text:
Crunch gym member Marni Rosethal gets to kick a millionaire's butt.
NEW YORK - As it turns out, Rick Rockwell's failed marriage to Darva Conger was not the most painful experience of his life. Even the subsequent negative media coverage couldn't claim that prize. No, Rockwell's most excruciating moments came when he stepped into the ring with Crunch gym member Marni Rosenthal.
For those of you who have been boycotting reality-based television, Rockwell was the millionaire of Fox's Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire? He chose Conger as his bride in what turned out to be a controversial and short-lived relationship.
More recently, Rockwell took part in a different type of contest, one that had nothing to do with romance or love. His heart wasn't on the line; just his head. And 160,083 people wanted it. That's the number of entries Crunch received for its online contest, "Who Wants To Kick A Millionaire's Butt?"
Rosenthal was the lucky winner, and she reportedly underwent aggressive training for her recent kickboxing match with Rockwell, whose self-admitted regimen of junk food did little to prepare him for Rosenthal's ferocity. Forget about the Thrilla in Manilla, the Rumble in the Jungle. This was the Punch Thrown at Crunch, as spectators crammed the chain's Lafayette location in downtown Manhattan to watch Rosenthal get a piece of Rockwell. Crunch also cybercasted the bout at its Web site.
As for the outcome of the match, let's just say that the contest lived up to its name. "Marni kicked his butt!" said Dayna Crawford, director of public relations and marketing with Crunch.
Rockwell wasn't a complete loser. He received $20,000 to donate to the charity of his choice for participating in the fight.
At press time, Conger hasn't had her butt kicked-although she has shown it in Playboy magazine.


text:
Bill to let retailers keep selling alligator products advances
Rodeo Drive's high-fashion boutiques are making fast progress persuading California lawmakers to let them keep selling luxury goods made from alligator skin, including purses, wallets, boots, shoes and watch bands.
With the help of the state of Louisiana, the retailers hope to preserve an alligator exemption to a decades-old law aimed at protecting threatened and endangered species, such as American alligators and crocodiles, by banning the importation of their skins into the Golden State.
By 2006, alligator populations in Louisiana and Florida had bounced back sufficiently that the California Legislature allowed the costly accessories to be sold at tony Beverly Hills and West Los Angeles retailers such as Bijan, Battaglia, Lanvin and Fendi.
The Legislature renewed the exemption for five years in 2010. The Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee this month unanimously approved a bill, AB 2075 by Assemblyman Luis Alejo (D-Watsonville), that would give a green light to continued sales of gator skin for a decade longer, beginning Jan. 1.
The measure is set for an Assembly floor vote Tuesday.
A cutoff of alligator-skin products would be an economic blow to California's fanciest retailers, boutique managers argued in dozens of letters of support for the bill.
"The city of Beverly Hills is famous around the world for its diverse and comprehensive luxury retail offerings, and a prohibition of these skins would place our city and our state at a great competitive disadvantage with other states where there is no such prohibition," wrote Battaglia, a menswear shop that bills itself as the oldest store on Rodeo Drive.
So far, proponents have rolled over opposition from a normally potent adversary: the Humane Society of the U.S. and its top Sacramento lobbyist, Jennifer Fearing.
In recent years, Fearing and her group helped pass legislation into law that banned the sale of shark fins for soup in Chinese restaurants and eliminated foie gras from restaurant menus. The society also led a successful voter initiative that provides bigger, more comfortable cages for egg-laying hens.
On top of that, Fearing is chummy with Gov. Jerry Brown. She walks his Pembroke Welsh corgi, Sutter, and even dog-sits him occasionally.
Fearing and other animal rights advocates argued that there's no way to know at the retail level whether a finished product was made with skins from non-endangered American alligators or from another endangered gator species.
But the Humane Society and its supporters couldn't sway the Assembly committee members once Louisiana officials and experts in alligator population management testified.
They told the committee that Louisiana and Florida literally are crawling with the gators. Their population in Louisiana alone ballooned to more than 1.5 million wild and farm-raised reptiles from a low of a couple of hundred thousand in the early 1960s, officials said.
"There are alligators everywhere, on golf courses and in people's pools," said Don Ashley, a consultant to the Louisiana Alligator Advisory Council, a panel of landowners, hunters and alligator farmers that provides industry input to the state.
No-longer-endangered American alligators account for about 60% of all gator hides that get turned into luxury goods. The raw skin trade is worth about $150 million a year, the tanned hides go for $300 million and sales of the finished goods are worth about $1 billion, Ashley said.
Hunting and raising alligators for the luxury goods market is a modest but important source of income for Louisianians who live in the marshes and bayous near the Gulf Coast, said Bob Love of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission.
"We need California customers," he testified at the committee hearing, stressing that the trade in American alligator skins is "legal … sustainable and verifiable."
Louisiana and California are missing the point, Fearing of the Humane Society countered.
"California's penal code rightly protects our consumers from unwittingly supporting the trade in products made from imperiled species," she said after the hearing. "It's unfortunate when Rodeo Drive's interests trump sound wildlife protection."
Twitter: @MarcLifsher
Your guide to our clean energy future
Get our Boiling Point newsletter for the latest on the power sector, water wars and more — and what they mean for California.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
JP Camara
Co-Host of Point by Point
JP Camara has hosted 26 Episodes.
Episode 25: Saucy Paws, a Chili Company for Dogs
November 21st, 2018 | 43 mins 16 secs
It's a Thanksgiving miracle! Point by Point re-emerges from the depths with an episode we've been sitting on since April: our deep dive into Enneagrams! Also a few other random things, you know the deal.
Episode 24: That's a Cheese Board
June 14th, 2018 | 37 mins 42 secs
Our main topic revolves around mentors, but ultimately lands on personality traits we inherited from our parents and how different we are from them.
Episode 23: Tickle Me Interested
May 29th, 2018 | 41 mins 42 secs
This week, we've talk about a topic fans of the show have been asking us to talk about for awhile: Our finances.
Episode 22: Cactapus
May 15th, 2018 | 43 mins 14 secs
We're releasing a pretty late one! This one was about black panther, our trip to Arizona, being rusty, eating poorly, and God's mistake in letting Adam name everything.
Episode 21: They All Sound Insulting
April 24th, 2018 | 51 mins 35 secs
This week, we talk about what makes good movies good, the excitement of speeding across the country, and the importance of learning new things.
Episode 20: I'm almost always wrong, but I always feel right
March 22nd, 2018 | 44 mins 32 secs
Cold opens, personality, the search for self, and the return of 5 love languages
Episode 19: Untitled Episode
February 5th, 2018 | 56 mins 52 secs
Episode 18: Jokes about magic beans
January 18th, 2018 | 44 mins 24 secs
Episode 17: Wildly Inappropriate for Grandma (or... Runaway Train, Runaway Track)
January 9th, 2018 | 42 mins 50 secs
Episode 16: We're All Living in George Washinghands Nightmare
January 3rd, 2018 | 47 mins 13 secs
This week, we talk about Steve's new job, a would you rather, the need to read, and some of our favorite recent things.
Episode 15: Nineteen Cats Named Christopher
December 19th, 2017 | 54 mins 1 sec
This week, we talk about what it means to not only be the hero in our own story, but also the small and insignificant parts we play in other peoples' stories. Why do we tend to forget that everyone around us has an complex and interesting life?
Episode 14: Little Chunky Anubi
November 21st, 2017 | 45 mins 28 secs
This week it's the gut busting topic everyone loves: soul searching. Can you feel the humor radiating from those words? Steve talks smack about gluten free food, we search our souls until jp can't handle his emotions anymore and we run the religious gamut from the ancient egyptians to modern scientology.
Episode 13: 40 Days on Noah's Dream Boat
November 14th, 2017 | 43 mins 50 secs
This week, we surprise everyone and spoil exactly zero movies! We talk about Steve's trivia experience, JP's knowledge of the Simpsons, Boy Scouts relaxing their gender requirements to allow girls to join, and web accessibility. Huzzah!
The Halloween Spooctacular
November 7th, 2017 | 50 mins 7 secs
childhood, ghosts, ghouls, halloween, monopoly
Hey! It's (a week after) Halloween! So spooooooky! This week we play monopoly and talk about what Halloween means to us.
Episode 12: Schrödinger's dude
October 24th, 2017 | 52 mins 42 secs
childhood, video games
This week, we discuss our childhood! Kind of. Turns out it was mostly just playing video games and watching the Simpsons.
Episode 11: Highly Affected by Words
October 17th, 2017 | 54 mins 42 secs
This week, we consider failure in terms of other people — basically, what does it look like when other people think you've failed at doing the thing you love? Do you keep doing it anyways?


text:
Over the past few weeks, I've been continuing to investigate the structure of the Types stream (stream 2) in Microsoft PDB files with the help of Sven Schreiber's PDB parsing code. Some issues with getting approval to publish research came up at work, but I think they're mostly ironed out now, so I'm going to devote this entry to going through some of the trickier bits involved in parsing the Types stream. Some code also accompanies this entry: a python script to parse and print out the types contained in a stream. It works on streams that have alrady been extracted from a PDB file (see this earlier entry); if you don't have one around you can try it out on the Types stream from ntoskrnl.exe on Windows XP SP2.
The Type Stream Header
The types stream begins with a header that gives a few pieces of useful information. The first dword represents the version number, of the PDB file, and is generally determined by the version of the compiler that created the PDB file. For XP, the version is 19990903, and for Vista 20040203 (note that the numbers can be read as dates that approximately line up to the release of Visual Studio used to create them).
The next word gives the size of the header; I have not yet seen a case where this was anything other than 0x38 bytes, but in theory this could allow for extensions to the header without breaking backwards compatibility with older parsers (they could just skip any extra header data). After the header size, there are two dwords, tiMin and tiMax, that give the numerical index of the first and last type listed in the file.
These type indices are important to understanding the structure of the file format. The first type in a file will be numbered tiMin, the next tiMin+1, and so on up to tiMax. In addition, many types will refer to other types in the same file using their type index; for example, if _MMVAD is type 0x1002, a pointer to an _MMVAD would be a pointer type with its utype (underlying type) field set to 0x1002.
Finally, the header contains a dword at offset 0x0E that gives the size in bytes of the data that follows the header. The size of the whole stream should be equal to the header size plus the size of the following data. This can be used as a crude sanity check to verify file integrity.
There is an additional structure present in the header aside from the ones already mentioned, which Schreiber calls the tpiHash. Unfortunately, I have not been able to determine what purpose the values in it serve; although the names seem to refer to some sort of hash, I have not found such a structure in the type streams available to me.
Overall Structure
The structure of the file is quite simple: after the header, we find a sequence of type structures, referred to in the CodeView documentation (more on this later) and Schreiber's code as leaf types. Each type has a size and a type, both words (in this case it could be seen as a metatype, as it is the type of that type--e.g., a structure, a field list, etc). It is imporant to note that the size does not include the size field itself, so the size of the entire structure is actually two bytes more than listed by the size field (this tripped me up for a little while).
The type field indicates how the leaf type is intended to be parsed. The constants have already been kindly defined by Schreiber in sbs_sdk/include/pdb_info.h in the win_pdbx sources. Likewise, most of the leaf types themselves are defined in that same file, as C structures. The structures appear to be extremely similar to the CodeView format documented in an early format specification from Microsoft, though there appear to have been some changes made to better accomodate 32-bit architectures (many words changed to dwords, and so on). However, certain details of how they are to be parsed are ambiguous, and one must look at how Schreiber actually uses them in his code to see how they should be interpreted. For example, many of the structures end with a char data[] field, which, upon investigation, actually contains a combination of the structure's name and a numeric value that means different things depending on the leaf type.
In the following sections, I will describe those portions of the file format that seemed obscure or were difficult to figure out just by looking at the data structures defined in Schreiber's code. Due to limited space and reader interest, I will not describe each leaf type in full; those interested in the details can check out my code or look at Schreiber's win_pdbx.
Padding Scheme
Based on examination of PDB files from Windows XP SP2 and Vista, structures in the types stream are aligned on 32-bit boundaries. This means that if a structure does not align properly, it will be padded out to the appropriate size. However, in the CodeView format, the padding is not junk data or nulls, but takes a particular form: each pad byte inserted looks like (0xF0 | [number of bytes until next structure]). Less formally, the upper four bits are all set, and the lower four give the number of bytes to skip until the next structure. This results in patterns that look like "?? F3 F2 F1 [next structure]".
I am not entirely clear on the reasoning behind this padding scheme. One possibility is that it allows alignment to multiple different boundaries without requiring changes to the parser: rather than rounding up to the next aligned boundary, a parser can just read a single byte to determine how far away the next structure is. Dealing with padding is not strictly necessary, though; Schreiber's parser simply rounds up to the nearest 4-byte boundary. This scheme does impose an interesting constraint, though: because bytes with values greater than 0xF0 are defined to be padding, no leaf type can have a type code that contains a byte greater than 0xF0.
Field Lists
Structures, bitfields, argument lists, and so on all need a way to refer to a list of types that they contain; for example, an _EPROCESS structure will contain a _KPROCESS, _DISPATCHER_HEADER, and so on. To deal with this, types that refer to other types will have a field that gives the type index of their corresponding field list. Fieldlists (leaf type 0x1203), in turn, have a very simple structure: after the standard size and type fields, the body of the structure is made up of an arbitrary number of leaf types of type LF_MEMBER, LF_ENUMERATE, LF_BCLASS, LF_VFUNCTAB, LF_ONEMETHOD, LF_METHOD, or LF_NESTTYPE. This is somewhat annoying to parse, because the number of substructures is not known in advance, and so the only way to know when field list is finished is to see how many bytes have been parsed and compare it to the size of the overall structure.
As mentioned before, many of the structures Schreiber documents end with char data[]. This field is parsed as follows:
- If the value of the first word is less than LF_NUMERIC (0x8000), the value data is just the value of that word. The name begins at data[2] and is a C string.
- Otherwise, the word refers to the type of the value data, one of LF_CHAR, LF_SHORT, LF_USHORT, LF_LONG, or LF_ULONG. Then comes the actual value, and then the name as a C string. The length of the value data is determined by the value type--one byte for LF_CHAR, 2 for LF_SHORT, and so on.
The actual meaning of the value data depends on the leaf type it's embedded in. For example, for LF_STRUCTURE types, it refers to the size of the overall structure, while for LF_ENUMERATEs, it gives the value of the enum.
Forward References
As you parse through types, you will find that almost every structure appears more than once in the stream: first as an entry claiming to have zero members and no corresponding field list, and then as a much more normal looking structure with the appropriate number of members and a valid reference to a field list. The reason for this is that as the compiler generates the debugging symbols, it may come across names for structures that it does not yet know the contents of; in this case, it creates a forward reference by creating an empty structure in the types stream and then setting the "fwdref" bit in its attributes (bit 7 of the word at offset 0x06 of an LF_STRUCTURE).
Further Reading
The information already presented here, combined with Schreiber's already available win_pdbx source code, should be enough to build a parser for PDB type information. Specifically, the following files in Schreiber's distribution were most helpful to me:
- sbs_sdk/include/pdb_info.h (constants and structure definitions for leaf types)
- Program Files/DevStudio/MyProjects/sbs_pdb/sbs_pdb.h (header definitions for PDB files)
- Program Files/DevStudio/MyProjects/win_pdbx/win_pdbx.c (the actual code that does the parsing using the structures defined in those first two files)
In addition, the CodeView documentation, while quite outdated, is extremely useful for getting an idea of how the format works, and most of the strucutres are still valid with a few tweaks to support 32-bit architectures (mostly changing words to dwords in some places). The documentation also covers the format of the debug stream, which Schreiber's code does not handle. This should make the development of a parser for the debug stream (coming soon!) much easier.
Just to show that this all actually works, I have made available a preliminary parser that prints out parsed type information. I have also almost finished a more general parser that uses Construct, a Python library for parsing low-level binary data (though this description does not do it justice, and I will be writing more about it when I release the updated parser).


text:
Product Code: LW001/p
Be the first to review this product
Use spaces to separate tags. Use single quotes (') for phrases.
Shopping Options
Your personal information is only used by Erin House to take your order, to take payment for your order, to despatch your order and for Erin House records.
We will never pass your information to any other Companies but may contact you from time to time with our own special offers.
© Erin House Prints 2020
We accept the following cards:


text:
Microsoft (MSFT) startled everyone yesterday by announcing that it is going to make and sell its own version of the iPad, which is called the "Surface."
This new tablet, which Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer demo-ed in Los Angeles yesterday, will be made entirely by Microsoft--hardware and software.
This strategy, selling an integrated device, is a 180-degree turn from the strategy that Microsoft has employed with PCs and smartphones for the past three decades. The decision will certainly startle and possibly anger the hardware vendors that buy Microsoft's operating systems--Hewlett Packard (HPQ), Dell (DELL), etc.--all of which will likely have their own tablets. Now, instead of being a partner and supplier, Microsoft will be a direct competitor. That likely won't sit well.
So, why is Microsoft doing this? And does it have any chance of success?
Microsoft is doing this, I would argue, because it has realized that Apple (AAPL) is right: There are huge advantages to building and selling integrated devices, at least in the smartphone and tablet markets. (Microsoft's PC operating system business is still doing fine, although the world is rapidly moving into a "Post-PC" era in which the PC is much less relevant.)
In its latest attempt to recoup lost share in the smartphone market, Microsoft employed its standard strategy. It built a version of Windows for mobile, and then it partnered with hardware makers like Nokia (NOK). So far, this strategy has failed: Nokia is imploding, and the Microsoft-based smartphones have not been selling well.
Meanwhile, another big potential competitor in the tablet market, Google (GOOG), has failed to gain any traction with its own "software-only" strategy. With the exception of Amazon's (AMZN)Kindle, which is highly customized, Google Android-based tablets have flopped.
So Microsoft may have observed these two failures--its own in smartphones and Google's in tablets--and decided that the only way to compete was to make and sell the whole tablet itself.
Will it work?
That remains to be seen.
The "Surface" looked good in the demo, and it has some features that the iPad lacks--namely a "cover" that doubles as a keyboard. That feature will probably appeal to dedicated PC users who haven't yet made the jump to Apple. Apple's iPad is much more of a "consumption" device than a "creation" device, and the keyboard will make it easier to use Surface as a lightweight PC.
The Surface should also appeal to companies, which are struggling to support both Windows-based PCs and Apple-based iPads and iPhones. If the tablet works well, and runs native Microsoft Office programs well, companies may view it as the best tablet for them to use. And that will help Microsoft defend its turf in the enterprise.
But Microsoft has been in the hardware business before--with mixed results. The Xbox has worked: Microsoft attacked the game-console market and then displaced Sony and Nintendo. The Zune music player, however, was a disaster.
Importantly, Microsoft has also not said how much the Surface will cost or when it will be released. Microsoft is already two years behind Apple in tablets, and the low-end iPad price is already down to $399. If Microsoft can't beat that latter price, or can't launch very quickly, it's hard to see how the company will even have a chance.
SEE ALSO: PHOTOS: Check Out Microsoft's New Tablet--The "Surface".
* Headline inspired by this tweet by Jason Hirschorn.


text:
NBC News
The Publix in Zephyrhills, Florida, where the winning ticket was sold.
Do you have the lucky ticket? A winner for the huge Powerball jackpot was sold at a supermarket in Zephyrhills, Fla., a Florida Lottery official confirmed to NBC News early Sunday.
The winning Powerball numbers drawn late Saturday were 10, 13, 14, 22, 52 with Powerball number 11.
Powerball's website said one winner was sold in Florida, and David Bishop of the Florida Lottery confirmed that it was sold at a Publix supermarket in Zephyrhills, a suburb of Tampa.
The jackpot of the 43-state lottery game surged ahead of the drawing and had been estimated at $600 million -- the second-largest pot in U.S. lottery history. Powerball officials later revised that to more than $590 million.
Still, that grand prize, accumulated after two months of drawings, surpassed the previous record Powerball payoff of $587.5 million, set in November 2012. That was split by two winners.
The largest jackpot in U.S. history stands at $656 million, won in the Mega Millions lottery of March 2012. That prize was split between winners in Maryland, Kansas and Illinois.
The store where the winning ticket was sold will receive an $85,000 bonus commission, according to Shelly Gerteisen, a spokeswoman for the Florida Lottery.
Who has the lucky ticket? The winning ticket for the $590 million Powerball jackpot was sold at a supermarket in Zephyrhills, Fla., just south of Tampa. NBC's Kerry Sanders reports.
The chances of winning the big prize were low — 1 in 175.2 million — but it didn't stop hopeful Americans across the country from purchasing about 80 percent of all possible combinations, according to lottery officials.
In addition to the big prize at stake Saturday, tickets worth $2 million were sold in New York and South Carolina. In California, which joined the Powerball lottery in April and figures winnings by pari-mutuel, two tickets each worth $2.3 million were sold, according to the California State Lottery website.
The estimated cash value of Saturday's drawing, if it had hit $600 million and the winner chose to be paid in one lump sum, would have been roughly $377 million -- before taxes, of course.
Tiffany Satchell told NBCMiami.com that she knows exactly what she'd do if she won.
"Pay off all my bills," she said. "I really want a Range Rover."
NBC News' Hasani Gittens, Justin Kirschner and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Saturday night, someone who felt lucky may turn out to be the luckiest person in the world as they pick the numbers for the Powerball jackpot, now at $600 million. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.
This story was originally published on Sun May 19, 2013 10:28 AM EDT


text:
Motivation Coffee Mask
Motivation Mask
Designed and Sold by Alvd Design
More Motivation Coffee Products
Motivation Coffee Adult Apparel
Tank Top
Crewneck Sweatshirt
Long Sleeve T-Shirt
Baseball T-Shirt
Motivation Coffee Cases & Stickers
Phone Case
Laptop Case
Motivation Coffee Kids Apparel
Kids Hoodie
Kids Long Sleeve T-Shirt
Motivation Mask
Mask measures 7" wide x 4.5" tall, excluding ear loops. Sublimated layers of polyester, cotton, and spandex with a black contrast border. Wider fabric ear loops are gentler on your ears and keep everything in place comfortably. Printed in the USA, machine washable. Learn More »
Standard (10-15 Business Days)
UPS Air (7-11 Business Days)
Estimates include printing and processing time. More Shipping Info »
We want you to love your order! If for any reason you don't, let us know and we'll make things right. Learn More »
Due to the nature of this product, returns and exchanges will only be accepted for defective items.


text:
0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.
If anyone has Kirby's Air Ride for the Gamecube, I will pay a king's ransom for it. I'll try to get a list of some games I could part with up here tonight.
No, you just have to say that you uninstalled the software. You know, because it's public domain.
I forgot about expansions... I have a few extra expansions... I've got an extra Civ4: Beyond the Sword, and an extra Sim2: Free Time. I thought I lost them, bought new ones.Why are you getting rid of the deluxe, cow?
No, no, he did. In the everything else section, at least. Officially, this makes him king.
Martyk is a handsome fish.
This dolphin is delicious.
<Sgore> Martyk, mentally I always picture you as like, our forums bartender.<Neoadept> I've always pictured you trapped in a tuna net
ACCEPTING martyk's OFFERHow about Kirby's Air Ride for B&W2: Battle of the Gods?
Page created in 0.135 seconds with 21 queries.


text:
BrainCells, a new company based in San Diego, is testing several drugs that will give you a super-powerful, enhanced memory (and maybe other cognitive properties too) by growing more neurons in your head. Going simply by the names BCI-540 and BCI-632, the compounds can stimulate 20 percent more brain cells brain to grow than normal. Much of the new growth would be replacing cells that our brain is losing all the time.
The drug BCI-540 was originally an Alzheimer's drug, and BrainCells' CEO James Schoeneck says the company would mostly market it for helping people with degenerative diseases get their minds back in working order. It could work well as an anti-depressant as well. But in animals tests, BCI-632 has so far shown an ability to enhance memory functions in healthy lab rats. The company hopes to begin trials on people some time next year. Sounds to me like a great opportunity to be a guinea pig.
Source: Technology Review, Image: Omnispace.org


text:
A public viewing will be held Friday for singer Etta James, and the Rev. Al Sharpton will eulogize the late legend at a private funeral Saturday.
A statement from Sharpton's representative Tuesday said the funeral will include performances by celebrities, but those names were not announced.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: A Look Back: Stars We Lost In 2011
U.S. & World
The day's top national and international news.
James died last Friday at age 73 after battling leukemia and other ailments, including dementia. She was most famous for her classic "At Last," but over her decades-long career, she became revered for her passionate singing voice.
The public viewing will be held in Inglewoodand the funeral will be held in Gardena, both in the Los Angeles area.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: In Memoriam: The Stars We Lost In 2010
The family is asking that any donations be sent to the Philadelphia-based Rhythm & Blues Foundation.
Copyright 2012 by Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Related Content from AccessHollywood.com:
VIEW THE PHOTOS: In Memoriam: The Stars We Lost During Summer 2009
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Friends & Family Gather For Amy Winehouse's Funeral
PLAY IT NOW: Access Hollywood Live: Suzanne Somers' 'Emotional' Reunion With 'Three's Company' Co-Star Joyce DeWitt
PLAY IT NOW: Access Hollywood Live: Lisa Niemi Swayze On Her Secret To Long-Lasting Love
More from Access: [ Etta James Funerals Deaths ]


text:
Star & Moon Choker // Double Cross
*Watermelon Dress // LovelyWholesale
*Boots // LovelyWholesale
It seems like forvere since I last wrote a post, but its only been just over a week (think I'm slightly addicted!) Just got back from my holiday last night, and arrived home to a parcel full of beaut things from LovelyWholesale. My favourite item out of the lot is this watermelon dress, it's so cute and suits my style perfectly! It is a little bit short, so I've just got a pair of black cycling shorts on underneath for modesty! The boots are also from LovelyWholesale, I know they're going to be a new favourite of mine as they are just perfect! They have a nice chunky heel and shiny texture. The choker is from a company called Double Cross, this is the second choker I've purchased from them; they've got a load of awesome styles so you should definitely check them out if you are on the hunt for chokers!
Amelia Rose


text:
NBC News' Richard Engel talks to Gianluigi Nuzzi, one of Italy's top investigative journalists, about the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. Nuzzi's interviews with Benedict's whistleblower butler led to the Vatileaks scandal. Nuzzi and others allege that within the Vatican there were financial cover-ups and a twisted web of money, power and sex.
Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News
As the Vatican waits for a new pope under a cloud of scandal, the journalist at the center of the Vatileaks case is revealing the high-stakes, cloak-and-dagger operation he undertook to protect the butler who went public with the secrets.
Investigative journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi told NBC News' Richard Engel how he met Paolo Gabriele in public squares and used old-fashioned public phones to set up rendezvous to make it harder for anyone to eavesdrop on their blockbuster conversations.
He gave Gabriele a code name -- Maria -- and would leave it on the door buzzer he was to press for meetings in a Rome apartment, Nuzzi said in a "Rock Center with Brian Williams" interview.
"He was excited, he was careful, he was afraid," Nuzzi said.
The pope delivers his final audience in St. Peter's Square as he prepares to stand down.
"Then I understood why: because the Vatican has a very strong security system...Once Paolo Gabriele told me a confidence, which I do not know if it is true. He told me the cameras inside the Vatican as so powerful that they can even read the lips of people."
Their first sit-down, set up by intermediaries before Nuzzi even knew who he was meeting, was a "dangerous encounter," he said.
A dozen or so more followed, during which Gabriele gave Nuzzi photocopies of the pope's personal papers, including letters from a top aide, Monsignor Carlo Maria Viganò, who had investigated the alleged corruption. In one of the letters, Viganò complained that he felt he was being slandered and sidelined from the inside. He was eventually transferred off the case, and moved to Washington, D.C., to become Papal Nuncio, the Vatican's diplomatic envoy.
Nuzzi used the documents for broadcast reports and a book that shed light on the infighting and dysfunction at the highest level of the church bureaucracy last year.
Gabriele, who said he was trying to help the pope and the church by shining a light on the dark underbelly of the Vatican, was eventually unmasked as the source of the leaks and sentenced to 18 months in Vatican custody. He was later pardoned by the pope and given a job in a hospital.
Pope Benedict XVI commissioned three retired and independent cardinals to investigate the leaks and they presented him with a report late last year, weeks before the pontiff shocked the world by announcing his abdication.
The Vatican has since denied reports that the cardinals' dossier contains details of a gay cabal in the Vatican and blackmail threats. Allegations of a gay Vatican subculture predate the Vatileaks scandal. In 2010, journalist Carlo Abbate went undercover and filmed Rome priests cavorting with other men.
Abbate doesn't buy the Vatican denials.
"In my opinion, Pope Benedict XVI's move represents his last attempt to save the Catholic Church from the public exposure of the contradictions of the church in the matter of sexuality," he said. "In a sense, he is casting himself aside in order to let those contradictions rise to the surface."
Benedict cited his age when he announced his resignation on Feb. 11 though he has also referred to the Vatican's difficulties. The 115 cardinals who will elect his successor have assembled in Rome but they will not see the Vatileaks report because Benedict decreed that only the next pontiff will get a copy.
- Riots, revenge and royal rigging: A history of controversial conclaves
- 'Jesus Christ with an MBA'? Cardinals' differing hopes for next pope
- Full coverage of the papal abdication from NBC News


text:
Greensboro Library, NCHome Menu
Introduction to Microsoft Word 2010
- Date: -
- Location: Central Library
219 N. Church Street
Greensboro, North Carolina 27401
- Cost
Whether you're preparing a resume, letter, or term paper, Word is the tool for you. This informative class teaches you how to format and size text, indent, center, create lists, insert symbols, cut and paste, and more. Spaces are limited; please call 336-335-5430 to register beginning January 15.Return to previous page >>


text:
Creative writing might be your passion, but it's not always easy to make a career out of it. You have to be able to find paying markets for the stories, poems, and novels you write; and you have to be as talented at marketing as you are at writing to succeed. In addition, it can take you years of unpaid labor before you start to see profits from your writing-if you ever do. If you want to be a creative writer, you'll need a day job to pay the bills.
It's not easy to pursue your dreams while working full-time. The trick is to choose a day job that feeds your writing habit, rather than leaving you drained of energy and uninspired. The right day job for you is a very personal choice-it may not be the same as the right job for someone else. Even so, here are six jobs that are generally considered to be good for creative writers.
Professional copywriter. Copywriters write the ads that appear in print, television, radio, and online. Copywriters can work in-house for ad agencies or marketing departments, or they can work on their own as freelancers. If you feel you need to use your writing skills in your day job, copywriting can be a great career for you-and as a freelancer, you'll have a lot of control over your own schedule. Some creative writers don't enjoy writing sales-oriented materials, however-and some feel burned out on writing when they have to write during their day jobs.
Creative writing professor. Creative writing professors sharpen the skills of young writers. This job can be great for a writer who loves to talk about, critique, and lead writing groups. It's also a job in a field that values literary merit over profit, which is an attitude that fits better with some writers than a more profit-oriented copywriting environment. However, these jobs can be difficult to get-and you'll need to earn an MFA to qualify.
Ghostwriter. Ghostwriters write books and articles for clients. Ghostwriters get up-front fees and sometimes royalties for their project, but the clients get the credit. Ghostwriting can be lucrative, and if you freelance you'll get control over your own schedule. However, it can be frustrating for some writers to allow clients to get credit for their work.
Editor. Editors edit books, magazine and newspaper articles, and other documents in preparation for print or online publication. Editors work directly with writers to make their writing more effective, and they may collaborate on design and layout as well. Magazine and newspaper editors often choose which stories to commission and see their ideas written by others. Editors may work freelance or for a publishing company, newspaper, or magazine.
Journalist. Journalists write for print publications. They have to interview sources, dig up leads, and write articles. Journalism is a demanding job with long hours, and it may be difficult for some writers to work on their own pursuits outside of work. It can be an ideal job, however, for writers who thrive on excitement and are talented interviewers. People with a passion for social justice often find themselves going into journalism.
Librarian. Librarians get to be around books all day. They recommend books for their patrons, help patrons with research, and often decide which books the library orders. If you love books you may love being a librarian. However, it isn't a very lucrative field; you may need to get a Master's in Library Science for a better-paying career.
It's not easy to make a living as a writer. But choosing the right day job can help you make a living and make time for your own writing as well. Talk to people in the career you're considering and do some research on your own, and you should be able to choose a career that will support your creative writing.