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WASHINGTON — Ordering the government to buy up bad mortgages to cut homeowners' monthly payments might sound good, but experts are skeptical. They say the plan John McCain is promoting is unlikely to solve the housing crisis that's pushing the economy toward recession.
One big problem: The vast majority of the toxic home loans that are clogging financial markets and freezing up credit have been sliced, diced and repackaged into complex investments that the government would be hard-pressed to unravel and buy.
Even if the government did gain access to the mortgages, it would have to pay far more than they would ever be worth, housing specialists said Wednesday. That would effectively bail out banks and lenders with taxpayer money to a greater degree than Congress and the Bush administration are already doing through the $700 billion financial industry rescue enacted last week.
"The mortgages that are causing this credit freeze are generally mortgages that aren't available for purchase," said Alan M. White, Valparaiso University specialist in consumer law.
"It's not quite as easy as the McCain campaign thinks it is," said Andrew Jakabovics of the Center for American Progress.
Republican McCain is pushing his American Homeownership Resurgence Plan as he works to burnish his credentials on the economy, an issue that has helped Democratic rival Barack Obama pull ahead in the presidential race as the national financial crisis has worsened.
With foreclosures on the rise — particularly in election battleground states like Indiana, Florida, Michigan and Ohio — and many Americans seething about the huge rescue package for financial institutions, McCain argues his plan would provide direct help to struggling homeowners.
He declared in Tuesday night's debate that he would order his Treasury secretary to buy up bad mortgages and let struggling homeowners refinance into more affordable loans — a power the government already has under the new financial industry bailout law.
Under McCain's plan, the government would spend $300 billion to purchase distressed loans and provide new, fixed-rate mortgages. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the Arizona senator's economic adviser, said the plan would help stabilize the plunging values of mortgage-backed securities that are at the heart of the crisis in the financial markets.
To do so, the government would pay the full face-value of the distressed mortgages, Holtz-Eakin said.
Under that scenario, the government could buy a $200,000 subprime mortgage on a home now worth just $100,000, give the homeowner a 30-year, $90,000 loan with a 5 percent interest rate, and essentially eat the $110,000 difference.
"It's the only way to do it in a timely fashion," Holtz-Eakin said.
Obama's campaign said right after the debate that he had made similar proposals to McCain's and there was nothing new in the Republican's remarks. But as McCain aides offered more details on Wednesday, the Obama camp changed its tune.
The plan would cause the government "to massively overpay for mortgages in a plan that would guarantee taxpayers lose money and put them at risk of losing even more if home values don't recover," said Obama economic adviser Jason Furman. "The biggest beneficiaries of this plan will be the same financial institutions that got us into this mess, some of whom even committed fraud."
Indeed, analysts on the right and left said the plan would let banks and investors who bet heavily on the risky mortgages walk away with a handsome payout courtesy of U.S. taxpayers.
"You run into the question of whether or not then you are bailing out bad lending decisions," said David C. John of the conservative Heritage Foundation.
The housing rescue enacted in July allows the government to insure up to $300 billion in new, fixed-rate loans to let homeowners at risk of foreclosure trade in their mortgages for ones they can better afford — but only if their banks agree to take a loss on the original loan.
"What they were trying to do was to spread the pain of the reduction to the lender," John said. "If you pay off 100 cents on the dollar on these loans, then that pain goes to the taxpayer."
McCain's proposal is similar in some ways to a plan that has been advocated by the liberal Center for American Progress starting last December, but its ideological precursor is the Depression-era Home Owners' Loan Corporation, which traded bonds for defaulted mortgages with lenders and investors at a discount and reworked the loan terms to help borrowers.
The problem, say economists and housing analysts, is that times have changed considerably since the 1930s, and many mortgages are now bound up in the labyrinthine investments that have brought financial institutions to their knees.
Legal contracts with investors — known as pooling and servicing agreements — limit the ability to alter loans or take them out of the pool.
"You can't just go to Countrywide and say, 'Please sell us 100 mortgages out of your securitized pool,'" White said. The contract "specifically tells them they can't do that."
Deutsche Bank estimates that more than 80 percent of the $1.8 trillion in outstanding troubled loans — those made to "subprime" borrowers with weak credit and "Alt-A" borrowers who didn't document their incomes or provide large down payments — are tied up in mortgage-backed securities.
The remaining 20 percent, about $318 billion according to Deutsche Bank, are "whole loans," easier to modify because they don't have multiple investors.
The bailout package already directs the Treasury secretary to renegotiate whole mortgages it acquires from troubled financial companies, and to use its leverage to rework loans that are part of larger investment pools.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Wednesday that under the new program and the earlier housing rescue "we're going to be working to avoid foreclosures."
Helping homeowners whose mortgages are pooled into larger investments is tougher.
"The problem is these things are not transparent. It's not at all clear who holds which pieces and where they've gone," Jakabovics said.
His organization has proposed changing the law to encourage mortgage holders to allow refinances like those envisioned under McCain's plan, including by denying tax-advantaged status to investments that block such changes.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Vans Warped Tour
Superpages.com Center
July 5, 2009
Better Than: falling asleep on the beach and getting a funny-looking tan.
The weather could have been way worse for Sunday's Warped Tour date. It could have rained all day. Or it could have been sunny and extremely hot.
Luckily, the weather fluctuated between cloudy, sunny, and overcast. In a lot of ways, that weather rundown sounds like the kinds of moods the entire day was for all things Warped.
For those that have never been to the Warped Tour (or have not been in a long time): Basically, the music starts when the gates open and doesn't really stop until the gates close. All kinds of bands that attract more of a teenage audience were represented, and like what Pete saw at recent show at the Plano convention center, there were all kinds of neon colors represented as well.
Make no mistake, there were a lot of different stereotypes represented: punks, metalheads, jocks, preps, and so on. But the thing that makes things different in these times as compared to when the Warped Tour started fifteen years ago was the Screaming Girl factor--as in: anytime some young guy singer tore up his voice on the microphone, girls screamed, and screamed really loudly.
Also something that comes with the Screaming Girl factor: Long, long lines around merch tents where band members would do autograph signings.
You can factor these social parameters in all you want but, mostly, these folks wanted to see a decent variety of music that speaks to them. No, that's not some rare Captain Beefheart bootleg that a record geek would pay a full month's rent for. It's music that could be from bands like Dance Gavin Dance, A Skylit Drive, Anti-Flag, or Underoath.
It's music that speaks to them now, whether or not the older folks think this is "real" music or not.
Between a handful of stages that were thankfully close (but not too close) to each other, no set was back-to-back the same. Warped Tour veterans the Ataris, Anti-Flag, and Less Than Jake shared the same stage with relative newcomers 30H!3--all drawing different crowds and all sorts of different responses. Especially 30H!3: With their blend of hip-hop and pop, the band drew one of the largest crowds--to many people's delight and plenty of others' pure hatred.
But, thankfully, if you didn't like what you heard, you could go somewhere else and see something else.
There was the WTF factor with an act like Jeffree Star (who would have been booed off the stage ten years ago at Warped or would have had better luck opening for Fischerspooner). But there were incredibly inspiring sets elsewhere and various points of the day, too: Shooter Jennings (yes, Waylon's son) played some fantastic southern rock with bluesy, Sabbath-like grooves; Thrice played a very solid set of its thinking-man's version of post-hardcore; Bad Religion zipped through sixteen great tracks and put on one of the most engaging sets of the day.
But probably the best surprise of the entire day? England's Gallows. Playing a style of punk rock that recalls Ron Reyes' and Henry Rollins' times in Black Flag, the quintet didn't disappoint in the slightest. After only a couple of songs, vocalist Frank Carter came down from the stage and sang in the middle of the mosh pit. Carter would go on to criticize many of the other bands on the tour, but instead of just whining about it, he showed the crowd the difference between his band and 30H!3: He asked the crowd to do a large circle pit around a nearby tent for one very short song, and a large number of people did so accordingly. That kind of spontaneity is what can make any live show great, and it was definitely a bright spot of the whole show.
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Towards the closing of the gates, with plenty of people with awkward tan lines and sore feet, the mass audience got what they wanted: a full, enjoyable day of music at a reasonable price.
Critic's Notebook
Personal Bias: The last time I went to the Warped Tour was in 1998 in Houston. Because of a threat of rain, the show was moved indoors to the Astroarena. NOFX, unhappy with the sound inside, decided to throw their payment for the day into the crowd. That was definitely a memorable, "Is this really happening?" moment.
By the Way: If you want an easy summer job, be a beer vendor at Superpages.com Center for the Warped Tour. I've never seen more bored-out-of-their-minds people than the ones hoping that somebody over 21 was going to buy some booze.
Random Note: The pizza one could get from the venue wasn't a complete rip-off: $9 for a pizza about the size of one and a half slices...

subset: commoncrawl


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Remember that line in As Good As It Gets when Nicholson's character used one of the greatest panty-dropper lines of all time, "You make me want to be better man." The Big Echo makes me want to become a better reviewer of music. The Morning Benders shine a bright light on my shortcomings as I struggle for words to describe the brilliance of Big Echo. I saw them perform for us in a HearYa Live Session. I watched them perform at our SxSW party in 2009. I listened (and loved) their previous album, Talking Through Tin Cans.' At no point could I have imagined that The Morning Benders were capable of an album of this magnitude. Big Echo is an ambitious album with flawless execution.
We posted the video for "Excuses" when it was released and I was slackjawed. Talk about trying to drive the green in one stroke.' Lead Singer, Chris Chu, pulled the big stick out of his bag and knocked that shit long, straight, and right on the green. The LP was produced with the help of Chris Taylor (Grizzly Bear) who apparently saw something special in the Bay Area quartet. I would have loved to hear Chu and Taylor's conversations as they discussed the nuances and intricacies that made each song sound so sonically creative. At its core, Big Echo is a pop record. It's also a statement album by a band that will be on everybody's top of 2010 lists.
The standout tracks for me include the aforementioned Excuses, Cold War (Nice Clean Fight) and Stitches. The piano on Stitches dances right up my spine as the Grizzly Bear influenced harmonies lull me into a state of bliss before the piano gives way to shimmery guitars as the song fades out. It was just so fucking brilliant that there is no way my words can do it justice.
So in the end, I wish I could do a better job of explaining the overwhelming genius on this album. I promise to try to better in the future but for now please trust me when I tell you if you buy this album. You won't regret it. On every listen, you will find something new to keep your head spinning in wonderment. And that is no easy feat.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | MySpace
Video: The Morning Benders – Excuses


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Policemen are World City minifigures introduced in 2003. There are four variations appearing in three sets.
The policemen all have the same body and legs, with the differences coming in face printing and headgear. They have unprinted black legs and hips and an earth blue torso and arms. The torso has printing of a dark grey utility belt over a button-down shirt with two pockets, a gold badge and a walkie-talkie. The collar is tipped in gold and a light blue shirt is visible underneath the darker one. The policeman's arms are earth blue and his hands yellow.
The face of one variant is in a scowl, with lines around the mouth and the eyebrows drawn down. He wears a black cap.
The second variation also wears a cap, but has a toothy smile on his face.
The third version has the same scowl as the first, but wears a white crash helmet with a black visor.
The last variant has the same face as the second one, with the good-natured smile, but has a brown hairpiece instead of a cap or helmet.
|view · talk · editWorld City minifigures
|Police and Rescue:
|Policeman | Police Chief | Police Pilot | Hovercraft Pilot | Security Guard | Undercover Cop | Criminal | Smuggler | Escapee | Doctor | Coast Guard | Coast Guard Pilot (World City) | Coast Guard Worker | Fire Chief | Fireman (World City)
|Chef | Construction Worker | Timmy | Conductor Charlie | Engineer Max | Train Driver | Train Passenger | Kid | Tourist
|Pilot | Plane Passenger (Child) | Plane Passenger


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I want to display a list of permissions, with tick icons to indicate what permissions a user has. Where should I place the tick icons - before (on the left) or after (on the right) each item?
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I want to display a list of permissions, with tick icons to indicate what permissions a user has. Where should I place the tick icons - before (on the left) or after (on the right) each item?
I would go with a check mark on the left side.
Reason being: Since the list is in English, the user will be reading from left to right. The length of the text need not be the same, leading to uneven right end. But the starting position on the left will be the same. Makes for easier scanning.
Before for left-to-right languages.
After for right-to-left languages.
A check icon on the beginning reads as a bulleted list - an unordered list of elements.
An aligned check icon at the end gives the impression that it's a checklist - a list, likely ordered, of things that must be accomplished (and possibly have been accomplished, since they are checked off).
Which are you trying to provide? An unordered bulleted list, or an ordered checklist?
I would add a feature to your product to let the user specify their "handedness". If they're right-handed (as most people are) place the check mark on the right. If they mouse with their left hand, put the check marks on the left.
Now, it gets interesting if this is a touch interface - something like a tablet or a touch phone. In the case where the user holds the tablet with their left hand, the check marks should be on the right, since that's the hand the user is going to be using to tap the screen (and vice versa holding with right and tapping with left).
Icons go on the left because users scan from left to right and icons help users scan.
As noted in previous answers, I would go generally with a check mark on the left side, especially for lists where most of the items are checked. (for left-to-right languages)
However, in confined space as dropdown menu (modal window), you can notice disruptive spacing issues when you have more unchecked items than checked ones. I wouldn't be afraid to use checkmarks aligned right in this case coupled with colour differentiation. Often creates more balanced result.


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It could be said that a man does not seek out his style; rather the style seeks him out. Consider actor Finn Wittrock, featured herein wearing the chic new line Jeffrey Rüdes—the namesake vision of J Brand founder Jeff Rudes. Rudes' new Italian-made label is a bold entrance into the big leagues of men's designer fashion, and is a gauntlet at the feet of the traditional houses like Dior, Saint Laurent, and Givenchy.
The new line is anchored to an elegant array of jackets which Rudes sees as the transformative nexus of a man's wardrobe, as he explains: "When a guy puts on a great jacket, there is something transforming about it, and a personality gets created. There's an attitude. If you have a silk shirt on with a great dinner jacket that's got a little silver sparkle in it, you feel like Keith Richards. Or you put on a white shirt, with a single-breasted notch jacket and you feel like Sean Connery in a Bond movie. The jacket is the basis because it's the piece that lets the personality out."
Like Wittrock, Rudes is a keen observer of the power of transformation. He notes that there's a big difference between looking cool, and being cool, and thinks that the right fashion is what can bridge that gap: "The way you dress creates an attitude. You know when you see Johnny Depp dressing really cool, it's the attitude. If you took all the clothing and stuck it on a bed without him wearing it, it's cool, but he creates the attitude—that persona gets created from the clothing. I think a guy wants to look sexy. He knows when he's walking into a restaurant, the girls are going—even the guys—this man is dressed well. He's sharp. That's a great look. How do I get the balls to put that look together?"
For Finn Wittrock, having grown up immersed in the classics and the theatre (thanks to his father, a part of the Massachusetts-based Shakespeare & Company Theatre), and as a graduate of the venerable Juilliard School, for Finn Wittrock, acting was never a thought, so much as an inevitable reality (despite his father's hope of him becoming, perhaps, a doctor, as those theatre-fathers are prone to hope). It's a particular kind of normal to have been raised in: "I was always around these crazy wild actors growing up—it exposes you to a part of the world, to a personality that kids don't often get exposed to. Most of those people had rebelled against their families to come do that, you know, and here I was."
Wittrock is not afraid of shape-shifting. He has traversed both stage and screen with roles on Broadway as Harold "Happy" Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of A Salesman, on television as Damon Miller in All My Children, or as Dandy Mott and Tristan Duffy in the American Horror Story anthology, and on the screen as Francis "Mac" McNamara in Angelina Jolie's 2014 Unbroken—a role which entailed legitimate starvation.
Wittrock sees transformation as an essential element of the art of being an actor, yet he believes much of the transformation should be a consequence of the performance, rather than a precursor to it: "There's a change I see in actors today," he observes, "where the physical transformation can sometimes take the place of the real work of acting. People start to think that that's what acting is—getting big or getting small. It's awe-inspiring, it makes you go 'wow! look'—in some ways, it should be the opposite, we shouldn't be noticing how much work you did as an actor, we should be moved by your performance."
The actor's debut as a writer will be making the festival rounds imminently, with the dark drama The Submarine Kid, in which he also stars, while this winter, Wittrock stars in two big-screen ventures: My All American, a football drama with Aaron Eckhart, andThe Big Short, an all-star bonanza (Pitt, Bale, Gosling, Gomez, Tomei, et al.) about the financial crisis of the late 2000s. We'll see you around the neighborhood Finn, wearing that jacket with confidence.
Fotografia: Dani Brubaker
Via Flaunt Magazine


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Arts and Culture
Join us to support arts and culture in West Michigan! Attend performances, concerts, exhibits, and special events through the Grand Rapids Symphony, Opera Grand Rapids, Broadway Grand Rapids, Urban Institute of Contemporary Arts (UICA), Grand Rapids Art Museum (GRAM), St. Cecilia Music Center, Circle Theatre and Meijer Gardens. Events are held typically once a month with a networking dinner at a designated restaurant prior to the event.
A/E/C (Architectural, Engineering, Construction)
Focused on creating opportunities for transformational professional growth through developing leadership competencies and making strategic connections all within a spirit of inclusion and support.
Being Your Own Business (BYOB)
This group is meant to educate and help a wide variety of new and experienced female entrepreneurs to navigate the challenges of business origination using various tools and resources so they feel supported and achieve clarity at every step along the entrepreneurial journey from concept to startup to scale.
Coffee Connections
Meet monthly for low cost networking with other Inforum members who are interested in establishing and building professional relationships. Come as you can; buy yourself some tea, coffee or a bagel and join our Breakfast Club!
Sharon Dykhouse
Meet for dinner at a West Michigan area restaurant to network with other Inforum members. Plan to order dinner off the menu, pay your own check, and relax and enjoy! Bring plenty of business cards.
Angie Sanborn
Chris Talsma-McLean
Lead In
Participate with other professionals in philanthropic activities, engage in leadership and professional development, and build a professional network through social activities. Whether you are just starting your career, blazing a new path, or are an established mentor – this group is designed to bridge generational gaps allowing everyone to emerge as stronger leaders.
Lakeshore Affinity Group
Live or work in the West Michigan Lakeshore area? Join the Lakeshore Affinity Group for a cup of coffee and to make strategic connections with other Inforum members and guests who are interested in establishing and building professional relationships.
Lend a Hand of West Michigan
This is a group in which members will be involved with several volunteer activities around the greater Grand Rapids area throughout the year, gaining the opportunity to develop closer relationships with other Inforum members, meet volunteers from other organizations, and give their time and effort to worthy causes.
Meet for lunch at a West Michigan area restaurant with other Inforum members. "Feed your mind. Feed your stomach. Feed your network!" Plan to order lunch off the menu, pay your own check, and have fun as we build professional relationships.
This group is meant to be an extension of the ManufacturingNEXT industry group. We will meet to discuss hot topics that fall underneath the industry as well as personal development topics.
Wine Lovers of West Michigan
Join a group of Inforum women in a relaxing environment to partake in the pairing of delicious and unusual wines with various menu items. The group meets and enjoys an evening of fun in different locations around the West Michigan area. No knowledge of wine is necessary–just the desire to relax, meet people and enjoy!
Women on the Move
Women on the Move is a new affinity group focused on supporting women both emotionally and socially as they experience career change. This is for women who desire to make a move and for women who find themselves in transition.
The group will meet with the intent to provide tools and resources needed to conduct the most effective job search possible. This will be done through collaboration using the wisdom of the women in the group and supplementing with outside speakers.
Mary Jo Baweja
Karen Oliver-Behee
Laura Davis
Words & Wine
"Words & Wine" offers a relaxed gathering at a local restaurant to discuss recent reads and enjoy a lively interactive discussion. We meet at various local restaurants for food and a glass of wine (or any other beverage you prefer!) while taking the opportunity to network. The group encourages members to suggest books for subsequent monthly book club get-togethers.
Young Professionals Network
The Young Professionals Network Affinity Group is built on three pillars, diversity/inclusion, professional development and social engagement. As a community of young professionals, we welcome recent graduates, and those looking to further establish direction within their careers. The YPN group meets monthly and hosts additional social meetups focused on supporting the West Michigan community. We aim to give members the tools they need to build their professional networks at the beginning of their careers while fostering confidence.
Inforum combines strategic connections, proven professional development programs, a respected forum for new ideas, and original research to accelerate careers for women and boost talent initiatives for companies.
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text: Desolationrow 1 Report post Posted August 6, 2016 ll hog guitars Hi guys, im singer songwriter, only strumming and accompaiment. i hear about all mahogany guitars are good for that purpose.my guitars are all spruce top.opinions?recommendations? thanks for the help Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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Summer is finally here, and my dog Molly and I love spending our weekends near the water. I've found that there is no better way to beat the heat, have some fun, and enjoy my four-legged best friend.
But what most dog owners don't realize is that each year, thousands of pets die in drowning accidents, and anything that can harm you at the beach can also harm your dog. High temperatures, sunburn, riptides, sharp shells or broken glass, jellyfish, and aggressive dogs are all potential hazards to help your dog avoid.
Here are some tips to safeguard your dog for a fun-filled summer near the water:
Hairless breeds; short-coated, light-colored dogs; and dogs with pink noses are more prone to getting sunburn. You can find sunscreen specifically formulated for pets at most pet stores or online. Make sure not to use sunscreen that contains zinc, as it can be toxic to dogs if ingested. To avoid licking, avoid sunscreens with fragrance.
Make sure your dog has a firm grasp of the recall command before you allow him to go off-leash near any body of water. This means your dog comes to you when you call him, every single time.
Sun, sand, and saltwater are a delight for your dog's senses, but they can leave him with a nasty beach hangover. Discourage your dog from drinking seawater by offering fresh, cool water often and by removing him from the ocean if you see him drink it. Seawater can irritate a dog's stomach and cause vomiting; it's also very dehydrating. A freshwater rinse immediately after the beach will help keep your dog's coat and skin healthy.
Unless your dog knows how to hang ten on a surfboard, chances are he isn't on the lookout for the perfect wave. Make sure you are aware of rip currents and undertows.
Going for a leisurely cruise on the lake or along the bay? Bring your furry friend along, just make sure he has a life preserver vest and a secure area away from the edge of the boat to keep safe in rough waters.
Even dogs who are seasoned swimmers can get into trouble around pools. Dogs don't automatically know where the stairs are in a pool. So if they jump or fall in, their instinct is to swim to the nearest edge and tread water. If no one is there to redirect them or lift them out, they'll struggle to tread water until they are exhausted and can drown.
If you allow your dog to play near a pool, make sure to teach them where the stairs are. Visible pool ramps are also a good idea and can be purchased online and in most pet stores.
When it comes to swimming and fear of water, dogs are just like humans. Many love it and seem to have a natural ability. Others do not. Before taking your dog on your next trip to the beach or pool, make sure he is well acquainted with the water and doesn't have any major health issues or physical limitations that would make swimming more difficult. Heading off to the beach, lake or lounging poolside are great ways to spend time with your dog, but be aware: Each year, approximately 40,000 pets die in drowning accidents.
Read more about summertime safety:
Learn more about dogs with Dogster:
About the author: Pawtopia Dog Training's founder, Colleen Demling, is a CPDT-KA and a AKC Canine Good Citizen Evaluator who trained Service Dogs for Canine Companions for several years before starting Pawtopia. She designed the Temperament Test for the Therapy Dog Program at the Naval Medical Center San Diego and also writes for many local rescues and other dog related websites. She has professional associations with the International Association of Canine Professionals and the Association of Pet Dog Trainers.


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A wander through the parks and byways of the city this Easter Sunday reveals the twin themes of rebirth and renewal to be topping the bill. Spring has sprung. I've even managed to 'catch the sun' – meaning that I have shifted on the tanning spectrum, from White Walker to Wildling.
"Magnolia in bud is a fairer prospect than when in bloom."
With spring comes the promise of summer, and for Edinbuggers, resident and diaspratic, summer is the Fringe. In this online, plugged-in age of wonders the budding of the Fringe is most manifest in the Kickstarter campaigns launched by hopefuls aiming to bring their shows to the festivals in August.
Not sure what a Kickstarter is? Check out our 6 previous installments here; here; here, here, here and here.
Andromeda Turre: Kiss Me
Spending ten years on the dating scene has been an experience of heart-break and hilarity for Andromeda Turre. She has woven this wealth of tragicomic material into the songs and stories of Kiss Me, the show which will mark the sultry songstress' Fringe debut.
Her sound has been described as a cross between Sting, Sade and Adele. The show's launching pad will be at Space Cabaret on the Royal Mile, perhaps with an album and book to follow. Accompanying Turre in August will be a band of four including her drummer brother Orion.
Turre, who is the daughter of jazz musicians, currently stars in Sleep No More in New York, and does background vocals at Saturday Night Live. She has toured 17 countries with her own band, was the last Raelette hired to sing background vocals for Ray Charles, and starred in Woody Allen's Murder Mystery Blues.
Have a look at the other potential shows we've previewed: Kat Woods' Belfast Boy; Finn Anderson's Alba; A Scottish Musical; The Wrong Shoes Theatre Company's The Anima Project; Apphia Campbell's Black is the Color of My Voice; Ian Harvey Stone's The Devil Without; The Red Oak Theatre Company's Funny Girl; Luc Valvona's The Improvised Improv Show; Dogstar Theatre's Factor 9; Unprescribed by almuni of the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama; Wac Arts's Journies Beyond; Paperbark Theatre Company's This Is Where We Live; A Collection of Grimm's Fairy Tales by the bright young things of Kent State Uni's Transforum Theatre; Jess Thom's Touretteshero: Backstage In Biscuit Land; Unbound Productions' Travesti; Berserker Residents's The Post Show Talk Back.
Note: The Kickstarter videos embedded in this post don't show up in the email notification sent out to those of you following us through WordPress (but they are on the website, promise).


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Files in the .zip download:
- Original Producer:
- nilll
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- harmony.ust
- readme.txt
Please check the readme for other information!
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- Editing the USTs is allowed, but permission is required to redistribute the original files or any edits to them. This includes conversions to another type of file, such as a VSQ, VSQx, or MIDI.
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Confederate Memorial Day in Georgia
In 1874, the Georgia General Assembly approved legislation adding as a new public holiday "The 26th day of April in each year - commonly known as Memorial Day." April 26 marks the anniversary of the end of the Civil War for Georgia, for it was on this day in 1865 that Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston's surrender to General William T. Sherman at Durham Station, North Carolina became official. Johnston had been in charge of Georgia's defense, so this day marked the end of the war for Georgia.
Exactly when Georgians began commemorating April 26 as Memorial Day is unclear, but the language of the 1874 act clearly recognizes that April 26 was already being celebrated as an unofficial holiday. The day of observance may trace to the women of Columbus, Georgia, who on April 12, 1866 organized a memorial association and began a campaign to have a special day for "paying honor to those who died defending the life, honor and happiness of the Southern women." Three days later, the Atlanta Ladies' Memorial Association was organized, and on April 26, 1866, the association held a Confederate memorial observance at Oakland Cemetery.
While Florida would later join Georgia in marking April 26 as Confederate Memorial Day, other states celebrated different dates. By 1916, ten southern states marked June 3 - Jefferson Davis's birthday - as Confederate Memorial Day. Alabama celebrates the fourth Monday in April, Mississippi celebrates the last Monday in April, while North and South Carolina celebrate May 10 - the anniversary of Jefferson Davis's capture by Union troops - as Memorial Day.
Until 1984, Georgia observed as official state holidays:
January 1 (New Year's Day) January 19 (Lee's Birthday) Third Monday in February (Washington's Birthday) April 26 (Confederate Memorial Day) Last Monday in May (National Memorial Day) June 3 (Jefferson Davis's Birthday) July 4 (Independence Day) First Monday in September (Labor Day) Second Monday in October (Columbus Day) November 11 (Veterans' Day) Fourth Thursday in November (Thanksgiving December 25 (Christmas Day)
The 1984 General Assembly changed state law with respect to public and legal holidays observed in Georgia. The new law (O.C.G.A. sec. 1-4-1) provides:
(a) The State of Georgia shall recognize and observe as public and legal holidays: (1) All days which have been designated as of January 1, 1984, as public and legal holidays by the federal government; and (2) All other days designated and proclaimed by the Governor as public and legal holidays or as days of fasting and prayer or other religious observance. In such designation the Governor shall include at least one of the following dates: January 19, April 26, or June 3, or a suitable date in lieu thereof to commemorate the event or events now observed by such dates. (b) The Governor shall close all state offices and facilities a minimum of 12 days throughout the year and not more than 12 days in observance of the public and legal holidays and other days set forth in subsection (a) of this Code section and shall specify the days state offices and facilities shall be closed for such observances.
The result of the 1984 legislation was to drop the names of all official state holidays from the Georgia Code. In one sense, this eliminated any state holiday known as Confederate Memorial Day, Robert E. Lee's Birthday, or Jefferson Davis's Birthday - or Thanksgiving or Christmas. Rather, Georgia observes whatever federal holidays were observed as of January 1, 1984. Additionally, the governor is charged with selecting January 19, April 26, or June 3 - or an alternative date more suitable - for commemorating any or all of the persons or events formerly recognized on those three dates.
In the early 2000s, the Georgia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans began a campaign to have April of each year designated Confederate History Month. When efforts failed to get the General Assembly formalize the observance through statute, supporters urged the governor to take the action through executive proclamation. The 1984 act of the General Assembly governing state holidays had required the governor to issue an executive proclamation each year designating one day to celebrate what formerly was Lee's Birthday, Jefferson Davis's Birthday, and Confederate Memorial Day. Governors Joe Frank Harris and Zell Miller had selected April 26, which they designated as Confederate Memorial Day. On March 10, 2003, Governor Sonny Perdue proclaimed April 2003 as Confederate History Month and designated April 26, 2003, as Confederate Memorial Day. Thereafter, Gov. Perdue issued a similar proclamation each year during the remainder of his two terms in office.
Although there is no longer a statutory holiday known as Confederate Memorial Day in Georgia, the practice of governors since 1984 has been to proclaim April 26 as Confederate Memorial Day by executive proclamation. While one governor's proclamations are not binding on the governor that follows, the tradition of celebrating Confederate Memorial Day on April 26 seems secure.
In 2009, the Georgia General Assembly passed legislation designating April of each year as Confederate History and Heritage Month. That law (O.C.G.A. sec. 1-4-20) provides:
(a) The General Assembly hereby finds and determines that tourism is a great economic resource in Georgia; and historical, heritage, and cultural inheritance are among the tourism industry's most popular attractions. Georgia's Confederate heritage, physical artifacts and battle sites, and historic events and persons not only attract visitors, they are potentially of even greater importance and benefit to our state's economy. Increased development of our state's Confederate history and heritage as part of the tourism industry will be enhanced through recognizing, celebrating, and advertising that heritage and history. (b) The month of April of each year is hereby designated as Confederate History and Heritage Month and shall be set aside to honor, observe, and celebrate the Confederate States of America, its history, those who served in its armed forces and government, and all those millions of its citizens of various races and ethnic groups and religions who contributed in sundry and myriad ways to the cause which they held so dear from its founding on February 4, 1861, in Montgomery, Alabama, until the Confederate ship CSS Shenandoah sailed into Liverpool Harbor and surrendered to British authorities on November 6, 1865. (c) Officials and departments of state, county, and municipal governments, boards of education, elementary and secondary schools, colleges and universities, businesses, and all citizens are encouraged to participate in programs, displays, and activities that commemorate and honor our shared history and cultural inheritance throughout each April during Confederate History and Heritage Month.
As a final note, for a number of years, the University of Georgia's Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library would mark Confederate Memorial Day by placing the original Confederate Constitution on public display. The Constitution is still displayed once a year, although the date is subject to change. The Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library website will indicate the display date each year.
(To view images of portions of this historic document as well as find out it came to the University of Georgia, click here.)
Ed Jackson


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Valentine Doily Gift Bags
Valentine Doily Gift Bags
Valentine Doily Gift Bags
Designed by Amanda Formaro
All Rights Reserved
You will need
- Red paper bags
- Paper doilies
- Scissors
- Spray adhesive
- White ribbon (optional)
- Tissue paper
What you do
Turn bag upside down and carefully undo the sealed bottom.
Lay the bag out flat.
Decide where you want your doilies, fold doilies wherever they overlap the sides of the bag.
Lightly spray the back of the doily and press it in place on the bag.
Continue adding doilies until you are happy with the design.
Use decorative scissors to trim off the top of the bag, adding a decorative edge.
Use glue stick to close the bottom of the bag back up like it was originally.
If you like you can poke a couple small holes in the top of the bag and tie a bow in a piece of ribbon for a decorative touch. Fill bag with tissue paper then add your gift.


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You may need to install Flash or enable it on your browser to play the puzzles.
Can't see the Full Screen puzzle? Your pop-up blocker probably prevented it from opening. Click here to relaunch the pop-up.
Still can't get it to work? Please contact us for additional help
Collection of glass marbles jigsaw.
marbles • objects • collections • colorful


text:
Alessandro Taini aka Talexi was born in Genoa, Italy where he studied illustration and advertising at the School of Visual Communication. After his studies he moved to Milan where he began a successful career as a creative designer and visualiser, working for various advertising companies. During that time he also created various published cover books as a freelance artist.
Later, Talexi moved to London where he worked as a concept artist on the award winning Luminal. In 2005 he published his first horror illustration book called Dark Demonia, written by Italian novelist Isabella Santacroce. Currently, Talexi works a Visual Art Director for Ninja Theory.
Below, you may check out several of his artworks. Enjoy!


text:
Ashton Hall is a native of Fancy Gap, Virginia. In 2010, she graduated from Wytheville Community College with an Associate's Degree in Nursing.
Nurse Hall brings with her five years of nursing experience. Her previous work experience includes three years in the Medical/Surgical Department at Twin County Regional Hospital, one year at Twin County Orthopedics, and one year on the Women's Health Unit at Twin County Regional Hospital. Her spark in nursing began when she was a preteen. She would often give her Grandfather insulin injections and assist with his meals.
Nurse Hall is family oriented. She enjoys family vacations with her Husband and two sons, reading, and cooking.
Nurse Hall looks forward to working with the students, parents, faculty, and staff at Galax Middle School.


text:
Display all your favorites widgets into a tabbed style widget.
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This section describes how to install the plugin and get it working.
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- Add it in sidebar and footer and configure as you want.
- Enjoy!
Plugin Not Working?
If any errors or problems with the plug-in then write comments.


text:
How many times have you thought while traveling, "If only I could see through walls, or have a bird's eye view of all the cool things around me. I'm sure I'm missing stuff that's right under my nose."
For the last few weeks I've been playing with a brand-new phone app that gets fairly close to that bird's eye view: Google's Field Trip.
The idea is that once you download, install and activate it, the program will run in the background on your phone and ping you whenever there's something of interest around you, based on its GPS estimation of your location.
Right now it's only available for Android OS phones, but an iPhone version is planned, and from what I can tell it's U.S.-only.
I've tested it in the Austin area, Fort Worth, some small towns in northern and southern Texas and a bit around Honolulu and the rest of Oahu; the app surprised me with landmark and history tidbits even in places that I know well, and it came up with plenty of good things in some very small towns. You can give each individual notification a thumbs up or down, which helps train the software to give you more of what you find interesting.
Information is supplied to the app from lots of different sources: Thrillist, Zagat for restaurants (Google owns the Zagat restaurant review database,) gobs of obscure-but-lovely historic photos from Arcadia Publishing, input from an historical marker database, a movie locations guide, Flavorpill, Cool Hunting and many others.
A few times I've gotten 5-7 historical marker notifications at once; this makes me quite happy since I'll slam on the brakes and pull off the road in a cloud of dust to read markers in the offline world.
You can set the app to only report findings occasionally, or to tell you all the danged time what's around you (warning – in a larger city this may drive you crazy after awhile with information overload.) If you're driving, you can set the app to send notifications by voice.
I'm particularly fond of how the app uses maps; you can get a listing of "Nearby" items of interest, but when you click "Map" they're all laid out really clearly in relation to your personal blue-dot location.
All of this wonderment uses up your phone battery, so have that charging cord handy.
If you've ever wanted the "walls to speak"….or to enjoy Historical Marker Overload….take a look at Field Trip. It's given me a whole new way to learn about places when I don't have lots of time but do have lots of curiosity.
If you like this post, please consider subscribing to the blog via RSS feed or by email – the email signup text link is at the top of the right sidebar above our Facebook Page link. Thanks!


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I am a long-time fan of The Affair, Showtime's riveting relationship drama created by Sarah Treem and Hagai Levi. I watched all three seasons to date and fell especially in love with the character Allison Bailey (played by Ruth Wilson). Her struggles with the death of a child, self-injury, suicidality, dissociation, and the impact of her developmental trauma on her relationship choices have been well-portrayed throughout the show. There were many times in the first three seasons where I cried along with Allison, at moments, literally feeling her pain. I would have placed The Affairon the top of my recommendations list prior to this Season 4 for rather competent representation of complex trauma and dissociation.
And then they introduced an EMDR storyline…
I wish to express my grave concern, as an EMDR therapy trainer and founding director of The Institute for Creative Mindfulness' training program in EMDR therapy, about how EMDR therapy and EMDR therapy training is represented in Season 4 of The Affair. While I am used to Hollywood missing the mark with the portrayal of psychotherapy and other clinical issues, the training element introduced in the storyline of Season 4, Episode 4 took my disdain for Hollywood's handling of such issues to an extremely new level. I want to assert, as an EMDRIA-approved training program director that the way in which EMDR training is depicted in Season 4, Episode 4 of the affair is nowhere close to accurate or ethical. In the episode, the character of Allison (working on what is assumed to be graduate level training as a therapist as she is employed as a peer-to-peer grief counselor) attends an EMDR therapy conference training run by a fictional organization, the East Coast Association of EMDR. I want to assure any potential, eligible consumers of EMDR therapy training that the way EMDR therapy and the methods in which it is trained in the episode is dangerously inaccurately and embellished for dramatic impact.
Aside from the obvious technical errors in the EMDR demonstration (i.e., using short eye movement sets where longer sets would be required; demanding the closing of eyes; mishandling of an abreaction; inaccurate description of mechanisms of action), the most problematic areas in the episode include:
The show, which relies quite a bit on the "flash forward" technique seems to suggest that the relationship Allison develops with her colleague/fellow trainee who acted in this manner will cause her to experience a major mental health relapse.
Yes, my heart breaks for Allison, a character with whom I connect, as a fan of the show's artistry. However, I must address the layers of my disappointment as a professional in reflecting upon this episode. I am disappointed in Sarah Treem, the writer of the episode who I've long regarded as brilliant, for either not getting adequate consultation in EMDR techniques or receiving the consultation and choosing to embellish them for effect. I am disappointed and upset by the inaccurate portrayal of EMDR therapy in the episode, especially when those of us who practice and train EMDR therapy are constantly in a position of needing to defend its efficacy and responsibility against the widespread myths and misinformation that abounds. Lastly, I am disappointed that the show, which has always had great potential to shed a light on issues related to trauma, addition, alcoholism, grief, loss, and dissociation missed an amazing opportunity. The creators could have chosen to showcase trauma healing modalities in a more accurate light that could serve, and not just, entertain, the public.
The season is not over so I will continue to watch and notice if the writing redeems itself on this issue. In the meantime, if you are seeking to learn what EMDR is really about, please consider visiting these complimentary resources produced by The Institute for Creative Mindfulness:
Teleseminar recording on EMDR therapy by Dr. Jamie Marich: http://www.thebreathenetwork.org/emdr-therapy-and-the-healing-of-trauma-teleseminar
Overview interview on EMDR therapy with Dr. Jamie Marich: http://www.thebreathenetwork.org/integrated-trauma-healing-with-emdr-therapywww.thebreathenetwork.org/integrated-trauma-healing-with-emdr-therapy
Full Phases 1-8 Demonstration of EMDR therapy by Dr. Jamie Marich: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6UvKhLYf7w&feature=youtu.be
Interview with Dr. Jamie Marich & Dr. Stephen Dansiger (ICM Senior Faculty Members) on EMDR therapy and their latest book, EMDR Therapy & Mindfulness for Trauma-Focused Care:
Institute for creative mindfulness
Our work and our mission is to redefine therapy and our conversations are about the art and practice of healing. Blog launched in May 2018 by Dr. Jamie Marich, affiliates, and friends.
August 2020


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Unite Against Hate!
Resources for students, educators, and families to address and engage in the national dialogue about racism, hate, and bias in the wake of recent events in Charlottesville. Together we must foster safe spaces to move towards justice in education.
Tragedy in Charlottesville
How to Respond to Incidents of Racism, Bullying, and Hate in Schools
Many of our students are scared, anxious, and feeling threatened. Here are some steps you can take to respond to incidents of hateful words, actions, and images and make sure your students feel welcome, supported, and valued.
NEA Today: Talking to Students About Charlottesville Violence and Racism
In the wake of the violence in Charlottesville after one of the largest white nationalist rallies in recent years, our kids are confused and scared. They have more questions than ever, and parents and educators who are experiencing their own shock and disbelief are struggling to find the right words to offer.
Lily's Blackboard: The People We Are Supposed to Be
I am struck by the pictures I've seen on the news. I am struck by the faces I see lit by the torches of hate the night before a young woman's life was taken in an act of terror. This is not who we are supposed to be.
Statement on racial violence in Charlottesville, Virginia
Presidents of Virginia Education Association and National Education Association speak out
NEA Speaks Out
- The People We Are Supposed To Be
Do not shy away from talking about this terrible topic with the young," writes NEA President Lily Eskelsen García. "There is, perhaps, nothing harder than a conversation on race. But do it, because how we feel about race; how we react to racism informs how we feel about and react to all other forms of bias and prejudice."
- NEA Statement on Racial Violence in Charlottesville, Virginia
Presidents of Virginia Education Association and National Education Association speak out
- Talking to Students About Charlottesville Violence and Racism
Educators Responding to Hate and Bias in Schools
How to Deal with Acts of Racism and Hate
- Before a Crisis Occurs
How can you and other school leaders assess your school's climate with an eye toward defusing tension, preventing escalation, and avoiding problems?
- When There's a Crisis
What are the key points to consider when responding to a crisis that has been triggered by a bias incident at your school?
- After the Worst is Over
How can you address long-term planning and capacity building for the future, including development of social emotional skills?
White Supremacy
- Lessons to Teach and Learn from 'Unite the Right'- Anti-Defamation League
- Facing History: The Reconstruction Era and the Fragility of Democracy
Talking About Race in the Classroom
- Creating the Space to Talk About Race
- Start the Conversation About Racial Justice
- Responding to Hate & Bias – a Facebook Live featuring educator Fakhra Shah and Maureen Costello from Teaching Tolerance
- Discussing Race & Ethnicity – Resources from Teaching Tolerance
- Here's How To Raise Race-Conscious Children
Teaching kids not to "see" race actually isn't the best approach for raising anti-racist children.
Helping Children Cope with Traumatic Event
- NEA Healthy Futures School Crisis Guide
Knowing what to do in a crisis can be the difference between stability and upheaval. This step-by-step resource created by educators for educators can make it easier for union leaders, school district administrators, and principals to keep schools safe — before, during, and after a crisis.
- National Child Traumatic Stress Network
NCTSN has several pdfs and other resources for helping parents and children deal with catastrophic mass violence events, including parent tips for helping school-age children after disasters, which lists children's reactions with examples of how parents should respond and what they should say.
- Talking to Children About Tragedies and Other News Events
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) encourages parents, teachers, child care providers, and others who work closely with children to filter information about the crisis and present it in a way that their child can accommodate, adjust to, and cope with.
- How to Help Kids Feel Safe After Tragedy
It's normal for both adults and kids to feel anxious after such a publicly devastating event, but there are things you can do to minimize the stress and maintain a sense of normalcy.
- Incidents of Mass Violence
Learn about who is most at risk for emotional distress from incidents of mass violence and where to find disaster-related resources.
Teaching Tolerance and Acceptance
- Empowering Children in the Aftermath of Hate – What Can Parents and Teachers Do?
How can we begin and continue conversations about terror and violence with children? What can we say or do to help our children feel safe? The Anti-Defamation League provides some guidance and resources to help answer these questions, including lessons plans for different grade levels.
- GLSEN's Ready, Set, Respect! Elementary Toolkit
We all want students to feel safe and respected and to develop respectful attitudes and behaviors. GLSEN developed Ready, Set, Respect! to provide tools to support elementary educators like you with these efforts. The kit provides a set of tools that will help you prepare to teach about respect and includes lesson plans that can help you seize teachable moments. The lessons focus on name-calling, bullying and bias, LGBT-inclusive family diversity, and gender roles and diversity and are designed to be used as either standalone lessons or as part of a school-wide anti-bias or bullying prevention program.
- Helping Students Make Sense of News Stories About Bias and Injustice
When there are national news stories that involve incidents of bias and injustice, young people want to be part of the conversation. Use these suggestions, strategies, and resources to help make those discussions rich and productive for students.


text:
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Anyone know what happened to these xDuke based Special Multiplayer source modified games?
Hunter and Hellfire where the programmers.
(they never did release the updated source codes) but released some maps and other files as well.
The web site they where on seems to be no more.
They had some neat and good features built in and they ran fast.
xDuke Web Site:
nDuke Web Site (web.archive.org):
https://web.archive.org/web/20180211075 ... br/?p=home
HDuke and NDuke? (xDuke)
2 posts • Page 1 of 1
HDuke and NDuke? (xDuke)
RTCM http://www.r-t-c-m.com
RTCM http://www.r-t-c-m.com
Re: HDuke and NDuke? (xDuke)
I seen HDuke and NDuke over at yang-online website for mirror download.
RTCM http://www.r-t-c-m.com
RTCM http://www.r-t-c-m.com
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2005-06-22 : CourageOver at Esoteric Murmurs, Ed has a great post on the current topical topic of innovation and craft: When I Left You I Was The Learner.
What we have here on anyway when I say things like "That means that Dogs in the Vineyard is my journeyman game. That seems right to me: Dogs feels like my journeyman game," with all the implications that good games aren't good enough, that you just haven't put in enough work to be a master, the hierarchichal language, the guild langauge, all the stuff Ed's quite correctly pointing out - what we have is me bolstering my courage.
Way back in My Working Process and Red Sky A.M. I said this: "And when I finish it, I always look at it worried that inspiration will never strike again. 'Is this all the game design I have in me?' I say."
That feeling doesn't go away.
My confidence in my skills, I find, doesn't survive contact with an actual problem. Sometimes, reminding myself that I'm pretty good at what I do helps me face doing it.
I bolstered my courage at the expense of others'! That sucks. I'm'a try to knock that off.
1. On 2005-06-22, Matt Snyder said:
No, that feeling does not go away. Be wary.
First, let me make sure I'm getting what you're saying. Are you saying that, in describing, say, Dogs as "merely" journeyman work, that you're really "just" bolstering your courage to keep at it? And, at whose expense does this happen? Other creators who haven't labored? That's the part I'm missing—whose suffering (however slightly) at your words.
Now, if you'll humor me, I'll offer my related response to this business of confidence.
I bottled lightning somehow with Dust Devils. In transformed in a very few months into indie design cred for me. Did I deserve it? Looking back, it's a pretty apprentice level game that struck a chord and did right by its simplicity. In other words, I got lucky more than I was brilliant. Lucky, because I had no idea how I did what I did. It just happened that way. I didn't think I deserved genius designer of the year award, but I thought I did deserve credit for creating something, getting it out there, and giving something people to enjoy.
So, I set out for that next game, all the time doubtful I could bottle that lightning again.
Guess what? I didn't. My confidence flagged. Greatly.
It took me literally months to figure out that, you know what, Nine Worlds was actually a *better* game than Dust Devils. But, no one knew it. Part—no, most of that was my fault. (Hell! Part of that was yours, you Dog you! Heh.)
My presentation, and even my own understanding of what I had created, was flawed. (I know that sounds impossible, but it ain't.) But, it was *not* an indication that my design ability had dried up with my first game.
There was a kick-ass game in there that had something to say and created some worthwhile, fun play. But, I was doubtful. I thought, huh, I guess I'm not much of a designer after all. That was pretty stupid of me, but the frustration and doubt was human, understandable. It took a while to understand what I had created *after the fact*. Frustrating, yes. Educational, certainly. Hopeful, absolutely.
I'm saying this: Be wary. For me, that confidence is as much a part of external acclaim as it is internal creativity. I suspect I'm not alone in that regard.
What if Dogs remained wholly unchanged as a written text ... and most people thought "Mormons? Whatever ... what's this Prime Time Adventures game all about ... " ? Would you need to bolster you confidence more? Would others suffer at your expense. I admit the answer for me in a similar situation was and is "Yes."
2. On 2005-06-22, Matt Snyder said:
You know, I have a couple other more concise observations.
1) If you can do it once, you can do it again.
2) I find my own desire to publish on my own, do most of the work myself (in my case, including layout), and own my work can contradict the obvious notion that a team production has serious advantages.
Now, most of the time, we think of that in terms of production. I do, at least—layout, editing, artwork. We do that already. But, we have very few minds working together to *design* a game. Obviously, a teamwork approach has its own disadvantages. But, the indie scene, with its creator-owned mantra, has done very, very little to reap any advantages either. A pity, but I have no solutions. Like I said, there are disadvantages!
Can you actually imagine complete, published and well-designed game with this byline?
"By Vincent Baker and Clinton R. Nixon."
(For folks playing at home, insert your own fav's!)
Where do I send my hordes of cash for such a game? Does PayPal send money to Neverland?
3. On 2005-06-22, Ed H said:
Aw, Vincent, I did *not* mean to get down on you in the least. Hope it didn't sound that way.
I think that rankings like that are fine as long as we're clear that they're the judgments of particular people in particular contexts with particular values.
On issues of confidence and all that stuff—praise and criticism can both be deadly. They take your eyes off what you're doing and put them on what other people think of what you're doing.
Feedback is great when it's a matter of "finding out how people heard you" instead of "finding out whether people approve of you."
I've found in art that the thing that is most valuable to artists is a kind of Rogerian feedback, saying back to people what their work said to you. Not whether you liked it or not or whether you think it's "good" or not. What it said to you. Cause then they can learn how their work affects other people and judge for *themselves* whether it's saying what they want it to say.
So "this game is the best thing EVER!" and "This game sucks ROCKS!" are both about equally worthless and dangerous.
"This game gave my players a lot of say in how the story turned out. This game made it easy for me to cause conflicts which escalated dangerously. This game made me think hard about right and wrong. That's why I hated this game, and it sucks—I think the GM should control the story, I don't game to think about right and wrong, but for some fun release, and I would rather not have people feeling worried about how a conflict is going to turn out. Stupid game!"
You see how the first few paragraphs are pure feedback, and after that comes judgment—and the feedback is immensely useful and the judgment is totally irrelevant because the person doing the judging doesn't share your values about what "good" is?
So—opening oneself up to *feedback* but not making oneself a slave to other's *judgments* because your locus of judgment is internal—that's the ticket, eh?
Babbling again. I don't know how to talk about this stuff without babbling and tangenting. I apologize.
4. On 2005-06-22, Ed H said:
Matt, I agree with you that I would throw big money at a game with that byline. :) Or even more crazy ones, like "By Matt Snyder and James West." Now THAT would be a mindblowing design—I love both your work but it's damned different. :)
5. On 2005-06-22, Clinton R. Nixon said:
They found us out. Abort. I repeat, abort.
Seriously, for me, it's not "will I think of something else to design?" It's "will I finish this? Will I actually go through all the effort to write it all down and publish it?" That fear, the thought that I won't or can't, or am not good enough to (a common worry) - those suck so hard.
6. On 2005-06-22, Meguey said:
Y'all, this is so completely the quandry of pretty much any artist I know, including myself. The medium may change, but the self-doubt, the fear that inspiration may never strike agian, that nothing more will ever be finished - I'd hazarad to say universal. There's this huge stack of Un-Finished Objects hovering around in my mental space and sometimes I feel like I'm going to get crushed.
7. On 2005-06-22, Adam Dray said:
I'm with you, Clinton, except I'm all "Will I get bored of this midway and ditch it like I ditched college?" I am my baggage.
I'm pretty sure that I have lots of cool ideas. But I lose sleep over issues of my own endurance, my own ability to keep going when the fun part of the design is done and I'm left with boring details and the hard stuff.
Vincent, when you call Dogs your journeyman game, it does give me chills. I hope my "master" game is as good as that. But if that bolsters your courage, go for it. My insecurities are not your problem, and you're not doing anything at my expense. Bolster your courage and produce your next game. We're waiting for it and we'll learn from it.
8. On 2005-06-22, Eric Finley said:
Y'know, so far in the 'craft' language, one of the things that's missing is any definition of mastery.
I submit that a masterwork is a game whose quality is so clear to you, through even your most pessimistic self-judgment filters, that it overcomes that doubt. Whether this is actually possible or not remains to be seen. To be sure, if you have any sense at all of theory, then to reach this point you would need to (a) be damn sure you own the theory, all of it, up to that point, and (b) be damn certain that this game hits all of that, bullseye and square-on. You have to know that your criteria are appropriate, and then you have to know that your game satisfies them to master quality.
I don't mean that it'll be a magical cure-all for self-doubt... but I do mean that a master craftsman, by demonstrating his masterwork (to himself in this case), has a rational basis for saying "I'm bloody amazing at this." Just as a journeyman work serves as a rational basis for saying "I'm damn good at this." To me, this is precisely the way in which Dogs is IMO a fine example. Because Vincent knows he has cause to say so - and then says so.
- Eric
9. On 2005-06-22, Jay Loomis said:
I've been privileged to meet or talk to one or two masters of their trade in my life. People whose work makes your eyes bug out. The thing that strikes me about true masters is that they don't think much about their work.
The true master is so confident in her work that she doesn't have all the hang-ups that would make her insecure, hesitant, or even boastful. She does what she does and is peaceful in that state of being.
My point is that I'm not sure there is a master of the RPG design arts yet. The craft is young. The participants don't fully understand it yet. That's not a dis or anything, but a statement of perspective. When someone proves themselves a journeyman, they are proving that they have what it takes to practice their craft in the world at large without lots of support. It's a good thing.
So if Vincent's journeyman effort is Dogs, that doesn't diminish the value of Dogs as a game—it's a competently designed game that is worthy of (quite favorable, IMHO)comparison to games of other practicing designers.
Nor do I think that a designer should expect to produce Master quality work after producing a journeyman game. It takes a long time to become a master, even in a field where there are few variables. For a fledgling craft, the road is even longer. Go on making journeyman quality games. If people play them and have fun, you're doing better than most.
10. On 2005-06-22, Eric Provost said:
I'd just like to raise a mug to what Jay had to say.
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Comedy Open Mic Every Monday at 9pm
Start every week with comedian Angela Sharp, squeezing out the new bits and polishing the old, in the cozy back room of vintage craft beer and burger bar, McGinley Square Pub.
Fun times ! There may or may not be maracas!
1 item minimum strictly enforced to sign up!
4-7 minute sets depending on turnout
It's a comedy mic! So don't be afraid to try something weird and special!
New and first timers welcome! You are loved.
McGinley Square Pub is a 12 min. walk from the JSQ Path train. Street Parking. Meters are off at 6pm. Usually parking available on Fairmount or surrounding cross streets.


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So far, so good. I'm down about 2.5-3 pounds from my starting weight of 190 pounds as you can see from my weight loss chart. This week went well on all fronts: eating healthy and exercising.
I lifted weights two days this week, and I exercised on the treadmill the other three days. I should probably mention (as I should've from the start of this challenge) that I'm exercising on weekdays only. I have chosen to take the weekends off to let my body rest a bit. The healthy diet part of the equation is in full effect 24/7 though, and that's the most important part of my weight loss program. I use exercise just to speed up the process and get my fat-burning engine kicking into high gear!
For next week, my goal is to widdle my "overweight" self down to 185 pounds. It's definitely doable, so I'm ready to get at it. By the way, I should correct myself when I called myself overweight, because right now according to my BMI (body mass index), I'm considered just "marginally overweight"…Hey, it's progress!!! (lol)
Have a great weekend everyone!


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Translated novels feature in this month's selection of 'Other Genres' fiction. With some wonderful novels, translated from Swedish, Mandarin, Norwegian, Japanese, Spanish, French, Turkish and Hungarian, many hours of reading pleasure are guaranteed.
Nevada days / Bernardo Atxaga ; translated from the Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa.
"A fictionalised account of the author's nine months' stay as writer-in-residence at the Centre for Basque Studies at the University of Nevada. He is accompanied by his wife, Angela, who is also doing research there, and by their two daughters. During their first few weeks, the family encounter a strange mapache (racoon), which is always staring at them from the garden, a flight of helicopters immediately overhead, a black widow spider, a warning about bears, a party of prisoners in the desert, a lake that is somehow far too calm and too blue, and, not long into their stay, the kidnap and murder of a young girl living in the house right next door." (Adapted from Syndetics summary)
Penance / Kanae Minato ; translated by Philip Gabriel.
"The tense, chilling story of four women haunted by a childhood trauma. When they were children, Sae, Maki, Akiko and Yuko were tricked into separating from their friend Emili by a mysterious stranger. Then the unthinkable occurs: Emili is found murdered hours later. Sae, Maki, Akiko and Yuko weren't able to accurately describe the stranger's appearance to the police after the Emili's body was discovered. Asako, Emili's mother, curses the surviving girls, vowing that they will pay for her daughter's murder." (Adapted from Syndetics summary)
Waiting for Monsieur Bellivier / Britta Röstlund ; translated from the Swedish by Alice Menzies.
"Are you waiting for Monsieur Belliver, madame? Helena Folasadu should of course say no. She doesn't know the man talking to her, she doesn't know Monsieur Bellivier, and she certainly isn't waiting for him. But, bored of life, and sparked by a whim, she says yes. The go-between leads her to a deserted floor in an office building and offers her a large sum of money to sit at a computer and forward emails to Monsieur Bellivier. The emails turn out to be in code, and the bouquets Helena is handed every evening entangle her in an even greater mystery." (Adapted from Syndetics summary)
The history of bees / Maja Lunde.
"England, 1852. William is a biologist and seed merchant, who sets out to build a new type of beehive one that will give both him and his children honor and fame. United States, 2007, George is a beekeeper fighting an uphill battle against modern farming, but hopes that his son can be their salvation. China 2098, Tao hand paints pollen onto the fruit trees now that the bees have long since disappeared. When Tao's young son is taken away by the authorities after a tragic accident, she sets out on a grueling journey to find out what happened to him. Three very different narratives lead into one gripping and thought-provoking story that is just as much about the powerful bond between children and parents as it is about our very relationship to nature and humanity." (Adapted from Syndetics summary)
Sundays in August / Patrick Modiano ; translated from the French by Damion Searls.
"Stolen jewels, black markets, hired guns, crossed lovers, unregistered addresses, people gone missing, shadowy figures disappearing in crowds, newspaper stories uncomfortably close and getting closer, this ominous novel is Set in Nice. A young couple in hiding keeps close watch over a notorious diamond necklace known as the Southern Cross, with its provenance murky, only they know it's whereabouts, who find themselves trapped by its potential value, and its ultimate cost." (Adapted from Syndetics summary)
The red-haired woman / Orhan Pamuk ; translated from the Turkish by Ekin Oklap.
"On the outskirts of a town thirty miles from Istanbul a master well digger and his young apprentice are hired to find water on a barren plain. As they struggle in the summer heat, the two will develop a filial bond neither has known before. In the nearby town, the boy will find an irresistible diversion. The Red Haired woman, an irresistibly alluring member of a travelling theatre company, catches his eye and seems as fascinated by him as he is by her. The young man's wildest dream will be realized, but, when in his distraction, a horrible accident befalls the well-digger; the boy will flee, returning to Istanbul. Only years later will he discover whether he was in fact responsible for his master's death and who the redheaded enchantress was." (Adapted from Syndetics summary)
The children / Carolina Sanín ; translated from the Spanish by Nick Caistor.
"One day, as she enters her local supermarket, Laura Romero has a startling encounter with a beggar, who seems to offer her a child. A short while later, in the middle of the night, she discovers a mysterious young boy on the pavement outside her apartment building: Fidel, who is six years old, a child with seemingly no origins or meaning. With few clues to guide her as she tries to attach significance to his presence, Laura find herself swept into a bureaucratic maelstrom of fantastical proportions." (Adapted from Syndetics summary)
Katalin Street / Magda Szabó ; translated from the Hungarian by Len Rix.
"In prewar Budapest three families live side by side on gracious Katalin Street, their lives closely intertwined. Their lives are torn apart in 1944 by the German occupation, which only the Elekes family survives intact. The postwar regime relocates them to a cramped Soviet-style apartment and they struggle to come to terms with social and political change, personal loss, and unstated feelings of guilt over the deportation of the Held parents and the death of little Henriette, who had been left in their protection." (Adapted from Syndetics summary)
The postman's fiancée / Denis Thériault ; translated by John Cullen.
"Tania moves from Bavaria to Montreal to fine-tune her French and fall in love. Finding work as a waitress at a low-key restaurant in a working-class area of the city, she meets Bilodo, a shy postman who writes haiku and who is passionate about calligraphy. The two become friends. One stormy day their lives take a dramatic turn, and as their destinies become increasingly entwined the two are led into a world where nothing is as it seems." (Adapted from Syndetics summary)


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Our team of consultants specialize in humanitarian response and forced migration. We have a particular focus on conflict-affected and fragile environments.
We provide a variety of consulting services, including research and analysis, programme management and advice, as well as programme audit and evaluations.
The team has over 30 years of field experience in humanitarian settings, across more than 15 countries of the most conflict affected countries. Our team can provide services in multiple languages.
The Meraki Research Platform is all about understanding and supporting networks. What do people on the move need to travel safely and integrate with dignity into a new community? Our work develops the evidence base around (1) principled policy & programming to protect those affected by displacement, (2) the networks that migrants and refugees need to cultivate and build to survive and thrive and (3) how informal migration works, looking specifically at routes, risks, and smuggling networks.
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The world's next major crisis
The world's next major crisis Migration is the world's next major crisis – there is an influx of people at the gates, hordes of refugees and migrants are waiting in poor and war torn countries, and our society will be permanently [...]
Mobile Technology – Making Smuggler Networks More Efficient
Mobile Technology – Making Smuggler Networks More Efficient We don't know much about migrant smuggling networks. This is despite the fact that, according to the UN Office for Drugs and Crime (ODC), at least 2.5 million people wer [...]
Meraki in Wonderland
Meraki in Wonderland First a caveat if you will as this is not the most diplomatically phrased posts, so please don't let that put you off the other fine posts on the Meraki blog. With that said, let's begin. My day to day work t [...]
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The founders of Meraki Labs are humanitarian aid and forced migration experts, with more than 30 years of experience working on frontline response in conflict and displacement settings. We pride ourselves in building only what works practically.
Incorporated as a Canadian company in 2019, Meraki Labs is working with NGOs, International agencies and research institutions.


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An addendum to today's earlier post on the Louisiana Tech tandem of Carlos Henderson and Trent Taylor: Courtesy Chuck Burton of the great Lehigh Football Nation, CFB Huddle would be remiss if it made no mention of Lehigh's own stellar wide-receiving tag team of Troy Pelletier and Gatlin Casey.
The Mountain Hawks' Brown and Gold Express (trademark pending) rank No. 1 and 2 in the Football Championship Subdivision with 838 and 799 yards. Pelletier and Casey have combined for a remarkable 17 touchdowns, with Pelletier's 10 trailing only South Dakota State's Jake Weineke, and Casey tied for No. 7 nationally.
Lehigh has routinely featured one of the more impressive passing offenses in the FCS in recent years. Quarterback Chris Lum threw for 28 touchdowns (to go along with three rushing scores) and tallied 4,378 yards in 2011, en route to finishing as a Walter Payton Award finalist. Lum and wide receiver Ryan Spadola ranked as the nation's most potent quarterback-receiver tandem that season.
Where this year's Mountain Hawk offense deviates is in Nick Shafnisky and Brad Mayes having two All-America caliber wide receivers to target. Pelletier functions as the possession man, with Casey giving Lehigh a home-run threat.
Lehigh's riding the strength of the nation's No. 4-ranked passing to a five-game winning streak, which includes a 45-31 of defending Patriot League champion Colgate on Oct. 8. The Brown and Gold Express went wild that day, combining for five of the Mountain Hawks' six touchdowns — three Gatlin receptions, one Pelletier catch, and a Gatlin kickoff return.
Lehigh now has the inside track to set up a possible, de facto Patriot League title tilt with Fordham on Oct. 29.
Should the Mountain Hawks beat Holy Cross at home this week, and Fordham handle Georgetown, the two will be the League's only unbeatens when they meet Week 9 in Bethlehem.


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Upcoming Professional Development – Leadership in Languages
This workshop is accredited with BOSTES at the Highly Accomplished level.
Saturday October 15
Venue: The University of Sydney. Quadrangle Building, Latin 1 S224. Camperdown. NSW. 2006
Cost: $42.79 for MLTANSW members $84.59 for non-MLTANSW members (taking into account the Eventbrite fees)
Time: 10am to 3pm
Contact: Kati Varela, MLTA NSW PD Officer firstname.lastname@example.com
Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mltansw-leadership-in-languages-tickets-27500395423
Session 1: 10am to 11.20am
Unpacking the Australian Teaching Standards and aligning them to the AFMTLA developed ones
Facilitated by Anne-Marie Morgan (AFMLTA President)
Participants will explore how the Australian Teaching Standards at the Highly Accomplished level align with the AFMLTA Professional Standards.
Mid-morning break 11.20am to 11.45
Session 2: 11.45 am to 12.45pm
Update on Languages in NSW and Undertaking Action Research
Facilitated by Gillian Cordy (Education Officer for Languages for the Sydney Catholic Schools and MLTANSW President), and Maria Gaudioso (Italian Teacher at Monte Sant' Angelo Mercy College, accredited as Experienced Teacher)
After being provided with an update on Languages in NSW, participants will share and discuss practical tools and ideas in order to undertake action research in schools. There will be an opportunity for discussion and questions to be addressed in this session.
Lunch break 12.45pm to 1.45pm
Session 3 1.45pm to 2.45pm
Advocating for Languages in your school community and beyond
Facilitated by Merryl Wahlin (AISNSW Language consultant)
This session will focus on discussing some of the challenges facing Languages leaders and various strategies to overcome or address these challenges in view of relentlessly advocating for the effective delivery of language courses in schools in NSW.
Closing and feedback 2.45pm to 3pm


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Presets by Mel
Regular price
Story behind this Collection
This Collection was created for all the fellow warmth lovers out there. When I really started getting into editing I was editing my colours very cool and then when I found my style more and more I realized I loved being on the warmer side so much better. I managed to create a collection that encompasses a few different warm tones from a regular warm tone to a moody warm. I really love them and I hope you guys do too.
What's in here?
11 X Mobile presets for the free Adobe Lightroom CC app
How do I install them?
After purchase you will be sent an email with your presets and an installation guide.
All presets will be final sale.


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Illinois Immigrants to Benefit from Bill Being Signed Monday
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – While some Illinois Republicans are unhappy, the immigrant community is applauding Gov. Bruce Rauner for his promised signature on a couple of pieces of legislation.
Especially under fire is Senate Bill 31, the Illinois Trust Act. It limits the role of local law enforcement in federal efforts to crack down on people living in this country illegally. Another is an automatic voter registration bill.
Democratic state Rep. Chris Welch says both give immigrants basic rights that they should already have, and makes Illinois a safe state in which to work, live and pay taxes, without the fear of being arrested.
Welch adds Rauner's signature on the Trust Act flies in the face of what President Donald Trump is pushing.
"With all this information put out there before this governor, he has taken a look at the Trust Act and he sees – and admits himself – that this is very good, reasonable legislation, and I think this is going to do wonders for the state of Illinois and the business climate," Welch states.
There's been backlash from conservative Republicans in Illinois, with some saying on social media that this is the beginning of the end for the governor and, if he wants Republican support, this is not the way to get it.
Other opponents say the bill is a bad idea because there are often reasons to detain immigrants for reasons of national security.
Welch says the governor's move is not only a good thing for people, it's a good thing for business as well.
"What he's also saying to those who are looking at Illinois and wanting to come here and make Illinois home and be contributors to our economy, 'come on, you're welcome in Illinois,' so this is huge and that's why the business community is so much in favor of the Trust Act," Welch explains.
This isn't the first time Rauner has steered away from Trump. He didn't publicly endorse him for president during the campaign, and early this year he boycotted the first formal White House dinner for Trump attended by governors from across the nation.
After the fallout from the president's comments seemingly supporting white nationalists following the deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, last month, Rauner said Trump's comments were damaging to America.