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Category: pop culture	(page 1 of 3)
A few weeks ago, my soon-to-be wife and I went out to a local mall to catch the final installment in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises. I'd mostly looked forward to the flick, but only "mostly"–I didn't enjoy the same rush of breathless anticipation I saw many others experience. I largely avoided most discussion of the movie, as I didn't want either the storyline or the experience to be ruined, but I went in with hopes higher than I perhaps should have, for a very simple reason: I hoped watching the final installment and seeing the full story would cast new light and understanding on the second installment, The Dark Knight, which I'd found problematic for several reasons.
Sequels are notoriously difficult movies to make–it's the rare sequel that turns out to be better than its predecessor. And where sequels are difficult, second installments in trilogies are nearly impossible. The few shining examples–The Empire Strikes Back, for example–only highlight how difficult it is to make a proper second installment.
Recently, a friend of mine, Nina Perez, who maintains Blog It Out B, decided to bite the bullet and publish her new novel without the backing of a major corporation or the "advocacy" of a literary agent. This coming Friday, her novel, The Twin Prophecies: Rebirth will launch, and I for one am looking forward to it. She's been working with a guy named Steven Novak on design and illustration, as well as concentrating on formatting and lay-out.
Launching a novel, especially independently, is an anxiety-filled endeavor. Every author faces the stomach-churn that comes with the launch of a novel, but I'd stake a claim that anxiety is doubled for an independent author, who not only faces the daunting challenge of both reaching new readers and hoping those readers don't respond negatively, but also faces the general negativity of the publishing industry–including literary agents and editors associated with corporate publishers–as a whole.
As Nina has been prepping her novel for publication, we–we being myself and several of her other friends–have been discussing writing and publishing. We're a diverse group of writers still emerging, still building, still working, still aspiring. We don't have contracts with big corporations. A couple of us don't have books out. But we write, and that's what counts.
And given that we write, and given that we've been discussing writing and publishing, lately, we've been discussing Amanda Hocking. How can an aspiring writer not, nevermind to what said writer aspires to. Regardless of whether a writer wants millions of dollars or millions of readers, Hocking seems exemplary of a case study of success.
(There's always an "except," isn't there?)
Now, I'm going to break from discussion, because I'll not put words in other writers' mouths. But I've noticed Hocking, and her work, and her story, and I've gotten a couple samples of her work, and I've got to be honest: I don't get it.
Then again, I didn't get Twilight, either.
Still, a million teenage girls (and their moms) and the millions of dollars they spent can't be wrong.
Or can they?
I wrote this as a comment elsewhere, but I think it deserves a spot of its own.
Isn't one giant issue with the entire substitution that students aren't going to know Huck used the word if their teachers don't tell them he did?
Because they're going to have to do so. Otherwise, Twain's novel is changed completely. Doesn't it entirely change the nature of the relationship between Huck and Jim? Doesn't it entirely change Jim's character and his motivations?
Do we really trust teachers to prequel every reading of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with that information?
Teacher: "Now class, we're about to read what was once a very controversial novel, but we've made it more appropriate for your reading pleasure."
Student: "How did you do that?"
Teacher: "We changed a word."
Student: "Just one? Which one? Did Twain drop the f-bomb? I didn't realize they had the f-bomb back then."
Teacher: "No, it's more egregious than the f-bomb."
Student: "What's 'egregious' mean?"
Teacher: "Bad. It was worse than the f-bomb."
Student: "Worse than the f-bomb? What's worse than the f-bomb? Did he say the c-word?"
Teacher: "Er. What's the c-word?"
Student: "You know. The c-word. Rhymes with bunt."
Teacher: "Where did you learn that word?! Er. But no. Not that one."
Student: "Well which one? What's the first letter?"
Teacher: "N."
Student: "N? Er. What begins with 'n'? Nincompoop? That's not so bad."
Teacher: "It wasn't nincompoop."
Student: "Um. Nutcracker?"
Teacher: "No. It was a word people used to call black people."
Student: "Oh. You mean 'nigger'?"
Teacher: "Yes, precisely. That's what Huck used to call Jim. Now he calls him a 'slave.'"
Student: "But then that whole description of Jim's having been a 'free slave' doesn't make much sense."
Teacher: "Well. Perhaps not. But we've avoided using a terrible word."
Student: "'Nigger'? Well, yeah, it's awful, but Kanye and Tupac say it all the time. Why not Twain? It's just his book. He was writing, like, 100 years ago. It was a lot different then, wasn't it? It's not like white folks go around dropping the world all willy-nilly now, is it? Honestly, you've wasted a lot of valuable time doing something trivial when we could have been discussing race in American in the 1800s and how it's evolved, both in publishing and in culture, over the past century and a half. Honestly. What are you getting paid for, anyway?"
Seems like this week is always rather retrospective. Years in review, all that. Lots of sites running "Top Stories of 2010" posts, as though what wouldn't have been news again last week suddenly is solely by virtue of when it was news. It's like the East Coast blizzard froze the whole world, which is stuck hoping for thaw to begin tomorrow.
I thought about doing some best-of posts. The decade-best lists are some of the most popular posts on this site. Yesterday, however, I glanced through a list of movies that came out in 2011 and found precisely two I thought were remarkable: How to Train Your Dragon and The Social Network. The former was a surprise; it had a lot of heart and was a lot of fun, and it managed that rare thing of being a movie aimed at a younger audience that appealed across a wider age range without using irreverent humor and other such innuendo-based means. With Shrek, one of the things that increased its appeal was jokes that kids wouldn't have gotten; it worked on multiple levels; Dragon, on the other hand, stuck mainly consistent in just trying to tell its story, and I think it was a better movie for it.
The Social Network demonstrates that The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Panic Room were flukes from a guy who's been getting better since the beginning, by which I mean that David Fincher had shown signs of improvement over his career and development as a director in years previous by making movies that were consistently better than the ones before. Se7en was fantastic after Alien3. The Game is underrated, and then there's Fight Club, and then, just when you think that he's got a style, signature shots, all that, Zodiac, which was the first time he just turned the camera on and followed the story (which isn't to say his obvious style didn't serve his other movies). And now The Social Network the rise and continued rise of Zuckerberg and Facebook, which was, on all levels, fantastic.
I read other movies people were raving about, but didn't much like them when I sat down to check them out. Inception, in particular . . . just didn't do it for me. Funny: I remember when The Matrix came out, and all the people who claimed not to "get it," that it just never made sense to them, all that, and then watching Inception . . . my initial thought was "So it's The Matrix but with dreams and less action?"
That thought never went away. It eventually became more negative, in fact, but one of my resolutions this year is to be more positive. Exciting is not about negativity, after all.
Other things that were exciting:
Yesterday, JA Konrath posted an interesting essay titled, simply, "You Should Self-Publish."
I agree with him, for the most part.
I just wish he would drop that modifier.
Because forget it. You should publish.
You should publish essays on your website, tweets to Twitter, status updates on Facebook. You should use your Kindle to share quotes from books everywhere. You should join online forums filled with people who have similar interests–Konrath mentions the KindleBoards and how great they are for writers but sort of neglects how amazing they are for readers.
Which we all are. And we're active readers. We're better readers. We're exciting readers.
I thought, for a long time, that what was so game-changing, what was so paradigm-shifting, was that we're all now creators. We're all publishing all the time. We're all contributing new information to the cloud and the world.
I don't think I was necessarily wrong about that. All those things mostly hold true.
But then I got to thinking, that's not really what's changed. That's a by-product of more activity on our parts.
The biggest companies in the world right now are Google and Facebook. The former is, I think, the more important because it signals a new service. It's a search engine. It took away passive Internet browsing. No longer was the Internet a place of CD-ROMs and free subscriptions to AOL and "You've Got Mail." What Google changed was our ability to seek new and more information (as well as our ability to sift through it). Remember before Google? Back when we had AltaVista and Hotbot and Metacrawler?
No longer do we wait for information. That's pretty huge.
We Google things. I have a Google search function on my phone. We go on Wikipedia, though we know the information we find there might be erroneous, but maybe we do that because we know that even if the information is erroneous, we can find more information right away. We can find better information. We can find commentary on that information.
We can contribute to that information, and we can change it, and we can create it.
And the faster all that occurs, the less likely traditional modes of media can keep up with it all.
It used to be, in ways, that media created culture. Radio and television delivered sounds and images to our living rooms, and our only control over what we received came in the form of dials and switches; we could change the channel or turn off the set, but that was about it. If we wanted books, we had to wait to see what corporate publishers had deemed worthy of our attention two years before. Movies, too: from optioning of screenplays to delivery of celluloid, at least a year would pass.
The time it takes to create something worthwhile might not have changed (and continues to vary), but the time it takes to access and manipulate it has. Do any of us merely read when we come online anymore? Or do we all go to news sites we frequent, share posts on Twitter and Facebook, contribute to commentary?
When was the last time you got news from CNN or MSNBC? How about the last time you got it from Twitter?
It seems like we're moving into times of cultural responsibility, and we're taking such responsibilities away from the people who traditional took control of them as we notice that many of those institutions gave up their reins. One of the biggest arguments people tend to make against so-called "self-publishing" is that it's not vetted, there's no quality control, etc.
And then they buy and publish A Shore Thing by Snooki.
We're the upstart crows. We're the Johannes Factotums. We are the creators and contributors, channels of inspiration and information. And we're not just living in exciting times.
We're exciting them.
Not long ago, I went to a Philly bar called Eulogy with my best friend. This bar is a Belgian sort of pub one feature of which is a private room with a table like a coffin, and this best friend is a guy earning his master's in literature but who also moonlights as a keyboardist in one band and a lead guitarist in another, which I hope will intimate the overall atmosphere. If only because my buddy and I have the conversation where we discuss Derrida but totally admit to neither ever reading or understanding the guy.
Over the course of (several) fine Belgian beers (Rochefort 10 ftw!), we started talking about Heath Ledger and The Dark Knight. Now, what you have to know, straight off, is that while we're good buddies, he and I rarely agree on anything related to either music or movies. We both like music in general and good music in particular, but we have very different definitions as to what that exactly means.
So, Heath Ledger. The Dark Knight.
It's worth remembering:
(feed readers: swing by the blog to see)
Also worth remembering: that tomorrow is not so much a victory as an opportunity. That it is not nearly so much a culmination as it is a beginning. My greatest hope for the coming Obama administration is that it will help to remind us that the struggle hasn't ended and may never be over, and that its burden is on our shoulders. That we shall not be lifted lest we lift each other up.
"Forgive that they teared down my soul
Bless them that they might grow old
A dream that's forgotten may know
That it's never too late."
-"Madagascar," lyrics by W. Axl Rose.
Todd, Gawiser: 'How Barack Obama Won' – White House transition- msnbc.com.
I mean, it should be, shouldn't it? "By getting more electoral votes than the other guy."
In the midst of all my traveling and holidaying, I think I missed that the Hollywood Foreign Press association had announced their nominations; they'll name the winners on Sunday night, apparently. E! online has a full list of the nominees right here, if you're interested.
I was, until I then read them, after which I felt decidedly less interested.
I admit I used to be into the Globes and the Oscars. I watched them every year during college. I generally recall very little about the winners; I remember the year Roberto Benigni stepped on Spielberg's head as he made his way up to accept his acting award for Life is Beautiful, beating out the likes of Edward Norton (American History X), Tom Hanks (Saving Private Ryan), and Sir Ian McKellan (Gods and Monsters). He didn't, unfortunately, beat Joseph Fiennes, who was basically the only person not nominated for Shakespeare in Love even though he was, in fact, Shakespeare in love. The only thing I remember about the Globes is the year Jack Nicholson gave part of his acceptance speech (As Good As It Gets, I think) out of his ass, a la Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura, Pet Detective.
So, this year's Globes nominations.
I have to admit, I've not yet read a John Connolly novel, though by all accounts, his books seem right up my alley. He's an Irish writer who writes ostensibly crime novels that have, according to his Wikipedia article, become in recent years increasingly concerned with the supernatural.
So yah, got to look me up some of those.
Dude's won a bunch of genre-type awards: a Stoker for best first novel and a Shamus. And two of his books have apparently come with soundtracks, which is totally awesome (note to self: what is the soundtrack for my writing?).
Connolly recently posted a great blog on the old argument concerning 'genre' fiction versus 'literary' fiction. It's well worth reading just to enjoy the pretension of some writers. I mean, holy shit, you think it's a joke some writers think the way he portrays, and then you meet those writers who not only think that way but even speak that way, and you know for a fact those are the same damned annoying writers who appropriate agent/editor panels at writing conferences to ask deeply personal questions about their deeply personal pet projects and who believe the publishing world is totally against them because it's a covert and Cabalistic cadre of secret societies and secreter handshakes one can only break into if one compromises one's 'artistic integrity.'
He makes a lot of points I agree a lot with, but the money one comes toward the end:
I believe that art and craft are not mutually exclusive. One works at one's craft, and one hopes that, along the way, art may possibly emerge. Even if it does not, one can still take pride in the fact that one has done one's best.
Because, seriously, totally
When I was younger and first breaking from Catholicism, I became very interested in Wicca and paganism. Something about the more natural ways of thought and worship appealed a great deal to me: I am by ethnicity, like, Scotch-Welsh-Dutch (or something); I grew up as a Boy Scout and so was often camping or hiking, which was why I liked the idea of nature as the truest and most accurate expression of the divine (I don't know about God or Jesus either way, but show me a new day and I know where I stand); and I liked the idea of not having to go to Church or receive Eucharist or pray to know the way of God.
By the time I got to college, that had begun again to change. Studying theology with Robert Kennedy, roshi, S.J. remains one of the most formative experiences of my life, with consequences and repercussions I am even still parsing. Back then, in the way of the arrogance and pretension that became my characteristic for several years, I declared myself a "Zen Christian Wiccan," because I thought I had discovered over the years that there is, inherently, either no difference whatsoever between prayer, spells, and meditation, or that the differences we perceive between them, like the differences we perceive between Coca Cola and Pepsi, more a result of brilliant advertising campaigns and the placebo effect than anything else.
Nowadays, I know better how little I know.
(pretend there's a little accent thingy over that 'e', please, because I think there should be one there. I could be wrong)
Wired's Paul Boutin notes that "blogging is so 2004." Basically, Boutin seems to think that Twitter, Flickr, and Facebook have not so much rendered blogs obsolete as taken their thunder. Why blog when we can micro-Twitter and Flickr to our hearts' content? His first paragraph indicates I need to quit blogging, because it just ain't worth it, and I'll never reach a level of, say, Gizmodo, the popular gadgets blog with a team of writers producing dozens of posts per day.
He's probably correct. I think I hope he's correct, in fact. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with blogging, I'll admit, for personal reasons; while I do love to do it, and I love the instantaneous and often-collaborative nature of it, I feel like . . . well, I feel a lot like it takes away from my real writing. And I hate to say this isn't my 'real writing,' but I've never thought of it that way, probably because I use different writing 'muscles' to blog than to write . . . well, pretty much everything else. I've been discussing with my students the idea of frameworks in writing, and I've always thought blogs have a different framework than anything else, probably because everything has its own framework.
Then again, that may be just me.
Malcolm Gladwell, of The Tipping Point and Blink fame, has a really interesting article in the latest New Yorker, concerning "literary genius." The main examples he makes use of are Ben Fountain and Jonathan Safran Foer, but he also mentions Picasso, Cezanne, Hitchcock, and Twain.
(via Galleycat)
I wonder about some of it. At least in terms of the two examples he uses, as both authors are still reasonably early in their careers (lives notwithstanding). Also: I know that part of Gladwell's schtick, so to speak, is the whole Blink effect; that we decide everything right away, and I wonder if that conflicts with Chris Anderson's idea of the long tail, i.e., selling less of more. Gladwell's theories seem to work best on a short-term level; Hollywood blockbusters, first impressions, that kind of thing, but consider the opposite: the movie that has a modest opening but goes forever. It's rare nowadays mainly because of quirks in distribution, but the idea of the sleeper hit used to be rather more common, I think.
Then again, maybe I wonder because I'm on the closer side to 31, which makes me feel a bit like a late bloomer. I started the novel that became The Prodigal Hour during my senior year of college, for all intents and purposes (though I'd begun the story years before), and I only actually finished it this past, what, July? August? Something like that. Over that decade, there were drafts and revisions and rewrites, over and over again.
Then again, I'm really only 30. I could still make that thirty under 35 list, and I still have a good few years for a shot at it.
But really, I think that what Gladwell misses is that it's not a binary thing. It's not an either/or situation, and I neither do I think it's related to the writer, or the way writers create.
I think it's related to the story. Some stories simply necessarily take longer than others, in telling and in execution, at least in doing them justice. Some stories take a while for gestation, and some even need to wait until you've got the craft to support your talent. During my twenties, I was often told I had a lot of raw talent, and really, I think it took more careful study of craft, not to mention greater discipline, to begin to refine it.
Me, I don't worry about the timing, so much, most of the time. Most of the time I try not to think too much about the ultimate grail quest of getting published, mainly for the reason that so little of that quest is under my control. Gladwell mentions the market in his essay, which is an important consideration. Especially from my perspective: being a new and unpublished writer, I keep reading doom-and-gloom articles that the current state of the economy means fewer and fewer publishers are willing to take a chance on writers like me.
Then again, I look at that statement and I think: how is that different from usual?
Through most of my life, at various times, various people have remarked I look like others. Just a few weeks ago, during an orientation, one of my colleagues decided I reminded her of the lost Baldwin brother. Back when I used to be a substitute teacher, I'd often hear, amid a flurry of giggles, that I looked just like the guy from N'Sync. I've reminded people of Jack from Will & Grace and Tom Cruise, Dean Cain back when he was Superman, and even Superman himself.
My favorite, though, has always been and will always be when someone tells me I remind them of a young Paul Newman.
Because, seriously, is there, and has there ever been, and will there ever be, a cooler man?
Just caught this video:
via Needcoffee.com.
Which I thought was awesome and highly recommend, though warning for the sensitive ears; there's some, like, language. And not language like big words or excrement or incest, but words people think are naughty.
So if you can't handle the word 'fuck,' don't watch that shit, yo.
It is, apparently, a video representation of an old Onion article.
Back in the day, I used to read Hot Chicks with Douchebags, which I think is a site best enjoyed in small doses; continued reading results in SNL-sketch syndrome, the Internet equivalent of an overextended joke.
But it was through Hot Chicks with Douchebags that I discovered Ram Jam and "Black Betty".
This is Ram Jam playing "Black Betty," a video which may be the most cliched 70s-tastic thing I have ever seen. I mean, look at his sweater:
In the spirit of lightening things up here a bit, I figured I'd post something more cheerful. To quote Tom Hanks in That Thing You Do! (which is certainly one of the most underrated movies of all time), I thought I'd give you something happy, something poppy.
Because it's a perfect day for a ride, ain't it?
I should really just sell the damned thing. Manhattan just isn't a place for such a beast, much less the Village. New York's a walking town. A subway town. Sometimes a bus town, and some other times still a taxi town. It's a bustling town and a jogging town, a drinking and dancing and staying-out-till-4-am town, and in fact it's a different kind of town just about every minute for just about every person in it, but it's not so much a driving town. There are too many cabs, too many long limousines with precious celebrity cargo, too many delivery trucks and big buses, too many Lincoln Town Cars shuttling CEOs to the office and back. The air is too bright and the sounds are too vibrant and the color is too loud to be shuttered away from the world by four windows and a growling engine, but still I keep the dilapidated duster.
I tell myself I keep it because I wouldn't get much for it. The old lady who used to own it never did know much about anything she put a key into, and the engine's hoarse in her memory. The duck tape on the torn cloth top; the old, nearly bald tires; the muffler that might as well not exist—selling it might cover a month's rent or a fancy night on the City, but not much more.
That's what I tell myself, anyway.
But I know the truth. I don't keep it because selling it wouldn't make enough; I keep it for days like this.
The town spreads out below us, looks up to us, admires,
Wishing that it could be where we are for a moment.
We're on top of the world, blessed in our youth;
We'd better enjoy our positions while we can.
The stars look down on us without our condescension;
They all wonder what happened to God.
They see what we have done and are doing
But never realize that we can change.
The moon shines down on us its scornful eye;
We are uncomfortable though others are less moral.
It is only half there, but where the rest is I cannot say.
Perhaps it is with God, waning philosophic.
The wind moans against wood and our flesh,
The same sweet nothings we whispered earlier.
And when it howls like fury through the darkness,
It almost seems like it knows how we feel.
Moisture like morning dew beads blades of grass;
Tiny, clear jewels of dripping condensation.
The whole world smells primal and visceral,
And it glistens in what little light there is here.
There are sounds all around us, some loud and some not,
From furtive, unknown sources in the darkness.
They seem to be everywhere at once and yet nowhere at all,
And isn't that exactly how we are sometimes?
There is night all around us, overhead, up above,
Silk and satin and dark to the touch.
It is almost oppressive but somehow refrains;
It shows more restraint than we did, earlier.
And so we stare down at the town with a smirk on our lips,
And look up at the stars and feel less than we are.
We throw an 'up yours' in a scream at the moon,
And whisper nothing in reply to the wind.
We let the moisture bead and then drip off our skin,
And the sounds gradually become unnerving.
But we live this night, my lady, on Inspiration Point,
Despite darkness' trying to steal the only one we've got.
Yesterday, Lisa said:
That poem reminds me of countless nights I looked up at the stars with Chad. Times when we wanted so badly some recognition for our efforts, times when we both felt like it was an endless cycle of repetative days. Times I wanted to shout and scream at the moon, because I felt so damn tired. We both were looking for inspiration.
Which, I think, is pretty awesome.
It's kind of amazing how you can try for one thing but achieve something else entirely.
To wit: I wrote "Inspiration Point" when I was a sophomore in college (which probably shows through in ways, I think), and its inspiration was "Thunder Road," by Bruce Springsteen. My then roommate was a huge fan of the Boss, and he played "Thunder Road" one night, and, while I liked the song, my more visceral reaction was closer to, "Man, I want to do that."
And so I tried (ain't sayin' I succeeded, mind you, just I tried. Then again: man's reach should exceed his grasp, else what's a heaven for?).
Here's some Bruce, because come on, nobody does it better:
It's a bit crappy, video-wise, but I love the story ("This is the land of peace, love, justice, and no mercy."). Also, hey, another Jersey boy doin' it right (also, we see where I get my predilection for tank tops, though, admittedly, the Boss pulls it off better than I do). Unfortunately, I got no guitar, but sometimes I get my pen goin'.
And again: the poem is from my collection, the proceeds from which benefit the United Way NYC in honor of those we lost on September 11th, 2001, and in the days following. If you took advantage of the free download, now's a good chance to help make a difference, and let's not forget, it would make a great Christmas gift for the booklover you love.


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The Public Intelligence Project is an independent, non-partisan, not-for-profit initiative that seeks to promote more proactive ways to manage diversity, mainly by advocating for better methods of addressing public differences and empowering silenced voices. We believe that by creating a "culture of democracy"—a social and political environment that is marked by strong civic and community engagement and public participation in the decision-making processes—governance can be significantly improved, and conflicts can be addressed more effectively. We also believe that the foundations of such a culture are built on dialogue, critical thinking, diversity of thought, perspective, and opinion, and freedom of expression and dissent. The Project seeks to develop these capabilities through research, education, and advocacy.
Doesn't a "culture of democracy" already exist in democratic societies though? Not necessarily; let's take India as an example.
With well over 1.25 billion individuals to govern, and more religious, linguistic, caste, and sub nationalities than Europe, India is the world's largest democracy. This means that there are 1.25 billion voices to be heard; 1.25 billion men and women of all ages and religions from different geographic locations, speaking different languages, and holding multiple perspectives, values, and opinions that are called to coexist. Naturally, this coexistence is much easier in theory than in practice, where certain points-of-view often dominate over others, and money, power, caste, class, gender and influence determine which voices are being heard loudest and most frequently.
So then, how do we work together? How do we make collaborative problem-solving the norm instead of the exception? How do we look past differences? And how then do we govern ourselves? By creating a culture of democratic thinking and behaviors through a citizen-driven movement; by speaking your truth; by holding government; religious, and political figures accountable; by listening to other opinions; by thinking critically about what you read in a newspaper or hear from a family member; by becoming engaged in the civic process and in your communities; and by not staying silent when you witness injustice or have a different point-of-view. For democracy to succeed, all of these actions are necessary.
Although we do not necessarily believe that democracy is a panacea for a nation or society's governance problems, we do believe that a democracy is the best form of governance to manage the diversity of perspectives and thought that exist in today's world as well as the complexities of life in the 21st century. Democracy without Dialogue regresses into a psephocracy- a government solely by the ballot box, without intelligent citizen participation in decision making. Dialogue aids in the management of diversity, especially for addressing competing values and opinions. Dialogue cannot occur without the right of individuals to openly say things that might offend others without fear of reprimand or reprisal. Dialogue itself is impossible to create without empathy, openness, and critical thinking.
Thus, for us at Meta-Culture, advocating for the protection of freedom of expression and the better management of diversity through more participatory methods is urgent and critical if we are to arrive at any kind of local or global consensus to stave off ecological, social and political catastrophes. We do this by developing original curricula for schools; supporting those working on similar causes; advocating for participatory democracy; empowering and raising hitherto silenced voices; and by being a platform for the silenced everywhere.
Public Intelligence Project Facebook Page.


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If you are like the majority of home or business owners around the Bloomington, IN area, you have probably spent several hundred if not a couple of thousand dollars in your roof. As a result, you most likely anticipate getting many years of enjoyment out of the funds you have spent on your roof. The only dilemma is that roofs take a serious beating from environmental elements, such as algae and various sorts of fungi, dirt, dust, sun, and much more, which can cause them to take on a washed out appearance. A lot of people make the assumption that they will be required to replace their entire roof as soon as it shows signs of fading. However, this is not the situation since a professional roof cleaning service company like us can restore your roof's stunning appearance for a portion of what you would spend to have a new roof installed.
Whenever you hire our roof pressure cleaning firm in Bloomington, IN to handle your needs, you are making a wise investment. First of all, our roof cleaning team strives to provide the highest level of customer support. As a result, we will go out of our way to ensure that we are able to have your roof cleaned as soon as possible. Our business also has a track record for supplying truthful quotes. Second of all, our roof cleaning service squad knows how to clean all sorts of roofs in a fashion that is effective enough to restore the visual appeal without causing damage to your roof. This is not the case with all roof cleaning agencies, however, as their power washers are perfect for knocking roofing materials off your roof.
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Regardless of the type of roofing materials you have on your roof, sunshine, dirt and even fungus will give your roofing a tough workout. As a result, it will begin to lose its coloration, which means the look of your whole home will also start to decline. The very best benefit of roof cleaning in Bloomington, Indiana is that it has been known to boost the life expectancy of roofing materials.
How Much Can Roof Cleaning Cost Within Bloomington, IN?
When analyzing how much it will cost to have roof cleaning carried out, we have to analyze the roof's dimensions, its obstacles and its pitch. Having said that, you should consider that roof cleaning is an investment that generates long-term rewards so it should not be seen as an expense. Give our staff members in Bloomington, IN a call at 888-416-7747 to get customized roof cleaning quote. We also offer service to Flourtown roof cleaning among other areas and states around the country.
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We can assure that we will never harm your roof during the cleaning venture. This is because we do not use the harsh cleaning agents that some roof cleaning companies in Bloomington work with. Of course, the fact that we also make use of a soft washer instead of a power washer helps as well.
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Many of our clients ask to have their roofs cleaned on a yearly basis as they feel this keeps their roof looking its greatest. With that said, having roof cleaning performed every couple of years is generally adequate.
Usually, scheduling your roof cleaning task two days ahead of time is a great idea. By booking your appointment a couple of days ahead of time, we never have to worry about disappointing clients by not being able to arrive on the day they call. Give our crew at Rise Above Roof Cleaning a call at 888-416-7747 at this time to arrange a roof cleaning.
Which Roof Cleaning Machines Do You Utilize in Bloomington, IN?
At our roof cleaning business, we use non-toxic cleaning products and a soft washer as opposed to a power washer to get rid of the dust and dirt without harming your roof. Fairless Hills, PA roof cleaning is another location which we service so don't hesitate to check out our other main cities.
Yes, we have roof cleaning accreditation and insurance protection.


The particles are produced in the first few minutes of direct-injection petrol engines when the finely sprayed fuel droplets fail to evaporate before being burnt. It's less of a problem with manifold injection because the fuel has more of a chance to evaporate in the manifold and as it is drawn past the (hot) inlet valve. Direct injection is directly into the combustion chamber.
A continued drive by manufacturers to pursue engine technology that makes engines more efficient and cleaner has driven the adoption of direct injection; which somewhat ironically has resulted in the new "problem" of particulate emissions from petrol engines. Requiring innovation to clean it up. Ultimately at greater cost to the customer.
The conditions under which the droplets do not fully evaporate in time are temporary; during a cold start and for a few minutes afterwards. The microscopic soot particles produced during the warm-up phase are trapped in the particle filter at the exhaust of the engine.
The particles are so small, that it would take 20 of them, stacked end-to-end, to measure a millionth of a metre; or one thousandth of a millimetre.
Because of the filter needing to trap such fine particles, it would eventually clog up, making it progressively harder for the engine to work efficiently and indeed, safely. The filter also traps other larger molecules, but those evaporate easily over time, joining other exhaust gases to the end of the tailpipe, typically via catalytic converter and other emissions controls.
To prevent the particle filter from perhaps bursting into flames because of the soot buildup, engine management systems monitor the state of the filter and will light up one of those mysterious symbols in your dashboard when the driver has to do something about it. As to when that, if ever happens in a particular car, depends on how it is driven.
A regeneration drive is, when it occurs early enough, the car being driven at between 60 to 130 km/h (obeying applicable speed limits) for a period of up to half an hour. Regeneration will be complete when the warning light extinguishes.
If such trips are part of your routine, then you may never see that light aglow.
Should regeneration drives not be undertaken or remain unsuccessful, then eventually, an array of warning lights such as these will require a workshop visit where workshop regeneration or worse; filter renewal will have to be undertaken. It is much, much cheaper to go for a long drive at least once a month with the same conditions as the regeneration drive; even if no regeneration warning light is showing yet.
This entry was posted in Environment, Mobility and tagged Emissions, EPA, EU, Motoring. Bookmark the permalink.


Your version of "intense" is likely laughable when compared to the training style of Johnnie O. Jackson. He's that guy who gives himself pep talks, grunts with every rep, and finishes a chest workout with a confident toss of the dumbbells. When you're using 160 pounds in each hand for a dumbbell bench press and look the way he does, it's acceptable.
While it could be taken as assertion of dominance or ego, Jackson's evident drive and indestructible focus in the gym are rooted in something much deeper: pain. The agony he feels from session after session with the iron is a true escape from the hurt he felt during his childhood.
Often called the World's Strongest Bodybuilder, Jackson is known for his big-barreled chest, a 550-pound bench press, and a squat and deadlift each measuring over 800 pounds. It takes a combination of power and hypertrophy-style training to achieve the ultimate combo of big numbers and a bulging physique. But Jackson has a mental advantage, harnessing struggle to use it for good.
We often see pain, whether physical or mental, as a bad thing. Yet Jackson takes a contrarian perspective. He believes that what you do with struggle is what leads to greatness. In his case, that takes the form of an incredible physique and success as a pro bodybuilder.
His life is a manifestation of the "no pain, no gain" mantra. It's a short but all-encompassing description of how he got to where he is today, rather than a simple (and sometimes sarcastic) declaration of workout motivation.
Like Jackson says, you can't teach someone how to push through a set, whether that be a set of dips with three chains around your neck or a set of circumstances in life. Whatever your driver is in the gym, it has to keep you going through the physical discomfort and exhaustion. Either you use your pain, or you don't, and Jackson won't tolerate a mindset that's anything less than relentless.


March is a special time. Not just because the daffodils come out and it feels like spring, but because there's an Only Connect special due any minute. This is the episode in aid of Sport Relief, which will be broadcast on Monday March 19th (a few days before the main BBC appeal night) in our usual slot of 8.30pm on BBC Four.
Victoria will be adjudicating with delight as these excellent quizzers do battle; hope you enjoy the episode and please do give something to Sport Relief if you can possibly afford to.
Also in March: on Sunday 11th at 3pm, Victoria will be joining a panel discussion about women in television at the South Bank Centre in London, to mark International Women's Day.


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Brand New Hampshire Casino Bid Rejected by One Vote
 Brand New Hampshire Casino Bid Rejected by One Vote
It's very good news for Massachusetts, as New Hampshire rejects its casino bill that is latest.
It would be impossible for brand New Hampshire to come closer to casino that is legalizing without really doing it following a two-hour debate, the state's two-casino bill ended up being killed off in the House a week ago by one vote, only one month after its one-casino bill was refused by 29 votes, and 12 months after the one before that. Deputy Speaker Naida Kaen, who had been presiding throughout the session, cast the deciding vote following a 172-172 tie.
The bill would have paved the real way for two video gaming licenses for which operators would compete in a bidding process. With regulations drawn up by the Gaming Regulatory Oversight Authority, it hoped to generate $25 million in revenue-sharing for towns and cities, and a poll that is recent the University of New Hampshire suggested that almost all of residents were and only casino gambling.
Two gambling enterprises in full operation would make $168 million for the state, it is approximated, and the Granite State requires the funds inside your, now that its controversial 'hospital tax' has been ruled unconstitutional, leaving a $185 million hole into the state budget.
It's understood that 17 representatives whom voted against final month's bill changed their minds this time around, mostly since it was tagged onto a bill to decriminalize cannabis, that they supported. Likewise, 42 representatives were marked as absent, presumably simply because they weren't so keen on the marijuana bit. It's also believed that some representatives motioned to kill the bill so amendments could be debated and a renewed bill drawn up.
For the prime sponsor for the bill, Manchester Democrat Lou D'Allesandro, this is sufficient to inspire hope. A motion has already been filed to reopen debate on the bill, and D'Allesandro believes it has a good possibility of being passed time that is next.
'While I am disappointed in the rejection of the bill today, which may have allowed for personal investment that would stimulate financial growth and job creation, I stay hopeful that a different outcome might nevertheless be possible,' D'Allesandro said in a statement.
Not every person was so delighted by the basic idea of a reconsideration of the bill, nonetheless.
'I feel such as this is deja vu yet again,' groaned Hopkinton Democrat Rep Gary Richardson, tautologically. 'We had this debate an ago, however the problems haven't gone away. month'
Good News for Massachusetts
One thing's for sure: the winner that is big now is Massachusetts, whose own burgeoning casino industry could be damaged by legalization in neighboring New Hampshire. Last year, Massachusetts Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby said he was concerned about the end result New Hampshire gambling enterprises might have on the Boston market, adding that he believed it ended up being 'inevitable' that the casino would open in Salem.
'It's a victory, because it looks like that continuing state is not quite prepared to produce the plunge,' said the Rev. Richard McGowan, a Boston university gaming expert. 'It would help Boston … people in New Hampshire are more likely to come calmly to the Boston area instead of going all the real way down to Connecticut.'
Along with the New Hampshire bill plunged into uncertainty, it will now give Wynn Resorts and the Mohegan Sun less to worry about as they fight for the Massachusetts casino that is remaining license.
'It undoubtedly makes both of those happy that there's one less competitor,' agrees McGowan. 'It will not really help the center in Western Massachusetts, but it will certainly be a boost in Boston.'
Ny Art Dealer Helly Nahmad Sentenced for Role in Gambling Ring
High-profile ny art dealer Hillel 'Helly' Nahmad will spend over a year in prison for their role in a huge high-stakes ring that is gambling. (Image: Elitedaily.com)
Once upon a time, well-known nyc City art dealer Hillel 'Helly' Nahmad offered gambling services to celebrities and other ultra-rich customers around the world. Now, he'll be spending a little over a year in prison for his leading role in another of the largest unlawful gambling bands around the world.
Nahmad was sentenced to 1 12 months and another day in federal prison on last week for operating a illegal gambling ring that worked with athletes, Wall Street executives and Hollywood a-listers. Nahmad pleaded guilty to the charges included in a deal in which he admitted to operating and funding the operation, in addition to receiving a large share of this ring's earnings.
But despite that deal, Nahmad will nevertheless need certainly to face jail time. He had hoped that their proposal to pay $100,000 each year in to a program to instruct art to underprivileged children would be accepted, but which was soundly refused by U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman.
'There is just one method for Mr. Nahmad to know his actions have consequences,' Furman said, 'and that is to deliver him to jail.'
Judge Questions Nahmad's Remorse
Judge Furman noticed that Nahmad's request may have been taken more really had he shown some intent to reform himself on the previous year.
'Doing good works before sentencing is as low-hanging good fresh fruit as it comes, in which he don't choose it,' Furman stated. 'It type of baffles me, become completely honest.'
In addition to his jail time, Nahmad will need certainly to pay a $30,000 fine, complete 300 hours of community service, and live under supervised release for three years. https://casino-bonus-free-money.com/royal-vegas-casino/ That's besides the $6.4 million he'd already agreed to forfeit being a part of his plea deal one that additionally saw him give all rights up to 'Carnaval a Nice, 1937,' a Raoul Dufy painting worth hundreds of thousands.
Nahmad's solicitors had argued he was raised 'in a culture where gambling was legal and gambling with a high stakes was maybe not only done but…was normal.' They pointed out which he had been gambling since a young age, placing bets on Knicks games since he ended up being 14 and achieving been trashed of a Monaco casino at 15.
Nahmad, now 35, is the son of billionaire art dealer David Nahmad. The Nahmad family is reportedly worth approximately $3 billion.
'My family is a family that is private I brought dishonor to it,' Nahmad told Judge Furman. 'we shall never ever forgive myself for exactly what I have done.'
Ring Had Ties to Russian Crime Syndicates
Nahmad had been certainly one of 34 individual arrested last April when authorities finally broke up the band. Others charged included several people who were reportedly connected to Russian organized crime, including Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, who was simply said to lead the operation that is entire overseas. Tokhtakhounov is also said to possess tried to repair figure events that are skating the 2002 Olympics.
A complete of 28 people of the band have pleaded guilty. That group includes Anatoly Golubchik and Vadim Trincher, whom were each sentenced to five years in prison this week.
Pennsylvania Holds Online Gambling Hearing
On line gambling issues were wrestled by a Pennsylvania House Committee. (Image: SimonsFund.org/thecapitol.com)
Of the many states that have taken up casino gambling over the decade that is last none happen more successful than Pennsylvania. The state overtook neighboring New Jersey (home of Atlantic City) as the leading state for gaming revenue in the northeast, a move that ultimately sparked a casino arms race throughout the region in just a few short years. Now, Pennsylvania appears to be considering a transfer to the final frontier associated with the American video gaming industry: online gambling.
The Pennsylvania House Democratic Policy Committee held a public hearing final week to talk about the impact that regulating on line gambling might have regarding the state. The technology involved and consumer protection were discussed over the course of the hearing, issues ranging from the potential social impact of Internet gaming to policy issues.
A Start to Discussion, Not an End
The hearing had been co-chaired by State Representatives Rosita(D-Philadelphia that is youngblood and Tina Davis (D-Bucks). In accordance with Youngblood, the hearing was designed to be described as a first appearance at the likelihood of bringing online gambling to Pennsylvania, rather than the time to make any decisions.
' The primary purpose behind this hearing would be to jumpstart the debate and supply a place for our members to obtain valuable information so that we are ready to deal with this problem in the near future,' Youngblood said.
The hearing began with opening remarks, and after that four panels were held on various problems surrounding the online gambling debate.
Kevin O'Toole, executive director regarding the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB), spoke to the agency's part in the ongoing conversation associated with the issue.
'The Gaming Control Board, as the regulatory agency, does not advocate for or against Web gambling,' O'Toole stated. 'If online gambling is authorized in Pennsylvania by the Legislature and the Governor, we do advocate that the existing certified casino operators function as the authorized providers of this activity.'
While O'Toole expressed confidence that the PGCB could oversee on line gambling in the state if called upon to do so, he did say that age verification could be one section of concern.
'At the full time that a person registered for a gaming that is online, his/her information can be verified to make certain proper identification and age,' he stated. 'However, it gets to be more tough to figure out with confidence that no one other than the registered player uses that account. This dilemma needs to be further researched to identify a better procedure for age verification.'
Regulation Would Protect Customers
Throughout the hearing, some other major players in the local and national gaming industry were able to share their perspectives as well.
Poker Players Alliance Executive Director John Pappas ended up being the final speaker, and framed the regulation of online poker as being a step to protect customers.
'Our discussion today isn't about expansion of gaming, it is about corralling the present marketplace that is unregulated turning it into a system that is safe for consumers and accountable to regulators and our federal government,' Pappas said.
The hearing employs a Pennsylvania Senate committee commissioned a study on gaming in the state year that is last. That report was expected to be released by May 1, though it has not yet been made general public.
Not all of Pennsylvania's efforts to expand gambling went efficiently. a current effort to allow taverns to host small games of chance attracted almost no interest despite hopes that 1000s of venues might apply for licenses, utilizing the price of licensing and the required background checks having dampened passion from bar owners.
'Hopefully we will discover our lesson through the debacle we are seeing with all the expansion into tavern gaming, and will supply a thorough debate and discussion with this issue before allocating out the revenue it will generate,' Youngblood said.
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Ideal for for colour or monochrome planetary imaging, colour or mono deepsky long exposures, and video astronomy. Also eliminated UV and IR light causing soft images in microscopy imaging.
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I have created a particle animation using GeoObjects. I want to stop animation(remove all particles) on a user action. I did it, but it takes considerable time to remove all particles. I want to just remove(or hide) all particles on user action. Please help me overcome this problem.
If you open your wt3 model in Wikitude3dEncoder you may be abele to see animations of you model in the right animation pane.
then you can use animation names to crate animations in the AR World.
Hello, I import a wt3 format 3D model to my extend tracking project, but can not play its animation effect, what do I need to do?
my apologies, but I do not speak Chinese. Google Translate didn't give me anything intelligible either. Would you mind posting your question again in English?
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The 28-year-old sparked a dance floor brawl at Sin City club during the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast where eight-time Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt was DJ-ing.
The fight began when Lavelle urinated on Kortney Rykers Hollier and her friend Amy Wallace, both 18, as they danced in the nightclub.
The women revealed that Rykers Hollier's told cousin Bilal Strickland, 18, about what happened and closed circuit television showed him confronting Lavelle.
The boxer, a Commonwealth Games bronze medallist in the heavyweight division at Glasgow 2014, reacted angrily and struck Strickland in the face.
He also unintentionally hit Rykers Hollier.
Footage later showed Strickland being helped out of the nightclub with blood covering his face and body.
The boxer, who had been living in Melbourne on a bridging visa and was not competing at Gold Coast 2018, claimed he had consumed six bottles of Corona, three glasses of Jack Daniels and Coke and a Jagerbomb on the night.
"He could have walked away, there is no evidence of an imminent physical assault," he said.
Lavelle was found guilty of assault and causing bodily harm.
He was given a nine-month suspended sentence and he will be required to pay AUD$2,000 (£1,200/$1,400/€1,300) in fines for the assaults, including for urinating on the women.
He was also ordered to pay compensation to his victims.
"What he did that night - it was extremely disgusting," Strickland told 9News after the hearing.
"We're just three innocent 18-year-olds trying to have a good night and something like this happens."


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SPORTS AS A PLATFORM
FOR MINISTRY
Booster Club Benefits
BECOME A BOOSTER
AS A PLATFORM
Why Athletics?
We exist to glorify God by:
• Promoting unity
• Pursuing competitive excellence
• Mentoring students
• Providing ministry opportunities
Athletics at BJU isn't an end in itself—it helps accomplish BJU's mission of building Christlike character.
NATHAN ZAKARIASEN
I am able to demonstrate my faith at every race. I usually try to meet a few runners from other teams and talk with them after the races. When they find out that I am from Bob Jones, it gives me a chance to bring up my faith during our conversation.
MAGGI FORD
Athletics have allowed me to spread the word of Christ. For two summers I lived in Asia. While there, we were teaching their teams how to play and we were living with them in their training camps. This was a closed country but basketball helped us to make a way to present the gospel to the people around us.
TESSIE ESTRELLA
Sports have definitely helped me to connect with others. It's really easy to meet people who know about sports and then to start a conversation about the Gospel with them.
The Bruins Foundation was created to financially support the mission of Bruins athletics.
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Bobby Richardson joined the New York Yankees at the age of 19. Over the next twelve years, Bobby played in more than 1400 games while the Yankees were winning American League pennants in nine of his first ten years.
Named the Most Valuable Player in the 1960 World Series (still the only player from a losing team to be so named), Bobby still holds numerous World Series records, including runs-batted-in in a game, runs-batted-in in a series and hits in a series. He also holds the record for having played in 30 consecutive World Series games.
Bobby finished as runner-up to Mickey Mantle in the voting for American League MVP in 1962. He was a member of seven American League All-Star teams and won five consecutive Rawlings Gold Glove awards.
After retiring from the Yankees at the age of 31, Bobby became the baseball coach at the University of South Carolina. In 1975, his team compiled a record of 51-6, losing to Texas in the final game of the College World Series.
After having also coached at Coastal Carolina College and Liberty University, Bobby stepped down as Athletic Director at Liberty in 1990. He is still active in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and served for ten years as the president of Baseball Chapel.
Bobby received many honors over the years including two honorary doctorates and the prestigious Gold Gavel Award from Toastmaster International.
Bobby and his wife, Betsy, live in Sumter, South Carolina.


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Mary Baliker
» KHI Patient and Family Partnership Council » Bio
Mary Baliker was diagnosed with kidney disease at the age of nine and has undergone dialysis during various times in her life. At 17, she had a kidney transplant from her brother, Doug. Since then, she has had three more transplants, the last of which was in 1999. As a result of this life-long experience, she cherishes her life and possesses a strong interest to help improve healthcare.
Mary's illness inspired her to become a fierce healthcare advocate. She serves on:
United Network for Organ Sharing as Pediatric Kidney Advisor
UW Health Patient and Family Advisory Committees
Friends of UW Heath Board of Directors
National Kidney Foundation (peer mentor, advocacy committee, and policy committee)
American Association of Kidney Patients: field ambassador
Chronic Disease Coalition Ambassador
American Kidney Fund Advocate
Midwest Kidney Network Board of Directors & Consumer Committee (ESRD Network 11)
National Patient/Family Engagement Learning & Action Network Health Services Advisory Group
In addition to her volunteer work, she has written a book, Maria Never Gives Up: Are You Like Me?, in hopes that it will help other children and their families in their struggle with a health crisis.
Mary's professional work experience over the past 30 years includes working with many health care organizations; including the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health, Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program, and Long Beach Memorial Hospital. She has served as an organ procurement coordinator, clinical research transplant coordinator, outreach transplant education coordinator, grant writer and reviewer, and healthcare administration. Currently she works as a healthcare consultant as well as an inspirational speaker, educating and informing attendees with her stories and personal journey.
Mary enjoys spending time with her husband, Jim, family and friends; She can be found hiking, doing Pilates, yoga, and traveling. She also enjoys training her goldendoodle, Kona, as a therapy dog in hopes of taking him to hospitals and clinics to cheer up those who are ill.


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A word from our Director
Jamie Harding
Kristi-Lee Kalendra
Adult Acting
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Jamie Harding has a long history of teaching performing arts and tours constantly throughout Australia. He works in Sydney teaching for NIDA, Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art, which is world renowned for its global and national excellence in actor training and he has taught an array of specialised classes in theatre, film, television and stand-up comedy.
He has also worked for many of Australia's top corporate training programs including State Theatre Company's Corporate sector. As an actor Jamie started his career playing Claudio in Main Street Theatre's production of Much Ado About Nothing, and since graduating from Flinders University Drama Centre has appeared as an actor and stand-up comedian in television, theatre and radio, nationally and internationally and featured in many of Australia's major performing arts Festivals.
He won the Advertiser Best Actor award in 2008 for his role of "Cripple Billy" in State Theatre Company's production of The Cripple Of Inishmaan, he also featured in State Theatre's production of The Real Thing, Brink Productions Gorge in 09, Reason 42, Edmond, and in Come Out's, The Yum Yum Room, just to name a few. Television credits include acting opposite Logie nominated Victoria Thaine, Rachel Ward, and Gary Sweet in ABC series Rain Shadow, and he has also played Simmo on the hit television show McLeod's Daughters, and won best Actor at the South Australian Screen Awards for the Film Sacrifice.
Jamie has also been involved in the media and comedy industry as a writer, and stand-up comedian all of his working life. He has worked many of Australia's famous comedy clubs including Sydney's Comedy Store at Fox Studio's, Ballina's The Big Gig, Melbourne's Last Laugh , he famously "out chased" the notorious Chaser boys from ABC hilarious television show The Chaser's War on Everything and is in constant demand as a corporate comedian.
Jamie is currently following in the footsteps of Carl Barron and Judith Lucy, to open for Bob Downe, one of Australia's most loved comic creations (created by Mark Trevorrow) in Sydney's most prestigious venues and developing a strong fan base of his own snagging a place in this year's Celebrity Comedy Debate working alongside Australia's top comedians.
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In the midst of the hustle and bustle that is New York Fashion Week, I was fortunate to spend a few hours over tea and scones at Alice's Tea Cup on the Upper East Side with the lovely folks behind the ubiquitous Cambridge Satchel to learn a little more about the story behind the brand and their plans for the coming season.
Probably like you, I initially noticed the Cambridge Satchel as it started appearing on the arms of celebrities and making the rounds on style blogs. As a girl who has a thing for businesslike bags, I was immediately intrigued, but when I realized the amazing range of colors that were available, I fell in love. When I had the chance to chat with Julie Deane, co-founder of the company, that love was sealed.
With just £600 of Deane's money, and headquartered in the kitchen of the Deane family home, the Cambridge Satchel Company was founded so that the family could have supplemental income to send the children, Emily and Max, to a pricey private school because Emily was being bullied at school and was unhappy. With no background in how to run a leather goods company, what started out as 3 bags a week in 2008 has since grown to an outfit of almost 50 people in 2012, but has managed to retain the feeling of family at the foundation. Case in point: at tea I was very pleased to meet the entire family!
Mr. and Mrs. Deane, Emily and Max.
Domestic production is also very important to Deane. She initially started with a local British manufacturer, but after production difficulties surfaced, Deane decided that she could do it better. So she opened up her own factory. Done! Similarly, when her embosser got backed up with embossing orders for last Christmas, she found an identical antique machine and pitched in herself.
I'm reasonably convinced that there isn't anything Deane can't do. She is simply a wonderful lady: ambitious, gracious, optimistic and charming. As we spoke, the word "unsinkable" kept leaping to mind, as she talked about obstacles she had encountered and how she had worked hard to overcome them. She is truly an inspiration for entrepreneurs and businesswomen everywhere.
It was especially lovely to meet Max, Deane's son, who sported his own personalized satchel, which carried his mother's business cards and some sort of portable video game system…which he used to show pictures of all of the different bags. He even had his grandmother's favorite satchel memorized. It was like the second coming of Alex P. Keaton, but way better.
Max's bag. Which I need desperately (with my own initials, natch).
But aside from the color discussions and cups of tea, the best part of the evening was simply spending a few hours with a completely lovely bunch of people who were excited to share their story and be in New York for Fashion Week. It almost felt like we had all been magically transported back to Deane's own kitchen.
Be sure to visit the Cambridge Satchel Company.
I've got my eye on the music bags to use as a briefcase.
What a lovely behind the scenes! I'm not sure which color to recommend—maybe one of each?—but I don't know if you can go wrong with any of them. They do have such a classic silhouette (which is fast becoming a common phrase for me. I feel like I've said that three times in the last day alone!).
Rambling now, so I'll stop here. Good luck picking, and have a happy Thursday.
4! I am quite jealous! Your favorite color?
Wish I had one . Found it when I saw Kate Davies with a red Batchel on her back when she was posing with one of her red knitted hats. Thought to myself I have wanted one of those since I was little and saw one in an old movie (can't remember which movie) I started to look up school bags and satchels etc on internet and Voila I found the Cambridge Satchel Co. Sounds like you had a lovely tea and you certainly had a number of brown bettys to hold the teas.
It was such a lovely time, indeed! I really valued the opportunity to meet the whole family. I hope you get your red Batchel very soon! Thank you for stopping by.
You are currently reading Tea with The Cambridge Satchel Company at Quite Continental.


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U.S. Individual Life Sales Up 4% In First Quarter
U.S. Individual Life SalesUp 4% In First Quarter ByU.S. life insurers are reporting slow growth in individual life insurance sales revenue for the first quarter.Survey ...
By Allison Bell | July 19, 2001 at 08:00 PM | Originally published on National Underwriter Life & Health Magazine
U.S. Individual Life Sales
Up 4% In First Quarter
U.S. life insurers are reporting slow growth in individual life insurance sales revenue for the first quarter.
Survey results from LIMRA International, Windsor, Conn., show premium revenue from all new individual life sales amounted to $2.2 billion, up 4% from the total for the first quarter of 2000.
The number of policies sold fell 13%, to 1.4 million, and the face amount of the coverage sold fell 15%, to $255 billion.
LIMRA researchers say the latest figures look soft partly because early 2000 was an unusually good period for term life sales. Revenue from new individual term life sales fell 24% from the first quarter of 2000, to $325 million.
But term life accounts for only 15% of new U.S. individual life policy sales revenue, according to LIMRA.
Variable universal life, the leading product in terms of new policy sales revenue, with a 45% share, continued to do well in the first quarter. Revenue for new VUL sales increased 19%, to $975 million.
The number of VUL policies sold fell 11%, to about 140,000, but the face amount of the coverage sold fell only 2%, to $51 billion.
Holders of VUL policies can put policy assets in stock funds and other investment funds. The recent slump in stock prices may have drawn consumers money to VUL products, rather than pushing it away, according to Elaine Tumicki, an assistant vice president with LIMRA.
"People were buying low, and putting more money into a variable contract at a point when the market was low," Tumicki says.
Some consumers may have been shopping for bargains, but others may have increased their contributions to stabilize the cash value of their policies, Tumicki says.
LIMRA based its latest quarterly results on a survey of 87 insurers and 61 subsidiaries.
LIMRA researchers have warned insurers and others against relying too heavily on figures for a single quarter as evidence of market trends, because of the possibility of unusual events skewing the data.
In the latest survey report, researchers emphasize the effects of the Valuation of Life Insurance Policies model regulation, better known as "Triple-X," developed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Kansas City, Mo.
The regulation increases reserve requirements for level premium life products sold on the understanding that issuers will hold rates steady for long periods of time. Many states put regulations based on Triple-X into effect Jan. 1, 2000. Others adopted Triple-X-based regulations later in the year.
Fears that the new reserve requirements would increase term life prices led to a dramatic increase in term life sales in late 1999 and early 2000, LIMRA researchers note.
Although U.S. individual term life sales were much lower than they were in the first quarter of 2000, they were still higher than they were in the first quarter of 1999.
LIMRA survey participants have not yet reported any noticeable increases in term life insurance costs.
The average reported premium for term life insurance actually fell 3% from the first quarter of 2000, to $2.19 per $1,000 of coverage, according to LIMRA.
Meanwhile, the average premium for all types of individual life coverage increased 22%, to $8.50 per $1,000 of coverage.
Reproduced from National Underwriter Life & Health/Financial Services Edition, July 20, 2001. Copyright 2001 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.
Allison Bell
Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor's insurance editor, previously was LifeHealthPro's health insurance editor. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She can be reached at abell@alm.com or on Twitter at @Think_Allison.


It is currently Thu Apr 18, 2019 8:25 am.
Anyone have a vendor stocked with these items? And prices these days?
I tried searching these forums but couldn't find any references less than a couple years old, apologies if I missed the obvious..
AoJ farmers market is usually well stocked with most necessities of UO life. Most marketing is done in the shards Discord lately (theres a link "Discord Chat" up top on this homepage, a modern day IRC substitute).


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Share this Story: Victoria Henneberry and Blake Leggette plead guilty in murder of Inuit woman Loretta Saunders
Victoria Henneberry and Blake Leggette plead guilty in murder of Inuit woman Loretta Saunders
Saunders, 26, was attending Saint Mary's University in Halifax when she went missing last year. Two weeks later, she was found dead in a wooded area off a highway
Apr 23, 2015 • April 23, 2015 • 2 minute read
Julie Oliver/Ottawa Citizen
HALIFAX — More than a year after the remains of a young, promising Inuit university student were found beside a highway in rural New Brunswick, a couple from Halifax pleaded guilty to murder and the public learned in detail how Loretta Saunders died.
But amid the gruesome details of the 26-year-old's death in February 2014, the motive for the slaying remains a mystery.
Victoria Henneberry and Blake Leggette plead guilty in murder of Inuit woman Loretta Saunders Back to video
Blake Leggette, 25, and Victoria Henneberry, 28, were both charged with first-degree murder last year and they both pleaded not guilty at the time. As their trial was starting Wednesday, Leggette changed his plea to guilty and Henneberry pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of second-degree murder.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mike Dembeck
Two statements of fact submitted to Nova Scotia Supreme Court say the couple were having "financial difficulties" soon after they moved into a sublet room in Saunders' Halifax apartment, which they had found online through a Kijiji ad in January 2014.
The documents say the two wanted to get out of Halifax, but they don't explain why.
"Mr. Leggette planned to kill Ms. Saunders, take her car and leave the province," both statements say.
On Feb. 13, 2014, Saunders went to collect rent from the couple but they didn't have the money, and Henneberry lied, saying she had lost her bank card and needed to contact her bank, according to the statement.
Leggette then grabbed Saunders by the throat and choked her, but the young woman fought back, managing to tear through the three plastic bags he pulled over her head.
At one point, Leggette and Saunders fell down. He twice hit her head on the floor and she stopped moving.
Loretta Saunders' uncle banned from court after lunging at two roommates accused of murdering Halifax student
Loretta Saunders' roommates Victoria Henneberry and Blake Leggette charged with first degree murder
'A tragic end': Desperate search for pregnant student Loretta Saunders ends after body found on highway median
Saunders body was found in a hockey bag on the side of the Trans-Canada Highway near Salisbury, N.B., about two weeks later.
Leggette and Henneberry were arrested five days later in Harrow, Ont., while driving Saunders' car. They also had the young woman's phone, bank card and identification.
At a four-day preliminary hearing held last summer, the court was shown a video recorded by Leggette on Feb. 8, 2014, showing he and Henneberry arguing as they appeared to discuss killing Saunders.
Leggette will be sentenced to an automatic life sentence with no parole eligibility for 25 years.
Henneberry is also facing a life sentence, but her parole eligibility could range between 10 and 25 years.
Saunders was a student at Saint Mary's University, where she focused her studies on missing and murdered aboriginal women.
At the courtroom on Wednesday, several members of Saunders' family, including her mother, sat stone-faced throughout the proceedings.
Victim-impact statements are expected to be delivered at a sentencing hearing scheduled for next Wednesday. Judge Josh Arnold will also decide on Henneberry's parole eligibility period.


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Ashestoangels at The Louisiana in Bristol, UK
Sheri Rouse
Concert Reviews, Rock, UK
Alex "Woody" Woodrow of Our Last Night
Music Videos, Rock
The Hollywood Vampires Drop New Song "The Boogieman Surprise"
Light It Up by Kris Barras
Samantha Fish Announces New Studio Album And UK Tour
Artist Feature, Blues, UK
AEG Live to host new hard rock festival, Texas Mutiny
Masked Intruder at Skeletunes Lounge in Fort Wayne, IN on 19-Nov-2014
The mysterious pop punk band, Masked Intruder, brought their "crime spree" to Fort Wayne on a Wednesday night.
Masked Intruder, from Madison, WI, is comprised of musicians Intruder Yellow, Intruder Green, Intruder Red, and Intruder Blue.  After meeting in jail, Blue and Green formed the band in 2011. Wearing colored ski masks on stage, with matching guitars and Chuck Taylors, they never reveal their identity on stage, or in publicity photos. Their self-titled debut album was re-released by Fat Wreck Chords in 2013. A full-on gimmick band, these guys don't let it rest. They even bring a guy on stage dressed as an officer referring to him as Officer Bradford. The crowd ate it up. Forming a small pit, singing all the words, this crowd definitely enjoyed themselves. The band was fast, loud, and energetic. The energy on stage warmed up the newly revamped Skeletunes Lounge on a cold winter night.
Flamingo Nosebleed is a punk band from Fort Wayne who embraces fast, three chord punk rock. Touring this past summer and fall with 90s pop punk legends, The Parasites, gained Flamingo Nosebleed a whole new fan base down the east coast from Boston to Florida and back up north through Green Bay and Chicago. The band has had a few lineup changes since conception in 2008. The leader singer, Jake Emissions, is the only original member but for the last four years, the line up has been Phil Nieswender (bass), Mike Singleton (drums), and Jake Emissions (guitar/vocals). Flamingo Nosebleed is currently working on a new album that will be out in late spring/early summer.
On this night, not only were they a good match as an opening band, but it seemed that a good portion of their local fans were present. Each person in the audience knew most of the words to each song. Fast punk is quite comfortable in the hands of these boys. They embrace those three chords and play them like they are their own. It is apparent they have tons of fun on stage and the crowds do too.
Flamingo Nosebleed
Flamingo NosebleedFort WayneIndianaMasked IntruderSkeletunes Lounge
Raven at the Token Lounge in Westland, MI on 18-Nov-2014
Amon Amarth at the Best Buy Theater in NYC on 18-Oct-2014
Thousand Foot Krutch at Piere's in Fort Wayne, IN on 17-Oct-2014
Butcher Babies at Cheers Pub in South Bend, IN on 26-AUG-2015
Alex Savage


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Posted on Wed, Mar 6, 2019 Mon, Mar 4, 2019 by Kairos Puget Sound
Breaking the silence: Inside the Israeli right's campaign to silence an anti-occupation group
Yehuda Shaul, a co-founder of Breaking the Silence, after a media briefing in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Nov. 21, 2017. (photo: Oded Balilty / AP)
This small organization of Israeli veteran combatants has found themselves at the center of an orchestrated campaign to discredit their anti-occupation and human rights work.
By Mairav Zonszein | The Intercept | Mar 3, 2019
For Breaking the Silence, the discovery of a network of spies was just the tip of the iceberg.
On Jan 12, 2016, Yuli Novak called her staff of a dozen people together in their Tel Aviv offices to reveal the identity of a spy who had infiltrated the organization. At the time, Novak was the executive director of Breaking the Silence, an Israeli anti–occupation group that collects testimonies of Israeli soldiers operating in Palestinian territories. She informed the staff that a man calling himself "Chai" had been secretly videotaping them. Chai had been active with the group for a year and a half, visiting their office on a weekly basis, and had grown close to several staff members.
"The moment I said it, everyone's first reaction was to look left and right," Novak told me over iced tea in Jaffa, near Tel Aviv, in July. "The initial feeling was paranoia — everyone thinking to themselves, Who else? People were automatically suspicious. In that moment, you don't know who is for you and who is against you." Frima Bubis, who joined Breaking the Silence just before Chai was exposed, remembers the feeling. "Your mind just runs — I even suspected Yuli. It was awful. Everyone scared of the other, but everyone looking to others for support," Bubis said. "I remember it as a moment of serious trauma of trust. It was a relief that it wasn't anyone from the staff."
Chai, whose real name turned out to be Chaim Fremd, had been hired by a right-wing Israeli group called Ad Kan, or "no more" in Hebrew. Ad Kan, part of the powerful political network that supports Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, holds as its mission to dig up dirt on Israelis who "seek to join the anti-Israel platform."
Previous PostPrevious Progressives must stop weaponizing charges of anti-Semitism against critics of Israel
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Golden Globes nominees: TV nods demonstrate changing TV landscape
This year, broadcast networks were almost completely shut out of both the best comedy series and best drama series categories. Cable networks and streaming services continue to have a reputation as a place for quality TV.
Paul Schiraldi/Netflix/AP
'Orange Is the New Black' stars Taylor Schilling (l.) and Uzo Aduba (r.).
When the Golden Globes nominations arrived, the TV major categories demonstrated just how much the TV landscape has changed.
All of the nominees for the best comedy series Golden Globe are for cable or streaming shows. Broadcast networks were completely shut out. And only one show (Fox's "Empire") made the cut for the best TV drama Golden Globe, with all the rest coming from cable networks or streaming.
The best comedy series nominees are Hulu's "Casual," Netflix's "Orange Is the New Black," Amazon's "Mozart in the Jungle" and "Transparent," and HBO's "Veep" and "Silicon Valley." The other drama nominees besides "Empire" are Starz's "Outlander," Netflix's "Narcos," USA's "Mr. Robot," and HBO's "Game of Thrones."
This is in contrast to the ceremony five years ago, when four of the six nominees for the best comedy prize came from broadcast TV. Only two, Showtime's "Nurse Jackie" and HBO's "The Big C," were from cable. Streaming was pretty much a nonentity (Netflix's first streaming original show, "House of Cards," wouldn't debut until 2013).
The change was already beginning to be seen in the 2011 drama category, though, where only one show (CBS's "The Good Wife") was from broadcast TV. The rest were all from cable.
This current roster of nominees exemplifies the changing TV landscape. Cable networks and streaming services are increasingly known as a place to find quality television, with some of the most acclaimed programs of the last several years coming from places like cable network AMC ("Mad Men," "Breaking Bad") or Netflix ("House of Cards," "Orange Is the New Black").
Broadcast networks, of course, are still the home of high-profile events like the Super Bowl and the Oscars. In some ways, the big channels are still at the center of our lives.
But in other ways, they're struggling to find what works in the new TV world. They have had some found successes – "Empire," for example, which became a huge hit.
But the AMC hit "The Walking Dead" has surpassed even the ratings powerhouse "Sunday Night Football" multiple times.
The list of nominees for the major Golden Globe prizes demonstrates that cable and streaming shows are continuing to shake up the TV landscape in a profound way.
The 20 best TV sitcoms of all time – readers' choice
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Revolutionary thinking? Colleges let students opt out of admissions exams.


Emerson Spice Hotel is set in the historical centre of Stone Town.
Like almost all hotels in Stone Town also Emerson Spice results from the renovation of an old merchant's house and offers accommodation in rooms of different sizes all different one another but still equipped with air conditioning, floor and ceiling fans and mini bar.
Breakfast and lunch are served on the hall at the ground floor while dinner and sundowners are served on the Tower Top Restaurant, a terrace overlooking the town's roofs.
The owner of Emerson Spice is also the owner of Emerson on Hurumzi and his style is unmistakable. Like the latter also Emerson Spice will let you rediscover the fascinating atmosphere of the historical Zanzibar but it will also require you to participate to everyday life of the town with its minarets call to prayer at dawn, its christian churches bells, the chattering of people on the alleyways … finally don't forget that the hotel features 4 floors and that stairs to the upper rooms and to the terrace might be tiresome. So said, if you are ready for it, Emerson Spice is a fantastic option.


The infrared spectra of oils have many sharp peaks and good identification results from reading just the amplitudes of these peaks. Indeed, about fifteen properly chosen peaks will usually suffice. The Coast Guard contracted with Rice University to set up identification procedures based on ultraviolet fluorescence spectra of oils, and to determine whether or not techniques used for infrared analysis could be applied to interpretation of fluorescence spectra. The basic result is that simply reading peak amplitudes of fluorescence spectra will not suffice to give good identification. The same conclusion holds if one also reads the amplitudes at the valleys in between the peaks. However, by assigning a sharpness factor to valleys and peaks, one can extract sufficient information to result in very reliable identification. An algorithm for doing this has been devised and implemented in the form of a computer program. A second purpose of the contract was to test the independence of the infrared and fluorescence spectra. A conservative formula is given based on the limited information currently available.


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Court allows 'Big 3' to hike gasoline prices weekly
MANILA, Jan. 11 –A Manila regional trial court (RTC) denied on Monday a motion to stop the three big oil companies from increasing prices of petroleum products on a weekly basis.
Judge Silvino Pampilo Jr. of the Manila RTC Branch 26, cited lack of merit in dismissing the motion for the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) filed by Social Justice Society (SJS).
"Although this court sympathizes with the cry of the masses and the seeming inability of the government to act and remedy the situation, this court cannot issue an injunctive relief to stop oil price increase in absence of any factual or legal basis," said Pampilo in his three-page order.
The judge also gave weight on the testimony of University of the Philippines (UP) Professor Solita Monsod, who served as amicus curiae, that there was an absence of overpricing and monopoly among the Big three oil companies.
"She (Monsod) explained that there is no overpricing and there are no excess profits or monopoly profits and there are empirical and theoretical basis for her answers," he said.
He said: "After careful and judicious review of the arguments of the parties and the invited experts, petitioners failed to establish a clear and unmistakable right to warrant the issuance of an injunctive writ."
The SJS filed a motion and sought for issuance of a TRO last August, 2009 to stop Chevron Philippines Inc. (formerly Caltex), Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Petron Corp. from increasing prices of their petroleum products.
The judge cited a previous Supreme Court ruling where it said that the issuance of an injunction "is the strong arm of equity that should never be extended unless to cases of great injury where courts of law cannot afford an adequate or commensurate remedy in damages."
The same ruling also stated that injunction being a limitation upon freedom of action must only be granted when the court is fully satisfied "that the law permits it and the emergency demands it."
The group cited a study by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), disputing the pricing of petroleum products by the Big three oil companies which, they claimed, gave sufficient basis for the issuance of the TRO and the writ of preliminary injunction as it represents the government's position in the matter of the pricing of petroleum products.
Former NEDA director general Ralph Recto and Consumer and Oil Price Watch chair Raul Concepcion were cross-examined by lawyers of Petron Corp., Chevron and Pilipinas Shell during the past two hearings.
Concepcion testified that the oil firms resorted to fuel price increases at the time the cost of crude oil on the world market were falling.
On the other hand, Recto reiterated on the witness stand his pronouncements that prices of petroleum products were overpriced by as much as P8 a liter and claimed that there was cartelization among the top oil players.
While he was still NEDA director general, Recto, was vocal about his predictions about the expected downturn in oil prices and even cited a study to support his claim of overpricing.(PNA) RMA/JES
Filed Under: National


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A statement by Mali's military regime announced the recall of ambassadors and the closure of borders with West African nations after the ECOWAS regional block announced tough sanctions on the ruling junta.
Mali's ruling junta said it "strongly" condemned "illegal" sanctions imposed on the country by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
In a statement read on national television Monday, the military regime's spokesman Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga announced the recall of Bamako's ambassadors to the West African nations involved and the closure of air and land borders with them.
ECOWAS and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) on Sunday imposed a range of economic and diplomatic measures against Mali, including border closures and a trade embargo, saying the junta's intention to remain in power for several more years was "totally unacceptable".
The meeting in Ghana of regional leaders followed months of increasing tensions over the timetable for restoring civilian rule in Mali after two coups and a military takeover.
"The government of Mali strongly condemns these illegal and illegitimate sanctions," said the junta's statement.
It accused ECOWAS and UEMOA of being "exploited by extra-regional powers with ulterior motives", an apparent reference to Mali's partners engaged militarily in the Sahel such as France, which has thousands of troops battling a jihadist insurgency.
The junta said it "deplores the inhuman nature of these measures which affect populations already severely affected by the security crisis and the health crisis."
Faced with the West African embargo, the junta said it had made arrangements to ensure normal supplies "by all appropriate means" and called on the population to remain calm.