text:
Dark Shadows Movie: DOA
I hated the comical advertisements for Tim Burton's Dark Shadows movie, but I couldn't stay away opening day.
I should have.
I'm not doing spoilers, but will say this DS was neither an homage nor a mockery of the show. Rather, it's a cynical hijacking of well-known, beloved characters, locations, and plotlines that enabled Burton & Co. to skip creating their own.
I don't care what fans they've claimed to be. They obviously didn't know the basics–right down to the name of servant Willie Loomis.
Screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith doesn't know sh** about vampires. Since when do their fingers grow when they turn? And walk freely in daylight with sunglasses and umbrellas (á la Michael Jackson)? And not notice themselves bursting into flame in direct sunlight?
Johnny Depp's decision to play Barnabas Collins channeling Nosferatu doomed the movie. When the "real" Barnabas (Jonathan Frid) was freed from his coffin in a new century, he noted changes in people's behavior, speech, and dress, and did his best to fit in—albeit with a suave and courtly Old World flair. The FIRST thing he would have done was CUT HIS DAMN FINGERNAILS.
Depp's Halloweeny white greasepaint with black eye sockets and cheeks made it impossible to believe that Victoria Winters—or even the witch Angelique—could be attracted to him.
And speaking of Victoria, the governess. As the reincarnation of Barnabas' love, Josette, Bella Heathcote was woefully miscast. She looks about 12 and they dressed her like a child, so in her scenes with the boyishly-built Depp, they looked like 6th-graders. Zero sexual chemistry.
Eva Green played Angelique as sexually agressive trailer trash in designer labels. Her centuries-old beef with Barnabas drove the whole story, but Depp's goofy looks killed whatever sparks might have been there.
Helena Bonham Carter had to play Dr. Julia Hoffman as a boozer for no reason, and her growing co-dependency with Barnabas got no screen time, so her behavior just seemed shallow and wacky.
I'll give credit to Michelle Pfeiffer, who played matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard. She lacked Joan Bennett's regal presence, but she didn't make the character ridiculous.
The overall film was extremely dark. The comic bits used in the ads were forced and fell flat.
This could have been a good movie if Depp hadn't made Barnabas a buffoon. He even carried an cheap wooden knockoff of Barnabas' elegant brass wolf's head cane.
The original Dark Shadows' may have had cheesy production values, but the actors gave it something this film, with its multimillion-dollar budget, utterly lacked—heart and class.
Depp and Burton had a chance to resurrect the franchise for original fans and a new generation, but they blew it. Big-time.
16 Comments	| Entertainment, Film, TV, Vampires	| Tagged: Barnabas Collins, Bella Heathcote, Dark Shadows movie, dark shadows movie review, Eva Green, Helena Bonham Carter, Joan Bennett, Johnny Depp, Jonathan Frid, Michelle Pfeiffer, Seth Grahame-Smith, Tim Burton, Vampires	| Permalink
Suave Vampire is Back in Depp's "Dark Shadows"
Rumors to the contrary, Johhny Depp is starring in a new Dark Shadows movie and Barnabas Collins will rise again.
The original Barnabas, Jonathan Frid
Years ago, I was a minor vampire expert, starting with Dark Shadows every day after school. That led to insatiable reading: Dracula by Bram Stoker, 40+ DS novels by Marilyn Ross (I still own the complete set), 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King, a children's book called Bunnicula, Anne Rice's books, beginning with Interview with the Vampire, and dozens more, fiction and "non-fiction."
I finally burned out on Lestat and stopped doing research, so this new crop of vamps snuck up on me. But they're so popular, I feel compelled to check them out.
So far, I'm unimpressed. They're so ordinary.
Edward Cullen is a kid in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series.
Bill Compton is a redneck who seems covered with dirt more often than not in HBO's True Blood, based on Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels.
I can't wait for Barnabas to come back and show them how it's done.
In an interview with Collider.com, producer Richard Zanuck confirmed that Depp is teaming up with Tim Burton in summer 2009 to film Dark Shadows in London.
Depp will be about the same age (46) actor Jonathan Frid was as Barnabas, but that's probably where the similarity ends, except for superficial trappings like the onyx ring, the Inverness cape, the wolf's head cane.
Depp will undoubtedly make Barnabas suave, sexy, and irresistible. A mysterious, mature Don Juan DeMarco – with fangs.
I haven't been this excited since Sex and the City: The Movie.
Here's a great picture of Depp as Barnabas in the portrait that hung in Collinwood's foyer.
And I found some interesting speculation on casting for the movie. I could see Paul Giammatti as Willie Loomis, even though he might think it's a come-down from John Adams.
Vampire purists should be thrilled by the return of Barnabas Collins.
6 Comments	| Film, TV, Vampires	| Tagged: 'Salem's Lot, Anne Rice, Bram Stoker, Bunnicula, Charlaine Harris, Dark Shadows by Marilyn Ross, Dark Shadows movie, Dracula, Interview with the Vampire, Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins, Jonathan Frid, Lestat, Paul Giammatti, Sookie Stackhouse, Stephen King, True Blook, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, vampire Bill Compton, vampire Edward Cullen, Vampires	| Permalink


text:
Manoranjan Das (23 July 1923 – 17 February 2013)  was an influential Indian dramatist, and pioneer of modernism in Odia Literature. He was known for his experimentalism and deep socio-political awareness, who became most known in the 1960s with his experimental theatre.

Amongst his most known work are, Kathagodha (The Wooden Horse) and Aranya Fasal (The Wild Harvest), which won him the Sahitya Akademi Award (1971). In a career spanning over four decades, his plays include Janmamati (Land of Birth)  written in 1943 and his latest Nandika Kesari which appeared in 1985.

Early life and education

Born in 1923 in a village (named "Patana,42-Mouza, Cuttack sadar") near Cuttack, he did his schooling in Kujang near Paradip, completing his intermediate in 1942. Thereafter he joined Ravenshaw College in Cuttack.

Career
He joined All India Radio where he rose to the level of Producer Emeritus. During his literary career, he has written 14 other plays, including Aranya Fasal (The Wild Harvest), which won him the Sahitya Akademi Award given Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters in 1971, and the Padma Shri by Government of India in 2004.

His other plays are Jauban (Youth), August Na (The Ninth August 1947), Baxi Jagabandhu (The Sacrifice of Jagabandhu), Agami (The Oncoming), Abarodha (The Seize), Kathagodha (The Wooden Horse), and Sabdalipi (The Word-script).

Works
 Smriti samlap (autobiography). Friends Publishers, 1999; .
 Ten essays on poet, poetry and psychology. Future Publications, 2005.
 Aranya Fasal. Sahitya Akademi Publications, 2001; .

Works in translation
 The Wooden Horse: drama. Pub. Bookland International (1982)
 The Wild Harvest. Translated by Prabhat Nalini Das. Pub. Sahitya Akademi, 1993;
 A game of words: a play. tr. by Bibhu Padhi, Guru Charan Behera. Pub. Prachi Prakashan, 1997;
 A ray's rope. Pub. Ila Das, 1997.

 Nandika Keshari: (Sarala award winning play). tr by Prabhat Nalini Das. Prachi Prakashan (2000);
 Afternoon flurries. Pub. Subarnarekha, 2002.
 A dialogue with memory (autobiography). tr. by Aruna Kumar Mohanty & J. K. Nayak. National Book Trust, India, (2002);

Notes

References

1923 births
2013 deaths
People from Cuttack district
Indian male dramatists and playwrights
Odia-language writers
Odia dramatists and playwrights
Dramatists and playwrights from Odisha
Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts
Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Odia
Recipients of the Atibadi Jagannath Das Award
Recipients of the Odisha Sahitya Akademi Award
Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights
20th-century Indian male writers

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Иловское сельское поселение — упразднённое сельское поселение в Алексеевском районе Белгородской области.

Административный центр — село Иловка.

Упразднено 19 апреля 2018 с преобразованием Алексеевского муниципального района в Алексеевский городской округ.

Население

Состав сельского поселения

Экономика
В 2010 году действовало четыре инфраструктурных предприятий.
 ОАО «АгротехГарант» Алексеевский

Примечания

Муниципальные образования Алексеевского района Белгородской области
Упразднённые сельские поселения Белгородской области
Сельские поселения, упразднённые в 2018 году


text:
Q&A: Garden State Equality's Christian Fuscarino Discusses "United in Pride"
|CATEGORY: Hotel, Casino & Spa, Out at Borgata
OUT at Borgata proudly supports diversity and embraces the LGBTQ community: our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender travel enthusiasts, team members, and friends. During Pride Month, we are happy to highlight the work of one of our OUT friends and partners, Garden State Equality, New Jersey's largest LGBTQ+ advocacy and education organization. On Sunday, June 7, Garden State Equality will present a special virtual event, "United by Pride," that guests can participate in, no matter where they are located. We sat down and chatted with Garden State Equality's Executive Director Christian Fuscarino about the importance of Pride Month and remembering the history of the LGBTQ+ advocacy movement.
1.) Why is Pride important now more than ever?
This Pride Month, it's more important than ever to remember our history — and who paved the way. The Stonewall Uprising took place 51 years ago, and it was a violent riot against police brutality led by trans women of color. One of those women was Marsha P. Johnson, a native of Elizabeth, New Jersey.
Our community understands what it means to rise up and push back against a culture that tells us we are less than, that our lives don't matter. As we watch our nation grapple with its long history of racism and and police brutality, we should be reminded where and how the modern LGBTQ movement started and use our voices, our power to stand in solidarity with Black Americans to speak out against and dismantle injustice.
2.) How can allies like Borgata support the LGBTQ community during this time?
Borgata has gone to great lengths to build welcoming, affirming environments for its employees and customers, while also investing and supporting community organizations like Garden State Equality. For pro-equality businesses, that's what being a true ally means.
3.) Tell us about your June 7 virtual celebration and how our guests can participate?
While the pandemic has prevented our community from gathering in person this year, we've got an exciting virtual Pride planned in partnership with Jersey Pride. On Sunday, June 7 at 1:00 pm, we'll be hosting: United in Pride! This year's unique event will feature the same great entertainment you've come to expect along with some special guests. For more information, please visit www.GardenStateEquality.org/unitedpride.
4.) Anything else you'd like to share including what GSE is doing to aid the community through this time.
On a normal day, Garden State Equality is here to advocate and support members of our community, and with everything happening in the world right now, it's more important than ever that we're here and still fighting. Over the last several weeks, we've been helping people directly to resolve issues with unemployment, housing, and food insecurity. We've even been distributing PPE to vulnerable populations. Last month, we launched a fundraiser to support New Jersey's only homeless shelter for LGBTQ youth, the RAIN Foundation, raising over $6,000 to keep their food pantry fully stocked during this crisis. And of course, we're still working in the statehouse to advocate for protections for LGBTQ New Jerseyans, who we know are being disproportionately impacted by the current crisis.
VIEW MORE OUT AT BORGATA FEATURES
at-home party, events, Garden State Equality, LGBTQ, Out at Borgata, Pride Month, United by Pride

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Brock & Kiraz English wad (of wool).
ܥܶܕܩܳܐ ܥܶܕܩܬܳܐ (pl. ܥܶܕܩ̈ܳܬܳܐ) f. lock of hair; wad (of wool).
How to cite this entry? Sebastian P. Brock & George A. Kiraz, Gorgias Concise Syriac-English, English-Syriac Dictionary (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2015) ܥܕܩܐܥܕܩܬܐ [from sedra.bethmardutho.org, accessed on Apr. 26, 2019].
How to cite this entry? J. Payne Smith (Mrs. Margoliouth), A Compendious Syriac Dictionary (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1903) p. 401 [from sedra.bethmardutho.org, tagged by Leslie Virnelson, accessed on Apr. 26, 2019].
How to cite this entry? J. Payne Smith (Mrs. Margoliouth), Supplement to the Thesaurus Syriacus of R. Payne Smith (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1927) p. 245 [from sedra.bethmardutho.org, tagged by Jillian Marcantonio, accessed on Apr. 26, 2019].


A glowing ecard just for your sweetheart.
A beautiful ecard to make your sweetheart feel special.
Send this ecard to tell your beloved that you love him/her.
Send your autumn love to your beloved with this ecard.
Say that your love is never ending with this autumn ecard.
Send this ecard to let your dear one know to wait for love.
A warm ecard to make your loved ones smile.
An ecard glowing with all your love just for your sweetheart.
A heartfelt message to tell your loved ones how much you miss them this Autumn.
A lovely ecard for all your loved ones.
A beautiful ecard to let your loved ones know that you are missing them this Autumn.
Send this Albert Camus autumn quote.
One of the four temperate seasons that marks the transition of summer into winter is the autumn,somewhere also known as "fall". This season starts around September and continues till November. The word autumn originated from the French word "autompne". This season is called the season of fall because because of the change in color and shedding of the tree leaves. In English literature this season has always been related to the mood of sombre and melancholy. The passing away of summer and the beginning of chilling winter with dull vision of the sky and people turning inward both physically and mentally.
Autumn is the season of harvest. Most ancient cultures featured autumnal celebrations of the harvest,often the most important on their calendars. The celebrations of American Thanksgiving,Jewish Sukkot,Chinese Moon festival take place during the middle of Autumn. There are also the many North American Indian festivals tied to harvest of autumnally ripe foods gathered in the wild. The predominant mood of these autumnal celebrations is a gladness for the fruits of the earth mixed with a certain melancholy linked to the imminent arrival of harsh weather. In North America, autumn is also associated with the Halloween season which in turn was influenced by Samhain,a Celtic autumn festival and with it a widespread marketing campaign that promotes it.


text:
About
=====

This script `mailboxUsage.php` should be run on a machine with PHP installed.
It queries the Kerio Connect server about all users and all domains and shows
how much diskspace each mailbox uses.

How to use
==========

The script is quite easy to use:
* Download all the files and place them locally
* Make sure you can connect to your Kerio Connect Adminconsole from this host

Run the script

    $ ./mailboxUsage.php
    Hostname: kerio.tuxis.nl
    Username: admin
    Password: ********
     - Domain tuxis.nl
       * XYZ1@tuxis.nl (User 1) consumes 1154 MegaBytes.
       * XYZ2@tuxis.nl (User 2) consumes 1008924 Bytes.
       * XYZ3@tuxis.nl (User 3) consumes 5682 Bytes.
     - Domain tuxis.net
       ! No users in this domain.

Hostname, Username and Password will be asked for if you run the script.
Optionally, you can configure the hostname and username in config.php

If you want the output parseable, use the `-s` switch.

    $ ./mailboxUsage.php -s
    Hostname: kerio.tuxis.nl
    Username: admin
    Password: ********
    XYZ1@tuxis.nl,1210056704
    XYZ2@tuxis.nl,1008924
    XYZ3@tuxis.nl,5682

This allows you, for example, to use the data to generate averages and graphs.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
The best friendship duos in the MCU
October 9, 2022 by tetracyclinepill.com
When you work together as long as some of these guys, you're bound to become friends. Some of these MCU duos developed trust, love, and a lifelong bond in the face of adversity.
1. Rocket Raccoon and Groot
Rocket and Groot
From the start of Guardians of the Galaxy vol1, their friendship stood out. Rocket understood Groot and could speak his language, and Groot would do anything to help his raccoon friend. Groot sacrificed himself to protect the Guardians by falling from the Dark Aster. Rocket, the otherwise indifferent and nonchalant guy, shed real tears and cried for his friend.
2. Captain America and the Falcon
Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson
Even though Bucky is his best friend, Cap and the Falcon had something special. They first met during Winter Soldier and have supported each other ever since. The resulting rivalry between Falcon and Bucky gave us some fun moments. He remained Team Cap until the end when Cap surrendered his shield to the Falcon. He succeeded Steve as Captain America.
3. Iron Man and the War Machine
Tony Stark and Rhodey
These guys have been friends since MIT and Stark chose Rhodey to succeed him as War Machine in Iron Man 2. Since then, Rhodes has been Team Iron Man and one of its most trusted allies. Their sarcastic attitudes and on-point sarcasm also gave us priceless moments.
4. Doctor Strange and Wong
This duo complement each other very well. Wong helps keep Steve grounded and takes on the role of manager. Although they disagree on most things, they understand and trust each other. They have a fun chemistry on screen with the various one-liners and meme-worthy moments. Plus, they share a favorite ice cream flavor A Hunka-Hulka Burnin' Fudge. It's great.
5. Hawkeye and Black Widow
This pair met an unfortunate end when they had to make the ultimate sacrifice for the Soul Stone on Vormir. Bruce gave Natasha a way out of the Red Room despite being ordered to exterminate her. She also saved him when he was under Loki's control. She helped him find a way to forgive himself. They have a special bond and are like family.
6. Gamora and Nebula
What started as a rivalry built on hatred and envy has become a sweet bond for life. Since childhood they were forced to fight and it created a rift between them. This caused Nebula to try to kill Gamora several times, but it turned out that all she wanted was a sister. Even when they were enemies, they saved each other's lives at several points.
7. Clint Barton and Kate Bishop
Clint Barton and Kate Bishop
Since Hawkeye, this goofy mentor-mentee duo has been winning hearts with their cute but funny interactions. Barton, initially concerned with protecting Kate and keeping her out of harm's way, eventually learned to trust her and believe in her abilities. Kate, on the other hand, saw through his nonchalant attitude and tore down his defenses.
8. Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes
This friendship is one of the oldest and the one that has certainly lasted the longest. There is nothing that can break these two, not mad scientist Zola or brainwashing or even one of them who is an assassin. They brought out the best in each other and understood each other better than anyone else. He was ready to take on the world, including Iron Man, to save his friend during the Civil War. As Cap said, until the end of the line.
9. Tony Stark and Peter Parker
Tony Stark and Peter Parker
How not to mention them in a list of duets? The impromptu scene in Infinity Wars where Tom Holland says the now iconic, "Mr. Stark I'm not feeling so well" had quickly invaded internet users. Stark brought him into the Avengers, trusted him when he didn't himself, and would protect him at all costs Their duet is adorable and funny and we love it.
10. Thor and Loki
If you ever want to see super chaotic siblings, these guys are it. Their playful enmity turned into brotherly love was a hilariously beautiful transformation. Loki went from trying to kill Thor to putting his life on the line for him. Thor also loved and supported his brother no matter what.
Now it's time for some special mentions. Yelena and Natasha's sibling feud in Black Widow was loved by fans. She-Hulk finally explored Tony and Bruce's friendship. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier also cemented their friendship. Cap and Natasha supported each other even when they were on different sides in the Civil War. Finally, T'Challa and Shuri had the cutest ribs ever.
Categories space
Star Wars: 10 Memes That Perfectly Sum Up The Original Trilogy
From Doha to Dubai, a luxury World Cup and supporters on the sidelines


text:
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NAMI Sonoma County contracted with CHSC to acquire and rehabilitate Freedom Lane, which used funds allocated by SCCDC for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which aided Community-based Non-Profit Organizations to acquire foreclosed or abandoned houses. With Freedom Lane, NAMI Sonoma County provides congregate living to three homeless veterans, living with psychiatric disabilities.
Project Description: 15-unit licensed residential care facility for women with mental illnesses.
Community Support Network provides full time services at Brown St. that are designed to meet each resident's needs. The program empowers residents to maintain stability within a community setting while striving toward maximum independent living.
NAMI Sonoma County contracted with CHSC to acquire and rehabilitate Kearny Court. The rehabilitation utilized funds allocated by SCCDC for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which assisted Community-Based Non-Profit Organizations in purchasing foreclosed or abandoned homes. With Kearny Court, NAMI Sonoma County provides congregate living to four homeless veterans, living with psychiatric disabilities. This project was accomplished with extensive volunteer time and materials as well as a generous grant from the City of Petaluma's CDBG program.
CHSC worked as a consultant with North Bay Housing Coalition, who acquired and rehabilitated this property with funds from the Sonoma County Community Development Commission. The funds received were part of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which assisted Community-Based Non-Profit Organizations in purchasing foreclosed or abandoned properties. With Lombard, NBHC offers permanent supportive housing for two to three developmentally disabled adults.
CHSC consulted with North Bay Housing Coalition, to help them acquire and rehabilitate Quimby Drive. The development was funded by the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which assisted Community-Based Non-Profit Organizations in purchasing foreclosed or abandoned properties. With Quimby, NBHC provides permanent supportive housing to two to three developmentally disabled adults.


text:
James Lowe
I sailed with Union-Castle from the 27th May 1949 until the 24th December 1959. My last ship was the Capetown Castle as 2nd Officer.
I was a deck officer from October 1951 until my last ship the "Capetown Castle " as Second Officer in 1959
The ship that feature mostly in my discharge book was the Arundel Castle. I was sent ther first when still a cadet in October 1951. The Captain was DD Mackenzie- who was really upset to have an officer wthout a licence.
When they sent me back as Extra 4th he was even more upset and exclaimed that next voyage I would be Fourth.
That did not happen. I went to the Athlone and then the Edinburgh.
By that time I had my sea time in and went to get qualified.
Memories of Harold Charnley
I joined Union-Castle as a Cadet at the same time as Tony Thurgood on the "Roxburgh Castle" in Tilbury. We sailed with cars and buses for South Africa. This was the deadline to sail with completed vehicles to the Union. After this date a vehicle had to be built in South Africa. The Captain was J.D.B Fisher, Mate Harold Charnley. 2nd mate John Cutcliffe and the third went by the handle of "Bullshit" Kenshole. I cannot remember his christian name.
Charnley was known as "100% Charnley". He never made a mistake!.Our second trip on the same vessel Charnley was very excited - since his mother in law had moven in with them. At my tender age I did not think that this was a good idea and told him so !
Charnley was upset with me and explained that he and Ivey would now have great freedon since they had a built in baby sitter. They had a young daughter of around four.
Charnley had nightmares. He would awaken and rush out on deck shouting "wait for me" He dreamt that the crew had left him and taken off in the lifeboats. His Doctor said that he should get a shore job. All the jobs that he wanted were in Africa. Ivey however was very happy in Southampton with her mother and refused to leave the country.
Charnley eventually became a first Officer on a mail ship and had his own table. A lady was travelling in the ship and they hit it off. They decided that she would leave her husband and join Harry by travelling on the next mail ship and they would set up a love nest in Southampton .
Harry being the gentleman informed Ivey that he would not be returning home after the next trip, but would allot Ivey an allowance to pay bills and mortgage. Mother in law got Ivey a Lawyer. So when Harold got off the ship he went to his Bank and found that he was worth 3 Pounds. Ivey had stripped his account and he had to find accomodation at the Salvation Army.
His Lady friend, when appraised of his circumstances, phoned her husband and asked him to send money or a ticket back, which he did . Harold haunted the house and the police drove him off. The result was that the alimony was high and ULS kept him on shore staff until he could resume duties on a ship and no longer had suicidal tendencies.
The next Lady that he lived with had a home in the New Forest and had him take driving lessons and gave him the use of her Vauxhall car. Whether they married or not I do not know.
We sailed together on Arundel Castle. Later he was First and I was Third. Tony Dyer the Assistant Purser had a record player in his room and Charnley and I would go and listen to classical music on LP's that Tony and I owned - prior to the evening meal . Tony would provide a cider to each enthusiast in the room.


Get 30% Discount for Online Registration Only !
if you want to reserve for Balinese Cooking Class.
Our cencelation policies are 3 day before activities 50% charged and 100% charge for on the date cencelation.
If cancelled or modified up to 3 days before date of activity , no fee will be charged.
If cancelled or modified later, In case of no-show, 100 percent of the total price of the reservation will be charged .


Nowadays developing internet world we have to learn more about some of the most common security risks, including hacking, phishing and malware and how to protect your sites and servers. Thankfully, many of these hazards can be avoided by making yourself aware of the threats.
Hacking. Someone from another location breaks into your computer remotely to cause damage or steal information. Often this will include the hacker obtaining your personal information or turning your computer into a "zombie" to further their needs. Different hacking techniques include vulnerability scanners, password cracking, packet sniffers, rootkit, trojan horses, and key loggers.
Phishing. When a website is made to look like another website for the purpose of gathering personal information from a user. Phishing usually involves fake emails that appear to come from legitimate enterprises, such as your bank or credit union. These emails contain URLs that link to malicious web pages and will ask you to enter in private information, like passwords, bank account information, or credit card numbers. Attackers can then use the entered information to steal your (or your customers') identity.
Malware is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner's informed consent. Its only there to break stuff. There are several types of malware, including computer viruses, worm viruses, spyware, adware, scareware and crimeware. To spread Malware, perpetrators can create malicious websites of their own, exploit a vulnerability in the applications a website relies on or exploit a vulnerability on the web server or its configuration.
Malware is often download from an email attachment or from a suspicious website. However, malware can also infect servers and upload malicious code or web pages that deliver malware to the site's visitors.
There are a few key practices that can greatly increase your protection from the majority of instances. To protect your sites and servers you should choose strong passwords that can't be easily guess by computer programs. Additionally, keeping websites up to date with security patches is one of the most important means of protection. Companies often publish patches or security updates that are built to prevent these types of attacks.


For most writers the legal drug of choice is caffeine and it is often administered through a hot cup of coffee. Because of this, it's no wonder why so many writers fall in love with Viennese coffee houses; so much so that it even spawned a genre of writing called "coffee house literature." In addition to coffee houses being a place to read, write and unwind, café culture can also foster wide range of valuable social interaction that only costs the price of a cup of coffee to participate in.
In February of 2016, a "Starbucks on the go," opened in the newly renovated train station in Graz, Austria. This coffee stand sits lonely, unstaffed in a book and magazine shop in the center of a city in a country that is obsessed with its café culture; it is not hard to see how little a brand-name stand has to offer the coffee house scene in Austria.
"Coffee and Vienna both have a long mutual history, with tradition suggesting that the world's first coffee house was founded in Vienna by an Armenian merchant named Johannes Theodat in 1685. Surprisingly, given its long tradition of café culture, most coffee is drunk at home (88 percent)" (The Local 2014).
The Local article has a nice "Guide to ordering coffee" towards the end, which explains the different names for the many types of coffee you can order in an Austrian coffee house: from the un-Italian cappuccino to the Türkischer (aka Turkish coffee) which is, "finely ground coffee boiled for a long time in water, sugar is added and it is served as a very hot, strong coffee with the grains still in the cup" (The Local 2014).
"closely linked to the end of the Siege of Vienna in 1683. Legend has it that the Viennese citizen Georg Franz Kolschitzky (1640 – 1694) was the first to obtain a licence to serve coffee in the city following his heroic actions during the Siege of Vienna. The coffee beans left behind by the Turks were the basis of his success" (Wien.at 2017).
Wien.at also acknowledges that Vienna was not the first city in history with a coffee house, that there "were several coffee houses in Mecca as early as the 12th century. The first coffee house in Europe opened in Venice in 1647. The first coffee houses in England were opened in 1650 and 1652" (Wien.at 2017).
With such a long history of café culture in Europe, something was bound to go wrong eventually.
"The darkest chapter in Vienna's Jewish history began on 12 March 1938 when the Nazis occupied Austria; with the them came the persecution and curtailment of Jewish civil rights. Businesses were confiscated (including some of Vienna's better-known coffee houses)" (Lonely Planet 2017).
The seizure of Jewish coffee houses was only the beginning of the brutal mistreatment and humiliation of the Viennese Jewish population during this "reality challenged" period of human history.
"Contemporary reports (newspapers, letters, and US State Department records) document the strange and barbaric acts Nazis forced Jews to perform in public venues like the Prater (Vienna's largest park), the streets, and cafés" (Offenberger 2017).
A man by the name of Wallenfells, who was a treasury representative at the US consulate in Vienna, "witnessed the madness that followed the German takeover. He watched Nazis publicly humiliate Jews in parks, cafés, and on the streets of Vienna" (Offenberger 2017).
"Again he could not fathom how such behavior could be tolerated in the twentieth century. His wife and he saw a group of Sturmabteilung (SA) men, mere boys, enter a café opposite Favoritenstrasse 18 and force all the Jews inside to clean the café—with all the curtains drawn back so the crowd outside could watch. The SA ordered the Jews to move furniture, pile up chairs, wash the floors, and clean the silver. Moreover, they instructed the victims to chant insulting and humiliating words and demanded middle-aged un-athletic men to do knee-bending exercises and jump over tables and chairs" (Offenberger 2017).
Mandatory work orders were to be obeyed by any Jew in public, these tasks could take hours and if not performed to the liking of the Nazi overseer the victim would often be brutalized and humiliated further; these work orders occurred as the Jewish citizens were on their way to work or school.
Nazis targeted Jewish cafés because this was where Jewish intellectuals and artists would assemble; the Nazi occupiers wanted to dehumanize the thinkers who would be the most critical of their methods going forward.
The assault on the intellectual café culture, and art in general, wasn't just about aesthetics, it was about publicly shaming the opposition. In the article, "Degenerate Art: The Attack on Modern Art in Nazi Germany, 1937 review – What Hitler dismissed as 'filth,'" author Jason Farago points out that, "Attacks on art began almost immediately after Hitler's accession in 1933, often in spontaneous, private Schandausstellungen ('shame exhibitions')" (Farago 2014).
"The public display of cruelty and injustice that Wiley encountered in the Prater, and Wallenfells witnessed in parks, cafés, and on the streets of Vienna, reflected the collapse of the social contract and foreshadowed the violent and dehumanizing treatment of Jews that would later play out during the genocide" (Offenberger 2017).
Shame exhibitions with the intention of publicly humiliating and dehumanizing the opposition is something that's still lurking around today and typically takes the form of "online shaming." While it is not difficult to come up with contemporary examples of public shaming these are a topic for another blog post.
"Your entrance ticket is a cup of coffee, just as it has been for generations. Once you have ordered, be it a Kleiner Schwarzer, Kapuziner, Einspänner or Melange – and these are just some of the specialities – sit back, relax and do just what you like: read from the selection of complimentary newspapers or browse the book you brought with you" (Austria.info 2017).
Drinking coffee in a café can be a stimulating experience, not only physically but mentally. A deep conversation or a revealing passage from a book can be enlightening; anything that gives us a better perspective of the human condition is invaluable.
It's necessary to reflect on the history of café culture in Vienna, and to realize just how important it is as human beings to nourish our artistic and intellectual sides in the face of adversity created by nationalism, bigotry, racism, and public shaming.
Boda, Barbara. "The Best Coffee Shops In Graz, Austria." The Culture Trip: November 06, 2016. Website. (Source of Featured Image: Barista at work, ©Frettie; wikicommons).
Lonely Planet. "Lonely Planet Pocket Vienna." Lonely Planet Publications: 2017. Website.
Offenberger, Illana Fritz. "The Jews of Nazi Vienna, 1938-1945: Rescue and Destruction." Palgrave Macmillan: 2017. Website.
Thank you so much for your continued support! I really appreciate that you've taken the time to read and comment below several of my posts, so again, thank you.


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Anton Maletich
Anton Maletich's pedigree was founded in his childhood interest in cooking and the culinary world. He watched while his mother made the gravy, his grandmother make the palacinka and his grandfather prepared the lamb for the spit, and by his 19th birthday he was perfecting "old school" bartending skills taught to him by his father.
"I was there, observing, listening, soaking it all up, and that's what beget my journey into the world of Cuisine and Hospitality", says Anton.
His life experience includes working with the Ritz Carlton in Chicago and as Director of Operations and creator of Spanish Wine programs for Emilio Gervilla, "The Leader of the Tapas Movement in Chicago". Most recently The Wine Spectator has honored Anton's work at Suzette's Creperie in Wheaton, Illinois. Under his vision, the wine list has earned the prestigious Wine Spectator Award Of Excellence for five consecutive years.
"As a Sommelier and Wine Director I've strived to create an unpretentious and friendly atmosphere at the table. My object is to make wine knowledge and its service proper, yet unstuffy and approachable." Each year he teaches a highly regarded comprehensive curriculum on wine, service, and gastronomy. He has a particular passion for the wine and culture of Croatia.
Through the years he has been an enthusiastic gardener, growing many of his own organic fruits and vegetables. It has been a rewarding experience and he has made a connection with the earth that rewards him not only with a bounty for the table, but also a raison d'etre. He loves sharing the dishes, techniques and lore that he has accumulated over the years with his guests and students.
We are honored to have Anton as a collaborator for Go-Wine.com.
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Professional Development Topics include but not limited to:
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Debbie Lockhart has been in the comedy business for over ten years. She began with improv, performing across the states in 1993 and made her overseas debut in the 2000 International TheatreSports Tournament in London (where she dazzled the Brits in a 3-person improvised Shakespeare Play & Musical).
As a solo artist, she has become one of the hottest female stand-ups on the West Coast. She recently placed among the countrys funniest in the 27th Annual San Francisco International Comedy Competition, was a semi-finalist in '03 & '04 California's Funniest Female Competition, was accepted to perform in Los Angeles' premiere entertainment showcase, "15 Minutes of Fem" playing at the famed Egyptian Arena Theatre and just finished her Kickin' California/ Colorado/New Mexico Tour. She can also be seen in the indy films, "The Baxters," 'My Femme Lady," and the "Job Smart" TV series.
You'll note she incorporates her improv skills along with her athletic prowess and ability to make the audience smile in her standup act, therefore making sure you never see the same act twice. She owes much of her stage persona to her 10-year tap & jazz dance training and high school cheerleader & pom-pom girl background.
She performs regularly in such prestigious Los Angeles comedy clubs as The Laugh Factory, The Comedy Store, The Ice House, and coming soon to a club in a city near you! If you havent seen her lap dance, then you haven't experienced life. Look for her upcoming one-woman show with backup boy dancers, "All I Really Want To Be is a Solid Gold Dancer," coming Spring 2006.


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The Destruction of Economic Facts
April 30, 2011 7:28am by Barry Ritholtz
Fascinating discussion in BusinessWeek from renowned Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto.
As we have discussed previously (here and here), de Soto has identified the property record keeping — he calls them "public memory systems" — as one of the major advantages of Western Capitalism. The recording, rule-bound, certified, and publicly accessible registries, titles, balance sheets, and statements of accounts, especially for land and houses — is how our system creates "economic facts."
Various elements in our economy — Shadow banking systems, MERS, abdication of lending standards (i.e., no doc loans and origination fraud), Robosigners, mark-to-model accounting fraud, off balance sheet bank assets — have conspired to destroy those facts. These economic fact destroying gambits turned out to be prime underlying elements of the financial crisis.
Here is de Soto:
"During the second half of the 19th century, the world's biggest economies endured a series of brutal recessions. At the time, most forms of reliable economic knowledge were organized within feudal, patrimonial, and tribal relationships. If you wanted to know who owned land or owed a debt, it was a fact recorded locally—and most likely shielded from outsiders. At the same time, the world was expanding. Travel between cities and countries became more common and global trade increased. The result was a huge rift between the old, fragmented social order and the needs of a rising, globalizing market economy.
To prevent the breakdown of industrial and commercial progress, hundreds of creative reformers concluded that the world needed a shared set of facts. Knowledge had to be gathered, organized, standardized, recorded, continually updated, and easily accessible—so that all players in the world's widening markets could, in the words of France's free-banking champion Charles Coquelin, "pick up the thousands of filaments that businesses are creating between themselves."
The result was the invention of the first massive "public memory systems" to record and classify—in rule-bound, certified, and publicly accessible registries, titles, balance sheets, and statements of account—all the relevant knowledge available, whether intangible (stocks, commercial paper, deeds, ledgers, contracts, patents, companies, and promissory notes), or tangible (land, buildings, boats, machines, etc.). Knowing who owned and owed, and fixing that information in public records, made it possible for investors to infer value, take risks, and track results. The final product was a revolutionary form of knowledge: "economic facts."
Over the past 20 years, Americans and Europeans have quietly gone about destroying these facts. The very systems that could have provided markets and governments with the means to understand the global financial crisis—and to prevent another one—are being eroded. Governments have allowed shadow markets to develop and reach a size beyond comprehension. Mortgages have been granted and recorded with such inattention that homeowners and banks often don't know and can't prove who owns their homes. In a few short decades the West undercut 150 years of legal reforms that made the global economy possible.
The results are hardly surprising. In the U.S., trust has broken down between banks and subprime mortgage holders; between foreclosing agents and courts; between banks and their investors—even between banks and other banks. Overall, credit (from the Latin for "trust") continues to flow steadily, but closer examination shows that nongovernment credit has contracted. Private lending has dropped 21 percent since 2007. Outstanding loans to small businesses dropped more than 6 percent over the past year, while lending to large businesses, measured in commercial loans of more than $1 million, fell nearly 9 percent."
De Soto articulates where economics facts were "disappeared" by the players involved in six key areas:
1. Mortgage Bundling
2. Default Swaps
3. Exemptions to "mark-to-market" accounting standards.
4. Off-Balance-Sheet Accounting
5. Government Use of Swaps and Repo Markets
6. Rating Agencies
Astonishing. Go read the entire piece here.
Foreclosure Fraud Reveals Structural & Legal Crisis (October 5th, 2010)
Why Foreclosure Fraud Is So Dangerous to Property Rights (October 12th, 2010)
BusinessWeek April 28, 2011
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_19/b4227060634112.htm
June 8, 2009 The Week Ahead
July 2, 2005 US Greenback
February 7, 2011 Organized Crime
Lamborghini LP700-4 Aventador
The Endgame Headwinds


Incorporated in 1993, the Friends of Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge is an all-volunteer organization with more than 350 paid individual, family, and corporate memberships. Our purpose is to promote the refuge and support its environmental education, interpretation, and conservation programs; provide funding for free public events at the refuge; assist with transportation costs so that area student groups can visit to participate in hands-on, standards-based lessons; and act as ambassadors for the refuge in the many surrounding communities.
We welcome individuals of all ages and abilities, families, student/civic organizations, and corporations as members, and we are active in 6 area chambers of commerce (Elk River, Zimmerman, Princeton, Big Lake, Becker, and Monticello). The Friends of Sherburne was named the National Friends Group of the Year in 2008 by the National Wildlife Refuge Association. We feel that this honor acknowledged our ability to set and achieve goals that serve our members, our refuge partners, and refuge visitors as well.
In November 2016 the Friends successfully completed their Be Wild Campaign for Youth Nature Education, which raised $250,000 in funds, goods, and services to furnish the refuge's Oak Savanna Learning Center and enhance the adjacent outside learning spaces with trails, signage, landscaping, a floating wetland education station, and more.
Our organization operates the Eagle's Nest Nature Store, open during business hours at Refuge Headquarters, and during events and other designated times at the Oak Savanna Learning Center.
Who are the Friends of Sherburne?
What do the Friends of Sherburne do?
The refuge is located approximately 5 miles west of US 169 on Sherburne County Road 9.


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Refresh Leadership Fresh ideas for today's business leaders.
US: Job Insights for 2021
By Refresh Leadership on April 26, 2021 in Express Employment Professionals, Surveys, Polls, and Infographics, Workplace
Third-party research sheds light on hiring trends for the first half of 2021.
To provide accurate and timely employment forecasts for business leaders, Express Employment Professionals International Headquarters commissions an ongoing Job Insights survey to track employment and hiring trends across a wide range of industries.
INSIGHT: Hiring Outlook for the First Half of 2021 Trends Upward
Although the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact businesses around the world, there are encouraging signs that hiring trends are on an upward trajectory as more U.S. hiring decision-makers say they plan to increase their employee count in 2021, as compared to 2020. In fact, the percentage of hiring decision-makers who said they were decreasing their employee count dropped from 16% in the second half (July – December) of 2020 to 7% for the first half (January – June) of 2021.
According to hiring decision-makers, in the first half of 2021:
46% plan to increase the number of employees at their company
43% expect no change to the number of employees
7% anticipate a decrease in employee count
INSIGHT: COVID-19 Has Made a Lasting Impact on the Hiring and Workplace Experience
Hiring experiences and future practices are changing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with companies prioritizing soft skills more than ever before when considering applicants to hire. Additionally, keeping employees safe at work is a challenge that has prompted many companies to make changes to their work processes and physical spaces.
Fifty-one percent of U.S. hiring decision-makers have had open positions during the COVID-19 pandemic for which they've hired or are hiring.
77% are willing to overlook long career gaps in resumes right now because of the pandemic's impact on the applicant pool
74% agree their company values soft skills more than ever when considering applicants to hire
INSIGHT: Companies Taking Action on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Initiatives
Businesses are making significant and meaningful strides in implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Although there is still much work to be done, according to the survey, more than 3 in 4 hiring decision-makers (78%) say their company has taken action on DEI.
The most common DEI initiatives cited in the survey include:
Providing training for employees (40%)
Offering safe methods for reporting discrimination and harassment complaints (31%)
Revising policies and procedures in regard to DEI (29%)
Changing recruitment and hiring practices (28%)
Download the full Job Insights report!
The survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Express between Nov. 16 and Dec. 7, 2020 among 1,002 U.S. hiring decision-makers (defined as adults ages 18+ in the US who are employed full-time or self-employed, work at companies with more than 1 employee, and have full/significant involvement in hiring decisions at their company). Data were weighted where necessary by company size to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population.
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Canada: Job Insights for 2021
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GREAT POTENTIAL SET ON A GENEROUS PLOT OF 0.38 ACRES - A STONES THROW FROM THE VILLAGE CENTRE.
Situated in a plot of around 0.38 acres is this character four bedroom detached house which is in need of modernisation and also chain free.. so an ideal purchase if you are looking to make a property your own and also would like a speedy purchase.
There is ample potential to extend (subject to the usual consents) and this imposing property has a real presence. The rooms are spacious and with lovely high ceilings. In total there is 2762 square feet of accommodation on offer.
Located off the Beaconsfield Road, offering a short walk and access to all of the local amenities including Costa, Sainsbury, Tesco and of course the beautiful Burnham Beeches.
The property is also walking distance to both the local Infant and Junior schools.
On the ground floor is a double aspect living room with feature fireplace and French doors leading to the conservatory plus giving access to a second reception/family room, front aspect dining room with feature fireplace and stand out beamed ceiling, double aspect kitchen/breakfast room, and a ground floor cloakroom. The conservatory is of excellent size and is double glazed, with two sets of doors leading to the garden.
The first floor consists of a stunning part galleried landing and four excellent sized double bedrooms. There is ample storage by way of large eaves cupboards, and a family shower room completes the first floor.
The frontage is some 77ft and offers parking for some seven/eight vehicles, as well as giving you seclusion from the road and is mainly laid to lawn.
The delightful west facing rear garden is 140ft and is secluded, mainly laid to lawn with a patio and timber shed.
The property is located around 2.5 miles from Burnham Station and 3 miles from Slough Station.


Chef and pop-up veteran Carl Clarke is opening a new fried chicken restaurant in Dalston.
Chick 'n' Sours will serve 'reimagined' fried chicken and sides, sour cocktails, local beers and soft-serve ice-cream creations.
"Fried chicken is a classless luxury enjoyed by all from Obama to the man on the street. I'm so excited to be back in the kitchen and to be in Dalston, which is already enjoying a buzzing food scene that just keeps getting better," said Clarke.
The menu features the House Fry, finished with Clarke's signature 'seaweed crack' seasoning and served with an Asian-inspired Pickled Watermelon and Peanut Salad.
Side dishes are designed to move away from the 'standard', and include Sprouting Broccoli, Seaweed Mayo and Pickled Green Beans; and Grilled Kimchi with Japanese Mayo & Crispy Chicken Skin.
Weekends will feature brunch menus and 'Whole Fry Sundays', serving a whole fried chicken for two with Chilli Vinegar, Gochujang Mayo and Pickled Watermelon.
Sam Dunne, formerly of The Rotary & Milk & Honey, has designed a drinks menu of sour cocktails to compliment the fried chicken.
"The marriage of sour cocktails to fried chicken is like vinegar to chips. The sours cut through the richness of the coating leaving your mouth singing and dancing for more," said Clarke.
Clarke and partner David Wolanksi have previously worked on Rock Lobsta, English Launderette, God Save The Clam, and Disco Bistro.
Chick 'n' Sours will open on 24 April at 390 Kingsland Road, London E8 2AA.


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Category: Conspiracy Theories
The Mysterious: Black Eyed Kids
On October 5, 2021 By Casper McFaddenIn Archaeological, Conspiracy Theories, Cultural, Supernatural & Horror1 Comment
It's spooky month, readers! That means it's time for me to cover topics that are near and dear to my heart. So this month's mystery is one of the big ones I've wanted to cover. Are the Black Eyed Kids aliens? Time travelers? Vampires? Ghosts? Nobody knows! Here's what we do know - they're creepy …
Continue reading The Mysterious: Black Eyed Kids
The Mysterious: Black Knight Satellite
On September 6, 2021 By Casper McFaddenIn Conspiracy Theories, MysteriesLeave a comment
Strap in, readers. This month's mystery brings us back into Earth's orbit to examine an object there. According to some, this object is an extraterrestrial satellite used to monitor mankind. According to others, it's classified NASA technology preparing for some sort of intergalactic war. What is the so-called Black Knight Satellite, and how did it …
Continue reading The Mysterious: Black Knight Satellite
The Mysterious: Lewis Carroll the Ripper
On August 5, 2021 By Casper McFaddenIn Conspiracy Theories, Cultural, Historical, MysteriesLeave a comment
For this month's mystery, we are heading into a place where the literary world and the true crime world intersect. This is by far one of the most absurd and baffling theories concerning one of the biggest mysteries in the history of true crime. Many have come to terms with the fact that we may …
Continue reading The Mysterious: Lewis Carroll the Ripper
The Mysterious: Hunter S. Thompson's Death
On July 5, 2021 By Casper McFaddenIn Conspiracy Theories, Mysteries2 Comments
In the past on this blog, we have discussed how creatives, especially writers, seem to be susceptible to mental illness and prone to suicide (not sure what I'm talking about? Read The Sylvia Plath Effect here). So, why has there been a surge of people believing that Hunter S. Thompson's death was orchestrated by outside …
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The Mysterious: The Lost Cosmonauts
On June 5, 2021 By Casper McFaddenIn Conspiracy Theories, MysteriesLeave a comment
For this month's mystery post, we're heading back to Conspiracy Land. History will tell us that Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet astronaut, was the first man in space - but what if this was a well crafted lie? According to some, the Soviet Union sent other cosmonauts into space before Gagarin - but covered those spaceflights …
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The Mysterious: The Philadelphia Experiment
On May 5, 2021 By Casper McFaddenIn Conspiracy Theories, Historical, MysteriesLeave a comment
This month's mystery takes us back to the strange world of conspiracy theories. What we'll be discussing today is perhaps the most gruesome and more enduring legends surrounding the United States Military. Did the military truly cause a ship to teleport in a misguided attempt to develop invisibility technology? Did poor souls truly end up …
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The Mysterious: The Titanic Switch Theory
On March 5, 2021 By Casper McFaddenIn Conspiracy Theories, Historical, MysteriesLeave a comment
For this month's mystery, we're dipping our toes into the world of conspiracy theories. For this first venture into such a....widely varied (and often sinister) topic, I wanted to cover something that is not destructive and somewhat debunked. This month, we'll look at whether the Titanic was actually the ship that sank on April 14, …
Continue reading The Mysterious: The Titanic Switch Theory


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Tag: Thomas Merton
Book of Revelation roundup
June 8, 2018 October 3, 2018 Victoria Emily JonesLeave a comment
Over the past year or so, it seems I keep running into artistic responses to the book of Revelation. There was the "Apokalipsa" icons exhibition held in Nowica, Poland, in fall 2016, to which thirty-six artists contributed (see photos, plus this Artful Devotion); then last September there was the release of the book Picturing the Apocalypse: The Book of Revelation in the Arts over Two Millennia, which I mentioned in an earlier roundup. What's more, this April, Pillar Church in Holland, Michigan, was awarded a Vital Worship Grant by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship "to enrich worship by collaboratively creating artistic liturgical resources inspired by the book of Revelation in order to promote a rich engagement with Scripture." I'll be interested to see what they come up with!
Joanna Zabagło (Polish), The Angel Locks Satan in the Abyss [Rev. 20:1–3], 2016. Tempera on board, 18 × 10 cm.
Now I see that the Association of Scholars of Christianity in the History of Art (ASCHA) is calling for papers on the topic of "Waiting for the End of the World: Eschatology and Art 1850–2000," for a symposium to be held February 11–12, 2019. Proposals due by September 4.
After 1850, religious subjects became increasingly suspect among modernist artists determined to paint only what the eye can see. Gustave Courbet's pronouncement, "show me an angel, and I'll paint one," exemplified a new, more skeptical orientation. Nevertheless, historical forces and personal motivations compelled many artists, working across a spectrum of materials and visual methods, to directly employ or obliquely reference themes of the Last Judgment and the Apocalypse. Over a century that saw two world wars, economic booms and devastating depressions, the rise and fall of ideologies of left and right, the collapse of colonial empires and the chaos of failed states, the threats of nuclear annihilation and ecological degradation, artists frequently turned to eschatological imagery to visualize the experience of modern life.
The Last Judgment described in the sacred texts of the Abrahamic religions threatens damnation and promises redemption for both the individual and society. This symposium will explore the way that apocalyptic beliefs and imagery—Jewish, Christian, and Islamic—have informed the work of avant-garde artists from all regions of the globe. We invite proposals for 20-minute papers of original research that explore questions such as, but not limited to: What different visual languages have artists used to address the idea of the end of the world? What meanings have they found in the eschatological narrative? How are cultural differences and similarities manifested in their work? To what extent is the teleological narrative of modern art a disguised, secular version of a theological narrative?
Another recent release, from December 2017, is the poetry collection What Will Soon Take Place by Tania Runyan, "an imaginative journey through the book of Revelation" that "offers a poet's view of the prophetic, not in the sense of seeking out clues to the 'end times,' but a means of taking this strange, fantastic book of scripture and letting it read its way into personal lives." I love Runyan's poetry (all the poets published by Paraclete are great), so this volume is near the top of my to-read list. Check out "The Angel Over Patmos" and "The Great Throne," and see the promo video below, with an excerpt from "Vision of the Son of Man."
Also from 2017, a collage by Nicora Gangi inspired by medieval Last Judgment triptychs. Commissioned by Spark and Echo Arts, Kiss the Son calls on us to love Christ with sincere affection, adorning his feet with kisses like the woman in Luke 7. The left panel shows a heap of humanity's various "golden calves," those things we worship that only lead to death. This is contrasted on the right with the New Jerusalem, where the Lion and the Lamb sit atop a cascade of glory. At the bottom of the central panel is the city of destruction, the destination of those who give Christ the betrayer's kiss; the snake-like forms recall the Evil One who deceived Adam and Eve and plummeted humanity into alienation from God. Above, though, the Son shines brightly, inviting all the reconciled into his loving presence.
Nicora Gangi (American, 1952–), Kiss the Son, 2017. Collage, 21 × 33 in.
Lastly, though it was released in 2013, I just recently discovered The Lamb Wins by the Lesser Light Collective, an album of thirty-plus original songs by fifteen-plus artists based on John's Apocalypse. My favorite song is "The River and the Tree of Life."
Oh yes, and because I just finished reading the massive Collected Poems of Thomas Merton, here's a short, thematically relevant excerpt, from "Figures for an Apocalypse: VIII. The Heavenly City" (page 148):
Shine with your lamb-light, shine upon the world:
You are the new creation's sun.
And standing on their twelve foundations,
Lo, the twelve gates that are One Christ are wide as canticles:
And Oh! Begin to hear the thunder of the songs within the crystal Towers,
While all the saints rise from their earth with feet like light
And fly to tread the quick-gold of those streets . . .
Update: On June 28 and 29, 2018, the Centre for the Critical Study of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements (CenSAMM) in the UK hosted the conference "Apocalypse in Art: The Creative Unveiling." All the talks, given by various scholars, have been added to the organization's media archive. They address the theme in Hans Memling, Albrecht Dürer, William Blake, James Hampton, Keith Haring, Michael Takeo Magruder, David Best, Bob Dylan, and more.
William Blake (British, 1757–1827), Whore of Babylon, 1809. Pen and watercolor over pencil, 26.6 × 22.3 cm. British Museum, London.
Michael Takeo Magruder (British, 1974–), The Horse as Technology, modular installation (in view: SLS 3D print). Part of "De/coding the Apocalypse" v1.0 solo exhibition, 2014, Inigo Rooms, Somerset House, London. Photo: Jana Chiellino.
Roundup: Merton on art; psalms of ascent; Oscar-nominated "Loving Vincent"; and more
March 2, 2018 July 21, 2021 Victoria Emily Jones2 Comments
BOOK EXCERPT: "Reality, Art, and Prayer" by Thomas Merton: In this excerpt from No Man Is an Island (1955), Merton talks about "aesthetic formation," about how "music and art and poetry attune the soul to God"—art that doesn't perform that function, he says, isn't worthy of the name! Some might think that the spiritual solution to overstimulated senses (so many images, so much noise) is to close our eyes and ears. But that's not necessarily so, as Merton explains: "The first step in the interior life, nowadays, is not, as some might imagine, learning not to see and taste and hear and feel things. On the contrary, what we must do is begin by unlearning our wrong ways of seeing, tasting, feeling, and so forth, and acquire a few of the right ones." Yes! This is what I was trying to get at in my essay "Disciplining our eyes with holy images."
KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN: Songs for the Sojourn by Bellwether Arts: The same liturgical arts initiative that brought you this Advent/Christmas package is now poised to release a set of songs, visual art, and prose devotions inspired by the Bible's "psalms of ascent," which were likely sung by Jewish pilgrims as they ascended the road to Jerusalem for their three major annual festivals. At the head of the project is Bruce Benedict, founder of Cardiphonia, who in 2010 received a grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship to commission songwriters and visual artists to help his congregation explore, through their respective disciplines, these fifteen psalms (read his application here). The project was so enriching to those involved that he recently decided to expand it to include even more songwriters, painters, and writers—the fruits of which are being made available to the public as a double-disc album, songbook, and art-filled devotional book.
While the songs have been recorded, Bellwether needs your help to finance the mixing, mastering, and disc pressing and the printing of the other two products, as well as to pay the new artists involved. Pledging money in exchange for a reward (essentially, placing a preorder) is a tangible way to support the project. Visit their Kickstarter page for more information or to make a pledge. Campaign ends March 23.
Help Higher Than the Hills (Psalm 123) by Aaron Collier. Photo courtesy Bellwether Arts/Cardiphonia.
Psalm 133 by Kyle Ragsdale. Photo courtesy Bellwether Arts/Cardiphonia.
(For other artistic responses to Psalm 133, see this artful devotion featuring the Psalter Project and a William Walker mural, and the poem "Aaron's Beard" by Eugene Peterson.)
SONG: "Refuse the Bait" by Liturgical Folk: Fr. Nelson Koscheski, Ryan Flanigan, and David Moffitt wrote this song last year about Christ overcoming Satan's temptations in the wilderness. I'm always blessed by these men's collaborations. To stay apprised of their latest, follow Liturgical Folk on Facebook, and see also https://liturgicalfolk.bandcamp.com/.
POEM CYCLE: "A Small Psalter" by Pádraig J. Daly: I really love this contribution in the current issue of Image journal—twenty-two modern-day psalms by Irish poet-priest Pádraig J. Daly. Like the biblical psalms, these poems express a range of emotions and postures before God, from sorrow and frustration to joy and awe. Here's #12:
We are numbed, Lord, by number;
But you, being Other, know
Each single form that kneels at night,
Each heart enchanted by a meadow;
And hear our joys and heed our sighs.
And all we have and are, as we come naked here—
The very self of us!—
Comes from no thing in us
But from you, who make in us an emptiness
That you alone suffice.
FILM: Loving Vincent, dir. Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman: The Oscars are the only occasion of the year that I watch live TV, and I'm really looking forward to the show this Sunday. One of the nominations for Best Animated Feature is the world's first fully oil-painted feature film, Loving Vincent, a biographical drama about the mysterious Vincent van Gogh. While most reviewers say the narrative content is forgettable, they hail the film's innovative production methods and visual achievement as nothing short of amazing. Funded by Kickstarter, a team of 125 classically trained artists from various countries painted 65,000 frames in the style of the Dutch master (many of the final canvas paintings were exhibited at the Noordbrabants Museum last year), and actors were cast who had a physical resemblance to van Gogh's portrait subjects (e.g., Chris O'Dowd as Postman Roulin!). To view the paintings and learn more about the filmmaking process, visit LovingVincent.com, and see the trailer below.
VISUAL MEDITATION: "Behold the Broken, the Bruised" by Victoria Emily Jones: Speaking of van Gogh . . . Last week I wrote a reflection for ArtWay on the mixed-media sculpture After Van Gogh by Mad River Wiyot artist Rick Bartow (1946–2016). The primal wail of the figure expresses the artist's psychological wounds, as a person with PTSD, and the communal wounds of his people, as well as invokes the famously troubled postimpressionist of its title. To me it also evokes Jesus's cry of dereliction on the cross: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
Rick Bartow (Wiyot, 1946–2016), After Van Gogh, 1992. Lead, wood, nails, crab claw, copper, and acrylic, 23 × 12 × 7 in. Private collection. Photo: Victoria Emily Jones.
Also, I've been writing Lenten art reflections for GiftofLent.org, one for each Monday of the season (through March 25). This week's is on Kris Martin's Altar, a steel replica of the Ghent Altarpiece framework, installed on a Belgian beach. Click on the link to read more.
Kris Martin (Belgian, 1972–), Altar, 2014. Steel, 17′4″ × 17′3″ × 6′7″. Temporary installation in Ostend, Belgium.


Behringer, Richard; Miller, Rachel; Swindell, Eric. One semester hour. Fall, annually. Grading System: Pass or Fail. Prerequisites: Consent of instructor and student must be at least in their second year to take this course.
This course is designed for second year students who have already chosen their thesis lab. Students will be taught how to write scientific papers. The goal of the class will be for each student to write a review of the literature of their field of research for submission and publication.


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Alternative Investments Real Estate Investing
Top 5 Facts About Quitclaim Deeds
Jean Folger
Jean Folger has 15+ years of experience as a financial writer covering real estate, investing, active trading, the economy, and retirement planning. She is the co-founder of PowerZone Trading, a company that has provided programming, consulting, and strategy development services to active traders and investors since 2004.
Gordon Scott
Reviewed by Gordon Scott
Gordon Scott has been an active investor and technical analyst of securities, futures, forex, and penny stocks for 20+ years. He is a member of the Investopedia Financial Review Board and the co-author of Investing to Win. Gordon is a Chartered Market Technician (CMT). He is also a member of CMT Association.
Katrina Munichiello
Fact checked by Katrina Munichiello
Katrina Ávila Munichiello is an experienced editor, writer, fact-checker, and proofreader with more than fourteen years of experience working with print and online publications. In 2011, she became editor of World Tea News, a weekly newsletter for the U.S. tea trade. In 2013, she was hired as senior editor to assist in the transformation of Tea Magazine from a small quarterly publication to a nationally distributed monthly magazine. Katrina also served as a copy editor at Cloth, Paper, Scissors and as a proofreader for Applewood Books. Since 2015 she has worked as a fact-checker for America's Test Kitchen's Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country magazines. She has published articles in The Boston Globe, Yankee Magazine, and more. In 2011, she published her first book, A Tea Reader: Living Life One Cup at a Time (Tuttle). Before working as an editor, she earned a Master of Public Health degree in health services and worked in non-profit administration.
Real Estate Investing Guide
Real property was once transferred through a ceremonial act known as "livery of seisin" in which the person transferring the land passed a twig or clod of turf from the land to the person taking delivery of the land.
A verbal and/or written contract may have accompanied the gesture, but only the "livery of seisin" legally transferred title to the property. Of course today, title to real property is conveyed by a deed. A property deed is a written and signed legal instrument that is used to transfer ownership of real property from a previous owner (the grantor) to a new owner (the grantee).
Deeds can be classified in numerous ways. Broadly, deeds are either official or private. Official deeds are executed pursuant to court or legal proceedings, such as trustees' deeds and tax deeds. Most property transactions, however, involve private deeds.
Deeds are also categorized based on the type of title warranty provided by the grantor. General warranty deeds provide the highest level of buyer protection, while quitclaim deeds typically provide the least.
A property deed is a written and signed legal instrument that is used to transfer ownership of real property from a previous owner (the grantor) to a new owner (the grantee).
Broadly, deeds are either official or private.
General warranty deeds provide the highest level of buyer protection, while quitclaim deeds typically provide the least.
Quitclaim deeds are most often for transferring property between family members or to cure a defect on the title, such as a misspelling of a name. Although they are relatively common and most real estate agents have experience dealing with them, they are generally used in transactions where the parties know each other and are therefore more likely to accept the risks associated with the lack of buyer protection. They may also be used when a property transfers ownership without being sold, that is when no money is involved.
Because quitclaim deeds offer such limited buyer protection, it's important to understand exactly what you're getting when you buy property this way. Here are five things to know about these contracts.
Five Things To Know About Quitclaim Deeds
1. You're buying the least amount of protection of any deed.
Also called a non-warranty deed, a quitclaim deed conveys whatever interest the grantor currently has in the property if any. The grantor only "remises, releases, and quitclaims" their interest in the property to the grantee. There are no warranties or promises regarding the quality of the title. The deed will clarify this by including language such as, "The Grantor makes no warranty, express or implied, as to title in the property herein described."
In situations where the grantor under a quitclaim deed has no interest in the property, the grantee acquires nothing by virtue of the quitclaim deed and acquires no right of warranty against the grantor.
2. Only accept a quitclaim deed from grantors you know and trust.
Because quitclaim deeds make no warranty about the quality of the grantor's title, they are best for low-risk transactions between people who know each other and typically involve no exchange of money. Quitclaim deeds, therefore, are commonly used to transfer property within a family, such as from a parent to an adult child, between siblings, or when a property owner gets married and wants to add their spouse to the title.
Married couples who own a home together and later divorce also use quitclaim deeds. When one party acquires the home in a divorce settlement, the other may execute a quitclaim deed to eliminate their interest in the property (and to comply with the court's decision).
3. They can be used to clear a title defect.
A quitclaim deed is often used to cure a defect (a "cloud on the title") in the recorded history of a real estate title. Title defects include items such as issues with wording (for example, on a document that does not comply with state standards), a missing signature (such as that of a spouse), or failure to properly record real estate documents. For example, if the name of a grantee is misspelled on a warranty deed placed in the public record, a quitclaim deed with the correct spelling can be executed to the grantee to perfect the title.
As another example, assume a title search reveals that the spouse of a past grantor may have an interest in the property because they did not properly execute a past deed in the chain of title. In this situation, the spouse of the past grantor can be asked to execute a quitclaim deed to the present owner, "quitclaiming" any interest they may have in the property.
4. They're as effective as a warranty deed to transfer title, but only if the title is good.
A quitclaim deed can convey title as effectively as a warranty deed if the grantor has a good title when the deed is delivered. It is the lack of any warranties, however, that make a quitclaim deed less attractive from a grantee's perspective. If the title contains a defect, for example, the grantee has no legal recourse against the grantor under the deed. A quitclaim deed is often used if the grantor is not sure of the status of the title (whether it contains any defects) or if the grantor wants no liability under the title covenants.
5. A quitclaim deed affects ownership and the name on the deed, not the mortgage.
Because quitclaim deeds expose the grantee to certain risks, they are most often used between family members and where there is no exchange of money.
Due to this, quitclaim deeds typically are not used in situations where the property involved has an outstanding mortgage. After all, it would be difficult for many grantors to pay off a mortgage without proceeds from the sale of the property.
In some instances, however, quitclaim deeds are used when the grantor has a mortgage. In this case, the grantor remains liable for the mortgage even after ownership has transferred through the execution of a quitclaim deed. Quitclaim deeds transfer title but do not affect mortgages.
This situation can become worse if the mortgage contains a due-on-sale clause, a common provision stipulating that the entire loan becomes due as soon as the title is transferred (not just if the property is "sold" with an exchange of money, as the name "due-on-sale" would seem to imply).
If the grantor has quitclaimed the property with the belief that the grantee will make the mortgage payments, the grantor has no recourse if the grantee stops making payments or sells the property to another party. To mitigate potential financial and legal troubles, the grantee can assume the mortgage with the lender (with the lender's approval) or refinance the property and pay off the original loan. To add protection to the grantor, a legally enforceable agreement can be drawn to document the terms of payment.
The transfer of an owner's title is made by deed. Certain essential elements must be contained in the deed for it to be legally operative. Different deeds provide various levels of protection to the grantee, and the form of the deed determines the obligations of a grantor.
A quitclaim deed offers the least level of buyer protection and is generally used for title transfers between family members or to clear a defect on the title. If the property comes with what is known as a "special-purpose deed"—which could be a correction deed, a deed of gift, or a deed of release—it usually offers no more protection than a quitclaim deed. Be sure to consult a qualified real estate attorney: Deeds are important legal documents that affect ownership interests and rights.
Understanding Property Deeds
Encumbrances And Nonpossessory Interests In Real Property
Trust & Estate Planning
Pick the Perfect Trust
5 Common Methods of Holding Real Property Title
Equity Stripping Leaves Creditors Empty-Handed
12 Steps of a Real Estate Closing
What Is a Deed?
A deed is a signed legal document that transfers the title of an asset to a new holder, granting them the privilege of ownership.
Grant Deed
A grant deed is a legal document used to transfer ownership of real property.
What Is a Warranty Deed?
A warranty deed is a transfer of title where the seller pledges to the buyer that the property is owned free and clear of all liens.
Quitclaim Deed
A quitclaim deed releases a person's interest in a property without stating the nature of the person's interest or rights, and with no warranties of ownership.
A grantee is the recipient of a grant, scholarship, or some type of property. In real estate, the grantee is the one taking title to a purchased property.
Unrecorded Deed
An unrecorded deed refers to the situation where the title to a property, usually real estate, is not registered with the appropriate records office.


As local and state elections roll around, so do the unsolicited political text messages.
NEW YORK, NY -- If you were spammed this weekend by a local political campaign, you weren't alone.
Polls are now open in local elections around the country, where state legislatures and mayoral races around the US will be decided after months of unrelenting campaigning.
But as political candidates fight for every vote, some campaigns have taken to aggressive, last minute tactics -- like blasting their constituency districts with spammy text messages.
ZDNet has seen reports and tweets of screenshots of text messages from several New York-based candidates in the past few days, pushing local residents to vote for a particular candidate or calling for campaign donations.
Michel Faulkner, a candidate for New York City Comptroller, sent out a text message blast on Sunday asking city residents to donate to his campaign. The text included a link to his website, which was offline for about half-an-hour after the text was sent.
"Just the way to get people to vote for you," said one local resident, in a tweet.
Another text message campaign was sent by Jabari Brisport, a candidate for New York City Council. The message called on residents of the Brooklyn neighborhood where the candidate is running to vote for him.
That drew ire from one local resident, who said the unsolicited message could influence how they would vote Tuesday.
"I usually vote Democrat down the ticket, but it's definitely an experience that made me remember his name in a negative light," the district constituent told ZDNet.
For years, state and federal election candidates have used text messages as a way to solicit votes or contributions from their constituents. Use of text messaging first rocketed during the 2008 presidential campaign, and has only escalated in size and scale -- no more so than during last year's election.
But the law is clear: it's illegal for companies to send text messages to individuals who haven't given prior consent.
Craig Engle, an attorney at Washington DC.-based law firm Arent Fox, said that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act protects consumers from receiving unsolicited political calls and texts to cell phones unless the sender has obtained prior consent.
But there's a catch: political emails and text messages are considered non-commercial, and are exempt from the law.
After all, these campaigns aren't trying to sell you anything -- they just want you to donate or vote for them.
But questions remain over how residents' phone numbers are obtained by campaigns.
A Brisport campaign spokesperson told ZDNet that the phone numbers used to send two separate text messages by the campaign were obtained from New York's Board of Elections. "We used the contact info from the board of elections in order to text voters who are registered in the district," said Virginia Ramos Rios, campaign manager, in an email. Each text was sent by a campaign staffer through a local New York phone number, allowing residents to respond to the campaign directly.
But how the Faulkner campaign obtained the phone numbers used in his text message campaign is less clear.
Faulkner's campaign used a short code text message system to mass-text a list of targeted phone numbers from CallFire, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based company, which allows users to send out automated calls and texts. Each text costs money, so campaigns have to limit the number of messages they send to a few thousand, rather than randomly cycling through cell numbers that risk sending texts into the void.
But one stand-out question is why text messages were sent to local cell phone numbers of this reporter -- a non-citizen, who isn't permitted nor registered to vote, and to his knowledge, has never provided his cell phone number to the city.
When reached by phone prior to publication, Faulkner's campaign manager Jay Golub said he would "get back" to us with an answer, but did not respond to several attempts to follow up.
Many US states are "inadequately prepared" to deal with the rising cybersecurity risks of elections.
A spokesperson for New York's Board of Elections did not respond to several emails and calls requesting comment.
We reached out to several people who also got a text message from Faulkner's campaign, but nobody we spoke to knew how their phone numbers had been collected.
"Many people complain they didn't give permission to receive these calls but in fact they may have by giving permission to a related entity that is passing the permission to the political caller," said Engle.
It's not as uncommon as you might think. If you've ever granted a Facebook app access to your basic information, your phone number could've been swept up in that and sold on to an advertising company for profit. You can sign up to any site or service that sends you text messages to tell you when your take-out food order is on its way, but when the company gets acquired or sold, so does your data.
One former senior staffer for a presidential candidate's campaign (who did not want to be named for the story) told ZDNet that phone numbers are often traded -- bought and sold -- like a commodity.
"You can buy lists of long-codes of people's phone numbers, of people who've opted in to text messages," said the person. "You and I could buy a list that's legally opted-in and we can send a message."
The person said that people almost never read the terms of service. "When you signed in to some social app or when you shared your phone number with your bank, any of those folks could've sold on your information," the person said. "But it doesn't mean that people remember."
And as frustrating as unsolicited text messages are, political campaigns tend to stay within the lines of the law -- even if they have to be reminded of the rules from time to time.
"Campaigns are very risk averse in pushing those boundaries because they don't want to get caught or kicked off the ballot, so they won't do something too sketchy," the person said.
Engle said that the best action to take is to simply respond to unsolicited text messages with "STOP."
"That in theory should take you off the list," he said. "If that doesn't work, a complaint could be filed with the FTC."
Political campaigns are in no hurry to stop using text messages in their campaigns. President Obama's successful 2008 campaign set the gold standard for using text messages in his winning campaign, a departure from John McCain's use of robocalls.
But local elections are a different beast altogether. With fewer voters than on the national scale, local political campaigns have to be smarter, and more precise and targeted with their marketing. Every vote matters -- especially when the race is tight, or when the turnout is low.
Text message blasts could help voters remember a candidate's name in the voting booth, but is a pesky spammer really the best person for the job?


Before you vacuum the floor of the cabin, take the time to blast an air compressor in the corners to loosen up all the dirt and grime. If there's any more dirt that needs to be unstuck, don't be afraid to scrub with a stiff brush.
Miss that new car smell? There is a way to get it back. Use a portable air compressor to clean the heating and air-conditioning network. You'd be surprised how much of a difference it makes.
Experts agree that hand-washing your vehicle is superior to a run through the nearest car wash. You should use a professional car-washing solution instead of any old cleaning supplies, though. Finish off with a nice coat of paint cleaner, then polish and wax.
Glass will collect most of the gunk that you clean off during the other steps, so wipe it down with a cleaner without ammonia.
If you ever need any maintenance related advice later on, just stop by Royal Moore Buick GMC's Service Department and we'll do everything we can to assist.


Poland is a landlocked Eastern European country somewhere in the polar circle. It is a former member of the USSR inhabited by Russian speakers...or is it? Have a look at these six real-life misconceptions about Poland and don't hesitate to share those you've heard!
Poland is widely believed to be an icebound country with eternal snows and polar bears loitering around the streets.
Meanwhile, Poland lies in the humid continental climate zone. The average temperature in summer is 16.5-20°C (62-69°F) and -6 – 0°C (20-32°F) during winter so nowhere near the polar image that has spread among the imaginations of people living in warmer places. In fact, because the biggest mountains in Europe, the Alps, are oriented east-west, Poland often catches some puffs of hot air from the Mediterranean Sea or a few whiffs of the continental climates to the east. This lying in a 'draft' between two contradictory climate zones makes Polish weather fickle, thus a common subject for everyday small-talk.
As a result, be prepared to experience everything. From the heaviest downpours, 3-day-long drizzles, scorching draughts and heat waves in summer, to loads of snow and severe frosts in winter. Nothing is certain, however, and snowless winters and heatless summers occur once every few years.
The only thing we can guarantee is that there are no polar bears here, but we have quite a few brown bears and one of them happened to become a popular war hero.
Poland is a tiny landlocked country far east of Europe.
When you introduce yourself as a Pole outside of Europe, what you usually see on the face of the person you're talking to is a confused grimace. Then, if you're lucky enough, questions about neighbouring Russia come along with other associations with a small country lost somewhere far in the east of Europe.
First of all, none of the above is true. Poland is not a tiny castaway state, lost somewhere in the middle of the Eastern European void. It is the 9th largest country in Europe (by area as well as by population), located right next to Germany with the Baltic Sea on the north and the Carpathian Mountains on the south. The only Russian territory it borders is Kaliningrad, which is an isolated enclave.
It's good to be aware that Poles tend to be touchy on being pigeon-holed as Eastern Europeans. They regard Ukrainians, Belarusians and Russian as Eastern European and believe themselves to be right in the middle of Europe. While this opinion could be mocked as Polono-centric, the notion of Central Europe (in opposition to Eastern Europe) has become increasingly mainstream, and even if the concept remains fluid, an overwhelming majority of definitions include Poland.
This misconception, often bordering on a rock-solid conviction, is entirely wrong but there is some justification to its existence. Poland ended up under Soviet influence after World War II and lost most of its independence, but it never literally became a part of the Soviet Union.
The misunderstanding may be a result of the fact that the major military treaty of the Soviet side of the Iron Curtain was signed in Warsaw and therefore was commonly known as the Warsaw Pact (formal name: Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation, and Mutual Assistance). It founded an organisation very similar to NATO, led by the USSR and for states of the communist bloc only.
Polish dependence on the USSR varied throughout the Communist period but never made Poland share the fate of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine, who were involuntary absorbed by the Union.
The size of the country as well as its sustaining of a certain amount of independence were key factors to the peaceful Polish revolution of 1989 and the eventual toppling of the Communism and the USSR's dominance.
The full title to this misconception should be: Poles speak Russian only, or at least Polish is almost the same as Russian.
The truth is that Poles speak Polish. However, Polish derives from the same linguistic group as Russian. It is a Slavic language and may sound similar to Russian for somebody not familiar with this group. Moreover, there is a certain, distant similarity between the two but Russian is not comprehensible for a Pole who never learned it, and vice versa.
Russian was mandatory in Polish schools until 1989 but since then has suffered a huge loss of popularity. First, it was anti-Soviet sentiment that repulsed people from learning the language of Poland's biggest neighbour. Then, Polish aspirations of entering the European Union and chasing Western economies made everybody learn English. This is why nowadays you probably won't be able to communicate in Russian with people born in the 1980s and later unless they chose to learn it. People older than that should have at least basic knowledge of Russian but rarely are they as fluent as Georgians, Ukrainians and inhabitants of other former USSR countries.
Unlike the other wrong beliefs this one is serious and unfortunately has been mistakenly or deliberately repeated so many times that people get seriously confused. There have been major scandals with key public figures (like President Obama) or the media (the French Le Figaro) attributing Nazi Concentration Camps to Poland.
Such mistakes are very harmful because Poles were one of the biggest victims of these camps. According to the Stutthof Organisation, over 3.3 million Poles were imprisoned in the camps and way more than half of them were exterminated or died of the camps' horrific conditions or starvation.
The only thing these camps had to do with Poland was that the Nazis built them on Polish land after they had conquered it. The purpose of them was to execute their plan of the eventual extermination of the Jews and of turning Poles into peasants and workers of the 3rd Reich by exterminating the Polish intelligentsia. There were 3.5 million Jews living in Poland before World War II so the camps were built in Poland out of convenience, horribly enough.
Most Western media perpetuate the idea that Polish women are beautiful, dainty blondes without a will and mind of their own. Nothing could be more wrong, however!
Since the 19th century Polish women have fought hard for their rights, first throwing off their husbands' and fathers' authority and then painstakingly achieving equal economic and political rights. In present-day Poland women are strong, independent, more educated than men (according to statistics) and form an incredibly active part of society. They continue to break the last 'glass ceilings' of gender inequality and to play key roles in public affairs.
Did you know that Poland was the second country of the Soviet bloc (after Lithuania) to appoint a female prime minister? Hanna Suchocka took office as early as in 1992, only three years after the peaceful revolution of 1989.
Author: Wojciech Oleksiak, 2nd October 2015.