text:
Next year, Erin and I will finally celebrate our first Christmas together. I couldn't be more excited, and I know she's already making certain plans in terms of traditions and decorations and the like.
However, over the years I've assembled a small but — I think — amusing collection of Christmas ornaments of my own. Many of them have been given to me as gifts, the rest have mostly been the result of Hallmark's after-Christmas clearance sales. It never seemed sensible to spend a ton of money on decorations until I had someone to decorate with. So while I'm sure next year the two of us will bring together all her ornaments and all my ornaments and probably a bunch of new ornaments, today I thought I'd share with you guys my collection as it stands today, such as it is.
First up is my Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. While not technically an ornament, it's one of my most prized Christmas decorations and also will serve as the model for most of the upcoming pictures. Erin gave me this tree a few years ago and I love it. I actually wound up getting a second tree to place in my classroom at school, knowing that this tree was far too precious to risk in a room full of high school students.
"Oh come on, Blake," you're saying. "They're in eleventh grade. Surely they can be trusted to be in proximity to a decoration with just a single ornament without worrying about them breaking it."
Heh. It's cute that you think that.
Next up is my TARDIS decoration. You may or may not know (except if you know anything about me at all, in which case you absolutely know) that I'm a bit of a Doctor Who fan. This particular glass ornament was given to me by my buddy and frequent Showcase co-host, Kenny. Thanks, pal! I know that Erin will want to be certain it gets a place of honor next Christmas.
I love Disney and I love Christmas, so it's not surprising that many of my decorations are Disney characters. Of course, as I've done most of my shopping in the clearance sales, my selection is particularly eclectic. I'd grab whatever looked like it was worth the money, and the deeper the discount the lower that threshold would become. For example, here's Donald Duck, having just rolled out of bed, drinking a cup of coffee. Probably because I got it for pennies.
From the "My parents went to Disney World and all I got was this…" line. A few years ago, my parents took a trip to Disney World and brought this personalized set of mini-Mouse Ears to me. (That's "Mini" as in "small," not "Minnie" as in "Mickey's girlfriend.") They brought an identical pair of ears for Erin. Hers are currently dangling from the rear view mirror in her car.
Another Hallmark Keepsake ornament, this one depicts my favorite Disney Character — Scrooge McDuck — as he appeared in the classic 1983 animated feature Mickey's Christmas Carol. Hey, speaking of A Christmas Carol, have you guys been following my Reel to Reel movie blog? All this month, leading up to Christmas I'm reviewing and analyzing different versions of Charles Dickens's classic novel. All of your favorites are there — Alastair Sim, Albert Finney, Mr. Magoo… go on, check it out.
My brother and sister are big fans of Disney's Vinylmation figures — a series of toys all set in the same Mickey Mouse-shaped mold and decorated in an infinite number of ways. I've got a lot of them too, but I've been a bit more selective in my Vinylmation purchases than them. This one came out last year — it's a regular Vinylmation figure with an ornament loop on the head. This one depicts Donald Duck trapped in a snow globe, presumably the work of a genie or his nephews or something.
Another Vinylmation figure-slash-ornament, this one depicts a chocolate bar in the shape of Mickey Mouse. As you can tell, whoever got this bar in his stocking eats his Mickey chocolate the same way everybody eats their Easter rabbits — he bites the ears first. This figure also smells like hot chocolate. Well… the box says it's hot chocolate. There's a definite cocoa flavor to the aroma, but I don't know if I'd go that far.
Phineas and Ferb is without question, the best cartoon for kids in decades. I dare you to find anything that's even remotely as entertaining. You need to go back to the 90s heyday of Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain. These kids rock.
Also, this was the last picture I took. I thought I was finished, I put my Charlie Brown tree in its place of honor (which is rather high up and out of reach of cats and three-year-old nieces), and when I realized I missed this one I just said the hell with it and took the picture on the table.
Courtesy of Target, here's Phineas and Ferb's best pal Perry the Platypus in his other identity: Agent P of the OWCA (Organization Without a Cool Acronym). I like to imagine here that he's just stumbled into an insidious yuletide trap set by his arch-nemesis, Dr. Doofinshmirtz. Don't worry, guys, Doof isn't really that big a threat. And he actually doesn't hate Christmas anyway, he has a burning indifference.
A few years ago Disney introduced these guys, Wayne and Lanny, members of Santa Claus's special Prep and Landing task force. These are the elves that scout ahead of Santa Claus to make sure the house is ready, the children are nestled all snug in their beds, and not a creature is stirring. If you have a Merry Christmas morning, it's because Wayne and Lanny did their job right so that Santa could come behind them and do his.
This one is a Target find rather than Hallmark. Erin picked it up for me last Thanksgiving when we were shopping. This was either a few days before or a few days after I asked her to marry me, I don't remember which, and it doesn't matter. It's special anyway. And yes, that's a reflection of me and my phone in Kermit's face. You try hiding your reflection when taking a picture of a shiny glass amphibian. It's not that easy.
Snoopy and Woodstock here were a gift from Erin. She found it for me at work and included it in a stocking full of candy and little gifts last year. The girl knows me all too well, doesn't she?
This is actually four separate ornaments put together. The "Peanuts on Ice" figures from Hallmark each have a magnet in the base, allowing you to connect them. I'm not sure how many there were in the series, but I know how many I got. Four. I got four.
You'll notice that Sally, Charlie Brown's sister, has no magnet and therefore is not connected to the rest of the Peanuts gang. I like to imagine that Linus, sick and tired of her years of sexual harassment, disabled the magnet in her base in the hopes that she would slide away and suffer a tragic mishap in the ice. Wow, that took a dark turn.
Another Hallmark ornament, here we have Barry Allen, the Flash. (How do I know it's Barry Allen and not Wally West? Because Wally's belt always came to a point in the front, only Barry wore the straight belt for his entire career in the Pre-Crisis era. Yes, I'm THAT kind of nerd.) Barry here, if I'm not mistaken, is actually the oldest ornament in my collection. I'm pretty sure I've had him since high school, and I don't even remember when I got him.
Hal Jordan. Green Lantern of Space Sector 2814. Current leader of the Green Lantern Corps. Another Hallmark keepsake ornament. Are you sensing a pattern here?
I've got a few different Superman ornaments. Try not to be surprised.
This Hallmark ornament is actually two in one. In the front we have the Golden Age Superman, the way he first appeared in 1938. In the background is the second ornament, the cover of Action Comics #1, in which he made his first appearance. Actually, now that I look at it, the figure isn't exactly right for that comic. His "S"-symbol, at that point, was actually just a yellow shield with the letter drawn in it, not the stylized version it would later become, and his boots hadn't yet evolved to what we see here either. Wow, now I'm furious at the inaccuracy of my ornament. Christmas is RUINED.
This more modern Superman is a one-piece ornament, with the Man of Steel bursting out of the cover of a comic book. And this actually is a comic book, you can open that sucker up and read it. There aren't any credits, but I think the short re-telling of his origin story was drawn by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, a classic DC Comics artist who contributed a lot of art for various DC merchandise over the years. I told you, I'm that kind of nerd.
I think I've shown this one off before but I don't mind doing it again. This Lenox China Superman figure has the trademarks of that elegant line of decorations — the white glass is used in his cape, and the Lenox gold lines the figure in several places. This, too, is a gift from Erin, which should be obvious because those Lenox ornaments are pretty expensive for a guy that, until now, got most of his Christmas decorations from Hallmark's 20% off table.
From The Office, ladies and gentlemen, I give you Assistant to the Regional Manager Dwight Schrute. This ornament is actually based on the Valentine's Day episode in which his girlfriend gave him a bobblehead doll of himself. The ornament is a working bobblehead, plus, it talks when you push that little button in the front. I briefly considered shooting a short video demonstrating these features, but then I realized that would require way more of a commitment than I was ready to put into this little article.
Now we're getting into the ornaments that have an actual emotional connection for me. This one, for example, was a gift from Erin's niece Elise last Christmas. Hey — I guess that means she's going to be my niece too. Cool.
Another Erin find. This "For My Teacher" apple came to her at work and she brought it home to me. Go ahead: "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaw…"
And finally, probably the most meaningful ornament on the list is this little Cross. Last summer, Erin and I attended an engagement encounter at a monastery in Pittsburgh. We wanted a keepsake of the weekend, and decided on this Christmas ornament. The message, I think, was just right.


text:
Shalini Singh, deputy editor of The Hindu and a former assistant editor with The Times of India, who did stellar reporting on the 2G spectrum and coal allocation scams afflicting the UPA government, has bagged the Prem Bhatia award for political reporting for 2013.
S. Nihal Singh, chairman of the four-member jury that decided on the award, said:
"We were impressed with Shalini Singh's meticulousness in pursuing a story to its logical conclusion, which is not a quality to be found in many reporters. The whole idea of the award is to recognise journalists who show great promise, and Ms. Singh's work on the 2G scam, Coalgate and her information-gathering skills made her a fit candidate."
The award is named after Prem Bhatia, the former editor-in-chief of The Tribune, Chandigarh, who did spells at The Statesman, The Times of India and The Indian Express.
Photograph: courtesy The Hindu
Also read: Scam-buster Josy Joseph gets Prem Bhatia prize
2011 Sanskriti award for Tehelka's Rana Ayyub
Aman Sethi bags Red Cross journalism prize
EPW journalist bags Appan Menon award
Rema Nagarajan of ToI bags Nieman fellowship
Mint's Monika Halan among Yale fellows
Chameli Devi prize for Tehelka scribe, K.K. Shahina
Pallava Bagla bags 'Oscar' of science journalism
Saikat Datta bags prize for using RTI for story
India-China friendship award for Pallavi Aiyar

subset: commoncrawl


text:
It is the 30th millennium and gods of war stride the galaxy like titans
the emperor of man leads his forces of imperial army and space marines to cleanse the galaxy of the xenos threat-
But what trickery is this you say? a tau sept world overrun with 6,000 points of tyranids facing off against the luna wolves, the sons of sanguinius and the imperial army led by the emperor himself?
The warp has no end to it's trickery.
So we were planning on fighting orks in a re-do of the ullanor campaign, but nobody hadthat many orks so we ended up facing tyranids instead.
We had 1 player with all his nids VS 4 players with 1,500 points each
the loyalist luna wolves led by loken with a spartan and some 30K era tanks and a bunch of tactical marines, imperial militias with a baneblade, mortar teams and some leman russes, a horde of jumping blood angels, and of course the emperor and his retinue.
Since this was a silly fun game using rules found from 3rd edition(the emperor) we allowed the nid player to use the old doom of malan'tai rules and all the nids were based on the 5th ed book with the upgrades being applied to 7th edition models (synapse being eternal warriors, monsterous creatures having access to extra toughness, wounds, BS, WS etc..).
We only ended up going 2 turns sadly as the luna wolves and imperial army players needed to leave.
At the time it ended the blood angels had just arrived and crushed a horde of gene stealers, however the tyranids were in the lead having eaten a bunch of imperial militiamen and a luna wolves tank in the previous turn. now they were in the teeth of the imperial force.
Perhaps someday we will revisit this battle but for now we have pictures
Imperial forces of the great crusade-
The starting table
the first turn
the second turn


text:
New Volkswagen for Sale near Worcester, MA
- 0 Vehicles
New Volkswagen Models for Sale in Auburn Offer Great Deals on Quality Vehicles
There is no substitute for a brand new Volkswagen - but before you hit the classifieds section, or start shopping around at different new car dealerships in Worcester, Westborough or Shrewsbury, consider us first. We're proud to be able to offer a fantastic selection of new Volkswagen cars and SUVs like the New Volkswagen Arteon, the Volkswagen Jetta, Passat, Tiguan, Atlas and Golf GTI, at prices that you (and your wallet) will love. Since we're able to customize your payment options to find the right deal and the right terms for your budget, you have more freedom to shop around and find the right mixture of features, performance options, and amenities that you want. Looking for leather seats, navigation, premium audio, or powerful engine options? Use our buying tools to filter by model, by price, or by features.
Explore new Volkswagen for sale online, or visit the showroom in Auburn to see the lineup in person and test-drive your favorite.
Explore, Compare, Shop, and Finance Your New Volkswagen at Patrick Motors Volkswagen
Whether you buy with your gut, or spend weeks carefully researching your options before you make your final decision, Patrick Motors Volkswagen makes it easy and fun to find your dream vehicle. Compare a new Volkswagen car to crossover, large to small, base to fully-loaded, and see which well-equipped and exciting new model is right for you.
When you've made your choice, financing your new vehicle is as simple as filling out a form. Apply for a lease or loan online, and one of our finance experts will walk you through the rest of the process. Save time at the dealership, save money on your monthly payments, and love your new vehicle!
We're sorry, availability of some equipment, options or features may be limited due to global supply issues affecting the auto industry. Please be sure to verify that the vehicle you purchase includes all expected features and equipment.


text:
Haha, call me a rookie.
I am aware that round 140mm fans can usually be screwed into square 120mm fan mounts, provided the adjacent volume can accomodate the 140mm fan, of course.
My roomy new mod case has standard screwholes for 120mm/140mm square fans. And lots of extra space all around which can easily accept substantially larger fans. Multiple 14cm fans are plenty hefty already ... but why not consider the overkill options of even larger, more powerful, quieter fans, eh? Left unrestrained, I'd probably go nuts and just install an industrial duct fan or blower or something, assuming I could find one that spins at less than about 60dB lol.
My first question (there's bound to be more, I'm sure, sorry in advance):
I see 160mm and 200mm fans out there. Will a round version of either of these (or of some other >140mm) fan sizes fit into standard square-140mm screw holes?


text:
|Crop Knowledge Master
Cucumber Mosaic Virus
|(Plant Disease Pathogen)
Stephen A. Ferreira, Extension Plant Pathologist
Rebecca A. Boley, Educational Specialist
Department of Plant Pathology,CTAHR
University of Hawaii at Manoa
CMV has a wide range of hosts and attacks a great variety of vegetables, ornamentals, and other plants (as many as 191 host species in 40 families). Among the most important vegetables affected by cucumber mosaic are peppers (Capsicum annuum L.), cucurbits, tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.), and bananas (Musa L. spp.). In Hawaii, CMV occurs on honohono grass (Comellina spp.) - a weed, but apparently is not a local problem.
Other vegetable hosts include: cucumber, muskmelon, squash, tomato, spinach, celery, peppers, water cress, beet, sweet potato, turnip, chayote, gherkin, watermelon, pumpkin, citron, gourd, lima bean, broad bean, onion, ground-cherry, eggplant, potato, rhubarb, carrot, dill, fennel, parsnip, parsley (Chupp and Sherf, 1960), loofah (Huang et al., 1987), artichoke (Chabbouh and Cherif, 1990).
Ornamental hosts include: China aster, chrysanthemum, delphinium, salvia, geranium, gilia, gladiolus, heliotrope, hyacinth, larkspur, lily, marigold, morning glory, nasturtium, periwinkle, petunia, phlox, snapdragon, tulip, and zinnia (Chupp and Sherf, 1960; Agrios, 1978).
World-wide, especially in temperate regions.
Many variants of the virus occur, making it difficult to identify the CMV from symptoms alone. In addition, it is often difficult to distinguish CMV isolates from other cucumoviruses (i.e., alfalfa mosaic virus, tomato aspermy virus, peanut stunt virus). Described below are symptoms of common CMV hosts, and luffa, though it has not been reported to be a CMV host in Hawaii.
Seedlings are seldom attacked during the first few weeks, but symptoms occur when the plants are about six weeks old and growing vigorously. Four or five days after infection, the leaves become mottled, distorted, and wrinkled, and their edges begin to curl downward. All subsequent growth is reduced, leaving the plants with a dwarfed appearance: shorter stem internodes and petioles, and underdeveloped leaves. Infected plants produce few runners and also few flowers and fruit. Older leaves develop chlorotic and then necrotic areas along the margins which later spread over the entire leaf. Dead leaves hang limp on the petiole or fall off, leaving part or most of the older vine bare (Agrios, 1978).
Cucumbers produced after infection have pale green or white areas intermingled with dark green, bumpy areas. Fruit produced by the plants in the later stages of the disease are somewhat mis-shapen but have a smooth gray-white color with some irregular green areas; these are often called "white pickle." Cucumbers with cucumber mosaic may have a bitter taste and make soggy pickles (Agrios, 1978).
For muskmelons and cucumbers, new leaves may wilt and die while older crown leaves may turn yellow then dry up, resulting in a slow decline of plant health (MacNab et al., 1983).
CMV causes a mottling on celery leaflets, and sunken, buff-colored streaks and spots on petioles. Symptoms of CMV and celery mosaic virus (CeMV) are similar and may be difficult to distinguish on the basis of symptoms (MacNab et al., 1983).
Infected lettuce plants are stunted, yellowish, and do not head properly. Symptoms are similar to lettuce mosaic virus (LMV) (MacNab et al., 1983).
CMV causes severe mosaic on pepper foliage. Older leaves may have large necrotic rings, fruit may be malformed, and conspicuous yellow concentric rings and/or spots are often on the fruit from infected plants (MacNab et al., 1983).
Plants are often stunted, have short internodes, and may have extremely distorted and malformed leaves, known as fernleaf (MacNab et al., 1983).
The early stages of the disease usually show a mosaic and chlorotic or irregular mottling of leaves but it becomes mild or disappears later. Four Luffa species have been tested (one species of L. acutangula, and three species of L. cylindrica - one of which was '7 Beauty') for CMV. All species were susceptible although the symptoms were masked at the late stages of growth. CMV is not considered a major virus threat to loofah, which is more threatened by ZYMV and WMV-1 (Huang et al., 1987).
Synonyms include: Cucumber virus 1; Cucumis virus 1; Marmor cucumeris; Spinach blight virus; and Tomato fern leaf virus.
Cucumber mosaic virus has three functional pieces of single-stranded RNA, packaged in three icosahedral particles about 28 nm in diameter. The molecular weight of CMV falls in the range of 5.8 to 6.7 million, of which 18 percent is RNA and the remaining 82 percent protein. Cucumber mosaic virus exists in numerous strains that differ somewhat in their hosts, in the symptoms they produce, in the ways they are transmitted, and in other properties and characteristics (Agrios, 1978; Francki et al., 1979).
CMV produces a systemic infection in most host plants. Older tissues and organs that developed prior to infection usually are not affected by the virus, but newer cells and tissues that develop after infection may be affected with varying severity. The concentration of the virus increases for several days following inoculation, then decreases until it levels off or the plant dies (Agrios, 1978). Infectivity is lost within a few days, and in some instances hours. CMV is relatively unstable when it is in plant extracts (sap), unable to withstand temperatures in excess of 70 C for 10 min (Francki et al., 1979).
CMV is transmitted primarily by aphids, and also by seed, cucumber beetles, parasitic plants, humans, and mechanically.
CMV is transmitted by more than 60 species of aphid, notably Aphis gossypii and Myzus persicae, in the non-persistent manner, and is readily transmissible through plant sap (Francki et al., 1979). CMV can be acquired in 5-10 seconds and transmitted in less than 1 minute. The ability of CMV to be transmitted declines after about 2 minutes and is usually lost within 2 hours. In addition, some isolates can lose their transmissibility by one aphid species but retain their transmissibility by another (Francki et al., 1979).
Transmission through seed occurs to varying degrees in 19 host species, including some weeds; dissemination and persistence in weed seeds may be important in the epidemiology of CMV (Francki et al., 1979).
Parasitic plants are able to host and transmit CMV. At least 10 species of Cuscuta (dodder) are able to multiply in and transmit CMV (Francki et al., 1979).
CMV overwinters in many perennial weeds, flowers, and crop plants. Perennial weeds such as white cockle, wild ground cherry, horse nettle, milkweed, ragweed, pokeweed, nightshade, and various mints harbor the virus in their roots during the winter and carry it to their top growth in the spring from which aphids transmit it to susceptible crop plants. Once a few plants have become infected with CMV, insect vectors and humans (during cultivating and handling the plants), readily spread the virus to healthy plants. To illustrate the ease with which CMV is transmittable through sap carried on the hands and clothes of people harvesting fruit, entire fields of cucurbits sometimes begin to turn yellow with mosaic immediately after the first pick has been completed (Agrios, 1978).
There are some CMV-resistant varieties of vegetable and flowers available, including cucumber and spinach (Agrios, 1978). However, there are some CMV hosts that do not have resistant cultivars established at this time. Management of CMV on lettuce by genetic resistance has not been possible because there is no cultivar both suited to production and resistance to CMV. Resistance has been found in Lactuca saligna L., a wild species from Portugal, and a program to breed this resistance into commercial lettuce is under way (Provvidenti et al., 1980). However, this resistance is not effective against all isolates of CMV, and until a suitable resistant cultivar is developed, a disease-management practice is needed (Rist and Lorbeer, 1989).
Control of CMV weed hosts near cultivated fields is often successful in reducing the incidences of CMV in cucumber and celery, and is likely beneficial in other crop fields as well (Rist and Lorbeer, 1989). Perennial weeds should be eradicated from around greenhouses, gardens and fields to eliminate possible sources of CMV (Agrios, 1978).
Transplant crops stored in greenhouses should be isolated from other plants that may harbor CMV. When transplanted, they should not be planted near susceptible crops nor non-cultivated areas in which there may be weeds harboring the virus (Agrios, 1978).
The use of insecticides to control aphid populations is neither realistic nor practical. Since most of the early virus infections are initiated by insects feeding on perennial hosts, spraying for those hosts and weeds may be helpful.
Agrios, G.N. 1978. Plant Pathology, 2nd ed. pp.466-470.
Chabbouh, N. and C. Cherif. 1990. Cucumber mosaic virus in artichoke. FAO Plant Prot. Bull. 38:52-53.
Chupp, C., and A.F. Sherf. 1960. Vegetable diseases and their control. Pp. 267-269. The Ronald Press Company. New York. 693 pp.
Francki, R.I.B., D.W. Mossop, and T. Hatta. 1979. Cucumber mosaic virus. CMI/AAB Descriptions of Plant Viruses, No. 213.
Huang, C.H., Y.J. Chao, C.A. Chang, S.H. Hseu, and C.H. Hsaio. 1987. Identification and comparison of different viruses on symptom expression in loofah. Journal of Agricultural Research of China. 36:413-420.
MacNab, A.A., A.F. Sherf, and J.K. Springer. 1983. Identifying Diseases of Vegetables. The Pennsylvania State University.
Provvidenti, R., R.W. Robinson, and J.W. Shail. 1980. A source of resistance to a strain of cucumber mosaic virus in Lactucia saligna L. HortScience 15:528-529.
Rist, D.L., and J.W. Lorbeer. 1989. Occurrence and overwintering of cucumber mosaic virus and broad bean wilt virus in weeds growing near commercial lettuce fields in New York. Phytopathology 79:65-69.


text:
The Right's war on the poor rages on, driven in part by the belief that racial and ethnic minorities are getting much of the help. Yet, as food stamps are slashed, Congress lavishes money on military projects that are judged wasteful or useless, John LaForge writes.
Beginning Nov. 1, food stamp cutbacks mean $36 per month less for a family of four.
Public "servants" like Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan and Democratic former President Bill Clinton point to the failure of poverty programs to end poverty, and then slash those program budgets or abolish them altogether. Clinton's actions did away with Aid to Families with Dependent Children in a fell swoop he dubbed "welfare reform."
Meanwhile, the chronic test failure of anti-missile rockets never results in budget cuts, but is called reason enough for more funding. The latest miss by the "missile defense" project occurred July 5 over the Pacific, adding to a near perfect record of total flops or faked hits. The rocket business is one welfare program that is never declared fraudulent or wasteful except by scientists, honest think tanks and military watchdog groups.
Today a lot of Republicans claim the food stamp program — officially the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP — is rife with fraud. They say "Ineligible people get food stamps!" So Congress dogs the poor who may not vote and don't donate to campaigns, while doling out billions of dollars to missile contractors Lockheed, Martin, Boeing, TRW and Raytheon, etc. in exchange for millions of dollars in re-election cash.
So the House adopted a farm bill in July that for the first time since 1973 eliminates food stamps A Senate bill approved in May cut about $4.5 billion from the program, mainly by altering eligibility rules.
The percentage of our population that uses food stamps went up from 8.7 in 2007 to 15.2 in 2012. This near doubling is partly the result of the Great Recession, high unemployment, and the fact that Republicans have made deep cuts in unemployment benefits.
The House action will eliminate about 5.1 million people from SNAP, according to a report by the Health Impact Project. Almost half a million people who get food stamps but still do not get enough to eat (the average SNAP amount is $134 a month) would lose their eligibility for the stamps. The HIP study found that food stamps cuts will not just affect the ability of low-income people to feed themselves, but would also increase poverty.
Failed and Redundant Weapons
Independent analysts like MIT Professor of Science, Technology and International Security Theodore Postol argue that "ballistic missile defense" (BMD) can't work — interceptor missiles can never distinguish real incoming weapons from swarms of decoys — and should be cancelled.
Postol charged in a March 2000 letter to President Clinton that the program's officers were "most likely attempting to illegally use the security and classification system to hide waste, fraud and abuse," that included faked test results. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher told Ronald Reagan 30 years ago, "I am a chemist. I know it won't work."
Still, spending for BMD over three decades totals about $200 billion — $130 billion by 2000, according to the Center for Strategic and Budget Assessments — and about $10 billion every year since then. Last March, President Barack Obama announced another $1 billion in funding to add 14 new "interceptor" missile pads to the 26 already deployed in Fort Greely, Alaska.
Even more insulting are the weapons programs unwanted by the Pentagon that get funded again and again. Military brass have said that the new Joint-Strike fighter jet bomber (or F-35) and additional upgrades to the M1 Abrams tank are unnecessary. The 6,000 completed M1 upgrades are enough, says DoD. Baltimore Sun blogger Terry Munson reported Aug. 17 that zeroing the Abrams rehab program would save $3.5 billion.
Pentagon chiefs have called a lot of costly systems unneeded and unaffordable. Josh Sweigart in the Dayton Daily News reported last year that the military had proposed cost cutting that would save at least $487 billion over 10 years.
The Pentagon suggested canceling: 1) the Global Hawk drone — whose purpose is served by the U2 — saving $2.5 billion by 2017; 2) the C-27J Spartan transport aircraft, saving $400 million by 2017; 3) 5,000 jobs from the Air National Guard — and slashing $300 million from its budget; and 4) plans for an East Coast missile defense battery that Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had called unnecessary — saving $3.6 billion by 2017.
The same congressional budget cutters who call for "small" government have insured that useless military boondoggles in their districts stay big — even while providing fewer jobs per billions of dollars spent than any other sector of expenditure.
As Munson said, "If we used some of that money to feed hungry children and educate those who need it most … Congressional reps might be compelled to find support among real voters and not just corporations seeking government handouts."
Not everyone can pay for the news. But if you can, we need your support.
Truthout is widely read among people with lower incomes and among young people who are mired in debt. Our site is read at public libraries, among people without internet access of their own. People print out our articles and send them to family members in prison — we receive letters from behind bars regularly thanking us for our coverage. Our stories are emailed and shared around communities, sparking grassroots mobilization.
We're committed to keeping all Truthout articles free and available to the public. But in order to do that, we need those who can afford to contribute to our work to do so.
We'll never require you to give, but we can ask you from the bottom of our hearts: Will you donate what you can, so we can continue providing journalism in the service of justice and truth?


text:
Let's face it. Managing front end dependencies is still a headache. As developers, we have a plethora of options for building dependencies. Some of the tools off the top of my head are Grunt, Gulp, Broccoli, Component, NPM, and probably 5 more have been released since I started writing this post. In this tutorial, I am going to focus on Gulp but I'm sure it can be modified to work with any of the others.
Lately I've started a few side projects and wanted to quickly build out a MVP, minimal viable product, and Bootstrap paired with FontAwesome is a great way of doing this. The problem comes in with trying to automate the setup and have a nice clean package. Sure you can use a CDN but that limits your ability to modify variables and makes working offline difficult. By setting up Gulp we have all the sources available to modify and extend as we need.
Tonight after integrating these for the fourth time I thought it would be something good to share with the goal of benefiting others. From this point forward I will assume you have both bower and npm installed. If you do not then just do a little searching for installation instructions for your operating system. Neither should be too difficult.
The first step is to setup Bower. Create a new local directory and "cd" into it. Next run
bower init and following the instructions. I don't believe any of the answers to the questions matter as this will only be used locally.
After that finishes install our required bower packages:
bower install bootstrap-sass-official --save
bower install fontawesome --save
By default, this will put them in the
bower_components directory which can be changed if you prefer. I will leave it as default.
Now we need to setup our gulp dependencies, which pull from NPM. Create a new package.json file and just add an empty object,
{} and save it.
Head back to the terminal and install our NPM dependencies:
npm install gulp gulp-ruby-sass gulp-notify gulp-bower --save-dev
This will install all the needed dependencies in a node_modules folder and also automatically update our package.json file with these dependencies.
Here is an example package.json showing the versions of dependencies I'm using:
"devDependencies": {
"gulp": "^3.8.11",
"gulp-bower": "0.0.10",
"gulp-notify": "^2.2.0",
"gulp-ruby-sass": "^0.7.1"
PLEASE NOTE: – gulp-ruby-sass is going through some changes. To follow along be sure and use the "^0.7.1" version as I did.
Finally, we need to setup the gulpfile.js. Create this file and we'll step through all the settings.
If you've looked at gulp files before then you might know they all start by including the dependencies by using the node require function. Here is the start:
var gulp = require('gulp'),
sass = require('gulp-ruby-sass')
notify = require("gulp-notify")
bower = require('gulp-bower');
These are everything we installed in the NPM step above and at this point just included and not actually doing anything.
Next up, I create a config object to hold various settings:
var config = {
sassPath: './resources/sass',
bowerDir: './bower_components'
I find by doing this it keeps the rest of the file simpler. The sassPath is the folder where I store the sass files I create. I'm using Laravel 5.0 and as you can see I just put them in resources/sass. These will end up being parsed and put in a ./public directory. Next is the bowerDir which is just the path to the bower_components.
Next let's setup up our first gulp task for running bower.
gulp.task('bower', function() {
return bower()
This task basically runs
bower install but by including in the gulpfile other contributors only have to run gulp bower and have them all setup and ready.
Now that we have FontAwesome in bower_components we need to move the fonts out and place them into the ./public directory. Here is a simple move task to handle this:
gulp.task('icons', function() {
return gulp.src(config.bowerDir + '/fontawesome/fonts/**.*')
All this is doing is taking whatever is in bower_components/fontawesome/fonts/ directory and moving those to ./public/fonts.
Bootstrap Sass
The next piece to the puzzle is setting up Sass and linking bootstrap and fontawesome into our path so our sass files can access them. Here is the task:
gulp.task('css', function() {
return gulp.src(config.sassPath + '/style.scss')
style: 'compressed',
loadPath: [
config.bowerDir + '/bootstrap-sass-official/assets/stylesheets',
config.bowerDir + '/fontawesome/scss',
.on("error", notify.onError(function (error) {
return "Error: " + error.message;
This task is a little complex but shouldn't be to0 difficult to follow. The important parts of this task is the loadPath which tells gulp-ruby-sass all the locations it should look for files. The .on("error" uses the notify plugin to alert something failed in the build.
With this setup our main style.scss can import bootstrap and fontawesome easily. Here is an example:
@import url(http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Raleway:400,700,300);
$font-family-base: 'Raleway', sans-serif;
// Import bootstrap and fontawesome
@import "bootstrap";
@import "font-awesome";
I imported a new font and set it as bootstraps $font-family-base. When bootstrap is later pulled in it will see the variable is defined and use our setting. You can also do this for any bootstrap variables.
Watch and Default Task
Finally, we are almost finished. Now we need a watch task and a default task.
// Rerun the task when a file changes
gulp.task('watch', function() {
gulp.watch(config.sassPath + '/**/*.scss', ['css']);
gulp.task('default', ['bower', 'icons', 'css']);
The first is the watch task which just listens for changes in the path and then runs the "css" task. Finally, we have a default task which when called runs bower, icons, and the css task. This is useful so contributors can pull down your code, cd into it, run npm install, and finally gulp. Everything should be easily shared and used.
If you would like to see the final files used for this tutorial take a look at this demo repo. Also, if you have any questions or if anything isn't clear let me know in the comments.


text:
Henrietta of England
|Henrietta of England
|Duchess of Orléans
Painting by Mignard
16 June 1644
Bedford House, Exeter, England
30 June 1670 26) (aged
Château de Saint Cloud, France
4 July 1670
Royal Basilica of Saint Denis, France
|Philippe of France, Duke of Orléans
Marie Louise, Queen of Spain
Anne Marie, Queen of Sardinia
|Charles I of England
|Henrietta Maria of France
Roman Catholic
prev. Anglican
Henrietta of England (16 June 1644 O.S. (26 June 1644 N.S.) – 30 June 1670) was the youngest daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland and his wife, Henrietta Maria of France. Fleeing England with her governess at the age of three, she moved to the court of her first cousin Louis XIV of France, where she was known as Minette.[1] After she married Philippe of France, brother of King Louis XIV, known as Monsieur at court, she became known as Madame.[2] Her marriage was marked by frequent tensions.[3] Henrietta was instrumental in negotiating the Secret Treaty of Dover prior to her unexpected death in June 1670. Jacobite claims to the throne of Great Britain following the death of Henry Benedict Stuart descend from her through her daughter Anne Marie, Queen of Sardinia.
Infancy in England
Princess Henrietta was born on 16 June 1644, on the eve of the Second Battle of Newbury during the Civil War, at Bedford House in Exeter, a seat of William Russell, 5th Earl of Bedford (1613-1700), who had recently returned to the Royalist side. Her father was King Charles I of England, her mother the youngest daughter of Henry IV of France and Marie de' Medici. All her life, Henrietta would enjoy a close relationship with her mother, Queen Henrietta Maria. Her connections with the court of France as niece of King Louis XIII and cousin of Louis XIV would prove to be very useful later in life.
Shortly before the birth of Henrietta, her mother had been forced to leave Oxford for Exeter, where she had arrived on 1 May 1644. Many thought she would not survive the birth due to her state of health at the time.[4] After a particularly difficult birth, the princess was put in the care of Anne Villiers, Countess of Morton, known at that time as Lady Dalkeith.[5] For the safety of the infant princess, the queen decided to make her way to Falmouth and then return to France to ask Louis XIV to assist her husband's war efforts. Arriving at Falmouth in mid-July, the queen was informed that the infant princess had been taken ill with convulsions, from which she recovered. On 26 July, Henrietta met her father, Charles I of England, for the first time. Prior to his arrival, the king had ordered that the princess would be baptised in accordance with the rites of the Church of England, and she was baptised Henrietta at Exeter Cathedral on 21 July.[6] A canopy of state was erected in honour of her dignity as a Princess of England.[7] Henrietta was moved to Oatlands Palace outside London, where the princess and her household lived for some three months before fleeing secretly in June 1646, Lady Dalkeith ensured Henrietta's safe arrival in France where she was re-united with her mother.[8]
Life and marriage in France
While living at the French court, the princess was given the name Anne in honour of her aunt, the French queen Anne of Austria.[6] When she first arrived, she was known as Henrietta d'Angleterre or the princesse d'Angleterre in France. She and her mother were given apartments at the Louvre, a monthly pension of 30,000 livres and the use of the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. This lavish establishment soon diminished as all the money Queen Henrietta Maria received was given to her husband in England or to exiled cavaliers who had fled to France.[9] During the Fronde, the civil war that raged in France between 1648 and 1653, Henrietta and her mother stayed at the Louvre.
In February 1649, Henrietta's mother was informed of the execution of her husband Charles I, who had been beheaded on 30 January. At the end of the Fronde, Queen Henrietta Maria and her daughter moved into the Palais Royal with the young Louis XIV and his mother and brother Philippe. At the same time, Queen Henrietta Maria decided to have her daughter, who had been baptised in the Church of England, brought up as a Roman Catholic.[10] With the arrival of Henrietta's brother, Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester, in 1652, their small court was increased.
After the Fronde was over, the French court made it a priority to find a bride for the young king of France. Queen Henrietta Maria hinted at the idea of a union between Henrietta and Louis, but Queen Anne rejected the idea, preferring instead her niece by blood, Maria Theresa of Spain.[11] Louis and Maria Theresa married in June 1660, after which Queen Anne turned her attentions to her unmarried son Philippe. While residing at the Château de Colombes, Henrietta Maria's personal residence outside Paris, mother and daughter heard of the restoration of the monarchy in England under Henrietta's brother Charles II of England,[12] and they returned to Paris. This change of fortunes caused the flamboyant Philippe, a reputed bisexual who had been party to a series of sexual scandals, to ask Henrietta to marry him. Prior to this, rumours at court stated that Henrietta had received various proposals from Charles Emmanuel of Savoy and the Grand Prince of Tuscany but nothing came of them as a result of her status as an exile.[13]
An impatient Philippe was eager to make sure he married Henrietta as soon as possible, but Queen Henrietta Maria was intent on going to England to sort out her debts, secure a dowry for Henrietta and prevent the Duke of York's announcement of his marriage to Anne Hyde, a former maid-of-honour to the Princess Royal.[14] During this time, Henrietta became distraught when her brother the Duke of Gloucester died of smallpox in September 1660.[15] In October, Henrietta and her mother embarked at Calais for Dover, where they stayed at Dover Castle. The French court officially asked for Henrietta's hand on 22 November and her dowry was arranged. Charles II agreed to give his sister a dowry of 840,000 livres[16] and a further 20,000 towards other expenses. She was also given, as a personal gift, 40,000 livres annually and the Château de Montargis as a private residence.[17]
Henrietta's return to France was delayed by the death from smallpox of her elder sister Mary Princess of Orange. She finally left England in January 1661. She and Philippe signed their marriage contract at the Palais Royal on 30 March 1661; the ceremony took place the next day.[18] The marriage was elaborately celebrated and she and her husband moved into the Palais des Tuileries.[19] As she had married Monsieur, Henrietta was styled Madame, la duchesse d'Orléans.[20]
The marriage started well and Philippe seems to have been a doting husband. A year into the marriage, Henrietta gave birth to a daughter later baptised Marie Louise. The paternity of the child was doubted by some of the court, who insinuated Louis XIV or the Count of Guiche was the father. Henrietta and Guiche may have started an affair early in her marriage, despite his having been an alleged former lover of Philippe.[21] These flirtations caused a once-adoring Philippe to become intensely jealous and he complained to Queen Anne.
|Scottish and English Royalty
|House of Stuart
|Charles I
Soon after, Louis started an affair with one of Henrietta's ladies-in-waiting by the name of Louise de La Vallière, who had joined her household at the end of 1661 and had protected Henrietta with regard to the affair of Guiche. The couple's next child was a son born in July 1664 who was given the title Duke of Valois. The son, however, died in 1666 of convulsions after being baptised Philippe Charles hours before death. The loss of the little Duke of Valois affected Henrietta greatly.[22] She gave birth to a stillborn daughter in July 1665,[23] but another daughter was born in 1669 who was baptised Anne Marie in 1670.
In 1666, her husband's most prominent alleged lover, the Chevalier de Lorraine, became attached to the Orléans household[24] – Lorraine would often vie for power within Philippe's household, an unusual arrangement for the time.
Henrietta has often been praised as a cultured princess and her correspondence with Moliere, Racine, La Fontaine, Bussy-Rabutin and others is notable.[25] She was also a lover of gardening, and it was she who created a water garden at the Palais Royal.[26] Henrietta also amassed a large and prestigious picture collection that included paintings by Van Dyke and Corregio.[27] Her active personality has caused historians to think that she showed signs of Anorexia nervosa.[28]
Late in 1669, Henrietta lost her mother Queen Henrietta Maria, who died after having taken an excessive quantity of opiates as a painkiller.[29] Henrietta was devastated, and the situation was not helped by Philippe's immediate rush to claim all her possessions before she had even been buried.
Secret Treaty of Dover
Henrietta was instrumental in diplomatic negotiations between her native England and adopted France. Her brother Charles II, to whom she had always been very close, had been trying to establish a closer relationship with France since 1663, but it was not until 1669 that he set the wheels in motion by openly admitting that he would become a Roman Catholic and vowing to bring England back under Roman Catholicism. Henrietta was eager to visit her homeland and Louis XIV encouraged her in order for the treaty to take place. Philippe, however, annoyed with Henrietta for flirting with Guiche and his previous lovers, remained adamant that she should not be allowed to go complaining to Charles II that she should remain at his side in France. Appealing to Louis XIV, she managed to arrange to travel to England, where she arrived in Dover on 26 May 1670, remaining there until 1 June, the day the treaty was signed.[30]
Charles was to abandon England's Triple Alliance with Sweden and the Dutch Republic in favour of assisting Louis XIV in conquering the Dutch Republic, which he claimed for his wife Queen Marie Thérèse as part of her unpaid dowry. Provided that the conquest was successfully completed, England was promised several very profitable ports along one of the major rivers that ran through the Dutch Republic. The treaty did not become public until 1830.[31] After her time in England, she returned to France on 18 June.[32]
Death, burial and aftermath
In 1667 Henrietta began complaining of an intermittent, intense pain in her side. Beginning in April 1670, according to reports, Henrietta began having digestive problems so severe that she could consume only milk.[33] Returning to France after the treaty, Henrietta went to stay at Saint Cloud with her husband on 26 June.[34] On 29 June, at five o'clock, Henrietta drank a glass of iced chicory water. According to reports, immediately after drinking the water she felt a pain in her side and cried out, "Ah! What a pain! What shall I do! I must be poisoned!".[35] She immediately assumed she had been poisoned and asked both for an antidote and for someone to examine the chicory water.[33] She was given common contemporary treatments for colic, as well as anti-poisons.[33] The royal family arrived at Saint Cloud having heard the news within hours. Bishop Bossuet was called and later administered Extreme Unction. At 2 o'clock in the morning of 30 June 1670, Princess Henrietta died.[28] The Chevalier de Lorraine and the Marquis d'Effiat were rumoured by many to be accomplices in poisoning Henrietta.[28] Seventeen French and two English physicians, the British ambassador and roughly 100 other onlookers observed the autopsy, and though the official report stated "death from cholera morbus (gastroenteritis) caused by heated bile," many observers disagreed.[33]
Henrietta was interred at the Royal Basilica of Saint Denis on 4 July, another service was held on 21 July. All chief public bodies including the Parliament, courts of Law, Assembly of the Clergy and the City Corporations were represented, as well as members of the nobility and general public. Queen Maria Theresa was present with the emeritus King of Poland, John II Casimir, and the English Ambassador, the Duke of Buckingham. French Princes of the blood were present as well as masses of the nobility.
"Last of all came the members of Monsieur and Madame's household, bearing torches in their hands. A mausoleum, surrounded with altars and silver urns, and adorned with a crowd of mourning allegorical statues, among which Youth, Poetry and Music were conspicuous, had been erected in the centre of the choir. There the coffin rested, covered with cloth of gold, edged with ermine, and embroidered with the arms of France and England in gold and silver. Everyone having taken their places hundreds of candles burst into flame giving a cloud of incense; and the Archbishop of Reims assisted by other bishops, began the Mass, which was chanted by the King's musicians organised by Lully."[36] Monsieur married again in 1671 to Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, who, like Henrietta, was descended from Mary, Queen of Scots, sharing James I of England as a common ancestor.[37] Monsieur and the "new Madame" would have a further two surviving children.
Henrietta's eldest daughter Marie Louise died, like her mother, at the age of 26 in Spain in 1689.[38] The circumstances of her death were almost identical to those of her mother's death, and she was also believed to have been poisoned.[39] Anne Marie married in 1684 and was the mother of some eight children, the eldest of whom, Princess Maria Adelaide, was the mother of Louis XV. Monsieur himself would die in 1701.[40] Her descendants include Henri, Count of Paris, the Orléanist pretender to the French throne, the king of Spain, the king of the Belgians, the grand duke of Luxembourg and the pretender to the Italian throne.[41]
- Marie Louise d'Orléans (26 March 1662 – 12 February 1689) married Charles II of Spain, no issue.
- Miscarriage (1663).
- Philippe Charles d'Orléans, Duke of Valois (16 July 1664 – 8 December 1666) died in infancy.
- Stillborn daughter (9 July 1665).
- Stillborn twin sons (1667).
- Miscarriage (1668).
- Anne Marie d'Orléans (27 August 1669 – 26 August 1728) married Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy (future king of Sardinia) and had issue.
|Ancestors of Henrietta of England
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles and styles
- 16 June 1644 – 31 March 1661 Her Royal Highness Princess Henrietta of England
- 31 March 1661 – 30 June 1670 Her Royal Highness Madame, Duchess of Orléans
In film and television
- In the 2003 mini-series Charles II: The Power and the Passion, Henrietta is played by Anne-Marie Duff.
- In the 2009 film Broadside, Henrietta is played by Jessica Clarke.
- In the 2010 short film Minette, Henrietta is played by Jenna Brighton.
- In the 2015 television series Versailles, Henrietta is played by Noémie Schmidt.
- ↑ Barker, p. 75
- ↑ Barker, p. 72
- ↑ Barker, p. 78
- ↑ Cartwright, p. 3
- ↑ Cartwright, p. 4
- 1 2 Fraser, p 32
- ↑ Cartwright, p. 5
- ↑ Cartwright, p. 13
- ↑ Cartwright, p 18
- ↑ Cartwright, pp. 25 - 28
- ↑ Fraser, p. 67
- ↑ Cartwright, p. 68
- ↑ Cartwright, p. 62
- ↑ Cartwright, p. 67
- ↑ Cartwright, p. 69
- ↑ Barker, p 125
- ↑ Cartwright, p 70
- ↑ Cartwright, p 81
- ↑ Cartwright, p 90
- ↑ Fraser, 321
- ↑ Cartwright, p 106
- ↑ Barker, p 115
- ↑ Mitford, p 87
- ↑ Cartwright, p 239
- ↑ Cartwright, p 179
- ↑ Fraser, p 76
- ↑ Fraser, p 77
- 1 2 3 Fraser, p 155
- ↑ White, Michelle A: Henrietta Maria and the English Civil Wars. Aldershot, Ashgate Publishing, 2006, p 193
- ↑ Fraser, p 151
- ↑ Fraser, Antonia: Royal Charles: Charles II and the Restoration, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1979, p 276
- ↑ Cartwright, p 336
- 1 2 3 4 Baron, p. 214
- ↑ Fraser, p 153
- ↑ Cartwright, p 345
- ↑ Cartwright, p 383
- ↑ Barker, p 123
- ↑ Fraser, p 277
- ↑ Baron, p. 215
- ↑ Barker, p 234
- ↑ Barker, p 239
- 1 2 Louda & Maclagan 1999, p. 27.
- 1 2 Louda & Maclagan 1999, p. 50.
- 1 2 3 4 Louda & Maclagan 1999, p. 140.
- Barker, Nancy Nichols: Brother to the Sun King; Philippe, Duke of Orléans, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore/London, 1989
- Cartwright, Julia: Madame: A life of Henrietta, daughter of Charles I and Duchess of Orléans, Seeley and Co.Ltd, London, 1900
- Fraser, Antonia: Love and Louis XIV; The Women in the Life of the Sun King, Anchor Books, London, 2006
- Fraser, Antonia: Royal Charles: Charles II and the Restoration, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1979
- Louda, Jiří; Maclagan, Michael (1999) [1981], Lines of Succession: Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe (2nd ed.), London: Little, Brown, ISBN 978-0-316-84820-6
- Mitford, Nancy: The Sun King, Penguin Publishing, London, 1966, ISBN 0-14-023967-7
External links
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Henrietta of England.


text:
02 November 2018
Thai Airways International Public Company Limited (THAI) and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) jointly organized a Travel Agent Seminar at Dusit Thani Hotel in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) Mr. Chantouch Srinilta (sixth from left), THAI General Manager, U.A.E. & Middle East, Mr. Aphirak Intharak (first from left), THAI Station Manager, Dubai Airport, and Mr. Pichaya Saisaengchan (third from left), TAT Director in Dubai, welcomed seminar participants who represented over 70 travel agencies in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain as well as government officials from various ministries in the U.A.E.
Subscribe To Our Newsletter


text:
One Or Two Things – Mary Oliver
Don't bother me
I've just
been born.
The butterfly's loping flight
carries it through the country of the leaves
delicately, and well enough to get it
where it wants to go, wherever that is, stopping
here and there to fuzzle the damp throats
of flowers and the black mud; up
and down it swings, frenzied and aimless; and sometimes
for long delicious moments it is perfectly
lazy, riding motionless in the breeze of the soft stalk
of some ordinary flower
The god of dirt
came up to me many times and said
so many wise and delectable things; I lay
on the grass listening
to his dog voice,
crow voice,
frog voice; now
he said, and now,
and never once mentioned forever,
which has nevertheless always been,
like a sharp iron hoof,
at the center of my mind.
One or two things are all you need
to travel over the blue pond, over the deep
roughage of the trees and through the stiff
flowers of lightning — some deep
memory of pleasure, some cutting
knowledge of pain.
But to lift the hoof!
For that you need
an idea.
For years and years I struggled
just to love my life. And then
the butterfly
rose, weightless, in the wind.
"Don't love your life
too much," it said,
and vanished
into the world.
? what is your deep memory of pleasure
? what is your cutting knowledge of pain
>>> let the butterfly's words linger with you today…
for all of our searching,
for all of our longing to emerge,
to develop, to rise.
can we just take a moment,
to listen to the
dog, the crow,
the frog,
the butterfly.
lay low and listen.
can we seize the 'long delicious moments'
the pleasure and the pain.
can we hold it all in tension,
and each day,
rise again.
and may we trust that new life is growing.


text:
An effective and easy-to-use driver updater
OSToto Hotspot is a free WiFi hotspot creator to turn your Windows laptop, notebook or desktop PC into a portable sharing WiFi hotspot in seconds. Thus, you can share your wireless internet connection with another computer, iPhone/Android phone, etc.
Download the best uninstaller software, Perfect Uninstaller Software to make your PC quick and clean. Perfect Uninstaller Software is alternate way for standard Windows Add/Remove applet, far more secure and accurate.
AIDA64 Extreme Edition will list most of the facts about your system.
AVCHD MTS converter convert mts files to all popular video file formats easily.
Public Speaking CHMod Calculator for your PC.


text:
Clarion Mission
Welcome to the Clarion Review, a journal in the great tradition of humanistic thought and letters.
We like to call the Clarion a journal for life in the body. By this we hint at some basic commitments of ours. First, we're quite confident that truly human existence is embodied, and always will be. Second, we believe that human flourishing is at its fullest when not only embodied, but also incorporated into the Body. Humanists celebrate the corporate body that includes all humanity; Christians, the physical and mystical Body of Christ. As Christian humanists we support both understandings of the word.
So, why the body? The fact that human existence is embodied should be so obvious as to be trivial. Yet, throughout history, those who would deny it have never been in as short supply as might be hoped. One can perhaps understand the desire to exit the body to a purer world of forms or happiness, most especially in ages when the medical sciences did little to help – and often much to harm – an already arduous physical existence. Less so in an age of prosperity: but our prophets would now have us aspire to downloadable immortality.
These dualists – from the ancient Manichaeans, to the New Soviet Man, to our contemporary Transhumanists – always promise more than they can deliver. They force us to forget the ground beneath our feet and the cultures that nurture us, the real joys of our physical life. If God really is dead, is this the best there is?
A truly incarnate view of life and culture, on the other hand, demands that we take the world and our existence in it as real, and really significant. It both indicates and participates in the world as it should be.
But Christians, for their part, haven't always stayed down to earth. A certain dualism has gnawed at the faith over the centuries. Could this be any further from the truth of a creed proclaiming that the immaterial God took on matter for the sake of his good Creation – and not just any matter, but human flesh? There's an earthiness to Christianity, one that can't be raptured away: when it is, both the faith and the cultures it informs are often reduced to kitschy trivialities or ways to while away our time until we get to heaven. A truly Christian view of life and culture rejects escapism; it sees instead the created goodness in the world, and the potential for transfiguration, especially in fallenness.
The Clarion Review hopes to take a literary stand for incarnate existence. By engaging with philosophy, theology, politics, fiction, poetry, and more, we mean to make some sense of life in the body – in a world that has witnessed the death of God but is still haunted by him.
And we hope you'll join us. Please leave your comments after reading a poem or article, and let us know what you think of our journal through snail or e-mail.
If you would like to submit an original work in poetry, fiction, literature, history, philosophy, theology, political thought, or the fine arts for publication, please write to us at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
Welcome to the bipolar disorder support for Blantyre. If you need bipolar support in Blantyre our goal is to help you. Many living with bipolar disorder have a tough time handling situations. The reality is bipolar disorder is a series of mood swings. There are some with bipolar disorder who become depressed and others who become manic.
Our bipolar support for Blantyre is providing by offering several resources. They are created by noted bipolar survivor, author and educator Blake LeVine. In his teens Blake faced a severe battle with bipolar disorder. He was placed in five psychiatric hospitals. He eventually found the right medications and therapy to slowly and steadily rebuild his life. He went on to get married, have children, obtain his Masters in Social Work and help many others facing these issues.
We offer help in three ways. One is offering a telephone life coaching program. Our trained coaches work with you by phone or video chat to help handle problems. You may learn about this by emailing email@example.com or calling our US number at (213) 304-9555.
Our founder also has written several bestselling books teaching about bipolar disorder. We encourage you to read these books and learn the terrific information found in these works. The books are available at:
The final way we offer bipolar disorder help for Blantyre is through our free daily educational blog. We write very motivational and inspiring articles teaching about bipolar disorder on http://www.bipolaronline.com
Thank you and we look forward to helping you learn about bipolar disorder.


text:
Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!
By this time, you know the drill. Follow-Up Friday is a chance for us to revisit the subjects of previous posts and bring the PuzzleNation audience up to speed on all things puzzly.
And today, I'm posting the results of our #PennyDellPuzzleDisney hashtag game!
You may be familiar with the board game Schmovie, hashtag games on Twitter, or @midnight's Hashtag Wars segment on Comedy Central.
For the last few months, we've been collaborating on puzzle-themed hashtag games with our pals at Penny Dell Puzzles, and this month's hook was #PennyDellPuzzleDisney, mashing up Penny Dell puzzles and anything and everything having to do with characters, songs, theme parks, and all things Disney!
Examples include: The Jungle Bookworms, A Whole New Word Seek, or Lilo & Stretch Letters!
So, without further ado, check out what the puzzlers at PuzzleNation and Penny Dell Puzzles came up with!
Disney Puzzle Films, Shows, and Characters!
Crypto-Family Robinson / Swiss Family Ties Robinson
Beauty and the Beat the Clock / Beauty and the Word Seek
Abacus in Wonderland
The Throwbacks of Notre Dame
The Little Puzzler Mermaid / The Little MerMaze
Buried Treasure Island
101 Associations / A 101 Quotations
The Sword in the Stepping Stones
Mary Stoplines
Escape to Which Way Words Mountain
The Windowbox and the Hound
White Fan' Words
These Three Musketeers / The Three of a Kind Musketeers
Oliver and Three's Company
The Lotto King
Al-add-one / AladdIn the Middle
Crisscross-topher Robin
Crackerjacks Sparrow
Peter Panagrams
National Treasure Hunt
Monsters, Incognito
Cruella De-V-Words
Monkeys Go Home Runs
The Lucky Star to the Right
Winnie-the-Pooh and the Honey-comb Tree
The Three Little Piggybacks
Off with her Heads & Tails
Cross Aristocats
The Jumble Book
Disney's Into the Tanglewoods
Sheriff Callie's Wild Window Boxes
Mickey Mouse Cryptohouse
Minnie's Mixed Bag of Tricks!
Pluto in the Round
Snow Whitelines and The Shadow Dwarfs
Disney Theme Park Puzzles!
The Wonderful Codeword of Disney
Anagram Magic Kingdom / Animal Crackers Kingdom
Epcot In the Middle (or is it center???…)
The Carousel of Progress-ions
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spinwheel
Disney Song Puzzles!
"When You Wish Upon a Starspell"
"Whistle While You Framework"
"Be Our Guest Star Framework"
"The Pairs Necessities"
"Some Day My Printout Will Come"
"Under the ABC's"
"It's a Small Change (After All)"
"Can You Paint with All the Color by Numbers of the Wind?" / "Color of the Wind-ow Boxes"
"Circles in the Square of Life" / "The Full Circle of Life"
"Do You Want to Build-A-Pyramid?"
"Let It Go Fish"
"Heigh Ho HeigHocus Pocus"
"A Whole New Whirlybird"
"Song of the North South"
"You'll Fill-In My Heart"
"Little Puzzler Showers"
"Step by Step in Time"
"Kakuro Matata"
"Be True To Your Hearts and Flowers"
"Bibbidi Bobbidi Boomerang" / "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Book" / "Bippity-Boppity-Bookworms"
"Zip-It Dee Doo Dah, Zip-It Dee Ay!
My oh my what a Number-Jumble day!
Plenty of Sunrays Headings my way!
Zip-It Dee Doo Dah, Zip-It Dee Ay!"
Have you come up with any Penny Dell Puzzle Disney entries of your own? Let us know! We'd love to see them!
Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!
You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!


text:
BATON ROUGE — Southern University head football coach, Stump Mitchell", is inviting the Jaguar Nation Football to be a part of the "Countdown to Kick-Off" event to be held Saturday, August 28,2010 on the Southern University Baton Rouge campus. "Countdown to Kick-Off" will replace "Fan Day".
The "Countdown to Kick-Off "event will be a day full of festivities including a rib cook-off for RV and tailgating members of Jaguar Nation, scheduled for 9 a.m.- 1 p.m., performances by the Human Jukebox, an exciting bike show by the Nubian Kruzers at 1 p.m., and a host of other entertainment and activities.
The first 500 fans to purchase tickets to this event will have the opportunity to experience the "Suite Life", and watch the scrimmage, scheduled for 3:30 p.m., in the comfort of the air-conditioned, luxury box suites located on the West Side and in the North End Zone of A.W. Mumford Stadium. Refreshments will also be available as a part of the "Suite Life" experience. Following the scrimmage, we will host a meet-and-greet with the coaches and the players in the North End Zone and announce the rib cook-off winners at approximately 6 p.m.
"I have heard countless members of the Jaguar Nation brag about their culinary and grilling skills and am particularly excited about the rib cook-off.", says Stump Mitchell.
First, Second, and Third place winners will be awarded prizes and will earn bragging rights as being one of the best cooks in Jaguar Nation. The 1st Place winner will be awarded "the best seats in the house" for the first home game.
Registration for the rib cook-off ends Wednesday, August 25. The enclosed registration form, along with a $25 entry fee, should be submitted to the SU Ticket Office.
Scrimmage tickets are $10 per person and are available at the SU Ticket Office, 7722 Scenic Highway, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, (225) 359-9328. All tickets will be pre-sold!
For those that choose not to experience the "Suite Life", you may still come out and watch the scrimmage, albeit from the west side stands. No refreshments will be available for the free patrons.
For more information, please call Shelia Minor, SU Athletics (225) 771-5137 or Tracie Abraham,SU Alumni Affairs, at (225) 771-4200.


text:
It's pointless to post another mere review of the latest film in the Star Wars saga, The Rise of Skywalker. This is especially true, since discussions of even the most basic plot elements will be considered egregious spoilers by many. Many critics have already written about the elements that make the film a disappointment, including its video-game narrative structure, its disregard for its immediate predecessors developments, the lack of new themes or ideas, and the relative dearth of humor. The plot has been described as convoluted, but it's also pandering to certain fans, and needlessly "solves" mysteries that could have been left alone, while creating new plot holes that you could drive a Super Star Destroyer through. All of this could be forgiven, though, if there was something new and interesting to look at. Visually, the film is a dull retread of prior designs and compositions, and the last third is basically completely blue.
One of the things that separates the films directed or supervised by George "the maker" Lucas from the J.J. Abrams-helmed films in particular, is the choice of a limited cinematic language and grammar. This set of techniques has gradually accreted more and more elements over the course of the series, until there is no difference now between a Star Wars movie and any other major blockbuster franchise film, other than perhaps the quality of the John Williams score.
George Lucas was one of the first couple generations of film directors who came into the industry through film school. He consciously modeled many aspects of Star Wars on films he studied at USC, as well as those he saw growing up. When it came time to hire a director for the sequel to the original film, he chose someone also steeped in the film school culture, Irvin Kershner, one of his instructors from USC.
Probably the most obvious and well-documented influence on the cinematic grammar of the original Star Wars trilogy were the films of Akira Kurosawa. From such models as The Hidden Fortress, Lucas drew a narrative adventure structure, the concept of the two menial point-of-view characters (the droids) to frame the main story, and such visual cues such as the "wipe" transition between scenes. He also adopted Kurosawa's multi-camera filming technique during production of the Star Wars. Of course Kurosawa was not Lucas's only model. The "episodic" nature of the films was an homage to serials in sci-fi and other genres, like Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon. The X-wing dogfights were directly copied from WWII fighter footage.
Perhaps less commented upon, however, are the elements of film grammar that Lucas chose to eschew when he developed the style of Star Wars. Some of the things that he avoided in the Original Trilogy include:
- Hand-held camera shots
- Snap zooms
- Voice-over narration, particularly coupled with montage sequences
- First person POV shots
- Flashbacks and non-linear narrative sequencing
- Large narrative leaps in time
- Visualized dream sequences
- Songs in a contemporary style, or with English lyrics
- On-screen explanatory titles (excluding the famous "Opening Crawls")
- Slow-motion
By limiting the cinematic means, Lucas and his collaborators on the Original Trilogy were able to achieve several things that separated the Star Wars films from the typical modern blockbuster that followed in its footsteps. The tone was consistent and unique, and helped make the clunky dialogue, plot inconsistencies, and the like basically irrelevant. (Yes, like the Force, those have always been with us, but we tend to forgive them in the earliest films of this series.) Lucas was telling a fairy tale, and the choice of cinematic technique reinforced this and taught us what to focus on in his story.
When Lucas returned to the universe he had seemingly left behind in 1983, the Prequel Trilogy of 1999-2005 eventually became marked by the opening up of some of this limited cinematic language. As he moved earlier in the timeline of his series, his storytelling ironically became less mythical, and more psychological and political. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is the most conservative in maintaining the limits of film grammar established in the Original Trilogy, though there is a brief and odd shot from the POV of C-3PO. I can still recall my surprise at seeing the rapid zoom in to focus on a Clone tank across the battlefield of Geonosis in the climax of Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Such a radical, if brief, break from the established camera style seems as shocking as a major character death to me. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith was the longest and most convoluted of the Star Wars films to date, and Lucas expanded the film grammar even further, giving us a visualization of Anakin Skywalker's dreams, and a disconcerting POV shot as the Darth Vader mask is lowered onto his face.
These cracks in the facade were broken even more when Lucas handed over the reins of his franchise to his successors, and his company to the corporate behemoth Disney. The second film released under the Disney banner, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, dispensed with the iconic opening crawl of text, but added titles throughout the film to let the audience know the name of the planet in new scenes. Disrupting the style more fundamentally, the narrative began with a prologue that then jumped forward a great deal in time (Solo: A Star Wars Story did this as well), and then liberally employed flashbacks to fill in the main character's backstory. It can't be overstated how this narrative choice, even more than the moral greying of the central heroes, changes the perception of how Rogue One feels out of step with the mythic storytelling of the Original Trilogy.
When J.J. Abrams launched the Sequel Trilogy with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it has rightly been noted that he repeated so many story beats from the original Star Wars as to make it virtually a remake. That choice is both the strength and weakness of his films. While George Lucas, student of film history, looked backwards to both high and low models in classical Hollywood and foreign films, nostalgist J.J. Abrams seems to only be able to reach back as far as the films of Steven Spielberg and…well, George Lucas. Lucas paid homage to John Ford's The Searchers in Attack of the Clones, in a sequence where Anakin steals into the Tusken Raider encampment. Abrams paid homage mainly to Star Wars. True, there is a shot in The Force Awakens that uncomfortably evokes Triumph of the Will, but it's hard to credit something that has become such a cliche in films of this kind.
Director Rian Johnson, seemingly much more of a cinephile than Abrams, filled The Last Jedi with clear homages to movies as diverse as Wings (1927) and The Long Goodbye (1973). His deeper file of references seems to contribute to a richer film that critics and many fans responded to eagerly. In this way, his film is closer to the types of visual inspiration Lucas used for his films. However, Johnson intensified the trend of expanding the cinematic narrative devices seen in a Star Wars saga film by including not only flashbacks, but repeated flashbacks of the same event with conflicting points of view.
In the new installment, The Rise of Skywalker, the journey to the Dark Side…er, the cinematic grammar of conventional blockbuster filmmaking, is complete. With the addition of voice-over montage, the recurrence of flashbacks and visualized dreams or memories, and a virtual dearth of visual reference to anything outside of prior Star Wars films (other than maybe Alex Proyas's Dark City, and one shot evoking George Lucas's THX-1138) there seem to be few restrictions on the cinematic techniques in a Disney Star Wars film. The film's narrative structure, which seems like a Star Wars-skinned MYST game, but with more boss battles, no longer conveys the tone of a fairy tale, nor does it permit many intimate moments to indulge in characters for their own sake, rather than for advancing a frantic plot. I need to see the film again to notice if the famous wipes and iris-outs were even retained, one of the most low-key but consistent elements of the Star Wars visual style. The continued divergence from the established Star Wars aesthetic was signalled very clearly before the film was even released, with a trailer that featured a Matrix-style slow motion acrobatic leap by Rey. This treatment of action is parsecs away from the tame waving of light swords in the original film.
The accumulation of narrative techniques, though consolidated with Disney's ultimate creation-by-committee approach, was one that was gradually introduced by the singular visionary who created Star Wars to begin with, and so can not be wholly blamed on Abrams or Disney suits. In many ways, Star Wars evolved beyond what Lucas could have ever imagined, and the scrappy film he made in 1977 using a limited film grammar and inspired by classic cinema has metamorphosed into a behemoth that can no longer be contained with the narrative and visual confines he started with. When it comes to the film's construction, Star Wars now aims to beat other franchises by joining them.


text:
There were rumors of a bovine invasion this weekend, but "Management" was quick to give notice to the Citizens of Sanctuary that the rumors were unfounded.
…while the idea of some sort of "cowpocalypse" (as one terrified farmer has taken to calling this) is udderly ridiculous, it is worth noting that one can never be too careful. And so, after consulting with our local Horadrim chapter, we have elected to issue an advisory… it is also recommended that you avoid entering any strange portals that may or may not lead to alternate planes of existence. This activity cud be potentially hazardous to your health and, in the opinion of this humble civil servant, is a veally bad idea in general."
Debunking the Cowspiracy, Management, Diablo III Blog, 5/14/15.
After about an hour of searching, I found a Herald to the Queen. Moogle joined me, and we explored the portal together.
Leads to a place that does not exist. The Burning Hells are not responsible for events that transpire there. If you claim to have been to this place, you will be called a liar. Void where prohibited.
We defeated The Cow Queen, met the Ghost of the Cow King, and killed hordes of hellbent bovine.
…except that never happened because the place doesn't exist, of course.
Also the music was excellent.


text:
Photograph by Chiel de Nooyer
Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:
You are commenting using your WordPress.com account.
( Log Out /
Change )
You are commenting using your Facebook account.
( Log Out /
Change )
Connecting to %s
Notify me of new comments via email.
Notify me of new posts via email.
Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts by email. Your email will never be shared or used for anything else.
Email Address:
Join our Facebook community!


text:
Entirely Real Photos: Wax George Clooney As Indifferent To You As Real George Clooney
It might not be surprising that a recent poll revealed that George Clooney was the winner in a U.K. poll asking people who would make the best Valentine's Day date.
But things take a turn when you learn that the organization asking the question was Madame Tussauds. Yep — the "choose your dream date" question came straight from the wax museum people. The winner was George Clooney, so they stuck him out in the street, sitting on a sofa, so people could snuggle up to him.
And snuggle up they did. They caressed. They cajoled. They grinned and sighed. They allowed people with cameras to take their pictures.
Happy Valentine's Day, ladies! Enjoy your moment with Wax George Clooney as he stares unnervingly at nothing, ignoring your efforts to kiss and charm him. Wax George Clooney will certainly look good in your later photos, but he probably won't put the moves on you, so you need to be prepared to be assertive.
The upside of all this is that he's really no more indifferent than Real George Clooney who, if you're anything like me, still hasn't called. Granted, Wax George Clooney is less likely to playfully engage in practical joke wars with Matt Damon and Brad Pitt, and it's possible that some of the charm of any charismatic man is lost when he never blinks and instead appears to be an undead creature awaiting Dr. Frankenstein's powers of reanimation, but you must admit, he looks pretty good.
As it turns out, the world contains a few Wax George Clooneys, and they spend a fair amount of their time getting hit on. This 2004 photo of what seems to be London's previous WGC and his lady friend has a caption that reads, "Visitors will be sitting in front of Clooney's waxwork and pretend to have a romantic dinner." Please note: She's holding its hand. Its cold, waxy, Psycho-meets-Misery hand. And really, what's more romantic than that?
Or how about this one? In this one, Berlin's Wax George Clooney is dressed like the drunkest Santa ever fired after an angry tirade in a food court. He looks both pale and freakishly tanned, both gray and orange, like he spent a month in a tanning booth and then three days smoking and eating spoiled clams. And he hates all these women who, I believe, are not wax.
But no WGC is as wonderful as the WGC whose picture was taken in London last November (London seems to have several Wax George Clooneys on call). For whatever reason, Madame Tussauds decided that the best way to mark four Thanksgivings in office for President Barack Obama was to place Obama in a Thanksgiving dinner scene with Wax George Clooney, Wax Morgan Freeman, and Wax Rihanna. (Wax Morgan Freeman: "Take the picture. This wax turkey isn't going to eat itself.")


text:
Skip to content
Learn how
Shop Our Categories
Toggle Search
Search this store
Submit search
M12 Lenses Inc
Shopping Cart
M12 Mount Lenses
Board Lenses
Mega Pixel Board Lenses
1/1.7" Format
1/2" Format
1/2.3" Format
1/2.5" Format
1/2.7" Format
1/3" Format
Fixed Iris Zoom Lenses
DC Iris Zoom Lenses
CS Mount Lenses
Fixed Iris
DC Iris Zoom Lenses
Manual Iris Zoom Lenses
Mega Pixel Lenses
Lens Holders
M12 Lens Holders
CS Mount Lens Holders
New Products
Nav Menu 5
Nav Menu 6
Nav Menu 7
Nav Menu 8
Want to tell a friend about PT-1220CW-5MP 12.0mm, F1.8 5MP CCTV Lens? It's easy. Just enter the information requested below, click the "E-mail a Friend" button, and your message is on its way.
Name of recipient:
*Recipient e-mail address:
Your name:
Your e-mail address:
Personal Message:
I found this product at M12 LENSES INC. and thought you might find it of interest.
The above image says:
*Don't worry--this address will not be sold or used for promotional purposes.
Back to top


text:
Five Must-Have Products for Short Hair
There must have been something in the air last fall, because pretty pixie cuts were suddenly spotted all over the Teen Vogue office! After months of seeing long, layered waves everywhere, short hair felt fresh, and both Eva Chen and I happily jumped on the bandwagon. I can't tell you how much I love my pixie! If you're considering taking the plunge, I say, go for it.
To help give you a boost of courage, we tapped hair pro (and the man who keeps my nearly buzz-length hair in check) Dante Pronio (@DantePronio), hairstylist at Ion Studio in New York City, for his tips on getting the best short cut for you and his top styling product picks:
"When thinking about going short, first consider your face shape. If you have a wide face, choose a style that's tight on the sides so that you don't widen your silhouette. If you have a long face, go for a cut with bangs and less volume at the top. Shorter faces tend to look best with no bangs and less volume on the sides of the head. If you want to show off your long neck, cut your hair very close to the hairline along the back and sides of your head. If you've got very sharp features, try a super short and tight cut.
Aside from the shape of your face, you should consider any prominent features you have. If you have big lips or big eyes, a pixie will show them off. On the flip side, think about any features you might not want to overexpose. When you go in for your cut, large foreheads, flat spots in the head shape, big ears, or cowlicks need to be taken into consideration. More than anything, make sure that your stylist pays attention to those kinds of details. Details are everything in a short haircut!"


text:
Day Porter Service in Cleveland, Ohio
If your business needs to look good all day long, you need a Cleveland professional day porter service. JayKay Janitorial & Cleaning Services LLC has been in the commercial cleaning business since, 2008, offering Cleveland, OH clients discreet and courteous day porters. JayKay Janitorial & Cleaning Services LLC porters will provide continual wipe down of all high touch surfaces for maximum cleanliness and sanitation. Call to inquire about day porter service for your Cleveland office or business.
Commercial Cleaning Services
expires 06/30/2023
Carpet Cleaning Services
expires 06/30/2023
Call For Free Quote
Cleveland Porter Service
JayKay Janitorial & Cleaning Services LLC focuses on all the details that keep your Cleveland facility clean throughout the day.
Choose the services that are important to you:
- common area sweeping & vacuuming
- bathroom cleaning & sanitizing
- paper product restocking
- porter and matron service
- fingerprint cleaning on glass doors & elevators
- trash removal
Why Choose JayKay Janitorial & Cleaning Services LLC for Porter Services?
JayKay Janitorial & Cleaning Services LLC's Cleveland porters and matrons will make sure all paper products are restocked, including toilet tissue, paper towels, facial tissues, hand soap, seat protectors, and any other specialty products your restroom may have.
Keep your Cleveland customers coming back with a neat, clean environment that reflects your commitment to superior customer service. Call today for first-class porter service for your Cleveland, Ohio business.
JayKay Janitorial & Cleaning Services LLC Has Been Cleaning Cleveland For More Than 15 Years
Call for FREE Day Porter Service Quote
(216) 505-1610
Dial Area Code first please.
★★★★★ - "Performed a deep clean/sanitizing for our company on very short notice. Clear and professional communication along the way was very appreciated by our team. Thank you!"
Brittany W., Disinfection Services in Cleveland, OH2021-04-15
★★★★★ - "Great experience! Very friendly, prompt, efficient, and they did a great job! Would use their services again."
Becky B., Carpet Cleaning in Cleveland, OH2018-11-29
★★★★★ - "We loved working with JayKay. He is so professional and courteous. When we called, we were looking initially for a service that he didn't happen to provide but he was so kind to refer us to a vendor he knows who does. We are still working with that vendor!
We also worked with JayKay on removing paint splatter from the floors on several rooms in our property. He did a FANTASTIC JOB! The floors are like brand new and shiny, and he did it so professionally and quickly, something that other cleaning companies flat out told us it cannot be done.
We highly recommend working with JayKay. The level of service and professionalism he offers his clients is unmatched."
★★★★★ - "They finished doing our church in Lakewood and the floors yesterday and today and they turned out perfect! Thank you great job!"
★★★★★ - "The owner was in contact immediately and through the entire process of our service. Very professional and quality service. We had them strip and polish the floors in our shop. The floors were in very poor condition and they made them look brand new. Thanks for the great service JayKay Janitorial!"
Diane Weber in Avon Lake, OH2019-08-13
★★★★★ - "JayKay Janitorial cleaned our church kitchen. Our floor was yellow from years of neglect, we had a build-up of grease on our cabinets and our stainless steel sinks were dirty. Our floor is now white and our cabinets and sinks clean! They did a very nice job of making our kitchen clean!"
Anonymous in Lakewood, OH2019-07-29
★★★★★ - "We hired them to do the kitchen in our church. The floors were yellow and there was grease on our cabinets and the kitchen was full of grime. They did a very nice job at getting our floor white, the grease off the cabinets and our stainless steel is shining!!! We were very happy with this company ."
Anonymous in Lakewood, OH2019-07-25
★★★★★ - "Everyone was pleasant to work with and we are beyond pleased with the work that was done in our space."
Allison in Berea, OH2019-06-18
★★★★★ - "WOW! What an energetic, pleasant, strong and willing crew."
Eileen P., Carpet Cleaning in Lakewood, OH2018-11-29
★★★★★ - "This company and it's employees are exceptional in every way. Thorough, polite, friendly, willing and efficient. We are so grateful to have found them."
Marilyn W., Carpet Cleaning in Lakewood, OH2018-11-29
Kate in Chagrin Falls, OH
★★★★★ - "They were great. Very efficient, respectful and detail oriented. When I need my house cleaned again, JayKay cleaning will be my first call! Thanks to the great ladies that did a wonderful job!"
Jessica S. in Parma, OH
★★★★★ - "I have used and would recommend them without hesitation. Simply the best!!"
Todd R. Merhige, Janitorial Services
Call for FREE Day Porter Service Quote
(216) 505-1610
Dial Area Code first please.


text:
With a Microsoft-mandated deadline a little more than two months away, computer makers are still selling PCs equipped with Windows 7 Home Premium.
Hewlett-Packard, for example, has several PCs, including some it's discounted for students, equipped with Windows 7 Home Premium, the most popular version for consumers. The HP Envy 15t-j100 notebook was on sale this week for $729.99, a 19% reduction from its usual $899.99, as was the HP Envy 700-215xt desktop, discounted by 20% to $679.99. Both included Home Premium.
HP made a bit of news in January when it kicked off an online promotion for several consumer Windows 7 PCs with a tagline that the four-year-old OS was "back by popular demand."
On its sale pages Wednesday, HP touted Windows 7 as "a familiar and intuitive environment."
The two other OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) in the top three worldwide -- No. 1 Lenovo and No. 3 Dell, according to second-quarter shipment estimates by IDC -- also displayed Windows 7 PCs on their websites that target students or home computer users.
OEMs have another two months of consumer-grade Windows 7 PC sales before Microsoft yanks the operating system from their factories.
Earlier this year, Microsoft set Oct. 31 as the end-of-sales date for new Windows 7 PCs running Home Premium. Before that, the company had first posted the date, then retracted it, then restored it but only for consumer systems. At the time -- as well as today -- Microsoft left the date blank for the halt of Windows 7 Professional installed on new PCs, saying only it was "not yet established."
In February, Microsoft said it would give one-year notice before it demanded that OEMs stop selling PCs with Windows 7 Professional. Under that rule -- and since Microsoft has yet to deliver the promised warning -- computer makers will be able to continue selling PCs with Windows 7 Professional until at least August 20, 2015.
An even longer extension is certainly possible unless the next edition of Windows, code named "Threshold" for now and perhaps officially labeled "Windows 9," is a big hit. Threshold is expected to launch next spring.
Even then Microsoft will probably let OEMs sell commercial PCs with Windows 7 Professional for some time: That version became the standard for businesses as they got rid of their Windows XP machines and spurned Windows 8.
Windows 7 also remains very popular overall, powering 51% of all personal computers last month, and 56% of those running a Microsoft OS by metrics vendor Net Applications' reckoning. (The numbers are slightly different because Windows accounted for 92% of the operating systems on personal computers in July, not 100%.)
It's not surprising that OEMs continue to market Windows 7-based machines, or that Microsoft has extended their use of Windows 7 Professional by 10 months so far. PC sales have been in a two-year slump -- down 10% in 2013 from the year before, IDC said, and forecast to be off another 6% this year -- and neither OEMs nor Microsoft are going to pass up selling systems, even if that means the computers run a five-year-old OS.
That age is one downside of buying a new PC with Windows 7, as Microsoft will stop serving security updates -- patches for newly-found or -reported vulnerabilities -- after Jan. 14, 2020. While that is more than five years away, it's near enough that Gartner has already called on companies to begin planning how they will migrate off Windows 7.
On the plus side, just half the usual 10 years of support for late-comers to Windows 7 will be 67% longer than the 3 years that Apple seems to have settled on for supporting its operating system, OS X.
Windows 8, the 2012 original, also has an approaching deadline: On October 31, retail sales of Windows 8 are to stop. PCs with Windows 8 may still come off the factory lines -- Microsoft has not set the end-of-sales date for OEMs -- but that point is largely moot as the perception-challenged OS has been largely replaced by Windows 8.1 on new machines.


text:
CSS Support
Updated August 2017
Current State
Inkscape supports a single <style> element in the document. If there is more than one style element, Inkscape will pick one to use.
@import is supported as of 0.93 (read-only). other @-rules are not supported.
There is a simple style editor (Object -> Style dialog). Selectors can be added/deleted.
Work Needed (incomplete list)
- As of 0.93, libcroco supports multiple style sheets in a document. Inkscape needs to change how style sheet are handled to make use of this. Currently style sheet handling is tied to style elements. This needs to be changed so that style sheet handling is tied to the document so that all style sheets are evaluated at the same time.
- Convert the simple user agent stylesheet given at http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG11/styling.html#UAStyleSheet to libcroco structures (perhaps by passing strings to libcroco parsing functions) and store in desktop->style_cascade.
- Check that all "shorthand properties" are supported.
- Improve the usability of the Style dialog so that properties can be moved back and forth between style attributes and style elements.
Updating for changes to <style> content
State so far: Every keystroke in the XML Editor in the content of the <style> element gets sp_style_elem_read_content to be re-read. One can force an object to get the revised stylesheet info…e.g., by <Up> <Down> (forcing an update) then deleting its style attribute.
So, one change is that we shouldn't be so keen to put things in the style attribute. Currently, the stylesheet info gets merged into SPStyle, and set the style attribute to contain everything in SPStyle (and clear any styling attributes like fill=...). One existing problem with this behaviour (other than how it interacts with stylesheets) is that we discard any style properties we don't know about.
Instead we should remember the content of the style attribute and only replace the properties we've changed, adding only as necessary.
One implementation would be to keep SPStyle but indicate which properties came from where, and hence which ones need to be written to the style attribute and which ones don't. Apart from not writing if src==stylesheet, we can also avoid writing if src==attribute: i.e. don't gratuitously break SVG Tiny conformance of a document (or more generally break compatibility with implementations that don't honour CSS style attributes). Not to say that we can't choose to use the style attribute for properties that the user changes during an inkscape session, but currently we change from attributes to style=... even for shapes that the user just changes the position of without changing any styling stuff.
Why can't we use libcroco-0.6's existing libxml interface to cr-sel-eng.c ?
Some CSS selectors (http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/selector.html) can express "is preceded by X" or "is a descendent of X" (where X can itself be similarly constrained recursively), so we'd pretty much need to maintain the entire document in libxml form if we want to use libcroco for CSS selectors.
Suppose we want to find the style of node N. We pass libcroco a stylesheet and ask it what rules apply to N. If the stylesheet says "nodes that are preceded by a node that is preceded by a node that's a descendent of (... etc. ...) have red stroking" then libcroco needs to be able to navigate through the tree. So we can't pass libcroco just a libxml version of node N, we need to fill in its parent and sibling links, providing a libxml node for a significant proportion of all nodes in the tree. (Short of using hardware watchpoints to check access to the sibling/parent links and supply them lazily.)
Implementing External Stylesheets…
External stylesheets are arguably easier to implement than internal ones: the reference to the stylesheet comes right at the beginning of the xml file before even the top-level <svg> element, so we already know all the styling stuff for <svg> as soon as we reach it. Editing may also be a bit easier, in that external stylesheets usually exist for sharing styles across many documents, so there's less expectation of being able to edit the stylesheet itself.
The work of actually parsing the stylesheet once it's in memory is already done: see src/sp-style-elem.cpp:sp_style_elem_read_content.
So for read-only support of a single external stylesheet, it may well be just a matter of looking at how we can get XML processing instructions from libxml2 (please add a reference to the relevant documentation or code here once you've looked it up, anyone), and parse the pseudo-xml-attributes (see http://www.w3.org/TR/xml-stylesheet/; note that these aren't real xml attributes that libxml2 handles, so we do the parsing ourselves — or pass the string to a separate libxml2 instance/session/parser).
Then get the CSS from the specified URI (presumably using the same gnome vfs stuff that we currently use for accepting URIs from the command line…though we could use libcurl instead: man curl, and see the --libcurl option for producing example code).
Then proceed as sp-style-elem.cpp:sp_style_elem_read_content does (presumably splitting off most of that function into a new function that takes the string as argument).
Multiple stylesheets
Initially, we would support only a single stylesheet, as libcroco currently doesn't support multiple stylesheets.
If you don't want to change libcroco, then it suffices to concatenate all the stylesheets together; the only thing you lose with that approach is that any parsing errors won't have the right line number, but I believe it gives completely correct results in absence of errors in any of the stylesheets.
The xml-stylesheet spec says that multiple external stylesheets interact the same way as in HTML; the relevant part of the HTML spec is http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/present/styles.html#h-14.3.