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I haven't much perused fashion blogs for some time now — in the last month at least I've reserved most of my allotted blog-reading for Days of Rage, the reinvigorated Wisconsin labor movement, Republican attacks on reproductive health and public education, and the spectacular fallout from the Sexual Nationalisms Conference in Amsterdam. But by chance I visited Fashion Toast, where photographs of the Pamela Love Fashion Week presentation at Milk caught my eye. These photographs and the models' styling put me in mind of a '70s occult film, the sort where a convent of devout nuns, uncannily situated atop a cliff in the wild British countrywide, is revealed to be the nefarious disguise for an ancient clan of Pictish priestesses! Awesome.
Some link love, in the meanwhile. Catherine Traywick penned this lovely review of Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu's Beautiful Generation for Hyphen Magazine. These paragraphs in particular point to the importance of Tu's theses for understanding the geopolitics and economics of much of the fashion criticism generated by 2011 New York Fashion Week:
Though [China and Korea's] fashion industries are fledgling yet, the transformative effort has plainly provoked anxiety within the Euro-American fashion industry; Nguyen Tu notes that the latter has subsequently striven to define itself as a global innovator by reinforcing the industry's creative vs "unskilled" dichotomy. Euro-American designers are embracing technology, ever-reinventing familiar motifs and further distancing themselves from the mass-producing masses in an effort to maintain their global dominance.
Indeed, the defensive posturing and industry angst to which she alludes were in full swing at this year's Fashion Week — in the self-aggrandizing speech of designers, on the ultra-modernized backs of models, and even in laudatory mainstream reviews. Commenting on Ralph Lauren's collection, for instance, the New York Times' Suzy Menkes repeatedly juxtaposed descriptions of the designer's Shanghai-inspired aesthetic with disparaging references to the "fast fashion factories of today's China" and Asia's "Made in China"-quality mass productions.
Asian American designers don't get off too easily either, falling as they do somewhere between artist and producer, American and foreigner. While critics extolled Ralph Lauren's and Oscar De La Renta's modernization of "tourist trap" Asian motifs, for example, they also repeatedly and simplistically categorized the commercial success of Asian American designers as the product of Asian consumption. Reviewing Anna Sui's collection, Menkes patronizingly notes that "Ms. Sui may have had a big success in the Asia of her family origins, but her heart is forever in the England of swinging London, with its layers of history." At Vogue, Hamish Bowles curiously remarks that Jason Wu's "conservative" collection would never be as radically deconstructionist as those of the Japanese designer Kawakubo — notwithstanding the fact that their aesthetics are so radically different that they defy comparison; their only tangible similarity is their (albeit divergent) Asian heritage. Mark Holgale, also writing for Vogue, similarly makes much of Philip Lim's connections to Asia, attributing the designer's current and future successes to the voraciously consumptive Chinese — even as he notes that Chinese consumers are just as "familiar with everyone from Altuzarra to Rodarte."
And Sami Khan writes for Stylecaster on Vogue's recent, head-in-sand profile of Asma al-Assad, the "glamorous, young, and very chic" wife of Syrian dictator, Bashar al-Assad. Add this to the long list of stories about the sartorial semiotics of autocrats' wives! (When I have a free moment –ha!– I may address this list.) Khan astutely observes,
Despite what we'd like to think, in much of the world, glamour, style and Western-appearance are not synonymous with democracy and freedom. Many of the most brutal regimes in the world are run by families who were educated at fancy universities in England and America, do their shopping in Paris and their vacationing in Saint-Tropez, while back home attack helicopters are gunning down peaceful protesters.
While it's unlikely that Vogue consciously timed the piece now to coincide with the current wave of protests sweeping across the Arab World, the article's publication does seem a little unfortunate – especially considering the al-Assad regime has recently gone out of its way to harshly crack down on any democratic stirrings in Syria.
Max Fisher at The Atlantic also writes about Vogue's misstep, helpfully annotating the flattering portrait's blindspots:
The article's fawning treatment of the Assad family and its portrayal of the regime as tolerant and peaceful has generated surprise and outrage in much of the Washington foreign policy community, which for years has viewed Syria as one of the most dangerous and oppressive rogue states in a region full of them, with the Bush administration dubbing it the fourth member of its "axis of evil." Bashar's Syria has invaded Lebanon, allied itself with Iran, aided such groups as Hamas and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, and, for years, ferried insurgents and terrorists into Iraq, where they kill U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians. But the worst behavior may be inside Syria's borders, where a half-century-old "emergency law" outlaws unofficial gatherings and abets the regular practice of beating, imprisoning, torturing, or killing political dissidents, human rights workers, and minorities.


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Back in the States, we lived in a community called Grosvenor Park. Photos I've taken there are featured often on my website. It was a nice place, true to its name: it was a park with a brook, ponds, trees, all sorts of vegetation and even a little forest out back. In the parking lot next to our building, there was this old black Mercedes with a diesel engine. It always sat in the same spot and every time I saw it I wondered if I could have it. After all, its owner barely used it. There it sat, spring, summer, fall and winter, cobwebs under the wheel wells. You know what they say about cars and houses… if they're not used, they go to pieces.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Navigating the passive activity loss rules can be a daunting task at times. Many taxpayers do not really understand the rules or the potential impact they can have on transactions and investments. There are nuances that, if not addressed ahead of time, can have significant negative tax implications.
One of those nuances is the treatment of self-rentals under the passive activity loss rules. Many practitioners are aware of the self-rental rules, but there is a situation that may create an unintended limitation. This item gives a general background of the passive activity rules and the self-rental provision and addresses the consequences of a sale of an operating company when the self-rental property is retained.
Most middle-market companies are closely held family businesses and have shareholders/owners with varying degrees of involvement in the company. Flowthrough losses, shareholder transactions, and the sale of the company are just a few of the reasons that practitioners advising such companies need to be keenly aware of the passive activity loss rules under Sec. 469, their limitations, and planning opportunities.
Sec. 469 provides that a passive activity loss or passive activity credit shall not be allowed except to the extent of passive income. This sounds pretty basic, but consider for a moment the potential issues that a taxpayer may face. What questions need to be answered? What needs to happen so that the transaction is treated in the most advantageous way?
What Is a Passive Activity?
Sec. 469(c) provides that a passive activity is any activity that involves the conduct of any trade or business in which the taxpayer does not materially participate. Sec. 469(c)(2) states that passive activity includes any rental activity.
Material participation is not clearly defined in the Code. Sec. 469(h)(1) provides that a taxpayer is treated as materially participating in an activity only if the taxpayer is involved in the activity's operations on a basis that is regular, continuous, and substantial. This is a facts-and-circumstances determination, but there are temporary regulations that provide much more detailed guidance for making a clear determination of material participation.
The taxpayer's participation must meet certain standards. Activities not customarily done by an owner or activities of an investor do not qualify. The taxpayer's activity must be that of an active owner directly involved in the day-to-day management of the activity.
What Happens in a Self-Rental Situation?
Many taxpayers that own an operating company also own accompanying real estate. The building and land may be owned in a separate entity for a variety of reasons. If the operations and the real estate are in separate entities, how is the flowthrough income or loss treated under the passive activity loss rules? If the operating company is an entity that the shareholder actively participates in on a day-to-day basis, in most cases the shareholder would be considered to materially participate in this activity. The general rule is that rental real estate is a passive activity. There is one exception for certain real estate professionals; another is the self-rental rule. So does simply having the two activities in separate entities cause different treatment under Sec. 469 than owning the real estate in one entity?
The answer is yes. Temp. Regs. Sec. 1.469-2T(f)(6) covers the treatment of self-rental transactions. It provides that an amount of the taxpayer's gross rental activity income for the tax year from an item of property equal to the net rental activity income for the year from that item of property is treated as not from a passive activity if the property is:
1. Rented for use in a trade or business activity in which the taxpayer materially participates for the tax year; and
2. Is not described in Temp. Regs. Sec. 1.469-2T(f)(5), covering property rented incidental to a development activity.
What would ordinarily be considered income from a passive activity is treated as nonpassive income because the owner materially participates in the operating-lessee entity. This rule would seem to put taxpayers who place the real estate used in their trade or business in a separate entity on an equal footing with taxpayers who retain the real estate in the same entity as the business operations. Since the income (or loss) from the business operations would be nonpassive, it seems justified that income "siphoned off" to the real estate activity should also be nonpassive. However, this provision does not cover any loss that may arise from the rental activity. Under the self-rental rule, the rental losses are still considered to be passive losses deductible only to the extent of passive income, while the income is treated as "active income" (Carlos, 123 TC 275 (2004)).
Trap 1—Trapped Losses
Taxpayers must pay close attention when using a self-rental transaction. Assume that the taxpayer has a loss on the rental of property to a business in which he or she materially participates. That loss is subject to the passive loss rules so, absent any other passive income in the current year, the loss will not be deductible but suspended and carried forward to future tax years. This is the case even though the taxpayer may have income from the activity to which he or she rents the property. In the subsequent year, if the taxpayer has net rental income from the property rented to the related activity in which the taxpayer materially participates, then the income is considered to be active income.
This active income can be offset by the suspended passive losses from the activity; however, it cannot be offset by passive losses from other activities. If the taxpayer was planning to shelter a portion of his or her income through the use of a self-rental arrangement with losses from other passive activities, the taxpayer has fallen into the self-rental trap. Also, if the taxpayer was planning to use losses generated by the rental activity to offset income from the operations of the active business, he or she has again fallen into the self-rental trap.
In the second instance, the easy fix would be to combine the rental activity with the operations activity either via an actual legal merger or by making an election to aggregate the activities. The taxpayer can only make the election to aggregate the activities in the initial year the taxpayer reports the activities. This election requires the attachment of a formal statement to the return.
A legal merger can be accomplished in various forms and at various times, each with its own tax ramifications, which are outside the scope of the item.
Trap 2—Sale of Operating-Lessee Company with Real Estate Retained
Can a taxpayer avoid the self-rental trap after the sale of the operating-lessee company? It is quite common for a middle-market company to sell the operating business (or assets of the business) but retain the real estate associated with that business. Subsequent to the sale, the seller will continue to lease the property to the buyer operating the now-unrelated business.
Typically, as part of the overall transaction, the seller will renegotiate the lease of the real estate, if previously held outside the operating entity, or enter into a lease, if previously held as part of the operating business, with the new buyer. The new lease, which the seller negotiates at arm's length, generally will create positive cashflow to the seller and net rental income. Often the seller (and his or her advisers) believe that this income (from a rental activity with an unrelated third party) will create passive income that can be sheltered by other passive losses that the seller has or intends to generate in years after the sale has occurred.
The self-rental rule described above says that if the taxpayer materially participates in an activity, then the net rental income generated from the rental of property to the activity will be treated as nonpassive (active) income. The taxpayer in this case is no longer involved in the business; however, under the material participation rules outlined above—specifically, Temp. Regs. Sec. 1.469-5T(a)(5)—if the taxpayer has materially participated in an activity for 5 out of the past 10 tax years, then the taxpayer is considered to have materially participated in the current year. Thus, where the operating business remains a "separate activity" in the buyer's hands, the taxpayer will continue to be a material participant in the activity after it is sold under the 5-out-of-10-year rule until the expiration of that period. It is important to remember that under the passive activity rules, in order to be considered a separate activity, the operating business does not have to be a separate entity.
Since the taxpayer was planning on sheltering his or her rental income with other passive losses, the taxpayer has again fallen into the self-rental trap. The other passive losses that the taxpayer has or will be generating will be unusable against the rental income for a period of at least five years from the date of sale. If the real estate is sold during this period, any gain on the sale will also be considered income from self-rented property and therefore active.
Transactions that may be subject to the passive loss rules should be carefully scrutinized. Often what seems to be a simple matter is fraught with exceptions that can cause havoc to good tax planning. Tax practitioners should make themselves aware of the many exceptions to the general rules under Sec. 469 and the potential opportunities to plan around or make advantageous use of them. The self-rental trap is only one example of the many exceptions in these rules buried within the regulations and temporary regulations. Careful analysis can often avoid costly mistakes.
Anthony S. Bakale is with Cohen & Company, Ltd. Baker Tilly International in Cleveland, OH
Unless otherwise noted, contributors are members of or associated with Baker Tilly International.
If you would like additional information about these items, contact Mr. Bakale at (216) 579-1040 or email@example.com.


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The Farr Side: NBC?retools 'Smash' for its second season
Never have I seen a network give a TV show a makeover like the one NBC is doing for "Smash,"?which returns for its second season Feb. 5. Don't expect it to be anything like Season 1.
I didn't follow the show too much, as I vowed to cut back on my TV viewing last year, yet I knew I was missing out. Thanks to TV on DVD, I've been enjoying the madness (both good and bad) the show created during its first season.
The cast is stellar, including Oscar winner Anjelica Huston, Emmy winner Debra Messing, Broadway star Megan Hilty, and "American Idol" Season 5 runner-up Katharine McPhee. Plus, the show's executive producer is Steven Spielberg.
The show was built around the creation of a Broadway musical depicting the life of Marilyn Monroe. From the writing of the script and financing of the production to the two women (Hilty and McPhee) who brilliantly captivated viewers in their pursuit to be "Marilyn," I was hooked. Then, there's the music. It's great! Original tracks penned by Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman are Broadway-good. McPhee also gives spot-on covers of "Beautiful" (Christina Aguilera), "Shake It Off" (Florence + The Machine) and "Brighter Than The Sun" (Colbie Caillet).
From what I've seen, "Smash" has it all: beautiful leading ladies, an intriguing storyline, glamorous sets, great music, and oh yeah, drama! But why no fuss? Why hasn't the music had an impact like its contemporary "Glee" and now "Nashville" have enjoyed ?
"Smash" fared well ratings-wise, but it wasn't the show's critical acclaim that caught the attention of NBC. It was the show's favorable and not-so-favorable posts on social media and blog sites that got them. Network officials apparently took to heart what people were saying and decided to revamp the entire show.
Half the cast was let go, as was creator/writer Theresa Rebeck. For most TV shows, that wouldn't work. For NBC, it's not a do-or-die situation. Execs believe so much in the concept they're willing to go all out to win over critics and viewers.
Thankfully, Huston, Messing, Hilty and McPhee all will be back Feb. 5, as will Bernadette Peters, Jack Davenport and Christian Borle. Joining them for Season 2 are Jennifer Hudson, Liza Minnelli, Sean Hayes and Jeremy Jordan. That's an impressive cast. Spielberg is also joined by nine other top producers.
Season 2 opens the door to new storylines, new talent, new original music and multiple Broadway productions. Oh, and Messing will be missing her scarves. Apparently, viewers were turned off by her scarves in Season 1. That's how in tune NBC was to viewer feedback.
Makes me wonder if I ought to rethink my sweater vests.
David T. Farr is a Sturgis, Mich., Journal correspondent. Email him at firstname.lastname@example.com. You can also find The Farr Side on Facebook.


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There are moments here in New York City, when I feel like I'm living out a television episode or something. Yesterday, walking from Rockefeller Center to Times Square, I was hit in such a moment.
I'd just come from doing an infomercial at a salon a friend owns, three stories above where the big ol Christmas sits during the holidays. Now and then he treats me to a cut or color or, in this case, a treatment that makes my hair shiny and soft. It's been just over a year since I've been on camera, and though I was put off at first by the much larger production scale than I'd expected (there's money in beauty product advertising), I quickly fell back into the fun of it. And evidently the 4 years of drama school and 10 years of city living mean I actually can do what I've been trained to do, so it sorta kicked ass.
I then hoofed it to Times Square to pick up some tickets for my sister (the kitsch factor in that area is laughable now, and most readily avoided), and subway'd it down to Union Square. Being early for brunch with friends (2:30 is totally acceptable time for eggs on a Sunday), I sneaked into a single spot at the bar at Union Square Cafe and treated myself to half a dozen oysters and a killer Bloody Derby*.
There was something about the tone of my day – the color, the weather, the bustle of tourists, the quiet subway car, the packed bar, the good food – that reminded me why life in New York is so sweet, and generous, and rather sexy sometimes.
Now, I feel like this little ramble should connect to this recipe, because if I was a serious food blogger than all things in my daily life would connect to the things I bake and blog about, right? I'd have more of a shtick and more than 3 people who read this would know what a Bloody Derby** is because I've referenced it a few times now… I may have even recipe'd it.
Anyway, this recipe connects because my day yesterday and that gorgeous chocolatey thing above are both full of love and kismet… or something like that. The recipe came together because I got some samples in from Kitch+Table, who I've worked with for Easy Eats and wanted to try it out on non-gluten-freers my last week of private chef-ing. The adorably talented 13-year old in the family loves brownies, so I figured we might as well have some fun with them.
First off, the brownies are delicious. I followed the very simply recipe on the bag to a T and was a bit wary when the batter was sticky and thick, but they baked up fudgey yet firm, rich yet not heavy. They have that signature crumb on top that many gluten-free brownie recipes miss. The boss family had no idea they were gluten-free, and the brownie aficionado ate the scraps around our little cut-out hearts with relish, going nuts for them. So stellar product to begin with (and I tried out two bags of this with equally stellar results). Go to Kitch+Table for purchasing or try my boozy Beer Brownies for something totally by scratch.
To spruce them up (this was the week after Valentines day) we used cookie-cutter hearts and layered them with thinly cut strawberries, some dairy-free fudge sauce leftover from my Chocolate Mallow Layer Cake and some dairy-free coconut Creme Anglaise, definitely two staple recipes to have in your pastry book.
Since leaving this job I've felt much emotionally calmer and steadier, and I know soon my body will catch up. And until then I'll be thankful for the little moments, the big ones, the good things people are producing, and a little Creme Anglaise.
Dairy-Free Creme Anglaise
This recipe sounds uber fancy but it's relatively simple. Made with egg whites and just a little bit of sugar, it's a delicately sweet addition for dressing up desserts.
1/4 cup egg whites
1/4 tsp cornstarch, tapioca starch or arrowroot starch
2 Tbsp white sugar
1 vanilla bean, de-beaned (slice the vanilla bean down lengthwise and use the back of the knife to scrape the beans out)
3/4 cup lite coconut milk
In a medium bowl, whisk egg whites and starch.
In a small pot, whisk together sugar, vanilla and milk. Whisk constantly over medium-ish heat until steaming. Pour over the egg mixture, whisking all the while, until thoroughly combined.
Pour back into pot and return to stove. Whisk constantly for 1-2 minutes, until slightly thick, coating the whisk.
Strain through a fine mesh strainer into a Pyrex measuring cup or small bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or until cold.
*If you ever meet a guy in Denver with bright eyes who says he penned the name "Bloody Derby" for a Bloody Mary with bourbon in it, you have full permission to box his ears. I came up with it almost two years ago. This name has been pondered and considered. Do not trust this man. Then again, don't box his ears, because he was in the army and is very able to kick your ass. Maybe just tickle him instead. I think he's ticklish. Report back if you find out.
**The 4 of you who read this far down now know too. Between the 8 of us and the Denver guy and the guy I dated for five minutes when I came up with it and the bartender at the Ace hotel where we first ordered it I think we can make this Bloody Derby thing a thing. Just remember who started it. And I drank that Derby hours ago so there's sadly not even a bourbon-infused reason for this rant.


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Office of Public Safety
Emergency Response and Evacuation Procedures
2021-2022 Annual Security Report
2020-2021 Annual Security Report
2018-2020 Clery Crime Statistics
The department also ensures compliance with the federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act) which requires annual publication of the Annual Security Report for the campus along with statistics for certain crimes for the previous three years. Please click on the links above to view these documents.
Through dedication, integrity, and respect, the Department of Public Safety professionally enforces college rules as well as state and local laws. The department works closely with the Associate Dean for Student Development relative to incidents and conditions affecting the student body.
The department consists of a director, a force of campus public safety officers, campus security assistants and augmented by a staff of contract security officers. Campus Peace Officers are designated as State of New York peace officers in accordance with Section 2.10, subsection 79 of the New York State Criminal Procedure Law. This status provides them with the same powers of arrest as other New York State Law Enforcement personnel.
The department also maintains a close relationship with the local police precinct and requests assistance when necessary. Information concerning crime and other pertinent data is shared on a regular basis.
Everyone at York College is encouraged to care not only for themselves but also for each other. Incoming freshmen receive a briefing on crime prevention and security procedures by members of the Department of Public Safety during orientations in order to promote security awareness.
The Public Safety office is located in the Academic Core Building, Room 1M02, and maintains 24- hour public safety coverage of the campus. The phone number is (718) 262-2222. Dial x2222 from any campus phone or utilized any red emergency phone located throughout the Academic Core for direct access.


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(visited by John Wightman, Leony Wightman, Garth Diers, Gail Diers and Pam Shelton)
27-Dec-2007 -- We are a large group of South African travellers picking up our African trip where we left off in 2005 in Gabon (where we reached 0 11E). Our expedition can be followed on www.saharanadventure.com. On 27 December we were driving along a scenic gravel road between Foumbang and Ngaoundéré and decided to visit 7N 13E as it was so close to the main road (only 340 m!)
We parked up and walked down a grassy slop. There was a herd of cattle, otherwise no people around. Leony Wightman, Garth Diers, Gail Diers, and Pamela Shelton were present. Juno and Moon King went on with Karl and Erna Rosch to look for a campsite nearby.


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Parcels at three Panhandle state parks could be sold (GALLERY, DOCUMENTS)
The Department of Environmental Protection is considering selling four small parcels at three state parks in Northwest Florida.
The local parcels are among 67 statewide being considered for sale in order to raise money to buy other properties needed for conservation purposes, according to the DEP.
Two parcels are at Eden Gardens State Park in Point Washington in South Walton County. One is 3.5 acres outside the main portion of the park. The second is a 0.4-acre crescent-shaped site.
Grayton Beach State Park in South Walton has a 0.8-acre parcel up for possible sale. Like the larger property at Eden Gardens, the triangular piece of land sits outside of the main portion of the park.
See photos of Grayton Beach State Park. >>
See maps of the affected tracts. >>
See a list of state parks around the state similarly affected. >>
A 4.8-acre property at the Blackwater Heritage State Trail in Santa Rosa County also will be assessed for possible sale.
The DEP has scheduled two webinars to get input on an assessment of all properties being considered for sale. The assessment allowed the department to rank the parcels based on their conservation value.
The assessment was prompted earlier this year when the Legislature appropriated funds for Florida Forever. The Legislature authorized an additional $50 million in spending authority, funded with the sale of state-owned lands no longer needed for conservation purposes, according to DEP.
The legislation required the DEP to develop a process to determine which properties are no longer needed.
The funds raised from selling the parcels will go to buying properties with greater need for conservation, such as to protect springs, water sources and military installations.
The webinars will present the process used to assess the properties up for sale and the result of the assessments. The public also can comment on the process and results.
CHECK IT OUT: The Florida Department of Protection will host two webinars to explain the process of ranking state-owned properties for possible sale. They will be from 6 to 8 p.m. today and from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday at www.dep.state.fl.us.


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Luxury boxes at major sporting events. Sold-out concerts. Galas. Vegas shows.
Baltimore's lawmakers often receive tickets for shows and other popular events from developers, business people, corporations and nonprofits as one of the perks of office. Over three years, elected officials in City Hall reported getting more than 170 tickets worth more than $15,000, according to the most recent filings available.
City Hall has strengthened ethics laws after Mayor Sheila Dixon pleaded guilty to perjury charges two years ago and agreed to resign after failing to disclose gifts from a developer boyfriend. Still, lawmakers are allowed to accept gifts under certain circumstances, so long as they are annually divulged on publicly available forms.
But the law that governs such gifts is complex, and City Hall officials have different views of what they can legally accept and what they should report on their ethics forms, a Baltimore Sun investigation found.
Moreover, the disclosure forms are rarely reviewed by the office that collects them. There has not been a comprehensive review of the forms in at least eight years, according to the former chairwoman of the city's ethics board.
"The whole thing is a dysfunctional system," said Fred Guy, director of the University of Baltimore's Hoffberger Center for Professional Ethics, who also has advised MayorStephanie Rawlings-Blake's staff. "The whole thing is ineffectual and not taken seriously."
And the gifts of tickets show a too-cozy relationship between business leaders and politicians, Guy said.
"The public is really sick and tired of conflicts of interest and double standards on the part of elected officials," he said. "It's almost a self-deception. [Officials] convince themselves there's nothing wrong."
Baltimore's ethics law generally prohibits elected officials from receiving gifts from anyone who does business with the public servant's agency, but it makes an exception for tickets to charitable, cultural, sporting or political events — if the ticket is given by the event sponsor. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, for instance, can give tickets to shows as an event sponsor.
In September, the City Council eliminated part of that exception from the law — after a state law required more stringent local rules — making it illegal to accept tickets to sporting events from anyone who does business with a city official's agency, regardless of sponsorship.
Failure to properly fill out ethics forms can carry stiff sanctions, including criminal penalties such as those levied against Dixon. Employees can be fined $250 for failing to submit the forms.
But there is wide disparity in how top city officials fill out the forms.
Consider, for instance, a Jan. 7, 2009, trip taken by City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young, Council Vice President Edward Reisinger and Councilman William H. "Bill" Cole IV to Newark to watch a New Jersey Devils hockey game with developer Jerome Gottesman, chairman of Edison Properties. Gottesman was trying to pitch the council members on Baltimore's need for a new arena, the councilmen say.
Cole reported the hockey game ticket as a gift but also reported that he paid for it by check. Young also reported the ticket, though he didn't indicate who had given him the gift. Asked by The Sun recently, Young said he paid for the ticket in cash. And Reisinger didn't report the ticket as a gift. He said recently that he didn't think he was required to do so.
Nearly three-fourths of the members of the City Council did not list receiving a single gift from a person doing business with the city over the three years.
Some city officials complain of confusion about which gift-givers are prohibited because they do business with the city.
Young and Rawlings-Blake reported receiving tickets to a Ravens game in 2008 from MedStar Health, which owns five hospitals in Maryland, including Good Samaritan in the city. Rawlings-Blake, who was City Council president then, said the city's ethics adviser Avery Aisenstark told her office that the gifts were allowed because MedStar Health did not qualify as an entity that does business with the city.
But a database of checks paid by the city, obtained through a Maryland Public Information Act request, shows that MedStar Transportation, a division of MedStar Health, received about $13,000 in payments that year.
Young said he received oral approval to attend from the city's ethics adviser, who declines to discuss specific cases. Young's spokesman, Lester Davis, said there are many confusing aspects to the city's enforcement of ethics rules and reporting requirements on disclosure forms. He also said that determining when an entity has done business with the city can be difficult.
"There's this overarching issue of it not being clear who is doing business with the city on a year-to-year basis," Davis said.
While elected officials and scores of city employees are required to fill out annual ethics disclosures, there is no formal process by which the forms are scrutinized.
Attorney Dana P. Moore, who was a member of the ethics board from 2004 to 2010 and served as its chairwoman for three years, said that the citizen board never reviewed the forms in the six years she was a member. City employees turned in their forms to the board's executive director Aisenstark, and he did not bring the forms to the ethics board to review, Moore said.
Moore herself failed to file her ethics forms during her last three years on the board, as required of its five members, which she acknowledged was a "mistake."
Aisenstark said his office receives thousands of ethics forms annually from city employees, and it's impossible for his staff to review them all. For their part, rank-and-file employees are prohibited from taking gifts from entities that do business with the agency where they work.
"We don't have the personnel," he said. "We don't have the workforce to be able to do it. They're for the public and the press to review."
The forms are tucked into folders and envelopes, wrapped with rubber bands and stashed in metal filing cabinets spanning a couple of rooms in the Department of Legislative Reference's offices on the top floor of City Hall. The cabinets are not labeled, and Aisenstark said he does not know which are filed where.
Under the law, the board and its executive director are tasked with reviewing the ethics forms "from time to time," notifying individuals of omissions and mistakes, and launching investigations if warranted.
Members of the board, which meets once a month, are volunteers. Aisenstark earns $94,000 a year and has worked for the city for nearly two decades. Aisenstark sits in on their meetings, clarifying the city code and at times leading the discussion.
Aisenstark declined to comment on specific cases involving elected officials but said he would hold a training session soon to explain ethics rules to council members who are not in compliance.
Still, the lack of consistent review of the forms troubles ethics experts.
"If the ethics committee does not receive these disclosure forms, what's the point of having them?" asked Guy, who advised members of Rawlings-Blake's staff on how to properly complete them. "The system becomes a joke."
Christopher B. Summers, president of the Maryland Public Policy Institute, said he believes city officials know how infrequently their ethics forms are scrutinized.
"They know how closely they can bend the rules without raising red flags," he said. "They know how disorganized and dysfunctional it is. Why bother submitting them? Why even have them?"
Paid in cash
Tickets received by city lawmakers garnered public attention in January when Young said he reached out to Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis — whom he views as a friend — to get access to his private box at M&T Bank Stadium to watch the playoff game with the Houston Texans.
Young said he was forced to do so because Rawlings-Blake demanded he return tickets to the city's skybox after he publicly criticized her administration's effort to hold another Grand Prix race on Baltimore's streets.
But Lewis also is a businessman whose company has worked with the city. He was part of a development team that had planned to build a shopping and sports entertainment complex near the stadium and that negotiated a $1.2 million settlement with the city when the deal fell through, clearing the way for a planned casino to be built on the site.
Young pledged to pay Lewis for the tickets after the gift came to light. Davis, Young's spokesman, said the councilman has paid Lewis but declined to provide documentation to show how much or when he paid for the tickets.
Since 2008, the council president reported receiving 24 tickets to skyboxes at Ravens games and to other events from people or entities who do business with the city.
In seven of those instances, the benefactors weren't event sponsors. Young said he paid for some of those tickets in cash. In other cases, he said he received oral approval from Aisenstark, the adviser to the ethics board. City law requires written approval from the board itself.
"They seek advice from an individual who is in a position to know and then make a decision," Davis said. "There has not been a more formal or clear process."
Aisenstark said he merely advises elected officials about the law and never grants oral approval of gifts they would otherwise be prohibited from receiving.
Davis said Young endeavors to go "above and beyond" the ethics code in terms of transparency.
"The council president's belief is that you don't just need to conform to the letter of the law," Davis said. "In each and every instance [of receiving tickets], there's a legitimate and legal answer."
In 2009, Young reported receiving Orioles tickets from telecommunications company Verizon, which has received about $20 million in city contracts since 2008. Young said he got oral approval from Aisenstark before he accepted the tickets.
Also that year, Young reported the Devils tickets from Gottesman. And In 2010, Young reported getting Ravens tickets fromtheCordish Cos., a Baltimore developer that has worked with the city on Power Plant Live and other projects. In both instances, Young told The Sun, he paid cash for the tickets he listed in ethics forms as gifts. A Cordish spokeswoman said Young did pay him, and Gottesman couldn't be reached.
Through his spokesman, Young declined to provide documentation of those cash payments, calling it a matter of "his personal finances."
Summers, president of the Maryland Public Policy Institute, pointed out that Young could simply have contacted Ticketmaster if he wanted seats at sporting events.
"It's that incestuous relationship between developers and politicians," he said. "They continue to play the game."
Concert tickets
Rawlings-Blake is known by ethics officials as a lawmaker who fills out her ethics forms in painstaking detail. Her reports are hundreds of pages in length.
Since 2008, Rawlings-Blake has listed receiving more than 100 tickets to 70 events.
The mayor frequently receives free tickets from 1st Mariner Arena General Manager Frank Remesch, who is allowed to invite the mayor to specific events under ethics law because he is an event sponsor. Rawlings-Blake has received tickets to shows by the Jonas Brothers, Alicia Keys, Beyonce, Maxwell and Jay-Z. The mayor also has received tickets to mixed martial-arts fights and the circus at 1st Mariner.
And in 2010, the mayor reported a gift of tickets to Le Reve dinner show at Wynn Resorts theater in Las Vegas, which she listed as having more than $150 in value, from Howard Perlow, executive vice president of Residential Title and Escrow Co. His company received about $35,000 in payments from the city in 2010. He did not respond to requests for comment.
When asked recently about the gift from Perlow, Rawlings-Blake's staff said her form was incorrect and that the tickets were provided by the Vegas hotel to Perlow for free. Therefore, the tickets had no value, and should be considered as coming from the hotel and not from Perlow, which would make the gift in line with the ethics code, they said.
The mayor's spokesman, Ryan O'Doherty, said Rawlings-Blake has a strong record on ethics issues, including introducing reforms that restructured the ethics board and made it more independent, closing gift loopholes that were abused during the Dixon administration, and increasing ethics training for her staff.
"Mayor Rawlings-Blakehas always gone above and beyond the reporting requirements of the city ethics code by providing voluminous disclosure statements for several years to promote transparency, and in each instance she followed the spirit of the code and maintained full compliance," he said.
The second-most-frequent reporter of gifts is Young, who lists gifts each year, though his forms are less detailed than the mayor's. For instance, Young sometimes lists the names of sporting events he attended but fails to say who gave him the tickets.
Disclosure varies
Most of the City Council's 15 members have not reported receiving any tickets over the three years. Others did not include the form on which to report gifts in their ethics filings.
CouncilwomanRochelle "Rikki" Spector, one of the few council members to fill out the form, included this handwritten note: "Attended public events to which City Council members were invited."
In an interview, Spector said the only events she attended were ones to which all council members were invited, though she said she couldn't recall specifics.
"I didn't take tickets from anyone else," said Spector. "If my sons or my grandsons want to go to a game, I buy a ticket."
Reisinger also did not list any gifts for any of the three years.
Reisinger said he wasn't trying to hide anything by not reporting the Devils hockey ticket he received for the January 2009 trip with Young, Cole and Gottesman; he just didn't think of attending the game as a gift.
"I'm not that great of a hockey fan," he said. "I don't even know the name of the team, to tell you the truth. It wasn't really a pleasure thing as far as I'm concerned."
Reisinger said he hadn't realized that the city's ethics laws required him to report the tickets. "I didn't think that I needed to do it," he said. "I guess it was my error."
Cole said he could see there being confusion about whether the tickets should be repaid. He included a letter to Gottesman in his ethics disclosure that said: "Given the restraints imposed by Baltimore City Ethics Code on gifts, please find enclosed a check payment to you in the amount of $237.50."
"I just felt it always better to pay my own way," he said. "It's easier that way. I prefer to pay. It can be very complicated to fill out some of those forms. If I'm in somebody's box, I reimburse them."
Cole said he has generally made a habit of refusing gifts.
"The most recent thing somebody offered me was a tie," he said. "It was from somebody I know, who doesn't do business with the city. My gut instinct was, 'It's a gift. Can I take this?' That's my first instinct."
Breaking News Alerts
Reisinger said the only other time he recalled receiving tickets to sporting events during his 18 years on the council was to the MedStar skybox at Camden Yards.
Reisinger said that when Aisenstark began leading ethics workshops with the council after Dixon's resignation, he asked the ethics director about the policy for accepting gifts, and specifically about the MedStar skybox to which company executives had routinely extended invitations to the council.
"Avery's response to us was 'Don't go,'" said Reisinger. "'If you're not sure, don't go.'"


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Have you ever asked yourself or anyone else that question? I sure haven't, but the good folks over at Morph Costumes did. They did some research and created a pretty great chart consisting of many different Marvel heroes and villains and listed how many kills each character has along with notable kills. Check out Murderers of Marvel below.
Source: Morph Costumes


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12/12/2011 - The Russian Federation must further modernise its economy to meet long-term development and income inequality challenges, according to the OECD. A combination of sound macroeconomic management, improved business climate, effective social policies and greater energy efficiency is required.
These are key conclusions of two newly published reports – a Labour Market and Social Policy Review and the latest Economic Survey of the Russian Federation – launched in Moscow today by OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría and Russian Minister of Economic Development Elvira Nabiullina.
The reports identify modernisation and social inclusion as vital to Russia's future economic development. The Survey notes a number of areas where Russia is performing relatively well, such as public debt management, education and unemployment.
"Russia is not yet fully exploiting the growth opportunities offered by its rich endowment of natural resources and the high skill level of its population," Mr Gurría said. "Modernisation will reduce the public budget's dependency on oil revenues and stimulate diversification of the economy. " ( read the full speech).
The OECD encourages Russia to take further steps to raise energy efficiency, which would be good for both the economy and the environment. The government should phase out all subsidies for domestic energy use and introduce mechanisms to price in the negative effects of fossil fuel-based energy. Various other measures are called for, including speeding up the installation of meters for all energy use.
The Labour Market and Social Policy Review reiterates the need to fight poverty and reduce inequality. It calls for Russia to boost support for job seekers, including by enhancing income and re-employment support, enforcing minimum employment standards and improving the representation of workers to reinforce their bargaining power.
The Review calls for a greater focus of social spending on the working-age population and children. Ensuring the long-term financial sustainability of the pension system is a crucial element in that strategy. To this end, the OECD recommends Russia to raise low standard pensionable ages and limit access to early pensions. It also calls for the strongest shoulders to bear their fair share of the cost.
Both reports were drawn up and published in the context of ongoing discussions on Russia's accession to the OECD. The OECD accession process covers diverse policy areas including investment, environment, anti-corruption, corporate governance, scientific and technological policy and public governance. Russia is one of five countries that were invited in May 2007 to open discussions on membership of the OECD. Chile, Estonia, Israel and Slovenia became members during 2010.
Further information on the OECD Economic Survey of the Russian Federation and on the OECD Review of Labour Market and Social Policies in the Russian Federation are available at www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/russia and www.oecd.org/els/Russia2011 .
Journalists seeking further information should contact the OECD Media Division: email@example.com, +33 1 45 24 97 00.
Related Documents


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Each week, Rochelle herds this merry group of Kool Kats, with a weekly photo prompt and a reminder to: play nice, be respectful, and do your best work. Flash fiction at its best! Write a 100-word story with a beginning, middle and end. This week's photo is provided by Mary Shipman. This week, my story came easily but is a new direction for me. Check out the other stories and find more details on Addicted to Purple. Then, join us! I always welcome honest, kind, or constructive feedback; please leave a comment.
(100 words)
The Dream House
Jody and Michael had planned to renovate Michael's childhood home from the time they married. When his mother died she left the home to her only child.
"This house is perfect for us to raise a family in," Jody gushed. "There's so much space! I don't understand why your parents didn't have more kids."
Walking through the halls Michael grew serious. "Mom never seemed happy; I'm not sure she really wanted kids."
When the contractor called, his voice was ice water.
"Mike, the police are here. Demo'ing the walls we found several blankets…"
"Babies– three tiny skeletons, so far."
* * *
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Faculty Focus is a monthly publication documenting the
activities, accomplishments, and honors of the
August 2009
editions of Faculty Focus can be accessed here
Previous editions of Faculty Focus can be accessed here
Alderman submitted
the 2009-10 manuscript for his Consumer
Law book, published by Imprimatur Press, and the updates for his two-volume
Consumer Credit/Consumer Protection
book, published by Thomson-West. He taught a short course in American consumer
law to 46 LLM students from numerous different countries at La Trobe University
Seth Chandler's one hundred and twelve Demonstrations have been placed on YouTube and set to music (not of Prof. Chandler's choosing). You can view the video collection at www.youtube.com by searching on Seth Chandler Demonstrations.
David R. Dow spoke to the
federal judicial law clerks and interns in
Adam Gershowitz's article "Statewide Capital Punishment: The Case for Eliminating Counties' Role in the Death Penalty" was accepted for publication in the Vanderbilt Law Review.
Leslie Griffin's 2009 Supplement to Law and Religion: Cases and Materials was published at the end of July. Her review essay "Religion and Politics 2008-2009" appeared in the Journal of Law and Religion. She lectured about the Supreme Court's term at the Praeclarus Breakfast Club and the Harris County Democratic Party meeting.
Dean Nimmer has a 2009
update of Information Law, a 2009
edition of Modern Licensing Law, a 4th
edition of The Law of Computer Technology
(2009, four volumes), a 2009 update of The
Law of Commercial Transactions and a 2009 update of Drafting Effective Contracts.
In addition, he published the article "Internationally Interactive Law:
Perspectives on Trans-Border Data Control from the
Tom Oldham spoke on a Southeastern Association of Law Schools panel relating to international developments in family law.
Michael Olivas debated Roger Clegg on the legal dimensions of law school accreditation and the federal role in recognizing colleges at the Southwestern Association of Laws Schools conference in August.
Ben Sheppard was chair of
two working groups that promulgated the "CPR Protocol on Disclosure of
Documents and Presentation of Witnesses in Commercial Arbitration" recently
published by the CPR International Institute for Conflict Prevention and
Resolution based in New York. The Protocol offers various options or "modes"
for consideration by arbitrators and parties in organizing either a domestic or
an international arbitration. The provisions dealing with documents provide a
range of disclosure, from minimal to extensive, and include a separate regime
for the disclosure of electronic information. The provisions dealing with the
presentation of witnesses address the testimony of witnesses in written
(witness statements) or in oral form, the use of depositions, presentations by
party-appointed experts, and procedures for the evidentiary hearing. The
Protocol is the most detailed set of arbitral procedures promulgated by any
American arbitral institute. Prof. Sheppard made a presentation at the meeting
of the Academic Council of the Institution for Transnational Arbitration
conducted at the
Sandra Guerra
gave a talk on eyewitness identification at the Southeastern Association of
Laws Schools in
gave a speech to about thirty Foreign Service officers who were touring Houston
to learn more about the petroleum equipment suppliers and their markets on July
28 at the UH Hilton. On July 30, she was invited to speak on


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For those looking for a new outdoor activity, the Schuylkill River Heritage Area's Cycles & Cemeteries bike ride combines cycling and history for a unique experience. The 14- or 28-mile ride – depending on which distance captures your fancy – will take place on Sept. 21.
Cycles & Cemeteries is the second of three rides in the Schuylkill River Trail Bike Tour Series; starting last year, the series has scheduled three annual bike outings with guided tours. This year, the ride features a Civil War theme in conjunction with the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.
Cyclists will bike along the Schuylkill River Trail and pass through two historic cemeteries in the area: Montgomery Cemetery in West Norriton and Laurel Hill Cemetery in East Falls.
Laura Catalano of the Schuylkill River Heritage Area explained the inspiration behind the event.
'Having bike rides on the trail was something that we've wanted to do for a long time. One of our goals is to promote the trail, but also to show people the connections that can be made from the trail to the historic sites and other attractions that are located directly off the trail,' she said.
The event begins at Montgomery Cemetery, where several notable Civil War figures – including General W.S. Hancock and General Samuel Zook – are buried. Participants in the event can also stop at four different stations throughout the cemetery to learn about Civil War nurses and the Grand Army of the Republic.
Beth Pilling, trustee of the Historical Society of Montgomery County, said, 'The more than 400 Civil War veterans laid to rest here represent citizens of a large community that endured one of the most cataclysmic events in our history. Each of the monuments you see here is a gateway to a different story that in some way will touch every visitor.'
Next, cyclists will pedal onward to Laurel Hill Cemetery for a catered lunch. Thirty-nine Civil War generals are buried at this cemetery and it is one of only a few in the country named a National Historic Landmark.
At Laurel Hill Cemetery, cyclists will be given the opportunity to view a documentary about the Battle of Gettysburg and brush up on their history. They can then visit various graves mentioned in the video, including the resting site of Gen. Meade.
According to Catalano, it's hard to find another ride like this.
'There are a lot of organized bike rides in the area, but this is unique in that it combines biking with history. If you go on this ride, you're going to take a beautiful bike ride out on the trail and visit two very interesting cemeteries that are historic and probably most people have never been to before.'
Even those that do not consider themselves serious bikers are welcome to attend, although due to the trail's narrowness, bicycle trailers to pull children are not permitted.
'It's a rail trail, so it's really flat. … You could do it as a family if you want to. It's not a hard ride,' Catalano said. A lot of people who attended the first ride of the series, Rails & River Towns, had never ridden the trail before but ended up enjoying the experience.
'It's just a really nice mix of people who come out for this, people who enjoy biking but also enjoy history and just want to spend a day outside doing something interesting,' Catalano said.
Cycles & Cemeteries is a great way to learn about the Battle of Gettysburg, get a little exercise and have some fun in the September sun.
IF YOU GO: Cycles & Cemeteries Ride
will take place along the Schuylkill River Trail,
Saturday, Sept. 21. Registration, 8 – 9 a.m.
at Montgomery Cemetery; 9 a.m., cemetery tour.
Ride to Laurel Hill, 10 a.m. Tickets: $40;
pre-registration required. Info: 484-945-0200 or


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The markets are watching, the Republicans are watching, the Democrats are watching, the media are watching, the pollsters and pundits are watching. The public is watching and is disgusted with Washington, D.C.
When it comes to the bitter and ultra-partisan battles over the budget, the deficit, and the fast-approaching deadline for America to avoid defaulting on its financial commitments, the whole nation and even the world is watching.
But God is watching too.
Others are watching to see how their self-interests will benefit in the final deal. Or they are watching to see who's up and who's down, who will get the political win, and whose election chances will be better afterward.
Forty-eight hours after President Obama mentioned corporate jet tax deductions, and suggested they might not be as important as scholarships for low-income kids going to college for the first time, a headline appeared in the New York Times reading, "Industry Set for Fight to Keep Corporate Jet Tax Breaks." Wow. That was pretty fast. The ones who will win the current battle over the budget and deficit are the ones who are watching. As the book of Proverbs teaches, the poor are shunned, but the rich have many friends.
Agribusiness is ready to respond if anyone challenges the subsidies that go to millionaire "farmers" living in Manhattan. The oil and gas industry reacts to questions about whether $2.5 billion in offshore drilling subsidies might be less needed than $2.5 billion slated to be cut in home heating oil assistance for low-income families. The Pentagon is watching and ready to invoke national security interests, or question the patriotism of anyone daring to cut its budget. A bipartisan commission came up with $1 trillion in military cuts over the next 10 years that wouldn't hurt our national security, but it is unlikely that more than a fraction of their recommendations will ever be taken.
Republicans are watching and are ready to push the nation even closer to the brink of default if anyone suggests that revenue from the wealthy be a part of the solution. Democrats are watching, but, with a few notable exceptions, they don't say the word "poor" out loud anymore. Anyone who could end up paying more in taxes is watching, even though taxes as a percentage of GDP dropped from 20 percent in 2000 to just over 14 percent in 2010. The average effective tax rate for the wealthiest is now only 17 percent of their income, and many corporations do not pay any taxes at all.
At the same time, nutrition programs for low-income mothers and children are at risk of being cut, as well as children's health programs, education for low-income students, early childhood development, and the most effective initiatives in the world, which are dramatically reducing both disease and hunger. These programs are at the risk of being cut because nobody has been watching out for them.
But the religious community is changing this: It formed "A Circle of Protection" to defend the most effective anti-poverty efforts both at home and around the world. Today, Sojourners has a full-page ad in Politico with the message "God Is Watching" as a part of our series of print ads on the budget. This week our radio ads, recorded by local pastors, are playing in Nevada, Kentucky, and Ohio to remind politicians of the moral issues at stake. Faith leaders say God is biased in such matters, and prefers to protect the poor instead of the rich, and instructs the faithful to do the same. This is class warfare now, and when it breaks out, the Bible suggests that God is on the side of defending the poor from assault.
In the past, our country has successfully reduced deficits and poverty at the same time. There were bipartisan agreements to defend the means-tested programs for low-income people against cuts. And for the past 25 years, every automatic budget cut mechanism has exempted core low-income assistance programs. But not this time. Neither the Republican House, the Democratic Senate, nor the Obama White House has clearly and publicly committed to protect the poor and vulnerable, even though religious leaders have persistently pressed them all to do so. It's a moral imperative that we do so again today. So now, faith leaders are watching the political leaders. And we believe God is watching us all.
Jim Wallis is the author of Rediscovering Values: A Guide for Economic and Moral Recovery, and CEO of Sojourners. He blogs at www.godspolitics.com. Follow Jim on Twitter @JimWallis.


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Microsoft's KIN lineup of consumer oriented not-so-smartphones has just gone official. Since Microsoft unveiled the KIN phones last month, the company has been mostly quiet about their consumer-friendly, social network-savvy slider phones. But, that didn't stop us from getting our hands on our very own Kin Two! While Marin drops some knowledge about the more compact Kin One, I'll be taking you on a brief hardware tour of the Kin Two. Known previously by it's Project Pink "Pure" codename, the Kin Two is the larger, more capable sibling to the Microsoft Kin One, and it's almost good enough of a feature phone to be consider a smartphone competitor – almost.
The Kin2's spec-sheet reads like a lot of other smartphones on the market today – it's got an impressive camera, large touchscreen, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, browses the web, plays music and video (through the Zune media player) connects with social networks, and does email without breaking a sweat. The only thing is, the Kin One runs a proprietary operating system that's akin to a dumbed-down Windows Phone 7.
As far as specs are concerned, the Kin Two features a 3.4-inch capacitive touchscreen, 8-megapixel camera (with LED flash), 3G data, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth 2.1, 720p HD video recording, 3.5mm headphone jack, and of course, the side-sliding QWERTY keyboard. The touchscreen is generously proportioned, and should make the Kin experience as enjoyable as any other featurephone. The 8-megapixel camera works well under most conditions, but struggles under lighting conditions that are slightly dim, but not so dim that the LED flash kicks in. But, boy, when that flash kicks in, watch out – it's bright! The keyboard reminds us of the Sidekick, as well it should – the Danger team that designed those HipTops of yore are responsible for the industrial design of the Kin lineup.
The Kin UI uses a lot of swipe and flick gestures for navigation. The "Loop" homescreen aggregates social network updates and message from your friends in one convenient place. There's a "Spot" feature that makes sharing content (webpages, messages, emails, pictures, videos, etc.) with your friends as easy as dragging and dropping almost anything onto the little green circle located along the bottom center of the screen. UI animations (screen rotations, side-sliding panes) are fairly smooth, but tend to lag under certain situations. We'd compare it with UI transitions on iPhone and Android, but those are full-blown smartphone operating systems and that wouldn't be fair to the Kin Two.
Still, with full HTML web browsing, full email support, social network integration, Zune media player, and a capable camera, the Kin Two is a superb featurephone. Especially with the Zune media player that supports the streaming music Zune Pass feature.
Setting up the Kin is simple – it should take no longer than a few minutes. All you need to do is boot up the device, enter your Windows Live ID (or create one on the spot), enter social network login information (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace), and you're off and running. Kin will automatically update your phone with contacts (including profile pics), status updates, and messages. It'll even pull down photo albums that your friends have posted to Facebook!
Photos are automatically geo-tagged with location data using GPS or cell-tower triangulation (when GPS isn't a viable option – think tall downtown skyscrapers). Photos taken with the Kin Two's camera are automatically uploaded to the Kin Studio service for safe-keeping. And, when storage space on the Kin Two's 8GB of memory runs low, it'll reduce the resolution of the pics on the phone and use the files stored in the cloud for full-res images.
There are some problems, though. We haven't had enough time to fully test the Kin Two, but in our short time with the handset, we can tell you that the camera shutter button is awkwardly placed. The shutter release button sits on a downward-sloping edge, making it difficult to press without dropping the phone or causing it to wobble in the hand. You also won't be able to add any apps outside the email, browser, camera, messaging, contacts, and Zune music player apps.
Check out our coverage of the Kin One unveiling for more photos and video!


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Pope Says Jesus Was Born Years Earlier Than Believed
The Christian calendar is based on a miscalculation, and Jesus was born several years earlier than commonly believed, Pope Benedict XVI argues in his new book, Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives.
"The calculation of the beginning of our calendar – based on the birth of Jesus – was made by Dionysius Exiguus, who made a mistake in his calculations by several years," says the 85-year-old pontiff in the book that was published Wednesday, weeks before Christmas.
"The actual date of Jesus's birth was several years before," the pope argues in the book that has a print run of 1 million copies.
Dionysius Exiguus, or Dennis the Small, was a 6th-century monk from Eastern Europe who is best known as the inventor of the Anno Domini (AD) era, which is used to number the years of both the Gregorian calendar and the Julian calendar.
Several academics have made similar claims, but this is the first time that the pope has raised doubts over the date of the birth of Jesus.
John Barton, Professor of the Interpretation of the Holy Scripture at Oriel College, Oxford University, said most academics believe that Jesus was born probably between 6BC and 4BC. "There is no reference to when he was born in the Bible – all we know is that he was born in the reign of Herod the Great, who died before 1AD," The Daily Telegraph quoted him as saying. "It's been surmised for a very long time that Jesus was born before 1AD – no one knows for sure."
Benedict also claims in the book – which is being published in various languages spoken in Catholic countries including Italian, German, Croatian, French, English, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish – that while the traditional nativity scene always involve animals, there were no oxen, donkeys or other animals at Jesus' birth.
With his latest book, which explores the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, Benedict completed his triology. His first book was about the public ministry of Jesus, and the second about his death. All three are published under his real name, Joseph Ratzinger.
In the new book, the pope decries that many see God as limiting their freedom. "God himself is constantly regarded as a limitation placed on our freedom, that must be set aside if man is ever to be completely himself," he writes, adding, "God, with his truth, stands in opposition to man's manifold lies, his self-seeking and his pride. God is love."
Benedict stresses on the uniqueness of Mary's "virgin birth" of Jesus. "Perhaps one could say that humanity's silent and confused dreams of a new beginning came true in this event – in a reality such that only God could create."
Monsignor Philip Whitmore, the English translator, said the pope intends to bring out the "inner meaning" of the Gospel descriptions of Jesus' birth and childhood.
"The pope helps us to understand the world where Jesus was born. Caesar brought peace to the Roman Empire, but this tiny child brought something much more wonderful: God's peace, eternal life, an end to sin and death," CNN quoted Whitmore as saying. "Anyone who's wondering why Christmas came to be such a great celebration in the West can find the answer right here. The pope explains how the birth of Jesus changed history forever."


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From ALL:
Sr. Keehan and 60 progressive nuns claim abortion coverage is not in the Obama Health Reform Law, yet the Dept. of Health and Human Services released $160 million for emergency insurance to cover abortions … UNDER the new law (read about it here: http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=38056). So who is really to blame for this great expansion of abortion and birth control? Hint: It's not exactly who you may think.


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What? For refusing to pay after ana.l sex, two men fight dirty in the street of Lagos
The accused, Oluwabunkenoye, 24, and Abiola, 29 whose addresses are unknown, are facing a two-count charge of same-sex, having sexual intercourse and fighting in the public.The duo, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The Police Prosecutor, Sgt. Anthonia Osayande told the court that the accused with others still at large committed the offences at City Centre Hotel at Ijeshatedo in Surulere about 3.00.p.m. on June 1.
Osayande said the accused were caught by a police patrol team fighting publicly over non payment of money for sexual acts. She alleged that while the police interrogated them, one of the accused confessed to the fact.that he was invited to Romeo and Juliet Hotel located at Ejigbo on May 28 at 5.00 a.m. for anal sex.
"He promised to pay some money if he consented to the act, but the accused refused to pay after enjoying himself."'
He noted that the offences contravened Sections 54 and 136 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015 (Revised). The Chief Magistrate, Mrs. Ipaye Nwachukwu, granted bail to the accused in the sum of N100,000 each with two sureties each in like sum.
She ordered that the accused should submit their passport-size photographs to the court registrar. Nwachukwu said one of the sureties must be a blood relation of the accused, while the other must be a cleric or a community leader.
In addition, the sureties should provide evidence of tax payment to the government. She adjourned the case until Aug. 3 for mention.


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Niners' rally comes up just short in Super Bowl
NEW ORLEANS - Colin Kaepernick got tripped up and tossed down, then still nearly led the greatest Super Bowl comeback in just his 10th career NFL start.
Rarely rattled on an impressive path to the Super Bowl, San Francisco's second-year quarterback finally showed some inexperience on football's big stage. Not to mention some guts.
After a remarkable postseason run - with those speedy legs - by the tattooed play-caller, the Baltimore Ravens exposed plenty of flaws in handing Kaepernick and Co. a 34-31 loss Sunday despite San Francisco's second-half rally.
No team has come from more than 10 points down to win a Super Bowl, and Kaepernick had a chance to make it happen less than three months after becoming San Francisco's starter.
He regrouped during a 34-minute delay early in the third quarter because of a power outage, finding his groove and turning the Super Bowl into a wild game down the stretch - and gave yet more cred to the pistol offense.
Kaepernick directed four second-half scoring drives, throwing a 31-yard touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree and also running 15 yards for a TD. But the 49ers missed the two-point conversion that would have tied the game with less than 10 minutes left.
Crabtree didn't get much help in a mistake-filled first half by San Francisco (13-5-1), which failed to stop Joe Flacco and deliver the franchise's sixth championship that would have matched the Pittsburgh Steelers for most ever.
The 49ers' perfect Super Bowl record? That's over, too. They lost for the first time in the league's championship game.
Perhaps it's a bit premature to begin talking Bay Area dynasty again - in football, at least.
Playing for a title for the first time since Hall of Famers Steve Young and Jerry Rice won with a rout of San Diego 18 years ago, Jim Harbaugh's Niners made costly mistakes on both sides of the ball early in the game. And special teams, too.
Kaepernick did a little bit of everything in San Francisco's final drive, when the 49ers got the ball back at their own 20 with 4:19 remaining and trailing 34-29. He ran for 8 yards, hit Crabtree on a 24-yard gain and handed off to Frank Gore for a 33-yard run to the Baltimore 7.
But with three chances from the 5, Kaepernick threw three straight incomplete passes intended for Crabtree. His off-balance throw under pressure on fourth down sailed through the end zone. Kaepernick lowered his head slightly and walked slowly off the field.
No comeback this time in the Big Easy.
Kaepernick wound up 16 for 28 for 302 yards with three sacks and an interception for a 91.7 passer rating in his outstanding Super Bowl debut. The interception was the first by the 49ers in six Super Bowls.
The 25-year-old completed 8 of 13 first-half passes, was sacked twice and threw an interception as San Francisco fell behind 21-6.
In the NFC championship game at Atlanta two weeks ago, such a deficit was no problem. Kaepernick rallied the Niners back from 17-0, while the defense delivered by holding the Falcons scoreless in the second half to win 28-24.
On Sunday, Kaepernick led his team into the end zone for the first time with 7:20 remaining in the third quarter after the power outage when he found Crabtree.
But a stingy San Francisco defense that relied on its ball-hawking, run-stopping play all season, couldn't consistently slow down Flacco and the high-powered Ravens.
Leading up to the Super Bowl, Kaepernick had handled himself beautifully in hostile environments <0x2014> beating Drew Brees and the Saints right here in the Superdome on Nov. 25, and later guiding the Niners at New England. And, of course, the win against the Falcons on Jan. 20 that returned San Francisco to the Super Bowl at last.
The 49ers were hoping for their own downtown victory parade and to have the World Series champion Giants take part after Harbaugh and quarterback Alex Smith drove in the San Francisco baseball team's parade last fall.
San Francisco would have become the first market to win a World Series and Super Bowl in the same season since the Boston Red Sox accomplished it in 2004 and the New England Patriots followed suit in February 2005.


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The London in 2014 Worldcon Bid are holding a party on Sunday 2 September, to coincide with the announcement of the 2014 site selection. It's at the Green Man & Porter's Bar, on the corner of Great Portland Street and Euston Road, from 4 pm onwards. You are encouraged to arrive promptly, as the announcement is expected soon after 4.
The BSFA supports the London in 2014 bid.
Details here:


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Date: 19 July 2017Share to:
BAIC Motor has been very active in new energy industry and factory base construction recently. After the in-depth cooperation with Daimler in new energy by investing in Beijing Benz to establish the pure electric car production base and power battery factory, BAIC Motor completed its second-period project of the Shunyi High-end Base, with a increased production capacity for 150,000 new energy vehicles.
Beijing Hyundai Chongqing Factory, the first complete car factory of BAIC Motor (1958.HK) in the southwest region, was officially completed on 19 July 2017, which further expanded the company's R&D and manufacturing territory. With the Chongqing factory completed, Beijing Hyundai formed its "Five Factories in Three Cities" national production capacity layout and comprehensively deepened its localized business strategy for enterprise transformation and upgrading and for further innovative development as well.
Completion Ceremony for Beijing Hyundai Chongqing Factory
Setting up one Beijing Hyundai factory in Chongqing is of important strategic development significance for both Chongqing city and BAIC Motor.
Mr Zhang Guoqing, Deputy Secretary of Chongqing Municipal Party Committee and Mayor of Chongqing Municipal Government, Mr Chen Lvping, Standing Member of Chongqing Municipal Party Committee, Deputy Mayor of Chongqing Municipal Government, Party Working Committee Secretary and Administrative Commission Director of Liangjiang New District, Mr Xu Heyi, Party Secretary & Chairman of BAIC Group and Chairman of Beijing Hyundai, Mr Chung Eui Sun, Vice President of Hyundai Motor Company, Mr Xue Rongxing, Consultant of Hyundai Motor Company and Vice Chairman of Beijing Hyundai, Mr Zhang Xiyong, General Manager of BAIC Group and other leaders attended the ceremony.
Xu Heyi, Party Secretary & Chairman of BAIC Group and Chairman of Beijing Hyundai
As an important automobile production base in China, Chongqing has unique industrial advantages. Located in the Belt and Road region and the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the city also owns advantages in transportation by linking the East and West and connecting the north and south. Beijing Hyundai Chongqing Factory is another new force in the BAIC national industrial layout that the group has been building up in recent years which takes Beijing as center and covers five major regions - North, South, East, West and Middle.
It is reported that Beijing Hyundai Chongqing Factory is located in the Yufu Industrial Development Zone of Liangjiang New District of the city, covering an area of 1.87 million square meters. Holding the annual production capacity of 300,000 complete cars and 300,000 engines, the Chongqing factory's biggest feature is to follow the "Intelligence · Green · Quality · Efficiency" strategic approach that Beijing Hyundai always insists for new factory construction and operation.
For intelligent manufacturing, the Chongqing factory realizes entire production chain automation by using the globe-leading automobile manufacturing equipment and production technology. The fully automated production line consists of four major processes - stamping, welding, painting and assembly - and engine factories as well. The "Five 100%" concept going throughout the whole production system is the finest essence of intelligent production. As to green production, the factory will use a variety of environmental technologies to achieve low emissions, low energy consumption and green logistics. Regarding quality assurance, quality completion system, production instruction system, global security management system, energy-saving monitoring system and other modern management systems will be applied comprehensively for total quality control. In efficient operation, the factory will use GCS warehouse management system, automatic gap mismatch detection, 3D vision four-wheel positioning and etc technologies to achieve efficient production.
Beijing Hyundai's three complete car manufacturing factories - Chongqing Factory, Cangzhou Factory and Beijing Shunyi Factory - jointly set up the "Five Factories in Three Cities" national production capacity layout for Beijing Hyundai and also play a supporting role in facilitating the national development strategies "Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Coordinated Development" and "Yangtze River Economic Belt Development". Beijing Hyundai Chongqing Factory marks BAIC Motor's further acceleration in transformation and upgrading in intelligent manufacturing.
As an important strategic fulcrum for BAIC Motor's national development, Beijing Hyundai Chongqing Factory sticking to the "Intelligence · Green · Quality · Efficiency" core concept, is committed to building up a technology-intensive, scientific-managing, resource-saving modern factory, to fit the national development strategy, to practice enterprise transformation and upgrading, and to create a model for Beijing-Chongqing industrial transfer and cooperative development.
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RIALTO All Leather Rocker Recliner
Dimensions (H x W x D):
107 x 81 x 97 cm
* Prices subject to change without prior notice
* SRP valid in Metro Manila only
Rialto Chaise Rocker Recliner by La-Z-Boy
Available Coverings:
Fabric, iClean, All leather
Optional Upgrades:
Left sided handle, Swivel base, Steel Arc Handle, Elongated Handle
Enjoy these La-Z-boy Exclusive Advantages on our recliners:
- Independent Reclining Action – recline the backrest with or without the use of the footrest
- Full body lumbar support in all 16 natural reclining comfort positions
- Secure 3 position varying height locking footrest for safety and support
- Adjustable Reclining Tension – people come in different sizes and strengths. Customize your backrest tension for maximum comfort.
- Solid 4 sided frame
- Locking, removable back for easy transport
Additional Notes:
All dimensions are shown in centimeters as a guide only. Construction
differences in upholstery covering (cloth and leather) can cause variances in dimensions.


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Hello darlings! I hope you had a lovely weekend. Mine was absolutely gorgeous, fantastic weather, scoops of ice cream, with lots of sun. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the Capital Jazz Fest, but I used the time wisely by getting a lot of projects completed, that really did need my immediate attention.
One of the projects I finally completed, was to list this gorgeous hand embroidered military jacket, painstakingly hand sewn by the wonderful Ms. Althea Anderson in London. You may remember Ms. Anderson, who wrote the wonderful guest blog post: "A Floetic Night With Floetry" click here to read her superb account of what must have been a beautiful and enchanting night. As you can see, she is a woman with many talents!
You can find this unique and one of a kind jacket in the Maylana's Closet Etsy boutique. Shop Here ♥ The jacket will also be available in the "Blog Shop" within the next few days.
Wishing you a Fabulous and Productive week!
Be Creative, Be Inspired, Be Amazing™
♥ Shine Brightly ♥


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Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©
They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
(Romans 1:25 (NIV))
Do you believe that you know the truth?
If you have accepted society's claim that truth is relative, then you absolutely do not know the truth! Truth is absolute. Truth is eternal. Truth is found in no other place than in God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
(John 14:6 (NIV))
Truth is not found in man's feeble attempts to create their own truth. Truth is not found in Satan's attempts to trick humanity into following him. Truth is not born of a lie that is repeated so many times that people begin to believe it. Truth is not worshiping the creation.
Truth is only from the Lord!
He never changes! He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Truth is found in only one place.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
(John 1:1-5 (NIV))
There is a line from a movie that gets repeated quite often. "You want the truth! You can't handle the truth!" Don't fall for the idea presented in this line. Never stop seeking the truth. The truth is out there. Truth has a name, and that name is Jesus Christ!
Do you still seek the truth?
Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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You are currently browsing the category archive for the 'Dr.Asim Yusuf' category.
The Ascension, by Talib al-Habib
(A beautifully composed and written Nasheed by Talib al-Habib. Lyrics pasted below.)
From the Sacred House to Jerusalem,
Through the seven heavens did he ascent
To the Love Divine beyond where or when,
Send peace on him and his family!
Like a moon set sail on the heaven's seas.
Through the dark night riding on the lightning-steed
See! One born of earth strides the heaven's fields!
Send peace on him and his family!
And the stars gave thanks and the moon did weep
As its beauty paled before the Hashimi
For what sun or moon can compare to him?
Send peace on him and his family!
As his heart was strengthened and purified,
And was filled with wisdom and light on light
So the wells of Zamzam he sanctified,
Send peace on him and his family!
And the Prophets- Adam TO Jesus Christ-
Came to honour him and to pray behind
One from whose lamp they had received their light.
Send peace on him and his family!
And the gates of heaven, so high and strong,
Opened joyfully for the one called upon
And the angels sang 'peace on you, welcome!'
Send peace on him and his family!
When Gibril did falter, Muhammad rose,
Where no Prophet nor angel may approach
So beloved to the Beloved returned!
Send peace on him and his family!
For the peace that comes to surrendered hearts.
For the mercy descending when the prayer is called
For the blessings born of your charity.
Send peace on him and his family!
Through perfection did he attain the heights.
He dispelled the dark with his beauty's light
Oh! How blest are all of his qualities!
Send peace on him and his family!
I received a text message from a special friend a couple of weeks ago. Within the text message, my friend mentioned to me that if you have love for the Prophet sallaAllahu 'alayhi wasalam in your heart, then calamities are purification for you and not punishment. This poignant reminder really moved me so I asked my friend to elaborate on this. She wrote the following out for me, and with her permission, I am posting it here for everyone to benefit from insha'Allah ta'ala:
Whenever time caused me any distress and I took refuge in him.
I received shelter from him, which was not misused.
I did not ask for the wealth of the two worlds from his hand.
But I received a great gift from the best hand that was ever kissed.
There are certain verses from the burdah that keep coming back to me and this is one of them. It seems to come forth in times of calamities and brings peace and tranquillity to the heart. For he sallaAllahu 'alayhi wasalam is the key to our happiness. He is there for us and he feels our pain. When we remember him it removes our sadness and replaces it with peace. He is the key to Allah and he is the centre of our lives.
Recently I sat in a dars about the 20 benefits of salawat. It was a most blessed gathering and there was not one single eye that didn't stream with tears.
One of the most poignant things that was said that day for me was that Allah will never punish a heart that contains the love of the Prophet sallaAllahu 'alayhi wasalam within it. If you suffer calamities or difficulties then know it is purification for you and not punishment. For Allah will never punish you if you have love for his Beloved sallaAllahu 'alayhi wasalam.
Loving him is better than going for jihad or setting a slave free, and making salawat has more effect than when water is put on a fire.
The other main point taken was that one of the benefits of making salawat is that your name will be mentioned to the Prophet sallaAllahu 'alayhi wasalam. A special angel on the grave of the shareef will give the names of all of creation. There is no one person who gives salaam without this angel telling the Prophet sallaAllahu 'alayhi wasalam. He will know you and your father (I think this is something great to think about especially for reverts) as the angel will mention so and so, son or daughter of so and so gives salaams.
It is enough to know that Allah and His beloved know your name. If he mentions your name or remembers you then surely you will go steps towards Allah.
So we undergo distress, sadness, loss and calamities but our shelter is him. To know him, remember him and love him. For some of us reading this, may at one time in our life not even known his name but it is true to say 'we received a great gift from the best hand that was ever kissed' when we entered into Islam.
Whilst on the topic of loving the Beloved Prophet sallaAllahu alayhi wasalam, I would also like to share something which Dr. Asim Yusuf (aka Talib al-Habib) narrated to us at the al-Ghazali retreat in Spain last week. Dr. Asim mentioned how when the time came to leave his Shaykh (may Allah elevate his rank) in South Africa, he was feeling really anxious. He said to his Shaykh that he doesn't know what he will do without him now that he will be going back to the UK, and how they will be so far apart. His Shaykh advised to carry the Beloved sallaAllahu a'alayhi wasalam in your heart wherever you go, and you'll never be alone. Subhan'Allah! This was a very strong and moving reminder for all of us sat in that gathering. It reminded us of how at times when we feel alone or are going through trials/tribulations, we should only have to look inside our hearts and find RasulAllah sallaAllahu alayhi wasalam to guide and comfort us; for he sallaAllahu alayhi wasalam is our key to the Lord, and it's only the Lord who can move us from one state to another.
May the Beloved sallaAllahu 'alayhi wasalam never leave our hearts. May we seek comfort with him in this life and the akhirah; may he be our companion in hardship and ease and may we sincerely humble ourselves in thanks to Allah. Allahumma Amin ya Rabb!
Please may I request you recite al-Fatiha and make du'a for my friend who took time out to share and write the above, and also for Dr. Asim.


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Usually I'm not really keen to acquire "souvenir sets" when it come to sake, but Fujimasa Brewery in Fujinomiya City, whose sake are not easy to buy in Shizuoka City, put out an interesting set I could not resist!
Instead of the difficult to handle one-cup sake they offered their products in 180 ml bottles making it so practical for individual tasting of 3 different sake instead of having to buy the bigger bottles.
Cute design representing the brewery!
You are invited to compare the three different tastes!
The brewery design is repeated on the first bottle!
Incidentally the name "genkotsu" means "fist" to describe the "brutal" approach! LOL
Rice milled down to 65%
Alcohol: 15~16 degrees
Bottled in August 2012
Clarity: very clear
Color: Golden hue
Aroma: Dry and strong. Alcohol. Fruity: custard.
Body: Fluid
Taste: Very dry attack.
Unusual strong approach for a Shizuoka Prefecture sake.
Strong dry almonds and oranges.
High acidity helping warming up back of the palate.
Lingers only for a while with dry almonds and custard peeking out.
Tends to grow milder with food bringing about faint notes of macadamia nuts, oranges and coffee beans.
Overall: A sake obviously designed as a dry and solid beverage although it tends to grow milder after the initial aggressive impression.
Holds the interesting capacity to first shock the palate into acceptance to finally tame the latter into acceptance and enjoyment by rewarding it with concealed dry and fruity facets.
For the strong and the bold!
Would make for an intriguing marriage with dark chocolate!
Kraemer's Culinary blog by Frank Kraemer in New York,Tokyo Food File by Robbie Swinnerton, Green Tea Club by Satoshi Nihonyanagi in Shizuoka!, Mind Some by Tina in Taiwan, Le Manger by Camille Oger (French), The Indian Tourist, Masala Herb by Helene Dsouza in Goa, India, Mummy I Can Cook! by Shu Han in London, Pierre.Cuisine, Francescannotwrite, My White Kitchen, Foodhoe, Chucks Eats, Things that Fizz & Stuff, Five Euro Food by Charles,Red Shallot Kitchen by Priscilla,With a Glass, Nami | Just One Cookbook, Peach Farm Studio, Clumsyfingers by Xethia, PepperBento, Hapabento, Kitchen Cow, Lunch In A Box, Susan at Arkonlite, Vegan Lunch Box; Tokyo Tom Baker, Daily Food Porn/Osaka, Only Nature Food Porn, Happy Little Bento, J-Mama's Kitchen, Cook, Eat, Play, Repeat, Bento Lunch Blog (German), Adventures In Bento, Anna The Red's Bento Factory, Ohayo Bento,
Must-see tasting websites:
-Sake: Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen, Warren Bobrow, Cellar Tours, Ancient Fire Wines Blog
-Beer: Good Beer & Country Boys, Another Pint, Please!, Beering In Good Mind: All about Craft Beer in kanzai by Nevitt Reagan!
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery
Non gastronomy must-see sites by Shizuoka Residents
HIGHOCTANE/HAIOKU by Nick Itoh in Shizuoka City


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VIDEO: The trailer for He's Just Not That Into You
And why isn't he? Could it be because you're needy, nagging, and possibly psychotic? And why are you into him, if he's insensitive and deceitful and has unpleasant red fur growing on his pasty legs?
And why will women be flocking to a film that reduces both men and women to shrill stereotypes designed to turn us all into consumers of the items paraded in the film's product placement? Ken Kwapis adapts the book that was inspired by a line in a TV series into a movie that runs 132 minutes. Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Connelly play a couple who are married but not happy.
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Aniston play a couple who are happy but not married. Single women played by Ginnifer Goodwin, Scarlett Johansson, and Drew Barrymore suffer from varying degrees of clinginess; Justin Long and Kevin Connolly play variations on macho shitheads. Moral: boorish men are punished, crazy women are rewarded, and happiness is a diamond ring.
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