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Loose Ends by Swellison
TV » Supernatural Rated: K+, English, Supernatural & Family, Sam W., Dean W., Words: 12k+, Favs: 5, Follows: 7, Published: 5/1/2013 Updated: 12/31/2013}
17 Chapter 1
A/N: Happy Sammy's Birthday! This story was originally published in Rooftop Confessions #6.
Sam Winchester rolled his shoulders, substituting that bit of activity for moving his legs, tucked under—honestly it felt more like into—the Impala's passenger side dashboard. At times like this he missed Jess's bright blue PT Cruiser, or at least the Cruiser's bucket seats that allowed him to push his seat back to practically the backseat and blissfully stretch his legs. Thoughts of the Cruiser inevitably led to Jess... Sam thumped his head against the passenger window, knocking his mindset back to the present.
He stared at the highway in front, spotlighted by the Impala's headlights as the car rolled along I-79. Sam caught the wording on a small green destination sign, "Erie 21 mi" as they advanced northward. Wisconsin had been unseasonably warm—Dean would've said freakishly warm. Did Peter's supernatural activities at the lake have something to do with that? Pennsylvania was firmly settled into early December winter, the highway cleared and drivable, the ground hidden beneath a half-foot of snow. He glanced from the white-covered roadside shoulder to Dean, in his familiar position behind the wheel, attention seemingly absorbed by his driving. Sam knew that if he coughed or sneezed, Dean's head would immediately swivel in his direction and he'd hear, "Are you all right, Sammy?" But Sam wasn't the one who'd drowned out Dean's cassette tapes with the frequent hacking of an oncoming cold; that had been Dean. Not that his stoic brother would admit to being sick, especially nothing as girly as a cold.
True, Sam and Dean had both dived into chilly Lake Manitoc to save Lucas, and they'd emerged equally drenched. After the dramatic rescue, Dean had focused his attention on Lucas and Sam, making sure they'd been wrapped in blankets and sipping hot cocoa before he'd gratefully accepted a blanket for himself from Andrea. Sam had gone along with Dean's fussing, used to his big brother's over-protectiveness. In hindsight, he should've paid more attention to Dean, insisted that Dean look after himself, too. Just Dean being Dean.
But Dean had surprised Sam during their just-completed hunt in Wisconsin. His brother's quick and firm two-way attachment to Lucas was a case in point. Sure, Sam could see Lucas glomming onto Dean; he remembered how safe it felt being looked after by the pint-sized version of his big brother, let alone the adult. Dean must have appeared downright awesome to a scared kid like Lucas. And Dean had genuinely liked Lucas, too, even confessing to Lucas things he'd never told Sam about Mom. Sam recalled standing stock-still in the doorway to Lucas' bedroom, listening to Dean's earnest words.
"Hey, when I was your age, I saw something really bad happen to my mom, and I was scared, too. I didn't feel like talking, just like you. But see, my mom, I know she wanted me to be brave. I think about that every day, and I do my best to be brave. And maybe your dad wants you to be brave, too."
Dean's words had shocked Sam, because until then, he'd never even considered the idea that Dean worked at being brave; being brave was just part of the package that was his big brother. Dean was a doer, a fixer, who embraced Yoda's philosophy: "There is no try. DO—or do not." Part of that was due to their upbringing.
"Dean, clean my guns, I didn't have time to last night."
"Yes, sir, right away."
"Drop and give me twenty!"
"Yes, sir!"
"I want you to go over sidekicks and blocking with Sammy, he's not doing it right. You've got plenty of time to practice before dinner."
"Yes, sir. I'll go get him."
"Dean, I'll be back on Tuesday. Look after Sammy and no breaking curfew, you hear me?"
"Yes, sir. Of course I will, Dad. Do you have food for the road?"
When he was younger, Sam had thought Dean was invincible, a superhero, almost. Then, sometime in his early teens—maybe after Sam had faced down Dirk the Jerk at Truman High—he realized that Dean wasn't really all that different from himself. They lived a freakish, lonely life. Trouble was, at fourteen Sam was beginning to detest that life, while Dean loved it; soaked it up like a sponge. Or at least he'd always given Sam that impression. . .But maybe that was a false impression and he didn't know Dean as well as he thought . . .
Sam was suddenly acutely aware of the four years he'd spent away from Dean, realizing that in the intervening years while he'd grown from a teenager to a man, Dean had changed, too. The thought was mildly unsettling, because Dean had been the one constant in Sam's upside-down and sideways life.
Dean coughed, breaking into Sam's thoughts. His coughs and sneezes had started out sounding muffled, but they had begun bursting out more and more frequently as the hours accumulated.
Sam knew he couldn't get Dean to take any cough medicine while he was driving, even the non-drowsy stuff would be a no-go. Therefore, he had to get Dean out from behind the wheel. "What say we stop in Erie?"
Dean looked him up and down. "You tired, Sammy?"
"A little. It's been a long day."
"Wuss." Dean rolled his eyes, peering at his wristwatch. "It's not even ten. The night is still young."
"You've been driving all day, how much farther are you planning on going? We don't even have a firm destination, at the moment."
"Exactly, so why waste the money on a motel?"
"Wait a minute, you're not thinking of driving straight through the night?" Sam tossed Dean an incredulous glare.
"For one thing, it sure won't help your cold—"
"I'm not sick!" Dean interrupted, loudly.
"And if you're really worried about money, we should stop someplace, scope out a bar and you can play poker."
Dean swiveled in his seat to meet Sam's eyes directly. "Now I know you're up to something, you never encourage my fundraising activities. What's going on, bro?"
"Nothing, I'm just a bit cramped here. I'm not used to—" Sam halted abruptly, but they both knew what he was going to say: "I'm not used to this, any more." From there, Sam found himself reflecting on why he was back on the road, his thoughts pinwheeling once again to Jess and the huge gaping hole in his heart that had previously been filled with her presence, smiles, laughter, teasing, wisdom, and love...
Abruptly, Dean sneezed. "We'll get a room at the next exit," he said quietly.
The Motel 6 off of I-79 was sparsely furnished, but clean. The décor consisted of off-white walls and blown-up old photographs of Erie's famous canals hung over each of the two double beds. The bedspreads were an unimaginative shade of beige that matched the motel's bathroom.
Sam shifted in the room's rickety straight back chair, trying to get comfortable while hunched over the laptop at the table. Dean was stretched out on the bed closest to the door, semi-watching the television, remote clutched in his hands. Dean had switched channels twice since reluctantly bedding down about twenty minutes earlier, grumbling that he could've kept on driving for another two, three hours, easy.
Sam snorted. Doeshe really thing I didn't notice him wincing and squirming behind the wheel as the afternoon progressed? Seriously, I'd have to be deaf to miss hearing that hacking cough—that's a helluva cold he's got. Not totally unexpected after a little bout of winter lake-diving.
Not to mention Dean was probably still feeling the effects of the wendigo's attack, because no one bounced back overnight from almost being wendigo chow. How out of practice does Dean think I am, anyway? Sure, he'd only been back hunting since he'd left Palo Alto and...Sam's anger collapsed, dipping towards the barely contained grief that could pop up at a single thought of California or Jess or home...
Shaking his head to clear it, Sam turned his attention to his brother. Words from the television sounded loud enough for him to identify Dean's TV fare as a JAG rerun. Kind of surprising, that Dean would be watching that legal drama. On the other hand, maybe not. Sam could see where the military emphasis on structure and doing things by the book would appeal to his brother. Besides, most episodes had a Marine in them. Sam scowled. Further evidence of Dad's long arm reaching out and influencing Dean's choices, even in such minutiae as television programs.
Sam refocused on the laptop, glancing at his home page's tagged mailbox. He clicked on the mail icon and stared at four new messages, all from friends at Stanford. He shot Dean a glance from beneath his lanky bangs, checking. He saw Dean fiddle with the remote, muting the television.
"Researchin' this late at night?" Dean asked.
Sam didn't want to mention his friends' emails and subject himself to Dean's "the hunting life is a lonely life" spiel. "Looking for traces of Dad." The lie sprang easily to his lips. Once a Winchester...
Dean sighed. "You know Dad, Sammy. He's a regular Houdini when he doesn't wanna be found. Not by whatever's chasing him—and not by us, either."
"Why not? Why can't he just pick up a freakin' phone and call us, tell us where he is like any normal human being would?" Sam completely forgot that he'd brought up the subject of looking for Dad as a diversion.
"He's a Winchester." Sam heard Dean's unspoken preface: "He's not normal." Dean then stuck up for Dad, as usual. "He's got his reasons, Sammy."
"Don't give me that 'need to know' crap," Sam snapped. "I've had it—"
Dean's harsh hacking cut him off. He sounded like he was coughing up a lung.
Sam was suddenly thrust back into yesterday, and the cold water of Lake Manitoc. He recalled his desperate effort, searching underwater as long as he could before coming up for air, empty-handed. He remembered staring bleakly at the still water surrounding him for several agonizing seconds before Dean resurfaced, gasping, with Lucas grasped tightly to his chest. Sam snapped back to the present. He and his big brother were settled into a third-class motel room, on the hunt again, on the road again. All he really wanted to do was to get Dean to fall asleep, let the healing process begin. Medication would certainly help that along.
Sam rose from the table and stepped into the bathroom. He emerged shortly, crossing over to Dean, handing him two cold capsules and a glass of water. "Take this—it'll help your cold."
"I'm not sick," Dean protested automatically.
Sam glared until Dean reluctantly swallowed the pills and drank some water. Then he took the remote from Dean's hand and turned off the television.
"Hey, I was watching that!" Dean pouted, sounding a dozen years younger than his present age.
"It's a rerun, Dean. I'm sure you've seen it before. Now, get some sleep and you'll feel better in the morning."
"I've forgotten what a nag you are, Samantha," Dean grumbled into his pillow as he settled deeper under the covers.
"Night, Dean." When he heard Dean's labored breathing even out into sleep, he quietly resumed his seat, bringing the laptop out of hibernation. He read the first email and started to reply. "Hi Becky, I'm on a road trip with my brother..."
*SPN*SPN*SPN*SPN*SPN*SPN*SPN*SPN*
Dean blinked awake, automatically scanning the motel room for anything amiss. His reconnoitering ended with the alarm clock, the LCD displaying 7:13. Early for him but late for—he glanced past the clock, saw Sam slouched on the other bed, back against the headboard, open laptop resting on the blanket covering his chest. Dean rose quietly and bent over Sam, gently removing the laptop. He inadvertently pressed a key while holding the computer, activating its monitor. Sam had been composing an email when he fell asleep. A cursory glance showed several instances of Jess's name. Dean quit skimming the message, obviously meant for one of Sam's Stanford buddies. Sam never talked to him about Jessica—even when they'd been in Jericho, on what was supposed to have been a weekend expedition to find Dad, Sam had kept the conversation away from his life at school.
Dean set the laptop at the foot of his own bed and then turned back to Sam. At least the kid was under the covers, not on top of them, although crashing in front of the computer was not the best way for Sammy to catch his zzz's. Removing the second pillow that was propping Sam up, Dean gently pulled back the covers and nudged his little brother into lying flat on the bed, Sam not waking up past a murmured sigh as he was resituated.
Since he was awake, Dean walked into the bathroom, took care of business and swallowed a couple of cold capsules—no need for Sammy to know about that—then returned to his own bed. Sam's rest was usually curtailed by nightmares and Dean was determined to let Sam sleep as long as possible, already writing off today as a stay-in-the-motel day. Unwilling to risk waking Sam up by watching TV or any other activity, Dean crept back to bed and fell quickly asleep. Long ago, he had learned that stockpiling sleep was part of a hunter's life.
"NOOOO!" Sam's scream woke Dean some time later.
Dean sprang out of bed. "Sam!"
Sam writhed on his back on the bed, kicking legs exposing his still-clothed body as the covers went flying. "Jess!"
"Sam." Dean stood in the gap between their beds, noting that Sam's eyes were closed as he reached towards his brother, repeating, "Sam!"
"No, no!" Sam pushed off the bed, his flailing arms first colliding with Dean, then wrapping around him. Sam strained against Dean, head tilted towards the ceiling. "No! Jess! No!"
Dean realized with sickening certainty what Sam's nightmare was about; they were unwittingly reenacting the tail end of it. He firmly extricated himself from Sam's grasp and forcefully pushed him down flat on the bed.
"Jess! No!"
Dean really didn't want to slap Sam, but he had to break through his brother's nightmare, now. Plan B. He grabbed Sam's upper arm and pinched, hard.
"Owww!" Sam's yelp was loud, but it wasn't the desperate screaming it had been seconds ago. Dean watched as Sam's eyes popped open, surprised. Sam rubbed his arm and Dean could tell hewas back in the here-and-now when he growled, "Did you just pinch me?"
"I had to—" Dean started to say, when Sam reached out and swatted him.
"Jerk."
Dean swallowed his automatic 'bitch', not allowing himself to be sidetracked. He sat on the edge of Sam's bed as Sam pulled himself into a sitting position. "You were having a nightmare. I woke up and you were screaming 'No!' and 'Jess!' I couldn't wake you up until I pinched you."
"Oh." Sam's eyes darted sideways. " Sorry about that," he mumbled.
"You don't have to apologize, bro." Dean sighed. "It's just—you've been having these nightmares for a while now, ever since . . . Don't ya think it's time you talked about it?"
"I—I can't, Dean." Sam swallowed. "Not yet."
"Okay, but no more staying up all night to avoid nightmares—"
"I wasn't—"
Dean cut off Sam's words. "If you wanna wear yourself out so you fall into bed and don't dream, I've got just the ticket: training."
"Training?" Sam echoed, face incredulous.
"Yeah. We can start today, an easy, brisk five-mile run down the highway. You gotta admit you're a little rusty, Sammy."
"Rusty? I'll give you rusty." Sam unexpectedly launched himself towards Dean, long arms encircling Dean's torso as he twisted and yanked them both sideways towards the other, unoccupied side of his double bed. Dean felt Sam's hands let go of his tee shirt as he continued to roll past the edge of the bed, hitting the floor with a thud.
He jumped to his feet. "Sam—"
Sam tumbled across his bed and rose fluidly to his feet, facing Dean from the other side of the bed. "You ready for round two?" he challenged.
"Easy, Tiger. Maybe I was a little hasty with that rusty comment," Dean placated, taking two steps away from the bed. "I'm gonna grab a quick shower and then go out and get us some breakfa—" his eyes darted to the clock –"lunch."


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Frank P. Arnone
Home » Our Team » Frank P. Arnone
Frank Arnone is a partner in the Business Law Group at Cassels and serves as Co-Chair of the firm's Private Equity Group. Frank's practice emphasizes domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance for a wide variety of issuer, underwriter and private equity clients. Frank offers extensive experience working on complex transactions in a wide range of industry sectors. He also provides ongoing advice on securities law, stock exchange compliance and corporate governance matters. Frank has written extensively on a wide variety of private equity, corporate finance and securities topics including corporate governance, and was a contributing editor of Federated Press' Corporate Financing Journal.
Examples of Frank's recent transactions are available under Representative Work.
Frank is currently a member of the Chairman's Expert Advisory Board of CloudMD Software. The multi-disciplinary board was created to guide CloudMD's global growth initiatives. Frank was previously a Vice-Chair and member of the Board of Directors and Nominating & Governance Committee of the Canadian Centre for Ethics and Corporate Policy. He also served as a member of the Board of Directors of Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare, Chair of the Governance Committee and a member of the Quality & Patient Safety Committee. Prior to joining Cassels, Frank was a partner at another national firm where he headed the Securities Group and the Private Equity Group.
Best Lawyers in Canada (Leveraged Buyouts and Private Equity, Securities)
Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory (Corporate Finance & Securities, Private Equity)
IFLR1000 (Private Equity)
Who's Who Legal: Canada (M&A and Governance)
Who's Who Legal: Mergers & Acquisitions
Frank Arnone and Mickey Lungu Discuss the Outlook for Global M&A with Financier Worldwide
Cassels Contributes Canada Chapter to Multi-Jurisdictional Report on Government Measures During COVID-19
Cassels Welcomes Frank P. Arnone
CloudMD to Acquire MindBeacon
TPG Global Acquires Leading Sound Stage Owner Cinespace
Cassels Represents Sumeru Equity Partners on its Strategic Investment in Loopio
Cassels Represents Sumeru Equity Partners on its Strategic Investment in Tasktop Technologies
Cassels Represents TA Associates and Netwrix in its Acquisition of Strongpoint
Liberty and Schlumberger Close North American Pressure Pumping Transaction
Dye & Durham Acquires Majority Stake in Courthouse Solutions
Great Hill Partners and VersaPay Corporation Announce Closing of Acquisition
B.Comm., Queen's University, 1984
CloudMD Software & Services Inc., Expert Advisory Board, Member
Frank P. ArnonePartner
farnone@cassels.com

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Find The Citadel reviews, tuition costs and how many students are enrolled at The Citadel in South Carolina.
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The experience of writing a poem, play, or story, or creating a photograph, is like riding a train through wonderful, unexpected scenery. When I wake up in the morning I hurry to get to work because I never want to miss that train. My train derailed the morning of my father's Alzheimer's diagnosis. Dad hadn't chosen a trip into dementia but here he was on track to forget his friends, his family, and even his own name. Dad told me to stay calm, the decline would be gradual, and maybe some good might come from this. What good, I wondered, could come from shock, grief, and despair? The good that came was a new dimension to my father's relationship with his family, and a revelation to me that dementia's grip is loosened by the power of poetry, pictures, music, and love. I wrote Remembrance of Things Present – Making Peace with Dementia to celebrate my father's brave, good-humored journey through Alzheimer's, and to show how such an affliction can actually draw loved ones closer together instead of driving them apart.
Viewed as a biological deterioration of the brain, Alzheimer's is terrifying. But seen as fermentation which is not spoilage but transformation – grapes into wine, for example, or milk into cheese – it can enhance the caregiver-patient relationship. Indeed, my father and I moved from a prose relationship into one of poetry which was no better or worse, just different, where we engaged more in rhyme than in reason, freezing time then melting it and joining in a lyrical realm between past and future where, instead of fighting dementia, my father and I embraced the changes it provokes.
When presenting my story at TEDx events, Alzheimer's Association gatherings, and mental health conferences in the U.S. and abroad, I hear caregivers, familial and professional, confess their frustration, regret, despair, and even rage when dementia is diagnosed. Clearly, caregivers need and deserve care giving as much as their patients do. People attending my presentations and reading my book have been comforted, consoled, and buoyed in their efforts to care for their dementia-afflicted loved ones.
My book tracks my passage through the Kübler-Ross stages of grief, from resistance to acceptance of my father's dementia. At Dad's passing I sense that he is in a state of peace. My own peace is achieved by reflecting upon our shared experience, and ultimately by writing my book.
If art can offer no more than symptomatic and palliative relief from the effects of Alzheimer's Disease, that is no less than modern medicine has done to date. Ideally, art and science can work together to reduce dementia's effects and ultimately to reach a cure.


Version 1.000 Copyright (c) 2011 by David Kerkhoff. All rights reserved. Abysmal Gaze is a trademark of David Kerkhoff. www.hanodedphotography.com Copyright (c) 2011 by David Kerkhoff. All rights reserved. DONATIONWARE.


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Q: Understanding trees in ANTLR I'm trying to use Antlr for some text IDE-like functions -- specifically parsing a file to identify the points for code folding, and for applying syntax highlighting.
First question - is Antlr suitable for this requirement, or is it overkill?  This could be achieved using regex and/or a hand-rolled parser ... but it seems that Antlr is out there to do this work for me.
I've had a look through the ... and the excellent tutorial resource here.
I've managed to get a Java grammar built (using the standard grammar), and get everything parsed neatly into a tree.  However, I'd have expected to see elements nested within the tree.  In actual fact, everything is a child of the very top element.
Eg.  Given:
package com.example
public class Foo {
   String myString = "Hello World"
   // etc
}

I'd have expected the tree node for Foo to be a child of the node for the package declaration.  Likewise, myString would be a child of Foo.
Instead, I'm finding that Foo and myString (and everything else for that matter) are all children of package.
Here's the relevant excerpt doing the parsing:
public void init() throws Exception {
    CharStream c = new ANTLRFileStream(
            "src/com/inversion/parser/antlr/Test.code");

    Lexer lexer = new JavaLexer(c);
    CommonTokenStream tokens = new CommonTokenStream(lexer);
    JavaParser parser = new JavaParser(tokens);
    parser.setTreeAdaptor(adaptor);

    compilationUnit_return result = parser.compilationUnit();
}

static final TreeAdaptor adaptor = new CommonTreeAdaptor() {
    public Object create(Token payload) {
        if (payload != null)
        {
            System.out.println("Create " + JavaParser.tokenNames[payload.getType()] + ":  L" + payload.getLine() + ":C" + payload.getCharPositionInLine() + " " + payload.getText());
        }
        return new CommonTree(payload);
    }
};

Examining result.getTree() returns a CommonTree instance, whose children are the result of the parsing.
Expected value (perhaps incorrectly)
package com.example (4 tokens)
   |
   +-- public class Foo (3 tokens)
        |
        +--- String myString = "Hello World" (4 tokens)
        +--- Comment "// etc"

(or something similar)
Actual value (All values are children of the root node of result.getTree() )
package
com
.
example
public
class
Foo
String
myString
=
"Hello World"

Is my understanding of how this should be working correct?
I'm a complete noob at Antlr so far, and I'm finding the learning curve quite steep.

A: The Java-6 grammar at the top of the file sharing section on antlr.org does not include tree building.  You'll need to do two things.  First, tell ANTLR you want to build an AST:
options {
    output=AST;
}

Second, you need to tell it what the tree should look like by either using the tree operators or by using the rewrite rules.  See the documentation on tree construction.  I usually end up doing a combination of both.

A: To build tree, you should set output=AST.  (Abstract syntax tree)
As far as I know, in an ANTLR only 1 token can be the root of a tree, so you can't get exactly what you're looking for, but you can get close.
Check out:
http://www.antlr.org/wiki/display/ANTLR3/Tree+construction

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Q: how to apply a class method to each value of an array? I want to apply a class method $this->escape($str) to all the values of an $data array.
I know I can use PHP's array_walk() function to apply a function to each value of an array, but I want to apply a class method. Is this possible? If yes, then how?
Please give me the shortest possible code for this task, and I don't want to use a foreach loop.

A: Use array($instance, 'methodName') as the callback function.
When using PHP5.3 you could also pass an anonymous function calling the method: function($value) { return $this->escape($value); }
See http://ch2.php.net/manual/en/language.pseudo-types.php#language.types.callback(dead link) for more information about callback types in PHP.

A: This is documented here: http://nl.php.net/callback .


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Our title loan clients include small business owners, teachers, commissioned sales people, contract employees, students, nurses, and more. Find out for yourself why oglethorpe county turns to us for their easy title loan needs. Although it's not required, we do advise our prospective title loan customers to contact the oglethorpe county office in advance and find out exactly what you need in order to qualify. For the most part, title loan customers are able to apply in less than a hour. It's our job to help oglethorpe county title loan customers obtain the money they need.
Your vehicle will be visually and physically inspected during the title loan lending process. We operate in various locations including the oglethorpe county area. It's never been easier to get approved for a title loan. We offer extended oglethorpe county office hours in order to accommodate your busy schedule. The basic idea behind a title loan, is that customers will use the money they obtain for immediate financial obligations and pay back the money as quickly as possible.


Lovers of Merauke oud, this is where you get off the train. You can stop the search.
This is the holy grail Merauke oud.
It is common knowledge that Aquilaria Filaria has one of the lowest % oil yield, out of all the species of agarwood. This is the reason why even distilling oil from the lowest incense grade of wood will give an oil with a very high cost-per-gram.
Syed's Ascent was hand-crafted by me, from one of the most oleoresin-rich raw material I have ever distilled. Sure, the yield wasn't exactly high (no surprise), but since I got an incredible deal on the raw material this oil is quite literally a quarter of the price it otherwise would have been.
Steel, yes. Copper, you betcha. Horizontal steam path, upward steam path, downward steam path, low temperature, high temperature... yep, yep, yep, yep, and yes again.
As some of you may know, I use custom-made 'plug-and-play' apparatus. For different stages of the distillation, I implement not just different sets of techniques but (quite literally) dissemble and reassemble the entire setup - while the distillation is still in progress. This is done to ensure that every scent note that I have choreographed in my mind plays flawlessly in the final product, the symphony, the oud.
This is Merauke oud with all its glorious smoke and wood, but so densely saturated with sheer oleoresin intensity that the scent profile comes to a point (like passing sunlight through a magnifying glass), until... the aroma becomes a deep glossy black.
Imagine if smoke, roasted wood, pure Filaria oleoresin, and the color Black.. could be freeze-dried. It is then detonated, this surreal cocktail of top-noted base notes, and it pierces into every crevice of your sinuses and lungs.
Forget about all of our previous Merauke oud oils. Yes, Sultan's Succor included.
My friends, this is the finest Merauke oud that previously I could have only dreamed of distilling.
The final color of the oil is dark green. The blue oil shown in the Products page is only the top notes fraction of Syed's Ascent, and it is not photoshopped (you can watch this video to see it in action). The heart and base note fractions came out dark green, and since I believe in combining all the fractions of oud, those were mixed together with the top notes fraction and the dark green color took over.
The scent of Syed's Ascent is still as blue as blue can be.
When I opened and smelled Syed's Ascent I was blown away, I literally felt transported to another place. In fact I could not for a few days bring myself to smell it again for fear I was dreaming, but I tried again today and the same thing ☺.
Literally impossible to describe EXACTLY until you smell this. Simply the BEST maroke I've ever smelt. It is very deep & very high at the same time. So deep & high that I couldn't be able to see the highest peak or lowest bottom. It is EXTREMELY satisfying for my soul. It is a long spiritual bath for my soul _ it's a divine drink for my soul. It is a heavenly spiritual medicine for my psyche.
I think this oil is not so much of a scent but a psychoactive experience. This oil is light in the blackness and black in the light. Really requires some alone time to fully experience it and I do not think I have yet scratched the surface of its power. Man, what insane stuff.
It is a beast but a beautiful beast. Quite elegant.
An oudventure to oudessy. Syed ascent is a rocket ship to the outer galaxy. The scent is maroke in its core and is so so to my nose and heart but the effects are ascending. Like Red Bull. It gives you wings.
The ultimate oud perfume and it's not a figurative speech, like a classic yet modern masculine perfume starts with piercing cola-laced suave birch tar/styrax-based smoky leather notes gradually creeps by delusional minimalistic cotton candy sweetness in the heartnotes that smooths and soothes the rugged yet refined edges of the topnotes and allow star anise, clove, lavender on background of vetiver, wood, oak moss, hint of patchouli and powdery coumarin to shine giving an overall luxurious shaving cream-fougere-like aura that surrounds the wearer and to die for.
First of all this oil is a sheer monster in a bottle. The first initial hit of this oil and I was blown away. The Aquilaria Filaria aka Supreme Meroke agarwood in this oil is not like a car or truck hitting you but rather a heavy locomotive train traveling at 100 mph. Gone in this are the jungly notes which can throw off people. This oil has some of the most pleasant notes of nature that of a beautiful waterfall hitting the rocks and gently landing onto the grass and trees aroma.
The silage of this oil well to give you an example I put a small tiny dot probably the size of a mosquito head this afternoon around 1:30 pm and right now is 9:20 pm and I could clearly still smell the beautiful Marokeness in this oil.
I am wearing AA Syed's Ascent today and this stuff is amazing. It starts off with a blast of Maroke vapors. Like putting a high quality Maroke chip on a burner on low heat but concentrating those fumes and releasing them all at once. It develops into this ethereal Maroke base.
OooMG!! If I could design a "perfect" Merauke oil, just for myself, this would be it. Will certainly need to get more of this one too!
It is the busiest oud I've ever smelt, unlike anything else I've tried... such an amazing oil.
Syed's Ascent is exactly that, an intergalactic movement towards the dark void, it is black but also blue, the most stunningly pacifying blue next to mysterious black.
This one is simply the best oud oil and best scent I ever smelled.


One of the most distinctive post-war apartment houses on the Upper East Side, this free-standing building has many angles that give it an unusual form and provide many corner windows. The building has very handsome balcony railings, its own curved driveway and a very unusual entrance.
Gracie Mansion, the mayor's residence since the early 1940's, is just a short distance away in Carl Schurz Park directly across East End Avenue from this 17-story apartment.
As a result, security here is superb and so are the dramatic views that also include picturesque vistas of Long Island Sound and its bridges. The northernmost building on East End Avenue, it has major views not only to the east but also to the north.
Beth Israel Hospital North is two blocks south on the avenue and Henderson Place, one of the city's prettiest streets of townhouses on 86th Street, and some of the city's best schools are also nearby. The 89th Street block between East End Avenue and York Avenue is quite attractive and the 86th Street cross-town bus stops at York Avenue and 89th Street.
Built in 1952, this large cooperative building, which occupies the entire blockfront between 89th and 90th Streets, was converted to a cooperative in 1980. It has 189 apartments, many with balconies.
Commensurate with its prime East End Avenue location, the building has a large and attractive lobby. Its canopied entrance is held up in part by numerous bent brown pipes in a curious but interesting design that is a precursor of "high-tech" design and reminiscent of Le Corbusier's white piping.


text:
Katherine Sian Moennig (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 29 december 1977) is een Amerikaans actrice, bekend door haar rol als Shane McCutcheon in The L Word. Ook speelde ze Jake Pratt in Young Americans. In 2009 vertolkte ze de rol van Dr. Miranda Foster in Three Rivers.

Biografie
Katherine Moennig werd op 29 december 1977 geboren in Philadelphia als dochter van Broadway-danseres Mary Zahn en violenmaker William H. Moennig III. Moennig heeft een halfzus en een halfbroer afkomstig uit het eerste huwelijk van haar vader. Moennig is het nichtje van actrice Blythe Danner (de halfzus van de vader van Moennig) en ze is het nichtje van actrice Gwyneth Paltrow. Moennig is van Duitse, Schotse en Ierse afkomst.

Carrière
In 1995, op 18-jarige leeftijd, verhuisde Moennig naar New York om te gaan studeren aan de American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

In 1999 speelde ze in Is Anybody Home?, een videoclip van de Canadese Band Our Lady Peace. In 2005 speelde ze ook een rol in een reclamespotje van Fleet Bank en verscheen ze in een Rode Kruis-campagne om de slachtoffers van Orkaan Katrina te steunen. Moennig was in 2006 een van de presentatrices van de 17e GLAAD Media Awards en was aanwezig bij de 10e Ribbon of Hope Celebration, waar The L Word een prijs won.

Haar eerste grote rol was in de televisieserie Young Americans, waarin ze Jake Pratt speelde.

Moennig heeft verschillende lesbische rollen gespeeld - Shane McCutcheon in The L Word en de lesbische liefde van Sophia Myles' personage in Art School Confidential in 2006. Ze heeft auditie gedaan voor de rol van de transseksuele Brandon Teena in Boys Don't Cry, en speelde Cheryl Avery, een jonge transseksueel in de Law & Order: Special Victims Unit aflevering Fallacy

Op 12 april 2006 maakte Moennig haar Off Broadway debuut als "American Girl", tegenover Lee Pace, in Guardians, geregisseerd door Peter Morris. Het verhaal is losjes gebaseerd op dat van Lynndie England.

In 2007 werd de documentaire "My Address: A Look At Gay Youth Homelessness" in New York gelanceerd met Moennig in samenwerking met het Hetrick-Martin Institute (HMI), geregisseerd door Gigi Nicolas.

In 2009 voegt Moennig zich bij de cast van de tv-serie Thee Rivers. Moennig speelde Dr Miranda Foster, een chirurg met een rebelse inslag en vurig temperament. Op 30 november 2009 werd bekend dat CBS  Three Rivers geschrapt had van het schema. Volgende seizoenen zijn niet gepland. In 2010 speelde Moennig een tatoeëerster in de Dexter (televisieserie)-aflevering "First Blood".

In 2011 speelde ze de kleine rol van Gloria, een drugsverslaafde prostituee, in de film The Lincoln Lawyer.

In 2012 speelde ze de rol van detective Erica Lonsdale in de film Gone.

Filmografie

Films

Televisie

Podium

Amerikaans filmacteur
Amerikaans toneelacteur

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Existing home sales improved in October for the first time in seven months. The National Association of Realtors announced a 1.4% monthly increase, while also noting that the annualized sales pace was 5.1% slower than it had been 12 months earlier. Across the year ending in October, the median sales price for an existing home rose 3.8%. There were 4.3 months of housing inventory listed last month, corresponding to the definition of a "tight" market among real estate professionals.
In its final November edition, the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index fell to a mark of 97.5, 1.1 points under its final October level. Analysts polled by Refinitiv anticipated a reading of 98.3. In March, the gauge reached a 14-year peak of 101.4; it has trended downward since.
Next week? Next month? Last week, the commodity lost value again, slumping 7.7% on Friday alone (albeit in thin, post-Thanksgiving trading) to a NYMEX settlement of $50.42. That left light sweet crude 34% below its close on October 3. Oil industry analysts widely believe that OPEC will announce supply cuts at its December 6 meeting.
Oil's troubles also affected equities, which were already hindered by investor pessimism in the days near Thanksgiving. The S&P 500 stumbled 3.79% across an abbreviated trading week, down to 2,632.56 at Friday's closing bell. Thanksgiving week also saw the Dow Industrials slide 4.44% to 24,285.95. The Nasdaq Composite lost 4.26% in three-and-a-half trading sessions to fall to 6,938.98.
, you may worry that the part-time job and the course load will prove too much to handle. Most work-study programs set reasonable limits on the hours students work, however, and the job experience can help build your student's resume.
will you never eat for dinner?


Prices, promotions, kinds, and availability could vary. For those who hire, buildings cowl must be handled by your landlord Contents insurance, nonetheless, is your responsibility and ought to be considered by everybody. Here is a desk of among the market's greatest gamers that can increase contents cowl mechanically. Market values are up significantly in certain elements of the town, and the brand new system up to now is leading to closer groupings of assessment values for comparable homes, said Myer Clean, senior tax manager for Fisk Kart Katz and Regan, a law agency that handles property tax appeals.
You'll be able to evaluate buildings insurance , contents insurance coverage or mixed policies in one easy search on MoneySuperMarket. In fact, many of this group should still be dwelling at residence, drawing down from the financial institution of mum and dad, and are, as but, unencumbered by kids or accommodation costs: the 2 great expenses of maturity". IT TOOK 15 quarters of market corrections to bring private residential prices down by eleven.6 per cent within the second quarter of 2017, however it might take only five to six quarters of market recovery to carry costs back up if the present momentum holds.
The judicial review requires the House Workplace to set the registration fee at £372 – which covers administrative prices – and introduce a waiver for these youngsters who can not afford it and for children in council care. Flash estimates from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Monday confirmed that non-public dwelling costs rose for the fourth straight quarter, up three.four per cent within the second quarter after a 3.9 per cent enhance in the first quarter. As a homeowner, she is fearful a big property tax hike is in store.
People are involved about protecting their homes. Comparison sites zip your particulars to insurers' and brokers' web sites, finding the most cost effective. Sure and no. Comparison websites ship your particulars to a raft of insurers, they then use information in your credit file to guage your quote. Gadgets may be able to be repaired or restored – your insurer will be capable of offer you more information on this. In case you run a business from house, then that usually will not qualify for legal responsibility protection, whereas enterprise-associated contents might not be lined.
Homeowners and landlords often need each buildings (in fact, it's typically a situation of your mortgage agreement) and contents insurance coverage. Also, if you're insured with Coverage Expert and go away your home unoccupied for 15 days or more during November until the end of March, you might not be totally lined until you've got set the heating at a steady min temperature of 14°C or have switched off your gas and water supplies at the mains.


text:
Arpaviva
A New Music and Media Company
Harpinations
Spotify, Rhapsody, YouTube Music, eMusic, Google Music Store, Pandora, MediaNet, Inprodicon, Tradebit, GreatIndieMusic, Groove, iMusica, 7digital, Deezer, 24-7, iHeartRadio, Rumblefish, Slacker Radio, Shazam, Yandex, Tidal, Akazoo, SoundExchange, 8tracks, Synchtank, Kdigital, Kuack, AWA, Line Music
ArpaViva CD008:
Shirley Meyer Blankenship
composer-performer
Shirley Meyer Blankenship, harp
Rudolf Haken, viola
HARPINATIONS is a collection of four works which epitomize Shirley Meyer Blankenship's life long passion for harp.
Shirley Meyer Blankenship is an American composer, harpist, pianist, violinist and music educator. In 1977 she became the first woman to receive a Doctorate in music composition from the University of Illinois. Her works for solo harp Metaphysical Waltz (1988) and Peace for Guidosan (1989) will astound you with the richness of her acoustic harp sound in music which is action – packed, permeated with wide leaping disjointed formulations, gestural and improvisational, nostalgic and mocking, tonal and atonal.
Works for viola and harp, Fantasy I, (1963) and Fantasy II, (2014) feature the internationally renowned violist and composer Rudolf Haken, professor at University of Illinois. In these two works, Shirley Meyer Blankenship'sprofound knowledge of writing for strings shines through. She offers the viola's sensuous lyricism while exploring a riveting virtuoso interplay between the two instruments.
In the degree of compositional excellence and the importance for the harp repertoire, works by Shirley Meyer Blankenship match Betsy Jolas' Tranche, (1976) Luciano Berio's Sequenza II, (1963) and George Rochberg's Ukiyo E I (1973)
Shirley Meyer Blankenship was born in Decatur, Illinois, in 1938. A former child music prodigy, composer, harpist, pianist, and violinist she remained deeply rooted in the Illinois music community where she played in the orchestra, taught harp and composition, premiered new works for harp and often performed jazz, under the name of Anne Jazzmin with her late husband, saxophonist and composer Guido Sinclair.
HARPINATIONS offers to the listener Shirley Meyer Blankenship's rich palette of acoustic harp colors in music the composer performs naturally with that specific precision and clarity of sound to which harpists aspire to achieve through years of study and practice.
In 2013 Shirley Meyer Blankenship launched The Harp Legacy Project, www.theharplegacyproject.com consulting website to share the graphic notation for harp extended techniques she uses in her music and to assist composers writing for harp and other string instruments.
Audio Information:
Metaphysical Waltz, and Fantasy I and Fantasy II were recorded in 2014 by Michael Miller, Urbana, Illinois. Peace for Guidosan was recorded in 1988 by Mark Rubel, at the Pogo Studio, Champaign, Illinois, and was later digitalized by Shirley Meyer Blankenship and Paul Weston. For this release works by Shirley Meyer Blankenship were remastered for Arpaviva Recordings by Hans Dekline, Los Angeles, California.
Composers web site:
www.theharplegacyproject.com
Rudolf Haken's web site:
www.rudolfhaken.com
Guido Sinclair and Shirley Meyer Blankenship
Fantasy I – for harp and viola
Initially Fantasy I was entitled "Fantasy Stuck" and was written, in part, as a tribute to Herb Vandenberg, then principal violist of the St. Louis Symphony. In 1961-2 Professor Vandenberg was on the faculty of Washington University where I was studying piano with Stefan Bardas and composition with Harold Blumenfeld. Although I had a disdain for serial composition, due to the mandated rigid applications of its row techniques, I nevertheless found the sounds generated by the processes to be unique. Consequently, I ventured forth with this composition, now entitled Fantasy I, using a non-tonality based harmonic vocabulary suggestive of serialism.
Fantasy II – for harp and viola
Another violist entered my life in 2010 via his composition, Quinquagenarium, written for and performed by The Champaign-Urbana symphony Orchestra at its 50th anniversary concert in Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.
At the time, I was principal harpist with the symphony and used the opportunity to edit the harp part in collaboration with the composer/violist, Rudolf Haken. Rudolf thereby became one of my first Harp Legacy Project clients. As tribute to Rudolf, I composed Fantasy II utilizing newly created harp effects and notations as well as traditional configurations and focused on the types of sound structures shared by both the harp and viola: glissandi, harmonics, tapping sounds, and pizzicato. It is, in part, a visual theatrical piece with musical and visual structures that suggest a dialogue based on "if you can do that, so can I".
Metaphysical Waltz – harp solo
I composed this avant-garde harp solo in 1988. It was my intention to demonstrate that harpists can deal with complex material and that, although notation may seem on the surface to be inaccessible, in reality, it can be quite idiomatic. The title, Metaphysical Waltz, evolved from the use of 3 as an underlying rhythmic structural component. The most obvious illustration is the use of ¾ time as in a Waltz. Since the Waltz aspect is not audibly apparent, it exists only in the abstract.
Peace for Guidosan – harp soloPeace for Guidosan was originally written in 1988. In 1992, my husband Guido Sinclair, jazz saxophonist/composer, passed away. In collaboration with Michael Miller, notation designer and engraver, Peace was eventually revised and rendered into Finale in 2014. It can now be heard as the accompaniment for a film on YouTube entitled "Final Embrace", a tribute to my early years in Quincy, Illinois. Stylistically, Peace is a stream of gestures.Shirley Meyer Blankenship
Composer and harpist Shirley Meyer Blankenship (b.1938. in Decatur Illinois) was the first woman to receive a Doctorate of Musical Arts Degree in Music Composition in 1977 from the University of Illinois. Among her compositions are: Chansons Innocentes, (1970-71), for soprano, harp and chamber ensemble, Fantasy for Viola and Harp I, (1963), Fantasy for Viola and Harp II, (2014), Peace for Guidosan (1989) for solo harp, Duo for Violin and Cello (1974), Metaphysical Waltz (1988) for solo harp, Terse Trio (1970), for violin, viola and cello, Visions and Revisions (1975) for 22 players.
A true music prodigy at age 4, Shirley Meyer (Blankenship) studied piano, violin and harp and already, at age 13, performed Introduction and Allegro for harp and ensemble by Maurice Ravel at the Notre Dame High School in Quincy, Illinois.
Awarded the Smith Music Scholarship from the University of Illinois she received a Bachelor of Music Degree in piano in 1961 and then began her studies in composition with Harold Blumenfeld at Washington University in St. Louis where she received a Master's of Music Degree in piano.
In 1969, Shirley Meyer Blankenship received Master's Degree in Music Theory at the University of Illinois. During 1965-69 while at the University of Illinois, she studied composition with Gordon Binkerd and Tom Fredrickson and was extensively involved in the performances of new works primarily as a harpist. She began her graduate studies in composition in 1970 with Professor Robert Kellyat the University of Illinois. After the premier of her Chansons Innocentes, in the Great Hall of Krannert Center, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois in 1971, coupled with her prior harp performance of Alla Rustica for flute and harp by Andre Jolivet, she received an invitation to join the University of Illinois faculty with a split appointment as the chairman of the harp division and instructor of music theory. Her doctoral composition Visions and Revisions for 22 players was premiered in Smith Music Hall in 1975 and was conducted by Tim Bobinsky. She has been the harpist for the Decatur Symphony and the principal harpist with the Champaign-Urbana Symphony in which she has participated as a violinist, violist and keyboardist as well.
Dr. Blankenship has collaborated extensively with composer Robert J. Martin. His composition, The Owl and The Pussycat for flute and harp, was recorded in 2009 (Beauport Classical). She participated as a consultant and recording artist, along with pianist/composer Neely Bruce, for Playful Edge of the Wave, piano music by Robert J. Martin (CD-Ravello Records #RR 7909) released in 2015. Additionally, Dr. Blankenship was the string consultant for the monumental string quartet work entitled Embrace the Wind now also available on Ravello Records.
Rudolf Haken, viola professor at University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign is a composer and violist internationally renowned for his creative melding of disparate musical styles and genres. He is particularly known for his work with extended-range violas, appearing in concert on four continents with his Rivinus five- string viola and Jensen six-string electric viola. Haken has been a featured performer of contemporary music at conventions of the Society of Composers, Inc., Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States, and American Composer's Alliance in New York City, as well as in recital at the Studio für neue Musik at Universität Siegen (Germany), Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien (University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna), SalleJacques Brel in Montigny-le-Bretonneux (France), Conservatorio Oficial de Música in Cáceres (Spain), and Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi in Istanbul, University of York (UK), University of Toronto, and Queens University (Canada). Among Haken's recordings of contemporary music is a Capstone Records release of viola works of Matthew Davidson.
Shirley's harp and bench
Arpaviva Recordings
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In the world today, with all the ever – expanding, opioid epidemic, doesn't it make sense, to look at, some, non – medication , selections, to relieving, and/ or reducing soreness, etc? When there are still times, when discomfort prescription drugs, could be required, and mandatory, especially, when an accident, in some cases creates a serious issue, you'll find lots of times, when utilizing drugs/ narcotics, if only be described as a last – ditch effort, after alternatives are researched. This holistic, or wellness approach, is crucial that you understand, also consider, and that means you may have the ability to relish a level of aid, using a minimum of side – effects. With that in mind, this guide will temporarily contemplate, examine, assessment, and talk, a couple of of the different ways, which might be employed, securely.
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Richard has owned organizations , been a COO, CEO, Director of improvement, consultant, professionally run functions, educated into thousands, performed personal improvement conventions, also has been involved, with alternative wellbeing, for 4 decades.


"Very good book. Essential to every medical student and physician"
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"Sackett and colleagues have written the best introduction to clinical epidemiology for students and clinicians. Their approach helps clinicians and investigators see the value and pitfalls of quantitative approaches to clinical research. The explanations of Diagnosis and Management and the relationship between common clinical tools and epidemiology form the basics for the student to understand the emerging field of technology assessment in medicine. This book is must reading for the serious clinical investigator and student alike."
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The main goals of this trip were to go trekking in the Torres del Paine National Park in Patagonia and in the Navarino Island in the Chilean Antarctic Province.
I did the first trek with my wife (5 days, the classical W minus Valle del Frances). During this trek we carried all our gear, food, and camping equipment, and slept in our tent. We did not use any of the hostels and refugios, nor any of the restaurants available in some places. As is well known, Torres del Paine NP offers sensational landscapes. However, we were extremely disappointed by the overall organization of the park: high prices for no or substandard services, awful camping sites, insufficient maintenance of facilities and trails, inapplicable rules, lack of reliable information, unfriendly staff... These deficiencies severely reduced the quality of our trekking experience. As the park and its camping's (some private) collect several millions of US$ in fees each year they should do a much better job...or they should as much as possible return the park to wilderness, at least by removing hostels, refugios, restaurants, shops, and showers, and restricting the activities of trekking agencies bringing large groups.
For the second trek (7 days) I went alone with a guide from Puerto Williams, Maurice Van de Maele Bello (siempredelsur@hotmail.com). The itinerary was a combination of the so-called Dientes Circuit around a mountain range, Los Dientes de Navarino, in the central part of the island and a side-trip to Lake Windhond in the south. This much more remote trek, which has none of the issues that afflict Torres del Paine NP (no red tape, no park rangers, no entrance or camping fees, almost no trail, no hostels/refugios, hence no crowd...), was truly wonderful.
During this trip I also spent a few days in Punta Arenas (the capital of Chile's southernmost region, XII Region de Magallanes y de la Antartica Chilena, located on the shore of the Strait of Magellan), Puerto Natales (a town that is the main transit point to/from Torres del Paine NP), and Puerto Williams (the southernmost town in the world, located on Navarino Island on the shore of the Beagle Channel).
This was my third trip to Chile. In February 2001 I had already hiked in Torres de Paine NP, mainly in Valle del Frances. My goal had then been to climb Cerro Fortaleza, but continuously bad weather did not make it possible (see here). On my second trip, in July-August 2015, I traveled to the northern part of Chile (see here).