Astronauts have long enjoyed various foods dehydrated by a process called freeze drying. Most well known is "Astronaut Ice Cream" but many others are dehydrated including fruits like strawberries. The freeze drying process involves freezing the food and placing it in a low pressure vacuum chamber. The food is then slowly heated allowing all the water in the food to slowly sublimate (go direct from ice form to gas form) and be removed resulting in a food product with a texture similar to cardboard. Without the water the food can be extremely light and carried easily for space travel or camping - but at the same time - nothing like what it once was. In this experiment Scientific AmeriKen will attempt several stratagies to restore a freeze dried strawberry back to its former glory!
Scientific AmeriKen is exploring several strategies to revive the strawberries as also comparing them on a time scale. Under the assumption that revival of the strawberries requires the delivery of water across the cell walls of the strawberries Scientific AmeriKen will attempt water and hot water as it is believed the faster moving molecules would be more successful at hydrating the strawberry. Alcohol will be used with the hypothesis that the properties of the alcohol molecules may have an advantage in entering the strawberry cell walls. Milk was used based on the hypothesis that the proteins inside the milk could ease the path of the water into the strawberries. Finally Orange Juice was used under the thinking that since orange juice and strawberries are both fruits that the strawberries will open its arms gladly to the incoming orange juice.
Materials (Pictured on right) include 5 glasses to hold the strawberries, stopwatch, freeze dried strawberries, a milk source (Silk Soy Milk used), Orange Juice, Alcohol (Rum used @ 40% Alcohol(v/v)), water, a knife, microwave and a computer to take notes.
To begin the experiment 3 sets of six strawberry slicers where chosen from the freeze dried strawberry bag. The sizes were approximately similar is size. Liquids were then placed into individual glasses (figure on right). The alcohol was mixed with an equal volume of water to create a 50% solution. Water was heated for 30 seconds in a microwave to reach boiling. Strawberries were then placed into glasses and a timer was started (Figure on left). Due to the tendency to float strawberries were submerged with a knife on a periodic basis. At the conclusion of a time trial at either 10 seconds, 1 minute or 10 minutes - strawberries were examined for "strawberry like" features as well as tasted. Their ability to be restored as hydrated strawberries were judged on a fail, partial or success scale, where fail is cardboard like and success is strawberry textured like.
It appears that simply dropping the strawberry in water for 1 minute was all that is needed to salvage the strawberries and Scientific AmeriKen was making this much more complicated than it really needed to be. These data suggest that in fact regular cold water was the best or equal to other techniques and may be useful information to a camper lost in isolation with nothing but a canteen and a bag of freeze dried strawberries. Also, two unexplained results are the failure of the 50% rum solution (20% alcohol) at 10 seconds and the soy milk. Although no explanation will be attempted for the alcohol, the soy milk is most likely due to the blocking of the milk proteins by the strawberry cell walls. Initially hypothesized to assist it was in fact demonstrated to prevent rehydration, which may be interesting information for those who want a crunchy breakfast cereal made of freeze dried strawberries. Finally and also of interest was depending on the solution used, the strawberry would pick up the flavors of the solution resulting in orange-strawberries or rum strawberries - further experimentation maybe required in this area.


← Guess why I won't fly U.S. Airways…………..
I realized something the other day. I'm in fantastic shape. Well, part of me is anyway. My right index finger is a shining example of what a little self-discipline and strong work ethic can accomplish. I've developed this muscle-bound metacarpal into one that would have made Charles Atlas proud.
You see, I have a very specialized exercise machine. Technically, it's an X-Y position indicator for a display system. You more sedentary types might know this as a "mouse." Every day, with great exertion, I diligently perform repetitive exercises on this device.
I've even given my various workouts special names. For example there's the "Facebook Phalanx" exercise. Chatting with and exchanging clever witticisms with other people is a surefire way to finger fitness. In fact, it's such an important part of my overall finger health program, that I've befriended scores of people I don't even know, just in case my own wimpy friends want to sleep or eat or travel; you know, have lives. Imagine!
Then, of course, there is the "blogger bulk up". This one is especially good for the phalanges. Not only is the mouse in play but there is much keyboard activity as well. Bone wellness depends greatly on constant usage as any blogger worth his/her salt should know. The beauty of this particular exercise is that one can blog about any inane subject one wants. In fact, you're reading one of those now.
Yes folks, before I showed such inner strength and began this arduous shape up program , my right index finger was continually getting figurative sand kicked in its face by the thumb and middle finger. No more. Now they're the ones getting laughed at by my left hand.
I know many of you will now want to try this program for yourselves. A warning, they'll be times when you just won't want to look at that computer and think about all the hard work that lies ahead. Just keep repeating this mantra over and over: fear the digit!
Good luck, and look for my "friend request" soon.
This entry was posted in Humorous and tagged Charles Atlas, Gold's Gym, Index finger, Metacarpus. Bookmark the permalink.
Don't you type with 2 fingers?
Hey you're talking to a sixty minute…er…uh…I mean 60 word per minute man.
You work-out fanatics forget the inevitable; someday you'll give up this rigorous regime, and all that muscle will turn to fat. You'll be lugging around your 2-pound finger/sausage in a little cart.
Take time to relax, enjoy your other fingers. Have some balance in your life, man!
Darn Pegoleg, you're right! I'm going to learn to mouse left-handed. T hann ks frr thee edvise.
How do your other fingers feel, especially since they have to live in such close proximity to that bulked up digit of yours? Or is digit-envy not an issue with which you have to deal (which would be handy)?
Funny post and alluring hand-shots!
As I mentioned to Tammy below, I think the other fingers have gotten the message and are starting to, shall we say, "get a grip". See, your pun was not lost on me. Good one.
A creative mind is a sad thing to waste. I'm glad to see yours is being put to good use. Now go get some exercise!
Thanks Tammy. Since I posted this I've noticed my middle finger doing a lot of extra "right clicking." I think it got the message.
Ewww, a naked finger. Put some sweats on, man.
How about just a bow tie like the Chippendales?.
I am very impressed and inspired to get in shape now too!


text:
saniahaq2010
Published on June 12, 2022 by saniahaq2010
$13 million.
Syosset High School
Harvard University,The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Brown-Eyed
American, Israeli
Amalia Millepied, Aleph Portman-Millepied
Benjamin Millepied
Léon: The Professional (1994).
She has an Ohio connection
Her first movie was a foreign film
She once worked with a pop princess
Portman began her acting career at age twelve, when she starred as the young protégée of a hitman in the action-drama film Léon: The Professional (1994). While in high school, she made her Broadway debut in a 1998 production of The Diary of a Young Girl and gained international recognition for starring as Padmé Amidala in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999). From 1999 to 2003, Portman attended Harvard University for a bachelor's degree in psychology, while continuing to act in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (2002, 2005) and in The Public Theater's 2001 revival of Anton Chekhov's play The Seagull. In 2004, Portman was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and won a Golden Globe Award for playing a mysterious stripper in the romantic drama Closer.
Shelley Stevens
Avner Hershlag
Petah Tikva, Israel
Indian Hills, Kentucky, United States
Added on June 9, 2022
Norwich, England
Sriti Jha
Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh, India

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Home Featured - AZ 2020 is the final season the Tennessee Vols won't be a threat...
2020 is the final season the Tennessee Vols won't be a threat to win the SEC
Zach Ragan
If you're a fan or analyst who enjoys downplaying the Tennessee Vols as a threat to win the SEC, you better enjoy the 2020 season.
Because after 2020, it's going to be an annual three-way race (between Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee) at the top of the SEC East.
You know, the way it used to be before thing wents south for the Vols in 2008.
(Who would've thought Tennessee's downward slide would last this long?)
The Vols were in a bad place in 2017 when Jeremy Pruitt was hired to lead the program.
No one knew what to expect from the program after a 4-8 season and a disastrous coaching search that included a botched hire and an athletic director being fired.
Could Tennessee ever return to its past glory?
Or was the program doomed forever?
There was cautious optimism when Pruitt was hired as the program's new head coach. He was a well respected defensive coordinator, but he had never been a head coach at any level. There was some concern over whether or not he could actually lead a college program.
Nearly three years later, it's clear that Pruitt knows what he's doing.
The Vols went 5-7 in Pruitt's first year, which included a win on the road against Auburn. In Pruitt's second year, Tennessee finished 8-5 after a rough start to the season.
Pruitt obviously has the program trending in the right direction. And in 2020, the Vols should take another step forward — even if the final record doesn't indicate a huge improvement (UT has a tough schedule this season).
Tennessee won't be a favorite to beat Alabama, Florida, Georgia, or Oklahoma (though maybe they spring an upset in one of those games).
But this is the final season that those matchups won't be considered "toss-up" games.
Moving forward, the Vols will have the talent and the depth to not just compete with those programs, but to beat those programs.
Tennessee is going to be a consistent threat to win the SEC after the 2020 season.
When Pruitt said this was going to be the decade of the Vols, it wasn't just lip service. He truly believes it.
And soon, the results on the field will show it.
"In six straight games, you found a way. This decade is going to be the decade of the Vols. You got me?"#PoweredByTheT pic.twitter.com/xh1lYwMYI6
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) January 5, 2020
Featured image via USA Today Sports
https://atozsportsnashville.com/2020-final-season-tennessee-vols-football-win-sec/
Previous articleOpposing SEC coach has respect for Tennessee Vols QB Jarrett Guarantano
Next articleTennessee Vols: Jarrett Guarantano is back at it again with his bold predictions


Townsend Bell has just announced that he will participate in the 93rd Running of the Indianapolis 500 . Townsend will be piloting an IndyCar entered by KV Racing Technology.
We had a chance to stop the ever speedy – Townsend Bell for a few moments – to learn more about what makes him tick as a person and as a RaceCar Driver.


This entry was posted in Computer Design, Technology and tagged 3D, goldsmith, jewelry, Matrix, William Weidinger. Bookmark the permalink.
Extremely cool, Larry. Thanks for the link. I always thought it was fascinating to design jewelry. Nice photos, too.


If it's possible to receive a puppy to lie on its aspect as it's acquiring a tummy rub, it's going to look so completely happy, she explained. The canines apparently fell into a gap near the highest of a mountain which ends in an underground pipe. Carolina Canine are astoundingly clever animals. They are not absolutely domesticated. In reality, it's uncommon that a Carolina Dog must be bathed or dressed. All dogs on the market require help. We have many nice dogs which are ready for adoption and we hope you'll get the proper one that matches into your residence, family, and way of life!
Vanishingly few men and women who snore by means of their paperwork are inclined to be extra animal abusers. A courtroom could maintain that we can't implement part of the contract as written. Irrespective of the health dangers and lengthy hours at work, injuries to those canines are quite rare. All things thought of, it was disappointing remedy and that I can't suggest them. This information launch comprises just a subset of what may very well be positioned at the comprehensive Form 990s.
In case you've any doubt by any means, just take a look at their own FB page. But they're also ornery. The remainder of the contract will not change. This one wasn't as simple to recuperate. The only draw back is this breed has a bent to slobber an ideal deal as a result of how they'd been a strain. Vet references and individual references are, furthermore, a necessity. When you've got carried out nothing flawed, then you should not have any motive to worry about that a vet reference or home review.
This system lets us find out everything you are trying to find in a puppy and make sure the canine will swimsuit your own home, life-style, and tastes. You possibly can additionally e mail us for a program when you will have points downloading it. After this process is accomplished we'll converse to the household to set a time to get a meet and greet with all of the puppy. All the procedure takes roughly fourteen days. The very first step in our adoption process is to finish an adoption application. We ought to make certain to supply the transition for both you, your nearest and dearest and your new furry pal as simple and easy as possible.
Trial periods were readily available to make certain a prospective pet was a beautiful fit. This season was considerably different. Yesterday to get tickets is April 29th.
"My insufficient treasurer is sort of at all times a nervous wreck," she explained. It is vital that each of the members of your household, (together with distinct canines) meet the pet so that everybody is on board and in settlement, this is the best choice for you. In case the organization's staff members feel the applicant is a superb match to your fascinating pet, a telephone interview is going to be held, as said by the group's website. Both sorts of groups mix forces to find homes for animals. Slowly he came to belief a number of of the volunteers. Step by step, various these amazing volunteers began to earn a relationship with him. When it has to do with training, they are generally hard.
In case you do choose to adopt a canine, simply do not overlook the dog you save simply may rescue you also. If you cannot have a dog because of where you reside or due to money and so on, take into account volunteering together with your regional rescue because practically all the instant, they want the excess assistance and in addition to that, you'll be able to dedicate a day working with dogs and aiding discover them properties also. When it has to do with discovering hypoallergenic canine for adoption, the most simple part is, actually, discovering the canine!
For those who do not need to continue to take care of your dog, get in contact along with your breeder first. Please understand our first priority needs to be the puppies which at the moment are inside our shelter and foster homes. This dog may not be conditioned to human touch. When considering the place to obtain a new dog to boost your loved ones, you should actually take into consideration adopting a puppy from a shelter.


text:
Akhtar Rasool, född den 13 januari 1954 i Faisalabad, Pakistan, är en pakistansk landhockeyspelare.

Han tog OS-silver i herrarnas landhockeyturnering i samband med de olympiska sommarspelen 1972 i Montréal.

Han tog OS-brons i samma gren i samband med de olympiska sommarspelen 1976 i Montréal.

Källor

Externa länkar
Sports-reference.com

Pakistanska landhockeyspelare
Pakistanska olympiska silvermedaljörer
Olympiska silvermedaljörer 1972
Pakistanska olympiska bronsmedaljörer
Olympiska bronsmedaljörer 1976
Tävlande vid olympiska sommarspelen 1972 från Pakistan
Tävlande i landhockey vid olympiska sommarspelen 1972
Tävlande vid olympiska sommarspelen 1976 från Pakistan
Tävlande i landhockey vid olympiska sommarspelen 1976
Män
Födda 1954
Levande personer
Personer från Faisalabad
Pakistanska idrottare under 1900-talet

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


No, I haven't started the woobie (corrected spelling thanks to Kate!) yet. I have to order some stencils for the quilting part. Since there is no piecing for this project, I am going straight to the quilting. I had a talk with the quilt expert (Mom) last night and she advised to quilt first in straight lines going in the same direction as the pinstripes on the flannel and then fill in with shapes that pertain to the print of the cotton, which is rockets and planets. So there will be some internet searching today to find some stencils for that part of the project.
Jack and I went to a birthday party for a gorgeous little girl named Mia this past weekend. She is only a month older than Jack, so I am fairly certain that she would be into the same kinds of things as he is at this stage. Right now, Jack can't get enough of finger painting, so I thought I'd get her some paints and make her a little something to go with it, kind of a themed birthday present. Her mom, Tanya, and I are friends and belong to the same knitting group in our neighborhood. Tanya also sews and made Jack the cutest little stuffed animal for his birthday last year. So I knew she'd like the little arts and crafts apron I made for Mia.
This would have been a really quick and easy project had I remembered how to do it. I had made aprons for all the women in my family two years ago as Christmas gifts (given with awesome cookbooks of course), but this was before I even knew I wanted to take up sewing and I had a friend helping me then. So the order of construction was completely forgotten*. At the time, the aprons seemed an extraordinarily simple project. And they are, if you are a reasonably intelligent person. Unfortunately, I am not.
I spent a total of 3.5 hours on this project when it should have taken one at the most and made two wadders before I finished the gift. But who's counting??? *You might be thinking to yourself, "what order of construction?" since there no sleeves to set in on an apron. Well, here's my warning to you when you make your apron: Don't forget to add the straps into your seam allowances! And in case you're wondering, yes, that's what I forgot to do on Wadder #2. It was a mighty fine apron if you didn't need it to wrap around your waist or hang around your neck. I attempted to add the straps after the fact, but it just wasn't pretty. And let's not talk about how I forgot that one should stitch the seam all the way around in one go, rather than iron one side and stitch, iron the next side and stitch, etc. It was a horrendous mess! Oh and Wadder #1? Well, there was a slip up with the rotary cutter. Thank God my finger wasn't in its path!
Here it is shown with the original inspiration on loan from my niece, Katie.
And here is a detail of how I sewed the straps into the seam allowance.
I used hem tape ribbon for the straps and neck loop. It's all I had on hand and didn't have time to make self fabric straps. Also, I liked the black accents with this print. Another bonus was that it's soft for a little girl's delicate skin!
Check out this for a beautiful wedding dress that a groom made for his bride!!!


CrossFit Lemont's facilities are all about function and functional fitness. Inside their industrially designed space, they are equipped with top-of-the-line CrossFit and cross-training equipment. With their industry experience and knowledge, they curated all the best equipment that forges strong, healthy bodies. They get the job done.
CrossFit Lemont is located at 12301 New Avenue Unit B and C in Lemont, IL.


Atlanta, GA Atlanta based Precision Heliparts (PHP), a division of Precision Aviation Group (PAG), a leading provider of products and value-added services to the Worldwide Aerospace and Defense industries, announces the opening of its newest sales facility in Sao Paulo, Brazil. PHP – Brazil's sales facility is located at Helipark in Carapicuíba/Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The new facility is staffed by São Paulo native, Marcelo Farah. With 10 years of experience in the aviation industry, an extensive MRO and sales background in both Fixed and Rotary Wing platforms, and fluency in Portuguese, Spanish, English, and French, Farah (mfarah@heliparts.com) will serve as the Regional Account Manager for PHP-Brazil. Farah received extensive training with PHP Atlanta to ensure PHP's customers in Brazil receive the same high customer service levels and inventory support that PHP's current customers have lauded for over 20 years.
Precision Aviation Group (PAG) is a leading provider of products and value-added services to the worldwide aerospace and defense industry. With 10 locations and more than 250,000-square-feet of sales and service facilities in the United States, Canada, Australia and Brazil, PAG uses its distinct business units and customer-focused business model to serve aviation customers through two business functions – Aviation Supply Chain and its trademarked Inventory Supported Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (ISMRO®) services.
PAG provides MRO and Supply Chain Solutions for Fixed and Rotary-wing aircraft through: Precision Heliparts – PHP (www.heliparts.com); Precision Aviation Services – PAS (www.precisionaviationservices.com); Precision Accessories & Instruments – PAI (www.precisionaccessories.com); Precision Heliparts Canada – PHP-C (www.heliparts.ca); Precision Accessories & Instruments Canada – PAI-C (www.precisionaccessories.ca); PHP-Instruments & Accessories – PHP-IA (www.heliparts.la); Precision Heliparts – Brazil (www.precisionaviationgroup.com/php-br) Precision Aero Technology –PAT (www.precisionaerotechnology.com), Precision Heliparts – Australia – PHP-AU (www.precisionheliparts.com.au), Precision Accessories & Instruments – Australia (PAI-AU) (www.precisionaccessories.com.au) and Aviation Controls, Inc. – ACI (www.aviationcontrolsinc.com). PAG subsidiaries have MRO capabilities on over 35,000 products, including accessories, avionics, engine components, hydraulics, instruments, NDT, starter/generators, and wheels/brakes (www.precisionaviationgroup.com).


It's extremely satisfying to see a project that I worked on either during construction or completed, knowing that you had something to do with how it was put together.
I have been here for 20+ years; the company has been good to me throughout.
Schaefer is always on the leading edge of technology. When I started, we were using CAD when many other companies were still hand drafting. When modeling technology became available, we pushed ahead while many were still working in 2D.


text:
Q: Calling a function in lua passing a parameter I have the following function
DOESN'T WORK:
local function onPlayBtnRelease(level)
    storyboard.gotoScene( level, "fade", 500 )
    return true
end

I want to pass a parameter so the appropriate level to be loaded, so I have the following button:
planet1 = widget.newButton{
    label="1",
        labelColor = { default={255}, over={128} },
        fontSize=25,
        defaultFile="levelplanet.png",
        overFile="levelplanet-over.png",
        width=62, height=62,
        onRelease = onPlayBtnRelease("loadscene1")  -- event listener function
    }

but the above doesn't work.
THAT IS OK:
If I do
local function onPlayBtnRelease
    storyboard.gotoScene( "loadscene1", "fade", 500 )
    return true
end

planet1 = widget.newButton{
        label="1",
            labelColor = { default={255}, over={128} },
            fontSize=25,
            defaultFile="levelplanet.png",
            overFile="levelplanet-over.png",
            width=62, height=62,
            onRelease = onPlayBtnRelease
        }

It compiles. How can I pass a parameter to onPlayBtnRelease ? Any idea why this causes a compilation error?
The error:
Runtime error
bad argument #1 to 'find' (string expected, got table)
stack traceback:
        [C]: ?
        [C]: in function 'error'
        ?: in function 'gotoScene'

A: Explanation of this line:
onRelease = onPlayBtnRelease("loadscene1")  -- event listener function

This line calls onPlayBtnRelease("loadscene1") and assigns the return value to the field onRelease. So, what you probably need is to do it like this:
onRelease = function() return onPlayBtnRelease("loadscene1") end

If you need to do this a lot, you can make a closure generator like this
local function newclosure(func, ...)
    local args = {...}
    return function()
        return func(unpack(args));
    end
end

This way you only have to write the line like this:
onRelease = newclosure(onPlayBtnRelease, "loadscene1")

A: The error is most probably caused by:
local function onPlayBtnRelease
    storyboard.gotoScene( "loadscene1", "fade", 500 )
    return true
end

because of the missing parameter list in the function definition.
The error could be similar to this, I guess:
G:\root\main\core\Lua/app/lua51/bin/lua.exe: lua_08.lua:5:
 '(' expected near 'storyboard'

From what you posted it seems that onPlayBtnRelease is an event listener function, thus it should be declared as a function taking a single parameter which is the triggered event:
local function onPlayBtnRelease(event)
    // ... code ...
    return true
end

EDIT
The onRelease field must be the listener, not the result it returns when it is called. Try simply this:
planet1 = widget.newButton{
    label="1",
        labelColor = { default={255}, over={128} },
        fontSize=25,
        defaultFile="levelplanet.png",
        overFile="levelplanet-over.png",
        width=62, height=62,
        onRelease = onPlayBtnRelease
    }

A: Maybe it is possible to associate needable data outside of the constructor? For example:
planet1 = widget.newButton { -- then initialize as usuall
 }
planet1.next_scene = "loadscene1"

A: Wondering, if You can build Widget object with some non-standart options without wrapping it into another table like this:
local function onPlayBtnRelease(event)
    storyboard.gotoScene(event.target.next_scene, "fade", 500 )
    return true
end

planet1 = widget.newButton{
        label="1",
        labelColor = { default={255}, over={128} },
        fontSize=25,
        defaultFile="levelplanet.png",
        overFile="levelplanet-over.png",
        width=62, height=62,
        next_scene = "loadscene1"
}

If it won't work, table listeners are the ones You're looking for.

A: Try this it will work for certain.
local onPlayBtnRelease = function(event)
    storyboard.gotoScene(event.target.myScene, "fade", 500 )
    return true
end

planet1 = widget.newButton{
    label="1",
    labelColor = { default={255}, over={128} },
    fontSize=25,
    defaultFile="levelplanet.png",
    overFile="levelplanet-over.png",
    width=62, height=62,
    onRelease = onPlayBtnRelease
}
planet1.myScene = "yourSceneName"

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


A stop on the healing journey - Circle of Light Unlimited!
In my last newsletter I wrote that I was super busy. Well that just increased in the following weeks to the point that I got completely overwhelmed.
Moksha Magick classes, Reiki classes, presenting at various festivals, planning a private retreat, new Reiki clients, new promotional materials, and of course prepping for the Reiki Retreat at Sea have been enough to keep anyone busy! The Universe is sending what I've been asking for, and I am grateful beyond measure!
On top of that, my caseload at my day job has been growing by leaps and bounds, and finding time to take care of all my client has been mind-boggling.
Just like anyone else, I find it hard to take my own advice, but I really am trying. I am doing my best to feed my body nourishing foods, get enough rest, and keep up with my yoga routine. I'm also trying to be strict about sticking to my meditation practice and scheduling times to do things I enjoy.
Then, over the weekend I participated in the Holistic Heath Family Gathering at All World Acres in Plant City. What a healing weekend! I was there partially to teach my Moving through Emotions workshop and to spend time with people I love in a place I think of as home. I got so much more than that! My favorite workshop was Ego Warrior with the amazing Dru Ann Welch. She was as insightful and funny as always and gave some fabulous tips from her latest book by the same name about how to take the remote control out of the hands of you ego and take back control of your life. Since then I've been having conversations with my ego and a tug-of-war over that remote control.
During a sound bath with 15 crystal bowls played by Dru Ann and festival organizer, Ashley Rae, I set the intention that of bringing people into my life that will help me to achieve my goals and healing any blocks that were preventing that. As the vibrations of the bowls moved through me, I felt a huge release! I realized shortly after that that the right people had already started to show up, and as the weekend went on, I had some enlightening conversations with some very practical applications that will lighten the burden I've been struggling under.
As the weekend continued, I did a personal vibrational healing session and got a massage. Both of those sessions, as well as many other small experiences throughout the festival helped me to realign with my priorities, including spiritual practice and self-care. It was also my honor to be asked to lead the Saturday night healing circle. When it was my turn to receive, the love I was bathed in washed over me and covered me in a blanket of healing and appreciation that was palpable.
In fact the whole weekend was full to overflowing with love and acceptance.
I start the new week feeling more balanced, in better control of my priorities, and full of love.
Points of Light: What is Reiki?


Got extra family or friends staying? Or just back from holidays?
Mountains of laundry to get through?
Load up multiple washing machines and get it all done in 25 minutes. Machines available NOW!
We have two convenient Brisbane locations to choose from – Taringa & Paddington. See you at Snap!
Conquer you laundry pile! Wash even the BIGGEST load of washing in just 25 minutes at Snap Laundromats.


Obesity is a multifactorial disease process that affects nearly every organ system in the body and is the one of the largest health crises in the United States. Obesity was long thought to be an issue with will power and eating habits. However, we have learned that obesity is a much more complex and insidious health issue that is both uncontrollable and controllable.
In the United States more than one third of the population is facing obesity, it's side effects and possible metabolic derangement. Contrary to popular misconceptions, body weight is not regulated by diet alone. Scientists have found that a number of factors determine one's body weight, such as genetics, environment, emotional trauma, and daily activity. Obesity is a complicated world wide health concern.
It's important to note that obesity is not yours to manage alone and there is help that is tangible and manageable.
While there are other factors involved, a healthy and non-excessive diet is still very important. Each individual still needs to examine the causes of obesity that can be controlled. There isn't cure all for obesity but, Bariatric Surgery can counter the effects of some of the causes and may improve some health risks.


text:
STORMY DEFENSE
General Fiction, Romance
By Stella Eromonsere-Ajanaku
ABOUT Stella Eromonsere-Ajanaku
Stella Obosa Eromonsere-Ajanaku is a fiction romance author. She published her first novel; LOITERING SHADOWS (www.createspace.com/3450913) in May 2010 and her second title; STORMY DEFENSE (www.createspace.com/3471917) was released in mid-September 2010. Her third title; BEYOND BELIEF (www More...
Flirty & Feisty
Romance… Stormy & Steamy
A Vibrant and Tumultuous Affair.
Her Stubbornness is Legendary!
Award-winning, gutsy, independent, thirty-four year old TV presenter and strong-willed figure, Kimberly Clark is proud of her professional achievements. After all, how many women could put in the long hours and enduring strain required to succeed in showbiz? Her parents' death a couple of years earlier and a carelessly misplaced emotion several years ago have hardened her resolve to cherish and preserve her singleton status. She didn't want any male distraction. Love was an alien word. But when she hopped on a train from work, she got more than she bargained for. In her bid to actively avoid any male distraction, she gets herself unwittingly involved with a sexy, no-nonsense, rough-around-the-edges, status-shy, twenty-seven year old, fitness enthusiast. And from the onset, there are sparks of fury and fireworks.
No-nonsense Derek Fights Back!
At twenty-seven, ruthlessly charming, forceful and successful, entrepreneur, Derek Peterson, was only interested in expanding his sports business. There was no room for entanglement, however brief. When he runs across Kimberly, his only viable plan is a one night stand. A quick rump in the hay with no talk about a long-term affair! In the ensuing battle of wills, the constant stream of 'secrets' Kim stumbles across about Derek means she severs all ties with him. Fiercely determined that the battle of wills is one he was bound to win, will the determined Derek's unstoppable charm bring the traditionally-minded Kim to her knees?
A steamy, turbulent and go-getting story that will keep you shifting the pages…
Flirty & Feisty Romance… Stormy & Steamy A Vibrant and Tumultuous Affair. Her Stubbornness is Legendary! Award-winning, gutsy, independent, thirty-four year old TV presenter and strong-willed figure, Kimberly Clark is proud of her professional achievements. After all, how many women could put in the long hours and enduring strain required to succeed in showbiz? Her parents' death a couple of years earlier and a carelessly misplaced emotion several years ago have hardened her resolve to cherish and preserve her singleton status. She didn't want any male distraction. Love was an alien word. But when she hopped on a train from work, she got more than she bargained for. In her bid to actively avoid any male distraction, she gets herself unwittingly involved with a sexy, no-nonsense, rough-around-the-edges, status-shy, twenty-seven year old, fitness enthusiast. And from the onset, there are sparks of fury and fireworks. No-nonsense Derek Fights Back! At twenty-seven, ruthlessly charming, forceful and successful, entrepreneur, Derek Peterson, was only interested in expanding his sports business. There was no room for entanglement, however brief. When he runs across Kimberly, his only viable plan is a one night stand. A quick rump in the hay with no talk about a long-term affair! In the ensuing battle of wills, the constant stream of 'secrets' Kim stumbles across about Derek means she severs all ties with him. Fiercely determined that the battle of wills is one he was bound to win, will the determined Derek's unstoppable charm bring the traditionally-minded Kim to her knees? A steamy, turbulent and go-getting story that will keep you shifting the pages…
Indiebooklounge
Other Book(s) By Stella Eromonsere-Ajanaku
The Gardener's Ice Maiden
BEYOND the LADY
LOITERING SHADOWS


The heart of your computer is the kernel. This kernel works with specific parameters and modules, and as a Linux user you need to have at least a minimal knowledge about them. In this chapter, you'll learn how to perform basic kernel management tasks and how to change parameters for your kernel. You'll also learn how to configure GRUB to load your kernel.


Final Scientific Programme of the RAA 2013 is now available. Click here to see the full Preliminary Scientific Agenda.
The registration is still possible at the following link http://raa13.zvkds.si/participate/registration-info-form. Before you register, please read the instructions carefully.


On 23rd May 2015, School of Computer and Communication Engineering (SCCE) has welcomed a group of delegates from SMK Tuanku Lailatul Shahreen. These delegatesconsisted of 100 Form Five students and four teachers.
A welcoming speech was given by the Deputy Dean of Student Affairs & Alumni, Dr. Muzammil Jusoh. He also briefly explained the UniMAP and SCCE's history to the delegates. Afterwards, an MOU between the SMK Tuanku Lailatul Shahreen and the SCCE was signed. The school was represented by their Deputy Headmaster, Puan Rosnani while the SCCE represented by our Deputy Dean.
The program proceed with a motivation talk which was given by one of the SCCE's lecturer, Dr. Ku Nurul Fazira Ku Azir. The motivational talk was given to boost up student's spirit and motivation on their upcoming SPM examination.
After a light breakfast, they visited Tuanku Syed Putra Faizzudin Library followed by a visit to SCCE's labaratories.
In this session, some SCCE students have demonstrated some of their interesting projects to the delegates. This demonstration was one of the methods to expose the students to the engineering field.
Last but not least, on behalf of SCCE, it is hoping that the program really have some positive impact to the students as well as creating good impression on the SCCE and UniMAP as a whole.


text:
Q: Navigation bar disappears while navigating back from search page to home page using SWreveal view cntroller in swift 3? Here i had navigation bar in home page i.e front view controller and in home page i am having navigation bar and search bar also in navigation after tapping on search bar it moves to search page which is not having any navigation and if i dismiss from search page home page navigation disappears can anyone help me how to place navigation bar for home page while coming back from any view controllers in swift 3 ?
Here is my image shown below
https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/32094391/41342703-82c64c24-6f1a-11e8-89e9-ebd35066e7d2.png
The code used is shown below
func searchBarTextDidBeginEditing(_ searchBar: UISearchBar) {
    let storyboard = UIStoryboard(name: "Main", bundle: nil)
    let abcViewController = storyboard.instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: "filterPage") as! filterPageViewController
    self.navigationController?.pushViewController(abcViewController, animated: true)
 }

The code for coming back from search page is
func searchBarCancelButtonClicked(_ searchBar: UISearchBar) {
   self.navigationController?.popViewController(animated: true)
}

A:
If you need to hide or make your navigation bar visible on your ViewController(VC), you simply do that in the "viewWillAppear" and "viewWillDisappear" functions

on your home VC, add the following line
override func viewWillAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
super.viewWillAppear(true)

    self.navigationController?.setNavigationBarHidden(false, animated: true)
}

or in your search page viewWillDisappear enable navigation bar
 override func viewWillDisappear(_ animated: Bool) {
super.viewWillDisappear(animated)

// Show the Navigation Bar
self.navigationController?.setNavigationBarHidden(false, animated: animated)
}


By all accounts, the 2016 Emmy Awards boasted one of the most inclusive groups of winners of any awards show in recent memory.
Thanks to wins for The People vs. O.J. Simpson stars Courtney B. Vance and Sterling K. Brown, Mr. Robot star Rami Malek, American Crime star Regina King and others, the slate of winners reflected the increasingly diverse talent on TV. Speeches like Master of None creator Alan Yang's underlined the importance of such representation on the small screen.
But throughout the night, one remarkably persistent trend floated just below the radar: the rewarding of queer women. The string of awards for these women proves once again just how much representation matters.
Early in the ceremony, Saturday Night Live star Kate McKinnon won for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series, much to the internet's delight. She even thanked Ellen DeGeneres in her speech. Shortly after, Jill Soloway won for directing Transparent for the second year in a row.
Soloway used her moment to take a stand for representation of not just queer women, but many marginalized groups. "When you take women of color, queer people, trans people ... [and you make them] the subjects, instead of the objects, you change the world," she said.
Later in the show, Sarah Paulson won for playing Marcia Clark in The People vs. O.J. Simpson, thanking her girlfriend Holland Taylor in her speech. Taylor returned the love tenfold on Twitter.
Even among non-actors, queer women represented. Producer Nina Jacobson unfortunately got cut off mid-speech while accepting for The People vs. O.J. Simpson, but she did get to give thanks to her wife.
The impact of these women winning can be easy to overlook in 2016. There's a great deal of LGBTQ representation on TV, even if some of the depictions are problematic. But there's still great power in these wins.
For queer girls watching, seeing Saturday Night Live's first out lesbian cast member proves there is a place for them in comedy. Jacobson's win proves there's room behind the scenes. Soloway winning proves queer women directors — hell, women directors period — are valued, even in an industry that still doesn't have enough of them.
Sunday night's Emmys should be looked at as a step, not the solution. Every bit of representation counts — for people of color, for queer women, for trans people and so on. There's work to be done in honoring people who fall at the intersection of those identities. But for the time being, McKinnon, Jacobson, Paulson and Soloway's wins are worth celebrating.


text:
California's Shameful Poverty Crisis
July 22, 2018 By Dan Walters 4 Comments
Seven years ago, the Census Bureau began calculating poverty by a new "supplemental" method, responding to criticism that the half-century-old official poverty rate was too simplistic and inaccurate.
The new method quickly gained wide acceptance as much more accurate because it included more forms of income and, most importantly, adjustments for widely varying costs of living.
Almost immediately, California achieved the dubious distinction of having the nation's highest poverty rate, mostly because of its high costs of living, especially housing. Currently, it's still No. 1 with a 20.4 percent poverty rate, more than twice that of No. 50 Vermont.
The Public Policy Institute of California and Stanford University's Center on Poverty followed suit, using a similar methodology to calculate poverty rates for the state's 58 counties.
Their California Poverty Measure currently tabs the state's rate at 19.5 percent with Los Angeles County the highest at 24.9 percent and Placer County the lowest at 13.1 percent.
PPIC and Stanford also calculated an additional "near-poverty" rate of 19.2 percent, which implies that nearly 40 percent of Californians are coping with economic distress.
And now we have an even deeper dive into persistent economic despair in the nation's richest state.
United Ways of California, a coalition of local organizations that raise money for charities, commissioned "Struggling to Stay Afloat," which delves into poverty not only at the state and county levels, but right down to neighborhoods.
Moreover, the new study breaks down the data not only geographically, but by race or ethnicity, gender, occupation, marital status, education and other factors.
Overall, it found that "1 in 3 households in California, over 3.3 million families – including those with incomes well above the (official) federal poverty level – struggle every month to meet basic needs."
Not surprisingly, Latinos have the highest poverty of any ethnic group, with 53 percent of households having incomes that fall below the "real cost measure." The incomes deemed to be adequate vary widely from community to community, depending on local living costs.
All three of these statistical exercises are telling us the same thing – that California has an immense poverty problem rooted more in high living costs than in its family incomes. And housing is the most important cost driver.
The political response to California's poverty crisis has been tepid, even though Democrats who dominate its politics often denounce economic disparity.
Raising minimum wages and welfare grants and offering a state tax credit to the working poor may have some impacts on the margin. However, the extra incomes they generate are quickly consumed by higher housing costs, plus the higher gas taxes, local sales taxes and energy bills being imposed to deal with other political priorities.
Poverty must be attacked at its roots, such as the ever-worsening shortage of housing, which drives its costs ever-upward, and the lack of education and training for good jobs that employers want to fill, but can't.
Capitol politicians have sidestepped the politically difficult task of overcoming local opposition to housing construction, or reducing environmental red tape. The state Democratic Party just endorsed a ballot measure that would make local rent control ordinances easier to enact, thus discouraging new housing investment even more.
Nor has the dominant party been willing to buck the union-led education establishment and insist on more accountability for educating poor kids – more than half of the state's 6 million K-12 students – so they can break their families' poverty cycles.
Cowardice and tokenism cannot and will not erase California's shameful status as the nation's most poverty-ridden state.
This article was originally published by the San Jose Mercury News
Filed Under: Top Stories Tagged With: Homeless, Homelessness, Los Angeles, poverty
Progressive Socialism as a root cause of collective impoverishment. Who would have thought it?
Obviously not the Democrats.
Being the monolithic party in Sacramento, Californias' status as the national bottom baseline of poverty is their unqualified condemnation.
Current policies have artificially increased costs of gasoline, electricity and housing to the highest in the country as well as forced us to live with artificial water shortages.
Republicans could/should run on addressing these issues and we could begin taking back California. Much of those Latino votes are up for grabs, as they have been abandoned by the Democrats party.
Lorin Andersen
Does this "poverty level" look at the cash money earned here in the US and sent back to their home countries by the illegal immigrants who subside here on all the "free stuff " paid for by tax payers?
Robert Wolfe
Governor Jerry Brown and the Democrat legislature says we can take care of all the immigrants coming to California. Is this how they "take care" of the needy?


On 12th July, five recent Blue Coat leavers hit the road in Land's End, to cycle 950 miles to John O'Groats, over 14 days, to raise more than £4,000 for the Alexander Jansons fund. The Alexander Jansons Fund raises money for research into myocarditis, an inflammatory condition of the heart, which can affect otherwise healthy people. In the summer of 2017, Loic Pohl, organised a group of his classmates to kayak the length of the Thames as the first of what he hopes to be many annual endurance events to raise money for the Alexander Jansons Fund. "Because myocarditis usually affects young men who are healthy and fit, it seemed right to choose challenges that are all about fitness, good health and endurance", Loic says, "and the Alexander Jansons Fund is where my dad volunteers".
Loic sent out a message about the intended cycle ride to his year group in January this year and nine people responded; four of whom ended up taking part with Loic: James Hastings and James Still (who also kayaked the Thames last year), Ed Martin and Ewan Morgan.
James Still became known as "the king of the hills" because of his ability to get to the top so quickly. "It's because I've been cycling every day for a year", he says, "and training in earnest since our first meeting about the trip in January".
A series of more than 20 punctures meant many stops along the way for the group and, frequently, long days. "There were two particular days when we had to cycle 80 miles", says Ed. "On Day 4, we had loads of punctures, which set us back and we ended up having to cycle 46 miles in the afternoon. We arrived at our accommodation at about 8pm – and we were SO happy to get there".
For Ewan, the best part of the journey was "getting there" and he was pleased that he could knock it off his bucket list.
For James Hastings, memorable moments included the "very pretty views in Scotland" – and a stop at a pub in Leominster to fill their water bottles, when the pub landlord, on discovering the nature of the group's journey, took a beer mug around to all of his patrons and asked for donations; he raised £25 for the charity.
When the group arrived at John O'Groats at the beginning of Day 15, their parents were there to greet them at the end of their journey.


text:
Q: How can I fetch the data from firebase and store it on a list in flutter How can I fetch the data from firebase and store it on a list in flutter?

I want to get the data inside the document and store in a list into something just like this.

A: You could use,
 data.forEach(
    (key, value) {
      list.add(value);
    },
  );

where data is your map of the document.


text:
Music from the heart
This past weekend, I was in DC visiting some old friends. It was a truly delightful time, including lunch in Bethesda, sightseeing in Georgetown and a late summer dip in a friend's pool. Lots to enjoy, for sure!
On the way home, I happened to catch a live performance of the National Symphony Orchestra featuring the new Maestro Chrisoph Eschenbach directing the Gala Opening Concert of the season. You could tell the audience was in a state of great anticipation - would there be magic between the orchestra and thier new conductor? By the sound of the applause after the first number, they seemed to be well-satisfied. During the intermission, one of WETA's staff interviewed several people backstage; the question on his mind: What do you think of the new conductor? Renee Fleming, a renowned soprano, spoke in glowing terms of a friendship with Christoph and his mentoring role at the beginning of her career. The CEO of the Orchestra spoke of the maestro's ability to combine a musicality that sprang not only from the head but also from the heart. But my favorite comment came from the double bass player. "Eschenbach", he said, "directs from a heart of peace. All else springs from that."
While I don't know what that might mean for Christoph Eschenbach, I can imagine what it might look like in my life. To be at a place of peace means that I am free from conflict, I am content in myself and in my surroundings. I have a faith in the situations I find myself in, faith that I will have enough, that I will BE enough to live out of love. To be at peace means that I have nothing to prove, no voices to silence, that I am free to live as the moment requires. To listen, to speak, to do, to reflect - that my mind is quiet of static and able to hear the prompting of the Spirit. It's a worthy goal, I think - to seek peace and pursue it. And I have a hopeful expectation that living in this way will result in some marvelous melodies and harmonies in the world around me.


text:
Donald Bengtsson Hamilton (* 24. März 1916 in Uppsala, Schweden; † 20. November 2006 in Visby auf Gotland) war ein US-amerikanischer Schriftsteller. Zu seinen Arbeiten – die fast ausschließlich in Taschenbuchform erschienen – zählten Romane, Kurzgeschichten und Sachliteratur über Jagd und das Leben in der freien Natur. Er war spezialisiert auf Spionage- und Kriminalroman, veröffentlichte aber auch Western. Am bekanntesten ist seine langlebige Matt-Helm-Serie, die die Abenteuer eines Undercoveragenten und Attentäters im Auftrag eines amerikanischen Geheimdienstes erzählt.

Der Kritiker Anthony Boucher schrieb: "Donald Hamilton brachte den harten, authentischen Realismus eines Dashiell Hammett in den Spionageroman; seine Geschichten sind fesselnd und wohl so nah an der schmutzigen Wahrheit des Spionagegeschäfts, wie es je erzählt wurde." Sein bekanntester Roman "Big Country" wurde als Weites Land verfilmt.

Leben

Hamilton wurde am 24. März 1916 in Uppsala, Schweden, geboren. Mit acht Jahren emigrierte er mit seinen Eltern in die Vereinigten Staaten, sein Vater war ein bekannter Arzt und Dozent an einigen der renommiertesten Universitäten der USA. Obwohl der junge Hamilton bereits wusste, dass er Schriftsteller werden möchte, besuchte er die Universität von Chicago und erhielt seinen Bachelor of Science 1938. Er diente während des Zweiten Weltkriegs in der Marine, kam aber nicht in den Kriegseinsatz, er blieb in der Marineakademie in Annapolis stationiert. Diese Zeit prägte seine spätere, schriftstellerische Arbeit sehr stark. 1941 heiratete er Kathleen Hamilton (geborene Stick), sie verstarb 1989. Das Paar hatte vier Kinder: Hugo, Elise, Gordon, und Victoria Hamilton.

Als erfahrener Jäger und Naturbursche schrieb er Artikel für Outdoormagazine, die er als Sammlung in Buchform veröffentlichte. Nach dem Tod seiner Frau verließ er Santa Fe, wo er die meiste Zeit seines Lebens verbracht hatte. Eine Reihe von Matt-Helm-Romanen spielen in der Santa-Fe-Umgebung und dem amerikanischen Südwesten im Allgemeinen. Als Hamilton sich für die Schifffahrt zu interessieren begann, begannen die Bücher einen nautischen Hintergrund zu entwickeln. Er lebte einige Zeit auf seiner Jacht, ehe er in seine schwedische Heimat zurückzog, wo er sich in Visby auf der Ostseeinsel Gotland niederließ. Dort verstarb er im Alter von 90 Jahren am 20. November 2006.

Hamiltons Schriftstellerkarriere begann 1946, seine frühesten Arbeiten erschienen in Magazinen wie Collier's Weekly und The Saturday Evening Post. Die meisten seiner frühen Romane, veröffentlicht zwischen 1954 und 1960, waren typische Pulpromane: gängige, formelhafte Handlungen mit reißerischen Einbandaufmachungen und eingeschränkter Charaktergestaltung. Der interessanteste Roman dieser Zeit ist womöglich Die letzte Wohnung ist ein Sarg, auch veröffentlicht unter dem Titel Verrat in den Augen (im Original: Assignment: Murder oder Assassins Have Starry Eyes) in der ein Mathematiker, der am Bau einer Atombombe beteiligt ist, seine entführte Frau aus den Händen einer Gruppe schattenhafter Bösewichter befreien muss.

Ab 1953 machte sich Hamilton auch als Verfasser von Western-Romanen einen Namen. Sein größter Erfolg wurde der Roman The Big Country, nach dem 1958 unter der Regie von William Wyler das Filmepos Weites Land mit Gregory Peck, Charlton Heston und Jean Simmons entstand, das mit einem Oscar ausgezeichnet wurde und zu den großen Hollywood-Klassikern gehört.

Die Matt-Helm-Serie, die 1960 mit Lockvogel begann und 27 Bücher umfasst, 1993 endend mit dem nicht mehr auf Deutsch erschienenen The Damagers, war substanzieller. Der Verlag Fawcett suchte für seine Gold Medal-Reihe einen neuen Serienhelden im Stil des zu diesem Zeitpunkt in den USA allerdings noch fast unbekannten James Bond.

Matt Helm, ein Geheimagent spezialisiert in der Ermordung von Nazis, wird nach 15 Jahren als Zivilist zurück in den Dienst berufen. Er schildert seine Abenteuer in einem nüchternen und flinken Tonfall mit gelegentlichem trockenen Humor. Er beschreibt Schießereien, Messerkämpfe, Tortur und sexuelle Eroberungen (die nur hinter den Kulissen stattfinden) mit einer sorgfältig gehegten, professionellen Distanziertheit, ähnlich dem Diktat eines Autopsiereports durch einen Pathologen. Diese Distanziertheit definiert Helms Charakter. Er ist ein Profi, der seinen Job erledigt: Sein Job ist das Töten von Menschen.

Hamilton beendete 2002 einen weiteren Matt-Helm-Roman The Dominators, er wurde bisher noch nicht veröffentlicht.

Ende der 1960er-Jahre erschien eine sehr lose, auf den Matt-Helm-Romanen basierende vierteilige Filmreihe von Actionkomödien mit Dean Martin in der Titelrolle, die wiederum die Parodien um Austin Powers von Mike Myers inspirierte. 1975 entstand eine kurzlebige Fernsehserie, hier wurde aus Matt Helm ein Agent im Ruhestand, der eine Privatdetektei eröffnet. Steven Spielberg kündigte Mitte 2009 eine neue, werkgetreuere Verfilmung durch DreamWorks an.

Werke
Die Matt-Helm-Serie
 1960 Death of a Citizen, dt. Lockvogel, 1967, Scherz Verlag, Bern und München, zuletzt als Der Lockvogel, 1987, Scherz Verlag, Bern und München  ISBN 978-3-502-51105-2
 1960 The Wrecking Crew, dt. Die Zerstörer, 1966, Scherz Verlag, Bern und München, zuletzt 2016, Fischer, Frankfurt ISBN 978-3-596-31517-8
 1961 The Removers, dt. Koks und Knallbonbons, 1967, Scherz Verlag, Bern und München, zuletzt 2016, Fischer, Frankfurt ISBN 978-3-596-31519-2
 1962 The Silencers, Roman, dt. Die Vollstrecker, 1966, Scherz Verlag, Bern und München, zuletzt 2016, Fischer, Frankfurt ISBN 978-3-596-31524-6
 1962 Murderer's Row, dt. Der Verfolger, 1967, Scherz Verlag, Bern und München, zuletzt als Nachts sind alle Killer grau 2016, Fischer, Frankfurt ISBN 978-3-596-31518-5
 1963 The Ambushers
 1964 The Shadowers
 1964 The Ravagers, dt. Die Unerbittliche, 1967, Scherz Verlag, Bern und München, zuletzt als Manche lieben's eiskalt 1983, Scherz Verlag, Bern und München ISBN 978-3-502-55911-5
 1965 The Devastators, dt. Die Gefährlichen, 1971, Scherz Verlag, Bern und München, zuletzt als Eine Braut für alle Fälle, 2016, Fischer, Frankfurt ISBN 978-3-596-31526-0
 1966 The Betrayers, dt. Die Verräter, 1969, Scherz Verlag, Bern und München, zuletzt 2016, Fischer, Frankfurt ISBN 978-3-596-31516-1
 1968 The Menacers, dt. Die Scharfmacher, 1970, Scherz Verlag, Bern und München, zuletzt 2016, Fischer, Frankfurt ISBN 978-3-596-31525-3
 1969 The Interlopers, dt. Der Todeskurier, 1970, Scherz Verlag, Bern und München, zuletzt als Der Mann am Drücker, 2016, Fischer, Frankfurt ISBN 978-3-502-51079-6
 1971 The Poisoners, dt. Die Totmacher, 1972, Scherz Verlag, Bern und München, zuletzt als Der zweite Mann ist eine Lady, 2016, Fischer, Frankfurt ISBN 978-3-596-31520-8
 1973 The Intriguers, dt. Matt Helm im Netz, 1988, Scherz Verlag, Bern und München, zuletzt als Fuchs im fremden Bau, 2016, Fischer, Frankfurt ISBN 978-3-596-31521-5
 1974 The Intimidators, dt. Eiskalt serviert 1977, Scherz Verlag, Bern und München, zuletzt 2016, Fischer, Frankfurt ISBN 978-3-596-31527-7
 1975 The Terminators, dt. Der Ausputzer, 1979 Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach
 1976 The Retaliators
 1977 The Terrorizers, dt. Mafia-Blut, 1977 Scherz Verlag, Bern und München ISBN 978-3-502-55716-6
 1982 The Revengers
 1983 The Annihilators
 1984 The Infiltrators
 1985 The Detonators
 1986 The Vanishers
 1987 The Demolishers, dt. Karibisches Inferno, 1990, Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach ISBN 978-3-404-13260-7
 1989 The Frighteners
 1992 The Threateners
 1993 The Damagers

Andere Thriller
 1947 Murder Twice Told, dt. Duell der Doppelmörder, 1970, Scherz Verlag, Bern und München, zuletzt als Viele Katzen sind des Agenten Tod, 2016, Fischer, Frankfurt ISBN 978-3-596-31523-9
 1947 Date With Darkness
 1948 The Steel Mirror, dt. Träume von einem Toten, 1969 Heyne, München
 1954 Night Walker, dt. Wenn alle Stricke reißen, 1972, Goldmann, München ISBN 978-3-442-04145-9
 1955 Line of Fire, dt. Ein Mann über Kimme und Korn, 1969 Heyne, München
 1956 Assignment: Murder / Assassins Have Starry Eyes, dt. Die letzte Wohnung ist ein Sarg, 1969 Heyne München
 1980 The Mona Intercept

Western
 1954 Smoky Valley
 1956 Mad River, dt. Verrat in den Augen, 1969, Goldmann, München
 1958 The Big Country
 1959 The Last Gunman, Kurzgeschichte aus The Saturday Evening Post, dt. Das letzte Rauhbein in 21 Western Stories, 1965, Heyne, München
 1960 The Man From Santa Clara / The Two-Shoot Gun
 1960 Texas Fever
 1967 The Guns of William Longley, Kurzgeschichte aus Iron Men and Silver Stars, dt. Die Revolver von William Longley in "Western Stories 1", 1970, Ullstein, Berlin

Literatur
 Douglas G. Greene: John Dickson Carr. The Man Who Explained Miracles. Penzler, New York, NY 1995, ISBN 1-883402-47-6.
 Chris Steinbrunner, Otto Penzler (Hrsg.): Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection. McGraw-Hill, New York NY u. a. 1976, ISBN 0-07-061121-1.

Weblinks
 Thriller writer Donald Hamilton
 Matt Helm: The Unofficial Home Page
 Writer at Work: Donald Hamilton, A long article in two parts.

Einzelnachweise

Autor
Literatur (20. Jahrhundert)
Literatur (Englisch)
Roman, Epik
Kriminalliteratur
US-Amerikaner
Geboren 1916
Gestorben 2006
Mann


Dave Klein, former Tucson Mortgage loan originator.
The investment scheme consisted of defendants Silverstein, who has been recognized as one of the Tucson-area's top real estate agents [Arizona Daily Star, Jan. 30, 2007], and agents from his Re/Max team, Zandonatti and his Arizona Investments rent-to-own specialists, and defendant Leon. They allegedly identified consumers to purchase investment homes for a rent-to-own system managed by defendants Zandonatti and Arizona Investments.
These defendants allegedly deceived more than 130 investors with assurances of a legitimate and "worry free" investment system requiring little or no capital investment and virtually no involvement in the transaction or in the subsequent management of the investment.
One such assurance, a "rent guarantee," allegedly promised that the investor would receive the rent every month, whether it was collected or not. Another alleged inducement was the nominal out-of-pocket cost to the investor – a maximum of $1,000 to purchase a property.
According to the complaint, few investors read all of the loan documents presented to them for signing. The loans allegedly profited the mortgage brokers and loan originators, and often contained unfavorable terms for the investors, including high interest rates, adjustable rates, prepayment penalties, yield-spread premiums and balloon payments.
The suit also alleged that investors were told not to worry about the amount of the mortgage payments – that the sizeable non-refundable "down payments" paid by the rent-to-own homebuyers were intended to be used to offset the deficiency between the monthly rental payment and the amount of their mortgage payment. Once the down payment money was depleted, however, the investor no longer received a rental amount sufficient to cover the increasing mortgage payments.
Defendants Silverstein and Zandonatti allegedly encouraged investors who were struggling financially to purchase additional investment homes to generate income. More than half of the approximately 130 investors were induced to buy multiple properties. In some instances, consumer investors allegedly found that properties had been procured in their names without their knowledge.
The second alleged deceptive scheme involved defrauding and deceiving lenders in order to fraudulently obtain the financing for the millions of dollars of "investment" properties purchased by the consumer-investors.
According to the complaint, Silverstein, Zandonatti and others took deceptive actions designed to ensure that financially under-qualified investors would obtain the loans to purchase the homes. For example, Silverstein, Zandonatti, Piazza, Klein, Leon and Breen, allegedly arranged for numerous novice investors and some straw buyers to simultaneously purchase multiple homes. In addition, defendants Silverstein, Zandonatti, and Klein are believed to have provided earnest money to some investors and straw-buyers.
Silverstein and Zandonatti allegedly directed investors to pre-selected loan officers and loan originators, including Breen, Klein, Piazza and Leon. Investigators believe these loan officers and originators assisted in taking actions to deceive lenders. These practices allegedly include processing multiple loan applications for an investor simultaneously in order to conceal pending or completed purchases from other lenders, hide the investor's true liabilities and ensure funding. On other occasions, Silverstein and Zandonatti allegedly split investors' multiple loan applications among these same loan originators for separate processing to accomplish the same result.
According to investigators, the investors' multiple loan applications were often falsely submitted to the lender as owner-occupied properties to deceptively obtain 100 percent financing as promised to the investor and obtain residential interest rates on investment properties.
Defendants RE/MAX and Tucson Mortgage, and their respective owners and/or supervisors allegedly profited from the scheme and either knew or should have known of the fraud being perpetrated against lenders in these real estate transactions.
In the rent-to-own scheme, Zandonatti, Silverstein, Arizona Investments and others allegedly offered the investment homes purchased by investors as legitimate rent-to-own opportunities with the offer of "no qualifying" and the promise of easy home ownership.
The complaint states that the rent-to-own scheme deceptively targeted unqualified or under-qualified consumers and relied on a high turnover to obtain new "down-payments" as profit. Out of hundreds of rent-to-own transactions, apparently only one consumer out of 270 or more was able to buy a home in the fraudulent rent-to-own system.
According to court documents, defendants Zandonatti, Arizona Investments, and RE/MAX agents deceived Arizona Investments' rent-to-own consumers with false advertising and misleading purchase contracts which led consumers to believe they were getting an unprecedented opportunity to buy a home through a legitimate "no qualifying" or "no credit-check" rent-to-own program.
Zandonatti and Arizona Investments also allegedly solicited consumers to pay substantial down-payments ($1,500 to $10,000) on rent-to-own homes the buyers could not ultimately qualify for. Despite promises of "no qualifying," consumers still needed financing but could not repair their credit or qualify for financing to buy the home.
In the complaint, Arizona Attorney General's Office is seeking to have the defendants stop all deceptive practices that violate the Consumer Fraud Act, a penalty of up to $10,000 for each violation of the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act, treble damages and attorneys' fees.
THE ABOVE IS JUST WHAT I HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT IN HARRIS COUNTY TEXAS,GR ENTERPRISES DISTROYED JOY CAPITAL OF KANSAS THAT BECAME ALERITAS AND IS NOW PVN HOLDINGS CONTROLED BY THE BRADY BANK OF BRADY TEXAS.ALL PROPERTIES HAVE BEEN FORCLOSED.ABOUT 2 YEARS AGO I GAVE EVIDENCETO HOUSTON TX. F.B.I. OFFICE OF THE PROPERTY FLIPING AND THOSE INVOLVED.NOTHING WAS DONE.SOME TIME AGO I WAS ABLE TO SEE AN AGENT AND GO OVER IT BUT SHE SHOWED NO INTEREST IN THE CASE.SHE SENT IT TO HARRIS COUNTY DA WHO SENT IT TO US ATTORNEY THE FBI QUEEN SAID "HE SHOULD NOT HAVE DONE THAT,IT WILL COME BACK HERE." SO MUCH FOR THE FBI SAR FORMS.I AM GOING TO CONTACT THE NEW TASK FORCE AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS. I ESTIMATE THE LOSS TO BANKS AND NOW THE PUBLIC TO BE ABOUT 9 MILLION. G. UBER USN RET.


text:
Avatar and the Flight from Reality
From The New Atlantis, Spring, 2010. April 29, 2010.
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Nathaniel Hawthorne once wrote a story called "The Artist of the Beautiful" in which a prototypical nerd (this was 1844 after all) with few social graces and no head for business turns a watch-maker's shop into an artist's studio where, ultimately, he creates a clockwork butterfly in every way indistinguishable from a real butterfly except in its being even more beautiful. Most of the story is about how misunderstood this nerdy clock-maker is — which may suggest how misunderstood the story often is — but I think it is about the fundamental mistake of supposing that the idea of artistic creation is not just to create something that is like reality but rather something that amounts to a new reality, a creation to rival God's own. Indeed, as God was already fading out of the cultural picture by the mid-nineteenth century, the story presents us with a foretaste of our own time in which, to an ever greater extent, we expect the artist to become God.
Or, if not God, at least a sort of godling, who makes his claim on our attention not by the likeness of his creation to real things but to its originality and imaginative impact as a new reality all its own, more or less untethered to common or everyday reality. "Reality" itself is too problematical a concept to be of any artistic service — which is what frees him to become a fantasist. Hawthorne imagines the artist as a sort of Promethean hero, crashing through the barrier that separates art from reality to create not a mere representation of a butterfly but a sort of Butterfly 2.0: an improved version of, rather than an imitation of its original. His hero alludes to nature, rather than mimicking it, and this distinction is vital to understanding what has happened to art more than a century later in making the transition from modern to post-modern as well as in creating a new dress for our popular culture the full implications of which are still to be revealed. For now let us merely look at the fact that, as Kate Muir quoted "one big British movie honcho"as saying in The Times of London "After Avatar, film will never be the same again."
In one sense, this is absurd. It is already the same again. James Cameron's Avatar as a cinematic artefact is not essentially different from any other Hollywood blockbuster relying on spectacle, operatic passion and computer-generated imagery (CGI). It is not even different in any important way from Mr Cameron's own Titanic, whose box office records (along with everyone else's) it has now shattered. It just goes a little further down the same road by putting everything into 3-D, so presumably to emphasize the likeness to conventional reality of a film in which almost everything else is deliberately and quite spectacularly unlike conventional reality. The result is one of the most carefully worked-out fantasy worlds in the relatively short history of the fantasy genre, down to and including the entire language of the large blue anthropoids of planet Pandora, created for them by Professor Paul Frommer of the University of Southern California. While on planet Earth half of the 6500 languages spoken by actual people are expected to die out before the end of the century — the last native speaker of Bo, once spoken by tribesmen of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal, died just as Avatar was topping the all-time box-office charts — our popular culture triumphs in inventing an artificial language for a people who have never existed.
The cinematic language is also invented and artificial, however, and there, perhaps, Ms Muir's honcho has a point. Just as, once, the difference between a neurotic and a psychotic was defined by saying that the former built castles in the air and the latter lived in them, so we may now say that the popular culture does not merely generate fantasies, it inhabits them, as it expects us, the audience to inhabit them. That is why, according to Ms Muir's Times colleague, Kevin Maher, Avatar, especially in its 3-D version,
has been described as the first completely "immersive" film experience. And yet it is precisely this brief and bounteous immersion that can lead, according to an increasingly vocal number of Avatar fans, to a bad case of the blues. Recently, internet chat forums on the film's fan sites have been clogged (one was closed after more than 1,000 posts) by viewers reporting feelings of depression and despondency after seeing the movie. On one site, a discussion called "Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible" featured myriad fans recounting just how repulsed they were . . . by the reality of life on Earth after witnessing the phosphorescent beauty of Pandora.
A similar but more positive view of Pandoran beauty is held by Carol Kaesuk Yoon, the author of Naming Nature (W. W. Norton, 2009), a book about the exciting science — or is it an art? — of taxonomy. Writing in the Science section of The New York Times, she is gratified to note that,
When watching a Hollywood movie that has robed itself in the themes and paraphernalia of science, a scientist expects to feel anything from annoyance to infuriation [sic] at facts misconstrued or processes misrepresented. What a scientist does not expect is to enter into a state of ecstatic wonderment, to have the urge to leap up and shout: "Yes! That's exactly what it's like!" So it is time for all the biologists who have not yet done so to shut their laptops and run from their laboratories directly to the movie theaters, put on 3-D glasses and watch the film Avatar. In fact, anyone who loves a biologist or may want to be one, or better yet, anyone who hates a biologist — and certainly everyone who has ever sneered at a tree-hugger — should do the same. Because the director James Cameron's otherworldly tale of romance and battle, aliens and armadas, has somehow managed to do what no other film has done. It has recreated what is the heart of biology: the naked, heart-stopping wonder of really seeing the living world.
One must suppose a touch of poetic licence in all this, and especially in that exclamation, "Yes! That's exactly what it's like!" Avatar is not what anything is like. The merest glance at the film reveals the natives of Pandora to be giant blue monkeys with sophisticated fibre optics in their tails and the natural world they inhabit to be filled with floating mountains, huge dragon-birds whom the inhabitants ride like horses, hammer-headed hippos the size of houses and other fantastical creatures too numerous to mention and impossible to exist on earth. What I suppose she must mean is that the feelings of discovery and delight and, on leaving the movie house, nostalgia that even ordinary movie-goers appear to be getting from the film are exactly like the feelings biologists get from the real world.
Except that, of course, this cannot be true either. "The naked, heart-stopping wonder of really seeing the living world" simply cannot be unconnected with the fact that it is the living world and not some computer-generated simulacrum of a living world that is not, in fact, living at all. It seems to me that we are driven back upon the conclusion that, for Ms Yoon as for the love-sick fans with a yearning to return to Pandora, Avatar is really not a simulacrum in the way that we are used to seeing movies, like other works of art, as being. It is, like Hawthorne's butterfly, not an imitation of something but a new original. What has made it the highest grossing film in movie history, is precisely that it is not the living world we inhabit. Bah to that! Compared to Pandora it is repulsive. It is a new and improved creation unlike anything in the world — though it may be, in a desultory fashion, like lots of things in the world — and therefore, at its most fundamental level, a denial of the mimetic tradition of Western art.
It is also like Hawthorne's hero's butterfly in alluding to reality rather than imitating it. In particular, it is a parable of the conquest of the Americas' indigenous peoples by white Europeans, except that this time the indigenes come out on top and it is the white Europeans and their lackeys who are led away in chains at the end of the story. The allusion here is not to history itself, however, but to the Hollywood version of history that was popularized by the Westerns of the first half of the last century. This version of history is what Avatar is at pains to repudiate and, as others have noticed, this is hardly an original idea of Mr Cameron's. Almost exactly the same plot and themes were used by Kevin Costner in Dances With Wolves in 1992, though a lingering attachment to mimetic principles on Mr Costner's part made that Oscar-winning triumph turn out not so well for the Indians. At least his Lakota Sioux were something like what we might imagine real Indians of the late 19th century as being. In Avatar, by contrast, the gentle blue simian-yet-high-tech Pandorans are unashamedly utopian, as open in their fantastical and manufactured quality as the 3-D glasses which allow you to pretend that you are present in their world, rather than entertaining them as guests in yours.
The name "Pandora," by the way, is almost as lame as that ("unobtainium") which Mr Cameron gives to the Pandoran version of gold or diamonds — the lure that attracts the film's greedy Earthlings thither. But why should he bother trying to disguise these hokey elements any more than he does the other examples of the film's artifice. Its artifice is its raison d'etre and what allows Mr Cameron himself to claim, preposterously, that he was making a movie about the Earth. Not the Earth Earth, that is, but his improved version of it. "And if you have to go four and a half light years to another made-up planet to appreciate the miracle of a world we have right here," he says, "well, ya know what, that's the wonder of cinema right there. That's the magic." Pandora, that is, equals Earth, but with the addition of magic — Earth re-imagined by a superior creator as a habitation much to be preferred to the tired old original by the vast throngs who have bought tickets in order to experience it.
In that case, what is to be made, politically speaking, of the film's representation of earthlings as we know them in the role of corporate exploiters of the alien world? They are, presumably, as magical as the impossibly attractive Pandorans whom they characterize as "savages." Baddies and goodies are all part of the same caricature, just as the rudimentary story of their clash, a clash between the Western tradition, represented by a sort of mini-military-industrial complex, and a non-Western utopia is a caricature of American history. How could it be otherwise when we have seen the same caricature over and over again, not only in Dances with Wolves but also Pocahontas, and Terence Malik's New World, which offers an almost identical take on the subject? The caricature is now a part of the ordinary cinematic artifice, like the aspect ratio — a common language shared by film-makers and their audiences.
Nearly all the most popular movies of the previous 20 years, from Batman (1989) to The Dark Knight (2008), and all the cartoon movies that were not supposed to be cartoon movies but were anyway, have also treated their most unrealistic and fantastical characters and incidents as conventional, a kind of in-joke between the film-makers and a newly media-savvy audience proud of its ability to "read" the images that film-makers are churning out in such abundance. The suspension of disbelief, once thought to be of the very essence of our experience of art, is no longer necessary when everything is disbelieved. Or believed. It comes to the same thing. Of course the cartoon is a fake! But it's a genuine fake. Like Dolly Parton it cries to us, "I'm artificial, but it comes from a sincere place." Our sense of the very Hollywoodishness of Pandora and its inhabitants is what takes them more completely than ever out of the world we know and puts them into the communally developed fantasy which we have by now learned to prefer to anything that looks too much like reality.
Avatar's combination of the anti-mimetic and the politically progressive could be seen as being indebted to contemporary aesthetic criticism like that of Michael Taussig in Mimesis and Alterity: A Particular History of the Senses (1993) a book which identifies the Western mimetic tradition with colonialism and the construct of "savages" that supposedly made possible Western oppression of indigenous peoples. Similarly Kelly Dennis's Art/Porn: A History of Seeing and Touching adumbrates "the seductions of illusionism" by which she appears to mean traditional notions of representational art. "Illusionism" as an oppressor's doctrine and self-justification for his oppression thus becomes the aesthetic or art-historical equivalent of "capitalism", "imperialism", "sexism" and so on — a name given by utopians to the world as they find it in order to suggest, precisely, its unreality, its own merely contingent and conventional nature — just like that of the various manufactured utopias they propose to put in its place.
My favorite example of this linguistic trick up until now has been "bellicism" — the name given by some pacifists to the view that, as the old English Catholic Bible once translated Job vii.1, "The life of man upon earth is a warfare, and his days are like the days of a hireling." The acceptance as reality of the inevitability of warfare and strife thus becomes a form of oppression against those who prefer to opt out of warfare and strife. In the same way, to Kelly Dennis, "illusionism" is an animadversion against accepting as "reality" traditional artistic ideas of "gendered" sexuality. Don't like reality — especially either gendered or warlike realities? By giving a name to the view that they are realities, illusionism in the one instance and bellicism in the other, you may persuade yourself and others that alternatives to reality are not only possible but inevitable, as Marx first suggested in imagining the triumph of his own imagined version of socialism over the "capitalism" that, presumably, a less careful projector had negligently left lying around.
These are merely theorists — who have taken over from critics as the master figures of the art world — of a cultural movement which would probably be happening even without their putting it in political context for us. Mimesis — the imitation of reality — has already been sacrificed by the popular arts for the promise, however illusory, of new realities. "Reality TV" in all its myriad forms — including talk shows and game shows and news shows — and soap opera have increasingly taken the place of drama on television. All seek to satisfy the desire for a closer connection to what is thus falsely presented to us as reality, and this artistic promise has spread to the movies, the stage and even prose fiction, which more and more has come to resemble the most reliable sellers of the publishers' trade, the "pathographical" memoir and the self-help book. Neil Gabler has written that the media's focus on celebrities amounts to "a new art form that competes with — and often supersedes — more traditional entertainments." Indeed, he claims that "celebrity is the great new art form of the 21st century." In the same way, Igor Toronyi-Lalic wrote in The Times of London that the British "reality TV" series, "Big Brother," amounted to "a bracingly original and effective new art — the greatest of the past decade."
Of course, if you believe that, criticism can have nothing to say to you — a fact that, by itself, might be enough to cast some doubt on such contentions in some people's minds. But those who, like Hawthorne's clockmaker, carry over the ambition to produce a new creation in traditional art forms should not continue to call those forms "art." We may call this fantasy-art "art" as a courtesy to a tradition coterminous with humanity itself, but fantasy is not art, at least not in the sense that the term has been understood within the Western mimetic tradition going back to Homer. Indeed, Western culture is so intimately bound up with the tradition of imitation in art — the tradition of making things that are like reality precisely so as to make claims to know reality and thus to distinguish it from fantasy — that the now more than century-long vogue for fantasy art, beginning with George MacDonald, J.M. Barrie, and Kenneth Grahame and continuing through Lewis and Tolkien to the more unrestrained science-fiction and fantasy cinema of our own time, has now culminated in a repudiation, conscious or unconscious, of that Western tradition.
Tolkien and the other old-time fantasists may or may not have seen themselves as working in a long Western tradition of gods and heroes, but their fictions could not have been received in the same way by an audience which no longer believed in such beings. Homer, Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare, likewise, may or may not themselves have believed in the magical or supernatural beings they represented, but it made all the difference that they wrote in a cultural context of belief in such things. To their audiences, these were realities in a way that they are not and cannot be to audiences today. When Milton proposed to write the English national epic by making use of the legends of King Arthur, he reluctantly abandoned the project because he had come to think that the Arthurian stories weren't true, weren't real. Of the Fall of Man, which replaced them as his subject, he naturally had no such doubts.
I mention this difference between the fantastical as it existed in olden times and today, which some may think a trivial one, because we are or ought to be coming to realize that acknowledged fantasy, of the kind the movies have inherited from science fiction, is a different kind of thing from fantasy that doesn't know it is fantasy. Audiences may not know or care about this as they pour into Avatar screenings, but that's because they have long learned to expect something quite different from what a Homeric audience — or any other audience in the old Western tradition — once expected. They expect no imitation but allusion to reality and to other "art" or artifice indiscriminately and would regard as irrelevant any complaint that it doesn't look like the real world. The world of the movies and television and the other visual media is probably more real to them anyway. But if there is no longer any attempt at imitation of reality but only the aptly-described "magic" of the movies making new realities, then there is no longer any such thing as art as it has been understood for the last three thousand or so years in the West.
What has taken its place is a sort of video game. If Reality TV — as someone once said of a newspaper's "Culture" section, they named it after what they left out — is a new "art" form, then so are video games, only more so. They are certainly treated as such by The New York Times which employs a dedicated critic, Seth Schiesel, to review them. It's no accident either that Avatar is named neither for its gentle Na'vi people nor for the nasty corporate and mercenary colonialists nor even for the glorious, shimmering blue bioluminescent world they both inhabit. The name "Avatar" comes proximately from the already familiar technology by which earthlings contrive to become "drivers" (as they are called in Mr Cameron's movie) of some second life, some alter ego in a wired up world that is more in their control and therefore more exciting to inhabit than their own. In the case of the film's human hero, played by Sam Worthington, the status of this sort of "driving" as wish-fulfilment is underlined by making him a paraplegic. Only in video game mode, therefore, does he become fully alive and mobile, even while retaining his humanity. For him the decision to abandon his earthly body along with his earthly loyalties, to become his avatar and throw in his lot with the Na'vi is presumably not even a difficult one.
Ultimately, of course, the word "avatar" comes from the Hindu idea of a god come to earth. Hm. I wonder if there could be any significance in that? Tom Shone ends his profile of Mr Cameron in the London Daily Telegraph by writing:
Cameron knows he is hated: every time he opened his mouth at the Golden Globes, the air was sucked from the room as surely as oxygen from the lungs of those on Avatar's Pandora. He didn't need to conjure up a new world to let us know he was God. We already knew. Listen to him when he picks up his Oscars and you will hear a man whose pulse doesn't flicker above 80, even while addressing a billion people. Why should he be scared? Just another film-maker having a chat with his audience.
Everyone, even those who do not share Mr Shone's breathless admiration, senses that there is some kind of new creation involved in Avatar, some act of artistic hubris. The film is so obviously informed by the idea of exceeding the normal bounds of its art in an attempt to reach for something better, higher, newer — in fact a new creation to validate the director as new kind of deity. Or rather, perhaps, we should call him a superhero, since movie superheroes are similarly improvements on the old-fashioned sorts of immortals, who were often bad-tempered and scary and not inclined, like Mr Cameron, to give us what we want. The promise of all utopianism is, as Whittaker Chambers once wrote of Communism, the same that was whispered to Eve by the serpent in the Garden of Eden: "Ye shall be as gods!"


For your children's admission in schools it is important that you bring along birth certificates and all health details (various injections carried out, or a health card issued by a medical authority).
For Indians coming to work and for business in the Sultanate educating their children will not be a problem as there are Indian schools, following the CBSE syllabus in all parts of the country. Applications for admission are to be made online and except in the capital this is not a difficult task. In the capital, there are many branches of Indian School, which are Indian School Ghubra (ISG), Indian School Muscat (ISM), Indian School Darsait (ISD), Indian School Wadi Kabir (ISWK), Indian School Mabela and Indian School Al Seeb.
You can visit the website online http://www.indianschoolsoman.com/FQ.aspx to know more about the admission procedures and other related issues for schools in the capital region.
There are also private schools in Muscat which follow various other international syllabuses such as Cambridge, IB and Canadian and American systems.


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Buying a multi-function furniture piece such as for instance these examples opens up living area for enjoying or seeking on clothes. There is enough of storage in this system as effectively, making even more room on the ground for different things.
For older kids or adolescents, you can enhance the bed and position a desk or workstation underneath. This dorm-style startup is much better for older kids, due to the hierarchy climbing. The desk may be part of them bed, or you should buy an increasing sleep and make use of a workplace you previously own.
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