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Story highlights
Internet tycoon Kim Dotcom launched a new file-storage and sharing site, Mega, on Sunday
Authorities shut down Dotcom's previous venture, Megaupload.com, amid piracy allegations
Mega offers all-encrypted storage for files that can't be opened by anyone -- even the host
Dotcom: "This startup is probably the most scrutinized by lawyers in the history of tech startups"
It was a busy weekend, but Kim Dotcom was feeling relaxed.
He was in boyish good spirits as around 150 contractors buzzed around his mansion and its acres of grounds, building a giant "Mega" sign on the front lawn and erecting a mobile stage that production company MadAnt says is New Zealand's largest. He mugged for the camera and joked "it's another raid" as a helicopter flew overhead.
The world's most controversial Internet tycoon was preparing to launch his site at 6:48am on Sunday morning – a year to the minute after his New Zealand mansion was raided and his old service was shut down by the authorities. (Some press, including Ars Technica, received an early look at the site.)
Ars Technica freelancer Chris Keall spoke with Dotcom on January 18 at his mansion outside Auckland, discussing topics ranging from Mega's business model to legal threats that may come back to bite his business.
"I would have the same fears"
In its heyday, Megaupload had around 50 million unique users – none of whom have regained access to their files since the site was taken offline. We put the most obvious question to Dotcom first: why should users trust him with their data at all? Wouldn't it be legitimate for users to be spooked by Mega, and refuse to go near it?
"You are certainly right," Dotcom conceded. "If I [were] a user of Megaupload, I would probably have the same fears. There will be users who chose not to work with us because of that, and that is unfortunate."
But Dotcom hopes that enough users will value the service he's offering: all-encrypted storage that can't be opened by anyone—even the host. He knows there will be a lot of people coming to check things out in the weeks to come and first impressions matter.
"There will also be a lot of users who just want to try this new service and see how good it is," he said. "Once they realize there is really no alternative to this service right now in terms of safety and privacy, I think there will be a lot of users who will use this. And over time, you know, when the service is live for a few months and people see these guys are still here, I think the trust will grow."
The jovial pre-launch atmosphere is only broken when Dotcom and his lawyer Ira Rothken are reminded that this week U.S. prosecutors have raised the possibility of fresh charges if the Mega launch goes ahead—an act that could be interpreted as violating a key bail condition Dotcom signed in by affidavit: not to relaunch Mega, or a similar service.
Rothken angrily rejects the notion that Dotcom is violating bail conditions. "Mr. Dotcom is working in consultation with top notch NZ defense counsel on bail compliance," he said. "[He] is innocent, is presumed innocent, and is entitled to innovate and work in technology like any other innocent New Zealander especially when the U.S. takes away all his assets and delays the extradition proceedings."
Nothing in Dotcom's bail conditions or US law precludes his engaging in lawful business, including Internet and technology businesses, said Rothken.
Embracing even the "smallest, most unreliable" hosts
The Mega business plan will be a distributed model, with hundreds of companies large and small, around the world, hosting files. A hosting company can be huge or it can own just two or three servers Dotcom says—just as long as it's located outside the U.S.
"Each file will be kept with at least two different hosters, [in] at least two different locations," said Dotcom. "That's a great added benefit for us because you can work with the smallest, most unreliable [hosting] companies. It doesn't matter because they can't do anything with that data."
More than 1,000 hosts answered a request for expressions of interest on the Mega home page. Dotcom says several hundred will be active partners within months. Successful hosts will get paid E500 per month per server; each server needs to supply 24 hard drives with 72 terabytes of storage and one gigabit of bandwidth, among other requirements.
That's all down the road, however. For now, Mega is launching with just one, professional, hosting operator—a subsidiary of Cogent, based in Dotcom's home country of Germany.
Dotcom says he needed a rock-solid setup for the launch and an operator who could rapidly scale if traffic and hosting requirements suddenly go through the roof after the January 20 launch (he had hoped to have a server rack operating in New Zealand for the launch as well, but says capacity on the Telecom/Singtel/Verizon-owned Southern Cross Cable was prohibitive).
The Washington DC-based, Nasdaq-listed Cogent was one of the suppliers of infrastructure and hosting services to Megaupload before its 2012 take-down. According to the indictment, Megaupload was paying Cogent around $1 million a month to lease "approximately thirty-six computer servers in Washington, DC and France." It was a substantial contract, although one that was dwarfed by that of Virginia-based Carpathia Hosting, where the bulk of Megaupload files were hosted, and are still stranded.
Cogent's fate was closely enough tied to Megaupload that its shares dropped 23 percent in a day after last year's raid, from $19.20 to $15.43. By mid-March, however, the stock had rebounded strongly; it closed recently at $24.11.
Having Cogent back on board is a source of pride for Dotcom; a major public hosting company has made a vote of confidence in his business plan for Mega. He was about to go into further detail on Cogent's hosting operation in Germany when his lawyer Ira Rothken—in Auckland for the launch and sitting in on the interview—stopped him, citing security concerns if the specific location was revealed.
Launching the most lawyered-up startup in tech history
The Mega business plan has been vetted by more than 20 lawyers across the US and New Zealand, Dotcom says—including those at Rothken's firm, and New Zealand law firms Simpson Grierson (one of the largest corporate law firms in NZ) and Lowndes Jordan (an intellectual property specialist). Also on Team Mega are two independent lawyers capable of handling the most difficult work: Queen's Counsel Paul Davison (often cited as the most expensive lawyer in New Zealand) and Guyon Foley—a criminal lawyer who made his mark prosecuting cases for the police before "switching sides," so to speak.
"This startup is probably the most scrutinized by lawyers in the history of tech startups," Dotcom claims.
Dotcom says it's inevitable Hollywood and music labels will "heckle" Mega "going by their past aggression … they can't help themselves" (and there was certainly a foretaste of possible trouble to come this week as Mediaworks, which owns one of the two big radio networks in NZ, pulled ads for Mega from its stations; an insider said the move followed pressure from music and movie advertisers).
Rothken says anybody who comes after Mega has no case.
"You have companies like Dropbox and Google with Drive with materially similar technologies, and they are in business and they're thriving—and Mega adds encryption," he says.
But doesn't encryption add a sinister edge? After all, encryption means Mega will be like the Swiss bank of online storage services; customers could easily use the technology to hide, say, pirated movies or child porn.
Rothken responds that many technologies have dual uses, but on balance provide more public good. That's how the VCR stayed on the market, despite facilitating video piracy. The same argument applies to cloud computing as a whole, he says.
For good measure, Rothken also notes that former Deputy Homeland Security Advisor Richard Falkenrath wrote about encryption as a desirable feature for cloud computing services ("You don't really need to know where your data is. As long as you know it is safely wrapped in an at-rest encryption cocoon, you should feel secure," the advisor wrote.)
Dotcom adds in that although other services don't have a one-click encryption option built into their interface, the likes of Google Drive allow you to upload encrypted, password-protected files. Dotcom and Rothken's arguments are well rehearsed and, on the face of things, have a solid logic.
But Dotcom, by his own admission, says the apparent movie and music industry push against the Mega radio ads was an "emotional reaction" from the content industry. Those feelings remain. Even with the best precautions, attempts to shut down Mega—and shut up Dotcom—are unlikely to stop.


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subset: commoncrawl


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For Boston bomb suspect, a seasoned defense team
BOSTON (AP) -- One lawyer won acquittal for a Saudi man charged with carrying three firecracker-like devices on a plane, arguing he was a victim of hysteria over airport security after the Sept. 11 attacks. Another has managed to avert death sent...
BOSTON (AP) -- One lawyer won acquittal for a Saudi man charged with carrying three firecracker-like devices on a plane, arguing he was a victim of hysteria over airport security after the Sept. 11 attacks. Another has managed to avert death sentences for some of the highest-profile criminals of our time, including the Unabomber and the gunman whose rampage injured former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
By DENISE LAVOIE
AP Legal Affairs Writer
BOSTON (AP) -- One lawyer won acquittal for a Saudi man charged with carrying three firecracker-like devices on a plane, arguing he was a victim of hysteria over airport security after the Sept. 11 attacks. Another has managed to avert death sentences for some of the highest-profile criminals of our time, including the Unabomber and the gunman whose rampage injured former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
Together, they are staring down what may become their biggest challenge so far: how to defend the man authorities say helped plan and carry out the Boston Marathon bombings, an attack that killed three people, injured more than 260 and virtually shut down the city during an intense manhunt.
The team that will be led by Miriam Conrad, the chief federal public defender for Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, got a major boost Monday with the addition of prominent San Diego lawyer and death penalty opponent Judy Clarke. Not that Conrad is considered any slouch.
"She is as tenacious as they come," said Joshua Levy, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Boston who has gone up against Conrad in federal court. "I always found her to be very smart and focused on whatever she perceived as chinks in the armor in the government's case. She would zone in on that."
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is charged with using a weapon of mass destruction to kill, a crime that carries a potential death sentence. He lies in a prison hospital after being wounded in a shootout with police as he and his brother made a getaway attempt. Tamerlan Tsarneav, 26, was killed.
Conrad is preparing for what's expected to be a long and complicated legal process. Although federal law entitles to at least one lawyer with experience in death penalty cases, Conrad asked for two.
She got Clarke but was denied a second - David Bruck, a professor at Washington and Lee University School of Law. He has directed the school's death penalty defense clinic since 2004.
The suspect's lawyers could renew their motion to appoint another death penalty expert if he is indicted, the judge said. That's when prosecutors could add new charges. Prosecutors have 30 days to indict him.
Northampton, Mass., lawyer David Hoose described Clarke as "simply the best."
"She has an ability to relate to people who are charged with these horrific, horrific crimes and to humanize them, to portray them as human beings to the government and to a jury," said Hoose, who has represented several people accused of capital crimes, including Kristen Gilbert, a former veterans hospital nurse who killed four patients by overdosing them with medicine. Gilbert was spared the death penalty.
Conrad, 56, is among three federal defenders in her office who will represent Tsarnaev and would not talk about how she will defend him. Lawyers who have handled capital cases say the team's first priority will likely be to persuade prosecutors to take the death penalty off the table.
Tamar Birckhead, a former federal public defender who represented shoe bomber Richard Reid, said the public safety exception cited by authorities allows investigators to question a suspect on a focused and limited basis when police or the public may be in immediate danger.
"It seems inevitable if the case is going to be litigated and not resolved in a negotiated plea, then (Conrad) will bring a motion to suppress and try to argue that the government went beyond the public safety exception or didn't craft questions that were limited enough to fit within that exception," said Birckhead, now an associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law.
"Then they'll see what a judge decides," she said.
Experts say Conrad is also almost certain to try to suppress statements Tsarnaev allegedly made to investigators before he was advised of his constitutional right to remain silent and seek a lawyer.
Tsarnaev admitted his role in the bombings, saying that he and his brother were angry about the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the killing of Muslims there, officials said.
Conrad has spent her entire legal career as a public defender, first for the state, and for the past 21 years as a federal defender. Before going to Harvard Law School, she worked for the Kansas City Times and as a crime reporter for The Miami Herald.
In court, Conrad is aggressive and feisty without being histrionic. Prosecutors who have gone up against her say she is a fierce advocate who takes advantage of any missteps by her opponents. Judges also respect her.
Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Smith recalled attending a seminar several years ago when a panel of judges was asked by a lawyer how he should handle himself in federal court.
"One of the judges said, `Do what Miriam does. Watch Miriam; do what she does,'" Smith said.
She won an acquittal in 2004 for a Saudi biomedical engineer who was charged after three sparklers were found in his luggage at Boston's Logan Airport. She argued he didn't realize the sparklers were in his luggage. After he was acquitted, Conrad questioned why the case wasn't resolved by Customs agents.
"Knowing how credible he is, I wonder why it didn't stop there," she said. "This guy is no more a terrorist than Pope John Paul."
In the case of Rezwan Ferdaus, a Massachusetts man accused of plotting to attack the U.S. Capitol and Pentagon with remote-controlled model planes, Conrad suggested his plot was just a fantasy fueled by mental health problems. Ferdaus received a 17-year sentence after pleading guilty to attempting to provide material support to terrorists and other charges.
In a 2006 interview with Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Conrad said she does not see her clients in one-dimensional terms.
"From a personal standpoint, I would say that there are very few clients I have had who I didn't like," she said.
"If you scratch the surface, many have had difficult lives, and, as their lawyer, I sort of see them whole - not just as a person charged with a crime," she said. "No one has ever stood up for them, and that is a very powerful, emotional thing," she said.
Clarke's clients have included the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski; Susan Smith, who drowned her two children; Atlanta Olympics bomber Eric Rudolph; and most recently Tucson, Ariz., shooter Jared Loughner. All received life sentences instead of the death penalty.
Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz said Clarke understands the divide among Americans over the death penalty, with some opposed to it, others generally supportive of it, and still others who want to see it reserved for only the worst cases.
"She knows how to use those attitudinal differences in the interests of her clients," he said.
Clarke has rarely spoken publicly about her work and did not return a call seeking comment Monday. However, at a speech Friday at a legal conference in Los Angeles, she talked about how she had been "sucked into the black hole, the vortex" of death penalty cases 18 years ago when she represented Smith.
"I got a dose of understanding human behavior, and I learned what the death penalty does to us," she said. "I don't think it's a secret that I oppose the death penalty."
AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch in Los Angeles contributed to this report.


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Titans, Indians win in blowouts
ROCKTON - Even Boylan coach Paul Perrone was stunned with how well the Titans played.
"I was really surprised. We just exploded," he said. "I've never seen our team. Wow! We were on fire."
And not the way Boylan has been on fire before. This is Perrone's best shooting team in a few years. He has repeatedly said the Titans no longer need to rely on defense as much. But Tuesday, in a 67-40 Class 4A girls basketball regional demolition of Auburn, the Titans harried the Knights from start to finish with suffocating defense.
"It was crazy good," said Kayla Steward, who scored all 18 of her points in the first 14 minutes, helping Boylan to a 34-7 lead. "Everybody was out there working hard. We all came together. Defense wins championships."
Boylan gave Auburn (20-7) no room to shoot. The Knights' first five shots were all 3s, and all were contested. The second was blocked. The third was an airball. The fourth, shot high over an onrushing Titan, caromed off the rafters.
At one point an Auburn team that went a school-record 14-2 in the NIC-10, tying Boylan for second, was shooting eight percent (3-for-36) and trailing 42-7.
"We were always right there putting pressure on them," said Jensen Blassage, who led Boylan with 20 points. "That was the key. I knew they were getting furstrated. That's what we needed to do, get them frustrated and get their pace going quick."
"They played great defense," said Natasha Adames, who scored nine points, including five of the Knights' seven in the first half. "It was a little frustrating, but we should have moved the ball a lot faster than what we did."
Next up for Boylan (24-4) is four-time defending NIC-10 champion Hononegah in Thursday's regional final.
Can Boylan play this good of defense again?
"No. I think we can play a lot better," Blassage said. "It's definitely going to be a battle, but we're up for the challenge."
Melena Burke led Auburn with 14 points.
Hononegah 71, Harlem 40: Four different Indians hit 3-pointers as Hononegah raced to a 20-5 lead in the first seven minutes.
Karley Kolberg, a Loyola (Md.) recruit, led Hononegah with 14 points, but had only two in the first half, one sign of just how balanced and deep the Indians (24-7) are. Tiana Thomas added 13 points and Brandi Fier 12.
"We have a lot of depth, big range for our 3-point shooters and we've got posts inside," Thomas said. "If we're not knocking down 3s, we can dish it inside."
Tijana Spremo and Mckaela Schmelzer scored 10 points each for Harlem (13-15), which never got closer than 15 points after trailing 36-17 at the half.
Matt Trowbridge: 815-987-1383; email@example.com; @matttrowbridge


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County taking back loan program
Low-interest home improvement loans for low-income homeowners will soon be handled by a Cheboygan County department again.
The Northeast Michigan Affordable Housing (NEMAH) organization has been handling the loans, after it took the place of the county's Housing Department, which was ultimately eliminated due to budget concerns. By contracting with a third-party organization such as NEMAH that could provide housing services with only grant administration fees, no tax dollars were required to fund housing programs.
NEMAH is paid only by the administration dollars that are allowed to be earned by the programs and services it administers. Programs NEMAH offers include housing rehabilitation, home buyer programs, rental rehabilitation, well loans and homeownership and foreclosure counseling.
However, the county has decided to rebuild the low-interest home improvement loan program after noting a limited number of loans in the past two years. By having the Community Development Department take on the program, with a focus on getting the information out to the public and processing the loan applications, the hope is that more applicants will be able to take advantage of it.
"We can piggyback on our contacts who are out in the field, like inspectors, to get the word out," said Community Development Director Steve Schnell. "Part of this program has always required a marketing aspect, and there was hope that by doing this we could reach more people. We have so many more opportunities through the nature of this department."
Schnell noted that especially with more requests for assistance for veterans, who may already be visiting Department of Veterans Services in the County Building, it makes sense to have this program available just down the hall.
The process of transitioning the program to the county is still underway, although officials hope to have it in place before March. Staff is currently being trained on intake.
"We want to be able to give it more focus," said County Administrator Jeff Lawson. "Our hope is that we can put the program back together with the strength of our internal departments. We want to make sure people are aware that the money is available."


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text:
Cedarville boys, St. Ignace girls ranked No. 1 in basketball polls
The No. 1 teams in the Upper Peninsula boys and girls basketball polls are unanimous this week.
For the first time this season, all voters in the select five-person panel of U.P. Sportwriters and Sportscasters agree on the top-ranked teams.
Cedarville (10-1) has ascended to sole possession of the No. 1 position in the Class D boys poll. The Trojans were tied for first along with Carney-Nadeau last week. Cedarville downed Brimley 66-62, while Carney-Nadeau absorbed a 70-67 loss against Forest Park.
Four players scored in double figures for the Trojans in the win over Brimley. Josh Hester scored 16 points, while Joe Duncan and Dan Stenback scored 13 points each and Todd Hecht added 11 points. It was the first game of the season for Stenback, who had to sit out the first half of the season after transferring from Sault High.
Cedarville (4-0 EUPC), which has not lost a league game in six years, is already up two games over Brimley and DeTour in the loss column midway through the conference race.
Brimley (10-2) climbs to No. 2 in this week's U.P. poll. The Bays' only losses have come against Cedarville. Carney-Nadeau (8-2) drops to No. 3, followed by Ewen-Trout Creek (9-2) and Munising (7-2).
Marquette (9-1) and Negaunee (9-1) continue to be ranked No. 1 and 2 in the boys Class ABC poll. Gwinn (9-3) moved up one spot to third, while Kingsford (7-3) fell to fourth. Sault High (8-4) and Ironwood (8-3) are tied for fifth.
Sault High dealt Marquette its only loss, 59-52, back on Jan. 9. The Blue Devils, who beat Rogers City and Gladstone last week, are tied for first place in the Straits Area Conference. Sault High plays host to Cheboygan in a key SAC game Friday.
St. Ignace (13-0) continues to be ranked No. 1 in the U.P. and state AP Class D polls. Kelley Wright scored a career-high 40 points for the Saints in their 98-52 win over Rudyard last week.
The top three teams in the U.P. Class D poll all remained unbeaten and kept their ranking positions. Forest Park (13) is No. 2 and Superior Central (14-0) No. 3 in the U.P. poll. DeTour (10-1) moved up one spot to No. 4, while Bark River-Harris (10-3) is No. 5.
In state AP Class D poll rankings, St. Ignace continues to be ranked first, while Forest Park is second, Superior Central is fourth and DeTour is ranked ninth.
DeTour, which is chasing its first Eastern U.P. Conference title since 1994, plays host to Brimley tonight. The Raiders and Bays play three times this season, and tonight's game will be a non-conference clash.
In the U.P. Class ABC girls poll, the top four positions remained the same. Marquette (12-2) is No. 1, followed by Houghton (12-1), Negaunee (11-2) and Calumet (9-2). L'Anse (9-3) moves into the No. 5 spot this week.
Marquette defeated Negaunee 45-38 Monday night.


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Tribal anglers ready to be alone on waters come Friday
Walleye season is winding down for many anglers, but Tribal fishermen will be within their rights to keep pursuing walleye and other game fish.
The official end of walleye season comes on Friday, but approaching warm weather likely will soften ice conditions, ending the season early for safety conscious anglers. It will be roughly six weeks before the season reopens on April 27.
In the interim, Tribal anglers will carry out their age-old tradition of spring walleye fishing, a right provided by a 176-year old treaty.
Under the 1836 Treaty of Washington, tribal angler's opportunities are different than those allowed for state-licensed recreational anglers under Michigan law. Spring walleye fishing is one such opportunity.
As a result of the 2007 Inland Consent Decree, tribal members can use spears or regular fishing equipment to catch walleye and steelhead in some waters when these waters are closed to fishing for state-licensed recreational anglers.
Spring walleye spearing has been a critical facet of the Anishinabe harvest calendar for hundreds of years.
Despite the longevity of this tradition, many common anglers are unaware of Tribal rights and spring spearing traditions. This results in Tribal anglers being reported to the Department of Natural Resources each spring, despite no wrongdoing.
"We appreciate anglers' concerns when they see something unusual occurring, but we ask people not to interfere with Tribal members who are exercising their rights under the 2007 Inland Consent Decree," said Nick Popoff, the DNR Fisheries Division's tribal coordinator. "If you think a violation is in progress, you can call the DNR's Report All Poaching line (800-292-7800) and report it."
The area ceded under the 1836 Treaty of Washington includes the eastern half of the Upper Peninsula and the northern Lower Peninsula.


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This has been a rather momentous year for me, in terms of my writing and genealogy goals. In no particular order (how could I choose my favorite?), here are my favorite parts of 2009:
1. Presented my first lecture on 17 October 2009, at the Mid-Atlantic Family History Conference in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, on researching your Civil War veteran ancestors.
2. Began teaching a course in African-American genealogy for GenClass in April. The course ran again in June and November. Unfortunately, GenClass has closed its doors, but I have been accepted to present the same course for the National Institute for Genealogical Studies (NIGS). See www.genclass.com for more details.
3. Began writing the "African American Genealogy Examiner" column on Examiner.com. This column has been widely accepted by much of the "Geneablogging" community of genealogy bloggers, and was even nominated for Family Tree Magazine's "40 Best Genealogy Blogs." The final list will be released in the May 2010 issue (the current issue is March), so keep your fingers crossed!
4. Had three articles published in Family Chronicle magazine in 2009: "Breaking the Chains: Researching Former Slaves" (Feb); "Sourcing Your Sources" (Jul/Aug); and "Small Worlds: Researching Social Networks" (Sep/Oct); and one article in Discovering Family History magazine: "Social Networking: Unplugged" (Jan/Feb 2010, released this past Tuesday).
5. Met many great new genealogy friends as I started attending local chapter meetings for the Association of Professional Genealogists (National Capital Area chapter) and the Afro-American Historical Genealogical Society (Baltimore chapter).
6. "Met" and became acquainted with many great new online genealogy friends on the social networking sites Twitter and Facebook.
7. Became the Coordinator of the Resource Library for the site Lowcountry Africana (www.lowcountryafricana.net). With a more specialized audience, I have been able to delve a little deeper into many of the research concepts that I have explored in my Examiner column.
8. Published digital images of the 1867 Voters Registration Lists for all available Texas counties, as e-books on Scribd.
9. Joined the ProGen Study Group (ProGen 5), and the NGSQ Study Group. Both of these groups will challenge me to raise my level of research and professionalism, as well as acquainting me with many other aspiring genealogists like myself.
10. Bought stock in Ancestry.com (ACOM). If I am going to give them so much of my money each year, it seems only fair. 😉
And now, for my goals for 2010:
1. Continue to write more articles. My goal will be to have at least ten articles accepted in 2010 (if not necessarily published during the year, due to editorial lead times). You know what, why sell myself short? Let's make it twenty articles!
2. Become a Certified Genealogist. My "clock" is up at the end of February, and I am steadily working on my portfolio. Hopefully, the results will come back in my favor, to demonstrate my commitment to the highest research standards.
3. Present for local historical and genealogical societies, and local conferences. I already have two presentations on African-American research coming up in New Jersey on 6 February, and in Kensington, Maryland, on 17 April. Once I have a few more presentations designed, I will try to start shopping them around to other local societies.
4. Publish a few books. I currently have several books in various stages of planning and completion, including one on the Civil War draft in Maryland (containing the names of over 20,000 free and enslaved men) that will be published within the next month or so.
5. Publish at least one article in a scholarly journal.
6. Complete more research into my study on the slaves of Prince George's County, Maryland. My notes currently contain the names and final owners of over 6,000 slaves. I want to flesh out the details of the lives of many of these people this year
7. Publish my Examiner.com column more often. Since 22 April 2009, when the first article was published, I have published 79 articles. This is an average of 1 article every 3 or so days. I will try to bring that average up to about 1 article every 2 or so days.
8. Contribute more often to my Genealogy Trails websites for Maryland: Prince George's Co., Charles Co., and St. Mary's Co.
9. Find a good balance between professional/client research, and research for personal publishing projects. In 2009, I cut down greatly on the number of client research projects that I accepted, in order to focus more on other projects, such as the above noted project (#6). I would like to create
10. Continue to explore new and innovative sources for revenue based in genealogical and historical research. If my desire to become self-employed in this field, then I will have to be able to generate enough income to support myself and my family.
Assuming that I am still writing this blog this time next year, we'll see how successful I have been at meeting these goals.
Happy New Year, and to everyone, have a great 2010!


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New and Notable
The German Sustainability Award for 2011 has been given to the ecoPOWER 1.0, Europe's first micro-cogeneration system (mCHP) for detached, single- and two-family houses. Earlier CHP versions have been mainly for larger buildings or building complexes. The new, smaller version generates much of the electricity the building needs, and uses the remaining energy, which usually is wasted in electric generation, to provide heating and hot water.
The ecoPOWER 1.0, introduced to the German market in mid-2011, is a joint product of Honda, the Japanese producer of motor vehicles and engines, and Vaillant, a German heating and ventilation company. Operated by gas, it was cited by the award's jury for its 92% efficiency and for the fact that it emits only about half the CO2 that conventional systems do.
It is the first European system to bring recent advances in gas engine technology into the home, and is made up of a cogeneration unit from Honda, a 300-liter storage tank, a wall-mounted gas condensing boiler for peak loads, and a control system. Vaillant Group CEO Carsten Voigtlander says the unit was the first "developed especially for optimal operation in smaller residential buildings." He continues, "We are opening a wide market for the decentralization of heat and power generation."
The sales potential looks good, as Germany offers a number of incentives to people who install this sort of system. They pay no tax on the electricity they generate, get their fuel taxes refunded, and even get paid if they feed excess electricity into the grid. Cogenerational systems for homes are in their infancy in the United States, but industry experts expect them to catch on as they become more commonplace in Europe and Japan.
learn more
For more information on ecoPOWER 1.0, visit www.world.honda.com/news/
The German Sustainability Award is presented annually by the Stiftung Deutscher Nachhaltigkeitspreis, an agency supported by the government and private-interest groups. The ecoPOWER 1.0 was the leader in the category Germany's Most Sustainable Products/Services.
—Ted Shoemaker
Ted Shoemaker is a now-retired writer and editor based in Frankfurt, Germany.
RESNET App Available
The Energy Conservatory recently announced the new iTEC RESNET application, which can be downloaded for free from iTunes. The app is designed for HERS raters measuring building airtightness, and makes it easy to comply with the data collection and reporting requirements of the RESNET One Point Airtightness Test, as specified in chapter 8, section 802.5 of the RESNET Performance Testing Standards.
The app works with the blower door airtightness-testing equipment manufactured by The Energy Conservatory. It allows the users to enter data, calculate results, record information, display test results, and e-mail an HTML report. Project files can be geotagged and time stamped, and a single photograph from the camera roll can be linked to the project file.
The iTEC RESNET app is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod Touch 3G and 4G and iPad. It requires iOS 4.0 or later.
learn more
Download the iTEC RESNET app at www.itunes.apple.com/us/
Tankless Water Heaters To Buy or Not to Buy
Water heating is the second-largest energy user in U.S. homes. It is also a very inefficient energy user, with typical equipment efficiencies around 60%. The Center for Energy and Environment, with funding from the Minnesota Office of Energy Security, recently completed a two-year field-monitoring project to determine if high-efficiency tankless water heaters could help to solve this problem.
The study monitored ten homes and found a 37% savings of water-heating energy per household (or about 6,000 kBtu per home per year) for replacing a typical natural-draft storage water heater with a tankless one. However, these savings were not enough to justify buying a tankless water heater due to the low cost of natural gas and the high installation costs. The study also determined that without considerable rebates, the simple payback for these heaters would be 20 to 40 years, making widespread installations seem unlikely.
learn more
The full data on this study can be found in the report Actual Savings and Performance of Natural Gas Tankless Water Heaters. To download the report, go to the Center for Energy and Environment's web site: www.mncee.org/getattachment/
ClimateMaster Exceeds 40 EER
ClimateMaster recently announced an efficiency breakthrough in its new Trilogy 40 Q-Mode series. This is the first series of geothermal heat pumps certified by the Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) to exceed 40 energy efficiency ratio (EER) under ground loop (GLHP) conditions.
The Trilogy 40 utilizes variable-speed technology to provide a wide range of heating and cooling capacities, with the ability to perfectly match loads to as low as 30% of maximum. In addition, the product's patent-pending Q-Mode technology produces year-round domestic hot water on demand, even when space conditioning is not required.
The Trilogy 40 Q-Mode series is the outcome of a five-year collaboration between ClimateMaster and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), sponsored by the DOE Building Technologies program. Based on field tests and analysis by ORNL, the Trilogy 40 Q-Mode can save 55–65% of annual energy use and cost for space conditioning and water heating in residential applications, versus new minimum-efficiency (13 SEER) conventional systems; and 30–35% versus current state-of-the-art two-stage geothermal heat pumps.
learn more
For more information on ClimateMaster, visit www.climatemaster.com.
The Trilogy 40 Q-Mode series is currently in limited production, with full availability scheduled for late this year.
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There's a new website on Germans in the Eastern Cape. Or perhaps I should rather say that it is an old site that has been revamped and moved to a new address.
Two groups of German settlers came to the Eastern Cape (well, the part of it then called British Kaffraria) in 1858/59. The first to arrive were the military settlers of the British German Legion, who had been recruited to fight in the Crimean War, but the war ended before they could be deployed, so it was decided to send them to the Eastern Cape instead. The civilian settlers followed about a year or two later. The web site explains the background to the emigration of both groups, and gives quite detailed information on the military settlers.
Val's grandmother, Emma le Sueur (formerly Greene, formerly Chelin, born Decker) descended from both groups. Her Decker ancestors were among the military settlers, being Carl August Decker, who married Mary Nevard Morton in Colchester just before leaving (the British Germaon Legion was trained at Colchester in Essex). The civilian settlers included the Falkenberg and Schultz families from the Ueckermark in Brandenberg. The Schultz family were of French Huguenot descent, and they are the ones we know most about in the earlier generations, but practically nothing since they arrived in South Africa.
We've also discovered other links, not direct ancestors, but people who married into other branches of the family. Another of the military settlers was Captain Carl Arthur von Lilienstein. He was a customs official in Holstein 1839-1848, then joined the British German Legion and led a party of 100 military settlers to Berlin in British Kaffraria in 1857. He was also a Count (Graf). His daughter Ida married Henry Green, brother of Val's great great grandfather Frederick Thomas Green.
The Falkenberg and Schultz families came on the Wilhelmsburg, which sailed from Hamburg on 19 October 1858, and arrived in East London on 13 January 1859. According to the web site, 64 children and one adult died on the voyage. We know that one of the children who died was a member of the Schultz family, three-year-old Wilhelmine Caroline Schultz, because she was on the embarkation list at Hamburg, but not on the disembarkation list at East London. The web site does not give details of the children who travelled, just the parents, though perhaps one day it may be possible to include the complete passenger lists for both ends of the voyage.
A quite recent discovery we have made is that a Devantier family on board the Wilhelmsburg was related to the Schultz family. It is possible that several other families who emigrated may have been related as well. And ironically, though we have been able to trace the Schultz ancestry furthest back, to Calais and Flanders in the mid-17th century, once they reached South Africa they all vanished without trace, all, that is except for Justine (nicknamed Jessie), nine years old on the voyage out, who married Christian Falkenberg after his first wife died, though we haven't been able to find a record of that marriage either. So if anyone sees anything possibly related to this Schultz family, please contact us!
Family Group Record for Martin Schultz
Husband Martin Schultz-[26]
Born: 11 Aug 1822 - Wendemark, , , Germany Baptised: Died: Buried:
Father: Martin Schultz-[25] (Abt 1781- ) Mother: Marie Payard-[23] (1785- )
Marriage: 9 Jun 1844 - Meichow, Ückermark, Brandenburg, Prussia [MRIN:13]
1. Emigration, on Wilhelmsburg, 19 Oct 1858 – Hamburg, Germany
Wife Justine Holtzendorff-[37]
AKA: Justine Holzendorf Born: 16 Dec 1825 - Meichow, Ückermark, Brandenburg, Prussia Baptised: Died: - Cape Colony Buried:
Father: Friedrich Holtzendorff-[36] (Abt 1788-1846) Mother: Dorothea Kaeding-[35] (1796- )
1. Emigration, Ship Wilhelmsburg, 19 Oct 1858 – Hamburg, Germany
1 F Wilhelmine Luise Schultz-[38]
Born: 3 Sep 1844 - Meichow, Ückermark, Brandenburg, Prussia Baptised: Died: 14 Nov 1850 - Meichow, Ückermark, Brandenburg, Prussia Buried:
2 M Wilhelm Friedrich Schultz-[39]
Born: 3 Aug 1847 - Meichow, Ückermark, Brandenburg, Prussia Baptised: Died: Buried:
3 F Justine Wilhelmine Schultz-[40]
AKA: Jessie Schultz Born: 22 Jun 1849 - Meichow, Ückermark, Brandenburg, Prussia Baptised: Died: 21 Apr 1927 - East London, Eastern Cape, South Africa Buried:
Spouse: Michael John Christian Falkenberg-[44] (1827-1882) Marr: [MRIN:20]
Spouse: Charles John Koch-[336] ( -1940) Marr: Mar 1883 [MRIN:19]
4 F Marie Luise Schultz-[41]
Born: 22 Jun 1852 - Meichow, Ückermark, Brandenburg, Prussia Baptised: Died: Buried:
5 F Wilhelmine Caroline Schultz-[42]
Born: 9 May 1855 - Meichow, Ückermark, Brandenburg, Prussia Baptised: Died: Abt 1858 - At Sea Buried:
6 M Karl Wilhelm August Schulz-[43]
AKA: August Schultz Born: 2 Jan 1858 - Meichow, Ückermark, Brandenburg, Prussia Baptised: Died: Buried:
General Notes (Husband)
Knecht und Tagelõhner in Meichiow, emigrated to the Cape Colony with his family in 1858.
Last Modified: 15 Dec 2008
There's more on the Falkenberg family here and here, and more about the Decker family here.
Filed under: family history | Tagged: Brandenberg, British Kaffraria, Decker family, Deutsche Auswanderung, Eastern Cape, Eastern Cape families, Falkenberg family, family history, genealogy, German military settlers, Huguenot families, Schultz family, South Africa |


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Taare Zameen Par – movie review
Taare Zameen Par, which means Stars on the ground, is a movie is about a gifted child who is also dyslexic. The subject is handled sensitively by Aamir Khan, who is both producer and director. He manages to get an amazing performance out of Darsheel Safary, who acts as eight year old Ishaan Awasthi. I still can't get over that kid's acting performance…I have never seen a child act so brilliantly. And considering that the boy was present in almost every frame, the fact that he acted so well went a long way in making the film as brilliant as it is.
The movie is a little slow in the first half, but it's a treat to watch the director take us into the world of children. One doesn't have to be a dyslexic or have a dyslexic child to identify with the world that is created…a world of imagination, of colours and that of innocent wonder at the joys of nature. Surely all of us remember staring in fascination at fish swimming in a fish tank or at birds feeding their young? And each one of us has spent hours near water, trying to make paper boats float! We have all stared out of classrooms at birds and trees or doodled on pieces of paper while teachers droned on…well, I have! If the pace is a little slow, well, I think it was right for the subject.
What made the first half all the more poignant was that Ishaan is a child rejected not only by his peers and his teachers, but also by his father…and his world of imagination, of colour, is all that he has to cling on to. He has his mother too. Tisca Chopra plays his mother Maya, who understands him but is helpless in the face of a demanding, authoritarian father (played by Vipin Sharma). These two characters (of the parents) seemed stereotypical to me.
What I really liked about this movie is that the subject is not restricted to just a dyslexic child struggling with his writing and reading, but also talks about the struggle of a child against the rigors of a school system which pounces on every little mistake and humiliates the child for making it. A system which is rote oriented and stifles original thinking. When little Ishaan explains the meaning of a poem in an abstract fashion, in pure ideas, his teacher gets enraged, thinking that Ishaan is talking nonsense. Even the Art teacher insists that the children draw Still Life and is himself incapable of using his imagination. Well, this is how Art is 'taught' in Indian schools.
It's not just rote, but the continuous emphasis on marks by both teachers and parents that is brought out in the movie. Worse, if one doesn't perform…or is naughty, then corporal punishment is waiting! The harsh reality of Indian school life. Children who fall in line (Ishaan's elder brother is shown as a stark contrast to Ishaan) and get good marks are rewarded and are seen to be winners in the game of life.
You don't get to see Aamir in the first half. In fact a little five year girl sitting in front of us, kept asking her parents when Aamir Khan was going to put in an appearance, so I wasn't the only one!
Aamir arrives in the last scene just before intermission. He plays an art teacher, Nikhubh Sir. Aamir I realised with a start, doesn't look young anymore. As to how he plays his role as a teacher, well, he certainly looks old enough, but he doesn't look like a teacher at all…in fact even the way he talks seems artificial. I think he should have paid more attention to this aspect … but well, it mattered less as the show was all Ishaan's. And ofcourse of Aamir's as well – as a director.
In the second half, we see a lot of Aamir, at a boarding school where Ishaan has been banished as a punishment for being 'lazy' and 'dumb.' We immediately know that there is hope for little Ishaan. If we had shed tears earlier, now there are reasons to smile. From here on the movie moves much faster and sad little Ishaan, traumatized by his separation from his family, starts to come out of his shell. It's interesting to see how Aamir tries to help Ishaan….and also holds up a mirror to Ishaan's father who is under the illusion that that he has loved, helped and supported Ishaan.
The music is by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and you can download the songs (and get the lyrics as well) here at the movie site. The song Taare Zameen Par is the best. The music is present almost throughout the film, as a kind of background and I think it's overdone.
I always like to see a movie right till the end, even when the credits are being shown. And this one has footage of underpriviled children at the end which is heart warming to see.
If you love children you will love this movie. I am sure the movie is going to walk away with awards…and kudos to Aamir the director! Although he happens to be my favorite Bollywood actor, in this movie I prefer Aamir the director. And the review cannot go without the mention of writer and creative director, Amol Gupte, who has penned a wonderful story and script.
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Padmini permalinkDecember 23, 2007 7:47 am
I am waiting to see this movie. From the previews, the theme seems to be that 'every child is special' – what a wonderful theme! Anything positive for children will always be close to my heart (and to most people's hearts as well). And kudos to Aamir for bringing it to the forefront.He may look older but I'm sure he's wiser too!
Sahil permalinkDecember 23, 2007 12:22 pm
Fantastic story and a lovely review by you, Nita! I think I'm going to watch it when I find time.
Captain Sharks permalinkDecember 24, 2007 7:23 pm
yeah its a nice movie n very much emotional too…especially that one song which plays when ishaan's parents left him on boarding school….but the movie portrays a very negative character of parents,especially that of his father,fathers r like villan in bollywood movies these days….
Sunil permalinkDecember 25, 2007 7:13 am
Ashutosh permalinkDecember 25, 2007 4:41 pm
A nice review I must say. Aamir Khan has a made a beautiful movie. Only twice has this happened that I have had tears in my eyes watching a movie. One was when DJ was crying on Sue's lap in RDB and in the last scene of TZP. Ishaan's new found confidence in the last scene is one of the best scenes of the wonderful movie. Can't say about actor Aamir , but Darsheel Safary will walk away with all critical appreciations.
Thanks Ashutosh! – Nita.
Nadim permalinkDecember 28, 2007 5:13 am
It is a very good movie, I think best of year 2007. While another movie 'Om shanti Om' is a worst movie with no sense and concept is wery weak.
Hemant Sahni permalinkDecember 30, 2007 2:47 am
Taaren Zameen Par is one of the best emotional movie's one can watch in ones life. There are many movies that touch are minds / our intellect / our hearts …… and we call them hits ….but this is a movie that touches the soul ….. its very special ….
The lyrics by Prasoon Joshi are awesome ….. i mean they are so real , so relevant to the situation and so simple …..
I would say that the emotional ride that TZP takes oone thru is actually what movies are meant for ….
Salute to the actor , director , producer … gr8888 wrk done ….
Hemant Sahni
noopur permalinkDecember 30, 2007 6:50 pm
the movie is amazing… amust see for all parents… I have just one doubt "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing".. not every special child is gifted… accept your child as he is….please after seeing the movie dont start pushing your slow learner and expect that all will be Ishaan Awasthi"… please accept and nurture who you have
hitesh permalinkDecember 30, 2007 7:34 pm
nice review Nita,….u definitely provided a good insight to the movie. The subtle positives and negatives u mentioned are really amazing observations.
but one thing I wud lik to comment upon is Aamir not looking like a teacher. You forget that in the movie he is for the first time being appointed as the teacher in a normal school, earlier he used to teach abnormal children. That is why he behaves in such a relaxed and lenient way.
And music is the SOUL of the movie.
and acting performance of the boy is mind-blowing.
bryan permalinkDecember 31, 2007 1:26 pm
hey amir you are immensely talented person in many aspects…no one comes closer to u in bollywood..i don't know people appreciate sharukh and all…u showed your intelligence in this film…big thanks to amol…this is what story means.Darsheel safary….no words to describe this guy…unbelievable…thanks to the director for making act like this…let me conclude…TAARE ZAMEEN PAR…one of the best movie i have ever seen
Thomas permalinkJanuary 2, 2008 2:28 pm
What you forgot to mention was the fact that very few come out of the theatre without damp eyes.This is a moving masterpiece that exudes magic.
January 3, 2008 4:40 pm
This movie is awesome.. there are many movies & they going to be hits but this movie is touches the soul.. with different story, with good songs. The kid was his acting and the 'look' which to a large part means his expression….
Jan permalinkJanuary 4, 2008 7:50 am
where can we see this film in the United States?
January 4, 2008 11:14 pm
Nice review Nita but I donot agree to most of your views which are against the movie or its cast. I have watched the movie and liked every bit of it.
Stereotypical or not, both the parents acted out really well, especially the mother. She seemed too natural and deserves praise.
The way Amir talks looked quite natural to me. Sorry if I sound harsh, which I donot want to, may be you haven't heard any teacher talk like that but I would talk the same way if I cared for the children I was to teach. Amir's talking style was as natural as the tears that fell out of the eyes of the viewers when the song Maa was playing.
I donot agree that the music was overdone. Infact, the music was as superb as the movie itself. It was pure, sincere and served the movie well.
I think that the whole team of Taare Zameen Par deserves a standing ovation and a lifetime achievement award!
It was a brilliant endeavour and I wish such movies are made in the future as well.
Thankyou very much Amol and Amir and everyone else involved for providing us such a wonderful viewing experience.
January 14, 2008 6:31 am
This is a fantastic movie. In the begining its a little slow but i guess that the time we spend understanding the characters and how everything falls in line with ishan ( isho) . brilliant performances by all. Aamir has done a great job….Just a FYI i watched this movie with my Italian partnet and family …guess what we all tears in our eyes and kep saying it was a brilliant movie ….and yes in all fronts it is a brilliant movie. You cant help but to see life from the little kids eyes….just beautiful, warm…..guys i think u get my view its a beautiful bovie ( have seen 4 times and its still touches my heart and makes me cry ) sob son 🙂 🙂
Phantom permalinkJanuary 23, 2008 3:16 pm
Awesome movie….surely a nominee for some foreign film festivals….and a great endorsement for the artistic talents that do exist within bollywood (a stark contrast to the blockbusters produced by messers yash chopra, karan jphar and co). Btw, I saw Welcome just a few days before seeing TZP….and what a contrast…..altho welcome was entertaining too in its own way.
What I really liked abt the movie was the emphasis on the flawed indian educational and parenting phyche, the narrow minded vision of what constitutes intelligence, achievment and education, and the myopic and pedantic focus on arming kids not with true life education and a real belief in themselves, but just tangible skills for coping with the competetive realities of middle class life.
That scene where the older brother loses the tennis match….and the father visibly displys his frustration and disappointment, to the point of making his son feel like he really did "lose"the game (or more than just a game)……all too remnicent of that defeciency in middle class parenting where parents end up focussing more on the tangible results than on motivating the individual to learn from their experiences and capitalise on their true potential.
To be honest…..the scene that really did bring out the tears in me had nothing to do with the central theme of the movie…it was when aamir khan is eating in that roadside dhaba, and he sees that little poor kid, in shorts and a torn baniyan serving food……he then makes the kid sit down and have some tea with parle g biscuits…..mannnn that really did it for me…..this scene was symbolic, as it represented the true sensitivity within aamir's character, his true empathy for kids, especially kids who get a raw deal in life…in that regard the kid waiter is no different from ishaan…one is not given any opportunity to develop the experiences and skills to lead a rewarding life….and the other is just not understood or empathised with enough!!!!!
January 23, 2008 10:06 pm
I guess I am probably the most peculiar of this movies viewers. I enjoyed the first half, until Aamir Khan popped up. The "character development" was pretty good. That was the part of the movie I enjoyed the most. The rest was very forgettable. If the fact that the kid had ALL the symptoms of dyslexia wasn't enough to take away from the movie, then its 2+ hours running time did.
The "I was dyslexic hence I became a teacher for special kids" didn't do anything for me. It seemed too forced. As for the character of Mr. Nikumbh, it is full of contradictions. On the one hand he talks about treating the kids normally, and the next he is dancing in a joker suit. I have personally met a few dyslexic kids and though some of those symptoms exist, they are far more normal than the movie portrays. The teacher only patronizes the kids in the movie, and as far as I am concerned, it is just a tear jerker.
All I can say is, I hope this isn't our Oscar contention. We will go the Lagaan way again.
January 23, 2008 10:36 pm
I am glad you agree…
I just realised one more factual error made in the movie. The kid has a simple maths problem, 5 x 9 or something like that… and he sees planets crashing and writes down 9. Firstly, dyslexics aren't bad at maths. They suffer with word problems, but not because of their inability to do maths.
Secondly, that is a rip-off. It is straight out of Calvin and Hobbes.
Vasan permalinkApril 2, 2008 3:19 am
This movie is extraordinary. What a screenplay? Kudos to Aamir and not but not least… Ishaan Awasti ( Darsheel Safary) who made the movie into a mega hit. What an expression and what an acting….????
.. I can't control my tears… Itz amazing. I have watched this movie 7 times with in two days. Songs are excellent. Now I am a fan of Ishaan Awasthi. I am sure this movie will walk over with all the awards.
Vasan, the boy's real name is Darsheel, Ishaan is his screen name. – Nita.
CHANDANA permalinkApril 3, 2008 7:21 pm
darsheel your wonderful all the best study well become bandass boy
chea syna permalinkMay 29, 2011 11:59 am
I'm cambodia girl. After I had watched this movie inspire me to search some its picture. this movie is so fantastic because it's educated movie. I love it so much because it teach me how I should apply in my being, career. And it plant a common goal in my life to be a good teacher and menter to help children in the color world. thanks your trying the best for this world.
March 3, 2012 11:16 pm
really heart-touching movie. thanks for sharing the beauty from this merciless world. really enjoy watching it. great job, Aamir Khan!
Amruta permalinkJuly 27, 2012 4:33 am
i like the movie taare zameen par and i like his paniting COOL
nicole quinto permalinkAugust 30, 2012 3:43 pm
its a nice story………i like it
Likhin E permalinkNovember 23, 2014 10:00 am
It s worlds everlasting, powerful,marveles movie . Ameer khan yhankeyu so much, i love u ishan……..
December 2, 2015 7:09 pm
nice reviev
Aliza rao permalinkNovember 14, 2017 5:10 pm
Please try to. Put positive ideas in your review. The movie was good in all aspects. Its musis was all amazing and heart touching.


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Tavares, Vanek carry Islanders to win over Bruins
NY Islanders 3, Boston 1
In Thomas Vanek's first week with the New York Islanders, the high-scoring forward has often said how thrilled he is to be playing alongside new captain John Tavares.
Now he is starting to show how happy he really is.
Tavares, defenseman Andrew MacDonald and Vanek scored second-period goals, and Kevin Poulin made 26 saves for his first win of the season as the Islanders beat the Boston Bruins 3-1 on Saturday night.
Vanek, the left wing acquired from Buffalo for fan favorite Matt Moulson, scored his first goal with the Islanders and recorded his 500th NHL point.
The scoring play came on a perfect cross-ice pass from right wing Kyle Okposo. Vanek finished it with a one-timer from the left circle past goalie Chad Johnson.
"That felt really good, a relief for me," Vanek said. "Each day we're feeling better and better and working together. Tonight you saw what can be possible with our line."
Tavares knocked a loose puck past Johnson at 6:15 of the second for his sixth goal of the season. The assist went to Vanek.
After MacDonald scored his first of the season at 13:13 to make it 2-0, and Boston's Dougie Hamilton answered two minutes later, Vanek notched his 255th NHL goal.
"He's a great skilled player," Tavares said. "When you get those opportunities, you have to take advantage of them, and he did. When we play our game and compete, we are successful."
Okposo and defenseman Travis Hamonic assisted on the goals by MacDonald and Vanek.
The Islanders (6-5-3) won for the second straight night. On Friday, they bombarded the Ottawa Senators with 57 shots and won 5-4 in a shootout, twice rallying from two-goal deficits.
"Our last six periods have been very good," Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. "Kevin was particularly solid for us tonight. This was a strong character win."
Tavares, who has played 221 consecutive games, seemed more at ease with the new line combination of Vanek and Okposo. Moulson had been Tavares' left wing and close friend since the captain's rookie season in 2009-10, scoring 118 goals for the Islanders.
Boston (8-5) lost for the third time in four games.
Poulin's best save came 6:58 in when he denied David Krejci from the top of the crease after two perfect passes from Jarome Iginla and Patrice Bergeron.
He also stopped Milan Lucic's backhand from in front with 1:29 left in the third as the Bruins had Johnson pulled for an extra skater. He made another glove save on Hamilton with 23 seconds remaining, sparking chants of "Pou-lin, Pou-lin" from the home crowd.
"I felt strong out there, working hard at doing the little things right," Poulin said.
The 23-year-old Poulin's two other starts in place of No. 1 goalie Evgeni Nabokov were losses — 3-2 at Chicago and 5-2 at home to Philadelphia.
Johnson played his second game of the season to give Tuukka Rask a rest. Johnson won his only other start, 5-2 at Buffalo on Oct. 23.
The Bruins, coming off a 3-2 shootout win over Anaheim on Thursday, will start a five-game homestand against Dallas on Tuesday. They had won their previous three visits and eight of 10 at Nassau Coliseum.
"We weren't focused or sharp enough," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "We'll be working hard to get the team back on track."
The Islanders will embark on a four-game trip starting Tuesday at Washington before they head to Carolina, Columbus and Montreal.
NOTES: The Bruins were again without forward Loui Eriksson, who sustained a concussion when he was hit by Buffalo's John Scott on Oct. 23. ... Islanders D Lubomir Visnovsky missed his sixth straight game with a concussion. ... The Islanders also scratched defenseman Brian Strait (upper body) and forward Colin McDonald (hip).


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● Out of Stock.
Continental Expandable 4 Wheeled Carry-On TEGRA-LITE® 2
Features and specifications
Style: 124843-1060
56 x 23 x 40.5 cm
4.855 kg
- Zip garment compartment (fits 1 suit)
- Hanger bracket
- Large mesh zip pocket
- Mesh zip pocket with removable USB cable
- 3 zip pockets
- Compression straps
- Split case zip entry to main compartment with security zipper
- Large front U-zip pocket with security zipper
- Front U-zip pocket
- Zipper expansion (up to 2" or 5 cm)
- Retractable top and side grab handles
- Bottom grab handle
- 3-stage telescoping handle
- 4 dual spinner wheels
- Protective bumper rails
- Built-in TSA combination lock
- TUMI Tracer®
About this item
Perfect for everything from weekend getaways to international travel, this compact carry-on is equipped with a built-in USB port to keep you connected on the go. Zipper expansion allows for up to 2" (5cm) of additional space in the main compartment, and a built-in garment sleeve accommodates one suit. Select styles come outfitted with a colorful TUMI Accents Kit (luggage tag, monogram patch, handle wrap and zipper pull ties) for an additional cost. Powerbank sold separately.
Note that hanger shown is not included with this item; it may be purchased separately (# 100233).
The expandable hardside travel pieces in our Tegra-Lite® collection protect your precious cargo. Every design is made of Tegris®, an exceptionally durable yet lightweight material used in lifesaving armor, professional race cars, and protective sports gear.
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