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Beware the 'base and wicked elfe'
Posted: November 01, 2012|
As reported in last week's Journal the Witch of Wookey Hole is looking for love. However, while searching our archives Looking Back has found a reason for any potential suitors to take care.
In July 1874 the Journal published a poem with the strange title The Witch at Wokey (sic) recounting the tale of the famous sorceress.
The poem was first published in the Newcastle Magazine of 1755, by an unknown poet.
It was also honoured by Bishop Thomas Percy, chaplain to King George III and Bishop of Dromore in County Down, Ireland, by including it in his collection of ballads and popular songs, Reliques Of English Poetry in the same year.
In a note on the poem Bishop Percy he explains that: "Wookey Hole is a noted cavern in Somersetshire. Thro' a very narrow entrance it opens into a large vault, the roof whereof, either on account of it's height or the thickness of the gloom cannot be discovered by the light of torches.
"It goes winding a great way underground, is crost by a stream of very cold water and is horrid with broken pieces of rock, many of those are evident purifications which on account of their singular forms have given rise to the fables alluded to in this poem."
Thomas Percy also notes that the editor of the Newcastle Magazine wrote to him stating: "Sir, the following stanzas were sent me from Wells in Somersetshire and assigns the reason why the ladies of that fair city are destitute of gentlemen."
The poem relates the contest between a "lernede clerk" and an old hag who is turned to stone, though not before she lays a curse on the fair ladies of Wells.
The poem concludes with an invitation to the young men of Oxford University to come and save the ladies of Wells from the curse.
So prepare yourselves for the tale of the Wookey Hole Witch and please note that the spellings are as they appeared at the time:
In anciente days tradition showe
A base and wicked elfe arose,
The Witch of Wokey hight:
Oft have I heard the fearfull tale
From Sue, and Roger of the vale,
On some long winter's night.
Deep in the dreary dismall cell,
Which seem'd and was ycleped hell,
This blear-eyed hag did hide:
Nine wicked elves, as legends sayne,
She chose to form her guardian trayne,
And kennel near her side.
Here screeching owls oft made their nest,
While wolves its craggy sides possest,
Night-howling thro' the rock:
No wholesome herb could here be found;
She blasted every plant around,
And blister'd every flock.
Her haggard face was foull to see;
Her mouth unmeet a mouth to bee;
Her eyne of deadly leer,
She nought devis'd, but neighbour's ill
She wreak'd on all her wayward will,
And marr'd all goodly chear.
All in her prime, have poets sung,
No gaudy youth, gallant and young,
E'er blest her longing armes;
And hence arose her spight to vex,
And blast the youth of either sex,
By dint of hellish charms.
From Glaston came a lerned wight,
Full bent to marr her fell dispight,
And well he did, I weene:
Sich mischief never had been known,
And, since his mickle lerninge shown,
Sich mischief ne'er has been.
He chauntede out his godlie booke,
He crost the water, blest the brooks,
Then -- pater noster done, --
The ghastly hag he sprinkled o'er;
When lo! where stood a hag before,
Now stood a ghastly stone.
Full well 'tis known adown the dale:
Tho' passing strange indeed the tale,
And doubtfull may appear,
I'm bold to say, there's never a one,
That has not seen the witch in stone,
With all her household gear.
But tho' this lernede clerke did well;
With grieved heart, alas! I tell,
She left this curse behind:
That Wokey-nymphs forsaken quite,
Tho' sense and beauty both unite,
Should find no leman kind.
For lo! even as the fiend did say,
The sex have found it to this day,
That men are wonderous scant:
Here's beauty, wit, and sense combin'd,
With all that's good and virtuous join'd,
Yet hardly one gallant.
Shall then sich maids unpitied moane?
They might as well, like her, be stone,
As thus forsaken dwell.
Since Glaston now can boast no clerks;
Come down from Oxenford, ye sparks,
And, oh! revoke the spell!
Yet stay -- nor thus despond, ye fair;
Virtue's the gods' peculiar care;
I hear the gracious voice:
Your sex shall soon be blest agen,
We only wait to find such men,
As best deserve your choice.
Whether the good men of Oxenford came down to revoke the spell, we just don't know. But let anyone wishing to venture into the caves at Wookey Hole be warned of the "base and wicked elfe".


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Mike Shea runs Sly Flourish, the website devoted to "building the better Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master." In our ongoing efforts to help better promote D&D's community of sites and blogs, we asked Matt about running games, challenging players—and what monster might next be optimized.
Wizards of the Coast: Who are you, and how did you get started in the world of Dungeons & Dragons? As we're fond of nostalgia, do you have favorite memories to share about early adventures in the game?
Sly Flourish (Mike Shea): Who am I? That's the ultimate question isn't it...
OK, enough philosophy. I'm a web technologist and writer living in Vienna, VA. My father was Robert J. Shea, the co-author of the cult science-fiction novel Illuminatus, so I've always had writing in my life and he was very supportive when I started playing D&D. He taught me that the imagination was worth exercising and to always channel our inner children. He read Buck Rogers comic strips from age three to the day he died.
I started playing D&D in high school with 2nd Edition, back in the dark days when we couldn't use the word "demon". I played through college and then got a D&D 3.5 group together with my girlfriend (now my wife) a few years back. Most recently I've been running a weekly 4th Edition level 1 to 30 campaign that started the day Keep of the Shadowfell came out and is due to end this year. We've got about three levels to go and I have my gargantuan Orcus miniature ready for one hell of a send-off. This is my favorite gaming group so far.
As long as I've played D&D, I've always been a DM. I was always the one getting the games together, gathering the friends around, and keeping the story rolling. It comes naturally to me. I still play in a bunch of games but I much prefer DMing. I'm lucky that I've always found people who love to play, so it's been a good fit.
I'll not bore you with stories of my old games, but one trend I've noticed is that main NPCs who reappear in my games often turn out to be something else. In one game, an NPC wizard with whom the party adventured had been possessed by a demilich early on but the group didn't notice for nearly two dozen sessions. I did this same thing again in an Eberron adventure with a House Deneith companion character being exposed as a spy of House Canneth. More recently one of my players secretly played an agent of Orcus posing as a shadar-kai bard. That was quite a surprise and ended with much cursing and gnashing of teeth, not to mention one dead shadar-kai bard. Now my group puts anyone new under the sword until they're convinced they aren't actually some vampire or doppelganger just waiting to get the drop on them.
Wizards of the Coast: Wizards: What was the origin of Sly Flourish at all? As advertised, yours is a site with the goal of building the better 4th Edition Dungeon Master. So let me ask—why focus on the DM? Why not a blog about the game in general?
Sly Flourish: Around the time I was getting into 4th Edition, I listened to an audio recording by web technologists, Merlin Mann and John Gruber, who talked about successful blogging. They suggested not simply writing about Star Wars but instead being the go-to guy for any information on that one Jawa in that one scene in the first Star Wars movie. Essentially they talked about being very focused on a unique topic instead of writing about the same general topics everyone else is already writing about.
So I took that advice to heart. I decided to start a blog focused on not just D&D and not just on 4th Edition, but D&D 4th Edition Dungeon Mastering. There are a lot of great sites out there that talk about RPGs and even a handful that focus on 4th Edition. There aren't many that focus exclusively on 4E DM tips and that was the area I really wanted to talk about, and so that is where I've focused the site.
My overall goal for the site is to help DMs (myself included) make their D&D games awesome.
Wizards of the Coast: Wizards: To this end, what types of articles are you looking to present—that is, what areas do you feel DMs especially look for advice in order to better run their games?
Sly Flourish: I keep articles short so they're easy to digest and give DMs tips, advice, or mechanics they can use right away. I try to avoid abstract concepts and rants about my own pet peeves. I try to skip the fluff and get into specific elements. I want people to come to the site because they consistently get tips, tricks, or advice every Monday morning that helps them improve their games.
I think DMs are looking for a few things. I know a lot of them are looking for better ways to run skill challenges. This is actually something I don't write a lot about because guys like Quinn from At-Will spend a lot more time on them than I do. I'm also not very good at running skill challenges and my group has never really loved them, so I tend to write articles about keeping skill challenges short and focused which has always worked well for me.
I tend to focus a lot on combat mechanics. I'm always looking for ways to speed up combat and keep the challenge high. My Monster Optimization articles are pretty popular. People love to see how combinations of monsters can really put a party of PCs to the test.
I also like to write about the ideas behind organic storytelling—the idea that we can let stories grow from game to game instead of trying to build everything out ahead of time. This is how Stephen King writes novels so there's no reason we can't build a game the same way. I think this is different from how a lot of DMs do it so I like to write about it as a contrast to other methods. I love taking characters and storytelling concepts from TV shows like Deadwood and Breaking Bad and applying them to D&D.
Writing about D&D is very rewarding. Because DMs have ultimate control over their own games, I can focus on giving DMs useful tools to make those games better. That's a lot nicer than writing about computer or video games where the best you can hope for is a developer to read your work and change their game because of it. While Wizards produces the books, we DMs actually run the games. If a single DM reads something on the site that they like and that makes their game more fun, then the site has been successful.
Wizards of the Coast: Wizards: In addition to DM advice, Sly Flourish does a fair bit if monster optimization as well. Do you feel that monsters need all the help they can get these days to face player characters, or do you simply prefer your monsters be as ruthless as possible? Now that Monster Manual 3 has come out, are there any creatures in there you're eager to tackle?
Sly Flourish: Yeah, I think monsters have had a rough go of it until the release of the MM3. Ever since my group hit paragon, I've had a harder and harder time keeping them challenged. The combination of feats, powers, paragon paths, and items opened up so many possible combinations to neutralize monsters and negate their threat. I've had to house-rule my way around it until just recently. This works fine, but I preferred an official solution.
The Monster Manual 3 and the June rules update with the new damage-per-level chart gave us that official solution. A balor's wimpy 2d10+10 in the original Monster Manual turned into a 6d10+10 in Demonomicon. It cuts through resistances, it severs through temporary hit points, it hews through all those free action no-surge heals. Now our monsters have teeth!
All that's left is some form of status effect protection. I still house-rule my way through this and offer tips on Sly Flourish with monster templates that help limit the over-effectiveness of status effects on elite and solo monsters. I'd still like to see a better official solution, though.
What monster do I want to really use out of the MM3? I've already used Imix and plan to use a variant of Ogrémoch and Allabar but there's one other I can't wait to use. Lolth.
Wizards of the Coast: Wizards: In fact, some of this advice has recently been compiled in your Dungeon Master Tips—can you tell us about this book (hey, that cover looks familiar): what it contains, and how it came together?
Sly Flourish: My wife told me I shouldn't plug my book, but since you asked...
I'd been kicking around the idea of a short DM-focused book of tips and tricks to make our games run better. It wasn't going to cover all of the advice and concepts in the two DMGs, instead it would offer short focused chapters on specific areas of the game. I broke it up into three sections: Building Your Story, Designing Fun Encounters, and Running a Great Game. It has advice ranging from building creative habits to using soda bottle rings as status markers.
While I wrote about some of these concepts on my website, the book is completely original, written from scratch. My lovely wife and a good friend helped with the editing so it didn't sound like a 2nd grader wrote it. I was very lucky to convince Jared von Hindman to do all of the art for the book and it's fantastic. I love his style and it fit the down-to-earth theme of the book.
The cover throwback to the original PHB was his idea. I love how we're seeing a party of adventurers just before everything is about to go horribly wrong for them.
I could also write a thousand words on how great a time it is to be an independent writer and e-publisher, which is another reason I wrote the book. The tools aren't really there yet—I had to spend way too much time formatting and reformatting for the Kindle, PDF, print, and ePub versions—but the audience for e-books is finally there and the market is more supportive of the author than it's ever been. So learning how to independently publish a book from top to bottom was another reason I did it. I really loved writing it and publishing it and I'm very happy with the result.
You can read all about the book at slyflourish.com/book.
Wizards of the Coast: Wizards: There's some amount of reviewing at Sly Flourish. When it comes to new material entering the game, what tends to stand out for you?
Sly Flourish: I actually try to stay away from product reviews on my site. Again, there are a whole bunch of other sites that review products and do a better job than I could, so instead I try to offer suggestions on how these products can make our games better.
That said, there are a few things that stand out for me when I'm looking at a new product. First, it has to be something I can easily use in my game. I like the modularity of 4th Edition products and I like that there's a good bit of crunch in newer books like Demonomicon when compared to the 4th Edition Manual of the Planes. Good monster design always gets my attention. For this reason I'm still in love with the Monster Manual 3 and equally happy with the demons in the Demonomicon. I couldn't wait to use these at my game and so far the results have been great.
It probably goes without saying that I gravitate towards the DM books rather than the player books. With level 27 PCs in my group, there is no way I can keep up with all of the items, feats, powers, paragon paths, and epic destinies that people have. I have a strict "police your neighbor" policy that works well in my game and a very dedicated and objective rules lawyer but the combinations still get out of control. Instead, I focus my time on the DM's side of things and so those are the books with which I spend most of my time. Luckily, this summer has had some absolutely excellent DM books so I'm very happy.
I'd love to see heavier use of read-aloud text in upcoming products. I find myself re-writing fluffy descriptions in published books to turn them into something I can read aloud to my players. These books would be a lot more usable for me if fluff was written as read-aloud text to begin with so I could simply read it from the book when the time came rather than having to paraphrase it or rewrite it myself.
I'd also like to see Wizards of the Coast publish maps that use Dungeon Tiles in all published adventures. That sort of thing makes a book like Dungeon Delve (probably my third favorite book next to the DMG2 and the MM3) more useful at the table than a book like Tomb of Horrors which uses all hand-drawn maps.
Those quibbles aside, I love my 4th Edition books. I have a shelf full of them and I'm not unhappy with any of them. I'm really looking forward to Dark Sun and I can't wait for the D&D Essentials Monster Vault with what I assume will include new math for old staple monsters like the chromatic dragons. They're due for a refresh and I can't wait to see them.
Wizards of the Coast: Wizards: One of the features of Sly Flourish is your Twitter feed. What do you tend to use the feed for, and how has the response been? Between blogs, twitter, podcast, there seems more ways than ever to stay connected to the hobby. Any future plans for where you'd like to take your blog, or your content?
Sly Flourish: When I started Sly Flourish I wanted to use Twitter as another way to give DM tips to players. While most people use Twitter to stay connected as people, I wanted to use it as a feed of 4E DM tips. I wanted it to be something directly useful to people rather than typical Twitter pontifications.
I try to keep a human face on it though. I'm on Twitter all day retweeting stuff that I think helps people build their game and staying connected to the other hard-working bloggers and podcasters who do the same for their audiences. I've made a lot of good friends through Twitter and the response has been great.
I love how the net has completely changed D&D. Twenty years ago we all used to interpret the game differently with no way to talk to other DMs. We were like tribes lost in the jungle that didn't know what Coke bottles were. I don't think I even talked to another DM until about ten years after I started running games. Now we have this huge hive-mind of DMs who can all work together to make the ultimate Orcus. That's just awesome.
I have no other major future plans for Sly Flourish outside of what I'm already doing. I've been really lucky to expand out into writing for Critical Hits and being a guest on the Tome Show, the Newbie DM Minicast, and the DM Round Table podcasts. This lets me keep the site focused on its primary goal.
I plan to keep the site focused on helping DMs build and run the best games they can.
About the Author
A handsome head and torso sit atop Bart's snakey trunk. This author has no legs, but travels in a snakelike mode along the ground. He has huge bat wings. His tail is barbed and drips poison. Bart's arms are strong and hairy, ending in paw-like hands.

subset: commoncrawl


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BLUEFIELD — Click here for video
BLUEFIELD – Another dilapidated building in Bluefield is coming down.
Workers with Empire Salvage started demolishing a three-story brick structure this morning at 300 Roanoke Street. The building, owned by Watt's Transformer, Inc., was in very poor condition, said City Manager Jim Ferguson.
"It is always good news to see a property owner take proactive action in removing a blighted property" Ferguson said.


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Nomura lowered their price target on shares of Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) from $700.00 to $675.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday, AmericanBankingNews.com reports. Nomura's price objective suggests a potential upside of 26.62% from the company's current price.
In other Google news, CEO Lawrence Page sold 33,332 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $537.07, for a total transaction of $17,901,617.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.
Shares of Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) opened at 533.09 on Wednesday. Google has a 1-year low of $502.80 and a 1-year high of $604.83. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $536.9 and a 200-day moving average of $536.9. The company has a market cap of $359.6 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.93.
Separately, analysts at Deutsche Bank reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Google in a research note on Sunday, April 20th. They now have a $625.00 price target on the stock.
Get Analysts' Upgrades and Downgrades via Email - Stay on top of analysts' coverage with Analyst Ratings Network's FREE daily email newsletter that provides a concise list of analysts' upgrades and downgrades. Click here to register now.


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Contact: Alison Mittelstaedt/Mrs. Morris
Tel: 206/546-7241 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Email: email@example.com
Teen Link, "Talk it Out" and Things Will Get Better.
Teen Link talks it out at the Operation Outreach DECA trade show that will be held 10:30am - 3:00pm on January 16th & 17th at King's High School's 5th annual trade show. This event takes place on the corner of 195th and Greenwood Ave. N. in Shoreline.
Teen Link is a confidential, anonymous, and non-judgmental help line answered for teens from 6-10pm, 365 days a year. No issue is too big or too small, teen volunteers are trained to listen to a caller's concerns and talk to them about whatever is on their mind.
This DECA event is extended over two days due to the previous popularity. Students creatively design trade show booths by working closely with entrepreneurs including signage, sampling of products, and live demonstrations. Nearly 60 local businesses enthusiastically participate each year.
This is King's High School's first time getting to do an all non-profit trade show, all King's High School students are very excited to promote their companies and are looking forward to hosting this event!
Alison Mittelstaedt, Senior, has worked closely with Teen Link to promote their business and this exciting event. This trade show is a unique learning experience for students with an interest in marketing careers and future college opportunities.
Teen Link is a confidential and accessible place teens can call to talk about what's concerning them, helping youth explore their options and make healthy choices. For more information visit 866teenlink.org
If you'd like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Alison, Please call Mrs. Morris at 206/546-7241 or e-mail firstname.lastname@example.com


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If you've got rosary beads handy, please say a prayer for the leader of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Last week was not a good one for Cardinal Roger Mahony, and there may be no letup in weeks to come if a certain monsignor continues to testify in a deposition being taken as part of a civil case against Mahony and the diocese.
Msgr. Richard Loomis, former vicar of clergy for the archdiocese, said under oath that in the year 2000 he wrote a memo advocating that the archdiocese inform police about allegations of sexual abuse by a now-defrocked priest named Michael Baker. Mahony, Loomis testified, directed him not to report the allegations.


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The first annual "Stock to Scholarship Challenge" has concluded and here are the winners:
- First place winner: Senior Margaux Kabodian at in Farmington Hills has won $5,000 for her college education. Margeaux nearly doubled her original stake by earning an impressive $199, 065.50. Margaux resides in Novi and is planning on attending Albion College this fall.
- Second place winner: Christopher Kolzer is a sophomore at Plymouth High School. Chris resides in Plymouth. He will receive $2,000 for college.
- Third place winner: Kyle Bone is a Plymouth High School sophomore. Kyle earned $1,000 for college. He resides in Canton.
The goal of the competition is to raise financial literacy and awareness among high school students. The contest began on February 13 and ended on April 30. Each contestant was given access to an online personal stock market account seeded with $100,000 in "play money." Over the course of the competition, contestants studied and traded stocks within their portfolios. Those who accrued more "money" in their accounts than other participants were deemed winners of the competition.
The contest drew 650 students from a total of 72 high schools throughout Macomb, Oakland and Wayne Counties, all vying for college scholarship money.
"It's never too early to learn about the global marketplace. I have spent my career teaching retirees and investors how to grow their savings. Helping high school students learn about managing their money will provide them benefits that can last a lifetime," said contest sponsor Kevin VanDyke, Founder and President Bloomfield Hills Financial.
--Bloomfield Hills Financial press release


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Dennis Rodman
No Filter Films Presents Johnny Manziel in The Hangover
ve. Gotten. Crazier than they even come to believe that friend may be held captive. I knew Korean drug lord. Dennis Rodman . Wrap. I. Open and at the think. That But when an. Easy. It. They edit the As they out of his way and at eightthat -- friend may be held captive. I knew Korean drug lord. Dennis Rodman . Wrap. -- I. Open and at the think. That -- But when an. Easy. It. They edit the -- As they out
World Cup Final Preview: Germany vs Argentina
Messi will do the same. Also watch for Argentina's Javier Mascheranoâ he's a defensive specialist (kind of like Dennis Rodman to Messi's Jordan) who was everywhere he needed to be against the Netherlands. If he is as effective against Germany
Dennis Rodman is heading back to North Korea
Former NBA star Dennis Rodman plans to travel to North Korea next week to train its basketball team, a trip unaffected by the execution of leader Kim Jong Un
Dennis Rodman to play for Kin Jong-un's birthday
Rodman to play for Kim Jong-un's birthday Jan 05, 2014 Description Transcript 0 0 0 208 208 Dennis Rodman and other ex-NBA players are going to North Korea to play basketball for Kin Jong-un's birthday. Good idea or bad idea
Kosta at Dennis Rodman Press Conference
Michael Kosta visited Dennis Rodman 's Press Conference as he discusses his next trip to North Korea. The results were hilarious.
Rodman to play for Kim Jong-un's birthday
There's the story that I heard all season. Dennis Rodman a friend of mine. Experiences let's take a NBA players ..... Charles these men. Guys would you go to North Korea with Dennis Rodman the play basketball. I guess this goes way out announcerThere's the -- story that I heard all season. Dennis Rodman -- a friend of mine. Experiences let's take a NBA players that North Korea. Play an exhibition game against. National level. And some guys that are going we know about Kenny Anderson -- Robinson didn't maker Craig Hodges Doug Christie Charles these men. Guys would you go to North Korea with Dennis Rodman the play basketball. I guess this goes way out announcer this is though there are back in my time and everything looks
Jay and Dan Podcast: Episode 22 - The Return of the Podcast!
that. And I power always find Lee got his event. Unspent these bars criminal or. Else. Or. On on on. The with Dennis Rodman . Yeah was a big occurrence in the hometown anger when he comes down to LA again. I don't know I don't know hopefully
Is This Really Even Necessary - No Filter with Katie Nolan
In the Sept. 10 No Filter with Katie Nolan, Katie explains the McDonald's Blitz Box, wonders why RGIII had to cover his knee brace, is disgusted by Miley Cyrus, and doesn't take Dennis Rodman seriously.
Gilbert makes winning, not more rebuilding, Cavs' top priority
Brown isn't blameless in all this. Great coaches are able to reach their players. Ever hear of Phil Jackson and Dennis Rodman ? Actually, Jackson had a considerably more difficult time with Scottie Pippen early in Pippen's career, but all
Rodman out of rehab: 'I'm not an alcoholic'
Dennis Rodman checked into an alcohol-rehabilitation center to reevaluate his life, not give up drinking. ''I needed to decompress from


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We are committed to WORKING WITH THE COMMUNITY to provide opportunities for citizens to interact with their elected officials and to keep an accurate record of local government proceedings.
We are dedicated to provide information to the elected officials, fellow departments and the citizens of Springfield.
We will accomplish this through:
Integrity and Pride of Service to ensure that the information provided is both accurate and accessible.
Cooperation and Communication through assisting the citizens in contacting their local officials or the appropriate entity to service their needs.
Positive and Professional Service in our conduct, approach and attitude in servicing our clients to ensure we are a positive reflection of the City of Springfield's Mission Statement.


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Yesterday it was announced that in lieu of Terius Nash bka The-Dream's promised fourth album, Love IV MMXII, he will be releasing last year's free mixtape 1977 as a commercial effort on December 18. Nash, who was recently named VP of Def Jam A&R, will be adding new material to the release, including "AK-47." The cut is a layer cake of many of The-Dream's favorite elements, including whirling electro-flourishes, jubilant piano keystrokes and bizarro romantic metaphors. Still no word on if or when Love IV will be released.
(via Rap-Up)


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Narrow your search
With its slim design, fantastic screen, and oodles of power, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 is a superb smaller tablet, and a worthy competitor to the ever-popular iPad Mini.
With everything that was great about the HDX 7 and more, the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 isn't just a great value, it sets the standard for a media consumption tablet.
The 10-incher is another moderate Windows 8.1 release in HP's latest lineup of slates.
The new Iconia 8-inch tablet runs Android KitKat via a quad-core Intel Atom processor, with a Full HD IPS screen on the front.
Pricing not available
Windows Phone 8.1 is the best update yet, thanks to its revamped design and modern features, but it lags behind iOS and Android.
Pricing not available
If you're looking for a pure media consumption experience, the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 delivers better than any tablet before it. People looking for something more utilitarian, however, will want to look elsewhere.
That's for the 16GB model. Get it with 32GB for only $30 more!
The 7-inch Kindle Fire HD is already out. The 8.9-inch version hits in November with some key upgrades over the 7-inch version.
Pricing not available
The cheaper price represents a major shift for Microsoft, as does a decision to drop the $60 annual fee to access streaming content such as Netflix and YouTube.
As long as it stays at a sub-$1,000 price, the Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM lens will be a great deal for photographers using APS-C dSLRs.


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As he scooped up cash in Connecticut, President Obama dubbed the tax proposals of his Republican rival an example of "Robin Hood in reverse."
"It's Romney-hood," Obama said Monday night to laughter and whistles of approval at a fundraiser in Stamford, Conn.
Obama's play on the prince of thieves was a new dig in an now-familiar theme. Obama has been attacking Mitt Romney's plan to cut income, corporate, estate and other taxes since last week, when an independent policy group concluded that the proposals would either increase the deficit or force lawmakers to increase taxes on the middle class.


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President Obama is so excited about the final days of his final campaign that he feels it in his "loins," a senior adviser said Friday.
"I've never seen him more exhilarated than he is right now," senior campaign strategist David Axelrod said at a campaign stop with the president in Lima, Ohio. "He believes in what he's fighting for. You can see in the speech that he's delivering that this is coming from his loins."
As if recognizing the awkwardness of the reference, Mr. Axelrod added quickly, "I just wanted to say 'loins.' I wanted to see if I could get 'loins' in the story."
The president's top campaign aide said Mr. Obama also is enthused by interacting with the public and by the knowledge that it's his final political campaign.
"It is a very energizing thing for him," Mr. Axelrod said. "This is the closing argument of his last campaign. He's looking forward to the next four years, but he knows he's never going to do this again. That, too, has him energized as he makes these final rounds."


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A pastor appeared on Fox network's Greta Van Susteren show Monday, and revealed that the missing 4th wife of ex-cop Drew Peterson told him that Peterson admitted killing his 3rd wife.
Former Westbrook Christian Church pastor Neil Schori told "On the Record" that he was "reeling inside" after his conversation with Stacy Peterson over coffee in August.
– Fox News
So, here's the question –
Would you appear on national media and reveal a conversation like this?
Courts have rule repeatedly that clergy-client conversations are privileged and confidential. But do clergy have higher obligations to report such conversations and/or take action themselves?
Several years ago I was an associate at a large church. A woman confided to the pastor that she was being abused and needed help. The pastor helped her freeze the couple's bank account, involved the police, and arranged a lawyer for the woman. Sadly, the allegations were totally fabricated and the husband had to hire his own attorney to untangle the legal mess the pastor had put him in.
What are our obligations and responsibilities in situations like this? I'd welcome your comments.
Categories: Community, Congregation, culture, Pastoral Care
Tags: church, clergy confidentiality, counseling, ethics, missional, Pastoral Care
6 replies ›
I believe this Leader should of prayer for God's guidance on the matter and encouraged the missing wife to speak up about what she was told. If she chose not to then he should of told the authorities and maybe the missing wife now would never come up missing.


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Everyone knows medical care can get expensive. But for some families, things can begin to seem insurmountable.
The Schuller family of Brick knows what it's like to face challenges in that regard, but thanks to the help of Brick's police department and generous residents, parents Marylou and Corie can rest easier for a little while.
Two of the couple's children, Alexis, 13, and Georgia, 4, suffer from cystic fibrosis, a chronic genetic disease that affects the lungs, pancreas, liver, and intestines, causing severe life threatening infections. Their son, Hudson, 6, has been diagnosed with neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that causes tumors to grow in the brain, nervous system, spinal cord and nerves.
The family has experienced mounting medical bills in recent years, and their health insurance policy alone costs about $25,000 per year since Corie operates his own construction business and must buy his own private policy.
Marylou, meanwhile, cares for their children on a daily basis.
So a "helping hand" in the form of a $25,000 check from the Brick Policemen's Benevolent Association Local 230 on Monday represented a much-needed relief.
The money came from funds raised during the PBA's annual Helping Hands benefit basketball game where township police officers face off on the court against members of the Brick Dragons football team.
The game was held in March this year.
"It will definitely take some of the burden off," said Marylou Schuller, who added the warm winter kept all of her children healthier than normal in recent months.
Corie Schuller said his wife's days are often filled with medical visits, shuttling the kids to various activities and administering medicine when necessary.
The extra funds will go towards that massive insurance bill, as well as added-on costs such as co-payments, equipment and medication.
Alexis, Georgia and Hudson were all in good spirits for a ceremony at the township municipal complex on Monday, dutifully lining up - all smiles - to shake hands with the police officers who organized the event and confidently introducing themselves to everyone in the room.
"They're a joy of a family to work with," said Brick Police Officer Rick Nelson Jr., the primary organizer of the basketball game and fundraising effort. "It was a fun time, and we all had a blast putting it together for the Schuller family."


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Threaded View
3 Aug 2011 2:07 PM #1
Sencha Touch and EXTjs
Sencha Touch and EXTjs
Why do you guys have two major branches of these frameworks?
Why not have EXTjs made intelligent enough to distinguish from a mobile device and a 'desktop' PC?
I've observed that Touch was developed with the MVC architecture before it was brought into ExtJs. Then after EXTjs was revamped, you started bringing the "new" elements (e.g. Charts) into Touch. I can easily foresee this yo-yo effect continuing as these frameworks continue to diverge.
So, my question remains... Why not have ExtJS perform everything that Touch has to offer on a mobile device? Why not consolidate these two into one. They are practically accomplishing the same results: delivering top-level user interfaces on different devices (regardless if mobile or desktop).
Looking forward, I can see more and more desktops becoming touch based interfaces. Windows 7 already supports this and I believe the Mac does too. As I currently understand ExtJS 4.x, it does not support Touch based desktops... So, you have to augment Touch to perform the job.Perfection as a goal is a nice idea that can point one in a specific direction. However, since "perfection" is an ever changing (evolving?) and moving target, one must admit that perfection can never be obtained...
When in doubt, check the d4mn source code!


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A Lake Elsinore man who may be on the run will face a murder charge when police find him.
Today, the Riverside County District Attorney's Office announced it filed one count of murder against 27-year-old Joseph David Dorsey in connection with the "brutal slaying" of Canyon Lake resident Christine Stewart, whose body was found Wednesday stuffed inside a suitcase located in a Poway motel room.
It is alleged that 47-year-old Stewart was killed in Riverside County and her body taken by Dorsey to a Best Western Motel in Poway.
"Evidence found at Dorsey's apartment on Main Street in Lake Elsinore when a search warrant was served there on Aug. 6, 2012, leads authorities to believe that Stewart had been there before she was murdered," the DA's office announced today.
During the course of their investigation, homicide detectives learned Dorsey had checked into a room at the Best Western on Poway Road, but he never checked out, according to the DA's office.
"Motel employees took possession of property Dorsey left inside the room, including a large rolling suitcase, approximately 3 feet long and 18 inches wide and deep," the DA's office reported. "Homicide investigators found the body of Stewart, who was about 5 feet, 2 inches tall and 100 pounds, inside the suitcase."
Stewart worked as a behavioral health specialist at a county drug rehabilitation facility in Hemet, according to the DA's office.
A warrant for Dorsey's arrest was issued today. The pair had been reported missing by police earlier this week. The two had been in a dating relationship at the time of their disappearance, which was reported to police Aug. 4.
The DA's office and the Riverside County Sheriff's Department are actively seeking the public's help in locating Dorsey, who should be considered dangerous and has a prior prison record. He is described as 6'1" tall, about 200 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes. He is possibly driving a dark blue 2003 Ford Explorer SUV with gray primer on the hood and front fender. The vehicle has a California license plate of 6UDY773.
Anyone with information about Dorsey or his vehicle is urged to call Investigator James Merrill of the Sheriff's Central Homicide Unit at (951) 955-2777, or Investigator Ronnie Rosas of the Perris Station at (951) 210-1000.


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Almighty Black P. Stone Nation
|Founding location
|Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
|Years active
|mostly African American, some Caucasian
|Criminal activities
|Drug trafficking, robbery, extortion, murder, domestic terrorism
|Vice Lords, Pirus, Latin Kings, Zoe Pound Gang, Black Guerilla Family, United Blood Nation
|white supremacist groups
|Notable members
|Jeff Fort
Eugene Hairston
The Black P. (Peace) Stone Nation aka BPSN is a Chicago-based street gang estimated to have more than 30,000 members. The gang was originally formed in the late 1950s as the Blackstone Rangers. In later years, an Islamic faction of the gang emerged, naming themselves the "El Rukn tribe of the Moorish Science Temple of America" (or simply El Rukn). The group's founder and 'religious leader' is Abdullah-Malik (born Jeff Fort).[1]
The BPSN finances itself through a wide array of criminal activities and is part of the large Chicago gang alliance known as the People Nation.[2]
The BPSN originated, and is based, on the South Side of Chicago in the Woodlawn neighborhood.[3]
As of today, the gang has a strong presence in the Northwest Indiana communities of Gary and Merrillville with a growing presence in Portage, the northern area of Crown Point, as well as the western area of Hobart.
Intergang relations[edit]
Their main rivals are the Black Disciples (BD), and to a lesser degree, the Gangster Disciples (GD).
Rivals include the entire Folk Nation alliance and white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and Aryan Brotherhood. Their allies are the Vice Lords, Latin Kings, and other People Nation gangs, Black Separatist groups, the Five Percenters, and Los Zetas. Separate factions of the gang include Titanic Stones, Apache Stones, Jabari Stones, No Limit Stones, Maniac Stones, and Jet Black Stones.[4]
There are several gangs that branched off of the Black P. Stone Nation including Gangster Stones, Rubinite Stones, Corner Stones, Latin Stones, and Familia Stones. All these branches have many factions. BPSN has branched out to many different parts of the US, especially in the Midwest and the South, and cities such as New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. The Familia Stones, also known as the Puerto Rican Stones, a break-off of the Black P. Stone Nation predominately made up of Puerto Ricans, has even branched out to Puerto Rico.[5]
The Blackstone Rangers were founded at the St. Charles Institution for Troubled Youth by Jeff Fort and Eugene Hairston as a community organization for black youth in the Woodlawn area of South Chicago. In the 1960s they evolved into one of the most dangerous and powerful gangs in Chicago. Fort seized upon the gang's changed mission, renaming it the Black P. (Pyramid) Stone Nation. He transformed the BPSN into a black nationalistic group, and continued to involve the gang in street crime and drug trafficking.
BPSN founding member Eugene Hairston was incarcerated on drug charges on June 6, 1966,[6] and Fort was arrested for mismanagement of government grants totaling $927,000 from the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity in March 1972. Fort was released in the early 1980s, but was later re-incarcerated on drug charges. At some time in the 1980s, Fort converted to Islam and imbued the BPSN with Islamic overtones. It was then that he adopted the name of Abdullah-Malik and the rank of "caliph".[7]
Following meetings during 1986 with Libyan operatives from Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi's government, Fort was charged with buying weapons to commit terrorist acts on behalf of the Libyan government. In 1987, Fort was tried and convicted for conspiring with Libya to perform acts of domestic terrorism by use of COINTELPRO type methods. He was sentenced to 80 years imprisonment and transferred to the USP Marion, the federal supermax prison in Marion, Illinois.[8][9][10] In 1988, Fort was also convicted of ordering the 1981 murder of a rival gang leader and was sentenced to 75 years in prison to be served after the completion of his terror conspiracy sentence.[11][12]
While Abdullah-Malik continues to exercise considerable influence over the BPS from prison, the various Black Stones splinter groups suffer from rampant infighting without a clear leader. There are two major groups that have split with the BPSN The Mickey Cobras were supporters of Mickey Cogwell, a co-founder of BPSN killed by Jeff Fort. The Titanic Stones were supporters of Eugene Hairston who had a falling-out with Fort.
Islamic identification[edit]
The Black Pyramid Stone Nation (BPSN) now has a strong Islamic character, which can be attributed to the Moorish Science Temple of America. BPSN first started to embrace Islam in the late 1970s when Jeff Fort was released from prison and changed his name. He also renamed the BPSN as El Rukn. El Rukn adopted their Islamic principles from the Moorish Science Temple - also the forerunner of black Muslim groups such as the Nation of Islam and the Five Percenters. They take inspiration from the historic African Moors who came from north and west Africa and conquered Iberia in the Middle Ages, and who were Muslims.
Even though Abdullah-Malik created an Islamic identity for BPSN, nowadays that ideological underpinning is not solid. Although a significant number of Stones are Muslims, Islam now has little to do with the organization's day-to-day operations. The vast spreading of chapters throughout the United States has served to dilute any Islamic identity. Many Chicago based and influenced BPSN in the Midwest, East Coast, and in the South embrace Islam, but just as many do not (especially BPSN Bloods/Black Stone West). BPSN Bloods/Black Stone West does not embrace Islam as it emerged in 1969, before Fort overhauled the mainstream BPS organization.
The Fort-Hairston schism left a significant number of groups adhering to Hairston's principles, and thus have no religious character. Belief in Islam is in many cases a prerogative of individual members. Most 'Stones' in the South don't personally acknowledge Islam, but many on the East Coast do, and in Chicago more than a quarter of the BPSN is Muslim. Islam has also brought negative attention from federal law enforcement because of BPS's ties to domestic and international Islamic terrorism. They were declared a threat to homeland security after the September 11 attacks. El Rukn has virtually no street presence any longer, with the religious/political body of the BPSN now existing as the Masjid Al Kabah under Abdullah-Malik and his Islamic clergy.
- The FBI investigation into Jeff Fort and his El Rukns gang for terrorism was featured in an episode of the The FBI Files entitled "Terror For Sale", such as the gang's purchase of a LAW Rocket (actually a dummy rocket) from an undercover agent posing as an arms dealer.
While El Rukns may not have "street" presence any longer, their presence is still alive and just as powerful in the African American communities on the South Side of Chicago. Now a more nonviolent activist organization, as a whole, the BPSN still is a forceful voice within the community. It is also important to note that drug trafficking is still a prominent portion of the organization's revenue.
See also[edit]
- ^ Florida Department of Corrections. "Street Gangs — Chicago Based or Influenced: People Nation and Folk Nation". State of Florida. Retrieved 2008-03-08.
- ^ Kenneth O'Reilly, Racial Matters: The FBI's File on Black America, 1960 - 1972 (New York: Free Press, 1991), 409.
- ^ Lance Williams, "The Black Pyramid Stone: Black Power, Politics, and Gangbanging," University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, February 12, 2001.
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ Hairston was eventually murdered in the Ida B. Wells housing project in the early 1980s
- ^ Robert W. Dart, "Views from the Field: The Future is Here Today: Street Gang Trends," Journal of Gang Research 1.1 (1992), 87-90.
- ^ "Five Draw Long Sentences for Terrorism Scheme". The New York Times (Associated Press). 1987-12-31. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
- ^ Don Terry (1991-05-19). "In Chicago Courtroom, Nation's First Super Gang Fights for Life". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-12-28.
- ^ "Rossi, Rosilind (1992-08-24). "How the Law Won War With El Rukns". Chicago Sun-Times. "Jeff Fort, serving 155 years at the federal prison in Downstate Marion"
- ^ "GANG CHIEF GUILTY IN RIVAL'S SLAYING". The New York Times. 1988-10-20. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
- ^ Rossi, Rosalind (1988-11-15). "75 more years for Fort 4 other Rukns draw stiff terms". Chicago Sun-Times: pp. 3.
Further reading[edit]
- 2011 The Almighty Black P Stone Nation: The Rise, Fall, and Resurgence of an American Gang Natalie Y. Moore (Author), Lance Williams (Author) ISBN 978-1-55652-845-3
- Cooley, Will. "'Stones Run It': Taking Back Control of Organized Crime in Black Chicago, 1940-1975," Journal of Urban History 37:6 (November, 2011), 911-932.
External links[edit]
- FBI file on the El Rukn
- Black P Stones in Los Angeles by Streetgangs.com


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COMMENTARY | The Kansas City Royals lost their second-consecutive game in shutout fashion to the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday night, ultimately watching their postseason run come to an end.
Couple that with results from earlier in the night and playoff aspirations completely faded away as the Cleveland Indians and Tampa Bay Rays both continued their winning ways (each with six-game streaks) to keep their hold atop the American League wild-card race.
While the Royals have generally exceeded the expectations placed on the team prior to the season, being so close to a playoff spot comes with the heightened pressures of sustaining a winning culture -- something Kansas City has not had in close to three decades now.
The Royals went all in this offseason, acquiring Ervin Santana from the Los Angeles Angels and trading away top prospect Wil Myers to the Rays to acquire James Shields.
The idea was that the pair would head a starting rotation that has lacked a true ace (or depth for that matter) recently -- an area that has been looked as the team's biggest deficiency overall. While the moves have paid off, the shortage of experience has proven costly for a largely untested roster -- making a strong finish to this season necessary for this group to continue gelling and to eventually turn the corner.
Kansas City closes the season with a four-game series on the road against the Chicago White Sox, a team that helped spoil the Royals' chances at reaching the playoffs by sweeping a three-game set at Kauffman Stadium last month.
The current win total of 83 would be the team's highest since 2003 and only the second time in the last 20 seasons Kansas City has finished with a record above .500.
To remain in contention over a longer stretch, however, would require another significant jump over this year's results. But dismissing the remaining four games by looking ahead to the offseason could have a lasting effect on the immediate and long-term future of this organization as well.
Missing the playoffs does not dismiss the strides this team has made, but failing to cap the year on a high note could produce a bit of a fool's good reaction to how this season has played out. Should the Royals not finish the strong, the overwhelming questions that have plagued this organization over the years will still be left unanswered.
This offseason could be the most decisive this franchise has ever endured, but there is still business to take care of that will help in the process of prolonging the ability for Kansas City to consistently compete.Jeremy Sickel has successfully created and operated numerous websites. His work can be read on Yahoo! and Bleacher Report, and he has also appeared on various podcasts and sports talk shows around the country. Interact with Jeremy on Twitter @JeremySickel.
- Sports & Recreation
- Baseball
- Kansas City Royals
- Kansas City
- Tampa Bay Rays
- Seattle Mariners
- Cleveland Indians


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Monthly Archives: November 2011
When "Newt"cessity Becomes the Mother of Invention
As longtime readers know, my goal in writing these posts is to try to use political science, (loosely defined – often it's more my political intuition) to make sense of political events as they happen. That means that rather than … Continue reading
Where Was Obama? Why the Supercommittee Really Failed
Where was the President? That's the question many pundits are asking in the aftermath of the congressional supercommittee's highly publicized failure to reach an agreement by today's deadline to cut $1.2 trillion from the federal deficit. As the clocked ticked … Continue reading
The Gang's All Here: Live Blogging The 11th Republican Debate
Big debate tonight – the first one since Newt reached front-runner status, and the super committee called it quits. Tonight's topic is national security. So, expect lots of questions regarding whether automatic cuts to defense are acceptable, and whether Obama … Continue reading
Why The Failure Of The Supercommittee Is Not A Bad Thing
If media reports are correct, it appears that the congressional "supercommittee" will fail to reach its midnight Monday deadline to specify how it would trim at least $1.2 trillion from the budget deficit during the next decade. This is probably … Continue reading
It's Newt Hampshire!
I teased this story in today's first post, but it's worth a closer look: a Magellan Strategies automated poll released today shows Newt Gingrich in a statistical dead heat with Mitt Romney in New Hampshire. Romney garnered 29% in the … Continue reading


text: Freshmen: Taryn Mai (@TarynMychalMai) Admin June 13, 2011 The Music This girl has an AMAZING voice, she has the voice of…….. I don't even know how to explain it. She's a small get with a biiiig voice. Taryn Mai has a voice that will stop a baby from crying and save a sick man from dying. Introducing: Taryn Mai 4shoMag: You're quite new to the game; tell us a little about yourself… TM: Well my name is Taryn Mai I'm 21yrs old I live in detroit michigan. Ive been singing and writing since I was about 6. I also read music. 4shoMag: Knowing music, do you have any influences in your life that could attribute to your love for R&B today? TM: Well I grew up listening to albums; Lots of good music. I listen to alot of 80′s late 70′s music. I mostly study male vocal patterns. My influences are Michael Jackson, El Debarge, Elton John, Michael McDonald, Prince, The Beetles, Lauren Hill, Diana Ross, and Teena Marie. My favorite newer producer and artist is Kanye' West and I absolutely love Chris Brown's work passion and presentation. 4shoMag: As R&B/Hip-Hop is a male dominated industry, how will your music be represented? TM: Well I love becoming someone else when I write so that I may represent everyone. I make songs that men can relate to as well. Strong music with substance and meaning will sit well with everyone. All you have to do is make them feel good and dance! 4shoMag: When meeting fans and supporters of your music, how inspired are you both by their reaction? TM: I am very inspired and taken aback by them. It warms my heart because in my eyes I'm just a girl with a dream and I never thought I could Have that impact on people by just being some unknown artist who loves to tell a story with music. I love when they send me inbox messages, emails, DM's, comments, etc. 4shoMag: Tell us something that is very important to you in your music that you would like to share with our readers? TM: The most important thing in my music is that you see what I am singing. I want listeners to hear my music and visualize the lyrics Like a movie. I want a scence to play in listeners minds. For example, if it's a sad song I want the happiest person to cry, if it's a dance track I want to transport listeners to a rocking party. I want my music to allow people to escape and feel and imagine. To speak 4shoMag: What song is the BEST song you think you've done to this date? TM: I would say either Overanalyzed or Song About You 4shoMag: What makes you believe that those two are your best songs out of the many you've recorded? TM: I get most reaction out of those songs and those are my most personal songs that tell my personal story. 4shoMag: What producers and artists do you want to work with next? TM: I would love to work someday with N.E.R.D., Kanye, Quincy Jones. Prince and Chris Brown. Gosh! There are so many more! 4shoMag: How does it feel to be selected as a 4sho Magazine Freshman? TM: Really really cool!! Sometimes I wonder who is out there listening and it is an honor to be selected! Last Remarks: Thank you again for choosing me and I cant wait to share more music! DOWNLOAD HER SONG " Over analyzed" HERE: Click to to listen. To download, Right Click -> Save Link As (Save Target As) Taryn Mai – Overanalyzed Interview By: Joseph McFashion Follow


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It is acceptable to wear your hat in a bar, a livestock show or a general public place. Common sense should tell you to remove it in a home or at a dining place IF there is an acceptable resting place for it. Definitely should be removed like any hat for the national anthem. If you have been raised with any manners at all and general respect for others common sense is going to guide you in when it should be removed.
Yes and no.
It is perfectly acceptable to wear your hat indoors in places of public. This would be your lobbies, sport stadiums, bars, shops and stores, etc...
You should remove you hat when you enter a person's home, personal office, introducing yourself to a lady, entering a church, or sitting down at a table to dine.
At least that is how I was brought up.
My grandma took it as a sign of disrespect to her if you did not remove your hat after crossing the threshold and entering her home. When I was a child she would slap the hat off of my head if ever I "forgot" to remove it.
Her teaching stuck with me so I guess I will stick with it.
E. Stewart, Lawman
Wow! Very complicated question indeed! I've just gave my vote for this question. I hope my valuable vote will be able to help win success. Thanks mate. :)
My hat is part of my stile, I wear it all the time, both inside and outside and ignore all the rules... however, I think the Church is the exception in such a case indeed, you always have to take your hat off there, but I don't really care since I am an atheist and never ever attend it.
I voted yes, and it applies to caps as well as hats. 'Course, I'm 74 years old and come from nearly four generations back.
The only places I've noticed that old-timers don't remove their hats and caps are those places such as pool halls and domino parlors, reserved exclusively for men, and in sale barns and arenas. Today's pool halls, such as you'll find in cities instead of small towns, don't count, since cowboys and genuine westerners won't be hanging out there anyhow.
Thank you for this blog. Thats all I can say. You most definitely have made this blog into something thats eye opening and important. You clearly know so much about the subject, youve covered so many bases. Great stuff from this part of the internet. Again, thank you for this blog.Thanks.
I do not see a problem with wearing a cowboy hat inside. I know a lot of people think this is rude. I do not see a problem with it at all. GO with it.
I think that it really depends a few things. First of all a shouldn't be any different than a normal baseball cap. It isn't like a baseball cap can be work but a cowboy hat can't be worn indoors. The general rule of thumb I look at is the house I am entering. Where I live it is very normal and culturally ok to have a cowboy hat indoors or any other hat for that matter. So you need to look at the culture. Another rule of thumb is to look at the family. You can't rely on the culture alone. Some families have different opinions. If your going into a house that you know doesn't like hats in the house then take it off. If you have no idea if they care or not just ask. If you go by those rules you should generally be ok. As for a definitive yes or no answer as to is it ok....I would have to say Yes and No. It depends on the house your entering.
Just because it is a cowboy hat, it doesn't mean that it is exempted from not being taken off in the house. It also serves as a respect to the other people living in the house. When a cowboy speaker is speaking in, he took off his hat.
I guess it is not bad to wear cowboy hat indoors. My dad also always wears a cowboy hat indoor. My mom also doesn't minds about that, but I am not sure about cultures of other families. In my personal opinion we should let everyone to stay comfortable, if someone feels comfortable wearing cowboy hat while staying any where then we should let them. Now a days you can also find cowboy hats in supermarket and.
My dad always said hats off in the house, church, and at the table you eat at.
Let me tell you about this matter. I always take my hat off when I go to church and inside homes where I'm visiting, even my relatives if necessary. Let me tel you more, nothing's wrong and rude to be with Cowboy Hat all time on nowdays. Thank you.
I said no because it depends on where you are and what you're doing.
Somebody's home or office - hat off
Feed store, hardware store, most any store I shop at - hat stays on (no place to put my hat and I need hands to pick stuff up)
Restaurant with waitstaff - hat off going in; if there is no place to put it, hat goes back on
Fast food - hat stays on while I'm carrying drinks and food, hat off when I sit down if there is some place to put it
Covered arena, barn, auction - hat on
Movies and traditional church - hat off
I said no bc unless your in church or eating, i think its ok to keep your hat on. This is just from what ive heard from my dad and my pawpaw...
Philippians 4: 13
Forum Moderator - American Cowboy
If you're planning on stayng a while...take the hat off. If you're eating a meal...off. In a bar...where would you hang it? Simple manners from years ago have been lost. My son left his hat on during supper one day...and my dad "helped" him remove it with one swing of his arm. A home is just that...for polite company. A campfire is different. Remember where you are and act accordingly.
I find it rude for people to wear a hat indoors, with the exception of a bar. Otherwise, remove the head gear. (a habit I was taught as a child and enforced by my time in the military)
If you are at an indoor rodeo, I see nothing wrong with leaving your hat on. If you are in Church, Remove It.....
Inside Church, no matter it could be on Catholic Church, Cowboy Church, Lutheran or any church you go to, always take your hat off as supposed to be.
In any rodeo ciucuit, including indoor rodeo like National Finals Rodeo in Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nevada. Always wear a cowboy hat depending the excitement of each event, even Bull Riding being the most dangerous event. }
8 seconds to live or die. Thanks again.
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Daniel Fisher, Forbes Staff
I cover finance, the law, and how the two interact.
Among the private equity deals of this century, HCA stands among the very best. Bain Capital partnered with KKR and Merrill Lynch to buy the hospital chain for $33 billion in November 2006. Bain invested $1.2 billion for a 25% stake and recovered almost all its money with a trio of special dividends in 2010. The Boston firm pulled out another $457 million when HCA went public again in March 2011 and still owns shares worth almost $3 billion. Despite the financial crisis and periodic whiffs of scandal swirling around the for-profit hospital chain, HCA is worth 26% more today than it was seven years ago, and Bain investors have more than tripled their money.
If only they could all turn out like HCA. But they haven't. Not even close.
Actually, few of Bain's biggest deals since buying HCA have panned out so far, leaving it with a decidedly middling recent investment record far outstripped by its mythology.
Bain Capital has endured more dissection, debate and criticism this year than any firm in the half-century-old history of private equity, owing to its founder, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who launched the firm in 1984. Yet even after all this it remains among the least understood, due to its insular nature and distracting history. While both the White House and Romney himself focus on Bain's job-creation record, no one has gauged the firm using industry-standard metrics to see how well it has performed in its core mission: making money for its partners and investors.
See our list of the Dealmaker 50 top partners in private equity here.
An exclusive analysis of the firm's returns conducted by FORBES reveals that despite the hype surrounding Bain, investors in the firm's biggest funds, raised in 2006 and 2008, would have been better off in a simple stock index fund. And while Bain churned out serious returns for partners and investors alike during Romney's tenure, it's that reputation, rather than results, that has carried Bain for the past decade.
Stephen Pagliuca, a managing director of Bain Capital, defends the firm's recent record: "We are in the business of being long-term right."
Good thing, because it could take a while. Over the past three months FORBES dug into the financial performance of every company Bain has invested in for the past decade, as well as the returns of Bain funds that raised some $42 billion in capital and commitments since Romney stopped working there in 1999. We also talked to some of Bain's competitors and analysts, to understand how the firm does business. What we found:
–While funds raised through 2004 maintained the upper-quartile performance typical of Bain during the Romney years, returns for later funds — their biggest–have lagged as the company engineered multibillion-dollar buyouts of fragile consumer-dependent companies like Toys "R" Us, Burlington Coat Factory and Guitar Center at the peak of the 2005-08 private bubble. Those investments may yet recover, but they speak to a culture where reverent faith in decades-old techniques, rooted in consulting, have not kept pace with a new age of dealmaking.
–Bain exemplifies a worrisome trend for private equity as a whole. Megashops like Bain, with tens of billions to deploy and an insatiable need to buy, make profitable exits increasingly difficult. Mix in the meltdown and the tepid recovery, and you've got a toxic brew for investors, which include some of the nation's largest pension funds.
Clear Channel Communications epitomizes all three of these issues. Bain and buyout firm Thomas H. Lee Partners bought the nation's largest group of radio stations for $24 billion in July 2008, including $2.1 billion in equity, just in time to watch the advertising market collapse along with the U.S. economy. Loaded with $21 billion in debt and a $1.5 billion annual interest tab, Clear Channel barely earns enough to cover its interest payments and capital expenditures. And even giving it an Ebitda multiple akin to the far more profitable Disney, for example, the company is worth perhaps 70% of what Bain paid for it. "It's extremely, extremely levered–it was one of the last deals done during the bubble," says Karen Klapper, a debt analyst with CreditSights. Her appraisal of Bain is the ultimate backhanded compliment: "They're doing a good job managing their balance sheet and pushing out maturities so they don't go into bankruptcy."
Avoiding bankruptcy wasn't the goal when 37-year-old Romney established Bain Capital in 1984. With the encouragement of Bill Bain himself, Romney and two other Bain & Co. consultants set out to apply his mentor's philosophy to private equity, making companies more valuable by increasing efficiency and finding new markets. Until his departure, Romney reportedly held all of Bain Capital's stock and made a fortune by participating in the firm's deals.
"It was eye-opening, the techniques they were using to grow businesses and make business get better," says Pagliuca, whom Romney hired as a summer associate at Bain & Co. in 1981. "The rationale was, this consulting work that worked so well with companies could be used for investments, too."
Dude you gotta love those bought and paid for politciians. Wow.
So Bain without Romney did worse. Perhaps it got too big and missed the management and judgement of Mitt. Bain's loss can become our countries gain.
Barry, its not going to happen. Mitt and his magic underwear dont stand a chance. When Mitt loses he can go back to Bain and show us how many jobs he can create during Obama's second term. If he can show rock solid job creation without using tricks like loading a company with debt to pay dividends then I will vote for him in 2016.
Maybe you want him to use banking tricks to help America? I dont. I want my kids and grandkids to have something.
It's not just that Bain without Romney did worse (although there is that). Compared to other companies doing the same thing, Bain lost ground because other companies caught up.
Is there any suggestion that the plan that Romney has for the next four years, if elected, will be as different AND successful as his years in Bain? THAT is the real question that people should be asking–and that I feel Romney has not adequately answered. (If he gave the general vagueness to companies to become more profitable that he's giving the American people, then it's a miracle that he was as successful as he was.)
Yeah, re-elect Obama and your great grand kids are screwed.
Safari801, your hero GW Bush got us into two wars. I'm a vet. Are you? I know you're a coward that would never server. Instead you like to make baseless comments on message boards. While you are infront of your complete please tell me another President that managed to get us into two different wars.
Take your time buddy. ;-)
Obviously you don't mind a President who loads the country with debt, and says we're getting stronger. I'll take my chances with Mitt who has run a State well, a Bain Capital well, Staples well and Olympics well under huge pressure. He's well bred and knows how to balance a budget, which is something Obama has NEVER DONE, nor does he have any intention of doing. He just Ok'd the QE3 so your dollar is worth Toilet Paper, and more jobs will be shipped overseas, because companies can't afford to keep them here, due to devaluation of our dollar. QE3 was the Bailout of the big Banks once again, and under the watchful eye of Obama Administration.
He balanced the budget in the State of Mass. Obama has NEVER BALANCED A BUDGET….end of discussion.
I hope you are one of the top 1-2% if you are supporting Romney. He clearly has no idea of what is going on with anyone else in this country. How could he say publicly that 47% of the citizenry is on the take?
I am a firm believer that accusers are the bearers of the traits they believe they have identified in others.
As a proud 47%-er who has worked for every cent I've ever made (the vast majority have) I will support Obama in his bid for re-election. I am amazed we have done this well under the extreme circumstances Obama faced in 2008. Read the facts on the Great Depression and weep for those poor folks who waited for Hoover to toss anythng in the way of hope. It took Roosevelt to rebuild the economy. All my family suffered unbearable loss during those years.
When times are good, a free capital market is good…but they know how to F*** it up with "free reign" so completely that the subsequent bad times eradicate all that was accomplished. Laws (regulation) are needed to keep the greedy on the straight and narrow. It is a FACT, and Romney will help to recreate the havoc wreaked by Wall Street in the past decade. There is no longer mention of honesty, integrity, ethics in corporate America. Those are the American values I want revived. Or did they ever exist? And the dichotomous nature of this country is witness to its right wing insanity. I will plant myself firmly with the reality based middle-to-left folk any day.
It is not about money or power, it is about people. It is not about a quick cure, it is about sanity in the way we move forward. Each of us has a stake in the outcome. Everyone needs to do what they can to remedy this bad situation. A little sacrifice for our country by ALL of us, even those who have stashed millions or billions, is not, in my opinion, much to ask.
That seems to be somewhat of a paradox. You are concerned about your children and grandchildren, yet you seem to be in favor of voting for a man that is systematically destroying the foundations of the nation. And so our great nation goes… work hard, get an education, progress by doing it yourself… all going down the drain. Just let the government handle it…government will take care of me… I deserve it… Alas America!
It is undeniable that I have lost all confidence in Obama . Here's Why
He has said…
"Those jobs aren't coming back" referring to jobs that went overseas.(07-2009)
Later in the next month or so he is quoted as saying,
"We don't want those jobs." This was about Manufacturing jobs going overseas. He wanted
clean technology jobs. We HOPED that Obama was going to follow through on penalties to companies sending jobs overseas.
Well, my ex-factory was waiting to see what he would do.
Our factory WAS technology at its best that made Si wafers for your phone, computer, TV, car, etc… Our company waited until they knew Obama wasn't going to do anything like he said he would and they shipped our Clean Tech jobs overseas.
He lost every Vote in that factory for that "We don't want those jobs.." speech.
Mainly that we LOST HOPE.
He lost the Votes of our families and our friends all because we saw directly that he did not do what he said he would do during campaign time.
Like unemployment going down because there are less people on unemployment and statistically there must be less people looking for work.
What happened to all of those people to not be taken into account for unemployment.
I'm not just making this up; here is two articles to back this up…
Unemployment Rate Falls To 8.1 Percent As People Give Up On Looking For Work –Huffington Post
The real unemployment rate–NY Times
no, that is Mitt who will screw us!!!!
Well if you are a firm believer that the accuser are the bearers of the traits they believe they have identified in others. You just explained Obama 100%…He and his cronies have attacked Romney & Ryan in the worse way possible. But I believe you are right, cause every thing obama & his cronies accuse the repubs., of, when the truth comes out it is obama & gang doing exactly that…So believe it or not you just explained obama's agenda…
Roosevelt rebuilt the economy? Fantasy. WW II rebuilt the economy. All Roosevelt's policies did was keep the nation in a 12-year depression.
Social security was one of his mitigating acts, and deservedly so. WPA was the other, building roads & bridges nationwide, most of which are still in use.
After the war, factories switched from defense to civilian goods, and the economy has been growing ever since, in spite of numerous bubbles.
Hey under Mitt Ronmey Massachusetts … 1. Ranked 47th in job growth. 2. Suffered the second-largest labor force decline in the nation. 3. Lost 14 percent of its manufacturing jobs. 4. Experienced "below average" economic growth and was "often near the bottom". 5. Piled on more debt than any other state.
Romney TRASHED the Massachusetts economy. Unfit for pres for sure.
Anon I could not have said it any better Amen!!!!!
Barry, I think you missed the point. Bain's methodology was fundamentally flawed and unsustainable. You say "So Bain without Romney did worse." If you read your own sentence you will see that you're implying that Bain was already doing poorly, as the word "worse" is an amplifier of "bad". The point is that Romney & friends established a certain culture at Bain, one which they espoused then and now. Those are the guidelines by which Bain does business, and their business is not doing well.
Romney has said that after 1999, he did not manage Bain "day to day", but I don't think he has ever said that he had no management involvement. He still signed filings for a few years? I practically assume he had some say in at least the major Bain decisions while running the Winter Olympics, he can multi-task I hope!
I don't blame Romney or Bain for the housing bubble and subsequent meltdown (the country's, not Bain's). But Romney's (and Bain's) philosophy appear very eager to reduce regulation, taxes on investment income, etc. and allow "capitalism" to run free. To me that sounds like a return to the environment that fostered implosions of Enron, MCI, AIG, Lehman, Countrywide, Fannie and Freddy… It may be off topic, but I think what Anon was saying.
Capitalism is better than any other system, but it needs regulation. Otherwise, there is incentive for individuals to form investment firms that on paper, make $millions+ for several years, paying $millions to the managers. The firm makes riskier investments over time, doing well, then one year the firm loses more than it ever made, going bankrupt. Some management individuals are rewarded with $millions safely in their bank accounts from previous years, but in the long run, that investment firm subtracted from the economy. It will be interesting if Bain goes that route.
Continue to tell your kids and grandkids about Obama's failure in Benghazi when he refused to send help for our pleading American citizens there, and allowed them to be maimed, murdered, and dragged through the streets!
Be sure they add to their vocabulary the vulgarity used by one who should be a role model for our descendants!
These two incidents will be of more help to your children/grandchildren than being able to observe someone who has legitimate business acumen more than enough to get our economy going!
Please give our love to your children and grandchildren. Apparently you don't have any!
All of Romney's purported business acumen has not stopped him from exhibiting really bad judgement about politics and a seeming minimal grasp of the nature of the job he's running for. He and P. Ryan have no interest in any sort of integrity… giving cans of food to themselves and washing clean dishes are telling examples of this lack of honesty. Reversing almost all his previous positions to align with the new "tea-partied" GOP just to get elected does not make him look "consistent", his claims to the contrary notwithstanding.
"He's well bred" Are you f-ing kidding ME?
Here's the way I see it: Romney has had an excellent record at every job he has ever had: Bain, the Winter Olympics, Governor of Michigan. Each organization significantly improved financially during Romney's tenure, and he served as a turnaround specialist in each organization. A reasonable prediction if he were president, is that he will be successful, work well with others, and that financial indicators would show significant improvement, and the economy would grow at a healthy rate.
Contrast that with a reasonable prediction of the economy under president Obama. An economy where most financial indicators are worse now after 4 years under Obama than when he took over. It is not reasonable to predict success for him in a second term, that has not occurred for 4 years. What would be reasonable is to predict continued failure. Those are the choices.
Everyone in their jobs are evaluated as to their performance. It's been four years, way past the probationary period. The current president has not been successful. We need to let him go, and hire someone who has the skill set to do the job.
Who in their right mind would possibly believe you can compare the duties and performance of the Presidency of the United States with those of a corporate CEO?
It might make sense to compare them in terms of decision-making, strategic thinking, job knowledge, skill in managing a senior staff, leadership, ability to delegate, ethics, vision, and so on.
It might also make sense to think through how well the ability to make money in the private sector, or the ability to get elected in a place like Illinois reflects on a man's potential to be an effective President.
But the powers of the Presidency are so tightly constrained, and the political, economic, and global forces acting on him are so vast, that no President can be held accountable for their outcome while he happens to be in office. Instead, we judge him based on how well he prepared, what he did, how well it was suited to the situation facing him, the opposition he faced, and if anyone else making different decisions might have done better.
I like that number 47. It's the one that's going to sink Romney.


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