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The Internet of Things contains an enormous variety of sensors and connected smart objects that are making the web wiser. Learn what it means for the future. How billions of online objects are making the web wiser? With the help of Intel, we submit a huge review:
Related: Security in internet of things
The Big Data Bang
The "Internet of Things" is exploding. It is made up of billions of "smart" devices—from miniscule chips to mammoth machines—that use wireless technology to talk to each other (and to us). Our IoT world is growing at a breathtaking pace, from 2 billion objects in 2006 to a projected 200 billion by 2020.1 That will be around 26 smart objects for every human being on Earth!
Where the Wireless Things Are—and Why
Most IoT smart devices aren't in your home or phone—they are in factories, businesses, and healthcare.
Why? Because smart objects give these major industries the vital data they need to track inventory, manage machines, increase efficiency, save costs, and even save lives. By 2025, the total global worth of IoT technology could be as much as USD 6.2 trillion—most of that value from devices in health care (USD 2.5 trillion) and manufacturing (USD 2.3 trillion).2
40.2 Percent Business and Manufacturing
Real-time analytics of supply chains and equipment, robotic machinery.
30.3 Percent Healthcare
Portable health monitoring, electronic recordkeeping, pharmaceutical safeguards.
8.3 Percent Retail
Inventory tracking, smartphone purchasing, anonymous analytics of consumer choices.
7.7 Percent Security
Biometric and facial recognition locks, remote sensors.
A Spectrum of Smart Stuff
The IoT contains an enormous variety of connected objects
Tiny Stuff: Smart Dust
Computers smaller than a grain of sand can be sprayed or injected almost anywhere to measure chemicals in the soil or to diagnose problems in the human body.
Enormous Stuff: An Entire City
Fixed and mobile sensors dispersed throughout the city of Dublin are already creating a real-time picture of what is happening, and will help the city react quickly in times of crisis.
Old Stuff
These ubiquitous money dispensers went online for the first time way back in 1974.
The Birth of the Web
Computers and modems had been around for years, but only until the World Wide Web made its debut in 1991 were they united to revolutionize computing and communications.
Smart Meters
The first power meters to communicate remotely with the grid were installed in the early 2000s.
New Stuff
Digital Locks
Smartphones can be used to lock and unlock doors remotely, and business owners can change key codes rapidly to grant or restrict access to employees and guests.
Smart Buildings
Brand-new buildings let owners and occupants "monitor, manage, and maintain all aspects of the building that impact operations, energy, and comfort," according to the Smart Buildings Institute, which has certified buildings in Saudi Arabia and San Salvador.3
Related: Security and internet of things
Stuff Yet to Come
Man-Machine Mind Meld
IoT devices are now able to collect data on the human body, but new research is testing our ability to control machines—and even each other—with our minds. This new wireless frontier could yield life-changing and life-saving advances.
Weigh In on Mind Control
How far off are we from controlling a computer with our minds as fast as we can control it with our hands?
We, Robots
Someday soon, connected robots will have the ability to learn from each other and work in teams to increase efficiency and solve scientific problems.
Weigh In on Robots
Do you own a personal robot, like the housecleaning Roomba*? If not, why not?
A Facebook* for Things
As TechCrunch puts it, the ultimate IoT prize "is to become the software platform upon which all vertical applications in the Internet of Things will be built." Besides SmartThings and Ninja Blocks, Evrythng is making a play to be the central platform—calling itself a "Facebook for the Internet of Things."4
Related: How to protect your pc from malware?
Can't All Our Things Just Get Along?
There are so many different ways IoT devices communicate now. Is it really possible to unite them all in a "Facebook of Things"?
Tags: internet of things examples, internet of things companies, internet of things stocks, internet of things applications, internet of things definition, internet of things conference, internet of things intel, internet of things cisco


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Comic book writer Jeff Lemire specializes in post-apocalyptic storytelling that's far more subtle than the nightmare scenarios typically churned out by pop culture.
Instead of bombastic crises wracked by interstellar conflict, his work takes a more personal approach to dealing with the standard tropes of science fiction and horror.
"The idea is to take a high-concept, clichéd, almost B-movie setup, but then execute it in a very intimate and quiet way," the writer told Wired.com in an e-mail interview. "I did the same thing with The Nobody. I try to focus in on character and emotion and that allows the high-concept setup, in this case the sci-fi or post-apocalyptic elements, to become more allegorical. In short, it's a character-driven story, not a plot-driven one."
It's not that Lemire's work doesn't contain violence. His terrifying comic Sweet Tooth finds its half-boy, half-deer protagonist Gus at the mercy of a post-apocalyptic outpost where sinister, brutal forces experiment on human-animal hybrids. (Volume 2 of Sweet Tooth, which collects issues No. 6 through 11 of the comic, will be released Tuesday by Vertigo with a $13 cover price. Issue No. 17 arrives Jan. 5, 2011.) Meanwhile, Lemire's second issue of DC Comics' new Superboy series, released last week, follows the Smallville psychodrama of Superman clone Kon-El.
Lemire's character-driven narratives are the perfect antidote to the apocalypse fatigue that has desensitized comics lately, in story arcs like the galaxy-shattering conflict of Infinite Crisis and the zombie apocalypse of Blackest Night, both of which also featured Kon-El.
The Canadian writer's stories draw from his upbringing in the small Ontario farming community of Essex County, which he extrapolated into the award-winning Top Shelf comic Essex County. Recently named one of Canada's top five books of the decade, it's set for a new printing in January.
Lemire's infectious indie spirit haunts the proceedings in Sweet Tooth and in Superboy, which is set in rural Kansas rather than shiny Metropolis. Wired.com talked with him about his comics crossover, his upcoming Essex County sequel (titled The Underwater Welder) and whether Superboy can ever break out of Superman's shadow.
Wired.com: Sweet Tooth and The Nobody, which is a remix of H.G. Wells' The Invisible Man, knit together scientific and social breakdown in interesting ways. What's your personal take on science and tech?
Jeff Lemire: Well, for me it's more about what depicting science in that way reveals about the characters. My characters — whether it be Gus or Jepperd or Singh in Sweet Tooth, or Griffen in The Nobody — are all people at a crossroads and struggling with their faith. And having science fail the characters or their worlds can really bring that out.
Wired.com: Apocalypse narratives are usually abstract popcorn conflicts. Your comics bring the scale down to a more devastating personal level.
Lemire: When a society or community within one of my stories inevitably falls apart, it makes the characters turn inward and take a new step as individuals. So these are all ways of pushing the focus back on the characters themselves, and their arcs.
Wired.com: By the way, congratulations! The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation named Essex County one of the five best reads of the decade. How have you assimilated the jump from indie comics to Superboy?
Lemire: I don't know that I have. For me, there is no jump per se, because I'm still doing indie comics as well. I'm writing and drawing a new book for Top Shelf, called The Underwater Welder, that will be the follow-up to Essex County. [Editor's note: A new printing of the collected Essex County arrives in January.]
Wired.com: Do you find that crossing over between indie comics like Essex County and mainstream superhero comics like Superboy helps you?
Lemire: In a lot of ways. Jumping back and forth between Superboy, Sweet Tooth and The Underwater Welder helps to keep me fresh on each project. In the end, I try to put as much of myself into each as I can.
Wired.com: Speaking of Superboy, what will it take to get the character out of Superman's shadow?
Lemire: Well, I think I have done a good job of that so far. I've written the first eight scripts, and there hasn't been a single specific reference to Superman yet. The book really has been about Superboy becoming his own man.
Wired.com: Once Superboy gets around to Superman, will it have anything to do with Superboy being a clone? That troubling flux between the personal and the scientific seems right up your alley.
Lemire: The clone and science elements of the character are key, and we will see those being played up and exploited as we move forward. But I can't say too much about that without spoiling things! [Editor's note: Issue No. 3 of Superboy arrives Jan. 3, 2011.]
Images courtesy DC Comics/Top Shelf. Follow us on Twitter: @morphizm and @theunderwire.
See Also:

subset: commoncrawl


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The program provides residents to access unsecured, low-cost funds for efficiency upgrades such as better insulation and higher-rated heating and cooling equipment.
The Maryland Clean Energy Center (MCEC) has launched a the new Maryland Home Energy Loan Program, enabling Marylanders to access unsecured, low-cost funds for efficiency upgrades such as better insulation and higher-rated heating and cooling equipment.
MCEC is making the funds, which originated from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, available to Maryland homeowners as they feel the bite of winter's wrath on their pocketbooks.
"This month's cold spell is a potent reminder of steps to save money by making our primary residences more energy efficient," said Maryland Clean Energy Center Executive Director Kathy Magruder. "A growing number of new Maryland businesses provide energy audits and will help consumers more easily implement the home improvements recommended in those audits."
"As we enter this winter season, it's important that as many Marylanders as possible are able to enjoy the many benefits that Home Energy Efficiency Improvements can offer," said Malcolm Woolf, director of the Maryland Energy Administration. "Building on the recent successes of our home appliance rebate program, these low-cost home efficiency loans will help keep money in Marylanders' pockets and bring our state closer to meeting our EmPOWER Maryland goalof reducing energy consumption by 15 percent by 2015."
The loans are also the latest measure the state is taking to reduce carbon emissions 20 percent by 2025, as called for by the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act of 2009.
The first step toward securing a loan is completing a home energy audit performed by a certified auditor. The resulting assessment is likely to recommend several ways a home can save energy. The Maryland Energy Administration, which is administering funds from the 2009 Recovery Act, expects most home improvements to encompass upgrading insulation, plugging air leaks, sealing ducts, and replacing furnaces, heat pumps, and/or air conditioners that are at least 10 years old.
With audit recommendations in hand, Marylanders can go to http://MCECloans.org to apply. These loans do not need to be secured by the owner's home or other large asset. The clean energy loan amounts are capped at $20,000; the interest rate is 6.99 percent. Most unsecured loans at commercial banks carry interest rates at twice that rate.
The approval process typically takes a few days. Improvements need to be performed by contractors with a Maryland Home Improvement Certification. Homeowners with proof of a qualifying audit since July 1, 2010, can proceed immediately to the application.


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It wasn't his time to go: Gregg Allman says brother directed him to stay alive
Gregg Allman, who plays with his band on Saturday at Harrah's Lake Tahoe, spoke by telephone from
San Francisco with Lake Tahoe Action's Tim Parsons
on Tuesday. The 65-year-old has been bandleader of the pioneering jam band the Allman Brothers since his brother's death in 1971. Slide guitarist Duane Allman and bassist Berry Oakley died in separate motorcycle accidents in the same year. Allman recently survived a liver transplant and three other major surgeries. He nearly died during one of the operations, during which he said he may have seen his brother.
I've been a little bit out of the whole scheme of things, I guess, the better part of three years. I had four serious operations.
I had complications after that. … My chest cavity kept filling up with water and they had to open me up and fix that. That was a helluva operation there, man. I was in the hospital about four weeks. During the whole thing my heart started beating, I had arterial fibrillation, it wasn't beating right, and they got all of it fixed, man, and I feel like a million dollars today, man.
It was. I even coded a couple of times.
I was very aware of it. I had a nice dream, I guess you'd call it. I heard the most gorgeous music, man. The most beautiful music I've ever heard. I can remember it happening but I don't remember the sound of the music or how it went or anything. I saw a person who was waving me to go back.
I think it might have been my brother, but who's to say?
No. That's an old song written in 1918, I think.
I did. I recorded that and went straight to the hospital.
When the Allman Brothers formed, I was in the blues end of it. My brother was the rhythm and blues end of it. Dickey (Betts) was at the country end of it. Jaimoe (Johanson) was the jazz end of it. Butch (Trucks) was the, hmm. He was a drum teacher at FSU, so I don't know. And (Berry) Oakley was blues. So it came out, Allman Brothers. So I just always wanted to cut a solid blues record, so I did. I am going into the studio the first part of this summer to do another one.
I am trying to do one where I write everything.
It's a seven-piece band. We sew in the parts purposely to get a real funky groove and my stuff is all premeditated. We don't go into just a free jam. But it's good. I've got some killer players. We've been together since about '05.
That's right. Well, you know, everything you hear on the radio or in a nightclub, every piece of music you hear, you are going to get something out of it. It will open the door to something different. It might have an effect on your music, it might not. And I grew up listening to the blues. So that's always what I wanted to play.
This is the way I see it. There are four kings of rock 'n' roll: two white, two black. Elvis Aaron Presley, Tupelo, Miss.; Jerry Lee Lewis, Ferriday, La.; Little Richard Penniman, Macon, Ga.; and Chuck Berry, East St. Louis, but they were kind of (inaudible) in the war. So rock 'n' roll was born in the South. It spread quick across the nation in 1952. In '55 I was in military school in the third grade. Oh God, that was rough. I remember the first time I heard Elvis there was a skating rink on the edge of the campus and toward the spring they would open it up at night and you could hear the music blasting. The first music you ever heard and liked seems to be the root. That's what you kind of build off of.
You got it, Bro.
We just played Los Angeles and there were some people out who wanted to do a movie. I thought it was all just a bunch of talk. It wasn't even supposed to be a book. It was just a journal I used to keep because I thought when I'd get to be some 80-year-old man sitting on the porch, I'd pick up a few pages and relive it, you know? I started that in 1985. By the time I met Michael Lehman, my new manager, which has been since '05, one day he was at my house. I showed it to him. I had a duffle bag full, stuffed full of cassette tapes that I had recorded and a big fat journal that was just full, man, of stuff that I wrote. He said, 'What's all this.' I said, 'My life.' He said, 'Damn, son. You ought to make a book out of it.' I said, 'Right.' Sure enough. So their talking about the movie.
They told me, but I'd never heard of the guy. It's too soon to even be talking about it, really.
No. It used to be a sign of the Black Muslims. I don't know what possessed me to grow that thing. I guess it just grew real thick up under there when I was just a young lad. That's where it would sprout.
I tried to discourage him from it because it's gotten so crazy and so cutthroat. I mean, if I had to start off today, if I was 20 years old today and I had a brother who said, 'Let's go out and play.' I'd say forget about it because the people today are either a flash in the pan or they don't make it at all. Very few people now that come out and have staying power.
Derek is one of my dearest friends. I've heard that. I've heard it a bunch. But what happened was, he was in Jacksonville, Fla., where the Allman brothers actually, that's where we all ended up in the same room for the first time. Actually, it was Arlington, which is a suburb of Jacksonville. Of course, his father was Butch Trucks' brother. And, of course, our music was there in the house at all times. One day, as a child, Derek discovered it and got him a guitar and just started in. He just started playing slide. He couldn't play the conventional way. The first time I played with him, he was 9 years old. He played just slide, and I thought, 'How strange.' But, boy, he was good at it, and now he's off the charts.
I am telling you. I am telling you. I told him all along from when I first met him, I said, 'Man, you've got to sing. If you sing, man, you've got it knocked.' He said no. I said, just try scatting. … No. He's got no eyes for the microphone.
I hope so. This whole tour has been freezing. I grew up in Florida and my blood is like water. People out here, they have blood like oatmeal.
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Whenever Summer comes round, I'm one of the first to be slathering on SPF. However, finding a good face SPF that doesn't make my skin itch and break out, or cause my makeup to go patchy is a bit of a struggle. So I was really excited when I got the chance to try out the new Balance Me Natural Protection Moisturiser SPF25*, which claims to be an innovative natural sunscreen as opposed to the traditional chemical SPFs we're used to seeing.
So how is it different to the traditional SPFs?
First of all, it includes some key ingredients, such as hyaluronic acid (I think everyone knows the benefits of hyaluronic acid by now as it's been taking the beauty world by storm this last year, so I did rejoice a bit when I saw it included - if you didn't know, it's great for hydrating the skin and making it appear more plump), titanium dioxide (a physical filter to protect against UVA/UVB rays) and kukui seed oil (a natural silicone replacement that's great for moisturising the skin).
But what is a physical filter?
So for the next part I have done some research, but please don't hold me to it as I'm not a skincare expert by any means...
So when you buy a combined sunscreen in the shop (one that is both a moisturiser and SPF), there is a danger that you will not be getting enough protection. Many suncreams use chemical filters, however you have to wait for these to sink in, and they can sometimes lead to irritation on sensitive skin. Therefore, if you're using a combined suncream it's best to go for one that has physical and natural filters, either titanium/zinc oxide, as they offer immediate protection. Titanium/zinc oxide are minerals which act like reflectors, so they basically block the UV rays in the first place, rather than letting it be absorbed like chemical filters (which absorb the rays but stop it damaging the skin to an extent).
You also need to look for a broad spectrum sunscreen which offers protection against UVB rays, which are associated with sunburn for example (this is what the SPF number relates to! So an SPF of 15 offers 93% protection against these rays, SPF 30 97% protection, and SPF 50 98% protection - not a huge difference like I imagined) and UVA rays, which penetrate deeper into the skin's dermis. The Balance Me SPF covers both of these.
So with that done, I can honestly say I had no idea that there was a choice available between chemical and natural filters. I've also read that chemical filters can also play a part in pigmentation, and you all know how I'm on a journey to get rid of my hyperpigmentation, so I will definitely be making the switch to natural filters, where possible. They are also supposed to be a better option for sensitive skin, rather than chemical filters, hence why I think my skin got on so much better with this SPF.
So onto my thoughts now!
The Balance Me Natural Protection Moisturiser SPF 25* is marketed as a super light daily moisturiser, and due to the emphasis on natural ingredients it should protect you from the sun and environmental damage, all without leaving you with a white cast. When I first tried it out, it was actually thicker than I expected it to be. Not as thick as say the Nivea SPFs, but thicker than your average moisturiser, so it did need to be massaged in. I didn't get a white cast per say, but it did leave my face looking a tiny bit more pale. However, after massaging it in and waiting a minute, it had fully absorbed like any other moisturiser. The thick feeling was also gone and my skin was back to it's normal shade. It did leave a bit of shine, again not as bad as other SPFs I've used, but noticeable around my cheekbones. Here's where I made a discovery though! Pairing it with the Body Shop Vitamin C Skin Reviver (a serum/primer in one) instantly mattifies it, and together they give a great base for makeup application. I use the SPF over my serum, and substitute it for my moisturiser.
As for how it fared during the day, honestly for these past few weeks I couldn't even tell I had SPF on! My skin doesn't feel hot or itchy, like I have something sitting on it. My makeup hasn't gone patchy, my concealer hasn't broken up, there isn't much shine popping up through the day either (apart from the normal amount when it's a hot day). There's also no greasy residue at all, I wash it off with a hot cloth cleanser in the evening, and my skin's been absolutely fine! No breakouts (in the past I would get white pimples from certain face SPFs) or dry patches either.
You get 40ml of product for £26, find it here on the Balance Me website, or at M&S/John Lewis. I will admit that it is on the pricey side, so it depends on what you want in an SPF. All of Balance Me's products are free from parabens, mineral oils, sulphates etc (including this), and they are cruelty free, so for a lot of people I think it will be worth the premium price for more natural skincare. You might also be happy paying more than drugstore prices for a natural, rather than chemical filter. The SPF is also an update on a previous version so I would just double check the packaging, to ensure you pick up the right one.
The packaging is a squeezy tube that comes presented in a box (as per the first image). It has a screw lid which is quite sturdy, and the small nib means that it remains relatively air tight (there's always that worry that SPFs can lose their power - so that's an added bonus).
As for flashback, I did read that physical filters are more likely to cause flashback in photography as they reflect the sun's ray, but I did take some pictures with flash on and I didn't notice any flashback personally.


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I love designings and have been participating in blog trains for about a year now. I am on a few Creative Teams and also have freebies from that on my blog from time to time. I love sharing my creations and hope you will enjoy using them.
I have two coordinating freebies available right now. The SNP December blog train on my blog: http://stampgram.blogspot.com
and a coordinating mini kit on my Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Stampgram
These both expire on Jan 14, 2013 when I will be uploading a new Blog Train offering.


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Lord Zargon thanks Carnevil
December 29, 2013
Slashers and Slasherettes:
The sixth and final stop on my grand, midwestern haunt tour was to a new show - Carnevil, outside the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates (Chicago), Illinois. Producer Ken Spriggs brought along a number of his former DreamReapers crew members to populate the two tent and one trailer attractions. I visited their windswept and rain-filled haunts on Saturday, October 26 and enjoyed them all.
Yours in blood,


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From an excellent article by Michael Church in The Independent.
David Cameron is the leader of the Conservative Party, and here is the music he chose. Max raged about it - do you think it is garbage?
1. Tangled Up In Blue, Bob Dylan, CBS 26334
2. Ernie, Benny Hill, EMI CDGO 2040
3. Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd, EMI 536112
4. On Wings of Song, Mendelssohn, Kiri Te Kanawa and Utah Symphony Orchestra
Decca 475 6013
5. Fake Plastic Trees, Radiohead, Parlophone CDRS6411
6. This Charming Man, Smiths, WEA, YZ000ICD2
7. Perfect Circle, R.E.M, I.R.S.DMIRHI
8. All these Things that I've Done, The Killers, Lizard King,Lizard012
Book:The River Cottage Cookbook by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Luxury: A crate of Scottish whisky.
Hopefully not musical garbage is Max's new composition A Little Birthday Music which is being premiered at tonight's BBC Prom with birthday girl Queen Elizabeth in the audience, listen to it via this link.
Image credit - MaxOpus. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
If you enjoyed this post take An Overgrown Path to A musician with teeth


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Boston Celtics (34-10) at Portland Trailblazers (25-21)
Thursday, January 27
Regular Season Game #45, Road Game #20
Radio: WEEI, KXTG
Rose Garden
Referees: Ed Malloy, Matt Boland, Haywoode Workman
The Celtics begin their first Western road trip with a visit to the Portland Trailblazers. This is the second meeting between these two teams this season with the Celtics winning at the Garden 99-95 after a frenzied Blazers comeback and a game winner by Ray Allen who had been just 2-11 up to that point.
As with many of the Celtics games recently, there is a different cast for both teams in this game. Marcus Camby and Brandon Roy will miss this game with Joel Przybilla and Wesley Matthews replacing them. For the Celtics Shaq will more than likely be out and in his place will be Semih Erden. And coming off the bench for the Celtics will be Perk in his second game back from injury. LaMarcus Aldridge underwent an MRI on his hip after Monday's game but there was no damage and so he is expected to play in this one. Wes Matthews tweaked his ankle in the last game and is likewise expected to play in this one. Paul Pierce also tweaked his ankle in Tuesday's game but is also expected to play in this one.
The Celtics have beaten the Blazers in 10 of their last 11 meetings. And have won the last 7 times these teams have met. The Celtics are 12-7 on the road and 7-3 in their last 10 games. The Blazers are 16-6 at home and 6-4 in their last 10. The Celtics are looking for their second straight win while the Blazers are hoping to avoid a 2 game losing streak after their 5 game winning streak was stopped by Sacramento on Monday.
Portland's .402 (39-59) all-time winning percentage against Boston is its lowest mark among all current NBA opponents. The Celtics are the NBA's only active team with a winning record in Portland (26-23).
According to an article in Oregon Live the Blazers are planning to come out strong and establish themselves as the aggressor early. The Celtics must match their early aggression and take their aggression a step further. The Celtics can't take the Blazers for granted due to their injuries because the Blazers are still a dangerous team, even with Camby and Roy out.
Probable Starters
Point Guard
Rajon Rondo 10.5 PPG, 12.9 APG 2.5 SPG
Andre Miller 12.9PPG, 7.1 APG, 1.7 SPG
Shooting Guard
Ray Allen 17.3 PPG, 3.1 APG, .453 3P%
Wesley Matthews 16.2 PPG, 2.0 APG, .380 3P%
Small Forward
Paul Pierce 19.1 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 3.3 APG
Nicolas Batum 12.0 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 1.4 APG
Power Forward
Kevin Garnett 15.1 PPG, 8.9 RPG, 0.7 BPG
LaMarcus Aldridge 21.1 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 1.2 BPG
Semih Erden 4.3 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 0.6 BPG,
Joel Przybilla 1.8 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 0.3 BPG
Boston Bench Mob
Marquis Daniels
Glen Davis
Luke Harangody
Nate Robinson
Von Wafer
Jermaine O'Neal (knee) out
Delonte West (wrist) out
Shaquille O'Neal (hip) day to day
Paul Pierce (ankle) probable
Marquis Daniels (family) probable
Trailblazers Bench
Dante Cunningham
Rudy Fernandez
Armon Johnson
Luke Babbitt
Patrick Mills
Chris Johnson
Sean Marks
Greg Oden (knee) out
Elliot Williams (knee) out
Brandon Roy (knee) out
Marcus Camby (knee) out
LaMarcus Aldridge (hip) probable
Wesley Matthews (ankle) probable
Key Matchups
Kevin Garnett vs LaMarcus Aldridge
LaMarcus Aldridge is the reigning Player of the Week but he underwent an MRI on his hip after scoring just 9 points in their last game. The MRI was negative and he is expected to play, but he may not be 100% and that would give KG the advantage. If both players are healthy, this should be a very exciting matchup to watch.
Rajon Rondo vs Andre Miller
Miller is a good PG who looks to score but can also distribute the ball. In their last meeting, Miller had 20 points on 9-17 shooting and 6 assists while Rondo put up 10 points on 4-7 shooting to go with 10 assists. Rondo needs to be aggressive and go right at Miller from start to finish and set the pace for the Celtics and the game.
Honorable Mention
Kendrick Perkins vs Chris Johnson
With Camby out with a knee injury, the Blazers called up center Chis Johnson from the Dakota Wizards of the D-League. Perk should be coming off the bench again and will be more than likely doing battle against this 6'11" rookie. Hopefully we will see another solid injury free outing from Perk in this one.
Keys to the Game
Defense – The biggest key to every game will be defense. This is even more important on the road where the opponents get a boost from their fans and the Celtics will need to clamp down even tighter on defense. The Celtics must make defense their number 1 priority
Rebound – When the Celtics put out the effort to out-rebound their opponents it usually results in a win. When they don't make the effort to rebound, it affects the effort in the other areas as well. Perk's return should help in this area.
Bench – The Celtics' bench must give them quality minutes in order to keep the starters from being worn out by the end of the game. This is especially important in back to back games like this one with the Suns looming on Friday night.
Focus – The Celtics have tended to lose focus when they play against teams who have a losing record or who have a star out. With the injuries on the Blazers, the Celtics may tend to take them lightly but that would be a big mistake because the Blazers are still a very dangerous young team.
Be Aggressive – The Blazers have said that they are going to come out strong and try to set the tone for the game by being the aggressors. The Celtics must be aggressive as well and take the ball to the basket, not settling for jumpers, and they need to be aggressive going after loose balls and rebounds as well.
Effort and Focus
The Celtics are on the road and in order to win they need to be focused and put forth a solid effort from the opening tap to the final buzzer. On the road they can't afford to coast or put out less than 100% effort.
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Join Berwyn's Talent Network
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MAYdelo at Lavergne's TavernName: MAYdelo at Lavergne's TavernDate: May 13, 2018Time: 12:00 AM - 11:59 PM CDTWebsite: Check out their Facebook Page!Event Description:Join us for MAYdelo all month long at Lavergne's Tavern! All day every day in May, enjoy $4.50 pints of Modelo Especial on draft, $5 Tall Boy Cans, and $5.50 Micheladas all Sunday long!
Plus join us Thursday, May 17 from 7:30PM-8:30PM as the Modelo team hands out FREE brewery swag & giveaways! Cheers!


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hey, I am fairly new to Java and I have to write a program that uses the mvc design pattern. It calculates the maximum data rate when the user changes the signal to noise and bandwidth. I need to create an action listener for when the user changes the values but I am not sure how to do that.
private JPanel createBandwidthPanel(){ JPanel bandwidthPanel = new JPanel(); bandwidthPanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(bandwidthPanel, BoxLayout.LINE_AXIS)); JLabel bandwidthLBL = new JLabel("Bandwidth(in hertz):"); JTextField bandwidthTXTFLD = new JTextField(); bandwidthTXTFLD.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){ public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) { Double.parseDouble(bandwidthTXTFLD.getText()); } }); bandwidthPanel.add(bandwidthLBL); bandwidthPanel.add(bandwidthTXTFLD); return bandwidthPanel; }


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Moving a company from one place to another, or choosing a prime location for your business start-up, can be full of surprises. There is so much to consider; from the setting of the office premises to ensuring that all surveys have been carried out. It can be an especially stressful time because there is so much to do.
This is where choosing a reputable company with experience in office properties and the moving process comes in. Many businesses would rather leave the management of moving their office premises to the experts, so they can get on with their day job.
Searching for the right office in the perfect location can help a business to improve its overall productivity. In addition, it gives off the right impression to clients and helps to retain the members of staff who like to work in a pleasant environment. Customers or visitors need to have the right perception about a business in order to feel comfortable working with them. No business wants to be stuck in the wrong sort of office space that gives off negative connotations to their potential clients.
London is overflowing with business space and deciding on the right spot to open a business can be timely and overwhelming. The capital offers a variety of locations for you to choose from. By enlisting the help of experts in this field, you can ease the pressure on yourself when looking at a new office space. Looking for an office that fits your particular business needs is one of the first things to consider.
On the Move – What to Consider
Looking for an office space involves several stages. Here are some of the aspects you must take into consideration. Firstly, consider your location. The size of your business and the budget for new premises will have a direct impact on where you want or can afford to set up. Whatever your budget, you must ensure that the location suits your business needs.
The location of an office is crucial. The surrounding area needs to feel right, as well as the building itself. This is especially true if clients often visit your office. Having them drive through an unpleasant or dark and dingy area before turning up at your office, could give them the wrong impression. Similarly, employees are more productive if they are happy and inspired in their office surroundings, so location is key.
What Type and Size of Office?
Perhaps you represent a new business venture and need somewhere moderate and affordable as your first office space? Maybe your business is growing and you want to take on more staff and so need to expand? Planning the exact space you want and the size of that space is important because you do not want to be left with vast empty space that is not being utilised, or discover that you do not have enough space if your business suddenly expands in the future. The latter option could provide an additional rent. When considering how much space is needed, it is advisable to consider any future expansion plans because it is likely that you will remain in your new premises for several years.
Understanding Different Types of Tenure
There are a variety of options available in terms of moving into new office premises. Buying a business space is a long-term investment, leasing an office can last several years and other premises may include a rental agreement on a more temporary basis. How long a business will remain in the same office space will obviously depend on the choice of lease or rental agreement. Making the right decision for your company at the outset should keep you free from problems in the future. All manner of buildings can be bought or leased; from large open plan offices to small workshops.
Going Green in the Workplace
Green issues and sustainability are fast becoming increasingly important considerations for any business on the move. People recognise the importance of energy efficiency and working in a sustainable environment can inspire the workforce and be cost-efficient. Making sure your new business space is focused on green issues will save you money from the outset. Factors to consider include the energy efficiency of the building, how much natural light there is, the sustainability of the air conditioning and whether the building is affected by external noise.
Searching for Office Space Noho has much to offer in terms of great ready-to-go business premises that will help you run a successful company with happy clients and motivated employees.


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The Lord of the Rings Online Loot Bag
The Lord of the Rings Online Loot Bag is a digital upgrade for The Lord of the Rings Online. The Loot Bag contains the ten in-game items that were previously released.
[edit] List of Items[1]
- Bree Horse (in-game horse for level 25 and above)
- Ring of Agility (+3 agility)
- Ranger's Cloak (+42 armour, +5% out of combat run speed boost)
- Waybread of Imladris (Removes wound and poison effects. Restores power, heals damage, and increases morale and power regeneration)
- Scented Hope Candles 5x (+10 Radiance)
- Lucky Horseshoe (+5 fate, with an additional +5 fate when activated)
- Cloak of Durin's Crown (+42 armor, +120 non-combat morale regen)
- Resist Acid Potion 5x (+100 Acid defence for 21 minutes)
- Pesky Dormouse (Housing decoration, this mouse exits his hole to look around your house)
- Ore-miner's helm (Cosmetic head wear)
|The Lord of the Rings Online
|Games titles
|Shadows of Angmar · Mines of Moria · Siege of Mirkwood · Rise of Isengard · Riders of Rohan · Helm's Deep
|Volume I: Shadows of Angmar · Volume II: Mines of Moria · Volume III: Allies of the King · Volume IV: The Strength of Sauron · In Their Absence
|Shadows of Angmar · Mines of Moria
|Pack titles
|Adventure Pack · Loot Bag
|Mines of Moria Minigames
|King Under the Mountain · Swig and Toss · Eleventy-Seven Morsels
|Books · Characters · Locations · Ships · Structures
|Kinships · Middle-earth Online


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This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Nutrish for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine. about us
We received a sample of Rachael Ray Nutrish just 6 dry dog food for Tobey to try recently, and wow. He loved it! Perhaps he was just bored with his other food, but one sniff and he was sold- he ate the entire bowl really fast!
I like simplicity for me, and for my family. When I say my family I include furry family members as well. I like knowing that Nutrish is made with so few ingredients, it makes me feel good about feeding this to my dog! (My kids, quite honestly, just love the fact that Rachael Ray is on the bag.
What are the 6 ingredients in the Nutrish? Lamb meal is the main ingredient, with brown rice, ground rice, dried beet pulp, poultry fat, and natural chicken flavor. It's wheat and soy free, for those of our furry friends who have sensitivities to those ingredients! Plus there are no fillers, no preservatives and no artificial flavors. This isn't even what makes me like the product so much (or the concept. I haven't actually sampled it myself!) but some of the profits from this product benefit Rachael's Rescue!
Want to give Nutrish a try? Request a free sample!
about us,


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(Pocket-lint) - The Coolpix P100 is the first Nikon bridge camera with Full HD 1080p resolution movie capture with stereo sound, it also has a remarkable 26x Nikon ED VR zoom lens. That and a CMOS sensor packing 10.3 megapixels makes it a formidable looking bridge-style compact camera.
The camera's lens dominates the design and, with its premium Nikon ED glass, it is a substantial lump of optics indeed. But that does not present a handling problem, the camera is light in the hand and despite the extended lens protruding from the front, handling is very good thanks to the sculpted hand grip upon which the shutter release, on/off button, the lens zoom control, which surrounds the shutter button, lies. The dimensions read out as 114.4 x 82.7 x 98.6mm and it weighs in at 481g.
Aside from the 26mm to 678mm lens and the neat handgrip control layout, another key feature that's immediately obvious, is the large - and excellent to use - 3-inch, vari-angle (tilt and flip, but not turn) monitor, which makes playback of movies, image review and composition a relative breeze. The screen is clear and bright thanks to its 460,000-dot resolution. The vari-angle control means you can adjust its viewing angle from straight down or up, from 45-degree angle upwards with the screen flush against the body or, by extending the screen's strut, at a distance from the body, all great for tripod use, for example.
That is with one exception when the screen faces straight down where the tripod gets in the way. The raison d'etre for that downward angle is almost certainly ideal for overhead shooting in, say, a crowd.
Easily usable in bright conditions, the screen has a low reflection coating and is nevertheless backed up by a small electronic viewfinder, or EVF, toggled via a small button next to the EVF. The 230,000-dot resolution is just about okay but colour balance and critical image assessment of, say, focus is nowhere near as easy to do as with the larger screen.
However, at least it provides a good back-up for power conservation and/or where it's too bright to use the larger screen effectively. A small, rather underpowered pop-up flash nestles within the EVF housing and stereo speaker array (of course also, traditionally, the location of the pentaprism finder on an DSLR) and can be activated manually or automatically depending on whether you are within the automated or manual control options, more on which shortly.
A large top plate mode dial, sat squarely alongside the flash housing and the on/off button has two main sections, one for automated modes and one for manual control options. These are pretty much as you'd expect with fast access to scene modes and settings.
There's the full suite of manual settings, as you'd expect, including full manual control but perhaps more interestingly, there's access to the camera's other very clever kittery. For a start you get the usual all-auto (green) setting, there's a scene auto selector which chooses a setting based on the subject in front of the lens and seems to be able to do that well.
Smart Portrait comes next and this helps to... helps toooo... now let me see, what is it again? Ah, that's it. Get better portraits. And it does this brilliantly by using a combination of technologies including face detection AF, redeye auto fix and smile mode with blink warning.
Now these last two are great, the camera will warn you if a person has blinked so you can take the shot again and it can take a picture automatically as soon as a person smiles. This is both great fun and crucially, it works!
Next up comes subject tracking that allows you to define a subject (by pressing the OK button, within the four-way jog buttons on the camera's back) so that the focusing system then tracks the subject as it (or you) move, meaning you can time the shutter release to perfection for, say, a moving subject and yet keep it sharp. And it's actually very good at tracking the subject across the frame, but if the subject moves towards the camera then it's slightly less effective at keeping things sharp.
Last up there's a User settings position which you can select for oft-used modes already set-up within the camera menu system. And that menu system is very straightforward to use, the camera being designed to offer ease of use yet with plenty of technical wizardry for you to take advantage of.
There are four main menus for camera shooting, movie shooting, playback and settings. Each has tabbed pages of options for you to use and select and cleverly, if you're not sure of what each menu item is for, then you can access a help system that explains the settings by flipping the lens' zoom control.
Okay so the camera is nice to handle and is a cinch to use effectively with a great range of clever and technically advanced features to tinker with. Let's have a look at the shooting options, both video and still.
HD movie quality is very good at a max 1080p; the stereo sound setup is nice to have but is without an external speaker, and the lens zoom operation makes a rather distracting whirring noise on your footage. At least you can zoom while filming, but the AF has a real struggle keeping up.
Movie quality is good and thanks to the VR (Vibration Reduction) system on the camera hand holding at longer focal lengths, when either still and movie shooting is just about possible ... just.
One slight issue we had is the fact there's a dearth of direct controls on the body, frustratingly so even for ISO for example; the fast routes into flash, exposure compensation and macro shooting are the norm, but while this is a feature-rich camera, a lot of its best bits are hidden in menus.
Clever tools such as those mentioned above and others, such as the high dynamic range (HDR) capture and multiple exposure show how this camera offers a high level of advanced controls even for the less adept user if they want to use them. More advanced users might find the access to them a little slow however.
In terms of still image quality, the first thing of note is the excellent auto white balance (WB), which works really well even in mixed lighting, some of the best results we've seen from recent compacts and the benefit to your images is clear as better white balance makes them look more natural.
Colour is good too with the standard mode providing natural-looking (though there's the customary range of adjustment options such as vivid and monochrome you can play with) and the sheer level of detail is also excellent; the CMOS sensor is a new design that has a backlighting technology to help improve low light noise performance as it aids the amount of light each pixel receives.
The low sensitivity noise performance is very good indeed, the lower ISOs benefiting from the new sensor technology as well as the higher settings where up to ISO 800 things look very good indeed. But as you get to the higher settings things become less good, but not dramatically so. In fact this is some of the best ISO performance of a compact we've seen so top marks for Nikon's boffins, as they have obviously worked very hard on this camera to mitigate noise issues, not only keeping them to a minimum, but actually managing to preserve colour detail as well, even at ISO 3200.
The Nikon Coolpix P100 is a major step forward in terms of banishing the bane of the compact camera - image noise - though it does look fairly pricey. But that price gets you a superb lens (its remarkable focal range is ably illustrated by the two shots of the lighthouse at Dungeness, though oddly the cloudy WB setting struggled in the wide shot, though that proved a rare issue) which with VR tools, all combine to make the P100 and compact versatile camera capable of some excellent HD movies as well.
Some may dislike the frustrating (for us, at least) lack of quick access to some key controls, ISO control we mentioned earlier but WB is another (these are held in the menus), however the handling and ergonomics of the P100 are actually very good.
Overall the Nikon Coolpix P100 is a remarkable little camera capable of some superb results across its range of sensitivity settings, and is a camera that should be very high on your list if you want a compact shoot-anything camera in a svelte, easy to use package.


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You want the best chance of crossing the line first. This means you need instant access to accurate data, and displays that are absolutely reliable. Raymarine Wireless instruments excel on all fronts. They display all the data you'll ever need and have user-configurable pages, crucial for racing performance with no wires through your hull or down your mast.
A large, solar-powered mast display for racing yachts that provides highly visible and accurate data. Massive 50 mm (2 in) digits.
Excellent visibility by night. The black background ensures minimal night vision disturbance and a choice of red or amber digits allows you to select different colors for different data.
Remote control. Your Maxi Display can be controlled and configured from anywhere on your boat using the Raymarine Wireless Remote Display.
Displays two lines of data in high contrast 32 mm (1.3 in) digits.
Not just a remote control. More an essential item of equipment for those serious about winning.
The Raymarine Wireless Remote Display controls, configures and repeats all the data you need to improve performance, including:
The Raymarine Wireless Micro Compass gives you a massive racing advantage. It is light, easy to read, reliable and precise. The Micro Compass's tactical scale gives you clear stable figures for port and starboard tacks. When tacking, the readings are always the same, meaning you never have to remember numbers.
The ultimate tactical race compass and wind shift indicator. Its two-tier display shows your heading, how far you're above or below the mean course, and how much you're being headed or lifted. It will enable you to quickly and easily establish the favored end of the start line, and will help you sail the shortest distance to the windward mark.
Downwind, you can see how far off dead downwind you are and when you should gybe for optimal VMG.
T121 Hull Transmitter
*For multihulls, advanced Micronet technology allows your displays to use wind direction to automatically determine which hull transducer supplies the information you need. No switches required.
T222 Vertical Wind Transmitter
A unique wind wand that provides highly accurate readings for TWS and TWA by reducing errors from disturbed wind flow by elevating the wind sensor 1.35m (approx 4') into cleaner air. It is also completely wireless and solar powered.
*Note: you need two hull transmitters for this configuration.
Its two-tier display shows your heading, how far you are above or below the mean course, and how much you are being headed or lifted. It will enable you to establish quickly and easily which is the favored end of the start line, and will help you sail the shortest distance to the windward mark. Downwind, you can see how far off dead downwind you are, and when you should gybe for optimal VMG. Data Displayed: Compass Heading, Wind Shift Indicator, Line Bias, Race Timer. 100% Solar powered.
It also comes with a Micronet Hull Transmitter to provide boat speed and depth data.
The System can then be further extended to allow the addition of Wind and GPS information as well as compatibility with the complete range of Micronet Displays.


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No. 20 Michigan visiting Neb 1st time since 1911
Game will have big impact on Big Ten Legends division
Nebraska goes into Saturday's meeting with No. 20 Michigan on a 10-game win streak in home games at night.
The Cornhuskers will celebrate the 50th anniversary of their NCAA-record sellout streak. This will be the 323rd in a row.
Michigan (5-2, 3-0), the only college program with 900 all-time victories, will be making its first visit to Lincoln since 1911.
Michigan, with a win, would put two games between itself and second-place Nebraska. A win by the Huskers would move them into a tie atop the division and own the tiebreaker over the Wolverines.
Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson says he and his teammates have to be prepared to overcome the crowd noise.


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Apple US iTunes $25 Card
Instant Email Delivery
This $25 iTunes gift card makes a great gift for Apple iPad, iPhone, iPod users and music lovers, allowing them to stock up on music, movies, games and TV shows from the App Store, iTunes Store, iBookstore. Codes redeemable only on US iTunes Store. Note: iTunes gift cards are not returnable.


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"I purchased a soda vending machine from you and I'm back to purchase a popcorn
machine and some popcorn to pop. My vending machine is still in perfect working
condition outside of my business and I want to get a popcorn machine for my
basement. I will definitely be back for future purchases! I wish all businesses
could give the customer service you guys provide."
Robert O.,Oxnard, California
Email us if you have any questions, if you want to order a Wilbur Curtis three station decanter automatic coffee maker, brewer or if you're looking for a model not displayed, we have a lot of items available that are not on our website.
This is just a start of some of the items we carry. If there's an item you can't find email us firstname.lastname@example.com and ask us if we carry it.We offer one of the largest machine and supplies selections in the world so we are regularly adding new items.


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Explore what is changing the lives of tens of thousands of people in more than 170 countries around the world.
Explore what the 3 key tools of Access are and how you can use them to start creating the change you desire.
Receive tips of what you can choose to get started. You know what will work for you!
Hear from people all over the world about how they are different after Access Consciousness.
Read news articles, watch videos, listen to pods and radio shows – you can find Access Consciousness in many media channels!
Explore some of the most frequently asked questions about Access.
There are thousands of Access Consciousness events and classes offered weekly around the world. You can search for a class by topic, facilitator, language or location in our class calendar.
Gary Douglas travels extensively facilitating advanced Access Consciousness classes as well as a range of evening and several day workshops on specific topics from Choice and Possibilities, to Money, Benevolent Capitalism, Relationships and more.
Dr. Dain Heer offers classes on a wide array of topics through out the world and is best known for his transformation process The Energetic Synthesis of Being as well as the Being You, Changing the World events.
Simone Milasas travels extensively facilitating advanced Access Consciousness classes as well as a range of evening and several day workshops on specific topics from Choice and Possibilities, Relationship Done Different, Business Done Different, Getting Out of Debt Joyfully and more.
Brendon Watt travels extensively facilitating beginning advanced Access Consciousness classes as well as a range of evening and several day workshops on specific topics from The Foundation, Choice and Possibilities, Relationship Done Different, and more.
The Access Bars are the very core and foundation of Access Consciousness. It can be the starting point of a great adventure and it can be something you add to your life that will assist you in creating a greater ease with everything.
Dr. Dain Heer offers classes on a wide array of topics through out the world and is best known for his transformation process The Energetic Synthesis of Being (ESB).
Dr. Dain Heer offers classes on a wide array of topics through out the world and is well known for his Being You, Changing the World events, based on his bestselling Being You, Changing the World book.
The Speciality Programs are branches of Access Consciousness where you can dive deeper into particular topics with specialized facilitators. Each program offer introductory classes, advanced classes and certification facilitator training.
Access Consciousness offers classes on an infinite array of topics. There are many types of variety classes available.
Access Consciousness have many ways of engaging with the tools worldwide via expos, meet ups, radio shows, tele summits, google hangouts and more.
Each Access Facilitator is facilitated by the creators of Access Consciousness, Gary Douglas and Dr. Dain Heer. There are several license types for Access Consciousness Core Classes as well as Specialty Programs and Special Topic Classes.
Are you looking for more change? Use our search function to find a facilitator near you.
Access Consciousness has over 8,000 facilitators and practitioners in more than 170 countries. Find all their specific certifications and licenses here.
Find an article on almost any topic you could think of! Where would you like your adventure to begin?
We created a special log in help page to assist you!
Tu vida no tiene que ser sobre la limitación nunca más. No tiene que ser acerca de recrear las mismas cosas viejas. Puedes tener la consciencia de cómo quieres que sea tu vida realmente, y en la clase de Elección de Posibilidades recibes las herramientas que te empoderan a elegirla y crearla.
La elección es el comienzo de toda creación. Cada vez que eliges, algo se muestra en tu vida por tu elección. No hay elección correcta o incorrecta. Solo hay elección.
Tu elección puede cambiarlo todo. ¿Estás listo para comenzar el viaje de la elección? ¿Estás listo para vivir y ser la pregunta de qué más es posible?
Aplica precio por país y por edad.
Todos los precios incluyen las grabaciones MP3 de la clase/telellamada.
Tu precio individual aplicado puede encontrarse bajo "Billings and Payment" (facturación y pagos) después de registrarte.
For more information, download the Event Pdf HERE.
Click Here to see when it starts where you are in the world.
If you are attending the Live class in Australia,
please contact your hosts at firstname.lastname@example.com
If you are attending Online,
please write to the Stream Team at streaming@accessconsciousness.
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Peppers Noosa Resort & Villas
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Sarah Watt
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On a recent episode of "Louie," the often hilarious new FX show staring Louis CK, the comic hooks up with a sexy 26-year-old who is attracted to him – solely because he's (barely) over 40.
"Older guys are just relaxed," she tells him. "I mean, you've given up, which makes you grounded. Your skin is all loose and a little dry. And you smell weird."
The whimsical, wishful-thinking scene (check it out here – warning: NSFW) is typical of this offbeat show in which the unapologetically shlumpy cynic frequently moans about getting older.
CK's pessimistic outlook is refreshingly honest at a time when pop culture is a Botox-infused, mathematical mess where we're fed lines like 50 is the new 30, 80 is the new 60, and 60 is the new 40. Another one of our favorite comics, Lewis Black, who turns 62 this month, tries to scream us back into reality in his new DVD, "Stark Raving Black," declaring, "Sixty is not 40! Sixty is 60! Forty is 40!"
The mixed signals sent on aging struck us in couple of seemingly unrelated recent news items. A new study found that we're at our most mentally fit during so-called middle age – between 40 and 60. Meanwhile, the latest stunt on CBS's "Survivor" involves pitting a team of contestants 30 and under against a group over 40.
We're amused that CBS, which has battled perceptions that its audience is marking time in God's waiting room, is using age as a marketing gimmick – ostensibly to draw younger viewers. Or maybe additional older ones…
TV executives are demographically obsessed because advertisers are obsessed with reaching the 18-to-49 crowd. That's a big part of the reason why we get too many shows that seem to be guesses at what young people want to see (presuming they're ever offline) rather than stabs at quality.
Now we're told in a new study by an ad agency research firm that audience age differences – at least among the networks – are virtually nonexistent. The median age of viewers of all networks, except the CW, is over 45, the New York Post reports, citing the report by Magna Global.
Viewer ages range, according to the report, from Fox's "Family Guy," with a median age of 30, to CBS' "The Good Wife," with a median age of 58. They're very different programs with one thing in common: both are among TV's best shows.
We're just happy to repeatedly tell ourselves that age is a state of mind as we root from the couch for the over-40s to kick butt on the new season of "Survivor" – if only because they're the perceived underdogs (and, if the Seattle Longitudinal Study is to be believed, they have the brains to beat the brawn).
We're also ready to move into Louie CK's world – a place where the babes fall for lines like "I remember going to movies when it cost $3" and "I had a vein removed from my leg last year."
Hester is founding director of the award-winning, multi-media NYCity News Service at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He is the former City Editor of the New York Daily News, where he started as a reporter in 1992. Follow him on Twitter.


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Time to take an inventory of your mutual funds. How many are there? What are their investment styles? Is your portfolio of mutual funds cluttered just like your closet? Have you owned some mutual funds so long that you have forgotten why you bought them? Are there some mutual funds on the top shelf, way in the back of your financial closet you haven't even looked at in a while?
Adding new mutual funds to your portfolio is far easier than reorganizing your fund portfolio and discarding inappropriate, redundant, or simply poor-performing mutual funds. The answer to the question of how many mutual funds you should have in your portfolio is not just a number. But if you have many more than eight mutual funds in your closet, chances are you need to do some serious portfolio cleaning. Here's why.
First, in order to be well-diversified, your mutual fund portfolio should be invested in domestic and foreign stock mutual funds and in fixed-income mutual funds or income fund equivalents. Within the domestic stock market, your mutual funds should cover large stocks, small stocks, and stocks in-between.
Foreign investments should cover established firms in industrialized countries and stocks of countries that would be considered emerging markets. While geographic diversification domestically is relatively unimportant, diversification by region for foreign investments is. Representation in Europe for large stock international mutual funds is important, and investments in Latin America and the Pacific Rim are crucial when considering emerging stock mutual funds. Global mutual funds that invest domestically and abroad sound like a one-fund answer, but it is too much geography for one portfolio manager to cover and global funds tend to change domestic/foreign portfolio weights as world conditions change, neutralizing some diversification benefits.
Counting the Mutual Funds
Let's stop and take a count: one large stock domestic fund, one small stock domestic fund, one international large stock fund, one emerging market stock fund—so far, four mutual funds. Have we missed the mid-sized domestic stocks? Well, check your large-cap stock fund and your small-cap stock fund to see what they include. Usually, large stock funds leak down into the mid-size range and small stock funds push up into the mid-size range. If not, add a mid-size mutual fund to avoid any portfolio gaps. Now we may be up to five, all of which are stock mutual funds at this point.
If you want income and the diversification benefit of a fixed-income fund, then a simple choice would be to consider intermediate U.S. government bond mutual funds. The intermediate maturity—in other words, a three- to 10-year weighted average maturity of the bonds in the portfolio—captures most of the yield of longer-term mutual funds with much less volatility when interest rates change. If you are in a high federal tax bracket, a municipal bond fund might be a better choice. And if you live in a state with high state and local taxes such as California or New York, you may want to consider substituting a state-specific municipal bond fund to minimize federal, state and local taxes on the bond income. Aggressive investors can reach to high-yield corporate bond funds and if they are in a high tax bracket, hold the fund in a tax-sheltered account. While high-yield (junk) bond funds invest in lower-quality corporate debt that pays high income, the individual default risk of the bonds in the portfolio is softened through diversification and the high income dampens portfolio volatility. Furthermore, high-yield bonds tend to be sensitive to the economic cycle, acting more like stocks than government bonds.
One bond mutual fund in a portfolio may make sense, but it is difficult to imagine the value of more than two bond mutual funds. For high-tax bracket individuals, a municipal bond fund and perhaps a high-yield bond fund in a retirement account may make sense, but high-tax-bracket investors often prefer growth through common stock mutual funds rather than income from any source.
So, if we add one to our fund count for a fixed-income fund we have a total of six mutual funds; two bond funds would push it to seven.
Other Categories of Mutual Funds
What about all those other categories of mutual funds? Do you need a gold fund, mortgage-backed bond fund, international bond fund, sector fund, index fund?
Let's take them one at a time.
- Gold mutual funds are concentrated sector funds holding gold mining stocks primarily in North America, South Africa, and Australia. They are extremely volatile, as gold price changes are magnified by the operating cost breakeven points of gold mining firms. Do you need a gold fund in your portfolio? No. Most investors use gold funds as a store of value, a hedge against inflation. Over the last decade, however, they have been neither. When stocks are roaring up, you would like your gold fund to behave like a stock, but it tends to act like gold bullion. When the stock market collapses, you hope your gold fund behaves like gold bullion, but unfortunately, it tends to act more like a stock.
- Should you consider mortgage-backed bond mutual funds for your portfolio? Probably not. A diversified portfolio of mortgages that promise higher returns than a U.S. government bond portfolio of similar maturity does have some appeal. However, mortgage-backed funds have at times behaved as badly as gold funds. When interest rates rise, bond prices fall and the share prices of bond mutual funds also fall. So, as an investor, when rates rise, you want a mortgage-backed bond fund to act contrary to a bond, but it doesn't. When interest rates fall, the prices of bonds and bond mutual funds rise, but a mortgage-backed bond fund will respond more to the mortgage market. When mortgage rates fall along with interest rates, mortgages are refinanced and part of your investment is essentially handed back to you to be reinvested at lower rates.
- International bond mutual funds often promise higher yields, but the difference in yields is usually due to differences in currency strength. A country with high interest rates is likely to be protecting a weak currency. When rates are high, investors buy the currency to buy the bonds and support the currency in the process. If the currency in which the foreign bonds are denominated weakens, the differences in yield may evaporate or even fall below domestic yields. Currency speculation is not a game most investors should play.
- Sector mutual funds concentrate on one industry or a few closely related industries. Because they are concentrated in an industry, they are not well diversified. Beyond the additional risk, the trick to master is just which sector funds to invest in. At the top of most "best-performing mutual funds" lists will be some sector funds, but they'll also appear on the "worst-performing mutual funds" lists—it's just a question of when. Most aggressively managed stock mutual funds concentrate in some industries and might be viewed as a combination of sector funds. Few investors are willing and able to place sector bets unless they have particular experience in a sector through their education, work experience or vocation, and if they do have the expertise, selecting individual stocks may be more rewarding.
- Do index mutual funds have a place in your portfolio? Yes, but they don't add to the number of funds. They simply are another way of managing your assets in one of the fund categories necessary for a rational, well-diversified, non-redundant mutual fund portfolio. Index mutual funds should be employed in a situation where even the brightest and best of portfolio managers using superior timing and stock selection decisions would have difficulty overcoming the cost advantage of an index fund. Areas of the markets that are efficient, have readily available information, are well-researched and followed closely by the investment community, or are simply not susceptible to very profitable analysis are candidates for indexing. The market for large domestic stocks and the U.S. government bond market fit the index fund criteria. Small domestic stocks and emerging foreign markets do not. These markets have attributes that make intelligent, thorough analysis more likely to contribute returns that can overcome the cost of active fund management.
Style Diversification in a Portfolio of Mutual Funds
An added classification for domestic stock funds is investment style—mutual funds can be categorized as growth or value, or both. Growth mutual funds would typically invest in stocks with high earnings growth expectations; value mutual funds would invest in stocks with low prices relative to earnings and net asset values. The style label should be based not on what the fund says it is or what it says it will do, but on what it does. Investment style classification should serve to help investors avoid redundancies and coverage gaps. But they also beg the question, "Should a portfolio of stock mutual funds be diversified by style as well as the size of stocks?" Size, yes. Style, perhaps.
Many mutual funds operate in more than one stock size range and many use approaches that are classified as both growth and value. Do you need a value and growth fund in each stock size category? No. One value fund, and it might be the large stock fund, and one growth fund covering the mid-sized and small stock area provide coverage of size and style. A large stock index fund will be both growth and value, and more extensive indexes will cover value and growth for more stocks and stock size ranges.
Eight Is Enough…
Understanding the style and stock size characteristics of mutual funds will help prevent duplications and an unnecessary run-up in the number of mutual funds in your portfolio. Now, back to our count of mutual funds: We left off at six with one fixed-income fund, or seven funds with two fixed-income funds. Add a money market fund and the counter clicks to eight. Be sure you can justify adding mutual funds to your portfolio beyond eight. Make certain you need them, that they truly cover new ground in asset type, geography, or investment style, and that the addition is meaningful.
Taking the time to create an organized, understandable, appropriate and efficient portfolio of mutual funds may be your most important investment.


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Wednesday Update:
Wow. Thanks for the fabulous response to the brainstorm. We've been overwhelmed by the sheer number of thoughtful responses. To give everyone enough time to comment and us a little time to read through everything, we've decided to extend the period for taking comments and post a blog about the brainstorm with the poll on Monday. Until then, please keep sharing your ideas. All suggestions received by Friday morning will be candidates for the poll. Oh, a word about moderation, we moderate every comment, and our policy is not to include comments that include vulgar words (even if the words are partially obscured with other characters) or involve name calling. We have not been able to approve a few comments that were otherwise very interesting because they violated our comment policy, so please double check your comment before you submit it. Thanks again!
Original Post:
The Postal Service is facing a financial crisis and needs to pursue every option it can to improve its net income. Pushing the Envelope thought it might be a good idea to ask for your thoughts. How do you think the Postal Service can save money or raise additional revenue? To make this a bit more interesting, the blog team will review your ideas and pick the most popular or most interesting for a poll. We'll post the poll on Wednesday. So brainstorm now, and be sure to come back on Wednesday to view the shortlist and to vote for your favorites. Share your ideas in the comments below. Describe the idea, whether it involves cutting costs or generating revenue, and how much you think it could add to the Postal Service's bottom line. Happy brainstorming! This topic is hosted by the OIG's Risk Analysis Research Center (RARC).


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All About Baby
Your baby's brain is growing daily. Her senses are also starting to develop. She can hear the sound of your heart along with your breathing. As she wiggles her fingers, she may touch her face or even suck her thumb. Her lungs are becoming more mature, and she even goes through the motions of breathing. She can also swallow, although she won't have her first real meal until delivery day.
All About You
You're probably feeling fetal movement throughout the day now that your baby's getting bigger. And as she grows, your body has to make room. Your stomach will have less space to expand, meaning you may suffer heartburn and indigestion, especially at night. Add to that the fact that pregnancy hormones can slow digestion making your tummy troubles even worse. Slight swelling may make your shoes uncomfortable. Your back may also ache with the added weight of your baby bump. Your bladder is also suffering from the space crunch, so expect plenty of potty breaks.
Intimacy and Pregnancy
Some women experience big bonuses along with their pregnancy—larger breasts, glowing skin, and a slight baby bump—if you're part of this group, chances are you feel more attractive than ever. On the flip side, if your pregnancy has been mostly about enduring nausea and fatigue, your libido may have taken a nosedive. No matter what your circumstance, the changes taking place in your body will undoubtedly affect how you and your partner feel about intimacy.
Why you may feel more attractive
Changes in your appearance: One of the first signs of pregnancy is an increased cup size. If you normally have smaller breasts, your new fuller breasts may make you feel more desirable. Couple that with an increased blood flow, which leaves you with rosier cheeks, and you might be downright irresistible.
Fluctuations in hormone levels: Pregnancy hormones may have you craving everything from pickles and ice cream to more intimacy. Keep in mind that the effects of these hormones vary for every woman, and your moods may change daily (sometimes hourly!).
Free of pressure to conceive: Perhaps you've been trying for months to get pregnant. Now that the pressure is off, intimacy may become more enjoyable and less of a task.
Why you may not feel interested
Tenderness: Your breasts and abdomen are going through quite a growth spurt, which may leave you sore. Intimacy may be uncomfortable, especially during your first and last trimesters.
Fatigue and nausea: If you've suffered strong bouts of nausea, intimacy may be the last thing on your mind. Fatigue may further zap any other desires.
Weight gain: As you've watched the scale tip upwards, you may feel frumpy.
Why intimacy is important
Intimacy allows you and your partner to express your love and concern for each other. It's a physical closeness that can reinforce your emotional connection to your partner. A gentle massage, cuddling, and kissing, can help erase some of the day-to-day pains of pregnancy and let you know your partner is there for you.
Worrying about the baby
"Unless you have a specific medical issues like multiple births, placenta previa, or another high-risk condition, sexual intercourse won't hurt your baby," explains Dr. William Camann, MD, director of obstetric anesthesia at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and coauthor of Easy Labor.
He notes, however, that you may notice some contractions after lovemaking—that's normal. Unless your cervix is already starting to dilate, there's little reason to worry that these contractions will lead to labor.
If you have any unexplained bleeding after intimacy, or sex is extremely uncomfortable, talk to your healthcare provider about your concerns.
Got questions about Week 22? Other ladies have wondered…
Q: I've been told to schedule a gestational diabetes test, but I don't know what it is.
A gestational diabetes test (also known as an oral glucose tolerance test or OGTT) is done as a routine screening for all pregnant women. Your doctor will let you know when it is appropriate for you. It is routinely done between weeks 24 and 28 of your pregnancy. This test looks at how well your body copes with glucose (or sugar levels). Read more about the gestational diabetes test.
Q: I'm 22 weeks pregnant and my nipples really hurt. Is this normal?
The pain around your nipples is probably a result both of increased sensitivity and small amounts of microscopic engorgement near the drainage ducts going to the nipple. But you may have engorgement in other areas of your breast as well. Severe engorgement can lead to mastitis or an infection of the breast tissue. Read more about breast changes during pregnancy.
Q: Is shortness of breath at 22 weeks a normal symptom?
A feeling of working harder to breathe is common in pregnancy, partly due to progesterone, a pregnancy hormone that affects your breathing, and partly due (usually later on) to the size of the uterus preventing your lungs from fully expanding. Read more about shortness of breath at 22 weeks.
Your Partner
Staying Connected
Intimacy is a wonderful thing. It is not just about sex, but about physical and emotional closeness between you and your partner. Some men are uncomfortable having sex while their partners are pregnant, but as long as the doctor says it is safe (and usually it is), by all means, enjoy it. These are the last months you will have a chance to be intimate without worrying about another little being in your life, so take advantage of it!
Once your baby is born you will most likely find yourselves too tired and too focused on other things (like Baby!) to make time for sex. But it is incredibly important to remember that intimacy between you and your partner is vital to the health and success of your relationship. While sex certainly can be a form of intimacy, your relationship doesn't always have to include sex. Sometimes intimacy can be cuddling together, talking with each other, sharing your time and experiences, reading together, or indulging in a late morning in bed while doing crosswords or Sudoku together.
The key is to practice and be creative in your intimacy now so when things get chaotic after your baby is born, you'll already know tried-and-true ways to bring you and your partner together, despite all that is going on around you both.


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|Biosequences .. Software .. Molbio soft .. Network News .. FTP
NEW T-DNA TRANSFORMED LINES FROM J. ALONSO, W. CROSBY AND J. ECKER NOW AVAILABLE FROM ABRC ABRC is currently receiving T-DNA insertion lines produced by Jose Alonso, William Crosby and Joe Ecker. Of the 30,000 lines so far received from this collection, 10,000 are now available as seed pools. The newly released lines can be obtained as pools of 100 or pools of 10. The stock numbers and associated fees are: CS76502 - set of 100 pools, 100 lines per pool - Cost: $100 CS76501 - set of 1000 pools, 10 lines per pool - Cost: $1200* The parental line (CS60000) is included with these stocks. *Note - shipment of the pools of 10 will begin after January 1. These T-DNA lines were generated by vacuum infiltration of Columbia (Col) plants with Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The vector employed was pROK2 (Baulcombe et al., 1986, Nature 321:446). The map and partial sequence of the vector are linked to the stock descriptions in AIMS (http://aims.cse.msu.edu/aims/). Each T1 transformant was grown individually, and equal quantities of T2 seeds combined to create pools of 10 lines. These pools of seeds were grown at ABRC to generate the T3 seed pools, which are the distributed stocks. We are pleased to be able to make these valuable stocks available. It is anticipated that this material will be very useful to those wishing to conduct phenotypic screenings since we noticed numbers of plants having visible phenotypic alterations in our reproduction populations. You may order these stocks by proceeding to the "Place Order" section of the AIMS database (http://aims.cse.msu.edu/aims/), logging in and entering the appropriate stock number in the order window.


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Finally, common sense has prevailed in major college football.
While it's far from what most fans and even some connected to the sport ultimately want, the BcS Presidential Oversight Committee has given its official stamp of approval for a four-team playoff. The seeded event will begin following the 2014 regular season, with the current system being utilized this year and next to crown a champion.
The 12-year agreement signed off on by the presidents will consist of six bowl games rotating as hosts of the semifinals. The championship game will be bid out separate from those two games.
In a joint statement, the committee acknowledged the "controversial" nature of the soon-to-be previous system while seeking to "build an even better college football season" — and possibly pulling a muscle or two congratulating themselves for taking the sensible path for once.
"We recognize that the BCS has been controversial in some years, but we also believe it has turned college football from a regional sport into a wonderfully popular national sport, much to the benefit of our alumni, student-athletes and fans," the twelve members of the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee said in a joint statement. "We now seek to build an even better college football season by creating a four-team playoff to crown the national champion, while protecting the regular season and the bowl experience.
"We're delighted to support this format and congratulate the group of conference commissioners who have done so much for college football and who worked so hard to make this happen."
In its release on the playoff development, the presidents addressed several issues that have been resolved, although at least a couple remain open for discussion.
- The championship game will be managed by the conferences and will not be branded as a bowl game.
- Enhance college football by playing the semifinals New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. The date of the first semifinal games will be either Wednesday, December 31, 2014, or Thursday, January 1, 2015.
- Create "Championship Monday" by setting the date of the championship game on the first Monday in January that is six or more days after the final semi-final game is played. As a result, in the first five years the championship game will be played on Monday, January 12, 2015; Monday, January 11, 2016; Monday, January 9, 2017; Monday, January 8, 2018; and Monday, January 7, 2019.
- Eliminate the "automatic qualification" designation.
Still to be decided? Access and revenue distribution, the latter of which will likely be a rather significant tussle if rumors of $500 million per season to be divvied out were to come to fruition.
Also to be decided is the makeup and size of a selection committee. An "agreement in principle" has been reached on a committee, although, as is ofttimes the case in a situation such as this, the devil will be in the details when it comes to signing off on the committee approach.
As it relates to the committee, the release notes that "[a]mong the factors the committee will value are win-loss record, strength of schedule, head-to-head results, and whether a team is a conference champion."
Despite some questions that still linger, particularly as it relates to the size of the field, the sport feels like it's gotten things just right on its first attempt.
"A four-team playoff doesn't go too far; it goes just the right amount," Virginia Tech president and committee member Charles Sterger said. "We are very pleased with this arrangement, even though some issues … remain to be finalized."
While a name for the new playoff is one of those that has yet to be decided on, the group as a whole fall right in line with Sterger — this is a red-letter day for the game and a significant step forward for the sport.
"We are very pleased with this new arrangement," the presidents said in the release. "College football's championship game is America's second most watched sporting event and we're proud to build on our successes as we grow the sport and hear the voices of everyone who loves college football."


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Bobby Brown was visibly shaken by the news of his ex-wife Whitney's Houston's sudden death on Saturday night.
The 43-year-old R&B singer—whose long-running battles with drug addiction and frequent law-breaking have tended to overshadow his musical career—broke down crying before the start of a previously scheduled concert in Mississippi, according to US Weekly.
While his group New Edition—a once-popular 1980s boy-band act—performed an opening number, Brown remained backstage and wept.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
According to a concert attendee cited by US Weekly, Brown then appeared onstage to great applause and cheering and performed "Hit Me Off," a track from New Edition's 1996 album "Home Again."
Later, Brown shouted "I love you, Whitney!" and blew a kiss to the sky. US Weekly reports that Brown appeared noticeably teary-eyed and anguished.
The waterworks returned during Brown's rendition of the ballad "Roni," originally released in 1988. Brown reportedly sobbed during this segment of the concert and called on the audience to join him in song.
Sunday, he released a statement to People Magazine.
"I am deeply saddened at the passing of my ex-wife, Whitney Houston ... At this time we ask for privacy, especially for my daughter, Bobbi Kristina. I appreciate all of the condolences that have been directed towards my family and I at this most difficult time."
The Houston Family issued a separate statement to CNN: "We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Whitney. This is an unimaginable tradgedy and we will miss her terribly. We appreciate the outpouring of love and support from her fans and friends."
Brown and Houston were married from 1992 to 2007 and shared a daughter named Bobbi Kristina, now 18. In 2007, in the wake of the couple's high-profile divorce proceedings, a judge awarded Houston full custody of their child.


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When I was younger, maybe 10 or 12 or 15, I used to say I hated men. I probably did. My feminism was born from anger—at them and at a world in which they seemed too powerful and too happy to take advantage of other people's powerlessness. Second in line for my feminist wrath was women who seemingly made it harder on other women by giving in to men, using their looks and sex appeal to gain a piece of that power.
As I got older, I continued to judge women for being "complicit." I judged them according to my definition of what being a woman with a full life meant. I judged moms who were "just" homemakers. I judged women who married young. I judged girls I knew who didn't have any hobbies and just hung around watching boys play video games. I thought that since feminism had bum-rushed the patriarchy, every woman should be striving and fighting and aspiring, and to be a radical feminist meant you had to be at the frontlines of protest, doing clinic defense and giving your male friends a public browbeating if they made a remark that you thought was less than PC. I used feminism as a yardstick to constantly measure whether everyone else was right or wrong. And most of the time, they were wrong.
To me, the one true way to be a feminist was to always be fighting. In some ways I still believe that, though mainly I believe that feminism is an act of resisting a world that tells me women are shit (as are children, the poor, anyone who isn't white and American, etc.). But the thing about fighting and having an ideology that is rooted in anger is that it's incredibly exhausting. You constantly feel vulnerable, forever poised for a defensive attack. Being that person isn't very fun, and it's not particularly pleasant to be around.
About eight years ago, after I had been on a bell hooks tear—I had read almost all of her old books—I caught up to her new ones. She had just released The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. There was a line towards the end of the introduction where she wrote about subconsciously waiting for men to die in order to feel like women could live a free life. The line took my breath away. I just started sobbing. I had spent so much time and energy reinforcing this idea in my head that men were my enemy, and it had made me so bitter and mistrusting of them and any woman that I felt was "on their side." I had so much pain wrapped up in my politics. I knew I couldn't continue like this any longer.
The rest of the book was a real awakening. I came to realize that for my feminism to sustain me, it needed to be based in love. I had to love men and accept that feminism was not just about liberating women from oppressive roles, but also liberating men and boys from their confines, from a society that tells them not to feel and to be straight and tough and have money and big dicks and to never complain. I also needed to love women and understand that everyone has their struggles, and even if I can't see them, I needed to appreciate them. And just because you aren't out busting through glass ceilings and spitting on cops doesn't mean that you aren't properly feminist. I needed to be inclusive, because it doesn't do the cause or women any good to constantly label things "not feminist enough." If I meet a girl who feels inspired and empowered by Taylor Swift, who thinks she's the very definition of radical girl power, why not include her definition of girl power in mine? Why not seek solidarity with her instead of pointing out all the ways that Taylor Swift is not a fucking riot grrrl, you know? Why zealously call out other feminist books/bands/Tumblogs for not being perfect enough? We cannot always see the feminist struggle from the outside, but many women may be fighting for parity in their lives, whether they are professionally successful or work at tanning salons and don't know what Planned Parenthood is.
The embarrassing reality of having had an ultra-dogmatic vision of what a feminist is and how she should look/act/sing/write was that it wasn't very feminist of me. In fact, it was rather macho to be constantly ranking people according to my internalized hierarchy. The thing we as feminists know to be true is that women and girls (and brothers-in-struggle and other non-female allies) need our support, not our constant policing.
I don't know exactly at what point I started to rearrange my feminism, to come from a place of love, but I remember how it took root: I saw my male roommates, friends, and bandmates in a different light, rather than thinking of them as variations on a stereotype. I realized that I wasn't even considering that they might be as burdened by what the world expected of them as I was by what the world expected of me. I stopped assuming motives: "He just wants to sleep with me;" "He is only helping me because he thinks I am stupid." I had empathy.
This change didn't mean I stopped viewing the world with a critical eye—it actually made it easier to see the world rather than feel like I was blindly angry and at war with everything. I felt like my heart was still vulnerable to injustice and sadness, but so much more connected to the peace and power that came from having solidarity with other women, other feminists. I was no longer waiting for anyone to die so I could live. I was free. ♦


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Portabella mushrooms filled with ricotta, shallots, cucumber, and tomato.
Preparation Time: 15 mins
Cooking Time: 5 mins
Yield: 4 x 2-mushroom servings
In a bowl, mix ricotta, cucumber, tomato, onion, and black pepper.
Sprinkle mushroom caps with lemon juice and fill with the ricotta mixture. Garnish with dill (or chives). Serve immediately or bake in a moderate oven for a few minutes.


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NEW YORK (AP) — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has ordered New York City's transit service to suspend bus, subway, and commuter rail service in advance of the massive storm expected to hit the eastern third of the United States.
Cuomo says subways and trains will be suspended starting at 7 p.m. Sunday and buses at 9 p.m.
The city's mass transit system is the nation's largest. The subway alone has a daily ridership of more than 5 million.
Rainfall is expected to start late Sunday or early Monday in New York. Hurricane Sandy is headed north from the Caribbean to meet a winter storm and a cold front. Experts say the rare hybrid storm that results will cause havoc over 800 miles from the East Coast to the Great Lakes.