persones que vivien en cada família era de 3,12.

Per edats la població es repartia de la següent manera: un 29,6% tenia menys de 18 anys, un 9% entre 18 i 24, un 30,7% entre 25 i 44, un 20,1% de 45 a 60 i un 10,6% 65 anys o més.

L'edat mediana era de 33 anys. Per cada 100 dones de 18 o més anys hi havia 86,8 homes.

 Entorn al 13,5% de les famílies i el 16,7% de la població estaven per davall del llindar de pobresa.

Poblacions més properes
El següent diagrama mostra les poblacions més properes.

Referències

Entitats de població d'Arkansas

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Contrary to experiences in other Latin American countries, Colombia's decentralization efforts have attempted to combine the modernization of municipal administration with the democratization of relations between local governments and the people.
New policies have increased local governments' administrative, financial and policy-making powers, and laws passed in 1986 gave municipalities new authority over health and the environment. The 1991 constitution accelerated the decentralization process, giving cities responsibility for providing services, planning and promoting participation. To enable the fulfillment of these additional responsibilities, the central government increased transfer payments to the municipalities. In addition, new participatory mechanisms for political and citizen participation were established. To ensure the participation of citizens, Local Administrative Boards (LABs) were created.
As a consequence of the decentralization process, important changes have taken place in Buga, including democratic election of mayors and municipal assumption of responsibility for drainage, education, health, social housing, road and transport management, agricultural technical assistance and programmes for vulnerable groups. For the first time the city has a municipal development plan, a land-use statute, and plans for roads, education, health and environmental management.
Despite these changes and economic growth over the past few years, the basic needs of one-third of the population are unsatisfied, and 10 percent of the population lives in substandard conditions. The city has significant environmental problems, with oil, water, air and noise being of concern.
In addition, Buga does not have a strong civil society except in the business sector. The control traditionally exercised by political groups has erected obstacles to the autonomous development of grass-roots social groups. Community Action Boards (CABs)-local organizational and representative bodies directed especially at the poor-have been managed by political parties, but now some boards are attempting to gain independence from electoral politics. The NGO movement is also weak.
The low-income sector is generally excluded from decision making. The LABs and the Planning Council have not been effective. The Development Committees for Social Affairs and Domestic Public Services have not yet benefited from autonomy. Political decisions made without consultation have resulted in considerable skepticism from the common people of the city.
Buga joined the MCP in the later half of 1994. In the beginning, the office of the incumbent mayor committed itself to promoting the MCP. It was an opportunity for the city to strengthen links between the municipal administration and the citizens, and to address Buga's social and environmental problems. Other sectors involved included universities, local NGOs, civic and political groups and municipal staff working in the areas of planning, agricultural promotion and natural resource management.
However, the mayor's office nominated as its MCP coordinator someone who would be the governmental-party candidate for the mayor's office for the following term. This had two determental effects: residents saw the MCP as being associated with a political campaign, which undermined its credibility, and the nominated MCP coordinator lost the election leaving the programme without a leader and without the support of the mayor who also lost the election.
The government that assumed the mayoralty in January 1995 did not commit itself fully to the programme. The MCP was politically stigmatized, having functioned as an instrument of the preceding political campaign. The drafting of the municipal-development plan and other sectoral plans were carried out without reference to the MCP and without taking into account its methods and instruments. However, the development plan contained a good number of principles which correspond to the philosophy of the MCP, especially regarding sustainable development. The analysis carried out in this report refers to the activities actually developed within the framework of the MCP. These do not exactly correspond with what the latter refers to as a planning process, as no sustainable development planning process was developed in Buga.
Various meetings were held throughout 1995. Little was accomplished in 1996. Knowledge of current planning methodologies was weak, especially those defined by participatory and sustainable development parameters. There was no retraining or requalification of municipal staff on the programme's methodology. Attempts were made to relaunch the programme, but it without the mayor's support.
On the other hand the mayor's office, in accordance with Law 152 of 1994, started the process for the drafting and approval of the municipal development plan, but never applied the ICLEI methodology. In spite of these problems, the municipal plan includes points that correspond with the MCP's ideas regarding participation and sustainable development. However social groups with poor representation in local issues did not participate as members of the programme.
There was no stakeholder group in Buga in the strict sense of the term. At the beginning there was a project team that consisted of representatives of some of the city's institutions as well as some municipal personnel, but no stable group was sustained. The programme ended up in the hands of a single person who sought the collaboration of others for the few activities that took place.
This was despite the fact that ICLEI representatives were able to establish channels between the municipality and civil sectors. But as the municipality lost interest in the programme, contact became sporadic until it finally disappeared. One of the greatest difficulties was in trying to convince the municipality to make a commitment to the development of the programme, and more concretely, to a process for local planning.
At the outset, when there was municipal commitment to the programme, public consultation activities were planned. However, due to the change in local government, no consultation strategy was developed or implemented.
The municipality did however consult with citizens when drafting the municipal developmentThe municipality did however consult with citizens when drafting the municipal development plan. Law 152 obliged the municipality to draft, discuss, approve and carry out a Municipal Development Plan which council approved on July 1, 1995.
The consultation process involved working groups in which 216 people participated. Some people saw these working groups as neither representative nor participatory. The results of the consultation were processed by the mayor's office and incorporated into the draft plan, but were never made public.
The advisor to the mayor's office on local planning indicated that the planning methodology used by the municipality was that of Situational Strategic Planning (SSP), which classifies local actors to solicit opinions, but is not compatible with ICLEI's methodology to identify and work with interest groups for the long term.
The MCP was not implemented in Buga. The only successful activities were open-air concerts that provided a forum for the programme's objectives and methodology.
Continuity of management is critical to success. In Buga, the mayor's office nominated as its MCP coordinator someone who would be the governmental-party candidate for the mayor's office for the following term. When the nominated MCP coordinator lost the election, leaving the programme without a leader, it was difficult to regain momentum and continue with the process. It follows that launching the LA 21 process in a pre-electoral period is inopportune.
LA 21 processes should be separate from the political processes in the community. Residents in Buga saw the MCP as being associated with a political campaign, which undermined its credibility.
Institutional collaboration is possible only when the people and economic resources are available. Municipalities should participate through financial and logistical support and institutional backing, and take responsibility for promoting the programme.
Expected funding from outside agencies should be clear in the beginning of the project. In Buga, when it was realized that the MCP offered only a methodology and technical assistance, local participants became disenchanted.


A spectacular firework display over Hogsmeade and Hogwarts castle ushered in the opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Hollywood.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter has officially arrived at Universal Studios Hollywood – and in true Hollywood style, the Grand Opening was suitably spectacular.
Hollywood is all about movie magic, and this week Harry Potter fans, cast members and some of the very best of TV and film were treated to the most glorious spectacle: the Grand Opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood.
The night promised impossible splendour, with the likes of Steven Spielberg and Billy Bob Thornton rocking the red carpet, while starstruck fans were gifted with a night of magical entertainment.
This included a light show that enveloped Hogwarts castle, a fireworks display to rival that of Weasleys' Wildfire Whiz-bangs, and a jaunty Hogwarts frog choir decked out in all four house colours.
Most spectacularly of all, however, was the appearance of John Williams – the legendary film composer who has provided the soundtrack to many of our favourite movies, including, of course, those Harry Potter ones we mention every now and then.
Across a sprawling night sky decorated with lit-up Slytherin snakes and giant Gryffindor lions, John and the LA Philharmonic Orchestra delighted the crowd with three classic pieces from the Harry Potter film scores, including the now-legendary Hedwig's Theme.
The new attraction boasts a number of Harry Potter locations brought to life, including a recreation of Hogsmeade and a beautiful construction of Hogwarts castle.
It is no wonder that some of our beloved Harry Potter cast, including Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood), Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy), Warwick Davis (Flitwick, among various Gringotts workers) and James and Oliver Phelps (Fred and George Weasley), were out in full force for an emotional trip down memory lane.
'You just feel immersed in it,' James admitted. 'You forget you're not at Leavesden Studios filming. You still feel – I don't mean to be cheesy – the magical thrill of it.' In full Fred and George style, James and Oliver even turned up to the bash in the iconic blue Ford Anglia.
While Warwick Davis waxed lyrical about how much he loved the Butterbeer, Evanna Lynch, who is famously a huge fan of the books, was simply soaking in as much atmosphere as possible.
And, seeing as this is Hollywood and all, naturally a few other famous faces had turned up too, with many bringing their children along. Academy Award winner Billy Bob Thornton was one such face, trying to catch up with his daughter – quite the wizarding world fan.
With a string of iconic roles under his belt, does Mr Thornton think he would make a good wizard?
We knew it. With Hollywood and Harry Potter being the night's central themes, a few other stars were keen to speculate on which Hollywood heroes may possibly be harbouring magical powers.
This Grand Opening may well have been about glitz and glamour, but for Tom Felton, just seeing his fellow cast members together on the red carpet again with Hogwarts in the backdrop was special.
'It's a bit like walking through your old school,' he told us. Felton promised to return often, and recalled that, last week, he had wandered around for about an hour without anyone noticing.
'It's my childhood,' the actor added.


As radical late-term abortion laws are being passed in some states, other states are fighting to protect life.
The abortion industry will not allow a single commonsense pro-life law - even basic health and safety regulations on abortion. Period.
Louisiana passed a pro-life law that requires abortionists to have hospital admitting privileges to protect health and safety.
Now the abortion lobby is fighting to strike it down at the Supreme Court.
It could well be the biggest abortion case of the current Supreme Court. And, it could show how these Justices will come down on the greatest issue of our time.
We must win. Lives depend on it.
At the ACLJ, we've been filing critical amicus briefs in defense of life at the Supreme Court. Together we can defeat the abortion behemoth and defend life in the next big abortion case. Take action at the Supreme Court with us.
As we aggressively take legal action to defeat the abortion behemoth and defend life, your gift today will be DOUBLED and could help us save lives.