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Consumer Class Actions
Securities Fraud and Derivative Litigation
Robert M. Bramson
Alan R. Plutzik
Daniel E. Birkhaeuser
Jennifer S. Rosenberg
Paul F. Mahler, Of Counsel
Bramson, Plutzik, Mahler & Birkhaeuser LLP
Dedicated to the highest standards of legal representation
Bramson, Plutzik, Mahler & Birkhaeuser
2125 Oak Grove Rd.
APlutzik@bramsonplutzik.com
Alan R. Plutzik specializes in complex business litigation in state and federal courts throughout the United States. Areas of particular emphasis include consumer class actions, securities fraud and corporate governance litigation, antitrust and communications law. Mr. Plutzik is admitted to practice in California and the District of Columbia (inactive member), and is a member of the bars of the U. S. Supreme Court, the Second, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth and District of Columbia Circuits and numerous federal district courts.
Mr. Plutzik is a graduate of St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland, and received his law degree from the University of California at Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law in 1977. Over the course of his career, he has handled a wide variety of class actions and derivative cases. He has represented, among other clients,
limited partners challenging conduct by their general partners;
consumers and businesses harmed by anticompetitive conduct;
consumers in actions against insurance companies and banks;
investors in securities fraud cases and derivative suits;
employees in ERISA and wage/hour cases;
purchasers of mislabeled and defective products;
victims of toxic pollution;
persons harmed by defective products; and
cellular telephone and cable television subscribers.
Mr. Plutzik has also handled a substantial number of cases that raise First Amendment and other constitutional issues, and has represented broadcasters, cable television companies, communications common carriers and consumers in litigation and in administrative proceedings before the Federal Communications Commission and the California Public Utilities Commission.
He has written or lectured on topics that include class actions, California consumer law, substantive and procedural issues under the federal securities laws, First Amendment issues of new media and cable television law. He has appeared as a guest commentator on the Len Tillem Show on KGO-Radio in San Francisco, discussing class actions, consumer protection and investor rights.
Mr. Plutzik has served as a judge pro tem on the Contra Costa County Superior Court and as a Discovery Facilitator for the Court. He is also President of the Warren W. Eukel Teacher Trust, a community-based charity that honors outstanding Contra Costa County teachers. He has been designated a Northern California Super Lawyer.
Alan R. Plutzik Representative Cases
Mier v. Pacific Bell. Class action challenging the charges for late payment imposed upon California residential telephone customers. A settlement was reached one day before the class action trial was to begin, resulting in a monetary recovery and and injunctive relief that together provided a $38.6 million to the class.
Patrick v. Blue Shield of California. Class action against a health insurer for unfair and deceptive practices and ERISA violations. A settlement of $20 million was negotiated after the close of discovery.
Guyette v. Viacom, Inc. Class action on claims that a cable television company had improperly failed to share certain tax refunds with its subscribers. A $13 million settlement was negotiated shortly before trial.
Green v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. Class action on behalf of California class of policy holders who alleged that MetLife had engaged in misconduct in the sale of life insurance policies. After the California class was certified, the case settled nationwide for consideration in excess of $1 billion.
In re Pacific Lumber Company Securities Litigation. Class action arising out of a tender offer for Pacific Lumber Company by a corporate raider. The class recovered more than $140 million.
In re Worlds of Wonder Securities Litigation. Securities fraud class action, in which the class recovered $9 million from a big-four accounting and auditing firm.
McCall v. Newkirk Capital LLC. Class action challenging a "rollup" of 90 limited partnerships, . A settlement was negotiated under which the class received cash, additional partnership units and a restructuring of assets and agreements with the general partner and its affiliates.
In re Cellphone Termination Fee Cases – Handset Locking Actions. Mr. Plutzik served as co-lead counsel in five coordinated cases challenging the secret locking of cellphone handsets by major national cellphone carriers to prevent consumers from activating them on competing carriers' systems. Settlements were achieved in all five cases that required the carriers to disclose their handset locks and provide unlocking codes nationwide on reasonable terms and conditions.
In re Cellphone Termination Fee Cases – Early Termination Fee Cases. Mr. Plutzik served as liaison and co-lead counsel in cases that challenged the validity of cellphone companies' flat early termination fees ("ETFs"). A $21 million settlement was reached with one of the defendants, Verizon Wireless. A second case against Sprint led to a verdict after trial, which was affirmed on appeal, invalidating Spring's flat ETFs and enjoining Sprint from collecting over $200 million of unpaid ETFs that it had charged to class members, The damages case remains pending. As a result of this litigation, all of the major national cellphone carriers have switched to prorated ETFs that are reduced over time as the customer satisfies the provisions of his cellphone contract.
In re Daisy Systems Securities Litigation. Mr. Plutzik recovered $13.1 million in a Rule 10b-5 action against the directors and officers of a Silicon Valley company.
Runner v. United Parcel Service. Class action on behalf of shippers challenging alleged overcharges by UPS. The class obtained $6.25 million plus injunctive relief.
Hodge v. Franklin Select Realty Trust. Class action arising from a real estate investment trust's merger with two related companies. A $4 million settlement was negotiated.
Barnett v. Glenborough Pension Investors. Class action challenging the restructuring of a limited partnership. The class recovered $2.95 million.
In re Technical Equities Federal Securities Litigation. Securities fraud case arising from a complex Ponzi scheme. A global settlement in the amount of $13 million was reached shortly before trial.
Daniels v. Centennial Group, Inc. Class action arising from a "roll-up" of six real estate limited partnerships. A $3.9 million settlement was reached. The case resulted in an important published opinion regarding the standards for class certification under California law – Daniels v. Centennial Group, Inc., 16 Cal.App.4th 467 (1993).
Liberski v. Rhapsody International, Inc. Class action alleging that subscribers to streaming music service had been overcharged. The case settled on terms that required the defendant to return all overcharges and reform its practices.
Harbor Finance Partners v. BKP Capital Management et al. Class action on behalf of individual and institutional investors, asserting claims of misrepresentation and breach of fiduciary duty against a hedge fund, its general partner and others. The action settled on terms favorable to the class.
McCullough v. Jameson. Individual and derivative case on behalf of shareholders of a privately held oil company against corporate officers for misappropriation of corporate opportunities. The case settled favorably.
Options Backdating Derivative Cases. Mr. Plutzik served as Liaison Counsel in a number of options backdating cases, which settled on favorable terms.
In re Washington Public Power Supply Securities Litigation. Mr. Plutzik represented a law firm in a case that established important principles regarding fees in federal class actions. Published op. at 19 F.3d 1291, 1300 (9th Cir. 1994).
Antitrust Direct and Indirect Purchaser Class Actions. Mr. Plutzik has served in a leadership position in numerous antitrust class actions, including In re California MSG Antitrust Litigation, In re California Infant Formula Indirect Purchaser Antitrust Litigation, In re Korean Noodles Indirect Purchaser Antitrust Litigation and In re Methionine Direct Purchaser Antitrust Litigation.
California Community Television Ass'n v. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and related cases; USA Media, LLP v. Truckee-Donner Public Utility District. Mr. Plutzik represented cable TV companies in successful class action and individual antitrust cases to vindicate their right of reasonable access to utility poles.
Lucero v. Frederick's of Hollywood, Inc. Mr. Plutzik was lead counsel for the class in this wage and hour class action that settled for $950,000.
TCI v. City of Chester; Paragon Cable TV v. City of Brookfield; TCI of Key West v. U.S.; Nor West Cable Communications Ptp. v. City of St. Paul. Mr. Plutzik successfully represented cable TV companies in antitrust and constitutional challenges to government efforts to revoke their right to do business.
Citizens Cable Communications Co. v. Cox Cable Communications Co. Mr. Plutzik represented a cable television company in a contract dispute arising from an option to purchase. A favorable settlement was reached during trial.
Copyright © 2019 Bramson, Plutzik, Mahler & Birkhaeuser LLP. All Rights Reserved.


Estimating the take off angle for use in an airborne speed analysis is one of the more challenging problems a reconstructionist can face. Many times, determining this angle from scene evidence is not possible. More typically, a reconstructionist can determine only two points of the vehicle's trajectory: take off and landing. In these cases, the analyst must assume the angle that will result in the most conservative speed estimate. The resulting minimum speed estimate can yield results that are significantly less that the actual speed.
Although rare, scene evidence may offer a third point in the airborne trajectory. The method offered in this paper applies to those circumstances. Knowing this third point precludes an assumption about the take off angle and results in speed estimates of a fine tolerance.
This paper also presents some mathematical concepts that may be of use to the reconstructionist. These concepts include determining a displacement equation for an airborne trajectory, and an introduction to the differential calculus. It is assumed that the reader has a basic knowledge of trigonometry.
The second-degree equation that is most familiar to a reconstructionist is a quadratic. The standard form of such a second-degree equation is . In this form, A, B, and C are constants (or non-variable coefficients), and is the independent variable. When graphed, this equation describes a parabola. Parabolas occur frequently in nature and are important to the reconstructionist. When air resistance is ignored, parabolas describe the trajectory of a bullet, an artillery shell, or an airborne vehicle. In fact, the study of airborne trajectories is essentially the study of parabolas.
describes a unique parabola and is graphed in Figure 1.
Looking at Equation A, we see that y takes on the following values at specific values of x.
In this case, we knew the equation and then determined three points on the graph. The idea presented in this analysis is to reverse that process. That is, determine the points on the graph, and then write the equation. This is the central concept behind this paper.
These three equations contain three unknown coefficients (A, B, and C). Because we have three unknowns and three equations, we can solve for the unknowns by using a system of equations solution. If we look at Equation  we see that this is easily solved for C, because A and B are both multiplied by zero. This leaves us with C=8. We will now rewrite Equations  and  with our value for C substituted.
We now have an equation that we can solve. Solving Equation  tells us that . We now use this value of A in either Equation 2 or 3 to solve for B. We will arbitrarily choose Equation, and substitute �for A. Doing so yields . Solving for B tells us that B=0. We now substitute our A, B, and C values into the standard second-degree form, which yields . This should look familiar: It is equation A, the equation we used to complete Table 1.
We can conclude from this analysis that providing we know three points on a parabola, we can determine the unique equation for that parabola. Coupled with the previous observation that all freely falling bodies move in parabolic trajectories, we can also observe that if we can determine three points in an airborne trajectory we can find the equation for that unique trajectory. Next, we will discuss some concepts necessary to better understand this process.
We should all be familiar with the term slope, at least when it applies to a straight line. The slope of a line tells us how much the line rises or falls for each unit of horizontal displacement. We examine this concept by referring to Figure 2.
Let's take some points from this graph and present them in a Table.
Looking at Figure 2, we see that for every time our x value increases by 1 unit, the y value increases by 2 units. For example, if we start at the point (0,0) and move to the point (1,2), we see that we moved over 1 unit and up two units. For this graph, we say that the slope is 2.
We do not have to draw a graph in order to determine the slope; we can calculate it mathematically. We can do this with the equation , which is read, the change in y divided by the change in x. This equation may also be written . To calculate the slope of a line using this equation, we pick any two points that exist on this curve (a straight line can be a curve) and substitute them into the slope equation. For this example, we will use the points (0,0) and (1,2). Substituting these points into the slope equation and solving yields . This result agrees with what our visual examination of Figure 2 told us about the slope of the line. In this case, we used the point (0,0) for our point. We could have just as easily chosen the point (2,1), or any other point on the graph, for . This is true because the line has the same slope everywhere along its length. It should be noted that the letter is used to represent slope.
Now for the challenge: how do we determine the slope of the graph described by a curved line, such as the graph in Figure 1? At first glance, this may seem impossible. The fact is, the curve doesn't have a single slope, but infinitely many. The slope is constantly changing.
This problem notwithstanding, we can still find the slope of the curve at any particular point. Let's say we were interested in the slope of when . We can visualize what the slope at this point looks like by drawing a tangent line at the point (1,7). This is shown in Figure 3.
If we could find the slope of this line, we would then know the slope of the curved line at the point , because they are the same. The problem is we only know one point of the straight line, so we cannot calculate the slope using the slope equation. However, when combined with a limit, the slope equation can help us determine the slope of a curved line at a particular point. The definition of a limit can be quite involved. For the purpose of examining airborne trajectories in this paper, we will define a limit as the value of an equation when a variable in that equation approaches a certain value. We will use the equation to demonstrate the limit. What would be the result of this equation if we let x approach zero?
Looking at the graph of Figure 3, we see that as x gets closer and closer to 0, y gets closer and closer to 8. (Note that it does not matter if we approach 0 from the left or the right; either way, the value of y still approaches 8. A thorough study of limits will reveal that this is one of the conditions for the existence of a limit. That is, if we approach zero, in this example, from the left and the right, and y approaches two different values, then the limit would not exist).
We now bring the equation of the slope of a line and the limit concept together in order to calculate the slope of a curved line at a particular point. We will use Figure 4 to help us.
We begin by deriving a general solution to the slope of the secant line (A secant line is a line that intersects a curve in two places) that intersects the parabola. We will use the equation for the slope of a line and the points and . We also need to recall that the equation of this graph is . Knowing the equation, we can rewrite the two points of intersection as and . While this may seem complicated, all we did was substitute the equation of the graph for the y values at the point and . Now we use these two points in the slope equation.
This tells us the equation for a secant line of the graph is . However, we are not interested in a secant line; we want to know the slope of a tangent line to the graph of . To do this, imagine that h in Figure 4 gets smaller and smaller. As h gets closer and closer to 0, the secant line gets closer and closer to becoming the tangent line. In fact, when h is 0, the secant line is the tangent line depicted in Figure 3. With this knowledge, we will use the equation for the secant line, and use our knowledge of limits to get the equation for the tangent line. Thus, we can write . This tells us that the equation for the tangent line, at a point x, for the graph of is .
The concept just introduced is known in the calculus as the derivative. As shown, the geometric interpretation of the derivative is the slope of a tangent line. There are other ways that the derivative can be interpreted, but the geometric interpretation is the one we are interested in for the purpose of this paper.
There are several symbols used to represent the derivative. Two of the more widely used ones are (read prime) and . Thus, we can write: when then ; or when then Another way to show the derivative is to substitute the equation for y into the notation. This gives us .
There will come a time in this analysis when we will be interested in the angle that a tangent line makes with the x-axis. If we recall that the tangent of an angle is the sine of the angle divided by the cosine of the angle, or in terms of the figures in this paper, rise divided by run. As we know, rise divided by run is also known as the slope. Thus, if we know the slope of a line, we should be able to calculate the angle it makes with the x-axis by using the inverse tangent function.
In the example above, we found that the derivative of the equation is . When , the slope of the tangent line is � Using a calculator with trig functions, we find that the angle that has �as its tangent is �.4�. The minus sign tells us that the angle is being measured clockwise from the x-axis.
In the last example, the exponent of x is 1. Subtracting 1 from 1 leaves 0 as the new exponent of x, and anything to the 0 power is 1 (except 0). We also need to know that the derivative of a constant is 0. For example . This is presented without proof, however, the reader is reminded that a line of a constant equation is horizontal, and a horizontal line has 0 slope. The sum rule will also be helpful to us. This rule tells us that to find the derivative of an equation that has more than one term, we find the derivative of each term and add them together. For example, find the derivative of . Solution using the power and sum rules: . Notice that all we did is take the derivative of each term of the equation and then add them together. Recall that . It is a constant and does not affect the derivative.
Let's see how this method would be applied in a real-life situation. We have a car that leaves a two-lane highway, strikes and vaults over a guiderail end-treatment. The vehicle is now airborne over a median, which is 40 feet lower than the roadway surface. During its trajectory, the vehicle strikes and breaks a small tree branch. The vehicle finally comes to rest on the median. This is a circumstance appropriate for this treatment.
In order to make the math simpler, we consider the point where the vehicle vaulted as our origin, or the point . The reader should realize that these coordinates are called x and y. The convention used in this paper orients y in a vertical direction rather than the more customarily used x and y coordinates that lie in the plane of the road. The other two airborne measurements will be related to the points along the airborne trajectory. We find that at the time the vehicle struck the branch, the vehicle's COM had traveled 130.00 feet horizontally and fell 13.30 feet. We will call this point . The COM landed a horizontal distance of 184.00 feet from its vault point and fell a total distance of 40.00 feet. We consider this point . We construct a Table, as we did before, for our three points.
By choosing our first point as , the A and B coefficients are eliminated from this equation leaving us with C=0.
Let's choose to solve this system of equations by eliminating the coefficient. We can eliminate the coefficient if we preferred, but in this case, the coefficients are smaller (working with smaller numbers reduces the chance for errors). The quickest way to eliminate the B coefficient is to multiply Equation [1-2] by Equation[1-3]'s B coefficient, and multiply Equation [1-3] by Equation[1-2]'s coefficient. In addition, in order for the term to drop out of the final equation, one of the new coefficients has to be negative. Therefore, we can multiply Equation [1-2] by �4 and Equation [1-3] by 130.
Solving Equation [1-6] for A yields 174. We can now substitute our known value for A into one of the original Equations ([1-2] or [1-3]), and then solve for B.
Where h is the height (in feet) of the COM and x is the horizontal displacement of the COM.
Equation [1-8] will give us the slope of a tangent line at any point along the vehicle's trajectory. In this case, we are interested in the tangent line when the vehicle first vaults, or when . Substituting 0 for x into Equation [1-8] tells us that the slope of the tangent line at this point is 0.1826. Now we take the inverse tangent of 0.1826, which tells us the vehicle went airborne at 10.35�.
1) The time spent falling equals the time spent traveling horizontally.
2) When the vehicle is at the highest point in its trajectory the tangent line will be horizontal.
We know that when the vehicle is at the highest point in its trajectory, its apex, the tangent line to the trajectory will be horizontal. Since a horizontal line has 0 slope, we will set Equation [1-8], the equation for the derivative, equal to 0 and then solve for x. This will tell us how much distance the vehicle traveled horizontally when it reached the apex.
Because we are only concerned with what the car is doing vertically, we know that the vehicle rises a distance of 3.834 feet to the apex, where the vertical velocity is instantaneously 0 fps. We also know the vehicle acceleration in the vertical direction is always 32.2 ft/sec2, or the acceleration of gravity. Therefore, we can use to calculate the vehicle's initial vertical velocity.
Now, we need to calculate the time it takes the vehicle to fall from its apex, to the point where it hits the ground. We know that the vehicle lands 40.00 feet below its vault point. We also know that the vehicle rises 3.834 feet after vaulting. We can add these two distances together to find how far the vehicle falls from apex to where it first hit the ground.
We see that the results are the same.
Next, we will examine the case if we had not known the third point in this airborne trajectory. In that case, we would have been forced to assume a take off angle for a minimum speed. That calculation follows.
Notice that there is a difference of 12.55 mph between the unknown take off angle minimum speed estimate and the three-point airborne speed estimate method.
This paper introduced a treatment for an airborne trajectory analysis when three points along the airborne path are known. Use of this method eliminates the need for estimating a take off angle. Estimating a take off angle can result in significantly underestimating an airborne speed.
After studying this paper, the reader should be able to apply this approach to any three point airborne trajectory. For those that found this treatment a difficult read, a review of the derivative and systems of equations is recommended.
I wish to give special thanks and appreciation to Professor Josh Guttman of Bergen Community College, NJ, for the time he spent reviewing this paper, and the many hours of enjoyment and knowledge I gained as a student in his physics class.


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The Börde Railway () is a single track (formerly double track), non-electrified branch line in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, running from Duren via Zülpich to Euskirchen. It is named after the Jülich-Zülpich Börde (a plain with fertile loess soil), which it runs through. Today, it is particularly important for freight transport. Every weekend, the Eifel-Bördebahn (RB 28) is operated as a volunteer-operated passenger train. The services is also scheduled to run during the week from 2018, running hourly from 2020.

History

The Rhenish Railway Company (Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, RhE) received a concession on 5 March 1856 for the construction and operation of a railway line between Duren and Schleiden. This route was required by the iron industry in the Eifel to transport ore and coal from the Inderevier and Wurm districts. On 6 October 1864, the Börde Railway was opened between Duren and Euskirchen. The steam locomotive Roer zog hauled seven carriages from Euskirchen to Duren.

In 1871, the section of the Eifel line from Euskirchen to Kall was opened. The Eifel line was then built past its original objective at Schleiden, although a branch line from Kall to Schleiden was not opened until 1884. In 1875, the Kalscheuren–Euskirchen section was completed. In 1880 the Euskirchen–Bonn line was opened. At the same time the Rhenish Railway Company was nationalised by the Kingdom of Prussia.

The level of traffic in 1905 is reflected in the number of tickets sold:
Bubenheim: 21 226 tickets,
Vettweiß: 37 883 tickets,
 Zülpich: 60 532 tickets and
Dürscheven: 22 170 tickets.

The line was duplicated in the 1920s, during the French occupation. Dismantling of the line began in 1955, when the second track was removed between Bubenheim and Dürscheven. At that time only 18 trains ran in each direction each day. In 1964, it was proposed to electrify the  Duren–Euskirchen–Bonn route to create a bypass of the major node of Cologne that could be operated electrically, but this was not realised.

Decline
On 27 May 1979 the Düren–Bonn line was converted into two separate lines for operations, Düren–Euskirchen and  Euskirchen–Bonn, to reduce costs. At the same time, the Düren–Euskirchen line was converted into a branch line and a simplified system of train control (Zugleitbetrieb) was introduced. Deutsche Bundesbahn discontinued scheduled passenger operations on 27 May 1983. The first train for years ran on 6 July 1997 from Düren to Euskirchen.

Takeover by the Dürener Kreisbahn
On 19 December 2002 Dürener Kreisbahn (the transport operator owned by the city of Düren) acquired about 310,000 square metres of land, which comprises the railway track from Düren to Zülpich, from Deutsche Bahn, at a price of around € 860,000.

The Rurtalbahn GmbH, a subsidiary of Dürener Kreisbahn with its headquarters in Düren, operates freight trains on the section between Düren and the industrial siding of the KAPPA Zülpich-Papier company at Zülpich station.

There are continuing efforts to re-establish regular passenger services on the line.
The Zülpich–Euskirchen section has been offered for sale but it has not been sold and is still owned by DB Netze. The track is no longer connected to DB's tracks at Euskirchen station.

Notes

External links

Railway lines in North Rhine-Westphalia

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Perhaps the biggest selling point for DIRECTV NOW is that you get a DIRECTV experience without the contract or setup fees. There's no need to install a satellite dish, so you don't have to pay for that, and though the streaming service isn't quite as robust as its satellite counterpart, you don't have to sign a contract. It really makes it easier to stomach some of the higher-priced packages from DIRECTV NOW because, guess what? You can cancel anytime.
This type of service is also used to circumvent sports network blackouts or simply to mask your identity online from would-be identity thieves. Of course, check with your content provider's terms of service to make sure you are not breaking any end-user agreements. To learn the differences between a Smart DNS and VPN check out my post on VPN vs Smart DNS.
Cable ISPs leverage some of the bandwidth they use to bring people television service to deliver data - thankfully without any noticeable negative impact to the former, in most cases. Cable is an always-on connection, which means that your modem is always in communication with your ISP, and it tends to be faster than DSL because your distance from the service provider isn't an issue. The only drawback of cable internet is that service delivery is sometimes less reliable during peak usage hours, as cable customers local to one another share their bandwidth.
If you haven't heard of Tablo, it is a clever little box. You plug it into your wall socket, connect your over-the-air TV antenna to the Tablo, and then download the sister app to your phone or tablet. The Tablo can connect to your house router via WiFi or by using the included Ethernet cable. I used the cable. Then the app brings up an easy-to-use TV guide on your phone. You can record shows and series as you would with any other DVR, and you can watch live TV through it. Its playback functions and interface are awesome -- much easier to traverse than the one I pay for with ATT -- and let me zip through commercials in seconds. In another part of my home, I have a smart TV with Roku built in. It has a Tablo app on it that allows me to watch my recordings or live TV on the big screen. And I also have a Chromecast on my other TV to do the same.
TCL, America's fastest-growing TV brand, is so excited for National Cut the Cord Day on Saturday, July 7 that we're celebrating all week with a HUGE giveaway! The number of cord-cutters continues to grow exponentially in America as cost savings and viewing flexibility become more and more important. On average the American household spends $103 a month on cable, so in support of National Cut the Cord Day, we're giving away 103 cord cutting bundles - including a 55" TCL Roku TV and a Blade HDTV antenna from our partner Mohu - throughout Independence week to help people like you break free from cable. You read that right, 103 TVs!
Sometimes called "TV Everywhere" apps, these are the apps for individual networks or cable channels that provide video-on-demand of their current shows (usually a day or two after they air). All of them have wildly different interfaces. Almost all of them require you to sign in using existing credentials for a cable or satellite TV subscription. And even then, almost all force you to watch commercials while viewing shows, with no way to skip them.
Sony PS4 (starting at $299.99) / Microsoft XBox ($299 to $499): One of the biggest unexpected players in this space has been the major video game console companies. The Sony PS4 and Xbox One X are state-of-the-art in terms of their streaming capabilities, and they're even creating their own services that attempt to serve the same functions as traditional cable TV. (More on that later.) The Xbox One S, Microsoft's previous model, was still for sale as of August 2018, at $200 less than the One X. Click here to compare the two on the Xbox website.
While bundles are often a great deal - especially for people who love sports or movies - it's important to be aware that some companies' ultra-competitive bundle pricing is valid for a limited time only (e.g., six months or a year), after which time the cost of the bundle goes up. In some cases, customers are able to extend the duration of the promotional pricing just by calling the cable company and speaking with a representative.
Love your story Ron P. I laughed out loud when I got to where indirect tv gave you the impetus. It is too bad that there is so much evil greed in this world. Even beyond the outrageous satellite and cable costs that is why even with streaming services many of us have to pay for a load of channels we don't need. We get about half an hour of content per hour, so even with all of the ad revenue they also charge us a ton to send their ads to us. I do not trust them to not run a lot of these costs up when they get us again stuck using their services. If it isn't collusion it is in effect the same thing. Evil.
Credit: ShutterstockTom's Guide compared all three services head-to-head-to-head, and discovered that Netflix is generally the best of the three. However, the services do not offer exactly the same thing. Netflix is a good all-purpose service, while Hulu focuses on recently aired TV, and Amazon Prime is part of a larger service that also offers free shipping on Amazon orders, e-book loans and other perks. (Viewers who just want Amazon Video without any other perks can now subscribe to it for $9 per month.)
So question…. my tv has 2 inputs on the back that look like cable connections. One is an ATSC input, and the other is a QAM (cable) input. I want my PIP to work, but I cannot receive any DTV signal by connecting my DTV antenna to the QAM and ATSC inputs. I get the channels on the ATSC, but not the QAM input, so PIP will not work. How do I get my TV to now allow me to continue using PIP, now that I've cut cable and only have an ATSC digital antenna? Any ideas on equipment to buy or adjustments I need to make?
If you're always in the mood for a complete home entertainment experience, then take our advice. And bundle up! In this way, you'll be able to enjoy all the awesome benefits that come with having an all-in-one service. We're talking cable TV and high-speed internet wrapped up in one subscription plan. Or a 'double play' package, if you want to get all technical! You can even opt for a triple play offer and have a budget-friendly home phone deal thrown into the mix. And once you're signed onto one of these high-end packages, you won't want for anything more. Not if it's some primetime screen entertainment that you're after. Live TV, Premium Channels, 'On Demand' movies & TV shows, Hulu and Netflix. You've got to trust us when we say, that 'TV will never be the same!'
When deal searching, be sure to inquire about the data download caps of your potential internet service provider. They will typically indicate this in the gigabytes (GB) you can transfer in a month. In this case, your video quality is an important factor. For example, a cap of 250 GB will allow for about 280 hours of standard definition streaming, but only 83 hours of high definition at 1080p. So be mindful and aware of the fine print.
If streaming is, indeed, just New Television — or, perhaps more accurately, Old Television Again But Arguably More Expensive And More Complicated — then what benefit does that actually have for the end-user? The material has migrated to platforms where the audience already exists, but in a more unwieldy fashion that all but eliminates the free-view option of broadcast television, limiting its potential audience and penalizing low-income customers.
Nothing is perfect. I can easily imagine more flexible user interfaces and certainly look forward to more customer friendly and consistent licensing rights for TV episodes. Long term, the good news is that content creators are essentially carrier agnostic. "They've learned the lessons of the music industry and want to get their content in front of viewers on whichever platform they choose to consume it," says Robin Diedrich, media analyst at Edward Jones.
What do you do when your cable box is more useful for telling the time than delivering movies and TV? A decade-plus after Netflix added streaming video the internet is ready to take over for cable and satellite, offering more options and lower rates. Now that you're ready to pull the plug, there's a lot to consider, like who has what, what works where and how much everything costs.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


What are the seat belt laws in the UK?
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Mike Fisher as an award winning freelance director who creates commercials and digital content for AAA brands and television channels.
His work focuses on beautiful aesthetics, emotional storytelling and strong visual narratives.
Fisher began his career in post-production, having worked as an Editor, Post-Production Supervisor, Colourist and Visual Effects Supervisor. During this time, he worked on three feature films, as well as hundreds of hours of broadcast television. Now he combines his visual effects and motion-graphics knowledge with live action filmmaking to create visually rich work.
His recent credits include the ITV World Cup titles (2018) which were seen by over 50 million people during its broadcast, and Digital Broadcast Award winning short film Last Words - an independent film reaching an online audience of 6.4 million.
He has worked with high profile sport talent such as Neymar Jr, Willian Borges da Silva, Dele Alli, Hugo Lloris, Victor Moses, Felipe Massa, Jake Humphrey and Skulk Burger as well as a host of actors, presenters and models.
// Also available for freelance work.
© 2019 Mike Fisher: Director. All rights reserved.


text:
Q: Problema con visualización de datos Estoy aprendiendo R la función pipe. Quiero filtrar unos datos en función del mes del año. Sin embargo, al momento de querer visualizar la información me sale:

Error: unexpected symbol in:
"View(resumen)
resumen"

No sé qué puedo hacer.
resumen<-data%>%
  select(FECHA,NUMERO.DE.CLIENTES,ENTIDAD)%>%
  mutate(cliente = as.numeric(substr(data$NUMERO.DE.CLIENTES,1,20),
         fecha = Date(data$FECHA,format="%m/%d/%Y"),
         anio = year(data$FECHA),
         mes = month(data$FECHA))%>%
    filter(mes<7)%>%
  group_by(ENTIDAD)%>%
  summarise_each(funs(
    media=mean(.),
    minimo=min(.),
    maximo=max(.)),NUMERO.DE.CLIENTES)%>%
arrange(mes)%>%
View(resumen)

A: El pipe %>% es una herramienta que encadena funciones y que siempre traslada la salida de una, a la entrada de la siguiente, siempre completando de manera automática el primer parámetro.
En tu caso View() está dentro de un lote de funciones encadenadas por pipe, por lo que si lo que buscas es visualizar los datos finales, no necesitas indicar nada más, simplemente, haz View() o incluso solo View:
...
arrange(mes)%>%
View()

Ahora bien, si tu idea en realidad era agregar un titulo al visualizador de datos, ese es otro cantar, el titulo, es ,sí el segundo parámetro de View() y en este caso se espera una cadena:
...
arrange(mes)%>%
View("Resumen")

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Harrogate Jujitsu Club is located at Starbeck Community Nursery & Primary School, High Street, Starbeck, Harrogate. HG2 7LL.
The entrance is located at the side of the main building (just behind the War Memorial). There is on-site car parking.
Beginners always welcome. First session is FREE.


text:
Камјенка може бити:

 Камјенка (Стара Љубовња), насељено мјесто у округу Стара Љубовња, Прешовски крај, Словачка Република
 Камјенка (Хумење), насељено мјесто у округу Хумење, Прешовски крај, Словачка Република


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Gay Adoption: All The Terms You Need to Know
Here are a list of terms for gay men, couples and singles, considering adoption.
Though no two adoptions are identical, they do all have one unfortunate thing in common: jargon, jargon and more jargon. For prospective gay dads just about to embark on the adoption process, we've put together a list of common terminology you're likely to encounter throughout your journey.
Did we miss any terms? Leave a comment below and we'll be sure to update the list!
Adoption: A process in which an adult assumes the legal parenting responsibilities for another, usually a minor, from that person's biological or legal parents. The process is permanent and legally binding.
Adoption Agency: A public, private, or religious organization licensed with the state that connects birth parents and children who need families to adoptive parents. Agencies can be either for-profit or not-for-profit.
Adoption Placement: The point in an adoption process where a child begins to live with prospective adoptive parents.
Adoption Subsidies: Funds provided by federal or state governments to help adoptive parents offset some of the costs associated with adopting children who need special services.
"At-risk" Adoption: When adoptive parents accept placement of a child when the birth parents' rights have not yet been legally severed or when the appeal period has not yet expired.
Consent to Adopt: The legal agreement by a biological parent, legal guardian, or agency to relinquish all legal rights and duties to a child. In most states, consent must be in writing and notarized or executed before a judge.
Legal Custody: Someone with legal custody has the right, and legal obligation, to make decisions about a child's care and wellbeing. This includes decisions related to schooling, medical care, and religious upbringing. Even though a foster parent of agency has legal custody over a child, however, biological parents can retain their parental rights and might have full legal custody restored.
Decree of Adoption: The document that must be signed by a judge to finalize an adoption. A decree of adoption formally bestows full parental rights and obligations upon the adoptive parent, and terminates the rights and obligations of the birth parents.
Disruption: A term used to describe the termination of an adoption process prior to the finalization of the adoption. A disruption can happen for any number of reasons. An adoption agency may disrupt the adoption if adoptive parents are not complying with requirements, for instance, or adoptive parents themselves may choose to disrupt the adoption process. Some agencies have begun referring to this process as "re-homing."
Dissolution: A term used to describe the termination of an adoption after the finalization of the adoption. Dissolution is initiated by the adoptive parents, and usually occurs as a result of improper levels of education or information of the part of adoptive parents.
Domestic Adoption: The adoption of an infant from the United States with the help of an adoption agency or attorney.
Federal Adoption Tax Credit: Passed in 1997 under President Bill Clinton, this tax credit helps adoptive families offset the costs of adoption. The credit is applied once per adopted child. Some states also offer tax credits, providing an additional level of support.
Finalization Hearing: The last step in the adoption process, when a court issues a "decree of adoption," thus making the adoption permanent and binding. Depending on the jurisdiction, finalization hearings can take place anywhere between three months to a year after a child is placed with adoptive parents.
Foster Parent: An individual or couple who has temporary care of a child but has no legal rights in determining certain aspects of a child's life. As of now, no state in the country explicitly prohibits LGBT individuals from becoming foster parents. However, some states have taken steps to made the process more inclusive for LGBT foster parents.
Foster to Adopt: This refers to a placement in which the foster care parents plan to fully adopt the child if and when parental rights are terminated. Also called Foster-Adopt.
Guardian ad litem (GAL): A person appointed by a court to investigate what solutions would be "in the best interests of the child" in question. Courts sometimes use GALs to make custody recommendations. The (Latin) phrase ad litem means "for the (law)suit."
Hague Adoption: The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption ("Hague Convention") is a multi-country treaty enacted in 1993 that provides important safeguards to protect the best interests of children, birth parents, and adoptive parents who are involved in intercountry adoptions. It is designed to combat child trafficking within international adoptions.
Home Study: A process every prospective adoptive parent must complete to be able to legally adopt in the United States. A home study is comprehensive, and typically includes: inspections of the home of the adoptive parents, an evaluation of the relationship between the adoptive parents, the medical history of the adoptive parents, employment verifications, verification of financial status, and criminal background checks.
International Adoption: An international adoption refers to the adoption of a child who is a citizen of one country by adoptive parents who are citizens of a different country. (Very few countries allow adoption by same-sex parents.)
Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC): Established in 1974, the ICPC established uniform procedures to govern the interstate placement of children. In The ICPC requires prospective adoptive parents who are involved in an adoption across state lines to comply with the adoption laws of the child's state of residence.
Independent Adoption: The process of pursuing an adoption without the help of an adoption agency. It is also known as a private adoption. Parents who pursue independent adoptions must still enlist the help of adoption lawyers and other professionals to help with the process. Independent adoptions are not legal in every state.
Joint Adoption: A legal process that allows two unmarried people to petition to adopt a child together at the same time.
Life Book: A resource social workers help adoptive parents create for their children to help explain their background and history. Life books, which are often illustrated, can sometimes be created with the help of birth parents.
Matching: An adoption matching refers to process social workers and other adoption professionals undergo to place a child with adoptive parents. Matches are made on the basis of any number of factors, such as the specific needs of the child and the wishes of the adoptive parents.
Multi-Ethnic Placement Act/Interethnic Placement Act (MEPA/IEPA): Taken together, these two laws, enacted in 1993 and 1996 respectively, remove race, ethnicity, and country of origin from consideration when adoption professionals consider adoption matches.
Open Adoption: A form of adoption where certain information is shared between birth and adoptive parents to maintain some level of connection. In an open adoption the level of contact between birth and adoptive parents can vary widely.
Parental Rights: The rights (such as decision-making abilities) and obligations (such as providing care and financial support) associated with being the legal parent of a child.
Post-Adoption Services: Services sometimes available to adoptive families, from therapists to financial planning, after the successful completion of an adoption.
Post-Placement Supervision: Following the placement of a child, but before the finalization of an adoption, a social worker will complete a series of home visits with the adoptive family. The specifics of post-placement supervision vary by state.
Private Adoption: See Independent Adoption.
Second Parent Adoption: A legal procedure by which a same-sex parent, regardless of whether he or she has a legally recognized relationship to the other parent, is able to adopt her or his partner's biological or adoptive child without terminating the first parent's legal status.
Special Needs Child (or Children): A child (or children) who may have mild to severe physical or mental needs. Some adoptive families of special needs children are eligible for subsidies to help accommodate the needs of the children.
Termination of Parental Rights: A legally binding process that eliminates a parent's rights and obligations to a child.
Waiting Children: A term used to describe children who will not return to their biological and legal guardians, and need permanent, adoptive homes.
Workplace Adoption Benefits: Benefits (such as reimbursements and parental leave) offered by some employers to employees who choose to adopt.
For more, read our article "6 Adoption Tips That Every Prospective Gay Dad Needs to Know."
Don't forget to read our indispensable guide to adoption: "Paths to Gay Fatherhood: The Adoptive Dad."
Check out our article "7 Children's Books About Gay Dad Adoptive Families."
gay adoption glossary adoption
'Homosexuality is Wrong' Utah Teacher Tells Boy Who Gave Thanks for His Two Adoptive Dads
The substitute teacher went on to say two men living together is "sinful." She was fired shortly after.
To anyone with a heart, the moment should have done nothing more than bring a tear to the eye. Last week, just before the Thanksgiving break, a substitute teacher in a fifth grade class in Cedar Hills, Utah — just south of Salt Lake City — asked her students to name something they were thankful for this holiday season.
"I'm thankful for finally being adopted by my two dads," said Daniel, one of the boys, when it was his turn.
Rather than grab a tissue to dab her eyes, or ask the classroom to join her in a hearty round of applause to celebrate Daniel finding his forever family, the teacher took it upon herself to impart her personal religious beliefs onto the young boy. "Homosexuality is wrong," the teacher said in front of the class, adding that it was "sinful" for two men to live together.
The teacher, fortunately, was fired from Kelly Services, the substitute staffing company that employed her, quickly after the incident, but the moment is nonetheless receiving widespread attention in the press — no doubt in part because one of the boy's dads, Louis van Amstel of "Dancing With the Stars," posted a video clip to his 76,000 Twitter followers with the title: "Our child was bullied."
"It shouldn't matter if you're gay, straight, bisexual, black and white," he said to the New York Times in a follow up interview. "If you're adopting a child and if that child goes to a public school, that teacher should not share her opinion about what she thinks we do in our private life."
Louis also revealed that the moment may not have come to light were it not for three of his son's classmates, who told the principal about the teacher's bigoted comments. His son, Daniel, didn't want to report the incident for fear of getting the teacher into trouble.
Our child was bullied. pic.twitter.com/gZ5yI0Z2F0
— Louis van Amstel (@LouisVanAmstel) November 22, 2019
Louis expressed thanks that the staffing company responded as quickly as it did following the incident — and also stressed that his neighbors and community have rallied behind he and his family in the days afterward, offering support. He wanted to dispel stereotypes that Utah, because of its social conservatism and religiosity, was somehow inherently prejudiced.
"It doesn't mean that all of Utah is now bad," he told the Times. "This is one person."
It's also true that this type of prejudice is in no way limited to so-called red states, and incidents like these happen daily. LGBTQ parents and our children are subjected to homophobic and transphobic comments in schools, hospitals, stores, airlines and elsewhere as we simply go about living our lives. These moments so often fly under the radar — many classmates don't have the courage, as they fortunately did in this case, to report wrongdoing. Some administrators are far less responsive than they were here — and most of us don't have 76,000 Twitter followers to help make these moments of homophobia a national story.
All that aside, let's also get back to what should have been nothing more than a heartwarming moment — Daniel, a fifth grade boy, giving thanks to finally being legally adopted into a loving family.
Amazon's New "Modern Love" Series Includes Episode on Open Adoption
The episode is loosely based on the New York Times "Modern Love" essay written by sex columnist and activist Dan Savage.
In 2005, Dan Savage, the gay sex columnist, contributed one of the most talked about essays for the Modern Love column in The New York Times. Better known for his acerbic wit and cutting political commentary, Savage exposed a more vulnerable side in this piece, sharing the highs, lows and everything in between that comes from the experience of pursuing an open adoption.
His son DJ's birth mother was experiencing what Savage called a "slo-mo suicide": homeless by choice, in and out of prison, and surrounded by drugs. Though Savage has chosen an open adoption so that DJ's birth mother would be a presence in his son's life, she often disappeared for months and sometimes years at a time without contacting the family, leaving their young son with lots of questions and no satisfying answers.
The piece ends on a heartbreaking note, with Savage simply seeking some sort of resolution. "I'm starting to get anxious for this slo-mo suicide to end, whatever that end looks like," he wrote. "I'd prefer that it end with DJ's mother off the streets in an apartment somewhere, pulling her life together. But as she gets older that resolution is getting harder to picture."
At the time, many interpreted Savage's story as a cautionary tale for those considering open adoptions. But in 2016, on the Modern Love Podcast, he asserted that was not his intention: "DJ's mom is alive and well," Savage said. "She's on her feet. She's housed. We talk on the phone occasionally. She and DJ speak on Mother's Day and on DJ's birthday." He added that he "would hate to have anyone listen to that essay or to read it — which was written at a moment of such kind of confusion and despair — and conclude that they shouldn't do the kind of adoption that we did," Savage said. "I think that open adoption is really in the best interest of the child, even if … it presents more challenges for the parents. So I encourage everyone who's thinking about adoption to seriously consider open adoption and not to be dissuaded by my essay."
Now, Savage's piece is getting the small screen treatment as one of 9 episodes included in Amazon Prime's adaption of the column. The episode inspired by Savage's essay, "Hers Was a World of One," contains some departures from Savage's original story — Savage's character, played by Fleabag's Andrew Scott, adopts a daughter rather than a son, for example, and the episode concludes closer to the upbeat note struck in the Podcast version of hist story than in the column.
Either way, we welcome any and all attention to the complexities of open adoption. Check out the episode (which also randomly includes Ed Sheeran in a couple scenes) and tell us what you think!
Adopting Dogs Improves Gay Couples' Relationships, Says Adorable Study
In what may be a "pre-curser to parenthood," 56% of gay and bi couples reported spending more time with their partners after adopting a dog.
As part of what may be the most adorable study you never knew you needed, pet-sitting website Rover.com found that gay and bi couples who adopt dogs reportedly boast stronger relationships as a result — 56% of gay and bi couples said they spent more time with their partners after adopting a dog. More than half of participants also said that owning a dog can help prepare couples for children.
Interestingly, gay and bi couples were also more likely to prepare for potential difficulties in their arrangements — 21% of gay and bi couples reported setting up a "pet-nup" agreement to determine custody of their new pup in case their relationship didn't last. Only 12% of straight couples, in contrast, did the same.
"You can outline the practicalities of what would happen in the event you split from your partner whether you have joint or sole custody," Rover.com dog behaviorist Louise Glazebrook told Australia's QN News. "It's a real tragedy to see breakups results in dogs needing to be re-homed.
There was, however, one clear downside to pet ownership mentioned in the study — 17% of respondents said they have less sex now that they're sharing a bed with their pup.

After briefly considering adoption, Matthias and Janno decided that surrogacy was the best path for their family. "The main reason we chose surrogacy was because we wanted to be part of our child's early years," said Matthias. They wanted to be there for their child's development and create a bond as parents right from the beginning.

But forging ahead with their surrogacy journey was not easy. Commercial surrogacy is not legal in the U.K., meaning it is against the law for anyone to profit from an arranged surrogacy agreement. Only altruistic surrogacy is allowed and it can be a fairly lengthy precess before Intended Parents are recognized as the legal guardians of their child. "We were lucky to be accepted by COTS (Childlessness Overcome Through Surrogacy) in September 2016 following an initial wait period lasting for about half a year. It took as another year before we were matched with a surrogate and treatment commenced."

But things didn't go quite as planned after their initial match. Their first transfer resulted in a miscarriage at 7 weeks and then that was followed by a failed transfer. "Due to further medical complications, we needed to find another tummy mummy," explained Matthias. "Along came Katie. With just two embryos left all our hopes were pinned on her and the third attempt. And third time, lucky we were!"

Their daughter Isabella was born on August 20, 2019.

"There are no words to describe the feeling when you are holding your baby in your arms for the first time. The rush of emotions and unconditional love, which keeps growing stronger and stronger with each day going by."

The dads daily lives are now completely different and revolve around Isabella's needs. "Everything takes a lot more time! To catch a train, we used to arrive at a station just minutes before, now we give ourselves plenty of time as babies can be very unpredictable! We have opted for reusable nappies, so the whole house has turned into one big laundry room. Gone are the days of spotless and tidy house! We also spend a lot more time together at home, and have friends visiting us rather than meeting them in town. We do try to have a date night every couple of weeks when Isabella's grandmother comes for a visit and looks after her."

While the paperwork is still yet to be finalized - they had a November 6, 2019 date set but the court-appointed case worker failed to file her report in time for the meeting so it was postponed - but the couple understand it to be more of a formality. "We are on the home stretch!"

The new family of three continue to stay in close contact with their surrogate Katie and her family, exchanging messages daily. Katie lives in Yorkshire with her husband and three children - twins aged 7, and an 8 year old. "We plan to see them in Yorkshire at the beginning of January. We have become good friends with Katie and this relationship will absolutely continue. We have also become rather attached to Katie's children as have they to us. They are like our extended family!"

For now the dads are content with their small family but hope to one day add a sibling for Isabella to the mix. And for the future, Matthias and Janno plan to make their relationship "official" by getting married but they're waiting for the day that Isabella and a potential sibling can play a role in their dads' wedding.

As for advice to other dads considering surrogacy in the U.K., the two recommend joining some of the U.K. surrogacy groups on Facebook to make connections and get information. "There are surrogacy organizations bringing together would-be parents and potential surrogates, but due to the lack of surrogates it may take a long time before you get matched," explained Matthias. "You want to be active and visible on chat groups as a lot of the surrogates follow these groups and it may be easier to strike up a conversation. Potential surrogate will want to get to know you as a person before you move onto talking about sperm and eggs! It's a bit like dating!"

Famous Gay Dads and Their Kids!
These Gay Dads Went Viral After 'One Direction' Star Niall Horan Tweeted This Photo
6 Dads Share Their Coming Out Stories


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As of the first day of February, I finished The Moon-spinners for a total of eight books read for Romance Bingo. Unfortunately, no BINGO so far. I had been hoping to read one more Tessa Dare book to fill the Historical Romance square for a BINGO, but for lots of reasons, my reading started to lag behind nearing the end of the month.
I'm working on a series review for Cynthia Eden's For Me trilogy and will have it posted as soon as I finish listening to the last book, Scream for Me. I'm considering counting this book for Key to My Heart based on our main couple's "I've never felt this way before" monologues along with the whole, "This is the first time I've ever told anyone about my dark, dark past" conversation that just took place mid-book... typical of a lot of Rom-Suspense.
Insta-love -- As I mentioned above, I'm hoping that one of the many Rom-Suspense books I read will have insta-love.
Young Adult -- I'd like to read Kasie West's newest book, but I'm hesitant to purchase it. Chances are, I will probably listen to the audio book version of The Distance Between Us, my first of Kasie West favorites.
Regency Romance -- Many options, probably another Tessa Dare... or maybe something by Amanda Quick.
Blown Away -- No idea what to read for this square.
Secret Billionaire -- Probably going to just steal some ideas from someone else's square.
Fairy Tale Retelling -- I was going to read Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier. But at the rate that I'm going, and with the length of this book, I'm not sure I'll be able to finish it and all the other books before the end of this month. I may just chose another book, like maybe Cybele's Secret also by Juliet Marillier, and also part of my Reading Assignment Challenge this year.
Pirates Argh -- Nothing chosen yet. Will have to steal ideas.
Interracial Couple -- I have a Rom-Suspense that has an interracial couple, but I don't know if I want to read that one. Any ideas?


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The Initiation of Stacie: An Interview with Final Girl Stacie Ponder, Part II: Final Chapter
Posted by Richard Harland Smith on February 24, 2012
Last week I sat down with Final Girl blogger-slash-filmmaker-slash-illustrator-slash-slasher aficionado-slash-other-stuff to talk about her cool new slasher movie primer Slashers 101 and the love that dare not speak its name… namely, cheap horror movies. And mid-priced and also expensive ones. Stacie's got a unique mind and a great way of looking at things and after years of parallel play in the blogosphere it's been fun to actually talk mano-a-metal-hook with her. (In the spirit of full disclosure, I should point out that Stacie kinda sorta interviewed me back in October 2010. Or, really, just asked me one question and then I kept on talking, as is my wont.) We're wrapping up our thing today, sadly, because all good things must come to an end, especially when you rock freelance. When we left off last Friday, Stacie and I were talking about those particular horror movies in which we were inordinately drawn in by the characterizations and, yes, even touched and/or moved and otherwise poignanted by the plight of various ill-starred dramatis personalities. On that note, and without any further ado or folderol…
RHS: This brings us to the question of empathy, which always seems a bit in short supply with fans of horror movies. One of the things I appreciate about your blog, Final Girl, is that despite the avalanche of wit and wordplay you have a conscience — and you're not afraid to use it. I was heartened by your review of NECROSIS (2009), which you took to task for capitalizing on the historical Donner Party situation, for fudging the facts in a completely cynical, commercial way in order to weave out of the elements a Grade-G horror movie, which you likened to "making a horror movie about the ghosts of Dachau or the vengeful spirits of the victims of September 11." That was one of those stand-up-and-applaud WALKING TALL (1973) moments for me, though I actually did neither of those things. But I wanted to.
SP: Argh, that movie! I don't know what's worse- the fact that a whole bunch of people thought "Yes! We have no problem using the tragedy at Donner Pass as a cheap plot device!" or the fact that the tragedy at Donner Pass ended up being completely dropped partway through the movie and wholly useless as a cheap plot device. I mean, if you're going to be tacky and disrespectful, then just do it, you know? And yeah, I do find it tacky and disrespectful. Taking real-life horror and twisting it into some substandard, lousy ghost movie? I don't understand. I'll watch a movie about Jeffrey Dahmer and I'll watch a movie about John Wayne Gacy, but this DAHMER VS GACY (2011) business, I don't get it.
RHS: Nor do I, Stacie. Nor. Do. I.
SP: I've been called out on Final Girl for being…I don't know, a bit of a delicate flower sometimes, I suppose. I love horror movies, but I do have my limits. I'm not into watching people suffer, necessarily — though I do loves me some MARTYRS (2008) — and at times I question why I do, in fact, love horror movies. I don't see a problem with thinking about these things, but I've received comments from fellow fans that run from "they're just movies!" to the suggestion that I'm not well-adjusted. The world, she really don't move to the beat of just one drum, I guess.
RHS: You've gotten some strange and even hostile feedback at a site that strikes me as being wholly inoffensive. I mean, if you can get past the fact that at least 90% of what you write about can be branded by a certain demographic as offensive in nature (with respect to violence, nudity, language and possibly religion), you are, by your own admission, fairly gentle in nature and you have never been provocative or encouraging of extreme behavior. And yet you seem to be a magnet for cranks. In all my years as a horror blogger, I've never had that reaction. Do you think it's because you're a woman?
SP: I don't know why it is, really, although some of it certainly has to do with the fact that I'm a woman. I mean, I think I can safely assume that the majority of male writers and bloggers simply don't get the same sort of hostile feedback that their female contemporaries do. I don't really receive any "you're a girl so your opinion on horror is wrong" messages, but I do get a large amount of…hmm, vaguely harassing comments. You know, about how much a commenter wants to make the sex with me or some such. Some people assume that the woman in the photo in my blog header is me (it's not- it's Anna Faris), so they like to tell me how hot I am. Even some reviews of my work begin with "It's a neat site/comic/whatever" and end with talk of marriage. I know some people are flattered by that kind of thing, and maybe some of it is flattering- but I could do without 99.9% of those comments. I mean, it's nice that you like me, but I just want to talk about horror movies or MATLOCK. I don't want to date you.
RHS: It's all so deeply weird, isn't it?
SP: I also do get plenty of insulting comments, but mostly those just make me laugh. I hate the fact that they're just part and parcel of the Internet and yeah, I try to be inoffensive- although there's no doubt plenty of my writing turns people off. But if there's one thing I really can't stand it's people who insult one another over opinions. Sure, I may not understand why someone likes Rob Zombie films, but I'm not going to get into some argument over why that person is wrong or start name-calling, and I don't let those kind of comments fly on Final Girl. I'll argue and disagree and discuss, but everybody likes different things and the heart wants what the heart wants, yes? Yes. And I don't go around thinking that my opinion matters more than anyone else's simply because I have a blog or I've written for whatever magazine. I like a lot of crap.
RHS: You've recently made the jump from writing about movies to making them. How has that gone for you?
SP: I suppose my filmmaking experiences have gone fairly well, if only because I'm not making them for money. The movies I've made, I've made simply to make them and to have the experience of the process. I make a lot of things using different media- comics, paintings, etc- and these films were really just another way for me to get ideas out of my head. I have some scripts sitting around that I fully intend to shoot one day, but man, living in Los Angeles really burnt me out on making movies and also on writing about them for a long time. Even at my podunk level, it was all still so…so…Los Angeles. Everyone wanting to get something out of you, everyone immediately sizing you up to figure out where you fit in the social hierarchy…it just turned me off big time. I was sort of a part of the horror community out there, but I never really fit in with it- I'm not really into any "scenes" or the such, and believe me, I am decidedly uncool. I'd rather stay home in my Fortress of Solitude and watch some crappy VHS than go be "seen" at some event or whatever. I liked horror movies much more before I got a peek at all the wizards behind the curtain, you know?
RHS: Do you think on some level that horror needs to be rescued from the horror fanbase? Or at least something needs to be kept clear of the somewhat insular circles of horror lifers if the genre is going to remain primary and visceral?
SP: Hmm, that's a good question. I suppose any rabid fanbase has its light side and its dark side. Horror fans are incredibly loyal- they dutifully follow the careers of certain directors and actors, and they make sure that whomever played Tutu Zombie in George Romero's WHATEVER OF THE DEAD 30 years ago can enjoy a fairly lucrative second career traveling the convention circuit. Hell, Tutu Zombie is treated as a hero!
RHS: Well, sure, especially with the passing of Sweater Zombie.
SP: And, you know, John Carpenter could make nothing but crap for the rest of his life, but horror fans will line up because he made HALLOWEEN. I think that's pretty cool. And I love that horror fans can be real movie nerds, trading VHS back and forth, or getting incredibly excited to finally track down a bootleg copy of the Producer's Cut of some awful film. Horror fans keep the midnight circuit alive and nerd out over a 35mm print of PIECES (1982) — as well they should, it's the best!. Horror fans really love horror, and I really love them for it. But! Sometimes that love goes hand in hand with a sense of…mmm, I'm not sure if superiority is the right word, necessarily… but you're right- it can be an insular world, unwilling to let in "casual" fans, or people who might only catch a horror flick on Halloween night, or- heaven forfend!- people who won't go any more hardcore than a PG-13 movie. Heck, I don't feel hardcore enough to be a "true" horror fan most of the time, even though I have Tutu Zombie's autograph, you know? And more than any other genre, perhaps, horror has a proliferation of fans-turned-filmmakers and fans-turned-writers. Yeah sure, this means there's an inordinate amount of cruddy zombie movies out there to suffer through and painful blogs to read, but I kind of love it- even if I won't suffer through said movies or visit said blogs much. I just can't get down on people for making stuff and trying to dig deeper into a world they love. Now that I'm living where no one cares "who you are" or anything like that, I can feel the love coming back, though. Like I said, I've got scripts sitting here I want to shoot…although I have no designs of becoming a "filmmaker"- I just make movies sometimes. And I also feel like watching them again, and talking about them again. Horror movies and I are reunited and it feels so good!
RHS: Thanks, Stacie. This has been 7 Faces of Awesome.
SP: Hooray! I'm ten kinds of excited!
To order Slashers 101, click here.
To read the Final Girl blog, click here.
To tap StaciePonder.com, click here.
To order Stacie's short film LUDLOW (2010), click here.
To preview Stacie's spring line of lacy intimates, click here.
0 Response The Initiation of Stacie: An Interview with Final Girl Stacie Ponder, Part II: Final Chapter
Posted By Kimberly Lindbergs : February 24, 2012 2:11 pm
Great interview! I love Stacie's blog but it's nice to get to know more about her. And her comments about female bloggers vs. male bloggers are spot on.
Posted By Adam Ross : February 24, 2012 3:12 pm
Great interview! Final Girl was one of the first movie blogs I started reading and I can't wait to get my copy of Slashers 101 in the mail.
Posted By the movie waffler : February 25, 2012 9:29 am
i'm a proud member of her film club!


We need your ideas and inputs. Ideas on how we can inform many more people who are interested in policy about what they can access on the PRS website. The mission of PRS is to strengthen the legislative process by making it better informed, more transparent and participatory. The statement has three important components: (a) Better informed: This implies that legislators and citizens need to be better informed about the implications of legislation. For us in PRS, this implies producing easy-to-understand non-partisan analysis that can be made available to MPs and citizens. This also includes our continual efforts to personally brief MPs and political parties on the details and implications of each Bill. (b) Transparent: We mean that all proceedings of Parliament and the work of MPs in Parliament should be easily accessible to citizens. In an operational sense, this includes the effort we put into creating the Bill Track section on our website where every Bill that is pending in Parliament can be accessed, and the current status of the Bill can be tracked. It also includes the MP Track section in which we have up-to-date information about the engagement levels of MPs in Parliament. We also have a twitter page www.twitter.com/prslegislative and a Facebook presence. (c) Participatory: Which simply means that once citizens know the information, and would like to articulate a point of view, they should reach out to policy makers and get their point of view across to them. To promote this, we have had a number of workshops with NGOs and have produced a primer on "Engaging with Policy Makers".
These are just some examples of what we are doing in each of these three areas. Our website has much more information. But we are increasingly of the view that we need to reach out many more people who are interested in policy -- even if it is sector specific. We would be grateful for any ideas that you might have, which you can post as responses to this post. If you also have specific ideas on what you like on our website and what can be better, do let us know. Thanks, in advance.


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Home › Burn Notice: Season 1
Burn Notice: Season 1
Product Description Covert intelligence operative Michael Westen has been punched, kicked, choked and shot. Now he's being burned, and someone's going to pay! When Michael receives a "burn notice," blacklisting him from the intelligence community and compromising his very identity, he must track down a faceless nemesis without getting himself killed in the process. Meanwhile, Michael is forced to double as a private investigator on the dangerous streets of Miami in order to survive. Amazon.com Burn Notice is a canny, clever comedy-thriller show about a covert operative with a heart of gold. Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) is in the middle of a top-secret mission when he discovers he's been "burned"--basically, fired without warning. After barely extricating himself from danger, he wakes up in Miami, where the government has abandoned him and locked him out of his own bank account. To make ends meet, he takes on private detective jobs (helping an old lady who's fallen victim to a con artist; rescuing a young girl who's being tricked into white slavery; helping a mother whose son has been kidnapped by the boy's father... only it turns out the father is the rightful parent and the "mom" is an assassin sent to kill him--a nice guest star appearance by Lucy Lawless, Xena: Warrior Princess), while trying to figure out who burned him and why. Westen tries to remain clinical in his approach to these problems, but he always ends up protecting the helpless with his sophisticated spy skills. Over the course of the first season, he gradually uncovers a mysterious conspiracy that plans to use his talents for their own nefarious ends. Burn Notice deftly mixes the old and the new. The old: Our hero has a hot ex-girlfriend (Gabrielle Anwar, Scent of a Woman), a goofy sidekick (cult hero Bruce Campbell of the Evil Dead movies), and a meddling mom (Sharon Gless, Cagney & Lacey) who help and hinder him in his investigations, as well as a MacGyver-esque skill for making deadly devices out of common household products. The new: A media-savvy way of deconstructing the tricks and techniques of spies and government agencies, often resulting in smart and highly entertaining plot twists. Donovan, handsome but cheeky, combines a light comic touch with a convincing secret agent cool, and the supporting cast fill their niches with aplomb. Their escapades are pretty breezy and occasionally skirt being glib, but most of the time the show finds an extremely entertaining balance between action, romance, and humor. The extras are few (some montages of characteristic moments from the series, including one of the many bikini-clad girls the Miami locale provides) and the commentaries, rather than covering entire episodes, just discuss a few select scenes from each show. Fortunately, the series itself holds up; imagine a cross between Magnum, P.I. and The Wild Wild West (the classic series, not the insulting Will Smith movie) and you're on the right track. -- Bret Fetzer Stills from Burn Notice (Click for larger image)


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Podcast Ep. 323: Did an Atheist Burn Down a Mississippi Church? May 23, 2020 Hemant Mehta
Podcast Ep. 323: Did an Atheist Burn Down a Mississippi Church?
In our latest podcast, Jessica and I discussed the past week in politics and atheism.
— Christian writer Eric Metaxas is super-racist… and a hypocrite. (3:00)
— A Mississippi church was burned down. An atheist-associated "A" symbol was included at the scene of the crime. (15:18)
— This is a very bad reason not to wear a mask. (22:03)
— A Pakistani education board banned a kids' math textbook for including pictures of pigs. (29:14)
— Norma McCorvey, a.k.a. the "Roe" of Roe v. Wade, said she only pushed a pro-life position because she was paid. (34:44)
— This list of atheist Republicans is tiny. Very tiny. (47:55)
— Donald Trump wants churches to open up this weekend. Is it weird that he wants to kill off his own base? (55:52)
— A Texas mayor says only men can deliver invocation prayers. (1:05:48)
— Child marriage has been legally banned in Pennsylvania and Minnesota. (1:07:18)
We'd love to hear your thoughts on the podcast. If you have any suggestions for people we should chat with, please leave them in the comments, too.
You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or Google Play, stream all the episodes on SoundCloud or Stitcher, or just listen to the whole thing below. Our RSS feed is here. And if you like what you're hearing, please consider supporting this site on Patreon and leaving us a positive rating!
Friendly Atheist Podcast · Ep. 323 – Did an Atheist Burn Down a Mississippi Church?
(Image via Marshall County Sheriff's Office)
BC Humanists Call for Land Acknowledgment to "Decolonize Legislative Prayers"
May 24, 2020 Congressional Freethought Caucus Denounces Trump's Call to Open Up Churches


This morning, we reported that The Game had some not-so-nice words for embattled Philly rapper Meek Mill.
In addition to the things Jayceon said on stage about the MMG MC, DJ Envy played an exclusive song called "92 Bars" where Game spit some bars that are sure to result in a fistfight when he runs into Meek and The Dreamchasers.
This is gonna get ugly. See more disrespect on the flip side.
#7thGradeBodyHavingA**Ni**a is one of the funniest things you'll read all day.
B-b-b-b-b-b-but wait, it gets worse! Game goes in on Meek's baby mama next!


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WAYC (100.9 FM) is a hot adult contemporary formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Bedford, Pennsylvania, serving Beford and Bedford County in Pennsylvania. WAYC is owned and operated by Cessna Communications, Inc.

References

External links
Star 100.9 Online

AYC
Radio stations established in 1966
1966 establishments in Pennsylvania
Hot adult contemporary radio stations in the United States


Yesterday I got an email from my friend Kate, who I met at the writing workshop I took in Guatemala, about a potential reunion this fall.
And then I remembered: Kate fell in the lake.
Our first day. We'd already spent so much time traveling: airplane, taxi, bus, mountains, and finally a boat across the lake, a big boat built to comfortably seat 20 on benches, with open sides, a cruiser boat made for sunny touristy days. But it rained.
It rained and rained in sheets and sheets, sloshing up over my flip-flops.
We had 20+ writers, from just under 30 to just over 70 years old, all departing the boat with luggage, surrounded by Guatemalan children with stick-skinny limbs and big smiles who could not wait to help us with our bags for un quetzal.
And in the midst of this, I was standing on the dock in the downpour, making sure people had their keys to the guesthouse, when I looked up and saw a blur of shapes and colors torpedo directly down into the water. Fffflooom, all the way under. Immediately people began grabbing for her and pulled her to the dock.
But here's the thing about Kate. The airline had lost her luggage. So the (soaking wet) clothes on her back were the only clothes she had with her.
Cut to half an hour later: Kate is wearing Susan's underwear, Joyce's shirt, pants from someone else… it's a stone soup-style outfit, whatever people can lend.
And for days, this is how she dresses, just borrowed clothes. And she looks like the happiest person in the workshop. She's glowing, like, 24/7. Kate's a journalist: covers tough stories, poverty, crime, international traumas. But with her blonde pixie hair in pigtails, loping around in shoes too big, she's wearing a smile like she just heard the ice cream man's around the bend.
She said it more eloquently than this, but basically she said she felt free. Like: whaddyagonna do. And I guess that's what happens, at the bottom. When you spend 14 hours getting to Guatemala and the airline loses your luggage and then you're dunked in the lake in your only clothes… well, that's free.
For the rest of the week, every time we took a boat, the driver Domingo helped everyone step up onto the dock. Slow slow. He said it in a sing-song chant as he gave each person a hand up the two feet or so, from the ever-moving boat tied to the dock. Slow slow. Slow slow.
The cadence of it comes back to me sometimes now, when I'm thinking about being impulsive and itchy. Slow slow. Slow slow. But falling in the lake isn't always so bad.