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La Resistance
Remember the wannabe rapist from the beginning of THELMA AND LOUISE? Sure you do. Remember how he asks Thelma, when he's first coming on to her, if she's got a 'funny uncle', because if she does, then he has something in common with him?
I've got a funny uncle. Occasionally, he sends me email forwards -- raving right wing/conservative crackpot stuff, usually with the latest Limbaugh/Hannity/Coulter lunatic distortions or outright lies emblazoned front and center in all bolded full capitals bullet points. Stuff about all the people Bill and Hillary Clinton have had assassinated to cover up her lesbian love affairs, and how the New World Order is going to steal your baby and raise him up to be a liberal Muslim suicide bomber, and all that shit. You know the drill, I'm sure.
Yesterday, he sent me an email that linked to this page, advising me that he had joined The Resistance, and he hoped I would, too.
I... you know, it's... they... you couldn't...
There are no words. Really. The English language isn't adequate to express how I feel about this. But, what the hell, I got a blog, and like Gene Kelly, I gotta dance:
12 years of Republican dominance in Congress (1994 to 2006), with another two years (the last two) of a nominally Democrat controlled Congress where Republicans still managed to obstruct, stall, and filibuster any and all meaningful reform Democrats tried to enact. The stolen Presidential elections in 2000 and 2004, the insanely triumphant cackling and self righteous "Iz you a patriot or iz you ain't" shrilling of the far right blogosphere, the far right 'intellectuals', the far right talking heads on FOX and MSNBC and CNN, the far right whatever. Watching Karl Rove smirk and Ann Coulter strut and Rush Limbaugh posture and Bill O'Reilly preen, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.
18 years of Gingrich, DeLay, Hastert, Foley, Santorum, Craig, any number of Bushes, and Cheney, Cheney, Cheney, relentless, ubiquitous Cheney, who somehow managed to be everywhere at once and nowhere at all, from his 'undisclosed location', with a smoking shotgun over one shoulder and a great big F bomb perpetually rolling off his oily, evil tongue.
Was it all worth it?
Is this, at long last, our reward, for gritting our teeth and putting our heads down and somehow trudging our way through the last near-20 years of systematic corruption and corporate/government abuses like a farmer up to his chest in chickenshit and pig vomit? Did we go through all that just so we can watch as the entire conservative movement goes into a screaming shrieking spasm of Cheyne-Stokes respiration, as they undergo a complete and utter meltdown when finally, irrefutably, inarguably, a wearied, disgusted majority of the American people catches up with the rest of the civilized world by unequivocably standing up and saying "You know what, we're really tired of your stupid bullshit"?
Three ruined nations, a shattered world economy, a wrecked and poisoned global biosphere, a destroyed public education system, a thoroughly corrupted and debauched media, a body count of innocent victims running into the millions... these are just some of the costs of doing business for the last two decades of grotesque Republican fearmongering, profiteering, and assets plundering. Watching from the sidelines as our Republican leaders and their avid, barking, jackel-like cheerleaders Search and Replaced "truth and justice" with "spin and corruption", "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" with "depraved indifference to human life"... as they turned the American dream into an American nightmare, as they sacked two foreign countries and gutted our own, slaughtering millions and smearing our national psyche not only with blood, sweat, and tears, but also with pus, snot, and shit... a million or more shattered lives, exchanged knowingly for a few hundred bloated, smirking plutocrats, cackling as they dive into their vaultfuls of gore-stained, bomb-blackened, bulletholed greenbacks. Hell, what's a little... or a lot... of innocent viscera spattered across a great big mountain of currency? In the end it all still spends. Hold your nose, wipe it off on the shirt you stole off someone else's back, and stuff it in your wallet. Nothing wrong here. Move along.
It is worth it, now that we've finally emerged on the other side of that long, long tunnel?
Of course not. Nothing could make the non-stop parade of corruption, slaughter, and degradation the Republicans have enacted for the last eighteen years worth it, but sure as Bill O'Reilly loves him some loufahs, it's fun to watch the little sonsofbitches running in circles frothing and foaming and pawing at the air now.
It's not worth it, by no means is any of it worth it, I'd give it all up in a heartbeat for a chance to go back to Florida in 2000 and cast a different vote... but, in the absence of that option, well, I'll sit back and enjoy what I see spread out before me at the moment. Which is to say, the magnificent vista of 55 million right wing nutjobs who voted for McCain, flopping around in the bottom of the boat like stunned, asphyxiating trout, eyes popping, gills heaving, tails flapping in furious indignation as suddenly they realize that the out of control executive powers they happily bestowed on one of their own are about to pass into the hands of a goddam socialist liberal Democrat... who isn't even Caucasian.
Which brings us back to my 'funny uncle', and the funny, funny stuff he emails me sometimes.
So, he's joined The Resistance.
The Patriotic, Resilient, Conservative Resistance.
As an American citizen, while he will show respect to President-elect Obama, (yeah, right) he still opposes the far-Left and socialistic elements that comprise the centerpiece of President Obama's agenda. He recognizes that it will take a patriotic and resilient Citizen Resistance to block implementation of this agenda and he joins with others who oppose these threats to our liberties.
Proudly, no doubt. Head held high, eyes feverishly gleaming in the dawn's early light, modern day musket-equivalent (probably an XM-8, if he can come up with the scratch, or a Vietnam era surplus Kalashnikov, still readily available virtually everywhere, if he can't) belligerently brandished before him. Ready to fight, shoot, kill, and die... or, at the very least, to type viciously into his DSL connection and forward a whole lot of really idiotic spam while clenching his teeth heroically and patriotically, to protect America from President-elect Obama's far Left and socialist agenda.
And what, exactly, is this far left, Socialist agenda? Well, let's check it out together.
Specifically, my crazy ass uncle resists:
Socialistic wealth redistribution including any and all tax increases and big-government welfare programs.
Here's what I love. When rich motherfuckers increase their already insanely bloated personal bankrolls by cheating and robbing and bilking and scamming the poor desperate working folk whose toil actually produces the wealth that the super-wealthy so avidly and avariciously enjoy, we call that free market capitalism, and the rabid right wing worships it as something near-divine, an inspiration handed down from on high by Almighty Jeebus himself.
When somebody comes along and says "Let's straighten out the tax code so that the wealthy pay something kind of remotely approaching what should be their fair share for the ongoing upkeep of this country, and let's make sure that instead of most of those taxes going into some wealthy private defense contractor's pockets, we put a good chunk of it into public entitlement programs, and public education, and other things that would benefit the non-wealthy working class", well, jesus christ! It's time to posse up; the commies are comin' for our guns and our wimmen-folk.
The rich perpetually picking the pockets of the poor? That's okay, we like that just fine. The poor getting some of their money back from the rich? Insanity! Take to the streets!
Silencing conservatives through the Fairness Doctrine and other efforts that restrict free speech.
The Fairness Doctrine says, if you're using a public trust like the public airwaves, which the government regulates and licenses in the name of the people, then if you're going to spend a certain amount of time promulgating one extremist point of view, you have to give those who wish to promulgate opposing viewpoints equal time. Will this ruin conservative talk radio? I can only hope. In all honesty, though, I can't see why it should. If a radio station wants to give Rush Limbaugh 4 hours of airtime a day, then they'll have to turn around and give, say, Michael Moore or Howard Stern 4 hours of airtime a day. So half the time their audience is raving right wing nutjobs, and the other half it's slavering left wing moonbats. You don't think advertisers want to sell products to either market demographic?
Beyond practicality, the Fairness Doctrine is, well, fair. Radio stations don't own the airwaves, they just lease them. Objective truth may be beyond our capacity to find in the emotionally charged political atmosphere, but at least we can require media outlets to present more than one point of view. It may not get us all the way there, but it's a damn good start.
Beyond all this, President-elect Obama apparently doesn't support its reinstatement, which makes me sad, but which makes the whole argument kind of moot.
Open border anarchy including amnesty for illegal aliens and promotion of multi-nation "unions".
I personally find it laughable and hilarious when some dipshit whose parents, or grandparents, or great grandparents, or great great great grandparents, came over here from Europe back when immigration control was virtually nonexistent, gets up on a stump and shakes their fist and pisses their undies and sprays spittle all over themselves because they're afraid that different, darker skinned people who weren't born on this continent or different, darker skinned people who actually WERE born on this continent are going to, like, overrun America and snatch up all those great lettuce picking jobs and hump everybody's daughters, or somebody's, anyways.
America is now and always has been a nation built on the hard work of immigrants seeking a better life for themselves and their descendants here than they would have if they stayed where they were born. (It is also a nation built on the slaughter of the indigenous population by technologically superior invaders, and if the universe was an inherently just or decent place, an armada of highly territorial aliens would be landing all across America right now, slaughtering the majority of us with their deathrays and herding the survivors into the swamplands of New Jersey. But never mind that now.) That America is a great melting pot, and a place where anyone can come, work hard, and prosper, has been in the past and should be again one of our greatest cultural values.
Those who feel that they are more entitled to a piece of the American dream than others who were born elsewhere are blind to the true historical virtues, such as they are, of the United States of America, and cannot truly be considered patriots by any thinking American.
Government-run health care that weakens our system and imposes more tax burdens on citizens.
As opposed to privately run healthcare that is contributing to the destruction of our economy and causing hundreds of thousands if not millions to live in poverty, sickness, and despair every day of their lives. But that's okay, because our current system isn't 'socialist', and really, that's all that matters.
Weakening of our military through rapid pullback from Iraq, defunding our troops and overall disarmament.
You know what weakens our military? Let me count the things that are currently weakening our military --
* Sending them off on badly planned, poorly executed missions which result in several thousand of them being killed and several hundred thousand of them being maimed, disfigured, crippled, and ruined for life. Also, overstocking our military with criminals, sociopaths, the emotionally unstable, the borderline retarded, the socially dysfunctional, and the desperately poor, because decent, law abiding, intelligent, sane Americans with enough money to choose anything besides the military don't want to get sent over to the Middle East where they will be killed, maimed, disfigured, crippled, or otherwise ruined for life.
* A shitty, corrupt, Republican-controlled Veteran's Administration.
* Young, fit, avidly pro war, conservative American 'patriots' who will not join the military, and who will not let their children join the military, and who vehemently oppose allowing us to withdraw other people's children from an illegal, immoral conflict that is devouring our armed forces the way a chickenhawk war blogger slugs down Twinkies and microwave popcorn.
* Americans who think 'supporting the troops' means slapping a magnetic ribbon on their bumper, instead of getting them out of harm's way.
These are things that weaken our military, and given all of these things, how getting our asses out of place we never should have gotten into in the first place, along with spending less money on guns so we can spend more money on healthcare, education, and infrastructure, really factors much into it. Bush, Cheney, and their Republican lackeys have all but DESTROYED our military, while pocketing billions in illegal, immoral war profits. If all Obama does is 'weaken' our military, it will be a vast improvement.
Social liberalism including radical pro-abortion agenda, the end of marriage and the homosexual agenda.
Nobody is 'pro abortion', and abortion would be much, much less frequent if conservatives would allow easier access to contraception for those that want it and better, saner, more useful sex education in schools for those that need it most. Beyond that, though, an individual's right to choose to have, or not have, whatever medical procedures they desire, or do not desire, on their own bodies is a fundamental one, whether the medical procedure in question strikes you as morally dubious or not. (For the record, I despise abortion, but that's subjective, and I don't believe my subjective hatred of something should necessarily be legislated, because it's not my body, and therefore, not my decision.)
What was the middle thing... oh, yeah, the 'end of marriage and the homosexual agenda'. Heh. Letting more people get married is hardly 'the end of marriage', and the 'homosexual agenda' is, essentially, enforcing Constitutional guarantees of equal access to and protection under the law of the land to every American citizen, not just the ones whose sex lives you happen to approve of.
And, again, President-elect Obama has stated many times that he isn't in favor of gay marriage. I can only hope that, now that he's actually been elected, he drops his waffling and says what he should -- marriage is part of the law, and the Constitution guarantees all Americans equal access to the law. But he's probably hoping to get re-elected, so I imagine I hope in vain.
Liberal court activism that undermines faith, family and liberties while expanding government control.
With Democrats in at least nominal control of both Congress and the White House, I fully expect and anticipate that within the next year, we'll see this talking point quietly dropped by every conservative pundit. Why? Because a substantially Republican appointed judicial branch will become the right wing's last, best hope of staving off the widespread enactment and enforcement of liberal, leftist, progressive policies, that's why. Suddenly, judicial activism will no longer be a terrible thing, it will, instead, become the patriotic duty of all decent, right thinking judges everywhere.
Having predicted that, I will also say that faith and family are private matters that should (ideally, anyway) never be touched on in any way, positive or negative, by the government. As to 'liberties', just for one example near and dear to the rabid right, celebrating Christmas is, indeed, a basic human right. Forcing everyone who doesn't want to celebrate Christmas to pretend to anyway in every aspect of any possible potential public display and over every public airwave, on the other hand, is not a basic human right and is, in fact, a grotesque invasion of the basic civil liberties of many other people who may prefer to celebrate some other form of Midwinter Solstice holiday, or, for that matter, none at all. So celebrate Christmas if you want to (I certainly do) but, y'know, shut the hell up about it, and especially shut the hell up about what other people choose to celebrate, or not, their own damn selves.
That's liberty... liberty for all, not just spoiled white male Christians who can't get over the fact that they don't control the world any more.
Post-American globalism that diminishes our global role and threatens our national sovereignty.
In other words, a world where Americans actually have to deal with the negative consequences of their arrogant, idiotic, and immoral actions and attitudes towards non-Americans, is not a world my uncle, or any of his fellow Resistance members, wants to live in.
Environmental extremism, the CO2 tax,undermining coal and nuclear, and bans on
Because we all know the Rapture is coming soon anyway, so fuck the environment, we want our big gas guzzling Humvees and ginormous flat screen TVs and Jesus wants us to have them, too. So THERE.
I would take the Resistance more seriously if I did not know that these people are Americans, like me. And Americans, like me, don't do anything that requires us to get up out of a comfortable chair, put down our beer or our soda, and make any effort whatsoever beyond reaching for a kruller, or a remote control.
It wouldn't surprise me if The Resistance hits or exceeds its target of a million registered members by Inauguration Day, 2009. Why shouldn't they? 55 million people voted for McCain, and to join the Resistance, all you have to do is sit on your ass and type some stuff into your computer.
When it comes to actually doing something, though, well, I suspect the Resistance won't amount to much.
Although I imagine the group will very quickly be able to put together a truly astonishing array of Photoshopped Sarah Palin porn...


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Shopping in Delhi
Since the ancient era to the establishment of the British Empire in Delhi, the city was known for her abundance and richness in wealth. Even during the medieval era that fell between the 12th Century and the 16th Century; this Capital city has been very prosperous despite its frequent political disturbances and plunders. It saw a rapid development and growth as a result of the political and economic policies that were penned down by the various Rulers of their individual dynasties. Delhi was always a preferred choice as the 'Capital City' of these Dynasties and hence grew into a major trade and industrial centre that in turn led to the general prosperity of the city.

subset: commoncrawl


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"This 4 unit multifamily plan is a great investment for anyone interested. The narrow footprint along with the spacious rooms make this a must have for renters. This plan offers a nice kitchen with stacked w/d and large living room and bedroom with plenty of closets and storage. This plan is sure to meet your investment needs.
All Sales are Final. Due to copyright laws and the ability to copy plans, your plans can not be returned once your order has been placed. If you would like assistance in selecting your home plan before you order, please contact our customer service center. We will work hard to make your home plan buying experience a success.
These plans are NOT stamped by a structural engineer or registered architect and were designed to meet the current building code at the time of their design, such as the International Residential Code. Due to regional requirements such as: high wind areas, seismic conditions, soil conditions, snow loads and other specific circumstances, we encourage you to consult with an engineer or architect familiar with conditions in your area prior to building. In addition, local building departments may require that the plans be reviewed and/or modified to comply with local requirements. Please contact your local building department before placing your order.
Below you will find a listing of the typical items found:
*Note: The items listed above as "Not available on all plans" are not always required for every plan depending on location and complexity.
Please fill out the form below and someone will contact you to discuss.


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Evidence - Credibility - Reasons
Judgments - Adequacy of Reasons
R v D.H. (Ont CA, 2016)
In this criminal case the Court of Appeal discusses the adequacy of a judicial reasons for adverse findings against the credibility of a witness, and their treatment on appeal:
[34] A trial judge's assessments of credibility are accorded very considerable deference on appeal, as long as the trial judge has sufficiently explained how significant discrepancies that could undermine credibility and reliability have been resolved. This court recently reiterated that principle in R. v. M. (A.), 2014 ONCA 769 (CanLII), 123 O.R. (3d) 536, at paras. 17-19:[W]here a case turns largely on determinations of credibility, the sufficiency of reasons must be considered in light of the deference generally afforded to trial judges on credibility findings. It is rare for deficiencies in a trial judge's credibility analysis, as expressed in the reasons for judgment, to warrant appellate intervention: Vuradin, 2013 SCC 38 (CanLII), [2013] 2 S.C.R. 639, at para. 11; Dinardo, 2008 SCC 24 (CanLII), [2008] 1 S.C.R. 788, at para. 26.[35] While a trial judge is not required to resolve every inconsistency in the evidence, the trial judge "should address and explain how she or he has resolved major inconsistencies in the evidence of material witnesses: G. (M.) (1994), 1994 CanLII 8733 (ON CA), 93 C.C.C. (3d) 347 (Ont. C.A.), at p. 356; R. v. Dinardo, 2008 SCC 24 (CanLII), [2008] 1 S.C.R. 788, at para. 31": M. (A.), at para. 14. As the Supreme Court stated in R. v. Dinardo, at paras. 26-27, the failure to articulate how credibility concerns are resolved, particularly in the face of significant inconsistencies in a complainant's testimony, may constitute reversible error, as an accused is entitled to know why the trial judge is left with no reasonable doubt.


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The older I get, the more I love gardening.
I have commented previously in this column about my ambivalence towards gardening -- the result of a childhood spent watching my parents slave away each weekend in their garden -- and the unfavorable gardening conditions in my own rock-infested, tree-shaded yard. One could quite rightly characterize my current relationship with my garden as "rocky."
But perhaps in the same way that women are said to always come to resemble their mothers, I find that my gardening behavior is increasingly coming to resemble that of my parents. I attribute most of this change to age; while young gardeners do exist, I consider them a special breed, prodigies, the Mozarts of the soil. For the rest of us, it takes age to teach us the particular blend of passion and patience required for gardening.
The need for patience is obvious: there are few immediate rewards in gardening. Plant a seed, water it, and wait: It will be weeks to months before you see any reward for your toils. This is particularly true in colder climates, like Vermont, where the growing season is approximately three months long. That's a long time to wait for your garden to grow.
The gardener's passion is more mysterious, and stands in tension to patience. The best way I can think to describe it is in terms of our primal urge to create something beautiful, something of which we can be proud, like a child who puts crayons to paper and then proclaims, "Look what I made!" Few things in adult life satisfy this urge: money and material possessions are ultimately meaningless, work is often frustrating and exhausting, relationships and children take years to mature. But with some of the aforementioned patience, plus a little water, soil, and weeding, a garden can become beautiful, and it will remain beautiful year after year (provided you plant perennials.) A garden can feed your soul as well as your body.
Something shifted in me this spring: My passion and patience have coalesced at last, and I am taking a great deal of pleasure in gardening, even under the challenging circumstances imposed by our yard.
As I've logged in hour after hour in my gardens, I've discovered another attraction of gardening. I'll call it "awe." I'm hard pressed to think of any place with a higher concentration of miracles than a garden bed.
Of course, there are everyday miracles to be witnessed anytime one cares for a living thing, be it a human baby, animal, or plant. I care for all three, but I find that plants differ significantly from other living things. Babies and animals teach us humbling lessons about ourselves: they reflect back to us our own potential for selfishness, greed, brutality, and they require us to sacrifice those same things in their service. Think of a toddler having a temper tantrum, or chickens reinforcing pecking order; both are miniature versions of our own animal instincts.
But plants don't have personalities. They don't form relationships. Plants have only one purpose: they are designed to grow.
Animals show us ourselves; plants show us something more spiritual. Plants demonstrate that things can -- and will -- survive in the most adverse circumstances, and that what looks like death may in fact be the first step towards new life.
I could give countless examples of this, but I'm just going to write about my hosta.
It's taken me a few years to appreciate hostas. These herbaceous perennials do quite well in my yard -- I believe they do quite well almost anywhere. But they're not particularly delicate or beautiful: Hostas start as a bushy clump of thick, ridged, ovate leaves, and then shoot up tough stalks of waxy, trumpet-shaped flowers. They're workhorse plants.
For that reason, I decided to plant a hosta in a patch of bare ground in our yard where I hadn't succeeded in growing anything else. I put it in the ground in September. One week later, I noticed that our dog had uprooted it, so I re-planted it.
Sometime in early November, after an extended absence from our yard, I saw that our dog had uprooted the hosta again. By the time I noticed it, however, the plant had obviously been lying aboveground for a long time: the whole thing looked withered and brown and dead. I didn't throw it away, but neither did I bother to re-plant it; instead, I left it where it had fallen. All winter long it lay covered by several feet of snow and ice.
When spring came and I ventured out into the yard again, I picked up that shriveled hosta to dispose of it. I figured I'd try another hosta in its place, this time doing a better job of keeping an eye on it and the dog. But when I picked it up, the brown leaves fell open to display several tiny green shoots poking up from the roots. That hosta was ALIVE! It had somehow survived months of laying atop the frozen ground, under the snow.
I have replanted it, and it continues to thrive (undisturbed, for the moment, by the dog.)
Nobody will convince me that this was not a miracle. Where could I have found a better object lesson on the importance of never giving up on something? How could I not love gardening after this?
Faith Gong has worked as an elementary school teacher, a freelance photographer, and a nonprofit manager. Since moving to Addison County in 2011, her work has involved caring for a house in the woods, four young daughters, one anxiety-prone labradoodle — and writing for her blog, The Pickle Patch.


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"Come, let us bow down and worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. For he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care." Psalm 95:6
The Church of the Good Shepherd seeks to glorify God through sacramental worship. Our worship is shaped by the beautiful liturgy of the Book of Common Prayer, thought provoking, biblically based messages and inspirational music. Every element of our time in worship is designed to draw us closer to the heart of God.
The Church of the Good Shepherd gathers for worship in many different ways. Our primary form of worship is the service of Holy Eucharist, in which we sing, pray, hear scripture readings and a sermon, and partake in Holy Communion. We are pleased to offer differing styles and a variety of schedules, including weekday Contemporary Morning Prayer with the St. James Chapels, Tuesday Midday Eucharist, Wednesday Evening Eucharist, and three Sunday services: Traditional Eucharist, Family Eucharist and Evening Eucharist. For specific times of each worship service, please click on Service Times and Descriptions.
Outside of our weekly schedule, the Church of the Good Shepherd is here to help structure a worship service during the most important events of your life. Whether it is a baptism, confirmation, marriage or burial service, our clergy and ministry team will be with you in joy and sorrow, creating an opportunity to glorify and worship God in the midst of your life event. Click on Baptism, Confirmation, Marriage or Burial for more information.
Music is a key component of our worship experience here at the Church of the Good Shepherd. Our musical heritage is rich and also varied. Being a historic church, we are founded on the hymnody of our Anglican heritage. Organ music, often accompanied by brass and strings, welcomes home our parishioners who were raised on these familiar melodies and lyrics. But we are equally drawn to worship with new sounds provided by a contemporary music leaders, and "Taize" services that incorporate the flute and harp. The goal of the Church of the Good Shepherd is to provide meaningful and heartfelt opportunities for all to worship God with "glad and sincere hearts". For more information on our music ministries, or to get involved, click on Music.


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Sunday, February 10, 2002
Saturday's schedule of shows included Jason Bunin's mens and womens fall/winter collection. One reason I was looking forward to it because he took the time to comment on Bernadine Morris' editorial 'Why Isn't Fashion Flourishing'? He assured Ms. Morris that she would not be disappointed if she attended his show, because he felt satisfied that he was addressing the needs of modern men and women with his designs. Well, sorry to say Jason, I was disappointed-----the collection somehow 'missed' in mood, color, and silhouette, the skirts were too short, and the evening dresses were a big mistake. You should have stuck with your softer, more whimsical sportswear.
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What college did you attend and when did you graduate? UCSD, graduated 2008
Do you still play water polo? No…
Did you play water polo in college? If so what was that like? I did play collegiate water polo my freshman year at UCSD – it was exhausting, but a fantastic experience. The players were physically incredibly strong and your entire schedule revolves around water polo.
What team was your rival when you played for Stanford? Hmm, tough to remember exactly. I think Rio Americano and lots of teams in SoCal: Golden West, Commerce
Where do you live now? I live in San Francisco
Do you keep in touch with club teammates? Yes! I keep in touch with several, one of the greatest aspects of playing for Stanford Club were the friends I made
What is you favorite memory of the club? Traveling to Jr. Olympics, usually to SoCal in a 14 person van
What did you major in at college? I majored in Urban Planning
Do you remember any advice from a club coach? Hips up!!
What hobbies do you enjoy? I still love to swim and now do lots of yoga and running. I also love to scuba dive!
Any life milestones you'd like to share? I went to grad school in London and played water polo for the university's club team (University College London). They have a long way to go to catch up with the USA, but it was a fantastic experience to understand that other parts of the world enjoy water polo as much as we do here in Cali!
Will you be attending the reunion June 26-27? Yes, but most likely only June 27th for the pot-luck/bake off


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Beginnings of an UprisingThis was the year that the people of the Icecap Plains began to band together to try to overthrow their government. They would protest, cause riots, write to the Octans, etc. Rising discontent was due to the Octan Monarchy's unfair, harsh laws on employee wages, insurance, land/commerce prices, taxes, religion, and population.
The TakeoverA group of people in the Ice Plains, known as the Selfs, organized an attack on the Octan Monarchy. The original 5 people of the Selfs recruited at least 48 people to be part of their plan. The plan consisted of surrounding the Octan castle and attacking the guards around the gates (using the fact that they outnumber the guards to their advantage). Then, they would storm the castle all at once and capture the king and queen. Once they secured the king and queen, the Selfs imprisoned them.
An Attempt at OrganizationDuring this time period, the people of the Icecap Plains gathered round to determine who should be the new leaders of the land. The Selfs were the ones most people leaned towards. This group called themselves the Selfs because they believed in self-rule and independence. The decision was put to a vote, and the public favored the Selfs who had already led them to victory once.They served as the first leaders of the Icecap Plains following the fall of the Octan monarchy.
Formation of LawAfter establishing the people in control of the land, there came the need to establish justice and regulations. This was when the Selfs gathered together and invited 4 other people, Henry Jenkins, Larry McGoolert, Lenjamin Crackett, and Walter Bings, trusted advisers/supporters of the Selfs, to create a frame of government. These men held a public meeting and invited the citizens to come and express their demands in a government. With that information, the men created "the Ley of the Plains".
Period: to
Octan Monarchy RulesThis is the time period the Octan monarchy ruled before it was overthrown by the people of the Icecap Plains.


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I'm not sure how successful the European Union was with its effort to persuade more women to pursue careers in information technology. But the fact that such an effort existed in the first place is proof that it's tough to attract women to IT careers.
While these statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor regarding women in IT professions are a little dated (2001), I suspect the percentages haven't changed much over the past eight years. According to the DOL, one out of 10 employed engineers was a woman in 2001, while two of 10 employed engineering technologists and technicians were women. Three out of 10 computer systems analysts, engineers, and scientists were females, and one out of four computer programmers was a woman.
IT is a career field dominated by males. And let's face it, we're talking about a certain kind of guy, one who is more comfortable with World of Warcraft than with the world of women. Schools and companies might have better luck interesting women in IT if they tried a little harder to project a non-geeky image.
Sapna Cheryan, a researcher from the University of Washington says the geek stereotype "can make women feel like they don't belong." Cheryan and colleagues tested this idea by alternately decorating a computer science classroom with objects viewed as stereotypically geeky -- Star Trek posters, video games and comic books -- or with more neutral objects such as coffee mugs, plants and art posters.
Thirty-nine college students spent some time in the room, then filled out a questionnaire on their attitudes toward computer science. Females who spent time in the geeky room reported less interest in computer science than women who hung out in the neutral room. The room decor didn't affect interest levels for men. In follow-up tests, researchers saw a similar effect in women who were told to imagine they were joining either a geekily decorated or a neutrally decorated company after graduation.
A ScienceNews item quotes Cheryan:
The environment can communicate a sense of belonging, but it also communicates a sense of exclusion, or a sense that this is not a place where I would fit in.
If attracting women to IT is tough, it may be even tougher to keep them there. Check out Computerworld's 2008 interview with Sylvia Ann Hewitt, one of several authors of the Athena Factor, a research project examining the career trajectories of women in IT. Hewlett and her colleagues found that 41 percent of folks between ages 25 and 30 and employed in lower-level IT careers were women, but 62 percent of them drop out of IT within 10 years.
The biggest contributing factor, said Hewlett, was "the machismo that continues to permeate these work environments." Sixty percent of women in science, engineering and technology had experienced sexual harassment, including demeaning and condescending attitudes and off-color jokes. Other issues included isolation due to a dearth of female colleagues and a lack of mentors or sponsors to help guide their career paths.
Mentors would go a long way toward easing these issues, said Hewlett:
... it prevents the isolation setting in, allows them to start mapping their career paths and insulates them from some of the worst repercussions of the macho behaviors. If you have only a few senior women, use some of your men. And use technology. Cisco is using telepresence technology to do virtual mentoring sessions across the world -- linking young women in India with senior women in San Jose.
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I'll be writing a few posts on our 2008 backpacking trip to the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness in Colorado. You can see a Google Map of our hike and all of the pictures of from our trip on Flickr.
July 28, 2008
Today was a difficult day, our first real day of hiking. We began at the Continental Divide and headed north from Cottonwood Pass. Of course, we made a mistake about 20 minutes into our hike and ascended a peak that we didn't at all need to climb because we lost our trail. Even still, the view from the needless peak was good and we could see down into both sides of the Divide valley, and we could also see our correct trail again from up there.
As I suspected, it was quickly apparent that my pack was way too heavy, meaning too much food and too much camera gear. We hiked down from the Divide all day, dropping nearly 1,000 feet or more in elevation. We ate lunch on a ridge right before the major descent began, and we saw the storm clouds starting to roll in. We covered our packs and kept the rain gear handy. The first storm ended up missing us, but we got hit by the second one below tree line. Put the rain gear on quickly and waited it out beneath a grove of trees.
The last couple hours of hiking were more hard on my feet and knees. We arrive to camp around 4:00 PM but had to cross Texas Creek first, which was extremely cold, and I had to go across three times. We hurried to set up camp and got everything moved in just before a 3rd rain storm came. no hail this time though as it did during the afternoon.
Mom made supper and somehow we got a fire going with wet wood and insect repellent.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Collegiate Peaks Wilderness: Day 2
Posted by burnshead at 1:47 PM
Labels: backpacking
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(FORTUNE Magazine) – RICHARD SCRUSHY'S $2.7 BILLION accounting-fraud trial looked like a slam-dunk for the prosecution. All five CFOs who had ever reported to the former HealthSouth CEO copped guilty pleas and agreed to testify against him. Ten lesser company officials also pleaded guilty and agreed to testify. Yet the prosecutors threw up 36 airballs, failing to score with a Birmingham, Ala., jury on any of the three dozen counts.
What happened? Scrushy's lead attorney, Donald Watkins, would be glad to explain--and to continue the hoops metaphor. "They never expected a hard, full-court press throughout the trial, and that's what they got. It was unrelenting," says Watkins, who put together an unlikely defense team and unleashed it on what he calls the "overconfident" feds. Art Leach was the Designated Objector, contesting prosecutors' questions frequently and knocking them off stride. Jim Parkman was the cross-examiner whose down-home demeanor won over the jury even as he destroyed witnesses' credibility.
Watkins, of course, was the coach--and, it turns out, the perfect person for the role. His worldview was shaped by his youth in civil-rights-era Montgomery. Though the son of a university president, he knew the indignities of drinking from separate water fountains and the stresses of integration. Now 56, he was one of the first blacks to attend the University of Alabama law school in the 1960s. Even decades later, the emotions and fissures of that era's upheaval profoundly influence Alabama's dynamics--and, as necessary, Watkins's tactics.
And so he deployed a brilliant, if controversial, racial strategy in a city where blacks and whites still, according to Watkins, view certain things very differently. "Black people are more open to receiving their information in the courtroom," he says. "Whites will buy into the media hype put out by the U.S. Attorney and Justice Department for two years...." Watkins tried to maximize the number of black jurors--seven of 12 would be African American. He seemed to be speaking directly to those jurors in his closing argument, comparing the legal travails of Richard Scrushy (who--need it be noted?--is a wealthy white man) to the struggles of blacks in the 1950s and 1960s. Outside the court, the black community was wooed by Scrushy himself, who joined a black church, and preached or donated to other black congregations. Some of them sat behind the defense table at trial in what became known as his "amen corner." Critics saw that as an effort to influence jurors; Watkins asserts it was an unbidden show of support.
Maybe. But Donald Watkins's genius is to play his cases as multidimensional chess. He made his name in Birmingham in the early 1990s by representing Mayor Richard Arrington, then under investigation for corruption. Watkins didn't just defend the city's first black mayor; he went on the offensive, leveling charges of racism. Arrington, who was never charged, put Scrushy together with Watkins even though his old attorney hadn't practiced law since 1998. In recent years Watkins has founded a bank and invested in energy deals. He was bidding (unsuccessfully) for the Anaheim Angels baseball team in 2003 when Arrington urged him to represent Scrushy.
Watkins admits he was greatly aided by two government gaffes. First, it tried the case in Birmingham rather than New York or Washington, D.C. He had many more moves to make on the home court. Two, it assembled an awkward coalition of prosecutors--some from Washington, some from Birmingham--who meandered through eye-glazing accounting and compensation technicalities. Doug Jones, a former U.S. Attorney in Birmingham, believes prosecutors had a "fundamental misunderstanding" of the case. "What the defense understood is that this was a street brawl," he says. (U.S. Attorney Alice Martin counters that hers was a well-presented case and the venue was proper, since the HealthSouth pleas were entered in Birmingham. "You can't run to New York for everything," she says.)
Scrushy still faces a wave of civil litigation, including an SEC suit. Watkins will put a lot less time into this phase of Scrushy's defense--he wants to get back to his business interests--but vows to be no less aggressive: "The government will have to work for every inch of ground." -- John Helyar


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My body is moving downwards as I regain consciousness. My eyes flutter open, my lips smack together, and I slowly work my way up to my feet. I shouldn't be regaining consciousness at all. Before this when I pulled the trigger I had figured that was it, no more waking up and hating every minute of every day of life. The light above me flickers on and off in a very unsettling manner. I look around and realize I'm in an elevator. My ears are still ringing from the sound of the gunshot. I reach my hand up to my temple. I can stick my finger into the hole made by the bullet I sent flying through my brain. The ringing subsides and gives way to the elevator music I recognize the song but can't quite place the name of it, I hate when that happens. Thankfully it ends, but is replaced by yet another song, the name escapes me again. I realize I've been traveling downwards for at least five minutes, I look down at my watch but the hands have stopped moving. This must be what happens when your life slowly drains from your body. I'm hoping no one heard the shot and called 911. They better not revive me.
"Long ride huh?" I hear a woman's voice behind me. I turn around in surprise and see a beautiful, no not beautiful that's a word you would use to describe a wife; this woman is not wife material. She's the kind of woman you meet in a bar who you take home and have your way with, not make love to, but raw, passionate, animalistic sex. Sexy, she's sexy. Tall, thin but not too thin, and the outfit she's wearing accentuates her large breasts and toned body.
"Who are you?" I ask trying to mask my immediate arousal. "Where am I?"
"Who I am is not as important as what I am, or what my importance is as to where you are. You are in Hell, and I am its gate keeper."
"So I'm"-
"Yes you're dead, that bullet made pretty fucking sure of it. Now there are a few things we have to go over before we arrive. First there is no getting out of Hell, and no mistakes are made as to who deserves a spot and who doesn't. Second try to enjoy yourself. Unlike what your bible may have told you we don't eternally torture people here. Sure our whips and chains may come out every now and again but as long as you don't cause us a problem we won't cause one for you. Lastly you're here forever so try and get comfortable. Find a place to live, make some friends, find a woman who can make your toes curl cuz forever is a long time to go without having some fun. Or for that matter don't, I really don't care. Now are we set?"
"Uh ya I guess"
"Good now get off my elevator a Tsunami just hit China and all Buddhists go to Hell."
With that the sexy woman in front of me disappears and I'm now standing in the middle of a bustling, dirty street. I look around and take in my surroundings. It looks like a very gothic style of New York, although the buildings aren't nearly as tall. There is a rich smell of sulfur in the air, and it is just slightly unbearably hot. The image I see in front of me is in direct conflict with everything I had been told about Hell when I was young. There are no pits of fire, or demonic torture demons stringing people up. It's just…normal. I walk along the street and before long I come across a bar. I walk in and find my way to a stool at the bar top.
"Whadya want there?" A big man behind the bar asks me. His throat is slashed from ear to ear, but no blood leaks out almost looking like a second mouth.
"Shot of whiskey" I pull out my wallet and hand him some bills hoping they take cash down here.
"You're new here huh?" He asks clearly proud to have made such an easy observance. He rummages around behind the bar and comes up with a credit card with the name Kyle Brownstone on the front. "Credit card companies work for us, every time some asshole gets a new Visa or MasterCard we get a duplicate. You ever had a strange charge from Manila or someplace?" I nod my head. "Well you ever wonder how a country with a reading skill comparable to a fucking pig could ever swindle you like that? They didn't. That was some guy down here getting a drink, or a hooker, or some blow on your dime." With that he just laughs and walks away. I lift up my glass and thank Mr. Brownstone for my drink and down it.
Before I know it I've had several drinks on this poor guy's dime and am feeling pretty good. I look around the bar for the first time. To my left a group of about ten or fifteen men are sitting at a table in white gowns with dark red crosses emblazoned on their chests. Their white hats sit on the table and I can hear them telling stories to each other about their exploits in Mobile, Alabama. To my right sits a group of pastors raising the bible above their head. Fag this fag that, dead soldiers this, hurricanes that. I shake my head and look to the person sitting next to me, and can't believe my eyes.
"Hitler?" I can't even fathom the amount of surprise that must be registered on my face right now.
"Ja ja ischt me. You vant un autograph?" He scratches the hole in the side of his head as he asks this.
"No, not really. Just surprised to see you I guess."
"But my boy theees ischt mine baaar." I now realize the name of the bar is Mein Kampf. A book shelf off to the side offers a signed copy of the book.
"So I managed to get my first drink in Hell from a place that serves degenerates and racists like you?" He laughs at this comment.
"My boy, you're in Hell. We are all degenerates. The people in this bar are just honest about who they are." I look around and see the men in robes and the pastors and the bikers I hadn't seen sitting in the corner closing around me. I've been in Hell less than an hour and so far it's not going great.
I land on my face, literally. The bikers took their time in working me over but wasted no time in throwing me out. I find out quickly that in Hell you can still feel pain. Their beatings leave no marks though, and no blood flows from my nose, although it feels like I just had it broken with a sledge hammer. I'm quickly surrounded by a pack of lawyers who ask if I'd like to sue the bar. I really am in Hell.
I make a mental note to be more careful about what bar I stumble into next. Luckily enough there are plenty to choose from. In fact that's all there is to choose from. Gay bars, Muslim bars, Christian bars, soldier bars, cop bars, rapists bars, and murderers bars. It seems like there is a bar for just about everyone. There are strip clubs everywhere too, so far my opinion of Hell is that it's not so bad.
I walk by a kiosk with pamphlets strewn about the desk. I pick one up called So you're in Hell and another called God rejected you, now what? I walk into a nearby strip club and sit down at the bar. After fifteen minutes of reading it's clear that almost everyone who has ever lived and died ends up here. In fact the only people who make it to heaven are the Amish. Evidently in the roulette game of picking the right religion they picked right. Hell houses everyone ranging from Jack the Ripper to Mother Theresa. Evidently the good Mother's good socialist outlook on life enraged the right winged St. Paul and he sent her straight down to Hell. So it's only fitting that a drinking, philandering, liberal guy like me made it down here.
A woman comes up to me and puts her hand on my arm.
"Care for a dance sweetie?" I can't believe my eyes when I come across the face of Lindsay Lohan. She turns away and sends a bump of cocaine flying up her nose. She turns around and looks at my eyes. I decline quickly. Looking around I realize the name of the strip club is called starlets. Mary Kate and Ashley Olson are both on stage at the moment. To the left of them sits Marilyn Monroe. And that would mean that well-dressed man with a hole in the top of his head must be… Yes, it is. He turns his head and I'm looking straight at JFK himself. He flashes a grin and turns his attention to Miss. Monroe. I can't help but wonder where Jackie is. I leave the bar and continue my journey of this increasingly interesting place called Hell.
It's funny how Hell could double as a historical re-enactment society, but when you think about it doesn't it make sense how when generations die they would still keep their dress and traditions alive in the afterlife? The puritans have stood on the sidewalks for over 300 years now yelling at drunken passersby. Telling them their souls are doomed, not quite realizing the irony of their own situation. MLK still preaches equality, not quite realizing there has been a black president. The politicians of the 50s are yelling at the top of their lungs about communism.
Just then I see the largest building I've seen yet, VFW post #666. I walk in and step up to the ledger. My name is emblazoned on the page as I sign. The tours I've had show up next to my name. Iraq 05-06 Afghanistan 07-08, SGT Ross, 2nd Ranger Batt. Before I can take in what just happened on this otherwise blank sheet of paper I'm grabbed by the shoulder and spun around. My oldest brother stands there on one leg and a pair of crutches. Behind him are my two best friends. One with a hole in his throat and the other with the side of his face melted away. They greet me with a beer, a smile, and a long embrace.
"Welcome home brother," they all say to me. We go and sit down at the bar which is the biggest I've seen in my whole life, living or during my short time in hell. Across from me I can see Audie Murphy and John Basilone, two of the most well-known soldiers to live, arguing over something but not truly upset at each other. Soldiers from all wars sit at the bar wearing the clothes they had on the day they died. It's not just the Americans either. Soldiers from all sides, who had spent their short life trying to kill each other, drink, arm to arm. There is no animosity, and why should there be? We're all dead now. Enemies in life quickly become friends when faced with the prospect of eternity. I realize now that in Hell everyone can understand each other. It seems to be a sick joke made at God's anger at the people of Babel.
"We figured you'd be down here sooner or later" my brother says to me. I finish off my beer and signal for another while getting out the poor sap's credit card. The bartender gives me a death look as he gives me the beer and denies the card.
"Drinks here are always on the house. Soldiers are Satan's favorites. He has always held a soft spot for those who kill willingly, and do so for noble reasons. He's not actually a bad guy. In fact I'm surprised you haven't met him yet." My brother goes on to explain that Satan meets personally with each war vet soon after they arrive in hell. He motions behind me. "In fact there's your ride now." I look behind me and see a man in a black suit, with a black shirt, and a dark red tie. He approaches me and extends his hand.
"I'm Lucifer. I'm here to take you to see my father." I look back at my brother and my friends and tell them I'll see them later. As I walk out several different men pat me on the back or shake my hand telling me I'm always welcome here. I nod in appreciation and leave the bar.
Lucifer leads me to the only car I've seen so far. I sit down in the back of the black stretch limo and pour myself a shot of Jack Daniels from the most impressive selection of liquors I've ever seen in a limo. The liquor settles in my stomach and warms me. I feel drowsy and decide to take a nap. It's not every day the prince of darkness drives you to meet Satan, and I want to be well rested for this encounter.
I'm awoken by Lucifer telling me that we've arrived. I step out of the backseat and look at where we are. A very gothic looking castle sits in front of me made of old stone. Surrounding it is a moat of what seems to be very hot lava. His house is a stark contrast to the normal seeming city. I wonder why with all the time in the world Satan went so stereotypical with his landscaping. I'm led from room to room, admiring the different decorations from each time period. Lucifer doesn't say a word as he reaches for the handle to a door that must have stood 15 feet tall. He opens it, lets me in and closes it behind me. A man sits at a chair in front of a large TV. Across the screen are the familiar images of baseball. The Yanks and Red sox are playing right now. I walk up and see it's a tie game bottom of the ninth. The Sox closer winds up and throws to Jeter who steps up and drives the ball clear of the right field fence.
"God dammit" the man yells at no one in particular. "Damn Yankees always a pain in my ass." He turns around and sees me. His face is almost too pale of a white, but is accented by a dark black goatee. His eyes are black with no color at all, but his teeth are the whitest and straightest I've ever seen. "You you're a Sox fan aren't you?"
I nod my head wondering how he knew that.
"I'm the Devil, God isn't the only one that's all knowing" He says. Now I wonder if he can read minds too. "Yes I can" he says, and motions for me to sit down in a chair next to him.
"I'm sure your brother and your friends told you why you came here. I always make it a point to sit down and talk with my VIPs. See I know what you've done and been through and how let down you are by the society up above." He motioned to the living world with his hand. "Here you are, just come back from a year of death and mayhem and you turn on the news only to see the leading story is about some Hollywood actress who can't keep her legs shut, or keep powder out of her nose. Now they say war is the Devils work, and I suppose to a point that may be true. But I ask you this, who gave man free will? God. If he had just done what I had told him and ruled over mankind there would be no wars. But no he cast me out and forced me to live in this asshole of a world. I've made the best of it as you can see. It's not what your Sunday school teacher made it out to be. Yes I have ass holes like Hitler running around, as you already know, but Gandhi is here, Mother Theresa, MLK, Lincoln, et-cetera. How God decided to only let those backwards, living-in-the dark pricks walk the streets of heaven is beyond me. Now here is what I need from you." I sit waiting for a deal for my soul or to become part of his dark army. He leans close to me as if about to part with all the knowledge of the universe.
"Have a good time, you're a dead man, kick back and relax. I'm sure Medusa has already told you how long you're here for."
"Medusa?" I ask.
"Ah yes she doesn't give her name out. She thinks she'll attract too many stalkers. She's the woman you met on the elevator. Anyway your soul has been damned for all eternity and etcetera so please enjoy yourself. Spend time with your family like your brother, and parents. While you're living you spend all your time working for money to buy useless shit with. Down here everything is free, so spend time with the ones you love, and find you a good girl; there are plenty of them down here. Enjoy this time like you couldn't enjoy your days living." Satan shifts in his seat and falls silent.
"I must ask you to leave, another of your fellow soldiers has found his way home and I have to meet with him soon." His eyes fall and for the first time I sense a sadness that I've never sensed or felt before in my life. "When a man volunteers his life for others it is the noblest thing one can do, and when God elects to turn his back on those who have given so much it hurts me much more than you can ever know." With that our meeting is done as he gets up and walks out a side door. I get up to leave and notice next to the TV remote and a bottle of scotch sits a very worn bible. I shake my head thinking that if I were to stay in hell for one thousand years I may not be able to figure out everything about this place.
I stand, walk outside to the limo waiting for me, and pass another man walking past me we make eye contact and nod, no words are needed. I climb into the back of the car and head back to where my brothers are, and will always be.


text:
I think of inventory as a company's goods on hand, which is often a significant current asset. Inventory serves as a buffer between a company's sales of goods and its production or purchase of goods. Companies strive to find the proper amount of inventory to avoid lost sales, disruptions in production, high holding costs, etc.
Manufacturers usually have the following categories of inventories: raw materials, work-in-process, finished goods, and manufacturing supplies. The amounts of these categories are usually listed in the notes to its balance sheet.
A company's cost of inventory is related to the company's cost of goods sold that is reported on the company's income statement.
Since the costs of the items purchased or produced are likely to likely to change, companies must elect a cost flow assumption for valuing its inventory and its cost of goods sold. In the U.S. the common cost flow assumptions are FIFO, LIFO, and average.
Sometimes a company's inventory of goods is referred to as its stock of goods, which is held in its stockroom or warehouse.


text:
BBSRC has allocated up to £11 million to support a Bioinformatics and e-Science Initiative that builds on the existing priorities of genomics, structural biology, dynamic processes in cells and biodiversity and extends into the areas of Integrative Biology and Proteomics. Multidisciplinary applications of up to 5-years' duration are invited.
Details here
Contact: Alison Sheal
Address: Molecular and Cell Biology Branch
Science and Technology Group
Polaris House
North Star Avenue
Swindon SN2 1UH
Telephone: 01793 413379
Fax: 01793 413234
Email: email@example.com


text:
Living paycheck to paycheck is a common cycle for many South Africans. People want to save but they also love to splurge. If you speak to any financial advisor, you will see that saving a portion of your salary every month is critical for a comfortable future. However, if you have started your own business or want to launch a unique concept, you need to break away from this cycle. To invest in the future of your career and your personal wellbeing, you will need to live according to a strict budget.
Here are a few tips that will help you to set good behaviours in motion and meet your goals:
- Understand the importance of being organised
When it comes to being an entrepreneur, you are in charge of your finances. You will need to prioritise planning and organisation skills in order to stick to a goal. Start categorising your savings according to your needs. For example, future and immediate goals. Once you have a plan set in stone, you will need to effectively manage and follow your progress to ensure that you achieve what you set out to achieve.
- Check your credit record
No matter where you are in the world, having a poor credit score will affect your next move. While saving and budgeting might be the long-term solution, you might want to consider taking out a personal loan to help you achieve your dream faster. Or at least lift it off of the ground. The reason why you will need to settle for personal loans, if anything, for your startup is that banks and financial brokers are wary of granting loans to small businesses. So, the minute you start working steadily towards your financial goals to kickstart your business, you will need to think about requesting a credit report. The outcome will determine your ability to apply for a personal loan, as well as how to improve your credit score.
- Save where you can
If your business concept or idea is something that you're passionate about, you will need to make a lifestyle change and do your best to cut back where possible. There are several ways to reduce your spending when it comes to daily habits and spending trends, so you will need to make a conscious decision to help yourself. If you are already running your own business, you need to postpone personal rewards and think realistically about your cash flow. It certainly is exciting when you start to notice an interest in your product or service, but you cannot reap the benefits just yet. Do not burden yourself with salaries, employee benefits or any other traps when your success has not yet been achieved. You will also need to cut your salary and live as cost-effectively as possible to set an example for anyone who is working with or for you. Reduced cash flow is key in the first couple of years.
- Set long and short-term goals
Setting goals is effective when working towards something. Having a goal in mind will motivate you every day to wake up and do your best to be better and succeed in life. But the problem with goal setting is that people are puzzled by them. Short-term and long-term goals both take time, effort and dedication. You cannot think you'll achieve your goals in the shortest period of time. Look at the SMART goal setting technique as this will help you achieve the feedback you need to keep moving forward.
Another tip for first-time entrepreneurs is to try to diversify your business by investing in alternative sources. Many business owners try to put all their eggs in one basket, without having a plan B. If you are going to look at personal loans, be sure to have a plan on where you're going to distribute that money. You can look at a loan calculator or instalment calculator to see how much you'll qualify for, and based on that, you will be able to put together a failure plan as well as alternative investment plans.
- Think about finding a mentor
Whether you're struggling to manage your personal finances or you need some inspiration to go ahead with your business, try to consider finding a mentor during this process. It's easy to feel overwhelmed when it comes to your finances, and something like this can dent your ego and cause you to feel inadequate. If you want to be an entrepreneur, you will need to consult with someone who can help and guide you. Much like everything in life, managing your finances take practice and time.
Final thoughts
Managing your money for the first couple of years will be a draining process, but once you start seeing the benefits, you will also start seeing the benefits. Starting a business is not easy. There will be times when you want to hit a wall from frustration as well as give up, but you are not alone. Keep pushing through and take advantage of your support system and mentor to help keep you motivated. If you stay focused and determined, you will easily be able to reach for the stars and achieve your dream.


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CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6.3
This version of CorelDraw Graphics Suite is currently the latest and most complete. It includes 8 GB of cilpart, pictures and other digital content from Corel. X6 Service Pack 3 for Corporate Customers only is included as well.
CorelDRAW is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Corel Corporation of Ottawa, Canada. It is also the name of Corel's Graphics Suite, which bundles CorelDraw with a bitmap image editor, Corel PhotoPaint, and other graphics-related programs.
Supported Languages: English (US), German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portugese (Brazil), Russian, Swedish, Polish
X6.3 Premium Features
Viewing color styles
View options are now available in the Color styles docker to help you work with color styles more easily:
Alignment and dynamic guides
The new Alignment and dynamic guides docker lets you view, set up, and modify alignment guides and dynamic guides more easily. In addition, the docker offers the following new features and enhancements:
Color styles and harmonies
The Color styles docker now features enhancements to help you create and edit color harmonies and color styles. You can apply a rule to a color harmony to shift all colors according to predetermined logic and create various color combinations. You can also use a harmony rule to create a color harmony from scratch. The following harmony rules are available:
Setting up guidelines in PHOTO-PAINT
The new Guidelines docker in PHOTO-PAINT makes it easier to add, manage, and modify guidelines. You can now position guidelines with precision, change their line style and color, have objects and editable areas snap to them, and lock them into place to avoid unwanted changes. For additional functionality, you can now add angled guidelines and rotate existing guidelines.
Displaying rulers in PHOTO-PAINT
You can now choose to have rulers displayed by default on new documents in PHOTO-PAINT.
PHOTO-PAINT Alignment guides
Alignment guides are temporary guidelines that help you align objects as you create, resize, or move them in relation to other nearby objects. The new Alignment guides docker in PHOTO-PAINT lets you view, set up, and modify alignment guides. In addition, you can now use margin alignment guides which give you the ability to inset and offset an object relative to another object.
Guidelines Setup
The new Guidelines docker makes it easier to add, manage, and modify guidelines, letting you precisely position, rotate and edit guidelines.
Previewing styles and style sets
Now you can preview styles and style sets by pointing to them in the Object styles docker. This feature helps you choose what style or style set to apply to an object. In addition, when you create a style or a style set from objects, a preview shows you what object attributes will be included in the new style or style set.
Enhanced support for digital cameras
In both CorelDRAW® and Corel® PHOTO-PAINT™ you can open and import raw camera files from new camera models. The X6.2 Update offers support for the latest models of digital cameras, such as:
In addition, the Adobe® lossy Digital Negative (DNG) file format and the Imacon Flexframe 3f format are now supported.
What's Included:
Key new features and enhancements:
(a) Advanced OpenType Support
(b) New Custom-built Colour Harmonies
(c) New Native 64-bit and Enhanced Multi-Core Support
(d) New Creative Vector Shaping tools
(e) New Styles Engine and Docker
(f) New Corel Website Creator X6 application
(g) New Smart Carver
(h) Improved Page Layout Capabilities
(i) Redesigned Object Properties Docker
System Requirements:
Related Products


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Heirloom Tomato Pizza-Stuffed Zucchini Boats
The pinnacle of summer arrives when you can make dinner from the farmers' market. I don't mean dinner's side dish or the base of your peach crisp. I mean dinner from start to finish.
You need two criteria met: a well-equipped farmstand, the kind that sells local bread and some cheese; and the arrival of heirloom tomato season. I say this because no summer meal is worth its salt unless it includes at least one variety of local heirloom tomato.
Even though we've passed summer's midway point, we're still at the beginning of peak tomato time. I haven't seen a ton of Brandywines or Cherokee Purples yet, despite rummaging through the boxes at my favorite farmstand as early as I can get out of bed on weekend mornings.
Instead, when I put together this recipe to highlight heirloom tomatoes as part of Whole Foods' campaign to shout about tomatoes from the rooftops, I opted for Sun Golds, little yellow-slash-orange globes of sweetness. They're sweet and a little tangy, and they pair beautifully with cheese–in sandwiches or on pizza–but I wanted a more farmstand-y meal than just pizza.
So, I grabbed a few stout gray zucchini from the stand, halved them, and scooped them out to turn them into little boats, also known as summertime pizza crusts. That's when, looking at the rest of my market yield, fresh onions and garlic and mozzarella, I decided to throw together a margarita pizza-inspired filling headlined by my Sun Golds. Inside these "boats," you'll find those sweet baked tomatoes, flavorful breadcrumbs, sweet summer onion, basil, and more.
Whole Foods has tremendous rescources for enjoying your tomatoes, as well as tons of fabulous tomato recipes. My favorite is this Heirloom Tomato BLT!
I wrote this sponsored post in partnership with Whole Foods to make sure you guys didn't miss the glory and deliciousness of heirloom tomatoes. Thanks for supporting the sponsors that help inspire BGSK's content!
Heirloom Tomato Pizza-Stuffed Zucchini Boats
Serves 3
3 medium summer squash or zucchini
Olive oil
1 small onion
1 cup yellow heirloom tomatoes, cut into quarters
½ cup cubed or torn fresh mozzarella
1 cup coarse fresh breadcrumbs (from about 2 slices of bread)
1 garlic clove, minced to a paste with salt
10 basil leaves, slivered
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Cut each squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and transfer them to a bowl. Brush the squash with olive oil and bake for 20 minutes, until golden around the edges.
Meanwhile, heat a medium frying pan over medium heat. Add about 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sauté the onion for 10 minutes, until translucent. Chop the scooped-out squash and add it to the pan, sautéing until soft, another 3 minutes. Remove from the heat.
In a mixing bowl, combine the tomatoes, mozzarella, breadcrumbs, minced garlic, basil, and 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt to taste, adding as much as you think the mixture needs to bring out the flavors of the tomatoes. Add the zucchini-onion mixture and stir together.
Press the filling into each of the zucchini boats. Sprinkle with the Parmesan. Bake 10 to 15 minutes, until the cheese is melty, the tomatoes have burst, and the tops of the boats are golden. Let rest for a minute, then serve, topped with any extra basil leaves for garnish.


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Michel Faber's novel, Under the Skin (2000), was that rarest of beasts: a science fiction story with real literary merit. I say that as a reader who has dipped into science fiction for decades and identified only a handful of authors – notably Philip K. Dick and Stanislaw Lem – that ever made me feel like going back for a second helping.
Under the Skin introduced a new kind of heroine – Isserley – an alien surgically transformed to resemble a human being, who drives around Scotland in an old Toyota, picking up male hitchhikers who are taken back to a plant for processing. The four-legged inhabitants of Isserley's planet have developed a taste for human meat, which is sold as an expensive delicacy.
In the novel, Isserley's race refer to themselves as human beings, while earthlings are "Vodsels". With black humour Faber explored issues of race, gender, vivisection, and what it meant to be a terminal outsider. Seeing the hitchhikers through Isserley's eyes, they really did seem to be talking beasts.
British director, Jonathan Glazer, has borrowed Faber's core idea of an alien in the shape of a woman who drives around picking up male hitchhikers. Almost everything else in this adaptation is radically different from the novel, with the changes lending the story a degree of mystery that can be almost incomprehensible.
In Glazer's version none of the characters have names. We begin by seeing the protagonist taking the clothing of a young woman who seems to have drowned. She is aided by a nameless man on a motorcycle who tidies up the evidence. In this version she sits behind the wheel of a big 4 wheel drive, and lures her victims back to a darkened dwelling where they literally disappear into the floor while thinking only of sexual conquest.
It's never quite clear what happens next. We can see that the males are turned into some sort of gloop, but it is nothing like the orderly farming and processing that takes place in the novel. Glazer and his scriptwriter, Walter Campbell, take the story into a dark, psycho-sexual realm where desire is punished with infernal torments.
Crucial to this impression is the character of the alien seductress, who will be both hunter and hunted as the story progresses. Whereas Faber's Isserley is a stunted, near-crippled figure with oversized breasts, the film's protagonist is Scarlett Johansson, admired as one of the sexiest women in Hollywood. Despite this reputation, Johansson has shown a marked reluctance to do the nude scenes that seem obligatory today for actresses young and old. She sheds most of those inhibitions in this film, although these moments are modest compared to the voyeurisic excesses of movies such as Blue is the Warmest Colour.
At the beginning of the story Johansson's character seems only slightly more nuanced than David Bowie's portrayal of a spaced-out alien in Nic Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976). Bowie, however, has acted like an alien in every movie, whereas Johansson is able to inject a little life into the role as she gradually begins to see her victims in a more sympathetic light, developing a distaste for her work. Confused about her own neither-nor identity, she wonders if she can live as an earthling, among earthlings. This development leads to the introduction of new characters, including a hitchhiker whose face is horribly enlarged and disfigured by a form of neurofibromatosis; and a good samaritan who offers her food and shelter.
Glazer is known as a director of rock videos for bands such as Radiohead, and Under the Skin borrows a few tricks from the shorter format. A buzzing, whirring, electronic score by Mica Levi adds to the feeling of alienation we associate with Johansson's character. The stylised scenes in which the victims grope blindly after their tormentor could be taken directly from a video.
Some of the pick-ups were allegedly filmed in 'candid camera' style, with a disguised Johansson pulling over to talk to lads who answer her questions in the thickest, most unfathomable Scottish dialect. One might see this as an investigation into the nature of celebrity. Who among us would recognise a black-haired Scarlett Johansson if she pulled up alongside us on a suburban street to ask directions?
With any adaptation of a successful novel a director cannot slavishly follow the original plot, but must find a way to reshape the material cinematically. What is gained must be at least equal to what is lost, but it's debatable whether or not Glazer has achieved that balance. The discussion of vivisection, for instance, has given way to a more intense focus on human relationships. It's also disturbing that the story gains in sexual titillation what it loses in clarity, although many will find this a perfectly fair exchange.
Under the Skin
Directed by Jonathan Glazer
Screenplay by Walter Campbell & Jonathan Glazer, from a novel by Michel Faber
Starring Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy McWilliams, Adam Pearson, Michael Moreland
UK, rated MA 15+, 108 mins
Published in the Australian Financial Review, Saturday 31 May, 2014.
Michel Faber's novel, Under the Skin (2000), was that rarest of beasts: a science fiction story with real literary merit. I say that as a reader who has dipped into science fiction for decades and identified only a handful of authors – notably Philip K. Dick and Stanislaw Lem – that ever made me feel like going back for a second helping.


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"There are only two types of people in the world: artists, and subject matter." - Robert D'Arista
Ever since cavemen drew pictures of the hunt on their cave walls, we humans have taken a voyeuristic interest in art that reflects everyday realities. Holland in the 1600s was the golden age of genre, but the art form has appeared in every century and every culture. Even the artists who decorated the tombs of the pharaohs of ancient Egypt reveled in depictions of the every day actions and occupations of the common people.
In this album you can see work ranging from the Limbourg Brothers' early 15th century illuminated manuscript, Le Tres Riches Heures, to that of contemporary artists. Click on the slide show to see high resolution images.
For an earlier related post see: Genre Redux
For an earlier related post see: Genre Redux


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Missed a game last night? Wondering what the latest news around the NBA is this morning? The Morning Shootaround is here to try to meet those needs and keep you up on what's happened around the league since the day turned.
The one recap to watch: Although the matchup of All-Star point guards failed to live up to our hopes, the Spurs-Cavs game was a thriller down the stretch. Tony Parker did his part, going for 24 points and seven dimes, but Kyrie Irving had one of his toughest nights of the season, shooting 2-for-15 for six points to go along with seven assists himself. Rookie Dion Waiters showed some clutch skills with a step-back jumper to give Cleveland a two-point lead with 9.5 seconds left. But Parker — who won his lone Finals MVP by dicing up the Cavs in 2007 — went to work, operating out of the pick and roll to find a wide open Kawhi Leonard on the baseline for the game-winning 3-pointer.
News of the morning
Brown chimes in on old squad | KG done with All-Star Games? | Jennings clarifies future | Big Al question dogs Jazz | Why Spurs won't get J-Smoove
Ex-Lakers coach sees bright future for L.A. — Depending on your point of view, it may not seem that long ago that the Lakers fired coach Mike Brown after going 1-4 to open the season. Since then, there's been plenty more drama in Lakerland, USA, and we haven't heard much from the man who had the first crack at making the Dwight Howard-Pau Gasol-Kobe Bryant-Steve Nash "superteam" work this season. Brown stopped by Colin Cowherd's ESPN Radio program yesterday, though, to say he sees some signs that the Lakers are heading in the direction he couldn't get them to go when he had the gig:
Former Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike Brown has had three months to ruminate on his former team and its struggles amid the additions of coach Mike D'Antoni, Dwight Howard and Steve Nash, and the departure of Andrew Bynum.
Brown says despite a slow first half, he sees a Lakers team that can, with some work, turn its season around.
"I think it can be done," Brown said Wednesday in a telephone interview with "The Herd with Colin Cowherd" on ESPN Radio. "Mike has a different philosophy, and it's worked for him the many years he's been coaching in the NBA. And I'm sure he'll figure it out, which he's been doing.
"He's been making some adjustments as time's gone on. So I think it's a matter of time before they get it going."
Brown noted he was skeptical when D'Antoni, upon his hiring, said the Lakers would implement a run-and-gun style offense and score in the 110-115-point range — "be the old 'Showtime.'"
"I did not feel that was a running team," said Brown, who was fired in November after a 1-4 start to the season. "Kobe [Bryant] is a guy who can run, but if you look back at the history of his career, he really hasn"t been on a running team, in his 15, 16, 20 years — whatever he's been in the league."Then you talk about having two bigs," Brown said of Howard and Pau Gasol. "And both of those bigs are agile and capable runners, but they're not the type of runners that you need to have to play in a system that's going to score those types of points."
Brown related his experience as an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs, when they had both Tim Duncan and David Robinson, saying an efficient scoring tandem is indeed possible between players with the skill sets of Howard and Gasol.
Regarding his firing, Brown said he was "shocked" to learn of the Lakers' decision.
"But I always look at it this way," Brown said. "It's their team. They have every right to do what they want to do with it. You know, I appreciate the opportunity that they gave me, and it was a decision that the Busses and Mitch Kupchak came to. They felt they would be better going in another direction. So from that standpoint I respect it, I appreciate the opportunity, but it was a little surprising."
KG bidding adieu to All-Star Game? — All-Star starter Kevin Garnett is making his 14th appearance in the league's midseason showcase, but I guess we should all take time to soak in his play there. According to the Boston Herald's Mark Murphy, Garnett says this will be his final All-Star Game. That would seem to imply that KG is pondering retirement after this season, but the Celtics' standout said his reasons for not wanting to be in the game in the future have more to do with fatigue than the end of the road in the NBA:
Kevin Garnett said last night that his 14th All-Star Game appearance on Sunday in Houston will also be his last, though the Celtics forward stopped short of saying he was retiring at the end of the season.
Garnett, realizing he had just set off an alarm, then turned cryptic. He has two years remaining on his contract.
"This is definitely my last All-Star Game," he said. "Ya'll don't know what I know. I'm more than grateful, and I'm not going to act like I have more All-Star Games in me. I'll enjoy this one with friends and family. That's what I meant."
Garnett added he simply plans to enjoy himself this weekend.
"I'll have no feelings whatsoever," he said when asked about Sunday. "I always enjoyed each All-Star Game. I'm not a guy who is going to show too much emotion at that time. The All-Star Game for me is more for friends and family. You always have that wild-assed uncle who shows his ass, you always have that friend you always have to pull to the side and have that little conversation (with). It's a fun time."
Garnett admitted to feeling the wear and tear on the inside this season.
"The last four or five days have been exhausting," he said. "Mentally more than physical. The three overtimes against Denver was emotionally draining, the travel, having to come in here and prepare after losing to Charlotte, so yeah, it's been a bit of a whirlwind."
Jennings refutes talk of frustration — Bucks fourth-year guard Brandon Jennings is having one of his better all-around seasons, averaging 18.5 ppg, 6.1 apg, 1.9 spg and shooting 36.4 percent from 3-point range. Jennings, a restricted free-agent this summer, had a chance to sign a four-year, $40 million extension with Milwaukee but passed on it and will test the free-agent waters this summer. An analysis story on ESPN.com said that Jennings has "irreconcilable differences" with the Bucks' front office and is demanding a trade by the Feb. 21 deadline. But Jennings later came back and spoke with ESPN.com's Chris Broussard — who did not write the first Jennings story — to clear up his side on things:
ESPN.com, in an analysis story on 10 NBA players who could be traded, cited sources as saying Jennings is frustrated. One source called it "irreconcilable differences" and said Jennings wants to be moved before the Feb. 21 trade deadline.
"That is not true," Jennings said in a text message when asked if his relationship with the Bucks is beyond repair. "Just because I got a new agent doesn't mean anything. That stuff never came out of my mouth. They're just reaching for a story since I changed my agent [to Jeff Schwartz]."
ESPN.com said it stands by its reporting.
A year ago, Jennings told ESPN.com that he was "doing [his] homework on big-market teams." Since then, Jennings' long-term status in Milwaukee has been the subject of speculation among league insiders, and when Jennings left agent Bill Duffy, the rumors swirled again about whether the guard is unhappy with the Bucks. The Bucks offered Jennings a four-year, $40 million extension, according to sources, but he turned it down. He will become a restricted free agent this summer.
One other theory being floated: Jennings is upset because he didn't make the Eastern Conference All-Star team, despite leading the Bucks into playoff position by averaging team-highs of 18.5 points and 6.1 assists, or that he wants more exposure than small-market Milwaukee can offer.
Jennings denied that.
"Being in Milwaukee wasn't the reason I didn't make the All-Star Game," Jennings said. "Guys just had better numbers than me."
When asked about his future on Wednesday, Jennings said he's only focused on the present.
"That's something me and Jeff will discuss in the offseason," he said. "The Milwaukee Bucks are in 8th place in the East, and I'm looking forward to helping them get to the playoffs in the second half of the season."
Jazz's lingering question: What to do with Big Al? — Utah has one representative — Jeremy Evans in the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest on Saturday — heading to Houston this weekend, which might be a good thing for the front office. Leading scorer Al Jefferson has been thrown about in trade rumors, but nothing of serious merit has floated out there. Jefferson, an unrestricted free agent this summer, has said in the past the Jazz will have the right of first refusal for him. The emergence of second-year center Enes Kanter as well as Utah's desire to eventually free up minutes for third-year big Derrick Favors puts it in a situation where some decisions have to be made, writes Kurt Kragthorpe of the Salt Lake Tribune:
The Jazz's biggest issue, as they head into the All-Star break after Wednesday's game at Minnesota and anticipate the NBA's Feb. 21 trade deadline, is what to do with Jefferson. His expiring contract will make him a free agent in July, creating options for the team. How the Jazz's management addresses the Jeffersonian Dilemma is central to the franchise's immediate and long-term future.It's complicated, that's for sure. The answer is not as simple as saying the Jazz should trade him just to get something in return before he walks away. Any deal they make next week must genuinely advance their rebuilding process, not merely bring them some temporary assets that the other party wants to unload.
The Jazz keep showing enough flashes of potential, such as Tuesday's convincing win over Oklahoma City, to make this season's goals worth pursuing, as opposed to starting over with two months remaining. When the injured Mo Williams and Gordon Hayward return, the Jazz should be able to solidify a playoff spot in the Western Conference, and I'll always endorse postseason play as meaningful.
The tricky part of this discussion is that the Jazz have become so dependent on Jefferson that he's both the solution and the problem with their offense.
Averaging 17.5 points and 9.4 rebounds, Jefferson has done more than anyone could have expected of him in his third season with the Jazz. He's the team's closest thing to an All-Star and he cares about winning, by all accounts.
It's just while I've come to appreciate his game more and more, I still say his style — backing in, holding the ball, faking and working for a shot — just doesn't fit the Jazz's traditional offensive approach that calls for the players and the ball to keep moving. To his credit, he's become much more willing to pass in the last month, resulting in the team's field-goal percentage finally climbing above .450, ranking in the top half of the league.
The summary is that even though I don't see him as a long-term fixture here, trading him is not necessarily the right call.
The Jazz should move Jefferson only if they can net a return that's a reasonable percentage of the package they received from New Jersey/Brooklyn for Deron Williams two years ago. They got Derrick Favors, Devin Harris (later traded for Marvin Williams), a first-round draft choice in 2011 (Enes Kanter) and a future first-round pick, which will be conveyed via Golden State this year.
In any case, the D-Will deal should be somewhat of a model for any trade of Jefferson. It actually would make more sense for the Jazz to trade Paul Millsap, as popular as he is, because Favors is better prepared than Kanter to assume a bigger role right now.
For the sake of their future, the Jazz have to commit themselves to Kanter, at some point. I'm just not sure that time is next week.
Why Smoove to the Spurs doesn't make sense — Few players have had their name bandied about in trade rumors more the past few weeks than Hawks forward Josh Smith. From New Jersey to to San Antonio (and points inbetween and beyond), there's been talk of the multi-talented forward having his skills shipped to any number of contenders around the league. The Spurs would seem to be a Finals shoo-in should they pick up Smith, but we've got a dose of reality courtesy of the San Antonio Express-News' Jeff McDonald on why a Spurs trade for Smith is nonsense:
And so we come to the "rumor" that the Spurs are looking to trade for Atlanta forward Josh Smith. In a power-rankings column yesterday, the great Marc Spears at Yahoo! Sports mentioned the Spurs as one of many teams expressing interest in Smith.
This morning, the folks at ProBasketballTalk took Spears' mention a step further, hopping on the trade machine to put together a hypothetical deal between the Spurs and Hawks. To PBT's credit, the site made imminently clear the "hypothetical" part.
The deal they made up: Kawhi Leonard, Stephen Jackson's expiring contract, a pick (perhaps?), a young point guard (perhaps?).
Again, nobody is reporting that the Spurs and Hawks have discussed any sort of deal at all. It's all hypothetical.
If I may, here are three reasons why the Josh Smith-to-Spurs thing will not happen.1) The Hawks are primarily interested in acquiring picks. Lottery picks. The Spurs, as you may have read, are 41-12. They're going to have to do a championship job of tanking after the All-Star break to wind up in the draft lottery. As it stands now, they're going to have the No. 30 pick overall. Not an enticing trade chip for a team like Atlanta.
2) The Spurs have little to no interest in adding big payroll after this season. Smith is going to want a maximum contract when his deal is up. It's the reason the Hawks are shopping him. I have no doubt some team out there will give Smith the payday he desires. I guarantee you it's not going to be the Spurs. You really think the Spurs would be interested in giving up Kawhi Leonard — a guy Gregg Popovich envisions as the future face of the franchise – for a half-season rental? Because I don't.
3) Leonard is borderline untouchable at this point. Look, you never say never about trading anybody (except maybe Tim Duncan). But thanks to the rookie scale contract system, the Spurs have Leonard — aka "Bruce Bowen with skills" — for two more seasons at a total of $3.1 million. That's chump change, and quite a value for a player who is becoming increasingly important to what the Spurs do at both ends of the floor. For the budget-conscious Spurs, a player so vastly over-performing his contract is worth holding onto for dear life.
ICYMI of the night: JaVale McGee gets a lot of heat on Shaqtin' A Fool when he does something wrong, and most of the time the criticism is deserved. But when he does something right — like this dunk last night over Gerald Wallace — well, we've got to give him props …:


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as i upgraded, Antergos do not upgrade libreoffice-fresh-de 5.0.2-1
conflict: all files to upgrade exists in filesystem
(I upgraded libreoffice-fresh 5.0.2-1 to 5.0.2-2 before.)
Maybe i already have fresh-de 5.0.2-1 and pacman says: oh yes upgrade it to 5.0.2-1 !
This is not so hard anyway.
But if i start libreoffice i get only frozen startimage.
Remove and reinstall libreoffice don't work, cause:
As i looked into pamac-manager, packet-source "antergos" and "extra" do not load,
only "core" "community" and "local" are loading.
I did pacman -Syy, nothing change.
Something's going wrong. I run antergos plasma 5
I installed octopi, removed libreoffice-fresh and pacman-manager/pamac 's working again.
Install libreoffice-still for testing/whats happen: office/still don't load, too (frozen start-image)