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A Look at Disney Power of The Princesses: Rapunzel
Moviefan12 July 30, 2014 12 min read
Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney and back to Power of The Princesses and this is the one that I've been looking forward to the most. If that picture wasn't any indication but if you've visited my Facebook page, you've seen it before. That was made me for me by the Fans of Disney Facebook page and that is just one of two Rapunzel pics that I've had done for me. Alas, I couldn't find the other one but Tangled does have quite the presence around me as both my laptop and Ipad wallpapers are Tangled related. Here's my laptop background.
The browser, I use Firefox allows you to mess around with the look and change things such as your internet background. So, each time, I get online, I see this.
Each time, I get on Firefox, I am graced with the presence of Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. Nice little touch, that I really like and oh, in my room, I have a signed drawing of Rapunzel from Disney World that I got at a drawing class at Hollywood Studios. I won it by being the first to correctly answer a question about Tangled.
So, yeah big fan but most of you knew that. I mean, The Second Opinion lovingly mocked my fandom by having Rapunzel be the number one spot for all his lists on April Fool's Blog Swap. T-kun has mentioned it twice now in two of her poems and Les, jokingly said that I kick his a** , if he had left Rapunzel on the list of snubbed animated heroes. Which I told him that was not the case. Now seeing as you all know, how much I like Rapunzel, this entry will end a little differently. I'll still talk about the Original Voice Actress, First Appearance, Personality, Favorite Moment (Ooh that is tough), Later Appearances but instead of ending with Is Rapunzel A Good Character, I'll instead attempt to answer Why I Like Rapunzel? With this rather long-winded intro outta the way, let's begin.
Original Voice Actress
Easily, the best aspect of Rapunzel is how Mandy Moore plays her bringing this youthful energy that makes her feel like a teenager that is setting out to become a young lady over the journey. What's interesting is that apparently Rapunzel is barefoot throughout most of the film and this is because Mandy Moore has been known to preform barefoot as she finds it more comfortable.
That's a nice little touch of incorporating quirks of the voice actress into the character. Also, I am convinced that Rapunzel with her short brunette hair at the end looks like what Mandy Moore would look like in animated form.
Now Moore is one of the few voice actresses that had a working relationship with Disney before playing Rapunzel as she was in The Princess Diaries as the character of Lana, the school bully and she was also in Brother Bear 2 as well and has continued to work with Disney since Tangled as she was in the short lived Tron: Uprising as Mara and she is the lead actress on the new Disney Junior western themed show, Sheriff Callie's Wild West.
I recall, when hearing the announcement that Mandy Moore was going to play Rapunzel, I was a little worried that the celebrity would overshadow the character as Moore, while not as big as some of her colleagues is still quite popular but thankfully, that wasn't the case as Moore did a fantastic job playing Rapunzel. Now I remember hearing that I think Disney originally wanted Kristin Chenoweth to play Rapunzel and if that is true, I'm glad, that they didn't go through with it because while I do like Chenoweth, her voice just seems to old for the age, Rapunzel was in the movie.
We first Rapunzel as a baby in the film, she is born after her real mother drinks a special medicine that gives Rapunzel's hair, it's healing ability. This of course leads to Mother Gothel kidnapping the baby and raising her as her own and we get a glimpse of what I assume was 5 year old Rapunzel in the prologue.
Ahem, that is so cute. And we first see an older Rapunzel at 17 years of age during the "When Will My Life Begin" number and I LOVE this song.
This is the moment where I fell in love with Rapunzel and knew that Disney had another great character on their hands. Because I'll be honest and say I went to this film kinda begrudgingly. I only ended up seeing Tangled in theaters because my grandmother wanted to see it and she wanted to see it in 3D because her town at the time didn't have 3D screenings. Honestly, from the first poster to the first trailer, everything from the marketing made me want to hate this film and call it a DreamWorks knock off but I was wrong, oh so wrong and I've never been happier to be wrong. And seriously, what was up with this poster?
I cannot underestimate how much I loathe this poster. It just sucks and tells you nothing about the film.
Rapunzel's personality is quite easy for me to describe. I've always said that she starts the film as a shy and timid flower that happens to blossom over the course of the movie but because of being locked up in the tower for all of her life , she is a little bit scared of the outside world but you can see how easily, she adapts to it during, I've Got A Dream. You can see how much Gothel has instilled fear into her, particularly with this sequence from Mother Knows Best, where Rapunzel uses her hair to hide.
Showing how scared she is from all the lies, that Gothel has fed her. Sure, this was moment meant to be played for comedy but I see it as Gothel's manipulation being all too effective on her "daughter" feeding her these lies that the world is a big and scary place that will swallow her up, if Rapunzel ever leaves the tower. That's why Rapunzel getting to see the Floating Lights is so gratifying. Because, Rapunzel is proving Mother Gothel wrong and I just have a big "Yeah" moment here.
Now Rapunzel is also very sweet, a little unsure of herself in the beginning, she grows to be strong-minded and learn to stand up for herself throughout the film and throughout the film grows up and becomes a mature young lady. I've always felt that after Eugene cuts her hair, Rapunzel looks more like an adult whereas compared to long-haired Rapunzel, she looks like a teenager.
Now, there are two other things that we need to touch upon with Rapunzel and I didn't know where else to put them except here but Rapunzel is also the first CGI princess, which I know some people were put off by that and I've run into some trolls saying that she's not a proper Disney princess because of this.
That is one of the flimsiest reasons to hate a character. Rapunzel is a good character that continues the trend of the Disney princesses being good characters that are strong and more than people like to give them credit for. Now, there is one other thing that we need to talk about regarding Rapunzel, her power. Rapunzel was the first princess to have a magical ability being that her strand of hair that stands at 70 ft. long can heal and reverse the aging process. That's why Gothel kidnapped Rapunzel as a baby because she inherited this power from the flower.
Now we get a taste of this at the beginning with little Rapunzel and see it again later in the film with Gothel using it for her selfish reasons and later again used by Rapunzel to save Eugene. And of course, he cuts her hair at the end of the film to save her.
Man, what is it with princesses and hair being cut this week. Of course for Rapunzel to use her power, she has to sing the Healing Incantation, (which I've used in previous storyline). Man, I love this song and I don't give it the credit that it deserves.
Favorite Moment
Hmm, I don't know. I mean, I like pretty much every moment in this film and I've done maybe 40 articles about Tangled alone on this blog. Hmm, I know I'll talk about three of my favorite moments. Two, I've already covered and one that I have not. Let's start with the latter first.
And when I promise something, I never ever break that promise. EVER!
Now this is scene that I haven't touched upon too much before but I like it because this is the first time that you get the feeling that Rapunzel is meaning what she says to someone other than Gothel and I believe every word of that sentence. And y'know what, Rapunzel does keep her promise at the end of the film. Now as for my second favorite Rapunzel moment, that just happens to be my favorite song from the movie…
When Will My Life Begin?
This is my favorite song in the entire film and this is the moment where I fell in love with Rapunzel and knew that Disney had a fantastic new princess worthy of standing beside Ariel and Belle. It's just a really great song that lets you know, who Rapunzel is. Now for my last moment , I've done an entire Breaking Down The Scene on this before but it's when Rapunzel finally stands up to Mother Gothel.
I love this moment because this is where Rapunzel finally grows up and takes her first step into adulthood. This is the moment where she goes from being a teenage girl to becoming a young adult. This is her moment of her maturity, she is finally standing up to her bully.
Later Appearances
Now, we do have a few appearances to cover but not too many, let's begin. Now, about a year after, Tangled came out, audiences were treated to her and Eugene's wedding in Tangled Ever After that first debuted in front of the 3D re-release of Beauty and The Beast and while this short was more Max and Pascal based, it was still nice to see Rapunzel and Eugene's big day.
Now Rapunzel also had a quick cameo in Frozen during "For The First Time In Forever"
Rapunzel is also represented in the parks such as with The Festival of Fantasy parade and one of the weirder ones is the Tangled Toilets, a a bathroom/seating area themed to Tangled but hey it has the tower. You can read my full thoughts on that here.
I know the bathroom seems a little odd but if you look at the pictures, it's well done. Rapunzel is also seen in Mickey and The Magical Map at Disneyland and World of Color at California Adventure.
Rapunzel can also be seen in some of the Disney On Ice shows such as the one I saw, Rockin' Ever After.
I know I didn't mention this for any of the other princesses but the older princesses had so many other appearances that I thought it was okay to omit these but yes, princesses like Tiana and Mulan have appeared in Ice shows, (I really should've mentioned that with Tiana!) I thought it was okay to leave this out but that's not the case as we get to the more recent princesses. Rapunzel was also the first princess added to the Disney game, Disney Infinity. I'm not sure what the game is but apparently, you use figurines and they pop up on your screen after you place them on some sort of platform.
The figurine looks pretty good and nice to see the frying pan. Rapunzel is set to appear in a season 2 special of Sofia The First, titled The Curse of Princess Ivy. Where the main character Sofia with help from Rapunzel has to stop an evil princess from draining her kingdom of all it's color. Yeah, I'm looking forward to that but it's not airing until the fall. Now, we get to an elephant in the room for me. Once Upon A Time.
Rapunzel On Once Upon A Time
You see, there was a character named Rapunzel on Once Upon A Time in an episode from this season titled The Tower but she had really nothing to do with this version of Rapunzel or the show at all, she was just a one off character that was so boring and even though, I had read interviews saying that this Rapunzel was not going to be like the one from Tangled, I was a little confused because the Saturday before The Tower aired, the Tangled Facebook on Once Upon A Time, which led me to think that maybe this take would borrow some elements from Tangled. Now, I'll freely admit I had my hopes up for the Tangled version of Rapunzel to appear on Once, maybe in Storybrooke as a hairdresser but that never came to pass and needless to say, I was a little letdown with this episode. Because this isn't what I was expecting or hoping for. More the latter and also because this Rapunzel was quite honestly was a boring character. Even putting my Tangled bias aside, Once's Rapunzel was a one off character that was only there to move the plot along and not be an actual character herself. She had no character, and Once is guilty of doing this to a lot of their one offs.
Why Do I Like Rapunzel?
As I stated up top, I wanted to attempt to answer this question. I think in part, it comes from that this film and Rapunzel in particular reminded me that Disney could still make good movies as around the time, the film was being released in theaters, I was starting to lose hope with Disney ever releasing a new movie that was actually good but when I saw Tangled and when I heard, "When Will My Life Begin?", my faith in Disney was restored and I love Rapunzel because she is a mix of Walt's princesses and the Renaissance era princesses, while still being her own character. Rapunzel is a character that in many regards I could relate to, at the time, the film was being released because as the first song asks the question of "When Will My Life Begin?" I was asking myself a similar question because that film came out in 2010, two years after I graduated from high school and I was still in my early college years. I didn't know which direction, my life was going in and in some regard, that is still true to this day. Rapunzel is also a character that I try to be like as she tries to show kindness to everyone, has a big heart and wants to see and do good for all around her and also like Rapunzel , at the beginning of the film, I had a hard time standing up for myself. That's why this scene in particular resonated with me so much.
This article for all intents and purposes is a fan letter to Rapunzel. And I'll admit that I was a little upset, when people decided to declare Rapunzel an inferior character, when compared to Elsa and say that she's a flat and terrible character. I honestly do not believe that to be true but that is an aspect of the Disney fandom that I've noticed, they like to turn on a previous film, when a new one comes out and people think it's good. And I'm sorry but you really can't compare Elsa and Rapunzel. They are both their own characters that should be able to stand on their own. And in my opinion, Rapunzel does that in spades. She is such a great character and every time I see her, there is a big old smile on my face. That's why I love this collage so much.
I mean, it's no secret that I love Rapunzel. On most sites, I am a member of including Manic Expression, my avatar is Rapunzel. There's really not too much more I can say on this, I love Rapunzel and she will always be one of my favorite characters and one that I'll always love and admire for who she is. I sincerely hope that you've enjoyed this very personal and special entry into Power of The Princesses.
Moviefan12
Disney Geek, Oncer, Brony, and Expressionist
WTF ASIA 57: Guzaarish (2010)
WTF ASIA 59: Butterfly (2004)
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text:
import sys
import getopt
import os
import string
import user

sys.path.append(user.home+'/Library/PythonFiles')
import mylib1,mylib2,mylib3
import eplus2,time

import cPickle

def nocomment(st,com):
	"""
	just like the comment in python.
	removes any text after the phrase 'com'
	"""
	ls=st.splitlines()
	for i in range(len(ls)):
		el=ls[i]
		pt=el.find(com)
		if pt!=-1:
			ls[i]=el[:pt]
	return '\n'.join(ls)

def get_nocom_vars(st):
	"""
	input 'st' which is the Energy+.idd file as a string
	returns (st1,st2,lss)
	st1= with all the ! comments striped
	st2= strips all comments - both the '!' and '\\'
	lss= nested list of all the variables in Energy+.idd file
	"""
	nocom=nocomment(st,'!')# remove '!' comments
	st1=nocom
	nocom1=nocomment(st1,'\\')# remove '\' comments
	st1=nocom
	st2=nocom1
	ls=string.split(st2,';')
	lss=[]

	# break the .idd file into a nested list
	#=======================================
	for el in ls:
		item=string.split(el,',')
		lss.append(item)
	for i in range(0,len(lss)):
		for j in range(0,len(lss[i])):
			lss[i][j]=lss[i][j].strip()
	if len(lss)>1:lss.pop(-1)
	#=======================================

	#st1 has the '\' comments --- looks like I don't use this
	#lss is the .idd file as a nested list
	return (st1,st2,lss)

def removeblanklines(st):
	"""
	removeblanklines(st)
	returns the string after
	remove blank lines in 'st'
	"""
	linesep=mylib3.getlinesep(st)
	ls=st.split(linesep)
	lss=[]
	for el in ls:
		ell=el.strip()
		if ell!='':
			lss.append(el)
	st1=linesep.join(lss)
	return st1

def extractidddata(fname,debug=False):
	"""
	extracts all the needed information out of the idd file
	if debug is True, it generates a series of text files.
	Each text file is incrementally different. You can do a diff
	see what the change is
	"""
	st=mylib2.readfile(fname)
	(nocom,nocom1,blocklst)=get_nocom_vars(st)

	st=nocom
	st1=removeblanklines(st)
	if debug:
		mylib1.writeStr2File('nocom2.txt',st1)

	#find the groups and the start object of the group
	#find all the group strings
	groupls=[]
	ls=st1.splitlines()
	for el in ls:
		lss=el.split()
		if lss[0].upper()=='\\group'.upper():
			groupls.append(el)

	#find the var just after each item in groupls
	groupstart=[]
	for i in range(len(groupls)):
		ii=ls.index(groupls[i])
		groupstart.append([ls[ii],ls[ii+1]])

	#remove the group commentline
	for el in groupls:
		ls.remove(el)

	if debug:
		st1='\n'.join(ls)
		mylib1.writeStr2File('nocom3.txt',st1)

	#strip each line
	for i in range(len(ls)):
		ls[i]=ls[i].strip()

	if debug:
		st1='\n'.join(ls)
		mylib1.writeStr2File('nocom4.txt',st1)

	#ensure that each line is a comment or variable
	#find lines that don't start with a comment
	#if this line has a comment in it
	#	then move the comment to a new line below
	lss=[]
	for i in range(len(ls)):
		#find lines that don't start with a comment
		if ls[i][0]!='\\':
			#if this line has a comment in it
			pt=ls[i].find('\\')
			if pt!=-1:
				#then move the comment to a new line below
				lss.append(ls[i][:pt].strip())
				lss.append(ls[i][pt:].strip())
			else:
				lss.append(ls[i])
		else:
			lss.append(ls[i])

	ls=lss[:]
	if debug:
		st1='\n'.join(ls)
		mylib1.writeStr2File('nocom5.txt',st1)

	#need to make sure that each line has only one variable - as in WindowGlassSpectralData,
	lss=[]
	for el in ls:
		# if the line is not a comment
		if el[0]!='\\':
			#test for more than one var
			ll=el.split(',')
			if ll[-1]=='':
				tmp=ll.pop()
			for elm in ll:
				if elm[-1]==';':
					lss.append(elm.strip())
				else:
					lss.append((elm+',').strip())
		else:
			lss.append(el)

	ls_debug=ls[:] # needed for the next debug - 'nocom7.txt'
	ls=lss[:]
	if debug:
		st1='\n'.join(ls)
		mylib1.writeStr2File('nocom6.txt',st1)

	if debug:
		#need to make sure that each line has only one variable - as in WindowGlassSpectralData,
		#this is same as above.
		# but the variables are put in without the ';' and ','
		#so we can do a diff between 'nocom7.txt' and 'nocom8.txt'. Should be identical
		lss_debug=[]
		for el in ls_debug:
			# if the line is not a comment
			if el[0]!='\\':
				#test for more than one var
				ll=el.split(',')
				if ll[-1]=='':
					tmp=ll.pop()
				for elm in ll:
					if elm[-1]==';':
						lss_debug.append(elm[:-1].strip())
					else:
						lss_debug.append((elm).strip())
			else:
				lss_debug.append(el)

		ls_debug=lss_debug[:]
		st1='\n'.join(ls_debug)
		mylib1.writeStr2File('nocom7.txt',st1)

	#replace each var with '=====var======'
	#join into a string,
	#split using '=====var====='
	for i in range(len(lss)):
		#if the line is not a comment
		if lss[i][0]!='\\':
			lss[i]='=====var====='

	st2='\n'.join(lss)
	lss=st2.split('=====var=====\n')
	lss.pop(0) # the above split generates an extra item at start

	if debug:
		fname='nocom8.txt'
		f=open(fname,'wb')
		k=0
		for i in range(len(blocklst)):
			for j in range(len(blocklst[i])):
				f.write(blocklst[i][j]+'\n')
				f.write(lss[k])
				k=k+1

		f.close()

	#map the structure of the comments -(this is 'lss' now) to
	#the structure of blocklst - blocklst is a nested list
	#make lss a similar nested list
	k=0
	lst=[]
	for i in range(len(blocklst)):
		lst.append([])
		for j in range(len(blocklst[i])):
			lst[i].append(lss[k])
			k=k+1

	if debug:
		fname='nocom9.txt'
		f=open(fname,'wb')
		k=0
		for i in range(len(blocklst)):
			for j in range(len(blocklst[i])):
				f.write(blocklst[i][j]+'\n')
				f.write(lst[i][j])
				k=k+1

		f.close()

	#break up multiple line comment so that it is a list
	for i in range(len(lst)):
		for j in range(len(lst[i])):
			lst[i][j]=lst[i][j].splitlines()
			# remove the '\'
			for k in range(len(lst[i][j])):
				lst[i][j][k]=lst[i][j][k][1:]
	commlst=lst

	#copied with minor modifications from readidd2_2.py -- which has been erased ha !
	c=lst
	lss=[]
	for i in range(0,len(c)):
		ls=[]
		for j in range(0,len(c[i])):
			it=c[i][j]
			dt={}
			for el in it:
				if len(el.split())==0:
					break
				dt[el.split()[0]]=[]

			for el in it:
				if len(el.split())==0:
					break
				dt[el.split()[0]].append(string.join(el.split()[1:]))

			ls.append(dt)

		lss.append(ls)
	commdct=lss

	return blocklst,commlst,commdct

def getobjectref(blocklst,commdct):
	"""
	makes a dictionary of object-lists
	each item in the dictionary points to a list of tuples
	the tuple is (objectname, fieldindex)
	"""
	objlst_dct={}
	for eli in commdct:
		for elj in eli:
			if elj.has_key('object-list'):
				objlist=elj['object-list'][0]
				objlst_dct[objlist]=[]

	for objlist in objlst_dct.keys():
		for i in range(len(commdct)):
			for j in range(len(commdct[i])):
				if commdct[i][j].has_key('reference'):
					for ref in commdct[i][j]['reference']:
						if ref==objlist:
							objlst_dct[objlist].append((blocklst[i][0],j))
	return objlst_dct

# blocklst,commlst,commdct=extractidddata('Energy+.idd_old')
# dct=getobjectref(blocklst,commdct)
#
# for el in dct.keys():
# 	print el
# 	print dct[el]
# fname='./Energy+.idd'
# debug=True
# blocklst,commlst,commdct=extractidddata(fname,debug)

# blocklst,commlst,commdct=extractidddata('Energy+.idd_old')

#mylib2.cpickledump((blocklst,lss),'block_comm.pik')
#this file is identical to the one produced by readidd2_2.py


text:
About Douglas Ernst
Tag: Christopher Marquez
Christopher Marquez, war hero, attacked in D.C. — Obama silent
Posted on February 24, 2016 February 25, 2016 by Douglas Ernst11 Comments
George Orwell's Animal Farm is famous for the quote "Some animals are more equal than others." Someone should write an update called American Farm that includes the line "Some hate crimes are more equal than others" after the Washington, D.C., attack of war hero Christopher Marquez.
Most media outlets have not covered the Feb. 12 attack of Marquez, who served eight years on active duty between 2003 and 2011. In short, the Bronze Star recipient sat down to eat in a McDonald's in the nation's capital and was accosted by a group of teens demanding to know if he thought "black lives matter."
Like most sane people, he tried to ignore them and just eat his burger. He was promptly ambushed and robbed upon exiting the restaurant.
"I believe this was a hate crime and I was targeted because of my skin color," Marquez told the Daily Caller Feb. 15. "Too many of these types of attacks have been happening against white people by members of the black community and the majority of the mainstream media refuses to report on it."
Suspects arrested in connection with Christopher Marquez's assault and robbery will not be charged with a hate crime, despite harassing him with racial questions prior to their attack. (Photo: D.C. Metropolitan Police Department)
There are two very interesting facts about Marquez's case:
Cops finally arrested and charge two individuals in connection with the incident, but they will not be charged with a hate crime — even though they were explicitly harassing him about race and calling him "racist" before the attack.
President Obama, who always seems eager to weigh in on race-related crimes, somehow can't find his voice when it comes to Black Lives Matter supporters who beat a Marine veteran unconscious and stole $400, a VA medical card, and three credit cards from his back pocket just miles from the White House. What did his assailants spend the stolen cash on, you ask? Answer: liquor, a Five Guys burgers, and products from Walmart.
Regular readers of this blog may remember the case of Allen Haywood, who was attacked by a similar group of kids on the DC Metro Green Line in 2011. They may also remember my own tale on the Green Line from September 17, 2011.
I wrote then:
As I came home late from work on the D.C. Metro Green line, an inebriated older man approached me. I stood towards the back of the Metro minding my own business. The stranger crept up beside me, but just enough to my rear to obscure his actions. There was almost no one else on the train. I angled slightly towards him and he whispered in my ear, "Why don't you sit down? Don't you like black people?" I ignored him. He raised his voice: "Why don't you sit down? Don't you like black people?" Again, I ignored him. Since the third time around is a charm I finally answered, "I've been sitting all day."
He didn't believe me.
The man continued to ask me the question, and when I ignored him some more (all the while paying close attention to his position and body language) he turned his question into a statement. Then, he squared up, stated that I didn't like black people and pushed his palm into my shoulder, which I immediately swiped down with a force that surprised him. He approached again, reaching out his hand to push my shoulder and I swiped it hard enough to make him stutter-step backwards.
On his third attempt to escalate the situation he came at me from the side and bumped me. I responded by shoving him to the other side of the Metro car with enough force so that, should I have chosen to pounce, the backward momentum with which he was stumbling would have put him at a distinct disadvantage.
At this time the Metro stopped, the man gave me a few hard glares and left the train car.
This is an ongoing problem in Washington, D.C., whether the mainstream media wants to admit it or not.
I used to take the Green Line home from work on a regular basis, and groups of kids would act like psychopaths — almost daring someone to speak up. They would also look for women who possessed zero situational awareness and then steal their cell phones right before the Metro doors closed at any given stop.
In my case I was just singled out by a drunk man who, like the teenagers, has convinced himself that any white person who doesn't greet him with giant smiles after a long day of work is somehow racist and worthy of a physical confrontation.
Incidents like this regularly get swept under the rug, yet the media cannot get enough of the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida; the 2014 shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri; or the April 2015 death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Maryland.
Meanwhile, a Marine veteran who literally helped inspire the iconic war memorial "No Man Left Behind" at Camp Pendleton, California, is ambushed — on American soil — and there is deafening silence.
For those who do not remember, Marquez was in Fallujah's "Hell House" in 2004 when he helped aide Marine Sgt. Maj. Brad Kasal with lance corporal Dane Shaffer. The image of the three men, which went viral, was sculpted into the memorial by Vietnam veteran John Phelps in November 2015.
The moral of the story here is that no group naturally has a monopoly on hate, but for whatever reason American media outlets are obsessed with filling certain subsets of the population with it.
Christopher Marquez, who now attends American University, will be fine in the long-run. Your friendly neighborhood blogger, who also attended American University, has fared rather well since 2011.
My guess is that the drunken man on the Green Line and the McDonald's attackers — all filled with racial animosity towards guys like us — will have a slew of needlessly rough days ahead. Perhaps they should have enlisted in the Army like me or the Marines like Mr. Marquez.
At a minimum, minorities in Washington, D.C., would be wise to stop listening to race activists, whose careers are dependent upon keeping as many people as possible in a perpetual state of anger and confusion.
Posted in Culture, Politics
Tagged Christopher Marquez, Marines, military, Obama, Race, USMC, veterans, Washington D.C.
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From cow-to-consumer
Published 04 Mar, 2019 10:10am
Syed Wajeeh-ul-Hassan Naqvi
Interview with Tahir Hafeez, VP, Supply Chain Operations, Tetra Pak
Tahir Hafeez, VP Supply Chain Operations (Greater Middle East & Africa), Tetra Pak, about his company's role in improving the packaged milk supply chain in Pakistan.
SYED WAJEEH-UL-HASSAN NAQVI: What made Tetra Pak enter the Pakistan market?
TAHIR HAFEEZ: Tetra Pak launched in Pakistan in 1983 as a joint venture between Tetra Pak International and the Packages Group. As Tetra Pak started to expand, we targeted countries where the availability and consumption of milk were high and what brought us to Pakistan was the presence of a huge and untapped potential for packaged milk. Today, within the food packaging industry in Pakistan, we are the market leaders. Ecolean also has a strong presence and there is one local player, the Popular Group of Industries. We only deal in liquid food packaging in Pakistan; major clients include Engro, Haleeb, Nestlé, Pakola, Shakarganj and Shezan.
SWHN: What differentiates Tetra Pak from their competitors?
TH: We are a complete system supplier, from processing to packaging and delivery, we provide an end-to-end solution; we call it the 'cow-to-consumer' system. System costs are a big issue in this industry so there is an advantage in being an end-to-end solutions provider. Our customers prefer Tetra Pak over other packaging alternatives which, although may be cheaper, have higher conversion costs in terms of the manufacturing and production expenses incurred when converting the raw material into the final product. Our customers also do not have to deal with wastage or spoilage due to low-quality or outdated packaging material. So, all in all, we are competitive when it comes to overall pricing expenses. Furthermore, no other company offers the sizes, shapes and functionality that we do. It is about value and innovation and not only about what the product costs. Most importantly, we have a local presence and we provide 24/7 service to our customers. Added to which we have a wealth of knowledge available from our international team and should anything go wrong, we can draw upon resources from our facilities throughout the world.
The new food safety regulations introduced by the government require that tea whiteners specify on the packaging that their consumption is for tea alone. Companies are complying with this but it will take time for consumers to understand the difference.
SWHN: What are the opportunities and challenges of the milk packaging industry in Pakistan and how do they help or hinder the growth of your brand?
TH: Pakistan produces about 36 billion litres of milk every year and only five to seven percent of that production is packaged, therefore, approximately 90% is unpackaged. Milk production is concentrated in rural Punjab and rural Sindh, despite the fact that consumption is higher in cities; furthermore, there is a dearth of supply in the northern regions. Considering these factors, in a country where temperatures are high and a cold supply chain is not available, we are able to provide the optimum solution in terms of delivering milk from the producer to the consumer. In terms of challenges, consumer focus on quality is much higher compared to before and we have to meet those expectations. Furthermore, the duties on raw materials continue to increase while those on finished products are decreasing and this has made local production less viable compared to 10 years ago. People who have invested in setting up an industry in Pakistan now have to pay higher duties on the purchase of raw material and this is unfair and is harming the industry.
SWHN: What was the impact on Tetra Pak of the Supreme Court's decision to ban certain packaged milk brands?
TH: There was a negative impact on the industry because the initial reports that were submitted to the Supreme Court by the three testing organisations did not corroborate each other. In spite of this, those reports were circulated in the media and misrepresented the industry. If you read the reports, UHT milk has been declared safe for consumption. Yes, some pasteurised milk brands were called into question, but we do not deal with pasteurised milk brands. The Punjab Food Authority (PFA) tests milk brands twice a year and as per the results published on their website, UHT brands are on the list of approved brands that are deemed safe for consumption according to food safety standards. In light of this, it is clear that the initial reports were unsubstantiated, but the media hype had an extremely negative impact on the industry. Government food safety bodies lack information about packaged milk. Tea whiteners are used all over the world; the difference between them and packaged milk is that in tea whiteners the animal fat is replaced with vegetable fat to add texture and make the tea creamier and more affordable. However, tea whiteners should not be marketed as regular milk. The new food safety regulations introduced by the government require that tea whiteners specify on the packaging that their consumption is for tea alone. Companies are complying with this but it will take time for consumers to understand the difference. However, scrutiny is good for the industry because brands will be more careful in future. For our part, we are trying to engage with the media to spread awareness about the safety of packaged milk.
The environmental footprint of Tetra Pak is far better compared to the global packaging industry. Packaging material such as bottles take up a lot of space. Our packaging is shipped in rolls that are compact and allow for more volume in a small space. Our packaging to product weight ratio is very efficient. Our factories are given carbon footprint targets in terms of energy and product efficiency.
SWHN: There is growing concern about the environmental hazards posed by discarded food packaging. What is Tetra Pak doing in this regard?
TH: The environmental footprint of Tetra Pak is far better compared to the global packaging industry. Packaging material such as bottles take up a lot of space. Our packaging is shipped in rolls that are compact and allow for more volume in a small space. Our packaging to product weight ratio is very efficient. Our factories are given carbon footprint targets in terms of energy and product efficiency. Our company stands for sustainability and renewability. The material we use is FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified, which means that the number of trees used to make paper for our products are sourced from managed forests and that the same number of trees which are cut down will be planted to ensure there is no decline in their number. We have also set up a recycling initiative in partnership with a local recycler. The environment is one of the top priorities of the company.
SWHN: How important was the Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance Award to Tetra Pak Pakistan?
TH: Japan has been at the forefront of efforts aimed at improving the overall efficiency of industries and JIPM uses an award system to recognise factories around the world that achieve excellence. In Pakistan, we started working on their model in 1999 and this year, we were presented with their Advanced Special Total Productive Maintenance Award, which is their second biggest award. Achieving world-class manufacturing standards in our plant is an extremely significant development for us and for Pakistan. It is very important to Tetra Pak that we adhere to our values both within and outside the company. Our motto includes the words Rehbar-e-Taraqi-o-Kamal because it was always our intention to build a factory that was unparalleled in our field of operations. Our success is evident from the fact that of all the Tetra Pak plants in the world, Pakistan is number one when it comes to controlling wastage and in terms of efficiency and reliability.
tess Mar 07, 2019 01:00pm
From cow-to-consumer good article


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Robert "Bert" Bixby Neuenschwander
Robert "Bert" Bixby Neuenschwander, age 67 of Delano, Minnesota, passed away suddenly on Friday, August 6, 2021, joining his Lord and Savior whom he served all his life. He was born August 12, 1953 to Robert and Kathleen (Bixby) Neuenschwander in Rapid City, South Dakota.
There were two types of people in every room that Bert walked into – those he knew and those that he was going to meet. His love of laughing was exceeded by a love of making people laugh, and the underlying thread of his behavior was always to serve others in any way he could. His sneezes echoed in every Costco he visited, and he always managed to know when someone was taking a picture (documented by his beaming face while everyone else is oblivious). His woodworking skills and love of photography have thankfully left plenty of mementos for those he leaves behind. He served the church in many ways, most visibly through performing in choir, singing and drama teams, and connecting with people. Quick to volunteer and an executer of tasks until the end, the community groups he participated with were a source of sheer joy. To those he interacted with, he was always ready to show his pride of his family by telling a story about his kids and grandkids, and was vocal about how lucky he was to have wooed his wife into marrying him and endeavored to show her he cherished her for 46 years. The only thing he might be judged for is passing first, when he'd committed to them going together.
Bert graduated from South Hills High School and went onto Whittier College where he graduated with a degree in Business Administration. He went on to careers in a variety of fields (as his talents and interests were many) before retiring from a long and happy time in Human Resources at Foster Farms in Livingston, California (where his colleagues were like a second family).
On June 7th, 1975, Bert was united in marriage to Saundra "Sandi" L McConkey, as she was the love of his life and the rhythm of his heartbeat. They were blessed with two children Chip and Becky. His commitment to serving the Lord was shown first and foremost to his commitment to leading, loving and providing for his family, which later grew to include his three charming grandsons, Owen (7), Emmett (5), and Cole (3). They all have inherited his hambone, in addition to genetic looks, and they will serve as a tether to Bert by being a reminder of who he was through laughter and love.
Bert was preceded in death by his parents, Robert and Kathleen. He is survived by his wife Sandi; children Chip Neuenschwander and Becky (Matt) Masog, his grandsons Owen, Emmett and Cole Masog; siblings Nancy (Rick) Hom, Sylvia (Ken) Vogler, and Andrew (Janet) Neuenschwander; and other extended family, including mother-in-law Hazel McConkey and sister-in-law Vicki (Keith) Crawford.
As per Bert's request, no formal services will be held. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in Bert's memory to the Building Fund for The Highlands Church. Online giving can be done at www.thehighlandsmn.com/give (with the giving type "Building Fund and Home Campaign") and checks can be made payable to The Highlands Church specifying "Building Fund" in the memo (checks can be sent to The Highlands Church 1500 County Rd 24, Long Lake, MN 55356).
Memories and photos of Bert can be shared with family and friends by visiting bertneuenschwander.forevermissed.com.


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Never Stop Being Interesting
Cover Songs That Are Better Than the Originals
by Ellen Fagan
Music lovers can break all kinds of conversational ice by getting into debates about whether or not original tracks get all the glory, or if redos take a song to the next level. Sure, kudos can be safely given to the first person who records a hit song, but there are myriad examples of popular songs that have been rejiggered into totally fresh interpretations. Here's a tiny sample of some cover songs that are better than the original versions.
Three Dog Night's rendition of Randy Newman's "Mama Told Me Not to Come" (1970)
Written by iconic singer-songwriter Randy Newman for Eric Burdon's first solo album in 1966, Randy took his own shot at it with a quiet version that had its own charm; Burdon himself and Tom Jones, among others, did well with it. But it didn't hit the big time until Three Dog Night topped the charts with it in 1970, and their rendition remains the best known, best-loved version. They kept the humor intact with the hick narrator recounting his first debauched party, jacked up the tempo and made it into a classic that conjures up the funky, playful spirit of the 1970s.
Elvis Presley's rendition of Olivia Newton-John's "Let Me Be There" (1974)
English-Aussie singer Olivia Newton-John had a hit (peaking at #6 on the charts) in 1973 with this upbeat, romantic tune on her album of the same name. She gave it an unfettered sweetness and country flavor, and it was a happy ear-worm on the radio waves for quite some time. Then Elvis Presley got wind of it in 1974 and took it to his latter-day concerts. Oh, how he lifted a fine pop song to the next level! Infused with rockabilly, gospel, and some impressive high notes, The King absolutely nails it. There's no evidence that the two ever met, but Newton-John was a worthy muse for his last days of singing, and he did right by her joyful tune.
Related: "The Great Song Adventure: Exploring the Mysteries of Music-Making"
The O'Jay's rendition of Bob Dylan's "Emotionally Yours" (1991)
A moving track from the 1985 LP Empire Burlesque, Dylan explores his deep connection with a woman who reminds him of his highest self as he indulges a chaotic life on the road. Eight years later The O'Jay's performed it during Dylan's 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration in 1993. They recharged the air in the arena, treating "Emotionally Yours" as a soul anthem of the highest order. Their gospel harmonies and back-up singers are nothing less than glorious. When they sing "It's like my whole life never happened/when I see you/it's as if/I never had a thought" and keep building to a heart-pounding crescendo, it becomes a transcendent musical experience.
Eric Clapton's rendition of Elton John's "Border Song" (1991)
Sir Elton co-wrote this ode to triumph over alienation with his lyricist Bernie Taupin; it was featured in his 1970 album, Elton John. Initially, it didn't make any great waves in John's native U.K. but it charted over time in the States and Canada. When Eric Clapton played it on the 1991 album Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John and Bernie Taupin, he broke out his maestro guitar skills, gave it a bluesier treatment and a horn section, lifting it to a whole new plane. "Slowhand" paid honor to his dear friend, yielding a stellar outcome which many feel transcends the original.
Original Movie Soundtrack of Moulin Rouge's rendition of Patti Labelle's "Lady Marmalade" (2001)
The band Labelle hit it big with "Lady Marmalade" (written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan) in 1974. It was disco deliciousness with its engaging beat, estrogen swagger and the wink of "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ce soir)?" as a seductive lyrical hook. It hit the number one Billboard spot for one week and is a fabulous track on every level. But when the movie blockbuster Moulin Rouge was released in 2001, it was reintroduced to a new generation via Christina Aguilera, Mya, Pink, L'il Kim, and Missy Elliot. They took the classic to new horizons with sexy gifted singers and an erotic feast of a video. Purists might make a case for the original's superiority, but it's impossible not to embrace the funky follow-up. Mocha chocolata ya ya!
Johnny Cash's rendition of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" (2002)
Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor wrote this melancholy track, which explores suicidal ideation, drug addiction, and psychic pain. It was released as a promotional single for their 1994 album The Downward Spiral to acclaim and a Grammy Award nomination. Then Johnny Cash covered it in 2002 as a single and it blew up even further. Performed by the legendary "Man in Black" near the end of his life, he brought it to a place of greater tearful import with his mournful vocals and demeanor. The extraordinary video showed Cash, old, frail and weary, against images of his earlier days and sequences from his own inspirational life. It's a work of mordant beauty that will likely outlast the original. Reznor himself graciously said of Cash's cover: "…that song isn't mine anymore. [It wound up] being interpreted by a music legend from a radically different era/genre and still retains sincerity and meaning – different, but every bit as pure." Amen to that.
Billy Preston's rendition of The Beatles' "I'm Looking Through You" (2005)
The Fab Four's "I'm Looking Through You" was a gently bitter track that graced 1965's Rubber Soul; a boppy, introspective number about the end of McCartney's relationship with girlfriend Jane Asher. Four decades later their good friend Billy Preston, affectionately dubbed "The Fifth Beatle," sat down with Squeeze's Jools Holland on Holland's BBC Show, and rocked out the coolest, jazziest interpretation imaginable. Preston knew his way around a Beatles track and a keyboard, and he confidently brought his own spin here. With great boogie-woogie piano, lots of swing, and a New Orleans whorehouse vibe that still honored the Beatles' riffs, he brought it to a place of memorable freshness and delight.
-Ellen Fagan
Photo Credit: Billy Preston by Ian Showell/Keystone/Getty Images
Tagsbeatles • billy preston • Bob Dylan • cover songs • CultureSonar • Elton John • Elvis Presley • eric clapton • Johnny Cash • Nine Inch Nails • Olivia Newton-John • Patti LaBelle • Randy Newman • The O'Jays • three dog night
AboutEllen Fagan
Ellen Fagan is a forever New Yorker, long-time Greenwich Village resident and vintage Duke University graduate with hippie-esque leanings. The best description of Ellen was given to her by a sardonic lawyer during the voir dire of one of her myriad Jury Duty stints: "...housewife, mom, voracious reader, freelance writer, copy editor, jewelry designer and frequent cyber-sleuth."
5 comments on "Cover Songs That Are Better Than the Originals"
Michael A Massetti
Nice list.
How about The Beatles rendition of Twist & Shout? They completely co-opted that song.
Ellen Fagan
Touché! 🙂
Cliff Cherry
I'd have to go with the Pet Shop Boys' rendition of "Always On My Mind" for completely changing the musical style but maintaining the heart of the original
George Guttler
how about Harry Nilsson's cover of Badfinger's "Without You"?
Brendan Delany
How about The Corrs & Bono covering Ryan Adams 'Where the Stars go Blue'?
Or Joe Cocker's cover of Bob Dylan's 'I shall be released'?
What Should You Serve with Your "Gaucho"?
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Vinny Guadagnino Says He's...
Vinny Guadagnino Says He's "Probably" Slept With More Than 500 Women & "It Could Be" As Many As 1,000
April 19, 2019 by Chelsea
"Ladies…you can go where hundreds of women have gone before!"
Vinny Guadagnino is currently starring on MTV's Double Shot at Love with DJ Pauly D and Vinny where he is looking for lovin'… something the Jersey Shore star has had plenty of practice with.
The Keto Guido of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation stopped by WFAN's Boomer and Gio radio show this week where, according to NJ.com, he told hosts Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannotti that during the 'Jersey Shore' heyday, he possibly slept with 1,000 women.
While taking a trip a down memory lane, the hosts began probing Vinny on the number of ladies he has smushed since shooting to reality TV fame in 2009. Vinny confirmed that he's been with more than 100 women and when asked if the number was over 500, Vinny answered, "Probably."
"I don't know, I really have no idea," he continued. "I feel disgusting right now. It's been 10 years, I've had a good time."
The hosts then asked Vinny if the number of women he had banged was closer to 1,000, to which he replied, "I don't know … it could be."
"This blanket will come in handy! It's shocking how fast I go through bedding!"
Vinny went on to defend his smush-room stats by reminding the hosts that being on the 'Jersey Shore' sometimes meant doing multiple club appearances each week in different cities and that "things happen." However, Vinny said those wild club nights are now a thing of the past.
"I've slowed down a lot," he said. "Like now, I'm going back to my room. I wanna watch Netflix, I wanna just chill. I don't wanna be in bed with somebody if I don't want to wake up to them the next day and talk to them."
While Vinny's wild nights may have let up, he hasn't completely called it quits on the party scene, as proven by his upcoming residency as a celebrity host for Chippendales in Las Vegas, which he also talked about on the radio show.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv1q6dwnwZ3/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
As for whether or not he has plans to slow down his partying ways and settle down with someone in the near future, Vinny said he's "in the middle right now."
"I'm all about what I naturally feel and I'm not gonna lie, I used to party like crazy, now I wanna be in bed by like ten o'clock," he said. " … I hate drinking regularly now, I like doing it once in a while. I hate the hangovers—being on the diet, the gym, all of that stuff.
"So I've naturally taken that progression of slowing down, but I'll admit I'm never gonna follow the rules of like, now I'm at this age, I have to be in a relationship … ."
While Vinny isn't putting pressure on himself to find love in the future, he does have some career aspirations he hopes to have achieved a decade from now.
"Hopefully I'm hosting something, hopefully I have a nice little gig [and] it doesn't have to be partying on the Jersey Shore at 41 years-old."
(Photos: Brian Ach/Getty Images; Theo Wargo/Getty Images; Instagram)
Tags: DJ Pauly D, Double Shot at Love with DJ Pauly D & Vinny, Jersey Shore, Jersey Shore Family Vacation, MTV, Sex & Stuff, Vinny Guadagnino
Brook says:
What lucky girl will have the pleasure of taking him home to meet her parents?
Vinny & Pauly talk about wifey
material but what are they?
Poor girl gets a used up guy who hasn't grown up.
That's………creepy. Like he only saw women as objects.
Btw, Vinny, you also don't HAVE to be in relationship if you don't feel like it. I mean, I'm glad your partying days are over but no one is forcing you to be in a relationship. Like chill bro.
It's the same as if I said I HAVE to have a child because everyone around me is having one. It's my business when (and if!) I will have them or not. Maybe it's different for him because he's Italian though.
Truth hurts says:
He isn't Italian he is American 🤷🏻♀
He literally stated in the article that while he has slowed down, he isn't going to be in a relationship just because he's now a certain age. No need to tell him to chill, he is doing exactly that.
Ms pancakes says:
There's nothing wrong with enjoying sex or sleeping with different people. But over 500 that's just nasty surprised his sausage hasn't fallen off yet 🤢
Snoozer says:
I doubt he's even close to that number.
🤢
I love how he blames being on jersey shore and "multiple club appearances" for his reason for being a man ho.
I'm a flight attendant and travel all over, can't say I go out and sleep with strangers. He made the choice to drink and sleep with a bunch of women…
How disgusting.
Sir Nibs says:
Herpes, the gift that keeps on giving.
Lyin' Hustlah says:
This is the first (and probably last) time that I'm actually upvoting a Sir Nibs comment.
On another note, Vinny looks like a one of the hampsters from the Kia Soul commercials in that red jumpsuit. He and all of the other guys from Jersey Shore are sooooooo gross. 🤮
DaveL says:
Might as well hang a sign around your neck that reads "99% of Women Agree: 'Would Not Sleep With Again'."
TrashTalents says:
Sure Mr Pink eye drama.
That's 100 girls a year, means two different ladies every week with 4 weeks of free time a year.
Probably added a zero guido.
Farrah's Lips says:
Why would you admit to that?? Ugh that's just nasty!!
Bertha and Esther says:
Never thought he was good looking, and he had the balls to call girls grenades, when he was one himself. My least favorite of all the Jersey Shore people.
He's nothing to look at with his blinky eyes. No thanks playa!
That is really gross. He most certainly has caught something along the way. Yuck.


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HomeCrimeAnthony Avalos, 10,...
Anthony Avalos, 10, Died From Torture, And A $32 Million Settlement Approved
A $32 million settlement in a lawsuit brought by the family of a 10-year-old Lancaster boy. He passed away in 2018 after being sexually assaulted and tortured by his mother and her boyfriend. They officially approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
Lawsuit Settlement
In May, the county's portion of the Anthony Avalos death lawsuit was resolved. Attorneys for the family confirm a week later that the county would pay $32 million. Subject to the Board of Supervisors' approval.
"We hope that the resolution of this tragic case brings some peace and closure to Anthony's family and loved ones." said a statement released by the county Department of Children and Family Services. Following the board's approval of the settlement.
"Anthony's death and other child tragedies highlight the complexities of child welfare. We continue using what we've learned to evolve and improve our work with children and families."
The lawsuit accused the county and several social workers of failing to respond. Appropriately to reports of abuse against Anthony and his half-siblings.
"This little boy should not have had to endure anything," plaintiffs' attorney Brian E. Claypool said at a news conference in May. "Anthony understands that he did not die in vain because he died so that other children could live."
The remaining defendant in the lawsuit, Pasadena-based Hathaway-Sycamores Child and Family Services, settled for an undisclosed sum in August.
Assign Employee Barbara Dixon to Work With the Family
According to the lawsuit, Hathaway-Sycamores assign employee Barbara Dixon to work with the family. Even though she allegedly not report abuse in the case of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez of Palmdale. Who is killed while caring for his mother and her boyfriend, as was Anthony? Dixon, according to Claypool, is an unlicensed intern.
Attorneys for Hathaway-Sycamores state in court papers that the plaintiffs made no allegations. About what Dixon allegedly witnessed or whether she suspect any abuse. Which is not already known to the county Department of Children and Family Services.
Claypool stated on behalf of the Avalos family following the board's approval of the settlement on Tuesday, saying they will continue pushing for legislative changes to improve DCFS operations and protect children.
"We will work with a state legislator to pass Anthony's Law," Claypool said. "When there is a report of severe suspect child abuse. The law requires DCFS to deploy a forensic child psychologist to interview the child "in the absence" of the parents. DCFS employees are not adequately trained to interview children. Who abuse or sexually assaulted. The interview would have to conduct by a trained professional specialising in child abuse."
Charges Against the Murder: Anthony
In October 2018, a grand jury indicted Heather Maxine Barron, 32, and her boyfriend, Kareem Ernesto Leiva, 36, on charges of murdering the boy and abusing two other children in the household.
In May 2021, the District Attorney's Office announced that it would no longer seek the death penalty against the pair, who now face a maximum sentence. If convicted, the punishment will be life in prison with no chance of parole.
During the May news conference, Anthony's father, Victor Avalos, stated that he struggles to understand his son's death.
"Nothing will bring him back," Victor Avalos said.
Maria Barron, Anthony's aunt, held a photo of a happy Anthony. She claimed the boy live happily with her and her husband, David Barron. He lived with them for seven years before returning to his mother through the county Department of Children and Family Services.
"I truly believe Anthony could have been saved if DCFS had done its job properly," said Maria Barron.
Prosecutors Claim Anthony Underwent Severe Torture
Prosecutors claim Anthony is severely torture by his mother and Leiva during his life's last five or six days. According to a prosecution court filing, the alleged abuse included:
Whipping the boy a belt, and a looped cord
Pouring hot sauce on his face and mouth.
Holding him by his feet.
Repeatedly dropping him on his head.
According to the plaintiffs' court papers, from 2013 until he died in 2018. Anthony and his six half-siblings were denied food and water, beaten, sexually abused, and dangled upside-down from a staircase.
He has to crouch for hours while carrying heavy objects. They were kept in cramped quarters with no access to a bathroom. They were forced to fight and move in order to eat from the garbage.
"Despite these continued allegations of abuse, some of which substantiated. DCFS continued to leave the children in Barron's and Leiva's care. He was exposing Anthony and his half-siblings to continued torture and abuse," according to the plaintiff's court papers.


Slash/Rally 4x4 lcg, lcg, lcg, lcg chassis only, This mount allows you to install bigger motors and have a bigger range of gearing options for drag racing or those speed runs. You will have to drill holes in your black plastic to make this work. Its not a direct bolt on so you will have to make it fit your black plastic. This is the aluminum mount only.


Having just read an amazing poem by Jane Mead about Hedda Nussbaum and Lisa (do we still in good conscious use the last name of the man who beat her to death??), I've been thinking on them all morning. These are very rough notes toward something, although nothing like the firm calm grasp of an actual poem. But every start is a start, and everything that is grows from having been willing to start.
have saved Lisa than yourself.
no longer refuse to see me?
Let's talk about how traps work.
will chew off her own leg.
But who sets the trap?
Nevermind, we've talked that to death.
Whose hands bear the animal's blood?
of red gloves to make fashionable what is true.
placing just so on a shelf?
and say I did not mean to kill.
would not leave her cub trapped there.
and his club, his gun.
In the Disney movie, you would have.
just went on being dead.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged feminist analysis, instinctual groping, my poems by thisfrenzy. Bookmark the permalink.


EAGLE ROCK EQUESTRIAN CENTRE is situated in Caherdaniel on the beautiful ring of Kerry (N70).
This picturesque little village stands on the shores of Derrynane Bay and is a haven for holiday makers.
Eagle Rock an A.I.R.E. approved and facilitates rides for all standards.
Tuition available from our qualified instructors.
We can provide you with horses and ponies to suit all levels, whether you are starting from the basics or whether you wish to try something more adventurous.
For those with basic ridding experience there are beach and mountain treks in breathtaking surroundings. Treks consist of one hour, one and half hour, and two hour, though beach and mountains.


text:
Home › Technology
Z-Systems Audio Engineering z-K6
One of the most requested items on DVD authoring lists is the magic black box that will take my stereo program and make it into surround. Those of us
By K.K. Proffitt ⋅ Oct 1, 2002
One of the most requested items on DVD authoring lists is the "magic black box that will take my stereo program and make it into surround." Those of us who work on projects that require "upmixing" (extracting and extrapolating surround sound from 2-channel material) will often post that "one box won't do it" and "you need years and years of honing audio engineering skills" to make an acceptable upmix. Although this may be true in the strictest sense, the z-K6 Surround Processor ($12,500 retail) comes very close to being the magic black box for many 2-channel audio examples.
A collaboration between Glenn Zelniker (the "Z" in Z-Systems Audio Engineering) and Bob Katz (the "K" in K-Surround), the z-K6 embodies years and years of mastering experience, psycho-acoustic research and empirical tweaking.
The logic flow behind the z-K6 is based on two functional blocks: The first one extracts the three front channels (left front, center and right front) from the stereo input. The second one extracts the two back channels (left surround and right surround), as well as the LFE (Low-Frequency Effects) channel. These correspond to the typical 5.1 surround home theater speaker setup of LCR in the front and Ls, Rs in the back. The LFE channel is sometimes labeled "sub" in the z-K6. Without going into a discussion on bass management and its relationship to large theater vs. home theater setups, it's safe to say that this is the area where those "years and years of honing audio engineering skills" will come in handy. There's one output for LFE (sub), and it's up to the engineer to decide how to handle it in the monitors and in the final layback.
Using the z-K6 requires a professional digital setup. The I/O is all-digital: It has three AES/EBU ports for input and three for output. An AES/EBU distribution amplifier, or switcher, that is capable of handling 96kHz audio is necessary, because you must generate three copies of the stereo material (with perfectly synchronous timing) for those three input ports. We used our Lighthouse Digital 96-point AES/EBU switcher, but you could also use a Z-Systems Digital Detangler.
In the current revision, the z-K6 does not auto-detect sample rate. The user must select the sample rate manually, and it's a good idea to check often to make sure you have done this. A couple of times when we thought we had lost the center channel to a patchbay malfunction, the cause turned out to be an apparent sampling-rate mismatch.
The z-K6 front panel is straightforward with clean organization. There's a large alphanumeric FIP display for adjustable parameters, with six multifunction buttons underneath. Three big knobs reside under the display and its accompanying buttons, flanked on the left by System, Master Bypass and Dither/Sample Rate buttons and on the right by a Load/Save/MIDI button, as well as an EQ, Master Level and Offsets (toggle) button. In the upper-right area are three LED indicators for AES/EBU lock for the three channel pairs.
Toggling the EQ/Master Level/Offsets button to the Level functions screen assigns the left knob to channel volume offset control and the right knob to master level control. A small button under a channel label first selects the channel; pressing the button mutes the channel, and a third press unmutes the channel and resets it to the value prior to muting. You can also solo a channel by pressing and holding its assigned button.
Pressing the System button reveals the Front Ambience screen and assigns K-front level control to the left knob and algorithm selection to the right knob. K-level is the amount of ambience extraction. It spreads uncorrelated ambience to the front soundstage and enhances depth and imaging of instruments and vocals. Its range varies from "off" to +6.0 dB.
There are eight ambience-enhancement algorithms: four 2-channel combinations of small or wide and deep, and four 2-channel combinations with the same parameters. If you select a 3-channel algorithm, a center channel is derived and controlled via the center knob, with a focus parameter varying from 0° to 90°. If the focus is set to 0°, then the center channel receives all of the mono component; at 90°, it is split equally between left and right, so L and R output is the same as L and R input (with a phantom center). We found the focus control to be invaluable when constructing a director's commentary for a DVD-Video. The director wanted the soundtrack on the commentary track, with 5.1 channels but without the original dialog. It was easy to set the focus control to 0 and replace the center channel with the director's spoken-word track.
Pressing the left-most small button under the display navigates the user from the "LRC" page to the "LRS" page, moving from the front soundstage channels to the rear surround ambience and the LFE cut controls. Again, the left knob controls K-level for the rear channels, while the right knob controls the cut-off frequency for the LFE lowpass filter.
In a similar fashion, both front and rear blocks may be shaped by input and ambience filters. Input high- and low-shelving filters have variable corner frequencies and shelf gains. The ambience filter consists of high- and lowpass, as well as a fully parametric bell filter with controls for gain, bandwidth and center frequency.
In the Wordwidth/Sample Rate screen, the user adjusts sample rate (32 to 96 kHz) and selects from 24, 20 or 16 bits dithered or 24 bits undithered. Dither is a variant of TPDF and includes POW-r noise shaping.
Users can save and recall the entire state of the z-K6 via MIDI presets. Our evaluation unit came with only one preset out of the available 50: preset 00. It recalls the z-K6's default settings and cannot be overwritten. The unit also supports limited automation via MIDI commands, including program changes and system exclusive.
TESTING, TESTING…
We began with a client's modern country pop tune, which was overly bright, overly compressed, and thick with artificial instruments and several different reverbs. Although the z-K6 brought some nice air and wideness to the soundstage, the center revealed the vocal processing's ugliness with even more clarity. The surrounds were brittle, and when the whole thing was sent through a Dolby Digital encode/decode loop, the surrounds fragmented even more, which I expected. The z-K6 can work magic on many types of audio, but it cannot perform miracles.
An orchestral mix fared much better. This recording combined spot mics with two spaced-omnis that were too close to the orchestra and too far apart from each other. The z-K6 created a greatly improved center, while the front soundstage and surrounds gave the effect of sitting front and center in the recording space. We were wowed by the separation of the instruments and the clarity of the reproduction. My partner thought the surrounds were a bit bright. However, the z-K6 has rear ambience EQ, and it's easier to remove brightness than add it.
On a wonderful stereo recording of solo cello in a large, slightly reverberant space, I could clearly hear the rosin of the bow, the slap of the hand against the lower body and the resonance of the body with long tones. Again, the z-K6 was true to the original recording's clarity and provided delightfully natural surrounds. Other methods of "extraction" with various techniques muddied the sound of the rosin and lacked the front depth of field that was captured by the original recording and revealed by the z-K6.
The Z-Systems z-K6 produced solid results on many types of stereo material. On most classical pieces, we liked it a lot better than other upmixing methods. The unit also relieved us of having to generate a center channel via Dolby Surround (Pro Logic) de-matrixing, with the added benefit of luscious surrounds. Because this box has active EQ, we'd like to see some overload indicators, and a few presets would help introduce users to the box. For many projects, however, the z-K6 saved the day when other "magic black boxes" couldn't perform the trick. Move this one to the top of your shopping list.
Dist. by TransAmerica Audio Group, 4760 West Dewey Dr., Suite 129, Las Vegas, NV 89118; 702/365-5155; fax 702/365-5145; www.transaudiogroup.com; www.z-sys.com.
K.K. Proffitt is the co-owner of JamSync, a multichannel surround mixing, mastering, DVD authoring and encoding facility located on Nashville's Music Row.
The Networked Audio Track at the 135th Audio Engineering Society Convention Explores the Future of Audio Connectivity
Networked Audio Track at 137th Audio Engineering Society Convention to Explore Broadening Applications in Audio Networking Capabilities
Shape the Future of Audio — Sennheiser Presents AMBEO 3D Audio Technology at CES
Audio-Technica Announces Audio Solutions Department
Junger Audio Unveils Audio Monitoring and Authoring Tools For Immersive 3D Audio at IBC 2015
Game Audio to Be a Major Focus at 137th Audio Engineering Society Convention
DTV Audio Group (DTVAG) to Host "The Accelerating Pace of Change in TV Audio" Forum at the 139th International Audio Engineering Society Convention
Session Info Announced for Upcoming High Resolution Audio Program at 137th Audio Engineering Society Convention


The goods ordered in online stores, clients can take away in points of issue of orders of the MaxiPost Company in Moscow, St. Petersburg and regions of Russia.
3 . Maly Levshinsky Lane, 5. Walking distance from metro station Park Cultury.
1 . Maslyany Lane, 8. The point works on weekdays. with 10.00 till 20.00, on Saturday we wait for you with 10.00 till 14.00.
Points of issue of orders are open in all regions of Russia where regional express delivery by the MaxiPost Company is provided.


Our latest video, celebrating a very special collaboration between Sheridan and Sydney Opera House.
Milan Furniture Fair highlights from the inimitable design studio founder.
View our second episode of MILAN IN COLOUR, featuring Milan Design Week discoveries from our very own editor, Lucy Feagins.
Announcing our newest video series, direct from Milan Design Week 2018 – in partnership with Dulux.
A first look at the National Gallery of Australia's exclusive exhibition of dazzling jewels – Cartier, The Exhibition.
Create a mini oasis of lush indoor greenery with our easy how-to, in partnership with Sheridan Australia.
We explore bedroom styling with colour and texture, in partnership with Sheridan Australia.
Take your bedroom from Winter to Spring, with our new how-to series in partnership with Sheridan Australia.


text:
Q: ultisnips: How to "freeze" vim.current.window.cursor value for snippet I had a snippet that used to work well (neovim 0.2.0)
snippet #= "comment ===" b
# `!p snip.rv = '=' * (78 - vim.current.window.cursor[1])`
# ${1:comments}
# `!p snip.rv = '=' * (78 - vim.current.window.cursor[1])`
endsnippet

This snippet is basically writing python comments block when triggered,
where the length of "=" depends on the position of the cursor.
For a few days now (I don't know which update makes it failing), the length of "=" is decreasing as long as I type my comment.
It looks like vim.current.window.cursor[1] is constantly re-evaluated.
Any idea how to "freeze" the value?

A: I finally found:
snippet #= "comment ===" b
`!p
if not snip.c:
    width = int(vim.eval("78 - virtcol('.')"))
snip.rv = '# ' + '=' * width`
# ${1:comments}
`!p snip.rv = '# ' + '=' * width`
endsnippet

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Through our Catholic Teachings, Thunder Bay Catholic Schools has a solid foundation for supporting Student Mental Health and Well-being. As Catholics, we understand that the mind, body, emotions and spirit are integrated and inter-connected.
Our Catholic Values and Virtues are central to supporting the growth and development of the whole child and serve as the foundation for nurturing positive mental health and well-being. We recognize that this is a shared responsibility, in partnership with the home, Church and community.
Thunder Bay Catholic Schools adopts the Public Health Agency of Canada 2006 definition of Positive Mental Health to guide our work.
Positive mental health is defined as the capacity of each and all of us to feel, think and act in ways that enhance our ability to enjoy life and deal with the challenges we face. It is a positive sense of emotional and spiritual well-being that respects the importance of culture, equity, social justice, interconnections and personal dignity.
School-based mental health counselling services are available to students in our Catholic Schools. Counselling services are brief (time-limited) and focus on addressing immediate needs or issues that may be impacting school functioning.
School mental health professionals work alongside or within school well-being teams consisting of Administrators, Special Education Teachers / Staff, Guidance Counsellors, Indigenous Counsellors, Chaplains and Attendance Counsellors.
Mental health counsellors in our board are regulated professionals who hold a Master's degree in Social Work or other counselling profession. Services are made available to students largely through service contracts and memorandums of understanding with community mental health partner organizations.
Thunder Bay Catholic Schools has a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Children's Centre Thunder Bay (C.C.T.B) for student mental health counselling services.
St Ignatius and St Patrick each have a full-time, dedicated C.C.T.B School Mental Health Counsellor on-site throughout the academic year. Access is through the Guidance Department.
A C.C.T.B Mental Health Counsellor provides school-based counselling services to students at Pope John Paul II School two days a week during the academic year. Bishop Gallagher and Bishop EQ Jennings Schools each have CCTB counselling services for students one day a week throughout the academic year. Access is through Administration or Guidance.
C.C.T.B school-based brief mental health counselling and support services are available to 12 of our 15 elementary schools. Schools identify students who may benefit from additional counselling support at school, consult parents/guardians and if in agreement, schools initiate the referral process by completing a board referral form.The board then arranges for a CCTB school mental health counsellor to follow-up and see the child at school during school hours.
For more information, contact the Board Mental Health Leader at (807) 625-1538.
The Program aims to build mentally healthier schools through capacity building, implementation of best practices in school mental health and collaborations with home and community partners.
For more information contact the School Principal or the Board Mental Health Leader at (807) 625-1538.
Through a memorandum of understanding with the Northwest LHIN, our board has access to a school-based Mental Health & Addictions Nurse (MHAN). The MHAN provides specialist mental health support to our board and works alongside other school staff and board mental health professionals. The MHAN supports students transitioning from hospital to community and back to school, helps with medication questions or concerns, connects students and families to community specialist services and provides support to students at school experiencing acute mental health concerns.
School attendance is important to learning, achievement, social-emotional development and future success. We know from research that school connection –attendance and sense of belonging and acceptance at school – is a key protective factor for child and youth mental health and well-being.
Work closely with families, the board and schools, mental health and social service organizations, child welfare and youth justice sector.
Are registered with the Ontario Association of Counsellors and Attendance Services (O.A.C.A.S).
Community mental health services offer a broader array of service options than what can be offered within school settings. School based mental health counseling services primarily support student functioning at school through brief, skill-based interventions. When needs go beyond what can be addressed in the school, community mental health services offer the right setting and the right expertise.
Structured to support children, youth and families experiencing difficulties in school and areas of life beyond school.
Delivered within a therapeutic setting matched to need. Settings can be clinical or office-based, home-based or in the case of complex needs, hospital or residential.
In a mental health emergency, safety is the immediate concern and help is needed now. Call 911 or go to the hospital emergency department.
Mental health telephone crisis intervention support and information is available 24/7. If face to face support is needed, mobile outreach is available from 3:00pm to 11:00pm. Anyone can call - children, youth, adults.
Oji-Cree & Cree. You can call the help line from anywhere in northern Ontario.


Having not seen the original Ant-Man, or many other Marvel movies for that matter, I didn't go into the sequel with many expectations. All I knew is that Infinity War was on an enormous scale, and that it would have likely been a poor choice for Marvel to make another similar movie so soon after. They didn't, and I am grateful that Ant-Man And The Wasp is the charming, low stakes movie that it is.
Paul Rudd (I know he has a name, but it's basically just Paul Rudd) is on house arrest following the events of Captain America: Civil War, but is called upon again by Hank Pym and his daughter Hope to help them find her mother, who disappeared two decades prior. Unfortunately though, they find themselves interrupted by an inept FBI agent, a scheming black market dealer, and someone with mysterious powers linked to the quantum realm. From here, you could probably work out the entire plot if you wanted to, right down to who ends up with who and who will come out on top. You'll have a good time watching it play out, but don't expect anything too challenging.
The strengths of Ant-Man as a franchise certainly come from its intense absurdity, which the film acknowledges yet doesn't overplay like Deadpool tends to. In this latest film, a Hello Kitty Pez is made huge, a building is often made tiny, and Paul Rudd's best pal Ruiz has a monologue about how he loves Morrissey's 'melancholy ballads'. All of these events contribute greatly to the whimsical, comedic, and lighthearted tone; even the black market mobster is mostly played for laughs. This is somewhat of a double-edged sword however, as without the epic tone of the other Marvel movies, there isn't much left to remember.
Unlike Thor: Ragnarok, a movie bold enough to carve out a distinct and vibrant aesthetic, Ant-Man And The Wasp is one of the most conventional looking films I've seen for a while. The majority of conversations are shown through shot reverse shot, the colour palette is basically non-existent, and the editing is nothing other than functional. Moments that take place in the quantum realm are a more interesting neon, but these scenes are few and far between, and tend to just highlight how visually dull the remainder is.
If you are a fan of Marvel's other outings, you will probably enjoy this one, but don't feel too concerned about missing out on anything if you choose to skip it. On the other hand, if you know very little about Marvel, you may actually have a better time with this movie than you might otherwise assume. Overall, if your goal is to enter the cinema and be entertained for roughly an hour and a half, give this a go, but if you want more than that, don't let your hopes get too high.


text:
Morrow Sodali Hires Global President to Lead Next Stage of Company Growth
Adam Frederick Brings Proven Growth and Technology Experience Within the Financial Sector
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Morrow Sodali, the global investor engagement and governance consulting firm, today announced the appointment of Adam Frederick as Global President. In this newly created position, Frederick will be responsible for leading the business and growth strategy with a priority focus on the US and Morrow Sodali's global business lines including M&A/Activism and Debt Services. Frederick most recently served as Co-founder and CEO at Samurai Data Analytics, where he led the firm's launch and expansion of an award-winning, AI-driven, financial technology platform that provides proprietary data and analytics to global financial institutions.
"Adam has an impressive track record as a senior technology executive and strategic operations leader. He brings a record of success in driving innovation, delivering transformative products, and redefining revenue," commented Alvise Recchi, Chief Executive Officer of Morrow Sodali. "We are excited to have him lead this next phase of our growth as we increasingly leverage technology to better enable our consultants to provide the in-depth advisory services that our corporate and sovereign clients have come to expect from us."
Prior to founding Samurai Data Analytics, Frederick was Head of Global Market Intelligence for Q4, Inc., where he led innovations in Big Data, AI, and Machine Learning and successfully grew revenue. As Co-founder and CEO of Oxford Intelligence Partners, Frederick built an innovative FinTech and Advisory firm which was acquired by Q4. Prior to Oxford, Frederick was a Managing Director, Corporate Solutions, for Nasdaq and held leadership positions with Bloom Partners and Thomson Reuters.
As companies' interactions with shareholders become more complex and stakeholders play an increasing role in company strategy, the need for guidance around these topics is accelerating. Morrow Sodali is uniquely positioned to help corporate customers navigate shareholder engagement, in all of its forms, with the powerful combination of extensive experience and technology.
"There is a tremendous opportunity, particularly here in the United States, to help companies adapt to meet modern stakeholder expectations. Morrow Sodali's distinguished history, combination of deep advisory experience along with deal and transaction support, provides clients with comprehensive solutions to today's complex issues. I look forward to applying my experience scaling companies, leveraging technology and developing strong relationships to expand our US footprint and leverage our strengths globally. I am eager to take on this role and excited for what we will achieve together," added Adam Frederick.
ABOUT MORROW SODALI
Morrow Sodali is a global corporate advisory firm that provides clients with comprehensive advice and services relating to corporate governance, ESG, sustainability, proxy solicitation, capital markets intelligence, shareholder and bondholder engagement, M&A, activism and contested situations.
From headquarters in New York and London and offices in global capital markets, Morrow Sodali serves more than 700 clients in 80+ countries, including many of the world's largest multinational corporations. Clients include listed and private companies, mutual fund groups, stock exchanges and membership associations.
Jennifer Carberry, j.carberry@morrowsodali.com, +1 203 658 9419


The NEW Crystal koi is the most beautiful color option to come out of this studio. Overall it looks blue and upon a closer look you may see green, orange, blue/purple like the inside of a mussel shell and maybe even pink!
-Comes with 18" stand for garden installation.
- Can stay outdoors all year long.
- There is a tail left and tail right variation- we always ship them 50/50 or 1/3 - 2/3 when ordering in odd numbers.
-They do look best in schools of 3 or more.
- Can ship out in 1-3 days.
-18" L x 8" H " x 5 "W - When measured along the center line, with some variation due to the handmade nature of the fish.
This was an amazing present for our Dad on Father's Day and he loved the 3 Crystal Koi we got for him. The quality and artistry for each of these fish is beautiful, and they look wonderful swimming in his garden.
My co-workers and I purchased fish-in-the-garden for our boss as a retirement gift. She enjoys gardening and landscaping and was moving to a new home in Delaware. She absolutely loved the fish and will be sending us pictures after she places them in her new garden. She was so excited as they were so beautiful and unique.
Koi are large and beautiful.
These lovely fish are handmade to order and the new colors are exquisite. They are now swimming among my garden plants and shrubs. The fish had many wonderful comments during a local garden tour, which my garden was one showcased.
I got 4 and each one is very unique and beautiful. They are large and vibrant and really stand out in the garden. Look great together espcially when the sun hits them.


Vaseline brings to you the Intensive Care Deep Restore Body Lotion – a unique blend of micro-droplets of Vaseline Jelly and glycerine that locks-in moisture and heals dry skin even in the harshest winter. The combination of these two moisturizing ingredients work hand-in-hand to rejuvenate dry, itchy skin.. The glycerin pulls moisture to the area of dryness while the micro-droplets of Vaseline Jelly lock in moisture allowing your skin's natural moisturizing factors to fight the dryness right at the source.


text:
Lauren Kendrick
75 North Carolina Fun Facts You Probably Didn't Know
Introduction - From historical facts to funny tidbits about the state, there is so much to learn about North Carolina. Here are...
See all Facts
Grandfather Mountain is a UN-recognised International Biosphere Reserve
Fact 1 - Grandfather Mountain, which sits at the highest peak in the Blue Ridge Mountains, has the honor of being the only...
The state is home to the oldest public university in the United States
Fact 2 - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill claims to be the nations' oldest public university - something that the...
Blackbeard often visited North Carolina's coastline during the 1700s
Fact 3 - Although he is said to have ironically met his fate there, it's thought that Blackbeard would sail around North Carolina's...
zimmytws/Depositphotos.com
Raleigh is home to 3 major museums
Fact 4 - State capital Raleigh boasts 3 major art, history, and science museums: The North Carolina Museum of Art The North Carolina...
North Carolina's state flower is Flowering Dogwood
Fact 5 - Flowering Dogwood was named the official flower of the state in 1941. It's one of the most commonly found flowers...
North Carolina didn't have a state flag until 1861
Fact 6 - North Carolina remained flagless until 1861, when the state convention voted to join the confederacy and a flag was created...
The Venus Flytrap plant is native to North Carolina
Fact 7 - While the Venus Flytrap is native to the east of both North and South Carolina, it was first described in...
Asheville has the most breweries per capita in the US
Fact 8 - Boasting around 100 local beers and counting, Asheville is the place to go if you want to try out some...
The Northern Cardinal is the state bird
Fact 9 - North Carolina picked the Northern Cardinal as the state bird in 1943 - the Cardinal is popular, with seven other...
The tallest lighthouse in North Carolina is Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
Fact 10 - Situated on the Outer Banks, Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is not only the tallest lighthouse in North Carolina but also the...
Swipe Up - Tap or swipe up to see more facts with photos and tips.


NetEnt applies the established framework for internal control issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). This framework encompasses five principal areas: control environment, risk assessment, control activities, monitoring/improvement and communication.
The Board of Directors has defined guidelines for the above work which include roles, responsibilities and processes that are vital in maintaining good internal control. Internal control over financial reporting is thus a process that involves the Board of Directors, the executive management and the employees, and that is designed to provide reasonable assurance of the reliability of the external reporting.
In the document below there is a description of how internal control over financial reporting is currently organised at NetEnt. Internal control is organised in accordance with the guidelines for internal control adopted by the Board of Directors.


text:
<?php

namespace BlueBear\CoreBundle\Manager;

use BlueBear\BaseBundle\Behavior\ManagerTrait;
use BlueBear\CoreBundle\Entity\Map\Context;
use BlueBear\CoreBundle\Entity\Map\ContextRepository;
use BlueBear\CoreBundle\Utils\Position;

class ContextManager
{
    use ManagerTrait;

    /**
     * Return a context with its map item from a starting position to a ending position
     *
     * @param $contextId
     * @param Position $startingPoint
     * @param Position $endingPoint
     * @return Context
     */
    public function findWithLimit($contextId, Position $startingPoint, Position $endingPoint)
    {
        return $this
            ->getRepository()
            ->findWithLimit(
                $contextId,
                (int)$startingPoint->x,
                (int)$startingPoint->y,
                (int)$endingPoint->x,
                (int)$endingPoint->y
            )
            ->getQuery()
            ->getOneOrNullResult();
    }

    /**
     * Return current manager repository
     *
     * @return ContextRepository
     */
    protected function getRepository()
    {
        return $this->getEntityManager()->getRepository('BlueBearCoreBundle:Map\Context');
    }
}


Sterling silver, Turquoise, Red Oyster Shell, Lapis, Opal, and Mojave Turquoise.
Ring is size 5-3/4, it measures approximately 7/8" long and 3/4" wide.
This is a wonderful ring! This ring is a gorgeous piece of jewelry that is hand made out of genuine sterling silver and multicolor inlay. The inlay consists of: real Turquoise, Red Oyster Shell, Lapis, Mojave Turquoise and man made Opal. The inlay is carefully set, while being accented with twisted silver for a beautiful finish. The ring is stamped sterling and hallmarked.


Memes are a pretty important part of the crypto ecosystem – how else would crypto visionaries display their wit and sometimes passive aggressivity?
It's no wonder then that District0x's Meme Factory is seeing quite the buzz.
Not only did District0x raise $9 million in an initial coin offering last year, backed by Boost VC and CoinFund, to name a few, but holders of the ERC-20-based native token, DNT, are already making decisions about the project's future.
And that's perhaps surprising since the application isn't exactly live yet. In plaats daarvan, holders of DNT are able to vote with those tokens in a kind of test environment – one that's all about picking the sickest memes.
And these memes – from a television flashing the word "HODL while a fire rages around it to Vitalik Buterin doctored to look like Jared Leto's The Joker – will eventually be sold within the Meme Factory, an eBay-like marketplace for provably rare digital memes.
The still nascent community has already voted to whittle 100 choices down to the 12 original, limited run memes that will launch with the site.
Sure enough, District0x, announced in May it would run the community polls as a way to start educating its supporters about its community governance mechanisms and give them a sense of all the possibilities.
But the polls haven't just focused on winning memes, the company also gave DNT holders a chance to cast votes on the design of Meme Factory itself, from the basic layout of the webpage to the logo for the site's new cryptocurrency, DANK.
This second token, DANK, is being used currently to incentivize people to participate in the polls. There are one billion DANK tokens, 80 percent of which will be given to community members participating in votes.
Although, once Meme Factory goes live, DANK will be used to run its token curated registry – a way for the community to decide which memes are good enough to get sold on the site.
And as for the DNT token once the platform goes live?
Once the platform is fully built, other entrepreneurs will be able to build websites, or so-called "districts," with a variety of purposes hoping to attract a community. These districts will be decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) that enable posting, searching, reputation and payments, all using District0x's software. Bijvoorbeeld, outside of Meme Factory, District0x also built Name Bazaar, which allows users to buy namespaces on ethereum (firstnamelastname.eth).
The DNT then will be used as a staking mechanism, making sure voters are putting their money where their mouth is as it relates to community decisions.
As it relates to the memes, current token holders have quite a bit of say in how those images will appear to interested buyers.
The memes resemble a trading card, except digital. Dusver, DNT token holders have gotten to vote on what the proportions all memes should be (users voted for 2 X 3, the proportions of a mobile phone's screen) and what the back of each meme card should look like.
Looking back, hoewel, Khoriaty said he wished the team had thought more about interdependencies.
Bijvoorbeeld, they have been collecting memes from interested creators for a long time, but those creators didn't know what the proportions of their memes would be before they designed them. Als zodanig, now that the proportions have been set, the creators will have to redesign some of the memes to fit the layout.
While this wasn't an issue for all the 12 best memes selected, according to Khoriaty, it wouldn't have been a problem at all should they have thought harder about the order in which they wanted the community to be able to decide different questions.
But stepping back, the votes that just happened work in a clever way so as not to turn away token holders that weren't interested in locking up their tokens for less serious polls.
Later, when a user stakes their tokens, those tokens will be locked up, meaning that user then wouldn't be able to sell those tokens on an exchange immediately. This lock-up is likely a bit nerve-wracking for current token holders since the network isn't live, stable and proven, which means the token price could be subject to substantial dips.
Als zodanig, each time there is a vote on Meme Factory right now, the protocol takes a snapshot of the current distribution of DNT tokens across ethereum. It then gives every wallet a new token – a fake DNT – to use in the poll, matching the number of tokens they actually own.
This way, users can stake their current balance to vote, without locking up any real DNT.
"We gave a lot of elementary low impact votes for people to participate in – things that don't really affect the inner workings of the app," Khoriaty said, although he added that he'd like to see the questions asked become more fundamental, such what a district's roadmap should entail.
They've been doing one vote per week since August 20. The results of the final vote, to pick the first 12 memes, was posted on September 25.
With a circulating supply of 600,000,000 DNT tokens, the most popular vote was for the DANK token logo, waarbij meer dan 70 million tokens voted. Normally, votes see participation from about 60 million tokens (although that doesn't mean anywhere close to 60 million users, since users have more than one token a piece). The latest poll, another round of the community's favorite memes, had the lowest turnout, with only 39 million tokens voting.
While a date hasn't been set for the live release of Meme Factory, the founders say they're learning a lot from the community, through discussions on Discord and Telegram, during the votes. A lot of this feedback helps them understand gaps in their educational materials.
"Our users are basically challenging us to come up with details that we didn't even realize we were missing," Khoriarty told CoinDesk.
Urgo says the company will spin up five more districts and then they will release their "editor," what the team calls its software for allowing other people to create districts that use the DNT token for governance.