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The dust found on many computer processors and monitors used today in schools and other locations contains chemicals linked to reproductive and neurological disorders, according to a new study by several environmental groups.
Researchers say the results are not alarming enough to justify panic–but add that schools, with high concentrations of young students and women of child-bearing age, should be aware of the problem and should require all future purchases of computers and other electronics to be toxin-free. This advice applies to all consumers, they say.
The survey, released June 3 by Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, Computer TakeBack Campaign, and Clean Production Action, is among the first to identify risk factors for brominated flame retardants on the surfaces of common devices in homes, offices, and schools.
Electronics companies began using polybrominated diphenyl (PBDEs) and other flame retardants in the 1970s, arguing that the toxins prevent fires and cannot escape from plastic casings.
"This will be a great surprise to everyone who uses a computer," said Ted Smith, director of the Toxics Coalition. "The chemical industry is subjecting us all to what amounts to chemical trespass by putting these substances into use in commerce. They continue to use their chemicals in ways that are affecting humans and other species."
Researchers collected samples of dust from dozens of computers in eight states, including university computer labs in New York, Michigan, and Texas, legislative offices in California, and an interactive computer display at a children's museum in Maine. They tested for three types of brominated flame retardants suspected to be hazardous.
The most toxic piece of equipment discovered by the researchers was a new flat-screen monitor in a university in New York, implying that newer equipment isn't necessarily cleaner.
Penta- and octa-brominated diphenyl will be taken off the market by the end of the year. Environmental groups are demanding legislation that would ban deca-brominated diphenyl, too.
PBDEs, which have caused neurological damage in laboratory rats in numerous studies, are related to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). PCBs were outlawed in the 1970s, but the toxins don't erode and still persist in the environment.
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and several other organizations have confirmed that PCBs damage the brains of human fetuses.
Scientists have not directly correlated exposure to PBDEs with specific diseases or developmental impairment. Researchers at University of California, Davis, and elsewhere are studying possible links between brominated flame retardants and autism, but results are said to be years away.
Independent researchers who reviewed the study say consumers shouldn't throw out their old computers, and they needn't wear special gloves or minimize exposure to computer monitors. There's no known way to remove dust-born PBDEs, so special wipes or sprays wouldn't reduce exposure.
"The levels in the dust are enough to raise a red flag, but not enough to create a crisis," said Dr. Gina Solomon, senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council and assistant professor of medicine at University of California, San Francisco. "I have an old computer monitor in front of me now, and I'm not about to throw it away. But when I get a new one, it darn well will be free of these chemicals."
The electronics industry has been reducing or eliminating some brominated flame retardants since the late 1990s, when European countries began prohibiting the sale of products that contain the chemicals.
Dell Inc. and many other computer makers continue using a flame retardant related to PBDEs on circuit boards. They use lead, mercury, and other toxins in central processing units and monitors. But Dell, along with Apple Computer Inc. and others, stopped using PBDEs in 2002.
"People can be very confident about their new computer purchase," Dell spokesman Bryant Hilton said. "We've worked a lot with suppliers, and we require audits and material data sheets on all our products. It's an important topic to be aware of, and … something we will continue to be focused on."
See these related links:
Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition
Computer TakeBack Campaign
Clean Production Action


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You are invited to join our first ever Pinterest Contest – No "Pins" Required, Top 15 Modern Cloth Diaper Must Haves
Are you on Pinterest yet? If not, you may want to consider taking a crash course in Pinterest 101 because we're launching our first Pinterest contest for March. Let's show the awesome users on Pinterest just how easy it is to use modern cloth diapers – no "Pins" required!
Steps to enter:
- Follow @DiaperShops on Pinterest
- Create a Pinterest board and label it "Cloth Diapers – No Pins Required."
- In the description of the board enter "Top 15 Modern Cloth Diaper Must Haves."
- Add your top 15 items that you think every cloth diapering parent must have for success. You'll want to include your favorite brands or styles of cloth diapers, wet bags, wipes, and other accessories that make cloth diapering easy and fun. (Hint: You can start your board by visiting Kelly's Closet and using our new "Pin It" button that is available on all of the items in our store.)
- In each pins description, include the number of the pin (1-15 in no specific order), a brief description of the item, along with the hashtags #clothdiapers #nopins.
- To make the board a little more personal and pretty feel free to add your favorite pictures of your little one sporting the most modern and easy to use cloth diapers.
- When your board is complete, share it with us by posting a comment on the original contest announcement pin (link here: http://pinterest.com/pin/185421709628061216/), with a link to your own "Cloth Diapers – No Pins Required" board. You'll also need to submit a link to your Pin Board here along with your email address so that we can contact the winner at the end of the contest. (second link here: http://bit.ly/nopinsrequired)
An example of how your pin could look:
An example of how your board could look:
Additional information and rules for entry:
- No purchase necessary to win.
- Contest begins on February 29th, 2012 and ends on March 15th, 2012.
- Only one entry board per person.
- Winning boards will be selected based upon your creativity, uniqueness, and by how well you represent the Top 15 Must Have items.
- Winners will be announced here and on our blog on March 20th, 2012.
- Pinterest is an invite only service. You can request an invite from Pinterest or by any Pinterest user. If you can't find an invite leave us a comment below with your email address.

subset: commoncrawl


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You are here: Impact
Every Youth Music project measures its impact, helping us build a unique national overview.
Our projects help young people to develop musically, of course, and they have personal and social outcomes too. We support young people to build their confidence, resilience, and self-esteem. To meet different kinds of people, learn to trust each other, and make friends. To develop vital skills they need, get support to be able to face the world, and take control of their own lives.
How music-making helps
We're constantly gathering evidence to understand how music-making helps young people, whatever the challenges they're facing. We've become experts on the benefits of music-making in different settings.
Our Impact Report
Every Youth Music project measures its impact, helping us build a unique national overview.
Youth Music is proud to be an Inspiring Impact Champion.
Impact Champions are part of a UK-wide movement in the voluntary and social enterprise sector, aiming to promote good impact practice.


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The Soul of Fine Art: Delve into: art, passion, writing, dharma, zen, character, consciousness, culture, intuition, evolution, and the spirit we call soul.
eden's weblog:
you can't outsource your soul work
Thursday May 03, 2007
Taking A Moment
From my upcoming book—An Artist Empowered: Define and Establish Your Value as an ArtistNow:
Now, if you insist on rigidly attaching yourself to a particular outcome, you become a barnacle hitching a ride to wherever the driver is going.
With no direction of your own, you are a slave of your attachment; you are a coconspirator in your own undoing.
For most of us in the West where consumerism, materialism, pop culture adoration, neurosis of the next big thing, and movie star idolatry are fixtures on the totem pole of conspicuous consumption, adhering to the Law of Non-Attachment doesnt feel natural; it is neither effortless, nor is its impact immediately evident.
No one who knows what they are talking about ever said it was easy.
And what choice do you have?


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When it comes to die-hard republicanism, nothing matches the Fairfax media. Melbourne's daily newspaper The Age managed to totally ignore the visit of TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in New Zealand. The print edition on Monday contained not a hint that the royal couple had landed in Wellington and had a stylish welcome. No tiny news item, no photo for example of the bare-bottomed member of the Defence Force's kapa haka group, which made it into practically every newspaper around the world. Well, not in Melbourne. The Age kept itself free from all that.
|Die Welt, published in Berlin, put
Duchess Catherine on the frontpage
|... and so did the Berliner Morgenpost
|Prince George on top of another German newspaper.
You have to wonder how ideologically blind the editor must be ...
|The Daily Mail offers its readers even a supplement with photos from New Zealand.
On an much higher and massively significant political level was the reception of Ireland's President Michael D Higgins at Windsor Castle about which The Age has remained totally silent.
Mr and Mrs Higgins paid their respect at the Mountbatten memorial in Westminster Abbey. In 1979 Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, one of the earl's twin grandsons, Nicholas, 14, and Paul Maxwell, 15, a local employed as a boat boy, died in the explosion. The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) had planted a bomb in the earl's fishing boat, the Shadow V, at Mullaghmore, County Sligo, in Ireland.


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Mating season is over. Pirate ate a big, fat mouse this morning. He didn't take more than a minute to notice it and grab it. He must have been hungry—especially since he hasn't eaten anything in a month.
I wish people could do that. We could lock ourselves in a closet with a case of Evian water and wait to get thin. That's what Anansi did in Anansi and the Talking Melon.
We'd have the obesity epidemic licked.


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Preschool Hymns
These hymns are designed as a tool for teachers to help preschoolers memorize Bible verses and "hide 'em in their hearts" in a fun and easy way. Each verse has been matched to the music of a familiar children's song like "London Bridge" or "Oh, How I Love Jesus". Since the youngsters only learn the words, not the tunes, memorizing Bible verses becomes a favorite way to make a joyful noise unto the Lord.
Hyphenated words should be sung as separate syllables so wording fits the rhythm of the tunes. Try them yourself before teaching them, and feel free to make adjustments if necessary so the words fit the tune as well as your personal style.
Teachers will be delighted to see how quickly preschoolers learn to sing these verses and hide God's words in their precious hearts and minds.
A friend loveth at all times
Proverbs 17:17a (NIV)
Sing to the tune of "London Bridge"
A friend lov-eth at all times, at all times, at all times.
A friend lov-eth at all times, Proverbs seven-teen seven-teen.
If one falls down, his friend can help him up.
Ecclesiates 4:10a (NIV)
Sing to the tune of "Frere Jacques" ("Are You Sleeping"?)
If one falls down, his-is fri-end can help him up, help him up.
Eccl-esiates four ten, Eccl-esiates four ten,
Help him up, Help him up.
Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.
Hebrews 13:5b (NIV)
Sing to the tune of "Oh, How I Love Jesus"
Never will-ill I leave you, never will I forsake you-ou,
Never will-ill I leave you. Hebrews thir-teen five.
But I tell you who hear me, love your enemies, do good to those who hurt you.
Luke 6:27 (NIV)
Sing to the tune "Frere Jacques" ("Are You Sleeping"?)
But I tell you, who-oo hear me, love your en-e-mies (sing quickly), do-oo good.
To those who hurt you, to those who hurt you.
Luke six twenty-seven, Luke six twenty-seven.
You, dear children, are from God.
I John 4:4a (NIV)
Sing to the tune "Oh, How I Love Jesus"
You, dear-ear-ear child-ren, are from-om-om God-od-od,
First Joh-hon four and four, you are-re-re from-om God.
But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and then all things shall be added unto you.
Matthew 6:33
Sing to the tune "I'm a Little Teapot"
But-ut seek-ek first His king-ing-dom and-and His right-eous-ness.
Then-en all-ul things shall be add-ed unto you.
Matt-hew six and thirty-three.
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever!
I Chronicles 16:34a (NIV)
Sing to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It"
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
His mercy endures for-ever, His mercy endures for-ever,
First Chron-icles six-teen thirty-four.
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
Psalm 27:1a (NIV)
Sing to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot"
The Lord-od is my light and my sal-va-tion, my sal-va-tion, my sal-va-tion.
Whom-om shall I fear, no fear, no fear!
Psalms twenty-seven and-and one.
A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.
Proverbs 19:11
Sing to the tune of "Frere Jacques" ("Are You Sleeping"?)
A man's wis-dom gives him pat-ience, it is to, hi-is glory,
to-oo overlook, an-an of-of-fense.
Proverbs nine-teen e-leven, Proverbs nine-teen e-leven.
But store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven.
Matthew 6:20a (NIV)
Sing to the tune of "London Bridge"
But store uh-up for yourselves, for yourselves, for yourselves,
trea-sures in-n Hea-ven, trea-sures in Hea-ven.
Matthew six and twenty.
Hymns - Page 2
Hymns are written by Donna Cosmato. Donna is a freelance writer with expertise in many areas including
early childhood education and is available for writing assignments. Her
interests include, but are not limited to, organic food and drink,
homeschooling, bringing America back to founding fathers' principles,
and spreading God's Word as far as possible through her writing. Contact Donna at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Unfortunately for Reese Witherspoon she hit the headlines for something other than being a
blonde bombshell lawyer rather excellent actress after she was arrested for disorderly conduct on April 19. Oops!
And before the gossip-loving population of the world forgets about it completely, a video of the Legally Blonde star being handcuffed and put into a police car by cops in Atlanta, Georgia has now emerged.
The clip, obtained by TMZ.com, shows Reese standing alongside her talent agent husband Jim Toth after he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and the actress is restrained by the officer, who speaks in a rather excellent Southern drawl, after she refused to remain in the car.
In the video, Reese, who has admitted she had one too many drinks that night, is heard telling the policeman she is pregnant and that she needs to go to the loo despite her not actually growing a baby inside of herself at all.
And as she gets all cuffed up Reese's temper starts to flare, prompting her to ALMOST have a "DON'T YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!" moment.
Behold this exchange!
Reese: "Do you know my name sir?"
Mr cop man: "Don't need to know."
Witherspoon: "You don't NEED to know my name?"
Police bloke: "Not quite yet."
Actress lady Reese: "Oh really? OK. You're about to find out who I am."
Except, in the video we've watched he doesn't ask for her name at all. Did he ever find out? Will he settle down on a Friday night to watch Legally Blonde with a bowl of popcorn, a glass of wine and a scented candle on the fireplace to suddenly spot her on the screen?
Well, probably not, because news of her arrest ACTUALLY made it to EVERY corner of the world. It's true. It actually did. Well, we might be over exaggerating a bit.
If you take a look at the video, Reese goes on to claim she is being harassed, seems shocked she has to do as she's told by the policeman and asks if he thinks she is being anti-American.
However, that cheeky little Reese has since apologised for her actions during an interview on Good Morning America.
She said: "We went out to a restaurant in Atlanta, and we had one too many glasses of wine. We thought we were fine to drive and we absolutely were not, and we are so sorry and just so embarrassed.
"We know better and we shouldn't have done that. We made a mistake, and it was something that will never happen again."
Referring to the cop, she added: "I was so disrespectful to him. I have police officers in my family. I work with police officers every day. I know better. It's just unacceptable."
Want to see Reese's mug shot? Check out the gallery below...


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Carlos Campos often looks to Latin themes and culture for inspiration for his men's collections. Again for spring 2018, Campos delved into Latin culture for inspiration, referencing the work of Mexican architect Luis Barragan, and Barragan's design aesthetic of minimalist realism often in found in geometric silhouettes.
Campos' fondness for color blocking is front and center in this spring outing, evidenced in geometric color blocked shapes and sometimes matchy, matchy monochromatic colors on the clothes and asymmetrical color-blocked themes in the accessories. This worked to create effect facilitating a rich, dramatic effect on the runway, also aptly expressing the geometric, minimalist design aesthetic of Luis Barragan.
There were some dynamic, well-tailored long coats in the collection with delicate pleating or "alforjas" which demonstrated Campos' design conversation of the two Americas—Latin design aesthetics and American classics. By mixing Northern and Latin American influences, Campos ingeniously displayed his craftsmanship with a projection toward the future evidenced in a few androgynous looks that could work well for any gender.
Where this collection fell flat was in the innovation. Most fashion editors and pundits have seen these looks and silhouettes before. And as attractive and retail friendly as this collection might be, there was really very little originality or pushing of the masculine design aesthetic envelope.
In past seasons, Campos always added a little something extra to his designs that made him standout. Unfortunately, not in this spring 2017 collection; perhaps, going for a stark minimalistic approach married with retail viability, Campos lost some of his creative mien. Or, it is so deceptively disguised that only those close to the brand can distinguish the masterful injection of genius that goes beyond the good tailoring.
And though the continuing trend in menswear is moving away from innovation and ingenuity and embracing garments that translate well on e-commerce sites. Luxury JC Penny's should not be Campos' new design trajectory .
Standout looks in the collection include Campos' mason red sports parka with Cuervo counterfeit "CAMPOS" sweatshirt, alforja mac coat with alforja tee shirt in deep navy with deep-navy tailored shorts, deep-navy mac coat with alforja trim, and alforja belted kimono jacket in soft-white grosgrain.
—William S. Gooch


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This item cannot be ordered online. If you are interested please click on the Ask a Question button below.
It's been almost 30 years since Naim Audio designed their first integrated amplifier: time enough to define and refine the technical ingredients essential to high-end performance. Their reference quality SUPERNAIT 2 represents the pinnacle of this accumulated knowledge. It is both the most sophisticated integrated amplifier they've ever created and a classic Naim Audio product, shot through with the soul of the original, iconic NAIT.
SUPERNAIT 2 combines an 80W power amplifier with six individually decoupled input sockets and borrows advanced technology from Naim Audio's flagship preamplifier, the NAC 552. In employing the latest Naim Audio DR (Discrete Regulator) circuits in its power supply, it sits right at the forefront of Naim Audio amplifier technology.
This item cannot be ordered online. If you are interested please click on the Ask a Question button below.
SUPERNAIT 2 includes a Class A preamp output stage which doubles as a headphone amplifier, ceramic heatsink technology that minimises capacitive coupling between the chassis and output transistors for optimum sound quality. Its inputs are each individually decoupled and hand-wired to minimise noise and interference while internal switching employs ultra-low-noise, constant current sources which are derived directly from the electronic design of the flagship NAC 552 preamplifier.
Set at the core of every SUPERNAIT 2 is a custom-designed toroidal transformer featuring seven separate windings. This can be further upgraded with one of Naim Audio's external HiCap or SuperCap power supplies. Even the analogue delights of vinyl are yours to explore: simply add a StageLine or SuperLine phono stage. The SUPERNAIT 2 doesn't miss a trick or a beat.
It doesn't miss any music either. The SUPERNAIT 2 is never fazed by the demands of either speaker or music. It simply delivers dynamic, detailed and engaging music that can't fail to move you.
Technical Specifications:
Audio Inputs
Audio Outputs
Speaker Outputs
User Control
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UK ORDERS: We despatch the bulk of our UK mainland items on a 24 hour service – Free of Charge. Non Mainland locations - Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, the Scilly Isles, the Scottish highlands and Islands, the Channel Islands and Northern Ireland may take a day or so longer and are not Free of Charge. Smaller items are delivered using Royal Mail recorded delivery or special delivery. Larger items are delivered using a courier service such as Interlink Express, DPD, UPS or DHL.
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COLLECT IN STORE OR HOME INSTALL:At the request of the manufacturer some items cannot be supplied by mail order but you can click and buy them and then elect to collect them from our store or arrange a home install (if applicable). Applicable items clearly state that they are Collect in store or home install. Once ordered you will receive a message prompting you to contact us by phone or email to arrange for us to deliver and install or to reserve and collect from our store at your convenience, you will also be advised of the delivery time / stock availability as not all Home install / collect in store items are held in stock.


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Committed to Excellence, Equality and Enjoyment
We are very proud to be a part of Red Nose Day celebrations. The money raised is spent by Comic Relief right here in the UK, and across Africa, helping vulnerable and disadvantaged people turn their lives around.
Thanks to everyone at our lovely school for making a donation and supporting this worthy venture. As a treat, we thought that we would share some of our funniest faces with you.


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Where the hell has this year gone? I planned to have so much done by now and before I know it events are in the next week when I last thought of them they were months away.
- Daisie turns 3
- Issy breaks up from school and finishes year 1
- The summer holidays start
- The school uniform stocking up starts
- Prepping for Daisie starting nursery starts nursery bag,wellies etc


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Saturday, January 9, 2010
Anatomical Theatre Podcast
Recently, a journalist named Emma Jacobs came by the Morbid Anatomy Library to interview me about my work photographing anatomical models for the exhibition Anatomical Theatre. You can hear the very-nicely-produced result on her "History Radio" podcast--both as part of the feature piece "Lenses" and in a short bonus feature entitled "The Anatomical Photographer"--by clicking here.
Photo above is part of my continuing collection of images for an ever-expanding Anatomical Theatre, and was taken last year at the museum of the history of medicine in Krakow, Poland. You can find out more about the Anatomical Theatre project by clicking here.
Thanks, Emma, for such a thoughtful and lovely interview!
Labels: medical museum, moulage
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Saturday, February 28, 2009
Let's Play Ball
Jared wearing his team's baseball cap. FYI, Jared's team is the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Paul believes they use college baseball team apparel/colors to keep costs down, versus getting custom-designed caps and jerseys made for each team. We should get Jared's jersey this week. Won't he look like a cute little ball player ;)Jared wearing his batting helmetWe have about 7 practices scheduled before the season and games begins. So...let's play ball!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Last year we spent our 8th anniversary in the Good Sam Hospital. What fun ;) I think I ate my lunch meal in my hospital room, Paul and Jared had lunch downstairs in the cafeteria and then the three of us shared "dessert"...a candy bar purchased from the gift shop downstairs. Ha! We took our usual wheel chair ride down stairs to the hospital's outdoor garden area and shared our treat there. But not this year! Thanks to a volunteer friend of ours and her sisters (thanks Stephanie R!!) the two of us are going out this weekend for an anniversary dinner/date. Yay! Dinner out, just the two of us! Or...I guess we could go back to Good Sam's cafeteria with Jared (and the girls!) and have dinner there? Ha! :D Um...no.
We praise God for the last nine years! Thanks to Him for bringing us together and for giving us the strength, patience, love and respect in our marriage!!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
One week and counting!
Then...Suzan, Anna, Bethany and Brielle at 3 months oldAnd Now...Suzan, Anna, Bethany and Brielle at 11.5 months oldMan! I tell ya. They do grow like weeds :D
"4-titude: 4 sets of quads born at same hospital"
Good Samaritan Hospital and Phoenix Children's Hospital and NICU, along with Dr. Elliot and the many other perinatologists at PPA, are the best when it comes to taking care of high-order multiple (HOM) pregnancies. I can't say enough good things about them. We feel SO blessed that we live in AZ and were able to be taken care of the doctors and nurses of these excellent hospitals! It definitely is a God thing that we live in AZ and that all of the excellent HOM healthcare is here. Praise God that He decided to have us live here in AZ! Praise God for His perfect plan for us!!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
1 Corinthians 13 for Moms
So for all of the moms out there, here ya go. A mom's version of 1 Corinthians 13 (Adapted from James Fowler).
If I live in a house of spotless beauty with everything in its place,
but have not love,
I am a housekeeper, not a homemaker.
If I have time for waxing, polishing, and decorative achievements,
but have not love,
my children learn cleanliness, not godliness.
If I scream at my children for every infraction,
and fault them for every mess they make,
but have not love,
my children become people-pleasers, not obedient children.
Love leaves the dust in search of a child's laugh.
Love smiles at the tiny fingerprints on a newly cleaned window.
Love wipes away the tears before it wipes up the spilled milk.
Love picks up the child before it picks up the toys.
Love accepts the fact that I am the ever-present "mommy,"
the taxi-driver to every childhood event,
the counselor when my children fail or are hurt.
Love crawls with the baby, walks with the toddler, and runs with the child,
then stands aside to let the youth walk into adulthood.
Before I became a mother I took glory in my house of perfection.
Now I glory in God's perfection of my child.
All the projections I had for my house and my children
have faded away into insignificance,
And what remain are the memories of my kids.
Now there abides in my home scratches on most of the furniture,
dishes with missing place settings,
and bedroom walls full of stickers, posters and markings,
But the greatest of all is the Love
that permeates my relationships with my children.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Here kitty, kitty, kitty
Okay, not really. I think this Jaguar would eat the girls like Tic-Tacs and Jared would be an hor'dourve :P We heard about this last evening on our local news. Did you know that we have Jaguars in Arizona? Yes, that is correct!! Jaguars! The Arizona Game and Fish Department captured, tagged and are tracking a 118-pound male Jaguar in the area just southwest of Tucson. Here is the department's article. That is just crazy! Jaguars in Arizona?! I would NOT want to meet this little kitty on a hiking trail...ACK!! :P
Friday, February 20, 2009
Little Vampires
Poor little Bethany's hand with Suzan's teeth marks :( (right above her knuckle)I said "oh no Suzan. no bite." She just looked at me with one of her funny looks she usually gives me. Poor Bethany just wanted Mama and was crying hard :(
I still can't believe Suzan bit her. How did she learn that? Where did she get that from? How did she even know to use her teeth in that way, to either defend herself or purposely hurt someone else? That's just crazy to think that! All I know is I dread any future biting from the girls and really didn't want this day to come. Now, I guess we'll need to be referees to the smackdowns that will occur and try to prevent any more biting from our little vampires ;)
Thursday, February 19, 2009
You say tomato, I say tomahto
So when we saw this episode of ATOH we both said "hey, what do you think of doing that? or at least trying to grow some veggies?" And that's just what we did! We (well, really Paul) dug up the dirt on the south side of our property and connected irrigation tubing to an available valve we had in our drip irrigation system. Then, Paul, Jared and I went to Home Depot to purchase 6 tomato plants. Woo hoo! Paul did some research upfront on who had a better tomato plant selection, Lowe's or Home Depot. Home Depot won. We brought the plants back, made a layout of where to plant each plant and we (again, Paul) dug some holes, planted the plants and connected spaghetti drip hoses to the "vegetable drip line." We are in business! Jared was very excited to be a part of prepping, planning, planting and finally watering our new tomato plants.
Our 6 little tomato plants
3 of themClose up of one of the Celebrity plantsJared helping by watering the plantsHe was a great little helper :DFor those curious what we planted we planted 6 Bonnie Plant tomato plants...2 Celebrities, 1 Roma, 1 Big Beef, 1 Husky Cherry Red and 1 Better Boy. Why tomatoes? Well, Paul's thought was to plant vegetables that are expensive or have a higher return. Tomatoes are pretty expensive in the stores, versus carrots, so we'll try to grow some. Hm...okay Paul. I can follow your logic :) Plus we both think we can grow tomatoes in Arizona (remember, we live in a desert here ;) ). We mixed a bag of Miracle Grow Garden Soil into our hard Arizona clay then topped it with composted mulch.
I was SO tempted to purchase more vegetable plants while at Home Depot. It's the green thumb in me, that God gave to me! Some other plants I found that would be fun were artichokes, eggplant, various peppers, sweet peas, corn (yes, they had little stalks of corn!) and strawberries. Mmmm! But...we're going to try our 6 tomato plants first, see how they do (and we do as vegetable gardeners!) then ponder planting anything further.
Hopefully, in about 2 to 3 months, we'll see the fruits of our labor...yummy ripe tomatoes! Check back later to see "how does our garden grow."
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
One year ago - needing strength near the end
Maria at 30 weeks and 2 days on 2/18/08 (a year ago). Man! Just look at that tummy!!I share these verses in the hopes that it would give you comfort. Everyone goes through a trial at some point (or many points) in his or her life. It doesn't have to be a quadruplet pregnancy in which you are being stretched physically, emotionally and spiritually. Trials come in many shapes and sizes.
Psalm 104:1 - Praise the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, You are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty.
Psalm 62:5-8 - Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.
Isaiah 40:29-31 - He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Luke 12:24-26 - Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 - But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Philippians 4:13 - I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
I thank God for His Word, the Book He left and gave to us to live and survive by. It's the best "help book" by far!
Monday, February 16, 2009
Life with Quads, The 1st Year - "What keeps us sane"
I thought I'd share our thoughts on what has kept us sane in raising quadruplets the 1st year (plus a preschooler). Here are our top 16, in no particular order.
- Having structure and a schedule. See previous posts on our day with 2-month olds and our day with 7-month olds.
- Volunteer help from friends and family. A HUGE thank you to EVERYONE who has helped us with meals and with the five kids! We are SO blessed by you!
- Visiting with friends and family (this keeps Mama especially sane ;) ).
- Our church community, e.g. the women's Bible study meeting in our home when the babies were tiny, Paul meeting with the men once or twice, group get togethers.
- Getting out, either by ourselves (run errands, Mama attend MOPS) or together (one-on-one time with Jared, date nights for Dad and Mom).
- Going to church!! The girls are not attending with us, due to it being RSV/flu season, but we hope they will join us once we are free from "lockdown." Wow, that will be quite the trip/endeavor/outing/circus ;) !!
- PBS kids and TiVO. That way Jared can watch Word Girl or Curious George in the morning while we're feeding the girls.
- The little conveniences, such as washing our bottles in the Munchin baskets in the dishwasher, the sanitize cycle on our dishwasher, Boppies to feed the girls in.
- Having each other to rely on!!
- Our various quad equipment. Specifically our quad feeding table, Runabout quad stroller and the BHV (aka, Big Huge Van). LIFE SAVERS!! (despite my kicking and screaming to NOT get these items and NOT be a freak show - Ha! :D ).
- Getting a nap once in a while (more so for Mama, less for Dad :D ).
- Camaraderie and knowledge-sharing with fellow POM (aka, Parents of Multiples). Gotta love checking in with our friends with quads (via email or blogs) and with those on Triplet Connection.
- TV/veg/"decompress" time together at the end of the day. This didn't start, though, until the girls were about 5 months old.
- Play dates, pre-k school and neighborhood play time for Jared. That boy needs learning and playtime with his friends!
- Laptop/computer/blogging time :D
- The little fun things, especially for Mama (such as sewing/crafts/photography).
Sunday, February 15, 2009
1st Birthday Invites
With the theme decided I went ahead and made the girls' 1st birthday invite. Hallelujah for Photoshop CS! I love Photoshop, for designing things like this and for use in my photography! Here is the invite.I finished making their party hats too. Whew! I'm happy both their shirts and hats are now done! Woo hoo!
17 days and counting until the girls' turn a year old! Yikes!
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Happy Valentine's Day!
Jared, looking mighty cute and handsome, showing off his valentine and chocolates ;)Okay, now I understand why everyone was so impressed a month or so ago that I got a group picture of the girls. Now, at almost a year old, they don't sit still for a minute. Ack! It took me several attempts to finally get a decent group shot. They are all just movers and shakers!
Attempt #1. Bethany and Brielle saying "mama, we don't have time to sit here! there's the whole world out there to explore!!!!"Okay, how about now? Attempt #2...nopeNow? Attempt #3?...nopeLet's see if you just want to go outside. Then, maybe you will sit still for mama? Attempt #4...nope'Cmon girls! P-L-E-A-S-E?!?!?! Attempt #5...nopeWhew! Finally, a decent one of them - Suzan, Anna, Bethany and BrielleAnd in case you were trying to read what is on their shirts (thanks Misty U, by the way!!)...Suzan - "lots of love"Anna - "my heart belongs to daddy"Bethany - "mommy's little heart breaker"And Brielle - "princess...if the crown fits"I have planned a fun Valentine's dinner for Paul, Jared and I. I thought it would be fun to make some pink heart-shaped pancakes, eggs, bacon and strawberry pink milk. We've eaten breakfast for dinner many times before but not with pink and heart-shaped food. I think Jared will like it. I am trying to keep it a surprise but he has already asked me questions..."mama, why is the pancake mix out?", "mama, what are we going to do with the food coloring?", "mama, are we making heart-shaped cookies? (while looking at the heart cookie cutter)", "mama, what is this pink stuff (the pink strawberry Nesquik)." What a nosey nose! :) My answer to all of his questions has been "it's for dinner and it's a surprise." Should be fun for him :D
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Pebbles Carlson
Well, we have our own Pebbles in the house. Two Pebbles, in fact!
AnnaAnd BethanyYes, I got some little hair rubber bands (the ouchless kind) and pulled the girls' hair up into a pony tail. Anna and Bethany were the only two that had long enough hair to do it. You know Brielle has a lot of hair (Ha! ;) ) but it's not long enough. And Suzan? Well, she's sporting some short 'do. Her hair still needs to grow a bit longer to get a pony tail.
I took lots of shots of the girls today. Here are a few (more are at our family's website).
Cutie pie Anna"i feel like squealin' mama!!"Giggly BethanyBrielle looking innocent"look at all of my toofers mama!" oh, and just call her "wild hair woman" :DSuzan, contemplating some big, thought-provoking question - "hm...how do they get that squeaker in that toy cow of ours???"Smiley girlThe girls are doing well. All are over their cold/infections. Woo hoo! I love happy, smiley babies :D They got their monthly Synagis shots yesterday. Lots of tears but our girls get over them so fast. Also, you can notice in some of the pictures that the girls have a lot of toofers. Each girl has at least 6 teeth, 2 on the bottom and 4 on the top. Anna has 7 teeth, as she has a third tooth on the bottom. Lots of chompers here!
Next month is their one year well-visit...and their 1st birthday PAR-TAY! We have it planned to be a small party (due to it being RSV/flu season), with a few close family and friends invited, but we're still going to make it a good 1st birthday for the girls. Ah, and their 1st birthday shirts are done. Woo hoo! I LOVE the way the shirts turned out!! Now, I just need to finish their hats.
They will be one year old in less than a month?? That's just crazy!! I still can't believe it!
Sunday, February 08, 2009
At it again
I have decided to make birthday shirts and hats for the girls' 1st birthday. I was inspired by something I saw online. So today, while the girls napped and Paul played with Jared, I ventured to Joann's (can I just stop here and say how much I LOVE Joann's? LOVE IT!! really any craft store but Joann's has everything! second in my craft store book is Michael's. guess God just wired me to be a crafter ;) ). I am going to sew/applique shirts in each of the girls' colors, e.g. yellow for Suzan, pink for Anna, etc., etc. The birthday hats will be color-coded too. I think they will be quick to make but I could be wrong. I plan to sew them while the girls' are napping and Jared is gone to school in the afternoon. Ah, I hope the time set aside works!
I'm excited to see how they will turn out! Ah, but you will have to wait until the girls' 1st birthday to see the finished products :P Wish me luck!
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Silly Insurance
Recently, we had to get some prescriptions for the girls (poor Suzan, Anna and Bethany have ear infections as a result from a cold :( ). Today, Paul had to get two prescriptions of amoxicillin filled, one for Bethany and then one for Anna. Well, the pharmacist told us that our insurance company would not fill Anna's as Bethany's was already filled on the same day. What? Can you repeat that please? Apparently, our insurance thinks we are getting two prescriptions of amoxicillin for the same person, because they only look at the item dispensed and the birth date. Well, for Anna and Bethany those are both the same, amoxicillin and 3/4/08 (oh, and probably the same policy # too). Our insurance doesn't look at whom the prescription is for. Ha! Well, I guess they don't deal with a lot of multiples?? Maybe some of my fellow mommies of multiples have already experienced this. So, instead the pharmacist didn't run it through our insurance (or else he/she would have been on the phone with our insurance to finally get it approved...which is something we could have chosen to do) and it so happens that Walgreen's price for amoxicillin is $0.01 less than our copay. Hm...
Are we angry at our insurance? No. Frustrated? Nope. It's just something new and comical that we haven't experienced before. Ha! Silly insurance ;)


text:
These are some of the best Wedding Day photographs by Omoide Portraiture
Omoide Portraiture
Click to enlarge!
Destination Wedding & Pre-wedding Photography Based in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Hi All,
These are some of the highlights of Kendry & Daniar wedding day, held in Pullman, Jakarta.
Photographed by yours truly: Omoide Photography team.
Omoide Portraiture — at Pullman Jakarta Central Park.
Click the link below for more photos!
Happy Monday!!
This wedding photo session was taken way back in 2013 and we still have several collection from 2013 that's still in queue to be uploaded really soon, so stay tune!
Thank you Deni & Anna for letting us took your wedding photos! We had a blast!
Omoide Photography — in Jakarta.
Click the link below for more photos!
by Tommy Fabianus & Andreas Ardiansyah
Hi All,
Let us present you a humble and beautiful wedding of Jerzy & Vivi. The day was perfect, great sunset, great weather, beautiful venue and great food, we're surely have a blast that night . Thank you Jerzy & Vivi for trusting us to capture your beautiful day, we're honored.
We wish you a beautiful married life!!
Omoide Portraiture — at Tirtha Uluwatu.
Click the link below for more photos!
Hi All!
Can't believe it's already at the end of the year again, time really flies 🙂 and we've prepared an album that featured our best shots from the past 3 years, can't really wait to upload it :), but before that we would like to post this beautiful wedding first. The wedding of Ricky & Michella Puspitasari. Please feel free to browse through the album and maybe leave a comment or two :).
We'll see you guys again really soon.
Omoide Photography
We are really sorry for the lack of updates within these couple of weeks, but do not worry, we are back today!
Hope you guys love this album.
A huge love and thanks for the lovely couple, Ryan & Merry, for letting us document their wedding day.
Omoide Portraiture
Hi All,
It's been a while since we've post any photos, we're sorry about it, we've been busy , but here we are with new uploads, hopefully you'll enjoy it .
Thank you Afandi & Cindy for trusting us to captured your beautiful wedding .
Omoide Photography
A really fun and full of laughter wedding day photo session. We really love the hint of Padang culture in their reception. 🙂
Photograph by Tommy Fabianus & Andreas Ardiansyah
Introducing our associate photographer: Leonie 🙂
A lot of thanks to the couple, Welly & Desiana, for trusting us and letting us do what we love on their most important day!
Hope you guys enjoy this album!
Omoide Portraiture


text:
Reading a Cookie using RegExp
Question: How do I retrieve a cookie with a given name using a regular expression?
To read a cookie
function readCookie(cookieName) { var re = new RegExp('[; ]'+cookieName+'=([^\\s;]*)'); var sMatch = (' '+document.cookie).match(re); if (cookieName && sMatch) return unescape(sMatch[1]); return ''; }This
readCookie function is somewhat less readable than the
non-RegExp version
- but, as we will see, it is more flexible.
Let us walk through the function code, line by line.
Code walk-through:
var re = new RegExp('[; ]'+cookieName+'=([^\\s;]*)'); // to get \s in regular expression, pass \\s to RegExp constructor!Our regular expression
re is constructed to
match the desired cookie name preceded by a semicolon or a space
[; ]
and followed by an equal sign
= and (immediately after
a substring of non-whitespace non-semicolon characters
This non-whitespace non-semicolon substring, if found,
will be retained in the capturing group
The substring captured in the group will be precisely the cookie value
part of
var sMatch = (' '+document.cookie).match(re);In this line of code, we use the
match() method to find the fragment of the string
(' '+document.cookie)
match() is stored in the
sMatch variable.
If there is no matching cookie,
sMatch will be set to
If there is a match,
sMatch will store an array of matched substrings:
the first element
sMatch[0] contains the whole
RegExp match (e.g.
MyCookie=CookieValue). Subsequent elements of the array,
sMatch[1] etc.,
will hold the substrings matched with each capturing group. Since we have only one capturing group,
sMatch[1] is the last element in the array;
it is in
sMatch[1] that
match() puts the cookie value we want to get.
if (cookieName && sMatch) return unescape(sMatch[1]); return '';Here, before returning the cookie value, we make sure that (1)
cookieName is not empty and (2) there was actually a match.
if condition combines the values
cookieName and
in a Boolean context; so the
if condition is true when
cookieName is a non-empty string and
sMatch is not
null. If so, we return the (unescaped) cookie value in
Otherwise, that is, when
cookieName is empty or
sMatch is
null (no match),
the function returns an empty string.
Final remarks:
Our new function is easy to modify.
For example, to support not only alphanumeric
Or would you like to require only non-empty cookie values?
No problem: just replace the
var re = new RegExp('[,; ]'+cookieName+'=([^\\s,;]*)')
Other potential modifications of the
Copyright © 1999-2012, JavaScripter.net.


text:
Fausto Valle (MPP 2011) Former Ambassador of Ecuador to Singapore
My background in economics drove me along a fantastic journey in the Ecuadorian Public Sector. From 2001 to 2009, I had the pleasure of serving as an Advisor and Consultant to various public organizations such as the Ministry of Economics and Finance, Ministry of Oil and Mining, Ministry of Production and Competitiveness, Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Industry, and the Municipality of Quito. During my time as a public servant, I had to complete different tasks ranging from operations to finance the national budget, negotiations of bilateral trade agreements, to the implementation of a national plan for efficient fuel consumption in the industrial sector. These experiences allowed me to know Ecuador from different perspectives and to understand that the country's needs were higher than its capacity. Thus, I thought that it was time to strengthen my academic profile and to experience and learn what other countries were doing worldwide in terms of economic and social development.
When it comes to pursuing higher education, Latin American students are typically interested in North American or European universities to enhance their academic profiles. Only few are willing to explore Asia, its history, culture, and development. In my case, the fascinating economic and social development of Singapore and the comprehensive academic program offered by LKY School were the key factors that convinced me to fly from Ecuador to its antipode, Singapore.
After I completed the first year of my Master in Public Policy (MPP) progamme, I decided to write a policy brief on how to enhance bilateral relations between Singapore and Ecuador. This document was presented to the President and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador. After months of analysis, the Ecuadorian Government decided to establish its first diplomatic mission in Singapore and I was given the enormous responsibility to open the Ecuadorian Embassy and had the big honor of becoming the first Ambassador of Ecuador to Singapore (2011 – 2014)
During my time as Ambassador and with the support of the Singaporean and Ecuadorian authorities, bilateral relationship between the two countries reached historic peaks. An Air Service Agreement was ratified with the purpose of enhancing connectivity and tourism. Likewise, a Memorandum of Understanding on Logistics and Transport was signed looking forward to develop in Ecuador ports, airports and logistics zones based on Singapore´s experience. A Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) was implemented with the purpose of attracting investments and alleviating territorial double taxation. The number of Singaporean tourists visiting Ecuador and the amount of trade of goods and services doubled.
One of the key examples of collaboration between Singapore and Ecuador by the time I served as Ambassador was related to the development of industrial parks. Singapore is recognized worldwide for its Petrochemical Hub in Jurong Island. This industrial development was of high interest for Ecuador because Latin American countries are net importers of petrochemical products. Hence, the development of a petrochemical park in the region could be a key business opportunity that might enhance economic growth, generate employment, and attract investments.
I found out about Jurong Island and the Petrochemical Hub of Singapore while I was studying at the School, specifically during the time I was conducting research for my Public Analysis Exercise (PAE). My PAE was related to the contribution of refining centers to economic growth and Jurong Island helped me as a benchmark. The Ecuadorian Government was looking forward to developing a new oil refining center, so it was a perfect timing to connect with Singapore´s experience in Jurong Island.
The first meeting between Surbana Jurong and the Government of Ecuador took place in Quito in June 2013. Only three months after that meeting, Surbana Jurong started working on what it is today "Ecuador´s Petrochemical Master Plan". The Plan is helping to coordinate efforts from different public institutions and serves as a guideline for investors on the petrochemical industry.
It is fascinating to realize how an academic interest can become a whole new world of opportunities for two regions, and this can only happen when you have the opportunity to study in one of the most important academic centers in the world, like myself, that I was fortunate enough to conduct my postgraduate study at the Lee Kuan Yew school of Public Policy, National University of Singapore.


text:
My family just returned home yesterday after a long weekend in Ohio. My husband was nice enough to take himself and the kids on a road trip to visit his mom and siblings so that I could have the house to myself to entertain my high school friends.
The Couscous Tabbouleh recipe can be found here:
And now for the BONUS RECIPE I promised! My daughters have been asking for a turn to be Guest Bloggers, and just look at the delicious dish they thought up while away in Ohio over the weekend! It's called Pond Scum Surprise!


text:
Music at Versailles: when past becomes present
By Joseph E.Romero
VERSAILLES, 20 July 1998— For nearly twenty years, foreigners had a love affair with French baroque music. But it took an astonishing mainstream enthusiasm for the hit film Tous les Matins du Monde , fashionable baroque concerts attended by young Parisians dressed in black, and the steady sales of French baroque recordings—put out mostly by their European neighbors to the North—to seal the creation of a national research facility for French baroque music at Versailles.
The 1997 fall concert season, and its participation in the Château's 1998 spring and summer series "Les Nouveaux Plaisirs de Versailles" mark the tenth anniversary of the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles (CMBV). The winter series highlighted works by Lully, Campra, Brossard, Rameau and other royal composers and served as a retrospective survey of the CMBV's activities. In one of the many concerts in the Chapelle Royale, Hervé Niquet, harpsichordist, ballet composer, and specialist of the French grand motet, led a born-again Concert Spirituel in organ concerti by Michel Corette and Jean-François Tapray. Although organist Etienne Baillot and the ensemble's performances were uneven, especially Niquet's direction of the evocative rhythms and textures in Tapray's scores, the concert offered insight into eighteenth century French tastes as well as a glimpse of the CMBV's research and reappraisal of Tapray. The summer series which ran until 9 July focused on concerts, court ballet and theatre. The 1998 fall season will open on 25 September with three days devoted to the composer Nicolas Clérambault.
Created by Philippe Beaussant and Vincent Berthier de Lioncourt in 1987 at the request of then Culture Minister François Léotard, the CMBV is a think-tank devoted to the study and elucidation of seventeenth and eighteenth century French music at the Court of Versailles.
Inaugurated with a great deal of pomp and Parisian grandstanding at the time, the data-base equipped CMBV has produced worthwhile documents on French baroque composers, their musical scores, an annual concert season, a choir school, and performance practice seminars. An opera workshop was scratched early on for lack of funding. Recent new agreements with the British record label Virgin Classics for the CMBV's recordings have replaced prior partnerships with Astrée Auvidis and FNAC music, the classical label of France's leading distributor of culture products and services. This should lead to reissues of past CMBV recordings which had become unavailble.
Baroque opera is still for princely purses
The total annual operating budget of the CMBV is approximately sixteen million French Francs ($3.38 million), down from twenty million. Until recently six million ($1.01 million) was generously underwritten by Alcatel Alsthom, builder of fast trains, nuclear plants, and telecom equipment. Support has stopped with a change in management in 1995 with the appointment of a new chairman and a refocusing on its core activities. In the past the Ministry of Culture kicked in an additional seven million French Francs ($1.1 million) and the various municipal and provincial administrations contributed three million (roughly $500,000).
Last year the Château de Versailles was decreed an Etablissement Public, thereby enabling it to retain revenues from museum entrance sales and special events. The CMBV will thus sell its concert series to the Château. In the past, ticket sales and special events at the CMBV brought in the remaining five million ($850,000), but the number of concerts has been reduced to about 30, down from 100 in previous years. The little-known Fondation Dokhan has helped with concert seasons since 1987. Co-productions with Radio France included an organ series at the Royal Chapel.
Still, the CMBV lacks the resources needed to stage full-blown productions of French baroque operas with their extravagant costumes, ballets, décor, and machinery. Indeed, with the exception of a disastrous Purcell staging imported from Canada and financed by the Banque Paribas, opera at the Centre Baroque has been limited to concert versions such as the excellent reading of Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie directed by Marc Minkowski and underwritten by J.P. Morgan. Why so little has been done in bringing this challenging repertory to life on stage is a mystery. Is the theatre machinery of the Royal Theatre in such condition that it cannot meet the heavy demands made by French baroque opera? Clearly, the problem lies beyond money and machinery and touches on the hazardous research field of French baroque theatre arts.
The king liked to dance
The powerful literary tradition in France often hides the fact that Louis XIV was a music-loving king. The salons and galleries of Versailles, as well as the private apartments of the king and queen were used for music and theatre. Couperin wrote his Concerts royaux for Louis XIV's bed chambers. Under all the grandeur of Versailles was a monarch who as a boy had been tutored by the brilliant Cardinal Mazarin, and learned music and dance. Well into his thirties he danced in the court opéra-ballet productions. Moreover, Louis had every reason to dance. Coffee, tobacco (and soon sugar), coupled with the West African slave trade to the Americas were beginning to prove highly lucrative. Louis spared no expense: his court technical team and stage managers—known as "Les Menus Plaisirs"—were capable of astonishing productions. Ironically, the offices of the court techies in the nearby Hôtel des Menus Plaisirs would later serve as the meeting hall of the first "Assemblée Nationale" in 1789! The CMBV is now housed in the Hôtel des Menus Plaisirs, Avenue de Paris in Versailles.
Research facilities
Endowed with an impressive library of some 12,000 volumes, not all of which has been catalogued, the CMBV continues to acquire originals and copies of relevant works found in private libraries in France and abroad. A pedagogical vocation is apparent in the ongoing dialogue between French and foreign scholars, the choir school, and performers.
Jean Lionnet, the affable musicologist at the Atelier d'études and editor of the CMBV's scholarly Cahiers de Musique, has been there since 1990. "We went straight to work researching seventeenth-century sacred music in both Latin and French which is the least known music of this period. We are also extensively studying turn-of-the-century secular and religious music, notably the petit motet, cantata, and chamber music". The CMBV concert season reflects this research. "About half of the concerts are works that have not been performed since the period under study; for example, during the Journées André Campra ŕ Versailles in June 1993, the first modern performance of four grands motets (Dixit Dominus, Laudate pueri Dominum, In convertendo, and Magnificat) for soloists, choir and Baroque chamber orchestra," Monsieur Lionnet says.
New research goals include instrumental chamber music of the eighteenth century (Jean-Marie Leclair, Michel Corette, Jean-François Tapray) and the 1998 fall season will focus on Clérambault, although Lionnet says that finding trained musicans and young scholars for such projects has not been easy. It is hoped that collaboration with baroque music research centers abroad such as the Centro di musica antiqua di Napoli and Jordi Savall's newly-opened center in Barcelona will expand the number of baroque music performers.
Indeed, it took foreigners such as Leonhardt, Koopman, Herreweghe, the Kuijkens, Hogwood, Gardiner, Harnoncourt, the Catalan musician Jordi Savall, or the American William Christie—a musician of remarkable perspicuity—and his "Arts Florissants" to explore the true nature of French baroque music and performance practice. Christie liberated it from the hermetic straitjacket of the dusty and sometimes cranky French musical intelligentsia and finally mounted professional performances of Charpentier, Lully, and Rameau suitable for a contemporary international public. Such pioneering work by foreigners has certainly enabled a younger generation of talented French musicians, e.g. Christophe Rousset, Hervé Niquet, Christophe Coin, and especially Marc Minkowski and their French Baroque bands, to reveal the elusive element in French Baroque music: genre. The French have always been, and always will be, mesmerized by genre whether it is Harrison Ford, mistresses, film noir or the glamour of the court of Louis XIV.
Recommended reading
For those who read French the CMBV provides (free of charge) their yearly research report which outlines topics presented at the CMBV's annual international colloquium, a brief summary of recent critical studies, musical scores under study and an updated international bibliography and CD discography. Essential reading would necessarily include Le Concert des Muses, a collection of articles and essays from the CMBV's past conferences, specially edited for the general public, and Philippe Beaussant's Lully ou Le Musicien du Soleil, published in 1992 by Gallimard in Paris. A short essay, Louis XIV musicien, by the same author and available from the CMBV can serve as a primer for those in a hurry. Scientific documents from the international conference devoted to Liturgy and Chant and Sébastien Brossard are now available.
Readings in English on French baroque music can be found on occasion in Early Music, the excellent British quarterly review, published by the Oxford University Press. For those with access to back copies, the May and August 1993 issues VOL XXI Nos. 2 and 3 were entirely devoted to French baroque music.
CMBV on the net
The CMBV hopes to be on-line towards the end of September 1998 with information concerning its seminar programs, concert season and catalogues. Questions of whether access will be free or not to the data base, aptly named "Philidor", as well as thorny issues of copyright protection have not been resolved, but sections of Philidor should be on-line sometime in late 1998. "We dream of having a filtered access to our data base for interactive dialogue with foreign researchers", said one source close to the centre's Internet project, "but there is some very strange foot dragging in the official French mentality concerning Internet. Despite the obvious demand from French authorities and the public, some senior French civil servants view the Internet as some kind of demon, mostly because they are not sure what Internet means in the long term." Perhaps the French Ministry of Culture might consider taking a look at the Index of Christian Art at Princeton University
http://www.princeton.edu/~ica/database.html which displays far greater generosity to researchers.
In the interim, enquiries in the principal European languages can be sent to the CMBV by E-mail: email@example.com
Recommended Discography of French Baroque Music
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text:
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Jeremy Gallon had a career night.
Not that you'd ever know it from talking to him.
The Michigan receiver was the lone bright spot for a Wolverines offense that struggled to move the ball in Saturday night's 41-14 loss against No. 2 Alabama (1-0).
Gallon finished with four catches for 107 yards, his first career 100-yard game. One of his receptions was a career-long 71-yarder that set up the only touchdown of the first half for Michigan (0-1).
Yet, the junior was in no mood to celebrate after his team was routed by the Crimson Tide.
"Just doing my job," he said. "Just doing what I had to do for the team. (Quarterback) Denard (Robinson) made a good throw and just did my part catching the ball."
Gallon accounted for more than half of the Wolverines' receiving yards. The rest of the corps combined for four catches and 193 yards.
Robinson again struggled with his accuracy, finishing 11-of-26 passing with one touchdown and two interceptions. He finished with 200 yards passing, although 115 of them came on two completions.
His connection to Gallon remains fruitful, though. The pair hooked up 31 times last year, making Gallon Michigan's leading returning receiver.
He delivered against Alabama. But few others did.
"It's really tough, because we had the mind-set of coming out and starting fast, finishing fast and we didn't do that," Gallon said. "They got the first punch on us, scored first and we didn't play the way we were coached to play.
"We're going to learn form it. We got 11 more games to go and we're going to start hard with film tomorrow. Study Air Force and learn from this game."
Kyle Meinke covers Michigan football for MLive.com. He can be reached by email at firstname.lastname@example.com and followed on Twitter @kmeinke.
-- Download the "Michigan Wolverines on MLive app" for your iPhone and Android to keep up with news on the Wolverines.


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If I already have judgements against me – can I go under Debt Review?
Yes you can, but we may not be able to include the accounts you have judgements on if the legal process has gone too far. We will include all other accounts and this should ensure you can cope with all your debt repayments. Fill out an application and talk to one of our consultants – they will be able to assess your situation and advise accordingly.


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This is an impressive 2 in 1 that does a great job at working the balance between an effective laptop and the utility of a 2 in 1. With a price around $830 dollars you still are not quite paying for a high end computer. So it is nice to find a fully functioning laptop with touchscreen capabilities that is so affordable. Finding the right laptop comes down to a few factors.
The most important one is if it has the features you are looking for whether it be gaming, professional graphics work, touchscreen or just your standard use. This one can handle everything except for professional graphics work at a pretty efficient level. It is pretty extraordinary to find a laptop that will be perfect for users looking for a powerful touchscreen under a thousand dollars so ASUS deserves a round of applause and our main page.
- Screen: 15.6″ FHD LED Backlit Touchscreen
- Processor: 7th Generation Intel Core i7-7500U 4MB Cache 3.5Ghz Overclock
- RAM: 12GB DDR4 2133Mhz
- Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 940MX 2 GB VRAM
- Storage: 1 TB HDD, 256GB SSD
- Optical Drive:NA
- Operating System: Windows 10 Home
- Ports and Connectivity: 1x USB Type-C, 2x USB 3.0, USB 2.0, HDMI, RJ-45, Headphone In/out Combo Jack, 4 in 1 SD Card Reader, Bluetooth, 802.11A/G Wireless
- Dimensions: 9.96 x 14.88 x .88
- Weight:4.85
- Really nice overall package to find in a touchscreen under a thousand dollars
- Impressive connectivity
- Both styles of Hard Drive
- Jack of all trades, master of none
It might not be the slickest model you have ever seen but looks pretty good with a simplistic design style more focused on this machines functionality than standing out. With a 15.6 inch screen and a nice maximum native resolution of 1920 by 1080 you get full HD out of this LED Lit touchscreen.
An impressive combination that will standout in any environment with its anti glare coating. The color concept uses black and silver with the exterior cover sporting a simplistic striated line pattern, think something similar to black concrete with a bit of design intent.
You probably won't see that too much though as this computer can fold back the full 360 so you can set up the rig in whatever position is necessary for the moment. You won't send it out first for a runway show but this 2 in 1 does everything you would expect a laptop tablet to do and is slim and relatively light around 5 pounds.
Hardware Configuration
As the backbone of the machine you need to have a strong processor so you aren't constantly waiting for operations. With this in mind ASUS did well in providing this Intel core i7-7500U processor capable of overclocking up to 3.5 ghz. When it comes to processor's from intel they are either performance tuned or efficiency tuned, and this one has the U that symbolizes efficiency.
Often these models will be much slower than their performance tuned brother, but in this case since it is a i7 the speed is still pretty good. With a 4 MB cache this is just about the right processor you would like to see in a machine like this. Power efficiency isn't as big of a deal for a normal computer but for a tablet capable laptop it is quite a blessing.
Looking over this model this is the real area that draws your eyes and sets this 2 in 1 apart from much of its competition. You don't often see tablets that have more powerful graphics cards than the majority of normal laptops. This one has an nVidia 940 MX graphics card with 2 gigs of personal VRAM.
Not the most powerful graphics card on the block but well beyond what you will find normally, and enough power to at least run near every game on the market. It will even work in a pinch for a bit of professional graphics work. When the graphics card out performs a computers screen size and resolution the options for use really open up. Not many tablets can be plugged into a monitor and used as a gaming computer.
RAM backs up your processor to make sure everything functions at an expedient pace. So when you are diagnosing the RAM situation if often comes down to breakpoint to where you have enough RAM to do the tasks you need to do. This laptop comes with 12 gigs of DDR4 RAM which represents a pretty nice breakpoint to have.
The DDR4 is a bit more efficient than the DDR3L coupling well with the processor to give you great speed without leaving you empty after a couple hours. 12 gigs is a great stopping point that will be sufficient for the majority of computing activities.
After the graphics card this part is a bit of wow you gotta be kidding me as it is also quite impressive and beyond what you will find in many competitor. Solid state drives are all the rage because they greatly boost your computers speed and power consumption but on the other hand they often don't offer too much space.
Still the 256 gig SSD is as big as you will find below the premium end of computers. Just having that would be nice, but ASUS went the extra mile and also threw in a 1 terabyte HDD for storage space. Nothing to complain about here and that is quite rare especially for a 2 in 1.
Additional Features
Outside of the ability to fold into four positions for use this laptop still brings some other useful tools. With some great connectivity we have a USB type C, two 3.0 USB's with their ten times faster speed, and a 2.0 USB so it makes a good hub.
Continuing on the basics of a mini card reader, 802.11a/g wireless card, dual array digital microphone, and wide vision HD webcam. A bit of extra flair comes with the tools that we usually take for granted. Nothing too insane but it makes the overall package look even better.
Asus VivoBook Flip 15.6″ Review Conclusion
By now you have probably realized that this is a great buy. You just can't ignore how nicely all of the facets of this model come together. If you saw a laptop with this type of speed, graphics, and storage without the touchscreen for a similar price it would still be worth the purchase. So that should give you a bit of a hint towards the overall value.
Touchscreen's aren't supposed to be good for gaming and the HDD SSD combo is a tremendous boon that other laptops need to start following. This is a jaw dropper that should suit most users really well only falling short for the truly specialized.


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Revelstoke Lodges and Cabins
Kootenay Rockies Accommodations and Lodging Guide
Welcome to the best online guide to accommodations in the Kootenay Rockies and surrounding areas. Our directory includes listings for hotels, resorts, motels, bed and breakfasts, campgrounds and much more.
If you are not sure about either the area or the category leave the choice to "Display All". You have to specify only one of "Category" or "Region".


text: Was checking what Y Combinator choosing nowdays, and while researching Wit.ai I noticed that there is a car company among those who subscribed to it services. And Wit.ai basically parse natural language queries and return "intents" that are actionable. Like turn off lights or put on ESPN. Object: lights, action: turn off. Object: TV, action: switch to channel 206. Natural language processing is a tricky thing because one intent could be requested using many many phrases. It is literally possible to come up with thousands different phrases each requesting ESPN on your TV. And this is where Wit.ai helps. So there is no need to invent wheel or force users to remember particular way of asking for something. Well, there are quite a few cars that support speech recognition(gimmick) and connectivity. But only one model that already supports cloud based speech recognition - Model S. Starting to support "intents" like "open sunroof halfway" or "set charging time to 2am" etc would make sense? Provided there is a dedicated button for speech recognition already. Or it could be other automaker, not Tesla? TechCrunch


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Anne Bonny the Lady Pirate
It is difficult to separate the truth from the legend of Anne Bonny.
The only particulars we can be sure of is that Anne Bonny was a strong, independent woman, she were way ahead of her time. The 18th century, was still a time when men (Scallywags) made all-important determinations. It were a time when women did not have the rights ye may expect today. In this time period it was a man's world an' it was a significant feat for Anne Bonny to become an equal crewmember and a respected pirate.
The exact date of Anne Bonny's birth is unknown. Most historians proffer she were born in Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland in 1697. Anne was the illegitimate daughter of lawyer William Cormac and his paramour & servant woman, Mary Brennan. William's real wife made his life of adultery public and after losing his reputation, William departed Ireland with his new wife and newborn child to begin again in the New World. The new family settled in Charleston, South Carolina where William began again in his legal career as a barrister. Settleing on a South Carolina plantation.
After her mother passed, in her late teens, Anne became the primary caretaker of her father's household. Many stories about her teen years are available; some of them even claim that she murdered a servant girl with a knife. Another tale involved a young man that Anne Bonny put in the hospital for several weeks, after his ill fated attempt to sexually assault her.
At sixteen years old, she fell in love with small-time pirate, James Bonny, who just wanted her estate. Anne's father warned against their relationship, but she was stubborn and married him. As a father, William Cormac was very disappointed, because he wanted to make a respectful lady of Anne, so he turned her out of his home.
James Bonney sailed his new wife to the New Providence, rogues hideout. James had hard time supporting Anne however, and in the end, he became an informer for the governor, Woodes Rogers. Anne was disgusted, she had made many pirate friends. With the guidance of her good friend, Pierre, (a celebrated homosexual who ran a popular ladies establishment), Anne left her husband. She run away with Calico Jack Rackam, romantic pirate Captain who even offered to buy her from Anne's husband.
Calico Jack Rackam was a typical small-time pirate who usually attacked coastal shipping. He was not very successful as a pirate, but he knew how to spend money with style. The love relationship between Anne and Calico was not public, but on the ship, everybody knew that Anne was "the captain's woman".
When Calico Jack Rackam found out that Anne Bonny was pregnant, he left her on Cuba to deliver the baby. Several theories exist about the fate of Anne's first baby. Some surmise she just abandoned the newborn daughter, some think that Calico had a friend with a family on Cuba who agreed to raise their child. Some even think that her child died at birth.
After few months, she returned to Rackam's ship, but now infamous Mary Read was also on board. It did not take long for the two girls to become good friends. According to some sailors, Anne and Mary were even in a romantic relationship.
In October 1720, Captain Barnet, ex-pirate, now Commander of the British Navy attacked Rackam's anchored ship "Revenge". Almost the entire Rackam's crew was drunk.Calico Jack Rackam's crewe had been celebrating all night, after having managed to capture a Spanish commercial ship loaded with treasure. The fight with Captain Barnet was short since only Mary and Anne resisted the invasion.
The crew of "Revenge" was taken to Port Royal, Jamaica to stand trial. This Pirate trial was a big sensation, because the background of the female prisoners Anne Bonny and Mary Read was revealed to the public. Anne and Mary were women who escaped from traditional restrictions and in their own way, fought for equality between men and women.
All members of the Revenge were eventually found guilty for the crime of piracy. The resulting sentence for piracy was death by hanging. However, Anne and Bonny were spared, since they claimed to be pregnant. Mary Read died in a Jamaican prison from fever, but the fate of Anne Bonny is unknown.
According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004), Anne Bonny's father managed to pay the ransom for his daughter and bring her back to the Charles Town. Soon after, she gave a birth to Rackham's child. In 1721 she remarried to Joseph Burleigh. They had eight children. She died in April 25, 1782 in South Carolina.


text: Hello Damon, 1750 Hz is the tone frequency of terr. repeaters. Try the following: Start SatPC32 and select SO-50. At the TS-2000 press Func + 4(Tone/SEL) to display the sub tone frequency. It will be 1750 Hz. In the program window click on the "T" control. With T1 the frequency will change to 67.0 Hz, with T2 to 74.4 Hz and with T0 again to 1750 Hz. 73s, Erich, DK1TB ----- Original Message ----- From: <wa4hfn at comcast.net> To: "AMSAT" <amsat-bb at AMSAT.Org> Sent: Sunday, March 06, 2011 1:24 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] TS2000 and satpc > Has anyone experienced the TS 2000 Tone jumping to 1750Hz while using SAT > PC? > WA4HFN Damon > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >


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Happy "Hunger Games" release day! What a long, bleak and dystopian road it has been so far.
We've been waiting for this day so long and with so much hope and hype that it feels like we've been through the Reaping ourselves. To celebrate this momentous occasion, we have compiled a cheat sheet of everything you need to know about the big-screen adaptation of Suzanne Collins' beloved best-selling novel.
The Prologue
Back in spring 2009, just several months after the book's well-received publication, Lionsgate won a bidding war for the rights to translate the gripping tale from page to screen. The next big question was, of course, who would be chosen to portray the impoverished "girl on fire" fighting for survival in a seemingly unjustly ruled society?
The highly publicized search for the perfect Katniss Everdeen featured a healthy list of young A-list actresses vying for the role, including Chloe Grace Moretz, Abigail Breslin and Hailee Steinfeld, all of whom were admitted fans . Finally, in May of last year, the suspense ended with the announcement that "Winter's Bone" star and Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence had won the role.
The rest of the "Games" puzzle pieces fell quickly in place, with "Pleasantville" helmer Gary Ross in the director's chair, who reportedly beat out David Slade ("Eclipse") and Sam Mendes ("Revolutionary Road"), and rising stars Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson claiming the roles of Katniss' best friend Gale Hawthorne and the dependable "boy with the bread" Peeta Mallark. Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Lenny Kravitz and Wes Bentley would all later join the cast in the film's key supporting roles of escort Effie Trinket, mentor Haymitch Abernathy, District 12 stylist Cinna and Seneca Crane, respectively.
The Production Games
Once the film's March 23, 2012 release date was announced, production shifted into high gear in the forests of North Carolina. In spring 2011, we got our official first look at Lawrence in character, followed thereafter by glimpses of Hutcherson and Hemsworth. And although the matter of making the film was serious business, we later discovered that the castmembers had lots of fun on set, particularly Hutcherson, who told us the humorous tale of his successful, but sneaky, practical joke he played on Lawrence. After that, we were very happy to treat fans to MTV's exclusive first look at footage of Katniss in action during the VMAs.
Once production wrapped, we did our best to track down the stars for their thoughts about their roles and the filmmaking process. Lawrence told us all about her training regimen and admitted that all her hours spent with an archery coach were "really fun." Hutcherson shared his perspective on the intense audition process and how he felt he is"so right" for the role.
These little teases and costume reveals were enough to tide us over until we scored multiple sit-down interviews with the castmembers and the mall tours began, all leading up to the star-studded Hollywood premiere, for which we provided in-depth coverage via our live stream.
With early ticket sales breaking records andbox-office predictions very high, all that's left to do is wait and watch as the engrossing story of Katniss and company continues to catch fire.
Check out everything we've got on "The Hunger Games."
For young Hollywood news, fashion and "Twilight" updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com.


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Obama Singles Out Sheriff Joe During Immigration Discussion: MyFoxPHOENIX.com
WASHINGTON - President Obama criticized Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio's immigration tactics during a round table discussion on immigration Wednesday. The president was asked about a federal investigation into the sheriff's office and appeared to dodge the question.
A trio of Latin American journalists brought forth questions to president Obama, and their conversation turned towards the government's investigation of Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
"What happened to the investigation of the many violations and challenges by the federal government on Sheriff Joe Arpaio?" asked the foreign journalist.
"I have to be careful on commenting on individual cases, that's handled typically by Department of Justice or other agencies. I will say the approach that has been taken to immigration in Arizona has not always been as productive."
He later said, "We challenged the Arizona law that was supported by the sheriff because we thought there was a great danger that naturalized citizens with Latino surnames could be vulnerable to questioning."
Today, the sheriff weighed in on the president's round table discussion.
"He's a lawyer he is pretty sharp to avoid direct questions… he made some comments talking about people being stopped because of their name. He didn't like the 1070 law, he connects me with 1070. And my answer is I am just doing my job and I arrest everyone that violates the law and I am not going to stop." He adds: "Stop saying boots on the ground and stop saying we must secure the border first."
"We can't have a patchwork of 50 states with 50 immigration laws," Obama said.
Despite the comments, the sheriff is pleased the president knows who he is and what he stands for.


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Content copyright


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|Deepal Jayasinghe <dee...@apache.org>
|[ANN]The Asian Event for Apache Technologies! Register Now and Save!
|Fri, 21 Jul 2006 12:07:24 GMT
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Dear Apache enthusiast, ApacheCon Asia is the first ever Asian offering of the popular ApacheCon Conference of the Apache Software Foundation (ASF). ApacheCon Asia provides an excellent opportunity to experience first-hand what ASF technologies and development communities can do for you and your enterprise. The program consists of two technical tracks in the main conference and a large number of tutorials. In addition a "hackathon" will be held the day before the conference where attendees can interact with various Apache project developers and learn and contribute! Priced at a very affordable level, the conference will be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from August 14th to 17th at the Trans Asia Hotel. The complete agenda and registration information of ApacheCon Asia 2006 are available at http://asia.apachecon.com/ Register by Friday, August 4th and receive a 10% early bird discount! Interested in sponsoring? See: http://asia.apachecon.com/conference/sponsor/ We look forward to seeing you in Colombo! --The ApacheCon Asia Organizing Team. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (MingW32) Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFEwMN8jOGcXNDx0CARAlVkAJ9NBEQf3SuEIFmHuLw6FH2e5CqjBACfegZk h8BXRsvANvWRg5r2zU24RtM= =5I/v -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
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Finally, perhaps, the RIAA and ASCAP's reign of overclaiming copyright by asserting the fee simple ownership of every last component of every last copyrighted recording and song is coming to an end.
I've never understood why recording artists tolerate a regime in which they pay to use the sample of another recording, no matter how brief. Art thrives on recognizable quotation. It would be pointless for art to quote something unrecognizable. Recognizable notes carry meaning and connotations that are the very product of their recognizability, and art depends on evoking large meanings from small pieces. Nor can anyone argue that the brief sample of one recording in another deprives the original of sales; if anything, bringing the old song back into consciousness through the effective "quotation" of one of its recognizable parts could only conceivably help sales of the original.
Then again, perhaps I do understand the toleration of the licensing system that exists for the use of prerecorded samples. They bow to the RIAA, which (mis) states that "generally speaking, the use of any part of a song requires a license." (emphasis added) Thoughtless court decisions have endorsed the RIAA's position. As previously noted on this blog, paying for every last sampled note from a copyrighted song became industry practice after Judge Kevin Duffy in Grand Upright Music, Ltd v. Warner Bros. Records, Inc., 780 F. Supp. 182 (S.D.N.Y. 1991)(Duffy, J.), in a decision that did not even consider issues pertaining to fair use, enjoined the distribution of Biz Markie's third album because one of its songs sampled three words and the accompaniment ostinato of Gilbert O'Sullivan's schlock hit "Alone Again, Naturally." Duffy wasn't satisfied with a mere injunction, however: he referred the defendants to the U.S. Attorney's office for criminal prosecution and wrote in his opinion, like a preacher from the pulpit,"Thou shalt not steal." [Exodus, Chapter 20, Verse 15] has been an admonition followed since the dawn of civilization. Unfortunately, in the modern world of business this admonition is not always followed."
Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films, 410 F.3d 792 (6th Cir. 2004), compounded this folly, holding that the defendant had committed copyright infringement by using in his own musical recording a two-second sample from an earlier copyrighted recording, lowering the pitch, and looping the sample to extend it to 16 beats. Again, the court failed entirely to consider the First Amendment rights that must be balanced against maintaining the composer's incentive to create, the very core of the fair use doctrine.
The Biz Markie case, Grand Upright Music, is generally considered the reason industry practice is to pay for any and all recorded samples. Record companies certainly have no interest in challenging the existing regime. The recordings they own are held inviolate too, so why challenge the right of another recording company to require payment for any sample, no matter how small, no matter transformative its use is, and no matter how little impact it will have on the market for the sampled piece? Artists who would challenge the existing regime hardly have the financial wherewithal to challenge the industry and the enormously successful artists who benefit from it. Thus, as Jonathan Lethem has written, "[a]lthough sampling was just a technological extension of the age-old process of learning through imitation, producers who use samples now pay up instead of trying to set precedents for fair use. "
This all goes in part to explain, I suppose, why I am so adamant in my support of the producers of Expelled, despite my contempt for their message and my respect, admiration, and love for their adversaries in their copyright litigation. Free speech is free speech. I even supported the rights of Nazis to march through a community full of Holocaust Survivors (as, of course, did the U.S. Supreme Court).
Maybe, however, times are beginning to change:
Just when it seems like mashups are played out — or playing dead, thanks to litigious record labels — along comes Girl Talk (nee Gregg Gillis). For last year's album Night Ripper, the laptop mixologist used more than 250 samples from 167 artists. Raps by Ludacris rub up against a
Yes, it's smart business. But business should not define the rights of artists and writers to use the resonant pieces of our culture to express their own points of view. It is absurd to repeat the oft-repeated canard that "[i]t is well established that using just a few seconds or bars of a musical composition violates the copyright in a work if the piece taken was the "hook'' or 'essence' of the original song." If the sample does not in fact evoke the original, there's no point in using the sample. It's the sample's very recognizability and its cultural resonances that make it a usefully compressed sign in the appropriating work.
If we depend on business to determine when sampling is permissible and when it is not, we'll never have samples in works the original artists don't like. If you support the teaching of intelligent design and you leave it to business to define your rights to sample music, you'll never, ever be able to use a John Lennon piece, no matter how seminal you believe it is in expressing the views you abhor. If you are Biz Markie creating a new work that rejects the sentiment and sappiness of Gilbert O'Sullivan's ouevre, you'll never be able to sample a Gilbert O'Sullivan work.
I wish I could tell Judge Kevin Duffy that "Thou shalt not steal" does not exhaust Old Testament wisdom.
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. -- Ecclesiastes 1: 9 (KJV)


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Boardroom Chairs, Conference Chairs, Meeting Room Chairs
We offer many office chair models in simplified boardroom versions for visual unity across the office. We also make models styled specifically for boardrooms. As you will need more than one, we offer discounts on bulk orders. Contact us or come in for a quote.


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Hey all!
Daddy Tony and myself (Sparky) are very soon going to be heading out of town for a few weeks. During that time we won't be recording new episodes of the show. This Friday we will be recording the last show before we head out, and it is a great show you don't want to miss.
We have a number of shows that we recorded earlier this year that we are very much looking forward to bringing to the light of day! We have shows with our friend from Philadelphia (Phil), a show with Nightcat, the first appearance of Brett (aka Pup Amp), and a fun show about chastity with Dreadfire's boyfriend Smarmaduke. We will have a show with Mikey's Ex, which proved quite interesting.
And we have the very first show recorded under NoSafeWord, with Daddy Tony and Sparky talking about what it is like to be a Daddy.
There was a lot of great stories, and the beginnings of traditions that you hear in the shows happening day by day, so this is exciting to share them out there.
For us, we will miss getting to do what we love, but for you out there, we have a whole month of great shows to keep it all going. Then we will be on fresh new shows coming in August!