text:
Text & photographs: Claire Lessiau & Marcella van Alphen
All photographs taken in the wild at Phinda Private Game Reserve
It is getting dark fast now the sun has set. A jackal scurries on the African soil that is still warm after a hot summer day. Crickets tune in forming a loud orchestra while bright stars start decorating the sky, one by one. Agile nightjars catch moths and other insects in the faint headlights of the open Toyota Land Cruiser 4×4 safari truck in which we are seated. A woollen blanket keeps my legs warm while I tuck away my Canon camera after capturing some of Africa's most emblematic animals. I am keeping an eye out for leopards, bush-babies, genets, and other nocturnal animals which eyes would lit up in the respectful infrared light that our tracker moves up and down the trees. Suddenly, my heart skips a beat: I see fire. Horrified and with all the disastrous wildfires of the Western Cape in mind I yelp: "The bush is burning!" Zandri our ranger answers calmly while steering the Land Cruiser towards the fire: "We will have to check it out then." As we get closer, I am puzzled when I realize the fire is a clear path of flaming torches. We get out of the 4×4, and following the path, we are lead to a set table with candles on tablecloth surrounded by torches and bonfires. We are greeted by our smiling lodge manager who hands us a delicate refreshment and warm humid towels: "Welcome to your African bush dinner," he says in a soft voice, clearly satisfied by his surprise effect. Around him, his friendly staff is manning a barbecue and bar area where locally sourced organic products are waiting to be savoured. It has been a day full of surprises since this morning when I opened my eyes before sunrise…
Pint it for later!
That morning at &Beyond Phinda Rock Lodge in the South African bush
I slowly open my eyes after the gentle wake up call. The sun is about to rise as I see a distant glow behind the green hills and Leopard Rock that are visible from my king-size bed. I turn on my back to the African art hanging in the tastefully newly refurbished room. It starts being visible with the natural light coming in through the large windows of which I deliberately left the wooden shades open. I untangle myself from the soft sheets to sit for a few minutes on the balcony of our private lodge. I take in the landscape of the African bush that is slowly shaped by the sunrays announcing a new day. As it is still a bit chilly, I decide against the outside shower or private pool and use the bathroom instead to slowly wake up with the warm shower. It has been one of these nights during which it has been hard to sleep as I want to enjoy every single second. With my weary head a rush of adrenalin gets pumped through my veins: a loud whooping call of a wild animal out of the thick bush right next to our balcony reminds me that I am merely a guest here, in the animal kingdom.
I run out of the shower into my bathrobe to grab my phone and record the sound that I have never heard before. With all my senses in full alert I try to get a glimpse of the animal. I fail. With my recording I eagerly rush into my safari clothes, put on my Rogue hat, grab my binoculars and camera, and walk outside to the reception lodge where I am welcomed by the smell of freshly brewed coffee, home-made cookies and Zandri, our ranger for the day.
I am not the only one thrilled by the sound of the animal that got me jump around like a four year-old in a candy store. Our ranger gets all excited by the recording and my phone soon goes from ranger to ranger. They all agree: this is a hyena calling and apparently a very rare recording by a guest. Hyenas have a bad reputation but are highly intelligent animals that communicate with a wide variety of whoops. We are about to step into the safari truck, and the game drive is already promising!
Zandri effortlessly steers the 4×4 down the sandy road while she suggests: "Let's see if we can spot some of the hyenas later: one ranger has just noticed a herd of elephants moving east, a rare sighting in this part of the park!" This is how it goes at &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve, rangers go out on the game drives with their guests and communicate with each other through their board radios to increase the spotting opportunities. No pre-scanning has been done before, nor feeding of the animals which occasionally happens in certain private game reserves: interference with wildlife are kept to the minimum. Nicknamed "the spotter", I am fully focused on anything that could indicate the presence of an animal, including smells (sweet popcorn for leopards) and sounds (alarming sounds by birds indicating a nearby predator). Soon, we are observing the herd of elephants: teenage elephants carrying out mock fights, babies drinking, elderlies throwing dust in the air. Although elephants are still hunted for their ivory everywhere in Africa they seem to be doing pretty well in South Africa where their numbers are growing. When the herd disappears fast into the bush we move on. While keeping our eyes open for Africa's big cats we observe zebras, giraffes graciously walking into the first rays of sunlight, a herd of nyalas that are very commonly spot in the park, the rarer kudus, wildebeests, and plenty of birds. Our tracker seated in front of the 4×4 spots some grey in the bush: three white rhinos! However, tears fill my eyes at the sight of their disfigured faces: their horns have been cut off. Just like every other park, &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve is threatened by poachers who have almost whipped out the entire rhino population of South Africa. Here, after extensive research on the impact of this mutilation on the animal behaviour, the head conservationist Simon Naylor and his team dehorn rhinos in order to save them from being poached and brutally killed.
After thoroughly scanning a small clearing, we all get out of the 4×4 and stretch our legs while our ranger and tracker are setting up a table covered by a tablecloth on which they display home-made cookies and cups. Their drink suggestion seems obvious: a Mocha-choco-rula, of course! [a delicious drink made of coffee, chocolate and a shot of Amarula, the South African drink comparable to Baileys made from the fruit of the Amarula tree that gets monkey and elephants drunk].
The sun is out now and we are warming up fast. Back into the Land Cruiser, it does not take long before Zandri stops again and our tracker gets into the car, the sign that a big cat is close by. His trained eyes have just spotted the typical white tip of a cheetah slightly above the high grass. Within seconds, we are right in front of a mother cheetah with her three two-month old cubs playfully climbing on her. Zandri switches of the engine. "You guys are incredibly lucky! They are awake and so close by!" The cubs seem to be playing a game of tag, chase butterflies, jump up and down, and get an occasional beating from their mother when they wander off too far. A couple of years ago, this same female cheetah successfully raised two cubs, and this is promising for the three young ones we are observing. Constantly aware of her surroundings, she keeps scanning the area for potential predators like hyenas or lions that could be a threat to her cubs. When the early morning hunting time comes to an end, she decides to retreat in the shade of a tree. She calls her cubs that immediately stop their games and obey like extremely well raised kids to follow her into the shade.
Driving through this landscape it is hard to imagine that this land used to be farmland some years ago. In 1991, the &Beyond group was created and bought overexploited land to develop Phinda Private Game Reserve and reintroduce the large mammals that once roamed freely here. At the cutting edge of conservation, their business model encompasses the care of the land, care of the wildlife and care of the people in order to make it sustainable and as such, to protect this precious ecosystem for future generations.
It is mid-morning when we arrive back at our lodge for breakfast. Enjoying the cooked to order appealing food, we occasionally pick up the binoculars to observe wildlife on Leopards Rock. We pick up one of the plentiful leather-bound wildlife books before we return to our private lodge to cool down by our pool and rest.
Back to the bush dinner
As our waiter brings us a glass of the award-winning Hamilton Russell's Pinot Noir crafted in the Eastern Cape, we are discussing our incredible day with our ranger and the couple of other guests we shared the game drive with at our private table. It is hard to decide what the highlight of this day was! Maybe the encounter with the rare black rhino? Or maybe these cute and playful cheetah cubs? Or spotting a lioness with her three cubs on top of a cliff overlooking the bush and bathed in the sunset light, as if it were taken out of The Lion King? The discussion is friendly and interesting as Zandri explains more about the conservation work that is carried out here at &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve, making it one of the best ecotourism initiative worldwide.
Enjoying our last drink of Amarula under the stars in a warm bath at our lodge, we take in the sounds of the African night. Soon, we will be wrapping ourselves in these soft sheets again, dreaming about what tomorrow's game drive will bring.
Travel tips:
- To book your perfect safari please refer to &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve.
- Different lodges each with a specific atmosphere are located at the &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve: Rock Lodge, is very exclusive with only six private lodges and a no-child policy, Forest Lodge is immersed in the rare and precious sand forest, and Mountain Lodge caters more to families yet in a quiet environment. More lodges are to be explored.
- Check out this interactive map for the specific details to help you plan your trip and more articles and photos (zoom out) about the area! Here is a short tutorial to download it.
Like it? Pint it!
For more safari-inspired articles, click on these images:
Part of this article was published in the Beyond Boundaries e-magazine by Xtreme Adventure:


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The Chamberlin was an early pre-cursor of the modern digital sampler using a complex mechanism that stored analogue audio samples on strips of audio tape – 1 tape for each key. When a key on the keyboard was pressed the tape strip played forward and when released the play head returns to the beginning of the tape. The note had a limited length, eight seconds on most models. The instrument was designed as an 'amusing' novelty instruments for domestic use but later found favour with rock musicians in the sixties and seventies.
All the original sounds were recordings of the Lawrence Welk Orchestra made by Harry Chamberlin at his home in California. The recording technique produced clean unaffected sound but with a heavy vibrato added by the musicians. The full set of sound that came with the Chamberlin were:
- Keyboards: Marimba, Piano, Vibes (with vibrato), Bells (glockenspiel), Organ, Tibia Organ, Kinura Organ, Harpsichord, Accordion, Electric
- Harpsichord and Flute/String Organ.
- Brass: Alto Sax, Tenor Sax, Trombone, Trumpet, French Horn, Do Wah Trombone, Slur Trombone and Muted Trumpet.
- Wind: flute, oboe, and bass clarinet.
- Voice: Male Voice (solo) and Female Voice (solo).
- Strings: 3 violins, Cello and Pizzicato violins.
- Plucked strings: Slur Guitar, Banjo, Steel Guitar, Harp solo, Harp Roll, Harp 7th Arpeggio (harp sounds were not available to the public), Guitar and Mandolin.
- Effects: Dixieland Band Phrases and Sound Effects.
In 1962 two Chamberlins were taken to Great Britain where they were used as the basis for the design for the Mellotron keyboard:
The Chamberlin was invented in the US in 1946 by Harry Chamberlin who had the idea (allegedly) when setting up his portable tape recorder to record himself playing his home organ. It is rumoured that it occured to him that if he could record the sound of a real instrument, he could make a keyboard instrument that could replay the sound of real instruments and thus the Chamberlin was born. Chamberlin's idea was 'simple' – put a miniature tape playback unit underneath each key so that when a note was played, a tape of 'real' instruments would be played. At the time, the concept was totally unique.
In the '50s, at least 100 Chamberlins were produced and to promote his instrument, Harry teamed up with a guy called Bill Fransen who was (allegedly) Harry's window cleaner. Fransen was (allegedly) totally fascinated by this unique invention and subsequently became Chamberlin's main (and only) salesman. However, there were terrible reliability problems with the Chamberlin and it had a very high (it is said 40%) failure rate with the primitive tape mechanism which resulted in tapes getting mangled.
Fransen felt that Chamberlin would never be able to fix these problems alone and so, unknown to Chamberlin (allegedly), Fransen brought some Chamberlins to the UK in the early '60s to seek finance and a development partner. He showed the Chamberlin to a tape head manufacturer, Bradmatics, in the Midlands and the Bradley brothers (Frank, Leslie and Norman who owned Bradmatics) were (allegedly) very impressed with the invention and (allegedly) agreed to refine the design and produce them for Fransen but…Under the mistaken impression that the design was actually Fransen's (allegedly)!
A new company, Mellotronics, was set up in the UK to manufacture and market this innovative new instrument and work got underway with the Bradley brothers (allegedly) unaware that they were basically copying and ripping off someone else's idea! Of course, it wasn't long before Harry Chamberlin got to hear of this and he too went to the UK to meet with the Bradley brothers. After some acrimonious discussions, the two parties settled with Harry selling the technology to the Bradleys. Mellotronics continued to develop their 'Mellotron' whilst Harry returned to the US where he continued to make his Chamberlins with his son, Richard, in a small 'factory' behind his garage and later, a proper factory in Ontario, a small suburb in Los Angeles. In total, they made a little over 700 units right through until 1981. Harry died shortly afterwards.
But whatever happened in those early meetings almost 40 years ago is inconsequential – the fact of the matter is that the two instruments are almost indistinguishable from each other. Each key has a playback head underneath it and each time a key is pressed, a length of tape passes over it that contains a recording of a 'real' instrument. The tape is of a finite length lasting about eight seconds and a spring returns it to its start position when the note is finished. As you can see from the photograph above though, the Chamberlin is smaller (although some mammoth dual-manual Chamberlins were also produced!).
Many claim that the Chamberlin had a better sound – clearer and more 'direct' …. which is strange because the Mellotron was (allegedly) better engineered than the Chamberlin. But there is a lot of confusion between the two instruments not helped by the fact that some Chamberlin tapes were used on the Mellotron and vice versa…. so even though the two companies were in direct competition with each other, they shared their sounds….. weird!
It also seems that some users were also confused and credited a 'Mellotron' on their records when in fact it might well have been a Chamberlin that they used (allegedly). However, given the similarities between the two, this confusion is understandable and it's a tribute to Mellotronics' marketing that they got the upper hand on the original design.
To be honest, the whole story is shrouded in hearsay and music history mythology and we may never know the truth (especially now that the original people involved are sadly no longer with us) but regardless of this, the Bradley brothers were obviously more successful with their marketing of the idea than Chamberlin himself. Although it was originally aimed at the home organ market with cheesy rhythm loops and silly sound effects, the Mellotron went on to become a legend in the history of modern music technology and the mere mention of its name can invoke dewy eyed nostalgia amongst some people. On the other hand, however, few people have even heard of the Chamberlin which is sad because Harry Chamberlin's unique invention preceded the Mellotron by some fifteen years or more and by rights, it is the Chamberlin that deserves the title of "the world's first sampler".
Nostalgia has a lovely Chamberlin string sound that captures the original Chamberlin character quite authentically. Unlike the original, though, the sound is looped but, like the original, it has the same keyboard range (G2-F5) and is not velocity sensitive.
Quoted from: http://www.hollowsun.com/vintage/chamberlin/

subset: commoncrawl


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For those of you who don't know, this is DeepDotWeb's Dictionary Project, they have compiled a list of the terms you might come across while browsing around including links to important resources, have any term that is missing here? let us know! Does something need fixing? contact us! or leave a comment, Thanks DeepDotWeb for making this list possible.
3DD – 3 Day delivery.
420 – From Wikipedia: is a code term used primarily in North America that refers to the consumption of cannabis and by extension, as a way to identify oneself with cannabis subculture or simply cannabis itself. Observances based on the number 420 include smoking cannabis around the time 4:20 p.m. (with some sources also indicating 4:20 a.m
4/20 – 20th of April sale – also known as the special sale when the vendor Tony76 executed the most famous Scam on Silk road.
Administrator – In charge of a collection of services a year or two ago, including TorStatusNet, Hidden Image Board, a hosting service.
Altcoin – Any digital cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin, altcoin – any digital cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin.
Anonymity – This thing you want to have if you don't want to be found while using darknet markets.
AnonFiles – File upload site. Do you want to send a PDF/image/whatever to another user? Upload it to anon files, then you can share your custom link, and whoever you send it to can download your file anonymously.
Astrid – Creator and Moderator of /r/DarkNetMarkets, very promiscuous have had relations with all Moderators there, also is the CSS guru!
Avengers – A group of individuals who are well known for ordering LSD from many vendors back in the day of Silk Road 1.0, reagent testing it, consuming it, writing reviews about the quality of the products. They currently can be found on the deep web on the Majestic Garden forum.
AYB – All You're Base, general Onionland portal
AYW – THW without the CP. Known formally as All You're Wiki. Most people use it now.
Backopy – The Administrator of Black Market Reloaded (BMR)
Bergie Web – The level of the internet hierarchy that comes between the "surface" and the "deep web," if you are comparing the internet to an ocean. This includes porn, chans, and other sites that provide you with information on how to access the deep web. Peer-to-peer file-sharing networks are also part of this level.
Bitcoinfog – "Wash" your bitcoins. Bitcoins can be traced, so let's say you received bitcoins from illegal activity, those coins can be traced back to you if you use them on another website that is linked to your real identity (LocalBitcoins, PayPal, bitstamp, MtGox, etc). This handy website will erase all traces on your coins. the service is accessible here: http://fogcore5n3ov3tui.onion
Bitcoins – an open-source, peer-to-peer payment network and pseudo-anonymous digital currency being used for almost all transactions on the darknet.
Black Market Reloaded – Also known as BMR, the oldest darknet market since Silk Road was shut down, the site is currently offline and planned to be back with a newer version.
Blockchain – Wikipedia Definition: A blockchain is a transaction database shared by all nodes participating in a system based on the Bitcoin protocol
BotDW – Boss of the Deep Web
Buyers – Marketplace user that is not a vendor. (duh)
Carding – The practice of stealing and selling credit card information
CD (Controlled Delivery) – The technique of controlled delivery is used when a consignment of illicit drugs is detected and allowed to go forward under the control and surveillance of law enforcement officers in order to secure evidence against the organizers of such illicit drugs traffic.
Cirrus – A silk road forum moderator.
Chisquare/psi – Hugest faggot, avoid him more. Hosts numerous services. (It's not us who said this!)
Cipherspace – tor hidden services / i2p / Freenet / any other anonymity network
Cold Storage – a secure offline wallet for your Bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies
CP – When mentioned in the context of the deep web – it usually means Child pornography, something you should know and avoid at all costs when browsing around.
Clearnet – regular internet (non-TOR)
Cryptography – All the means of hiding and encrypting the data that you send over the internet.
Crypto News – (http://wittvywowuxp35s6.onion) is a hidden service for news about privacy, security, politics, and technology. The owner only updates sporadically and focuses a lot on I2P.
Dark Net – A general term that describes the hidden websites hosted on the TOR / I2P and other networks that you cannot access with a regular internet connection without using some special software or get crawled by Google and other search engines. more info can be found here
Dark Nexus – HTTP Refresh Chat
DarkNetMarkets – A sub-Reddit meant for the discussion of the various Dark Net markets, can be found at this link.
DDOS Attack – Denial-of-service attack Form of an attack that is an attempt to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users, was common on Silk road, some say it was used to locate the server location using a know tor vulnerability. Read the Wikipedia page for the technical explanation
DBAN – Darik's Boot and Nuke software for wiping your hard drive from all information.
Deep Web – Synonymous with "Dark Net".
DeepDotNet – Us! The site where you are reading this can be found here: http://www.deepdotnet.com A Blog focusing on deep web news.
Defcon – The alias of Silk Road 2.0 Admin. A person named Blake Benthall who was arrested During Operation Onymous is alleged to be him.
Dispute – In our context, this term is usually used to describe a disagreement between a buyer and a seller on the markets.
Digital ink – a/k/a Jacob Theodore George IV, according to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Digitalink was the first vendor on Silk Road selling illegal drugs to be arrested.
DoD / Coachella / HH (and some others) – A Well known scammer & troll, was eventually doxxed on some article and was not seen much since.
Domestic – A term that refers to making an order from a vendor the resides in the same country as the buyer.
Donations – You will encounter many requests for them on the darknet markets, which will usually list a bitcoin address.
Doxx – The act of posting in a public forum the personally identifying information of a pseudonym used by an individual or the information posted therein.
Dread Pirate Roberts – The pseudonym used by the administrator of the original Silk Road market. It has been speculated that more than one person may have been using this pseudonym, but "Ross William Ulbricht" has been indited by the FBI as being the sole owner.
DDG/Duck Duck Go – A search engine that respects privacy.
Emergency BTC Address — An address to be held on record to send all funds to in case of a market shutdown. This would ideally be a cold storage address with no information that could be used to connect the owner to their identity. This address would only be checked after a market was shut down in order to recover outstanding funds.
Encryption — Using secret information to make it infeasible without knowledge of said information to decipher the 'cipher-text produced into a plain text message. This can take one of two forms, symmetric encryption which used a shared secret that both parties must know in advance, or public-key cryptography where the information to encrypt the information differs from the secret needed to decrypt the information.
Escrow – the use of a neutral third party to ensure that a transaction payment will be made to a seller on completion of items sent to a buyer. Generally, after a purchase is made, the funds are held 'in escrow to be released when the buyer states the seller has met the terms of the purchase. Generally, the third party will also offer arbitration in case of a dispute between the two parties.
Electrum plugin – Used on The Marketplace to create multi-signature transactions with a click of a button – full usage instructions can be found in this tutorial.
Exit Scam – A term used to describe a situation where a market admin or a vendor wants to retire and is doing so while taking as much money as possible from their users/buyers.
- Vendors: usually by offering some great deal and abusing the reputation they gained so far by requiring people to not use the escrow protection and collecting as much money as possible (without sending out anything) before shutting down the store and running with as much BTC as they can.
- Market admins: usually locking users' funds on the market, just to shut it down completely soon after.
Fagmin/dgft – New Admin Of Torchan
FBI – the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This is the USA's state-wide police who prosecute violations of federal laws. They do not involve themselves in violations of state law.
FE -Finalize early. This is the release of escrow funds before the seller knows that the conditions of the contract have been met. This is used to reduce seller risk from BTC price fluctuation, and against the market shutdown. This is also used to scam buyers as after the escrow has been released there is no recourse for the buyer if the seller does not deliver on their promises.
Feedback — a message left from a seller to the vendor, or vice versa, about how well a transaction went. It is considered a good form to not reveal any information about the methods the seller used to ship the order nor the vendor's or seller's location or details. This is made publicly available to allow users of a site to determine if they should trust the vendor or seller
Flush (Curtis Green) — An individual the FBI accuses Dread Pirate Roberts of ordering to be murdered. This person is also accused of being 'Chronicpain' from the Silk Road Forums, and an employee of Silk Road. The details of the allegations can be read – here, here & This is a great resource.
Freedom Hosting – Huge free web provider. Some of its services hosted child porn. Busted by the feds around the same time SR was busted. SR also was hosted on it for a while before it switched to a dedicated server.
Freenet – a peer-to-peer platform for censorship-resistant communication.
FUD – Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt
Galaxy Deep Web Social Network – (http://hbjw7wjeoltskhol.onion/) is the currently most active darknet chat, a great place to keep in touch with friends and vendors, share the newest FUD and fuck up your OPSEC while waiting for your order to be shipped.
Gawker — an online blog that reports on web trends. Notable for being one of the first major sites to report on the existence of the Silk Road on 2011-06-01 at http://gawker.com/the-underground-website-where-you-can-buy-any-drug-imag-30818160
GCHQ – British Government Communications Headquarters, equivalent to the NSA in the United States.
Grams – Cross Marketplace search engine for the DeepWeb (see the sidebar link here)
HackBB – Famous hacking phpBB board, also hosted downloads for files like Zeus.
Hard Candy – Infamous page on Hidden Wiki for child porn.
Harry71 – Onion Spider Robot (http://skunksworkedp2cg.onion/) is a daily updated extensive list of Onion sites. The owner runs a crawler that checks if the sites are up, fetches the link and title, and dumps it on his homepage. The site also contains some statistics about uptime and hosts.
Hidden Service – Another term for a .onion domain name. It can only be accessed through the Tor network, and cannot be seized by a government.
Honeypot – A hidden service or other website set up by law enforcement in an attempt to attract and trap people who participate in illegal activities. Other cited uses include helping the military and government protect their secrets and the FBI defending large businesses.
Hushmail – An email provider that focuses on privacy and used industry-standard protocols PGP and 256-bit AES encryption. It claims to be secure to the extent that not even company employees can read the contents of your emails. Hushmail is known to cooperate with law enforcement by handing over encrypted emails.
Hidden Wiki – a 'hidden service' website on the Tor anonymous network that allows for open editing of subjects related to hidden services and activity in them. "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious."
Hub Forums – An Onion-based platform for cross marketplace discussion, like the DNM subreddit, but forum-based and fully anonymous – read the details here.
I2P — The 'Invisible Internet Project'. Originally designed as a way to be able to use IRC anonymously, it has become one of the more popular anonymous networks. While similar to Tor, key differences include the fact that I2P focuses on gaining access to sites within the network, and not to the Internet at large. Not as much academic research has been done on this project as Tor. This service is very popular in Russia. About half the routers appear to be located there. Details can be found at https://geti2p.net
International – Outside of one's own country. Some avoid international transactions because customs adds time and risk to order. Some countries such as Australia are known for having customs that are extremely hard to get an order past.
ISP – Internet service provider.
IRC – Internet Relay Chat. A communication system allowing easy transfer of messages in the form of text. It is intended for group discussion in sessions called channels.
JB – See hard candy, except for teens.
Lavabit – A defunct email provider that shut down in August 2013 after being forced to hand over its SSL private keys to the US government.
LE / LEO's / LEA's – Law Enforcement / Law Enforcement Officers / Law Enforcement Agents
Library – Usually refers to Tor Library, the largest centralized eBook service on the Darknet.
Libertas — Pseudonym used by one of the original Silk Road forum administrators, and also used by one of the administrators of Silk Road 2. Arrest by the 'Garda Siochana' (Irish police) Details of the arrest may be found at this link.
Liberte – Another Linux distribution similar to TAILS and Whonix with the purpose of enabling anyone to communicate safely and covertly in hostile environments.
Litecoins — an alternative cryptocurrency, similar to bitcoin. The key difference is that while bitcoin uses hashcash-SHA256^2 at the 'proof of work', litecoin uses hashcash-Scrypt which is designed to use more memory and be less subject to custom hardware designed to solve the problem quickly. More details of this difference may be found at: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Hashcash
LocalBitcoins — a site designed to allow over-the-counter trading of bitcoins. Famed for its anonymous nature people who sell on the site have been under constant pressure to avoid being prosecuted as unlicensed money traders. This extra risk and the extra work generally cause a significant price difference between the site and a more open (and regulated) exchange.
Love Letter – An official confiscation notice from the postal service sent to the recipient letting him know that his parcel was seized. In some cases, vendors sent fake love letters to create the false impression of a seized package and scam the buyer.
Lucyskyhigher – Reddit mod sexiest biotch on the always informative and largely humorous gathering place for all darknet markets, /r/Darknetmarkets
Marco Polo Task Force – A multi law enforcement agency task force based in Baltimore put together to investigate Silk Road and eventually included investigators from the FBI, DEA, DHS, the IRS, U.S. Postal Inspection, U.S. Secret Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives
Mariana's Web – Urban legend of a secret website in the deep web.
Marketplaces – a catch-all term for websites set up to allow trade between vendors and buyers. When used in the context of the sale of illegal goods, these usually provide anonymity to the buyer and seller, a method of escrow to ensure to reduce risk from new vendors and sellers.
And a method of advertising goods to be sold at a price so that a purchase may be initiated and paid for without involvement of the seller. Most markets are also set up as 'hidden services' under anonymity networks like tor, i2p, or Freenet, although there do exist some 'clearnet' markets that operate over standard HTTP/HTTPS.
Mixie – First major service operator on Tor in 2007. Services include a basic message board on the home page, a PM service, a "create your own bbs-like board" system (anyone could create a community for free) called SnapBBS, and a few more features. Also hosted an OnionNet IRC server.
Molly – any damned thing you can shove into a gelcap and get somebody to buy. In theory, this is supposed to be MDMA in the gelcap, but more commonly you get something like methylone, BZP, a benzofuran, talc, or something potentially toxic like PMA. Test first before consuming, http://dancesafe.org/health-and-safety/adulterant-screening-kit-instructions is a good resource.
Monero – a newer more privacy-focused cryptocurrency that's being accepted by some darknet markets.
MSM – Main Stream Media — Big news outlets designed for common consumption by the masses. These can range from more neutral sites like the BBC in the UK, Al Jazeera in the middle east, or The New York Times in the USA, to sites like the Daily Fail, Fox News, or Pravda which are not as known for being well vetting their news articles.
MtGox – Magic: The Gathering Online exchange. One of the first public exchanges for bitcoins to currencies such as USD. Because it was designed in haste, it has been plagued with issues of security.
Widely considered to be completely insolvent, a lack of transparency has allowed constant rumors to circulate. They are no longer taking exchanges after claiming to be defrauded by outside parties taking advantage of quirks in the bitcoin protocol.
Multi-Signature Escrow – Where an address is signed by both the buyer and the seller with their private keys. The buyer will send funds to the address and the seller ships the product. If both parties are happy they sign off on the address and release the funds in escrow, You can see examples for such an open-source service here.
Nameless – IRC server hosted by chi. No identities, all usernames randomly generated.
Nekro – Huge faggot, avoid him. (he said this, not us!)
MTLjohn – Was a funny Scammer on SR1, kept popping again and again under different identities just to be exposed each by another vendor (LuckyLuciano) since he was so easy to provoke.
NDD – Next-day delivery.
Onion – a hidden website using the Tor network. The name comes from the 'onion routing' used by tor. The URL is composed of a hash of information used to identify the correct system, so most addresses are somewhat random. While creating an onion is easy, and the routing itself has few known weaknesses, securing such a site to leak no information is exceptionally difficult.
Onion Browser — A web browser like the Tor Browser Bundle (TBB). A web browser designed to work with the tor network to browse hidden services and normal websites anonymously, without leaking user information.
OnionForum – The original forum for Tor was created by Legith in the early days of '05.
Onionland – A general term to describe tor hidden services
OnionNet – First real IRC network designed for Onionland. All IRC ops are pedophiles though. Long history but not many people use it anymore.
Onion Routing – A technique for anonymous communication over a computer network. Messages are repeatedly encrypted and send through multiple network nodes. The process is comparable to peeling an onion, each node removes a layer of encryption uncovering routing instructions for the following layer.
Onion patch – A saying for using the dnms on /r/drugs.
opDarknet – Campaign launched by Anonymous a couple of years ago. Targeted child porn sites as well as Freedom Hosting.
Operation Onymous – A global crackdown on the darknet markets during November 2014, in which many sites were seized and several people arrested.
Optimus Crime/OC – Admin of HackBB.
OPSEC – Operation Security. The process of protecting little pieces of data that could be grouped together to form a bigger picture, or expose your identity.
OrBot – a mobile version of the tor router for Android. Can be found on the Google Play store. Designed to either work with its own browser, or can be set up to work as a proxy for any system that supports it. Can also be used on a rooted device to provide a transparent proxy that will force all apps to use tor for connecting.
OS – Operating system.
Pastebin – A website used to store text for a certain period of time. It is popular on the deep web because it is an easy way to anonymously share information.
Parallel construction – Parallel construction is a law enforcement process of building a parallel – or separate – evidentiary basis for a criminal investigation in order to conceal how the investigation began.
PGP/GPG – Pretty Good Privacy/ Gnu Privacy Guard. PGP was introduced in 1991 and was formalized with RFC 2440 and RFC 4880. Uses a combination of public-key and symmetric-key cryptography to ensure that messages can be delivered without a third party gaining access to the contents of the message. It also allows for a message to be signed so that the author of the message is indisputable.
Many different algorithms can be used for encryption, but the most commonly used methods are RSA for the public key crypto and AES for the symmetric cipher. It is extremely important that the public key of any party be fully verified in order to know that the message is being delivered to the correct recipient or is from the correct sender. Here we have a simple usage guide for windows.
P2P Escrow – Most commonly used to refer transactions using 'P2SH' addresses as defined by BIP 016. A public key is provided by a seller, market, and vendor, and used to create an address that requires two of the three parties to sign in order to redeem. The buyer then pays to this address.
Of extreme importance is the 'redeemScript' which details the information needed to redeem funds send to the address, which is a hash of the redeemScript.
The goal of this method is that no one party has enough information to take funds from these P2SH addresses.
Even if the market is hacked or taken down, the funds cannot be seized, and a buyer and seller can, with the redeemscript, finalize a transaction outside of the market's involvement if they choose to.
Phishing – the act of using social engineering techniques to get private information such as user names and passwords. An example would be to send out a message claiming to be from an administrator asking for a password, or setting up a fraudulent website that looks to be a well-known market site in order to gain user name and password information.
Pidgin OTR – Secured instant messaging software Pidgin is a free and open-source client that lets you organize and manage your different Instant Messaging (IM) accounts using a single interface. The Off-the-Record (OTR) plug-in designed for use with Pidgin ensures authenticated and secure communications between Pidgin users.
PIN Code – Personal Identification Number Code. Used a secondary validation method to protect against loss of funds if the username and password are discovered. Generally, it is only asked for during the transfer of funds to outside the market or to confirm and finalize orders.
PM / DM – Personal message/ DM: Direct message.
Processing Time – time required by a market or vendor in order to complete a transaction. Generally, this involves waiting for sufficient confirmations on the blockchain to ensure a deposit has been met, or to run funds through a bitcoin mixer on the market. Also used to for time required by a vendor once getting a transaction to put the goods into the post.
Project Black Flag – Market set up shortly after the fall of the original Silk Road. Widely suspected to be a scam, this was confirmed to be the case after a short period of time.
Proxy – Unlike a VPN, a proxy is a service that only changes the IP address websites can see within your web browser, rather than on all applications on your computer.
RAT (Remote Administration Tool) – A piece of software that allows a remote operator to control a system as if he has physical access to that system.
RC (Research chemicals) – From Wikipedia, Research Chemical are chemical substances used by scientists for medical and scientific research purposes. One characteristic of a research chemical is that it is for laboratory research use only. A research chemical is not intended for human or veterinary use.
Resolution – Used when there is a dispute between a buyer and seller. This usually involves whatever market is used to serve as an arbitrator to determine how funds are to be released from escrow.
Reviews – the corpus of feedbacks left on a site, along with more information gained by outside channels. Used by buyers to determine if they should take a vendor or buyer as legitimate.
Riseup / Safe-mail – Excellent e-mail services.
Ross Ulbricht — Accused of the FBI of being the sole owner of the pseudonym 'Dread Pirate Roberts' and creator of the Silk Road. He was an Eagle Scout and a known libertarian. The original Silk Road website went down after his arrest.
RTS – Return to sender.Shadow Web – A mythical part of the dark web that's been perpetuated by creepypastas. It Supposedly allows you to access an even darker network containing red rooms and cannibalism forums.
Same Same But Different (SSBD) – Peter Phillip Nash, Was arrested and accused in Australia for being on the Silk Road moderators You can read the full details about the moderators bust in this post.
Samples – In the context of a market, a free or low-cost item is sent to a well-known buyer in order to establish legitimacy. This proves that at least the seller has access to a product and is capable of delivering it in a secure way. The receiving party is expected to leave public feedback regarding the quality of the products and how well it's been packaged.
Satoshi Nakamoto – A pseudonym of the person or group of people who created Bitcoin and anonymously published its source code.
Shared Send – A free method to tumble Bitcoins provided by blockchain.info. It routes transactions through a shared wallet breaking the chain of transactions.
Scammer – One who would attempt to defraud either a vendor or seller. For a vendor, this can take the form of simply not ever sending products, sending poor quality or misrepresented products, or 'selective scamming' (See other entry).
Selective Scamming– Where known individuals are sent products but large transactions or those from unknowns are not sent out. For a seller, this will mean that they claim to have not received goods that were delivered or that the goods were of poor quality/misrepresented.
Search (ability you must have) = http://lmgtfy.com/?q=search
Sheep – Second big online market to fail. Vendors flocked to the site citing its well-polished vending design, and users followed. Disappeared without a trace taking all funds in escrow with it. Despite the manhunt that followed, it remains unclear if it was a deliberate scam, a result of being hacked, or a combination of the two.
Shipping – Process of a vendor packaging and sending goods. A source of extreme difficulty for vendors, and how many have been caught. Ideal methods will appear to be a legitimate business to individual packages and correspondence. It is considered poor form to disclose any specifics of a shipment made, as it could be used to target a vendor.
Shilling – Creating accounts on Reddit / Forums with the sole intention of posting Positive / Negative posts about someone or something while trying to make them look authentic.
Silk Road – 'The eBay of illegal goods'. First reported to a wide audience by Gawker 2011-06-01, it flourished due to a large vendor and user base, and strict controls to weed out scammers. Taken down after the arrest of Ross Ulbricht at the start of October 2013. While it was not the first nor the last market for illegal items, none have matched its popularity and trust level given by vendors and users.SIGINT – Tor-based darknet email service that allows you to send email without revealing your location or identity. Its name is derived from SIGINT ("Signals Intelligence"), which refers to intelligence-gathering by interception of signals.
Silk Road 2.0 – The successor of the first Silk Road. Was seized during Operation Onymous, and Blake Benthall the alleged admin of the site (Defcon) was arrested.
SMAC – a tool that can change your MAC address
Stats (Buyer) – statistics used to determine the legitimacy of buyers/sellers. Common is the number of successful transactions, average reviews, and dollar amounts of successful transactions in total. These are usually imprecise in order to avoid anybody being profiled.
Stealth – Methods used by vendors during packaging to make them blend in with normal mail. Disclosing any particular method of stealth is considered extremely poor form. Examples of stealth methods include making the item appear to come from a legitimate, known business; hiding the product in another, nondescript-looking item; and using moisture barrier bags or mylar to eliminate product odor from being emitted from the package. Ideally, you would be able to open the item and give a cursory inspection of all the contents and find nothing unusual, but in practice, this can vary greatly.
Sub Reddits – one of the subforums from the popular reddit.com community. Many times shortened to r/subredditname in common discussion. A team of administrators that are usually not affiliated with Reddit determines the content policy of the subreddit, with the website taking a very hands-off approach.
SQL injection – An database code injection technique, used to attack data-driven applications in which malicious SQL statements are inserted into an entry field for execution, many markets got shut down or lost their money because of this type of attack.
Tails – Are you using just Tor Browser Bundle? Then consider TAILS, it's an operating system specially made for anonymous activities that you boot from a CD or USB stick. It leaves no traces on your computer and has plenty of built-in tools that come in handy. *Check out their website, search "Tails boum" and you should find it very easily.
Talk.masked/core.onion – 2 of the first major forums in Onionland besides Onionforum.
The Marketplace (i2p) – Market set up on the I2P network. Defined by the use of an alternate anonymity network and the use of P2SH addresses to hold all funds in escrow during the ordering process. Tends to be either praised for its security or derided for the bugs and non-intuitiveness that its model provides. You can find the full usage guide here.
Tony76 — Was a trusted vendor on SR1, then ran a massive "FE" scam you can read the full story here, The FBI accuses DPR of placing a hit on the individual using this pseudonym. He scammed a large number of Silk Road users, but his true identity and the details of if he was killed or not are still in dispute.
Tor – The Onion Router. Uses 'onion routing' to provide anonymous access to the Internet by encrypting a message several times with each relay removing one layer before the final destination is reached. Funded heavily by the US government, its security has been a focus of much academic research with no serious known issues or backdoors that have been discovered yet. Used by journalists, government censors, and more to hide their true location and identity.
Torchat – an IM service that works by having each user set up a 'hidden service' that can be used to contact them via Tor. Somewhat similar in purpose to OTR, but messages do not have plausible deniability.
Torch – Tor Search Engine (http://xmh57jrzrnw6insl.onion/) is your light in the darknet. Make sure to bookmark it if you want to wander the depths beyond your favorite markets.
Tormarket – Another market to rise and fall after SR's demise. Not as big as Sheep, but the timing made many very cautious about the reliability of new markets.
Tormail – Tor Mail was a Tor hidden service that allowed to send and receive email anonymously, to email addresses inside and outside the Tor network. The service was seized by the FBI as part of the Freedom Hosting bust in August 2013.
Tor Browser Bundle (TBB) – A modified version of Firefox that allows people to easily use the Tor anonymity network. It is compatible with Windows, OS X, and Linux.
Tor Exit Node – The last relay that data traveling from its originator (a computer) to the recipient (a web server) travels through before reaching the recipient. To the recipient, traffic appears to originate from the exit node.
Tor Node – A data relay, either a connection point, a redistribution point (middle node), or an endpoint (exit node).
TS/LS/OPVA/pthc/PB/ptsc/Petersburg/anything relating to a child/swirlface/r@ygold – AVOID. CP keywords.
Tumble – a method to anonymize the source of your bitcoins.
TrueCrypt – Open source application used to encrypt storage devices such as hard drives and USB flash drives. It is also used to create encrypted virtual disks contained in a file that mounts similarly to real storage devices.
Tx ID – Bitcoin transaction ID
Utopia marketplace – Market that had some connection to BMR (altho the nature of the connection is somewhat unclear). Had the advantage of being fully stocked with former BMR vendors at its public launch. Rapidly taken down by the Dutch police not long after it was unveiled to the public.
Vendors – Those who sell products on a market. This may be of an illegal nature, semi-legal nature, or completely legal nature. Because a vendor will be given a buyer's full information to send the product to, any new vendor is under heavy scrutiny of being a scam or a 'honeypot' set up by law enforcement. Because of the difficult nature of the work, quality vendors tend to develop a cult following.
Vendors Roundtable – A vendor-only discussion forum on Silk Road 1/2 forums. Used on a site to allow vendors to bring up issues about the market or buyers without raising alarm in the general populace.
VPN – Virtual Private Network. In the context of the anonymous activity, this is usually a proxy that purports to be anonymous in nature to hide the end user's identity. Generally either used to hide the fact that one is connecting to an anonymous network like Tor, or to hide the fact one is using an anonymous network like Tor (as many websites will block Tor out proxies). A VPN does not provide true security as there is no way to know if the operator is keeping logs.
Whonix – (http://zo7fksnun4b4v4jv.onion) is a Debian-based operating system focused on anonymity, privacy, and security by isolation. Whonix consists of two parts: One solely runs Tor and is called Gateway. The other, the Workstation, is on a completely isolated network. Only connections through Tor are possible.
Whistleblowing – The disclosure by a person, usually an employee in a government agency or private enterprise, to the public or to those in authority, of mismanagement, corruption, illegality, or some other wrongdoing.
ZULU Time – UTC-0 Western European time zone.


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It's about time I wrote this ultimate guide of 10 things to do in Breckenridge Colorado. This pretty mountain town is one of my favorite places in Colorado! Skiing and snowboarding are the main attractions for tourists in winter, but there are many other activities to choose from.
But first, a little history about Breckenridge:
Breck was established in 1859 after prospectors discovered gold in placer mines (dug straight down) along the Blue River and Idaho Springs during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush. Soon others rushed to Summit County to stake a claim.
Last month, I bushwhacked through the forest and came upon a clearing. When the snow sloped downward in a large bowl, I turned back. I didn't want to fall into a placer mine by accident! These commonplace mines are located along most trails.
General George E. Spencer named the town after Vice President, John C. Breckinridge and gained the first post office between the Continental Divide and Salt Lake City. Yes, flattery wins. When the VP sided with the Confederates as a brigadier general, the townspeople changed the spelling to Breckenridge.
In 1961, the first ski runs were cut into the Ten Mile Range on Peak 8. Since then, Breckenridge Ski Resort has expanded to Peaks 6 – 10 providing a wide variety of terrain for all abilities of skiers and boarders.
10 things to do in Breckenridge:
Breckenridge Ski Resort
Spend the day or half a day skiing or riding one of the most beautiful mountains in Summit County. With 2908 acres and 187 trails, you could easily spend a whole week exploring Peaks 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. Make sure to have your picture taken by Epic Mix at the top of Peak 8!
Park in town and take the gondola to Peak 7 or 8. From there the Breckenridge Ski Resort is yours to explore.
Bring them with you or rent at one of three Charter Sports locations in Breckenridge.
There are many awesome snowshoe trails in Breckenridge.
Click for the conditions of winter trails in Breck.
The Nordic Center
Check out the Breckenridge Nordic Center for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing where equipment can be rented. Or stop by their rustic lodge for a drink and snacks and enjoy the view. There's plenty of free parking.
Ice Skating
This is a blast and a good workout. I grew up in Wisconsin and figure-skated after school. Not challenging enough? There's a hockey rink next door. The indoor rinks are available to the public for a very reasonable fee.
Spend the day shopping. Main Street is lined with boutiques and restaurants of all kinds. From high-end retailers like Overland Sheepskin to souvenir shops, I'm sure you will find something to take home with you.
Breckenridge dining, drinking, shopping
My favorites include Giampietro Pizza for a slice and a salad. Flipside Burger for handcrafted shakes, triple fried fries, and natural burgers. Southridge Seafood Grill for the obvious, and Legends Steak and Italian for their cozy atmosphere and a delicious meal. Stop by The Crown for a cup of hot chocolate, or something stronger, and play a game while resting up for tomorrow's activities. There are several seating areas and games to choose from.
Breckenridge Recreation Center
Want to stay in shape while on vacation? The Breckenridge Recreation Center includes indoor tennis, a pool and splash area, a gym, rock wall, racquetball, and several fitness and weight rooms. They are all open to the public.
Ghost tour
I took the ghost tour a couple of years ago. It was filled with documented historical highlights of the town along with incredible stories. I remember reading about the wind sheer that leveled trees down the mountain all the way to the cemetery but didn't know the bone-chilling events leading up to it. The town had formed a procession to that very site the day before.
Escape Room Breckenridge
That was the most intense hour I've ever spent in Breckenridge. When you sign up, they may add people to your group. The more puzzle-solvers the better. It takes a team to unlock the clues before time is up. Tick, tock… Escape Room Breckenridge
Weekend Events
From Ullr fest to the International Snow Sculpture Challenge and Mardi Gras there is always something going on in Breckenridge. Check this link to see what's on Breck's event calendar.
Sleigh ride and dinner!
Our family went on a sleigh ride and enjoyed a surprisingly amazing buffet dinner through Breckenridge Stables. It was very cold so dress like you're going to play in the snow. They provide wool blankets, but I would bring a warm one.
I could go on and on, but these
ten ELEVEN ideas should fill your time pretty quickly. I hope you add Breckenridge, Colorado to your ultimate travel bucket list!
Have you been to Breckenridge? Which activity intrigues you the most?
Escape Room – You Have to Try This.


text:
Today I have a new brand that I have been really excited about – a Canadian-based company from Vancouver named la couleur couture, or lacc for short. Based on a vision of creating a nail polish with no toxins that is highly pigmented and with UV protection, lacc beauty was founded by a beautiful woman named Farima Hakkak. Hoping to inspire women to follow their heart, the brand logo of open wings represents freedom, passion and hope. Some more information about this emerging brand:
la couleur couture is a unique vegan friendly nail polish collection containing no toxic chemicals like formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, dibutyl phthalate, camphor and toluene. Classy and edgy with couture quality staying power, la couleur couture is available in a range of fashion-forward and trendy colours.
The unique basecoat formula ensures long lasting protection, while the topcoat offers unmatched diamond-like shine. Each polish contains a protective UV inhibitor so women can wave goodbye to brittle and yellow nails, and say hello to gorgeously coloured and healthy nails!
Headquartered in Vancouver and manufactured in New York, la couleur couture officially launched in March 2013 and the first collection is available online for global shipping.
Something even more amazing? la couleur couture is a strong supporter of community and charitable causes for women in need.
Let's have a look at the gorgeous polishes, named by years not phrases. 2011 is a pale shimmery yellow, with a hint of mustard, or what looks like a drop of green to mute the colour a little. I loved this shade on me! I know not everyone likes to wear yellow polishes, but I love the colour in summer and am lucky to be able to pull it off with my olive skin. I wore 3 thin coats over lacc's rubberized base coat, 2012, with a layer of 2013, lacc's top coat:
In the bottle and in the shade (above), 2011 shimmers a little, but it truly comes alive in the sun. Look:
It is such a gorgeous summer shade! Application was relatively easy as this was one of the thicker lacc polishes, but there may be some streakiness due to the frosty base of this polish.
The next colour is 1976, a robin's egg-blue with a hidden purple shimmer. 1976 leans very pale, and the shimmer shows best in direct sunlight. This polish was very sheer, so I could have used one more coat. Here are three coats with lacc's base and top coats:
I loved the pale eggshell shade of 1976 and decided to play with it a little. I settled on French tips in pure white:
I loved this look!! 1976 has a cool softness that makes it perfect against bright white! What do you think?
Both of the lacc polishes were on the thinner side, very fluid, and requiring three coats for full opacity. The lacc base coat, 2012, is rubberized to provide strong adhesion, and the top coat, 2013, promises diamond-like shine with superior wear and chip-resistance. I wore both 1976 and 2011 with lacc's base and top coat for 3 or 4 days with nary a chip or dullness. I can't wait to show you a few more lacc colours soon!
lacc la couleur couture is available directly through their website, as well as through Harlow & Co and Llarowe. Don't forget to follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest!
Have you tried any lacc products yet?
(Products provided for consideration and review. All opinions are my own.)


text:
Frederik and Mary's wedding was just fab. The hair, the use of jewels, the train...I loves it all.
What's your all time favorite Letizia outfit?
Photos: Abaca/Purepeople/Getty Images/Corbis
|The Dutch Sapphire Tiara
|Queen Emma (left) and Queen Juliana
|Queen Beatrix
|The second setting on Princess Mabel and Princess Máxima (right two)
|Opening a scholarship course and hanging out with cute kids; at the opening ceremony for the "Circulo de Lectores" 50th anniversary; audiences at Zarzuela Palace
|Visiting College Saint-Hubert; at the reopening of the Théâtre Royal de Liège; gala for the King Baudouin Foundation
|Attending a meeting for Women on Wings; opening a new mother and child center at Máxima Medical Center; visiting a playground for Neighbors' Day
|Attending the Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York with son Marius; visiting the Norwegian Seamen's Church in New York
|Concert on the evening of the opening
|Queen Maud
|Princess Ragnhild (with a young Haakon)
|Her Jaeger dress, and the necklace she was given
|Her Mulberry dress, with a look at the fabric and the necklace she was given
|The evening dress and personalized fan, plus daytime accessories
|Her Project D dress for the farewell, and the more comfortable outfit seen in Brisbane
|Left to right: Prince Constantijn, Pieter van Vollenhoven, Prince Willem-Alexander
|Attending an employment workshop; presenting the V de Vida Awards; taking the infantas to their first day of school
|Visiting Malta for the WHO Regional Committee meeting; a meeting with her Mary Foundation
|Opening a visitor's center for the Dunea company
|Opening the Dangerous Waste conference; christening a ship in Bergen and opening the Oslo Book Festival
|Jonathan Saunders dress and accessories; the evening print and shoes
|The top and skirt, plus the print and Those Shoes; Kate's version of Erdem at the reception and one of the dresses that trotted down the Erdem runway using this print
|A look at the parasol, plus the bodice detail and earrings
|A look at the embellishment and accessories
|The Gandik Diraja
|Past Queens of Malaysia wearing the tiara and necklace
|The current Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Abdul Halim, and Raja Permaisuri Agong, Haminah
|The Kalung Diraja


text:
A pretty blonde mob princess, bound and gagged, is taken kicking and screaming raw-throated curses out of the trunk of the player's car. Tied to a chair in the hideout of the gangsters who hold her hostage, the player's asked to snap a photo to send to her Mafia father.
She screams muffled protests through the rag between her lips, the image on the camera phone screen reflecting her tormented, terrified eyes. As the player centers her face in the frame, she offers a desperate moan, a wracked sob.
"Smile for daddy," the player tells her.
Is Grand Theft Auto IV an expression of hate towards women? Are those who enjoy it misogynists?
Feminist interest blog Feministing certainly thinks so – though not because of this mission scene from later in the game. At the time of GTA IV's launch, Feministing poster Samhita came across a video called "Ladies of Liberty City: Very Bad Things," created by IGN. The video featured sequences of the game edited together by IGN, and all of these sequences depicted violence, with sexual overtones, toward the prostitutes and strippers in the game – such as soliciting a prostitute and then running her over with your car to get your money back.
Feministing's Samhita was offended, and excoriated the game for what she called its "blatant violence and misogyny displayed towards women."
Before we address an argument to her statement, it's necessary first to pick out a few serious flaws in her opinion of the game.
Thanks, IGN
First, she referred to IGN's video as a "trailer" for the game, which it was not, of course, being that it was neither produced, publicized or sanctioned by the title's developer, Rockstar, and was not intended to be used as advertisement nor representation of the game. The development of that video was entirely the doing of IGN, who when questioned by MTV Multiplayer's Stephen Totilo, admitted it "messed up," and removed the video, whose caption had read: "Grab a cup of hot coffee and enjoy the working girls of the city."
If Samhita of Feministing was unaware enough of the game industry to know the difference between a game's trailer and its official promotion, one could certainly argue that she was unqualified to criticize the game. Unfortunately, though, only a very small percentage of the world is especially educated on video games, and the majority of attacks on the medium come from the outside looking in. With that in mind, a hearty portion of the blame for this misunderstanding is squarely on the shoulders of IGN, who should have known better, to say the very least.
Who's Raising Our Kids?
Beginning with this misconception, Samhita, who hadn't played the game, expressed concern that young men might be having their first sexual experiences with women in GTA IV's prostitute-populated, violent city streets and strip clubs.
Because the modern school system encourages memorizing information to regurgitate it, discouraging creative analysis, Samhita argued that young boys playing GTA IV would not only be introduced to negative stereotypes of female sexuality through the game, but would also lack the critical thinking skills to understand that they were not being "trained" in a value system.
She wrote:
"It can be argued that they are being force fed heavily marketed violent images (that often reflect the violence in the media, movies, government policy and in their own communities) that become normalized. And not only normalized, but given the popular nature of GTA, it is cool to be violent and kill prostitutes."
It's a common position, and even a viable one, that media today and the ready access to information may desensitize not only young people, but adults of all ages and creeds to heavy violence and sexual themes. But are children really "force-fed" any sort of entertainment, implying that there is no choice? If media really is the sole determiner of children's values, I'm afraid we've got a bigger problem than a violent video game.
Does Samhita suggest that parents have no power to create what's "normalized" for their children? Assuming such a lack of influence on the part of mothers is at least as misogynistic as any entertainment medium.
And even so – let's pretend a moment that it's possible for media to single-handedly ruin our youth. Even then, how can Samhita place blame on a title that, at the time she leveled her critique, had been on store shelves for a single day? One that she never even played?
Of course, Samhita is neglecting the most essential point of all - Grand Theft Auto IV is not a game for children, period.
Those Virgin Eyes
After being evaluated by several ratings organizations worldwide, the game was assigned a "mature" rating - this is 17+ in the United States and 18 in Europe and the United Kingdom. Moreover, the ESRB has repeatedly urged consumers to use the ratings as a guide, and that the word "mature" in the ratings is equally as important as the number.
In other words, this game is not intended to be played by curious youth about to get their first look at a pair of boobs, Samhita.
Ironically, by the way, Feministing used the Australian box shot of that region's heavily-edited version of GTA IV - with the "15+" rating sticker clear in the image.
Technicalities aside, Samhita's post went on to wonder why "a game that depicts such violence towards women [is] so popular," and asked, "How is that acceptable?"
Guilt Issue
To be fair, this is a more challenging question. In its eagerness to defend gaming, the game community has repeatedly stressed that GTA IV neither forces nor explicitly rewards you for engaging in prostitution, violence towards women, or random acts of brutality. But it would be untruthful on our part to say that anyone plays GTA IV primarily for its engrossing story, its flawless driving mechanics or its watertight gameplay.
We play it to wreak mayhem, so let's just admit it. Maybe then, we can finally stop feeling guilty.
GTA IV, at its core, is not a violence simulator, nor a gripping television drama, nor a camp comedy – rather, it's all of these, presented as an essay on freedom of behavior, a fantasy world where morality is suspended, subjective or selective. What we do in that fantasy world says something about us as a society, about the state of the real world, rather than being a blatant advertisement for the innate immorality of entertainment.
Rockstar's Dan Houser recently told Playboy in an interview:
"We're trying to give gamers freedom. It boils down to critics not liking the fact that people can choose to do 'bad' things in a fantasy world - which to me is silly."
Even Samhita admits that violent media is merely a reflection of a violent world. In that respect, GTA IV is merely truthful, an unwillingness to avoid the ugliest aspects of society. Instead of avoiding them, it embraces them, a poignant satire of those truths. Why is Samhita so incensed that players in the game can visit seedy, low-lit and vaguely gross strip clubs, when those things are actually plentiful in reality?
And in real world strip clubs, the women choose to put their flesh on display. You can assume, then, that the digital women have elected to be there, also. Although not everyone always makes ideal choices for their lives, and many women become sex workers out of desperate economic circumstances, still more appreciate burlesque as an art and embrace the work they do.
And to Samhita's quintessential argument – that a game that makes this behavior possible is "misogynistic"?
Freedom And Equality For All
As a mirror of society at its worst, no one is spared the harsh lens in the game. Rarely are any of the game's characters portrayed in a favorable light, and it presents in fact a level playing field – the men are as mad for their addictions and bloodlust as the women are. And if any of the characters are likeable, it's because of empathy – or pity – for the nature of their human failings.
In fact, one of the game's more powerful drug barons is the full-figured, fierce and feared Elizabeta, whose treatment is no more or less gentle than her male counterparts. Equality abounds. Yes, GTA IV is hostile to women. It's hostile to everyone.
To call misogyny here is divisive, actually, implying that the treatment of women needs to be elevated above the treatment of any other group – as if "woman" were a separate, special "race" with a unified mind. We aren't, thank you.
In fact, with all due respect for the feminist community, demand for that sort of favoritism seems to breed resentment – perhaps even the very resentment that GTA IV provides the framework to explore. Just who are those large-breasted logo silhouettes on Feministing's website supposed to be giving the middle finger to, anyway?
The imagery of the blond mafia princess held hostage is disturbing – but no more so than the scenes from film, television and novels with which humankind has been fascinated for centuries, dating even further back than the dramatic works of the ancient Greeks. These things don't begin with GTA IV, not by a long shot. And to argue that mankind (and not merely "men") have no right to the dark fantasies the game allows us to examine is painfully naïve.
And GTA IV earns praise above all for delivering that playground in which to explore and reflect on our baser ideas, even those we don't necessarily embrace in our real lives. It does appeal to misogynists, who would have espoused those philosophies with or without a video game, and to those who choose to focus only on the grossest elements. In IGN's "citizenmike"'s flippant defense of the IGN "Ladies of Liberty City" video, he wrote:
"GTA games, ultimately, want players to shoot innocent people. It's one of the core tenants of the game design. In fact, GTA games fail in entirety if you try to play them without some degree of moral depravity."
I think Rockstar's core tenet, actually, is to force people to consider moral depravity, not to beg them to embrace it. And that's why GTA IV appeals to the socially curious and the civil-minded, too – all of whom tire of having their intentions assumed, and of being told they've no right to their entertainment by those who haven't even bothered to try it.


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There's a lot to go through this week so let's! get! it! started!
THE Dakishimeruzu- "I wanna be your boyfriend"
THE Dakishimeruzu is not afraid to thrash around in the mud. Let's just get dirty and have fun. Their second album was released last November, so this extra long PV is a good reminder to check it out.


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Sixty-five years later …
Wilson Daily Times, 29 May 1952.
When I was home earlier this month, my dad and I did a count. About one-third of his graduating class of 75 has lived to see this anniversary. The Class of 1952 included parents of several of my close childhood friends. Though none of us attended, we were blessed to grow up under the Darden umbrella.
Best wishes to the '52 Trojans! May you celebrate many more!


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MTV has announced the premieres of new scripted comedy Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous and reality series The Show With Vinny. Both will debut on Thursday, May 2nd.
Here are the details:
MTV's Vinny Guadagnino Tackles Late Night with New Talk Show
Rising Star Comedian Bo Burnham Makes His Debut in Hysterical New Scripted Comedy Series "Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous"
New York, NY (March 13, 2013) – MTV is set to debut two highly anticipated new series on Thursday nights, "The Show With Vinny" starring "Jersey Shore's" Vinny Guadagnino and "Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous" starring comedian Bo Burnham premiering on Thursday, May 2 beginning at 10:00 P.M. ET/PT.
In "The Show With Vinny," MTV will shatter the typical talk show format by taking the biggest celebrities out of the studio and into Vinny Guadagnino's family home in Staten Island, New York. Combining the reality of Guadagnino's home life – one of the biggest fan-favorite aspects and memories from "Jersey Shore" – with off-the-cuff interviews with some of today's hottest celebrities while they break bread with his family, "The Show With Vinny" will feature no studio or audience – just family, food and big stars. Each week, Vinny invites the guests into his home so the celebrities can experience the hospitality and Italian cuisine prepared by his ultimate hostess mother, Paola, and the antics of the party boss, Uncle Nino, and more. There's no place like Vinny's home as the guests let their guard down, have a meal and candid conversation and comedy with the Guadagnino family. Upcoming celebrity guests to be announced soon.
Stay up to date with Vinny and family by visiting www.showwithvinny.mtv.com or like the show page on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MTVTheShowWithVinny.
"The Show With Vinny" is Executive Produced by SallyAnn Salsano and Pam LaLima for 495 Productions – the production company behind "Jersey Shore." The series is Executive Produced by Jacquelyn French and Jessica Zalkind for MTV. Janay Dutton is Executive in Charge of Production on the series for MTV. Concept by Zalkind. Kara Welker and Jared Hoffman serve as Executive Producers of the series for Generate Management.
Then immediately following at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT, is "Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous," an all-new, half hour single-camera scripted comedy series starring comedian Bo Burnham as Zach Stone, a fresh-out-of-high school teenager who opts to pursue a life of fame and stardom instead of attending college. The series follows Zach, who hires a camera crew to film him throughout his daily life as a part of his quest to become an over-night celebrity – even though he possesses no real talent. From Zach's attempts to become a celebrity chef or a ring-tone recording artist to purposefully going missing, he'll try any avenue to get noticed and stop at nothing until he reaches fame. Chaos, awkwardness and embarrassment ensue in this clever and timely series that serves as a comedic send-up of today's current culture of instant celebrity.
Five years ago, Bo Burnham was just another high-school student recording YouTube videos for fun. Now he has successfully secured his place in the comedy scene and recently was featured in Vanity Fair's January 2013 "Comedy Issue" as selected by Judd Apatow as a "truly inspired comic doing great work right now." Shortly after Burnham's 18th birthday, he became the youngest person to record and headline a "Comedy Central Presents" special, which lead to a four-record deal with Comedy Central Records. Burnham then went on to release his first digital-only EP, "Bo Fo Sho," on iTunes which hit #1 on the comedy album chart and #6 on the overall iTunes album chart. In 2009 he released his first of two full length LPs, "Bo Burnham," which topped the Billboard New Artist chart and reached #1 on the Billboard Comedy chart in its first week. Named by Entertainment Weekly as one of "12 Rising Stars of Comedy," Burnham has over 114 million views on his YouTube channel and his stand-up act has been featured on "Conan" and nominated for the prestigious "Best Comedy Show" at the 2010 Edinburgh Comedy Awards. Co-creating, writing, producing and staring in the upcoming new series "Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous," Burnham personifies the voice of today's teen generation in an honest, irreverent and ultimately triumphant way.
"Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous" stars Bo Burnham as Zach Stone; Kari Coleman ("The Amazing Spider-Man") as Mrs. Stone; Tom Wilson ("Back to the Future") as Mr. Stone; Cameron Palatas (Disney Channel's "A.N.T. Farm") as Andy Stone; Caitlin Gerard ("Magic Mike") as Amy; and Armen Weitzman ("Greek," "The Sarah Silverman Program") as Greg. Additional cast includes Shelley Hennig ("The Secret Circle," "Days of Our Lives") as Christy.
"Zach Stone is Gonna Be Famous" is written by Dan Lagana and Bo Burnham and executive produced by Lagana, Burnham and Dave Becky. Justin Levy and Michelle Klepper are the MTV executives in charge of production.
About MTV:
MTV is the world's premier youth entertainment brand. With a global reach of more than a half-billion households, MTV is the cultural home of the millennial generation, music fans and artists, and a pioneer in creating innovative programming for young people. MTV reflects and creates pop culture with its Emmy(R), Grammy(R) and Peabody(R) award-winning content built around compelling storytelling, music discovery and activism across TV, online and mobile. MTV's sibling networks MTV2 and mtvU each deliver unparalleled customized content for young males, music fans and college students, and its online hub MTV.com is a leading destination for music, news and pop culture. MTV is a unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms.
What do you think? Do you plan on checking out these shows?


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The United States continues to hold its breath.
And while doing so, it is worth revisiting the second Presidential debate of less than a month ago.
The "moderators" were the woeful Martha Raddatz and the downright evil (remember James Tracy!) Anderson Cooper.
These two jokers made fools of themselves.
But let's assess this "town hall" shootout.
When Cooper said, "…the night really belongs to the people in this room…," what he really meant was himself, Raddatz, and Hillary Clinton.
Screw everybody else.
And that attitude has come back to bite the mass media in the butt…big time!
Clinton says, "…I can promise you I will work with every American. I want to be the president for all Americans regardless of your political beliefs, what you look like, your religion."
That must be the "public" position. As we have seen from WikiLeaks, her "private" opinion (or at least that of her "staffers") is one of complete contempt.
Young people are "fucking dumb".
Latinos are "needy".
Trump supporters are "deplorable".
Black people are "super predators".
But PUBLICLY, she says "stronger together."
Blah-frickity-blah blah blah.
Nothing this lady says is the truth.
And (to cinema) she is A HORRIBLE ACTOR!
That's what convinced me.
I have watched enough people on film to get a feeling about when someone is lying.
Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, Hillary Clinton says is disingenuous.
Transparently so!
"I want us to heal our country and bring it together."
She also wants to (and did) have Democratic Party operatives start violence (as provocateurs) at a Trump rally in Chicago (as per Project Veritas proof).
It's not likely that that was an isolated incident.
Trump kicks off the truth.
"We have to bring back respect to law enforcement."
But also, "…fixing and making our inner cities better."
It takes money. Yes. And jobs. Companies hire. If they can hire.
Clinton's plan is the globalist plan. Ship jobs overseas and wait for new, better "service" jobs to magically appear. It's a pipedream. Actually, it's a scam. THE scam. Clinton's program could be called Make America Poor Again. She might have a law degree (likely gotten only so she could personally BREAK the law more efficiently), but she doesn't know shit about business. All she knows is "currying favor". Her immense wealth was not earned. There was no hard work. She most accurately represents a never-ending cycle of nepotism. Not so with Trump.
But Anderson Cooper wanted to get right to slamming Trump. And so Mr. Cooper, fully "in the tank" for Clinton, pressed: "You described kissing women without consent, grabbing their genitals. That is sexual assault. You bragged that you have sexually assaulted women. Do you understand that?"
Hey Anderson! Do you understood that you almost single-handedly caused Dr. James Tracy to lose his job? Do you understand it was mostly because you shirked your duty as a journalist to investigate the Sandy Hook hoax? Do you understand that? Do you understand that your criminal deception of the American people (under the aegis of gun control) was psychological terrorism? Do you understand that, when it comes out you were fully aware it was a hoax, your career will be over? Do you understand that?
They say Trump doesn't apologize. Personally, I've never heard Hillary Clinton give an apology about Benghazi. Her "apology" was, "…what difference does it make?" Now remember, that was concerning her culpability in the DEATHS of four Americans in Libya. But you want an apology from Trump? You get one (and an honest one):
"Yes, I am very embarrassed by it and I hate it…"
That's about his sexual bragging which was caught on tape. Nobody died. But he owned up. He was "embarrassed by it" and showed genuine remorse for his own lapse in judgment. About something that happened 11 YEARS AGO!
But Anderson Cooper presses…and presses…and presses.
And that's why Americans hate the press.
Because they don't "press" on the important things.
Like Sandy Hook. Or 9/11. They just press buttons…and they have their buttons pressed (these "journalists")…because they are part of the corrupt system which runs the United States.
They are shitty, soulless propagandists.
Trump: "we have to build up the wealth of our nation".
Whether the Adam Smith reference was purposeful or not, this is a real businessperson. Unlike Clinton, he didn't just go to cocktail parties and solicit donations. He wasn't selling access, he was selling real estate. Big fucking difference!
Hillary has been getting rich as a "civil servant".
And now her dream was so close in her sights. The ultimate seat of power. The US Presidency. I really believe, however, that she sought the office merely for personal reasons. A power trip? Yes. But a very sinister one. She just wanted to be back in the Oval Office cackling about how she had tricked the American people with her "stronger together" bullshit.
Clinton claims, "…he has also targeted immigrants, African-Americans, Latinos, people with disabilities, POWs, Muslims and so many others."
Did she really say that?!? Because we have the PROOF that her campaign HATES EVERYBODY…including those demographic groups in that sentence!!!
But Clinton just can't leave well-enough alone. Like the parrot she is, she twitters out the tired, haggard, liberal eyewash: "…America already is great…".
Oh really? Well, fine! Why don't you just step down then, "Madame" Secretary (and go back to whatever brothel you came from)? Yes. Indeed. Why run at all??? If America is already great… Fine. Yes. Obama has done a great job. So you would just lend us that counterintuitively-grating NPR steadiness for another four years–that calm, soothing nonsense, but transformed into "leadership". Great. Sounds wonderful.
"…we are great because we are good." Sure… Wait! Did Hillary Clinton just try to occupy the moral high ground? On live, national television??? Good God, what a hypocrite!
At this point it's appropriate to quote Mr. Trump at length…as he absolutely TORPEDOES Secretary Clinton:
"It's just words, folks. It's just words. These words, I have been hearing for many years. I heard them when they were running for the Senate in New York where Hillary was going to bring back jobs to upstate New York and she failed. I've heard them where Hillary is constantly talking about the inner cities of our country which are a disaster education-wise, job-wise, safety-wise, in every way possible. I'm going to help the African-Americans, I'm going to help the Latinos, hispanics. I am going to help the inner cities. She has done a terrible job for the African-Americans. She wants their vote and she does nothing."
This. This is what Americans have been waiting for. Someone with a spine to call out, on national television, the fakery of the ruling political establishment. It was a beautiful thing to hear.
The crap-journalist Raddatz says, "I want to get to audience questions," but then she presses…presses…brings the narrative back to the lame, inconsequential Trump tape. Which is to say, she didn't want to get to questions at all!
Raddatz: "This tape is generating intense interest. In just 48 hours it has become the single most talked about story of the entire 2016 election on Facebook with millions and millions of people discussing it on the social network."
At this point, a third (and real) moderator would have told Raddatz to shut the hell up. But it was one-on-three. Trump against the world! Or rather, Trump against the political establishment…and FOR the world! Clinton wants a no-fly zone over Syria. Like the one she imposed over Libya. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has accurately said, "That would mean war…with Russia." AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HILLARY AND HER CABAL WANT! They are fucking maniacs! No way should she or any of them EVER get anywhere NEAR the White House again!!!
Trump strikes back: "If you look at Bill Clinton, far worse. Mine are words and his was action."
Little debate about that.
Further: "His words, what he has done to women. There's never been anybody in the history of politics in this nation that has been so abusive to women."
Yes, folks…that's the Clintons. Trump would get into the specifics…about how Hillary got a rapist off. Madame Secretary defended a client (as a lawyer), the rapist, and then later laughed about it. THAT is the lady taking the moral high ground. Appalling…
Raddatz: "Please hold the applause."
Yes, little lapdog Raddatz had to calm the crowd…BECAUSE THEY WERE APPLAUDING TRUMP!
Hillary's strategy was not working. All those opposition research dollars, and Trump was defeating it with moxie…and honesty. I'm sorry. I messed up. But the lady across from me is a conniving scoundrel and she has NO leg on which to stand!
Hillary SAYS that she abides by that paragon of virtue Michelle Obama's words, "When they go low, you go high.," but the truth is more like, "When they go low, we go lower."
The transcript indicates there was "[Applause]" at this point, but it was either so weak or Martha Raddatz was so biased as to not make the same little preachy intercession she had made moments earlier.
But I will leave you with the deathblow which occurred not long afterwards.
Clinton: "it's just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country."
Trump: "Because you would be in jail."
Goddamn, that's beautiful!


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For true love, layer passion fruit and chocolate
Passion fruit, chocolate and Champagne. Could there be three ingredients better suited for a holiday built around love?
There are several components to this dessert, but none of them is difficult and they combine to form a most impressive and decadent dessert. Passion fruit puree generally is found in the freezer section of your grocer, often alongside the Hispanic ingredients.
Chocolate-Champagne Trifle with Passion Fruit Curd
Start to finish: 1 hour
Servings: 4
For the chocolate cake:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1/4 cup coffee
2 eggs
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
Pinch of salt
For the passion fruit curd:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 eggs
1/2 cup passion fruit puree
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Pinch of salt
For the Champagne cream:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 egg yolks
3/4 cup Champagne (or other sparkling wine)
1/2 cup heavy cream
Fresh berries, to garnish
First, make the chocolate cake. Heat the oven to 350 F. Coat a 9-inch cake pan with cooking spray, then line the bottom with kitchen parchment.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Remove the pan from the heat and add the chocolate, stirring until melted. Stir in the coffee until smooth and glossy.
In a medium bowl, beat together the eggs, cocoa, brown sugar and salt. Add the chocolate mixture and beat until smooth. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes, or until slightly puffed and no longer loose at the center. Set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, make the passion fruit curd.
In a clean small saucepan, whisk together the sugar and cornstarch. Add the eggs and beat until smooth. Add the passion fruit puree and beat again until smooth. Set the pan over medium heat and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the butter and salt. Set aside and allow to cool completely.
To make the Champagne cream, set up a double boiler with 1 inch of water in the bottom pan. If you don't have a double boiler, fill a medium saucepan with 1 inch of water, then set a large bowl over it.
In the top of the boiler or in the bowl, whisk together the sugar and egg yolks until smooth. Add the Champagne and whisk until smooth. Turn the heat to medium and continue to whisk until the mixture is light in color and has thickened to a soft, foamy cream, about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the heavy cream to stiff peaks. Fold the cream into the Champagne cream.
To assemble the trifle, cut the cooled chocolate cake into small cubes.
In parfait glasses, layer cubes of chocolate cake, passion fruit curd and Champagne cream, repeating the layers until the glasses are filled. Garnish with fresh berries. Enjoy immediately or cover and chill for up to 8 hours.
Nutrition information per serving: 1,048 calories; 558 calories from fat (53 percent of total calories); 62 g fat (33 g saturated; 1 g trans fats); 462 mg cholesterol; 111 g carbohydrate; 6 g fiber; 94 g sugar; 13 g protein; 136 mg sodium.


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You are Watching The Isle (2019)
The Isle (2019)
1840 and another ship crashes on the rocks of an almost deserted island in Scotland. Three sailors survive the wreck and make it to shore where the few locals take them in as they wait for the mainland boat to come for them. But the sailors' survival story has only just started as they uncover the strange past of the once vibrant island.
Views: 162
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Thriller
Director: Matthew Butler
Actors: Alex Hassell, Alix Wilton Regan, Ben Lee, Conleth Hill, Dickon Tyrrell, Emma King, Fisayo Akinade, Graham Butler, Joe Bannister, Tori Hart
Country: UK
Duration: 96
Quality: HD
Release: 2019
IMDb: 6.1


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GAO, Mali – A suicide bomber wearing military fatigues blew himself up near a checkpoint at the entrance to northern Mali's largest city, wounding one soldier in the second attack to hit the same location since Friday, residents and officials said Sunday.
A column of French tanks stood guard along the sandy road leading to the scene, as French and Malian soldiers patrolled the surrounding residential neighborhood of mud-walled homes.
The attack took place late Saturday at about 11 p.m., according to Malian Capt. Daouda Diarra. On Sunday morning, the bomber's torso lay in the scorching sun in the middle of the road, while his head sat in a pile of sand in a nearby wheelbarrow.
"When he leaped over the wall, we fired at him," Diarra said of the suicide bomber. "He then detonated his explosive belt."
Cpl. Mamadou Abdoulaye Maiga said other weapons were left behind at the scene, and French forces detonated three grenades Sunday morning.
It was the exact location where an earlier suicide bomber riding a motorcycle had blown himself up Friday morning, an attack that raised fears the militants ousted from Gao by French and Malian forces could now be launching a new wave of violence.
The Malian military gave no details about the bomber in Saturday's attack, stating only that the young man was Arab and a suspected member of MUJAO — the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa.
The group seized control of Gao in April 2012 and had ruled the city until the arrival of French and Malian forces in late January. Military officials have said that residual elements of the group remain in the Gao area, and other fighters are hiding in the surrounding desert.
Friday's suicide bomber had been living at a known jihadist hideout in Gao, according to local residents. A guard at the home said that it had been visited three months ago by the one-eyed terror leader Moktar Belmoktar, who claimed responsibility for the attack on the BP-operated natural gas plant in Algeria.
Other jihadist leaders from MUJAO also had stayed in the luxurious two-story home with a verdant courtyard, which the militants took over when they captured Gao last year, the guard said.
Fears of suicide bombing attacks in Gao have been high since the discovery of industrial-strength explosives in the city last week. Four Malian soldiers also were killed by a land mine in the town of Gossi, raising fears the militants were planting explosives in the road.
On Sunday, crowds of nearby residents gathered under the shade of a few trees by the site of the suicide bombing attack. It was the second time in as many days that their homes had been shaken by blasts from suicide bombers.
"I am really afraid. You hear about these kinds of things in Pakistan or Afghanistan. Gao is becoming like Pakistan," said Maouloud Dicko, 30, as he sat on his motorcycle.
Malian soldiers are fighting jihadists in their desert hideouts just outside Gao, the country's defense minister said Saturday.
Defense Minister Yamoussa Camara said that at least two militants were killed during the fighting that took place Friday several miles (kilometers) outside northern Mali's largest town.
"We call on the population of Gao not to give in to panic and above all to cooperate with defense and security forces to drive out the terrorists who are trying to infiltrate among civilians," Camara said by telephone from Bamako, the capital.
Radical jihadists seized control of the major towns across northern Mali in April last year following a military coup in the distant capital, and a planned military intervention by West African neighbors stalled.
France intervened in its former colony on Jan. 11 after the militants began pushing south and seizing towns in central Mali, raising alarm that they were inching closer toward the capital.
While the French and Malian forces were able to retake the towns in central Mali, as well as Timbuktu and Gao, the latest suicide attacks indicate the militants are far from defeated.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/02/10/official-second-suicide-bomber-blows-himself-up-in-gao-northern-mali/#ixzz2KY0Pq7T0


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Students will be assigned a faculty advisor upon completion of the application for admission. Students should meet with the assigned advisor prior to beginning their program of study and periodically thereafter. The advisor will assist the student in planning his/her program.
Decisions for admittance into the graduate program are based upon a comprehensive system, which includes multiple measures to assess the personal characteristics, communications and basic skills proficiency of candidates.
This system includes (a) application (b) official transcripts or in-progress letter (c) references (d) statement of intent (e) resume and/or experience profile
*Students may attend an interview which will examine the student's career goals, personal readiness for their program, multicultural sensitivity and awareness, and personal judgment and decision-making skills.
Yes. If you are matriculated (accepted) student you may qualify for a Stafford Student Loan, a Federal Perkins Loan, a TAP award (New York state residents) or an OSAP Loan (Canadians).
Learn more at the Niagara University Financial Aid Office.
There are several courses where candidates are expected to work with students with exceptionalities. These experiences are intended to develop their abilities to apply the research and theory learned within coursework, as well as meet New York State certification requirements. Candidates in the online programs may complete field experiences in a school of their choice as long as the students they are working with meet the grade level expectations and have Individualized Educational Plans (IEPs). Candidates who need assistance arranging a school placement may wish to communicate with the course instructor or advisor for support. Candidates will need to document their field work following the guidelines of the instructor. At the conclusion of the program all candidates will complete the practicum of 100 hours of field work under the mentorship of a certified special education teacher and a Niagara University faculty member. Candidates may complete their field experiences in schools where they are employed as long as the documented hours are in the appropriate grade level and with direct support to students with exceptional learning needs.
Students must maintain a B average in course work and successfully complete a comprehensive examination and all practicum and internship placements.
Students can complete the special education certificate in two years.