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Silencing criticism
"Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." — Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
«The purpose of the suit is to harass and discourage rather than to win. The law can be used very easily to harass, and enough harassment on somebody who is simply on the thin edge anyway, well knowing that he is not authorized, will generally be sufficient to cause his professional decease. If possible, of course, ruin him utterly» — L. Ron Hubbard, "The Scientologist - A Manual on the Dissemination of Material", 1955; also "The Technical Bulletins of Dianetics and Scientology", 1976
Image source: gerryarmstrong.org
Radar (March 17, 2008): "Cult Friction" by John Cook
[...] As recently as February, according to Miscavige's estranged niece, a reporter for a British tabloid received a vaguely threatening phone call after interviewing her. The reporter had contacted the Church's press office seeking a response to Hill's claims that the religion tears families apart. Shortly thereafter, he received a call from a stranger asking if his mother knew that he was working on a story about Hill. The caller then recited the writer's mother's home address. Soon after, the story was killed. [...]
Robert W. Welkos (1991): "Shudder into silence: The Church of Scientology doesn't take kindly to negative coverage"
At various times, we were investigated by as many as three separate teams of private investigators hired by Scientology's attorneys. Up to the week of publication, the newspaper continued to receive letters from church lawyers threatening suits. I was sued by a church paralegal for false imprisonment after he served me with a subpoena inside the newspaper and I told him to wait in an editor's office until security arrived and determined how he entered the building.
The Independent (Apr. 2006): "The secrets of Scientology" by Sara Lawrence
The cult has attempted to intimidate news organisations who expose it. Last year, it threatened court action against Google, which had to remove websites that criticised the group. After a day witnessing what goes on on the inside, I realise it's little wonder the "church" needs to resort to such tactics.
Lermanet: "Scientology Gag Agreements - A Conspiracy for Silence"
Damien Von Markif, in Australia, sent me this GAG AGREEMENT.
Dave Touretzky has compiled new disturbing information (and more gag / release "consent" forms,)about the new efforts to "legalize forced incarceration" in the wake of the Lisa McPherson case.
Does this sound like this is a "church" engaged in "charitable activity" or totalitarian dictator silencing his critics? Or a Spiritual ponzi game engaged in a conspiracy to intimidate witnesses into silence by extortionate conduct?
Or consider the 1996 intimidation of a local Arlington County Virginia shopkeeper who consented to display "Free Diskettes" containing copies of public court records showing Scientology's true nature.
Former Scientologist told to pay $500,000 for criticizing church
A former Scientologist has been ordered to pay $500,000 for speaking out against his old church in violation of an 18-year-old legal settlement.
CNet News: "Net archive silences Scientology critic" by Lisa Bowman
Buckling under pressure from the Church of Scientology, the Internet Archive has removed a church critic's Web site from its system.
Affidavit of Jesse Prince (20 August 1999)
The truth is that these "confessions" are kept to blackmail and extort members should they dare to speak out against Scientology. Members are also coerced to sign documents that are self-damaging in order to protect Scientology in case they dare to leave its control and speak the damaging truth. I know all this to be true, because I watched this done to others; I did it to others; and it was done to me.
Affidavit of Jesse Prince (27 July 1998)
18. On July 26, 1998, one of the cult's attorneys sent a long fax to Dan Leipold that is their first not-so-veiled threat to me, warning me to be silent. The attorney included the document they prepared for me and that I signed under the conditions I just described. I am attaching his letter and the documents I was forced to sign under duress as my first evidence of what this criminal cult does to silence anyone speaking out. (Exhibit 1). It does not surprise me, as it is a standard tactic, to force a person to create or sign a self-damaging document to use when ready.
The Library Journal (Nov. 1974): "Books Scared Them"
Having won out of court settlements and apologies from publishers of four recent books exposing the "inside story" on the "religion" of Scientology and its founder, Ron Hubbard, defenders of Scientology have vowed to take to court any Canadian library or bookstore that refuses to get rid of these "libelous' books. The Scientologists have conducted similar suits in England, Australia, and the U.S. The books in question are The Mind Benders by Cyril Vosper (reported once a high official at Scientology world headquarters): Scientology: The Now Religion by George Malko; Inside Scientology by Robert Kaufman; and Scandal of Scientology by Paulette Cooper.
Syracuse Herald-Journal (1997): "Scientology's Unholy War: Lawsuit, privates eyes hound Scientology's legion of critics"
In 1992, Judge Ronald Swearinger of Los Angeles County Superior Court told The American Lawyer magazine that he believed Scientologists had slashed his car tires and drowned his collie while he was presiding over a suit against the church. The church denied the accusations.
Scientology's tactics in court have also drawn judicial rebukes. Last year, the California Court of Appeal accused Scientology of using "the litigation process to bludgeon the opponent into submission." The Federal Court of Appeals in San Francisco said last year that Scientology had played "fast and loose with the judicial system" and levied $2.9 million in sanctions against the church.
By aggressively pursuing its opponents in court, the church seems to heed the preaching of L. Ron Hubbard, its founder, who once wrote: "The purpose of the suit is to harass and discourage rather than win. ... If possible, of course, rum him utterly."
Globe and Mail (Jan 1980): "The Scientology Papers: Cult order sought to end scientists' criticism" by John Marshall
A 1977 order from the top level of the Church of Scientology sought to silence criticism of the cult by a New York-based organization dedicated to investigating UFOs and claims of psychic wonders.
The Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal was the subject of a six-page order among many thousands of documents released by a Washington court that recently convicted nine U. S. Scientology leaders of playing a part in a conspiracy to steal confidential government documents.
Dated March 24, 1977, the order was signed by Herman Brandel, an aide to Mary Sue Hubbard, wife of Scientology's founder and one of the nine sent to prison.
It was titled: Program: Humanist Humiliation. (The CSICOP, an international group whose members include biochemist-author Isaac Asimov, grew out of the American Humanist Association.) And it began: Major Target — To handle terminatedly the Humanist publication Zetetic (now The Skeptical Inquirer) and the Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal so that they never attack Scientology or Dianetics again. [...]
Globe and Mail (May 1978): "Church kept 'enemies list'" by John Picton
According to a Government affidavit, the reports said, top Scientology officials were aware of and participated in a campaign to silence critics of Scientology.
Among them was the head of the church's Guardian Office, which was said to be responsible for conducting covert operations to acquire Government documents and to discredit and remove from positions of power all persons whom the church considers to be its enemies. [...]
Ron Newman (1995): "Scientology harassment of non-Internet critics"
Internet users are finding out something that writers and journalists have known for years: the Church of Scientology doesn't take kindly to people who write negative things about it. They've sued and harassed numerous writers of books, such as biographer Russell Miller, who described his courtroom experience in a Punch magazine article in February 1988. In 1994, they picketed and distributed defamatory leaflets about writer Jon Atack, whose story is told in a 1994 Evening Argus article. In mid-August, 1995, they did the same thing to Seattle resident Robert Vaughn Young, the Church's former public relations officer; that story appeared in the Seattle Times on August 26. Los Angeles Times writer Robert Welkos was followed by private investigators and received unsolicited hand-delivered ads from funeral homes; you can read a first-person account in his Quill magazine article.
St. Petersburg Times (Sep. 1987): "Scientology lawyer threatens lawsuit"
[...] Corydon's book is so scandalous, full of lies and unprofessional that no major publication has touched it. If you forward one of his lies you will find yourself in court facing not only libel and slander charges, but also charges for conspiracy to violate civil rights. If you publish anything at all on it, you may still find yourself defending charges in court in light of what we know about your intentions. We know a whole lot more about your institution and motives than you think. [...]
Las Vegas Review Journal (Jul. 1980): "Scientology Church official quits"
[...] Last week, another source said, worried church officials came to Las Vegas and attempted to negotiate a censoring pact with Garrity's local attorney which provided that she would promptly get all the money she still had on account at the church in return for her silence.
Garrity turned down the offer. [...]
The Australian (July 12, 2007): "Inside a mad-made religion" by Hedley Thomas
"There is an interview I have where they ask Ron Hubbard, 'Are yea mad?', and he says: 'Yes, l am,'" says Raphael Aron, director of Australia's Cult Counselling Centre. "He saw his madness as a quality and as thinking outside the square."
In 1999, when Aron wrote Cults: Too Good To Be True, he was persuaded to delete what he regarded at the time as the best chapters: those that explored Scientology in Australia and its seeds 50 years ago in the US.
The risk of litigation was deemed to great. Even now Aron chooses his words carefully; the coffers of Scientology are deep, thanks to slick marketing and the remarkable dedication of members relentless in taking on critics. [...]
David Touretzky: "The Profit: The Movie Scientology Won't Let You See"
The Church of Scientology, has obtained an injunction against the showing of the independent film The Profit. (Internet Movie Database entry here.) Scientology is currently facing a lawsuit for the abuse and wrongful death of one of its members, Lisa McPherson, who died while being held against her will at the cult's headquarters in Clearwater, Florida. The supposed purpose of the injunction is to prevent influencing the jury pool in that upcoming trial.
However, Senior Circuit Judge Robert E. Beach did not stop there. He crossed out the proposed language limiting the scope of the injunction to the geographical jurisdiction of his court. The injunction he issued in April 2002 applied worldwide, and continues to this day! It has completely prevented release of the film. This type of denial of First Amendment rights is unprecedented in the history of US cinema. [...]
Gerry Armstrong: "Scientology vs. Jim Berry"
Back in December last year, I wrote about Scientology's "Operation Funny Bone," which executed Hubbard's 1977 order to "disenfranchise" cartoonist Jim Berry for an innocuous cartoon in which Berry merely mentioned Scientology. Dozens if not hundreds of Scientologists – organization executives, staff members and non-staff covert operatives – were marshaled for this intelligence and black propaganda conspiracy and operation to ruin Berry's career.
Santa Barbara Independent (Jan. 1993): "Church of Scientology Big Loser in S.B. Case"
Last Friday was a dark day for the embattled Church of Scientology. A special judge in Los Angeles attacked the church in the most blistering terms possible, charging it with gross abuse of the judicial process in its unsuccessful lawsuit against the now-defunct Church of the New Civilization, the Scientology splinter group that operated 'The Advanced Abilities Center" in Montecito between 1983 and 1986.
Image source: lermanet.com
P------ ---- (Mar. 1995): "Scientology: My Story"
Finally... into the inner sanctum of the ethics officer. The guy was a little runt who wore glasses, squinted and chain smoked. He told me that I had to stop asking questions, stop investigating, stop challenging people's claims of abilities, and so on. He wanted me to sign some forms. I refused. He produced some paperwork, and said that he'd process me for "declaration". I said I didn't care. He then told me that he'd "take care of me" if I kept asking questions. I asked him what that meant. He said that he would certainly hurt me, maybe kill me "with his OT powers" if I did not comply with his demands.
The Melbourne Age (Apr. 1991): "Church out to even the score" by Jo Chandler and Jacqui MacDonald
It is a disturbing document first issued by the church's late founder, L. Ron Hubbard, in 1959 and reissued in Australia in 1981. [...]
It advises that the church threaten litigation, then "use the data you got from the detective . . . to write the author of the article a very tantalising letter . . . Just tell him we know something very interesting about him and wouldn't he like to come in and talk about it . . . He'll sure shudder into silence." [...]
City of Clearwater Commission Hearing: The Church of Scientology - Day 4, Paulette Cooper
So, it began to bother me that, you know, was this so-called respectable Church perhaps harassing people? And in that one weekend, I had noted that they had lied about certain things, and I wondered about a church lying to people. And I decided to look in the library and see if I could get any information, any book. And I discovered that all the stories had been clipped out of every single magazine pertaining to Scientology, and I wondered whether this Church was, perhaps, possibly stealing things.
The Buffalo Beast: "Cult Classic - Pseudoscience and Psychedelics in the Church of Scientology"
After some prodding, she explained that the negative press concerning Scientology was the work of "anti-social" personalities, and that ex-Scientologists rarely speak out because the church "knows all their secrets."
Thanks to this current scientologist for candidly admitting the Church of Scientology's practice of blackmail using members' auditing files. Sadly, she could end up in the RPF for this blunder though.
Winnipeg Free Press (Jun. 1974): "Libraries Face Libel Threat"
The Church of Scientology of Canada has advised some libraries that they may be cited as party defendants in a libel suit unless they remove certain books from their shelves, Steven Horn, council member of the Canadian Library Association said Wednesday. [...]
Mr. Horn said the church has told members of the association that actions for libel have been begun by the church against the authors, publishers and distributors of three books before the Supreme Court of Ontario.
The libraries were advised that if they did not remove the works from circulation until the courts had settled the actions, they could be cited as party defendants and be liable for damages.
The books are: Scientology: the now religion, by George Malko; Inside Scientology by Robert Kaufman and The Mind Benders by Cyril Vosper. [...]
Reader's Digest (Oct. 1981): "Scientology: The Sickness Spreads"
In BRESCIA, ITALY, radio station owner Rodolfo Zucca receives repeated personal threats. His car is vandalized. Twice, the wires from his broadcasting studio are cut, forcing him off the air.
In Paris, university professor Yves Lecerf learns — that all the neighbors in his apartment building have been telephoned by someone posing as a health-ministry official. The bogus official has told them that Professor Lecerf is a danger to his neighbors' children. [...]
Globe and Mail (Dec. 2, 1987): "Lawyer says biography in breach of copyright" by Thomas Claridge
A bid to block Canadian publication of an unauthorized biography of L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology, was portrayed yesterday by a lawyer for the would-be publisher as "an attempt to circumvent the rule that the dead cannot sue for libel." David Potts also told Mr. Justice Bud Cullen of the Federal Court of Canada that the bid for a temporary injunction was a masquerade and an abuse of process. [...]
St. Petersburg Times (1980): "St. Petersburg Times topped 'enemies' list" by Charles Stafford (PDF, 17 MiB)
The Guardian Office struck quickly with its standard plan for silencing — or attempting to silence — newspapers that write about it. On Feb. 4, Clearwater attorney Jack F. White Jr., representing the Church of Scientology of California, sent a letter to The Times and Mrs. Orsini.
"Gentlemen," it began, "This is your notice under Chapter 770.01, Florida Statutes, that our clients intend to institute action against you for libel, including disparagement of title to real property and possibly for invasion of privacy, for the following publication, which we consider libelous." It cited two paragraphs of a story by Mrs. Orsini in which she described the workings of an E-meter, a device used by the church in auditing.
The letter was a threat of suit; no suit was filed.
Documents released by the federal court in Washington show that on Feb. 11 — one week after that threat was made — Duke Snider, deputy deputy guardian U.S., wrote Henning Heldt, deputy guardian U.S., that he had come up with an excellent defence should anyone accuse the church of trying to silence The Times. [...]
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Market Land Value: $9,844. 210 S Nassau St is vacant land in St. Augustine, FL 32084. This a vacant land is 4,356 square foot lot. Nearby schools include Minnie K. Young-Dpp PK Elementary School, The Webster School and St Johns County Transition Program. The closest grocery stores are La Chicanita, Winn Dixie and PJ's Asia One Market LLC. Nearby coffee shops include Present Moment Cafe, Circle K and Flava Moose. Nearby restaurants include A1A Crab House, Popbelly Gator and Kings Bistro.


Setup was very easy, adjustment and installation of the software (UPStudio) also. Shipment to The Netherlands was fast with accurate shipment information. My first project was a small 'holder' for my ledring project. Very accurate printed for such a small piece. All without fiddling with setting, used the defaults (0.15). I think the MK3 is a quality product and I definitely will use it in future projects.


What if loving your body -- as is -- could help make this world and your world a better place? I believe that it can, and that it does. In this episode I share three personal experiences that I hope will inspire you + encourage you in your journey to love your whole self.
Like today's episode? I think you might really my upcoming e-course, Embrace Your Sacred Space. In it you will learn ways to love all of who you are and how you are, and how to make space for yourSelf in the life that you have. If you sign up by August 1, you save $50!


text:
Q: Cyclic sub groups groups proof I need help with the following:
Prove that every non cyclic group contains at least $2$ non trivial cyclic groups.

A: Hint: If a group is not cyclic, then it has at least two generators.

A: Let $G$ be a non-cyclic group, hence non-trivial: one can pick an element $x \neq 1$. Since $G$ is non-cyclic, $\langle x \rangle \subsetneq G$. So there is an element $y \in G-\langle x \rangle$. Then $\langle y \rangle$ is a second cyclic group.
Note (Feb 1st 2017): you can even stretch the statement as follows: a non-cyclic group has at least three non-trivial cyclic subgroups. And it can be exactly three  as $C_2 \times C_2$ shows. How to prove this? See the proof above and consider the subgroup $\langle xy \rangle$. This subgroup clearly differs from $\langle x \rangle$ and $\langle y \rangle$, since $y$ is not a power of $x$ and $x$ is not a power of $y$.

A: we know that $|G|>2$ (and even more but it's all you need), so take any element no neutral x. $\langle x \rangle$ can't be G, so take other element in $G\setminus \langle x \rangle$, y. $\langle x \rangle,\langle y \rangle$ are no-trivial cyclic groups.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Sustainability and Green refer to the designing and maintaining the built environment to in concert with economic and ecological needs.
Federal agencies are required to achieve 30% energy and water reductions by 2015 and zero use of fossil fuel by 2030 with schools and municipalities facing similar requirements.
JOC ( Job Order Contracting ) and SABER ( Air Force equivalent of JOC ) are optimal methods for efficiently planning, bidding, and executing sustainability projects with the funding available from billions of dollars via the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act ( ARRA ).
Many "green" projects, however, suffer from poor planning and costly paperwork/contract documentation and project management issues largely associated with outdated contracting methods.
JOC – Job Order Contracting – offers a remedy for EB (existing buildings) / LEED EB " green " renovation projects.
JOC – Job Order Contracting – allows the owner and contractor to work together from the beginning; scoping the project, and developing the plans thru specifications and requirements to completion of the sustainability / green renovation, repair or minor construction project(s), on time and within the approved budget.
If owners decide to go the LEED® certification route, they can review current conditions with contractors and discuss construction concerns and associated remedies to reach established targets – up-front – with a firm fixed price for each delivery order, prior to issuing a notice to proceed.
visit http://www.4clicks.com for more information on JOC / SABER / SATOC / MATOC / IDIQ / BOA / POCA ….
Critical design stage information relative to specification of building elements is currently lost during design / bid stages ( and other phases).
Above causes buildings to perform lower than design range due to improper / ineffective maintenance, repair, replacement (O&M) practices.
It is possible to capture this data and create lifecycle building cost models, and associate O&M policies/procedures, as well as project and update associate costs today, at a fraction of the cost of developing the same later in the building life cycle.
Yes the above could be accomplished with most FM Software technologies… only if however, they had customized, robust cost models, and standard reference cost data fully integrated within them … however they do not.
The Federal Building in downtown Youngstown, Ohio, features an extensive use of natural light to illuminate offices and a white roof to reflect heat.
It has LEED certification, the country's most recognized seal of approval for green buildings.
But the building is hardly a model of energy efficiency. According to an environmental assessment last year, it did not score high enough to qualify for the Energy Star label granted by the Environmental Protection Agency, which ranks buildings after looking at a year's worth of utility bills.
The building's cooling system, a major gas guzzler, was one culprit. Another was its design: to get its LEED label, it racked up points for things like native landscaping rather than structural energy-saving features, according to a study by the General Services Administration, which owns the building.
Buildings would provide the information voluntarily, said officials with the United States Green Building Council, the nonprofit organization that administers the LEED program, and the data would be kept confidential. But starting this year, the program also is requiring all newly constructed buildings to provide energy and water bills for the first five years of operation as a condition for certification. The label could be rescinded if the data is not produced, the officials said.
The council's own research suggests that a quarter of the new buildings that have been certified do not save as much energy as their designs predicted and that most do not track energy consumption once in use. And the program has been under attack from architects, engineers and energy experts who argue that because building performance is not tracked, the certification may be falling short in reducing emissions tied to global warming.
Some experts have contended that the seal should be withheld until a building proves itself energy efficient, which is the cornerstone of what makes a building green, and that energy-use data from every rated building should be made public.
Scot Horst, the council's senior vice president for its certification program, said that any changes in the process would have to be made by consensus to ensure that the building industry would comply. Already, some construction lawyers have said that owners might face additional risk of lawsuits if buildings are found to underperform.
The council is planning several meetings with builders, owners, developers and others around the country in September and October to promote its building performance initiative, which could lead to further revisions in the rating program to ensure buildings reduce energy consumption as much as they can.
"If you're not reducing carbon, you're not doing your job," he said.
The LEED label, developed by the council in 1998 to have a third-party verification of a building's environmental soundness, certifies new homes, schools and other buildings, as well as existing ones. (The certification for existing buildings is the only one currently tied to energy performance.) Its oldest and largest program, in terms of square footage, is the certification of new commercial and institutional buildings, with 1,946 projects already certified and 15,000 more that have applied for certification. Many other buildings include environmentally friendly features and advertise themselves as "green" but do not seek the LEED label.
The program uses a point system based on a broad checklist of features and buildings can be certified by accumulating points on not just efficient energy use but also water conservation, proximity to public transportation, indoor air quality and use of environment-friendly materials.
Council officials say that these other categories also help reduce energy use and emissions. And many architects and engineers praise the comprehensiveness of the label. But the wide scope of the program, many in the industry point out, also means that buildings have been able to get certified by accumulating most of their points through features like bamboo flooring, while paying little attention to optimizing energy use.
Another problem is that the certification relies on energy models to predict how much energy a planned building will use, but council officials and many experts agree that such models are inexact. Once a building opens, it may use more energy than was predicted by the design. And how a building is used — how many occupants it has, for example — affects its energy consumption.
"If the occupants don't turn off the lights, the building doesn't do as well as expected," said Mark Frankel, technical director for the New Buildings Institute, which promotes improved energy performance in new commercial construction and conducted the research commissioned by the Green Building Council on LEED buildings.
"In the real world, the mechanical systems may have problems, so that increases energy use," Mr. Frankel said, adding that keeping track of energy use is rarely a priority for owners.
LEED energy standards have grown more stringent over the years, and construction like the Youngstown federal building, built in 2002, would not be certified under the current version of the program, the G.S.A. study noted. The LEED standard goes through periodic revisions, and this year, the minimum energy requirements needed for the basic LEED certification for new buildings were raised.
But in its own study last year of 121 new buildings certified through 2006, the Green Building Council found that more than half — 53 percent — did not qualify for the Energy Star label and 15 percent scored below 30 in that program, meaning they used more energy per square foot than at least 70 percent of comparable buildings in the existing national stock.
Anecdotal information from follow-up research to that study indicated that the best-performing buildings had limited window areas and tended to be smaller.
Sometimes, a building's inhabitants are the first to notice energy-wasting features.
At the Octagon, a LEED-certified residential rental building on Roosevelt Island in New York City, residents like Alan Siegal say that obvious energy savers, like motion sensors in the hallway, are hard to miss.
"If there's a lot of glass, is that going to be efficient?" he asked.
Bruce Becker, whose company Becker and Becker Associates developed and owns the Octagon, said that the windows offer day lighting but conceded that there were plenty of opportunities to become more energy efficient. He said the Octagon would soon switch to a fuel cell system for heat and electricity, partly to cut energy costs at a time of a depressed rental market.
Mr. Horst, the LEED executive, said that LEED may eventually move toward the E.P.A.'s Energy Star model, which attests to energy efficiency only for the year the label was given, similar to restaurant ratings.
"Ultimately, where we want to be is, once you're performing at a certain level, you continue to be recertified," Mr. Horst said.


This weekend Tampa area residents will be inundated with the sights and sounds of the sirens of the sea when the 3rd annual Merpalooza takes place, from August 9th -11th.
"MerPalooza is the only gathering of Mermaids in the world which also brings in Experts, Tail Makers, Authors, Jewelry Designers, Artists and Regular people who are fans of Mermaids and Mermen. If you ever wanted to learn anything about Mermaids – This is THE place to be!"–from the website.
Click the link below to read more about the festival! and if you go, contact me and I'll post your pics to the blog!
This entry was tagged Among the Mermaids, mermaid festivals, merpalooza, merpalooza 2013, real mermaids, varla ventura mermaids, where to buy a mermaid tail. Bookmark the permalink.


Work began on The Beatles fifth UK album, Help!, on this day. Three songs were recorded over two sessions lasting from 2.30-5.45 and 7-10.30pm.
The first song to be recorded was Ticket To Ride, which became The Beatles' first single of the year on 9 April 1965.
From this session onwards, The Beatles adopted a new method of recording. Instead of essentially performing their songs live in the studio, they increasingly taped the rhythm tracks first, then overdubbed vocals and extra instruments onto the best takes.
Previously, The Beatles' overdubs had been given individual take numbers. From 1965 onwards, however, these additions were unnumbered. As a result, although a song may appear to have been completed in just a handful of takes, it could have required a great many extra recordings before completion.
The rhythm track of Ticket To Ride was completed in two takes, the first of which was a false start. The second featured no vocals, with the four-track take as follows: bass guitar and drums on track one; George Harrison's Rickenbacker 12-string guitar playing the main riff on two, along with John Lennon's Fender Stratocaster and Paul McCartney's Epiphone Casino guitar parts; track three featured Lennon's lead vocals and tambourine; and four contained handclaps, McCartney's backing vocals, and Harrison's Fender Stratocaster guitar.
Paul McCartney played both bass and lead guitar on the song, and also reportedly suggested Ringo Starr's distinctive drum pattern.
The evening session was devoted to Another Girl and I Need You. The rhythm track for the first of these was captured in one take. Track one contained McCartney's bass guitar and Starr's drums; track two had Lennon's Fender electric and Harrison's Gibson acoustic guitar; track three contained McCartney's lead vocals, with backing from Harrison and Lennon; and track four had more vocals from Lennon and McCartney, tom-tom from Starr, and Harrison on Gretsch electric guitar. This last overdub was a guitar flourish, recorded 10 takes for the song's ending, to be edited onto the song at a later date. The idea was dropped when the song was mixed for release.
The final song, I Need You, took five takes to record. This was Harrison's first song to be recorded since Don't Bother Me.
The line-up was unusual, and documented by George Martin in his detailed session notes (originally published in his limited edition book Playback). Harrison played a Spanish guitar and McCartney was on his usual Hofner bass, but Starr created a percussive rhythm on the back of a Gibson Jumbo acoustic guitar. Lennon, meanwhile, played the snare drum on beats two and four throughout the song.
The backing was recorded onto track one of the tape. Harrison's guide vocals were recorded at the same time onto track two. More guide vocals, with Harrison joined occasionally by McCartney, were added to track three; and track four contained further vocals from the pair, with cowbell by Starr.
Vocals and the distinctive tone pedal guitar were added the following day.


Where are the black basketball coaches in the Power 5 conferences?
When Texas Tech and the University of Virginia play for the men's NCAA basketball championship Monday night, most of the key players on both teams will be black.
This has become a customary sight in Power 5 basketball for nearly 30 years. The other customary sight is that most of the players' coaches are white and male. This is a curious and underdiscussed aspect of big-time, revenue-producing college basketball.
The pool of playing talent has remained black while the coaching pool has stubbornly remained predominantly white.
How does this happen? African Americans have dominated play at the highest collegiate levels of basketball for three decades. You would think this would have created a rich talent pool that produced Power 5 head coaches.
Two Power 5 conferences, the Big Ten and the Pac-12, do not have an African American men's head coach.
The Atlantic Coast Conference has three, the Big 12 has two.
With the firing of Mike Anderson at Arkansas and buyout of Avery Johnson at Alabama, the Southeastern Conference is down to two black head coaches now that Vanderbilt just hired Jerry Stackhouse.
The state of black female head coaches is just as weak.
The ACC, the Big Ten and the Pac-12 each have one black female head coach, the Big 12 has none, the SEC has four.
Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, prominent black coaches such as John Thompson, Nolan Richardson, John Chaney and George Raveling used their prominence to advocate for a number of issues, including more opportunities for black coaches in top coaching jobs.
Those powerful, experienced voices are no longer in the profession. Florida State's Leonard Hamilton is the most senior black coach.
"There's a gap," Kentucky head coach John Calipari told me Sunday.
The responsibility of speaking out and advocating for more black head coaches should fall on everyone's shoulders, especially on white coaches who have been the beneficiaries of black talent.
Prominent coaches such as Calipari, who recently signed a lifetime contract with Kentucky, have to take up the mantle.
NCAA president Mark Emmert said prominent head coaches such as Calipari, Tom Izzo, Roy Williams and Mike Krzyzewski exercise enormous influence with presidents and trustees who often rely on the same, usually white, pools of talent.
After Duke eliminated Central Florida from the tournament, Duke head coach Krzyzewski went out of his way to praise UCF head coach Johnny Dawkins. Dawkins played for Krzyzewski at Duke.
From left to right: On Feb. 6, 2008, Duke assistant head coach Johnny Dawkins, head coach Mike Krzyzewski, assistant coaches Steve Wojciechowski, and Chris Collins watch a college basketball game against North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
That type of public sponsorship is invaluable.
"That was worth an enormous amount of street cred for Coach Dawkins, because you got to see upfront how Mike was supporting somebody he'd mentored and the credit he gave him in the press conferences," Emmert said.
Emmert was president of the University of Washington and knows how much weight that type of endorsement carries.
Izzo, Michigan State's head coach, said that for all the influence a high-profile head coach may have, there has to be a commitment from higher up.
Currently there are 10 African American athletic directors serving at Power 5 schools.
When Virginia faced Auburn on April 6, the game marked the first Final Four in which two competing schools had an African American female athletics director and an African American male AD.
Allen Greene is the Auburn AD; Carla Williams is the Virginia AD.
But the responsibility for doing the right thing and righting wrongs can't and should not always fall on the shoulders of the aggrieved.
Williams points out that most of her mentors were white men.
Calipari and other coaches have been active in pushing the NCAA to create more entry-level positions that will allow aspiring coaches to actually work with players during practice.
He believes that a major reason for the lack of black head coaches is the shrunken pipeline.
"The reason why we're in this position we're in, they've eliminated all the entry positions," Calipari said.
Calipari, like most coaches over age 45, began his career as a graduate assistant coach. He was allowed to actually coach players during practice and work on the craft.
The position was eliminated in 1992 by the NCAA.
There are now various support personnel, but they cannot get on the floor and effectively learn the craft of coaching.
The legislation Calipari and others put forth in July 2018 to the NCAA board of directors would provide for additional positions that would allow coaches to work with players during practice.
The argument is that these hands-on positions are far more attractive and useful to current players than doing just administrative-type functions until they are either promoted or get another job.
That measure was not approved and was referred back to the basketball oversight committee. The coaches association is working on a revised proposal.
Calipari said the problem with some white coaches becoming vocal advocates is that some, perhaps many, may have staffs that do not include many blacks, not just as bench coaches but in other staffing areas, such as managers, strength and fitness coaches, medical and video production and administration.
"When you look at your staff of people, who have you hired? How do you make those decisions?" he said.
In 2016, 80 NCAA member institutions signed a pledge, which is a covenant with their students around diversity in hiring so that student-athletes could see themselves reflected in those who coach teach, mentor and lead.
But how does the NCAA make the pledge effective?
Albert calls for courageous hiring.
"The only way that we're able to future-proof the industry and help our student-athletes stay close to the game and consider coaching as a career opportunity is that they have to see themselves reflected," she said.
Big East commissioner Val Ackerman said the proclamations and good intentions are fine, but not binding.
"At the end of the day, we can talk about strategic plans, and report cards and pledges, but somebody has to pull the trigger and make the hire," she said.
Coaches often talk with pride about their coaching trees. Given the disparity between talent on the court and coaches on the sidelines, prominent coaches need to step up to ensure that their coaching trees yield more black fruit.


Phagocytosis (from Ancient Greek φαγεῖν(phagein), meaning 'to eat',andκύτος, (kytos), meaning 'cell') is the process by which a cell uses its plasma membrane to engulf a large particle (≥ 0.5 μm) , giving rise to an internal compartment called the phagosome. It is one type of endocytosis .
In a multicellular organism's immune system, phagocytosis is a major mechanism used to remove pathogens and cell debris. The ingested material is then digested in the phagosome. Bacteria, dead tissue cells, and small mineral particles are all examples of objects that may be phagocytized. Some protozoa use phagocytosis as means to obtain nutrients.
Protozoa is an informal term for single-celled eukaryotes, either free-living or parasitic, which feed on organic matter such as other microorganisms or organic tissues and debris. Historically, the protozoa were regarded as "one-celled animals", because they often possess animal-like behaviors, such as motility and predation, and lack a cell wall, as found in plants and many algae. Although the traditional practice of grouping protozoa with animals is no longer considered valid, the term continues to be used in a loose way to identify single-celled organisms that can move independently and feed by heterotrophy.
Sir William Osler, 1st Baronet, was a Canadian physician and one of the four founding professors of Johns Hopkins Hospital. Osler created the first residency program for specialty training of physicians, and he was the first to bring medical students out of the lecture hall for bedside clinical training. He has frequently been described as the Father of Modern Medicine and one of the "greatest diagnosticians ever to wield a stethoscope". Osler was a person of many interests, who in addition to being a physician, was a bibliophile, historian, author, and renowned practical joker. One of his achievements was the founding of the History of Medicine Society of the Royal Society of Medicine, London.
Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov was a Russian zoologist best known for his pioneering research in immunology.
The innate immune system is one of the two main immunity strategies found in vertebrates. The innate immune system is an older evolutionary defense strategy, relatively speaking, and it is the dominant immune system response found in plants, fungi, insects, and primitive multicellular organisms.
The adaptive immune system, also known as the acquired immune system or, more rarely, as the specific immune system, is a subsystem of the overall immune system that is composed of highly specialized, systemic cells and processes that eliminate pathogens or prevent their growth. The acquired immune system is one of the two main immunity strategies found in vertebrates. Acquired immunity creates immunological memory after an initial response to a specific pathogen, and leads to an enhanced response to subsequent encounters with that pathogen. This process of acquired immunity is the basis of vaccination. Like the innate system, the acquired system includes both humoral immunity components and cell-mediated immunity components.
Collagenases are enzymes that break the peptide bonds in collagen. They assist in destroying extracellular structures in the pathogenesis of bacteria such as Clostridium. They are considered a virulence factor, facilitating the spread of gas gangrene. They normally target the connective tissue in muscle cells and other body organs.
Serine proteases are enzymes that cleave peptide bonds in proteins, in which serine serves as the nucleophilic amino acid at the (enzyme's) active site. They are found ubiquitously in both eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Serine proteases fall into two broad categories based on their structure: chymotrypsin-like (trypsin-like) or subtilisin-like. In humans, they are responsible for coordinating various physiological functions, including digestion, immune response, blood coagulation and reproduction.
Degradation can be oxygen-dependent or oxygen-independent.
Some Bacteria, for example Treponema pallidum, Escheria coli or Staphylococcus aureus, are able to avoid phagocytosis by several mechanisms.
In some, such as amoeba, phagocytosis takes place by surrounding the target object with pseudopods, as in animal phagocytes. In humans, the amoebozoan Entamoeba histolytica can phagocytose red blood cells.
Ciliates also engage in phagocytosis.  In ciliates there is a specialized groove or chamber in the cell where phagocytosis takes place, called the cytostome or mouth.
Phagocytes are cells that protect the body by ingesting harmful foreign particles, bacteria, and dead or dying cells. Their name comes from the Greek phagein, "to eat" or "devour", and "-cyte", the suffix in biology denoting "cell", from the Greek kutos, "hollow vessel". They are essential for fighting infections and for subsequent immunity. Phagocytes are important throughout the animal kingdom and are highly developed within vertebrates. One litre of human blood contains about six billion phagocytes. They were discovered in 1882 by Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov while he was studying starfish larvae. Mechnikov was awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery. Phagocytes occur in many species; some amoebae behave like macrophage phagocytes, which suggests that phagocytes appeared early in the evolution of life.
Kupffer cells, also known as stellate macrophages and Kupffer–Browicz cells, are specialized macrophages located in the liver, lining the walls of the sinusoids. They form part of the mononuclear phagocyte system.
An opsonin is any molecule that enhances phagocytosis by marking an antigen for an immune response or marking dead cells for recycling. Opson in ancient Greece referred to the delicious side-dish of any meal, versus the sitos, or the staple of the meal.
Antibody opsonization is the process by which the pathogen is marked for ingestion and eliminated by the phagocytes.
An Fc receptor is a protein found on the surface of certain cells – including, among others, B lymphocytes, follicular dendritic cells, natural killer cells, macrophages, neutrophils, eosinophils, basophils, human platelets, and mast cells – that contribute to the protective functions of the immune system. Its name is derived from its binding specificity for a part of an antibody known as the Fc region. Fc receptors bind to antibodies that are attached to infected cells or invading pathogens. Their activity stimulates phagocytic or cytotoxic cells to destroy microbes, or infected cells by antibody-mediated phagocytosis or antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity. Some viruses such as flaviviruses use Fc receptors to help them infect cells, by a mechanism known as antibody-dependent enhancement of infection.
An alveolar macrophage is a type of macrophage found in the pulmonary alveolus, near the pneumocytes, but separated from the wall.
Collectins (collagen-containing C-type lectins) are a part of the innate immune system. They form a family of collagenous Ca2+-dependent defense lectins, which are found in animals. Collectins are soluble pattern recognition receptors (PRRs). Their function is to bind to oligosaccharide structure or lipids that are on the surface of microorganisms. Like other PRRs they bind pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) of oligosaccharide origin. Binding of collectins to microorganisms may trigger elimination of microorganisms by aggregation, complement activation, opsonization, activation of phagocytosis, or inhibition of microbial growth. Other functions of collectins are modulation of inflammatory, allergic responses, adaptive immune system and clearance of apoptotic cells.
The mannose receptor is a C-type lectin primarily present on the surface of macrophages, immature dendritic cells and liver sinusoidal endothelial cells, but is also expressed on the surface of skin cells such as human dermal fibroblasts and keratinocytes. It is the first member of a family of endocytic receptors that includes Endo180 (CD280), M-type PLA2R, and DEC-205 (CD205).
C3b is the larger of two elements formed by the cleavage of complement component 3, and is considered an important part of the innate immune system. C3b is potent in opsonization: tagging pathogens, immune complexes (antigen-antibody), and apoptotic cells for phagocytosis. Additionally, C3b plays a role in forming a C3 convertase when bound to Factor B, or a C5 convertase when bound to C4b and C2b or when an additional C3b molecule binds to the C3bBb complex.
Macrophage-1 antigen is a complement receptor ("CR3") consisting of CD11b and CD18.
A non-specific immune cell is an immune cell that responds to many antigens, not just one antigen. Non-specific immune cells function in the first line of defense against infection or injury. The innate immune system is always present at the site of infection and ready to fight the bacteria; it can also be referred to as the "natural" immune system. The cells of the innate immune system do not have specific responses and respond to each foreign invader using the same mechanism. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
Apoptotic-cell associated molecular patterns (ACAMPs) are molecular markers present on cells which are going through apoptosis, i.e. programmed cell death. The term was used for the first time by C. D. Gregory in 2000. Recognition of these patterns by the pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) of phagocytes then leads to phagocytosis of the apoptotic cell. These patterns include eat-me signals on the apoptotic cells, loss of don't-eat-me signals on viable cells and come-get-me signals ) secreted by the apoptotic cells in order to attract phagocytes. Thanks to these markers, apoptotic cells, unlike necrotic cells, do not trigger the unwanted immune response.
Phagoptosis is a type of cell death caused by the cell being phagocytosed by another cell, and therefore this form of cell death is prevented by blocking phagocytosis.
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↑ Bilyy RO, Shkandina T, Tomin A, Muñoz LE, Franz S, Antonyuk V, Kit YY, Zirngibl M, Fürnrohr BG, Janko C, Lauber K, Schiller M, Schett G, Stoika RS, Herrmann M (January 2012). "Macrophages discriminate glycosylation patterns of apoptotic cell-derived microparticles". The Journal of Biological Chemistry. 287 (1): 496–503. doi:10.1074/jbc.M111.273144. PMC 3249103 . PMID 22074924.
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In Labour's old heartlands, MPs are staring into the abyss
Could the party's support dissolve in northern England and the Midlands as it has in Scotland?
Tristram Hunt visits Stoke-on-Trent (Photo: Getty)
Stoke-on-Trent is an unsettled place, figuratively and literally. The ground under the city is riddled with shafts from coal and ironstone mining. Some of its most beautiful buildings are propped up by metal supports to prevent subsidence and the council once worried that homes earmarked for demolition would instead demolish themselves, collapsing into the mines below. The ceramics industry has retreated, leaving a moonscape where pottery kilns used to fill the city with smoke and glow.
When I visited Stoke as a housing reporter in 2011, shortly after the demise of the housing market renewal programme, it was clear that the city felt abandoned by all politicians. There were families stranded, living in streets full of boarded-up homes that were one week due for demolition and the next left without a plan. Residents frowned angrily as they talked of what 'they' (the special pronoun reserved for people in power) were planning to do next with Stoke. When I returned three years later, Tristram Hunt, the local MP, was trying to chivvy ministers to get a move on with a deal for the area, hoping it would help the local economy. Now Hunt too is leaving and Stoke's once-automatic loyalty to Labour is hanging by a thread. Support for Ukip is rising.
Like many English Labour MPs who campaigned for Remain last year, Hunt found that his voters were just not interested in his wisdom on Europe, let alone swayed by it. According to one analysis by Chris Hanretty of the University of East Anglia, 149 of Labour's 232 constituencies voted to leave the European Union, ignoring the advice of the party's MPs, who overwhelmingly campaigned for Britain to stay.
Labour is losing its heartlands, and there's no clearer picture of this than in Stoke or in the Cumbrian district of Copeland, where another Labour MP, Jamie Reed, is also quitting Parliament mid-term to take a job elsewhere.
While neither Hunt nor Reed directly attacked their party's leadership in their resignation letters, both have been outspoken critics of the direction Labour was taking. Both wrote agonised essays about the future of Labour. In a pamphlet, which Hunt had organised, on Labour and Englishness, Reed described a 'quiet crisis' in towns and smaller cities across England in which the local institutions, from the high street to the newspaper to the town hall, were all disappearing, and with them regional identity. He diagnosed a 'tin ear' in his party to Englishness.
Both Reed's Copeland seat and Hunt's Stoke-on-Trent Central fit that description of a 'quiet crisis', though for very different reasons — which should be all the more worrying for Labour.
Copeland does not have the same existential crisis as Stoke: it has a clear identity as a town that powers the rest of the UK, with 10,000 of its jobs reliant on the nuclear industry at Sellafield and a proposed plant to replace it, Moorside, which could provide up to 20,000 new jobs. But it is the most remote constituency in England in terms of distance from Westminster — six and a half hours' drive from London, or five hours by train. The transport links are poor: the Northern rail franchise sends slow and frequently delayed trains, often with only a couple of carriages, chugging along the coastline from Lancaster and Preston. This is an odd depiction of the 'Northern Powerhouse': indeed, the most recent Treasury document on that project forgot to mention Cumbria at all.
What Stoke and Copeland share is that they feel neglected, which is perhaps why both constituencies voted for Leave in the EU referendum. Both have energetic Ukip campaigns for their respective by–elections. Both are typical of Labour seats in the North and Midlands which were once described as 'solid', but now appear shaky at best. Hunt wrote that 'time and again, I heard our political motivations questioned as though the party were somehow hiding a secretive anti-English agenda from the public's scrutiny'.
It would be easy to blame Jeremy Corbyn for losing the heartlands, but it would be wrong. This quiet crisis predates his leadership by decades.
Corbyn, says the Labour pollster James Morris, is not the source of the party's problem, but rather the final straw for voters who were already losing patience. 'From the point of view of someone who lives on an estate in Hull, his utopian, cosmopolitan, internationalist, anti-military non–patriotic beliefs are all what they already think of the Labour party. Ed Miliband had his own problems, but he wasn't the personification of everything that was wrong with the Labour party and none of the good things.'
Morris and others have conducted focus groups in constituencies across the party's heartlands and have found voters running out of reasons to stay with Labour. 'The only thing that is propping up the party is a social norm, and if that cracks, then it becomes a snowball, and that's what happened in Scotland,' says Morris. Another source working with MPs frets that he cannot see the floor to the Labour vote any more. In Copeland, it is retaining voters from the general election at a rate of 65 per cent — in the Oldham vote, that rate was around 80 per cent. Labour once believed voters in Scotland would always stay loyal. After the 2014 referendum, that assumption was proved wrong. Now its MPs are beginning to worry the same will happen in northern England and the Midlands.
Some MPs are trying to work out how to fix the problem. Lisa Nandy, who left the party's front bench last summer, is the MP for Wigan and has long worried about the disconnect between Labour MPs and the towns they represent. 'The big cities like Manchester and Liverpool feel very optimistic,' she says. 'But for many people in towns like Wigan it doesn't feel the same at all. We have a real problem in the North and the Midlands because of the rise of Ukip, and I don't think it's really do to with Ukip. It's to do with Labour and people wanting to send Labour a strong message.'
Nandy has identified 50 towns to try to repair the relationship between the people and the party. She is one of the more upbeat MPs, as is Denton and Reddish's Andrew Gwynne, who is running Labour's Copeland campaign. He organised the party's victory in the Oldham West and Royton by-election, which came as a surprise to many, given the energetic Ukip campaigning for that seat. He recognised back then that Labour had a problem with English identity, and instructed his activists to listen to voters rather than calling them racist for even considering Ukip.
In Copeland, Gwynne is focusing his campaign on the NHS, often a comfort blanket for Labour when it is worried, but a serious problem locally. When I followed a group of councillors and activists around on the doorstep in Millom, Cumbria, recently, the threat to consultant-led services at the local hospital was something voters in the streets of ex-council houses were very animated about. But then again, those voters were also grumbling about Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader, telling the canvassers to 'sort it out'.
All too few in the party have understood the value of simply listening to voters' concerns — of understanding. I heard one Labourite saying she didn't want to have a conversation about immigration. Just as developers in Stoke were aware of the mine shafts riddling the city, the party has had plenty of warnings about its support in its heartlands over the years: it just chose to ignore them. At a local level, for instance, I understand that the party's headquarters holds 'contact rate' data (the percentage of voters in each constituency who have been contacted about their voting intention) for all its MPs, which makes shocking reading. Some big names are well-known to have terrible rates, notching up no more than a few dozen in two decades.
Funnily enough, there is a direct correlation between a low contact rate and high Ukip support in individual wards. The Labour party is slowly and painfully making this connection, but it could be waking up to the problem too late, just before its crumbling support collapses down a hole.
Jamie Reed
Tristram Hunt
Yvette Cooper interview: 'It's not going to be my style to vote against the Labour whip 500 times like Jeremy!'
Andy Burnham interview: 'I wanted a different approach, because I'm mainstream Labour'
'Perhaps we needed to tip the whole thing over': Jon Cruddas on Jeremy Corbyn's Labour
Why I've finally given up on the left
A letter from a Corbynista
Sebastian Vella
Which party has the most MPs' children in Parliament?


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Refinery 29 on Yahoo
I Got Black-Market Butt Injections
The following story was told to Refinery29. Due to the sensitive and private nature of this topic, some names and identifying cities have been changed.
When I made the decision to get a butt augmentation, I was in a phase of life in which I felt very confused. I think I was 20, and I knew I wanted to change myself. I was becoming comfortable with being gay but, all of a sudden, I felt all this pressure about my appearance. Growing up, I never cared about what I looked like because I was pretending to be straight, so it didn't bother me that I didn't get girls. But when I came out of the closet, everything snowballed.
The (Instant) Decision
To understand my story, you need to know about Debra. She's more than my adopted mom — I parented her more than she parented me. Sure, she provided food, shelter, things like that, but other than that we were like best friends along for the ride.
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I'll never forget when I saw Debra the first time after she got it done. I was doing a trunk show for her jewelry line at her country club, and she walks in with this giant ass — she walks in looking like fucking J.Lo! She pulled me aside and whispered, "Oh my gawd, the doctors are from Colombia and they only charged me $6,000 to do my butt!"
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She also claimed the doctor had some very famous celebrity clients. I don't know if that was true, but Debra turned around and her ass was huge and amazing, and I was so jealous. I wanted it bad, even though I had never done anything to myself. So she said, "Okay fiiine, let's go." You have to know: This was in the heat of the J.Lo butt phenomenon, and this was not Debra's first, or last, procedure.
So we drove across town to this wellness medi-spa owned by Debra's friend Maggie. And there, in the back room, was this doctor named Patricia who was injecting all of these rich-ass women, and one gay boy, with this substance.
How It Went Down
Debra dropped me off and went to the mall. I walked into the back room and it was the doctor, her nurse, and her daughter — who I think was an apprentice or something. They asked me to pull my pants down, and they sat there talking in Spanish about my ass. I understood a few words here and there.
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I've always had a "pear bottom," meaning it's full, but just kind of hung there. I told them what I wanted — for the top area to be filled out and perfectly round, like an apple bottom — and they decided on the injection area.I actually loved the doctor; she was so sweet. I'm not sure if what they used on me was FDA-approved, but they made sure I knew it was permanent. They told me that it was like Sculptra, but permanent Sculptra. I can't believe I was so naive.The substance wasn't a solid; it's not like they cut my ass cheek open and inserted an implant. It was a thick gel that, I think, hardens after it's injected. They used a syringe with the widest gauge I'd ever seen. They picked the spot at the top of my butt and laid me down on a typical medical table with the paper and everything. I was awake during the entire thing; I think they numbed the skin, but I can't really remember.
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I thought the needle was going to be the painful part, but oh no, oh fucking no, "hurt" is not the word for what I felt once they started injecting this substance into me. It felt like someone was pulling a tendon under my ass, like they were shredding my butt muscles. It hurt so bad, I started uncontrollably screaming and crying. I don't remember this, but they said I was calling out for my mom. Not Debra — I was calling out for my biological mom.
Post-Op Life
For a while, my butt was numb and I was really sore for weeks. They told me not to expose the area to really high heat for a while, not to turn on my heated seats in my car, or go to a tanning bed. Even though I can feel the stuff inside, you can't feel it by touching my butt; it's like it was injected under the muscle.
The first time I saw a picture of myself after the surgery, I remember thinking, Yesss! My ass, at the very least, looked perfect and I did get what I wanted; I have an apple bottom, and I have to wear pants two sizes bigger.
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I'm 31 years old now and I got it when I was 20, so in 11 years it hasn't gotten smaller, and trust me, there were so many times in my life when I wished it would dwindle, but it never did.
The worst thing those first few years, besides the pain and numbness, was that I told people. I was a small-town boy and my first job in a big city was with a bunch of gossip-y fashion girls. I thought I could trust them the way I trusted my friends back home, but all of a sudden everyone knew.It was hard — I was being ridiculed, rumors were flying. All of a sudden I was like, Holy shit, I can never let anyone know about this, and I have to deny it for the rest of my life. At this point, most of the people in my life don't know, even those that I am closest with. I've denied it for so long — how can I tell people I lied to them?
Everything was great for years, but then my body started to change. As I got older, I gained weight and the fat on my butt sort of formed around the filled area so that there is a divot the size of a palm on one of my cheeks. Now I don't want anyone to see my butt when I'm naked, because it's misshapen and it kind of dips in weird places. I'm scared because I'm in my early 30s and I've already seen examples of how fat is going to affect my butt. I have no idea what it's going to look like when I'm older.Other changes have happened, too. Sometimes, if I sit for too long, like if I am driving or flying, my butt goes numb, and not a normal numb — it's a weird numbness that I never had before I got it done. I have to constantly shift my weight from side to side.
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I was worried about the material making me sick in the beginning, and then I figured I was in the clear, but now I've heard things that make me think I could still be in danger. The reality is that I'm really scared and there aren't many people I can talk to about it, because I lied about it for so long. What am I going to tell people if I have to have it removed? I mean, I don't even know if they can remove it.
The truth of the matter is I have no fucking idea what is inside my body…it's terrifying. I know that when I expose it to tanning lamps, my butt turns bright red where it's filled out, like the gel is heating up and warming the skin from the inside or something.
I know that I'm really lucky. Thank God I didn't get injected with cement. Have you heard those stories? Like real cement; I could have been that person. But I was still so naive, and I had no idea how big that decision was back then. Now, I'm finally ready to see a doctor to get it checked out… I'm just really, really scared.
Editor's note: We shared the above account with Norman Rowe, MD, board-certified plastic surgeon at Rowe Plastic Surgery in New York City, and he believes that the subject was likely injected with silicone, which is not FDA-approved and can result in disfigurement and even death. He notes that the doctor, the assistant, the method of injection, and the treatment were all very unprofessional. He would consider this a "black market" procedure and urges that anyone considering buttock augmentation go to a board-certified plastic surgeon for a consultation. If you think you might have experienced a similar situation to our subject, Dr. Rowe advises seeing an accredited, board-certified plastic surgeon to review treatment options as soon as possible.
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Comecer, in a consortium with INFN, University of Ferrara and the company Biomeccanica Srl, is taking part in the TROPIC project (Target for Radioisotope Production via anti-Channelling).
The project is part of the European Regional Development Plan POR-FESR Axis 1, Research and Innovation 2014-2020 of the Emilia-Romagna region. Axis 1 aims at strengthening the regional network of research and technology transfer to companies with the purpose of increasing the ability to bring innovative solutions and products to the market. Through collaborations with researchers, it promotes innovation paths in the strategic areas of the regional production system and strengthens the high-tech network.
The TROPIC project intends to explore a new radioisotope production method through the irradiation of solid targets in which a quantum effect called anti-channelling is exploited. Thanks to this effect, the probability of impact of the particle emitted by the accelerator on a crystalline matrix is much higher than the same dynamic but with a traditional amorphous solid target. This leads to an increase in the yield of nuclear bombardment and thus produces the desired isotope in larger quantities. The project intends to evaluate how much it is possible to save in terms of cost of the enriched material and how much the reaction yield grows in this particular configuration of the target. The ultimate goal is to make the production of these isotopes, extremely interesting from a diagnostic and therapeutic point of view, easier and less expensive.
Comecer enters this project as an industrial partner following a theoretical research activity that has already produced various results published in the past years. The next step will be the experimental test and the realisation of the first prototype.


The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is accepting applications for more than 40 summer positions at its three downtown Detroit parks and recreation facilities, offering valuable work experiences in areas from customer service to park operations and building maintenance. Experience gained in these positions can help secure future employment.
The full-time positions, which pay $8.15 per hour, run April through Labor Day. Most positions include some weekends and holidays.
There are 25 job openings at Belle Isle Park, 10 at Milliken State Park and Harbor and six at the new Outdoor Adventure Center, located on Atwater Street.
The Outdoor Adventure Center, featuring an indoor archery range, meeting rooms and interactive "outdoor" exhibits (including a giant tree and eagle's nest and snowmobile and canoe simulators) opens to the public this summer.
"We're looking for qualified, reliable employees interested in outdoor recreation to fill a wide range of positions," said Karis Floyd, DNR manager at Belle Isle Park and Milliken State Park and Harbor. "These positions offer great opportunities to work in beautiful parks and facilities right in your own backyard."
The DNR is seeking customer service-oriented individuals to work in the visitor contact station and in office locations and to perform park grounds and building maintenance. Candidates also are being sought to assist with general events and activities such as operating the giant slide on Belle Isle and assisting with tours and activities in the Outdoor Adventure Center.
"If you're interested in a career in parks and recreation, the work experience gained during this time can be invaluable," Floyd added.
Applications are being accepted until all positions are filled. Applicants must be 18 years or older with a valid driver's license and must be able to pass a criminal history background check and a drug and alcohol screening.
Belle Isle Park administration, opened from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, is located in the White House on Inselruhe Avenue across from the Belle Isle Aquarium. The Outdoor Adventure Center, located on Atwater Street, is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Enter the Outdoor Adventure Center by use of the side door near the intersection of Orleans Street and Atwater Street.
For more information, contact Karis Floyd at floydk@michigan.gov or 313-821-9844.
To learn more about working for the DNR, including the application for seasonal positions at state parks and harbors, visit the DNR website www.michigan.gov/dnrjobs.


text:
#ifndef _IRTKQUATERNION_H

#define _IRTKQUATERNION_H

#include <irtkCommon.h>
#include <irtkGeometry.h>

/** Represents a quaternion. */
class irtkQuaternion : public irtkObject
{
public:
  /** The real part of the quaternion. */
  double _t;

  /** The first imaginary part. */
  double _u;

  /** The second imaginary part. */
  double _v;

  /** The third imaginary part. */
  double _w;

  /** Default constructor creates a quaternion with components (0, 0, 0, 0). */
  irtkQuaternion();

  /** Constructor creates a quaternion with components (t, u, v, w). */
  irtkQuaternion(double t, double u, double v, double w);

  /** Copy constructor. */
  irtkQuaternion(const irtkQuaternion& q);

  /** Assignment operator. */
  irtkQuaternion& operator=(const irtkQuaternion& q);

  /** Adds two quaternions. */
  friend irtkQuaternion operator+(const irtkQuaternion& a, const irtkQuaternion& b);

  /** Subtracts two quaternions. */
  friend irtkQuaternion operator-(const irtkQuaternion& a, const irtkQuaternion& b);

  /** Multiplies two quaternions. */
  friend irtkQuaternion operator*(const irtkQuaternion& a, const irtkQuaternion& b);

  /** Multiplies a quaternion by a real number. */
  friend irtkQuaternion operator*(const irtkQuaternion& a, double b);

  /** Outputs the quaternion. */
  friend ostream& operator<<(ostream& os, const irtkQuaternion& q);

  /** Returns the conjugate of a quaternion. */
  irtkQuaternion Conjugate() const;

  /** Returns the inverse of the quaternion. */
  irtkQuaternion Inverse() const;

  /** Normalizes the quaternion. */
  void Normalize();

  /** Returns the length of the quaternion. */
  double Length() const;

  /** Computes the rotation matrix corresponding to this quaternion. Note
      that the matrix is a 4x4 homogeneous matrix. */
  irtkMatrix ComputeRotationMatrix() const;

  /** Computes the rotation matrix needed to a rotate a point by an angle
      alpha about the axis with direction (u, v, w) passing through the
      point (ox, oy, oz). The direction of rotation is the direction a
      right-handed corkscrew needs to be rotated in order to move along the
      direction of the axis. Note that the matrix returned is a 4x4
      homogeneous matrix. */
  static irtkMatrix ComputeTransformationMatrix(double alpha,
      double u, double v, double w, double ox, double oy, double oz);

  /** Computes the rotation matrix needed to rotate a point by an angle alpha
      about the axis with direction (u, v, w) passing through the origin.
      Direction of rotation is direction a right-handed corkscrew needs to be
      rotated in order to move along direction of axis. Note that the
      rotation matrix is a 4x4 homogeneous matrix. */
  static irtkMatrix ComputeRotationMatrix(double alpha, double u, double v, double w);

  /** Computes the quaternion which represents a rotation by an angle alpha
      about the axis with direction (u, v, w) passing through the origin.
      Direction of rotation is direction a right-handed corkscrew needs to be
      rotated in order to move along direction of axis. */
  static irtkQuaternion ComputeRotationQuaternion(double alpha, double u, double v, double w);

  /** Returns the name of the class. */
  virtual const char* NameOfClass();
};

inline irtkQuaternion::irtkQuaternion()
{
  _t = 0;
  _u = 0;
  _v = 0;
  _w = 0;
}

inline irtkQuaternion::irtkQuaternion(double t, double u, double v, double w)
{
  _t = t;
  _u = u;
  _v = v;
  _w = w;
}

inline irtkQuaternion::irtkQuaternion(const irtkQuaternion& q) : irtkObject(q)
{
  _t = q._t;
  _u = q._u;
  _v = q._v;
  _w = q._w;
}

inline irtkQuaternion& irtkQuaternion::operator=(const irtkQuaternion& q)
{
  if (&q != this) {
    _t = q._t;
    _u = q._u;
    _v = q._v;
    _w = q._w;
  }

  return *this;
}

inline irtkQuaternion operator+(const irtkQuaternion& a, const irtkQuaternion& b)
{
  irtkQuaternion q;

  q._t = a._t + b._t;
  q._u = a._u + b._u;
  q._v = a._v + b._v;
  q._w = a._w + b._w;

  return q;
}

inline irtkQuaternion operator-(const irtkQuaternion& a, const irtkQuaternion& b)
{
  irtkQuaternion q;

  q._t = a._t - b._t;
  q._u = a._u - b._u;
  q._v = a._v - b._v;
  q._w = a._w - b._w;

  return q;
}

inline irtkQuaternion operator*(const irtkQuaternion& a, const irtkQuaternion& b)
{
  irtkQuaternion q;

  q._t = a._t*b._t - a._u*b._u - a._v*b._v - a._w*b._w;
  q._u = a._t*b._u + a._u*b._t + a._v*b._w - a._w*b._v;
  q._v = a._t*b._v - a._u*b._w + a._v*b._t + a._w*b._u;
  q._w = a._t*b._w + a._u*b._v - a._v*b._u + a._w*b._t;

  return q;
}

inline irtkQuaternion operator*(const irtkQuaternion& a, double b)
{
  irtkQuaternion q;

  q._t = a._t*b;
  q._u = a._u*b;
  q._v = a._v*b;
  q._w = a._w*b;

  return q;
}

inline ostream& operator<<(ostream& os, const irtkQuaternion& q)
{
  os << "_t = " << q._t << " _u = " << q._u << " _v = " << q._v << " _w = " << q._w;

  return os;
}

inline irtkQuaternion irtkQuaternion::Conjugate() const
{
  irtkQuaternion q;

  q._t = _t;
  q._u = -_u;
  q._v = -_v;
  q._w = -_w;

  return q;
}

inline irtkQuaternion irtkQuaternion::Inverse() const
{
  irtkQuaternion q = Conjugate();

  double lenq = q.Length();
  q = q*(1.0/(lenq*lenq));

  return q;
}

inline void irtkQuaternion::Normalize()
{
  double length = Length();

  if (length > 0) {
    _t /= length;
    _u /= length;
    _v /= length;
    _w /= length;
  }
}

inline double irtkQuaternion::Length() const
{
  return sqrt(_t*_t + _u*_u + _v*_v + _w*_w);
}

inline const char* irtkQuaternion::NameOfClass()
{
  return "irtkQuaternion";
}

#endif // __IRTKQUATERNION_H

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


While talking to the members of indie rock band Cairo, I can't help but feel their sense of excitement. After all, this is their first interview ever.
Explaining the ideas behind their debut album, "Same as Before," the four guys, who are all in their early 20s, are a bit self-conscious of their answers at first. As the conversation rolls along, though, it becomes clear that they're not unsure of themselves, they just put a lot of thought into everything they do.
The quartet is made up of guitarist and vocalist Shonosuke Nakamura, bassist Rinkai Maeno, guitarist and vocalist Yuichiro Araya and drummer Kei Kato. The band originally formed in 2013 under the name SANM, which used the first letter of each member's name. Kato replaced the "S" guy and the band officially changed its moniker to Cairo this month to coincide with the release of "Same As Before," which is out via record label Magniph.
Nakamura says they were heavily influenced by the now-defunct Kyoto indie band Hotel Mexico, along with U.S. acts like Deerhunter, DIIV and guitarist Matt Mondaline of Real Estate.
Contrary to the album title, the nine-track release is a bit different from the SoundCloud demos the band put out during its SANM days, which were more jangley and twee pop. "Same As Before" is washed out and relaxed, with shimmering guitars and a reverb-drenched sound that draws from the band's dream pop and shoegaze influences. Highlights include the title track with its sparse guitars and relaxed rhythm, as well as groovy slow-burner "Softwall." The band uses basic rock instrumentation mostly, but the beat-oriented "Night Vision" provides a change of pace by incorporating synthesizers and drum machines into the mix.
Much like contemporaries Ykiki Beat and Batman Winks, the band focuses on a Western indie sound, plays smaller clubs and maintains a DIY aesthetic, which includes making their own cassettes and curating a Tumblr page.
Like other young bands, Cairo circumvented Japan's notorious pay-to-play system by gigging at smaller, more affordable venues in Tokyo like the Ruby Room in Shibuya Ward and Pool in the Sakuradai area. These venues, while relatively affordable, often have limitations regarding equipment and volume, but that has never been a problem for Cairo.
With Cairo's music being as lo-fi, laid-back and reverb-drenched as it is, it was inevitable that the band would fall prey to the recent music media trend of tagging similar-sounding bands with the "city pop" label, an umbrella term used to refer to any band with a chilled vibe and a nostalgic, romantic flavor. Nakamura says he was conscious of this.
Nakamura laughs. "After gigs we weren't able to talk to girls, but other bands would have girls at their after-parties," he says.
"Same as Before" is on sale now. Cairo plays Pool in Nerima Ward, Tokyo, on Feb. 20 (6 p.m. start; ¥2,000 in advance) For more information, visit www.magniph.com/?tag=cairo.


This beautiful, delicate dreamcatcher is made from sterling silver, with a matt finish. It features an intricate circle with three tiny feathers, on a fixed chain.
Developed by Native Americans, dreamcatchers were designed to protect the wearer from negative dreams, by catching them and allowing only the positive ones to slip through the holes and glide down the feathers.
Wear this necklace during your waking hours to remind you of the benefits of positive thought!
The necklace is approximately 18" long, and the chain fastens with a spring clasp. The dreamcatcher measures approximately 19mm across by 37mm high (including feathers), and is 1mm thick. This piece is available in silver, gold and rose gold ~ the latter two being gold plated onto sterling silver.
This necklace is part of our Shanti Collection ~ each piece comes with an information card about the symbolism of the item.


text:
Q: Function Call in after action data macro I am trying to run a function call in an After Insert data macro in Access 2013 and save the value calculated into another table with a couple of other values.
The Function call appears to work as it displays a debug message box i placed at the end of the code but the value is not passed onto the other table but the other values are stored.
The data macro is written as follows:
Create a Record in CalculatedHC
 SetField
          Name PlayerID
          Value = [RoundInfo].[PlayerID]
 SetField
          Name RoundID
          Value = [RoundInfo].[RoundID]
 SetField
          Name DatePlayed
          Value = [RoundInfo].[DatePlayed]
 SetField
          Name ExactHC
          Value = EHC([PlayerID])


We have 3 bed and breakfasts in 2 cities in Kosovo, Europe with an average rating of 7.2 based on 329 reviews.
Check out the Hostelworld.com selection of Bed and Breakfasts in Kosovo. Read customer reviews of Kosovo Bed and Breakfasts and view B&Bs on map of Kosovo. Hostelworld.com - the definitive guide to Kosovo Bed and Breakfasts and guesthouses.


A maintenance crew walked toward a row of Vermont Air National Guard F-16 fighter jets in South Burlington, Vt., in April 2010.
Patrick Leahy is among the key cheerleaders for the F-35s.
Leahy, in an e-mailed statement, reiterated his support for the planes but did not respond to allegations of political influence. The Air Force denied the fix was in for Vermont, even though it now says it is reassessing residential impacts and other factors using updated information — a review that could end in a reversal of its preliminary decision.
Pentagon officials said the first set of sound projections, provided by Burlington International Airport and Vermont National Guard in 2008 to the Federal Aviation Administration, caused the Air Force to underestimate the number of homes that would be affected by replacing the Vermont Guard's current squadron of F-16s with up to 24 of the more sophisticated, but louder, F-35s.
Updated sound estimates — showing a much wider geographical impact in the vicinity of the airport — were produced by an Air Force survey team that visited the base and surrounding communities in 2009. But the Air Force did not revise its initial assessment of the Vermont base to reflect those new estimates, continuing instead to rely on the older data as the basis of its decision in 2010 to send the jets to Vermont.
The Pentagon officials said the Air Force made other errors in its initial review. It didn't take proper account of the distance to the nearest weapons depot, in Fort Drum, N.Y., which would require trucking missiles and other arms 200 miles to South Burlington. And the Vermont base wasn't marked down for being distant from the coast, which means Vermont Air Guard pilots would be required to streak across hundreds of miles of US soil before engaging threats to US airspace.
Judging strictly by the Air Force's environmental and operational criteria, there were more attractive bases in South Carolina, Florida, and Alabama, the Pentagon officials said.
The Air Force was expected to finalize its selection of Vermont later this year, which could clear the way for preparations to begin for jets' arrival in Vermont. The earliest the squadron could be flying would be late 2015.
Air Force officials insist its selection of Vermont was based on objective criteria and that there was no intent to reward Leahy with a squadron of state-of-the-art jet fighters.
"I can attest to the integrity of the process," said acting assistant secretary of the Air Force Kathy Ferguson, who oversaw the service's so-called Executive Steering Group for Basing.
But she acknowledged the Air Force has revised estimates of the environmental impact of the F-35s, and said the final review will reassess some of its earlier conclusions, including proximity to a weapons depot.
"We are well aware of that," she said.
But he also acknowledged in a letter to members of the South Burlington City Council that some of the environmental data that was initially fed into the process was not up to date.
Leahy, elected in 1974, is a powerful figure in the Senate. He is the longest-serving member and a senior member of the Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Defense, which exerts great control over how the Pentagon spends its budget. As cochairman of the National Guard Caucus in the Senate, Leahy also is a prominent booster of the Guard and looks out for the Guard's interests in Washington.
While the Air Force was conducting its F-35 National Guard base evaluations, Leahy was simultaneously sponsoring successful legislation that significantly elevated the National Guard's status within the military by making its top official a four-star general and giving it a seat on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Leahy also has other political connections to the Air Force and the National Guard. One of his former top Senate staffers, Daniel Ginsberg, is an assistant secretary of the Air Force. The former adjutant general of the Vermont National Guard is a general in the Air Force and second in command for North American homeland defense.
Leahy was a strong advocate of basing F-35s in Vermont, issuing laudatory press releases with each positive step toward the award. Asked specifically about allegations of political influence, Leahy did not respond directly. In an e-mailed statement, the senator said the benefits of the F-35s appear to outweigh the disadvantages.
Leahy has been among the most prominent cheerleaders for basing F-35s at the Vermont Air National Guard, but he had plenty of company. Strong support came from the governor, the state Legislature, a slew of local business leaders and groups, as well as his fellow senator, independent Bernie Sanders.
As controversy has bubbled about the Air Force base decision, F-35 boosters have mounted public relations campaigns to defend the choice. Nicole Citro, a local insurance agent, has circulated thousands of green ribbons and bumper stickers expressing support.
"Put up your green ribbons and as a community show we are all proud of our Green Mountain Boys and the outstanding job they do defending this great country," her website urges.
Jobs may be at stake, say supporters. The 1,100-member Vermont Air National Guard could be without a mission if it does not receive the new planes and the current squadron of F-16s is phased out as expected over the next 15 years.
"Every single political leader in this state is pro-F-35," said Ernie Pomerleau, a local real estate developer who sits on the board of the Greater Burlington Industrial Corp. and believes the move will boost the local economy.
Local supporters and military officials insist that Vermont offers military benefits that other potential F-35 locations do not, including relatively unfettered airspace to train and proximity to populated areas across the Northeast of the United States. They point out that it was Vermont Air National Guard that patrolled the airspace over New York City on Sept. 11, 2001.
But local officials and residents upset about noise have sent an avalanche of letters to the Air Force in recent months, asking that it reconsider its decision.
The potential for thousands of homes to be negatively affected by excessive noise — deemed to be above 65 decibels — would add to the 200 homes that have already been so designated due to commercial growth of the airport. Already, some 50 homes have been purchased by the airport with federal grants and are in the process of being demolished.
Ben Cohen, founder of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, is among those who are speaking out publicly. Cohen said in an interview that he believes the new fighter jet is not only unsuitable for Vermont but, citing F-35 development problems, is an ill-advised investment of taxpayer dollars.
"We are all proud of our Green Mountain Boys and the outstanding job they do defending our country," said Nicole Citro, on her website, supporting the F-35 decision.
Even Leahy has been sharply critical of the Pentagon's broader, $400 billion procurement program for the F-35, which is one of the costliest in Pentagon history and is suffering from a series of delays and technical setbacks. Leahy's office says he has decided that if the program is going to go forward his constituents should benefit from it.
Local residents like Jamie Tucker, a 45-year-old builder whose one-story ranch house is situated just a slim patch of woodlands from the Air National Guard runway, isn't so sure.
He says he would like to stay but knows the noise — and its impact on the neighborhood where his two daughters go to school and have set down roots — will only become less attractive if the F-35s are based here in the future.
In general, the FAA recommends that local authorities not permit the construction of residential homes in the areas affected by high noise levels, but the decisions on how to mitigate problems are left to communities. Homeowners are unlikely to be forced to move, but the FAA's designation of a sound zone that is "incompatible with residential use'' makes it exceedingly difficult to sell homes.
Leahy's senate colleague Sanders, too, says he wants more information about how the selection of Burlington was made.
Due to a reporting error, in an earlier version the year when the site survey took place and the year of Burlington decision were incorrect. The site survey was conducted in 2009, not 2011. The decision to select Burlington was made in 2010, not 2012.


text:
South Carolina Gamecocks Basketball
Game preview: Gamecock men hit the road to UMass
Back at it again.
By Kody Timmers Dec 4, 2019, 5:00pm EST
Share All sharing options for: Game preview: Gamecock men hit the road to UMass
Jeff Blake-USA TODAY Sports
South Carolina (5-3) vs. Massachusetts (5-3)
Start time: 7 p.m.
After a rough run in the Cancun Challenge that saw South Carolina suffer the indignity of getting smoked by Gregg Marshall's Wichita State and then fall short against a Northern Iowa rally, the Gamecocks got back in the win column with a 74-65 victory over George Washington. Veteran big man Maik Kotsar, who had been quiet offensively to start the season, enjoyed a coming out party with 17 points and nine rebounds, while A.J. Lawson (14 points) and Jermaine Couisnard (12) also stood out for the Gamecocks.
First and foremost: KEYSHAWN BRYANT BACK. The dynamic and athletic forward, one of South Carolina's most promising youngsters last season, is finally ready to go after sitting out to rest a surgically-repaired knee. His return should be a big boost for the Gamecock offense in particular, and I'm looking forward to seeing his dunks again.
This is South Carolina's first true road game of the season, and it's the return trip for a home-and-home series that started in 2017 (which, as you might recall, was an extremely stressful last-minute win for USC). Much like the Gamecocks, the Minutemen started off hot this season with five straight wins before getting mired in their three-game slump. Three players average double figures for UMass, led by T.J. Weeks (15.5 points), Carl Pierre (11.9), and Tre Mitchell (11.6). The Minutemen don't really have a signature win this season, but are coming off a pretty bad 82-57 loss to Rutgers. The Gamecocks should hopefully be able to start another winning streak tonight.