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THE END. *sobs*
It's hard to believe this is the final chapter of Deborah's Eric & Sookie fanfic, "The Dark Queen". Forgive me, if I sound like a big, slobbering baby…but I'm very sad to see this story come to an end. Waaaaah!
We hope you've enjoyed it as much as we have! We were very excited to make it "yours" – due to the fact you could cast your votes to decide what happened next in the story! But as with all good things…it MUST come to an end. We hope you enjoy this final chapter!
Be warned…this is a LOOOOOONG chapter, but it's all…SO GOOD! It has it ALL!
Please remember…if you loved "The Dark Queen", you will love her novels as well! You can order Deborah Court's novel, "Bound To The Prince" – through Amazon.com! Plus, she has a new novella, just released – titled, "House of Pleasure" – order it here!
If you would like to catch up on all of the chapters of The Dark Queen or read the story from beginning to end – you can read them here! As well as reading the prequel to this story, "Piece of Glass"!
Here's a special note to Deborah, before you start reading!
To Deborah: Thanks so much for writing this wonderfully, exciting story and for sharing it with us! We enjoyed being able to decide what happened next in the story. It gave us some feeling of control, which is something that we lack, when it comes to True Blood. Thank you for spending most of your free time, ignoring your other stories to send this to us! We wish you all the best in the future! Don't be a stranger – stop by and visit us as often as you can! *hugs*
PS. I may take you up on your offer of posting from time to time! 😉
Now on with the conclusion of this story!
The Dark Queen
By Deborah Court
Chapter Twelve
I am already dead.
This was Sookie's only thought as she lay in the moldy darkness, eyes wide open. She had awoken a few minutes ago, feeling the moist, cold floor underneath her. Her head still throbbed from the drug they had forced down her throat.
After Eric had fallen asleep last night, she'd been wide awake, staring out of the window when she felt something reaching out to her – an unknown power that suddenly had gotten a hold of her whole being. It had felt like long, icy fingers wrapped around her heart, squeezing until she was paralyzed with fear. Her body refused to follow her own will, and she slowly rose and walked towards Eric's private elevator. Like a doll she had entered and pressed the button to the basement where a black Bentley was already waiting for her. Two of Gervais's men had seized her as soon as she'd left the elevator, blindfolded and tied her up before throwing her into the trunk of the car.
But this wasn't the worst part. Before she had left the penthouse, she'd taken a knife from the kitchen table and stepped into the bathroom. Cutting deep into the soft flesh of her arm, Sookie had dipped her finger into her own blood and written the message that was intended for Eric. Her hand had moved on its own, forced by an unknown power.
"If you try to find her, she's dead.
If you try to enter my house, she's dead.
Meet me tomorrow night at midnight at Marie Laveau's grave."
It had felt terrible not to be in control of her own body, to be controlled like a puppet. She had tried to fight with all her might, even attempted to call on her fairy powers, but as usual, they didn't follow her bidding.
Now, as she cautiously moved her limbs, she discovered that she could use them again, but also that her wrists and ankles were bound with a rope which only seemed to get tighter the more she tried to wriggle out of it. Her whole body hurt like hell after lying motionless on the cold stone floor – how long, she didn't know, maybe for hours. There was a soft rustling in the corners that sounded like a rat, and she shivered. Maybe it was looking for food and smelled the dried blood on her arm.
"Welcome, Mademoiselle Stackhouse," a female voice said, and a candle was lit. Sookie sat up abruptly, blinking into the light that was penetrating the darkness.
"It's you," she breathed. "Mama Valerie."
"Non," the woman answered, "that's not my real name." As she stepped out of the shadows into the light, she was hardly recognizable as the voodoo priestess who owned the small shop off Rue Dumaine. Standing proud and upright, she appeared much taller and younger, and she had changed her African clothes for an elegant white evening robe. Her hair fell in thick curls over her bare shoulders, and she flashed her white teeth at Sookie when she smiled.
"Marie Laveau, at your service," she said. Gesturing to her dress, she added, "I wanted to look my best tonight. After all, my husband will return to his former glory tonight. Together, we'll rule over New Orleans again." She lit more candles, padding on bare feet through the room, which was revealed to be a large underground chamber. There was some kind of ritual circle drawn into the middle of the crypt, enclosing a block of black basalt that seemed to serve as an altar. Stone slabs along the walls held the bones of long-deceased people. Sookie wondered if she would be among them very soon.
"Eric," she mouthed, closing her eyes and reaching out to him with her mind, but he seemed to be too far away. She didn't feel him close, but she was sure that he was still alive, at least.
"Oh, he will be with us in a while, ma chére," Marie said. "You invited him yourself, remember?"
"So this is your grave?" Sookie asked. "Shouldn't you be dead, anyway? For a hundred and thirty years, if I remember correctly."
Marie chuckled. "This was what I wanted people to believe. Certain circles had decided about my death, so at the time it was necessary to vanish. But I never ceased to watch over my city."
Sookie shook her head. "You're not a vampire." From time to time, she could hear fragments of the woman's thoughts, although she managed to keep them well-concealed.
"No. I'm still human. Let's just say that I made a deal with the dark gods. They prolonged my life until the time came for me to return."
"And their price for this honor?" Sookie asked dryly.
"Just a few human lives," Marie said. "Sacrifices for Damballah. They didn't matter in the larger context."
Sookie turned to a corner when she heard the rustling again. She gasped when she realized that it wasn't a rat as she had originally surmised. It looked like a young boy. Although he didn't utter a sound, he was tossing and turning on the ground, seemingly in agony.
"A child!" she shouted. "You evil bitch. You have taken a child!"
"He's not a child anymore," Marie answered, walking over to the boy and stroking his head. When he presently raised his head, reacting to the priestess's touch, his wild, crimson eyes glowed in the darkness. "He's my son now. Gervais turned him for me. He's still a newborn; his hunger causes him constant pain. You're lucky that I've just fed him."
"You turned a child into a vampire?" Sookie said, aghast. "But you're not. How will you …"
"As soon as my husband has reclaimed his full power, Gervais will turn us both, too. This way, we'll live together forever, as a family."
"And in return?"
"Marie will bring back what is rightfully mine," Gervais's voice came from the door. Soundlessly he had stepped into the room, carrying a large bundle of rags in his arms. Marie quickly picked up the boy and carried him outside, looking as if she wanted to protect him from Gervais. When Sookie turned to him, she saw that the bundle in his arms was the corpse of a woman, a shriveled, dark brown mummy that was clad in what looked like a bride's gown. The fabric was yellowed and torn in places, but it was still recognizable as a bride's dress, trimmed with layers of delicate, hand-bobbined lace. Wisps of once-auburn hair still crowned the body's head.
"Oh my God," Sookie whispered. "Don't tell me …"
"Yes," Gervais said, his gaze resting lovingly on his bride. "Her name is Emmeline Beauvier. She was a dancer at the opera ballet, and I loved her. She died only days before our wedding was to take place. A vampire came to her dressing room after the performance, probably to glamor and seduce her. She was the most beautiful woman this city had ever seen, and she could have had any man. But all she wanted … was me." His voice was rough with emotion, and Sookie didn't dare to breathe as he went on, more talking to himself than to her.
"He wasn't an inhabitant of this city, or he wouldn't have touched her. Every vampire in New Orleans knew that she was mine. Perhaps it hadn't even been his intention, but he killed her. She had been severely weakened by a previous illness. After the vampire left, she'd lost so much blood that she was too fragile to survive. It was over quickly, and I was out of town so I never had a chance to save her. The only thing left for me was to bury her in her wedding dress, swearing I'd find a way for us to be reunited. I spread the word that she'd died from a fever so the human authorities wouldn't ask too many questions and in the end, suspect me of killing her.
'By then, I'd learned who had done this to her, so I determined to have my revenge on him one day. When he came to do business here, I knew that it wasn't enough to kill him right then. I wanted him to suffer as much as I had suffered. So for a very long time, I was content with watching him from afar. I wanted to bereave him of what he loved most of all. Yet this task was more difficult than I had imagined. He never seemed to care about anything. Until now."
"Eric," Sookie whispered. "So this is all about him. The murders at Fangtasia …"
"Were the only thing that would intrigue him enough to bring him here. I knew how enticed he was by this human waitress I'd heard so much about, the girl with telepathic powers," he said, looking her up and down. "When he left for Sweden, I knew that drastic measurements were required to bring him back." He laughed, hugging his mistress's corpse to his chest. "By the time, my search for the right ritual had finally been successful.
'My friend, Adrienne Lavoisier, was a great help. When we first cast the spell, we thought we'd done everything right – all the right ingredients, a blood sacrifice of a human who was capable of magic …," he threw a glance at Sookie that made her shiver. "The ancient words that would call back the dead to the land of the living. But with time, we learned that there was a last ingredient needed to finish the transformation. When we first performed the ritual with Jacques's body, the spell turned out not to be strong enough. Instead of becoming a living, breathing human, he became a living dead. Something was missing."
He didn't finish the sentence, for the zombie had moved out of the shadows, entering through the door. Sookie cried out when she saw Eric following him, carrying a heavy, leather-bound book which he threw down to the floor, right at Gervais's feet.
"A last ingredient," Eric said calmly, looking at her for a moment. He checked if she was unharmed, then turned his full attention to Gervais. The younger vampire had gently placed the female corpse onto the basalt block while Jacques lay down at her side like a bridegroom. Sookie threw a glance at the gruesome couple and quickly averted her eyes. She hadn't been aware of Marie Laveau coming up behind her until the woman grabbed her bound wrists and forced her to crawl towards the ritual circle. She had no choice but to comply if she didn't want to be dragged across the floor. The priestess was astonishingly strong considering her age, and she didn't release Sookie until she sat beside the altar, her back resting against the cool black stone. A tear ran down her cheek when the Mamba began to chant, moving around and sprinkling a red powder along the boundaries of the magic circle.
"I know what it is," Eric said, throwing down the Book of Voudon at Gervais's feet. "It's all here in this text, isn't it? You just were too stupid to decipher the old script. Adrienne never told you what it was. It was some kind of insurance to her, the only thing that kept her alive while you questioned her. Well, I can read this myself. And I will provide you with your ingredient … as soon as you agree to set her free. I need even more than that. I want your blood oath that she'll live and be free to leave this city."
Gervais growled, drawing nearer. "What is it? Tell me."
Eric grinned. "If you had known, you could have proved your love to this … corpse long ago." He nodded towards the block, and Gervais hissed at the insult, baring his teeth. "All you need to do is to cut open your chest and feed her your heart as soon as she takes her first breath again."
Gervaise's eyes widened, and Eric nodded. "Oh yes. Le coeur d'un vampire."
"The heart of a vampire," Sookie whispered, for this one time cursing that she had signed up to the French program at school. "Eric, no …"
"You can't act against the blood oath, even after I have met the True Death," Eric said. "Our blood will be united. "You can't act against it, ever. Simply blackmailing me by threatening Sookie wouldn't work, you know. The sacrifice has to be given out of free will. I'll have to cut my heart out myself and offer it to your awakening woman. You'd know this if you'd been able to read the book. It will be my just punishment for killing your bride, something that was never my intention. However, you'll allow Sookie to leave. She wasn't even born when all this happened."
Sookie closed her eyes and began to cry, sending out silent pleas to Eric.
Please, beloved, don't sacrifice yourself for me. I'm dead anyway. How could I ever live without you?
But Eric had closed off his mind to her, keeping her from interfering with his plans. Desperately, she tried to break through the barrier he had erected between them. But his powers were too strong, and she was already weakened by the drugs she had been given.
"I believe we have an understanding," Gervais said, biting his wrist and holding it out to Eric, who drank from it before opening his own vein and offering it to the Creole. The vampires didn't enjoy the experience very much, judging from the shiver of disgust that ran through Eric's body.
"Now we are one," Eric said when Gervais released his arm, wiping his mouth. "Swear."
"After you have given your heart to Emmeline and she eats one half, giving the other to Jacques, Sookie will be free to leave, safe and unharmed. I swear I'll never bother her again. I'll even send her my best wishes when she finds another human to share her short life with, and bears his children. Soon she will have forgotten all about you, anyway," he said with a gentle smile, clearly enjoying the pain in his enemy's eyes before Eric could hide it.
Sookie gasped when a sharp pain pierced her forearm. Marie had protruded a ceremonial knife and cut deep into her flesh, gathering her blood in a goblet. All the while she was chanting words that hadn't been heard on this earth for centuries. She dipped her finger in Sookie's blood and smeared symbols on her brow and cheeks, smiling cheerfully. Lowering the goblet, she poured a few drops into her husband's mouth, then into the mummy's, drawing more symbols into the air above both of their bodies.
The zombie swallowed the blood greedily, groaning with delight. His body began to change as strength flowed into his body, drawn from the deepest bowels of the earth. His shriveled skin tightened and turned into a velvety chocolate brown, and his distorted limbs moved into their new position as his bones rearranged themselves. Jacques moaned with pain, but his eyes gleamed when life raced through him, and his heart beat with renewed vigor.
After a while, Gervais's bride showed signs of life as well, first only a slight jerk of a finger which made her lover cry out with joy. Eric had stepped up into the magic circle as well, ignoring Sookie as she stretched out her bound hands and grabbed his leg, sobbing, begging him to leave. For the briefest moment, he opened the bond and sent her a surge of love that made her tremble from its sheer power, but he shut it down before she could react.
With Gervais and Marie flanking him, Eric ripped open his shirt before he grabbed the dagger with both hands, looking down into Sookie's pleading eyes for one last time. A small notebook fell out of his breast pocket and landed on the floor with a thud that seemed to echo in the hollow chamber.
Then he turned the tip of the blade to his chest, drawing a thin line of blood when it broke through the skin. The zombies on the block writhed and wriggled when they smelled his powerful blood, their lips opening and closing with sickening sounds since they craved the substance that would bring them back to life. A heart that wasn't beating like their own, but old, strong and filled with a will to live that would give them the power to return.
Again and again, Sookie called his name, crying out her agony as she dragged herself nearer and wrapped herself around his legs, refusing to let go while he died. The voodoo priestess laughed at the human's foolishness, the ugly sound of her laughter mingling with Sookie's suffocated sobs.
"Gervais, I forgot to tell you something," Eric said suddenly. "Marie knew all along what the last ingredient was. I found it in her little notebook – the one I just dropped to the floor. Without a doubt she intended to keep this little detail from you until she could perform the ritual behind your back, without you. She wanted her husband to eat the whole heart to enhance his chance of living, not wanting to share. The only reason she used you was that she needed your help to lure me to New Orleans and abduct Sookie so I would give her my heart willingly. I'm old and strong, so with me she had the best chance to resurrect Jacques to full humanity."
Sookie raised her head and stared, disbelievingly, when Gervais turned to Marie, his eyes aflame with fury. "You tried … to betray me?" he hissed, barely able to contain his anger.
"He lies," Marie spat out. "He just wants to save his own worthless life. Don't listen to him."
"Tell me, Gervais, at what time did Marie tell you to come to this crypt tonight?" Eric asked.
Gervais was aghast. "Why, an hour after midnight," he said. "Exactly like in the message Marie made your human leave for you."
"The message said midnight," Eric corrected him. "But you came earlier, didn't you? In your eagerness to see her alive again, you couldn't wait to bring your bride down here."
"That's right," Gervais murmured. "But she'll make up for it, I'm sure. Marie, we'll just revive my betrothed tonight. She needs all of the strength Eric's heart can give her. Your husband can wait for another time. I quite like him the way he is right now. He's a very useful puppet, don't you think? Or should I rip his head off right away, should you refuse to finish the ritual?"
With a scream, Marie leapt at him. She was holding a short wooden stake she had hidden beneath her dress, strapped to her thigh. Gervais went down in a mass of blood, flesh and bowels, drenching Sookie who crouched at Eric's feet. She was holding on to him as she prayed that it wasn't him who was dying. It all happened too quickly for her to comprehend. In the same moment as Gervais met his true death, Eric ripped out Marie Laveau's heart and beheaded both of the zombies that were trying to rise from their bed of stone, hungrily devouring the blood that spilled down on them, the blood of their own lovers.
"I've always hated this voodoo crap," Eric remarked.
Kneeling down, he gathered his trembling human in his arms and removed the rope that held her imprisoned. Then he started to kiss her desperately, gently wiping the blood from her face. Sookie wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back as tears of joy streamed down her cheeks. "Eric, Eric," she whispered when she finally drew back and framed his face with her hands, scanning his features as if she wanted to convince herself that he was really there. He pulled her to his body and held her, savoring the feel of her in his arms. "Yes, I'm here," he said. "Did you really think I'd yield to Gervais and simply give up?"
She shook her head. "But you would have died for me, wouldn't you?"
"Yes," he said, locking his eyes with hers. "I would. I'll always be ready to give my life for you. Haven't you realized how much you mean to me? You are a part of me, my love, my life. Without you, everything is meaningless."
"A world without you wouldn't be worth anything for me, either," she whispered, placing her hand on his chest. "I would have begged Gervais to kill me if you'd given him your heart. It's mine, you know."
He laughed, that deep, warm chuckle that was so typically Eric. "So greedy tonight, my Sookie?" he said. "If so, you can have all of me once we're back in the penthouse – or rather, what's still left of it."
Sookie jumped to her feet as she remembered the boy that Marie had held captive. "Eric," she said breathlessly. "There's a child down here. Marie Laveau kidnapped him to make him her own son. I fear Gervais has already turned him into a vampire."
Eric narrowed his eyes. "I regret that I killed him already. I'd love to do it much more slowly, considering that he has turned a child. This must be Henry, Adrienne Lavoisier's son. Unfortunately his mother is dead, killed by someone Gervais hired. Usually, such young vampires don't survive very long, unless they are under the protection of a strong maker who watches them constantly."
"But Eric, who …"
He silenced her with a tender kiss. "Don't worry about it now, lover. Henry isn't a child anymore. He's a newborn vampire, and I have trustworthy friends here in New Orleans who will take care of him. Now let's find him and get the hell out of this damned place."
As Eric had promised, Henry was safe now. The boy had been unconscious when they finally found him in the catacombs, not far from Marie's crypt. Eric and Sookie brought him to a group of vampires working in Eric's hotel. They would watch over Henry, teach him to survive and to feed without killing. Sookie's heart went out to him, but she understood that as a human, she'd never been able to care for him on her own, neither could any human parents who might have wanted to raise him.
An hour later, they were back at the penthouse. Eric had activated the light-proof safety shutters and retreated with Sookie to his bedroom. The repairs of the apartment would have to wait until tomorrow. After a quick shower, Sookie was still in a slight state of shock, sitting upright in his bed. Her body was shaking, and she was suffering withdrawal symptoms of the drugs she had been given. Quickly undressing, he lay down at her side and drew her into his arms. "Sleep now, my lover," he said. "We'll return to Bon Temps tomorrow. Would you like that? Or would you prefer to fly back to Öland?"
She rested her head upon his chest. "Honestly, I don't care as long as you're with me. But I'd like to go home for a while, to my house, just to see if everything's in order and if Jason and my friends are well. Afterwards, I'm not sure what to do. Everything seems to have changed since …"
"Since we realized we love each other," Eric finished the sentence for her as he turned her onto her back with a sudden twist of his body. Then his lips began to sear a path down her neck while his hands found their way under her bathing robe, slowly opening it.
Sookie closed her eyes. "Didn't you just tell me to sleep?"
"I changed my mind," he said between kisses, turning his attention to the valley between her breasts now. "Do you feel the need to sleep, my exhausted human?"
She giggled, shifting a bit so he could reach her hardened peak with his mouth. "Not really," she admitted, forgetting the rest of her words when he closed his lips around her, suckling at her sensitive flesh. She moaned when he began to play her with his tongue, sending a path of liquid fire down her stomach, right into the core of her desire. Instinctively wrapping her legs around his muscular thighs, she raised her lower body to rub against him, showing him what she needed. She felt moisture gathering between the flushed folds of her womanhood, and she ached for him to take her.
"Eric," she whispered, pleadingly. She had to become one with him, feel him moving deep inside her body. Tonight, she'd nearly lost him once again, without being able to help him. If she was immortal like him, she wouldn't be as vulnerable and weak, constantly bringing him into danger because of her own vulnerability. Being human meant that she'd always be his weakness, an easy goal for whoever wished to harm him. Maybe she'd be ready to consider an alternative soon, if it meant to be with him forever. But she wouldn't think about this now, when all she wanted was to feel alive.
Her Viking didn't need another invitation and slipped right into her like a hand into a perfectly-fitting glove. They both moaned at the exquisite sensation of being joined at last, after all the fear they'd felt for each other. When he pressed his brow against hers for a moment, savoring the feel of being enclosed by her warm, moist body, she could listen to his thoughts again, and joy filled her heart, for he loved her more than she'd ever believed possible.
Then Eric moved deep inside her, and all thoughts were driven away by a bright flash of boundless desire that consumed her. Crying out his name, she began to rock her hips against him, meeting each and every one of his mighty thrusts with equal ferocity. There was no desire for tenderness as she clawed at his back, driving him into a wild frenzy as he loved her, took her with a primal urge to possess her, claim her as his own.
He didn't hesitate when she tilted her head to the side, offering him her neck. Smiling, her vampire extracted his fangs to their full length and bit. Sookie cried out, meeting the rhythmic strokes of his hips while he drank deeply, groaning with delight. Forcing himself to stop feasting on her blood, he pierced the smooth skin of his inner arm, offering her a taste of his own. While she grabbed his shoulder and latched on the bite marks, he drew back and came, his final thrusts so powerful that they drove her over the edge, too, and she convulsed around him, taken away by glorious waves of splendor. As she was gradually drifting down from the heavens, she languidly sucked his delicious blood, still shuddering with the small shocks of her aftermath. The weight of his strong body on hers felt exquisite, and she kept teasing him with her inner muscles as long as he stayed in her, still slowly moving. Then she drew back and cleaned his arm with small laps of her tongue until his wound had closed by itself. Chuckling, Eric rolled over to his side, taking her with her.
"If I didn't know better, I'd say you behave more like a vampire than a human, Sookie Stackhouse," he said. "Probably caused by my bad influence on you."
"Or maybe it's because you are the most human vampire I've ever met, Eric Northman," she answered before she buried her fingers in his hair and kissed him with a passion that made him love her all over again.
Right at that moment, Sookie didn't know that she was making love to the newly elected Vampire King of Louisiana, and if she had, she almost certainly wouldn't have cared. All she knew was that Eric was hers, and every other story would have to wait until much, much later.
This story is dedicated to the people of New Orleans, who are still struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina.
Dear Eric and Sookie Lovers,
Thank you for all your love and wonderful comments you left me for "The Dark Queen"! I hope you enjoyed it just as much as "Piece of Glass", and that I could help you forget your sadness caused by the outcome of Season 4 just a little bit. I would have loved this story to go on for much longer, but due to other urgent projects (I'm working on my sequel to "Bound to the Prince" right now), I have to take a break for now. However, I hope to return for guest posts – if Erika will have me *LOL* – and maybe another Eric&Sookie story some time in the future!
Very special thanks to my editor Lynette Sofras, and to Erika, who provided me with this great opportunity to write for such awesome, passionate readers. Please keep up the wonderful work with our favorite site for all of our Eric&Sookie needs and longings. Luvya, gals! *hug*
© All characters are the property of Charlaine Harris and True Blood HBO. No copyright infringement is intended. No monetary compensation is gained. Used for entertainment purposes only.
Again, Deborah, I can't thank you enough! I feel like you really understand the characters of Eric and Sookie and you've created a story that's interesting, intriguing and full of great love-making (one of my favorite things to read)! You have an amazing talent and I wish you the greatest success in your chosen career! I feel honored; you wanted to post your stories on Eric & Sookie Lovers! I feel like we've also become friends through all of this too! All the best, *hugs* and good luck! Keep in touch!
As you know, Deborah LOVES reading your comments! Please tell her what you thought of The Dark Queen, now that you know what happens from beginning to end! Share your thoughts below!


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Funding, Grants & Awards | News
The feds have opened up the fifth round of the Investing in Innovation (i3) competition for schools, districts and non-profits, this one with a focus on development grants, which can be up to $3 million each. The program is run by the United States Department of Education with the intent of developing and expanding practices that accelerate student achievement and prepare students for success in college and careers. So far 117 i3 projects have received funding.
This year's i3 competition, which has $134.8 million in funding, will feature three types of grants: development, which this latest one represents; validation; and scale-up. The other two categories will be open for applications later this spring, according to ED.
The development grant category covers applications for programs that fall into one of several areas: effective use of technology, improving academic outcomes for English Learners (ELs), improving academic outcomes for students with disabilities, improving the effectiveness of teachers or principals, improving low-performing schools and serving rural communities. The funding is used to support new concepts that are considered worthy of further study.
As in previous development grant programs, applicants will actually fill out a "pre-application" from which the Department will choose those that are "highly rated." The highly rated applicants will then be invited to apply for the competition and given additional time for that part of the process.
Last year's pre-application stage drew 576 applicants and 18 of those programs were funded. Among the recipients: A charter school system sponsored by Arizona State University received nearly $3 million to integrate technology into its classrooms. NYC Leadership Academy won a comparable amount to support a program to develop high functioning teams of school leaders to take over and transform chronically low-performing public schools in New York City.
An expectation of the program is that each grant recipient will also secure private-sector funding for at least 15 percent of their budget. The purpose of that stipulation is to encourage the grantees to put attention into figuring out how to sustain and amplify their work.
"We're excited to begin this year's i3 Development competition to support promising efforts in the field. The initiatives supported by i3 are not only designed to boost students' success, they also improve our understanding of what works for students and educators," said Nadya Dabby, acting assistant deputy secretary for innovation and improvement. "We look forward to supporting new ideas to help all students — especially our highest need students — achieve."
The pre-application forms are available at ed.gov. A webinar that explains the general expectations of the program, grants management and reporting requirements is available on the i3 site.
About the Author
Dian Schaffhauser is a senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal and Campus Technology. She can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com or on Twitter @schaffhauser.
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On the 1st July Google reader will no longer be available. I have transferred all the blogs I follow to Bloglovin' as I found it easy to use and actually more user friendly than reader. If you want to follow me with Bloglovin' there is a button in the right sidebar.
See you "on the other side"!
Robyn xo
28 Jun 2013
19 Jun 2013
Gladstone tour....
and views on the drive home.
I'm a bit behind with this but hoping you won't all want a refund!
What's a rural village without a pub? This is the Heritage Hotel (formerly Gladstone Hotel) circa 1873
How's this for a Police station! It used to be the Court House and was opened in 1885. The 2 storey residence to the right was added in 1898. The trial scene in the movie "The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith" was filmed here. Both parts of this building are National Heritage listed.
Uniting Church built in 1921. Love the design of this.
Office area of Gladstone Public School. There has been a school on this site since 1877. I love how it looks.
Another view of the Macleay River from the area in front of my car before I left to go home.
This is about the half way point on my drive home. One of the few lengthy straight stretches of road.
Ssshhhh...I stopped the car momentarily to take this as there's hardly any traffic on a Sunday afternoon. This is the long hill going into Willawarrin. Near the curve at the bottom is a bridge over Hickeys Creek.
Our section of Hickeys Creek near our farm. Doesn't have quite the same "country feel" since they recently fixed the bridge and put those stripey marker posts there :(. I've never heard of anyone actually driving into the creek in about the 70 odd years the bridge has been there.
Ten minutes after arriving home the sky put on a beautiful display. A lovely finish to a lovely day :).
Rob xo
17 Jun 2013
Gladstone Markets
Visited these markets again on Sunday and remembered to take my camera :). I know....I go nuts when I have a camera in my hand! I'm trying to keep the photos under 10 per post.
There weren't as many people there as last month and everyone was warmly dressed as the breeze off the Macleay River was chilly.
Robyn xo
There weren't as many people there as last month and everyone was warmly dressed as the breeze off the Macleay River was chilly.
I haven't bought any of these yet but the fruity/herby smells wafting on the breeze always make me feel hungry and I love the way it's set out! The lovely proprieter was a little camera shy.
I bought a mozzarella cheese this time (haven't opened it yet) and a curry buffalo pie for lunch here. This is one of the Ausbuff boys - they really know their products and they smile a lot :) . Lol, I managed to convince myself that I'd have an ice cream next time. I'd already spoiled myself with a pie and the cheese....too much of a good thing....
These terrific ladies decided to pose for me after I bought some delicious caramel waffles to take home with me (now you know why I didn't have ice cream). Next time I'm buying the lemon myrtle waffles before they sell out as the taste test was YUM!
There's someone obscured here as they wouldn't let me post their photo but I really wanted to show the stall they help run with the gorgeous hand spun and hand made items they make.
Another stall member spinning alpaca yarn. She had to keep warming her hands. She can't spin if she's wearing shoes as she needs to "feel" how things are going.
Come back tomorrow for some touristy photos. I love the area I live in!Cheers,
Robyn xo
8 Jun 2013
Afternoon walk - very photo heavy
Yesterday afternoon my two "trainers", Flash - the Border Collie and Annie - the German Shepherd, and I went for the usual afternoon walk. After admiring the changing views over the past week I remembered to take my camera with me this time. The photos are in order but some of them have been taken looking back where I'd already been as the afternoon light was brightening out the view otherwise. The lighting makes the vegetation black in some of them where it was actually a mid/dark green.
For convenience sake I've posted in medium size mode but if you particularly want a better view of any just click on the pic :D. Some of my most liked ones are saved in a bigger size.
Walking away from home.....
Hope you enjoyed an afternoon walk with me and I'll invite you on another walk in the future.
Robyn xo
For convenience sake I've posted in medium size mode but if you particularly want a better view of any just click on the pic :D. Some of my most liked ones are saved in a bigger size.
Walking away from home.....
Our paddocks are both sides of the road here.
Above is looking over one of our paddocks into the neighbour's place SW of us.
Next corner, that's the right angled corner ... still our paddocks either side.
Western neighbour's driveway in the distance, our paddocks cease there.
View of Anderson's Sugarloaf on the right from the above neighbour's driveway. When the Sugarloaf has a cloud cap on it it means it is going to rain in the next 24 hours.
A flock of straw necked ibis that flew across the paddock and alighted in one of the trees in our top paddock. They must nest there every night as they were very settled on our return home :).
I've just walked down this hill but walking back up is a unique exercise!
There's the bottom of the above hill. Dogs waiting while I fiddle with taking photos. They don't like to leave me behind :).
View across the neighbour's paddocks to the hills.
Upper side of the road (east) exhibiting some lovely pastels.
Looove cloud patterns
...the return trip...
The sky was a bluer colour than this
Another hill that I didn't think to photograph on my way out ....it's just as steep as the first one which is why the dogs are waiting again....puff....puff...puff....
More pastels but this time in the west.
5 minutes from home.
View across our paddocks, the SW neighbour's place and beyond to the Great Dividing Range. Makes you feel like you live on top of the world!
Hope you enjoyed an afternoon walk with me and I'll invite you on another walk in the future.
Robyn xo
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Nearly 3,000 students are enrolled at one of the four major UTHSC campuses – Memphis (main campus), Knoxville, Chattanooga or Nashville.
- Main UTHSC campus located in the Memphis medical center
- Six colleges (Dentistry, Graduate Health Sciences, Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy)
- 800 residents and fellows
- Undergoing $300 million campus renovation
- Four core partner teaching hospitals
- Methodist UT Hospital - including the top 10 nationally ranked Methodist UT Hospital Transplant Institute as well as the Brain and Spine Institute and is home to our primary cancer and cardiovascular facilities
- Regional One Health - houses our nationally ranked Elvis Presley Trauma Center as well as the Firefighters Burn Center and the Rout Center for Women and Newborns
- Le Bonheur Children's Hospital - ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of the best in the nation with seven nationally ranked programs.
- Memphis VA Medical Center
- UTHSC faculty practice groups – UT Methodist Physicians, UT Regional One Physicians, UT Le Bonheur Pediatric Specialists, UT West Cancer Center and the UT Medical Group – serve as the core physicians for all of these teaching hospitals.
- Based at Erlanger Health System
- College of Medicine has175 - 200 medical students doing clinical rotations
- Sponsors 10 residency programs and nine fellowships (186 active residents and fellows) in the GME program
- Features the state-of-art Skills and Simulation Lab that supports training in basic surgical and technical skills for medical students and residents, and practicing physicians
- Based at the Knoxville UT Medical Center
- Includes four of our colleges
- Medicine (More than 100 medical students engage in core training rotations and more than 200 residents and fellows train at the UT Medical Center
- Pharmacy (now enrolls 40-50 students annually in years 2-4 of Pharmacy training)
- Health Professions (Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology (ASP) which provides clinical care services to the community for more than six decades)
- Dentistry ( working with the College of Medicine to open a core dental training site to add to the residency programs in general dentistry and oral and maxillofacial surgery)
- Core teaching hospital partnership with Saint Thomas Health (Ascension Health Care System)
- Medical residents training in internal medicine, with future expansion to have 100-150 medical/surgical residents training in Nashville and Murfreesboro
- Medicine programs include obstetrics and gynecology, general surgery, family medicine, and emergency medicine
- Nursing has new rotation sites for BSN students and new clinical rotation sites for Doctor of Nursing Practice candidates
- Pharmacy converted its existing Nashville Clinical Education Center into a major academic site (allowing up to 40 student pharmacists who have finished their first year in Memphis the option to complete their program's curriculum in Nashville)
- Preliminary discussions are also under way to establish a Nashville presence for the College of Dentistry


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Like her Glee co-star Lea Michele, Naya Rivera always looks fantastically fit on her hit musical comedy. Naya Rivera plays Santana, the manipulative and promiscuous Cheerio and glee club member. Although her character is a bit mean-spirited, the real-life star claims she is more like the Gleeks.
She recently told Fitness magazine, "In high school I was most like Artie and Rachel. I knew what I wanted, like Rachel, although I wasn't as obnoxious. But like Artie, I was a nerd, always trying to fit in and get my hair to lie flat."
Also like her Glee co-stars, Naya Rivera gets in a workout during her Glee rehearsals. The cast works 14 to 16 hour days, which includes mastering high-energy dance routines. Check out what else the Glee star told Fitness magazine about her workout and diet!
Playing a Cheerio on Glee requires a LOT of time in a cheerleading uniform. In order to look and feel great in her costume, Naya Rivera focuses on toning her legs. She says, "Legs and butt get the most attention in the Cheerios uniform, so those are my target areas. Lots of squats!"
Like many women, Naya Rivera also desires a flat stomach. This requires a commitment to ab work. But she says she could live without crunches. "I hate crunches. I do planks — traditional and side planks — instead for my abs." Planks are a great way to tone your core and arms! Sounds like a great compromise to me.
As far as diet is concerned, Naya Rivera did not have much to say. It is unclear whether she is a vegan like her Glee co-stars Diana Agron and Lea Michele, but she did list some vegan snacks as her favorite diet staples while on the road. The actress says, "When we did the Glee Live tour, I had to have hummus and guacamole on hand for healthy snacks." Guacamole is perfect for healthy fat and hummus provides a punch of protein from the garbanzo beans. Combined with veggies instead of chips, and you have a healthy bite!


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Just FYI:
The live demo for MXMLiszt is no more.
I decided to save money and stop paying monthly rates for a VPS on KickAssVPS.com that was originally purchased because I needed to have a live demo for my research while in graduate school. I've been out of school for a while and now it's time to move on.--------------


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Leveraging Value from IT Asset Management – Insights from Gartner ITAM Summit
I recently attended Gartner's IT Financial, Procurement & Asset Management summit in Orlando, FL (www.gartner.com/us/itam ). In line with Gartner image and spirit of shaping up and defining what's hot and what's not in the IT world, the summit was organized to present the current state and trends in IT Fin, Procurement and Asset Management world and would have certainly appealed to IT benchmark and best practice seekers.
Sessions were organized by tracks and during each timeslot, each track had a session going on a specific topic. I think this was done primarily to maximize the participation, which I believe was a good strategy as most of the sessions I attended were full house. I primarily attended ITAM sessions, though would have loved to attend the procurement ones as well (my portfolio included procurement services).
One of the key sessions I attended included session on IT Asset Management: Trends, Tools and Best Practices by Patricia Adams. The key focus was on setting the processes right before implementing a tool, especially putting a clear software licensing policy in place to ensure compliance and mitigate compliance related risks. She outlined 5 different stages of maturity in this area (similar to CMM) and shared that it is not easy for organizations to move up the curve and it often takes 18-20 months to move from one stage to the next. There was also emphasis on centralizing the IT asset inventory data and determine clearly which tool meets the inventory and compliance needs most (agent based vs. agent less).
The next key session on ITAM was presented by Frances O'Brien – Gartner Research VP – focused on perspectives to select and apply ITAM standards and framework. The key takeaway was that there is no "single standard fitting all the requirements" and the choice really depends upon what is required by the supporting business case. The session succinctly covered the existing standards, criteria to determine what's applicable for an organization and how one should go about selecting and applying standards. The session factually outlined strengths and weaknesses of the key standards such as ITIL, COBIT, ISO-19770-1,4,6 and 7 and how / where these standards are helpful on key ITAM organizational criteria such as governance, risk, effectiveness and cost optimization. Finally, great emphasis was laid on building the business case right with clearly articulating the ROI in terms of benefits and costs, linking the business drivers to standards and outlining implications of key implementation scenarios (best case, worst case, most likely and "do nothing"). One of the suggested approaches which I could relate to very well based on my own experience was building the ITAM business case along with other key projects linked to business drivers where ITAM can accelerate the benefits, thereby improving the ROI of other projects.
Jack Heine (Research VP, Gartner) talked about the convergence of ITAM, EAM and IWMS highlighted the trends in IT and non-IT computerized assets and how these are driving the convergence of support functions in ITAM and EAM and the fact that this convergence is real and represents significant cost reduction / saving potential for the organizations as investment in facilities today is second largest corporate expenditure (after labor costs). Jack's session also outlined some of the key organizational issues faced regarding this convergence – e.g. impact on software licensing cost (charge / connection), expansion of IT architectural standards, O/S and server migration plans, re-definition of IT backup and recovery. The session also presented perspectives on how this convergence can potentially drive convergence on the tool vendors as the need for consolidated asset view is becoming stronger.
From my perspective, the summit greatly helped in validating some of the key trends and perspectives we are observing through our own client base. Infosys' EAM practice has clearly recognized the convergence and synergies of ITAM and EAM and we strongly emphasize to look at the asset management as a holistic discipline to drive compelling business advantage – not just cost reduction, but also leverage the assets to improve organizational responsiveness.
Overall, this was an exciting event and I look forward to attending the future one as well.
Would love to hear from you, if you attended this one.


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Created by Cait Meyer, Katheryn Sweetman, and Nikki Gonzalez
In Herodotus' histories, the Spartan King, Leonidas is said to be a descendant of the god, Heracles. Whether this is true or not, there is no denying that Leonidas is one of the most renowned figures of the Greek world. Leonidas was brought to mainstream popularity with the highly glamorized Zack Snyder film 300, but did the film do the Spartan King justice? The film does not accurately represent Leonidas as a leader and what he contributed to the benefit of the Greek city-states during the Persian War. From his upbringing as a young Spartan soldier, to his martyrdom at the Battle of Thermopylae, Leonidas is the Spartan mirage personified. This Spartan mirage would come in handy for the Greeks in order to triumph over Xerxes' Persian army. By reviewing his life, from his training within the agoge, to becoming king, his accomplishments, and his sacrifice at the Battle of Thermopylae, we will be able to comprehend what makes Leonidas such an iconic figure in Greek history.
The Spartan education system was different from that of Athens. They placed heavy emphasis on physical education for their young males. At the age of 7, if as infants were deemed fit, Spartan boys were expected leave their homes and undergo years of a harsh military regimine. Because Spartans believed their agoge system to be a means of making powerful warriors, these boys were taught how to survive in the wilderness, steal, and fight. The right of passage into manhood would be for one of these soldiers in training to murder a Helot. Spartans held top physical strength above anything else, and encouraged flogging and humiliation as means to motivate the boys to strengthen themselves, emotionally and physically.
(Spartan agoge system)
Leonidas was the son of King Anaxandridas II, and had two elder brother, Cleomenes and Dorieus. Because of the importance of proving oneself as a true Spartan male, Leonidas had a lot on his shoulders proving his worth to the men in his family. Because he was the youngest of three males, Leonidas had to undergo the rigorous training within the agoge system due to the fact that he was not a direct heir to the throne. Leonidas' father and brothers would eventually die, propelling him to the throne, making him one of the first Spartan Kings to train within the agoge.
Leonidas and the Spartans propelled themselves into myth with their actions at the battle of Thermopylae, where they fought for three days' despite being vastly outnumbered by the Persians. When Xerxes offered to let the Greeks surrender and lay down their arms, Leonidas' responded with 'come and get them'. The battle was going great with the Spartans using their disorganized retreat tactic before attacking the Persians in phalanx formation, the battle may have even swung in favor of the Greeks, if Ephialtes hadn't communicated to the Persians, the phalanx's weakness, the southern flank. Leonidas knew that by attacking the southern flank, the Persians could avoid a majority of the Greek forces, so he stationed Phokian troops at the flank to protect it. Unfortunately for Leonidas, the Phokian troops abandoned their post after realizing they were the main target of the renewed Persian assault, allowing the Persians to utilize a mountain path and position themselves behind the majority of the Greek forces. Shortly before their only means of retreat was amputated completely, Leonidas ordered the majority of the Greek forces to retreat while he stayed behind. Leonidas rallied the remaining members of the Spartan 300, 400 Thebans and 700 Thespians in an attempt to slow the Persians and let the remaining Greeks retreat. Leonidas repositioned his troops to the widest part of the pass to allow for all of his troops to be in use at once, and in the fighting that followed, Leonidas was killed. After their king fell, the Spartans fought with renewed vigor to recover their slain king. Much of the events that followed his death are disputed but one thing we do know according to Herodotus is that the Oracle at Delphi was right in her prediction, "either Spartan or one of her king would fall".
Leonidas is known as an important character in Spartan history due to his actions at the Battle of Thermopylae. Part of the Spartan Practices included the king of Sparta being the first to arrive at the battlefield and the last to leave. Leonidas during a council of the leaders of several great states before the battle decided that he and his warriors would stay and fight so that the other Greek forces could retreat to Corinth, and so that the Pass at Thermopylae could be protected from the Persian army. He planned to position his army at the center of the terrain and built up the Phocian wall so that the Persian army would have to break up their formation to reach the Greeks. He also received help from the Thespians since they were familiar with the terrain and brought the warrior count to about 1000 men. Leonidas's plan worked so well that it took the Persians five days to finally attack, and the Greeks advantage could have been successful had they not been betrayed by Ephialtes who guided the Persians to the rear of Leonidas's army. Scout runners soon informed Leonidas that they were to be surrounded by the Persians, but instead of retreating he decided that the Spartans should so the honorable thing of staying. The Spartans classic battle lineup consisted of a heavily protected and close front, so the unexpected attack gave the Persians a great advantage.
"Leonidas I." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 09 December 2015. <http://biography.yourdictionary.com/leonidas-i>.
Elysiumgates.com,. 'Sparta Reconsidered – Education System Of Sparta – Spartan Agoge'. N.p., 2015. Web. 8 Dec. 2015.
Schrader, Helena. Leonidas Of Sparta. Tucson, Ariz.: Wheatmark, 2012. Print.


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U.S. Air Force selects Raytheon to develop new tactical radar
Raytheon's Integrated Defense Systems of Woburn, Massachusetts, has been awarded a $52,686,179 fixed-price-incentive-firm engineering and manufacturing development contract for the Three-Dimensional Expeditionary Long-Range Radar System, or 3DELRR.
The contractor will provide engineering and manufacturing development of three 3DELRR production representative units. Work will be performed at Andover, Massachusetts, and is expected to be complete by Nov. 30, 2020.
This award is the result of a competitive acquisition with two offers received. Fiscal 2017 research, development, test, and evaluation funds in the amount of $5,500,000 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity (FA8730-17-C-0018).


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The Fifth Meeting of Carpathian Convention Working Group for Sustainable Tourism held in Bratislava (12-14 of May 2014) was another successful big step for harmonizing the efforts of the seven Carpathians countries, in order to coordinate the responsible use, protection and promotion of the Carpathians as an attractive tourism destination.
Even the venue of the event didn't allow the organization of an exhibition, GreenArts marked its presence at this meeting, sharing to the participants inspirational post cards with Carpathian landscapes. These post cards are quality prints of original pressed flower art works made with oshibana technique using natural pressed leaves and flowers and they reflect the beauty of the Carpathians.
Carpathians range contains both natural and cultural landscapes and GreenArts, as a new cultural movement which started in Romania, considers them together when promoting the Carpathians region through original art works.
The GreenArts pictures are real landscapes from Romanian Carpathians, translated in pressed flower art and enriched with an original artistic view by green artists during their travels and outdoor creative workshops.
You can see more pressed flower art creations on www,oshibana.ro.


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June 16, 2017 at 3pm to September 22, 2017 at 7pm – South Street Seaport Museum The South Street Seaport Museum announces its summer program of Free Fridays! Every other Friday between 3-7pm, the Seaport Museum offers free admission to its exhibitions, historic ship tours, educa… Organized by Michelle Tabnick PR | Type: museum, events
June 22, 2017 at 11am to January 7, 2018 at 7pm – South Street Seaport Museum The South Street Seaport Museum announces its newest exhibition, Millions: Migrants and Millionaires aboard the Great Liners, 1900-1914 beginning on June 23, 2017, open Wednesday-Sunday 11am-7pm, at… Organized by Michelle Tabnick PR | Type: museum, opening, new, exhibit
June 22, 2017 at 6pm to August 12, 2017 at 7pm – Poets House Poets House celebrates a quarter-century of history-making with its annual Poets House Showcase. The only event of its kind, the Showcase is a free exhibit featuring over 3,500 books of poetry publis… Organized by a4 - Network Admin | Type: literary
June 30, 2017 at 6pm to September 24, 2017 at 7pm – Queens Botanical Garden Sitting with the Garden is a collection of site-specific watercolor paintings by Che Min Hsiao, a Taiwanese painter based in Queens. Viewers will experience the beauty of the Queens Botanical Garden… Organized by a4 - Network Admin | Type: visual
July 13, 2017 to December 31, 2017 – Online 25 years of service to the theater. Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) Announces 25th Anniversary Fundraising Campaign: $25 for 25 In celebration of their 25th Anniversary, Theater Resources Unlimite… Organized by Michelle Tabnick PR | Type: theater, fundraiser
July 14, 2017 at 6pm to August 12, 2017 at 7pm – The Met Breuer MetLiveArts in collaboration with media and culture writer Kali Holloway presents an eight-week summer series of edgy, timely, and pointedly political performances and films on the Fifth Floor of The… Organized by a4 - Network Admin | Type: performance, theater, visual
August 4, 2017 at 6pm to September 1, 2017 at 6pm – NARS Foundation, 201 46th Street, 4th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11220 Bearings: NARS Studio Artist Exhibition On view August 4 - September 1, 2017 Opening Reception, August 4 6-8pm The New York Art Residency & Studios (NARS) Foundation is pleased to announce Bear… Organized by NARS Foundation | Type: painting, sculpture
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Scarborough's George Rhodes Jnr was forced to dig deep to take a draw against the dangerous Steven Backhouse at Barnsley Metrodome tonight.
Rhodes, fighting as a pro for the fifth time, came up against a game opponent in Backhouse, who came out of the blocks sharper and was immediately hunting a second stoppage win in the space of a month.
The Scarborough man had to withstand two heavy left hook's to flush on the chin and an overhand right as the Manchester man started the more aggressive and sharper of the two.
The opening exchanges of the second round followed the pattern of the first round, with Backhouse landing the heavier, more eye-catching shots, but Rhodes the sharper to the jab.
Rhodes started to dictate the tempo slightly more off his crisp, accurate jab, but yet again was caught on numerous occasions by Backhouse's big shots over the top of the Scarborough welterweight's leaky defence.
The third round was Rhodes' as he was the slicker of the two, ramming home his jab and now starting to follow that work up with combinations to head and body, effectively shifting his jab downstairs to keep his man at bay.
Rhodes' defence was again his undoing at the end of the round as Backhouse fired over another big counter left-hook to potentially catch the eye of the referee Howard Foster.
Backhouse, clearly tiring by the fourth round, slowed and Rhodes engaged a little more, firing home the occasional overhand right of his own.
Both were trading big shots to try and steal the decision, and with Rhodes more than likely taking the fourth and final round, Foster raised both hands and declared a 38-38 draw.
DON'T MISS: Thursday's Scarborough News for full report and reaction, plus pictures by Andy Standing


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Entertainment! Popular music continued to change, trend after musical pattern got here and went but Disney was capable of climate the changes due to the solidity and timelessness of its youngsters's product and its potential to capitalize on musical traits "Disney-style." The most effective instance of this got here in 1979, with the discharge of the smash-hit report "Mickey Mouse Disco," which capitalized on the disco and dance craze.
Features stories on Entertainment, Individuals, Type, Tradition, Food, Health, Family, Dwelling and Journey. For the reason that first time Mickey Mouse whistled on the large screen in "Steamboat Willie" to the bigger than life musical rating of "Dinosaur," Walt Disney's history has gone hand in hand with music. Each drama collection has about sixteen-20 episodes every with a definitive story line.
Who Are You School 2015 may sound's familiar to you if you happen to had watched its previous sequence. Will virtual actuality go the way of the situations urged in movies such as The Matrix, during which the gamers are merely hooked up to VR gadgets, and by no means transfer from their chairs, whereas their brains expertise all of the sensations of actual movement—with a few inconceivable strikes tossed in—just for enjoyable.
I miss my high school life after watching this drama. Another should watch 2015 Korean drama broadcast by tvN and highly recommended by Ok-drama followers. High College love depict so decently, finished with shuddering sentiments right here and there! Star Trek was way earlier than my time, however, within the days before cable TV, Star Trek and Kung Fu Masterpiece Theater were the one two things value watching on a weekend.
@Gail47: Our whole household gathers around the TV on Tuesday nights to watch NCIS. Hulu Plus customers even have entry to an Android and iOS app, allowing them to look at reveals and movies on the go. I do know I am not the one one who could be very excited to watch this drama particularly that Woo-bin had been the third celebration of The Heirs. A numerous listing of television collection and flicks that depicts about the story of friendship, youngsters and high school life also develop into the place to begin of Kdrama dependancy.


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Hitler: Ascent, 1889-1939
English | ISBN: 038535438X | 2016 | EPUB | 1008 Pages | 61 MB
A major new biography-an extraordinary, penetrating study of the man who has become the personification of evil.
"Ullrich reveals Hitler to have been an eminently practical politician-and frighteningly so. Timely... One of the best works on Hitler and the origins of the Third Reich to appear in recent years."
-Kirkus Reviews
"An outstanding study... All the huge, and terrible moments of the early Nazi era are dissected...but the real strength of this book is in disentangling the personal story of man and monster."
-The Guardian (U.K.)
For all the literature about Adolf Hitler there have been just four seminal biographies; this is the fifth, a landmark work that sheds important new light on Hitler himself. Drawing on previously unseen papers and a wealth of recent scholarly research, Volker Ullrich reveals the man behind the public persona, from Hitler's childhood to his failures as a young man in Vienna to his experiences during the First World War to his rise as a far-right party leader. Ullrich deftly captures Hitler's intelligence, instinctive grasp of politics, and gift for oratory as well as his megalomania, deep insecurity, and repulsive worldview.
Many previous biographies have focused on the larger social conditions that explain the rise of the Third Reich. Ullrich gives us a comprehensive portrait of a postwar Germany humiliated by defeat, wracked by political crisis, and starved by an economic depression, but his real gift is to show vividly how Hitler used his ruthlessness and political talent to shape the Nazi party and lead it to power. For decades the world has tried to grasp how Hitler was possible. By focusing on the man at the center of it all, on how he experienced his world, formed his political beliefs, and wielded power, this riveting biography brings us closer than ever to the answer.
Translated from the German by Jefferson Chase.
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Drone / Ambient
Folk / Song
Last week
Last month
Last year
Long out of press mighty gamelan collab from members of US drone collective Pelt, the UK's Part Wild Horses Mane on Both Sides and New Zealand guitarist Michael Morley aka Gate. Recorded at 2012's TUSK festival in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the huge ensemble folded up into a mid-size room in a little corner of England and tapped into the music that has long transfixed the world - but with as much raga and hillbilly influence as Indonesian. Be warned, this is not 100% holy. Soon, avain hymns give way to drones akin to those of Vibracathedral Orchestra, and low, slow tones eat at your redeeming thoughts. A one time super-group and damn were they super.
Official MIE press release:
"In October 2012, at the Tusk Festival at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, noise emissaries from three continents came together on a Sunday to make music for an hour or so. From the United States came Mike Gangloff, Nathan Bowles, and Patrick Best of the mighty Virginia drone collective Pelt. Representing the United Kingdom were sonic pilgrims Pascal Nichols and Kelly Jayne Jones of Part Wild Horses Mane on Both Sides. And from Oceania came the transcendent New Zealand guitarist Michael Morley of Gate and, of course, the legendary Dead C. This summit proceeded without words. Their chosen means of deliberation was the gamelan: an array of gangsa and saron metallaphones and singing bowls sprawled out on the patchwork oriental rugs; a rig of gongs; the flurry of hammers and mallets; a few dozen onlookers seated cross-legged or just laying prostrate on the floor. And everyone and everything was transported. - Brent S. Sirota
Recorded at TUSK Festival 2012 at Star & Shadow Cinema, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Live sound by Steve Nicholson and Stosh. Recording by Sam Grant. With thanks to Henry MIE.
Pelt Part Wild Gate - Hung on Sunday
Effigy is Pelt's first new batch of new recordings since 2007, and their first album since Jack Rose's death in 2009. Simultaneously frenetic and meditative, it's a raga seared in pulsating low-end piano, scorned and mournful strings and swarming harmonium.
"What separates Pelt … is the willful sonic escalation from monk chant and Appalachian bowed sitar to Blue Ridge mountain grinding ear-death. … They've not become giants; they've become the mountain." - The Washington Post
From the original MIE press release:
MIE Records are unbelievably honoured to be releasing, the first album recorded since 2007 by the acoustic-only droners Pelt. Recorded live in June 2011 in an old yoga studio in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin and a decommissioned synagogue called the Gates of Heaven in nearby Madison, the band have laid down their most accomplished and fully realised work to date. Epic in every sense of the word, Effigy is a sprawling journey through their singular plan on the musical map. Layer upon layer of droning strings melt over never-ending harmoniums which threaten to engulf you whilst peals of gongs ring out to mesmerising effect. Effigy sees Pelt reaching their blissful sonic enlightenment.
Effigy is a testament to the ancient animal shaped mounds called 'effigy mounds' which dot the landscape in and around Madison, Wisconsin. No one has yet managed to work out who built these creations. Over the centuries they have greatly reduced in size but still the largest can measure up to 400ft in length, and the outlines of birds, lizards, deers and bears are all clearly visible to the observer. Soil would have been carried from afar to construct these huge monuments with only crude implements to hand. The erection of the monuments would have surely have to have been carried out by practically an army of workers or inhabitants and taken a very long time to build indeed.
Recorded by Pelt. Mixed by Jason Meagher. Mastered by James Plotkin. Artwork by Jake Blanchard. With thanks to Henry MIE. 'Ecstatically dedicated and indebted to eternal spirit of Jack Rose.'
Pelt - Effigy
Blood n guts folk from the Anglo-American duo. Searing harmonies and sparse, vital instrumentation breath new life into timeless tales of love, loss and death. Originally released to critical acclaim by No-Fi Recordings and then reissued by MIE Music in 2011, Dumb Supper is by all means one of the most interesting and exciting revivalist recording of traditional songs we've heard in years. Cath and Phil believe in folk retaining its original storytelling function, so all the songs on the album are adaptations of songs they have unearthed or which have been passed on to them through family members, musical collaborators, and their own love of the original information highway - folk music. If you missed the physical, snap this up and get yourselves down to see them here this Thursday.
"Dumb Supper is one of those rare modern folk albums that will find a home in both the longstanding 'traditional' music community and among those attracted to the form's more experimental and lo-fi possibilities….It's a weird looking-glass effect many folk fans will be familiar with: the straighter you play it, the stranger it gets…Shirley Collins always understood this and so do Cath & Phil Tyler." – Frances Morgan, Plan B Magazine
All songs traditional except: Farewell My Friends & Morning - adapted from Sacred Harp. Death of Queen Jane - Words trad. Music Tyler Yellowhammer - Tyler Dewdrop - Words trad. Music Tyler Wild Stormy Deep - by Homer Cornett Slumber Boats - by Alice Riley/Jessie Gaynor
Recorded at Summerhill Square, Newcastle Upon Tyne in the first half of 2007. Arranged by Cath and Phil Tyler. Artwork by Jim Oss. Produced by Andrew Hodson.
Cath & Phil Tyler - Dumb Supper


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Are you a waffle lover? However, the waffles you make, not taste so good and are sort on the bland side? If the answer is yes, please do continue to read on, and learn just how you can make excellent tasting waffles. Waffles that aren't limp and chewy do require a good recipe. They also require some knowledgeable tips on waffle making procedures that do work and the best approach to this solution is to use waffle maker with removable plates.
Most waffle recipes do have the same or close to the same ingredients
Almost all waffle recipes do contain the same or very similar ingredients in them. Some of these basic ingredients do include flour, pancake or waffle mix, sugar, milk, salt, and eggs. Lots of varieties of waffles out there come from the additives, which are part of, the batter itself or from toppings that are used once the waffles have been served. Besides this, they are pretty much, all the same in content usually.
What is it that makes some waffles bad and others good?
Therefore, with all this said, exactly what does make some waffles bad, others good, and others simply great? It is all about one thing and that is technique. There is also a few more secrets thrown in too. Here are just a few valuable tips, which will make a difference, and make a big difference in the taste of your waffles. They are:
Batter Up
Some Tips:
- A lot of recipes for the batter do call for adding some oil. Others don't ask for oil. It is highly advised to add some oil, at least one tablespoon, and this oil that should be added to the batter is either cooking oil or vegetable oil. Why the oil is so important an ingredient in the batter is this. It is something that helps the outer crust to develop for waffles. It doesn't matter if you like your waffles crispy or crunchy or just soft. The oil is required to make the batter good to make awesome waffles.
- Do make sure not to beat the batter too vigorously. Why not? The answer is clear. It can make the waffle batter get messed up and this can create waffles that are too chewy and tough. The batter should only be stirred enough to moisten the dry ingredients and that is it. Don't worry about the lumps that are in the batter. They don't do anything and will disappear when the waffles have been cooked up.
The Waffle Iron (Griddle)
Some Tips:
- Why is this a no brainer? Because, to be honest, it is and always will be where the preparation of yummy and delicious waffles are concerned. What is this no brainer? It is this. A person who is preparing to use their waffle batter and make some nice waffles should never do the following. What this never is, isn't something, that doesn't require a lot of common sense or thought. You should never go pouring batter into a waffle iron that you just turned on like 2 minutes before. The batter isn't able to rise up properly in a little bit of time and that is because the cooking temperature isn't high enough either. What ends up happening is, you will come away with waffles, which are flat and heavy in description. Therefore, do make sure to turn on your waffle iron, before you start preparing your waffle batter. It will permit the waffle iron to get heated up adequately and a waffle iron that is heated up this way makes for the right kind of waffles as opposed to flat and heavy ones. Permit your waffle iron to heat up for at least 10 minutes before you actually pour the batter into them to cook into waffles. This is, indeed a tip that does work, because it was done by a cook in the restaurant and it produced excellent waffles.Never use cooking spray on your waffle iron at all. Why is that? The answer is this. Yes, it may appear to be convenient, and prevent any sticking of the waffles from happening. However, many waffle iron manufacturers do advise against doing it, and the reason for that is this. What they say about doing that is this. It can do damage to the non-sticking surface of the griddle iron over the course of time. If you want to use an oil. You are better off using a vegetable oil of some kind or Crisco. Solid Crisco is what is said to work the best overall. You should use a basting brush or a piece of paper towel to apply the oil to the waffle iron. Make sure to only cover the surface lightly with the oil. Your waffle iron will last a whole lot longer, if you follow these guidelines, and be something that will create less problems with sticking happening with any waffles or pancakes. It will also serve to produce far better crusts, as well, on the waffles that are being cooked in the waffle iron.


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TÉ V. SMITH: My name is Té V. Smith. I write stories to express the grace and grit of these beliefs. I'm a writer, educator, and abolitionist with dual identities in East St. Louis & Nigeria.
What inspired one of your poems?
I think the inspiration to any of the poems or stories I write would be life. My colorful journey of growth. If we're talking more specifically, there's a short piece about a guy who thinks he's fly. "I'm a flyyyy niggah' he says, because he's never known the importance of being grounded in something." Not growing up with childhood friends. Belonging and not belonging to East St. Louis, Nigeria, Brooklyn, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Ghana. It is this sense of displacement that inspired that poem and many others.
What is an obscure thing you find interesting about the world?
The thing that I find interesting, in a damaging way, is the collective need to belong. I knew very early that I didn't really "fit" into many of the popular opinions. Even knowing that, I spent so many years trying to be what I thought I was supposed to be. I think societies investment in destroying the individual and the prevention of complicating conversations is in interesting and most times, failing study.
What odd, funny or interesting fact can you share about your writing habits or process?
One odd fact about my writing process, which is a lot like a writing quirk. Which is a lot like social treason, is that I can't listen to hip hop. Don't misunderstand me, I love hip hop. But, I need to be in a chill barely-present type of vibe and hip hop, even the best of it, has a level of aggression that throws me off. Another habitual oddity is that I write all drafts on my laptop and edit on my iPad. This, I do so my editing is in the same print/eBook layout that a reader might view the work.
How important is language and/or word choice to your writing?
Language and word choice are extremely important to me. Most of the stories I enjoyed as a kid or even as an adult have wonderfully poetic and warmly human language. I don't want to pick up a work of fiction and feel like i'm reading a dictionary or feel like i'm reading a teenagers text, wtf? I want to feel like i'm having an earnest conversation with a friend. I want to be serious and silly and gorgeous and easy to talk to. I try to write stories in that earnest voice. Language and word choice, to me, are just as important as the story itself.
Are there any themes or recurring threads that you try to explore in your writing?
I tend to circle around the same things in my work as I do in my life. Masculinity, displacement, mental health, and religion are all topics you can find in nearly all of my writing.
Is there something you find particularly difficult about the writing process?
Difficult about the writing process? I spent years like the person who sees the forming of unhealthy habits but can't muster the strength to mend themselves, even though they know the very thing that will allow for easier breathing. Well, writing had been that for me. I was suffering. (let me tell you that if writing isn't going well, ain't nothing else going right for me). Where was I? Oh yeah. . . suffering. I had a terrible time starting and an even worse time sharing after i'd finished something. It wasn't until I started to approach writing fiction in the same way as I approached playing piano. Writing is a conversation. Just talk. Clean up later. But first, talk and trust that the listener/the reader will hear your heart.
What other art form [if any] influences or informs your writing? e.g. film, music, painting / visual art…
I'd say that every art form influences my writing. Anything with a good story. A good kiss, a good film, a good song, a great conversation. Everything from -A child misunderstanding her mother's commands to a blundering President, influences how I lean into a story.
What's an underrated (or little recognized) book you love?
I don't know if it's underrated but, Adé by Rebecca Walker is such a lovely novella. No one I know seems to have read it. Adé is a love story, but more importantly, it's a self-love story. I hugged the book after my eyes completed the last page.
What is your most recent work and where can readers find it?
My name is Té V. Smith. I write stories to express the grace and grit of these beliefs. I'm a writer, educator, and abolitionist with dual identities in East St. Louis & Nigeria. I've written two books. A collection of poetry & prose, Here We Are, Reflections of A God Gone Mad (2019 R.H. Austin Publishing) and a Young Adult novel, Exit Ticket (2019 Field Order Press)
We would love to hear from you: comment & like below, and don't forget to check out our WRITER IN CONVERSATION SERIES for more interviews.
CREDITS: in this issue
Author: TÉ V. SMITH
Editor: N.L. Shompole
Original Image: Wiktor Karkocha
Graphic Design: Shompole, N.L.


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A Meditation on Fly Fishing
A friend, knee-deep in a masters program for rangeland ecology, lamented once that ignorance was indeed bliss, telling me that knowing too much had trashed her crush on the West.
I was learning to fly fish at the time, and her comment struck a chord. I made a reverse-snob choice to protect the magic and mystery of fishing by unfurling its layers gently, exploring the enigma slowly. I swore there would be no books. No casting clinics or lessons. And through two decades, my fishing has remained a dive into being a kid.
I've sketched my whole life, often repeating the same doodles and concepts. One such drawing has been of a wild-haired little girl sitting within the ancient roots of a tree… on a river bank… with a fishing pole.
Growing up, I hadn't fished. The drawing was just the expression of a daydream that lingers with me still, for its elements hold grace.
My first rod was a hand-me-down, fat and sloppy, with lazy action. I suffered immensely learning to cast with it—tangling it in the bushes behind me, snagging hidden schmeg in front of me. I whipped my line into many a woeful knot.
I also experienced the fantastical, though.
Hanging my feet in the Laramie River, that childhood drawing came to life. I had spent 15 minutes deconstructing a wicked knot; by then, detangling was practically a meditation. In my stillness, something nudged my calf—a muskrat. I was charmed and flattered as he accepted me fully, nonchalantly swimming 'round one leg, then the other, harvesting the grass alongside my thighs. His teeth crunched on juicy stems. His tiny fingers fisted his bundle of grass blades. In our shared closeness, the world became ours, two tranquil specks of life floating the veil between water and sky.
While those moments are unique to stillness, active compulsive obsession often led to the sublime.
Chasing brookies up the Piedra, time disintegrated. All that mattered was casting; seeking; poking away at the puzzle. What was below that boulder? In that seam? Under that bank, I wondered, bend after bend in the stream. Noticing a change in the air, I finally turned. The stream behind me had gone magenta, suffused in a wilderness sunset. It felt primordial; my humanity evaporated. "Genevieve" disappeared.
I don't land many fish and I've pretended for years that was okay. Truth? Pair me with an expert angler and it shames me to admit that bearish insecurities arise. This vexes me.
Years ago, during filming for a documentary on fishing in Mongolia, I blew every attempt at landing or even hooking a fish on film. Distraught and sleepless after blowing the money-shot at a long-awaited honey-hole, I rose early the next morning, needing alone time.
Low fog and soft rain held untamed aromas of damp earth and sage. Leaving camp, I ghosted back to the river. No cameras, no pressure. I snuck in the best fishing moments of my life that morning, pulling one husky, muscular body after another from the dark, foaming depths. We held eyes, the fish and I as I unhooked. The wet pungency on my fingers was the slick scent of union.
"Separation" has no place in the water. Wading in, the current grasps and engulfs you. Rivers are "embrace". Sharing this experience with others is a treat not to be tinged with jealousy.
Like love, the golden hours of fishing call to us at dawn and dusk. During these purer moods of the day, as we rise anew or relax after what has been, rivers offer up this union. Evening is especially poignant. The dropping sun guilds all, presenting all as infinite: illuminated black trees, monochrome mountains drifting off in layers of light, the river reflecting our hearts and minds. A luminous cosmos of hatching life forms fills the air…caddis kissing my hand… fluttering against your face. What is this, but affirmation?
Now that I feel an ease on the river, I can no longer lie to myself— a fish moving on my fly brings a visceral pleasure I crave. I want more.
And that wild-haired urchin on the bank? Writing this, it hit me: she never had a fish on her line.
Fly fishing isn't rangeland ecology. Maybe my angling aspirations should have included landing a few? Perhaps it is time to cast aside my old stories and go for it?


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He's one of the most recognizable, controversial and entrepreneurial figures of the last fifty years and now Hugh Hefner's story will finally be getting a big screen adaptation courtesy of Brett Ratner, director of X-Men: The Last Stand and the Rush Hour series. Hefner is, of course, the man behind the Playboy company, an enterprise which begun as a magazine and grew into a hugely lucrative brand producing clothes, jewelry and much more.
Ratner has been itching to work on a feature film chronicling Hefner's journey for a while now and there have been several attempts to get the project off the ground by a variety of different studios. Brian Grazer took a stab at a Hefner biopic with Oliver Stone for Universal Studios which Ratner himself was on board to direct, with Robert Downey Jr. and Hugh Jackman being considered for the lead role. Unable to hammer out a script, the project was snapped up by Warner Bros. who encountered similar problems but Ratner retained his faith in the concept.
According to Deadline, Ratner's RatPac Entertainment company has now secured the rights to produce a biopic on this polarizing figure's life and the project will be spearheaded by Ratner himself alongside Hefner and his Playboy company. Joining Ratner and Hef on the production team will be John Cheng, Dick Rosenzweig and Peter Jaysen. Regarding the announcement, Hefner said:
"In recent years there has been plenty of interest and much conversation about doing a feature film based on my life. I have always believed that when the timing was truly right, the perfect creative partners would come together for this project. I believe we've found those partners in Brett Ratner and RatPac Entertainment. I'm very much looking forward to this collaboration."
Brett Ratner himself adds:
"Hugh Hefner started a sexual revolution from behind the walls of his legendary mansion by using the pages of Playboy Magazine and his own infamous lifestyle to build a global empire that included publishing, clubs, casinos and television networks."
Currently, Ratner appears to be on board in a producing role only, meaning another figure may be drafted in to direct. A writer is expected to be announced soon. Unfortunately for those who are eager for a movie insight into the goings on at the Playboy Mansion, the announcement seems to infer that the biopic will focus on Hefner's earlier years and his transformation from conservatively-raised youngster to a self-made millionaire who had a significant impact on the portrayal of nudity and sex in the printed media.
As divisive as Hefner's contributions to society are, it's impossible to deny that his life is an interesting and unusual story begging to be told. Many people see the Playboy founder as a rich old-timer that doesn't change out of his robe and slippers and pays attractive young women to live with him. Whilst all that may be true, there's plenty more history to the man that isn't widely known and Ratner will have a vast source of material to draw from.
With that said, it could be argued that now perhaps isn't the best time to be producing such a feature, as Playboy's public image is certainly not as healthy as it once was. Now under the leadership of Hefner's son, Playboy made the decision to stop publishing nudity in the face of pressure from equal rights and feminist groups, however, it was recently announced that this was to be reversed. Even those who don't find Playboy's material offensive likely see the company as dated and out of touch in the modern era but perhaps the biopic will help restore Hefner's reputation.
The currently-untitled Hugh Hefner biopic is in the early stages of pre-production.
Source: Deadline


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Fresenius USA, Inc. v. Baxter Intern., Inc. – Federal Circuit Decision Further Promotes Administrative Review of Patents
The Federal Circuit has ruled that a patent infringement judgment in excess of fourteen million dollars ($14,000,000.00) was rendered void and moot by a PTO decision invalidating the subject patent despite a prior Federal Circuit decision in the case affirming the validity of the patent. Fresenius USA, Inc. v. Baxter Intern., Inc.— F.3d —-, 2013 WL 3305736 (C.A.Fed., July 2, 2013 (Cal.)) Coupled with the new broader scope and expedited administrative review provided for in the America Invents Act, the decision continues a trend of favoring or promoting administrative review of patents over district court litigation.
The decision will allow defendants to consider administrative challenges to the validity of a patent much further into the district court litigation process. Prior to this ruling, prevailing wisdom was that a re-examination proceeding needed to be completed prior to the conclusion of district court proceedings to be useful. A defendant who uncovers relevant prior art late in a proceeding may now be more likely to commence a re-examination proceeding as long as it can be completed prior to any appeals.
The decision raises interesting issues concerning separation of powers and the finality of judgments. In a strongly worded and well-reasoned dissenting opinion, Judge Pauline Newman argued the decision improperly allows an administrative agency to void a final Federal Circuit Court of Appeals judgment. Judge Newman wrote:
The court today authorizes the Patent and Trademark Office, an administrative agency within the Department of Commerce, to override and void the final judgment of a federal Article III Court of Appeals. The panel majority holds that the entirety of these judicial proceedings can be ignored and superseded by an executive agency's later ruling.
The majority justified its decision on the grounds that the there was no "final" judgment. According to the majority, the prior decision affirming the validity of the patent was not final because the matter had been remanded solely to address post-judgment damage issues. According to Judge Newman this position is inconsistent with well-established principals of finality:
The panel majority argues that the rules of finality do not apply here because the Federal Circuit, with its final judgment, included a remand to the district court to assess post-judgment damages. The courts of the nation have dealt with a variety of circumstances in which a final judgment included a remand to the district court. Here, all of the issues on appeal were finally adjudicated by the Federal Circuit; the remand authorized the district court to determine only post-judgment royalties. The remand had no relation to any issue in reexamination; validity had been finally resolved in the courts.
. . .The majority proposes that the final adjudication of patent validity can be redecided by the courts and thus by the PTO, because of the remand to assess post-judgment damages. This theory is contrary to the precedent of every circuit. All circuits impose finality and preclusion as to issues that were finally decided in full and fair litigation. . .
The America Invents Act contains certain procedural mechanisms which should prevent this from becoming a recurring concern. Specifically, under the AIA: 1) Post Grant Review and Inter Partes Review will be prohibited if a civil action challenging the validity of the patent has been previously filed; and 2) a civil action challenging validity filed after the filing of either a Post Grant Review or Inter Partes Review petition will automatically be stayed (With the exception of "Covered Business Method Patents" these provisions are applicable only to patents issued from applications filed after March 16, 2013 (patents granted under the new "First Inventor to File" Rules).
Posted on July 9, 2013, in Invalidity, Patent. Bookmark the permalink. Comments Off on Fresenius USA, Inc. v. Baxter Intern., Inc. – Federal Circuit Decision Further Promotes Administrative Review of Patents.


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The Vampire Diaries fans were shocked when Nina Dobrev announced she would be leaving the series after six seasons starring on the show as Elena Gilbert. "Obviously there's a great nostalgia," Paul Wesley shared with reporters at the Humane Society Gala on May 16. "It's never going to be the same."
As for how the creators are working with her departure, he shared, "I have no idea what they're going to do next year, literally. Apparently they have a plan. I don't know what the plan is. It's going to be really interesting."
And although it may be bittersweet, a Penguin clad Paul continued, "I know that she's really happy. I know that she wants to move on and start a new chapter of her life, which is entirely respectable."
Paul, who has been on the show since its inception, may also be following in his TVD co-star's footsteps. ""I think everyone-everything has to come to an end man," he explained. "First of all, I'm playing a 17-year-old. I'm 32 years old. I'm infinitely 17."
While that wouldn't bode well for the viewers, he added: "So theoretically if I were to stay on the show for say three more years, I would be a 35-year-old playing a 17-year-old, which is literally more than double. It's thirty four plus one."
For now, the 32-year-old is concentrating on a cause near and dear to his heart. "I've always had issues with factory farming. That was always something that bothered me," Paul, who caught up with Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting at the event, passionately shared. "I feel that I'm in a position in my life where I have an outreach globally and domestically. And I feel like it's my duty to, I don't know, I don't want to say preach it, but spread the word about the horrendous conditions that exist."
On or off the CW hit, you have our attention!