text:
Tag Archives: goldstar vhs
VHS Review: Bowery at Midnight (1942; Goldstar Video Corporation's "Tales of Horror" Series, 1992)
Welcome to October! Fall! Halloween month!! I essentially took September off so I could get one ostensibly-spooky post up per week. Or at least that was the plan; who knows if it'll actually work out that way. If nothing else, I've got the start and end of the month covered, okay? Stop pressuring me.
To kick things off, I've got the return of Goldstar Video's Tales of Horror series, a 1991/1992 line of budget tapes that, thanks to their extreme early-90s vibes and cool packaging, I have become fond of. We saw their version of 1947's Scared to Death back in August, but today we have one that just may be my favorite of their line-up: 1942's Bowery at Midnight.
It's not because of the packaging, or a particularly unique print of the movie, either; the cover art for all of these was pretty similar, and as for the print, well, I don't really know, because the tape is sealed and I refuse to open it and ruin the minty freshness. Nope, this is a biggie for me because I just really, really love this movie. It stars Bela Lugosi, so it's automatically worth checking out anyway, but then it goes one better by having a genuinely engrossing plot. It's a Monogram production, so the story ain't exactly high art, but boy did it turn out to be a good flick anyway.
No joke, when it comes to Lugosi, I'm definitely a fan. Sure, Dracula, that's an easy call. But, because Bela spent so much time on the poverty row circuit after Drac typecast him somethin' awful, it's a lot of those cheapie movies from the 1940s that I come to first when I think Lugosi. The Devil Bat? Great flick! The Corpse Vanishes? That too. And amongst those personal vaunted ranks: Uh, Bowery at Midnight, obviously. And don't think that just because these were quick paychecks for him that his performances suffered; Bela always gave a role his all.
Because it's long been in the public domain, Bowery at Midnight has had more than a few budget VHS, and now DVD, releases. It's not one of his more ubiquitous films to be found in this arena though, and that's a shame, because as far as I'm concerned it's one of his best cheapies.
The cover art here follows the same template as all of Goldstar's Tales of Horror entries. That is, white background, accented by a series title that's dripping blood, a grainy filmstrip screenshot of the movie down the middle, and a volume number at the bottom-right (which is housed in a pool of the blood). This was the set template for the line, with only the specifics changing (movie title, volume number) changing from release to release.
This particular entry was volume 12, of which there were at least, at least 24 volumes. Anyone know exactly how many were released? The screenshot used actually isn't a single still taken from the movie, but rather a composite; Bela plays a dual-role in the flick, as a college professor by day, nefarious soup kitchen operator by night, and both personas were aptly placed into the scene. Good move on Goldstar's part!
The only thing I really find suspect here is the misspelling of Bela as "Bella" on the packaging. Hey, it was a budget video, typos happen, but it's not like his name isn't at the start of the movie, and besides, they got the spelling right on the Scared to Death cover. (In Goldstar's defense, I've seen this misspelling from other manufacturers, as well.) Oh, and it's Bowery at Midnight, no The, but that's small potatoes, yo.
(Also, dig the remnants of a Kash n' Karry sticker on the front! This tape hailed from a Florida seller, and there's the proof!)
The synopsis on the back isn't bad. Bowery at Midnight is, for the most part, more of a crime thriller, though Goldstar did well to point out the legit, albeit somewhat inexplicable, horror twist. Though, referring to Bela as the "night manager" of the mission is, uh, no. He owns and runs the joint; he's not some underpaid clerk at an all-night convenience store somewhere! "Let me get you your lottery tickets, my friend…" Also, his offing of (most) of the people he enlists isn't so much because he's threatened by them as it is a precautionary measure.
I'm not trying to rag on Goldstar's summary, though; compared to many budget labels and the synopsis on the back sleeve (if there even was a synopsis), this is practically a cornucopia of information!
Plus: 1992 – a 25 year old tape! The sad fact of the matter is that's a bit newer than much of the stuff I bring home, VHS-wise. I don't know when any of these were released (the line apparently started in 1991, and I would guess the tapes continuously floated around for a few years afterward), but I'm assuming they were more readily available during the fall months, in which case I was 6 years old for Halloween '92. Can't remember what I went as that year, but there's a good chance it included a mask I couldn't stand wearing for longer than 12 seconds.
I didn't have any of these tapes as a child. I was more into cartoons and video games at the time; my love of vintage horror and sci-fi would flourish about 5 years later.
Fun Fact: Freehold, New Jersey was the childhood home of Bruce Springsteen. Also, the Grampa tapes were manufactured in Rahway, NJ. So, was Jersey like the unofficial capital of low-cost VHS or something?
(Yes, I totally used that exact paragraph in my Scared to Death review. You can't improve on perfection, so I've straight-up copied and pasted it here. Stop pressuring me.)
As I said, I can't bring myself to crack the seal on this. It's just too cool having it new; I could set up a little rack in my house and continuously pretend I'm at a grocery store circa-1992, if I wanted to be as arbitrary as humanly possible. If my Scared to Death is any indication, this is probably recorded in EP, and the label probably implores you adjust the tracking as needed. And boy was it needed with Scared to Death. (Though in all fairness, I ran that through an old beater VCR, so the fault may very well have been more on my part.)
Bowery at Midnight. Why do I like this movie so much? Besides an undying affinity for poverty row horror of the 1930s and 1940s, and my Lugosi fandom, it's just a genuinely good movie. I gave it a cursory glance for the first time only a few years ago, admittedly without much enthusiasm, and yet, quickly found myself positively engrossed in it.
It's also a solid example of 1942 wartime matinee entertainment. It just feels like something that could have come out in the early-1940s, though I'd be hard-pressed to fully explain that feeling. Maybe it's the fast pace (there's only a little over an hour to work with here) and dark-yet-also-kinda-wacky plot. Furthermore, I love the NYC setting of the film (though I have no idea if it was actually filmed there or not). I guess what I'm haphazardly getting at is this is a real time-capsule of poverty row cinema, though I guess poverty row cinema is a time-capsule in and of itself, huh? I totally lost where I was going with this paragraph.
With Monogram at the helm and "Bowery" in the title, it's impossible to not think of the East Side Kids, which truth be told, was initially what I took this for. Bela did two of those, but in my opinion, this is so, so much better – though aside from the studio and setting and star, there isn't much comparable between the two (or three). Like I said, Bowery is primarily a crime thriller, but with a random horror twist.
Brief plot rundown: By day, Bela is a mild-mannered college professor. By night, he's a criminal mastermind using his Bowery-based soup kitchen as a front. He likes to enlist patrons of the kitchen for his robberies, and then off them before they can get too comfortable in their positions. He also has a wacky-jack scientist living in the basement of the soup kitchen, who requires corpses for his experiments, so it's a win-win for him, even if Bela don't give him no respect. Add to it a kind volunteer at the mission, her nosey boyfriend (who happens to be one of Bela's college students), a just-promoted cop, some comic-relief bums, and an ending that's too head-scratching to not love, and you've got a really fun hour or so of entertainment.
The film briefly hints at Bela actually having a legit split-personality, though it never really goes anywhere with the idea. The "daytime professor" plot element as a whole is kinda undercooked too, though with only 60+ minutes to play with, the movie made the wise choice of mainly focusing on the mission.
I really do love this flick, and to have it in this early-1990s, budget VHS form, it just seems so perfect. These Tales of Horror tapes have a very Halloween-ish look and feel to them; they seem like the kind of thing consumers would be stumbling upon not only at video stores but also supermarkets and the like come the fall months.
Needless to say, these Tales of Horror tapes are all way, way out of print, and as mentioned, somewhat obscure in this day and age, though none of them command very much. Not that I've seen, anyway. That's not to say you can't get your Bowery at Midnight on, though; it's public domain, so there's no shortage of options out there, though the best I've seen is the terrific Roan DVD.
And so, with that, the post comes to a close and Halloween month has been kicked off here at my stupid dumb blog. Stay tuned, more ostensibly-spooky stuff to come! Hopefully.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged bela lugosi, bella lugosi, bowery at midnight, bowery at midnight 1942, bowery at midnight rreview, budget tape, budget vhs, budget vhs tape, budget video, film review, gold star, goldstar vhs, goldstar video, lugosi vhs, monogram pictures, movie review, poverty row, poverty row horror, tales of horror, tales of horror gold star, tales of horror goldstar, tales of horror video series, vhs review, vhs series, video series on October 2, 2017 by neovideohunter.
VHS Review: Scared to Death (1947; Goldstar Video Corporation's "Tales of Horror" Series, 1992)
Meet my newest video obsession: Goldstar Video Corporation's Tales of Horror budget VHS series. It may not be my biggest video obsession (that title still belongs to Amvest Video's Grampa Presents tapes), but it's definitely my most recent. And truth be told, it is in a safe 2nd place…for now, anyway.
You know, these tapes had been nagging at me for awhile, and upon first glance, y'all may be wondering why. After all, the movies featured were the same public domain staples that had (have) been making the home video rounds for decades. And, unlike the Grampa Presents series, there was no made-for-video horror hosting amongst the proceedings. Add to that a graphical layout that's practically the budget VHS "tradition" in a nutshell and, well, there's a reason people aren't bidding these up to $100+ on eBay, okay?
And yet, I was continuously enamored by the series. Made up of at least 24 volumes (cause that's what this one is), and all featuring the same graphical layout that, while clearly in the aforementioned budget tradition, also aptly recalls Halloween. Seriously, the blood-drippin' "Horror" of the title, along with the stark white background? Thems like bloody bones or somethin', man. (In other words, a perfect cheap Halloween video pick-up, circa 1992 of course.)
And don't downplay the whole 'volumized' aspect of these, either. These aren't just cheesy old movies thrown out there for the penny-pinchin' consumers to devour; this is, or was, a legit collection. Think of these as the horror movie, home media version of baseball cards; you gotta go after 'em all! What's that, you'll trade me your Honus Wagner card for a Tales of Horror? Forget that noise, yo. (Also, that devour pun just now would have made much more sense had this been their release of Night of the Living Dead.)
Plus, I'm just sucker for budget VHS horror and sci-fi in general. There was really no way I couldn't end up loving this series, truth be told.
So anyway, my tape. That's it above. As my inaugural entry into this series, I chose 1947's Scared to Death, starring Bela Lugosi. Bela has gotten more than a little spotlight time on this blog, but Scared to Death, despite my waxing fondness for it, has not. It's maybe not the coolest release of the film in the budget VHS realm – that would undoubtedly be the Grampa Presents version of it, which I own but haven't written about (you can only go to that well so often, dig?) – but as a maiden voyage into Goldstar's series, I was pleased with the decision. I'm a Bela fan, and I (inexplicably?) like the movie, so hey, why not?
As I said, these tapes all feature the same general layout. That is, the bloody Tales of Horror banner across the top, the volume number in the bottom-right corner (fittingly placed in a pool of blood), and in the middle of the cover a diagonal film strip featuring a somewhat- pixelated image from the movie along with the title above it and a starring (or in Dementia 13's case, directing) credit within. It's not exactly something CBS/FOX would have put out back then, but it nevertheless gets the point across. I like it!
One may be tempted to be irked by the fact that a large plot-point is given away on the front cover here, but then, an even larger plot-point is given away by the very title of the movie. Oh, did I just spoil a 70-year-old movie for you? My bad, dawg.
Aside from the extreme early-1990s-ness of this tape's presentation, I'm fond of it for another reason: It reminds me of my grandmother. No, she never had any of these tapes at her house, but she had budget videos like them. I assume she got them all from Avon. There were a bunch of them though, and from the sparse cover art to the (relatively) obscure manufacturers, as a young tape-head I got a big kick out of them. One time, she even gave me the copy of 1935's Scrooge that had been sitting in her VHS cabinet for years; I forget who made it, but when I took it home, it promptly got stuck in our VCR. Look, you got a budget VHS tape, you took your chances. That's how it went.
So no, Grandma never had this at her house, but had her collection featured more horror and sci-fi, I could certainly see it being there. Is it weird that that thought takes me back, even if there's nothing actually to take me back to? (Fun Fact: This paragraph and the one preceding it were plucked from an unpublished article on a budget Bela 4-VHS-pack that I nixed in favor of this post. Never let it be said I don't recycle!)
Here's our back cover. Gotta love the additional blood drips along the top!
I have to say, this tape features a pretty decent synopsis of the movie, waaaay better than I would have ever anticipated beforehand. That's not a shot at Goldstar or anything, it's just that with budget tapes, the descriptions on the back could range from good, to mediocre, to downright amateurish. I posit this one falls more towards the "good" side of that scale.
I might have re-worded the second sentence a bit, but that's the only real issue I have with the description. Also, huge, HUGE props for not saying saying this is Bela's only color film (more on that in a bit).
Also, I have a feeling that last sentence was intended to be tongue-in-cheek.
There were apparently more than a few companies using the name "Goldstar" back in the day. The one I'm familiar with was the electronics manufacturer (example). So is that the same company that put these tapes out? I'm guessing it's not; GoldStar of electronics fame capitalized the "S" in "Star." A look at the copyright info at the bottom of this back cover says that this Goldstar did not. I keep this investigative work up and I'll have to apply for a private investigator license.
Speaking of which, as was common with budget videotapes such as this, the movie is recorded in EP, though the cover makes no such mention of the fact. I wouldn't have a problem with that, except man did I have a hard time getting this one to track. Granted, I was using a beater VCR, but even so, this was a little rough, trackin'-wise. Goldstar actually managed to get a fairly decent print of Scared to Death, I just wish the picture wasn't so shaky…
1947's Scared to Death is a movie I like, despite the fact that, well, it's really not very good. Like so much of Bela Lugosi's 1940s poverty row output, the film has lapsed into the public domain and therefore had more than a few releases on VHS and, now, DVD. That said, it doesn't hold up as well as The Corpse Vanishes or Bowery at Midnight; the plot is disjointed, Bela doesn't do a whole lot in it, and none of the characters are all that likable. George Zucco co-stars, which is cool, and the movie as a whole manages to be a fun slice of late-1940s matinee. Still, it's kinda bad. A good bad, but bad nonetheless; lovers of this stuff will dig it, but others? Well…
Scared to Death does feature a couple of interesting gimmicks. First off, it's Bela's only starring color film. The myth that it's his only color film period has floated around forever, and while that might make a good selling point on the back of some cheapo video release somewhere, it's not technically true. I mean, for all intents and purposes it's true, but technically, it's not. (He was in at least one color film as a bit player, and apparently there's one or two other instances of color Lugosi, too).
Also, the film is notable for being told from the point-of-view of a dead woman. As in, it's narrated by a corpse. Since it's told in flashback, yeah, the title totally spoils the whole thing before it ever has a chance to build any momentum whatsoever. While an interesting idea, especially for a poverty row production, the whole idea doesn't really play that well; every time the story gets moving, the film will jarringly break to the same shot of the dead woman on a morgue slab, she'll say a line or two (usually just a brief statement, which is almost comical), and then it's back to the movie proper. Like I said, it was an interesting idea, and it 'makes' the movie, but in truth, it doesn't work.
Scared to Death's plot involves one Laura Van Ee, our body-on-the-slab who, prior to that, is unhappily married to one Ward Van Ee (yes, that's really his last name), the son of Dr. Joseph Van Ee (Zucco). Dr. Van Ee runs a practice, and is keeping Laura there against her will. Apparently she's stressed out or something along those lines; she vehemently denies that she needs medical care, and since it's established early on that her marriage to Ward is in a shambles, and we know right from the start that she winds up dead, it can automatically be assumed Ward and his father are behind the whole thing.
Soon after, Dr. Van Ee's cousin Professor Leonide (Lugosi) shows up at the facility. It's eventually established he was once a patient there, and was able to create a number of secret passageways and whatnot during his stay. (Seriously? How would he actually manage that?)
Soon after, disturbances involving Laura increase. A dummy head made to look like her arrives in the mail, and green masks are seen floating about outside the windows. Clearly someone, or something, is trying to drive Laura batty! The fact Laura has a severe aversion to blindfolds, and thus is presumably hiding something, only adds to the drama. (Also, I'm not sure how we're supposed to feel sympathy for our ostensible heroine when she claims she's "alone and friendless," but is nasty to pretty much everyone.) At one point, Zucco gets conked on the head, and Bela and/or his diminutive assistant pop in and out of secret doorways, so yeah, there's definitely something afoot at the facility.
Also on the premises are an idiotic private detective, a smartypants maid the detective is in love with, and eventually, a pushy reporter and his annoying girlfriend.
There really aren't any likable characters in the movie. Dr. Van Ee and his son, despite first impressions, are probably the best of the bunch, though that's not saying much. The private detective is there for comic relief, but quickly makes you want to shatter your TV in a fit of fruitless rage. The reporter is, well, he's a typical movie reporter, though he's also the closest thing to a hero in this movie, which is a wash since he's also pretty nasty to everyone in his vicinity, not the least of which is his girlfriend.
Eventually it comes to light that Laura, years prior, had given her first husband up to the Nazis (!), and though believed dead, it turns out he became the assistant to Leonide, who was a magician. And then Laura dies. Like I said, the plot is kinda all over the place, though at only a bit over and hour, it isn't all over the place for very long.
I probably shouldn't like this movie as much as I do. Bela isn't in it a whole lot (come to think of it, neither is Laura; the reporter and detective get much of the running time here), the plot is disjointed and silly, and the comic relief totally falls flat time and time again. And yet, I do like the movie; it's such a sincere bit of post-war, matinee goofiness, that I can't find myself hating it. It's a movie that couldn't have really come from any other time but the late-1940s, and the color-aspect of it really does stand out from the rest of Lugosi's poverty row oeuvre. It's stupidly entertaining, if nothing else, anyway.
I think, like the Grampa Presents tapes, one of the most interesting things about this Tales of Horror series is how movies that weren't going to to scare anyone in the least were dressed up to appear absolutely terrifying. Oh sure, Night of the Living Dead is an exception, but by and large, stuff like Scared to Death wasn't even remotely frightening. Maybe to very small children, but to an adult? I seriously, seriously doubt it.
That's not a bad thing though. I always get a kick out of how these cornball old horror and sci-fi movies were dressed up and made to look like legitimately scary features. It's the same ideal that amuses me about budget video releases of b-westerns starring John Wayne, made to look as if they're "real" Wayne features and not something that had been floating around the public domain for eons.
In summation, Goldstar did a fine job with what they had; they made their series of videos look visually appealing, but without being prohibitively expensive. The whole Halloween-ish aura that surrounds them is still cool to this day, and if you're into budget VHS like me, that counts for a whole lot.
The Tales of Horror series ran the gamut of cheesy old horror movies like this one, to 1950s sci-fi (Indestructible Man, Monster From Green Hell), to even some late-1960s stuff (the previously-mentioned Night of the Living Dead). There was even more Goldstar could have put out, and I presume they would have had this series run longer. But, the series as released still holds plenty of interesting, albeit mostly expected, stuff; it's a pretty solid line-up of vintage horror, if nothing else.
Online searches turn up more than a few of these tapes for sale; while they're not as common as, say, a UAV or Goodtimes version of a given movie, they *do* pop up frequently enough, and usually on the cheap side. Seems Goldstar was able to get fairly decent distribution for the line, but subsequent interest nowadays is, except for me, a bit low. Still, this is all certainly a nice change of pace from my spending too much money I don't really have on Grampa tapes.
I hate to say it, but I sense my fascination with these tapes is only going to grow. I can't just have one volume! And you know, I'm perfectly okay with that!
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged 1990s video, 1992, article, bela lugosi movie, budget vhs, cheap vhs, film, goldstar home video, goldstar scared to death, goldstar vhs, goldstar video corporation, movie, movie review, overview, poverty row movie, public domain movie, review, scared to death, scared to death 1946, scared to death 1947, scared to death bela, scared to death bela lugosi, scared to death film review, scared to death lugosi, scared to death movie review, scared to death tales of horror, scared to death vhs, tales of horror goldstar, tales of horror vhs, vhs, vhs review, vhs tape, vintage, vintage release, vintage vhs, vintage video on August 16, 2017 by neovideohunter.


text:
using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;

namespace WebApplication5.ViewModels.Account
{
    public class ExternalLoginConfirmationViewModel
    {
        [Required]
        [EmailAddress]
        public string Email { get; set; }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Traditional wooden dominoes in sliding box.
This item is in stock. Please allow 3-5 days for delivery.
Click on a thumbnail below to view an image large in a new window.
Buy from a friend's Wish List, or create your own!
Enter your email below to be kept up to date with the latest on organic baby products.


text:
The Jury Room (Week 7) Posted 27th May 2014
The agnostic's prayer or ...
Let our joys never deny the griefs of others From The Herald : Sat 2-May-1998
There is no flock, however watched and tended,
But one dead lamb is there.
There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended,
But has one vacant chair.
The air is full of farewells to the dying,
And mournings for the dead;
The heart of Rachel, for her children crying,
Will not be comforted.
Mary Contrary's voice introduces the lines of poetry into the temporary silence around her as naturally as a piece of conversation. There is nothing declamatory about it. She is like someone who, suddenly, in company, is possessed by a thought quite outside the immediate context and feels compelled to utter it.
The effect is itself compelling. After all, here is someone no longer merely making conversation but saying something she so obviously means, since there is no other reason to say it. It is, in the midst of casual posturing, like hearing a heart sigh. You stop and listen.
The rest of The Jury Room recedes. The noise remains but it is muted to whispered Muzak by what we have just heard. She has made a private booth of concentration. The others don't leave, of course, but they are no longer of our number. We are just four - Gus the Guru, Greyman, myself, and predominantly Mary.
That's lovely, hen, Gus says. What is it?
Mary has no problem with the Purple Sage calling her hen or lassie or girl. Unlike some zealots of the word, she believes in context and intention, those compounded elements which are the air meaning must breathe to stay alive. She knows that Gus's usage just means that he has affection for her.
Longfellow, Mary says. Resignation. It's a poem I learned years ago. Last night, I don't know why, I though about Dunblane. The children and the teacher. And something about the poem came back to me. It's like those times when the sadness of things gets like a bogeyman you can't face on your own. You need to hear another human voice. Usually I phone somebody up. You could say I phoned up Longfellow. Didn't give the fella much choice. Speak to me, speak to me. But, I mean. Those children and that woman.
She certainly kills the conversation for a time. But shared silence has its own meaning. We may all be thinking different things but I believe the separate thoughts are part of the same mosaic.
Me, I'm thinking how the moment Mary has made is like a minute and feeble echo of what must have been constantly happening to the bereaved of Dunblane - the endless ambushes of grief. It is the suddenness of having to confront the fact again in an unexpected context that gives me a glimpse - far off in the distance - of how terrible it must have been for those parents and that husband.
There may be formal expressions of sympathy from time to time, there may be anniversary candles in the windows - and so there should be. But grief grows most stubbornly in the secret crevices of private silence, unreachable by outsiders. The smallest act of the grievers will sometimes be mocked into irrelevance by the enormity of what has happened. The simplest ordinary task will sometimes come apart in their hands, leaving them hopelessly empty. Bending to put away a pair of shoes, opening a cupboard door, they will discover the rawness of their grief again like a fresh wound.
I think of how sorrow can ramify almost infinitely from such things as one finger's action in a small place in a brief time. I remember a war poem I read in my teens, which went into my mind clean as its title, The Bullet, and stayed.
Every bullet has its billet,
Many bullets more than one.
God, perhaps I killed a mother
When I killed a mother's son.
What strikes me now about these lines, for so long stored in the memory, is how almost quaintly sensitive they seem when brought out into the harsh light of today. They remind me of Wilfred Owen's astonishing, self-critical comment - towards the end of the First World War - on what eventually happened to him when he was registering the deaths of men in his command: I no longer bother to take the cigarette out of my mouth when I write ''deceased'' across their names. These were men who, living under daily threat of death, could feel compassion for those they were obliged to kill and despaired at the inevitable callousing of their own spirits. Living in a kind of holocaust, they could feel guilt even in the fact of their own survival.
Changed times. Guilt has become unnecessary and uncool. The circumstances did it or it was the place's fault. The most casual killings come bearing social work reports. Kill a young man for fun in the street and wait for the liberal explanations to muster round you, like shady lawyers.
This won't do. I make no plea for savage implementation of the law. I have never trusted the law that much anyway. (For a start, usually its machinery can only be effectively oiled with money.) But I would like to see us stop hiding behind the sophistry of endless sociological explanations. Self-justification for whatever you've done has become a growth industry in our society.
Let's begin by remembering that all acts of unprovoked violence are the result of human choice. Circumstances may mitigate by suggesting that the choices are narrower for some than for others but they can never excuse. If all we can do is respond in kind to what we see as unfairness, society is meaningless. We might as well let the jungle regrow around us. That's why to remove individual will from the centre of human agency and replace it with pressure of circumstances or a bad childhood is not, as some sociologists and psychologists seem to suggest, a counsel of hope. It is a philosophy of total despair.
That kind of despair compounded the grief of Dunblane. All grief is partly a grieving for ourselves and no less genuine for that. After Dunblane, I think we felt sadness not just for our imagined sense of the lost individuality of those children but for what our communal nature seems to be becoming, the place towards which we are moving. We woke in the aftermath among a debris of illusions.
Horrific events like the Dunblane killings do that to us. The glib sociological double-talk evaporates like studio mist and we are obliged to confront where we are. We realise it's not enough to say it was ever thus or that our present is no different from our past and it's just that the media have made us more aware.
This is nonsense. Bad things have always been done but in our time the casual incidence of them has increased dramatically and, most importantly, the motivations that lie behind them have become appallingly trivial.
An American teenage boy, who feels disappointed in love, can decide to blow away a playground. Faced with such happenings, compounded of horror and ludicrous silliness in equal measure, we may sense that we are part of a time edging towards moral free-fall. In such awareness may be our hope. We must admit a crisis before we can deal with it.
You remember the rest of the Longfellow, Mary? Greyman asks.
Not all of it. But some.
Our silence says some will do.
She is not dead that child of our affection
But gone unto that school
Where she no longer needs our poor protection
And Christ himself doth rule.
Day after day we think what she is doing
In those bright realms of air;
Year after year, her tender steps pursuing,
Behold her grown more fair.
Thus do we walk with her and keep unbroken
The bond which nature gives,
Thinking that our remembrance, though unspoken,
May reach her where she lives.
As a devout agnostic, I couldn't share Longfellow's salving certitude. But I hope the parents of the dead children and the husband of their dead teacher may. Let grief so sheer take any harmless solace it can find - the agnostic's prayer.
In any case, for those words to be meaningful, you don't have to profess any specific religious belief. You just have to be human. For they express not just a belief in God, which all of us may take or leave as we choose, but a profound faith in the capacity of people to continue to care beyond any pragmatism in the caring, a caring that is defined by nothing but itself and, therefore, becomes definitive of us.
That for me is what the public sympathy evinced by what happened in Dunblane may finally be about - a deep, spontaneous expression of our nature, a massive human contradiction of the inhumanity that murdered those innocent people. It has been like a voice trying to raise itself above the sound of gunfire, saying to the bereaved: keep faith, if you can. This isn't the measure of our meaning. We are more.
I don't know how little or how much such condolence may have helped the bereaved. I suspect not much. For they must have been each largely alone in trying to relearn how to live, with a seemingly unmitigable grief for constant company. But such condolence is at least the expression of a need to share, however distantly, in a sadness that relates to us all, an acknowledgement of the community of sorrow that is a part of what it means to be human.
And though at times impetuous with emotion
And anguish long suppressed,
The swelling heart heaves moaning like the ocean
That cannot be at rest -
We will be patient and assuage the feeling
We may not wholly stay;
By silence sanctifying, not concealing,
The grief that must have way.
As the activity in The Jury Room reclaims our awareness, Mary's fading voice holds its still dignity among us, like a brief bowing of the head in words.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: PowerShell startup script applied via GPO failing ambiguously Script:
$folder = "$env:HOMEDRIVE\TestFolder"
New-Item -ItemType directory -Path $folder

*

*note that the same group policy error occurs when $folder is set to "C:\..."

Execution policy is unrestricted, and the script runs fine when ran manually in Windows 8.1 (folder is created). I created a group policy (Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Scripts > Startup) Added TestFolder.ps1 to \domain.com\SysVol\domain.com\Policies...\Machine\Scripts\Startup. Security Filtering configured to apply to the Domain Computers group. Policy applies fine to computer.
I get the following error when the policy attempts to apply script:
Group Policy event 1130

Startup script failed.
    GPO Name : TestFolder Script
    GPO File System Path : \\domain.com\SysVol\domain.com\Policies\...\Machine
    Script Name: TestFolder.ps1

SupportInfo1 178254400
  SupportInfo2 71
  ErrorCode 267
  ErrorDescription The directory name is invalid.
  ScriptType 0
  GPODisplayName TestFolder Script
  GPOFileSystemPath \\domain.com\SysVol\domain.com\Policies\...\Machine
  GPOScriptCommandString TestFolder.ps1

I can't help but notice that \Scripts\Startup is omitted from the File System Path in the error information... Ideas?
EDIT: The group policy applies to a Windows 7 VM fine. Seems to me a problem with Windows 8.1.

A: I don't have any authoritative references, but the $HOME, $env:HOMEDRIVE and $env:HOMEPATH variables are user-specific environment variables.
It's unlikely that they would get assigned when you start a PowerShell host in the security context of the machine and not the user

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
About Surf Lifesavers and Lifeguards
Surf lifesavers are trained volunteers who patrol our beaches on weekends and public holidays during the peak school holiday and summer season (September – May). In comparison, lifeguards are paid professionals who provide beach safety services to local government or other land managers (such as resorts, lagoons or amusement park operators). Generally speaking, lifeguards patrol seven days a week, however, this depends on location. For further information about SLSQ's lifeguards, please visit http://lifesaving.com.au/australian-lifeguard-service
The first step is to contact your local surf club and find out more about the club and what courses they are offering. The Bronze Medallion is the minimum requirement for a fully qualified active surf lifesaver. To obtain this award you must be over the age of 15 and demonstrate proficiency in surf awareness, survival, patrol and rescue procedures, emergency care plus anatomy and physiology. For further information about getting involved, please visit http://lifesaving.com.au/membership/get-involved
If you love helping people, like an outdoor life and have strong surf rescue and resuscitation skills, then becoming a lifeguard could be for you. Lifeguards must hold a minimum of a nationally recognised senior first aid, Advanced Resuscitation and Bronze Medallion (or equivalent) and complete a minimum fitness requirement. Visit our employment opportunities page for more information.
All qualified surf lifesavers wear the internationally recognised safety colours of red and yellow, making our members highly visible and easily accessible to provide advice and assistance to the bathing public. The patrol uniform comprises of a long sleeved shirt, red shorts, swimming costume and the distinctive red and yellow quartered cap.
Absolutely! Anyone can join the surf lifesaving movement, and there are still plenty of positions that won't require you to get your toes wet. You could be a coach, official, fundraiser, committee member, a radio operator and the list goes on. As long as you have a positive attitude, you've got what it takes! For further information about joining SLSQ, please visit http://lifesaving.com.au/membership/get-involved.
There are 58 surf life saving clubs across Queensland, from Port Douglas in North Queensland down to Rainbow Bay on the southern Gold Coast. To find your local club, please visit http://www.lifesaving.com.au/clubs
Of course! Anyone can join a surf life saving club. There are more than 20 surf clubs located across South East Queensland, on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts as well as Bribie Island, Redcliffe, Point Lookout on Stradbroke Island and Coochiemudlo Island.
Alternatively, SLSQ's Brisbane Lifesaving Service has been developed to provide Brisbane residents with a unique opportunity to obtain the key lifesaving skills required to patrol one of south-east Queensland's beaches.
BLS members are trained in a variety of core lifesaving skills including surf awareness, first aid and resuscitation while working towards the completion of a nationally-recognised Bronze Medallion qualification. Theory is taught in South Brisbane with members travelling to the Gold or Sunshine Coast for practical training in the surf.
For further information about BLS, please visit http://lifesaving.com.au/bls
If you are on the beach and want more information, ask the nearest surf lifesaver or lifeguard. If you're at home, school or work, please visit our Education and Resources section or visit http://www.beachsafe.org.au
To find your nearest patrolled beach, visit http://www.beachsafe.org.au . Please note that patrol times and locations vary from beach to beach. SLSQ strongly encourages all beachgoers to only swim at patrolled locations and between the red and yellow flags.
RED & YELLOW: Always swim between the red & yellow flags
RED: No swimming
YELLOW: Caution required. Potential hazards
RED & WHITE: Evacuate the water
BLACK & WHITE: Surfcraft riding area boundary
Click the image below to enlarge and read about the beach flags.
The flags mark the area patrolled by surf lifesavers and lifeguards. They mark the safest place to swim at the beach, because if the surf lifesavers or lifeguards can't see you – they can't save you. For more information on beach safety, visit our Beach Safety page here.
If you're swimming at the beach and find yourself being taken swept away from the shore, chances are you are caught in a rip current. A rip is a strong current running out to sea on a surf beach. It can easily take swimmers from shallow water to several hundred metres offshore within a matter of minutes.
Good question! If you are caught in a rip remember to stay calm, raise your arm for help and wait to be rescued. Never try to swim against a rip but, if you feel able, you can swim parallel to the beach to escape the rip. The best advice is to avoid rip currents altogether by swimming between the red and yellow flags, observing all safety signs, and obeying instructions from surf lifesavers and lifeguards. For more information on rips, please visit http://www.ripcurrents.com.au/
It depends on where you are, and what kind of jellyfish has stung you. For all stings north of Agnes Water, we recommend treating the sting with vinegar for at least 30 seconds as a precaution in case it's been caused by a venomous marine stinger. For all stings south of Agnes Water, hot water is best for at least 20 minutes, followed by a cold pack or ice for pain relief.
Always ask a surf lifesaver or lifeguard for help, if available, and phone triple zero (000) for emergency assistance and perform CPR if required.
Remember, prevention is better than cure! One of the best ways to prevent a marine sting is to only swim at patrolled marine stinger enclosures (in northern parts of Queensland) and between the red and yellow flags. There are also some basic precautions that swimmers can take to avoid the risk of a nasty sting. Wearing protective clothing such as Lycra body suits or wetsuits has proven to be effective and can also act as valuable sun protection.
Click here to view our marine stinger fact sheets: http://lifesaving.com.au/beach-safety/on-the-same-wave/beach-safety-fact-sheets/
Surf Life Saving Queensland is the state's peak aquatic rescue authority and is one of the largest volunteer-based community service organisations in Australia.
The iconic red and yellow surf lifesaver patrol uniform, including the quartered noddy cap, is only available to qualified surf lifesavers and must only be worn whilst on patrol or other official duties as determined by the club or Surf Life Saving Queensland. We are unable to sell or loan any part of the uniform.
Easy! Head over to http://lifesaving.com.au/surf-skills-awareness-programs-schools and fill out the enquiry form. Our Community Awareness team will then be in touch!
There are many ways you can support Surf Life Saving Queensland. Check out our upcoming fundraising events, make a donation, buy a lottery ticket, become an organisational partner or hold a beneficiary event. Visit http://lifesaving.com.au/support-us for more details.
Queensland has 35,000 km of coastline with over 700 accessible beaches. That's a massive area for our volunteer lifesavers from 58 clubs across the state to watch over. Your donation contributes directly to purchasing rescue gear and equipment, providing training for volunteer lifesavers and educating the community to prevent surf-related incidents.
The cost of providing this service is only possible thanks to the wonderful support of the community and your donation, no matter what size, will help Surf Life Saving Queensland save thousands of lives this year.
Nippers And Junior Activities
TThere are more than 10,000 junior surf lifesavers (nippers) in Queensland. Nippers need to be a minimum of five years of age and start learning about surf awareness and safety through the Junior Activities program. As they progress through the various age groups, nippers will undergo lessons in wading, running, swimming, board paddling and lifesaving skills including working towards resuscitation and first aid.
Junior Activities is open to children from the age of five (Under-6) up to 13 years (Under-14). The age for a season is calculated as of midnight 30 September that year.
No. Before the start of the Junior Activities season, each child is required to complete a Preliminary Skills Assessment designed to ensure that each participant demonstrates a standard of competence in an aquatic environment.
Participation in surf sports is not compulsory. Nippers are able to train to compete in club, regional and state surf lifesaving carnivals representing their clubs if they wish to do so.
Surf Life Saving Queensland recognises that the identification and management of risks of harm to children and young people is essential to the creation of a safe and supportive environment.
All of our volunteers and paid staff have Blue Cards or exemption notices. SLSQ and all surf clubs also have a Risk Management Strategy. We acknowledge that our staff and volunteers provide a valuable contribution to the positive experiences of our junior activities and youth members.
SLSQ is committed to ensure the protection, safety and welfare of our young participants and believe that we must place the safety and welfare of children and youth above all other considerations. Parents, children and the community have a right to be confident that we, and anyone we employ to oversee child-related activities and services, is properly qualified, screened, selected and supervised. They also have a right to make complaints if they have concerns.
For more information, visit http://lifesaving.com.au/membership/member-welfare-and-protection/slsq-child-and-youth-risk-management-strategy
Every club in Queensland offers a Junior Activities program, all with various styles and sizes. To join Nippers, you should head down to your nearest surf life saving club to find out more about their program. Click here to find your nearest club.
SLSQ's Westpac Lifesaver Rescue Helicopter Service is one of the oldest community-based helicopter rescue services in the world, operating across South East Queensland since 1976. The service allows us to patrol a vast area of Queensland's coastline from Rainbow Beach to Rainbow Bay, carrying out beach surveillance, shark warnings, preventative actions, missing person searches and rescues in the water and on the beach.
O The Westpac Lifesaver Rescue Helicopter Service is also used for emergency response, searches and rescues, working in conjunction with emergency service organisations including the Queensland Police Service, Queensland Ambulance Service and State Emergency Service.
At the beginning of the 2010 season, SLSQ began operating two helicopters in South East Queensland:
• Eurocopter EC135 – call sign 'Lifesaver 45'
• BO 105 Super Five Twin Engine – call sign 'Lifesaver 46'
The EC135 – 'Lifesaver 45' – was gifted to SLSQ by the State Government in 2009 and is based at Carrara to service the Gold Coast region. This helicopter offers greater operational capabilities particularly in assisting other service providers in search and rescue operations.
The BO 105 – 'Lifesaver 46' – services the Sunshine Coast, thanks to additional funding from Westpac to operate both aircraft.
Both helicopters patrol on weekends during the regular patrol season (September-May) and during other peak periods. They are also available to be tasked by emergency service organisations 7 days a week.
There are certain requirements to join the SLSQ Operations Support team, including the Westpac Lifesaver Rescue Helicopter Service. As well as a Bronze Medallion and minimum of one year active beach patrol, WLRHS crew are required to hold their ART, Apply First Aid, and Radio Officer Certificates, plus Silver Medallion – IRB Drivers, Recreational Marine Licence, and pass a fitness test. Please discuss these pre-requisites with your club captain or regional lifesaving services coordinator for more information.
Contact the SLSQ Media Department on media@lifesaving.com.au or the on-call media mobile 0419 201 246.
Click here to view latest media releases. http://lifesaving.com.au/category/news/media-releases
Send us an email to media@lifesaving.com.au


text:
SHERO
Tuberville and RAGA Now Directly Implicated in Trump's Coup
shero.substack.com
A social media post, made the night before the attack on the US Capitol could be the blueprint for deciphering exactly who was involved in aiding and abetting Donald Trump.
Amee Vanderpool
Barricades are placed along the facade of the Trump International Hotel at Pennsylvania Ave, in Washington, DC, on the eve of the November 3, 2020 US Presidential Election. (Photo by Yegor Aleyev/via Getty Images)
On January 5, 2021, the night before the deadly insurrection at the US Capitol Building, an elite meeting supposedly took place at the private residence of the president at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, just blocks away from the White House.
It was all relayed on the social media account of Charles W. Herbster, a wealthy ranch owner from Falls City, Nebraska, who once ran a failed campaign for governor of the state in 2013, and has just filed paperwork to run again in 2022. Herbster, a long-time fixture in midwestern conservative politics, also served as Trump's National Chairman of the Agriculture and Rural Advisory Committee at the time of the post.
Make a One-Time SHERO Tribute
Herbster documented the clandestine affair that night in a Facebook post, which was first reported by Seth Abramson, and provided an exact list of attendees, as if he were detailing a twisted version of another American Revolution. Charles Herbster listed a group of insiders that could easily be considered the crème de la crème of Trump collaborators — now possibly accomplices:
"Right now, I stand in the private residence of the President at Trump International with the following patriots who are joining me in a battle for justice and truth:
U. S. Senator Tommy Tuberville, Alabama; Mr. Donald Trump, Jr.; Mr. Peter Navarro, Assistant to President Donald J. Trump, Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, and the National Defense Production Act Policy Coordinator; Mr. Eric Trump; Mr. Adam Piper, Executive Director Republican Attorney General Association; Mr. David Bossie, President and Chairman of Citizens United and Deputy Campaign Manager of the 2016 Donald J. Trump Presidential Campaign; Mr. Corey Lewandowski, Manager of the 2016 Donald J. Trump Presidential Campaign; and General Michael Flynn, 25th United States National Security Advisor."
If Herbster's account is to be believed, several influential arms of the Republican Party were in the room that night, just hours before a series of events began to unfold in the Nation's Capitol that could not have occurred without understanding and assistance of many Trump insiders and high-up government officials. If Herbster's post is accurate, a sitting United States Senator is involved in plotting, assisting and enacting an attempted coup.
Tommy Tuberville won his US Senate election in Alabama only a few months ago, beating Democratic incumbent Doug Jones and delivering control of the very conservative state back into the hands of Republicans. Much like Trump, the former football coach-turned-celebrity politician has never held public office before, but was able to align himself with Trump and his faithful base to help him secure a landslide win. While campaigning in the primary election in Alabama, Tuberville declared, "God sent us Donald Trump."
Charles W. Herbster, who was the National Chairman of the Agriculture and Rural Advisory Committee for Trump's administration, created this Facebook post at 8:33 pm/ET on Jan. 5, 2021, and claimed standing "in the private residence of the President at Trump International with the following patriots who are joining me in a battle for justice and truth."
Cut to the day of the riots, and Congress reeling in chaos from the mob of insurgents who had just breached the US Capitol Building for the first time in American history. As many lawmakers quickly tried to assess what had occurred and gathered themselves from the fallout to continue counting the vote, a voice message was left by Trump loyalist and former personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani.
Giuliani was attempting to reach Senator Tommy Tuberville's new office — and believed he had — so he proceeded to leave a detailed message for Tuberville. Giuliani, just after the conclusion of the riots, and after Congress announced their intent to move forward, mistakenly ended up leaving a voice mail message for Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), thinking he had reached Tuberville. The voice mail recording was soon leaked publicly. (Listen to audio embedded in tweet below.)
After the riots at the US Capitol, with our democracy shaken, Rudy Giuliani put in a call his supposed ally, Sen Tuberville, just before Congress resumed, to keep the Trump coup agenda alive. Rudy left the VM for the wrong person, who made it public:
Giuliani explained to Tuberville in the recording, that the votes still had to be challenged moving forward once Congress returned to session later that night, despite the attack on the Capitol just hours before. Giuliani also gave the impression that Trump was counting on Tuberville to help him, and explained that the counting of the votes needed to be postponed. Giuliani explained in his message, "I want to discuss with you how they're trying to rush this hearing and how we need you, our Republican friends, to try to just slow it down so we can get these legislatures to get more information to you."
Now, a Facebook post from Charles Herbster lists all of the attendees at the Trump Hotel huddle the night before the insurrection, and Tommy Tuberville is at the actual top of that list. Yesterday, Senator Tuberville's spokeswoman made a point to specifically deny the Herbster claim, and told APR that Tuberville did not attend a Jan. 5 meeting at the Trump International Hotel in Washington.
From left to right, President Donald Trump poses with Nebraska businessman and aspiring politician, Charles W. Herbster, who served as the National Chairman of the Agriculture and Rural Advisory Committee for the Trump administration. (Photo by Herbster Angus Farms/via Facebook post)
Herbster, who says he attended the Jan. 6 rally, but then left before the riot , according to the Omaha World-Herald, further described the meeting at the Trump Hotel the night before. "They discussed how to pressure more members of Congress to object to the Electoral College results that made Joe Biden the winner," The Omaha World-Herald reported.
Another prominent name on the list is former Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) Director Adam Piper. Due to the subsequent fallout following the attack on the US Capitol, that included the immediate condemnation of the event by more than a dozen Republican attorneys general, including the association's chairman and vice chairman, Piper quickly resigned his post.
Piper also told APR on Jan. 7, that neither RAGA nor the Rule of Law Defense Fund (RLDF) was involved with the planning of the rally and implied it was due to staff error: "No Republican AG authorized the staff's decision to amplify a colleague speaking at the rally.
Image of Adam Piper serving as one of four full-time staffers for Mike Huckabee's Presidential Campaign in South Carolina, at state campaign headquarters in Columbia, SC, on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018, Piper is now the former Executive Director of the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), a national organization that aims to elect Republicans to top prosecutor offices across the country. (Photo byBrett Flashnick/via Associated Press)
The Republican Attorneys General Association also was instrumental in assisting Trump during the election by using the RAGA policy arm, called the Rule of Law Defense Fund (RLDF), led by Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, to authorize robocall messages urging "patriots" to join Trump's march to "fight to protect the integrity of our elections." The RDLF was also listed as a participating organization for the Jan. 6 "March to Save America" on the march's website, which has since been taken down, but has been archived.
"I'm calling for the Rule of Law Defense Fund with an important message. The march to save America is tomorrow in Washington DC at the Ellipse in President's Park between E Street and Constitution Avenue on the south side of the White House, with doors opening at 7:00 am At 1:00 pm, we will march to the Capitol building and call on Congress to stop the steal. We are hoping patriots like you will join us to continue to fight to protect the integrity of our elections. For more information, visit MarchtoSaveAmerica.com. This call is paid for and authorized by the Rule of Law Defense Fund, 202-796-5838." — transcript of the robocall made by the Rule of Law Defense Fund (listen to it here)
The attempts by RLDF leaders to deny any association with the march or with Piper continue, despite the glaring evidence to the contrary. Piper has issued a statement that tries to provide distance for the RAGA, and those associated with the prominent legal group have, in turn, made no specific mention about why Piper has resigned from what he once referred to as his "dream job."
Attendees of the Trump march on Jan. 5, 2021, headed over to the US Capitol at Trump's urging and began to storm the building, ultimately taking it over for a brief time, which resulted in the deaths of five people, including one police officer, and many other injuries. (Photo by Eric Lee/via Getty Images)
Regardless of how the connections are spun after the fact, that Trump rally and march event was the catalyst — and some argue — the staging area for what would eventually take place: the assault on the heart of the American government. This list, provided by Herbster, spells out the names and titles of each individual who needs to be investigated for his role in inciting a coup at the US Capitol. What happened following the revolt is also critical information, and anyone in the Trump Hotel suite that night, that may have continued to assist, or cover up Trump's insurrection, must also be examined.
"For me, the white signifies purity and innocence; red, hardiness and valor; and the blue, especially today, signifies perseverance and justice," Herbster wrote in his euphoric post, that appears to be morphing into a confession letter before our very eyes. "I've dedicated my life to promoting and preserving the American Dream," Herbster continued, "Tonight, as I look at our nation's flag, I'm reminded of the battles and blood spilled to protect our way of life."
Amee Vanderpool writes the SHERO Newsletter and is an attorney, published author, contributor to newspapers and magazines and analyst for BBC radio. She can be reached at avanderpool@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @girlsreallyrule.
Share SHERO
Paid subscriptions and one-time tributes embedded in each article, allow me to keep publishing critical and informative work that is sometimes made available to the public — thank you. If you like this piece and you want to further support independent journalism, you can forward this article to others, get a paid subscription or gift subscription or donate once, as much as you like today.
There needs to be documented linkage between the political / procedural wrangling and the rioting. So far, I've seen none. And I REALLY want to see it.
Doxiebaby
Jan 27, 2021Liked by Amee Vanderpool
In the days between now and the trial in the Senate, much more about this needs to come out. Was trump there on speakerphone? One attendee posted a video stating "several" Senators attended: who were they? The FBI and DOJ need to dig into this STAT!
9 more comments…
TopNewCommunityWhat is SHERO?AboutAbout
© 2022 Amee Vanderpool. See privacy, terms and information collection notice
SHERO is on Substack – the place for independent writing


text:
The Snuff for Porn Photo Trade
September 29, 2005 by rickrajter
Despite what others may say, I'm generally very supportive of our troops but not the Iraq war (there's a difference between supporting our own people and supporting our cause). But it's this kind of activity which makes it harder to sympathize for SOME of our troops.
NOTE: I know this is probably the exception and not the rule, but it's still despicable . Basically, here's what happened in a nutshell. US Soldier kills insurgent and leaves him extra crispy. Soldier then decides to photo op with his kill, as if he was big game hunting. He then shows it to a friend who says "wow, now that's fucked up.com (and NSFW). A small deal is then made to trade more of these "prize shots" for access to a site with "money shots" of barely legal teens.
Now, I'm all for capitalism. And certainly, these soldiers are providing some gruesome pictures for a company that needs them for their customer base (aka sick fucks). But, shouldn't the army not condone such behavior? I know these guys are under a bit of stress, but come on. And besides, it's not like it's hard to find free porn on the web.
rickrajter


This paper analyses the optimal behavior of oligopolistically competing firms by extending the Hotelling linear city setup to a two-dimensional circular plane with several firms and analyzing how changes in exogenous variables affect the existence and nature of equilibrium. First, the paper shows that due to complexity of the model a closed form solution cannot be derived even for a vastly simplified setup. Then, it introduces and validates an iterative numerical simulation model which allows to find the equilibria under multiple sets of exogenous variables. The paper provides robust empirical evidence that the equilibria tend to be symmetric and that its existence requires transportation costs to be high enough and consumers locations to be diversified enough. It also shows some general patterns of the equilibria and discusses some selected cases in more details.


text:
2019 Theses Doctoral
Predicting under-5 diarrhea outbreaks in Botswana: Understanding the relationships between environmental variability and diarrhea transmission
Heaney, Alexandra Krosnick
Diarrhea is the second leading cause of death in children under-5; it kills more children than HIV/AIDS, measles, and malaria combined. Despite this significant health burden, our ability to anticipate and prepare for diarrhea outbreaks remains limited. Precipitation and temperature variability have been shown to affect diarrhea dynamics and therefore contribute to outbreak predictions, but the observed environment-diarrhea relationships are complex and context-specific, depending on local pathogen distribution, host population behavior, and physical environments. To date, studies in sub-Saharan Africa, where the burden of under-5 diarrhea is particularly high, are limited due to sparse diarrheal disease surveillance data. In this dissertation, we leverage unique under-5 diarrhea incidence data to explore the effects of meteorological variability on childhood diarrhea incidence and develop a real-time forecasting system for diarrheal disease in Botswana, where diarrhea remains an important cause of childhood morbidity and mortality. The study focuses in Chobe District, which has an annual dry (April – September) and wet (October – March) season, during which the Chobe River, the primary source of drinking water in the region, floods. Weekly cases of under-5 diarrhea in Chobe District exhibit strong seasonal dynamics with biannual outbreaks occurring during the wet and the dry season. In Chapter 1, we show that wet season diarrhea incidence is strongly associated with increased rainfall and Escherichia coli concentrations in the Chobe River, while dry season incidence is associated with declines in Chobe River flood height and increased total suspended solids in the river. In Chapter 2, we confirm the existence of an El Niño-Southern Oscillation teleconnection with southern Africa by demonstrating that La Niña conditions are associated with cooler temperatures, increased rainfall, and higher flooding in Chobe District during the wet season. In turn, we show that La Niña conditions lagged 0-5 months are associated with higher than average incidence of under-5 diarrhea in the early wet season (December – February). In Chapter 4, we develop and test an epidemiological forecast model for childhood diarrheal disease in Chobe District. The prediction system uses a compartmental susceptible-infected-recovered-susceptible (SIRS) model coupled with Bayesian data assimilation to infer relevant epidemiological parameter values and generate retrospective forecasts. The model system accurately forecasts diarrhea outbreaks up to six weeks before the predicted peak of the outbreak, and prediction accuracy increases over the progression of the outbreak. Many forecasts generated by the model system are more accurate than predictions made using only historical data trends. This dissertation work is an important step forward in our understanding of the links between proximal and distal climatic variability and childhood diarrhea in arid regions of sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, it advances methods for generating accurate long-term and short-term forecasts of under-5 diarrhea. We demonstrates the potential use of ENSO data, which are publicly available, to prepare for and mitigate diarrheal disease outbreaks in a low-resource setting up to 5 months in advance, and develop a model-inference system that can generate accurate predictions during an outbreak. Deaths caused by diarrhea are preventable using low-cost treatments. Hence, accurate predictions of diarrhea outbreak magnitudes could help healthcare providers and public health officials prepare for and mitigate the significant morbidity and mortality resulting from diarrhea outbreaks.
Communicable diseases--Transmission
Heaney_columbia_0054D_15265.pdf application/pdf 5.76 MB Download File
More About This Work
Thesis Advisors
Shaman, Jeffrey L.
Ph.D., Columbia University
Published Here
https://doi.org/10.7916/d8-78dv-d120
Copy DOI to clipboard


text:
Q: Client says it is connected to server, but server doesn't process client I am writing a console chat program and I am learning the WinSock2 library as I write it. So far I have a working server and client, the only problem is that the server doesn't process the client, but the client says it is connected. Right now there is no functionality other than testing if the connection works which it doesn't. The server is suppose to print out a message when it has successfully accepted a client. I've been trying to figure this out but can't. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Server Header:
#pragma once
#ifndef SERVER_H
#define SERVER_H

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

#include "winsock.h"

class Server
{
    public:
        Server(int port);
        ~Server();
    private:
        const int port;

        std::string error;

        WORD wVersion;
        WSADATA wsaData;

        SOCKET hSocket;

        bool init();

        bool setupSocket();
        void startServer();

        void closeConnection();
};

#endif

Server:
#include "Server.h"

Server::Server(int port) : port(port), wVersion(MAKEWORD(2, 2))
{
    if (init()) {
        std::cout << "Server successfully setup" << std::endl << std::endl;
        startServer();
    } else {
        std::cout << "Error: " + error << std::endl;
        std::cin.get();
        std::cin.get();
    }
}

bool Server::init()
{
    return setupSocket();
}

bool Server::setupSocket()
{
    int iResult = WSAStartup(wVersion, &wsaData);

    if (iResult) {
        error = "Problem initializating WinSock2";
        return false;
    } else if (wsaData.wVersion != wVersion) {
        error = "Incorrect WinSock version";
        return false;
    }

    std::cout << "WinSock initialized" << std::endl;

    sockaddr_in sockAddr;
    sockAddr.sin_family = AF_INET;
    sockAddr.sin_port = htons(port);
    sockAddr.sin_addr.S_un.S_addr = htonl(INADDR_ANY);

    hSocket = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_TCP);
    if (hSocket == INVALID_SOCKET) {
        error = "Problem setting up socket";
        return false;
    }

    std::cout << "Socket setup" << std::endl;

    if (bind(hSocket, (LPSOCKADDR) &sockAddr, sizeof(sockAddr)) == SOCKET_ERROR) {
        error = "Problem binding socket";
        return false;
    }

    std::cout << "Socket binded to port" << std::endl;

    listen(hSocket, SOMAXCONN);

    std::cout << "Server is now listening on port " << port << std::endl;

    SOCKET client = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_TCP);
    if (client == INVALID_SOCKET) {
        error = "Problem setting up socket";
        return false;
    }

    if (client = accept(hSocket, (SOCKADDR *)&sockAddr, NULL)) {
        std::cout << "A client connected!";
    }

    return true;
    }

     void Server::startServer()
     {
    std::string consoleInput;

    while (true) {
        std::cin >> consoleInput;
        std::cout << consoleInput << std::endl;
    }
}

void Server::closeConnection()
{
    if (hSocket) {
        closesocket(hSocket);
    }

    WSACleanup();
}

Server::~Server()
{
    closeConnection();
}

Client Header:
#pragma once
#ifndef CLIENT_H
#define CLIENT_H

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

#include "WinSock.h"

class Client
{
    public:
        Client(std::string name);

        bool connectToServer(char ip[], int port);

        ~Client();
    private:
        std::string name;
        std::string error;

        WORD wVersion;
        WSADATA wsaData;

        SOCKET hSocket;

};

#endif

Client:
#include "Client.h"

Client::Client(std::string name) : name(name), wVersion(MAKEWORD(2,2))
{
}

bool Client::connectToServer(char ip[], int port)
{
    int iResult = WSAStartup(wVersion, &wsaData);

    if (iResult) {
        error = "Problem initializating WinSock2";
        return false;
    } else if (wsaData.wVersion != wVersion) {
        error = "Incorrect WinSock version";
        return false;
    }

    std::cout << "WinSock initialized" << std::endl;

    sockaddr_in sockAddr;
    sockAddr.sin_family = AF_INET;
    sockAddr.sin_port = htons(port);
    sockAddr.sin_addr.S_un.S_addr = inet_addr(ip);

    hSocket = socket (AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_TCP);
    if (hSocket == INVALID_SOCKET) {
        error = "Problem setting up socket";
        return false;
    }

    std::cout << "Socket setup" << std::endl;

    if (connect(hSocket, (SOCKADDR *)&sockAddr, sizeof(sockAddr)) == SOCKET_ERROR) {
        error = "Problem connecting to server";
        return false;
    }

    std::cout << "Connected to server!";

    return true;
}

Client::~Client()
{
}


text:
PSL News 14.1.2021 03:45 pm
Grobler delighted to have broken SuperSport's top scorer record
Ntokozo Gumede
Bradley Grobler of Supersport United celebrates goal with teammate Sipho Mbule during the DStv Premiership 2020/21 match between Supersport United and Bloemfontein Celtic at Lucas Moripe Stadium. (Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix)
Grobler broke Abram Raselemane's record during the 2-1win over Bloemfontein Celtic on Wednesday night.
Given his form in the past season and this season so far, it was always inevitable that Bradley Grobler would end up breaking SuperSport United's goal scoring record that stood for almost 15 years, held by club legend Abram "Fire" Raselemane, who scored 57 goals between 2001 to 2006.
ALSO READ: Variety is the spice of life for Sundowns ahead of Tshwane derby
Grobler overtook the former striker on Wednesday night in a 2-1win over Bloemfontein Celtic in a DStv Premiership contest where he scored in the dying moments of the first-half.
"It's an unbelievable feeling, when people mentioned the 57 goals, it seemed so far at the time and when I equalled it last week, I thought to myself, the toughest part could be to try and break it and go beyond," said Grobler.
"Fortunately enough it happened and as I have said before, the club has been good to me over the years, they have stuck with me through thick and thin with injuries and this is a way for me to thank them for the faith they have shown in me. This is a great club with lots of prestige and I am really honoured to have achieved that," he added.
Surprisingly, Grobler has never won the Lesley Manyathela Golden Boot and this time around, he is leading the pack with 10 goals. He is reluctant to says he wants to win the coveted gong, insisting it is all about contributing to the team.
"To score these goals and contribute is my way of success. I love my time at SuperSport, there have been good times and bad times and right now I am in such a good space, I'm enjoying my football. It would have been really easy from the club to let me go after two difficult seasons of injuries and operations but they showed the faith in me," he said.
His head coach, Kaitano Tembo says credit should be given to the backroom staff as they made sure to keep the ball rolling in terms of Grobler's progress.
"I am really proud of him and in the past two seasons he has been scoring lots of goals for us. We don't doubt his qualities and abilities and he has seen his progress hampered by injuries but we tried to manage him and make sure that he stays match fit and always available at training and matches. Credit should go to the medical team and conditioning team, they have always given him a program to make sure he is fit and is enjoying his game."