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0.029344 | <urn:uuid:4d00f530-f85d-4cdd-878f-6f635b862663> | en | 0.964206 | View Full Version : Not really a college program question
04-12-2011, 08:28 PM
I realize that the college program is not available to first timers over the summer. So, I was wondering if there was some other program for over the summer type internships. If so, a link would be appreciated.
04-12-2011, 11:33 PM
There's really no other programs of a similar nature.
When I was a CP there was a group of college students who came together and spent a few months living at one of those extended stay hotels. They were seasonal. That's the only suggestion I have, getting a seasonal position and getting a friend or two to spend the summer down there with you. | http://www.disboards.com/archive/index.php/t-2699850.html | dclm-gs1-217990000 |
0.019192 | <urn:uuid:b3cfbae6-187c-4cc9-9653-066a2f52385d> | en | 0.891723 | Reading English Language Arts Lesson Design Template
Document Sample
Reading English Language Arts Lesson Design Template Powered By Docstoc
Reading English Language Arts Lesson Design Template
Unit Title: Publish My Author, Please
Lesson Title: Presentation Preparation
Creator: Jan Coby and Lori Barnhart
Grade Level: 5
Subject: Reading
Essential Question: 1. What do readers want to know about the authors of the
books they read? 2. How do publishers convince readers to purchase their
Sponge Activity: (Daily routine) Students will come into class, write down
today’s assignment, then read their Accelerated Reader books. (Note: Mrs.
Barnhart will check and initial assignments while Miss Coby checks AR books,
checks for student absences, and meets with students, if needed.)
Activating Prior Knowledge: Students will review the six different types of
advertising techniques that they studied last week. They will work in groups to
match actual advertisements to the correct advertising techniques.
Vocabulary Development: Students will use their information sheets and
advertisements to complete an idea web graphic organizer. Each group will
complete an organizer that identifies an advertising technique and key words or
ideas from the ads that help them identify the technique that was used. Each
group will share its idea web with the class.
Skill Lesson Through Direct Instruction and Modeling: Miss Coby will model how
to complete the next phase of the PowerPoint project. (Students should be ready
to add clipart, font changes, and/or other extras to their presentations.) She will
also review the rubric for the read-aloud presentations. Mrs. Barnhart will explain
what the students will need to discuss when they meet with her to finalize the
plans for their selling point projects.
Active Literacy: Each team of students will work on one of three tasks:
completing the PowerPoint (which will be the informational piece of their
presentation); practicing their read-aloud presentations (which will be the
entertainment piece of their presentation); and meeting with Mrs. Barnhart to
finalize the plans for their selling point (which will be the persuasive piece of the
presentation). Students will be asked to rotate their tasks in order to make
certain each team has the opportunity to discuss its selling point plans. (Note:
Miss Coby will be providing assistance to students as they work on their
PowerPoint presentations while Mrs. Barnhart meets with groups of students to
help them plan and prepare their selling point presentations.)
Post Literacy: Debriefing—Each team will tell which part of their presentation is
most ready (PowerPoint, Read-aloud or Selling Point) and which part of their
presentation needs the most work. They will have the opportunity to ask for
advice for completing any part of their presentation.
Reflection: Exit slip—Each student will complete an exit slip that answers the
following questions: What do you need to do on your own to help your team
complete its presentation? What does your team need to do together to
complete the presentation?
Materials: Picture It! Graphic Organizer—Idea Web
Dry Erase Markers
Advertising Techniques Information Sheet
Copies of advertisements
Selling Point Planning Guide
Read-aloud Presentation Rubric
Books by selected authors
Duration: 90 minutes
File Attachments: Advertising Techniques Information Sheet
Selling Point Planning Guide
Read-aloud Presentation Rubric | http://www.docstoc.com/docs/2633585/Reading-English-Language-Arts-Lesson-Design-Template | dclm-gs1-218000000 |
0.0519 | <urn:uuid:1f29c7bd-4b28-44fa-b325-15bde7510b25> | en | 0.906018 | Author offers tasty ways to keep gluten at bay, every day
Seven years ago, Shauna James Ahern needed to sleep 18 hours a day, had a non-stop stomach ache and couldn't move without hurting. No, she wasn't 99 years old. She was young and unknowingly, suffering from celiac disease.
Look at her now. She's blogging about gluten-free cooking and baking, she's written a couple of gluten-free cookbooks and recently visited Vancouver, promoting her most recent cookbook Gluten-Free Girl Every Day. Talking to an audience at Barbara-Jo's Books to Cooks recently, she emphasized the importance of learning how to add flavour, being adventurous and not being stuck in the small box of gluten-free cooking and baking.
As a celiac, her cookbooks are written from the perspective of someone who cannot endure any gluten at all, whether it's in the flour or any other ingredient, since wheat seems to insidiously creep into food products. Her gluten-free flour mixes are 40 per
Buckwheat, she says, tastes gently nutty. Teff hints of chocolate and molasses. Millet is neutral and mixes well with other flours. Aramanth is grassy while quinoa is savoury. Garbanzo flour tastes like garbanzo beans and oat flour tastes like oats.
All-purpose Gluten-free Flour Mix
14 oz (400 g) millet flour 101/2oz (300 g) sweet rice flour 101/2oz (300 g) potato starch Put flours and starch into a large container with a lid and shake and shake until they blend. That's it.
Whole grain Gluten-free Flour Mix This is a healthier option to the all-purpose mix. The whole grains have more flavour as well.
101/2oz (300 g) teff flour 101/2oz (300 g) millet flour 101/2oz (300 g) buckwheat flour Shake all the flours. Done.
Chocolate Chip Cookies with Hazelnuts
(From Gluten-free Girl Every Day) 7½ oz (210 g) whole-grain gluten-free flour mix (see recipe) 1 tsp (5 mL) whole or powdered psyllium husks ¾ tsp (4 mL) kosher salt ¾ tsp (4 mL) baking powder ½ tsp (2 mL) baking soda 8 tbsp (120 mL) cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces ½ cup (125 mL) dark brown sugar, packed ½ cup (125 mL) sucanat or white sugar 1 large egg, at room temperature 1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract 11/3 cup (320 mL) bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped into ½-inch (1 cm) pieces ½ cup (125 mL) chopped hazelnuts Preheat oven to 350 F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
With mixer running, add flour a scoop at a time.
Makes about 20 cookies
Subscribe to Edmonton Journal and stay connected your way | http://www.edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/author+offers+tasty+ways+keep+gluten+every/9183292/story.html | dclm-gs1-218080000 |
0.032782 | <urn:uuid:7b43f330-fe67-4c40-8932-b9a4f2b69916> | en | 0.973404 | • This guy weighs as much as 10 people's normal weight.
• He is so heavy that he is practically bedridden and immobilsed by his own weight.
Wow! Can't imagine a person can be so much overweight.
Newer Older
If tuberculosis and hunger are the main causes of death in the third world (poor countries) then obesity, on the contrary, is one of the main causes of death in the rich and affluent countries.
I just can't imagine how one's body fails to warn the system when one indulges in excessive eating. How could one grow so much like the one depicted in this pic? It's really crazy and unimaginable.
:D from Traveller's World :D
*The Boy From Cerrado, Ibrahim Firaq, and 8 other people added this photo to their favorites.
View 20 more comments
1. Henry's Travel 87 months ago | reply
I have a habbit of collecting stories from newspapers of countries I visited. This pic I re-took it from a newspaper, I think, from Singapore.
My intention of putting it here is to alert people that our body system is not all that perfect as oftentimes it fails to send us the warning signal that says something has gone very wrong.
Traveller's World
2. AndyHayes 86 months ago | reply
I have seen some horrific images on the net, but this must rate as one of the worst. It is hard to know which image would be most upsetting, the one above or that of a person starving to death. Probably the latter as that is less commonly self-induced (or less easily treated under present regimes).
Thanks for bringing it to us.
3. Henry's Travel 86 months ago | reply
If I'm not wrong, for this particular case it was due to genetic disorder.
Traveller's World
4. Magic Erin. 83 months ago | reply
omg its my passport photo
5. forbidden-donut 81 months ago | reply
wooow, crazy
only in America...
6. Henry's Travel 81 months ago | reply
Hi friends, good news! I read a newspaper article few days ago mentioning about this guy. He is a Mexican and is doing fine now. Under doctors' treatment, he has managed to reduce 200 Kg of his fat and is a lot healthier now. He holds two world records - at 560Kg, he was once the heaviest man on earth and now the reduction of 200Kg is awesome and a record of all time.
Traveller's World
7. martini_chihuahua92 78 months ago | reply
I understand what most of you are saying about this man, but sometimes it's not really their fault. Sometimes, the human body doesn't tell the brain when the stomach is full. So you always have then since of being hungary, even after you just ate a whole pizza. It's call proder willy, I think that's how you spell it. I don't know, even with the desease, how people can let themselves get that big. Sometimes it is called pasing yourself and self control, but then again, there are some people who don't have that since. But it you know you're getting VERY FAT, even if you're still hungry, you should know when to stop. I can eat a plate of food, still fill like I"m starving, and just stop because I know it's not good for my body. So I have to agree and disagree with some of you.
8. userply197 77 months ago | reply
Umm....Wow....Big Guy...Nick Wiggins Is Catching Up Though
9. wyane roony 76 months ago | reply
surprised the bed can even hold him don't know about you but i wouldn't like to be that chubby he's got man boobs not to menshon its manki
10. Henry's Travel 76 months ago | reply
Nobody likes to be in this state but sometimes one has no choice.
11. Henry's Travel 74 months ago | reply
From the latest news I heard that, under the good care of doctors, he had shedded off as much as three hundred over kgs of fat and weighed about 160 kg now. He was so happy with the progress and told the news reporters that very soon he could walk to the street himself without help.
Good news for him and so glad to know that he would be able to live like a normal man now.
12. bayaniboulder 73 months ago | reply
poor dudes half the size of the room-i saw him on a tv show, he's on some kind of diest of just like an ounce of vegitables in a bowl of medicine or somethin-hope he loses weight fast and good
i feel like making a fat bastard joke but...no
13. earhart.katrina 72 months ago | reply
creppy loooking picture man I feel sorry for him
14. Henry's Travel 69 months ago | reply
Eating is part and parcel of a normal life style and a natural process for our body to gain the nutrition and vitamin, but overly indulged in it will do more harm then good.
It applies to any thing in life. Don't you think so?
15. moonlightfades 68 months ago | reply
I have seen a few thing about this man. He seems like a really nice guy. I feel awful for him. Also there is many people around him who care about him. So why are they giving him the food ? At this point he cannot get it for his self. Anyone who knows anything about food knows the huge amount of food that must be taken in everyday to maintain such a size. On the other hand he did not get this way over night and will not loose it over night either. I hope this man the best.
16. Henry's Travel 66 months ago | reply
Heard good news about this gentleman, Mr Uribe. He is getting hitched soon after losing more than one third of his weight.
17. Jacanidae [deleted] 41 months ago | reply
Nice work this!!!!!!
18. Whitewolf Photography 29 months ago | reply
this is manual uribe from mexico
| http://www.flickr.com/photos/henrylohtravel/257289892/ | dclm-gs1-218160000 |
0.70333 | <urn:uuid:c791625e-b1ea-40b0-8265-e7aea129bd2f> | en | 0.845201 | Avocado BLT Club
By Annacia on September 23, 2011
25 Characters Max
Enter Time:
You can create up to five timers
1. 6 thick slices of great bread ( avoid the fluffy, gummy stuff!)
2. 6 tablespoons mayonnaise
3. 6 slices cooked bacon ( I used peppered bacon)
4. 1 Avocado, peeled and sliced ( ripe but still firm)
5. 1 large ripe tomato, sliced
6. 4 leaves Lettuce ( I always used green leaf but use what you like best)
7. salt and pepper
1. Toast the bread to your liking.
2. Build sandwich by adding mayo and layers of bacon and lettuce to one slice of toasted bread.
3. Top with another slice of bread with mayo and layer with half the avocado and tomato slices'.
4. Season with salt and pepper, and cover with the last slice of toasted bread.
5. Tip: prep the tomato, avocado and lettuce leaves while the bread is toasting and the bacon is cooking. | http://www.food.com/recipefullpage.do?rid=464743 | dclm-gs1-218210000 |
0.028759 | <urn:uuid:730ff623-f129-4c89-86f6-71c617779ae0> | en | 0.958133 |
Petitions to secede from USA pop up online
Story Comments Share
Reported by: Ian Silver
Updated: 11/13/2012 6:29 pm Published: 11/13/2012 10:01 am
In the week since the presidential election there have been 20 petitions for states to secede from the United States of America posted on the White House's website.
The site, "We the People" is designed to "give all Americans a way to engage their government on the issues that matter to them" by creating petitions. The site accepts only petitions that ask the administration to address a problem, support or oppose a proposal, or otherwise change or continue federal government policy or actions. If a petition gets 25,000 signatures in 30 days the White House will address the issue.
There are currently two petitions posted for Oklahoma to secede. Combined, there are more than 17,000 signatures. A petition for Texas to secede currently has more than 83,000 signatures.
But actually seceding from the U.S. is something that is completely unrealistic for Oklahoma for many reasons. The biggest reason, though, is that Oklahoma simply couldn't afford to be its own country.
In the 2013 fiscal year, almost half of the Oklahoma Dept. of Transportation's funding will come from the federal government to expand highways, repair bridges and fix roads.
Oklahoma could not maintain its transportation infrastructure if it lost that $450 million in federal funds.
The state's education system would be decimated without federal dollars. Oklahoma currently ranks 49th in the U.S. for school spending, and that includes close to a billion in federal funds. In fact, the federal government supplies almost a third of Oklahoma's education budget. Students would certainly suffer if the Oklahoma seceded and lost all of that money.
Even individual cities and towns use federal funds.
In the 2012 fiscal year, the City of Tulsa accepted close to $60 million in federal grants. Some of the funds went to Tulsa International Airport, some went to the Metro Tulsa Transit Authority, and some went to public safety to pay for things like extra police officers.
In all, the U.S. government will send close to $22 billion to Oklahoma this fiscal year. That includes funding for things like public housing, welfare programs, colleges and universities, even the food bank.
If Oklahoma seceded, all of that money would be lost and those organizations would struggle to continue operating.
"I don't think we would be set up for such a situation," Tulsa resident Julie Buddrus said.
Aside from all of the federal funding the state would lose, seceding from the union would destroy many Oklahoma's businesses. Products shipped to the rest of the U.S. would technically be imports, allowing the U.S. government to impose tariffs. Many companies would likely pull out of Oklahoma to avoid the complications the situation would create.
"A lot of people would be on the streets," Tulsa resident John Nicholson said. "A lot of people wouldn't have jobs, they couldn't pay their bills."
Despite all of that, with thousands signing the petition, there's clearly no shortage of people who are fed up with the federal government.
But many petition signers didn't take the petition literally.
One man wrote on the FOX23 News Facebook wall:
"I really don't think we want to actually secede from the US but it does allow us to express ourselves saying that we are fed up with the Governments lack of ability to manage things (sic)."
Another wrote:
"A petition to secede does not mean anything other than President Obama and the White House will know there's some thousands of citizens upset. Unless the State Legislature forms a convention to secede than this is just people spouting angry stuff (sic). I signed it for fun but honestly there's a time to run and a time to keep fighting to retain our liberty the government has stripped from us. Now is the time to keep fighting."
Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin's office issued a statement in response to the petitions, simply stating "Oklahoma is not going to secede from the union."
Click here to see the first Oklahoma petition.
Click here to see the second Oklahoma petition.
Story Comments Share
7 Comment(s)
Comments: Show | Hide
Here are the most recent story comments.View All
aleman - 11/14/2012 4:21 PM
0 Votes
The whole idea of our country was states rights as designed by Thomas Jefferson,Ben Franklin and the rest of the signers.The federal gov't was to have a limited role soley infrastructure and protecting our shores from foriegn invasion,that way no state or politician could impose his will on the rest of the country,socialism might work in California and New York but it doesn't work here,people tend to be hard working,God fearing,and given to taking handouts here and I think we feel that it is not fair to expect us to pay for it.
aleman - 11/14/2012 2:42 PM
0 Votes
Tired of giving half my check every week to people who don't want to work,no matter what they are white,black,indian,whatever,the good majority of them dope up their goodies in a weeks time and then we have to endure these inbreds panhandling on every street corner in town
bobbyg2 - 11/14/2012 11:23 AM
0 Votes
The state count is now up to 47! I have links to all of the petitions here: stevemeadedesigns(dot)com/board/topic/155641-individuals-from-47-states-start-petitions-to-secede-from-the-us/
cptspacecase - 11/14/2012 7:09 AM
0 Votes
we already have way toomany governments in oklahoma..all this division is bleding us dry...i say we need to only have one government here so end all tribal govenrments as seperate legal entities, end all specialized tax breaks and programs and end all payments for head rights. we are either all americans or not. so if your not then you need to figure out where you are gonna go live. dont whine at me about the past, we have been paying for it for a long time. thehistory is deplorable but it is the past and im talking about the future. lets step up and step forward into a brighter united future where the dreams of MLK could flourish and become reality.
aleman - 11/13/2012 6:34 PM
0 Votes
At least Texas has the testicular fortitude to do what's right
aleman - 11/13/2012 6:32 PM
0 Votes
No legitimate representive of the five civilized tribes ever signed to be a part of the union,it was done in retaliation for their support of the south during the civil war,I say do it he doesn't represent us
Mayor Maynot - 11/13/2012 2:40 PM
0 Votes
Be a good idea for Oklahoma to secede from the union. Could we sell it back to Mexico??? Oh that's right they're gradually taking it back one property at a time. Occupy Oklahoma ahead of the curve compared to the milktoast constituents of occupy Tulsa. Probably be difficult for Oklahoma to secede from the union. Didn't they pay for this territory??
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0.302845 | <urn:uuid:c9b2b381-97f3-4992-a660-ccb078601b9d> | en | 0.961667 | Pokemon Conspiracy Theories Part 3. I don't think I'm going to get as many thumbs this time around because it's such a read, but I really enjoyed this one, and
Pokemon Conspiracy Theories Part 3
I don't think I'm going to get as many thumbs this time around because it's such a ******** read, but I really enjoyed this one, and I hope you do too! Comment on what you think I should do next!
#1! I love you all!
Part 1-...more »
#1! I love you all!
Part 1-funnyjunk.com/funny_pictures/2424826/Pokemon+Conspiracy+Theories+Comp/
Part 2-funnyjunk.com/funny_pictures/2429131/Pokemon+Conspiracy+Theories+Comp+Part2/
Conspiracy Theories PART 3
This is my last Pokemon one, so
please comment on what next
conspiracy comp I should do!
1. Golduck' s and Psyduck' s names were switched
Psyduck is gold, while golduck has more psychic power t would
make more sense to have their names the otherway around
Psyduck Golduck
2. The pokemon regions are located in Japan
I' m unaware of where Unova is located, they
may have not included it as a part of Japan.
Since I' m running out , this comp is only going to
have 3. I saved the most theory for last.
3. Ash is in a coma during his entire Pokemon experience.
When Ash had the accident with his pike in one or the early episodes,
he actually rell into a coma He was round days later and treated with heavy
medication at the hospital This is why Team Rocket became less menacing The
medication took effect and stabilized his coma dreams, instead or bang terning,
they became idyllic, and hes able to we out his Pokemon This
explans why he doesnt change much physically Also, the worldwide socialism
can be explained INCH once again realize that this is a dream world, he thought
up a sare system or government that would run smoothly and keeps the world
going allowing his adventures to work like they do
t also explans a rew underthings, such as how a child can go off on his
own in a world rull or dangerous untamed animals, and why every Pokemon center
has the same exact nurse Joy and Jenny he knew raom his hometown, and they
act as a safety net or anchor, allowing him to reel sare no he goes
The professors, like the Joy' s and Jenny' s represent stability, and asds ideals
This is why Gary became a processor ts also the reason that even/ tune he
enters a new region, virtually no one has heard or him, despite his conquests, and
why Giovanni leads Team Rocket How could Paul, the ml or the sinnoh area,
not know or someone who has placed in at least the top is or all three leagues
and has destroyed the orange league and Battle Frontier?
Ash' s trawling partners are actually aspects or himseld he can alloy,
but doesnt like to ********* with himseld Team Rocket are his qualities that he
deems "negative", but is coming to terms with Jesse and Gamesject want to
appease Giovanni
Brock is Ash' s repressed Sexually He rell into the coma a min and
needed an outlet ror his growing sexual frustrations since he can new
experience sex, Brock must new succeed Brock is a projection or his Sexually,
and is constantly shot down because Ash could never" know" sex This is also why
brook keeps coming memo the series, usually AFTER Ash meets a new girl
aspect or himseld Misty is an image that Ash had or a girl This is why she plays so
prevalently in the series but is ultimately unalienable because he new really knew
her before the coma Max came with May, she played the Id with great aspirations,
and he played the salable Ego that "Sesaon" They worked ror a little while but
Ash, bang a teenager, eventually had his Sexually had to come back into play He
kept reinventing himseld and eventually wrote new aspects, but his mind slowly
brought package old ones as a crutch to make the transition easier Dawn is Ash
giving himseld a chance to love since he already established Misty as someone
hes not likely to go anywhere with he created a new , one that was
more like him, and less all the time (Note that both May and Misty had no
tolerance ror Brock dawn seems to try and shrug it off)
Pekachu obliously represents Ash' s Humanity, hence the episodes
where they get separated, and ash wants desperately to rind him, even to the
point or working with the rockets t aspects or himseld he woould new normally
********* with) but ror some reason cannot They want to steal Pekachu Mans
humanity) and hand it oeto Giovanni Jesse and James will always oppose
ash because ash is terrified or the thought or his humanity lying in the hands or
the enemy Loserthis is the same reason that he will work with those
aspects or himseld in order's save his becoming reat out
LOST He couldnt evolve his Pekachu without challenging his concept or who he
was, something he wasnt comfortable with while he was still working through
his original issues
is the narrator The narrator is Ash' s higher mind,
recapping and explaining the progress hes made and the tribulations he will
race allowing itself insight into how best to awaken him
Team rocket are aspects or Ash' s personalitypage he has
deemed "bad" James implied homosexually, and bases varlets Vow!
rememberable Meowth has the potential ror rehabilitation, and doesn“ twant
to be em so yet again this rits in with the conflicting personalities and
demonized self theory Team rocket started because ash
had to come to terms with that part or himseld t was something he was able
to allow his gayban side to experiment with (and by virtue or that himseld)
When he round that twasnt something ror him, his "Free" side stopped
playing with it Further, their methods or capture become more and more
ludicrous (and physically Impossible) because Ash must a kid dreaming
these things up This is the reason Team Rockets disguises are always
pelleted He knows ts them (on some level), but chooses to ignore t so
he can better himseld, in a sense the Ash who wants to escape is
sabotaging the ash who wants to stay lost in his mind The Mer episodes
that don“ crocus on Ash and the gang are his mind working through, and
humanizing the parts or himseld that he demonized ts a way ror him to deal
with issues that Ash and crew wouldn“ itouch, because it involves treading
ground he himseld had sworn not to go near As I said, Team Rocket and the
episodes they occupy are Ash dealing with ground he reels uncomfortable
with tackling on his own
If one recalls, there were real animals early in the show and
references to animals in the game and show For example, a clear case to
point out is the or HM in the Cerulean city Gym outhit by the
Pokedex that Pekachu is a "ratlike" Pokemon But they dent matter's
Ash' s psyche so they dent come into play much If Ash had loved puppies,
enything would be about different breeds or dogs, and a dog righting
circuit But, as the series goes on longer, we' been seeing less realistic
animals and more Pokemon This could be a sign or Ash' s mind
deteriorating As hes in this coma, hes losing concepts or some animals
and machinery and replacing them with Pokemon t could explain things
like electric Pokemon working as power generators A sign that his
memory or the old world is slipping more and more as time goes by The
Pokemon realm will be idealized continuously the longer he has no stimulus
raom the real world He may or may not be mentally deteriorating _ but he is
becoming more accustomed to his rake worlds rules The wild Pokemon
are his rationalizations or the functioning or the world ts the "A wizard did
r Syndrome If he doesnt know how itlooks, his mind says Pokemon He
anything he cant explain with Pokemon, and real animals rall into
the background because he has no real Interest in them
As one could see, itsswo hubworld But like
every dream, enything, there is a beginning and an end What would
happen If Ash could rully recover? What would happen If he new does?
There are infinite branches or that spiral upwards and
intertwine towards the top at a single point, both in his "world" and the real
world In his hospital room, we see Delia, obliously distraught talking to a
doctorjosh a grim look in his eye He' s saying that their Insurance is up,
and the boy has had no change in bran seven years That a
shock like this may awaken him she tearfully agrees
Professor oak is there to comfort her as they take Ash off lire support
In Ash' s "world"
Ash has finally defeated the elite tour, and one by one the people around
him start disappearing eventually enything is black Pekachu comes
dashing towards him glowing wrighter and wrighter in the darkness
Eventually Pekachu reaches ash and the two embrace one last time
Back in his room, as his lire signs fade, Ash knitters his genuine, renal
I Want To Be,
The very Best
I know that one was really long but it was definitely worth
the read! This is the last I' ll be doing, give me
your feedback on what other videogames I should do
conspiracy comps on!
As always...
Don' t forget to thumb or thumb
Views: 135651
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Submitted: 08/02/2011
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#14 - 2scared2login (08/02/2011) [-]
...that was really depressing.
...that was really depressing.
#454 - tusty (08/02/2011) [-]
How Ash really fell into a coma.
How Ash really fell into a coma.
User avatar #125 - NumaNumaNumaYEA (08/02/2011) [-]
But Ash never existed.
Imagine this. Ash was never born. His father was rushing Ash's mother to the hospital, when his car ran out of fuel. His mother died from childbirth complications, and he was hit very hard by her death. He raised his son, until he was forced to enlist as a soldier in the Great Pokemon War. He fought for eight years, and when he was returning home, he received a message. His son developed a terminal illness, and was dying as he read the message. He drove as fast as he could, and barely made it to the hospital. Ash told his father about how the nice nurse brought a Pikachu for him to play with. He coughed and wheezed violently. The father held him close, but Ash's grip slipped from him. The father gradually went insane after losing his only son. His foster parent's told him about how greatly he wanted to become a Pokemon master. Wanting to make his son's dream a reality, he used the little money he had left to open up a small reasearch lab, so he could learn everything about the creatues. As time ****** , he learned many things about the beings, and was renowned and respected for his discoveries and achievements. He received a letter one day, from a cousin, telling him that she was moving to his town, so they could be closer, and so her unborn child would grow up in a safe place. And he did, learning about Pokemon, very intriuged by them. He wanted to become a Pokemon Master, just like your son. So when he turned ten, he rushed to your lab, screaming and shouting. And then he said
"Alright Professer Oak, I am ready for my first Pokemon
#146 to #125 - 2scared2login (08/02/2011) [-]
HOLY ****
HOLY **** .
#157 to #125 - skifs (08/02/2011) [-]
That felt like a sucker punch in the gonads , it freaked me out so bad.
#752 to #125 - FatChick (08/02/2011) [-]
That was awesome, but I'm confused. You said Ash never existed and then you say that he dies in a most tragic manner of a terminal illness in a hospital, suggesting that he did indeed exist.
User avatar #135 to #125 - royalwerewolf (08/02/2011) [-]
This is the new cannon, spread the word, this is what happened
User avatar #133 to #125 - picklefairy (08/02/2011) [-]
as seen in my commment up there the SAME FUKIN THING HAPPEND
User avatar #152 to #125 - picklefairy (08/02/2011) [-]
i love u
#549 to #125 - RSohSeven (08/02/2011) [-]
Cool story bro, but how was Ash "never born" in it? Two sentences later you have Oak's son Ash being born... and the story ends with another Ash showing up at Oak's door :P
#629 to #125 - rubenesquetony (08/02/2011) [-]
I hate to nitpick, but Gary Oak is professor Oak's grandson, not his cousin's son. So, unless he discovered his cousin was his daughter too, the whole dead kid and wife thing doesn't match up.
#1668 to #629 - 2scared2login (08/02/2011) [-]
I take it as the cousin's son is actually you in the Pokemon games.
#1329 to #629 - matthewngl (08/02/2011) [-]
I think he was trying to say the the boy is supposed to be ash. It would have been better if he said that the cousin decided to name her son ash in memory of his son.
User avatar #164 to #125 - Wazzy (08/02/2011) [-]
where did gary come from?
#768 to #125 - 2scared2login (08/02/2011) [-]
You and OP are killing my Pokemon imagination, ******** .
#2154 to #125 - 2scared2login (08/03/2011) [-]
So the cousins son was Red, right?
User avatar #881 to #125 - sinep (08/02/2011) [-]
#605 to #125 - 2scared2login (08/02/2011) [-]
Dammit this makes me want to watch pokemon but netflix cant stream it to your computer
#71 - FUNNYJUNKK (08/02/2011) [-]
I want to be the very best...
#80 to #71 - emeraldslam (08/02/2011) [-]
that line...
#89 to #80 - TheRedCommunist **User deleted account** has deleted their comment [-]
#74 to #71 - TheRedCommunist **User deleted account** has deleted their comment [-]
#77 to #74 - FUNNYJUNKK (08/02/2011) [-]
To catch them was my real test...
#82 to #77 - FUNNYJUNKK (08/02/2011) [-]
#105 to #82 - whatdoweallshout **User deleted account** has deleted their comment [-]
User avatar #108 to #105 - FUNNYJUNKK (08/02/2011) [-]
Searchiiing far and wiiiiide
#109 to #108 - whatdoweallshout **User deleted account** has deleted their comment [-]
User avatar #112 to #109 - FUNNYJUNKK (08/02/2011) [-]
.... these pokemon to understand. the power thats insiiide
#261 to #112 - mrtacotime (08/02/2011) [-]
Gotta catch em its u and me
#262 to #261 - mrtacotime (08/02/2011) [-]
i know its our destiny
#263 to #262 - mrtacotime (08/02/2011) [-]
oooooohhhhhh your my best friend
#264 to #263 - mrtacotime (08/02/2011) [-]
in this world we must defend
User avatar #1780 to #264 - herpina (08/03/2011) [-]
POKEMON (Gotta catch'em..)
A heart so truuuuue....
#118 to #112 - ningyoaijin (08/02/2011) [-]
You'll be movin' wit' yo' auntie and uncle in Bel Air!
#259 to #112 - mrtacotime has deleted their comment [-]
#260 to #259 - mrtacotime has deleted their comment [-]
#83 to #77 - TheRedCommunist **User deleted account** has deleted their comment [-]
User avatar #98 to #77 - thatsfathertouson (08/02/2011) [-]
to train them is my cause
#94 to #77 - thetodderer has deleted their comment [-]
#103 - NumaNumaNumaYEA (08/02/2011) [-]
I... want to be...
The.... very.............. best.
#478 to #103 - wushumacabre (08/02/2011) [-]
I wanna be the very best
User avatar #2127 to #478 - dbrak (08/03/2011) [-]
#195 to #103 - MichalKrin (08/02/2011) [-]
To catch them is my real test.
To train them is my cause.
User avatar #930 to #195 - ocatapus (08/02/2011) [-]
I will travel across the land,
Searching far and wide.
#1130 to #930 - redraiders **User deleted account** has deleted their comment [-]
#1445 to #1130 - ijustwannnavote (08/02/2011) [-]
and she said, youre moving with your auntie and uncle in bel air
User avatar #1795 to #1445 - fadetometallica (08/03/2011) [-]
Livin in a pineapple under the sea!
#1579 to #1445 - superstarg (08/02/2011) [-]
c-c-combo breaker
User avatar #1933 to #1130 - ocatapus (08/03/2011) [-]
The power thats inside!
#1936 to #1933 - redraiders **User deleted account** has deleted their comment [-]
User avatar #138 to #103 - nukinzerambo (08/02/2011) [-]
Already are Ash.. always will be(Y)
#41 - chronicpanda (08/02/2011) [-]
If they ever make a final episode and he does wake from a coma i will be my pic
#36 - beeradthelaw (08/02/2011) [-]
#24 - GeneralPuug (08/02/2011) [-]
My childhood...
My childhood...
#9 - 2scared2login (08/02/2011) [-]
number 2 is true. unova was based off of the usa for supporting pokemon all these years. so you wouldnt find unova in japan
User avatar #11 to #9 - wakawakas (08/02/2011) [-]
Yea, I read something about it being based off New York but I had already posted it
#717 - apcknock **User deleted account** has deleted their comment [-]
#120 - pikapwn (08/02/2011) [-]
or its a kid tv show and anything can happen
#1 - serengetisocio (08/02/2011) [-]
Why on earth does this not have more thumbs?! Last one awesomely mind blowing indeed. Good work fellow FJer.
User avatar #2 to #1 - wakawakas (08/02/2011) [-]
Thanks man! I appreciate it.
#21 to #2 - serengetisocio (08/02/2011) [-]
Also, I'll throw out the suggestion of the Mario universe as an idea for your next one.
#663 - scarygirl (08/02/2011) [-]
pic related
#590 - simplitcity **User deleted account** has deleted their comment [-]
#712 to #590 - 2scared2login (08/02/2011) [-]
i love elfen lied
#456 - shadowstuart (08/02/2011) [-]
User avatar #470 to #456 - jordanish (08/02/2011) [-]
I cannot unsee this. MY CHILDHOOD IS RUINED!
#1554 - xodah (08/02/2011) [-]
Unova was modeled after New York city, those are supposed to be Ground Zero, the Brooklyn Bridge and Central Park.
Leave a comment
Friends (0) | http://www.funnyjunk.com/funny_pictures/2433004/Pokemon+Conspiracy+Theories+Part+3/ | dclm-gs1-218310000 |
0.065332 | <urn:uuid:3aa1c465-f87d-4cfa-be90-f4703e08cec4> | en | 0.687698 | A great game based on agreat movie.
#1the_clickerPosted 7/29/2009 4:14:35 AM
believe it!
#2the_clicker(Topic Creator)Posted 7/29/2009 8:58:13 PM
we need more chicken-based games for this generation!
#3the_clicker(Topic Creator)Posted 7/30/2009 1:18:26 AM
metal gear chicken or final fantasy versus chickens would be nice.
#4the_clicker(Topic Creator)Posted 7/30/2009 3:17:34 AM
some chicken songs!!
#5the_clicker(Topic Creator)Posted 7/30/2009 5:34:46 AM
fat princess is coming out today and I can't find a PSN card in my country V_V .
well at least we still have the chickens!
#6the_clicker(Topic Creator)Posted 8/3/2009 12:07:24 AM
I hope this game comes to the psn store . Oh and hogs of war too.^__^
I doubt it tough <__<
#7the_clicker(Topic Creator)Posted 8/11/2009 10:45:13 AM
I feel better now... I feel better.
#8the_clicker(Topic Creator)Posted 8/15/2009 8:35:44 AM
no love for the chicken ? what a pity.
#9the_clicker(Topic Creator)Posted 8/28/2009 7:41:12 PM
He who chases two chickens will lose them both.
#10the_clicker(Topic Creator)Posted 9/8/2009 4:52:31 AM
The early chicken gets the worm. | http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/339776-chicken-run/50668318 | dclm-gs1-218340000 |
0.042314 | <urn:uuid:7cbdad3b-455f-4fa9-b047-4b5e93c0bf59> | en | 0.908432 | Is anybody here "upset" about the price drop?
#21MicroOmegaManPosted 8/2/2011 9:11:41 PM
Not one bit. When I buy game consoles, I fully understand that they drop in price later. The 3DS dropping sooner than I would guess is only positive for the life of the system, so it actually makes me happy.
Buy these: Klonoa (Wii), Fragile Dreams,
#22nintendoggerPosted 8/2/2011 9:12:25 PM
I'm thrilled about it. I can finally get one!
3DS, August 12. Can't wait.
Proud female gamer.
#23player_threePosted 8/2/2011 9:19:28 PM
Honestly when I heard about the price drop I was happy because now my friends are 80 dollars closer to getting one. Then when I heard about the 20 free games I creamed my pants!
Aquatic Ambiance: Now that's some serious make-out music. | http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/997614-nintendo-3ds/59916703?page=2 | dclm-gs1-218370000 |
0.120331 | <urn:uuid:480ca480-7efe-41d5-8264-646908ec6499> | en | 0.863915 | Question from takadox
Asked: 4 years ago
How do I unlock extra ops 111 ?
I want to get the M47.But first, how do i unlock the extra ops 111 that unlock M47 ?
Accepted Answer
From: protoboy123 4 years ago
Do extra ops mission 64 and 65. Then extra ops 87 should be unlocked. Beat that to get extra ops 111.
Rated: +0 / -0
This question has been successfully answered and closed
Submitted Answers
Do all the extra ops missions that you didn't do and it will open up.
Rated: +0 / -1
Read the sticky.
Rated: +0 / -0
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How do I unlock extra ops 49 and 83? Answered Snuckie7 | http://www.gamefaqs.com/psp/960566-metal-gear-solid-peace-walker/answers?qid=206207 | dclm-gs1-218390000 |
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The Pureblood and the Mudblood [Dramione] ♥ by Stellee123
Chapter 3 : Chapter 3
Rating: MatureChapter Reviews: 9
Background: Font color:
Hi! I would like to thank the two lovely readers who reviewed, thank you so much! I tried to add more description in this chapter, but chapter 4 is written and has lots of it! This is kind of a filler chapter, so hang on. It's a lead up to Chapter 4.
I have decided to post a song that relates to the chapter for every chapter. Chapter 3 is Mean, by Taylor Swift. You can find the song on Youtube easily. Also, I will be posting little pre-views of the upcoming chapter at the end of chapters.
And before I go, could I please get just 5 reviews?! It would mean so much! I need your feedback to make the story better, after all.
Without further due, here is Chapter 3! Enjoy!♥
Hermione walked quickly back to her friends, her face quite pale. She couldn't believe that Draco Malfoy, of all people, had been picked to be Head Boy. And what was worse? She had to share a dorm with him for the year! Why couldn’t have been someone less annoying? Someone that wouldn’t cause her to go crazy. Hermione's back stiffened as she thought of what Ron would think of this all.
Hermione reached her compartment and walked in, taking her seat next to Luna quietly.
"So how did it go, Hermione? Who's Head Boy?" asked Neville.
"Malfoy." Hermione said in a dreaded tone. Everyone went silent, a little too silent for Hermione likes. She had dreaded this moment. Finally, Harry broke the uncomfortable silence.
"Malfoy?! How was he chosen for Head Boy? I could imagine Head Git, but not this!" He said eyes wide. Hermione avoided the gaze of them all, mentally annoyed at how they were all staring at her. Including Luna.
Hermione shrugged as she looked down at her shoes.
"I didn't ask any questions about it." She said subtly. It was true, she hadn’t. The only thing she had wanted to do from the second she saw Draco Malfoy standing in McGonagall’s office was leave. She might have even given up her spot of Head Girl for it.
No. She would not give up Head Girl for an arrogant prick like Malfoy! Hermione pushed that thought out of her head, mentally slapping herself for allowing Malfoy to mess with her determination and self-concept.
Ginny shook her head disapprovingly and Ron spoke. "Just ignore him the whole year." He said like it was the easiest thing in the world. Hermione couldn’t believe him! Ignore the Head Boy?! That was like ignoring the fact that you just jumped off a building!
Hermione sighed, not wanting to talk about it, or anything, at the moment, to be honest. "It's going to be kind of hard to ignore him when I have to share a dorm with him!" she said, instantly regretting it. Hermione scowled, turning away from the rest of the lot and staring out the window.
"You have to share a dorm with Malfoy?" Harry asked shock visible on his face as he stared Hermione. Ginny lightly hit his arm to break the staring trance.
Hermione by her lip and nodded.
"Maybe it won't be that bad..." said Luna in her usual light and airy voice. She was always trying to make something bad seem good. That was what Hermione liked most about her unusual friend. Unfortunately, that would not help at all this time. Luna might not have seen the worst that could come from an over-dose of Malfoy, but Hermione sure had. Take Third Year for example. The memory of when Hermione had punched Malfoy put a temporary smile on her face. It didn’t last though, as it slid off when Ron spoke, cruelly jerking Hermione back to the present, though he didn’t mean it.
Ron was frowning. "If he does or says anything bad to you, tell us right away, Hermione, and I will beat the-"
"Ron!" Ginny said, knowing the swear that would have followed. She scowled at her careless brother.
"He's right though. Tell us if anything happens, okay? Ginny asked with a look that said she meant it.
"I will, Gin, Ron. Thanks."
"Of course." the two Weasleys said in unison.
"You sound like Fred and George." Hermione said with a smile. It was half-hearted, but it still was a smile.
Everyone laughed and Ginny smiled.
"I wonder what the twins would think." Neville said.
"They would probably say it's theirs' and put a trademark on it or something." Ron said, rolling his eyes.
Everyone laughed again, even Luna broke out of her daydream to laugh.
The rest of the train ride was relaxing. The lot Talked quietly and Ginny and Hermione both fell asleep. Hermione could feel Ron stroking her hair as she was slowly pulled into wonderful dreams. That was, until Draco Malfoy made his way into them.
"You horrible little Mudblood. You don't deserve Head Girl. You don't even deserve to be here, at Hogwarts!" the Malfoy in Hermione's dreams spat. Hermione cringed in her sleep. The words stung like hell. It wasn’t her fault though; this dream was all too realistic, like it had actually happened.
After a few happier dreams, Hermione felt someone shaking her.
"Hermione, come on," said the voice. "We're at Hogwarts."
Hermione mumbled. "Go away...."
The person shaking her sighed and lifted her up. Now she was wide awake, and fully aware of what was going on. ‘Oh bloody hell!’ She thought.
"Ron! Put me down!" she yelled, trying to get out of his grasp. It was no use. Ron walked, with her over his shoulder, off the train, and to the carriages. The whole way Hermione yelled and screamed, Ron paying no attention what-so-ever. Once outside the carriage, he finally set Hermione down.
"Why would you do that?! I asked you to put me down, I know how to walk!" Hermione shouted, outraged.
Ron just shrugged.
"Ugh!" Hermione yelled, and she climbed into the carriage, sitting as far away from Ron as possible.
Five minutes later, Hermione took her spot at the Gryffindor table between Luna and Harry. She noticed Harry and Ginny smiling at each other, Ginny was blushing. Hermione smiled at the two. They seemed to be in their own little worlds; the only thing they could see was each other.
The feast went by happily, everyone ate until they felt sick and then retired to their common rooms.
"Good luck, 'Mione." Ginny said, giving Hermione a sympathetic look as they took different routes down the hall at the top of the Grand Stair Case.
"Thanks, Gin. I'll need it." Hermione replied, and they departed.
Hermione sighed as she arrived outside the door of the Heads' dorm. "Shuffling hippogriffs." she mumbled the password, and the door opened. "Wow," breathed Hermione as she stepped into the room. "This is truly amazing." And Hermione meant it.
"Sure is better than anything you're used to, isn't it, Granger?" said a drawling voice.
Hermione looked away from the huge bookshelf stacked with books to look at Draco Malfoy. Great, the few minutes of alone time she had so much desired dripped away.
"Shut up, Malfoy." Hermione muttered, walking around to admire the room. The room was huge and square, with two leather sofas in the middle, backs to the door, facing the huge bay window that took up 7/8 of the back wall, only split down the middle for a flat screen TV on the wall. The walls were painted a pale white/blue colour and the floor was white carpet. Three rooms were off the either side and a study. The bookshelf took up most of the left wall, the doors and study on the right wall.
"The room adjusts to our liking." Draco said, the sofas turned silver and the carpet black.
"No. Black carpet looks horrible." Hermione announced and it turned back to white.
"Whatever. But the sofas are staying silver." He said, glaring at her.
Hermione ignored this. "Did you want the books?" she asked, staring into his stormy grey eyes.
Draco shrugged. "Kind of, I knew you liked to read too, so..." he trailed off, looking away and Hermione blushed. Wait. What? Hermione blushed because of Draco Malfoy? How uncalled for! For the second time that day, Hermione mentally slapped herself.
"I'm, um, going to bed." she said.
Without another glance, Hermione walked to one of the doors and looked inside, it was obviously hers. It was gold and lavender with another huge bookshelf, large window, and bathroom. Hermione walked in and set down her things, opening the big wardrobe against the wall. She chose a white pajama top and light blue and changed quickly. She then unpacked and slid into bed, flicking her wand to turn off the lights.
Early the next morning, Hermione woke to the sun shining fiercely through the window. Frowning, she got out of bed and walked to the wardrobe. Hermione picked a blue and green button down shirt and jeans before clipping back her hair with a sweep of her hand. She grabbed her bathroom essentials and walked out of the room, through the beautiful common room, empty and light with sunshine, to the bathroom.
Hermione didn't think much as she opened the door, looking around. There was a curse, and Hermione looked up in shock at a shirtless Draco Malfoy.
"What the bloody hell?!" he yelled, glaring horribly at her.
"I-I'm sorry." she stuttered, trying to avert her eyes from his abs.
Suddenly a smirk crossed Draco's face.
"Can't keep your eyes off me, can you, Granger?"
It was Hermione's turn to glare horribly at Draco.
"Of course I can!" she lied unconvincingly.
This triggered something in Draco’s mind. Hermione Granger, a Muggle Born, staring at Draco Malfoy, a Pureblood?! Draco was more than disgusted! How this would taint the name of his well respected and high up family name!
"Come on, I can tell when you lie, Mudblood." he said harshly, not thinking about his words. Of course, he never did. It wasn’t anything new; the word Mudblood was it? No.
Draco's POV
Draco didn't see much, but he was very much aware that Hermione had slapped him across the face, hard. He stepped back in shock and saw her eyes lined in tears, threatening to spill over. As much as this scene would have been a horrible sight to endure for someone other than him, Draco was very angry. How dare she?!
"Wait, Granger!" He called, not needing more drama as it was. It was no use. Hermione had crossed the room in a few swift movements and was in her dorm before Draco could say anything more.
Draco slid down the wall he was leaning on until he was in a sitting position. He put his face in his hands and sighed. This living together stuff was not turning out well.
Thanks for reading! I really hope you enjoyed, and I have some exciting plans for up-coming chapter. They involve jealousy, anger, and some well-needed action. Then in the far future, Draco will have his turn as star of the drama. (; I have LOTS of ideas!
Here is a pre-view of Chapter 4:
"He looks so cute in his Quidditch uniform!" _____ squealed, looking up at _____ from her plate of scrambled eggs.
What do you think? Is my chapter worthy of a rate and review? I hope so! I would be SO grateful and happy if I could please get at least 5 reviews? It would mean so much, and definitely make my day!
Keep look out for Chapter 4!
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0.107246 | <urn:uuid:5d50e260-7934-4ef6-91cf-29a975cd2cb5> | en | 0.932053 | [Haskell-cafe] lazily traversing a foreign data structure
Ryan Ingram ryani.spam at gmail.com
Thu Oct 25 17:39:08 EDT 2007
On 10/25/07, Brandon S. Allbery KF8NH <allbery at ece.cmu.edu> wrote:
> My point is that there's no promise for that one *even in C*. (The
> equivalent construct being adding the new row before nextKey has
> failed.)
Sure, but in C, it's highly likely that the full evaluation of the key
list happens in one place, that's just how code tends to get written.
That said, in C code, I've often seen bugs where code called during
the iteration of a collection modifies that collection; that's
something that has been really refreshing to get away from when
writing Haskell.
With the unsafeInterleaveIO example, the "pure" keylist could get
deferred indefinitely, stored in a data structure, partially evaluated
at many different times against many different versions of the
database, etc., and it's not necessarily clear to the person who just
has a [Key] that they are doing deferred calls to nextKey like it
tends to be in C.
It's safe if you use it in a predictable fashion, and in a real API
I'd probably provide "getKeys" and "unsafeLazyGetKeys" and let the
programmer decide.
-- ryan
More information about the Haskell-Cafe mailing list | http://www.haskell.org/pipermail/haskell-cafe/2007-October/033721.html | dclm-gs1-218510000 |
0.023545 | <urn:uuid:c648cfed-619f-451f-9d8d-09fc3283d339> | en | 0.957456 | Archon Fung on the Dynamics of Transparency
Interviewed by Molly Lanzarotta on June 25, 2013
Transparency is often thought about in terms of disclosing information that the public needs or wants, for its protection, or for its own good. But with rapid and frequent changes in technology and the ways in which people consume information, how we understand transparency and its uses is also changing. Archon Fung, Ford Foundation Professor of Democracy and Citizenship, examines the impact of civic participation, public deliberation, and transparency on public and private governance. He is co-director of the Transparency Policy Project at Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center, and co-author of a new paper published in the journal Science, “Targeting Transparency.”
Q. In the past, when we’ve heard about the need for transparency, it’s usually been in the context of governments or corporations being compelled to act. But you’ve been studying a sort of “bottom-up” or crowd-sourced transparency. Say more about that.
Fung : In the private sector, lately we’ve seen all sorts of examples of decentralized transparency in which individuals, usually as consumers, participate in online forums and rating sites — like Amazon product ratings or TripAdvisor, ratings of hotels or airlines, or ratings of books and movies like Netflix — and that kind of transparency helps others understand what people like them think about a particular experience.
Those are examples from the private sector of decentralized and individually constructed transparency. Now we are beginning to see some examples of decentralized transparency, or what we are calling socially-networked transparency, in the public sector, applied to public problems.
Let me give you a few examples of those. One of the earliest and most prominent examples is called Ushahidi. Ushahidi is a website created in the late 2000s to monitor election violence in Kenya. There were too few election monitors and too few journalists to cover a fairly large country in which there was a perception that violence was widespread around the elections. So some social and political entrepreneurs created Ushahidi where individuals could document incidents of election violence. The platform generated a map of all of the reports of violence occurring after the elections in Kenya. That platform, Ushahidi, has since been deployed dozens of times for all sorts of purposes, including disaster relief.
Another interesting example comes out of some enterprising developers and entrepreneurs at the MIT Media Lab. Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, there was widespread concern about radiation levels. The Safecast project at MIT developed some portable radiation monitors and distributed them to volunteers all over the area in Fukushima so that people could collect ground level radiation samples. Through Safecast, they provided a map of radiation levels at the ground level all around the Fukushima area. According to some reports, what they saw was at some variance with government reported radiation levels. This tool provided a way of holding government accountable by creating a different source of measurement and information in that circumstance.
Q. How should we understand transparency as a policy tool today? Is transparency always good?
Fung: I think the debates around transparency come from people concerned with two different problems. Some people favor transparency because they worry about government action — either governments being corrupt, spying on people, or supporting politicians and campaigns with undue contributions and exercising some undue influence. So a big part of the transparency movement is concerned with opening up government and making government more transparent in order to make it more accountable. And that’s a very good thing; it’s important for government to be transparent and to be accountable to citizens.
Another part of the transparency movement that reflects different concerns and operates in quite a different way is transparency proponents who are concerned with the accountability of private sector actors — primarily private sector corporations, but perhaps also non-governmental organizations and foundations, and so on. And here the worry is that corporations can do all sorts of things that create risks for consumers and investors and citizens: making unsafe products or providing services that don’t perform very well and create risks for people, or even deception in the case of financial services and products and home loans. Here the idea is that consumers will be able to defend themselves and avoid risks with greater private sector transparency.
Now, there is no reason in principle that we can’t have both more government transparency and more private sector transparency. Indeed we can have both, but they can come into tension because the main way in which we make private sector corporations transparent is through the laws and policies of government. So one blind spot of the current open government policies and debates is that they create transparency systems for government that focus on government messing up, but don’t register when government is doing well. Government accountability through transparency these days is a lot like an Amazon rating system in which government can only get one or two stars because the transparency focuses on government making mistakes and not so much on government doing well, or ways in which government actually aids transparency in the private sector through laws and regulations.
Q. What about voluntary disclosure? How much does the government need to be involved in requiring disclosure of information? Is relying on self-disclosure – for environmental or regulatory purposes for example – ever realistic?
Fung : Transparency of the private sector often begins in the wake of some scandal or disaster that puts pressure on private sector actors to become more transparent, through an environmental disaster or the recent very tragic factory fire in Bangladesh in which so many workers were killed. In the wake of a disaster like that, the corporations and other actors who were involved often come under pressure to become more transparent. And that pressure can take two different forms. Sometimes it takes the form of laws and policies. So for example, after the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal India in 1984, a law was passed in the United States that required chemical companies to become more transparent about what kinds of chemicals and pollutants they were releasing into the atmosphere. Sometimes however, the private sector actors respond to that pressure by voluntarily becoming more transparent. For instance, in response to complaints and worries about child labor and sweat shop labor, apparel manufacturers have become a little more transparent about where their products are being manufactured all around the world and sometimes what factory conditions are like in those places.
Voluntary transparency is certainly an advance over no transparency at all; however, voluntary transparency does have its limits. In particular, voluntary transparency is often limited to the private sector actors, the corporations that face the most pressure to be transparent. Other businesses and companies in the same industry can choose not to become transparent when they don’t face that type of pressure. The advantage of regulation and building upon voluntary transparency is that it creates uniform standards and requirements for everybody to be transparent and to make that information available in a way that is standardized and uniform and lots of people can understand and work with the information.
Q. What needs to happen moving forward to ensure that transparency systems are effective?
Fung: In order for transparency systems to be effective there are two kinds of problems — there are political problems and there are policy problems.
The political problems all stem from the fact that transparency systems that are effective and do some good for the public almost always impose costs and hurt somebody else. In particular transparency systems oftentimes hurt the parties that are being made transparent, whether it’s some agency of government or some type of private sector corporation that is compelled to disclose information that they otherwise would not disclose by some transparency law or policy or requirement.
The actors that tend to lose from transparency will organize themselves to block transparency requirements or water them down. One of the cases that we point to is the case of public safety restaurant disclosures from Los Angeles County. In Los Angeles, every restaurant is required to post a letter grade on its front window — an A, B, or C grade that reflects the health and safety inspection rating of that restaurant. This is an extremely effective transparency policy because consumers care about whether or not they are going to get sick if they eat at a restaurant, and so they act on the information conveyed by that A, B, or C report card. Many other cities do not have those report cards in part because restaurant associations have blocked those kinds of reforms or watered them down. Restaurant disclosure on the web is much less useful I think than restaurant disclosures in the form of a report card on the front door. So that illustrates the general political obstacle that people who stand to lose will organize in order not to be more transparent.
One critical step in making transparency policies effective is organization on the other side, because transparency policies that are effective oftentimes generate benefits for a much larger group of people — consumers or investors or even citizens in the case of government corruption — and the one key to effective transparency is for that much larger group of people to organize themselves to advocate for transparency policies.
Besides the political problem for transparency, there is the policy problem. The challenge is to create and design transparency policies that actually work for people and don’t just waste time or create a bunch of information that’s difficult to understand or make organizations go through the fairly expensive processes of collecting information that nobody then goes on to use. The policy challenge has to do with designing transparency policies so that they produce information that is actually highly valuable to people and that people can take action on. So the L.A. restaurant example is an effective transparency policy because the audience for that information — the people who go to restaurants — can do something with the A, B or C grade. They can go on to the next restaurant. So that’s really important — that there be an audience for the information and that that audience be able to act on the information in socially beneficial way.
Another challenge for policymakers is to design transparency policies in real time, in a dynamic way, because transparency policies always run the risk of being obsolete because times change, technologies change, and the issues that are important for transparency policies and information that is relevant today will no longer be as relevant tomorrow. Transparency policies need to be updated to reflect that obsolescence in real time. For instance, financial regulations that require a certain kind of disclosure at one point in time will face the challenge that new financial instruments and new techniques and practices come into play. Regulators of financial transparency need to recognize those changes and update the laws and regulations as the financial industry itself evolves and develops over time.
Q: Where the do the Assanges and Snowdens of this world – the people who force transparency in very controversial ways – fit into the picture?
Fung: The issue of national security poses great challenges for both advocates of transparency and privacy and those who are concerned about security. In the Transparency Policy Project, we haven’t looked directly at national security policies. However, as a scholar of democracy and as a citizen of a democracy, I think it’s important that however we strike the balance between transparency on the one hand and privacy and security on the other, that the principles governing the tradeoff between transparency and national security be made in a way that is democratic. The reasons behind those decisions need to be clear to people and a majority of the democratic public at large needs to understand and endorse the point at which the balance is being made between privacy and security.
Print print | Email email | http://www.hks.harvard.edu/news-events/publications/insight/democratic/fung | dclm-gs1-218550000 |
0.027778 | <urn:uuid:911fa4da-14b0-4e6e-a7a3-5ed5dcc19561> | en | 0.927603 | Journals Jalpan de Serra
Hidden Treasures of Queretaro
Created by Vicho on October 31, 2004 Best of IgoUgo
5 Reviews
I headed north from Mexico DF to discover the hidden treasures of Queretaro. Driving through curved mountain roads, admiring endless peaks and valleys til San Luis Potosi, where I slowed down while passing around local villagers with their donkeys, to breathe in the calming atmosphere of the place.
National Biosphere Reserve
Created by lobosolo on February 22, 2001
5 Reviews
You must like several things before coming here, namely: You must like nature; scenic drives; driving off the usual roads or more exactly enjoy doing so; want to mingle with the non-tourism related regionals; and please speak some Spanish (some schools for non Spanish speakers in Querétaro
• 1-2 of 2 Jalpan de Serra Journals
What's a Journal?
Journals are collections of reviews, stories, and tips about a place. Think of it as your IgoUgo scrapbook where you keep everything from your trip. If you want to keep all your Jalpan de Serra travel articles in one place, you’d do it here.
Our Most Popular Jalpan de Serra Journals
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0.570161 | <urn:uuid:a5ba0c7e-bb45-445d-8db8-efa8e0218744> | en | 0.937227 | Net Debt
Dictionary Says
Definition of 'Net Debt'
A metric that shows a company's overall debt situation by netting the value of a company's liabilities and debts with its cash and other similar liquid assets.
Calculated as:
Net Debt
Investopedia Says
Investopedia explains 'Net Debt'
When investing in a company, one of the most important factors you need to consider is how much debt the company is carrying. Here are some questions to ask yourself when analyzing a company's debt: How much debt really exists? What kind of debt is it (long/short-term maturities)? What is the debt for (repay or refinance old debts)? Can the company afford the debt if it runs into financial trouble? And, finally, how does it compare to the debt levels of competing companies?
Articles Of Interest
1. What Is A Corporate Credit Rating?
2. Will Corporate Debt Drag Your Stock Down?
3. Debt Reckoning
4. Market Summary For February 21, 2014
5. The 4 R's Of Investing In Retail
6. EDGAR: Investors' One-Stop-Shop For Company Filings
7. The Debt-Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR)
The Debt-Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR) is a simple way to analyze whether a company can adequately manage its borrowing costs. The ratio helps banks evaluate the credit worthiness of an organization ...
8. The Operating Leverage And DOL
Operating leverage tells investors about the relationship between a company's fixed and variable costs. The higher a company's fixed costs in relation to its variable costs, the greater its operating ...
9. Reading The Inventory Turnover
10. The Return On Invested Capital (ROIC)
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Hot Definitions
1. Ease Of Movement
A technical momentum indicator that is used to illustrate the relationship between the rate of an asset's price change and its volume.
2. Dangling Debit
A debit entry with no offsetting credit entry. Dangling debit occurs when a company purchases goodwill or services to create a debit. When adding the journal entry to financial statements a corresponding credit balance is not reported and cannot be written off.
3. Cabinet Crowd
Members of the NYSE who typically trade in inactive bonds. The cabinet crowd is made up of a relatively small group of traders and investors who deal in inactive fixed-income securities.
4. Backdating
5. Abnormal Spoilage
6. "Just Say No" Defense
Trading Center | http://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/netdebt.asp | dclm-gs1-218620000 |
0.848827 | <urn:uuid:7c94ca6e-2292-43cd-ab8c-c156c1936fe5> | en | 0.975921 | Find a lift company near you
How often should I have my escalator maintenance done?
Obviously, you want to keep disruption to a minimum where this is concerned but you also need to ensure that your escalators keep up a certain level of aesthetic integrity and that they are kept running as smoothly and as efficiently as possible; this all means that there is quite a lot to consider when trying to decide when would be best to have escalator maintenance done.
Essentially, there is no direct answer to this question as every circumstance will be unique and there are many variables, such as how old the escalator is and how much it gets used on a day-to-day basis. However, talk to the supplier who you purchases your product from or call around a couple of contract-hire cleaning companies and see what they recommend- if they all come to some sort of consensus then this is the time-frame you should be looking at. By keeping your escalator under regular checks, you will reduce the risk of something major going wrong further down the line. Regular escalator maintenance should be done at a set date on a set amount of dates every year.ption to the day-to-day functioning of your company or business.
Escalator Information Guide: | http://www.lift.co.uk/escalator-maintenance.php | dclm-gs1-218670000 |
0.703364 | <urn:uuid:2eca849f-fd47-4126-a605-ffe55f117b58> | en | 0.68559 | Documentation Center
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Class: LinearModel
Add terms to linear regression model
mdl1 = addTerms(mdl,terms)
mdl1 = addTerms(mdl,terms) returns a linear model the same as mdl but with additional terms.
Input Arguments
Linear model, as constructed by fitlm or stepwiselm.
Terms to add to the mdl regression model. Specify as either a:
• Text string representing one or more terms to add. For details, see Wilkinson Notation.
• Row or rows in the terms matrix (see modelspec in fitlm). For example, if there are three variables A, B, and C:
[0 0 0] represents a constant term or intercept
[0 1 0] represents B; equivalently, A^0 * B^1 * C^0
[1 0 1] represents A*C
[2 0 0] represents A^2
[0 1 2] represents B*(C^2)
Output Arguments
Linear model, the same as mdl but with additional terms given in terms. You can set mdl1 equal to mdl to overwrite mdl.
Wilkinson Notation
Wilkinson notation describes the factors present in models. The notation relates to factors present in models, not to the multipliers (coefficients) of those factors.
Wilkinson NotationFactors in Standard Notation
1Constant (intercept) term
A^k, where k is a positive integerA, A2, ..., Ak
A + BA, B
A*BA, B, A*B
A:BA*B only
-BDo not include B
A*B + CA, B, C, A*B
A + B + C + A:BA, B, C, A*B
A*B*C - A:B:CA, B, C, A*B, A*C, B*C
A*(B + C)A, B, C, A*B, A*C
Statistics Toolbox™ notation always includes a constant term unless you explicitly remove the term using -1.
For details, see Wilkinson and Rogers [1].
expand all
Add a Term to a Model
Create a model of the carsmall data without any interactions, then add an interaction term.
Load the carsmall data and make a model of the MPG as a function of weight and model year.
load carsmall
ds = dataset(MPG,Weight);
ds.Year = ordinal(Model_Year);
mdl = fitlm(ds,'MPG ~ Year + Weight^2');
Add an interaction term to mdl.
terms = 'Year*Weight';
mdl1 = addTerms(mdl,terms)
mdl1 =
Linear regression model:
MPG ~ 1 + Weight*Year + Weight^2
Estimated Coefficients:
Estimate SE tStat pValue
(Intercept) 48.045 6.779 7.0874 3.3967e-10
Weight -0.012624 0.0041455 -3.0454 0.0030751
Year_76 2.7768 3.0538 0.90931 0.3657
Year_82 16.416 4.9802 3.2962 0.0014196
Weight:Year_76 -0.00020693 0.00092403 -0.22394 0.82333
Weight:Year_82 -0.0032574 0.0018919 -1.7217 0.088673
Weight^2 1.0121e-06 6.12e-07 1.6538 0.10177
Number of observations: 94, Error degrees of freedom: 87
Root Mean Squared Error: 2.76
R-squared: 0.89, Adjusted R-Squared 0.882
F-statistic vs. constant model: 117, p-value = 1.88e-39
[1] Wilkinson, G. N., and C. E. Rogers. Symbolic description of factorial models for analysis of variance. J. Royal Statistics Society 22, pp. 392–399, 1973.
Use stepwiselm to select a model from a starting model, continuing until no single step is beneficial.
Use removeTerms to remove particular terms.
Use step to optimally improve the model by adding or removing terms.
See Also
| | |
How To
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0.039876 | <urn:uuid:0371fd1a-42c4-4367-9425-3ebb877bc159> | en | 0.98646 |
And if I could generalize about the types of screw-ups most common to travelers, I'd say they're not errors of commission as much as they are errors of omission: leaving something out, forgetting to verify a reservation, or just making an incorrect assumption.
Full disclosure: I bristle when anyone calls me a travel "expert" because the more I travel, the less I realize that I know. But refer to me as an expert on mistakes, and I'll agree. I've made more than a few big errors during my career as a writer, and as a traveler. I even wrote my college thesis on errors.
All of which is a roundabout way of saying that in discussing your travel mistakes, I'm well aware that I've made my share. Hey, it's what makes us human. And after all, it's not so much the error that matters — it's what we learn from it.
That's why you're reading this.
Here are some of my favorite mistakes:
When David Emery returned his rental car in Sweden, an agent handed him a receipt for $120 a day, or $360. "The rate I'd been quoted was $120 for three days," he says. Emery had a printout of the guaranteed rate, and was in a hurry to catch a plane, so he didn't argue.
Too bad he didn't learn from that mistake. It happened to him again. Now he doesn't go anywhere without a printout of the car rental rate, and he never leaves the rental office unless he pays the price he expected.
Chris Sandberg got a notice that his United Airlines miles were about to expire, but was told he could preserve the miles by earning points by staying at a Starwood hotel. You'd assume that it's as simple as that — but no.
"After my stay, I was credited with points in the Starwood program, but not with United," he says. Why? Turns out Starwood could only "convert" blocks of 1,000 points at a time. The hotel was happy to sell him another 200 points so that he could rescue his miles.
If you don't know about the Mexican car insurance scam, here are the details. Basically, insurance in Mexico is a "requirement" and added to your bill over and above the agreed-upon rate.
Haven't heard of it? Neither had Kimberly Williams when she rented a car in Cancun through Travelocity recently. "We got the cheapest policy, but it cost an extra 15 bucks a day for a compact car," she says.
| http://www.mcall.com/entertainment/ct-travel-troubleshooter-mistakes-story,0,7691387.story | dclm-gs1-218730000 |
0.02818 | <urn:uuid:aebaa7af-9d39-4701-941b-5afd69bab776> | en | 0.98148 | Pauley Perrette
Pauley Perrette stars in "NCIS" Tuesdays on CBS. (Photo Credit: Patrick Demarchelier/CBS copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved)
If a glammed-up Pauley Perrette is rare, so is the chance for her to bring a piece of high society back to life.
Thanks to one of the world's top fashion photographers and a fast-working team of wardrobe, hair and makeup experts, the co-star of CBS' Tuesday hit "NCIS" recently was transformed into someone who was part of the network's storied past. The reason: a photo shoot for the upcoming September/October issue of the CBS-published entertainment magazine Watch!
Barbara "Babe" Paley was a glamorous New York socialite and the wife of William S. Paley, the legendary founder of the Columbia Broadcasting System. The couple's weekday residence was the posh St. Regis Hotel, the site of Perrette's photo session with Patrick Demarchelier, the globally renowned French lensman whose previous subjects for Watch! have included Kaley Cuoco ("The Big Bang Theory") and the "Blue Bloods" cast encompassing Tom Selleck and Bridget Moynahan.
"We are having such a wonderful time," the hugely friendly Perrette tells this writer at the St. Regis while "playing" Paley in much fancier attire than she wears as self-styled "NCIS" forensics whiz Abby Sciuto. "It's been really exciting to talk about and plan it, and it's been a dream shoot. All the clothes are vintage pieces by designers of that era, and it's just been a bit of magic for everything to come together."
Babe Paley died the day after she turned 63 in 1978, and Perrette did considerable research on her before literally posing as her. "I was sent a folder of material on her, and I was instantly mesmerized. She had such a specific way about her, and it wasn't only what she wore; it also was how she stood and held herself. There was a certain something to her Babe Paley 'thing.' "
Well-traveled photographer Demarchelier also studied up on Paley, and he had no worries about Perrette meeting the needs of his assignment. Long known for working quickly and confidently, he says he usually finds that anyone in front of his lens also comes in ready: "Once the camera starts going, there is no problem. Everyone knows what they are there to do, and everyone is a professional."
Demarchelier knows instantly whether he's gotten what he's after visually, since he doesn't wait to review the shots. "I look at them right away," he confirms, "and if I see that we have what we need, then that's it. We're finished with that, and we move on."
That approach helped the shoot keep moving efficiently on a Sunday in New York, with St. Regis locations from the King Cole Bar to the restaurant Adour and even the East 55th Street sidewalk immediately outside the hotel utilized over the course of approximately nine hours.
The Pauley-as-Paley idea came from Watch! editor-in-chief Jeremy Murphy, who explains he's "kind of been fascinated" by Paley "ever since coming to CBS." Sigourney Weaver portrayed her in the 2006 movie "Infamous," which starred Toby Jones as Truman Capote. "She's been played by a couple of other actresses," Murphy notes of Paley, "so I thought the time was right to do an homage to her.
"She's such a part of the history of CBS, and apart from that, she's this iconic figure of fashion involving big-name labels and photographers. It was almost a perfect storm; it just seemed like a great combination of factors."
Perrette also worked last year with the Watch! staff on what she recalls as "just a whirlwind week in Paris. All of us are so sentimental about it. We had such an amazing time, and for the same group to be together again ... we have a really good flow, everybody's on the same page, and we are definitely in love with what we're doing."
Having modeled before, Perrette reasons "it's the same thing as being an actor in a way. You get into the personality of the character, even if it's not a real person. Being able to get outside yourself and become someone else, that's also part of the game of a photo shoot."
Perrette's ties to New York have gotten tighter lately: With two friends, she has opened Donna Bell's Bake Shop, named for her late mother. Add that to such other activities as the Watch! shoot and Perrette's role last winter as CBS' backstage and online source on the Grammy Awards, and the impact of the longevity and success of "NCIS" on her life and career is evident.
"It's been coming for a while," she reflects as the show nears the start of its ninth season Sept. 20. "Definitely for the last few years, my life has been extraordinarily full. There's never a dull moment, and never a quiet one, really. I also do work for something like 30 charities (the American Red Cross and animal rescue efforts among them), so I'm always helping them.
"I've been doing my thing for a while, but the series just keeps getting bigger and bigger, and my character is so beloved around the world. For everyone out there who's in love with Abby, I'm one of them, too. She never ceases to fascinate me, and I'm forever curious about her. And the fact that I get to play her is a gift. I have such an amazing job." | http://www.mcall.com/news/zap-pauley-perrette-story,0,6549280.story | dclm-gs1-218740000 |
0.423259 | <urn:uuid:6f31d41c-5ad7-4185-b714-bd6c6840b4e3> | en | 0.979585 | Even armed resistance is futile
February 17, 2013
I have no problem with owning a gun to defend yourself or for sport shooting. However, the idea of individuals arming themselves to prevent oppression by the government is not rational.
In Wounded Knee, S.D., or Waco, Texas, resistance to government was unsuccessful.
On a larger scale, Native Americans attempted to defend the areas where they lived and their homes. They were unable to achieve that goal and the federal government relegated them reservations. They had guns. Timothy McVeigh and some civilian militias felt oppressed and the Oklahoma City bombing was a result. The Civil War was the Southern states' reaction to oppression and tyranny. They were unsuccessful. More than a million Americans died.
Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King Jr. and others have had more influence and success opposing oppression. They challenged government without guns. They used and affected change by the First, 14th, 15th and 19th Amendments. These also are within the parameters of the U.S. Constitution.
The ballot box is the rational way to prevent oppression in America.
Federal government will always have the superior weapon (gun). Americans who think that they can resist the government with guns has not thought about it seriously, unless they wish to be martyred.
Commenting FAQs | Terms of Service | http://www.modbee.com/2013/02/17/2583183/even-armed-resistance-is-futile.html | dclm-gs1-218900000 |
0.018688 | <urn:uuid:8abb28b3-241b-4817-a718-a31c62b170a3> | en | 0.957286 | This member has provided no bio about themself...
Review RSS Feed Black Mesa
5 Review
Mod Review on Oct 6th, 2012 - 14 people don't
It would be good but for some reason I can't extract the second file.
4 Review
Mod Review on May 25th, 2012 - 1 person agrees 2 people don't
So many things need to be fixed, mostly combat balance and weird game mechanics. You as the player are unusually frail in comparison to human enemies due to the lack of medkits and how little armor protects you, and how rare good armor is. Enemies in exoskeletons and skat-9 suits pop up really early, where you are stuck in a paper-thin stalker suit, at least in the beginning levels. You would think that enemy npcs would be worse equipped, and in worse health than you but enemies always seem to be very durable where I was always walking around with half health all the time because I didn't want to use one of my 4 medkits (I never had more than 7) I would like medkits to be looted more from enemy bodies so combat isn't quite so harsh. Small problems, zombies hurt you when you loot them???, small rats and hamsters take multiple rifle rounds, pseudogiants and bloodsuckers are too weak, snorks are too durable, pseudodogs are too hard to fight (it would be better if they made you unequipped your weapon rather then knocking it on the ground) controller fights need to take place where you have cover (not behind a friggin tree where you die from their psy effect when you take cover from their ranged attack) npcs like wolfhound take 30 bullets to the face to kill even with the classic wimps setting, npcs waste too much ammo, hipfire is too accurate so sights are kind of useless, some artifacts give you rads when not on your belt then you are given a case that gets rid of the rads so it was pointless to begin with, your vision is constantly shoddy due to all the screen shaking effects, armor degrades pretty fast, carry weight is too high, enemies get a weapon bashing attack but i dont?, that cave level is just terrible, it plays and looks like crap, Overall this mod basically introduces tons of cool stuff, with no real control over it all. Some real work and polish would make this mod stellar, where it is currently nigh unplayable.
10 Review
Mod Review on Sep 17th, 2011
No review provided
AMK: Sidorovich Edition
10 Review
Mod Review on Sep 14th, 2011
Improves upon the game greatly without being intrusive.
10 Review
Mod Review on Sep 4th, 2011
Makes the game alot more easy to manage, and balances out the skills and augs.
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0.062975 | <urn:uuid:3dac027b-8a1e-468b-a625-9a30215223c6> | en | 0.941682 | Dealing with Doubt
Are there different types of doubt, or do all doubtful thoughts and feeling come from the same source? Does every doubt respond to the same assurance? What steps does God give us in the Bible to help us deal with emotional types of doubts? Dr. Ankerberg's guest, Dr. Gary Habermas answers these and many other questions about doubts in a Christian's life. | http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/ankerberg-minute/listen/science-and-god-122499.html | dclm-gs1-219160000 |
0.031052 | <urn:uuid:3fc1a73f-7cf3-470f-9d53-f4f2038548e7> | en | 0.985119 | Sign up for our newsletters!
Portia de Rossi
Photo: Getty Images
After the disastrous commercial fitting, Portia says she began dieting with more determination than she ever had before. She also began exercising any chance she could get—including on the set of Ally McBeal
Watch Portia talk about her extreme exercise.
At the height of Ally McBeal's popularity, the show's female stars were the subject of "scary skinny" tabloid stories. However, Portia says there wasn't any pressure on the set to be thin. Since she "didn't know how to be a TV star," Portia says she looked around the set and saw that the other women were dieting, working out and hiring nutritionists. Portia followed suit...but with her own personal adjustments. She was only consuming 300 calories a day, and her weight dropped down to 82 pounds.
PAGE 6 of 11 | http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/The-Secret-That-Nearly-Killed-Portia-de-Rossi/6 | dclm-gs1-219180000 |
0.019544 | <urn:uuid:fae5ce54-dbd1-445e-a86d-0d46628ad018> | en | 0.970186 | Thank You, Mr. Darwin. Again.
I grew up in Texas in the 50s and 60s. Spent part of my childhood in Alabama. Which means I grew up among racists.
But then the Civil Rights movement came along.
For a lot of people, of course it made no difference. They held on to racism like it was a precious human right. (Woe to any black man who walked into our little white neighborhood church; the chill would have frozen him down to his bones.)
For most of us, what really changed was not racism, but the reputation of racism. At one point it was okay to be a racist. Hell, it was something to brag about. At some later point, it was not okay to be a racist.
But just because society changes, that doesn’t mean you do.
You weren’t forced to be a not-racist, but you could no longer be openly proud of it. Rather than show it off out in the light of day, you had to hide it away, do it in the darkness.
I was timid as hell when I was younger. If I ever write my autobiography, it will start with the sentence “I was born afraid.” I struggled most of my early life with being shy. Offered an award at a public event when I was in my 20s, I ran (literally) and hid rather than walk out in front of people and accept it.
So it wasn’t like I was driving through black neighborhoods at midnight, as one of my cousins did, honking the horn and shouting racial epithets. I never deliberately not-hired a black person, I never expected anyone to give me their seat on a bus. I never so much as frowned at a black person.
I mean, I saw the point. Intellectually, I knew racism was stupid. I knew it was counterproductive. I was wholly on board with the ideal of equality.
So given the new social atmosphere, I worked at being a not-racist. I worked at giving black people an equal place in line, equal consideration. I drove the racist thoughts out of my conscious mind. I honestly wanted them to not be there.
But in that deep part of me, they were still there. Because I was trying to be fair to Them. Those people. I still separated Them out from Us.
I worked at fairness in my actions, but I still had a problem in my thoughts. I avoided Them. I kept conversations with Them casual and light. I sometimes embarrassed myself by doing that Nervous White Guy thing, talking too fast, laughing too much, when talking to Them. With no handbook, no intelligent advice, I was like a boy at his first dance, stumbling over my own feet while trying to catch the beat.
It went on like that for a couple more decades. Until the day I started to think deeply about an entirely different subject: Evolution. About what it really meant.
One of the lessons I took from evolution was the lesson of similarity, of relatedness. Casting about for a clearer understanding, I started to compare body parts among humans and animals, thinking about the traits we had in common. We share things like wrists and eyes, hips and ankles and inner ears. In some cases, there’s no appreciable difference.
Squinting back along the branches of our family tree one day, something flipped in my head and I suddenly understood that we humans are not all that human.
My wrist is not a human wrist, it’s a beastly wrist, a structure so common it’s shared, with minor topological variations, by squirrels and bears. My eyes are not human eyes, they’re just the late, local expression of structures a half billion years or so old, so common today that even cheetahs and chickens have them. Watching a squirrel or gerbil sit upright and hold a bit of food in nimble little fingers, I see my own fingers, scaled down but undeniably … fingers.
It turns out that very darned little of us is distinctly human. The part we most identify with might be our one little twig on the Tree of Life, but that short twig is not the whole of us. To see our entire selves, you have to trace connections rootward, and include every part of the Tree below us.
You can’t just notice the tiny one-twig difference and say “This is us.” You have to look at our entire lineage, and the attributes we gained at each stage. Reverse the film of evolution and the Tree of Life unbranches, sinks into itself so that we flow into countless other animals, and they into us. Looked at from this viewpoint, the lesson of evolution is not difference, but sameness. Connectedness.
Rather than some unique creature separated by a distinct wall from everything else alive, we’re a foggy smidgen in a single cloud of life. There is no wall of separation. Chimpanzees are us. Dogs are us. Everything alive is us.
Yes, yes, yes, there’s difference. Plenty of it. And we focus on it, always, in an attempt to define ourselves, to find within us our own value and individuality. But there’s even more sameness, vast amounts of it. The entire world of critters enfolds and includes us.
Some time after this lesson of evolutionary connectedness sank home, I was surprised to discover that something interesting had happened to my racism: Some large part of it (all of it? I hope so) had drained away while I wasn’t looking.
Because it was the right thing to do, I had worked hard at being a not-racist. But I had failed.
But now, one day, when I looked at Them I saw us.
I was standing in line at a grocery store on that day, and there was a “black” man standing next to me. I reached down into myself, as I often do, to inspect my feelings, and I was surprised to notice that the fear was gone. This was just some guy, a neighbor, a fellow human thrown into my company by accident in a supermarket checkout line. His eyes met mine momentarily, brown eyes to blue, human eyes, and we both smiled easily.
Son of a bitch. I don’t know if I can even describe how … different … it felt. It felt comfortable, free, even sort of fun.
But, as I realized later, it was accompanied by a counterpoint feeling, a deep annoyance that I had had to have this other stupid, stupid thing in my head for so many years. It was the thing you’d feel if you were suddenly released from chains after a lifetime of wearing them. You’d rejoice in being free, but you’d also wonder “Why the hell did I have to wear those goddam chains all those years??”
My slow-coming understanding of the relatedness of life had compressed my racial awareness, my sense of racial difference, into nothing. Without my even noticing it. I didn’t have to fight anymore to be a not-racist.
There are no such things as races. We humans are all humans, upright mammals with a shared ocean of genetic attributes, with identical feelings and senses of self.
Once you understand you have family connections to horses and dogs and bears and rats, the difference between yourself and other humans is squashed down to trivial-verging-on-nonexistent.
All these “races” we see around us, they’re not Them. They’re Us.
We’re all just kids in one small neighborhood of the larger world of life.
[And like so many things about the real world, this is something I could never have learned in church.]
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About Hank Fox
• http://nwrickert.wordpress.com/ Neil Rickert
Yes, exactly right.
Unfortunately, there are too many Americans who don’t see it that way.
• P Smith
As the saying goes, all humans are Africans. The only reason to deny that all people are related is promote hatred against people for arbitrary reasons, to falsely claim “superiority”. But in reality, the only way to put oneself “higher” is to put others down – no group is “superior”, they only subjugate others.
The biggest problem is that everyone is a bigot. It’s ingrained in the thought process of ethnicities, societies, religions, militaries, the wealthy and countries that they are somehow “better”. And for no good reason.
Even if you can’t get the bigotry out of your own head, ask yourself how you treat the “other” group:
- If you treat them worse than your own, you’re a bigot.
- If you treat them better than your own, you’re being condescending.
- If you treat them the same as your own, you’re doing it right. And eventually you’ll realize they are the same as you.
“The only ‘n****r’ is in the mind of the bigot.”
- Dick Gregory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Gregory)
• Ibis3, féministe avec un titre française de fantaisie
Great essay. Whenever I think about this connectedness and relationship between all of us living beasts (& plants etc.) on the planet both living and extinct, I get giddy and bursting with exuberance. Just as good as my best religious experiences ever were.*
If you haven’t read it yet, The Ancestor’s Tale by Richard Dawkins, does exactly what you describe: going back through time down each fork of the tree where we meet up with all of our cousins. Very cool.
*my religion was pantheistic Paganism, so I was always kind of in this camp, I just didn’t have an evidence-based knowledge of it.
• http://zenoferox.blogspot.com/ Zeno
I have heard it argued quite seriously that laws against discrimination do no good because people retain their bigotry deep inside. To a degree, I’m sure that some people do this. However, it’s a big, big step in the right direction to impose social sanction on racism, driving it out of the public square and into the dark recesses of the minds of those who refuse to let go. As long as the unregenerate bigots feel that they must hide their racism (except perhaps at Councils of Conservative Citizens meetings in the South or some of the less disciplined tea party rallies), young people are protected from its manifestations and began to regard it as unacceptable and weird.
• Lucette
Thank you for this great story. Next step: Become anti-racist rather than just non-racist. I like the way you transformed yourself under such difficult conditions.
• Lisa
Elegant and brave post. Thank you so much for writing.
• Paul
Awesome post. Coming from an area which is almost entirely populated by white people, I think, regrettably, I still share that “them and us” thing the old you had. It’s not even that I was brought up in any kind of racist way, its just that a seeing a black face around here is something of a rarity, I guess (I have no idea why this should be so). Intellectually, I know humans are humans are humans, but I’m aware of having to to fight feelings of difference to (but not fear of, weirdly) “them”. Maybe I should move to a city, increase my exposure.
Also, the filter at work blocks this article as “offensive and tasteless”, which is a bit rich, considering.
• The Lorax
Absolutely beautiful. Very well done.
• http://itsmyworldcanthasnotyours.blogspot.com WMDKitty
Huh. I came to the same conclusion while tripping on Salvia — We are all One.
• had3
was that pavlovian?
• had3
damn my dyslexia!
• Pingback: Pure Race | Wyrd Writing
• pahapillon
Crommunist just sent me here. Beautiful and very insightful! Thanks for sharing this.
• doodlespook
I just came here from Crommunist Manifesto, too. Excellent post!
I’ve often thought that this revelation was the frightening and controversial part of “On the Origin of Species”. The very idea that our differences are microscopic compared to our similarities; not just to one another, but to ALL living things was earth shattering. Mind blowing. Enlightening. And therefore, to be feared and rejected…
• AtheistPilgrim
Sent from Crommunist too! Excellent essay – thank you!
• Luke Morningstar
Great article Hank! Did you run across Georges Cuvier and the invention of the 4 (sometimes 5) “races of man”? It all started with his work.
“(all of it? I hope so)”
Hang onto that hope, but never let yourself believe that you have. The worse thing white men like us can do is to pretend that we are divested of our racism. Become “colorblind” or ignore that while rationally race does not exist, it does exist because humans operate on subjective reality and for over 200 years our culture has said it exists.
There is a difference between bigotry and racism. Racism is a political inequality based on race. Bigotry is enjoying it. I’m glad there are less bigots in the world.
Thanks for sharing your enlightenment. | http://www.patheos.com/blogs/acitizenofearth/2011/09/thank-you-mr-darwin-again/ | dclm-gs1-219250000 |
0.14093 | <urn:uuid:ff97aac4-ce13-45cf-a8fa-c9ccd9b9e9d4> | en | 0.980717 | Eric Schmidt, chief executive officer of Google, sat in the hot seat at the keynote session for the Web 2.0 Summit on Tuesday. He was asked to explain moves such as the YouTube acquisition, the company's employment strategy, and their "office suite," which he does not like to call an office suite.
John Batelle, founder and chairman of Federated Media Publishing and author of "The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture," got the rare privilege of being able to ask Schmidt whatever he wanted for a little over 30 minutes.
"So why did you buy YouTube? Was Google Video not doing well?" Batelle asked.
Related StoryRead our review of the Google Docs & Spreadsheets app.
"Because we liked them," Schmidt said. "Actually Google Video was doing extraordinarily well. It was growing fast but we went over and visited the YouTube group and their business was growing even faster and so we wanted to be a part of that."
Schmidt admitted that even though YouTube has the right idea in terms of socially networking video, Google has the golden ticket for driving traffic.
When Batelle complimented Schmidt on the company's office suite, including Google Docs and Spreadsheets, Schmidt took issue with the "office suite" moniker.
Schmidt was further questioned about the company's focus on radio, newspapers, and wikis.
"The company may appear to be chaotic but it is actually very, very coherent," he said.
He also discussed the company's challenge to the Patriot Act, an appropriate topic for voting day.
"We will do whatever it takes to follow both the law and the principles," Schmidt said. "We have a system of law and we won't win everything but we're going to try very hard and we will follow the decision of a federal judge. There is clearly going to be somebody who tests the limits of the Patriot Act and its an important constitutional issue. If we don't like it, we can replace the people that have made those laws."
The Web 2.0 Summit began on Tuesday and runs through Thursday in San Francisco. | http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2054941,00.asp | dclm-gs1-219260000 |
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Re^5: Stop a .exe
by BrowserUk (Pope)
on Aug 22, 2012 at 01:15 UTC ( #988919=note: print w/ replies, xml ) Need Help??
in reply to Re^4: Stop a .exe
in thread Stop a .exe
I think I've managed to re-create the situation you are seeing. I believe you are suffering from buffering.
Please try the following code and report your results. This isn't intended as a complete solution, but rather a diagnostic to understand your problem.
#! perl -slw use strict; use Win32::Socketpair qw[ winopen2 ]; ## Run the command and get a bi-direction pipe to it. my( $pid, $pipe ) = winopen2( 'RunMe.exe', $ARGV[0 ] // 10 ); ## preload the childs input buffer with the answer to the prompt; print $pipe "\n"; ## give the kid a chance to say whatever it has to say sleep 2; ## a nonblocking read to grab whatever has made it through the buffers ## which if the kid produced less output than the size of its output b +uffer ## and didn't flush them, may be nothing at all my $results = ''; sysread( $pipe, $results, 65536, length $results ); close $pipe; print for split "\n", $results; ## May produce no output
In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.
The start of some sanity?
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RE: RE: OK, understood, but still 1 *huge* flaw
by Fastolfe (Vicar)
on Nov 01, 2000 at 23:57 UTC ( #39468=note: print w/ replies, xml ) Need Help??
in reply to RE: OK, understood, but still 1 *huge* flaw
in thread Spooky math problem
I don't care what the theory is. I may not understand it, in which case my changes to the code are non-sensical, but they basically boil down to this:
$num1 = rand(1000); $num2 = rand(1000); # pretend $num2 != $num1 $guess = rand($num1 * 2);
Are we asserting that $num2 > $guess more than 50% of the time?
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Keep It Simple, Stupid
Not an array reference Twitter API
by neelakash21 (Initiate)
on Sep 12, 2012 at 21:01 UTC ( #993315=perlquestion: print w/ replies, xml ) Need Help??
neelakash21 has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:
use Net::Twitter; use Scalar::Util 'blessed'; use Net::Twitter::Search; # When no authentication is required: my $nt = Net::Twitter->new(legacy => 0); $consumer_key = "x"; $consumer_secret = "y"; $token = "z"; $token_secret = "w"; # As of 13-Aug-2010, Twitter requires OAuth for authenticated requests my $nt = Net::Twitter->new( traits => [qw/OAuth API::REST/], consumer_key => $consumer_key, consumer_secret => $consumer_secret, access_token => $token, access_token_secret => $token_secret, ); my $twitter = Net::Twitter::Search->new(); my $results = $twitter->search('smoking'); foreach my $tweet (@{$results}) { my $speaker = $tweet->{from_user}; my $text = $tweet->{text}; my $time = $tweet->{created_at}; print "$time <$speaker> $text\n"; } }
I am new to perl. I am getting an error "Not an ARRAY reference at line #" for the above code. Can anyone please help me with this problem?
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Re: Not an array reference Twitter API
by tobyink (Abbot) on Sep 12, 2012 at 21:14 UTC
$results isn't a reference to an array, so you can't loop through it. According to the Net::Twitter documentation, it's a reference to a hash. This hash has a key "results", the value of which is an array ref, so you can loop through it.
You probably want something like...
foreach my $tweet ( @{$results->{results}} ) { printf( "%s <%s> %s\n", $tweet->{created_at}, $tweet->{from_user}, $tweet->{text}, ); }
Thanks for pointing it out. Your code works perfectly.
Re: Not an array reference Twitter API
by Voronich (Hermit) on Sep 13, 2012 at 14:32 UTC
As an aside, you're going to want to edit that post so that your key information isn't showing. I'd recommend replacing them with Xs or something.
Thanks! I don't know how I forgot to mask that information! I have fixed it now.
hi this code return to me 15 tweets on one day by hashtag i want to have all tweets by week pleaase help me
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Comment on
Yeah! I have a mnemonic for remembering how to spell that word and a bunch of other difficult ones. It goes like this: Don't F^%&^&%&^ bother! :)
The only reason English persists with its ludicrous, illogical and inconsistant spelling, is because there are a bunch of fuddy duddies that believe that simplifying and regularising its spelling would somehow steal its power to captivate and move us.
Personally, I put that right up there along side the beliefs and superstitions of some old time native cultures & religions that thought someone taking their photograph would steal their souls.
Many other languages, including Dutch, German, Scandanavian have taken the step of regularising their spellings over the last 30 years, and the ongoing benefits to their younger generations education standards are manifest.
In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.
In reply to Re^13: Best practice or cargo cult? by BrowserUk
in thread Best practice or cargo cult? by robinbowes
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0.089972 | <urn:uuid:de39c134-5f71-45e0-8211-a7d7bc0de270> | en | 0.783917 |
More like this: jelly shots, cocktails and pony party.
Treats w/ Alcohol
Birthday Cake Martini 1.5 ounces vanilla vodka 1.5 ounces cranberry juice 1/2 ounce champagne Rim glass with Sprinkles. Combine vodka and cranberry juice in an ice shaker, half-filled with ice cubes. Shake well. Strain into glass. Top with Champagne. Drop in cherry. Enjoy!
My Little Pony Party for Grown ups! Just click the image and it will take you to the original post with some great drink ideas! #MLP #FIM
Given a black light, some tonic, some gin or vodka, and pink lemonade concentrate, you can mix a cocktail that looks like the aurora borealis
Moaning Myrtle Martini and A Number of Other Harry Potter Themed Cocktails.
Harry Potter drinks for a Harry Potter themed party. | http://www.pinterest.com/innocentwsh/treats-w-alcohol/ | dclm-gs1-219410000 |
0.361171 | <urn:uuid:27ca2da0-c582-4429-95ee-11287beddb3e> | en | 0.95882 | Product Reviews
5 (80% helpful)
Page 1 of 0
1. 100% better than twilight
it takes the books as a guide line and manages to take it to a whole new level, with more twists and turns more depth to the characters and more action. I have been fascinated vampires since I was 5 years old and when the twilight film came out and the big frenzy around it. I thought it let the vampire world down, and now everyone compares all new vampire things to 'The Twilight Saga' when most of them are better as twilight should hardly be classed as a vampire film its more like a romance novel with a tiny bit of action!
Where as the vampire diaries has the romance aspect like Buffy did but keeps it as a vampire/ sci-fi program. I personally think it is one of the best vampire things in a long time. | http://www.play.com/HOME/HOME/6-/UserReviews.html?rn=636131&edtm=0 | dclm-gs1-219420000 |
0.079132 | <urn:uuid:367afe16-7c3b-4977-82c8-c48d4738c766> | en | 0.971319 | Eating Right for Sleep
by Patti Teel
Food has a huge impact on a child's well-being. It can energize, increase hyperactivity or induce fatigue. Just as a lack of sleep can jumble a child's thinking or cause learning problems, so can an inadequate diet. Each child is a unique individual, and it's unreasonable to think that "one size fits all" diet advice is realistic.
Children seem to be born not only with an emotional temperament but with a food temperament. For instance, my son has always had a particular suspicion and aversion to any food that is green; however, he doesn't care much for sweets. In direct contrast, my youngest daughter has always loved vegetables and from the time she was a toddler, her favorite food was broccoli. Unfortunately, she also inherited my sweet tooth.
Diet is critical for children's health and everything that we eat affects us. However, it affects each of us a little differently, depending on our individual makeup and metabolism. For instance, some children are highly sensitive to sugar and any form of sweets in their diet. For them, sugar consumption can aggravate many problems such as hyperactivity, anxiety, nervousness, irritability, and poor concentration-all of which can lead to sleep difficulties.
We all know that children are healthier and sleep better if they eat a healthy diet containing a variety of foods from all the food groups. Unfortunately, some children can be incredibly picky. I don't think it's a good idea to cater to a child's every whim or to battle over food. Fill your house with healthy foods and snacks and don't get in the habit of buying junk food. That way, when your children are hungry, they will have no choice but to eat healthy and nutritious foods.
In addition, children are much more likely to be interested in eating meals that they have helped plan and prepare. Buy a healthy children's cookbook and have fun planning and preparing nutritious meals and snacks together.
Healthy Tips:
• Eat a variety of foods from all of the food groups.
• Drink a lot of water during the day; even slight dehydration can cause feelings of anxiety.
• Make sure your child gets enough calcium; it enhances the synthesis of serotonin, the chemical that induces feelings of well-being. Low levels of calcium can cause irritability and nervousness. Food sources include milk, yogurt, cheese, broccoli, sunflower seeds, carob and spinach.
• Eat organic foods as much as possible. (Many food additives can also be detrimental to sleep.)
• Eat more complex carbohydrates, rather than processed carbs. (Include raw fruits and vegetables.)
• Don't use sugary treats as a reward or to console a child when he or she is upset.
To Ensure a Good Nights Sleep
What you eat and when you eat can affect how you sleep. In the following section, I'll review the foods and bedtime snacks that are likely to help your child sleep and identify the foods that should be avoided. | http://www.pregnancy.org/article/eating-right-sleep | dclm-gs1-219460000 |
0.390225 | <urn:uuid:fcb1f512-1aac-4f5e-b039-ae69b2eb1dad> | en | 0.958894 | An Atheist Manifesto by Sam Harris
An Atheist Manifesto by Sam Harris Sam Harris argues against irrational faith and its adherents Originally posted in Truthdig.
The same statistics also suggest that this girl’s parents believe -- at this very moment -- that an all-powerful and all-loving God is watching over them and their family. Are they right to believe this? Is it good that they believe this?
It is worth noting that no one ever need identify himself as a non-astrologer or a non-alchemist. Consequently, we do not have words for people who deny the validity of these pseudo-disciplines. Likewise, “atheism” is a term that should not even exist. Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make when in the presence of religious dogma. The atheist is merely a person who believes that the 260 million Americans (eighty-seven percent of the population) who claim to “never doubt the existence of God” should be obliged to present evidence for his existence -- and, indeed, for his benevolence, given the relentless destruction of innocent human beings we witness in the world each day. Only the atheist appreciates just how uncanny our situation is: most of us believe in a God that is every bit as specious as the gods of Mount Olympus; no person, whatever his or her qualifications, can seek public office in the United States without pretending to be certain that such a God exists; and much of what passes for public policy in our country conforms to religious taboos and superstitions appropriate to a medieval theocracy. Our circumstance is abject, indefensible, and terrifying. It would be hilarious if the stakes were not so high.
We live in a world of unimaginable surprises--from the fusion energy that lights the sun to the genetic and evolutionary consequences of this lights dancing for eons upon the Earth--and yet Paradise conforms to our most superficial concerns with all the fidelity of a Caribbean cruise. This is wondrously strange. If one didn’t know better, one would think that man, in his fear of losing all that he loves, had created heaven, along with its gatekeeper God, in his own image.
The Nature of Belief
Faith and the Good Society
Religion as a Source of Violence
Why is religion such a potent source of human violence?
• Religious faith is a conversation-stopper. Religion is only area of our discourse in which people are systematically protected from the demand to give evidence in defense of their strongly held beliefs. And yet these beliefs often determine what they live for, what they will die for, and--all too often--what they will kill for. This is a problem, because when the stakes are high, human beings have a simple choice between conversation and violence. Only a fundamental willingness to be reasonable--to have our beliefs about the world revised by new evidence and new arguments--can guarantee that we will keep talking to one another. Certainty without evidence is necessarily divisive and dehumanizing. While there is no guarantee that rational people will always agree, the irrational are certain to be divided by their dogmas.
The idea that the value of
The idea that the value of human life is equal to a chemical process, or in some words is meaningless, in accordance to the evolutionary model is not an invalid perspective for an atheist, but it is a highly unlikely one for any human being, theist or atheist.
Not everyone needs to believe in god to assign value to life, or to give life meaning, which I think is what you are really getting at. People have the intrinsic freedom to value human life and give it meaning based upon any and every mode of rationality, reason, belief, or experience available to them in life. However, to quantify atheism as a religion in terms of following the evolutionary model in the same way that Christianity or Islam would follow the bible or the koran would be very incorrect and unobservant. Atheism is only the disbelief of a god or gods. There is no code or set of rules that an atheist or anti-theist subscribes to by embracing said labels. You are simply observing a trend that many atheists and anti-theists embrace the evolutionary model as a truth as the theory is based upon scientific observation. Darwin noticed a trend too, in nature.
That said, to assign life meaning based upon the doctrine of any religion, be it Christian, Mormon, Islam, Hindu, whatever is simply a choice based more upon geography than anything else. Anyone can choose to identify with and indoctrinate themself into any set of beliefs and practices; however, what makes one set of beliefs, one religion, true over another. Does one "feel" more right? If that is the case, you are simply relying upon intuition which is guided by your personal development in whatever society and culture you were born into. In other words, that is environment, the choice of religion boils down to geography. At least, that is the way one might rationalize the choice of religion, which is what being an athiest or anti-theist is about.
One last point to make before I hit the hay. An atheist or anti-theist doesn't pretend to have the answers about much of life, the universe, the human conscious, but they absolute do not wish to delude themselves either. Life is utterly confusing, ridiculously complex, and ultimately a struggle, and the only thing that makes sense is to try to reason your way through it all, that's a personal motto.
Fallacy of Inheritance
Jason Cardwell wrote:
If I believed that a little girl were a random accumulation of chemicals and chemical processes, I would not believe that anything that happened to her (or myself, for that matter) had any inherent significance (though it would certainly have significance for certain people, the victim included...this is not the same thing as having inherent significance.
To my thinking, it's the notion of inherent significance that's to blame here. Forget about it! There is no inherent significance, and yet we get by marvelously. How? By being the creators of significance! What does the word itself mean really? It means to pick out through signification? And what is signification but the application of signs? And who makes these signs? US! We decide by habit, teachings and logic what is significant in our lives. That's just how it works. That's why education is important, it is the imparting of symbols and significance, allowing our minds to take on new forms at the most influential times. To verify these claims through common sense is a trivial task, and yet still we feel the need for some inherent significance, some realm of pure truth, which by its very nature (an impossible one) must be held ontologically seperate! I understand the lure of such a realm, but it must surely be revealed as fantasy.
Once you abandon the notion of an inherent significance to events, you are freed to determine their significance in the very way you've been doing it all along, by having a human brain. So how can we be atheists and still declare events to have weight and significance, even unto the tragic? Simple, by being what we are. There simply is no point in denying it.
It seems that none of you "atheists" really agree on much of anything, and you have a great way of trying to make anyone who disagrees with any of your disagreeing thoughts out to be some stupid moron. If you believe in the theory of evolution, then by definition you are "people of faith" just a different direction of faith than the "creationists." If you believe in a code of ethics and morals then you are "people of faith" because you 'believe' in something. Where does a complete unbelief break down? Oh, so you don't believe in a higher power, or in a 'god.' Thats your right, you can believe whatever you want, but that does not make everyone who does not agree with you an ignorant, uneducated, non-thinking moron. You believe one way, others believe another way. Some just have enough "guts" to spread their beleifs everywhere they go.
Am I missing something?
Let me get this straight... since we believe in evolution we have no concept of what constitutes an atrocity? So if we are descendants of apes then all we can do is just act like apes with no concept of right and wrong?
That may be your take on it and it defies logic. If you can't be responsible for your own sense of right and wrong then you are indeed misinformed and brainwashed. I feel sorry for you. When you opened by saying you watched Fox news I automatically downgraded your IQ.
I am having a very hard time respecting your view after you come up with that load of crap. I can tell already that even in the 21st century we still have warped thinking like that to deal with.
Perhaps if i was a believer then I would accept that child abuse is part of the path to God? Or some kind of "God works in mysterious ways" b.s.?
I am not missing anything. People such as yourself help provide the clarity.
butterbattle's picture
Okay, I'll waste some
Okay, I'll waste some time.
common sense wrote:
Why should we agree on everything?
An atheist is simply a person that doesn't believe in God. Two people that don't believe in God, but disagree on everything else, will still both be atheists.
We're defining "faith" as belief without evidence. I accept evolution because I believe it is supported by the evidence. Ergo, I do not have faith in evolution.
You're using a different definition of the word. You're implying that faith is synonymous with belief; I define it as consciously believing without evidence.
I agree. There are intelligent, educated, and thoughtful people with all kinds of different beliefs.
Fact-based Atheist Manifesto
A Fact-Based Atheist Manifesto would look quite different from Sam Harris' version. Refusing to "pretend to be certain about propositions for which no evidence is even conceivable," it would not claim that either science or reason supported the atheist position . It would acknowledge that religious commitment is associated with greater mental and physical health as well as with greater life satisfaction. It would recognize that "The Horrors of History" such as slavery tended to be promoted by worldly "progressive" men and opposed by those unusually involved in their religion. It would not claim that the existence of suffering logically refutes the existence of God. And realistic atheists who wished to do something about the ills of the world or the country (such as grotesquely unequal salaries) would try to enlist Christians as allies rather than falsely blaming them.DrewAtheists and Christians
BobSpence's picture
Drew S wrote: A Fact-Based
Drew S wrote:
Every child born with serious defects, which is around 1 to 2% of life births, is an strike against the proposition that there is a 'loving' God with absolute power and control over reality.
The failure of the Bible to condemn slavery, rape and torture is an indictment against the 'morality' of that document. Those religious people who opposed slavery transcended the dogmas of their religion - especially in earlier times when there were more mysteries that reason could not explain, and atheism was more violently opposed, most people simply followed the conventions of the society. Those who had more empathy, and were not troubled by any compulsion to agonize over the rationality of belief, would naturally be drawn to the more compassionate traditions of religion.
Especially within nations with high levels of poverty, belief may well offset some of the stress that imposes. However surveys also show that nations with more secular cultures tend to have higher levels of mental and physical health.
The growing complexity of our society demands we base our actions on reason and evidence, and religious dogma violates both those principles, endorsing the idea that actions do not need rational justification if they can be supported by some quote from scripture.
replies needed
why an atheist manifesto? why not an agnostic manifesto? i understand that all theism is human nature and does not stand for any inherent truth, but what makes you so certain of theistic truth? i admire your goals and ends but i think it might come off as a little offensive to most at first glance to see rationalism pre-labelled "atheist." to believe in the opposite or even lack thereof of something is to believe in that something--at least as a base or perhaps even a core. i don't espouse either, but i believe 'agnostic' rather than 'atheist' to be a more appropriate label for a rationalist manifesto.
please reply, i am very curious to see the atheist position defended in this light.
The Physical Reality
The two options for reality are: The Physical Reality and the metaphysical reality or the reality defined by matter and that one defined by "spiriual things" or something like that. The Physical Reality is where matter has existence and metaphysical reality is where no material things exists, thing like spirits, ideas, angels, gods, souls, devils, demons, deaths and all that sort of things that aren't matter and can't be commanded at will but appear random according to witnesses.
According to Plato the perfect reality was the metaphysical reality because over there the non material things were absolutely perfect unlike the material things that always lack perfection. He was so drunken with this idea that he invented a supreme being, the creator of everything that wasn't created because it was "the necessary being." This es evidently BS, why the logic is fouled just to accommodate his idea; logically we don't need such an entity, we can by pass it with an even logical argument and say: the universe is eternal and infinite and so doesn't need a creator and this is more valid that Plato's assertion. So, there is no metaphysical reality only Physical Reality, the ideas after all are created my matter inside our brain as force vectors from electric field and the so called metaphysical events are just abstract products of the matter inside the brain. the metaphysical reality doesn't exist.
An eternal and infinite Universe that has always existed that have not begining and won't have end is the perfect solution, but it isn't our universe, this a is only one among an infinite number of them in all states of evolution from Big Bang to Big Crunch (disappear ), the energy is recycled and this process is endless.
What about life on earth? That isn't a mistery life is just a physical-chemical process at nano level that doens't need a creator of the universe to start, it happens once the right environmental physical-chemistry conditions are achieved in any place across and along the eternal and infinite Universe. Evolution is a process that occurs all over the Universe as Richard Feymann proves, with his Electrodynamics Science he demostrates that photons or Quantas of energy are the raw material to produce fundamental parrticles that evolve into elemental particles and this into atoms along with a lot of other particles in each step of the process,
The myth of god and its metaphysical reality is over. No body needs a god IF no children is poisoned with such a lie since is in the womb. In the extinct USSR the god concept was vanished from the social environment and no adult ever asked for it.
Problem of Suffering; evidence and reason; miss religion?
I. Birth defects prove there is no God—The "Problem of Suffering" is addressed on my website .Go to Common Objections To Christianity and then to Does suffering disprove Christianity? Briefly:The argument that the existence of suffering precludes the existence of God is not a logical argument at all but rather an emotional one. It rests upon the proposition that, if we knew infinitely more than we do now and could handle information infinitely more complex than we can at present, we would still see things exactly the same way. That might not be true, because psychological research indicates that we do not do well with complex information. As Biologist J. B. S. Haldane put it, "My own suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose." It should not be surprising that we cannot understand the ways of the Creator of that universe. In any case, replying "I don't know" to the problem of suffering is no more devastating for Christians than it is devastating to an atheist to reply "I don't know" when asked to explain the origin of some natural phenomenon, or of the universe itself. The Biblical answer to the question "why do people suffer?" is this: "We don't know, but what can we do to help?” [See Job; Luke 13:1-5; John 9:2-3] What Christianity teaches about suffering is basically five things:· Help those who suffer.· We encounter Christ Himself when we encounter those in need.· Don't inflict suffering on other people.· Don't blame the victims of suffering.· Evil and death will not triumph in the end.The Christian viewpoint provides some comfort for those suffering, and some reason for others to try to help them. I haven't seen any evidence that people suffer less or help more if this view is abandoned. Are Christians more likely to help those in need? Some data suggest they might be, and that within a congregation those who are the most involved give more.Norazayan, A. & Shariff, A. F. (2008). The origin and evolution of religiousprosociality. Science, 322, 58-62.Spilka, B., .Hood, R. W., Hunsberger, B., &Gorsuch, R. (2003). The psychology of religion, an empirical approach. Guilford, New York. p 429. II. Must rely solely on empirical evidence and reason—You can't. See above website, subsections:It's not an act of intellectual courage to pretend that you're relying solely on evidence and logic when you are not, and you choose less wisely when you don't realize when you go beyond them.III. In the old USSR, no one adult ever missed faith…. Say what? People died for their faith, endured stunted careers for their faith, and once the USSR crumbled huge numbers of people began going to church. Also, those with no religious involvement are more likely than church goers to believe in ghosts, flying saucers, Big Feet, and any number of similar things (Gallop Poll, October 8, 2008, I think). Sounds like they may be missing something, even if they don't know what it is.
About Israel. Why are you
About Israel. Why are you going to politicize your view? Who cares about Israel's belief that God gave them that land. If we're going to talk politics, then it is the Islamic Fascists who are the cause of the problem, their untethered hate for the Jews--a historical hate. No atheist will earn my respect when he or she is so ignorant. If atheists look at what is obvious there should be no problem seeing who the aggressor is in that part of the world. I am agnostic, having all the views of the atheist, but with reservations, and a questioning mind. Not about the god of the Bible. He never existed. I mean about other mysteries, like that of the universe and of what-or-who creator.
Vastet's picture
""I. Birth defects prove
Fail. The subjective view of some god is irrelevant to the subjective view of a human, or groups of humans. If it's bad for me, then it's bad. It doesn't matter at all if someone or something else finds it good, it remains bad for me. Period.
Proud Canadian, Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
Kirkaiya's picture
Jason Cardwell wrote:...I
Jason Cardwell wrote:
...I certainly believe that such an event would be an atrocity, but I believe that because I believe any little girl is created by God in His image and has been imbued by Him with value and significance. If I believed that a little girl were a random accumulation of chemicals and chemical processes, I would not believe that anything that happened to her (or myself, for that matter) had any inherent significance (though it would certainly have significance for certain people, the victim included...this is not the same thing as having inherent significance)
Responding to just your quote above (from 2007), and especially to the bolded part - I would ask you to consider a couple of questions.
First - if later in life, you lost your religion (however unlikely you think that is), do you think you would stop viewing the torture and rape of an innocent child as an atrocity? Do you think that the hundreds of millions of Buddhists who right now don't believe in any "creator deity" don't love their children, and would not be horrified by such torture and killing of a child?
Second - do you really only feel (and I do mean "feel", in the visceral sense) that raping and killing an innocent child is wrong only because the child was created by a god - and if you had been raised Buddhist, or non-religious, do you honestly think you would view in such a detached manner?
I think the answer to both of the above is likely to be "no". Morality does not spring from religion - if it did, then only the religious would have morals. But look at Japan. Japan is one of the least religious, most "athiest" societies on Earth, and yet has one of the lowest crime rates, and nearly the lowest rate of violent crime of any county. Your daughters would be - statistically speaking - far safer living among the atheists of Japan than among the devout Christians in Los Angeles, or the devout Muslims in Cairo.
It seems, to me, that you believe morality flows from religious belief. Most atheists probably believe the opposite is true: that most religions have simply attempted to codify morals that already existed. Bonobo monkeys (or any of the great apes) are clearly not Christian, or Muslim, or have anything we could call a religion. And yet they clearly have moral codes that include helping the injured, and in which society exacts a punishment for attacking innocent young. This is because intelligent species whose evolutionary advantage is largely that they cooperate in groups (such as monkeys, humans, and dolphines) have evolved traits like empathy, and taboos, like the killing of young members of the society. I am atheist, and I absolutely think that the torture or killing of a child is an atrocity. I don't require the idea of a god, or any other imaginary source of moral guidance, for me to know that it's wrong. And neither, I strongly suspect, do you.
~~ ô¿ô ~~
~~ Roaming the Real World ~~
Jason Cardwell wrote:Here at
Jason Cardwell wrote:
Here at the beginning of the essay, we have the abduction, rape, torture and murder of a little girl described as an "atrocity." I wonder, however, what can be the atheistic basis for such a judgment..
My personal opinion is that morality, right and wrong, are defined by society, not any god.
I'm not sure but I don't think the bible actually says rape is a sin, or wrong, but my society does.
That is why not all societies have the same exact morals, or rules. Seems rather obvious to me.
Vastet's picture
I'd go further and say
I'd go further and say morality comes from individuals. Societies adopt those morals which the vast majority agree with. But everyone has morals that others don't, so not every moral that humanity has ever created has been adopted by society. Some morals swing with generations. Many people who have been branded as sociopaths are merely people who have a different set of morals than those that the vast majority have at the time. They would probably have been well suited to the environment if they'd been born in a different century.
There's also the us and them dilemma. As long as you can remove a group of people from being us, your morality no longer works. I find it amusing when I hear someone say he or she'd love to nuke the middle east. You'd never hear them suggest nuking their home town. But it's effectively the same thing. Everyone over there is not so different from everyone over here. There are differences, but there's more similarities.
Proud Canadian, Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
jasons brain
now that we know you rely on the scriptures we can be sure that yes, your brain is missing, at least some part of it. If you believe the ridiculous you must expect ridicule ronald | http://www.rationalresponders.com/an_atheist_manifesto_by_sam_harris?page=1 | dclm-gs1-219510000 |
0.04299 | <urn:uuid:6a4ac176-babc-4966-8cf8-bf05396ffeca> | en | 0.94817 | fortysomething: “Mid-Life! The Crisis Musical,” at the Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse through November 7 Print
Theatre - Reviews
Written by Mike Schulz
Monday, 07 September 2009 06:00
Paul Gregory Nelson, Tom Walljasper, and Brad Hauskins in Mid-Life! The Crisis MusicalThe Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's latest is Mid-Life! The Crisis Musical, and it's pretty much exactly what you'd expect given the title and exclamation point in the title: a cheeky, kind of forced, kind of obvious song-and-dance revue that pokes gentle fun at memory and hair loss, adulterous urges, prostate exams, and other "wacky" perils of aging.
As you also might have expected, the show hasn't been designed for 40- and 50-year olds so much as 60-, 70-, and 80-year-olds who want to remember life as a 40- or 50-year-old. Despite gags involving Botox and STDs, Mid-Life! authors Bob and Jim Walton don't offer fresh comic insight for 21st-Century audiences, opting instead for the same jokey clichés on ticking biological clocks, menopause, and men who want to sleep with their kids' babysitters that have been old-hat at least since the era of Maude. Fifty may be the new 30, but here, it's still the old 50.
Yet like middle age itself (he said, speaking from experience), Circa '21's current outing still delivers its share of happy surprises. Directed and choreographed by Ann Nieman - whose 2008 Are We There Yet? followed the same presentational blueprint, and addressed several of the same issues - Mid-Life! doesn't really have depth. But it does allow its cast the chance to stretch some comedic and vocal muscle; the show's ensemble provides just enough shading for their caricatures to be relatively relatable. And with all due respect to the three-dimensional people doing their damnedest with two-dimensional roles, the production's most surprising element is literally one-dimensional: a center-stage video projection of an eye chart, which, on opening night, elicited laughs even before the show had properly begun.
Brad Hauskins and Carrie SaLoutos (foreground), and Tom Walljasper, Kathi Osborne, Paul Gregory Nelson, and Jessica Swersey in Mid-Life! The Crisis MusicalIn a lovely, inventive touch, Mid-Life! and its individual vignettes are preceded by the familiar image of an eye-test triangle, the letters on which shift around to spell words or phrases introducing the evening's themes. I don't recall any word earning a bigger cackle than the first one - "prostate," which is always comedic money in the bank - but you could feel the pleasurable hum in Friday's house as the mostly senior crowd collectively attempted to predict each new formation. ("Retirement" and "Geritol" were easily guessed, while "hot flash" and "classical menopause" weren't - I actually thought the latter's eye chart was going to spell "Cialis.") The projections made for a nicely lighthearted opening and welcome diversions every three to five minutes afterward, although there was still plenty of diversion to be found elsewhere, especially whenever Tom Walljasper was around.
Anyone who witnessed his glorious Captain Hook in Circa '21's recent Peter Pan - and it was your loss if you didn't - knows that Walljasper can be miraculous in richly drawn, outsize character roles. Here, though, the actor (again) proves that less sustaining roles don't have to result in a lesser degree of invention, as Walljasper's invigorating cleverness and intelligence continually transcend the one-joke limitations of his material. Mid-Life! finds him performing wonders as a hip-hop-influenced hubby and a Botox-injected sap (his frozen, scrunched expression suggests a shrunken apple head), and an early routine on "Father Tourette's" - in which Walljasper finds himself shouting "Don't make me tell your mother!" and "Your face will freeze like that!" against his will - would be pretty lame if not for the performer's dazzling physical and vocal transformations; it's throwaway skit as tour de force.
Kathi Osborne, Brad Hauskins, Jessica Swersey, Tom Walljasper, and Carrie SaLoutos in Mid-Life! The Crisis MusicalUnder the circumstances, Walljasper's work is less inspiring than heroic, and the gifted actors surrounding him are no less welcome. Brad Hauskins, who engenders more audience goodwill than perhaps any other frequent Circa '21 performer, delivers a particularly outstanding, hilarious solo bemoaning "My Lost Love," and Paul Gregory Nelson has terrific, goofy bits as a grinning TV huckster and a stoner slacker. Together with Walljasper, the men also make Mid-Life's "Weekend Warriors" segment its most consistently appealing. (Nelson, sporting a too-revealing half-shirt, earns bonus points for comic bravery.)
Carrie SaLoutos, a knockout with a radiant smile, comes through with divinely dynamic menopausal meltdowns, while Kathi Osborne exudes a fantastically earthy, seen-and-done-it-all presence graced with emotional texture and dry-comic wit. Mid-Life!'s only questionable bit of casting, in truth, lies with Jessica Swersey - not because this marvelous singer and game comedienne isn't talented, but because even with (too-)heavy eye makeup, her look and physicality clearly reveal that she's a good decade-plus too young for her roles. (Far more so than old age, middle age can't be easily faked.) She'd be perfect for the production if actuarial tables showed our median life expectancy to be 45.
Still, better to have a miscast Swersey than not to have her at all. With exceptional on-stage support provided by keyboardist (and musical director) Sarah Brett England and percussionist John Ladson II, this sextet significantly upgrades its rather retrograde script and unmemorable lyrics, and Nieman paces the vignettes with panache; there are random bum moments here, but no dull ones.
Brad Hauskins and Jessica Swersey in Mid-Life! The Crisis MusicalI do wish, however, that something could've been done about the penultimate number - "The Long Goodbye" - in which the lachrymose melancholy that had been mostly avoided is laid on with the heaviest of hands. After all the chortles generated by forgetfulness, failing health, and even mammograms (and believe it or not, the "Singing Mammogram" number is a legitimate riot), it feels mean of Mid-Life! The Crisis Musical to present, as its 11 o'clock number, a doleful ballad equating the care of one's elderly parents with the care of infants. (One verse involves a mother who, while at the mall, accidentally urinates on the floor of the Gap.) True or not, this sentiment is hardly a note on which audiences of any age will want to exit; instead of celebrating the vigor in life's middle years, you leave with the uncomfortable knowledge that the worst is yet to come.
For tickets and information, call (309)786-7733 extension 2, or visit | http://www.rcreader.com/theatre/fortysomething-mid-life-the-crisis-musical/print/ | dclm-gs1-219520000 |
0.032993 | <urn:uuid:74133459-ab90-4255-b2c4-f51670aafe58> | en | 0.971704 | Last updated on March 17, 2014 at 15:28 EDT
Thanks For The Memories
June 30, 2011
How easy is it to falsify memory? New research at the Weizmann Institute shows that a bit of social pressure may be all that is needed. The study reveals a unique pattern of brain activity when false memories are formed ““ one that hints at a surprising connection between our social selves and memory.
They were later invited back to the lab to retake the test while being scanned in a functional MRI (fMRI) that revealed their brain activity. This time, the subjects were also given a “lifeline”: the supposed answers of the others in their film viewing group (along with social-media-style photos). Planted among these were false answers to questions the volunteers had previously answered correctly and confidently. The participants conformed to the group on these “planted” responses, giving incorrect answers nearly 70% of the time.
But were they simply conforming to perceived social demands, or had their memory of the film actually undergone a change? To find out, the researchers invited the subjects back to the lab to take the memory test once again, telling them that the answers they had previously been fed were not those of their fellow film watchers, but random computer generations. Some of the responses reverted back to the original, correct ones, but close to half remained erroneous, implying that the subjects were relying on false memories implanted in the earlier session.
On the Net: | http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/2073094/thanks_for_the_memories/ | dclm-gs1-219600000 |
0.021 | <urn:uuid:3557392d-1513-4d9f-8aed-9ad433f463f3> | en | 0.905189 | Panasonic's SDIII Cameras Used at 2006 Olympic Winter Games
SDIII technology works for bright ski slopes, areas with troublesome lighting around venues, says Panasonic
Secaucus, NJ - Neither bright white ski slopes washed with strong sunlight nor the reflections of artificial lighting on exterior venues will be problematic for the video surveillance cameras watching over the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin, Italy. Panasonic is an official worldwide sponsor of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games and Panasonic System Solutions Company has provided more than 600 Super Dynamic III (SDIII) camera systems to monitor activity at the upcoming Olympic Winter Games.
The unique ability of these cameras to deliver clear images across a diverse range of lighting conditions assures security personnel that they will be able to clearly view all the action 24/7 during the course of the Olympic Games.
"The Panasonic SDIII cameras installed in Turin, Italy for the Olympic Games are unique because of their advanced intelligent capabilities. Their performance provides security officials with the ability to better monitor and track activities across almost any range of lighting," said Frank DeFina, President of Panasonic System Solutions Company of America (PSSA).
"The deployment of over 600 SDIII cameras will help provide an added degree of safety and security for the athletes and spectators attending this spectacular event."
Panasonic SDIII technology elevates dynamic range to 128x that of conventional cameras to capture unsurpassed image quality, even in harsh lighting conditions. Such conditions are typically experienced when outside sunlight and indoor light sources overlap - for example, when light filters through open doors, or in building lobbies with windows or glass doors - and outdoors in locations that go from daylight to the dark of night with bright headlights, reflections and street lights.
A double speed CCD with advanced Digital Signal Processing (DSP) achieves this by capturing the dark and bright portions of an image separately, and then recombining the two images into a single viewable image frame. The addition of advanced digital contrast correction further optimizes the composite image's gray scale for refined definition and balance.
SDIII's powerful intelligent processing also drives numerous unique DSP features such as Auto Back Focus, which continuously adjusts camera focus when switching from color to black-and-white operation and back again to color - automatically. This is achieved through an innovative mechanism that actually moves the position of the CCD within the camera to achieve the most accurate focus attainable in the given lighting - an industry first because the technology resides inside the camera, not in an external device.
Additional DSP advancements include Auto Image Stabilizer for camera deployment in areas that may be prone to wind and other sources of vibration; Scene Change Detection that sends an alarm when the camera's lens is obstructed or the camera angle changed without authorization; Auto Tracking to follow an individual's movements within the camera's field of view; wider bandwidth for improved resolution to 540 lines (color); 30x optical zoom (300x electronically), the highest in the industry; Adaptive Digital Noise Reduction to minimize image streaking when viewing moving images; and extreme low light sensitivity in color (0.5 lux) and BW (0.06 lux). It's a combination of performance features unique to Panasonic SDIII cameras.
This content continues onto the next page... | http://www.securityinfowatch.com/press_release/10559653/panasonics-sdiii-cameras-used-at-2006-olympic-winter-games | dclm-gs1-219660000 |
0.05983 | <urn:uuid:1d36d7b6-95fc-4e56-9bbb-f7c318196631> | en | 0.951995 | The Xbox One is more than a game console. That got it into some hot water when it first debuted at E3 2013. There were accusations that Microsoft had shoved games to the side in favour of media features and cable television integration - features that aren't even available outside of the US at launch.
Xbox One review
While this may have been true about that particular presentation, we've found that the Xbox One itself achieves an admirable balance of gaming and television features, while keeping the former at the forefront.
What's in the box?
Xbox One review
What a pile. An Xbox One purchase gets you the console and a Kinect, a power cable and adapter (aka the power brick), a decent headset, the headset adapter, an HDMI cable and controller with batteries. You'll also get a 14-day free trial of Xbox Live Gold.
Xbox One setup is more involved than on the PS4, but it's still not terribly complex. Along with power and HDMI, you'll also have to connect the Kinect through its proprietary cable.
If you plan to watch TV on the console (not available in Australia yet, sorry folks), you'll do so with an HDMI cable, through the system's HDMI-in port. You'll then need to run the OneGuide's setup, which isn't too complex. We'll get into that in the media portion of this review.
When you first switch the system on you'll be met with a setup wizard which will get you connected to the internet for that day one patch. It's around 2GB, and absolutely required before you can even get to the Home screen.
After that's done don't go unplugging your router just yet, at least if you want to play Blu-rays. Almost nothing is on the system by default, and while internet access is not required for single player gaming, there's a ton of functionality that still needs come down from the cloud.
Hop into the Store and get those downloads queued up. After that though, setup is complete. Now before we dive deep into the Xbox One, allow us to walk you through some of its big new functions.
Oh snap, the Xbox One's tiled Home screen is a dead giveaway that the interface shares some DNA with Windows 8. Its brought one of the unique features of the Metro UI to your TV screen in the form of app snapping.
Snapping lets you run two apps at once, giving a third of the screen to one app off to the right, and the rest to your primary engagement. It's a good way to do a little Internet Explorer browsing while you wait for a friend to join your game, but beyond that it can be straining on the eyes and clunky to navigate.
Xbox One review
First off, on all but the biggest TVs, a third of the screen just isn't enough space to do much of anything. Having FIFA on one side and an actual live match on the other may sound intriguing, but in practice it's cramped and terribly distracting. Snapping is better left to simpler apps, like Xbox Music or a Skype call.
It's also a headache to execute with the controller since it requires multiple trips to the home screen. First to load up the primary app, then to back out and choose snap, after which you pick your secondary app.
Xbox One review
Kinect does make things easier. You can simply say "Xbox snap Music" to get the side by side feature working. It's also much easier to just say "switch" for toggling between the two rather using the controller.
The biggest problem with Snap is that the interface relies on it too heavily for multitasking, and it forces you to give up visual real estate when you really shouldn't have to. For example, Xbox Music needs to be snapped in order to crank tunes while you play. Compare that to the PS4, which may lack a picture in picture feature, but lets its own music service run in the background, tucking the controls into the PS menu.
While it's impressive that the Xbox One's hardware is capable of juggling all this with a drop in gaming performance, it comes off as something you can do, but not something you'll actually want to do, at least very often.
Game DVR
Game DVR could be the end of gaming tall tales and "you had to be there" stories. With help from Microsoft's SkyDrive service, it lets you easily record and share your personal epic wins, besting the PS4's Video Share offering as the more open and YouTube-friendly recording option.
From the get go it's much simpler than third-party recording devices since it's built directly into the system. The best part is that it requires no setup or planning. If you just unleashed a brag-worthy killstreak in Call of Duty, simply say "Xbox record that" and a 720p recording of your last thirty seconds in-game is saved to the hard drive. You can also take a screenshot by saying, you guessed it, "Xbox take a screenshot."
Xbox One review
If you're the type who plans ahead and would like to record a longer video, switching to Game DVR, or snapping it alongside your game, lets you record up to five minutes of gameplay. This is one place where Sony's system has the edge. The PS4 keeps a recording of your last fifteen minutes in gaming, letting you pull clips from that instant archive.
So while recording a clip longer than thirty seconds requires less foresight on the PS4, the Xbox One's SkyDrive integration makes for more robust sharing. Whereas the PS4 only lets you upload to Facebook or the PSN, SkyDrive delivers clips as edit and upload friendly MP4s.
Xbox One review
Upload Studio also has a simple suite of editing tools, and allows you to record a voice over commentary. You can even use Kinect recording to place yourself in the video, picture-in-picture style.
You can also share clips on Xbox Live where they will appear on in your activity feed. Those feeds are rather buried though, so chances are your friends won't see it unless you give them a heads up.
Xbox One review
While the Xbox One currently has no built-in live streaming capabilities to match the PS4's Twitch and Ustream support, we think players will appreciate having direct access to their clips, which greatly extends the possibilities of editing and sharing.
Xbox One review
Smartglass is the Xbox's second screen experience. It was introduced on the Xbox 360 and lets you navigate menus and see system information on your tablet or smartphone.
The app is back for Xbox One, and does have improved functionality. You can now launch apps from the second screen, and several games now have companion apps. Dead Rising 3 lets you use your device in lieu of the in-game phone for ordering attacks and calling for back. You can even view the in-game map.
The best service Smartglass provides is a keyboard that's easier than the console's on-screen option. It's a great way to read and respond to messages. You can also type in URLs and operate Bing search this way, which is an excellent way to multitask. You can also use the OneGuide on Smartglass for TV control.
The Windows 8 Smartglass app has its own special features. You can throw a browser page from the console directly onto the screen of your W8 device.
Also, its online requirement, which threatened to lock up the system without a daily server ping, has been dialled way, way down. Out of the box, your Xbox One will need to download a day one patch before you even arrive at the homescreen. After that, you can cut the ethernet cable or smash your router; there's no further online connectivity needed for single player gaming.
Xbox OneGuide
While this functionality is not available to Australian customers at launch, North Americans can use that HDMI-in to turn the Xbox One into a cable box. Using a built in guide, you can navigate channels and search for specific shows, using the controller or your voice via Kinect.
Xbox One review
Xbox One also integrates streaming services that you're currently subscribed to, and helps you find what you're looking for across all options.
For example, if you want to watch The Matrix, search for the film, and the Xbox One Guide will tell you if you can watch on Netflix, show a link to buy it through the Xbox Marketplace, or give you a heads up that it will be on cable next week.
Of course, with Australia's limited streaming option and lack of cable support, these functions are technically not that useful just yet. | http://www.techradar.com/au/reviews/gaming/games-consoles/xbox-one-1153153/review/2 | dclm-gs1-219840000 |
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Home > All Books > Tag: bully
Books & Novels
Dusk and Dawn
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A boy who plots revenge and eventually things get bad for the people he has picked. (more »)
Down to Our Bones
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One smile gloats, "I'm Ali and I'm fabulous." The other jokes, "I'm Courtney and I'm flawless." The trick is, they're identical, darling. (more »)
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Sing Me To Sleep
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Alexander Williams is a Junior in high school. His peers bully and ignore him except for one. Just like any other boy, he has a crush. What happens when the love of his life finds out about his violent past? (more »)
Life Changes
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After Losing her Father at 16, Kayleena is forced to leave home and moves to Arkansas where she battles her monsters everyday. Can she survive the emotional roller coaster her life has taken? (more »)
My Life... or Not...
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Kathryn Analina Aka Katalina Shanam is forced into being a spy. She is tracking a teacher and runs into a mess she never expected. (more »)
Knockin' On Heavens Doors
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Death is a path we all must take. Unfortunately for some, death takes us far to early than we intended. (more »)
Walking Down The Yellow LIne
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Tragedy struck to Terra Newman when her Parents are stolen in a her house and she is sent away to a family friend. Or the fact they have 12 kids. Trying to find her parents kidnappers and living here may just be difficult.... (more »)
Far from Perfect
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Lyndsey is a normal 15 year old girl. Except that her parents are abusive and her siblings are bullies. When her aunt finds out, she takes her away. Lyndsey feels saved, but is she? (more »)
Angel in Disguise
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Paul's destruction is at the hand of a terrifying meat grinder, eager to grind his bones into a fine powder. Paul soon realizes his fate may not be so bad, seeing the benefits of the afterlife awaiting him. (more »)
Case Closed
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Just tell me who you are,
"Name's not important love." (more »)
rosa parks and the bus boycott
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this is about rosa parks life during and after the boycott. (more »)
I Can't Get Enough Of Him
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Having to be in a relationship where you think that your partner loves you would never cheat on you later fining out that they've been cheating on you ever since your relationship started. (more »)
Dreaming of you
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A world revolved around youtube and love. (more »)
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Hide 'N Shriek
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Elisa Barnes is kidnapped the first time her parents let her stay home alone while they're out on a business trip. Richard, a man with multiple personality disorder, forces her to play his sadistic rendition of Hide 'N Seek. (more »)
Bullied Love
what happenes when Carly comes back looking diffrent? How will Tyson respond? (more »)
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The Misadventures of James Potter
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It's the first year of Hogwarts for Harry's eldest son, and he wastes no time in leaving his mark on the school. (more »)
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0.030566 | <urn:uuid:b8bf7493-b457-428e-a1a8-fe1920d6e08e> | en | 0.989055 | Good Fella
In death as in life, El Paso crime family scion Joe Chagra is getting a bad rap.
WHEN FIFTY-YEAR-OLD JOE CHAGRA flipped his Toyota Landcruiser on Interstate 10 west of El Paso in December, killing himself and two passengers, it was a sad final chapter in the life of a man best known as one of the conspirators in the 1979 murder of San Antonio federal judge John Wood. But there’s a postscript: I feel certain that the youngest of three brothers in El Paso’s infamous Chagra crime family knew nothing about Wood’s murder until months after the fact. I know, of course, that on the witness stand Joe testified that he counseled his brother Jimmy to order the hit, and I know he did time in federal prison. But I believe Joe made up those stories as part of a deal with the prosecution, and so do many others close to the case. I got to know Joe well in the two years I was writing my book on the Wood assassination, Dirty Dealing, and I watched the sordid story unfold through his eyes. Over time, we became friends. I’ve published three articles in this magazine about Wood and the Chagras, but I’ve never written all I know—until now.
Joe was a genuinely nice guy who was congenitally unable to say no. As a result, people used him. Lee, his eldest brother, brought Joe into his law partnership largely to enhance his own self-esteem as patrón of the Chagra family. Lee considered Joe his property and took what he wanted, including Joe’s first serious girlfriend. Middle brother Jimmy, the proverbial bad penny, used Joe as a wedge against Lee in a sibling rivalry that consumed both brothers and eventually the entire family, and as the unwitting liaison in his drug operations. On Christmas Eve 1978, two thugs robbed Lee’s law office and killed him. The $450,000 they took from the office safe was money Jimmy owed to mob boss Joe Bonanno, Sr., for a busted drug deal. Lee and Jimmy were gangsters, whereas Joe was just a kid who liked to snort coke and talk tough.
Joe had no idea he was being pulled into the Wood conspiracy—or even that there was a conspiracy—when Charles Harrelson hired him to represent him on an old gun charge in Harris County in February 1980. The gun rap seemed routine until Harrelson was arrested following a cocaine-induced standoff near Van Horn, at which time his motive became clear. The only other person in the world who knew that Harrelson did the hit on Judge Wood was Jimmy, who ordered it. Because Joe was simultaneously representing Jimmy, who was serving thirty years without parole on a drug charge at the federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, Harrelson had to assume that sooner or later Joe would learn the truth. But as his lawyer, Harrelson reasoned, anything Joe discovered about Wood’s murder would have to be kept confidential because of attorney-client privilege. And, indeed, Joe found out who shot Judge Wood—and who hired him—during an attorney-client interview he conducted with Harrelson after his arrest at the Harris County jail. By that time the FBI investigation into the judge’s assassination was more than two years old. Harrelson had been a suspect, but so had several others. He told Joe about the contract and drew a map showing where he had hidden the murder rifle. Joe was stunned.
The real shock, however, was yet to come: The FBI was bugging Harrelson’s cell—and also the visitors’ room at Leavenworth, where Joe was routinely subjected to Jimmy’s abuse. Though he was strung out on coke, Joe had by this point become the nominal head of the Chagra family, meaning it was his responsibility to visit Jimmy, who whined constantly and seemed to think the mess his life had become was Joe’s fault. A day after talking to Harrelson, Joe relayed what had been said about the Wood killing to his arrogant and tempestuous brother, who was furious. At one point in a rambling dialogue, Jimmy warned Joe that he was up to his neck in the murder plot.
“What have I done?” Joe asked.
“You know Harrelson knocked off the judge,” Jimmy told him.
“I don’t know that,” Joe replied.
What finally did Joe in was his inability to stand up to Jimmy. On another visit Jimmy told Joe, “You’re the one who said, ‘Do it, do it, do it.’” Joe tried to conceal his shock by talking tough, saying he never thought his brother would hire “an asshole” like Harrelson.
To those of us who knew the situation, Jimmy’s assertion that Joe made him “do it” was ludicrous, but it fit neatly into the government’s scenario. On the basis of the wiretaps, the FBI searched Joe’s home, turning up not only his private stash of drugs but also the map Harrelson had given him. The map led the feds to learn that the murder weapon had been purchased by Harrelson’s wife, Jo Ann. A short time later, Joe was arrested and held without bail, as were Jo Ann Harrelson and Liz Chagra, Jimmy’s wife, who was heard on another wiretap talking about delivering the payoff money.
Since much of the wiretapping was inadmissible in court, the government had a major problem with its case: The only witness who could connect Jimmy with Harrelson was Joe. But Joe absolutely refused to testify against his brother as a matter of family honor. When the government offered to try Jimmy separately in its desperation to nail Harrelson, Joe found himself in a predicament. If he didn’t concoct a lie about how he was really part of the conspiracy, thus allowing him to testify against Harrelson, he believed he would face a total of thirty-five to forty years on drug charges. Joe accepted a ten-year plea bargain in the Wood conspiracy, with the understanding that prosecutors would help him recover his law license.
Joe’s testimony put Harrelson in prison for life; ironically, in his separate trial, Jimmy was acquitted, thanks largely to Joe’s unwillingness to testify against him. Because
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0.027756 | <urn:uuid:ec476824-0e23-40d3-a40c-e85e91d447ec> | en | 0.979211 | Obama: Reagan could not survive in 'radical' GOP
BEN FELLER AP White House Correspondent Published:
He framed his address around a new House Republican budget plan, saying it represents a bleak, backward "radical vision."
"It is thinly veiled social Darwinism," Obama said to the annual meeting of The Associated Press. "It is antithetical to our entire history as a land of opportunity and upward mobility for everybody who's willing to work for it ... It is a prescription for decline."
Republicans shot back that the president had offered a deeply partisan speech devoid of accountability.
Campaigning outside Milwaukee just before Obama spoke, Romney said that the president "of course will look for someone else to blame." The Republican Party chairman, Reince Priebus, said Obama had abandoned his hope-and-change campaign slogan of four years ago. Said Priebus: "All along, he's been a cold, calculating, big-spending politician."
Obama's speech removed any doubt that the general election was under way for the president, despite his professed reluctance to weigh in before Republicans settle on a nominee.
He took a couple of digs at Romney, playing up the Republican presidential front-runner's support for a budget-slashing plan the House has approved.
That plan is doomed to die in the Senate, but Obama held it up as a sign of the disaster that would come if Republicans got their way: poor children not getting food, grandparents unable to afford nursing homes, more airline flights getting canceled and weather forecasts becoming less reliable.
For Obama, it was the latest in a string of efforts to get his message out just as voters were going to the polls to help pick his opponent, this time in primaries Tuesday in Wisconsin, Maryland and the District of Columbia.
Romney is on a pace to clinch the nomination by the end of the primary season in June.
"Ronald Reagan, who, as I recall, is not accused of being a tax-and-spend socialist, understood repeatedly that when the deficit started to get out of control -- that for him to make a deal -- he would have to propose both spending cuts and tax increases," Obama said. "He could not get through a Republican primary today."
The House budget proposal is led by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., a Romney supporter. It aims to slash the deficit and the size of government while offering sharply lower tax rates in return for eliminating many popular tax breaks. Obama offered a blow-by-blow critique of it, warning his audience at the start to "bear with me."
When he was finished, House Speaker John Boehner said, "The president has resorted to distortions and partisan potshots."
The president also sought to influence media coverage in speaking to publishers and editors from around the country. He said the fact that the two parties are fighting does not mean they are equally to blame, and that Republicans have shown they will not budge.
"This bears on your reporting," Obama told the journalists.
Asked about the fate of his health care reform law, his signature legislative achievement, Obama said his administration was "not spending a whole lot of time planning for contingencies" in the event that the law is struck down. He said he expected the Supreme Court to uphold the law as constitutional because justices "take their responsibilities very seriously."
Making the case for a second term, Obama said the central question of the election will be how to restore security for Americans who work hard and show responsibility.
"That's why I ran in 2008," he said. "It's what my presidency has been about. It's why I'm running again."
Associated Press writer Kasie Hunt in Milwaukee contributed to this story. | http://www.the-review.com/ap%20washington/2012/04/03/obama-reagan-could-not-survive-in-radical-gop-1333501113 | dclm-gs1-219920000 |
0.034173 | <urn:uuid:01e678a5-83c4-40ab-a5ae-adc10769d8c6> | en | 0.951725 | Phone companies remain silent over legality of NSA data collection
Leading phone firms refuse to say why they have not challenged Fisa court orders that compel them to hand over customers' data
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Verizon phone
Verizon was one of the companies that declined to answer Guardian questions over the legality of the NSA data collection. Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters
America's top telecommunications companies are refusing to say whether they accept that the bulk collection of their customers' phone records by the National Security Agency is lawful.
The phone companies are continuing to guard their silence over the controversial gathering of metadata by the NSA, despite the increasingly open approach by those at the center of the bulk surveillance programme. On Tuesday the secretive foreign intelligence surveillance (Fisa) court declassified its legal reasoning for approving the NSA telephone metadata program periodically over the past six years.
Verizon, the telecoms giant that was revealed in June to be under a secret Fisa court order to hand over details of the phone records of millions of its US customers, was one of the firms that declined to answer Guardian questions relating to the legality of the scheme. AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile US also declined to comment.
CenturyLink, a multinational company based in Monroe, Louisiana said: "At CenturyLink, we respect and protect the privacy of our customers and only provide information to the government when required or permitted by law. We do not comment on matters of national security or specific government requests for information."
In its declassified opinion, the Fisa court revealed that no telecoms company has ever challenged the court's order for the bulk collection of phone records. The opinion, written by Judge Claire V Eagan, implied that by failing to challenge the legality of the programme, the phone companies were passively accepting it its constitutional status.
Seeking clarification, the Guardian asked five of the top US telecoms firms whether their lack of resistance to the collection of their phone records was indeed an implicit acceptance of its legality.
The Guardian also asked how the phone companies could justify to their own customers the decision not to challenge the court orders, in stark contrast to some internet companies such as Yahoo, which have contested the legality of NSA collection of their customers' data.
The phone companies were asked by the Guardian to make clear whether they felt their compliance with Fisa court orders relating to NSA data collection was voluntary, or whether they felt pressured by any party into conceding without legal protest.
The companies' decision not to comment on any aspect of the NSA dragnet puts them in a increasingly peculiar position. By withholding their internal views from the public, they are setting themselves apart from equivalent internet firms that are taking a more bullish stance, and are shrouding themselves in more secrecy than even the Fisa court, one of the most tight-lipped institutions in the country.
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0.078586 | <urn:uuid:8a30584d-78ef-4e59-bed0-5272116fe12f> | en | 0.952236 | Rick Rubin: Right idea, Wrong Price?
Subs can save us
Transforming your business with flash storage
The record producer and co-founder of Def Jam has only been "co-head" of Sony's Columbia Records since May, but he's already setting about destroying the old business so a new one can be built in its place.
It remains to be seen how effective he will be, but for now Rubin is prepared to say what seasoned executives think, but can't say out loud. And he spelled out the future of the record label in a lengthy profile in this week's New York Times.
Rubin advocates a subscription model instead. Not one with a capped number of discrete downloads, but one where music "will come anywhere you'd like ... a virtual library accessible from your car, from your cellphone, from your computer, from your television. Anywhere."
Once that's accepted, the music business will be much bigger than it is today, he believes.
This isn't a new concept. Economists have argued for years that digital distribution changes the economics of selling a discrete product.
In testimony to Congress, Jim Griffin argued that,
"People feel it in their belly," he reiterated here.
Or as MCPS-PRS economist Will Page has suggested [PDF], the price of recorded music is tending to zero.
Music is becoming a "pure public good" - one person's consumption doesn't harm another's, non-rivalrous and non-excludable. Public parks are an example of a public good that still needs to be paid for - or there'd be no park - but we wouldn't pay for each visit. Therefore they're supported out of a pool of money, and/or by sponsorship.
So far the music business has tried to make music rivalrous and excludable, with DRM, which recreates the inconvenience of physical product in a digital environment. It's failed to grow the bottom line, however.
More music is being consumed than ever before, but it's available in abundance, at no cost, from unlicensed sources: so revenues have continued to decline. Which is where Rubin comes in.
The price of access?
Rubin is quoted as citing two figures: $19.95 a month, and "five or six dollars a month". The first is almost certainly wildly optimistic, given that Americans have never paid much more than $5 a month per household for music. In 2005, per capita spending on all music and audio goods was a fraction over $2 per month. (Compared to $77 per month on military spending).
To the industry's dismay, much of this is going on the machines to play music in new formats, rather than the music itself.
"The subscription model is the only way to save the music business. If music is easily available at a price of five or six dollars a month, then nobody will steal it," says Rubin.
So Rubin's second figure is much more realistic. This gives a ray of hope for musicians, performers and producers, who've been browbeaten for years by the anti-copyright technology lobby, which is only too happy to tell them that sound recordings have no value, and that musicians should revert to a pre-capitalist arrangement where they must perform to be compensated: where they must, literally, sing for their supper.
The right to remuneration hasn't gone away, but the business has simply not had the foresight or confidence to make it a business.
In the bigger picture, the amount is so trivial it neither need be compulsory nor onerous. As Griffin explained, here, three years ago -
"Newspapers and magazines sell for less than the marginal cost of delivery. Google feels free to everyone, but we know we're paying more for Google upfront by visiting each advertiser's website."
The major labels have always set their stall against this kind of licensing because, they argue, it robs them of their right to set a price for music.
That would be a legitimate argument in other times. But when they're facing a price of zero, how can they argue that the interests of their artists and shareholders by ignoring the option?
The trick the industry has, along with networks and other digital service providers, is making that $2 "feel like free". ®
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Massive Riot Erupts in Vancouver After Stanley Cup
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People need to understand that these are NOT fans that started this ridiculous mayhem.
These are a bunch of a@@holes who decided they would riot regardless of a win or less and came downtown prepared with masks and hoodies and then a bunch of simple-minded people who decided to join in.
These people do not represent the majority of Vancouverites who are appalled at this behaviour and who have already started Facebook sites to identify the rioters and looters and to help clean up the downtown area.
1006 days ago
How sad that a few drunken, drugged hoodlums have to give Canadians a bad name.
I hope the authorities nail them to the cross for this.
1006 days ago
While I don't believe the rioting reflects the whole of Canada, all of the Vancouver apologists need to stop with the whole "it wasn't the fans, it was other hooligans causing all of the trouble."
There is video of jersey wearing people exiting the arena and beginning to riot. These same "not the fans" were inside of the arena shouting classless chants of "you suck" to the Bruins when they were receiving the cup.
I don't know about the whole of Vancouver, but their hockey fans are classless, gutless losers... which is fitting since their team mirrors that perfectly.
1006 days ago
People often ask me why I moved from Vancouver, "The most beautiful city in the world". This is why. I could not stand the people of the city that talk it up, but then sink so low to do something like this, and not learn from '94. I'm one disgusted and disappointed Canadian today. All over a silly game...
1006 days ago
It is sad to see a small portion of the population is garnering negative headlines for our wonderful country. Today I hear nothing but embarrassment and anger from people regarding this incident. This is not how we want the world to view our country. The Bruins won the game/ series/ cup and they deserved it. Good for them! What some people seem to forget is the Bruins team is comprised mostly of Canadians so if anything we should be equally proud of them.
1006 days ago
These are not fans.... they are an embarrasment to the Canucks, BC and Canada! I hope they catch every last one of those idiots!
1006 days ago
As a Canadian, please do not lump us in to one category. we're not all like this. I'm very ashamed and embarrassed that a group of people is giving the rest of Vancouver, BC, and Canada in general, a bad name. We're not all like this. These people were not true hockey fans, i know people who are true hockey fans and they accepted this loss gracefully, they were upset, as is expected, but they showed grace. These people are not fans, they were looking for any excuse they could to cause mayhem and problems. This is not who we are, this is a small group of people who are tainting Canada and Vancouver, please don't think that everyone is like this.
1006 days ago
I am a Vancouverite & a Hockey Fan. True Hockey Fans were not in the riot lastnight.
Those were stupid jerks (being polite here) that riot just to riot. Their faces are all over facebook and they will be caught and punished. Don't critize the entire town & true Fans over a bunch of jerks.
1006 days ago
These losers did not care about the game at all and DO NOT represent the fans of this city. These are simply drunkin' cowards with nothing better to do. Shameful!!
1006 days ago
Just have to say the majority of us from Vancouver are ashamed that this happened. Bruins played a good game and we lost. It should have been left at that. From what I saw on the local news the people that did this were stupid young kids who seem to have shown up just to cause problems.
1006 days ago
I am Canadian and proud of it (most of the time) it's funny how more than half of the Boston Bruins are actually Canadian, and to the dbag that said that "Canada could fall off the face of the earth and nobody would care" you could only come from U.S.A to say such an idiotic comment. Our economy is doing great and we never cut peoples jobs, i would think twice before crapping on my neighbor.
1006 days ago
red sox
I'm sorry but all you Canadians saying these weren't 'fans', they clearly were and that's FINE - we understand that it wasn't ALL fans. But don't make it sound like it was just these people who came out of no where, this has happened before in Vancouver and many, many other cities across the world. It's drunken fans, sorry. And even in pictures and video, the thousands of fans surrounding the rubble/chaos are SMILING, CHANTING, ENCOURAGING! Sorry, not classy but not a reflection of your entire country either. Congrats Boston Bruins - Tim Thomas gave a truly inspired playoff performance.
1006 days ago
I'm Canadian and i think these loosers are pathetic!
Way 2 GO idiots.
Hope they all get caught !
1006 days ago
Please let it be known that what happened in vancouver is not a reflection on the true hockey fans or the people that live here. Not everyone is a sore loser just a few idiots who had nothing better to do.I live in vancouver and I am ashamed of what happened last night. Congrats to Boston for a good game and the stanley cup win.
1006 days ago
To see some of the still pictures of these morons, go on facebook and check under Vancouver riot pics.
Accrding to some of the posters, some of the rioters bosted on facebook what they did.
I hope they get the plank.
1006 days ago
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'Teen Mom' Star
Hits a BONG
9/17/2012 4:00 AM PDT BY TMZ STAFF
Teen Mom Star Catelynn Lowell Hits a BONG"Teen Mom" star Catelynn Lowell -- the girl who gave her baby up for adoption on the show -- got into some serious HIGH jinks this summer, ripping a massive bong at a party with friends.
The photo -- obtained by TMZ -- tells the story. It was snapped last month at a friend's get-together in Michigan -- showing Catelynn in rolled up jeans, igniting some sizable glassware ... and taking a big ol' hit.
Catelynn could've been the one "Teen Mom" star who ever appeared responsible and smart.
Past tense.
Catelynn's manager, who said he could not "confirm the validity" of the photo, tells TMZ, "Like many other young adults, Catelynn, at times, struggles with making the best decisions for her health and career. As her manager, I have strongly advised her to exercise good judgment at all times. She must learn from her mistakes. This will serve as a teachable moment in her development as a young woman."
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Shouldnt we be thrilled that this girl didnt keep the kid? She seems more interested in partying.
547 days ago
Her "manager"? Sorry, but when did this brat become famous? For what? For not being intelligent enough to use protection during sex?
547 days ago
Miley is her hero
547 days ago
I don't see what the big deal is? Maybe it's because I live in California and it's not such a big deal here but at least it's not meth or coke etc...
547 days ago
pots cool! Not makes people LAzzzzy, Nothing makes me more mad then lazy people!
547 days ago
Well, at least she was honest with herself and knew she was not ready to be a responsible parent at this stage in her life, so she turned to adoption...... I've seen many parents who should have made the same decision.
547 days ago
Having a baby out of wedlock and no job. Wow, what a dumb person they both are. No, she's not on welfare. She get's her money from the show that made her a celebrity. The show is supposed to focus on the hardships that one has if you get pregnant as a teenager. But instead, it made celebrities out of these low life people. People that would really be struggling and on welfare if society hadn't made them celebrities with a pay check.
547 days ago
_][ Character_Assassin ][_
Does she know she's sucking on a glass penis?
547 days ago
Have Faith
So what the President Of The US did a sh**t load of cocaine and hes now President.
If its good enough for him why is it not good enough for everybody else.
If you so concerned about drug use in this country then should we pass a law that no one who ever used illegal drugs can be president or be in congress.
If obama or bush got caught doing drugs and convicted could they have been president, so its just a matter of who gets caught or not.
547 days ago
That's not a massive bong. They should think about changing that water, too. Kids these days...
547 days ago
I don't see nothing wrong here, it's just weed.
547 days ago
who took the pic is what i wanna know
547 days ago
who cares about this trash
547 days ago
Omg who cares! It's just a little weed! As if we haven't all most likely tried it once! And it's not even bad for you if people did their research they would realize it's better than drinking is! But we don't give celebrities a hard time for going out and having a drink or two.
547 days ago
Better than her getting drunk. Big deal, she is a college student having a bong hit.
547 days ago
Around The Web | http://www.tmz.com/2012/09/17/catelynn-lowell-bong-picture-photo-teen-mom-weed-pot-marijuana/5/ | dclm-gs1-220200000 |
0.719596 | <urn:uuid:1f75c00f-e768-40a1-be05-96db27df3dac> | en | 0.972965 | Contacted county vector control, and instead of referring to city vector control and transferring my report to them, they called me to notify that I am only a couple blocks from their jurisdiction so they can not help, and told me I have to call city vector control, great lot of help they refused to give their info to me too. What is all this bureaucracy for vector control? It's a wonder we don't have an epidemic of west nile, or heartworms, oh yeah wait a minute, we do. | http://www.topix.com/yp/oroville-ca/l-96991362d-county-of-butte | dclm-gs1-220220000 |
0.066696 | <urn:uuid:0a384317-0256-41f5-a922-f7fa8a0ed8ff> | en | 0.952963 | This dark chocolate Easter egg is infused with a savoury treat that is sure to set your tastebuds on fire. Yes, you guessed it, the secret ingredient is cult-like savoury condiment Sriracha. This cute Easter egg, shaped like a cute Easter bunny is 7″ x 5″ tall and weighs 8 oz. Just think of how much goodness is contained in that compact size.
Why not make a brave change with your Easter eggs this year and try out this spicy masterpiece. This is just one of many products which have paid homage to this spicy condiment kick in recent times. From Sriracha high heels to Sriracha lip balm there's no telling how far this condiment can go. Just remember this rule of thumb; if it's got Sriracha in it, it's good. | http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/dark-chocolate-easter-egg | dclm-gs1-220240000 |
0.1148 | <urn:uuid:ce28d077-ac35-4b52-9bb9-ea6aa4230b6b> | en | 0.942947 | Another crowdfunding platform variation called 'PledgeCents' hopes to bring school fundraisers online. Using the crowdfunding model, PledgeCents wants to help schools raise money from more than just the surrounding community. The online platform hopes to allow teachers to gain funds for school improvements from generous souls worldwide.
In addition to the additional reach, PledgeCents also wants to remove the seasonality of fund raisers. Many offline events are only feasible to hold in the spring and fall. By allowing schools to hold virtual fundraisers, money can be raised in any season.
Unlike popular crowdfunding platforms such as Indiegogo and Kickstarter, PledgeCents releases funds even if goals aren't met. As a result, schools can use a combination of online and offline fundraising events in order to meet their monetary goals. | http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/online-school-fundraiser | dclm-gs1-220260000 |
0.019004 | <urn:uuid:0a1ac378-2333-489a-ba90-2c3291554822> | en | 0.960268 | Mickey Mouse Club Pioneer Annette Funicello Dies at 70
• 9comments
One of the 1950s' most darling television icons passed away today. Annette Funicello, an original member of The Mickey Mouse Club, died Monday at the age of 70, reports The Los Angeles Times. Funicello was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1987.
Funicello was the most recognizable Mouseketeer from the afternoon children's variety show that launched in 1956, and she remained one of Disney's most popular actresses after leaving the program. She would go on to star in the Disney movies The Shaggy Dog and Babes in Toyland, among others. Funicello also found success as a singer, with the singles "Tall Paul," "Pineapple Princess," and "First Name Initial."
In the '60s, Funicello, along with frequent co-star Frankie Avalon, helped create a movie genre with the popular beach party movies Beach Party, Beach Blanket Bingo, and Bikini Beach. Showing a sense of humor for the genre, she and Avalon teamed up in 1987 for a parody of their work, the comedy Back to the Beach
I'm a little too young to remember her early work, but Back to the Beach remains a fond childhood memory of mine, and I can sing along to this song with the best of them. We'll miss you, Annette. | http://www.tv.com/news/mickey-mouse-club-pioneer-annette-funicello-dies-at-70-136544201024/ | dclm-gs1-220310000 |
0.295263 | <urn:uuid:073978a1-ff89-4996-84bd-2f8e068733ca> | en | 0.956201 | Kristin Scott Thomas and Sergi Lopez star in the poorly conceived "Leaving."
Kristin Scott Thomas and Sergi Lopez star in the poorly conceived "Leaving."
Kristin Scott Thomas' 2008 French film "I've Loved You So Long" showed what she can do with a great script. "Leaving," her new French film, shows what she can do with a not-great one.
Thomas' subtle, intelligent performance makes "Leaving" worth seeing even when it's not worth seeing. As Suzanne, a Frenchwoman who leaves her husband and children when she falls hard for a studly handyman (Sergi Lopez), Thomas is less reined-in than usual — she giggles quite a bit in "Leaving" — but it's her insight, not the script's, that helps us understand the rash choices Suzanne makes.
The situation in "Leaving" is so compelling the first half of the film can't help but raise interesting questions: How does Suzanne instantly know she's in love? How does anyone? And how can she justify throwing away everything for a man she barely knows? If a less-centered actress were making Suzanne's choices — Angelina Jolie, let's say — we would have a very different reaction than when Thomas, always so rational and quick-witted, does.
Unfortunately, "quick-witted" is the last phrase I'd use to describe the second half of "Leaving." Writer/director Catherine Corsini makes disastrous choices with the character of Suzanne's husband. As the injured party in their marriage, you'd think he would be worthy of our sympathy. But Corsini makes him the movie's supervillain, a lip-smacking evildoer whose actions send "Leaving" into increasingly melodramatic and decreasingly interesting territory.
Thomas, bless her, remains compelling throughout. But it gets harder and harder to watch the things "Leaving" forces her to do.
Directed by: Catherine Corsini
Starring: Kristin Scott Thomas, Sergi Lopez, Yvan Attal
Rated: Not rated, but contains frank nudity, strong language and violence
Should you go? I'll barely recommend it for the acting, but be prepared for things to go haywire. ** 1/2 | http://www.twincities.com/movies/ci_16758540 | dclm-gs1-220340000 |
0.040965 | <urn:uuid:b6910658-1b98-4e50-a104-617048a200b7> | en | 0.949436 | Subscribe English
look up any word, like tittybong:
7 definitions by Bo Dizzle
Providing an explanation that defies logic.
Why are we in Iraq?
Saddam was involved in 9/11. Well, not really, but he could have been and maybe wanted to be but he didn't like Osama bin Laden. But the point is, he could have been and that's George Bush Logic.
by Bo Dizzle August 29, 2006
395 44
A very large forehead - 25% larger in fact.
The sun is just beating down on my five head today.
by Bo Dizzle May 05, 2004
217 82
(adj.) to describe a good, hard fuck or when you're getting that last inch in before you dump the skeet
I bent her over the desk and went ball deep in her ass.
by Bo Dizzle April 30, 2004
88 13
Typical pattern of seminal fluid when flung onto the back, stomach, breasts, neck of face of your partner.
She had that cumsparkle in her eyes, so I pulled out of her mouth and left the Map of Hawaii under her right eye.
by Bo Dizzle May 07, 2004
16 11
1. The smile of a small child when they are given a popsicle for no reason.
2. Smiling because you know you're about to get into trouble.
Dan said I had a popsicle face when the copier sales girl was flirting with me.
by Bo Dizzle August 17, 2007
4 0
From the 1930's - someone who smokes weed - a tea bandit
That fucking viper smoked my whole stash. Are you tellin' me Wayne Brady's gonna have to choke the bitch.
by Bo Dizzle May 13, 2004
15 13
An underfunded or unfunded initiative or program set forth by the current bush administration where the recipients would be better off praying for results than to expect them to come from the program.
The bush administration announced their new faith-based initiative, a health insurance program - where participants are to pray to God they don't get sick.
by Bo Dizzle August 30, 2006
4 3 | http://www.urbandictionary.com/author.php?author=Bo+Dizzle | dclm-gs1-220360000 |
0.037146 | <urn:uuid:257712a6-bbc8-4f03-a8b7-80955a3822bc> | en | 0.839359 | Subscribe English
look up any word, like sex:
to growl and/or hiss like a bobcat and then lick the back of your hand while standing in a large group of people
*while standing in a long line at Six Flags*
John: *hissss...growl...lick*
Mike: ...what the fuck?
James: dude, he's just african bobcat-ing
by Sir Peaches McCream November 23, 2011
3 1 | http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=African%20Bobcat-ing | dclm-gs1-220370000 |
0.895939 | <urn:uuid:ec86754c-ae0d-4bdd-a835-b275d0dd9894> | en | 0.916047 | Subscribe English
look up any word, like swag:
To fund a given endeavour by throwing a party and charging admission. Often used to pay for large Burning Man theme camps and art projects. Similar to crowdfunding, but uses an event that provides a service instead of just begging for money.
How did you afford enough metal to build a 90 foot flame-throwing penis?
We partyfunded it.
by __SomeGuy__ October 22, 2011
10 0 | http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Partyfund | dclm-gs1-220380000 |
0.044358 | <urn:uuid:8426e5bd-58e6-4c55-ad0a-078733ff90a8> | en | 0.919801 | Subscribe English
look up any word, like straight money:
Stands for "Close My Eyes"
Used to demonstrate an expression of overwhelming disbelief or disappointment; typically used to express speechlessness from an incredulous circumstance
Used similarly to "SMH" (Shake My Head), but in a more disbelieving fashion
Joyce: I know the Dodgers game is in 30 minutes but I can't go anymore! I just broke my toe running up the stairs.
Priscilla: ... Are you serious? CME...
Priscilla: I left my laptop at the library while I went to eat at the dining hall for an hour, and it was gone when I came back! Someone stole my laptop!
Joyce: ... Why would you leave your laptop at the library unattended for an hour? CME....
by Cilla Bear October 02, 2013
27 0
a combination of "come here" and "come by me", most often used affectionately
<boyfriend walks ahead>
girl exclaims: "Wait! C'me!!"
by JustJme182 August 01, 2010
8 4
Close My Eyes. This is similar to the ever-so-popular smh. Used to describe when one is disgusted or feels like it's not worth being seen.
My friend and I go to a restaurant hoping to get a nice looking waitress, but we end up with a waiter. As soon as we realize he is our waiter, CME.
by JustyWayne June 20, 2011
7 6
A raw asz clique of gurls dat is haten upon by many people. They famous and always stay real. Dey got FRESH asz swagg (dey colors are Teal,Yellow n Purple)dey also don't deal wit lil bitches and their drama.
Their main ride or die boys are DME {Dirty Money Everywhere) we fukz wit dem
Also know as:
Clean Money Everywhere
Certified Money Earners
Certified Money Exclusive
What ever u a call them they still raw as fuK.
Damn CME so fly
by Cme1205 April 05, 2009
33 34
A common acronym used to describe ones dismay or surprise to a situation or scenario meaning "Crap My Elbow". This phrase originally came from the acronym "O.M.G. W.T.F." but was created to the speaking styles of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. "Crap My Elbow" is something that is impossible and therefore something to awe over.
Man 1-"Dude, I totally just wrecked into your car on accident!"
Man 2-"Goddamn it dude! C.M.E.!"
by Dr. Long Dick April 01, 2011
3 9 | http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cme | dclm-gs1-220390000 |
0.508825 | <urn:uuid:fc2d9435-4f35-42f6-8e79-228f18134fca> | en | 0.8987 | First: Mid: Last: City: State:
Freda Primavera
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There are many people named Freda Primavera. In order to zero in on the right Freda, make sure to key in all the information you have, such as known aliases or past addresses. Any extra data, including email addresses and phone numbers, can also be found on USA-People-Search.com. If you are not able to identify the right Freda, you can browse through the list of search results below and pick out the correct Freda Primavera.
Name/AKAsAgeLocationPossible Relatives | http://www.usa-people-search.com/names/p/Freda-Primavera | dclm-gs1-220400000 |
0.019246 | <urn:uuid:ee5633cf-f5e3-4397-8708-fc7bce3d5390> | en | 0.962777 | HBO Doc Takes a Hard Look at the Long-Term Unemployment Crisis
The director of 'Hard Times: Lost on Long Island' discusses his film.
"We hear about the budget gaps, the deficits, and the debt. If anything there's a compassion deficit," says director Marc Levin speaking to U.S. News about his documentary Hard Times: Lost on Long Island. The film, which premieres on HBO Monday at 9:00, seeks to do just that, giving a face and voice to the millions of jobless Americans—particularly the long-term unemployed.
Levin focuses his camera on Levittown, N.Y, a Long Island white collar community outside of New York City that was the poster child of upward middle-class mobility a half century ago. The manicured lawns and modest colonial-style houses are now haunted by middle-age professionals—corporate financiers, public relations representatives, teachers, and doctors—who have lost their jobs or seen a serious cut in pay in the wake of the Great Recession.
"You look at the homes, you look at the cars, you look at the people, and you say 'This isn't them, this isn't some other, some alien, those people.' This is your friends, your family, your neighbors, this is us," says Levin, explaining why he chose Long Island to set his tale.
[See a collection of political cartoons on the economy.]
Throughout the film, Levin's subjects compare their current plight to the tragedies and challenges they have faced in the past. Alan, a balding, sharply dressed, jolly corporate educator laid off the summer of 2009 (Levin began filming Hard Times about a year later) opens the film joking about how he has survived being struck by lightning, weathered heart problems, escaped both World Trade Center attacks, and made it through Colin Ferguson's Long Island Rail Road shooting rampage.
"Being unemployed is something that I can deal with very easily and, you know, it could be a lot worse. It's not the end of the world," he says.
Though he maintains his smile and a jovial tone for most of the film, one somber discussion of the depression he battles shows long-term unemployment is a whole different kind of a challenge. Another character, Anne, who lost her PR job in 2008, makes the comparison more clear.
"Having cancer was easier than being unemployed," she explained.
[A Survival Guide to Summer TV]
Bills loom. Unemployment checks run out. A number of the subjects can't pay their mortgages, and losing the homes where they raised their families is a matter of when, not if. But the emotional toll eclipses the financial cost.
"The isolation and shame these people [feel]…they blame themselves, they internalize it, they're afraid to let anyone know," explains Levin. "There is a shame factor. When you have cancer, or when you survive a national tragedy, the World Trade Center attack, you have support. You have tremendous sympathy and groups that are there. That is one of the things that really surprised me, is how isolated people are."
Hard Times defies any notion that the long-term unemployed, or at least those depicted in this movie, are to blame for their circumstances.
"Let's not mischaracterize what happened here, that it is just lazy, 'good for nothings' that are out of work," says Levin. They interview, they network, they dog the voice mails of potential employers, and many of them have been turned down for jobs for being "overqualified."
Hard Times also shows that the challenges the unemployed face are not just due to a cyclical downturn, but a perhaps permanent, structural change. Not only have middle aged professionals been displaced by an increasingly automated and globalized economy (Alan eventually finds a job—but as part of it, he will be training workers in India). Young college sweethearts—a teacher who has lost her job and a chiropractor who has seen his practice slump—struggle to hold their fledgeling family together as well.
Says Levin, "Something fundamental is different and if you thought you were immune you're living in a bubble."
• Photo Gallery: Jobless Keep Searching for Work
• Book Club: When President Obama Was Just Barry
• The Newsroom Recap: Heavy on the Heartache, Light on the News | http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/07/09/hbo-doc-takes-a-hard-look-at-the-long-term-unemployment-crisis | dclm-gs1-220420000 |
0.129203 | <urn:uuid:7bf51678-248a-4467-9a89-9c7930637249> | en | 0.654881 | Skip to Main Content »
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0.018386 | <urn:uuid:88f2c2c7-b2cd-417d-93fe-e4478efb67d2> | en | 0.98698 | BUFFALO, N.Y- A man who served as a juror in the trial of Dr. James Corasanti case was sentenced to thirty days in prison for driving while intoxicated.
John Jankowiak, 38, pleaded guilty to DWI in November.
Jankowiak was arrested for DWI in Orchard Park last October after leaving a bar where he had been "celebrating" his acquittal for an earlier DWI charge.
"In my experience I've never seen a sentence this harsh," said Jankowiak's attorney Michael Santa-Maria, "there's no accident involved, no one was hurt, he was cooperative officers as far as they said. In that particular situation I've never seen someone get 30 days, especially in light of the fact he already got 15 days from the city court."
Jankowiak was also sentenced to three years of monitored probation. | http://www.wgrz.com/story/news/crime/2014/02/10/corasanti-juror-dwi-sentencing/5376499/ | dclm-gs1-220570000 |
0.145524 | <urn:uuid:12843afd-8765-4521-9ad5-5aa01ef60249> | en | 0.728523 | id summary reporter owner description type status priority milestone component version resolution keywords cc os architecture failure difficulty testcase blockedby blocking related 8332 hp2ps does not escape parentheses luite If some symbol name in the key includes a (, but is cut off before the ), hp2ps generates an invalid postscript file. bug new normal Profiling 7.7 Unknown/Multiple Unknown/Multiple None/Unknown Unknown | https://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/8332?format=tab | dclm-gs1-220750000 |
0.08409 | <urn:uuid:c0ded1f8-25e1-42a8-8311-a5becf16a79b> | en | 0.904326 | Hacker Newsnew | comments | ask | jobs | submitlogin
iradik 823 days ago | link | parent
Dropbox has two modes: APP_FOLDER and DROPBOX. APP_FOLDER just creates a sandbox and does not give me permission to all your Dropbox data. I would never want access to such a thing on a server that's publicly visible.
The Dropbox authentication screen says: "This app will create a folder named webcache in your Dropbox. The app will only have access to this folder." But yeah you have no idea what's going to happen when you click that grey Submit button.
I agree the lack of polish makes it look spammy. Maybe some rounded corners and bubbly clouds would make it more trust-worthy. Along with an invitation to come over my house and have a beer.
asmosoinio 823 days ago | link
If found this intimidating on the first read: "By you giving us a subdomain and ...".
I don't want to give you a subdomain! How about "Enter the subdomain name you want:". Or something.
iradik 823 days ago | link
yes i'm realizing there's nearly nothing approachable about this ui as simple as it may be. glad hacker news visitors are so friendly and giving such great feedback. i really appreciate it.
i'm also seeing lots of errors in the server due to authentication reasons, clearly i have some learning to do in terms of how oauth actually works.
iradik 823 days ago | link
yay found the oauth bug! I hadn't learned oauth, but now I have.
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3354986 | dclm-gs1-220810000 |
0.136722 | <urn:uuid:a252dee0-ce0a-4e66-a27d-ca9c488e2d62> | en | 0.922039 | Pan Fried Fish
Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 6 servings
Recipe from Jamie Cooks It Up!
5 Talapia fillets
3/4 C flour
1/2 t salt
1 egg
1 T water
3/4 C Italian bread crumbs
4 T olive oil
1. Cut your Talapia fillets in half with a pair of kitchen scissors.
2. Combine the flour and the salt in a 9x9 baking dish. Dredge the fish in the flour. Place them on a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer for about 10 minutes. This really helps the flour stick to the fish.
3. Beat the egg with the water until nice and frothy. Put it in a shallow baking dish.
4. Dredge the pieces of fish in the egg and then the Italian bread crumbs.
5. Heat a large skillet up and add your olive oil. When the oil is nice and hot add your fish. Over medium high heat, let it get all nice and golden brown on one side and then turn them over. If you don't have enough oil in the bottom of the pan, they won't get that nice golden color. Add a little bit more oil to the pan when you turn the fish over if you need to.
6. After you turn the fish over, turn the heat down to medium and put the lid on. This will trap the heat in, and allow the inside of the fish to cook. It should only take about 5-8 minutes for this to happen.
7. When the fish is browned on both sides and flakes easily with a fork it is done. Don't over cook. Fish can tend to get rubbery and dry really quickly. That doesn't sound great, does it? | https://sites.google.com/site/jamiecooksitupprintablerecipes/pan-fried-fish | dclm-gs1-220840000 |
0.03154 | <urn:uuid:f65bb04e-2d46-417b-bb5c-ec0d7efb7fda> | en | 0.949249 | Reviews for Flowers On Old Graves
Autum chapter 1 . 1/2/2008
I am extremely impressed! This is the first fic I've read in quite some time that was anywhere near good. Which is not to say that this is subpar, because it isn't. It flows very well - you start off with a single sentence, an idea, and then your thoughts progress very naturally from it. The dialogue is very...fitting for the characters; I can actually imagine them saying these things, rather than having to suspend my views for the sake of having the fic make sense. It's a treat to read something that's actually in character for once.
Lastly, I have to applaud your technical writing skills - there's nothing worse than tense changes in mid sentence or misspelt words littering a paragraph. You've also neatly avoided typos and misused words and phrases - so kudos to you, and thank for sharing your work.
mani-g chapter 1 . 11/26/2007
this is quite charming.. subtle and unassuming in its beauty..
Qem chapter 1 . 11/27/2005
A nice and sweet little piece.
Viviane Renard chapter 1 . 8/28/2005
I liked this a lot. You made it very down-to-earth; something that I can see happening between people who don't really know each other, but slowly become friends.
driftingwanderer chapter 1 . 6/6/2005
interesting... keep writing.
Mia chapter 1 . 11/16/2004
I liked it. Very cute, and pretty interesting to say the least. Anyway loved it
Tobu Ishi chapter 1 . 10/23/2004
Well, knock me over with a feather. Really good, genuinely interesting and well-written fanfiction involving Kakashi and Iruka. Will wonders never cease?
And you, you wonderful person, you deserve a medal. You write them distant and peculiar and half-aware of each other and I /love/ it. Why can't more people do this, just ditch the rose petals and trashy yaoi hentai and copious fangirlish weeping and see the dirt-dry ironic little relationship those two really have?
Don't miss the insipid reviews you won't get because this didn't end in a soulful kiss under the moonlight. This is a real, quality foray into the minds of two characters, a little snapshot of their lives offcamera that is great in its simplicity, and that is fanfiction at its best.
Polka Dot chapter 1 . 10/23/2004
It's like a stab in the heart of all us KakaIru fans. But a happy ending still.
basket case chapter 1 . 10/23/2004
oh my. how infinitely sweet T_T.
AnimeFreakPerson chapter 1 . 10/23/2004
Whoa. o.O That is AWESOME. *cheers* I can really imagine it happening, and even though I kind of like shonen ai, portraying them as friends this well is awesome. Write more, please!
Isolde1 chapter 1 . 10/23/2004
I had read it somewhere else, already, of course - but I thought I'd drop by and leave a little review all the same. This fic is a work of art, truly. ;) | https://www.fanfiction.net/r/2105392/ | dclm-gs1-220870000 |
0.071468 | <urn:uuid:69d3855e-ca76-4a6f-b904-dceaeac6f080> | en | 0.992922 | Hi, hi everyone! Super fun fic time! I really hope you guys like this chapter. I was so happy with the reviews from the last chapter, I love reading your thoughts ^_^
Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal alchemist.
The four officers stood in the room in a huddle as they tried to think of an answer to the question Roy had asked. He waited for their input silently, not trusting himself to speak because he was still furious over what had happened. It really wasn't their fault; General White was much higher ranked in the Dog Show that was the military. Despite knowing that Roy still wanted to burn their disobeying asses. The only thing that prevented him from doing so was the tentative grip Lieutenant Hawkeye had on his shoulder. Roy glanced over at her out of the corner of his eye. She had the same steely, composed expression that she had been wearing when he had first burst into the office, however now she kept her eyes closed. He noticed that she had been doing that more often. Perhaps it was easier that way for her.
"Sir," said Farman, "could it be that December said something to them?"
Roy nodded. "I don't see any other option right now, but I don't want to jump to conclusions yet."
"If it helps, sir, I believe my performance bought us a little time," Hawkeye said. "General White seemed to accept that there was nothing wrong with my eyes." It was true; the General had seemed to be content with what he had seen. What frightened Roy was the fact that the general could have just decided to bide his time and gather a sufficient amount of evidence against them. They needed to be very careful, White was a persistent man.
"Lieutenant I'd like you to go through what happened, step by step, as you recall it," Roy asked her.
"I heard two people walk into the office," Hawkeye began. Roy noticed a slight hesitance in the way she spoke, and her brow was furrowed. "Neither of them identified themselves as they entered and I did not want to make any assumptions so I pretended to be reading the files. One of the men introduced himself as Sargent Dulsk. When I went to hand the documents to the sergeant he commented that their were a couple papers on the ground, and General White asked me to pick them up due to his bad back."
"A bad back?" Roy growled. "That's the worst excuse I've ever heard."
"By his tone, colonel, it was clear that discretion was not the general's top priority. I believe he was attempting to see if I would hesitate."
"Did you lieutenant?"
She turned towards him, eyes open, and gave Roy what he had long ago dubbed the 'I'm-super-annoyed, -you're-an-idiot-for-asking-that' glare. Of course only he would have recognized it as such, due to her careful discretion. "No, sir. I could not afford to."
Roy chuckled. "Just checking."
"There's another possibility," said Havoc from the doorway. Everyone glanced at the new arrival and Roy signaled for him to close the door. "By the way chief, everything is set up."
Roy nodded his thanks. At least they would still have time for that bit of fun after things had settled down. "What's the other idea you have Havoc?"
The officer took a long drag from his cigarette, his gaze flicking over to Hawkeye briefly. "Maybe he just wanted to get a closer look at the lieutenant's… attributes… while she was bending over. General White seems like the old, perverted type." For a moment there was a shocked silence, then Furey let out something between a gasp and a squeak, and the others looked away from Hawkeye, gracefully pretending not to notice the bright blush that had spread over her face. Roy saw her hand reflexively twitch towards her holster and for the first time that day he was glad that it was empty. Probably the maintenance guys too, who were in charge of fixing the bullet holes the lieutenant fired into the building. For his part, Roy turned to Havoc who looked back at him with a 'don't shoot the messenger' expression.
Trying to diffuse a potentially dangerous situation, Roy smirked. "I'm sure the general was disappointed; these uniforms are the natural enemy of a woman's curves."
"Colonel!" Hawkeye managed to sputter out.
"I've been telling them to switch to miniskirts for years." Bad choice of words. Roy happened to glance over at the other men in time to see their eyes running down Hawkeye from top to bottom. The bastards were trying to picture her in a miniskirt! Roy glared at Havoc, who obviously had been enjoying the picture the most, and then at the other officers and lifted up his ignition-gloved hand. The men took the point rather quickly and stopped looking at his lieutenant. Roy amended his plan mentally: all female officers EXCEPT Hawkeye would wear miniskirts. Roy would rather suffer a skirt-less Hawkeye than one that would be gawked at all day long. "Anyway," he said loudly, "what happened after he asked you to pick up the files?"
Having missed the exchange between the male officers, Hawkeye went on unperturbed. "I made a guess based on how close I knew I was to the desk, how far you usually hit papers from it when you're in a mood, and the direction Dulsk was facing when he spoke."
"You were really able to figure out where the papers where from just that?" Breda asked incredulously.
Hawkeye's smile was a nervous one. "I'm still here aren't I? Though General White tried to confuse me."
"What do you mean?" Roy asked, his eyes narrowing.
"There are no other papers on the floor, correct?"
The others nodded, remembered she couldn't see the movement, and said yes to confirm it. "He said that I was heading in the wrong direction, I suppose he was taking another chance on seeing if I would hesitate."
Roy wipped a hand across his face in shock. "That's what he was referring to with the 'mistake.'" Roy couldn't believe how close they had come to losing it all. It frightened him. "We can not have a situation like this happen in the future," he told them. "If I am not with the lieutenant than one of you is to be with her. Understand?"
"Sir!" The men chorused with a salute.
"Go wait at the range, Hawkeye and I will meet you there shortly. Havoc, you can fill them in on the way."
"Right, chief." Roy watched the men file out of the room with a frown. If they didn't follow through with his orders someone was going to be torched. As the door closed with a muted thud Hawkeye let go of his shoulder. She was shaking.
"Lieutenant," he murmured with concern. Roy didn't need to ask whether she was ok; just looking at the way she was hugging herself he could tell that she had been struggling all that time to remain composed. Hawkeye was one who always behaved while there was company; it was what her father had taught her. Roy recalled one specific time when they were children where Hawkeye, no, Riza at that time, had cried in front of her father; he had refused to let her have dinner and lunch for four days. Of course Roy had slipped her most of his own meals, but the lessons of her father had still taken hold. He was glad that she at least trusted him enough to show her feelings in front of him. It was an important privilege. Roy took in a deep breath as he guided Hawkeye over to the sofa and stood behind her. She didn't resist too much, just a weak shrug when he first wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "I'm sorry," he whispered into her ear. "I should not have left you for so long." She relaxed against him and leant her head against his chest.
"Please colonel, I told you before not to blame yourself." Her soft hands wrapped around his forearms and, instead of trying to pry him off like he though she would do, Hawkeye eased his arms together so that he was holding her closer. Roy smiled and kissed the top of her head, savoring the sweet smell of her hair.
"I will accept that," Roy said, "but I have one condition." Hawkeye stilled, and her grip tightened ever-so slightly.
"…Yes colonel?"
A/N: Oh a short chapter AND a cliffy! Sorry about that, and the fact that nothing uber exiting happened… I promise more Royai for the next chapter. I'm going to have a lot to do this week and I have the SATs next weekend to boot. Just need to bring my math score up a bit and finalize my college choices for next year. Super fun ^_^
Rinoax, Athena's Heart, hand-made-city, kristie94,MoonsStarDutchess, tedlibear, and Resha Tsubaki. -------------------------Thank you so much everyone, I really love you guys! Please give me any feedback or suggestions you might have!!!! | https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3554105/9/To-See-Without-Seeing | dclm-gs1-220940000 |
0.078613 | <urn:uuid:aa162dca-2f13-4e04-aa28-06ef5a471119> | en | 0.993141 | My Date with Edward and Jacob
"This isn't going to work," Edward grunted. I sighed and took his hand.
"It can't be that bad," I reassured him.
"Yeah, it really can," he pouted. I tried to resist the urge to kiss those pouty lips but failed miserably. "Does that mean I don't have to go?" he asked as he broke away.
"You don't have to go, but I would really like you to be there," I looked at him with big eyes, he started to cave. "But if you still don't want to go, I guess I could just spend the night alone with Jacob…"
"NO!" Edward shouted. I suppress a giggle. I just won!
"Then it's settled," I said with a smile. "Just promise to be on your best behavior."
Edward smiled his crooked smile and kissed my forehead. "I won't promise anything."
don't get too excited, it's not going to be that long,
actually, i think it's going to have 3 chapters
at most
but it'll more likely have only two.
i promise to get the next one up by the end of today
so add this to your alerts
disclaimer- Twilight © and all of its contents are owned by † Stephenie Meyer † and not me. | https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3630636/1/My-Date-with-Edward-and-Jacob | dclm-gs1-220950000 |
0.035719 | <urn:uuid:8ec69816-a30d-456d-b776-7bf922baadba> | en | 0.992109 | The Never Ever Happily Ever After Contest
Title: exhaust
Pen Name:
Characters: Edward and Bella
Word Count: 14,865
Disclaimer: "Due to the nature of this contest, you may expect content such as character death, adultery, abuse, illegal activities including drug use and underage drinking, etc."
Summary: Life is made of moments. They complete you, destroy you, put you back together, give you hope…define you. Edward and Bella had those moments. This is their story.
A/N: Thanks to the girls…you know who you are.
exhaust – to drain, to use up, to deprive, to destroy
The diner had shitty coffee and the bathrooms smelt like stale piss, but I stopped there everyday, regardless. My daily visits were all because of her—the beauty with long, brown hair and sexy legs. The woman that blushed, quickly looking away every time she caught me staring at her. The one that could lick her lips and I'd have to adjust myself. Her simple smile made my whole day brighter, and she always asked, "What can I get'cha?" in a heavenly, shiver inducing voice. With a grin, I'd routinely order a black coffee, then shamefully miss her once she walked away. I wanted to initiate a conversation, but just smelling her perfume turned me into a blubbering fool. It was sweet, like sugar with a hint of fruit, pineapple maybe.
Week after week, I would wake up early to rush to the diner, and as soon as I walked in, she'd look my way and smile. We'd go about our morning, living like strangers, and talking only when we had to. I wanted to change that.
"What can I get'cha?" she asked. I looked up, meeting her eyes with a smile. She shook her head and looked down at her order pad, marking something on it. I glanced at the name tag on her breast, pretending it was the first time I'd ever looked, but honestly, I probably said her name in my sleep.
"Bella, is it?" Her name rolled off my lips, and I liked saying it.
"Yeah, it's Bella." Her pen bounced and she wiggled her hips a little as she stood there. She was so damn gorgeous.
"Hello, Bella." Yeah, I definitely liked it. "I'm Edward, Edward Cullen." I stood and extended my hand, waiting as she looked at me for a second, then tucked her pen behind her ear. Slowly reaching forward, she took my hand. Instantly I felt it—the warmth of forever. There was no doubt about it; this girl was it for me.
The first time he walked into the diner, it was pouring, and he was soaked. I probably wouldn't have looked up except for the crash of lightning that framed his drenched body as he stood shivering in the doorway. I couldn't understand why he kept coming back to the crappy little diner, since I knew that first visit was just so he could get out of the rain. But he did...every day, like clock work.
I wanted to flirt, but
Alice said that I should be aloof and distant, whatever that meant. I didn't want to be—I wanted to tell him my name, phone number, birthday, favorite flower...but I didn't. Instead I smiled and took his order, knowing the rest of my day was all downhill after he walked out the door.
To say I was surprised when he finally asked my name would be an understatement.
Edward...such an old fashioned name, yet it suited him perfectly. He was classic—charming and debonair, while still sweet and fuckhot. That's exactly what I wanted to do with him, though I'd never breathe a word of that to anyone. I was a nice girl who didn't think things like that. Though it was likely nice girls that lived up to that statement never dealt with someone like Edward Cullen.
After that first day, we talked a little more each morning. I was finding out all sorts of things about him and his life, and I couldn't get enough. He was like a drug, and I was completely addicted.
One Thursday morning as he got ready to leave, I fought to keep the smile on my face. My birthday was Saturday and I wanted to ask him over for dinner or to a movie or something, but I couldn't do it.
Alice complained that I carried on about Edward each day after he left. She said I should either slut it up and ask him out, or accept my nice girl role and get over him.
"Hey Bella?" he called out, having moved to the cash register.
"Yeah? You need something else?" My fingers tapped lightly on the counter, wondering why he'd stopped on his way to the door. He'd never done that before.
"Um, I was wondering...if wannagotoamoviethisweekend?"
"Excuse me?" I asked, really hoping I'd just heard what I thought I heard.
"Well, I was just thinking maybe we could hang out and see a movie or something. If you don't already have plans. Or a boyfriend. Shit, you have a boyfriend, don't you? Damn it, sorry about the cursing. Ah fu-...uh..." He was flustered, and it was so cute.
"I'd love to," I said. His eyes met mine and he smiled. I decided to not be such a nice girl for once. "But on one condition. You gotta buy me ice cream since it's my birthday on Saturday." My teeth sunk into my bottom lip as I raised my eyebrow suggestively.
He smiled, and I slid him a receipt with my phone number and address on the back. As he picked it up and read it, I was sure this would be the best birthday ever.
We stumbled into her apartment, barely getting the door closed behind us. "Off," I growled, pushing at the straps of Bella's tank top. Who knew fabrics could be so thin, and nipples so hard? I did, that's who, and I was trying my damnedest to get the yellow fabric up and over her head. I was sure it would look better on the floor.
We'd been dating for eight months, with lots of making out and feeling each other up. We didn't have sex often, between our schedules and ever present roommates, but when we was like New Years Eve, The Fourth of July, and the Chinese New Year all rolled into one. This weekend Bella's roommate was out of town and Bella planned candles, wine, and romantic music. I planned a box of condoms and to fuck her senseless on every surface possible.
"Bend over," I said, spinning her around and pushing her over the back of the sofa. Pulling her skirt up around her hips, I slid my hand along her thigh and across her ass, grabbing the waistband of her red lace panties. Roughly I pulled them down to her knees, then moved my hand back up, and let my fingers get lost in her hot wetness. With my other hand, I unbuttoned my jeans and let them fall to the floor.
"Edward," she moaned as my fingers thrust into her. "That feels good, baby." She turned her head to look over her shoulder at me, and damn it all to hell if she didn't smirk and wink at me.
My hand that had been inside of her quickly wrapped around my throbbing cock, coating it with her. "You ready, baby?" I said, lining myself up with her opening. She gave a little grunt and I slammed into her with such force that her knees hit the back of the couch.
She laughed. "Don't break the furniture yet, we've got a long weekend to go still."
My fingers dug into her hips, pulling her body to mine and meeting me thrust for thrust. As her voice rose higher in pitch, her pussy got wetter and tighter. Before long I felt a tightening in my stomach and I knew I was close.
"You want me to pull out and get a condom?" I asked, only having a few moments of clear thinking left.
"No, I want you to cum on my ass," she said, her voice laced with lust and desire.
The way she said it turned me the fuck on and I reached down in front of her, letting my fingers find her clit. As she began screaming out my name, her inner walls clenched down on my dick. On her last moan, I pulled out of her, grabbing myself and pumping a few more times before the thick, white streams of cum shot out onto Bella's ass. I cringed when I saw some of it get on her skirt, because she always complained when she ended up pulling a Monica Lewinsky.
I collapsed on her—my chest against her back—struggling to catch my breath.
"Shit, baby, that was good," I said.
Bella giggled. "Yeah? There's plenty more where that came from." She straightened up, pushing us both back to standing. "I bought body paint for the bathtub, and melted chocolate and strawberries." Her little tongue peeked out and ran along her lower lip, as she stepped past me. When I turned around, on the floor lay her forgotten sandals and flowery skirt—creating a trail for me to follow. The water turned on in the shower, and I yanked at my shirt, stumbling over my pants as I sprinted for the bathroom.
This girl would be the death of me.
After dating him for a year, I knew I'd love him for the rest of my life. I couldn't imagine being without Edward Cullen. He gave me a reason to smile every morning, even when we were both too busy to see straight. I had college classes and the diner, he was finishing up law school and studying to take his bar exam, yet he always made time for me—for us. He reminded me everyday that he loved me. Before him, I never thought the kind of pure, deep love we shared was really attainable. I used to sit around, listening to everyone else's love stories and thinking to myself, where's mine? Then that fateful day he stumbled in the diner, and my fairy tale began.
With Edward, I always felt loved, cared for, desired. I felt as though I was the center of his universe and without a doubt, I knew he was mine.
It was my day off, and Edward asked me to meet him at the diner, which had become our sacred place. He told me to dress fancy, but the rest was a surprise. Alice greeted me with a wave as I walked in, biting her lips together. "What?" I asked her as I threw my hands up. "What's so funny?"
Her head lulled back and she laughed. "Nothing. I just like seeing you all dressed up." I smirked at her. "Edward said sit as his usual table. He'll be here in a few," she yelled, stepping into the kitchen.
"Fine," I grumbled as I swatted the crumbs out of the chair before sitting.
Alicebrought out an orange soda and placed it in front of me. "So where are you two going tonight for your big anniversary date?"
"It's not really our anniversary, we're not married." I held up my empty finger and wiggled it at her. "We're just celebrating that we've been dating a year and I don't know where we're going. He said it was a surprise."
"Duh, that's what an anniversary is Bella." She huffed as she stood up and walked away.
Seconds later, the bell on the door rattled and he walked in. The air in my lungs quickly escaped—he never failed to take my breath away. My heart rate accelerated as I took in his attire, coming completely undone at the sight of him in a black suit.
"Hi," I whispered as he kissed my cheek.
"Hey beautiful." He tucked a wayward strand of hair behind my ear.
"So, what's the plan for the night?" I took in a deep breath to regain my composure.
"Let's just have a drink." He shrugged and then turned to yell at
Alice asking her to bring him a coke.
We wasted about thirty minutes talking about our week, and I was growing more impatient with every sip he took. It wasn't how I'd imagined us spending our night out.
"Edward, let's go. Come on!" I clasped my hands together. "Please?"
He laughed, "Okay, okay." He leaned forward to whisper in my ear. "Save the begging for later."
I slapped his arm as he motioned for
Alice to bring over the check.
I pulled out my compact, fixing my lip stick. I heard
Alice place the plastic tray that held the bill on the table. Without even looking, I reached over to grab the peppermint off the top, but there was no mint and I retracted my hand as though I'd been burned.
I looked up as Edward was getting to his feet. He picked up the tray, then knelt down on one knee in front of me. My eyes were tearing up and I thought I might fall out of my seat. Looking down at the brown tray, my hands immediately covered my mouth. There was a platinum ring with a huge diamond lying on top of the standard diner bill.
"This is for you," Edward said with an unsure voice, lifting the tray closer to me.
With a shaky hand I picked up the ring and examined it, tears freely running down my cheeks.
"Read it," he encouraged as he nodded and lifted the tray again.
I shook my head and picked up the slip of paper.
Marry Me?
Yours Forever,
He'd written it, I could tell his elegant handwriting anywhere. "Are you serious?" I half laughed and half cried.
"Bella, if I could reach out and hold a star for every single time you've made me smile, the sky would be in the palm of my hand. For once in my life, I don't have to try to be happy. When I'm with you, it just happens. Please do me the honor of being my wife." He reached for my trembling hand and uncurled my fist that held the ring.
Bringing my hand to his lips, he kissed my knuckles. When he raised his eyebrows, his green eyes twinkling with unshed tears, I realized I hadn't answered him yet. "Oh no. I'm sorry," I cried out and his face fell in shock.
I held back my laugh. "No, no. Edward, I'm sorry that I haven't answered you yet." I smiled and tried to stand even though my legs were wobbly. "I would love nothing more than to marry you and spend forever with you, Edward Cullen."
"Really?" He asked as he slipped the ring on my finger before his arms found purchase around my waist and pulled me closer.
"Definitely," I whispered in his ear, wrapping my arms around his neck. The catcalls and shouts of the diner faded away as he lifted my feet off the ground and twirled me around.
Watching Bella walk down the aisle was surreal—I couldn't believe how lucky I was to find her. The way her white dress hugged her body took my mind to completely inappropriate places, especially considering the fact we were in a church and her police chief father was walking along side her. When we vowed to love each other forever, I knew we both meant it. There would never be another woman for me. Bella was my life and my future, and I couldn't wait to really start living.
The only black cloud in our perfect sky was my family. For some reason they were hesitant about our marriage. A few different times Bella mentioned things that my parents had said to her, but I hoped that with time, they'd eventually come around. I couldn't wait for us to get started on our own family, even though she insisted we needed to wait a few years. Neither of us had grown up in a role model situation, and Bella was scared that we'd mess up our kids the way our parents tried to mess us up.
"Baby, you done?" I called to her from the bed in our honeymoon suite. Bella had been locked in the bathroom for nearly half an hour, and I was getting anxious, and a little worried. "You didn't fall in, did you?" I said with a chuckle.
"I'll be out in a minute," she said, her voice sounding strange. I jumped up from the bed, hurrying to the door.
"Bella? What's going on? You okay?"
"Um, can you call Alice, please?"
Alice?It was our wedding night and she wanted Alice? It wasn't like we hadn't had sex before, so I was confused about what was happening. It was just me, so why would she be nervous or scared?
"Bella, what's wrong? Can I help?"
"No, I just need Alice. I forgot something."
Pressing my hands against the door, I lowered my voice to a softer tone. "Baby, open the door. What do you need? I'll get it." I listened to her labored breaths on the other side of the wood door that stood between us. "Please, let me help."
After several seconds the door slowly opened, and there Bella stood, in a sheer, lacy robe and nothing else. The way she looked nearly brought me to my knees, and I couldn't wait to have her in my hands. I looked back up to her face, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I forgot my nightie." A sob bubbled from her chest and she fell into my arms. I wanted to scoop her up and carry her to bed—she looked amazing—but she needed me.
"Baby," I said, tilting her head up so that I could see her eyes. "You are the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."
"Edward, how can you say that? I'm standing here in this see through robe." Her eyes closed as her bottom lip began to shake. "I wanted this to be so perfect, and I had a pretty night gown picked out and everything. This was supposed to be special..."
Swiping my thumbs across her cheeks, I wiped away her tears. "It doesn't matter to me what you wear. As long as you're mine, tonight is perfect. And baby, I've never wanted you more than I do right now."
Her eyes widened and she pressed her teeth into her bottom lip, sighing as I backed away. My eyes scanned up and down her body, taking in her taut stomach, the curve of her hips, and her perfect, creamy breasts.
"'re so beautiful."
She smiled a bit and I took her hand, leading her to the bed before sliding the robe off her shoulders.
As I sat rocking the baby to sleep, I couldn't help but look around the room and marvel at how mine and Bella's lives had changed. My job as a junior partner at the law firm paid well, and we were able to buy the house of our dreams. We were lucky enough to fill it with two of the most beautiful children ever born. Our little Claire was almost three, and so excited about being a big sister. I watched her face when she met Paul for the first time, and I didn't think I'd ever forget the way her eyes sparkled. "He smells funny, Daddy," she said in her soft voice.
Paul squirmed in my arms and I wished Bella was home to care for him. She was still in the hospital recovering from his birth. Things with his delivery hadn't gone well, and to stop Bella's hemorrhaging, her doctors had to perform a hysterectomy. Bella was devastated that she'd never have any more children, but I assured her we'd find a way. All I cared about was that Bella was here with me. She was what I needed most in my life, and as long as I had her, I knew we could handle anything that came our way.
Looking at my son's face, I realized it wasn't just Bella that I needed. I'd never again be complete without Claire and Paul, too. We were a family, and the shadowbox on the table next to me was proof of that. I looked over the items that Bella had lovingly encased in it—a picture of us on our second date, the receipt I'd proposed to her with, even the pregnancy test when Bella found out about Claire. I was right were I wanted to be.
The birthday party was in full swing. The kids were having a great time with the piñata, though Paul was a little dangerous with the bat. Claire cried the first time he hit her, then lost her temper the second time. Paul was a sobbing, snotty mess, but as soon as Claire saw him, she transformed into mother mode. It had always been that way with them, though it still surprised me every time.
"Paul," Claire said, "you hafta be more careful. You made a big owie on my head. I love you, but sometimes you drive me crazy."
Paul just sniffled, nodding at his sister's words before grabbing onto her and hugging with all the strength in his little two year old arms. "Wuv you, Cwaiwe," he said. He idolized his big sister, and had been her shadow since the day he could walk.
Edward and I sat together at the picnic table, smiling at our two sweet children. They were the light of lives, and made us happier than we ever imagined possible. Edward took my hand, lacing our fingers, then leaned over and kissed me lightly. "I love you so much," he whispered. I smiled, knowing he meant it.
Things hadn't been easy, but as we approached our tenth anniversary, we had settled into a rhythm. Edward's family didn't come around, and it was accepted that his mother and I didn't get along. I didn't want to be the person who split up his family, so I encouraged Edward to take the kids and see them, but he refused. "You are my family, Bella, and if my parents won't accept that, then it's their loss," is what he always said. I loved him for it, but I wondered if someday he'd regret it.
Aside from my parents, the closest thing we had to family were Alice and her husband, Jasper. She was like a sister to me. She had planned Paul's birthday party, and it had been a perfect day—just one of many in what was our amazing life. Even with little bumps along the road, we were happy and together, and that's all we needed. As long as we were together, and our babies were with us, I knew we'd be happy. We'd be perfect.
"Edward, get to the emergency room, there's been an accident."
How the hell Bella could leave me with nothing but a message like that was beyond me, and as I raced through the streets, my mind ran in a million different directions. Was she okay? Had something happened to one of the kids? I ran into the building, my eyes searching for her.
The waiting room wasn't nearly as crowded as I imagined, and I easily found Bella sitting off to the side. Relief washed over her face when she saw me, and she jumped up and grabbed onto me, hugging me tightly.
"Babe, what's going on? What happened?"
"I don't know, they called and said there was an accident with Alice and the kids. I got here but they told me to sit down, someone would come talk to me soon, but no one has. What does that mean?"
It was our ten year anniversary, and Bella's best friend, who the kids always called Aunt Alice, had offered to take them for the night, giving us some alone time. She and her husband Jasper were excited since Alice was a few months away from having their first baby. Alice was going to pick the kids up after school and keep them until the next afternoon.
"Mr. and Mrs. Cullen?" a voice from behind me called.
Turning around, I saw a middle aged man, what looked to be a surgical cap in his hands. "Yes?" I said, suddenly feeling a sense of dread wash over me.
"Can you come with me, please?"
I took Bella's hand and we followed him down a long, white corridor. The clean smell burned my nose a little and I swallowed, trying to fight back the sudden urge to vomit. He led us to a small room with several chairs and a round end table. After we sat down, the doctor settled uncomfortably into a chair directly across from us.
"As you know there was an accident involving your friend and children. From what we've gathered, a cement truck failed to stop at a red light, and Mrs. Whitlock was unable to avoid colliding with it. The car was hit on the passenger's side." He took a deep breath before letting his eyes fall to the floor for a second. Suddenly I was shaking—this was bad. "I'm sorry, we did the best we could, there was just so much damage. Your children were both seated on the side of impact, and-"
"Which one?" Bella's quiet voice whispered.
"I'm sorry?" the doctor asked. Why couldn't I remember his name? Had he told us his name?
"Which one was it? Which of my children is dead?"
The doctor looked back and forth between Bella and I, sorrow in his face as his eyes began to glisten with fresh tears.
"I'm so sorry, there were no survivors..."
I sat outside in the hallway on the hardwood floor, the door slightly opened as I listened to Bella's muffled sobs. Today she was on Claire's bed, a pink pillow clutched desperately in her arms.
I quickly swallowed the bile that rose in my throat. I didn't know what to do anymore. My babies were gone, and with them they'd taken their mother's soul.
The days immediately following the accident, Bella was strong and tentative. Looking back now I could see she was too strong, and most likely in shock or denial. I admired her for her bravery, strength, and compassion, looking after everyone but herself.
Things went downhill fast. I noticed each day she became a little more distant, more sad. She went from only crying at night, to crying all day. Earlier and earlier she'd go to bed, until one day, she didn't get up at all.
Her wails became stronger and it brought me out of my remembrance. Her voice hiccupped as she cried out Claire's name and I couldn't hold back. I began to cry, too. I felt so useless and beaten, and I just wanted us to get through this. I wanted her to lean on me, so I could lean on her. Why didn't she understand that we couldn't be alone if we were together?
Slowly I stood and pushed the door open. The sight of her curled up on the pink bed rocked me to my core. It was something no man wanted to see of his beloved. Her grip on Claire's pillow was so firm, her knuckles white, the thin skin on the back of her hands stretching tight. She didn't even move or acknowledge my presence.
I knelt down at the edge of the bed and brushed her hair away from her face. "Bella? Baby?" I could barely speak through my tears. "Baby, it's going to be okay."
She cried louder.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. You have every right to miss them. And you know what? I miss them too, baby. I miss their laughter...the way Claire sang along with the radio in the car. I miss the way Paul climbed up in my lap when he was tired, just wanting me to hold him." I cried harder as the pain of remembering rippled inside me. "I miss that so much."
I continued to stroke her hair. "But Bella, I miss you, too. I miss your smile and your giggle. The way you tickle my back in the mornings. I miss kissing you before I leave for work and you wiping your lip stick off my lips. I miss looking in your eyes and seeing the beautiful woman I married. I miss fighting with you and getting to make up afterward. I miss hearing you whisper my name. I miss all that, too, baby. I need you, Bella. Please..."
"Bella, I can't do this anymore."
His voice sounded far away. I didn't know what he was talking about. What? What couldn't he do?
"You need help, Bella. I can't sit here and watch you like this. I can barely get myself out of bed everyday."
His voice was starting to shake. Staring straight ahead, I couldn't look at his face. I never looked at his face anymore, it hurt too much. He looked so much like her, and any time I caught the green in his eyes or the red in his hair, I was instantly taken back to that day.
She was so beautiful. So peaceful and still. Too still. I wrapped her hair around my finger over and over again, watching the little ringlets bounce away each time. Her white lacy dress was so pretty, clean. Her lips...they looked so soft, yet when I touched them, they were cold. My baby was gone. Both of them were gone, and I would never look at Edward the same way again.
"I think you should go stay with your mother. I called her and she's worried too, Bella. She's coming to pick you up." He knelt down in front of me, forcing me to look at him. "Please, Bella. This hurts me, too. They were my kids too, Bella. I don't know what else to do."
Tears slid down his cheeks, yet I felt nothing. I was dead inside, just like my babies. I wanted to wipe his tears away, to reach out and wrap my arms around him. I wanted to tell him that I loved him and would try harder. I wanted to...but I didn't. I couldn't. My perfect life was over—gone in one careless moment. If only...
His head lay in my lap as he sobbed. "I love you so much, Bella. I'm sorry I'm not strong enough for you. I love you, but I can't help you. I can't anymore, baby. This is just too hard, I'm so sorry."
I wanted to soothe him, rub my fingers through his hair, cry with him...but I didn't.
I just let him go.
His little pair of red shoes sat by the front door. It had been months, yet I never bothered to move them. Their bedrooms were still the same. If a stranger walked in the house, they'd swear a normal family lived there, not a broken, shell of a man that had lost everything. Thoughts of selling the house crossed my mind several times, but I couldn't do it. The memories I had there were all that was left of them. Those haunting images were like air to me.
My mother came one day with her maid, intent on packing up the kids stuff and giving it to charity. I threw her out and hadn't spoken to her since. She wouldn't use my heartache and loss as a way to get ahead, look like she actually gave a shit about my children. She didn't care about them, and I didn't care about her.
I was lonely. Bella never said anything or looked at me when I called or visited. Renee said Bella was seeing a therapist. Maybe I needed one, too. For the moment, all I really needed was another drink. That seemed to numb things pretty well, and I didn't have to put up with pity stares.
"Hey, Edward. Whatcha havin'?" the waitress asked. Her name was Rosalie, and she was nice. We always made small talk about stupid, mundane things. A few times she gave me a ride home, when I'd had too much to drink and I told her there was no one to call. I'm sure she thought I was a horrible father and husband when she helped me into my house, toys sitting in the corner of the room, and their pictures all over the walls.
One night she wasn't as happy as normal. When I asked why, she started crying. She reminded me of Bella—broken. She told me her fiancé had called it quits. Apparently there was a girl he worked with, and Rose caught them in a rather awkward position. The guy, Emmett, insisted it was nothing, but Rose didn't buy it. After her confession I took a deep breath and told her my own story. Her eyes filled with tears when I talked about the day I buried them. How sweet they looked, and how much I missed just the smell of them or their giggly laughs.
Staring at Rose, I wondered if I could ever feel for her what I felt for Bella. Rosalie looked like a runway model, but there was no spark, no connection other than friendship. She understood me, and for months she was the only person I talked to, the only person that saw how devastated I was. Her smile and laugh got me through the hardest times—the nights when I thought it would just be easiest to end it all.
And every time I was with her, no matter how many months had gone by, I still wished she was Bella.
I watched the rain droplets splatter on the glass of the window pane, slowly rolling downward. I touched the cool glass, my fingers lingering there for a moment, remembering their cold, hard skin.
My eyes began to fill again. I hated it, everything reminded me of them, of everything that would never be—what I'd never have again. A mother should never have to live without the warmth of her children's arms around her neck. I couldn't even stand to be awake, to be conscious. Everything reminded me that I'd lost them all.
So many people told me that with time, it would hurt less. That with time, I'd find a way to move on. That with time, my life would resume and I could live again. They were all liars. Time was nothing but an enemy.
Minute by minute the emptiness consumed me. Hour by hour the ache in my heart grew. The hollowness in my chest soon ballooned until I was immune to everything, but the pain, the depression—nothing remained inside of me but loss.
There were moments when I felt like maybe I wanted to try and live again. Maybe I could move on with Edward, but I knew that there was no way to do that. I couldn't, I had nothing left to love with and there was no more life in me. I should have died that day, too.
My mother seemed to think it was a good idea for me to see my shrink biweekly. I let her think whatever in the hell she wanted, as long as she continued to let me be.
I hated going into his office. Just inside the door, there was a big, white flower pot, just like the one that sat by Paul's casket at the funeral. It made my stomach twist and I wanted to throw up each time I saw it. I went in anyway, closing my eyes as I walked past it.
He spoke softly and I nodded or smiled when I thought I should. I always lied and said I was taking my medication regularly. I just wanted to be alone. Alone was where I gave into the misery. Alone I could cry for my babies until my eyes swelled shut. Alone I could miss my husband. Alone no one asked how I was, or what I needed. Alone there was no explaining how I constantly lived with regret, that my heart beat the sound of wretchedness.
Daily, I continued on the same way, regardless of the grief that made my whole body ache, and reminded myself of the necessities. Breathe. Smile. Breathe. Eat. Breathe. Drink. Breathe. Rest. Breathe.
"Bella, answer the fucking phone!" I yelled, leaving yet another message on her voice mail. "Please, Bella, talk to me. Today, of all days, please..."
I waited in silence until I heard the beep ending my connection to her. It had been one year to the day since the accident. One year since our lives had been completely turned upside down, since I'd felt anything other than hurt, anger, or despair. I was tired, overwhelmed with work, and trying to forget about everything.
The bar was quiet as Rose wiped down the counter, stretching across it. I noticed her boobs just grazing the surface as she leaned over. She was gorgeous, but I didn't feel anything for her.
"You've had too much, Sam's cutting you off. Besides, we're closing soon," she joked as she walked toward me. "You got a ride tonight? Need me to call you a cab or something?" she asked, concern etched across her face.
"No, I drove."
She laughed. "Well, you're not driving home, that's for sure. You want me to call someone?" She looked at me with sadness in her eyes—she knew there was no one to call. "I'll take you. Won't be the first time, right?"
"Rosie, I'm heading out!" Sam called from the door.
"Okay, I'm almost done. I'll lock up."
I watched as she carried a few cases into the backroom. Thinking I should offer to help, I got off my stool and followed her through the door.
"Edward, get outta here, you're not supposed to be back here," she said, placing her hand in the middle of my chest and pushing playfully. I wrapped my hand around hers and held it there.
"I just wanna help you. What can I do?"
She sighed. "I should be asking you that same question." We stood looking at each other for a moment, and I couldn't help noticing how blue her eyes were. I was so used to brown, but the blue was a welcomed change.
Before I realized what I was doing, my mouth was on hers, pressing hard against her lips. She stood hesitant, then relaxed into my arms, returning the kiss with fervor. My hands wrapped around her waist and were soon under her shirt, grasping the bare skin of her back.
"Edward?" she asked, her voice breathless and filled with desire.
"Please, help me forget. Please, just for tonight, I need to feel something."
Her eyes searched mine. Her break up with Emmett had been hard on her, and she needed comfort just like I did. Slowly, she lifted her arms above her head, letting me pull her shirt up and over. Once it was gone, my fingers found the clasp of her bra, and in an instant my lips were on her chest, sucking and biting at her soft, supple breasts.
Her body was different than Bella's, and I was glad—it didn't hurt my heart as much, and made it less real. My thumb rubbed back and forth across her nipple and she moaned, letting her fingers tangle in my hair. Pushing her against the shelves, I ground my pelvis against hers. I hadn't been so consumed by lust in over a year, and the alcohol in my body numbed everything that wasn't Rosalie.
Once my pants were unzipped, her hand grabbed my dick, holding it tightly as she stroked up and down. Stumbling around the room, I lifted her onto a counter top, pushing up the skirt she was wearing until it bunched around her hips. My fingers found the edge of her black, lacy panties, and I remembered Bella wearing something similar. Shaking my head, I willed the memory away, not wanting to tarnish the past with what I'd become.
When my fingers pushed into Rose's wet pussy, she moaned, leaning forward and pulling me into a kiss. As our tongues slid against each other, I could taste more than just the liquor I'd consumed that night. She was sweet, like chocolate and peaches, and different. My cock ached to be inside her, and I pulled out my slick fingers, lining myself up with her slit. Just before pushing in, I saw her eyes, reality hitting me like a ton of bricks. She wasn't the right girl.
"Rose, I'm sorry," I said, stumbling backward.
"No, Edward, it's okay," she pleaded, grabbing hold of my face and forcing my eyes to meet hers. "I'm her, okay? I'll be her."
"Bella?" I said, looking closer at Rose. They were so different—night and day—but maybe...if I really tried... "Turn around," I said, spinning her and pushing her body against the brick wall. I grabbed her underwear, pushing it to the side before I slowly slid my dick into her. The feel of her surrounding me was incredible, and I closed my eyes and let my fingers grab her hips. As I began to pump in and out, her moans filled the air and I went faster.
"Yes, Edward...oh yeah..." she said, her voice a whisper.
"Bella," I chanted over and over again in my head, but when Rose began to reply, I knew I was probably saying it out loud, too.
"Yes, Edward, Bella. I'm Bella..."
I closed my eyes as tightly as I could, the overwhelming feel of her surrounding me. I came hard, pulsing into her as I pumped a few more times. She was quiet, softly sniffling.
"Bella," I whispered, tears stinging my eyes. "I love you." She turned in my arms, wrapping hers around me as I cried.
"I'm here, Edward," she said, her voice tender and sweet. "I'm here, it's okay."
My tears slid down Rosalie's bare shoulder as I cried for the life I'd lost. I missed my Bella, more than anything. I'd always thought that if I at least had her, I could make it through any problems that came my way. Then just when things couldn't seem any darker, I lost her, too. I didn't tell Rosalie the truth, I let her believe Bella was dead, because even though that wasn't quite true, I felt like it was.
"Bella, I know you're there. I can hear you breathing." Nothing but silence. "Please talk to me." She sniffed and it sounded like she sighed.
"Bella, I know what tomorrow is. I can't quit thinking about it either. It hurts, this ache in my chest. I miss them so much." I needed her to know.
"Edward," her shaky voice was barely above a whisper. "I can't...I don't..."
My tears spilled over and trickled down my cheeks as I slid off the edge of the bed and sat on the floor. Covering my eyes with one hand, I held the phone with the other. I hadn't heard her voice in so long, and her calling for me ripped to shreds the last remnants of my heart. "It's alright Bella, I'm here. I'll come get you. We can spend the night at the cemetery next to our babies, if that's what you need." My chest rose and fell with my silent sobs, I'd be strong for her, if she asked. I'd try my damnedest to be the man I used to be.
Bella was waiting for me on Renee's porch when I got there, and the ride to Northridge was spent in total silence. Now and then she'd sniff and wipe her nose. Looking at her, I noticed how much weight she'd lost, how limp and stringy her hair was, and the dark circles under her eyes. All of the life that used to be there was gone, yet I still loved her more than anything.
After we parked, I wrapped my arm around her waist and helped her walk to their plots. Once we were close enough to touch the cool granite, tracing their names with our fingers, she folded into me, unable to stand on her own.
Her sobs echoed through the early morning air, and I lowered us both to sit between their headstones. She wailed and cried and soon I couldn't keep back my grief anymore.
We sat holding each others, sometimes crying, sometimes not. The sun rose high in the sky, yet to both Bella and I, this day would forever be cloaked in darkness. It'd been two years since we'd lost our babies—our lives forever changed for the worst.
She took a deep breath and slightly relaxed. Taking advantage, I kissed the top of her head. "I want you to know Bella, no matter what, I love you. I always will."
"I know, Edward. I'm sorry," she whispered.
"Don't be, you have nothing to be sorry for. Just get better and come back to me." I hugged her tighter, feeling her nod against my chest. I wanted that more than anything.
I don't know how it happened. There wasn't a particular morning that I woke up and suddenly I felt different, but somehow I did.
Right after we'd lost the kids, I saw the world in gray. I stopped having hope and faith, and I believed there was nothing beautiful left on earth. I couldn't see the deep green of the moss covered river bank, or the yellows of the new spring blooms in the yard. Everything was dark, dull, and ugly.
I started feeling a little better. Maybe it was the new medication I'd been taking, or Edward visiting more frequently. Maybe it was that I'd finally decided there might be something worth living for. The emptiness was always there, but now I was able to ignore it and breathe easier.
Lying in my bed, the sun shone through the window—golden rays dancing around my childhood bedroom and spreading out into bars across the walls. Sometimes I raised my hand and intercepted the warmth, just to feel it on my skin. Sometimes the sky could be so blue it took my breath away. There was a sparkle of white in my mother's hair that made me smile. I wondered if it was possible that time had slowed down and waited on me? What if I really still had living left to do?
Climbing out of bed, I decided I needed out of the house. It was kind of exciting—thinking about where to go. The Diner kept running though my mind, and I really had missed it.
My feet hurt from the walk, but I welcomed the ache, glad it was something besides sorrow. I kept my head down, not making eye contact with anyone. Getting better was a gradual climb and I'd only just begun the ascension—I didn't want to be pushed.
My steps quickened the closer I got. I felt like if I didn't hurry, the diner might disappear, taking away all my memories. So much had happened there—so many memories, most of which included Edward. The diner was a staple of our relationship, where we went to hang out, to eat, to laugh, and to cry. Even after I quit working there, Edward would find me there when I'd had a bad day, seeking solitude in the backroom. He'd sit beside me, not saying a word, and just hold my hand. He knew me well.
Reaching the edge of the building, my heavy feet and stiff legs slowed. I hadn't been here in years, the last time when I brought Paul and Claire for ice cream the day before the accident. I rested my hand on the window, closing my eyes as the memory of their laughter filled my heart. I missed them so much, but for once, it felt good to think about them.
Someone exited the diner, causing the bell on the door to ring. Opening my eyes, I looked around and heard a familiar voice. It echoed through my bones, because it sounded like my Edward.
I peered into the window and scanned the patrons. The first place I looked was our table. When I saw him sitting there, the air rushed out of me—he wasn't alone. There was a beautiful woman by his side. They were drinking coffee and laughing, so much. They were friendly and Edward looked...happy. I couldn't believe my eyes.
Her hand grazed his arm and as her touch lingered, he smiled at her, desire in his eyes. There was no pity like when he looked at me. He bit his bottom lip when she leaned forward, resting her head on his shoulder as her hand dipped under the table.
Edward leaned back in his chair, his legs straightening and protruding from the other side of the table. Hurt and jealousy bubbled up in me, yet I couldn't look away. Her arm moved in strokes under the table as his mouth fell slightly open.
Vomit rose in my throat.
The diner wasn't ours anymore.
What did I have left?
My week was looking up, and I was excited. Bella had called a few days earlier, wanting to meet and talk. Renee told me Bella was finally having some breakthrough's, and those, along with new medication, were getting her back to the old Bella. The Bella I missed. My Bella.
When I'd met Rose for lunch on Tuesday, she was incredibly supportive, agreeing to meet at the diner since we were both in a rush. Being there with her was hard—the last time I'd been there was with Bella and the kids. I told Rose stories, like Bella and I's engagement. She loved how spunky Claire was when she stood on the table and yelled for the waitress to bring her dinner faster. She even laughed about the time Paul threw up all over the counter just after drinking grape soda. It felt good to talk about my family with someone I cared about. Rose and I were supportive of one another, and it was too bad there weren't deeper feelings between us. She was a great girl, just not the right girl.
She never failed to surprise me, though, like when she reached under the table and began stroking my dick. I wanted to tell her to stop, but it felt too good. Over the past year we'd become "friends with benefits," though we hadn't had sex in almost a month, our schedules never coinciding. Feeling her hand on me was incredible, and after a few minutes, I pulled her out of the restaurant. I fucked her in the backseat of my car for almost an hour—letting her ride me and then pounding into her from behind. We were both late for our afternoon appointments, but I didn't care—I finally felt good, and I loved it.
"Mr. Cullen, you have a visitor," Lauren called out over the intercom. With no meeting until after lunch, I wondered who it was. Straightening my desk, I stood and walked toward the door. Half way there, it opened, and I was surprised when Rosalie came in.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, smiling as I placed my hand on her waist and pulled her in to lightly kiss her cheek.
She held a basket in her hand. "Well, I was just thinking about yesterday, and I thought maybe we could have a picnic today." She smiled brightly, holding up the basket and lifting the lid to reveal sandwiches, chips, cheesecake, and sodas.
I laughed, loving how thoughtful she was. "I'd love that. I don't have any clients for awhile, so we have lots of time."
"Really?" she asked, starting to twist back forth a bit as she batted her eyelashes at me.
"Yeah, why? What are you thinking?"
He watched closely as I sat down the basket, then moved my fingers to the belt of my jacket. I was surprised he wasn't curious, since it had been unseasonably warm and I was wearing a full length trench coat. Of course, he didn't know the only thing underneath it was a very see through negligee. Pulling the coat lapels open, I heard his breath catch. The coat fell to the floor, and I stepped toward him, feeling extremely erotic in four inch stilettos.
"Can you tell what I'm thinking?"
His eyes were glued to my breasts, my nipples hard due to the cold temperature of the room.
"Ah shit, Rose," he said, slowly guiding his hands up my bare arms.
"Remember a few months ago when you told me that little office fuck fantasy you had?" I hoped he would recall his desire to bend me over his desk and pound into me from behind.
"Uh huh, I remember." He swallowed, his voice tighter than usual. Glancing down at his pants, I was happy to see the hard on he was suddenly sporting.
I licked my lips, trailing my fingernails down the edge of his tie. "I think we should work up an appetite, don't you?"
"Mhmm," he moaned, pulling my body against him and kissing my neck. My hands played in his hair while his hot mouth left wet kisses on my throat. He covered my lips with his, softly stoking his tongue against mine as his hands slid down my sides and over my hips. He grasped my ass and pulled me tight against him; his cock was hard as it pushed against my stomach.
"I think you like my surprise," I cooed, guiding his head and mouth toward my aching nipples. He latched onto me, sucking through the thin material and scraping my tit with his teeth as he carefully bit down. He felt good, his body matching perfectly with mine. It was like we were made for one another, except that we were both in love with other people. I knew he really only wanted his wife, and he knew I wanted Emmett, but we got past that. We had learned to just live in the moment and enjoy what comfort and pleasure we could find.
His hand slid around my hip, following the soft lacy trim on my panties. Once his finger reached the apex of my thighs, he pushed in, letting me feel him against my throbbing clit.
"Open your legs, you naughty girl," he said against my quivering skin. I did as I was told, and he plunged his fingers into me, pushing them deep as they wiggled back and forth.
"Ugh, Edward," I called out, trying to keep my voice down.
Moving my hands to his pants, they were undone and opened in a matter of seconds. I needed him inside me, and I couldn't wait any longer. With his dick in my hand, I stroked him, letting my thumb slide over the tip. He continued sucking my breasts while he fingered me, making me weak in the knees.
"On the desk," he said, before kissing me hard on the mouth one last time, then spinning me around. He pushed me down onto the surface—the stapler jabbing roughly into my shoulder, but I craved the pain. It meant I was going to get good and fucked.
Talking to Edward made me excited to see him, but after finding him with another woman at the diner, I was nearly broken. I told my mother what I'd seen, and after much coaxing, she convinced me that I must have been seeing things. Edward loved me, and would never be dating anyone else. It was just a misunderstanding, it had to be.
Needing to see him sooner, I got dressed and hurried downtown, hoping to catch him before he left for lunch. If I did, then maybe he and I could go to the diner and I could ask him about what I'd seen. I was sure that he'd laugh and explain everything, then I'd feel silly for doubting him, but reassured when he professed his love.
Walking into the office, I felt lost—nothing was familiar. I hadn't been there in so long, and there was a new girl working the front desk. She informed me Edward was in a meeting, so I offered to wait. After half an hour, I told her who I was, clearly surprising her with the fact that Mr. Cullen was married.
Quietly I walked down the hallway toward his office, a little startled when I heard sounds echoing in the corridor. Someone was having a little "Afternoon Delight" as Edward used to call it when I'd come visit. His door was closed, and I quietly twisted the handle. It easily opened, and I thought I'd poke my head in, see how much longer he'd be. I knew he would be surprised to see me, and I was excited.
What I saw was nothing like I expected, and as I watched them, my slowly healing heart shattered. There, only feet away, were Edward and the woman from the diner. She was bent over his desk as he slid his dick in and out of her. His hand twisted in her long, blonde hair, as he pulled her head back, causing her tits to project out. She called his name over and over again, crying out in pleasure, as his fingers dug into her hip. His eyes were closed and his brow furrowed—the way he used to be with me.
The sight of them made me physically ill, and I vomited all over the floor and a red coat that was laying there. Two sets of eyes turned toward me, both filled with horror. The woman looked shocked, embarrassed, and a little angry. Apparently, the coat belonged to her.
Edward was frozen, his mouth hanging open as his eyes bulged out. Not wanting him to see me cry, I turned and ran from the room.
"Who the fuck was that?" the girl said.
Edward's voice was soft and stricken with grief. "Bella."
Sometimes things go from good to bad in a blink of an eye. Rose left town, saying I'd betrayed her by letting her believe Bella was dead. It was true, after telling her I lost my kids and that my wife was gone, I never elaborated—never corrected myself. I accepted her pity and took advantage of her body. The truth was, some days—in my heart and soul—it felt like Bella was dead, like I'd lost her too.
Rose told me she was pregnant, but she wanted me to stay away from her. It hurt knowing that I was going to be a father and that I'd never get the chance to know my child. Part of me felt like I didn't deserve to be a dad again. Really, I was scared I'd just lose another child.
Bella wouldn't take my calls, and I knew she didn't trust me anymore after walking in on me and Rose. She just couldn't understand my relationship with Rose. I'd tried over and over again to explain that we didn't love each other, we were both just looking for comfort—that was it. I tried to convince Bella that I only loved her, and that when I said forever, I meant it.
I understood her reaction, because I'd have gone mad if I thought Bella was doing the same thing I'd been doing. It was shitty and selfish, but I still wanted Bella more than anything.
After Rose left, I put her out of my mind and focused all my attention on getting Bella back. I called her every night, and it wasn't long before she started accepting my calls. At first she wouldn't talk, she just listened to me beg. Renee soon suggested I take Bella to her counseling sessions and before long, I was sitting in with her. We talked a lot, discussing our past, the kid's accident, the grief and pain, even our hurt and resentment. I told them both about Rose, withholding the news of her pregnancy. I hadn't talked to Rose since she left and for all I knew, she hadn't even kept the baby.
I was so relieved to get everything out in the open, and it felt like things were headed in the right direction. We were moving forward in the smallest of ways, and I began to believe that maybe there was such a thing as second chances.
Jacob was six weeks old when I called Edward. We'd had no contact in months, and I knew he'd be surprised to see us. No matter how hurt I was over what had happened, I couldn't keep Edward from his son—not with knowing what I did about Claire and Paul. He was a good man, and I knew he loved his other children. I just hoped that Jacob wouldn't be a hurtful reminder of what he'd lost.
From the first time he came to my apartment, I could see that he intended to be a father to Jacob, and I was happy. His eyes lit up when he held the restless little boy, and I had to wipe a few tears away as I watched them stare at each other. I wondered if he'd had the same reaction to his other children, and if Jacob looked like they did. I'd seen pictures once, but it had been long ago, and I'd forgotten.
"Emmett and I are trying to work things out."
Edward looked up at me. "That's great, Rose. I'm happy for you."
"I just wanted you to know since he'll be spending time with Jacob. I didn't want to keep that from you."
"Bella and I are working on things, too. We're seeing a counselor, so I'm hoping we'll be okay."
He looked back down at Jacob, tracing his finger along Jake's tiny little cheek. "He looks so much like Claire. His hair and everything..." I watched him tear up, and moved to sit next to him.
"He's gonna need you, Edward. Emmett's a wonderful man, and he's good with Jacob, but he'll need his father. I want you to be there for him, if you can." Sliding my arm around his waist, I leaned my body against him. "Tell me if you ever can't handle it, okay? I don't want him to be a burden to you. I know he can't take the place of Claire and Paul, but maybe he can help ease the pain a little."
Edward nodded, smiling as Jacob yawned and fluttered his tired eyes. "I have to tell Bella."
"You didn't tell her?" I whispered, wondering how she would react.
"I couldn't. I didn't know if you'd ever come back and I didn't see any reason hurting her. But she's doing better. I'll tell her soon."
As Edward and I sat cuddling our son, I knew that things between us would be fine. We'd been friends since his first night in the bar, and I had faith that our son would only strengthen that bond between us.
We'd finished having dinner, and were both sitting silently at the table. It was Bella's birthday and I asked if I could cook for her like I used to.
I wanted so much to tell her about Jacob, but I was nervous. One of the things that had haunted Bella since the accident was the reality she couldn't have anymore children. I hoped that she would see Jacob as a blessing, a chance for us to experience the joys of parenthood again. I feared she would think it was a curse, hating me for having a baby with Rosalie. I had no idea what she would do.
Music played softly from the den, and I stood, walking to her chair and asking her to dance. My heart skipped a beat when she raised her hand to mine, the diamond in her wedding ring sparkling in the candle light. It meant so much that she was wearing it again.
"I'd love to," she whispered, tears filling her eyes. I knew it was still hard on her, being in our house with me again. We'd been talking about our feelings lately, and I felt like with every passing day, I was falling more in love with her, if it was possible.
Wrapping my arms around her waist, I pulled her close, and she melted into me, her lips seeking out the skin of my neck. We hadn't been intimate since before the accident, only hugging and holding hands a few times in the past months. I didn't want to push, as I was still trying to rebuild her trust. We'd come a long way, but we still had so far to go.
Her hands trailed up and over my shoulders and her fingers grazed the back of my neck. "Edward," she whispered.
"Bella." My breath faltered and then sped up. I wanted her so badly, but deep down I didn't think either of us was ready.
Her cheek, wet with tears, pressed against my chest. "I miss you so much. Please..." Her voice cracked, her grip tightening in my hair.
I wanted to help her in any way I could. "What do you need, baby? Just tell me."
She looked up at me and my heart broke and mended all in the same beat. She was so beautiful and sad, and I had a consuming need to try to fix her.
"Just make me feel something, Edward. I want to feel good again. Please...make me forget." The brown in her eyes was so deep and dark, I felt like I was getting lost in them.
Letting go of her waist, I brought my hands up to cup her face. I rubbed my thumbs across her cheeks, wiping away the tears and drying up the hurt. "I'll do anything you ask, Bella. I love you, you know that right?"
Her eyes danced back and forth as she looked at me. She tried to smile but more tears spilled from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. "I love you, too, Edward, but it still much."
Feeling the burn of misery in my eyes, I swallowed hard. "Let me make you feel good, baby."
Her lips fell open and she glanced down at my mouth. Her head began to shake back and forth slowly, and her breathing accelerated. "Please, Edward, kiss me."
She didn't have to ask twice. My lips met hers and the world disappeared—there was nothing left but us. Like a shock to the chest, my heart was revived when her lips touched mine. Her kiss started me living again.
I kissed her slowly, teasing her lips with my tongue. She whimpered and her hands grabbed my shirt, pulling on me and trying to get closer. Her mouth opened and she kissed me back with so much passion, my knees buckled.
We stumbled backward and her ass hit the edge of the table. We parted long enough to remove my shirt, then my mouth returned to her neck as my fingers worked the buttons on her shirt.
"Rip it, Edward," she moaned, and I pulled back to look at her—her head thrown back, and eyes squeezed shut. With both my hands I easily discarded the fabric, and her breasts spilled out over the top of her cotton bra. Memories flashed though my mind of her naked body, and I took my time grazing my fingers over her exposed flesh. Her nipples hardened and my mouth watered. I smoothed my opened hand along a familiar path—the curvature of her neck, the dip of her breast bone, the roundness of her tits.
I was a fool to think I could ever live without her.
She raised her head and looked at me, her eyes still wet and glossy. " me."
I couldn't find the words to explain how much I did love her, with every piece of my soul. "Baby, I do love you, I swear. I never stopped loving you because I never stopped breathing."
Her eyes grew dark and lustful. "Fuck me, Edward." She reached for my belt and fumbled with the buckle. In excitement, I kicked off my pants as soon as they hit my knees, and her hands were everywhere. "Make me forget, Edward. Fuck me now."
She was probably leaving red scratches all over me, but I didn't care. She could mark me any way she wanted to. She could tattoo her name across my face—I was hers forever anyway.
I lifted Bella onto the edge of the table, tipping over our champagne flutes. I leaned around her, swiping the dishes to the floor. It felt both wrong and right, but I wanted her, more than anything. I knew we should stop, but once her hand wrapped around my cock, all rational thinking was gone.
She curled her other hand around the back of my neck, yanking my face down to hers. I kissed the fuck out of her, sucking her tongue and moaning into her opened mouth.
Lying back on the table, she pulled me down on top of her, and I felt her wet heat sliding against my dick. Things were happening too fast, but I couldn't stop it—I wanted her attention, I needed her body, and I was thriving off her touch.
Then it was as if a fog clouded my mind and I was taken back to fourteen years earlier when we'd just met. Somehow the weight on my heart lifted, grief slipped off my shoulders, and the love of my life was happy again.
Bella was begging me for a good fuck, and my deceiving mind didn't let me feel anything but lust and need. I stood up straight and roughly grabbed her waist, pulling her ass to the edge of the table. I pushed her panties to the side, aligned my cock to her heat, and pushed into her fast and hard.
"Yes!" she hissed.
I slowly pulled out and then with a swivel of my hips, I filled her again and again. With each moan, each chant of my name, and each thrust of her hips, I sped up my movements.
My mind was on repeat, only thinking one thing, "Bella, Bella, Bella."
I felt her pussy tensing around me, causing my balls to tighten as the pleasure escalated. Squeezing my eyes shut, I threw my head back and rubbed over her nipple with one hand, while pinching her clit with the other.
She screamed, jerking her pelvis as she came. I moved my hand off her clit and caressed her thigh before gently moving up her hip as I slowed my thrusts.
My thumb brushed against a raised section of skin on her stomach and my eyes shot open.
The fog that clouded my brain quickly dissipated and my world crashed, again. Flashes of our life hit me like a wrecking ball.
Her cesarean scar.
Our babies were gone.
Bella's depression.
My despair.
Rose and Jacob.
I had foolishly fucked Bella regardless of it all.
She deserved so much better from me. I looked up at her face, tears streaming down her temples, getting lost in her hair. She bit her bottom lip and tried to smile.
"Bella, I'm so sorry. I never meant-"
"No, Edward, no." She sat up, pulling me close. Her arms wrapped around me and something warm and wet tickled my shoulder. She was crying again. She spoke calm and warm, her breath hot against my ear. "I wanted this, Edward. I wanted you to love me like you used to."
Suddenly, it was all too much, and I couldn't hold it in any longer. So I let it go.
The sob coming from my lips was foreign and strange. My grip around her body tightened and my chest constricted and released as I cried harder than ever before.
Everything hit me in that second—the joy and sorrow, the loss and anger, the desperation and hope. It poured out of me as I held on to the most precious thing in my universe—my Bella.
The last few months had been better. I felt better, Edward and I were getting along better, my mother said I looked better. Better...that seemed to be my new goal in life—to be better. But better than what? Considering how bad things had been, pretty much anything was better than that. It wasn't much to aspire too, but it was still better.
Edward and I still attended counseling sessions, both together and alone. The therapists said we were making progress, and I was proud of that. I missed Claire and Paul every day, but I was starting to see a bigger picture. I hoped that maybe someday it wouldn't hurt as much, but most days when I thought about them it felt like I'd been punched in the gut. Edward usually made me feel a little bit better... Better.
We were dating, having only been intimate a few times since my birthday. My doctor thought I should get my feelings straight before jumping back into a physical relationship. Edward seemed concerned with that, but most of the time he was just busy. There was always a case he was working on, or a meeting to go to. He worked through lunches, dinners, and even weekends. I sometimes got the feeling he wasn't working, but there was no reason not to believe him. Not until the day I saw her at the grocery store.
I had stopped for some milk, and as I got in my car to leave, I saw her climb out of a bright red car only a few spaces down.
Edward told me she was gone, that she'd left town after I'd seen them together in his office. That had been over a year and half before, so I wondered what she was doing back. I decided not to dwell on it. Edward and I were in a good place, so I didn't think about it again. Until a week later when I saw the same red car in the parking lot of Edward's office. It had to have been a coincidence, but when I tried to call him, the phone just went to voicemail. He told me he had lunch meetings that day, but as I thought about it, images of Rosalie bent over his desk and Edward pounding into her filled my mind. Something was going on, and I had to find out what it was.
I was obsessed with discovering the truth. Every day I drove past Edward's office at lunch, and several times the car was there. One evening when he had a dinner meeting, I drove past his house, and the car was there. There was a weekend when he had depositions all day, but his car was home, and so was the red one. I pretended I was fine when I saw or spoke to Edward, but it was getting harder with each sighting. I even followed it from his house one day, which gave me a new place to drive by. On my second trip past the apartment building, I almost lost it when I saw Edward's car pulling into a parking space. Pulling over, I watched as he got out, smiling and carrying a gift bag. Rosalie opened the apartment door, wrapping her arms around him and kissing his cheek as he entered. He lied to me.
I rushed home in a panic, throwing out all the medications I'd been taking. There was no sense getting better if the son of a bitch was just going back to his slut. I called his cell phone, and was surprised when he actually answered.
"Bella? Hey, what are you doing?" he said, as I heard a door click shut in the background.
"I just wondered if you're free tonight, if you wanna get some dinner or something." I had a feeling he'd pass up my offer, claiming to have another meeting.
"Sure, I'd love to. Listen, I'm with a client right now, but how about seven or so? I'll come get you from your mom's."
His response caught me off guard and I stuttered through my reply, telling him that it sounded great and I couldn't wait. "I love you, Bella," the asshole had the nerve to say, as he stood in her house, probably in between fucking sessions. I was so angry, who did he think I was? Did he honestly think I wouldn't smell or taste her on him?
I waited until he showed up, and then plastered a smile on my face.
"Do you mind if we stop by the house for just a minute? I need to change," he said.
I nodded in response. Maybe her perfume was on his shirt, or her lipstick on his pants. Whatever it was, I was quiet and let him hold my hand on the way there. When we pulled up, memories assaulted me. The kids playing in the yard, Paul riding his tricycle in the driveway, and Claire lining up her dolls on the front porch swing. There were so many moments, I couldn't speak as Edward led me inside the house.
"I'll be right back," he said, before he hurried down the hall. I looked around the living room, where not much had changed. I was glad to see our family pictures on the walls and tables. The toys in the corner hurt for a moment, and then relaxed me a bit. A new frame on the mantel held the picture of a baby. The little boy looked so much like my Claire, it almost took my breath away. I wondered who he was and why Edward had a picture of him.
"Hey, I need to get you a new key. I had to get the locks changed a while back, the front door handle broke," Edward said, and I watched him walk into the kitchen, returning with a key. "Put this on your ring so you can get in anytime you want."
Dinner was nice, as was the movie we saw. By the end of the night, I was done pretending and when Edward asked me to go home with him, saying he had some things to talk to me about, I declined.
No way, I thought. I'm not some cheap whore like your other girl. Just because we're still legally married doesn't mean I'll put out just 'cause you was understanding, dropping me off with a kiss on the cheek, and staying only long enough to make sure I got in safely and to say hello to my mother.
The next day, he called bright and early, asking if I could meet him for a late lunch. I agreed, glad that the late time gave me a chance to see what Rosalie was up to.
I waited until Rose left her apartment, and then followed her. She never even saw me, and luckily the tailing didn't last long. She pulled into a park, and I turned into the next parking section a few hundred feet down the road. I was surprised when she got out, my heart stuttering when she opened the back door and took a baby out of a car seat. She walked across the grass toward the playground, waving to someone in the distance. As she got closer to where I was parked, I could see the baby more clearly. He was dressed in a little blue outfit with a brown baseball hat. Tears pricked my eyes when I realized it was Edward she was walking toward. He stood from a bench and jogged to her, reaching out and hugging her as the baby reached, in turn, for Edward.
I remained horror stricken as he took the baby in his arms, lifting him up and smiling. I'd only ever seen him smile like that for two other people. The baby's hat fell off, and a sobbing gasp left my throat. His hair was red, like Edward's. The baby smiled and I realized he was the baby in the picture. My eyes grew wider as I watched them, hearing Rosalie's voice as she laughed and talked to the baby.
"Are you excited to see Daddy, Jacob? Yeah, you are, aren't you?"
Daddy? I couldn't look away from the scene before me. As I watched Edward with his new son, it dawned on me why he'd been with Rosalie. Obviously, she could give him children, and I couldn't. He'd wanted so much to be a father, and since I couldn't make that dream come true for him again, he found someone else who could.
Edward had finally started helping me heal, he was all I'd been living for, and now he was gone. He didn't need me anymore. There were so many more things that Rosalie could give him, and I'd never measure up. I watched him kiss the baby and I knew that was it. He was happy with a new family, and I was just in the way.
I left, with only one destination in mind. It was good timing that he'd given me a new key to the house, and as I walked around inside, remembering how my life had once been perfect, I had a thought—an idea.
Opening the medicine cabinet, I found my old prescriptions for sleeping pills. I'd been through so many different medications, always having to find a new one when the previous one quit working. I grabbed three of the bottles and emptied their contents into my hand, counting at least forty pills. I filled the cup next to the sink with water and began to swallow the pills four or five at a time, until they were all gone.
Going back to the bedroom, I saw the shadowbox that contained the receipt Edward had used to propose to me. After breaking the glass and taking it out, I pulled out a picture of the kids, too, and lay on the bed with them, crying and missing my children. There was a pen on the nightstand, and I picked it up, turning the receipt over to the side that showed the faded purchases.
I miss them, I wrote. I just want my babies back.
Pulling out my phone, I texted Edward, asking him to meet me at the house for lunch, then dropped the phone on the bed next to the picture and receipt.
Soon I'd be better.
"Rose, do you have plans this afternoon?" I asked, kissing Jacob's cheek.
She shook her head. "No, not until tonight. Emmett's coming over. Why?"
"I'm going to meet Bella for lunch and I want you and Jacob to come with me." My stomach tumbled and I wasn't sure why this was so hard. Rosalie was a great friend, Jacob my beautiful son, Bella my treasured wife, and I just wanted us all to finally be a family.
"Really, Edward? You're going to tell her?" Rose reached as Jacob squealed, practically jumping out of my arms to her.
"Yeah, just give me about twenty minutes to talk to her and then meet me at my house. She just sent a text saying she'd be there." Taking a deep breath, I knew this wouldn't be easy.
"Relax Edward, everything's going to be fine." I nodded as we walked over to the swings.
The next hour flew by and before I knew it, I was already late. Fumbling and nervous I kissed them both goodbye and ran to my car, yelling for Rosalie to meet me in a few minutes.
My hands were shaking when I tried to stick my key in the switch. Shit! Calm down Edward, it's just Bella. I took a minute to collect myself, then started my car and drove away.
The front door was unlocked when I got there. "Bella?" I didn't see her in the kitchen or the living room, and I twisted my neck to look up the stairs to see if she was there. "Bella? Baby, I'm home."
I stood still and quiet waiting for her to answer. I didn't hear anything but a weird noise coming from outside, like someone was mowing their lawn. I took the steps one at a time. "Hey, you up here?"
Our bedroom door was open and I smiled thinking she was in there waiting for me. As soon as I entered, uneasiness washed over me. "What the…"
The covers on the bed were wrinkled and splattered with drops of blood. In two strides I was standing over the bed looking at the clutter of objects that were there. The glass on the shadowbox was broken, the picture of Paul and Claire crumbled and covered in blood, as was the note I'd proposed with. I quickly picked it up and turned it over, reading Bella's messy handwriting.
Fuck! What did she do?
Panic seared though me. Our therapist had warned me that people in Bella's depressed state were prone to suicide attempts.
Looking around the room, I couldn't focus on anything. Then I saw the picture of Jacob from the living room mantle lying on the floor, and my blood ran cold. She knew.
"BELLA?" I ran over and looked out the bedroom window. Nothing.
I ran into our bathroom. I noticed the medicine cabinet door was open, and pill bottles were haphazardly scattered. I picked one up that was empty, then threw it down and picked up another. One lone pill tumbled out.
"BELLA!" I turned to leave and slipped on the tile floor. Scrambling back up, I left the bathroom.
Please no! Please no!
I ran as fast as I could through each room yelling her name. She never answered. Every room was empty.
I stumbled back down the stairs and froze when I entered the kitchen.
That rumble!
Flinging open the back door, I ran across the yard to the detached garage and the roar grew louder. My heartbeat thrummed though my ears as fear prickled my skin. My whole body shook as I went to open the door.
She wouldn't do this me. She loves me. We're meant to be together forever. I love her...
I pulled up to Edward's house and saw him running across through the yard toward the garage. What in the world?
Turning around, I saw Jacob sleeping soundly in his car seat. I didn't want to wake him until Edward was ready for us, so I left the radio on and the air running, gently closing the door.
As soon as I was out of the car, I heard Edward yelling. I ran to the garage, but when I saw him, I instinctively covered my mouth and my knees buckled.
He was pulling Bella from an old red truck. Her skin was so pale, and her body limp...and lifeless. Her shirt was covered with something wet, vomit maybe? There was drool dripping off her chin and her mouth fell open as he tugged on her.
He was crying and screaming. I couldn't understand most of what he said, but what I could, I knew I'd never forget. "No, no, no!.. Bella... No!... 911, Rose!... Please! Don't leave me baby..."
I fumbled, pulling my cell out of my pocket. I told the operator Edward's address, but couldn't explain what was wrong—my mind couldn't comprehend that Bella might be dead.
But I knew.
He fell to the concrete floor with her in his arms, rocking her and crying into her hair. I couldn't move to help him. I watched as he pressed his ear to her chest, and then wailed so loudly. He shook her hard, begging her to come back.
The ambulance soon pulled up and the EMT's rushed past me, hovering over Edward and Bella.
His cries drowned out the sirens, filling the air around us with pain and suffering.
"You have to let go of her, sir!"
Everything happened in a blur, and I staggered back to the car, leaning against it.
Edward climbed into the ambulance with Bella, not even glancing my direction. There was a flurry of activity around me, yet I stood motionless.
This wasn't real was it?
"Are you okay, hun?" Edward's elderly neighbor asked.
I looked right through her.
"Excuse me, Miss, can you answer a few questions?" The police officer stopped in front of me. "Got it," he spoke into the walkie-talkie attached to his shoulder.
"What happened?" the neighbor lady said.
The cop shook his head. "Carbon monoxide poisoning. Her husband found her in the garage. She'd plugged the muffler with old rags, had the heater wide open..."
"Oh my…"
"There were no signs of life. It doesn't look good..." He began speaking into his shoulder again.
He continued to talk, but I no longer heard him. Bella was gone. What would this do to Edward? To me? To us? To Jacob?
Maybe today, we had lost him, too.
I wondered, maybe true love like Edward and Bella's, no matter the circumstances, never exhausts, not even in death. Maybe it just evaporates into the air, swirling with the dust, and floating away on the wings of time…
I believe that if I should die,
and you were to walk near my grave,
from the very depths of the earth
I would hear your footsteps
Benito Perez Galdos | https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6912526/1/Exhaust-by-beegurl13-and-Mrs-Robward | dclm-gs1-221010000 |
0.022458 | <urn:uuid:67d1441c-2761-486b-be34-ce63a0dbb6a3> | en | 0.983753 | The Reason You're Perfect
A/N I've absolutely fallen in love with Final Fantasy XIII characters, ah their so lovable! Hmm, it makes you feel warm inside thinking about all the wonderful shipping opportunities you can make up for yourself with such wonderful well rounded characters!
I apologize for my eccentricities, but you'll have to get used to it! Of course, those who do endure this will get to enjoy a story of great interest I hope, I usually like to mix together romance and adventure, but I'm going for romance and angst this time around, yes I am! Hmm, let's see how it turns out!
~Anonymous-Anime-Fan :3
The Reason You're Perfect
"I really don't want to go to the beach…." I mumbled as Vanille dragged me out of my room. I had moved to Bodhum from Palumpolum after my home had been destroyed. My father had decided to let me go alone, while he would stay in Palumpolum and help rebuild the home, in remembrance of the place he built a life in with my mother, and me after I was born.
My mother's body was never found, but a gravesite was made for her near the beach, like she's always wanted.
"But you need to lighten up! Ever since this whole L'Cie thing wrapped up, you went back to being the emo kid! You still have a life and the fancy powers, enjoy them!" She shouted happily while dragging me out of my apartment building.
"Fine." I grumbled and she smiled.
"Put on this," She said, tossing me my swim suit, "Maqui will be there." She said. My eyes brightened. Maqui had become my best friend, we related to each other quickly, since I moved here. I also have this…. Kinda…. Small…. Maybe big….
Crush on him. I didn't tell anyone about it, but I have the feeling that Vanille figured it out on her own. I hope she didn't, but she's been trying to get me to hang out with Maqui quite a lot… so there's the possibility.
"Fine." I said again, changing into my swimsuit in the changing area. I looked at myself in the mirror. I shrugged.
I always get called cute and adorable but I don't see it. Eh.
I stepped out a found Vanille waiting. She smiled and grabbed my hand. She pulled me to the beach and ran off once Fang came into sight. She waved and I sighed.
"Bring me all this way to just ditch me…."
"You're in a good mood." I heard the sarcastic remark from behind.
"Ya, ya, Yuji." I said, sitting down on a bench looking out at the ocean. Yuji sat to my left and Maqui sat to my right. I blushed. Maqui in a swimsuit…. No bloody nose….. No bloody nose.
"Woah, are you ok Hope? Your nose is bleeding." Maqui said, tossing me a towel. I covered my face, except for my eyes, using it as an excuse to hide my blush.
Now Maqui was cute and adorable and… amazing.
"I'm fine." I said, muffled through the towel. Maqui smiled and I suddenly felt really warm. He grabbed me.
"C'mon, let's go get something at Lebreau's." He said happily. I nodded, dropping the soiled towel. I don't mind be dragged somewhere by Maqui. He pulled me straight into Lebreau's shop and immediately ordered us smoothies, remembering my favorite. It's the little things that matter sometimes.
We sat down at a table, ignoring the usual murmuring when we go out. I overhear things like "omg, he's so cute!" and "look at them! Their adorable!", stuff like that. They must be talking about Maqui.
"Thanks." Maqui said cheerfully, talking our drinks. He took a big chug out of his and let out a happy sigh. He looked at me, still smiling.
"Why are you so insecure!" HE asked out of nowhere, startling me.
"What?" I asked, surprised.
"I can tell it in your eyes; you've got low-self-esteem." He said, shaking his finger back at forth to "low-self-esteem". "How come you never told me about this self loathing attitude you have, we've been friends for a year, I'm hurt." He said, feigning hurt.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." I said, smiling.
There was a long moment of awkward silence before Maqui stood up. He walked close to me and I looked up at him, blushing. He was blushing too.
"You should know…. You have every reason not to have low-self-esteem. Really, it all piles under one reason though." He said, still blushing and looking away trying to hide it. He leaned in and caught my lips in a kiss. My eyes widened in surprise, but I started to kiss back. I put my arms over his shoulders and I felt his arms wrap around me. He pulled away, sitting back in his chair which had mysteriously moved extremely close to me.
"That reason is you're perfect the way you are." Maqui said. We were both blushing like crazy.
"C-Could we do th-that again?" I asked shyly. Maqui smirked and nodded. He pulled me close again gently and wrapped his arms around me. I looked at him shyly, wrapping my arms around his shoulders. One of his hands gently led my chin to him and we kissed again. This time was a million times better… I swear fireworks started shooting from nowhere around us.
Maqui took charge of the kiss and I let him. I slide my hand up his bare back and tangled my hand in his hair. I moaned slightly into the kiss and we parted grudgingly for air. We looked into each other's eyes and I rested my head into the crook of his neck.
"This feels like a dream." I mumbled.
"I know right?" Maqui said, in a dreamy voice. He smiled at me and wrapped an arm around me. I looked around, blushing realizing we had made out twice in public. None of our friends were in the area, but a group of… yaoi fangirls, I think that's what their called, had passed out in the corner of the shop.
"You guys seemed to be enjoying yourselves, so how's it feel to finally get together?" Lebreau said from behind the counter, appearing from nowhere. I blushed and stuttered a little.
"It feels amazing, nothing could be better." Maqui replied for us. I nodded and buried my head in Maqui's shoulder.
"He's all shy now, this boy must be bipolar or something. Go back to being the confident guy you became during the incident." Lebreau teased. I stuck my tongue at her and she laughed. Maqui wrapped both arms around me.
"You wanna go onto the beach now?" He asked.
"I'm fine anywhere with you." I responded quickly. He stood up and I followed him, nervously taking his hand. He held my hand proudly and I shook myself.
"Don't be so shy about it, and although it is insanely adorable, it's not how you really are now, is it?" Maqui said. I smiled and nodded. I lead him onto the beach and we both sat down on a towel.
"You'd think you to would be the first out there in the water." Lightning remarked from fold-out chair. She was so busy relaxing I thought she wouldn't notice us.
"We had other things to do." Maqui replied. I nodded and she shrugged and put her sunglasses back on, ignoring us again. Maqui smiled at me and gave me a peek on the cheek, effectively turning my face red. He stretched out and lied down on the sand. I smiled and laid on him.
"You two are very chummy." Fang said, smirking. She figured it out right away. She tossed a beach ball at us and Maqui kicked it back.
"Hey! Don't ruin the moment." Maqui shouted. She stuck her tongue out at us.
"Too late." She said, tossing the ball back at hitting Maqui right in the head. He glared at her and she laughed. I jump on Maqui from behind and wrapped my arms around him.
"Don't pay her any attention."
"Are you jealous, we've only been together for a whole hour." Maqui teased. I nipped his ear and he jumped, turning red.
"H-Hope…" He mumbled.
"Did I find a sweet spot?" I asked, whispering into his ear. He shivered and I nipped his ear lobe again.
"S-stop it…." He moaned.
"If you give me a kiss." I said, smirking. He grabbed my chin and twisted his head, crashing our lips together. He immediately took control and pinned me to the sand while we kissed.
"So, who was it that owes me 100Gil?" I heard a shout from Snow but ignored it. "I told you they would hook up eventually Gadot!"
"I can't believe it! Lemme see!" Maqui and I parted and sighed as we heard the ruckus of Gadot trying to get over to us. He looked at us and it took him a while to notice that I was sitting on Maqui's lap. He sighed.
"Why is it that my only straight male friends are the old haggard and the son-obsessed-father?" Gadot mumbled, forking over the money to Snow.
"Hey, what about me!" Yuji shouted from a table away from the sand.
"What straight guy wont step foot on the beach in fear of getting sand in his hair!" Gadot shouted.
"Doesn't mean I'm not straight!" Yuji shouted.
"Are you?"
"….. No…." Yuji said. Gadot put his head down in defeat, handing over some more Gil to Snow.
"Everyone's so lively today." Vanille said happily as she sat down near Maqui and I. She looked at us and smiled.
"I'm happy your happy again Hope." She said. "You're done being the emo kid right?"
I nodded, ignoring her remark. She smiled and got up, skipping happily to Fang near the water.
"So, what do ya wanna do now?" Maqui asked, poking my forehead.
I shrugged, "You wanna go out into town or something?"
"Sure!" Maqui said. I pulled me close and whispered into my ear. "Want me to help you change?"
I blushed a deep red and gave him a punch in the shoulder.
"Not that far!"
He put his hands up defensively and we stood up. He made a mad dash for the changing rooms.
"Race you there!"
"Hey, no fair!" | https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7752231/1/The-Reason-You-re-Perfect | dclm-gs1-221020000 |
0.120068 | <urn:uuid:671a629b-74f2-421f-8d87-e298b7e5f0c4> | en | 0.986211 | I'm not gonna bother to tell you about the reaping, you can probably guess how I felt when I was reaped. Heartbroken, horror, sadness, knowing that I would die, and never live the life a human should. Never find The One, never settle down, get married, have children to protect from the reaping. Never go out with frineds and get drunk, just for te fun of it. Never. I am going to die. Maybe I was born to die? But why me?
The train ride to the Capitol was pretty quiet. My mentor, Haymitch Abernathy, spent the whole time locked in his room, sipping from a bottle. Yeah, that's gonna help us in.
I was stuck with Eifee Trinket our escort 99.9% of the time. With her fancy clothes, multi-coloured wigs and clown-like make-up and stupid, pathetic accent. Capitol accent. She was okay, in small portions. She just kept going on and on and is just so bubbly. She has so much energy. All I told her was I liked her nails, to be polite, and I had to sit through a three hour talk on the Capitol fashion at the moment. I guess the poor woman was lonley though, with no one else to talk to. Jake, my district partner, has spent most of the time in his room, only occasionally emerging for food. I know Jake and his best friend, Gale Hawthorne. They are fourteen. They go to my school. Gale's other friend is in my class, Katniss Everdeen. We aren't very close, she sort of keeps herself to herself, since her Father died in the mines last year, and her Mother went into a deep depression, leaving her left to fend for herself and her eight year old sister. I know Jake was a big family man. It is a known fact around the district that he, Gale and Katniss hunt illegally in the forest surrounding the district. Gale sometimes comes into the grocery to trade us for some fruit for a bird or two. He hates us merchants though, you can tell by the look on his face as he walks into our store. It's as though we are a lot better off than them in the seam. In a sense we are a little, but not by much. We can only eat the food that is off, as the rest is to be sold for profit. We can't have treats, we only buy the bare minimum, what we absolutly need. We need the rest for items to sell and to pay rent for the shop to the Capitol.
When we arrived at the Capitol, I was amazed by it's beauty, but mostly disgusted by it. How can they afford all this colour and beauty, buy a different outfit every other day, have there hair done, have fashion trends everyone has to keep up with, when the districts, give or take district two, the Capitols faithful side-kicks/lap dogs, are starving and the only fashion is what ever you can afford, usually ankle swingers and a torn shirt, covered in black. Or if your lucky, a wooly, kintted jumper to keep you warm in the winter.
However, I grind my teeth and plaster on fake smile, and wink mischieviously at the cowd, anf follow Eifee into the tall, colourful building where three strange people are stood.
A/N sorry I haven't updated in a while! I've been really ill! This is chapter three! Please review! I really appreciate it! Also, check out my other story. One is a SYOT, called Bood and Torture:42nd Games, and I need tributes badly! All the information is on my profile! Also, sorry, on my profile is a poll, where you can vote for which of my stories you most want me to continue, as I will be taking a break on two of them. Many thanks x | https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8996248/3/Why-Me | dclm-gs1-221050000 |
0.127098 | <urn:uuid:5db8beac-45c0-4c4e-b295-35f28293c067> | en | 0.912036 | hide bio
PM . Follow . Favorite
Joined 10-19-10, id: 2582444, Profile Updated: 03-22-11
Author has written 2 stories for Toontown.
Hullo (fake British accent acting up again).
My pen name is It'saBunchaJibbaJabba (of course). I am currently writing a TT fanfiction, although I am reading Percy Jackson and the Olympians (finished the first series, now reading The Lost Hero), and I am also reading The Kane Chronicles (waiting for the second one to come out), and I enjoy playing Scribblenauts (got Super Scribblenauts BOO YEAH). I also used to read Harry Potter, but I finished it, and... yeah.
Q. If you could go back to any time period in history, what would it be?
A. lolwut (HINT HINT type that in Scribblenauts LOL)
Q. What is your favorite knock-knock joke?
A. lulzknockknockjokesrfornoobsliekheatwave (for those who can't read bad grammar, here's a translation: Lol, knock-knock jokes are for noobs like Heat Wave.)
Q. Am I cool?
A. Let me give you permission to answer that yourself.
Q. What's your personal quote?
A. Get outta here.
Q. If you could have a super-power, what would it be?
A. Hypnosis. I could hypnotize you into thinking you can't type.
I'm cool.
Camp Half-Blood exists.
Thus, so does the Roman Camp Half-Blood.
You're viewing my Profile of Doom right now.
I'm not un-epic.
Thus, I'm TOO epic for you, so you should get out of here.
I mean, right now.
Still here? Wow... noob... wow...
-infects your computer with a virus called FlapjackOwnageVirus that is so pwnage it makes you leave-
Uh, still here? Darn it, I knew that my FlapjackOwnageVirus-powers would have to charge. Anyways, while I'm waiting for the power to charge, I'm gonna tell you my stuff on Toontown.
Flapjack Supertooth (106 laff):
High Dive
Wedding Cake
Species: Dog
Color(s): Coral head, orange arms, green legs.
Epic Meter: OVAH 9000
The Catfish (27 laff):
Cream Pie Slice
Squirt Gun
Species: Cat
Color(s): Blue
Epic Meter: BELOW 9000 (but greater than 8998)
Heat Wave (15 laff uber):
Cream Pie Slice
Squirt Gun
Species: Cat
Color(s): Red
Epic Meter: 10/9,0010
Those are all I can remember now. Now, I will tell you the 10 Most Ugliest Cogs!
10: Chief Justice
Even though we can't see his face because of his blindfold, how do we know he doesn't wear the blindfold because he's TOO ugly...
9: CEO
Look at a picture of him. It will explain all. Plus, he celebrates Christmas WAY too early.
8: Head Hunter
His undersized head... big body... the perfect combo for ugliness...
7: Two-Face
NOBODY has 2 faces sticking out of their head anymore!
6: Yesman
He looks like Mr. Hollywood. Oh, before it's still in my mind...
5: Mr. Hollywood
Did you have your face surgically made to stay frozen in smile FOREVER? Plus, you look like Glad Hander, who is fat.
4: Glad Hander
He looks like Mr. Hollywood, and he is fat.
3: The Big Cheese
He's DARK GREEN! And dark green is the color of ugliness (in my world).
2: Legal Eagle
Legal Eagles remind me of Sphinxes, which I always despised because of how ugly they look.
And the final one...
1: CFO
Who has a cash register for a head anymore?!
Uh... now I'm gonna tell you my top 5 favorite movies.
5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone/Chamber of Secrets/Prisoner of Azkaban/Goblet of Fire/Order of the Phoenix/Half-Blood Prince
Seriously. HP is like pwnage apples dipped in epicsauce.
4. Toy Story
Toy Story is like the Downsizer Series 3 Trading Card. Look at it to see what I mean.
3. Toy Story 3
It's in the same movie trilogy as Toy Story. Plus, there's more toys :D.
2. Up
You get to see an old dude that owns a flying house that is attached to billions of balloons, plus an oversized flightless bird, PLUS a talking dog, PLUS a fat eight-year-old, what more can ya get?
And the last one...
1. Coraline
I recommend this movie to people at sleepovers when you've finished telling the spookiest scary stories. And no lights. :D
Whoops, looks like my powers are fully charged. Ok, one, two, three.
-successfully owns your chunky Windows 95 computer that you always view ownage stuff on and makes it short circuit-
The Lightning Bus: The Second Universe reviews
Ever wonder where Toons go when you delete them? Did you think, "OOH TOON PRISON!" NO. They go to Gorngongalin. Somewhere where Flapjack Supertooth is warped to by a magical bus on his way to middle school. Can he make it back? Review and con-crit please!
Toontown - Rated: K+ - English - Adventure/Fantasy - Chapters: 13 - Words: 10,718 - Reviews: 34 - Favs: 4 - Follows: 1 - Updated: 12/17/2010 - Published: 10/22/2010
The Chamber of Phobias reviews
Or E. Oh wakes up one day in a house that is similar to his-only it's marvelous. He doesn't want to leave at all- that is, until he finds out that his parents are trapped in a hidden chamber there. He must face his phobias if he is to rescue them.
Toontown - Rated: K+ - English - Adventure/Horror - Chapters: 3 - Words: 1,266 - Reviews: 3 - Favs: 1 - Updated: 11/26/2010 - Published: 11/15/2010 | https://www.fanfiction.net/u/2582444/ItsaBunchaJibbaJabba | dclm-gs1-221060000 |
0.937438 | <urn:uuid:8d71883b-e7e3-4e5d-9842-9e5b07900f12> | en | 0.927916 |
Job Description
1. Google and Yahoo sitemap creation
2. Image & hyperlink optimization
3. Header tag optimization and working on HTML source code
Contractor requirements
I am looking for a contractor who meets the following requirements:
1. Has strong SEO skills, as represented by previous work
2. Is familiar with HTML
3. Is available for ongoing full-time work (40 hours per week)
How to apply
Please respond with a cover letter that includes the following:
2. Experience with coding HTML
In addition, please answer the following: How many search results does Google show on each page?
About the company
I have created and manage a website for web designing. The website aims to provide webdesign, logodesign.
Skills: yahoo | https://www.odesk.com/o/jobs/job/SEO_~01ae418a3bf487e39c/ | dclm-gs1-221070000 |
0.032107 | <urn:uuid:835ade17-1814-4966-acaf-1c391c61445c> | en | 0.949122 | • By
• Stephen Fidler
The big fight is over the so-called third-country rules which will govern the activities, including fund raising, of funds from countries outside the European Union.
Bruised from the financial crisis and the sales of fraudulent funds to European investors by Bernard Madoff, France and Germany are determined to put in place a highly restrictive regime that outsiders say would make it impossible for third-country funds to raise money in some, if not all, countries of the EU.
On the other hand, the UK, Sweden and some others are worried that the Franco-German proposal would limit choice among institutional investors. Not only that, it would reinstitute controls over capital flows and be discriminatory to third countries. According to Financial News and the Financial Times, U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner shares this latter concern.
What could be the answer is a so-called equivalence rule, which in effect would seek to grant funds from countries with good regulatory regimes the right to market funds in the EU. The problem with the equivalence rule is it could take years to put in place; after many years there is still not one in place for the UCITS retail funds regime.
The question therefore is whether an interim regime could be put in and whether national regulations would be allowed to govern matters in the mean time. That would allow U.S. fund, for example, to market in the UK provided it met UK national regulations. But given the public positions taken particularly in Paris, such a compromise is not a foregone conclusion. | http://blogs.wsj.com/brussels/2010/03/11/hedge-fund-law-coming-to-a-head/ | dclm-gs1-221210000 |
0.122383 | <urn:uuid:a7ddea5d-1c89-4464-a886-15361ecf3061> | en | 0.981557 | God, Not Government, Helped Me Succeed, Mr. President
July 20, 2012 - 9:20 AM
Here's my open letter To Barack Hussein Obama:
Mr. Obama,
You recently made a statement to the effect that, ”If you have a business you didn't build it, you had help," implying that the federal government helped build our businesses by virtue of paving roads and building bridges and keeping the nation safe from foreign invasion.
First of all, Mr. Obama, if I'm going to take advice about business it will not be from somebody who has had absolutely no business experience like yourself.
Mr. Obama, I want to make you aware of a fact. It is the federal government's responsibility to build roads and bridges and keep the nation safe. That's what the federal government is supposed to do, not create an entitlement society that is totally unsustainable and pile up debt that we can't pay.
The citizens of this nation do not need to pay more taxes, the federal government needs to stop spending money it doesn't have and has to borrow. Because the truth of the matter is that no matter how much taxes the government collects, things are only going to get worse because you'll only spend it and demand even more.
Mr. Obama you have divided this nation by making the have-nots believe that anybody who has been successful has done so at their expense, that anything they've accumulated has been stolen, not earned. That hard work and risk had nothing to do with their success, because they’ve just been lucky and should give a big part of what they earn to the government to pass on to those who don't even try to be successful.
Look at what’s going on with the African-Americans who put their hopes and complete confidence in you and voted overwhelmingly for you. The unemployment rate is 14% and the unemployment among young African Americans is something like 40%
Is that what hope and change is all about?
Look at what's happening in your hometown of Chicago where the murder rate is through the roof.
Mr. Obama I don't think you like America very much. I think you'd like to redesign it from the ground up, to turn it into a lazy, unproductive, secular, socialist society.
But Mr. Obama, I’m beginning to think that's what you want.
My help cometh from the Lord who made Heaven and Earth - not the government who made debt and class envy.
What do you think?
Pray for our troops, and for our country.
God Bless America
Charlie Daniels
Read more "Right Views, Right Now" opinion and analysis blogs. | http://cnsnews.com/blog/charlie-daniels/god-not-government-helped-me-succeed-mr-president | dclm-gs1-221240000 |
0.049922 | <urn:uuid:0d010711-c4c6-4c6a-a270-42320fa51055> | en | 0.848211 | ViewVC logotype
Contents of /clhp/TODO
Parent Directory Parent Directory | Revision Log Revision Log
Revision 1.10 - (show annotations)
Wed Nov 12 21:57:11 2003 UTC (10 years, 4 months ago) by aventimiglia
Branch: MAIN
Changes since 1.9: +3 -1 lines
Added some notes
1 $Id: TODO,v 1.10 2003/11/12 21:57:11 aventimiglia Exp $ -*- outline -*-
3 * Rewrite docs for new mod_clhp handler
5 * Test suite
6 ** Convert all this to new deal with single package.
7 Maybe make separate files for each function, or group of related
8 or interdependant files.
10 ** Complete suite for :cgi
11 ** Complete suite for :clhp
12 ** Refine :test-suite
14 * Declare Declaim and Proclaim
15 GO through everything and refine and type it all.
18 This is just a convenience function that will compile and save fasl
19 files with the .clcgi extension.
21 Maybe I could also write a compiler program and install it in
22 /usr/local/bin (or wherever), to drop into makefiles.
24 * Command-line CLHP
25 Write a small program to enable CLHP to be parse at the command
26 line, separate from the server. This mode should supress printing of
27 the HTTP headers generated by CLHP.
29 * TAG
30 This is pretty nice right now, but I would like to implement it
31 possibly as a reader macro, where something like #<a href="/" #<b
32 "Click Me">> yields <a href="/"><b>Click Me</b></a>. The problem is
33 getting embedded reader macros to work properly.
35 * Error handling
36 This will be the biggest ongoing project, lets try to create every
37 kind of error imaginable, and make sure it reports something every
38 time. Also parse errors (like malformed lisp or unbound variables)
39 should not stop the entire page from parsing, it should just fail
40 for that form, report the error (and the offendding form) and
41 continue at the next reasonable point.
44 * Differences from PHP
45 Some differences I should keep, like you can't end blocks in the
46 middle of a form: like this:
50 That works in PHP, but it really isn't something that I think needs
51 to be done in CLHP, at least not right away.
53 * Pre-release check list
54 ** version numbering
55 VERSION in Makefile and *CLHP-VERSION* in clhp.lisp should be
56 set. Eventually I'd like to set up a nice way to have this all
57 happen automatically. I think the best way to do this is to make
58 the whole build process more lisp dependent. The other option is
59 to go automake with it.
61 The way it works now is very nice, in fact, I don't think Automake
62 could do it so well.
ViewVC Help
Powered by ViewVC 1.1.5 | http://common-lisp.net/viewvc/clhp/clhp/TODO?revision=1.10&view=markup | dclm-gs1-221250000 |
0.021437 | <urn:uuid:bf5b5bea-6ac7-4b51-9e8a-3dc53d6db2b3> | en | 0.964178 | Sisavang Vatthana
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Sisavang Vatthana
Savang Vatthana.jpg
King of Laos
Reign 29 October 1959 – 2 December 1975
Predecessor Sisavang Vong
Successor Monarchy abolished; Prince Souphanouvong becomes President in 1975
Spouse Queen Khamphoui
Crown Prince Vong Savang
Princess Savivanh Savang
Princess Thala Savang
Prince Sisavang Savang
Prince Sauryavong Savang
Father Sisavang Vong
Mother Kham-Oun I
Born (1907-11-13)13 November 1907
Luang Phrabang, Laos
Died 13 May?, 1978 or as late as 1984
Sam Neua, Laos
Sisavang Vatthana (Lao: ເຈົ້າສີສະຫວ່າງວັດທະນາ) or sometimes Savang Vatthana (full name Samdach Brhat Chao Mavattaha Sri Vitha Lan Xang Hom Khao Phra Rajanachakra Lao Parama Sidha Khattiya Suriya Varman Brhat Maha Sri Savangsa Vadhana) (13 November 1907 – 13 May (?) 1978; or perhaps as late as 1984) was the last king of the Kingdom of Laos. He ruled from 1959 after his father's death until his forced abdication in 1975. Savang Vatthana proved unable to manage a country in political turmoil. His rule ended with the takeover by the Pathet Lao in 1975, after which he and his family were sent to a re-education camp by the new government.
Early life[edit]
Prince Savang Vatthana was born on 13 November 1907 at the Royal Palace of Luang Prabang, the son of King Sisavang Vong and Queen Kham-Oun I. He was the second of five children, the others being Princess Sammathi, Prince Sayasack, Prince Souphantharangsri and the oldest princess Khampheng. He was also a distant cousin of Prince Souvanna Phouma and Prince Souphanouvong. At the age of 10, Prince Savang was sent to study in France. He attended a lycée in Montpellier, got a degree from Paris's École Libre des Sciences Politiques (now called Sciences Po), where French diplomats were trained. After graduating from school, the young heir continued his studies in France. After a decade out of the country, he returned and could no longer speak Lao, and had to be instructed by a palace functionary for years.
On August 7, 1930, he married Queen Khamphoui and they had five children, Crown Prince Vong Savang, Prince Sisavang Savang, Prince Sauryavong Savang, Princess Savivanh Savang, and Princess Thala Savang. Like other Asian royal families, the family played tennis together, and liked to attend major tournaments on their travels abroad. He was also a devout Buddhist and became an authority on the sangkha and took his role as protector of the state religion seriously.
During World War II, he represented his father with the Japanese forces. His father sent him to the Japanese headquarters in Saigon, where he vigorously protested about the Japanese actions, when they invaded Laos and forced them to declare independence from France.
King of Laos[edit]
In 1951, he served as Prime Minister, and when his father became ill on August 20, 1959, he was named Regent. On October 29, 1959, he informally ascended the throne upon the death of his father. He was, however, never officially crowned and anointed king, deferring his coronation until the cessation of civil war. During his reign, Savang Vatthana visited many countries on diplomatic missions. In March 1963, he toured 13 countries, including the United States, where he stopped at Washington, D.C. to meet with President Kennedy. It was the second stop on a tour of 13 of the nations signatory to the Geneva Pact that guaranteed the "neutrality" of the Kingdom of Laos. The first stop had been Moscow, and the Russians showered gifts, including Chaika limousines. He was also accompanied by his Prime Minister, Souvanna Phouma.
Styles of
King of Laos
Reference style His Majesty
Spoken style His Majesty
Alternative style Sir
He was active in Lao politics, trying to stabilise his country after the political turmoil started with the Geneva Conference of July 1954, which granted full independence to Laos but did not settle the issue of who would rule. Prince Souvanna Phouma, a neutralist, operated from Vientiane, claiming to be Prime Minister and being recognized by the USSR; Prince Boun Oum of Champassak in the south, right-wing, pro-US, dominated the Pakse area, recognized as Prime Minister by the US; and in the far north, Prince Souphanouvong led the leftist resistance movement, the Pathet Lao, drawing support from North Vietnam, also claiming to be Prime Minister with the backing of the communists. To avoid argument over whether Souvanna or Boun Oum was the "legitimate" Prime Minister, both sides would deal through the pro-western King Savang Vatthana.
In 1961, a majority of the National Assembly had already voted Boun Oum into power and King Savang Vatthana left Luang Prabang, visiting the capital to give the new government his blessing. But he wanted the Three Princes to form a coalition government, which happened in 1962 but then the coalition government collapsed.
In 1964 series of coups and counter coups resulted in the final alignment of the Pathet Lao on one side with the neutralist and right wing factions on the other. From this point the Pathet Lao refused to join any offers of coalition or national elections and Laotian Civil War began.
Abdication and death[edit]
On August 23, 1975, Pathet Lao forces entered Vientiane, the last city to be captured and the Phouma Government became effectively powerless for the next few months. On 2 December, Sisavang Vatthana was forced to abdicate the throne after the Pathet Lao decided to abolish the 600 year old monarchy and he was appointed to the meaningless position of "Supreme Advisor to the President".[1] He refused to leave the country and in 1976 he "handed" the royal palace to the Lao Government, turning it into a museum and moving to a nearby private residence. In March 1977, fearing he might escape house arrest to lead a resistance, the Communist authorities arrested him along with the Queen, Crown Prince Vong Savang, Prince Sisavang, and his brothers Princes Souphantharangsri and Thongsouk and sent them to the northern province of Viengxai.[2] He was put into an internment camp in Sam Neua called "Camp Number One", where all the important political prisoners were held. During his time in the camp, the royal family was allowed to move freely around in their compounds during the day as well as often visited by members of the politburo and Sopuhanouvong himself, He was the oldest prisoner in the camp, turning 70 during the earlier months of imprisonment, the average age being around 55.[3]
About 1978, it was reported that he, along with Queen Khamphoui and Crown Prince Vong Savang, had died from malaria.[4] More accurate accounts suggest that the King died in mid-March, 1980. Upon the news of the deaths of King Savang Vatthana and Crown Prince Vong Savang, the King's youngest son Sauryavong Savang became the head of the Laotian royal family, acting as regent to his nephew Crown Prince Soulivong Savang. However, according to Kaysone Phomvihane, Vatthana died in 1984, at the age of 77.[5]
The children of Savang Vatthana and Khumphoui as follows:
Name Birth Death Notes
Crown Prince Vong Savang 27 September 1931 January 1980 married Mahneelai
Princess Savivanh Savang 1933 4 January 2007 married Mangkhala Manivong
Princess Thala Savang 10 January 1935 14 April 2006 married Sisouphanouvong Sisaleumsak
Prince Sisavang Savang December 1935 1978
Prince Sauryavong Savang 22 January 1937
See also[edit]
External links[edit]
Sisavang Vatthana
Cadet branch of the 1984?
Born: 13 November 1907 Died: March 1978?/13 May
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Sisavang Vong
King of Laos
29 October 1959 – 2 December 1975
Monarchy abolished
Political offices
Preceded by
Sisavang Vong
as King of Laos
Head of State of Laos
as King of Laos
29 October 1959 – 2 December 1975
Succeeded by
Prince Souphanouvong
as President of Laos
Preceded by
Phoui Sananikone
Prime Minister of Laos
15 October 1951 – 21 November 1951
Succeeded by
Prince Souvanna Phouma
Titles in pretence
New title — TITULAR —
King of Laos
2 December 1975 – March 1978?/13 May 1984?
Succeeded by
Vong Savang | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savang_Vatthana | dclm-gs1-221350000 |
0.068237 | <urn:uuid:1ac5d76e-cef3-4f8e-b3ef-b99f5d0c3055> | en | 0.962839 | Five Next-Gen Multiplayer Games You Should Keep An Eye OnS
While we're still a month away from shifting into new consoles, already we can tell a few key things about what next gen will be all about. There will, for example, be lots of pretty weather effects. We will probably shoot lots of people in the face. Oh, and we'll probably play a ton games with and against each other, too.
If multiplayer gaming was big this generation, it's going to be even huger next-gen. You can tell just by virtue of looking at some of the biggest upcoming games for both the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One—many of them have have some sort of multiplayer functionality from the get-go (or look like they do—some titles are early enough in development that we might not find out if that's the case until months from now).
Let's take a look at some of the cooler multiplayer or co-op games we can all look forward to, shall we?
Sunset Overdrive
Ah, the first item on the list and it's not even technically confirmed for multiplayer. Judging from this bombastic teaser, though, Insomniac Games—the developers behind the title—is developing a post-apocalyptic title that eschews the aesthetics of most games of its ilk. Sure, you're shooting mutants at what (seems to be) the end of the world, but that doesn't mean everything has to be draped in greys and browns. That's a good thing, because the visuals here are damned striking.
Gameplay-wise—assuming this teaser accurately represents the game at all—it seems like we can look forward to a game that allows us lots of free movement (parkour, perhaps?), emphasis on verticality in the level-design, and yes, the ability to kill mutants with our friends. Excellent.
Tom Clancy's The Division
What is it with Ubisoft and the exploration of the bleak near-future lately? Heh. Well, if nothing else, The Division—an online, open-world multiplayer shooter—looks like it's going to be fantastic for those that love playing a game that requires teamwork and cooperation (like say, Battlefield). Even optional stuff, like its iPad integration, seems catered to teamwork-based play: you can tag and damage opponents, as well as buff your teammates.
The Division also seems worth keeping an eye on if you like your shooters to have RPG elements, or have any passing interest in Watch Dogs—they're similar-looking games, no?
Project Spark
One of the coolest, most overlooked games from this E3 had to be Project Spark—a a game editor of sorts which lets people create and share video games. And judging by the footage we've seen so far, it seems as if the number of things people can make will be huge. On this note...don't be surprised if one of the continuing trends in next gen, particularly multiplayer games, is the heavy emphasis on player creation. Lots of map and item creating that we can look forward to in the future, I'm sure.
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
Not a 'next-gen game' per se, but the somewhat disturbing roguelike by Edmund McMillen is included in this list because not only was it one of the best games of 2011, it's also getting a complete remake for the PlayStation 4. New engine, new items, new enemies, and you'll be able to play it with your friends locally. Excellent.
I mean, it sounds like it'll be chaotic—Spelunky, another roguelike, allows for co-op and it's kind of a ridiculous, dangerous experience with other players—but that's what makes this remake so exciting. I can't wait to dive deeper and deeper into my mom's basement while crying and collecting all sorts of random items and power-ups with my friends.
Mechs, jetpacks, and parkour make Titanfall one of the most impressive games we saw at this year's E3. Of particular note here—aside from the fact that it's a game made by some of the folks previously behind Call of Duty—is the interaction between pilots and mechs. You're not going to be in a mech all the time, and that's part of what makes this game so interesting.
Of course, these aren't the only exciting-looking multiplayer games dropping next gen—these are just a few highlights out of many excellent-looking games! Perhaps you have something you're looking forward to? Let us know in the comments.
| http://kotaku.com/five-next-gen-multiplayer-games-you-should-keep-an-eye-1442182101?webchats=on | dclm-gs1-221510000 |
0.031165 | <urn:uuid:332cf023-8471-4eeb-91ca-8a3e3a4cfb11> | en | 0.853917 | Let's Make Robots!
How to use Arduino interrupt in GR Sakura?
charge91's picture
I successfully ran a code snippet on Arduino . The arduino code uses timer 1 for interrupt and looks like this...
How to use timer and interrupts on Arduino boards.
Setting up an interrupt properly
For school this year we are making picaxe 08m robots and have a sheet of funtions we need to fill out. This one is attempting to seek shade It needs more work but right now i just need help with the interrupt code, I have this code here
symbol light = pin3
symbol movment = w0
setint %00100000,%00100000
if light = 0 then low 1
if light = 0 then gosub find
if light = 1 then high 1 low 2 low 4
goto top
Interrupts causing problems
I dislike asking questions - usually it means I didn't RTFM or that my Google skills are sub-par. Or that I'm missing the obvious. But here we are. The following advenure takes place on a Picaxe 28x1 project board (that came with the Solarbotics "Start Here" kit) with a resistor pack replacing the Darlington chip. The Parallax unit is connected to digital i/o pin 3 (though I see the same behavior on other pins). Output pin 2 is connected to an LED (but the same behavior holds for pins 4-7 which drive the motor outputs).
Here is some code:
atmega32 INT2
djhesit8's picture
while(bit_is_set(PINB, PB2));
//init interupt
Timing interval between interrupts - which Picaxe?
rik's picture
Is this true? A Picaxe08M is awesome, except it will not give me a way to measure the time between interrupts?
Should I upgrade? Which Picaxe do you recommend? I am looking for a minimum pin count.
Don't say Arduino now, ya hear! | http://letsmakerobots.com/taxonomy/term/8864 | dclm-gs1-221520000 |
0.099886 | <urn:uuid:e98b6b7b-04ed-4166-8710-cac941247179> | en | 0.980945 | Quitting as a Business Strategy
Persistence doesn't always pay off. It's a concept that upbeat small-business owners, who regard quitting as failure, still haven't mastered, says author and blogger Seth Godin. In his latest book, The Dip, he sets out to get people thinking about the idea of quitting as a strategy.
At first read, the slim manual seems to run entirely against logic. When asked how they got there, successful people always talk about hard work and not giving up. Godin says that's because they forget about all the things they had to forgo in order to concentrate on being the best.
The book isn't a guidebook to knowing when to surrender. Even Godin admits that quitting is more of an art than a science, but he says most people do it at exactly the wrong moment. "Most of the things that people set out to do are easy when you start," he says about pursuits from starting a business to learning tennis. "Somewhere along the way you hit the dip, and that's the place where most people quit."
That's also the point of no return. The select number who make it through the valley are the ones who reach the top. At the same time, chasing the flavor of the month is like jumping lines at the supermarket–it's rarely pays off. Godin says it's better to quit early or not at all.
Small-business owners should take a look at their progress and use hard data to figure out whether they need a new strategy or a new venture. If the company is slowly but steadily building customers and clients, persistence will pay off. But if a company has spent months trying to sign on one big customer with no results, then maybe it's time to move on. Small-business owners are "optimistic about the wrong thing," says Godin. "They fall in love with a tactic and keep doing it. That's not progress–that's obstinacy." | http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/small-biz-scene/2007/04/11/quitting-as-a-business-strategy | dclm-gs1-221660000 |
0.29408 | <urn:uuid:79f8e5ae-cb95-4c4a-a08a-1800abb7562f> | en | 0.860444 | User Interface Text
Usage patterns
Design concepts
Text fonts, sizes, and colors
Other text characteristics
Dates and times
Globalization and localization
Title bar text
Main instructions
Supplemental instructions
Control labels
Supplemental explanations
Commit button labels
User interface text appears on UI surfaces. This text includes control labels and static text:
• Control labels identify controls and are placed directly on or next to the controls.
• Static text, which is so called because it is not part of an interactive control, provides users with detailed instructions or explanations so they can make informed decisions.
Note: Guidelines related to style and tone, fonts, and common control labels are presented in separate articles.
Usage patterns
UI text has several usage patterns:
Title bar text
Use title bar text to identify a window or the source of a dialog box.
Screen shot of Folder Options title bar
In this example, the title bar text identifies a window.
Main instructions
Use the prominent main instruction to explain concisely what to do in the window or page.
The instruction should be a specific statement, imperative direction, or question. Good main instructions communicate the user's objective rather than focusing just on manipulating the UI.
Screen shot of question: Do you want latest Help?
In this example, the main instruction text directly engages the user with a question in terms of the user's own benefit or interest.
Supplemental instructions
When necessary, use a supplemental instruction to present additional information helpful to understanding or using the window or page.
You can provide more detailed information, provide context, and define terminology. Supplemental instructions elaborate on the main instruction without simply re-wording it.
Screen shot of text on switching to admin account
In this example, the supplemental instructions provide two possible courses of action to take in response to the information presented in the main instruction.
Control labels
Labels directly on or next to controls.
Screen shot of desktop clock options
In this example, control labels identify desktop clock settings that users can select or modify.
Supplemental explanations
An elaboration of the control labels (typically for command links, radio buttons, and check boxes).
Screen shot of security-settings dialog box
In this example, the supplemental explanations clarify the choices.
Design concepts
Software developers often think of text as relegated to product documentation and technical support. "First we'll write the code, and then we'll hire someone to help us explain what we have developed." Yet in reality, important text is written earlier in the process, as the UI is conceived and coded. This text is, after all, seen more frequently and by more people than perhaps any other type of technical writing.
Comprehensible text is crucial to effective UI. Professional writers and editors should work with software developers on UI text as an integral part of the design process. Have them work on text early because text problems often reveal design problems. If your team has trouble explaining a design, quite often it is the design, not the explanation, that needs improving.
A design model for UI text
As you think about UI text and its placement on your UI surfaces, consider these facts:
• During focused, immersive reading, people read in a left-to-right, top-to-bottom order (in Western cultures).
• When using software, users aren't immersed in the UI itself but in their work. Consequently, users don't read UI text—they scan it.
• When scanning a window, users may appear to be reading text when in reality they are filtering it. They often don't truly comprehend the UI text unless they perceive the need to.
• Within a window, different UI elements receive different levels of attention. Users tend to read control labels first, especially those that appear relevant to completing the task at hand. By contrast, users tend to read static text only when they think they need to.
1. Interactive controls in the center
2. The commit buttons
3. Interactive controls found elsewhere
4. Main instruction
5. Supplemental explanations
6. Window title
7. Other static text in main body
8. Footnotes
You should also assume that once users have decided what to do, they will immediately stop reading and do it.
Eliminate redundancy
Redundant text not only takes valuable screen space, but weakens the effectiveness of the important ideas or actions that you are trying to convey. It is also a waste of the reader's time, and all the more so in a context where scanning is the norm. Windows® strives to explain what users need to do once—well and concisely.
Review each window and eliminate duplicate words and statements, both within and across controls. Don't avoid important text—be explicit wherever necessary—but don't be redundant and don't explain the obvious.
Avoid over-communication
Even if text isn't redundant, it can simply be too wordy in an effort to explain every detail. Too much text discourages reading—the eye tends to skip right over it—ironically resulting in less communication rather than more. In UI text, concisely communicate the essential information. If more information is necessary for some users or some scenarios, provide a link to more detailed Help content, or perhaps to a glossary entry for clarification of a term.
Screen shot of dialog box with 6 paragraphs
In this example, there is too much text to scan easily. Although not intended by the designer, there is so much text that users will most likely click Next without reading anything.
To avoid text that discourages reading, craft your text to make every word count. What doesn't add subtracts, so use simple, concise text.
Use the inverted pyramid
Academic writing typically uses a "pyramid" structural style that lays down a foundation of facts, works with those facts, and builds up to a conclusion—forming a pyramid-like structure. By contrast, journalists use an "inverted pyramid" style that starts with the conclusion—the fundamental "takeaway" that readers must have. It then fills in progressively more detail that readers may be interested in—perhaps just to scan. The advantage of this style is that it gets right to the point, and allows readers to stop reading at any point they choose and still understand the essential information.
You should apply the inverted pyramid structure to UI text. Get right to the point with the essential information, let users stop reading at any time they choose, and use a Help link to present the remainder of the pyramid.
Screen shot of message on joining Windows program
In this example, the essential information is in the query of the main instruction text, additional helpful information is in the supplemental instructions, and details are available by clicking a Help link.
If you do only five things...
1. Work on text early because text problems often reveal design problems.
2. Design your text for scanning.
3. Eliminate redundant text.
4. Use easy-to-understand text; don't over-communicate.
5. When necessary, provide links to Help content for more detailed information.
• Remove redundant text. Look for redundant text in window titles, main instructions, supplemental instructions, content areas, command links, and commit buttons. Generally, leave full text in main instructions and interactive controls, and remove any redundancy from the other places.
• Avoid large blocks of UI text. Ways of doing this include:
• Chunking text into shorter sentences and paragraphs.
• When necessary, providing Help links to useful, but not essential, information.
• Choose object names and labels that clearly communicate and differentiate what the object does. Users shouldn't have to figure out what the object really means or how it differs from other objects.
Screen shot of list of unnamed monitors
Screen shot of list of specific network adaptors
In the incorrect example, the object names are not differentiated at all; the better example shows strong differentiation by product name.
Screen shot of formatting warning using OK button
Screen shot of formatting warning and Format button
• Use one space between sentences. Not two.
Text fonts, sizes, and colors
• The following fonts and colors are defaults for Windows.
PatternTheme symbolFont, Color
First column: Title bar text CaptionFont9 pt. black (#000000) Segoe UI
First column: Main instructions MainInstruction12 pt. blue (#003399) Segoe UI
First column: Secondary instructions Instruction9 pt. black (#000000) Segoe UI
First column: Normal text BodyText9 pt. black (#000000) Segoe UI
First column: Emphasized text BodyText9 pt. black (#000000) Segoe UI, bold or italic
First column: Editable text BodyText9 pt. black (#000000) Segoe UI, in a box
First column: Disabled text Disabled9 pt. dark gray (#323232) Segoe UI
First column: Link HyperLinkText9 pt. blue (#0066CC) Segoe UI
First column: Links (Hover) Hot9 pt. light blue (#3399FF) Segoe UI
First column: Group Header 11 pt. blue (#003399) Segoe UI
First column: File Name (in Content view) 11 pt. black (#000000) Segoe UI
First column: Document text (none)9 pt. black (#000000) Calibri
First column: Document headings (none)17 pt. black (#000000) Calibri
• Use blue text only for links and main instructions.
• Use green text only for URLs in search results.
For more information and examples, see Fonts and Color.
Other text characteristics
• Use bold sparingly to draw attention to text users must read. For example, users scanning down a list of radio button options may appreciate seeing the labels in bold, to stand out from text that adds supplemental information about each option. Be aware that using too much bold lessens its impact.
• With labeled data, use bold to emphasize whichever is more important for the data as a whole.
• For mostly generic data (where the data has little meaning without its labels, as with numerals or dates), use bold labels and plain data so that users can more easily scan and understand the types of data.
• For mostly self-explanatory data, use plain labels and bold data so that users can focus on the data itself.
• Alternatively, you can use dark gray text to de-emphasize less important information instead of using bold to emphasize the more important information.
Screen shot of Windows Explorer thumbnail view
In this example, instead of emphasizing the data using bold, the labels are de-emphasized by using dark gray.
• Not all fonts support bold, so it should never be crucial to understanding the text.
• Use to refer to text literally. Don't use quotation marks for this purpose.
The terms document and file are often used interchangeably.
• Use for prompts in text boxes and editable drop-down lists.
Screen shot of Search text box
In this example, the prompt in the Search box is formatted as italic text.
• Use sparingly to emphasize specific words to aid in comprehension.
• Not all fonts support italic, so it should never be crucial to understanding the text.
Bold italic
• Don't use in UI text.
• Don't use, except for links.
• Don't use for emphasis. Use italic instead.
• Don't place at the end of control labels, main instructions, or Help links.
• Place at the end of supplemental instructions, supplemental explanations, or any other static text that forms a complete sentence.
Question marks
• Place at the end of all questions. Unlike periods, question marks are used for all types of text.
Exclamation points
• In business applications, avoid.
• Exceptions: Exclamation points are sometimes used in the context of download completion ("Done!") and to call attention to Web content ("New!").
• In a list of three or more items, always put a comma after the next-to-last item in the list.
• Use colons at the end of external control labels. This is particularly important for accessibility because some assistive technologies look for colons to identify control labels.
• Use a colon to introduce a list of items.
• Ellipses mean incompleteness. Use ellipses in UI text as follows:
• Data: Indicate that text is truncated.
• Labels: Indicate that a task is in progress (for example, "Searching...").
• Don't make ellipses interactive. To show truncated text, let users resize the control to see more text or use a progressive disclosure control instead.
Quotation marks and apostrophes
• To refer to text literally, use italic formatting rather than quotation marks.
• Put window titles and control labels in quotation marks only if required to prevent confusion and you can't format using bold instead.
• For quotation marks, prefer double-quotation marks (" "); avoid single-quotation marks.
Are you sure you want to delete "Sparky's cat folder"?
Are you sure you want to delete 'Sparky's cat folder'?
Screen shot of generic property sheet
This generic example shows correct capitalization and punctuation for property sheets.
Screen shot of generic dialog box
This generic example shows correct capitalization and punctuation for dialogs.
• For feature and technology names, be conservative in capitalizing. Typically, only major components should be capitalized (using title-style capitalization).
Analysis Services, cubes, dimensions
Analysis Services is a major component of SQL Server, so title-style capitalization is appropriate; cubes and dimensions are common elements of database analysis software, so it is unnecessary to capitalize them.
• For feature and technology names, be consistent in capitalizing. If the name appears more than once on a UI screen, it should always appear the same way. Likewise, across all UI screens in the program, the name should be consistently presented.
• Don't capitalize the names of generic user interface elements, such as toolbar, menu, scroll bar, button, and icon.
• Exceptions: Address bar, Links bar.
• Don't use all capital letters for keyboard keys. Instead, follow the capitalization used by standard keyboards, or lowercase if the key is not labeled on the keyboard.
spacebar, Tab, Enter, Page Up, Ctrl+Alt+Del
• Don't use all capital letters for emphasis. Studies have shown that this is hard to read, and users tend to regard it as "screaming." For warnings, use a warning icon and a clearly-worded explanation of the situation. There is no need to add, for example, the term WARNING in all capital letters.
For more information, see the "Text" or "Labels" section in the specific UI component guidelines.
Dates and times
• Don't hard-code the format of dates and times. Respect the user's choice of locale and customization options for the date and time formats. The user selects these in the Region and Language control panel item.
• Screen shot of date format: Monday, July 06, 2009 Screen shot of date format: 06 July 2009
• In these examples from Microsoft Outlook®, both formats for the long date are correct. They reflect different choices users have made in the Region and Language control panel item.
• Use the long date format for scenarios that benefit from having additional information. Use the short date format for contexts that don't have sufficient space for the long format. While users choose what information they would like to include in the long and short formats, designers choose which format to display in their programs based on the scenario and the context.
• Screen shot of format with Start and Due dates
• In this example, the long date format helps users organize tasks and deadlines.
Globalization and localization
Globalization means to create documents or products that are usable in any country, region, or culture. Localization means to adapt documents or products for use in a locale other than the country/region of origin. Consider globalization and localization when writing UI text. Your program may be translated into other languages and used in cultures very different from your own.
• For controls with variable contents (such as list views and tree views), choose a width appropriate for the longest valid data.
• Include space enough in the UI surface for an additional 30 percent (up to 200 percent for shorter text) for any text (but not numbers) that will be localized. Translation from one language to another often changes line length of text.
• Don't compose strings from substrings at run time. Instead, use complete sentences so that there is no ambiguity for the translator.
• Don't use a subordinate control, the values it contains, or its units label to create a sentence or phrase. Such a design is not localizable because sentence structure varies with language.
Screen shot of text box within a check box label
Screen shot of text box after a check box label
In the incorrect example, the text box is placed inside the check box label.
• Don't make only part of a sentence a link, because when translated, that text might not remain together. Link text should therefore form a complete sentence by itself.
• Exception: Glossary links can be inserted inline, as part of a sentence.
For more information, see the Go Global Developer Center.
Title bar text
• Choose the title bar text based on the type of window:
• Top-level, document-centric program windows: Use a "document name – program name" format. Document names are displayed first to give a document-centric feel.
• Top-level program windows that are not document-centric: Display the program name only.
• Dialog boxes: Display the command, feature, or program from which the dialog box came. Don't use the title to explain the dialog box's purpose—that's the purpose of the main instructions. For more guidelines, see Dialog Boxes.
• Wizards: Display the wizard name. Note that the word "wizard" should not be included in wizard names. For more guidelines, see Wizards.
• For top-level program windows, if the title bar caption and icon are displayed prominently near the top of the window, you can hide the title bar caption and icon to avoid redundancy. However, you still have to set a suitable title internally for use by Windows.
• For dialog boxes, don't include the words "dialog" or "progress" in the titles. These concepts are implied and leaving these words off makes the titles easier for users to scan.
Main instructions
• Use the main instruction to explain concisely what users should do in a given window or page. Good main instructions communicate the user's objective rather than focusing just on manipulating the UI.
• Express the main instruction in the form of an imperative direction or specific question.
Screen shot of program name as main instruction
In this example, the main instruction simply states the name of the program; it doesn't explicitly invite a course of action for the user to take.
• Exceptions: Error messages, warning messages, and confirmations may use different sentence structures in their main instructions.
• Use specific verbs whenever possible. Specific verbs (examples: connect, save, install) are more meaningful to users than generic ones (examples: configure, manage, set).
• For control panel pages and wizard pages, if you can't use a specific verb, you may prefer to omit the verb completely.
Enter your locale, region, and language
Locale, region, and language
• For dialogs, such as error messages and warnings, don't omit the verb.
• Don't feel obliged to use main instruction text if adding it would only be redundant or obvious from the context of the UI.
Screen shot of Save As dialog box
In this example, the context of the UI is already very clear; there is no need to add main instruction text.
• Be concise—use only a single, complete sentence. Pare the main instruction down to the essential information. If you must explain anything more, consider using a supplemental instruction.
• Use sentence-style capitalization.
• For progress dialogs, use a gerund phrase briefly explaining the operation in progress, ending with an ellipsis. Example: "Printing your pictures..."
• Tip: You can evaluate a main instruction by imagining what you would say to a friend when explaining what to do with the window or page. If responding with the main instruction would be unnatural, unhelpful, or awkward, rework the instruction.
For more information, see the "Main instruction" section in the specific UI component guidelines.
Supplemental instructions
• When necessary, use a supplemental instruction to present additional information helpful to understanding or using the window or page, such as:
• Providing context to explain why the window is being displayed if it is program or system initiated.
• Qualifying information that helps users decide how to act on the main instruction.
• Defining important terminology.
• Don't use a supplemental instruction if one isn't necessary. Prefer to communicate everything with the main instruction if you can do so concisely.
• Don't repeat the main instruction with slightly different wording. Instead, omit the supplemental instruction if there is nothing more to add.
• Use complete sentences and sentence-style capitalization.
Control labels
• Label every control or group of controls. Exceptions:
• Text boxes and drop-down lists can be labeled using prompts.
• Progressive disclosure controls are generally unlabeled.
• Subordinate controls use the label of their associated control. Spin controls are always subordinate controls.
• Omit control labels that restate the main instruction. In this case, the main instruction takes the access key.
Screen shot of text box with instruction and label
In this example, the text box label is just a restatement of the main instruction.
Screen shot of text box with instruction only
In this example, the redundant label is removed, so the main instruction takes the access key.
• Label placement:
• Balloons, check boxes, command buttons, group boxes, links, tabs, and tips are labeled directly by the control itself.
• Drop-down lists, list boxes, list views, progress bars, sliders, text boxes, and tree views are labeled above, flush left, or to the left.
• Progressive disclosure controls are usually unlabeled. Chevron buttons are labeled to the right.
• Assign a unique access key for each interactive control except for links. For more information, see Keyboard.
• Keep labels brief. Note, however, that adding a word or two to a label can help clarity, and sometimes eliminates the need for supplemental explanations.
• Prefer specific labels over generic ones. Ideally users shouldn't have to read anything else to understand the label.
Screen shot of OK command button
Screen shot of Publish command button
In the correct example, a specific label is used for the commit button.
• For lists of labels, such as radio buttons, use parallel phrasing, and try to keep the length about the same for all labels.
• For lists of labels, focus the label text on the differences among the options. If all the options have the same introductory text, move that text to the group label.
Screen shot of labels with duplicate first phrases
Screen shot of first phrase moved to group label
The correct example moves the identical introductory phrasing to the label, so the two options are more cleanly differentiated.
• In general, prefer positive phrasing. For example, use do instead of do not, and notify instead of do not notify.
• Exception: The check box label, "Don't show this message again," is widely used.
• Omit instructional verbs that apply to all controls of the given type. Rather, focus labels on what is unique about the controls. For example, it goes without saying that users need to type into a text box control or that users need to click a link.
Screen shot of label: 'Type your name'
Screen shot of label: 'Your name'
In the incorrect examples, the control labels have instructional verbs that apply to all controls of their type.
• In some cases, the following parenthetical annotations to control labels may be helpful:
• If an option is optional, consider adding "(optional)" to the label.
• If an option is strongly recommended, add "(recommended)" to the label. Doing so means the setting is optional, but should be set anyway.
• If an option is intended only for advanced users, consider adding "(advanced)" to the label.
• You may specify units (seconds, connections, and so on) in parenthesis after the label.
Screen shot of label: Initial size (MB)
This example shows that the unit of measurement is megabytes (MB).
Supplemental explanations
• Use supplemental explanations when controls require more information than can be conveyed by their label. But don't use a supplemental explanation if one isn't necessary—prefer to communicate everything with the control label if you can do so concisely. Typically, supplemental explanations are used with command links, radio buttons, and check boxes.
• When necessary, use bold in the control labels to make the text easier to scan when there are supplemental explanations.
Screen shot of security-settings dialog box
In this example, the radio button labels are bold to make them easier to scan.
• Adding a supplemental explanation to one control in a group doesn't mean that you have to provide explanations for all the other controls in the group. Provide the relevant information in the label if you can and use explanations only when necessary. Don't have supplemental explanations that merely restate the label for consistency.
Screen shot of three radio buttons
In this example, two controls in the group include supplemental explanations, but the third does not.
• If a supplemental explanation follows a command link, write the supplemental text in second person.
• Example: Command link: Create wireless network settings and save to USB flash drive
Supplemental explanation: This will create settings that you can transfer to the router with a USB flash drive. Do this only if you have a wireless router that supports USB flash drive configuration.
• Use complete sentences and ending punctuation.
Commit button labels
The following table shows the most common commit button labels and their usage.
Button labelMeaningWhen to useAccess key
• In dialog boxes: apply the changes or commit to the task and close the window.
• In owner property windows: apply the pending changes (made since the window was opened or the last Apply) and close the window.
• In owned property windows: keep the changes, close the window, and apply the changes when the owner window's changes are applied.
• Use with windows that aren't task specific, such as property sheets.
• For windows used to perform one specific task, use a specific label instead that starts with a verb (example: Print).
• For windows in which users can't make changes, use Close.
Yes/NoYes is the affirmative response to a yes or no question, whereas No is the negative response.
• Use Yes and No buttons only to respond to yes or no questions. Never use OK and Cancel for yes or no questions.
• Prefer specific responses over Yes and No buttons. While there's nothing wrong with using Yes and No, specific responses can be understood more quickly, resulting in efficient decision making.
• However, consider using Yes and No responses if the phrasing of specific responses turns out to be long or awkward.
• Don't use Yes and No buttons if the meaning of the No response is unclear. If so, use specific responses instead.
• Yes and No must always be used as a pair.
Y and N
• In dialog boxes: discard all changes or work in progress, revert to the previous state (leaving no noticeable side effect), and close the window.
• In property sheets: discard all pending changes (made since the window was opened or the last Apply) and close the window.
• In control panel items: discard all changes or work in progress, revert to the previous state, and return to the hub page from which the task was launched. If there is no such hub page, close the control panel item window instead.
• Use when all pending changes or actions can be discarded and any side effects can be undone.
• For changes that can't be discarded, use Close. For actions in progress that can be stopped, use Stop. If initially changes or actions can be discarded, you can use Cancel initially then change to Close or Stop once it can't be undone.
CloseClose the window. Any changes or side effects are not discarded.
• Use when changes or side effects can't be discarded. Use Close instead of Cancel for primary windows.
• Use for windows in which users can't make changes.
Alt+F4, Ctrl+F4
StopStop a currently running task and close the window. Any work in progress or side effects are not discarded.
• Use when work in progress and any side effects can't or won't be discarded, typically with progress bars or animations.
ApplyIn owner property sheets: apply the pending changes (made since the window was opened or the last Apply), but leave the window open. Doing so allows users to evaluate the changes before closing the property sheet. In owned property sheets: don't use.
• Use only in property sheets.
• Provide an Apply button only if the property sheet has settings (at least one) with effects that users can evaluate in a meaningful way. Typically, Apply buttons are used when settings make visible changes. Users should be able to apply a change, evaluate the change, and make further changes based on that evaluation. If not, remove the Apply button instead of disabling it.
NextIn wizards and multi-step tasks: advance to the next step without committing to the task.
• Use only in wizards and multi-step tasks to advance to the next step without commitment.
• The effect of a Next button can always be undone by clicking Back.
FinishIn wizards and multi-step tasks: close the window. If the task hasn't been performed yet, perform the task. If that task has already been performed, any changes or side effects are not discarded.
• Use only in wizards and multi-step tasks. However, the use of Finish is discouraged because there is usually a better, more specific commit button:
• If clicking the button commits to the task (so the task hasn't already been performed), use a specific label that starts with a verb (examples: Print, Connect, Start) that is a response to the main instruction.
• If the task has already been performed within the wizard, use Close instead.
• However, you can use Finish when:
• The specific label is still generic, such as Save, Select, Choose, or Get.
• The task involves changing a setting or collection of settings.
DoneNot applicable.
• Don't use. Done as a command is grammatically incorrect.
Not applicable.
© 2014 Microsoft. All rights reserved. | http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa974176.aspx | dclm-gs1-221690000 |
0.018542 | <urn:uuid:38774b55-1ee7-417a-83aa-569366da0797> | en | 0.919322 | Article Photos: Oklahoma City metro-area adopt a pet 2/3
Toby is an Afghan/husky mix. He is pretty laid back and loves to go for walks. If you are interested in adopting Toby, please stop by the Edmond Animal Welfare Shelter. Toby is 3 years old and weighs about 55 pounds. | http://newsok.com/gallery/articleid/3705831/pictures/1814280 | dclm-gs1-221710000 |
0.022627 | <urn:uuid:160369b4-fb42-4d34-9766-6d7035da0f4c> | en | 0.952586 | New online business to support LGBT community
Kristin Davis, president of a new tech startup “Woven LLC,” discusses some of the legal and financial issues facing families in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.
By Paula Burkes Modified: October 10, 2013 at 7:00 pm • Published: October 9, 2013
Q&A with Kristin Davis
Online business offers resources supporting LGBT community
Q: You're president of an Oklahoma City-based online business Woven LLC ( that launches Friday, and offers resources for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community nationwide. Tell us a little about the startup.
A: The business provides timely legal and financial education and resources, including a national provider directory comprised of attorneys, financial advisers, tax and insurance professionals who have demonstrated competence and passion in working with the unique legal and financial issues faced by LGBT couples and families. Founder and Chief Executive Officer Melinda Olbert, an Oklahoma City-based financial adviser, recognized a need for a national online resource that would make it easy for LGBT individuals to access accurate and timely information in order to help them plan for secure futures. Directory members pay annual membership dues to participate.
Q: What are some of the issues facing LGBT families today?
A: LGBT individuals and families face an inordinate number of issues, including a lack of basic rights and benefits that many people take for granted. In states that don't recognize legalized same-sex marriage, couples struggle with living in a strange limbo where they have certain legal rights on a federal level, but not on a state level. A lesbian couple residing in Oklahoma City recently married in New York, and when one of them changed her last name to match her spouse's, she was able to obtain a Social Security card with her new name, but couldn't change her state-issued driver's license. Now, she can file her federal taxes jointly under her new name, but will have to file her state tax return as an individual under her old name. There are many couples caught in a divorce limbo when they want to divorce but reside in a “nonmarriage” state that won't dissolve a marriage that's not recognized in the first place. Same-sex couples who have children face a great amount of risk if they don't plan ahead with legal resources that provide protections such as co-parenting agreements, guardianships, donor agreements, wills and trusts.
| |
by Paula Burkes
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+ show more | http://newsok.com/new-online-business-to-support-lgbt-community/article/3891612 | dclm-gs1-221720000 |
0.061084 | <urn:uuid:54174884-0d62-4f12-af5b-643d0634b78c> | en | 0.975389 |
Is Mr. Bush worse than Thomas Jefferson in his second term? Rather than build a decent navy to deal with the British -- who had a habit of boarding American ships on the high seas and forcing kidnapped sailors into semislavery -- Jefferson declared an embargo on all trade with England and the rest of Europe. The American economy came to a horrific standstill; smuggling became New England's chief industry. Someone described the embargo as "cutting a man's throat to cure a nosebleed." Nonplussed, Jefferson quit, telling only James Madison, his secretary of state, who was de facto acting president for the last year of Tom's term.
James Madison, who officially succeeded Jefferson in 1808, made presidential passivity into an art form. "Little Jemmy," as they called him in New England, watched while 4,500 British troops disembarked from their ships, marched to Washington, D.C., and burned the White House, the Capitol and almost everything else worth torching. You can't do much worse as a war leader than that performance.
Is Mr. Bush worse than Roosevelt in his second term? Re-elected by a massive majority, FDR wanted to pack the Supreme Court with Democrats. Congress, dominated by members of his own party, wasted a year wrangling over the bill and ultimately rejected it. Meanwhile, FDR's intemperate remarks about greedy businessmen wrecked confidence and triggered a semireplay of the Great Depression in 1937. The Republicans made massive gains in the 1938 midterm elections. FDR was rescued from an exit even more humiliating than Jefferson's by World War II, which he used as an excuse to run for a third term.
Worse than Jimmy Carter, the self- proclaimed Washington "outsider" who presided over the most horrendous stagflation in our history? As his poll numbers sank, Mr. Carter had the temerity to lecture citizens on their "crisis of spirit." His approval rating had plummeted to 22% when Ronald Reagan defeated him. Let us skip Bill Clinton. He and Bush are too contiguous; proximity makes comparisons inevitably rancorous.
My purpose is not to denigrate these men. John Adams had great political courage. He often espoused unpopular views, warning us, among other things, that a majority can be as tyrannical as a king or dictator -- something that we may need to remember in the next few years.
Thomas Jefferson displayed good judgment in his first term when he put aside his ideological scruples and purchased the Louisiana Territory. James Madison deserves admiration for the way he gave his remarkable wife, Dolley, a chance to create the role of First Lady and establish women as important political players. Woodrow Wilson's idealism was flawed, but his vision of America's role as a world power was profound. FDR's masterful confrontation with the fear created by the Great Depression made his first term an unforgettable achievement.
Mr. Fleming is a former president of the Society of American Historians. His most recent book, "The Perils of Peace, America's Struggle to Survive After Yorktown," (Smithsonian) has just been issued in paperback.
Please add your comments to the Opinion Journal forum. | http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB123578552846098603?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB123578552846098603.html | dclm-gs1-221750000 |
0.132905 | <urn:uuid:458a8883-e1fd-45d0-b121-b03d172da47b> | en | 0.949118 | You could get shot, homie, if you do want to
from Azealia Banks – 212 Lyrics on Rap Genius
A condescension to her opponent, that they could prove legitimacy and toughness by actually experiencing real violence, if they wanted. She grew up hood.
Notice that “do want to” sounds like “212.” Say it five times fast!
| http://rapgenius.com/556866/Azealia-banks-212/You-could-get-shot-homie-if-you-do-want-to | dclm-gs1-221790000 |
0.501612 | <urn:uuid:397d1516-bbea-494b-af6f-958c9c331efb> | en | 0.944518 | Forgot your password?
Comment: Re:In their defence. (Score 1) 417
by Luke has no name (#46442795) Attached to: School Tricks Pupils Into Installing a Root CA
>Got that? No filtering, no internet. That's just the way it is.
No internet. It's not their fucking computer, and they didn't tell people they were going to intercept any traffic the students believed would be secure. I work in financial services, and the internal, company owned equipment has big "WE CAN SEE EVERYTHING YOU DO ON THIS MACHINE" labels on the login. Want to look at porn? Hop on the guest network.
Comment: First sentence needs questioned. (Score 1) 2219
by Luke has no name (#46186209) Attached to: Slashdot Tries Something New; Audience Responds!
(My first comment on this got deleted, I think... kind of suspicious)
There's the issue. Why does it need a redesign? What valid reasons can you provide us as to why the site needs a new layout? Show us the stats and the emails and the UI needs that demand this. To make it more handicap-friendly? To update the codebase with newer web standards? To placate the 5% of users who haven't destroyed you about Beta?
Almost any technical reason given for why the site needs rewritten can be fixed without completely destroying the look of the site. Answer me! Why do you think it's time?
Comment: Re:NSA has the ssl keys (Score 2) 279
What a silly thing to appear on slashdot.
What a silly thing to say! Most of the time, it's not the NSA I'm worried about, it's the ISP or the creeper next to me on the open wifi network. Most people don't have an ipsec tunnel to their home network for secure wifi access, so this isn't a bad thing at all.
Issues with CA's and the NSA are real, but don't get huffy-puffy about a practical addon being brought up on /.
Your solution is either to
a) require that "enterprise" training fall under similar regulatory schemes, or
b) restrict ALL courses ("Enterprise" training and these bootcamps) to be exempt from registration ONLY if they can prove the money for training is only coming from a corporate sponsor.
You shouldn't shoehorn laws in, even for good intentions, and not treat all businesses equally. You (and the BPPE) need to have clear lines drawn for "enterprise" vs. code camps, beyond "I'm protecting stupid people from themselves". Honestly, we need to stop living in a society where every conceivable form of fraud and danger is legislated against. It's a less dangerous, but almost equally annoying derivative of trading in liberty for "safety".
Comment: Re:I don't mind metered internet usage... (Score 1) 479
by Luke has no name (#46015147) Attached to: An Iowa ISP's Metered Pricing: What Will the Market Bear?
Television is multicast/one way traffic. The infrastructure is completely different.
In 20 years when a podunk ISP can easily have 40/100GB backbones for low thousands, and IPv6 multicast is here to allow for IPTV and some clever ways to cache and stream videos, these arguments for data caps will be much less believable.
Comment: Re:Good grief... (Score 1) 237
by Luke has no name (#45852685) Attached to: There's Kanye West-Themed Crypto-Currency On the Way
It does highlight the low barrier to entry for digital currencies, and shows how much of a "free market" it can be. Additionally, I do think that this shit will, at least in the short term, water down the "cryptocurrency" brand.
Your comment is antagonistic and arrogant, though, in that it assumes all users of a C.C. are gullible, rather than curious, hopeful, supportive, etc.
Comment: Re:one way around this... (Score 1) 189
by Luke has no name (#45819115) Attached to: Citizen Science: Who Makes the Rules?
The insight about incorporating is interesting, and given the facts of the situation, might not be a bad idea.
To your other point:
>The number one thing you should not expect about doing science, at any level, is that it will be cheap, quick or lean. When it comes to science those words mean the same thing as "violating environmental and safety law" or simply doing a piss-poor job.
THIS is what's unfortunate. The point of the article (IMO) was to lament the state of things that law-abiding citizens aren't able to get chemicals once thought reasonable to acquire.
Debug is human, de-fix divine. | http://slashdot.org/~Luke+has+no+name/tags/money | dclm-gs1-221860000 |
0.293313 | <urn:uuid:0d146b38-e51c-4d34-bfb2-285c085dfef7> | en | 0.957164 | Forgot your password?
Comment: Re:This is more than a little bit naive. (Score 1) 709
I'd think that $50B would go a long way to making something more sensible than wind/solar (Which are still and will be a boondoggle with $50B poured into it (Where in the heck do you store energy so that it's sustained instead of feast/famine? Right now, you can't realistically replace coal with either- and without the storage tech to MAKE it so...it's a waste of time and money, bluntly put...)- which would be Thorium reactors.
Comment: Re:Force them to warrenty whole unit.. (Score 2) 526
by Svartalf (#46206741) Attached to: Customer: Dell Denies Speaker Repair Under Warranty, Blames VLC
And one should design for those limits instead of falling back on "it's the software"- it's a brown paper bag moment to have breakable parts like that exposed in the firmware so that drivers or applications can break things.
I don't know about you, but I've spent decades making sure on digital designs and the like you CAN'T do that sort of thing. I can't be the ONLY one doing it- and it wasn't acceptable then for those items (they got REPLACED on the spot...) and it's not acceptable now (and it's illegal, pretty much like I said, to DO it the way Dell's playing it.)
Comment: Re:Force them to warrenty whole unit.. (Score 5, Interesting) 526
by Svartalf (#46206293) Attached to: Customer: Dell Denies Speaker Repair Under Warranty, Blames VLC
And they're not fooling anyone either.
Comment: Re:Unconscionable Contract clause (Score 1) 519
by Svartalf (#45443115) Attached to: Woman Facing $3,500 Fine For Posting Online Review
Actually, depending on the State in question, it *IS* defined as a Deceptive (hint...class of fraud...) Trade Practice. Falls under unconsionable clauses in a contract.
The fact that they're applying to the party absolutely not involved with the deal...heh... That IS clearly Fraud.
Comment: Re:Gpu based paravirtualization rootkit, all os vu (Score 1) 265
by Svartalf (#45299965) Attached to: Airgap-Jumping Malware May Use Ultrasonic Networking To Communicate
Dude...lay down the crack pipe. It's making you post bullshit- and Anonymously at that.
Any OS? Really? This would mean you're using OpenCL or OpenGL/OpenGLES to do things- just for starters. But, in truth, there's no inbound/outbound pathway from or to the GPU (The GPU generally doesn't have I/O access to things and for good reasons...) without an additional OpenGL/OpenCL application as a front-end. Which would be VERY OS specific.
Sorry, but the person in question that claimed that it was possible hasn't the foggiest about what he was talking about. But...nice try.
Comment: I call BS... (Score 1) 265
by Svartalf (#45299869) Attached to: Airgap-Jumping Malware May Use Ultrasonic Networking To Communicate
If it's using some sort of communications ("ultrasonic networking") it's **NOT** airgapped in any way, shape, or form.
"Airgapped" means no remote automated communications of ANY kind would be possible. You can't interact with it by remote, period- you have to have a human being log into a local console to do things with it. This is a failure of the airgapping measures being exploited is all- or it was never really airgapped to begin with.
Debug is human, de-fix divine. | http://slashdot.org/~Svartalf/tags/summarywrong | dclm-gs1-221870000 |
0.032202 | <urn:uuid:7a2cc303-6b41-48b5-97ff-9fe60edb75b2> | en | 0.979715 | Media Matters
ESPN and the End of Rational Discourse
The cruel fate that befell Rush Limbaugh.
By 10.7.03
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For once, ESPN's "Sunday NFL Countdown" didn't begin with the usual happy anticipation of the grand spectacle of controlled warfare and mighty collisions that is pro football in America. Instead, Chris Berman, Tom Jackson, Steve Young, and Michael Irvin sat tensely in their seats. We knew they'd have to address the Rush Limbaugh-Donovan McNabb controversy, but we didn't know how. Given the fact Rush had acted to protect the program and his former castmates by resigning, one might have assumed Berman and company would give a brief postmortem and apologize for the uproar. Regrettably, that was not to be the case.
One by one, Berman and crew explained their deep sorrow that they had failed to react appropriately to the divisive nature of Limbaugh's remarks. According to Steve Young, former star quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, "We all missed it. I missed it. And the truth is, everyone at ESPN missed it." Berman chimed in, "I have been kicking myself all week." Tom Jackson felt the same way, saying, "Do I wish that I had caught it in hindsight? Absolutely. Do I regret that I didn't? Yes. But I'm human. Mostly, I regret that I missed it for Donovan McNabb's sake. I regret that."
Anyone who viewed the controversial program in which Limbaugh expressed his opinion that McNabb's performance had been overrated due to his skin color is left wondering exactly what the "NFL Countdown" team thinks they missed. When Rush originally made the assertion, the members of the cast exploded in general disagreement. They pointed out McNabb's pro bowl appearances and his leadership on the field that led to two NFC championship matchups for the Philadelphia Eagles. Berman and company didn't miss anything. Limbaugh made the statement. The other analysts rebutted the remarks. The program's lively give-and-take moved on to other topics.
Approximately 48 hours later, we learned what it was that had been missed. Rush Limbaugh (substantively wrong about McNabb in my opinion) had dared to remark on upon a racial issue without setting up a series of disclaimers and escape routes. The national media were angry the legendary broadcaster had somehow managed to walk off the set largely unscathed. Compensation would have to be made. After all, having Rush Limbaugh in the crosshairs and letting him walk away is just not done. Maybe he could get away with it in the largely free speech zone that is his program, but not on a Disney network.
Before angry protests erupt at the notion of Limbaugh as a free speech champion, potential contestants should listen to Limbaugh's program and compare it to those of his competitors. While hosts like Glenn Beck and Neal Boortz routinely shout down those who disagree with them, Limbaugh is typically solicitous of those who disagree and frequently extends them more air time than sympathizers. No one gets ruled out of bounds during Rush's three hours behind the golden EIB microphone.
Perhaps that's why Limbaugh felt comfortable launching out on a discussion of a potentially radioactive topic. Given his own tolerance for dissent in a forum he controls completely, he may have believed he'd receive similar treatment. When he discovered he'd misinterpreted the rules of engagement, he gracefully resigned.
I've already written about how this episode demonstrates the poverty of our national discourse, but we also know a personality other than Limbaugh might have escaped a similar level of calumny. After watching the Berman-Jackson-Young-Irvin team play kick the can with Rush's deteriorating reputation, I remembered a story told by Southern humorist Lewis Grizzard.
After becoming a nationally syndicated humor columnist and best-selling author, Grizzard received an invitation in the mail to join the club at Augusta National, where the Masters is played each year. Needless to say, the membership at Augusta National is the elite of the elite. Rockefellers might find themselves pressed to get in. Grizzard felt both proud and amazed at the prospect of being included among social and economic giants. A few days later, one of his friends called and gave away the charade. Grizzard hadn't really been invited to join the prestigious club. The invitation was a forgery and a not terribly funny joke to a man from humble beginnings who was just letting himself believe he'd broken through a major barrier. At the end of the story, Grizzard explained how he allowed himself to think he was in line for such a great honor, "I had forgotten my place," he wrote.
I think this is another part of the fate that befell Limbaugh. Rush had been grudgingly admitted to the dance based on his incredible star power, but unbeknownst to him it was only a learner's permit ready to be revoked at any time. He believed he'd really earned a place in the mainstream media elite with the new job at ESPN. Rush, an outspoken conservative who has never backed down from battle with the media elite, had forgotten his place. And despite his resignation, he had to be punished for having done so.
I turned off ESPN's "Sunday NFL Countdown" after watching Rush's former castmates vigorously denounce him in an elaborate hating ritual worthy of a scene from 1984. I won't be turning it back on again. I can get that from Bryant Gumbel any time I want.
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| http://spectator.org/articles/51130/espn-and-end-rational-discourse | dclm-gs1-221900000 |
0.021674 | <urn:uuid:4be479c3-61a0-4b27-867c-c5afff16c10a> | en | 0.985363 | Woods sweats, but never trails in PGA victory
Updated: August 13, 2007, 12:19 PM ET
By Bob Harig | Special to
TULSA, Okla. -- Instead of the usual coronation, there was consternation and perspiration. The drops that poured from Tiger Woods' face were a product of both the intense heat at Southern Hills Country Club and a couple of golfers who made the day a bit more uncomfortable.
In the end, Woods hoisted the Wanamaker Trophy for the fourth time after successfully defending his PGA Championship title. He did what he had to do. He always does, doesn't he?
"Winning becomes almost a habit," said Ernie Els, who shot 66 but came up 3 strokes short. "Look at Tiger."
Both Woody Austin and Els had better rounds Sunday, but that is the beauty of giving yourself a cushion. The nearest competitor at the start of the day, Stephen Ames, was staring into the headlights while playing with Woods, and it showed. He shot 76 and finished 10 strokes back.
Tiger Woods
AP Photo/Charles KrupaWoods earned his 13th major title in his 44th appearance in a major as a professional.
When the nearest competitors got within a stroke of him, Woods dug down to make a clutch birdie at the 15th hole, all but willing his ball down the fairway, onto the green and into the cup.
"I kept telling myself going to the next hole, 'I need to bear down and get things done,'" said Woods, who usually does just that.
Woods has won all 13 of his major championships after holding at least a share of the 54-hole lead going into the final round. All but two of his final-round "companions" scored worse, and for as well as Bob May (2000 PGA) and Chris DiMarco (2005 Masters) competed against the game's No. 1 player, they still could not overtake him in a playoff.
It is very easy to take Woods for granted, to yawn at his achievements. But we truly are fortunate to be witness to such greatness, especially amid all the scrutiny. A little more than a week ago, before Woods captured the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, there were those among us counting up how many tournaments he had gone without a victory.
The number had risen to a grand total of five, but in Woods' world, people keep track.
He came into the PGA Championship with four PGA Tour victories, leading the money list, possessing the lowest scoring average and holding a whopping lead in the FedEx Cup standings.
Yet there were no major victories. Even Woods admitted that a year without a major title could not be viewed in the same manner as one that included a victory at the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open or PGA -- no matter how many other tournaments he won.
"It turned into a great year," Woods said after winning for the 59th time in his PGA Tour career. "Anytime you win a major championship in the year, it's always going to be a great year. And this certainly is."
This was Woods' 13th major title in his 44th start in a major as a professional. It took Jack Nicklaus 53 pro majors to win 13 on his way to the number that remains the gold standard: 18.
Most believe it is simply a matter of time before Woods gets there, and it has been an amazing journey to this point. Woods has won his 13 major titles in 11 years as a pro.
"When you first start your career … 18 is just a long way away," said Woods, as if the number could even be fathomable at age 21. "And even though I'm at 13, it's still a long way away. You can't get it done in one year. It's going to take time. It took Jack 20-plus years to get it done. It's one of those things where it is going to take some time. And hopefully, health permitting and everything goes right and I keep improving, one day I'll surpass that."
Woods' close calls at the Masters and U.S. Open this year offered excellent perspective. For the first time, Woods led during the final round of a major and failed to deliver. He was beaten by two players -- Zach Johnson and Angel Cabrera -- who would have fetched enormous odds on winning at the beginning of the week. It showed just how difficult it is to win these tournaments.
Tiger Woods' win on Sunday puts him five behind Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 majors. Today on "Outside The Lines" (3 p.m. ET), Tom Rinaldi reports on Tiger's chase of history.
Winning five more majors doesn't seem like much when Woods already has 13. But consider that players such as Byron Nelson, Peter Thomson and Seve Ballesteros won five for their entire careers. To surpass Nicklaus, Woods needs to win six more, matching the total posted by Nick Faldo and Lee Trevino.
The good news is Woods has time. At 31, his physical skills should only get better. And although the 2000 season often is viewed as Woods' best -- he won three straight majors and added a fourth straight in 2001 -- there are several aspects of his game that have improved since then.
His driving accuracy might not be as solid as it once was, but Woods knows how to wear out a Southern Hills course not viewed to suit him by hitting irons off tees. On courses that are long, he can bomb it and have an enormous advantage. On courses that are short, he can play strategic golf and hit it to any spot he wants.
"It's experience," he said. "Understanding how to handle it and how to manage my game around the golf course. I have more shots than I did then just because [I've had] that many more years to learn them. And how to make adjustments on the fly -- it just comes with experience.
"And I'll say the same thing seven years from now. I'll be more experienced than I am now."
Who knows where this ride will have taken us in seven years? By then, Woods will be 38. He'll have had seven more cracks at Augusta National, where he has won four times. He'll have returned to Bethpage Black and Pebble Beach, where he won his two U.S. Opens. Another British Open will have been played at St. Andrews, where he has won twice.
No sweat? Nobody is saying it is going to be easy, even if Tiger has a way of making it look that way.
Bob Harig is a frequent contributor to He can be reached at
Bob Harig | email
Golf Writer, | http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/pgachampionship07/columns/story?columnist=harig_bob&id=2971817 | dclm-gs1-221910000 |
0.16622 | <urn:uuid:38ad5c8d-ffba-4f41-acf9-e651d91ce076> | en | 0.875049 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
I really like the syntax highlighting and coloring of the code samples throughout How to Design Programs. For example:
Does anyone have something like this as a jumping off point for an Emacs major mode for editing source code?
share|improve this question
I will delete my answer. I've made a minor edit to your question to emphasize the Emacs major mode focus. Good luck! – dyoo Apr 21 '12 at 4:24
Do you just mean the color scheme, or is there some sort of functionality that you want? – Ivan Andrus Apr 21 '12 at 7:20
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2 Answers
Neil Van Dyke created an Emacs major mode for editing Scribble documents. It doesn't color the source code, unfortunately. But it's the best way to edit documents with embedded Racket code in Emacs.
In the realm of non-Emacs editors, DrRacket does highlight both code and text correctly in Scribble documents.
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Is it possible you're looking for a Emacs major mode with source highlighting support? If you are, take a look at http://docs.racket-lang.org/guide/Emacs.html, which describes several of the Emacs major modes that support Racket and come with source highlighting.
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Your Answer
| http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10254765/racket-emacs-mode-for-mimicing-scibble-or-htdp-sample-code-examples/10259246 | dclm-gs1-221930000 |
0.634481 | <urn:uuid:c19d4311-fcaf-4828-9ec3-b58a346970c7> | en | 0.934446 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
The UDP header struct defined at /usr/include/netinet/udp.h is as follows
struct udphdr
u_int16_t source;
u_int16_t dest;
u_int16_t len;
u_int16_t check;
What value is stored in the check field of the header? How to verify if the checksum is correct? I meant on what data is the checksum computed? (Is it just the udp header or udp header plus the payload that follows it?)
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2 Answers
up vote 19 down vote accepted
The UDP checksum is performed over the entire payload, and the other fields in the header, and some fields from the IP header. A pseudo-header is constructed from the IP header in order to perform the calculation (which is done over this pseudo-header, the UDP header and the payload). The reason the pseudo-header is included is to catch packets that have been routed to the wrong IP address.
Basically, at the receiving end, all the 16-bit words of the headers plus data area are added together (wrapping at 16 bits) and the result is checked against 0xffff.
On the sending side, it's a little more complex. A one's complement sum is performed on all the 16-bit values then the one's complement (i.e., invert all bits) is taken of that value to populate the checksum field.
Unlike my earlier answer (which was wrong, and thanks to Jim Hunziker for setting me straight), the one's complement sum is not just the sum of all the one's complement values. It's a little more complex.
Basically, you have a running 16-bit accumulator starting at zero and you add every 16-bit value to that. Whenever one of those additions results in a carry, the value is wrapped around and you add one to the value again. This effectively takes the carry bit of the 16-bit addition and adds it to the value.
As an aside, and this is pure conjecture on my part but this could probably be efficiently done by use of the ADC (add with carry) instruction rather than ADD (surprisingly enough, add), or whatever equivalent instructions were available on your CPU at the time.
If there were no carry, ADC would just add the zero bit from the carry. In the days when this stuff was done (and yes, unfortunately, I am that old), memory was far more of a constraint than speed, not so much the case nowadays, so saving a few bytes in your code could well elevate you to the level of demi-god-emperor-of-the-universe :-)
Note that you never had to worry about carry the second time around (or a carry of two with the next ADC if you're using that method mentioned in the previous paragraph) since the two largest 16-bit values, when summed, produce (truncated from 0x1fffe) 0xfffe - adding one to that will never cause another carry.
Once the calculated one's complement sum is calculated, has its bits inverted and is inserted into the packet, that will cause the calculation at the receiving end to produce 0xffff, assuming no errors in transmission of course.
It's worth noting that the payload is always padded to ensure there's an integral number of 16-bit words. If it was padded, the length field tells you the actual length.
RFC768 is the specification which details this.
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Thanks for that. I was a bit confused about the Pseudo-Header part..but then the RFC cleared the air. – Deepak Sep 26 '09 at 7:03
"All the 16-bit words of the headers (where the UDP checksum is zero) are added and the one's complement (i.e., invert all bits) is what gets put into the checksum field." No, what the RFC says would lead to "All the one's complements (i.e., invert all bits) of the 16-bit words of the headers (where the UDP checksum is zero) are added and the one's complement of that is what gets put into the checksum field." Otherwise perfect answer +1. – Joren Sep 26 '09 at 7:17
Right you are, @Joren, adjusted, and thanks. – paxdiablo Sep 26 '09 at 11:56
This isn't right. "One's complement sum" doesn't mean take the one's complement of each word and add them together. It means that you add the words together, and when a carry bit is produced, you add 1 to the running sum. See mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/54379.html . – Jim Hunziker Apr 22 '10 at 15:51
An interesting note about the one's complement checksum, which may have a lot to do with why it was chosen, is that swapping the byte order of the words to be summed will swap the byte order of the sum. – supercat Feb 8 '12 at 17:12
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I was searching the net for some code which will calculate the udp header (with the pseudo ip header as mentioned above).
Finally I found the open-bsd dhclient packet.c:
check out the function assemble_udp_ip_header()
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| http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1480580/udp-checksum-calculation/7359672 | dclm-gs1-221940000 |
0.023311 | <urn:uuid:5967d2e3-6558-4178-b47f-471130898b7f> | en | 0.890299 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
I am developing an Android app that uses the Google Maps API v2. I generated an API key at the google site, but it always becomes inactive after a day or so.
How do I get a more permanent API Key so I can have user test my app without it going inactive every day?
Thanks for the help.
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What do you mean by "inactive"? – CommonsWare Feb 21 '13 at 18:51
Well, after a day or so the map just comes up blank. When I log in to the Google API Access site and go to API Access, it show Inactive in the status line. So, I need to generate a new key and r-build my app. Maybe I am doing something wrong, but the app does work right when to key is ok. – LilMoke Feb 21 '13 at 18:53
"it show Inactive in the status line" -- that's bizarre. I have never seen that. The keys I set up weeks ago are all working just fine. – CommonsWare Feb 21 '13 at 18:54
LOL, that is what everyone tells me, but it really does happen. In fact if I go to the google site and generate a new one it tell me how long it is good for. – LilMoke Feb 21 '13 at 18:56
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1 Answer
up vote 0 down vote accepted
Perhaps you are clicking the "Generate new key" link to the right of your existing key. That is for replacing an existing key, and the original key will be removed after 24 hours.
Instead, click "Create new Android key..." at the bottom of the page.
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Yes, that is what i am doing, I will try what you say. – LilMoke Feb 21 '13 at 19:01
Ok, I generated a new key that way so I will give it a try. I did not do that because when I use that method of generating a key I need to put in the SHA1 fingerprint and such. – LilMoke Feb 21 '13 at 19:03
You will be needing SHA1 fingerprint. – Arman Feb 23 '13 at 18:25
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| http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15009972/google-maps-api-v2-api-key | dclm-gs1-221950000 |
0.27585 | <urn:uuid:bda2fcd3-6896-49af-89c6-753e9ff0c808> | en | 0.912622 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
I would like to create forum script with Node.js and MongoDB, but I have a problem with IDs which are pretty long in Mongo's case. I was already searching for solution, but I didn't find anything except the posts in which is written that I need to create ID's myself. I know more about PHP and MySQL, but I need Node for some realtime application in addition of forum. I would use generated ID for identifyng forum post, and next to it it would be thread's title - like this: address.domain/1/my-new-thread.
What do you recommend me?
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Why exactly are the default ID's not good? – Chiel92 Mar 2 '13 at 14:19
If I put them into address, the URL would be too long - address.domain/re2525435tr5435/my-new-thread-with-long-long-long-title – user1257255 Mar 2 '13 at 14:21
Take a look at this basic technique: docs.mongodb.org/manual/tutorial/… You could use it to generate the ID which you use directly, or build a map of "short id" to an ObjectId. – WiredPrairie Mar 2 '13 at 15:07
just generate your own id besides the mongodbid and use that as lookup for your posts/threads whatever, you can't shorten the mongodb generated id because its a BSONID and there is no shorter form. – supernova Mar 2 '13 at 20:17
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1 Answer
up vote 1 down vote accepted
I've used mongoose-pureautoinc and it works without problems.
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If you insist on answering your own question and accepting the answer so quickly, you could at least provide some source code on how you solved the issue. – adrianp May 3 '13 at 12:44
@adrianp: the question is from March 2nd. What do you mean with "so quickly"? – 6502 May 3 '13 at 12:53
@6502 Sorry, misread the date; still, can you provide some code example? – adrianp May 3 '13 at 12:54
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| http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15175486/node-js-mongodb-generating-shorter-id | dclm-gs1-221960000 |
0.063672 | <urn:uuid:96cadbb7-a543-4641-9fd5-0df35c8e2430> | en | 0.813048 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
I am trying to use regular expression in IBM RAD / eclipse to search and replace entire code base/Java Web Project(jsp, java) of specific matching crieria.
What I am trying to do is, I am searching for
method(string, string)
and to replace it with
method(string, string, string) // adding additional argument.
For Example:
method("Employee", "Language")
method("Customer", "Lang");
I want to replace all method(*,*,"TOKEN");
I have searched like method(*,*) and returns all, but while trying to replace method(*, *, TOKEN), it is replacing as "*"...any help..not that much familiar with regular expression..already searched many threads and still searching..any help would be greatful..thanks
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is it a java method? if so then use the refactor option to change the signature of the method – Arun P Johny May 7 '13 at 8:36
It is java mehod. But not newly introduced method..being referred in the jar (third party)..only class files are there... – user2357461 May 7 '13 at 10:56
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if you select the methodname e.g:
public void getAngle(){..}
and you select ´getAngle()´ and press ´alt+shift+c´ , you should be able to modify the method signature
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| http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16414352/trying-to-search-and-replace-eclipse | dclm-gs1-221970000 |
0.047992 | <urn:uuid:462f8e55-a492-4727-af1a-302b5ad0f3ba> | en | 0.916637 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
I've configured my system with NginX listening on port 80, serving static content and proxying dynamic requests to a backend server.
I can configure NginX to cache content generated by the backend, but I want this cached content be served only when the Backend responds with an error http 5xx, or when it's totally down.
We tried the proxy_cache_use_stale option with max-age of 1 second, it worked but it has one negative side.. which is simply dozens of requests being served from cache during this 1 second cache-aged-content. These requests served from cache will miss further Backend processing (Stats for example).
We can only afford to live with this negativity IF the backend was down, Thus, the cache will act as a backup or a failover solution. But as long as the backend is up and responding, no requests should be served from cache.
I would appreciate any hints
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@Danack Thanks a lot for the corrections. I got disconnected when I was trying to correct the typos.. :( But, Thanks again. – Hasan S. May 28 '13 at 14:58
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Take a look at proxy_cache_use_stale
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This is regard using Stale, means: When to use Stale version of the original cached content? What I need is to never use cached content unless got some error response code from backend. Please.. correct me if I'm wrong. – Hasan S. May 28 '13 at 15:01
Think about it. How would a cache serve something it has never stored? If you set a max-age of one second, you will achieve your goal. – Melvyn May 28 '13 at 16:39
Oh, Cool.. Great Hint.. I'll give a try, and will post updates ;-) – Hasan S. Jun 1 '13 at 9:07
I made few tries, unfortunately.. the server will serve few requests from cache before the 1 second expire. What I need is: the Nginx caches the request upon first request.. and keep serving future request directly via backends unless got an error response code. Here comes the Cached Content. I tried to make the 1 second to be 1 MS, but seems the minimum is 1 second. – Hasan S. Jun 3 '13 at 16:08
Could you explain a bit more about the setup? Maybe nginx is not the right tool for the job. What breaks when you serve one second old content? And why is it still ok to serve thirty minutes old content when the backend is unresponsive? – Melvyn Jun 3 '13 at 16:23
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0.306408 | <urn:uuid:90afa0bc-ebc6-48fe-99bf-9576fa19410c> | en | 0.860404 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
i am writing a web proxy in java on google App engine.I figured out that the urls can be fected using the url Fetch servce but i have no idea about how to manage cookies and the streams as in youtube .Ne suggestions ?
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up vote 0 down vote accepted
use something like HtmlUnit engine, it perfectly allows those features, i think, since it can log in sites.
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0.05978 | <urn:uuid:eb57d2a7-a1cf-41e7-8f6d-530a27189f4c> | en | 0.954807 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
This question may be weird and misworded but I'm not a Windows expert by any means so feel free to correct me.
The group I'm in recently got new computers at work. They gave me a new computer and hooked up my old computer to the network for a week so I could take my time transferring necessary files/configs etc. The Support Guy said, "Just go to 'run' and type in \\PCNAME\c$. So I did and, low and behold, there's my old C: drive. I thought to myself, "What a huge security issue. I'll just transfer everything quickly and then 'un-share' it."
The end of the day came and I logged in through remote desktop and right clicked on the C drive. But it was not shared. I called The Support Guy and explained to him that I didn't want my C drive available to everyone on the network all weekend. He seemed confused. He said, "It's not really 'shared'. If you go to the command prompt and type in \\ANYPCNAME\c$ you get their C drive. That's just how it is."
I hung up the phone and walked over to a coworker's desk and looked at his PC name (there's a sticker on every computer) and then walked back to my desk and put a hello file on his desktop.
I don't keep anything personal on my work computer but there are definite security concerns. Not really from within the group I'm in but from the hundreds of other employees on the network (and domain) that I don't know. I'm fine with practical jokes but what if someone has an unknown grudge against me (or someone with a similar name or computer name) and adds nasty language against my boss to documents which are part of a project?
Is this an inherit part of how Windows domains work? Are there any steps I can take to make my box a little more secure? Bear in mind that I do have admin rights to the box but I can't change anything as far as the network or domain goes. Even just an explanation of what's going on would be a big help as this goes against everything that I know to be 'pretty basic' about computer systems in general. I'm more familiar with Linux so Windows World is a little foreign to me.
Follow Up
Voiced my concerns about this at work. I was told, "Nobody knows about the drive$ thing so there's nothing to worry about." Followed Darth's solution and added that registry key. Now I'll wait and see if anyone gets alerted.
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That's totally nuts. There must be an easy way to disable that. – Doc Jul 15 '11 at 20:38
It isn't totally nuts. It's how windows is designed and for good reason. See my further answer below. – music2myear Jul 15 '11 at 20:51
And no, your question is not weird in the least and you did an excellent job of describing it given your self-described non-expertness. You were observant and thoughtful, which is something I wish even a 10th of my users were. – music2myear Jul 15 '11 at 21:04
+1 because your concerns are reasonable and justified. – Randolf Richardson Jul 15 '11 at 21:04
Oh wow, that's really troubling. To add more urgency to your request, note that this probably works on workstations used by human resources as well. That's stuff I don't think the company wants arbitrary employees being able to read (much less modify!) – Tim Post Jul 16 '11 at 0:16
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6 Answers
up vote 38 down vote accepted
What you're seeing is one of the Administrative Shares which is enabled on every Windows machine for all non-removable drives as \\computername\driveletter$. However, it should only be accessible to someone who is in the local Administrators group (it sounds like the Domain Administrators or Domain Users group has been added to the local Administrators group).
The sad fact of life is you can't really disable them completely without losing something else in turn (You can disable filesharing, for example, but then you can't share files...). Since they are hidden shares (as denoted by the $ at the end), you can't view them when broswing \\computername, but they will show if you type net share in a command prompt.
Disabling them shouldn't be your first course of action if Support Guy is willing to listen to a bit of reason-- Ask him to restrict the permissions that regular users have on computers over the network so that they cannot mess with each other's files, or see if he will move user profiles and documents to a server fileshare (the better, but much more involved solution).
If he can't or won't fix this, you can disable them temporarily by typing net share c$ /delete, but Windows will recreate them every time the computer is rebooted. You might be able to stick these commands into a batch file that's run on startup.
If you really wish to secure your computer, there's also hidden shares called admin$ and IPC$ which could both reveal lots of information about your computer and it's files to someone on the network which you can disable.
As pointed out in other answers, there may be programs that depend upon these shares being available, and this might get Support Guy's attention if he's trying to use one of the administrative shares to help maintain your system and can't access it.
It seems you can disable the root partition shares (c$, d$, etc.) with the following registry key (create it if it doesn't exist):
Key: SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanManServer\Parameters
Name: AutoShareWks
Data Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 0
This will not disable the IPC$ share, however.
share|improve this answer
+1 - I was going to add the info in your edit, but you beat me to it. ;) – techie007 Jul 15 '11 at 21:01
Deleting administrative shares is never a good starting option. There are reasons they exist and a properly secured environment suffers no security problems because of them. It is the account privileges that must be addressed first and foremost. – music2myear Jul 15 '11 at 21:22
@music2myear He said he didn't have control over network or domain policy, so I assumed that account privileges were not on the table of options. Besides, if he fixes this locally (say, by removing Domain Administrators from the local Administrators group), then that would have the same effect as disabling the shares (said effect being access to the shares from the network for the purpose of installing software or the like. – Darth Android Jul 15 '11 at 21:26
This is more of an policy issue than a design issue. For example, this isn't possible where I am. But if you don't a lot of experience in Active Directory, I can see how they set it up to where anyone can do this. . . – surfasb Jul 15 '11 at 21:48
Most users don't (or shouldn't) have control over network or domain policy. However, a question or query or two placed with the appropriate management or IT personnel can help begin an appropriate and probably necessary review of IT security policy. – music2myear Jul 15 '11 at 22:11
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Your user account is probably set as Administrator on all the PCs on the network. There can be various reasons for this, most of them not the best.
Every computer on a domain has each drive shared with what is called and Administrative Share. This share is always the drive letter followed by $. As you saw it: C$. This is always available to all users whose accounts are administrators on that computer.There are good reasons for it. Most patching programs use this, as do many security programs. Also, SupportGuys like me use it for getting files to and from the computers for repair, diagnosis, troubleshooting, and user assistance, just to name a few.
You generally do not want to delete an adminstrative share unless you are sure there are no necessary programs on your network that require it. For instance: SupportGuy may need to use this share to deploy critical updates to your computer.
The problem occurs when all regular user accounts on the network as administrators. This is the problem and this is what ought to be addressed in your office. You should be users or power users, depending on the necessary permissions. With special cases given for people who actually need administrator rights.
UPDATE Addressing other answers: I would highly recommend against disabling the administrative share unless you really know there are no systems requiring it. The first course of action should be finding out why your account has domain administrator permissions and if that is really necessary. Doing this will fix security problems in the whole network, not just one little symptom problem you've discovered here. If there is no legitimate reason for you to have domain administrator rights and the SupportGuy is unwilling to remove said rights should you consider actually removing the administrative share.
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Re administrator rights: This only occurs when the user is a Domain Admin, or a local Administrator on the target PC. It does not happen when the user is a local Admin on his own PC but nobody else's. – grawity Jul 15 '11 at 20:52
He may not be an admin on the network as a whole. Often when setting up a computer, some admins will add the Domain User's group to the local admin group so anyone, who sites down, can install things, etc. If you do this on every computer, you have the effect of being an admin everywhere, but the servers. – KCotreau Jul 15 '11 at 20:56
Which is why I used the less technical verbage "Your user account is probably set as Administrator on the network". It could have been more explicitly worded, but for a person of this ability and know-how, I felt this appropriate. – music2myear Jul 15 '11 at 20:56
This is situation sounds way scarier than I thought it was. I don't really want to stir the pot but I'm going to bring this up to The Support Guy or the network admin on Monday. I can't really let it slide. – Josh Johnson Jul 16 '11 at 1:24
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The C$ is the administrative share. You probably should not disable it, as it may break things.
The real security issue here is that it sounds like they made everyone administrators on every machine (maybe through domain users being added to the local administrators group).
In some ways that should not be an issue since, personally, I don't believe anything should be stored locally in the first place, and that "My Documents" should be redirected to your personal mapped drive on the server, which they would not have access to unless there were an even greater security lapse.
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+1 for mapped My Documents. I'm considering doing that at my office as a security enhancement. Already running it on my computer and it works like a charm. – music2myear Jul 15 '11 at 21:02
Excellent points (+1). I find that having a user be Administrator on their local machine does avoid a lot of problems with software not functioning or installing (or updating) correctly -- it's usually much more of a hassle to not grant Administrator rights, but to grant to all machines on the network seems unnecessary. – Randolf Richardson Jul 15 '11 at 21:06
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As everyone has said driveletter$ is a fact of windows life.
But why are you an administrator on you co-workers desktop? And.. I would confirm is he an administrator on your desktop? THIS is the real issue here.
Even if you were to remove the admin share.. there is nothing preventing people from logging onto your desktop and accessing your files because they are an administrator on your machine. The share, is just a handy way to bypass logging on.
Since you're an admin on your machine, I would take a look at the admin group, add yourself explicitly and then remove the domain users group that is probably there.
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This is the bigger danger. I guess it wasn't obvious, but people who are recommending to disable admin shares are missing the big picture. Who else has admin right? Considering your role in the company isn't unique, this would scare me more. If yourself has network wide admin rights, who else?????? – surfasb Jul 16 '11 at 6:21
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Right click on "Computer" (Start Menu)
Select "Manage"
Expand "Shared Folders"
click "Shares"
in the right pane you will see all the shares on that PC, any with $ are hidden shares, you can right click on C$ and select "stop sharing"
As suggest by Darth, the share will be recreated upon reboot.
You can disable it in the registry but I don't think your company would appreciate this.
You can also disable file sharing in the Windows Firewall, but this will kill all file shares.
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And it will give you the warning "This share was created for administrative purposes only. The share will reappear when the Server service is stopped and restarted or the computer is restarted. Are you sure you wish to stop sharing C$?" – techie007 Jul 15 '11 at 20:50
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The Wikipedia page on administrative shares should answer your questions. Basically in order to access those shares your account is either directly or indirectly (most likely) part of the local administrative group on all of the computers.
One way to view the groups you are in is by running via the command line: gpresult /R. Personally your IT department sounds inept if all users have local admin access to all computers. With that said I feel like you still shouldn't tweak things but this is what I would do:
• Open computer management (right-click Computer, manage)
• On the left select: System Tools\Local Users and Groups\Groups
• Double click the Administrators group.
Everyone who is a member or a member of a group in the Administrators group will have access to your administrative shares. The first thing I would do is add your account directly if its not already there as a fail-safe if you start having too much fun... Now you can go about breaking things by removing users/groups you don't want to have access.
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| http://superuser.com/questions/311061/security-concern-with-my-windows-7-box-at-work | dclm-gs1-222120000 |
0.280761 | <urn:uuid:9499cd73-9733-4d25-ab79-1d04781de19e> | en | 0.936862 | Perma Shave
(permanent link) added: 2010-09-29 19:56:36 sponsor: Earnest (last reply: 2010-10-02 10:21:26)
Add Tag:
Do We Have This? I can't seem to find it if we do.
Clean shaven counterpart to Perma Stubble. The heroes might be stuck in the wilderness with no supplies for days, spend weeks working tirelessly to create/research/outrun a deadly enemy, but they always have a baby-smooth face.
While it doesn't take much time to shave, it does require some base equipment (mirror, razor, cream/soap, hot water, or an electric razor) heroes who are normally seen clean shaven rarely need to have it to stay smooth.
This can be Played for Laughs by implying the character just doesn't grow facial hair at all. While everyone else has a Beard of Sorrow-type growth from the circumstances, they're as smooth as a smarmy preteen or smug elf.
Of course it's just as commonly justified as the character being both Crazy-Prepared and so dedicated to grooming/discipline they always shave (often before everyone else woke up).
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Whom does Hagen say the party must be wary of, after he tells his warriors what he knows? (from Adventure 26, How Dankwart Slew Gelfrat)
Who announces in front of the company at the Margrave's home that he would wish to have the Margrave's daughter as a wife? (from Adventure 27, Rudeger's Hospitality)
Who counsels Kriemhild to speak to Gunther? (from Adventure 19, How the Treasure of the Nibelungers Was Brought to Worms)
Who enters the hall with Dietrich? (from Adventure 39, How Gunther and Hagen and Kriemhild Were Slain)
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0.173932 | <urn:uuid:2cd4b883-6fa3-4962-a315-08d78ba3b575> | en | 0.926435 | blood group
blood group, Human red blood cells (4,000× magnification).Micro Discovery/Corbisclassification of blood based on inherited differences (polymorphisms) in antigens on the surfaces of the red blood cells (erythrocytes). Inherited differences of white blood cells (leukocytes), platelets (thrombocytes), and plasma proteins also constitute blood groups, but they are not included in this discussion.
Historical background
Major human blood group systems
system date of
ABO 1901 A1, A2, B, H
MNSs 1927 M, N, S, s
P 1927 P1, P2
Rh 1940 D, C, c, E, e
Lutheran 1945 Lua, Lub
Kell 1946 K, k
Lewis 1946 Lea, Leb
Duffy 1950 Fya, Fyb
Kidd 1951 Jka, Jkb
Diego 1955 Dia, Dib
Yt 1956 Yta, Ytb
I 1956 I, i
Xg 1962 Xga
Dombrock 1965 Doa
The importance of antigens and antibodies
Chemistry of the blood group substances
Methods of blood grouping
Identification of blood groups
Coombs test
When an incomplete antibody reacts with the red cells in saline solution, the antigenic sites become coated with antibody globulin (gamma globulin), and no visible agglutination reaction takes place. The presence of gamma globulin on cells can be detected by the Coombs test, named for its inventor, English immunologist Robert Coombs. Coombs serum (also called antihuman globulin) is made by immunizing rabbits with human gamma globulin. The rabbits respond by making antihuman globulin (i.e., antibodies against human gamma globulin and complement) that is then purified before use. The antihuman globulin usually contains antibodies against IgG and complement. Coombs serum is added to the washed cells; the tube is centrifuged; and, if the cells are coated by gamma globulin or complement, agglutinates will form. Newer antiglobulin reagents (made by immunizing with purified protein) can detect either globulin or complement. Depending on how it is performed, the Coombs test can detect incomplete antibody in the serum or antibody bound to the red cell membrane. In certain diseases, anemia may be caused by the coating of red cells with gamma globulin. This can happen when a mother has made antibodies against the red cells of her newborn child or if a person makes an autoantibody against his own red cells.
Adsorption, elution, and titration
If a serum contains a mixture of antibodies, it is possible to prepare pure samples of each by a technique called adsorption. In this technique an unwanted antibody is removed by mixing it with red cells carrying the appropriate antigen. The antigen interacts with the antibody and binds it to the cell surface. These red cells are washed thoroughly and spun down tightly by centrifugation, all the fluid above the cells is removed, and the cells are then said to be packed. The cells are packed to avoid dilution of the antibody being prepared. Adsorption, then, is a method of separating mixtures of antibodies by removing some and leaving others. It is used to identify antibody mixtures and to purify reagents. The purification of the Coombs serum (see above) is done in the same way.
If red cells have adsorbed gamma globulin onto their surfaces, the antibody can sometimes be recovered by a process known as elution. One simple way of eluting (dissociating) antibody from washed red cells is to heat them at 56 °C (133 °F) in a small volume of saline solution. Other methods include use of acid or ether. This technique is sometimes useful in the identification of antibodies.
Titration is used to determine the strength of an antibody. Doubling dilutions of the antibody are made in a suitable medium in a series of tubes. Cells carrying the appropriate antigen are added, and the agglutination reactions are read and scored for the degree of positivity. The actual concentration of the antibody is given by the dilution at which some degree of agglutination, however weak, can still be seen. This would not be a safe dilution to use for blood-grouping purposes. If an antiserum can be diluted, the dilution chosen must be such that strong positive reactions occur with selected positive control cells. Titration is helpful when preparing reagents and comparing antibody concentrations at different time intervals.
Inhibition tests
Inhibition tests are used to detect the presence of antigen with blood group specificity in solutions; inhibition of a known antibody-antigen reaction by a fluid indicates a particular blood group specificity. If an active substance is added to antibody, neutralization of the antibody’s activity prevents agglutination when red cells carrying the appropriate antigen are subsequently added to the mixture. A, B, Lewis, Chido, Rogers, and P antigens are readily available and can be used to facilitate antibody identification. This technique was used to elucidate the biochemistry of ABH, Ii, and Lewis systems, and it is important in forensic medicine as a means of identifying antigens in blood stains.
Laboratory tests in which hemolysis (destruction) of the red cells is the end point are not used frequently in blood grouping. For hemolysis to take place, a particular component of fresh serum called complement must be present. Complement must be added to the mixture of antibody and red cells. It may sometimes be desirable to look for hemolysins that destroy group A red cells in mothers whose group A children are incompatible or in individuals, not belonging to groups A or AB, who have been immunized with tetanus toxoid that contains substances with group A specificity.
Hemolytic reactions may occur in patients who have been given transfusions of blood that either is incompatible or has already hemolyzed. The sera of such patients require special investigations to detect the presence of hemoglobin that has escaped from red cells destroyed within the body and for the breakdown products of other red cell constituents.
Sources of antibodies and antigens
Normal donors are used as the source of supply of naturally occurring antibodies, such as those of the ABO, P, and Lewis systems. These antibodies work best at temperatures below that of the body (37 °C, or 98.6 °F); in the case of what are known as cold agglutinins, such as anti-P1, the antibody is most active at 4 °C (39 °F). Most antibodies used in blood grouping must be searched for in immunized donors.
Antibodies for MN typing are usually raised in rabbits—similarly for the Coombs serum. Antibodies prepared in this way have to be absorbed free of unwanted components and carefully standardized before use. Additional substances with specific blood group activity have been found in certain plants. Plant agglutinins are called lectins. Some useful reagents extracted from seeds are anti-H from Ulex europaeus (common gorse); anti-A1, from another member of the pulse family Fabaceae (Leguminosae), Dolichos biflorus; and anti-N from the South American plant Vicia graminea. Agglutinins have also been found in animals—for example, the fluid pressed from the land snail Octala lactea. Additional plant lectins and agglutinins from animal fluids have been isolated.
Monoclonal antibodies (structurally identical antibodies produced by hybridomas) to blood groups are replacing some of the human blood grouping reagents. Mouse hybridomas (hybrid cells of a myeloma tumour cell and lymphocyte merging) produce anti-A and anti-B monoclonal antibodies. The antibodies are made by immunizing with either red cells or synthetic carbohydrates. In addition to their use in blood grouping, these monoclonal antibodies can be of use in defining the hereditary background (heterogenicity) and structure of the red cell antigen.
Uses of blood grouping
The blood donated by healthy persons is tested to ensure that the level of hemoglobin is satisfactory and that there is no risk of transmitting certain diseases, such as AIDS or hepatitis. It is then fractionated (split) into its component parts, particularly red cells, plasma, and platelets. Correct matching for the ABO system is vital.
The ABO and Rh groups in transfusion
system recipient type donor red cell type donor plasma type
ABO A A* or O A or AB
ABO B B or O B or AB
ABO O O only O, A, B, or AB
ABO AB AB*, A*, B, or O AB
Rh positive positive or negative positive or negative
Rh negative negative or positive**, *** negative or positive**
*Not if the patient’s serum contains anti-A1 (antibody to common type A red cell in subgroup A patients).
**Not if the patient is a female less than 45 years old (childbearing possible), unless life-threatening hemorrhage is present and transfusion of Rh-positive blood is lifesaving.
***Not if the patient’s serum contains anti-D (antibody to positive red cells), except under unusual medical circumstances.
As explained above, the most important blood group systems for transfusion of red cells are ABO and Rh. Persons who have either of the red cell antigens (A and B) have antibody present in their serum of the type that will oppose an antigen of its opposite nature; for example, group A blood contains A antigens on red cell surfaces and anti-B antibodies in the surrounding serum. On the other hand, O group individuals lack both the A and the B antigen and thus have both anti-A and anti-B in their serum. If these antibodies combine with the appropriate antigen, the result is hemolytic transfusion reaction and possibly death. Red cell transfusions must therefore be ABO compatible. The blood groups A and B have various subgroups (e.g., A1, A2, A3, and B1, B2, and B3). The only common subgroups that are likely to affect red cell transfusions are the subgroups of A.
Potential donors are also tested for some of the antigens of the Rh system, since it is essential to know whether they are Rh-positive or Rh-negative. Rh-negative indicates the absence of the D antigen. Rh-negative persons transfused with Rh-positive blood will make anti-D antibodies from 50 to 75 percent of the time. Antibody made in response to a foreign red cell antigen is usually not harmful but does require subsequent transfusions to be antigen-negative. Rh-positive blood should never be given to Rh-negative females before or during the childbearing age unless Rh negative blood is not available and the transfusion is lifesaving. If such a woman subsequently became pregnant with an Rh-positive fetus, she might form anti-Rh antibody, even though the pregnancy was the first, and the child might develop erythroblastosis fetalis (hemolytic disease of the newborn).
Care must be taken not to give a transfusion unless the cells of the donor have been tested against the recipient’s serum. If this compatibility test indicates the presence of antibodies in the recipient’s serum for the antigens carried by the donor’s cells, the blood is not suitable for transfusion because an unfavourable reaction might occur. The test for compatibility is called the direct match test. It involves testing the recipient’s serum with the donor’s cells and by the indirect Coombs test. These are adequate screening tests for most naturally occurring and immune antibodies.
If, in spite of all the compatibility tests, a reaction does occur after the transfusion is given (the unfavourable reaction often manifests itself in the form of a fever), an even more careful search must be made for any red cell antibody that might be the cause. A reaction after transfusion is not necessarily due to red cell antigen-antibody reactions. It could be caused by the presence of antibodies to the donor’s platelets or white cells. Transfusion reactions are a particular hazard for persons requiring multiple transfusions.
Organ transplants
The ABO antigens are widely distributed throughout the tissues of the body. Therefore, when organs such as kidneys are transplanted, most surgeons prefer to use organs that are matched to the recipient’s with respect to the ABO antigen system, although the occasional survival of a grafted ABO-incompatible kidney has occurred. The remaining red cell antigen systems are not relevant in organ transplantation.
Paternity testing
Exclusions of paternity on the ABO system
matings possible
O X O O A, B, AB
O X A O, A B, AB
O X B O, B A, AB
A X A O, A B, AB
A X B O, A, B, AB
B X B O, B A, AB
Blood groups and disease
Genetic and evolutionary significance of blood groups
Blood groups and genetic linkage
chromosome gene known
associated disease
1 Rh EL1 elliptocytosis
1 Radin Rh
1 Scianna Rh
1 Fy AMY1
4 MNSs Gc sclerotylosis
4 Gc Dombrock
6 Chido HLA
6 Rogers HLA
9 ABO AK1 nail-patella syndrome
19 Lewis C3
19 Lutheran secretor
Lutheran APOE
Lutheran PEPD
Lutheran DM myotonic dystrophy
Lutheran FHC familial hypercholesterolemia
Lutheran NF neurofibromatosis
19 H
X Xg hemophilia
Blood groups and population groups
| http://www.britannica.com/print/topic/69795 | dclm-gs1-222440000 |
0.02168 | <urn:uuid:40ece359-7de4-4ebb-aed8-1b743cb92bee> | en | 0.958227 | Commentary Magazine
Re: The Agent of Cynicism
Pete, your rather masterful depiction of the Obama administration’s tumble from Olympian heights was proven deadly right once again today. Four examples validate your analysis:
First, the hypocrisy festival continues. The president offers another howler in his remarks on the economy today: “I don’t like the idea of spending more money, nor am I interested in expanding government’s role.” (The rest of his remarks explain why no recession is going to stand in the way of his grandiose plans.) At some point you wonder why there isn’t someone in the White House saying, “Guys, they’re goin’ to laugh.” Or cry.
And if that weren’t enough of a shortcoming on the fronts of intellectual honesty and political courage, we are reminded that a key policy point on which Obama bashed John McCain during the campaign — the taxability of employer-provided health benefits – may now be part of his own healthcare plan. What’s more, we hear “some congressional Democrats say the White House has signaled that Obama would accept a tax on employer benefits as long as he didn’t have to propose it himself.” How courageous of him!
Next, travel company execs met with the president to try to get government to stop bad-mouthing the travel industry. The complaint was likely prompted by Obama’s snarky put down of Las Vegas. (Perhaps a Summit On Travel. That would be just another day of president not attending to the economic recovery.) But this is, of course, the problem: an industry’s representatives have to meet with the president to tell him to stop bashing their livelihood. It’s stunning, really, that the president has to be told not to actively impede a key sector of our economy.
Finally, another Treasury Department pick drops out. Uniformly hailed as a “grown up” and highly knowledgeable about the banking industry, Rodgin Cohen’s failure to make it through the vetting process suggests something is very, very wrong with a system that lets Tom Daschle in and keeps him out.
This is all in a single day, mind you. Pete, unfortunately your analysis is proving more accurate by the moment. | http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2009/03/12/re-the-agent-of-cynacism/ | dclm-gs1-222560000 |
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