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Consumer technology is growing at an incredible pace; we now have smartphones that can do pretty much everything what a computer 10-15 years ago used to do and even much more than that. An advanced phone or tablet can replace your video and photo camera, GPS device, gaming console and with the help of hundreds of applications you can have all the information that you need. However, these devices are not that good for production, they are more suitable for consumption. As versatile as a tablet or smartphone couldn't get, it can't yet match the comfort and the safety of working from your desktop PC.
Of course, a laptop or netbook can be equally good, since their main contribution is that you can take your office everywhere with you. Nevertheless, most of your available time is being spent in front of your stationary personal computer. That is, if your job consists in doing so. But, let's face it, who doesn't spend hours in their office, working in front of a computer? It has become a vital part of our daily lives, being responsible for many of the tasks that we have to accomplish.
Believe me, I know how hard can it get to buy the right PC. You are bombarded by so many manufacturers, so many offers and models that searching for your computer becomes a real trouble. A big problem is probably represented by the fact that you can't afford to buy whatever comes under your hand; that's why you have to be extra-careful, thus making the selection process quite long. We've decided to ease your work and do a little research to discover which desktop PC should you buy, which low-budget but powerful computers can you get, should you expect more months before buying and many other aspects that you shouldn't ignore when making such an important acquisition.
Make Some Extensive Research Before Buying
A beautiful thing about the Internet is that it created and scattered communities across the world. No longer can you be fooled by deceitful marketing plans as you can already ask people if the product is good or it's just a financial hoax. And when it comes to consumer technology, oh my, there are thousands for reviewers online who are ready to share their knowledge with you. That's why, even before thinking about the price or its use, you should stop for a moment and scout for valuable information online.
Here are some of the popular and reliable websites that do offer extensive PC reviews so that you could know what's good and what's wrong about your future Desktop PC:
The Power of Brand and Design
Yes, there is a plethora of desktop PCs out there, and currently there are more than 160 active manufacturers worldwide. In this case, you should go for the brand names. It's not like when buying watches or fashion items; where the price is increased only because of the glamor effect. The price of some computers is given by the fact that they are made by a company that is very careful about their product, with smart engineers, warranty plans and other benefits. That's why you should try and make your purchase from these companies:
- Acer
- Alienware
- Apple
- BenQ
- Dell
- Fujitsu
- Lenovo
- Panasonic
- Samsung
- Sony
- Toshiba
This is just my personal opinion, if you find a better computer, at a cheaper price, then nobody is going to stop you from making your acquisition. For example, if you decide on assembling your own PC, you will end up with a product that will have components from different suppliers as there are manufacturer that don't make only brand systems (as Apple, for example), but they do sell components as well, such as motherboards or video cards.
What you can do is buy a beautiful monitor with a wide screen, a nice looking keyboard and mouse. You can save yourself from the hassle of plugs and buy even wireless versions. If you have enough money, you can get even a solar-powered keyboard and other gadgets to attach to your system so that it could look revolutionary too.
All-In-One, The Compromise Between Performance, Mobility and Looks
If the above basic design isn't what you're looking for, then you have the all-in-one PC alternative with really gorgeous looks and steal your eyes away. Again, you could lose some dollars because, first of all, it has a gorgeous design, thus a supplementary amount of work that was needed for the company to produce the machine. But, when you look at some of the below images, you become charmed by them.
You'll have to agree with me on this one: all-in-one computers do look great indeed! I am a fan of Lenovo models, as you can see, the first two images above, from the left are Lenovo models. The price is a problem, indeed, but as there are more competitors on the market you will see how it will drop pretty soon. Not to mention that the inbuilt processors are mostly made by Intel; and we all know how fast Intel develops their processors, thanks to a legacy established by Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce.
We couldn't forget about the iMac, even if we had wanted to. You can't neglect Apple, a company that has grown so big that at one moment it had even more cash than the US treasury. iMac represents one of the best tech creations so far, both from the design and the performance point of views. Recently, Apple has launched a program for students, so, maybe you could take benefit of it! Just have a look at the first and latest models to see how much things have changed.
Table of Contents
What's The Right Price for You
Before jumping on Google and starting to look for all kind of desktop PCs, you should first know how much you can afford, at this moment, for your next computer. If you don't have enough money, don't worry, there will always be a good deal at a fair price for you. And if you see a tech baby that's beyond your reach, don't worry neither, you can gather the amount needed by putting money aside or limiting your expenses. If you manage to save $50 to $100 each month, you can be sure that it will take less than one year for you to grab the piece that you like the most.
Set your budget, be it immediate or for the long-run and wait until you have enough money to make the acquisition. Generally, these are the price categories:
- < $500
- $500 – $1000
- $1000 – $1500
- $1500 – $2000
- $2500+
As you can see, the increment is usually 500$, that's why, if you'd like to buy a more powerful PC or a different brand with more impressive features, you can gather money and wait for the right moment. You shouldn't hurry as there are plenty of computers out there, waiting for their master.
Are You Buying It For Games, Media or Work?
The second reason for your purchase is the intended use for it. Are you a hard-core gamer and media lover or you intend to use your desktop PC to improve your speed and increase productivity. Also, are you buying it for yourself or for work purposes, that is if you don't have a default one at your office. If you don't need a gaming or media computer and if you are not going to use it for graphic programs, such as Photoshop or AutoCAD, then you shouldn't waste a load of money and go for a computer that could serve your work needs.
Are you going to use it when traveling as well or you're really thinking about a desktop PC? Because, if you're going to need to take it with you, there are the all-in-one solutions. I know that I said before that a desktop PC is better because it is stationary, thus more stable and comfortable, but sometimes you just have to take it with you. Sure, for that you have your laptop, but isn't it a real mess sometimes with multiple devices on your head? That's why, if you want a more "mobile" desktop PC, an all-in-one would be your solution.
Assemble Your Own PC
If you're looking to build an unique PC, like a gaming monster or a multimedia system then maybe you should assemble your own PC. Sure, it isn't that easy as you may think, but once you get the hang of it, it's like buying a car and then taking care of it, replacing this or that. First of all, you need to know what what are the basic parts of it:
- power supply unit
- motherboard
- central processing unit
- optical drive
- video card
- keyboard
- mouse
- monitor
It's much easier to select keyboards, mice or monitors then to figure out the internal chemistry of your desktop PC. That's why, you either learn how to assemble a PC on your own or you ask for help from your geek friends or the local PC store. It can get quite fun and the most important thing about this is that you will end up paying a much lower price than a custom built PC. Also, if you plan on assembling the PC on your own, my sincere advice is that you should buy components from your local retailer; it is much easier to contact them afterwards than to request for help from a stranger on eBay.
Further Diversification for Your Desktop PC
If you decide to buy separate components for your final product, then it will be much easier for you to upgrade your desktop PC and change obsolete components. That's why, when you assemble your computer, you should know what components you will be able to replace. You should be real careful about RAM, processor unit, video card, motherboard and soundcard. You don't have too worry that much about your hard drive, cooler fan, power supply and other secondary components.
Also, if you want your desktop PC to be complete, then you need to have a keyboard, mouse and monitor. As there is a plethora of monitors, from old ones, which I highly don't recommend, to 3D and LED models. Having a printer, scanner and speakers is almost a must for your stationary system. Also, if you really want to give your desktop PC an unique style, then you should choose some creative cases, if you don't go for an all-in-one version. Take a look below to see some gorgeous models.
Model Suggestions
I didn't want to make yet another list of desktop PCs that are available out there, as technology is quickly evolving these days. Instead, I decided to give you some insight and deliver the necessary tools for your choice. However, there are some models that I could suggest, but, then again, these are only my own preferences. Presenting below, not in a particular order, 7 desktop PCs and all-in-one models that you should, at least, check out.
- Idea Centre B520
- iMac, all models
- Origin Genesis
- Arbico Elite
- ASUS All-In-One
- Acer Aspire All-In-One
- HP Pavilion
There are many other desktop PCs and configurations that I am sure will please you, that's why I didn't want to flood you with too many ideas. Be sure to follow the above ideas and I am sure that you will not fail in your choice!


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The Keeshond is a handsome, fluffy-looking dog with an intelligent expression and a fox-like face. It has a lion-like ruff and thickly-coated rear end, forming characteristic "trousers."
Physical Characteristics
This sturdy and square-proportioned dog of Northern type is an all-rounder and its build reflects this quality. The dog's brisk, clean, and bold gait is distinctive, with a moderate drive and reach.
The long, harsh, and straight outer coat of the Keeshond, which is a mixture of gray, black, and cream, stands off its body. Its thick downy undercoat and mane, meanwhile, impart good insulation from damp and cold.
Personality and Temperament
The Keeshond makes a very good companion for both adults and children. It is affable to all and an alert watchdog. Loving, attentive, playful, sensitive, energetic, easy-going, adventurous, and a fast learner, the Keeshond has many qualities of the best house dogs.
Although the Keeshond can survive outdoors in cool or temperate climates, it is a very sociable dog that prefers to live indoors with its human family. As it is a lively breed, moderate exercise, such as a brisk on-leash walk or a vigorous game session, is sufficient for meeting its needs. The dog's double coat, meanwhile, requires brushing occasionally every week and more during the shedding seasons.
The Keeshond, which has an average lifespan of 12 to 14 years, may be prone to minor ailments like canine hip dysplasia (CHD), patellar luxation, epilepsy, and various skin problems. Sometimes renal cortical hypoplasia, Tetralogy of Fallot, and mitral valve insufficiency are seen in the breed. To identify some of these issues early, a veterinarian may recommend regular hip, knee, and cardiac tests for the dog.
History and Background
Belonging to the spitz group of dogs, the exact origin of the Keeshond has not been recorded. However, in the 18th Century, the dog functioned as a watchdog and companion in Holland. Later, the breed was called the barge dog, as it was frequently kept on small boats on the Rhine River to function as a watchdog. Fatefully, the Keeshond became involved in a political uprising in Holland, prior to the French Revolution. Cornelis (Kees) de Gyselaer, the leader of the Dutch rebellion, owned a barge dog that came to be known as Kees. The dog would be seen in so many political caricatures at the time, that it became an icon of the Dutch patriot.
Sadly for this breed, the Patriots did not succeed, causing numerous Keeshond owners to discard their dogs for fear that they would be identified as losers. Even worse for the breed, as barges on the Rhine became larger, the need for the Keeshond diminished. With the efforts of some farmers and river boatmen, the breed survived but with a poor profile.
Baroness van Hardenbroek initiated an effort to save the breed in 1920 and, within five years, she managed to win several English promoters for the Keeshond. In 1930, the American Kennel Club recognized the breed; today it is Holland's national dog.
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subset: commoncrawl


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In preparation, I collected some random thoughts and did a little research.
What's the paleo diet?
Fresh, minimally processed food. Meat (lean or not? supermarket vs yuppiefied?), poultry, eggs, fish, leafy greens and other vegetables, nuts, berries, fruit, and probably tubers.
Non-paleo: highly processed, grains, refined sugars, industrial plant/seed oils, legumes, milk, cheese, yogurt, salt, alcohol.
Is the paleo diet deficient in any nutrients?
A quick scan of Loren Cordain's website found mention of possible calcium and vitamin D deficits. Paleoistas will get vitamin D via sun exposure and fish (especially cold-water fatty fish). Obtain calcium from broccoli, kale, sardines, almonds, collards. (I wonder if the Recommended Dietary Allowance for calcium is set too high.)
What About Carbohydrates and Diabetes and the Paleo Diet?
Diabetes is a disorder of carbohydrate metabolism. In a way, it's an intolerance of carbohydrates. In type 1 diabetes, there's a total or near-total lack of insulin production on an autoimmune basis. In type 2 diabetes, the body's insulin just isn't working adequately; insulin production can be high, normal or low. In both cases, ingested carbohydrates can't be processed in a normal healthy way, so they stack up in the bloodstream as high blood sugars. If not addressed adequately, high blood glucose levels sooner or later will poison body tissues . Sooner in type 1, later in type 2. (Yes, this is a gross over-simplification.)If you're intolerant of lactose or gluten, you avoid those. If you're intolerant of carbohydrates, you could avoid eating them, or take drugs to help you overcome your intolerance. Type 1 diabetics must take insulin. Insulin's more optional for type 2's. We have 11 classes of drugs to treat type 2 diabetes; we don't know the potential adverse effects of most of these drugs. Already, three diabetes drugs have been taken off the U.S. market or severely restricted due to unacceptable toxicity: phenformin, troglitazone, and rosiglitazone.
Humans need two "essential fatty acids" and nine "essential" amino acids derived from proteins. "Essential" means we can't be healthy and live long without them. Our bodies can't synthesize them. On the other hand, there are no essential carbohydrates. Our bodies can make all the carbohydrate (mainly glucose) we need.
Since there are no essential carbohydrates, and we know little about the long-term adverse side effects of many of the diabetes drugs, I favor carbohydrate restriction for people with carbohydrate intolerance. (To be clear, insulin is safe, indeed life-saving, for those with type 1 diabetes.)
That being said, let's think about the Standard American Diet (SAD) eaten by an adult. It provides an average of 2673 calories a day (not accounting for wastage of calories in restaurants; 2250 cals/day is probably a more accurate figure for actual consumption). Added sugars provide 459 of those calories, or 17% of the total. Grains provide 625 calories, or 23% of the total. Most of those sugars and grains are in processed, commercial foods. So added sugars and grains provide 40% of the total calories in the SAD. Remember, we need good insulin action to process these carbs, which is a problem for diabetics. (Figures are from an April 5, 2011, infographic at Civil Eats.)
Anyone going from the SAD to pure Paleo eating will be drastically reducing intake of added sugars and grains, our current major sources of carbohydrate. Question is, what will they replace those calories with?
That's why I gave a thumbnail sketch of the paleo diet above. Take a gander and you'll see lots of low-carb and no-carb options, along with some carb options. For folks with carbohydrate intolerance, I'd favor lower-carb veggies and judicious amounts of fruits, berries, and higher-carb veggies andtubers. "Judicious" depends on the individual, considering factors such as degree of residual insulin production, insulin sensitivity, the need to lose excess weight, and desire to avoid diabetes drugs.
Compared to the standard "diabetic diet" (what's that?) and the Standard American Diet, switching to paleo should lower the glycemic index and glycemic load of the diet. theoretically, that should help with blood sugar control.
A well-designed low-carb paleo diet would likely have at least twice as much fiber as the typical American diet, which would also tend to limit high blood sugar excursions.
In general, I favor a carbohydrate-restricted paleo diet for those with diabetes who have already decided to "go paleo." I'm not endorsing any paleo diet for anyone with diabetes at this point—I'm still doing my research. But if you're going to do it, I'd keep it lower-carb. It has a lot of potential.
Are There Any Immediate Dangers for a Person With Diabetes Switching to the Paleo Diet?
It depends on three things: 1) current diet, and 2) current drug therapy, and 3) the particular version of paleo diet followed.
Remember, the Standard American Diet provides 40% of total calories as added sugars and grains (nearly all highly refined). Switching from SAD to a low-carb paleo diet will cut carb intake and glycemic load substantially, raising the risk of hypoglycemia if the person is taking certain drugs.
Drugs with potential to cause hypoglycemia include insulin, sulfonylureas, meglitinides, pramlintide, and perhaps thiazolidinediones.
Who knows about carb content of the standard "diabetic diet"? Contrary to popular belief, there is no monolithic "diabetic diet." There is no ADA diet (American Diabetes Association). My impression, however, is that the ADA favors relatively high carbohydrate consumption, perhaps 45-60% of total calories. Switching to low-carb paleo could definitely cause hypoglycemia in those taking the aforementioned drugs.
One way to avoid diet-induced hypoglycemia is to reduce the diabetic drug dose.
A type 2 overweight diabetic eating a Standard American Diet—and I know there are many out there—would tend to see lower glucose levels by switching to probably any of the popular paleo diets. Be ready for hypoglycemia if you take those drugs.
Paleo diets are not necessarily low-carb. Konner and Eaton estimate that ancestral hunter-gatherers obtained 35 to 40% of total calories from carbohydrates. I've seen other estimates as low as 22%. Reality likely falls between 22 and 65%. When pressed for a brief answer as to how many carbohydrate calories are in the paleo diet, I say "about a third of the total." By comparison, the typical U.S. diet provides 50% of calories from carbohydrate.
Someone could end up with a high-carb paleo diet easily, by emphasizing tubers (e.g., potatoes), higher-carb vegetables, fruits, berries, and nuts (especially cashews). Compared with the SAD, this could cause higher or lower blood sugars, or no net change.
A diabetic on a Bernstein-style diet or Ketogenic Mediterranean Diet (both very-low-carb) but switching to paleo or low-carb paleo (50-150 g?) would see elevated blood sugars. Perhaps very high glucoses.
Any person with diabetes making a change in diet should do it in consultation with a personal physician or other qualified healthcare professional familiar with their case.
Fun Facts!
- A typical carbonated soda contain the equivalent of 10 tsp (50 ml) of sugar.
- The typical U.S. adult eats 30 tsp (150 ml) daily of added sweeteners and sugars.
- U.S total grain product consumption was at record lows in the 1970s, at 138 pounds per person. By 2000, grain consumption was up by 45%, to 200 pounds per person.
- Total caloric sweetener consumption (by dry weight) was 110 pounds per person in the 1950s. By 2000, it was up 39% to 150 pounds.
- Between 1970 and 2003, consumption of added fats and oils rose by 63%, from 53 to 85 pounds. [How tasty would that be without starches and sugars? Not very.]
- In 2008, "added fat" calories in the U.S. adult diet were 641 (24% of total calories).
Fun Facts provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
(The paleo diet is also referred to as the Paleolithic, Old Stone Age, Stone Age, Ancestral, Hunter-Gatherer, or Caveman diet.)


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Investing based on facts, not emotions
While your feelings about money play a prominent role in determining the strategy that is right for you, we don't think anyone's emotions–including our own–should have a role in making everyday decisions about your investments. Everything we do in your portfolio is based on using decades of academic research to identify an optimal mix of assets and make investment shifts accordingly. Relying on science, rather than emotions and predictions, has benefited our clients time and again.
The facts will tell you…
controlling risk is key,
Over the years, we have found that unexpected risk is the number one reason investors abandon their strategies and fail to achieve their goals. That is why so much of what we do focuses on reducing risk in your portfolio.
There is another reason, too. Lowering risk can, in fact, increase your returns. Reducing the up-and-down movements in the value of your investments creates more stable returns. Typically this produces better results than investment programs whose returns are more erratic. What's good for your peace of mind can also be right for your pocketbook.
This does not mean we think everyone should own low-risk investments: far from it. We also have strategies for middle-of-the-road and more adventurous investors. Every one of our strategies follow the same theme: "…doing all we can to achieve the results you want at the lowest possible level of risk." This makes it easy for you to stay with the program long enough to experience success.
the most important building block is the choice of assets,
Portfolios are only as strong as the investments they contain. We favor using a globally diversified portfolio of mutual funds and a few specialized securities to help our clients achieve financial success.
Merriman has access to thousands of mutual funds and securities and a research team to sift through those choices for you. We owe allegiance only to our clients, and that independence allows us to choose what we regard as the highest quality investments available for your portfolio.
and a long-term approach is important.
Because it reduces risk and increases the likelihood of success, we encourage our clients to adopt a long-term view of investing. Returns can vary widely in the short run, even with investments that have traditionally been considered conservative and secure. Owning investments for a longer period of time, especially five years or more, reduces the impact of year-to-year fluctuations. Long-term investing creates a smoother investment journey, making your financial road easier and more secure.


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This version, the first in a new '0.3.*' release series, contains all the work that Khanh Nguyen did during his Google Summer of Code participation which I had mentioned a while back and for which I acted as mentor.
And Khanh did great. We now have a lot more Fixed Income functionality; I include the full ChangeLog entry below. I also added some simple calendaring support and the odd fix here or there while mentoring. All of this had been available while technically 'in progress' thanks to support provided by the R-Forge project hosting where SVN checkouts as well as nightly binaries are provided. A few more details are on the RQuantLib page and I hope to add a few more examples.
As promised, the ChangeLog entry:
2009-09-05 Dirk Eddelbuettel
* DESCRIPTION: Release 0.3.0 reflecting all the excellent Google Summer of Code 2009 work by Khanh Nguyen as well as other small enhancements [ Changes by Khanh Nguyen below ] * R/bond.R: Added pricing functionality for various new instrument * R/discount.R: Idem * src/bonds.cpp: Idem * src/discount.cpp: Idem * src/utils.cpp: Idem * man/Bond.Rd: Added documentaiont for new functions * man/CallableBond.Rd: Idem * man/ConvertibleFixedCouponBond.Rd: Idem * man/ConvertibleFloatingCouponBond.Rd: Idem * man/ConvertibleZeroCouponBond.Rd: Idem * man/Enum.Rd: Idem * man/FittedBondCurve.Rd: Idem * man/FixedRateBond.Rd: Idem * man/FixedRateBondCurve.Rd: Idem * man/FixedRateBondPriceByYield.Rd: Idem * man/FixedRateBondYield.Rd: Idem * man/FloatingRateBond.Rd: Idem * man/ZeroCouponBond.Rd: Idem * man/ZeroPriceByYield.Rd: Idem * man/ZeroYield.Rd: Idem * rests/RQuantLib.R: Added tests for new functions * rests/RQuantLib.Rout.save: Added tests ouput for new functions [ Changes by Dirk Eddelbuettel below ] * man/BondUtilities.Rd: Added documentation for new function * R/calendars.R: Add support to access QuantLib calendars from R * src/calendars.cpp Idem * man/Calendars.Rd: Idem * src/bonds.cpp: Small C++ fixes to suppres g++ warnings * INDEX: Updated via 'R CMD build --force' * inst/QuantLib-License.txt: Updated to version from QL 0.9.7


text: I am just sending this slightly off topic message to the Beowulf list in the hope of anybody having come across this problem. This is a long ongoing problem that I had put aside for a while, I'm just having another go at it now. I've been trying to install IBM's GPFS parallel file system in our xServe blades (running RedHat 8). I first clone all nodes from a master image (using systemimager). Once this is done I install the rpms for GPFS and RSCT in each node separately and I compile the kernel modules successfully. But I'm hitting a problem when creating the RSCT domain as a previous step for GPFS. Apparently all nodes get assigned the same nodeid so I'm getting an error like: node33: 2632-068 This node has the same internal identifier as node30 and cannot be included in the domain definition. I suppose this is because we've cloned all the nodes. But the installation of GPFS was made from clean in each node separately and after cloning. It seems that there is some kind of "seed" from which the nodeid is created that is the same in all the clones. Also when trying the command "mknodeid" it will only say that the node has already an id assigned so I can't really change it. Anybody has seen anything similar? Any pointers much appreciated Thanks in advance Jose -- Jose Duarte MRC Functional Genetics Unit Department of Human Anatomy and Genetics University of Oxford


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J.W. Anderson dared to go beyond what was considered conventional menswear for his spring summer collection. Entitled Age of Consent Anderson's musings played with hyper feminine fabrics including organza and taffeta. Most garments were proactively short, sheer and body con with a colour palette spanning aqua, mustard, lilac and pink.
Informed by the relationship between mother and son the collection explored how a mother alters clothes to fit her son. The result included ribbed trousers with matching polo necks, semi transparent floral tops, flared lyrca trousers and bias cut coats.
Oil slicked fringes jutted from beneath headscarves, and were knotted under the chin and with cutout brogues worn on the feet the whole calamity was difficult to comprehend. While 99% of the male population would go nowhere near Anderson's skimpy silhouettes there is very much something challenging and interesting in designers that go beyond the accepted and question what is and what isn't acceptable for men to wear.
Anderson also showed a brilliant pin-stripe tucked in tuxedo jacket which was the closest representation to a plausible menswear look – let's hope when Anderson launches his new line with Top Shop in September he will engage the commercial division of his hyper creativity.


text: There are so many paths to becoming the ocean…so many ways to inch closer to realizing what we truly are and even more ways to forget and be human. Leonard Cohen left us with an abundance of blessings to inspire us to keep inching towards Becoming and to comfort and be with us when our humanness gets in the way. Thank you so very much Mr. Cohen for sharing your eternal spirit with the world in so many ways.


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Jane Who? There is nothing plain about the Plane Jane Jig'n Spoon's seductive lift off and planing action. This is an outstanding lure for targeting big, deep water fish, a lure for extracting those hard to catch deep water fish. The Plane Jane Spoon will produce fish from summer heat through winter ice. Walleye, Perch, Largemouth, Smallmouth, Striper, White's and Hybred Bass. Game fish fall all over themselves to get a shot at the Plane Janes action. This tail heavy design planes through the water with a seductive flutter and fall triggering the predatory instinct in all fish. One per package.
Made in the U.S.A.


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Dear Friends,
Despite the frustrating start to my C2E2 Saturday (my car died) I finally got to McCormick Place by 2 p.m., and was only on the floor for about 30 minutes before I had to turn around and connect #TheDaveDormanExperience winners with the limo we arranged to transport them to and from my private residence. My apologies to any fans I missed meeting on Saturday.
Here is an image (courtesy of my caterer Julie Feece) of the winners: Valentin Perales of Houston, TX, Mike Bawden of Bettendorf, IA, me, the driver from H & M Limo, Scott Toth of Clinton Township, MI and Christian Bawden, a student at the Cleveland Art Institute. We were missing winner Dennis Rosado from San Francisco who missed his flight, so I will make it up to him at another date convenient to him.
Here's a photo of the wonderful meal we shared together in my dining room:
Here's Valentin watching my live painting demo:
At the end of the night, everyone got an Artist's Proof of their favorite Star Wars litho and the chance to win the pencil preliminary of the Boba Fett painting I did, plus the actual painting, which I did in acrylic to get it done in time. The prelim winner was Valentin Perales of Texas, and the painting winner was Scott Toth of Michigan! Congrats to both!
We had such a good time, we plan to do this again, so if you have any interest, keep an eye on my blog for details. We could easily do another private event during Wizard World in August of this year.
I want to point out to everyone that my longtime friend and colleague, Marvel/DC comic book and videogame artist Dave DeVries, creator of The Monster Engine was featured on national morning news show CBS This Morning today. Here's the link to see the feature: http://cbsn.ws/JcGIfI. Kudos to them and producer Andy Merlis (he's @BrooklynARM on Twitter) for not only producing such a wonderful piece, but for having the bravery to cover "geek" material we don't typically see on network news. Kudos also to my wife who worked hard to help line produce this piece. If you're in New York City any time from May 3 – May 31, be sure to check out Dave DeVries' one-man gallery The Monster Engine show at Sacred Gallery. Here's the promo for that:
My own one-man gallery show, Pi ala Mode will run through April 29th at Chicago's Rotofugi Gallery (Lincoln & Diversey Avenues in Chicago). As always, I thank you for reading, and I hope you're having a great day.


text: Delfeayo Marsalis is one of the top trombonists, composers, and producers in jazz today. Known for his "technical excellence, inventive mind and frequent touches of humor…" (Leonard Feather, Los Angeles Times), he is "…one of the best, most imaginative and musical of the trombonists of his generation." (Philip Elwood, San Francisco Examiner). In January 2011, Delfeayo and the Marsalis family (father Ellis and brothers Branford, Wynton, and Jason) earned the nation's highest jazz honor – a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award.


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In preparation for a future post in which I do some failure analysis on my KitchenAid KICU509XBL induction cooktop, I dug up the service manual I had laying in one of my document drawers and have scanned it into a PDF. Download the PDF file here.
Since Googling for the cooktop's error/failure codes didn't turn up anything useful, I'll post them here so that people can find it more easily (note that I've paraphrased it from what's listed in the PDF itself):
Failure types:
- Power control board: Affects only one burner, with the rest remaining functional.
- Usually from the power control board, but could be some exceptions: Affects all burners associated with that control board, but any burners that aren't using said board will still work.
- User interface board: Entire cooktop will be unusable.
Error codes:
- F12: Type 1 – Insufficient current to a burner's electromagnetic coil.
- F21: Type 2 – Mains power supply frequency is out of range.
- F25: Type 2 – Cooling fan is stuck or dead. The specific fan that has failed can be determined by which side the F25 error code is appearing on the user interface board.
- F36, F37: Type 1 – A burner's temperature sensor has failed.
- F40: Type 1 or Type 2 – Power control board has failed.
- F42: Type 2 – Mains power supply voltage has a problem, perhaps an open fuse on the EMI filter/mains input board.
- F47: Type 2 – User interface board cannot communicate with the power control board, and/or its fuse is blown. (This failure code is what appeared on my particular cooktop.)
- F56: Type 3 – The configuration data on the cooktop's user interface board EEPROM is invalid.
- F58: Type 2 – The configuration data on the cooktop's power control board EEPROM is invalid.
- F60: Type 3 – User interface board has failed.
- F61: Type 2 – Power control board has failed, likely because it is not receiving enough voltage.
- C81, C82: Type 2 – Cooktop is overheating.
EDIT (November 6, 2015): The F47 code, in my case, was because the power control board (which is responsible for driving the induction coils to heat up the cookware) had short-circuited somehow. Either way, it burnt out all of the transistors and the diode bridge, which then caused its fuse to blow, and at one point it tripped the main breaker in the house.
I suspect it was caused by using the largest element (the rear right burner) on the Boost/P setting, which overloaded the electronics and caused them to fail dramatically. After getting the board replaced (twice), KitchenAid said they do know about this issue to some extent, and repaired our cooktop free-of-charge despite being out of warranty for several months.


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Sh*t Faced Shakespeare
Saturday February 2, 2019 07:30 PM EST
Cost: $18,
From the venue:
Shit-faced Shakespeare® is the deeply highbrow fusion of an entirely serious Shakespeare play with an entirely shit-faced cast member. Side-splitting, raucous and completely interactive, the show has been running since 2010 and has sold out theaters in London, Edinburgh, Boston, Austin, and now Atlanta!
With a genuinely drunken professional actor selected at random every night, no two shows are ever the same. Shit-Faced Shakespeare seeks to introduce a new generation of theatre-goers to the works of the Bard by reviving the raucous, interactive and vibrant nature of Elizabethan theatre with a very modern twist – reminding them as we go to always enjoy Shakespeare responsibly.
At The Punchline Comedy Club


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Boiling Point: Don't you dare spend thousands on a coffeemaker
When I was a teenager, the huge status symbol was to have a stereo system worth more than your car. This was the definition of coolness.
These days, if you're searching for such cultural indicators, how about a coffee machine worth more than your life-insurance policy?
Pardon me, it's not a coffee machine. It's a "home espresso machine." La Marzocco recently rolled out the GS/3 in Seattle (big surprise). The price is $7,500.
This might fly in Seattle where a cuppa joe is worshiped as a religious icon. But elsewhere, people are waiting for the Wal-Mart model.
A lot of folks judge coffee by their machine (instead of their beans), and the manufacturers take advantage of this. We are seeing a flood of premium coffeemakers and a tsunami of promises of great cuppas. Americans are now as gullible about coffeemakers as we are about golf clubs.
Spending a lot more has to be worth it because, you know, we're spending a lot more.
Italian, French secrets
If you could Google Earth your way to Italy and see through roofs, you'd find almost every kitchen has a Bialetti Premula Express (made in Venezuela). It's the top-rated espresso-coffee maker. Do you know how much it costs? Twenty-four bucks U.S.
Let us zoom over to France and turn on the X-ray vision. The most popular coffeemaker? It's the Bodum French Press. Cost? Twenty-four bucks U.S.
Maybe they're trying to tell us something. Oh, and both of these never wear out. You can put them in your will.
I'm a materialist, so I have both. I enjoy laying in bed on weekend mornings debating whether I want to Bodum or to Bialetti. My wife thinks I'm nuts, but then she hates coffee -- more for me.
Both of these makers share one thing: They make coffee that raises the hair on your neck. If you don't like coffee that screams, well, you can always dilute it and still have the status of a world-class maker.
Other than that, they are the yin and yang of the coffee world.
The stovetop Bialetti sends a jet of hot water up a tube and into the coffee basket, where it drips through and repeats the process. Only experience tells you when the coffee is done (mostly aroma). There are no idiot lights. The longer it circulates, the stronger the brew. This feature makes it perfect for espresso, which not only raises the hair on your neck.
The Bodum is more tame. You load it with coffee, fill it with boiling water and screw on the top. Press the handle and a wire screen thing compacts the grounds into the water and filters them at the same time. The lack of heat makes a mellow but strong brew that gets every molecule of flavor out of the beans.
Joy in sweat
Both of these guys make coffee that does not taste like that stuff we get in plastic drip machines. Neither is appropriate for office settings requiring gallons of tepid, muddy stuff. Neither is set it and forget it, something we're accustomed to. Still, there is joy in sweat when you're producing art.
The Bodum and the Bialetti are more than humble compared with the La Marzocco.
So why do they have so many customers? Forget the price. It gets you out of bed fast knowing that one of the best cups of coffee on Earth is as close as your kitchen.
Send food questions to email@example.com.


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Things change. And change is almost always difficult. And learning is sometimes rough, as well. But when you get to the other side, there can be joy. Growth is amazing. And change can bring new light to your life.
"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." John 1:5
Our journey has been tough (and it is far from over or settled) but I brought some of the practices of my faith into dealing with this horrific disease, Alzheimer's. And they seem to work for bringing centering and peace, even when faith is not the ultimate object or goal. Silence and a quiet environment, and a steady environment, has made so much of a positive difference. Just like silence is where we seek the wisdom of God in our lives, it can sometimes completely center us in all our life's aspects.
I was being fed stories about how busy people are, etc. from several people I trusted. But what I found, in reality, was the busy-ness was to avoid much of life. When someone has Alzheimer's, their ability to participate in life is greatly diminished. They think they are participating, but they are truly observing. Moving about and going from event to event gives them a sense of involvement, but it is just keeping them busy. As I researched the schedule at the senior complex where my mom used to live, there was something every hour, all day long. So when my mom came to live in our home, she complained, and was angry, about being bored. Nothing to do. Nowhere to go. To entertainment to be had. She forgot how to entertain, and busy, herself. It was all about playing Wii bowling. About going to this event or that event. After days of explosions and anger, I just decided enough was enough. We stopped. We stayed home. We stayed quiet.
"My heart is not proud, Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content." Psalm 131:1-2
One of the things I am learning (through this Alzheimer's class I am taking online) is that as a caregiver, it is my goal and my purpose to bring peace and contentment to my mom. And lately, contentment has been so apparent. And it is wonderful to see. Wonderful to be around. And it came through stopping this "busy-ness" and allowing a calm to take over. And there has been an emergence of peace, gentleness, and far less confusion. And so much more apparent, there is genuine love. That has not, yet, been forgotten.
Alzheimer's is fatal. As one of our teachers said, "Life is fatal." It is. We all die. But most of us pass away with ourselves intact. Alzheimer's destroys the brain, bit by bit, And each day that passes, more is irrevocably lost. The patient becomes disintegrated, mentally, and is no longer rationally intact. It makes each day unique unto itself. Because not only is each day unique, due of the progression of this horrific disease, each moment is unique. What works at 9am may be totally wrong at 10am. And so it is a tight-rope walk each day. But the explosions and the confusion, and the underlying agitation, those are less and less. Her memories of what she used to do and where she used to live, the people she hung out with, those are fading. She is even using incorrect terms when referring to them. And she is not less because of it, nor is she missing it, nor is she angry about moving. She adores her bed and her room. Each night, she sighs and comments on how much she loves that bed! It has become a source of joy for me. We have had frank discussions about her end-of-life choices and have had some incredibly peaceful discussions about how she wants to die. It melted my heart. We communicated well and we found commonality and peace with her choices. I cling to those moments.
Patients with Alzheimer's are aching. Because their world is contracting and they find it harder and harder to connect with people each and every day. They get frustrated and so very confused. And taking care of them infects the lives of their caregivers. There are days when I feel like I adopted a 3-year-old. And there are days when I just want to go back to bed. I have stacks of paperwork I am trying to get through, but will someday have to tackle. And I am cooking and cleaning and doing laundry for 4 now. I am learning how to work with someone who doesn't fully understand the moment and it is good, stretching "muscles" I did not know I had not used in awhile. Caregivers find they are tugged, stretched, and pulled in ways they did not know they could survive, let alone thrive. I am far more tired these days, but I am not wasting many of them! I am too busy!
The joy I see each night, and the hugs I get every evening, complete with profuse thanks for all we are doing for her, well, that pretty much makes it all worthwhile. I haven't got this cornered and I truly don't have all the answers, but I do know God is blessing our lives. He is helping keep me quiet and centered. And I enjoy feeling the peace seep into in our quiet mornings, and the contentment I feel in our warm, slow, and quiet evenings. I fall into bed, exhausted each night. Tonight is no different. Tomorrow will be a new day in almost every way. But I will greet the day with hot coffee, and with gratitude for this incredible journey…


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- Weight: 26 pounds


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Ok ladies. Sing along with me to the tune of The Beach Boy's "Good Vibrations"
"She's selling me the good foundation"
"It's coming with high expectations"
"Um bah bah. Good Foundation Ba-ah"
I bought a new foundation. Expectations were high! Actually, I was in Ulta last week to pick up another Mally 24/7 Brow Express. Just my luck Ulta isn't selling it anymore. My brows are screwed.
But it didn't stop me from checking out the foundations.
The cool weather is approaching and the time to change up the makeup is upon us. The thing is, I have quite the number of foundations. They range from high-end to low-end.
When I was young—I'm talking in my twenties and thirties. I never wore foundation. If I had a blemish I covered it up with Max Factor's Erase. Remember that? Best concealer ever made!
My routine was pretty simple. Eye makeup and lip gloss. I didn't even need blush because I had strong pink undertones.
Truthfully, I didn't even start wearing foundation until I was in my early forties. My skin started to change. It became a bit drier and a bit—well, blotchy.
My go-to foundation was a drug store brand. L'Oréal's True Match. I wore it for years. Years! The second I hit the bottom of the bottle, I would run out and replace my C-3, Creamy Natural.
My color was C3, Creamy Natural. But I am "cool". Oh yeah. I'm cool alright!
That little bottle served me well until I hit menopause. The foundation that once gave me a smooth appearance was suddenly not working for me anymore.
And that's when I began my search for the perfect foundation. I'm still searching.
I used Makeup Forever's HD Foundation. This was before they reformulated it and renamed it Ultra HD Foundation. I wore that foundation until they changed it. The Ultra didn't work for me.
In all fairness, this stopped working for me a bit before they reformulated and changed it up from HD to "Ultra" HD. *Sigh* I swear sometimes I feel I have to change foundation as much as I change underwear!
I couldn't wear Lancôme foundation because none of the colors are a good match for my skin tone. MAC foundation is just too yellow for me.
It isn't easy to find a foundation that works.
On a whim, I purchased Tarte's Amazonian Clay Smoothing Balm. The sales assistant promised me it would smooth out my skin and cover my "fine lines". When I questioned her on the fact that the "balm" couldn't possibly be hydrating because it wasn't liquid, she laughed and told me that it would fill my face with moisture.
She lied. It remains one of the worst products I've ever purchased. A complete fail. I use it as a backup concealer. As a concealer it isn't too bad. But I see that Tarte no longer makes this. Oh. I wonder why???
This "balm" or whatever it is, is certainly NOT older woman friendly. In fact, I don't think it is ANY woman friendly. Although it is a decent backup concealer.
Another product that I sometimes wonder why I purchased is Estee Lauder's Double Wear Foundation. The foundation itself isn't bad. I just wonder why I purchased the gimmicky push compact that the foundation comes in. An incredibly light hand is needed in applying this foundation too. It can get really cakey after a while and enhances not your natural beauty, but enhances every line and crack you have. I guess that's why the Lauder Company is rebranding themselves more toward youth. I swear if I didn't spend $45 bucks on this, I would have thrown it in the trash.
Left to right. Marc Jacobs foundation, Becca foundation, and Estee Lauder Double Wear foundation in the gimmicky push down compact.
Givenchy's Teint Couture Foundation was one that I liked a lot. It never got cakey. It was pretty matte too but not drying. It didn't cover the fine lines though.
You know, the more I think about it, the more I liked the Givenchy Teint Couture foundation. I think I liked it better than the Marc Jacobs. See–this is the problem with having so many foundations…
Neither does the Marc Jacobs foundation that I have. This happens to be another foundation that I like because of the ability to not cake up. But I think a lot happens to depend on how I apply. I always apply with a blending sponge then buff with a brush.
And as much as I like the Givenchy and the Jacobs foundations, they didn't achieve Holy Grail status for me. I would like more of a dewy glow. That dewy look just looks nice and hydrating without looking like an oil slick.
e.l.f. cosmetics is so inexpensive that I've given their BB cream and tinted moisturizers a try. And I have to say, the tinted moisturizer isn't bad—I've said it before too. It isn't great either. It's ok. It's fine. You really need to build it up to get good coverage—but you can't build it up too much or it'll get cakey. And yes—despite the promises of smooth skin, even tinted moisturizers can get cakey if you apply either too much or apply with a heavy hand.
The e.l.f. face makeups. I equate BB's and tinted moisturizers with foundations–only they are extremely light. As you can see, I've used the Flawless Finish Foundation quite a bit. The BB cream looks well-used too but I don't remember using it all that much. I hope Bonaparte isn't diggin' into my makeup!
But—e.l.f. has one of the best foundations ever for the money. Flawless Finish Foundation. At six bucks this is an absolute steal. It's funny too because on the back of the bottle, the directions state to "Apply generously 15 minutes before sun exposure. Reapply at least every two hours". I'm sure this is because the foundation contains SPF 15 sunscreen. Look. Any woman in her right mind would never apply a foundation generously. This is not a mask. This is a foundation. If you are that concerned about the sun (as I am because I had skin cancer on my face), you will apply sunscreen before you apply foundation. I'm sorry if I'm sounding snarky here, and I know those directions meal well, but this foundation is so great that you only need a small amount for good coverage. A small amount will last all day and again, won't hide the fine lines, but if you blend and buff, you won't get that cakey look. The color I use is "porcelain". This is the foundation I bring with me if we are going away for a long weekend or a few days. If I leave it behind, I won't freak out. Honestly, it's a great travel foundation.
My only con with this is that the pump in the bottle is cheap and on one occasion broke. For six bucks, I can't really complain though.
And last of all, my newest addition.
Back to Ulta. I was looking around at the foundations and a cute makeup assistant from Becca approached me. We started talking and I told her I was checking out the Becca cosmetics because I've heard, but never used! I also told her that cosmetics companies lie when they pontificate about what their products do.
Isn't Melissa Luna adorable? Look how glowy her skin is! I need to go visit her again!
Well, Melissa Luna, (That's her name! I love it—it rhymes with Oona!) suggested I try Becca's "Aqua Luminous Perfecting Foundation".
Aqua Luminous Perfecting Foundation. Lives up to it's name–I'll tell you that much!
She told me that it was a good choice for drier and more mature skin and that it went on smoothly and had good staying power. She never made a promise about disguising "fine lines". She put a sample of the color "fair" on my cheek and it blended in well. At $44.00 for one ounce, the price was pretty much the average of a higher end foundation. But I figure it this way–it's as though one ounce of food was 44 Weight Watchers points. I would only eat a teeny bit and make it last a long time. With this foundation, I only use 1 point worth on my face! Isn't that a great way of looking at it?
It looks darker in the bottle but goes on so naturally and blends with my skin tone!
I've been wearing this as my "office" foundation since making the purchase and here's what I think.
First of all, I am not crazy about the "dropper" method. The foundation comes in a nice looking frosted bottle. And instead of a pump bottle, you use the dropper to apply the makeup. At first I was a bit put off because of the thickness of the product. I thought that there would be an awful lot of waste with this dropper thingy.
My only "con" is this dropper. It looks thick but it isn't. Oh well, I guess the dropper is better than having a pump break.
But—you only need a drop or two for your entire face. I apply with a dampened blender sponge then I buff. Honestly, it goes on smoothly. It actually gives off a bit of dewiness. Yeah. And, the staying power is great. Does it hide my fine lines? Hell no! But the product doesn't get all gunky and cakey in those fine lines.
It may not hide my fine lines but this Aqua Luminous Perfecting Foundation did NOT get cakey in those lines!
Ready for work. Ugh. It was dark and pouring rain so the lighting is a bit weird but look closely, on my cheek you can see where the foundation gives a luminosity. I'm really happy with this….AND–get this….
When I came home from work ( I KNOW, I'm cross-eyed as hell. I had a lot of documentation to look over today) and washed my face, all the foundation washed off so that meant it stayed put–from 7:00 AM until 6:00 PM!
This is a tissue with the foundation that I wiped off at 6:00 PM. That is staying power!
I can definitely see a repurchase here. I'm also very happy that Luna was upfront and honest with me. She made no false promises. She agreed that it is hard to find the right foundation too. I will be visiting her again at Ulta to see what other surprises Becca cosmetics may have in store for me.
Could Becca cosmetics be a good choice overall for the mature woman? I honestly don't know, but I do know that the Aqua Luminous Perfecting Foundation is a good one for older women.
I wasn't too thrilled with this photo from Becca's website. Where are the OLDER WOMEN?? I've already e-mailed Becca. We'll see if I get a reply!
If you are looking for a decent foundation for the winter, check out this Becca foundation and let me know what you think? Do you have a favorite foundation? What do you look for in a foundation? I'm nosey! Let me know!
Speaking of "Good Foundations"..I watched "Love and Mercy" yesterday—the movie about Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys. Paul Dano was greatness—but John Cusack was a bit miscast. Anyway the movie was great—so today I'll give you some "Good Vibrations"!! XOXOXOXO


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What feminism cost me.
(It has come at a price, and I've paid dearly.)
It cost me:
-abusive theologies
-abusive ecclesiastical structures
-abusive relationships
-a sense of place (as in, now I'm always out of place, out of order, and improper)
-a sense of propriety (in the sense of property: that culture or church or man owns me)
-willful naivety
-easy answers
-the respect of some family and friends (you know who you are)
-an education (as I had to unlearn much of what I'd been taught)
-fairy tales
-notions of perfection
-a future
What feminism has given me.
(And it has been generous with its gifts.)
Feminism has given me:
-life-giving theologies
-life-giving ecclesiologies
-life-giving relationships
-nomadic perspectives (against the parochial)
-ownership and responsibility for the persons, places and things by which I'm surrounded
-perpetual self critique
-the desire to be rubbed raw by the truth
-an anticipation of change
-the respect of some family and friends (you know who you are)
-an education
-oral traditions
-a deep love and delight in humanity and all its flaws
-a vocation
-a future.
If, in your mind, I appear to be all elbows…
I appear to be flailing…
I appear to not know the proper way to behave
or the right way to be…
Remember it is the bars of your cage I'm bloodying myself against.
I will not sit quietly by and allow the perch upon which you
(or the church, or society)
have been placed,
to be the parameters of my world.


text:
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The dog next door has been barking non-stop for days, maybe weeks. The first couple of times, you got up to see why, but never seeing anything, you barely hear the sound any more. It is just noise.
Alternatively, you'd never know your neighbour owns a dog, the creature is so quiet. But then, it suddenly barks. Jarred by the new noise, you look out your window only to find someone climbing through one of your neighbour's windows.
Which dog are you most likely to notice: The one that barks incessantly or the one that doesn't but just did?
If there is one function that I wish Final Draft and Movie Magic and all the other screenwriting software would remove, it's the ability to insert the parenthetical (beat).
At the very least, when you type it, I would love a pop-up window to appear asking: "Are you sure it's necessary?"
Because more often than not, it is completely UNnecessary. If anything, it is typically a nuisance.
As I understand it, (beat) is used to indicate a delay between one line of dialogue and the next.
In this example from The Imitation Game, the 2014 film screenwritten by Graham Moore, it is used to break up a phone conversation where we only hear one character speak. In this case, (beat) indicates a pause while Detective Nock listens to the party on the other end of the line.
Unfortunately, (beat) is also often inserted by the screenwriter for dramatic reasons.
The writer believes that the brief pause makes the prior line stand out before moving onto the next spoken thought. A dramatic moment is revealed in the dialogue, and (beat) gives the line space to be heard.
Or at least, that's the theory.
Too often, unfortunately, writers use (beat) in place of drama. Unable to devise a truly dramatic or powerful line, they instead insert (beat) in a vain attempt to imply drama.
It's tantamount to someone Tweeting about how powerful, smart or cagey they are to compensate for none of those qualities being obvious in their person or demeanor.
In the writer's defence—and this happens more with newer writers—the (beat) is exactly how they "hear" the dialogue in their head. The character takes a moment when speaking and so the writer types (beat).
This would be fine if it happened a couple of times in a screenplay, but what I've found is that:
Once a writer starts (beat)ing off, it's hard to get them to stop.
The more dramatic the scene they're trying to write, the more aggressively they (beat) off. And they don't stop (beat)ing off until the scene or sequence achieves climax.
Although the writer may gain some satisfaction in this, few others do.
The pace of the read and therefore the pace of the story slows for the reader. The Director doesn't want to be told how to direct, nor the performer how to act.
To a person, each simply ignores the writer's directive to (beat). The constantly barking dog is effectively silenced.
When everything is dramatic, nothing is dramatic.
And worse, once the (beat) moves on, the reader, Director and performer are left with lines of dialogue that are not dramatic, that have no weight, that dampen the drama.
So, what's the writer to do?
One: Write better, more powerful dialogue.
Writing is an art, but it is also a craft.
Write the best line that you can, and then rewrite it better and better, layering the drama into the words, the cadence, the subtext, the timing within the plot.
Two: Trust the process.
Know that you are not the only arbiter of your words and trust others down the line to find the drama you so carefully crafted.
Below, see another example from The Imitation Game, where Benedict Cumberbatch's script is un(beat)en and yet he imbues his lines with drama and significance.
If people cannot find the drama without constant insertions of (beat), they won't find it with your direction (because it's likely not there).
By being judicious in your use of (beat), those moments you do decide to use it will become the dog that never barks but just did.
The (beat) will stand out as something special, noteworthy; and so will your story.
Award-winning screenwriter Randall C Willis is Story Analyst & Coach at So, What's Your Story (Facebook page). He also teaches screenwriting in Toronto at Raindance Canada and George Brown College.


text:
Hollins University
Student Services
Services Offered:
- Academic/Career counseling service
- Placement services for completers
Special Learning Opportunities Offered:
- Distance Learning Opportunities (Undergraduate & Graduate)
- Study Abroad
- Teacher Certification
- Physical Facilities
- Organized collection of printed materials
- Access to digital/electronic resources
- Staff trained to provide and interpret library materials
- Established library hours
- Access to library collections that are shared with other institutions
Teacher Certification Details:
- Students can complete their preparation in certain areas of specialization.
- Approved by the state for initial certifcation or licensure of teachers.
Every attempt has been made to verify the college data displayed here. However, some data may vary substantially from what has been displayed. Please visit the school's website for the most up to date information. The data sources for the information displayed here include: IPEDS. (Using ipeds2021)


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"But so much of what is beautiful and valuable in the world comes from the shepherd, who has more strength and purpose than we ever imagine."
― Malcolm Gladwell
(a wooden cross made from the wood taken form one the many wrecked ships attempting to ferry refugees from Northern Africa to Lampedusa, Italy. It stands as a solitary reminder in the British Museum that ours is a living history of struggle and hope, death and life…Image courtesy of the BBC)
What would you do if you lived in the crosshairs of one of the greatest humanitarian crisis since World War II?
What if you found yourself sitting at the epicenter, the starting point of a massively overwhelming crisis and never ending tragedy…standing as David facing a Goliath?
What if you were a curator to one of England's largest and most important museums… you had found yourself reading and watching the news, like everyone else, feeling overwhelmed and helpless watching the thousands of refugees desperately trying to reach the shores of Italy's Lampedusa eventually making their why to the safety of asylum scattered throughout the European Union?
You were nothing but a mere David staring at a distant Goliath….
Lampedusa is the largest of the Italian Pelegia Islands.
It sits closer to Africa than it does Sicily.
Think Key West, in proximity to Cuba verses the US, and you get picture.
And very much like the Cuban refugees who once flooded onto makeshift rafts and dinghies in order to flee the oppressive poverty as a result of Castro's iron fisted communism, hoping almost beyond hope to make the precarious journey to US controlled waters, refugees by the thousands have left Africa's northern shores hoping against hope to make their harrowing journey to the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa…and eventually to freedom throughout Europe.
The problem is finding and funding passage from the coast of Northern Africa to the almost 8 square mile Island of Lampedusa and eventually to the continental shores of Europe.
The ferryman are scrupulous.
The ships painfully overcrowded, dangerous and there are not enough life jackets.
The ocean is treacherous and very unforgiving.
Many ships do not make it.
Many "passengers" drown.
Many are small children and infants.
What do you do if you are one of the Italian residents of this overtly tiny island who has made a simple living as a carpenter, yet you see almost daily the sadness of the bodies washing ashore.
You see the survivors who anguish over their drowned loved ones…the children who did not survive.
You see the beaches littered by the wood from the ships which broke apart mid journey…
You find yourself one Sunday at Mass, attended by many of the same refugees who seem lost, alone, afraid—as you each pray to the same God…you search the static image of the Crucified Christ hanging before you for answers….
You decide to quit your furniture business and you head off to the beach.
You gather as much of the broken bits of wood from the shipwrecked refugee boats that you can and you set out to carve and fashion together crosses.
Crosses which are a symbol of both sacrifice and death as well as salvation and hope.
You fashion a large altar cross for your parish church.
Your priest proudly places it on the altar as a reminder to all who worship that there is a massive crises in a very fluid state just outside the church's door.
Soon word spreads and more church's want the crosses.
Pope Francis receives a cross.
The BBC runs the story about the crosses and soon a curator to the British Museum sees your story and she too wants a cross…not for herself but for the museum…as a solemn reminder of the current overwhelming moment of human history currently taking place in the world.
The greatest mass exodus of human beings since World War II with the numbers even eclipsing that time.
How better could a museum, visited by thousands from across the world, share in the story of our currently hurting world.
Just how a small David could meet a giant Goliath and could manage to make a meaningful difference.
Here's the link to the full story…
No matter how we feel about the refugees—as I now wonder how can Europe ever absorb so many individuals,
wondering how can we keep ourselves safe as we offer safe haven.
I worry about the terrorists who use this crisis to their own advantage as a means of mixing and blending and disappearing until later, much later.
I worry about how so many people can be housed, fed, cared for—60 million people and growing daily….
I worry about this world.
I don't know any answers…
but I do know we need to try to do something


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Story highlights
Japan's fleet carries out an annual whale hunt despite a worldwide moratorium
The Australian government challenged the whaling program
The International Court of Justice ruled Monday that Japan can no longer continue its annual whale hunt, rejecting the country's argument that it was for scientific purposes.
"Japan shall revoke any extant authorization, permit or license granted in relation to JARPA II, and refrain from granting any further permits in pursuance of that program," the court said, referring to the research program.
The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.
Japan's fleet carries out an annual whale hunt despite a worldwide moratorium, taking advantage of a loophole in the law that permits the killing of the mammals for scientific research. Whale meat is commonly available for consumption in Japan.
Each year, environmental groups such as Sea Shepherd pursue the Japanese hunters in an attempt to disrupt the whaling. The resulting confrontations have led to collisions of ships and the detention of activists.
The Australian government challenged the Japanese whaling program in the International Court of Justice, leading to Monday's ruling.
READ: Sea Shepherd activists say they disrupted Japan's whale hunt in Antarctic waters
PHOTOS: Waiting for the whales


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Tonight is the Full Flower Moon, beginning at 11:42 PM Eastern Daylight Time, so named because of all the flowers blooming during this time of year. May's Full Moon is also known as the Bright Moon because it is very bright and the Corn Planting Moon because this is the time when farmers would plant corn for it to be ready for the harvest.
Like nature at this time, we are blossoming, we are growing day by day with the strength of the Sun. Like solar panels, we are soaking up the Suns energy. The Full Moon is in Scorpio and it shines its light in the darkest places, encouraging us to peer in and see what's there. Things that were once hidden will show themselves to us, we will be able to see ourselves and others in a whole new light, and look at our lives more clearly. Our psychic abilities and intuition will be at an all time high, so use this time to look to the future and see what it is we truly want and where we want to see ourselves.
Like a snake shedding its skin as a form of renewal, the Full Moon in Scorpio calls to each of us to shed the layers that are ready, thus bringing forth a rebirth, allowing a new skin to emerge. Welcome change, allow the light of awareness to penetrate the dark areas of ignorance, shame, and deep-seated resentment that lies hidden underneath issues. Give yourself permission to heal and move forward in your life, using the potential of the Full Moon to symbolically die in order to be reborn.
With this Full Moon, emotions will be raw, we may find we are feeling a flow of different emotions and a feeling of being pulled in many different directions. Let the waters of Scorpio wash away your emotional pain and cleanse you of negative feelings.
The next two weeks will bring lessons in self-transformation toward a more effective destiny, such as moving on to bigger and better things. Continue to maintain balance as you clean up the residue of what has already fractured in your life. We are now in a new era, and are on the threshold of things beginning to develop a lot more quickly than they have in recent months. While things may still feel somewhat slow, they are about to quicken in a big way.
These are magnificent times! Change and shifts are to be welcomed. Let the energy of this Full Moon help you see where you are emotionally stuck and resistant, and allow yourself to surrender to the gifting that is coming your way.
Have a Blessed Full Moon & may the Goddess watch over you.
Written credit goes to Wicca Teachings, which I edited for development.
Photo credit goes to Various.


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Did flawed US policies play role in death of a border patrol agent?
Before a US border patrol agent was killed in a shootout with Mexican bandits, the agents opened fire with bean bags. Found at the scene: two guns the ATF allowed gun runners to purchase.
| Atlanta
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is facing criticism of a program that funneled illegal guns into the hands of Mexican gun runners, drug gangs, and other criminals after two of those guns were found at the scene of the Dec. 14 shooting of US border patrol agent Brian Terry by Mexican bandits in Arizona.
Under the ATF's Operation Fast and Furious, gun smugglers were allowed to buy the weapons in the hopes the US agents could track the firearms to the Mexican drug runners and other border-area criminal gangs as well as build cases against the gun dealers themselves.
Also facing criticism are the rules of engagement employed by US border agents, who are trained to use nonlethal force when possible.
IN PICTURES: Mexico's drug war
The Dec. 14 shootout in Peck Canyon, near Nogales, Ariz., occurred after border patrol agents halted a group of armed border bandits and fired at them with bean bag guns. The bandits then opened fire with live bullets from AK-47 submachine guns, killing Mr. Terry.
Critics of US border patrol procedures, including Terry's family, say that Terry, a former Marine, was operating under specific Department of Homeland Security (DHS) orders that required agents encountering suspected illegal immigrants on US soil to fire nonlethal bean bags before using live ammunition.
DHS: No orders overriding agents' judgment
DHS has denied the bean-bag gun allegations, saying agents are trained to use "less-than-lethal force" weapons but that no specific orders overriding the best judgment of agents have come down from management.
Similarly, the Department of Justice initially denied that ATF knowingly allowed guns to be sold to drug runners, a statement contradicted by later reports from whistleblowers and admissions from officials that the agency did lose track of hundreds of guns as part of Operation Fast and Furious.
The events in Peck Canyon place into sharp relief the political problems of managing the increasingly violent borderlands between the US and Mexico, where treatment of illegal immigrants on the US side and the flow of arms from the US into Mexico have become powder keg issues in the relationship between the two countries.
"This is a management issue in both cases," says Mark Krikorian, director of the conservative Center for Immigration Studies. "The bean bag thing is a symbol of fake border enforcement, where this administration wants to go through the motions of border enforcement without actually doing it. An ordinary agent is not going to say, 'Let's shoot bean bags first' if they've got guns. I also can't imagine an ATF guy getting a call from a gun store where they say, 'Hey, someone is buying a bunch of AKs, it smells bad,' and where that agent then says, 'No problem.' "
Sen. Charles Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has led the congressional criticism of Operation Fast and Furious, saying recently that "it's time to step back" and reassess the operation.
Senator Grassley also says documents he has procured contradict ATF statements that the agency wasn't aware of tracked guns disappearing into Mexico.
"The Justice Department and the ATF put up a wall to mislead the American people and were less than forthcoming," he told the Center for Public Integrity, a public-interest investigative organization that has compiled the most detailed exposé of Operation Fast and Furious so far.
ATF to investigate its policy
Thursday night, Kenneth Melson, the ATF's acting director, said the ATF has ordered an investigation into Operation Fast and Furious. The agency "will ask a multi-disciplinary panel of law enforcement professionals to review the bureau's current firearms trafficking strategies employed by field division managers and special agents," Melson said in a statement.
Mr. Melson added that the review "will enable ATF to maximize its effectiveness when undertaking complex firearms trafficking investigations and prosecutions. It will support the goals of ATF to stem the illegal flow of firearms to Mexico and combat firearms trafficking in the United States."
Operation Fast and Furious began in October 2009 as ATF faced growing political pressure and a push from the agency's inspector general to, in essence, aim higher to stem what appeared to be large caches of US-purchased AK-47s and even .50 cal weapons flowing into Mexico and being used in that nation's violent drug war.
In response, the ATF decided to allow illegally purchased guns to "walk" in order to track their path and build more substantive cases against bigger-time criminals. ATF officials told the Center for Public Integrity that the ATF allowed a total of 1,998 weapons to pass from gun shops to straw buyers connected to the gun-running rings, with full understanding that those weapons could be used in the commission of crimes. Of those weapons, 797 were recovered by the ATF as a result of some kind of criminal investigation, including 195 inside Mexico.
An attempt to get at 'key people'
"When we look at the complexities of the organizations working around the border of Mexico, just dealing with the lowest level purchaser, the straw purchaser, doesn't get you to the organizer, the money people and the key people in that organization to shut that down," ATF's assistant field director, Mark Chait, told the Center for Public Integrity.
"We found that if we don't attack the organization and shut the organization down, they will continue to move guns across the border. It's kind of a somewhat common sense approach that if you don't get to the higher-level folks that are making the calls, then guns will continue to cross the border."
Many ATF officers were "anguished" over Operation Fast and Furious, saying it was inevitable that guns would be used to commit crimes, thus putting blood on the ATF's hands.
Agents feared that the guns "are going to be turning up in crimes on both sides of the border for decades," ATF agent John Dodson, a whistleblower in the case, told the Center for Public Integrity's reporting team. "With the number of guns we let walk, we'll never know how many people were killed, raped, robbed ... there is nothing we can do to round up those guns. They are gone."
On Dec. 16, agents' worst fears were realized as a border patrol SWAT team, including Agent Terry, tracked a small group of armed men through Peck Canyon. ATF says there's no forensic evidence that shows the two "lost" guns found at the scene were used to kill Agent Terry. What is now clear is that, for some reason, the first projectile to fly that day was a bean bag.


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South Florida's hottest new address, The Plaza at OceanSide presents one of the most unique living experiences available today. At the heart of the 17-story luxury tower, residents can indulge in the approximately 40,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor designer amenities defining the concept of a resort destination location. With views of either the Atlantic Ocean or Intracoastal Waterway, the residences offer the perfect escape beyond the normal day-to-day.
View Residences »
Tour The Plaza »
Resort Lifestyle »


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One Night with Bond, James Bond
Thanks for stopping by, everyone! We're celebrating James Bond this month and it's been interesting to say the least, but a lot of fun as well! I hear often how unpopular James Bond is with some due to his "exploitation", … Continue reading
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The Big Idea of PersonaHolidays.com
- Tourism planning and shopping has not changed in years. OTAs, hotels and wholesalers sell features and amenities all with the same traditional approach. Booking engines are vast, iterative and slow.
- Travelers are overloaded with choice and inundated with information. They visit 20 to 30 site before making a booking. They are frustrated with systems that are impersonal and overwhelming.
- Travelers don't want more choice they want a personal recommendation by a service they trust and that knows what they want
- This presentation demonstrates Persona Holidays, a new travel expert system that delivers highly personal result at the speed of thought
- Details PDF >> Big idea and Problem Details
Travel is Personal
Persona Holidays Matches You with Hotels and Packages by Personality – Hotel Matchmaker
Travel | Expert Systems | Guests| Hosts | Marketing | Technology | About | Contact
More and more travelers are looking for authentic, personal vacations at a time when most travel planning systems filter options by price, location and amenities. This misses the whole point of being personal. Amenities do not define an authentic, personal vacation experience; people, place and character make the difference. Persona Holidays stands alone creating holidays that match your personality.
PersonaHolidays.com demonstrates that it knows YOU and it finds a hotel and vacation package that is the perfect fit for your personality. Of course, you still get to choose amenities and get the best value. However, personality offers a unique perspective that can make a holiday entirely your own – Exclusively yours.
For the hotel and tourism hosts, personality and character are a vital differentiation at a time when it is feared that travel is becoming a mere commodity in the online distribution systems. Hoteliers want to increase their distribution intelligently and maintain their brand integrity so that they are not just selling hotel rooms as a lowest-price commodity. They are seriously looking for an alternative that will build, maintain and feature their unique brand identity. Commodities look, feel and taste the same, but personality is always unique.
That is why we built PersonaHolidays Personal Recommendation Engine for Travel!
Persona Holidays Expert System
PersonaHolidays.com is a personalized travel planning experience that matches travelers to hotels and activities based on character.
It is an Expert System that analyses behavior and delivers experiences according to personality matches. That is, it gets to know the personal characteristics of visitors discreetly, without being obtrusive. The system learns with each user click and it pairs visitors up with hotels of like character.
It is a unique intelligent system that extracts relevant information about character based on user behavior and available data.
Persona Holidays creates guest profiles quietly. It does not pry or ask questions or conduct surveys; it simply learns from experience. In the process it builds an integrated database of a guest's personal triggers and instantly matches these with hotels and activities of complementary characteristics. In this sense it is a Hotel Matchmaker. It uses tried and proven technology we developed for RealhHolidays way back at the dawn of the booking engine era.
Live hotel search with persona expert systems http://search.personaholidays.com
Guests Prospective
This example shows the relationship between the hotel and guest matching. The hotel in this case is categorized with the Connoisseur Identity (on the right). The process of creating the unique hotel brand identity is described below in the Hotels Prospective.
You're a connoisseur – insightful, distinguished and always in the know.
The system assigns triggers to guests based on what they do, what they look at, what they dismiss and what they like. In this case, the particular traveler is assigned the characteristics above, i.e. charming, educated, savvy, etc. The hotels that best match these triggers are simultaneously selected as possible candidates. Guests can review their profile and change it at anytime. They may choose to look at different profiles and also modify these to suit. The character traits are refined as the guest proceeds and the matching principles are constantly adjusted based on real-time experience.
Hotels are given a brand ID and a set of triggers similar to the above. In this case, the ID that most closely matches the guest's behavior is "The Connoisseur". The expert system will present the guest with the closest match. In most cases, it will select 3 properties in the category – a High-End, a Mid-Range and a Budget accommodation are the default options for a personalty match.
The majority of guests have indicated that the matching and profiling are very helpful. Some have commented that:
"This system knows me better that I know myself".
Engagement up 500% over traditional bookings.
Hotels/Host Prospective
All hotels, attractions and activity providers are individually evaluated by the Persona Holidays team. The hotel will need to complete an online survey that asks specific situational question. These questions are interwoven to detect subtle personality drivers that define the main personality archetypes.
The survey takes just a few minuets to provide a very focused identity based on communication style and branding. Further analysis of the brand values are also possible but we find that the host ID is sufficient in most cases. The Persona Systems team then extracts traveler-specific details and creates the property matching criteria.
Demo of archetype matching http://demo.personaholidays.com
Fascination Advantage® Archetype
The Persona hotel tests are initiated by Sally Hogshead and extracted into Persona Holidays, giving the hotel both a brand and its related travel triggers. The triggers are the actual hotel matchmaker "matchwords" that are assigned by the matchwords engine from the Fascination Advantage® Archetype assessment. The automated process is verified by a hotel specialist who will approve it using commonsense and personal knowledge to be sure is is a good fit.
Sally Hogshead skyrocketed to the top of the advertising profession by age 24, becoming the most award-winning advertising copywriter in the U.S. Her campaigns for brands such as MINI Cooper, Nike, Godiva and Coca Cola have fascinated millions of consumers.
One of the "Top 10 Brand Gurus in the World" in 2015, she went on to measure 700,000 consumers with the science of fascination.
Hogshead appears in media such as "The TODAY Show" and "LIVE with Kelly and Michael", and has been featured as one of the top five speakers in the U.S. Hundreds of corporations and small businesses use the Fascinate system, including Twitter, IBM and Porsche, as well as universities such as NYU.
Her previous book, "How the World Sees You", is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller.
Learn how the world sees you and your business with The Fascinate test.
Start the HowtoFacinate.com Test>>
Marketing with Animated Review Videos
One of the unique features of the marketing for PersonaHoliday.com destination sites is the Review Video production and syndication. Review Videos are produced by the team with an automated system that generates a professional video with a spokesperson. The basic video includes a text overlay of the review against a background of the hotel room or review feature.
Example of hotel review video marketing http://videos.personaholidays.com
As an option, HolidayHotelReviews (HHR) will animate the video with a professional narration of the text, made alive with videos and images of what the guest is talking about.
See example:
The spokespersons we use are freelance actors available to us from agencies we work with independently. Our long term goal is to create videos for the stereotypes using actors that portray the character of the brand.
More about HHR videos at http://holidayhotelreviews.biz/contact
The advantages of using animated video reviews are:
1. Reviews are viewed by over 90% of shoppers and are one of the most powerful influences in booking
2. Authentic 3rd party reviews that are animated with video and images showing the exact details of the review are highly engaging and convincing
3. The review videos are syndicated to the HHR platform, social media and top digital media as well as and to clients' own website and social network
Persona Holidays has been evolving over a decade and perfected for bookings and travel planning technology. The main database is arcRes, one of the first booking engines for small independent hotels. ArcRes is a very flexible structure that accommodates the expert system and allows hotels to configure inventory, room rates, packages and specials according to their own business rules.
It combines three three separate innovations in travel planning and booking technologies.
- A Behaviour responsive technology to analyze and match travelers up with hotels of similar character
- Visual booking technology with an intuitive graphical user interface that instantly displays option and choices in a visually compelling display
- Scientifically based personality and branding analysis to help build a purposeful brand identity that aligns with their target personality
ArcRes as used in Persona Holidays is the graphical user interface and is one of a set of programs that interact with the arcRes database. ArcRes code and database provide the connection between Persona Holidays and 3rd party booking engines, hospitality integrator and multi-channel marketing systems.
Details PDF >>> bigidea-PersonaHolidaysPresentation-adv-solution
About the Team
Meet the Team – See latest profiles >>> ALLCAST MARKETING an AXSES Company
Example of Persona Holidays see personaholidays.com/stay |
The idea of PersonaHolidays.com was first implement with RealHolidays.com in 1999.
It is morphing into the new version which combines the idea of dynamic packaging and persona matchmaking first implemented by RealHolidays. It is now integrated with our Visual Bookings Technology and persona branding.
This page http://info.personaholidays.com
Demo of archetype matching http://demo.personaholidays.com
Live hotel search with persona expert systems http://search.personaholidays.com
Example of hotel review video marketing http://videos.personaholidays.com
Hotel with animated videos example http://animatedvideo.personaholidays.com
Value Proposition http://valueprop.personaholidays.com
Do the HowtoFacinate.com test – Click here >>>>
For more information please contact us here.
Travel | Expert Systems | Guests| Hosts | Marketing | Technology | About | Contact


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Information and discussion on all aspects of British photographic history
June 1, 2009 to October 25, 2009 – National Portrait Gallery This display celebrates the recent acquisition of a group of photographs by Gilbert Adams (1906–96), Bertram Park (1883–1972) and Yvonne Gregory (1889–1970). They join a much larger archive of prints… Organized by NPG | Type: exhibition
June 11, 2009 to July 23, 2009 – Rook Lane Arts Centre In the mid Nineteenth Century the small country town of Frome in Somerset was full of the noise, bustle and fumes of Victorian metal works. Into these surroundings was born the visionary, global engi… Organized by michaelg | Type: exhibition:, the, engineer, and, engineer-photographer
June 20, 2009 to August 31, 2009 – Centenary Sqaure In 1886 the Birmingham photographer, John Collier, made a series of over 70 photographs documenting one of the most important public demonstrations of Birmingham's industrial prowess: the Exhibition… Organized by Pete James | Type: outdoor, exhibtion
July 4, 2009 to October 4, 2009 – National Museum of Wales A document of British photography from the late 1960s until the late 1980s, 'No such thing as society' draws from the collections of the Arts Council and the British Council to give a radically new p… Organized by www.southbankcentre.co.uk/visual-arts/Hayward-touring | Type: exhibition
July 5, 2009 to September 5, 2009 – Corinium Museum Views of the River Thames from the past 125 years will be on show at the Corinium Museum this summer thanks to images from past and present photographers. The '...in the footsteps of Henry Taunt' ph… Organized by firstname.lastname@example.com | Type: exhibition
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by Steve Young
Today I accompanied Dr. Carl George from Union College into the field to look at the differences between male and female plants of Japanese knotweed, Fallopia japonica. Our first stop was an area in Glenville with multiple clones of the plants, one of them female and the others male. What are the distinguishing characters? Male plants have erect inflorescences with bright white flowers and bigger leaves. These characters can be seen driving by in a car. The female plants are usually smaller with erect and drooping flower branches which are not as bright, probably due to the winged tepals and darker ovaries not present in the male plants. The male plants have flowers with five white petals that are spreading outward. They have long white stamens that are longer than the petals and we did not see any pollen in the open anthers. At the base of the flowers are tiny ovaries. The female plants have large ovaries topped by a three-parted stigma and small staminodes at the base. The five tepals are open when flowering starts and eventually three of them form large wings around the fruit. The remaining two tepals remain small in size, become erect and, hidden by the wings, they enclose the fruit. Today we saw four different populations of male plants, some of them large, but most of the plants we saw in the area were female. This is a good time of year to distinguish the two sexes so take time to look at the clones in your area and see if you can distinguish them.
Here you can see the male plants on the right and the female plants on the left of a clone of sumac.
Notice the large size of the male clone with the erect bright white flowers. Carl George examines the flowers.
The male plants also had larger leaves than the female plants.
Notice how the female inflorescences also have drooping branches.
Here are young female flowers with five tepals about the same size and older flowers with three of the sepals developed into the wings that surround the fruit.
Here are the upright male flowers with the long stamens sticking out.
The hollow stems have a groove above the branches and they arise in a spiral fashion up the stem.
A large male clone can be seen along a road in Pattersonville. The erect inflorescences are easily recognized. Even though they are swarming with honey bees, Dr. George found there is no pollen reward and their pollen sacs are empty.
Here is another male plant in downtown Albany not far from a stand of female plants.
The male plants are still easily distinguished in late September after the flowers fall because the upright branches remain while the female plants are still laden with white female flowers and fruits.


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Microsoft's OneNote has climbed to the top of the Free apps on Mac app store soon after its launch. OneNote is available for Windows, Mac,iPad, iPhone, Android & Web. OneNote, is your very own digital notebook. On Mac it is compatible with OS X 10.9 or later. This is a free program for home/school use & businesses need to purchase the license. There are other Microsoft apps in the top 10 position like onedrive & others. It has got hundreds of reviews & can be downloaed from the mac app store.
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