text:
Pinning Down Rules on Using Campaign Funds
CONGRESSIONAL watchdog groups are lobbying for stronger enforcement of laws that prohibit personal use of election campaign funds.
At the same time, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) is now setting new rules to define exactly when the spending of campaign money is personal rather than political.
But any move toward stricter enforcement faces tough opposition.
``It's one of those rare issues where the Republicans and the Democrats team up,'' says Meredith McGehee, senior lobbyist with Common Cause. Representatives of the two parties' congressional campaign committees, testifying before the FEC, have argued that tighter restrictions on the use of campaign funds could ``impinge on the appropriate discretion of candidates to determine which expenditures are campaign-related.''
Many members of Congress ``railed against'' the FEC's move to tighten its rules on campaign spending during recent appropriations hearings for the commission, said Elizabeth Hedlund, director of the FEC-Watch Project at the Center for Responsive Politics. Ms. McGehee asserts that current practice, particularly among House members, can define a wide range of spending as ``political'' and, therefore, legitimate. ``It's virtually carte blanche,'' she says.
Among the more extraordinary ``campaign'' expenses, as documented by the Los Angeles Times: tickets for the Super Bowl and other professional football games, evening gowns for candidates' wives, country club dues.
Dan Rostenkowski (D) of Illinois, the House Ways and Means Committee chairman, is reported to have spent $370,000 in campaign funds on legal fees for himself and his staff - related to a two-year federal investigation of his personal and official finances.
Campaign funds are sometimes used like ``expense accounts,'' says Charles Lewis, head of the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity, with politicians, for example, ``making speeches around the country loosely tied to their campaigns.''

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Ex-Foxes chairman is new League boss
The Football League has appointed Greg Clarke, the former chief executive of Cable and Wireless Communications, as its new chairman.Clarke, whose official start date has not yet been announced, will replace Lord Mawhinney who is set to step down after over seven years in charge. A Leicester City fan, Clarke has previously worked in football having briefly served as the club's chairman. The 52-year-old was ratified at the League's board meeting on Thursday. The telecoms industry veteran qui.... read more
Sponsored links
Related Leicester City News


text:
Charles Burns
Charles Burns Narrates a Section of His Comic Big Baby
From the 1988 documentary Comic Book Confidential.
Had a surreal moment the other day while reading the Charles Burns's collected Big Baby strips: I knew the dialogue, somehow, word for word—could actually hear it—but I couldn't remember from where. I thought maybe Burns had, I don't know, adapted it from an old movie or something. Anyway, a Google search later and I figured out that I knew it from Savvy Show Stoppers, an album by Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet. I owned the album, or, rather a taped version of the album, back in the early nineties—the song "Having an Average Weekend" was the theme for The Kids in the Hall—and the song—actually called "Big Baby"—was the last track—a CD bonus. It was actually written for the film, and that's Charles Burns doing the vocals.
Charles Burns's Sugar Skull Reviewed
Sugar Skull concludes the trilogy that Charles Burns began four years ago with X'ed Out (I reviewed it here) and its 2012 follow-up The Hive (I reviewed it here).
In X'ed Out, Burns introduces us to his protagonist Doug, a would-be art-punk poet whose Burroughsesque sound-collage performances are misunderstood by everyone but Sarah, a troubled artist whose photographs and installations reverberate with menacing violence. We first find Doug in the aftermath of an unnamed trauma involving Sarah and her tyrannical boyfriend—a trauma that Sugar Skull must and does answer to. The trauma transports Doug from his dead father's office, where he's been hiding and popping pills, into a fever-dreamscape reminiscent of William Burroughs's Interzone. In this world, Doug becomes Nitnit, his own features transmuted to the Tintin mask he wears when performing his cut-ups.
The Hive takes Doug/Nitnit even deeper into Interzone, into its subterranean caverns, gaping like tumorous wombs, while simultaneously moving the "real" Doug forward and backward in time, through his doomed relationship with Sarah and into the fallout of their split, where Doug short circuits.
Sugar Skull completes this circuit, offering readers the complete picture—and an exit out of Interzone—even as it dooms Doug/Nitnit to repeat the past. We find here the traumatic violence of love, death, begetting, and denial.
The trilogy's development evinces in Burns's rich cover art. X'ed Out shows us young, skinny Doug, his head bandaged, his haircut an echo of Tintin's cowlick. Wrapped in his dead father's purple robe and set against utter wreckage, young Doug regards a massive egg, itself a visual echo of a Tintin cover. The cover of The Hive shows us an older, heavier Doug, lost and confused in the abject uterine labyrinth of the Hive. In the lower-right corner—the same space the egg occupies on the cover of X'ed Out—lurks one of Interzone's mutable mutants. This figure repeats in the trilogy, an amorphous being who shifts from Nitnit's aide and familiar, to a dog stranded in a flood, to a piglet in a jar, to a massive breed-sow, to, perhaps, Doug's father—and then Doug himself.
The figure opposite an older, fatter Doug on the cover of Sugar Skull condenses these roles into the emblem of death: it is at once the skeleton of the mutant, but also the frame of Doug's dead father and the emblem of the symbolic infanticide at the core of the trilogy. And so we get the natural progression of life—from egg and embryo to a pink bundle of mobile cells to skeletal remains—set against an uncanny, chaotic backdrop.
Throughout the trilogy, Burns forces reader and Doug alike to navigate that chaos. The first two volumes in the series propelled the reader (and Doug, of course) through different times, different realities, sifting through the awful wreckage for clues, for a pattern, for an answer that might explain poor Doug's trauma. By the beginning of Sugar Skull, our hero is finally equipped with a map to guide him through the underworld:
"Why does this have to be so difficult?" our hero wonders. Because of repressed fear, anger, hurt—and failure. The real trauma, the secret trauma, of the trilogy is Doug's radical failure. This failure keeps him up at night, both in waking sweat, but also in his Interzone, the fantasy world where the repressed returns, where his alter-ego Nitnit can play boy detective. And yet, as we see in Sugar Skull, Nitnit, dream warrior, is ultimately unequipped to right the wrongs of the past. He can only replay them in a dark, surreal space. The past is never dead. It's not even past.
X'ed Out and The Hive point repeatedly to the specter of violence and infanticide, both through implication in the dialogue as well as intense imagery. Both novels ominously arrange events that could only lead to the head wound that our hero sustains before the trilogy begins—a head wound that may or may not be a primary cause of Doug's excursions into irreality.
The infanticidal images that haunt the first two books pointed to a deeper mystery though, one beyond the physical violence Doug suffered. Those books hinted at abortion or miscarriage. But there are other ways to lose children.
Have I over shared the plot? Or am I hinting too vaguely? Reviewing my lines, it seems like I've said nothing at all, or perhaps dwelled on the first two books too much.
To simplify: Sugar Skull is sad and beautiful and strange and deeply human—this is not the tale of a doppelgänger's adventures in wonderland, but rather the story of youth's cowardice, of how we fail ourselves and others, how the versions of ourselves that we try to pin down—like Doug, who takes endless selfies with a Polaroid—are not nearly as stable as we might like them to be. Sugar Skull also explores how we cover over those instabilities and failures—I didn't do those things; This isn't happening to me.
The final moments of Sugar Skull enact a shock to stability, to sense of self. Burns fulfills a narrative promise to his readers, and to Doug—one that, if I'm honest, was not what I had predicted at all—and then sends Doug's altered-ego Nitnit into the desert wilds. The last few pages of Sugar Skull seem to borrow as much from McCarthy's Blood Meridian as they do from Hergés Tintin or William Burroughs.
And yet Doug passes through the wasteland to a refuge of sorts, the dream-double of two other settings that figure prominently in the trilogy, condensed into a place that is and is not. The setting mirrors Doug's doomed double-consciousness, a consciousness condemned to repeat the same cycle, to respond again and again to the same terrifying call to nightmare-adventure.
I've neglected to comment on Burns's wonderful art, mostly because I think it speaks for itself. His heavy inks and rich colors help unify the shift in styles that mark Doug's movement between worlds. The trilogy would be worth the admission price alone just for the art, but Burns offers so much more with his storytelling. What's perhaps most impressive is how thematically precise Burns's images are—how panels, angles, shots, poses, gestures, and expressions repeat with difference from volume to volume. Burns uses these repeated images to subtly evoke his theme of cycles, doubles, and reiterations. In rereading we see again, recognize again—but from a different perspective.
And if Burns strands Doug/Nitnit in a loop of repetition, he also extends, perhaps, that same chance to his hero—to see again, but from a different perspective. If Sugar Skull forecloses the possibility of escape from the past, it doesn't cut off a generative futurity. And as our protagonist awakes—again—to follow Inky into the strange wreckage of the past, many readers will feel prompted to follow the pair—again, and then again.
Sugar Skull is available now in hardback from Pantheon.
I was filling in the holes | Charles Burns discusses Tintin's influence
Charles Burns talked to The New Yorker about the influence Herge's Tintin had on his X'ed Out trilogy:
The format of the three hardcovers is based on Tintin in its Franco-Belgian comics album format… Luckily, I had those books growing up. When I was five years old—I couldn't even read yet—my Dad, who went to bookstores and libraries all the time, brought back one of those early Tintin books for me. It felt like the first book that was just my own…
Eventually, when they started being imported to the U.S., I found the British translations, but it took a long time. So as a kid looking at the books, I was filling in the holes, the missing pieces—kind of making up my own stories, I guess—looking at the back cover and seeing images that didn't appear in the stories I knew. Now, the book I made—all three books—feels complete to me. I had a pretty firm idea of what the story was going to be when I started, but many things changed while I was working. In the end, all the pieces fit together the way I wanted, or as close as I could get. I feel like I've said everything I need to say.
I should have a review of Sugar Skull up next week (surprise: it's good!—but I loved X'ed Out and The Hive, so).
Portrait of Charles Burns in the Style of Nitnit
Reading The Secret of the Hive — Charles Burns
Charles Burns's Sugar Skull (Book Acquired, 6.06.2014)
Got a bound black and white proof of Sugar Skull, the final book in Charles Burns's Tintin-punk-rock-Interzone trilogy. Out from the good people of Pantheon this September.
Back cover image:
So I went back and reread X'ed Out and The Hive and then yeah I read Sugar Skull. I'm going to wait to read a finished color copy to do a full review but, good great weird stuff.
A tender moment:
Sugar Skull Cover (Charles Burns)
The final book in Charles Burns's Tintin-punk-rock-Interzone trilogy will be published by Pantheon this September. Time to revisit X'ed Out and The Hive.
Sad Teenagers Who Won't Stay Dead (Charles Burns)
Little Red Riding Hood — Charles Burns
Batman — Charles Burns
Josh Melrod Talks to Biblioklept About His Documentary, Cartoon College
When I first read the press materials for Josh Melrod and Tara Wray's documentary Cartoon College, I'll admit that I was mostly interested in the prospect of seeing comix legends like Art Spiegelman, Charles Burns, Lynda Barry, Chris Ware, Scott McCloud, and Stephen Bissette discuss their craft. What Melrod and Wray deliver though is much more—an intimate and often very moving look at the lives of the young artists who attend the prestigious Center for Cartoon Studies. This is a film about passion, drive, commitment, and what it means to be an outsider.
In my review, I wrote: "Cartoon College offers an intriguing story about real people trying to do something that they love, and I enjoyed that. This is a film about the impetus, motivation, and hard, hard work that goes into the creative process. Great stuff."
Josh was kind enough to talk to me about making the film over a series of emails.
See more at the film's official website. Cartoon College is now available on iTunes.
Biblioklept: How did you begin the documentary Cartoon College? How did the project come about?
Josh Melrod: In 2006 my wife, then my girlfriend, Tara Wray, had just finished her first movie, Manhattan, Kansas, and was looking for her next project. She's a huge fan of Chris Ware and she read an article about how he'd been a visiting lecturer at CCS, which had just opened a year earlier, and that was enough to get her thinking about a cartoon school documentary. She asked me if I'd consider moving to Vermont for a year–we were living in New York, and had been for a while–and I said ok. Then we had to convince James Sturm and Michelle Ollie, who founded the school, to let us film, which took several months of emails and a couple of face-to-face meetings and a trip or two to White River Junction. Once they gave us the green light we basically packed up and moved to Vermont. That was in August of 2007, and we've been here ever since.
Biblioklept: So you guys were shooting for like, three years? When you started did you have an idea of the kind of story you wanted to tell in Cartoon College?
JM: Our original conceit for the movie was a year in the life of a cartoon school. It was supposed to be more about the institution and how it was helping to revitalize White River Junction, which had been a town in decline for about a century. So we shot for the 2007-2008 academic year and then started working with an editor in New York that summer. It took about six months to get a rough cut put together, but when all was said and done we weren't happy with what we had. Part of it was that the story of the school's impact on the town didn't quite come together–it was an arc that was unfolding too slowly to really be seen during the year we'd been filming. But we also realized that what really interested us, much more than the school itself, was documenting the creative lives of the students and witnessing these aspiring artists at a very pivotal time in their careers. We basically scrapped the rough cut, which was a pretty difficult decision, and went back to film for what turned out to be another year-and-a-half.
Biblioklept: Some of the students, like Blair Sterett and Jen Vaughn, for example, are on screen a lot more than others. Was this because they were more open to the cameras? Were there students who were reticent to talk to you?
JM: Jen is kind of a natural in front of the camera, so in a sense she was more open than some of the others. But there were only a very small handful of people during the entire production who told us they really didn't want to be filmed. A lot of the cartoonists we spoke with are fairly introverted, and quite a few, both the younger and the more experienced artists, discussed how they express themselves best through their comics, but it doesn't take too long for most people to begin to forget the camera is there.
Biblioklept: I like that the film is really about the career of cartooning, and that the film focuses on the arcs of these aspiring cartoonists. You've got all these great interviews with people like Chris Ware and Art Spiegelman and Charles Burns, but their comments ultimately work to illuminate or enrich, through their perspectives, what the students are going through. It seems like there's a lot of restraint and wise editing on your end here. Can you talk about how you put the film together? I'm curious how intuitive the process of forming the narrative was . . .
JM: By the time we finished shooting we had something like 150 hours of footage. I don't remember how it all broke down, but maybe forty percent was interviews. There was a lot to go through. But it was pretty clear what the character arcs were for Blair and Al and Jen. Actually, it's kind of hard for me to remember the process in any great detail. I was just starting to work on the rough cut when Tara and I had our twins, so for the first six months of the edit I was working from around ten at night until six a.m., stopping every couple of hours to help with feedings and changing diapers, and getting a few hours of sleep here and there during the day. It's all very blurry, and sort of miraculous that I finished the rough cut at all. My method of working was to cut the footage down from 150 hours to just 10, which is a manageable amount of material, and from there put together an assembly that had the basic structure of a movie, and then loosely refine that into a two-hour rough cut. Then I went to New York to work with another editor, Chris Branca, who came in with a ton of great ideas and further refined the story. As for the interviews serving to illuminate what the students were going through, that was pretty organic. The challenges that a person faces when they decide to become an artist are fairly universal–the self-doubt, managing your time, coming to terms with your own limitations, figuring how to make a living, etc.–so the experiences shared by the established artists were in-line with what we documented from the students.
Biblioklept: You brought up that Tara's interest in Ware's work kind of sparked the genesis of the documentary. Were you a fan of comics too? How much did you know about the cartooning world going into the filming process?
JM: As a kid I loved Calvin and Hobbes and Bloom County/Outland and The Far Side, but those all ended when I was in high school and I pretty much stopped reading comics at that point. Then, after Tara and I moved in together, I'd pick up some of the books she'd leave around the apartment–like Jimmy Corrigan and Hate, I remember in particular–but I knew virtually nothing about the cartooning world when we started the movie.
Biblioklept: Have you become a fan since then?
JM: I love comics, but I'm a very casual fan. I still gravitate towards non-graphic novels, and I'm not quite sure why that is. Comics certainly demand more attention from the reader, if the reader we're talking about is me–the interplay between the pictures and the text require a level of focus that isn't needed when you're just reading words, although I'm not sure I ever noticed that when I was a kid–and so maybe it's that I don't always have the mental energy to pick up a heavy graphic novel. I am really interested in reading comics from the people in the movie–CCS graduates are doing just incredible work and a lot of the former students we followed are starting to put out books now. Katherine Roy just illustrated a book and has a couple of others coming out soon; Jen Vaughn released a book last week; Josh Rosen is going to start serializing the project he was working on while we were filming; Joe Lambert, who we interviewed but didn't appear in the movie, although he designed the poster, made a book about Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller that's just incredible.
Biblioklept: What kind of movie would you like to do next?
JM: I'm working on a short, a fiction movie, with a couple of guys who used to edit a literary magazine with me. It was called the Land-Grant College Review and we published for five or six years starting in about 2002. We wanted to work on something new, and I'm really interested in doing a narrative, and they'd been thinking of doing a screenplay, so that's what we decided to do. We're still writing, but we have some good advisers on board and the plan is to shoot next summer. And I'm in the development phase on a pair of new docs. They're both about personalities, as opposed to being issue-based, which is a common denominator. One follows a semi-famous performer and the other involves a family on its summer vacation. It's still pretty early to talk confidently about any of this stuff. I just have to keep plugging away and see what happens, but these are the projects I'd like to do next.
Biblioklept: The docs sound intriguing. I spent some time in the Land-Grant College Review archive just now—what a great collection of authors. Your little microfiction there is a good creepy laugh. What are you reading now?
JM: Thanks! We had a short but good run, and got to publish a lot of great writers. One of my most prized possessions is a postcard that David Foster Wallace sent me–in response to a letter I'd written asking him to send us a story–saying that he's "just working on stuff that isn't suitable for publication any place."
As for what I'm reading, I just started [Erik Larson's] The Devil In The White City, which I'd been hesitant to open for a few years since I do a lot of reading before bed and I thought it would mess with my sleep. So far so good.
Biblioklept: Have you ever stolen a book?
JM: No, never stolen a book, but I have gone a long time without paying for a book. A lot of the books on my shelf I picked out of piles left on the curb or at the recycling center near where we live now. Sometimes I like to let the universe decide what I read depending on what I find in front of me, which is how I got to read The Universe And Dr. Einstein, a lay readers guide to general relativity that I still managed not to understand.
Ecology — Charles Burns
William Burroughs Portrait — Charles Burns
I Try to Review Ben Marcus's Novel The Flame Alphabet
1. I don't know.
I spent most of this day—Sunday that is—swamping out my garden shed, recently rat-infested. Big wood rats, or river rats as we sometimes call them here, some of us.
This meant sterilizing the whole deal, spraying a bleach solution, wearing appropriate eye and nose and mouth protection, because getting older and having kids I now seem to care about my oh-so-important sensory organs more than I did in my twenties. This meant removing rat feces and a few dead rats. Just fucking gross, really.
I don't know.
2. Point 1 has almost nothing to do with Ben Marcus's novel The Flame Alphabet. It's just that I told myself I'd finally write about it here, after finishing it a few weeks ago and all. The farther out it gets, the harder it is to write about.
3. But really, there is some kind of corollary between my rat business and The Flame Alphabet: Both were repellent experiences. Now, to be fair, the rat purging dealie was wholly repellent and in no way intriguing, whereas Marcus's book was simultaneously attractive and repellent. The novel's ugliness hit me hard sometimes, and the final chapters were a sludgy slog.
4. Maybe you're just like, Hey, c'mon, cut it out with the rats, nobody came here for that, get with the program, tell us the plot:
So, language becomes toxic. First in kids, who hold an immunity of some kind, but the toxicity spreads to all elements of language and just kills people and makes them sick &c. In this mix our (reliably unreliable) narrator Sam kinda sorta tries to protect/save/help his family, wife Claire and daughter Esther. He undertakes home experiments, his "smallwork," and keeps up the old time religion of the forest Jews (you'll have to read the book for clues to this mysticism; I am too exhausted from rat-swamping to further explicate).
Society falls apart, sort of. (This is one of the major maybe-problems with The Flame Alphabet: There's this hideous apocalypse underway but there also seems to be authority somewhere, external to the narrative, a government or scientific cadre or just really a they who keep the system moving, bread baking, electricity crackling &c).
There's our narrator's nemesis LeBov (the name undoubtedly borrowed from William Labov, who you learned about in your linguistics classes, I'm sure).
Midway through the novel our feckless hero starts new smallwork for Labov. LeBov is my favorite character—whenever he shows up the novel is alchemically invigorated.
Other stuff happens.
5. Really though, The Flame Alphabet is an apocalypse novel, filled with mounds of salt and despair and isolation and probably madness, rarely energized by action, but hardly ponderous.
6. (Here's a paltry criticism for me to critically make: I wish The Flame Alphabet was shorter. Like significantly shorter. Maybe a novella. Maybe a long short story).
7. Finishing the novel, I sketched out a list, which hey why not just cut and paste here:
- Joseph Cornell's boxes.
- Much of J.G. Ballard, especially the stuff in the '70s and '80s.
- The Residents.
- The films of the Brothers Quay.
- Charles Burns's stuff.
- Wm. Burroughs, or the idea of Wm. Burroughs.
- Joseph Beuys and his goddamn fat and felt.
This is the stuff that The Flame Alphabet reminded me of—this and David Cronenberg's films, which Jesus, how did they not make the list?
8. I mean, really, I think Ben Marcus has given us a sort of lost Cronenberg film here. Maybe what the book most reminded me of, language plot aside, was Cronenberg's underrated icky 1999 effort eXistenZ, a film that seems to take place in several worlds at once (including the imaginations of the protagonist and the viewer).
9. Actually, comparing Marcus's novel to a film is stupid.
Really, I think what The Flame Alphabet most resembles—its best parts, I mean—are directions to some kind of far-out art installation.
Which may be a way of saying The Flame Alphabet is best—or really, I like The Flame Alphabet best—when it recalls Ben Marcus's older, more "experimental" stuff.
10. To wit:
The practice of language smoking originates in Bolivia but quickly travels north. In Mexico City it is perfected. Words and sentences tested by a delegate in a smoke-filled tube, at the end of which is stationed a sacrificial listener called, for unknown reasons, the bell.
The bell's brain, when he dies, is pulled and separated into loaves. The loaves are tagged and named. Only drawings survive.
11. Or maybe you want some textual evidence of TFA's Cronenbergian contours:
Ruptured mattresses littered the floor, sleeping bags with the bottoms kicked through. A brittle pillow bore the facial welt of the last patient who slept here. A man's work shirt had been chewed, swallowed, spit up in a glaze of bile.
Mesh baggies of hair hung from the ceiling, repelling flies. Possibly the hair attracted them instead.
12. Or a Joseph Beuys moment. Our narrator in his language lab:
To test this I created white text on white paper, gray on gray, froze water into text-like shapes and allowed it to melt on select surfaces—slate, wood, felt—which it scarred so gently, you'd need a magnifying glass to spot the writing.
13. And a passage that showcases our narrator's smallwork as an act of love (of sorts):
On Esther's final birthday in our house I went to the kitchen to get to work on the cake. There wasn't much food left in the cupboard, just some pancake mix and a blend of baking powders I'd dumped into a bag. From the meaty, mineral smell I figured this would give a lift to the cake, at least if I got the batter down to room temperature and shocked it into a hot oven so it might have some spring.
For liquids I had an egg and some buttermilk, the custardy sludge from the bottom of the carton.
I could boil the buttermilk to kill off bacteria, then flash freeze it before dumping it into the batter. The egg, too, would need flame, because it was likely spoiled by now.
I broke it into a pan, stifled a gag, then whisked it over a simmer until it frothed up, sputtered, and grew clear again. Mostly it did not congeal. The hardened parts were easy to flick out. When the pan cooled I slid it into the freezer, went to work on sifting the powders.
For sugar I reduced the last of the orange juice until it thickened into a syrup, then whipped in a thread of honey. This would have to do, because I needed the last of the sugar for frosting. I liked to feather it on lightly, then comb it up while hardening it with the medical cold blower, as if the cake had a fright wig.
The frosting I colored silver with a bead of food-grade aluminum.
14. These are all great fragments. Let's keep going:
15. Desire—need—predicates language:
Presumably if you wanted nothing, you'd have no occasion to speak.
16. And Beckett:
"Failures have their place in our work," he admitted, after hearing me out. "I've had my flirtations with failure. There is a small allure there. I commend you for seeking out failure so aggressively. But this idea people have of failing on purpose, failing better? Look at who says that. Just look at them. Look at them very carefully."
17. Failure: Failure to imagine (better):
The linguist held forth, smugly dismissing an idea that had recently come into its own. It interested me that the linguist's inability to imagine something constituted a sound rejection of its possibility.
18. And:
We kept believing it couldn't get any worse, as if our imaginations held sway in the natural world. We should have known that whatever we couldn't imagine was exactly what was coming next.
19. I think I've shared a nice slice of Marcus's prose. Dude can sling it. Seriously. I think he's a great writer. I just wish more was stripped away from The Flame Alphabet. Feels overtly novelly at times—I mean, yes, it's a novel, but this seems to be its biggest weakness: Marcus's concessions to the form.
20. ( Let me parenthetically insert here what might be my biggest problem with The Flame Alphabet: I felt the ghost of Sam Lipsyte working under its contours. And I love Lipsyte's stuff, seriously—but I often felt like Marcus was copping Lipsyte's syntax, rhythms etc. as a means to a more, I dunno, normal narrative.
And while I'm here, in these parentheses, maybe I should direct you to a good and proper and real review. David Winters does a marvelous job at The Millions. And he brings up the Lipsyte thing that I just brought up, but he does a better job parsing the two styles than I.
Oh, and there's also this chapter where Marcus totally imitates/pays homage to David Markson).
21. The biggest tussle I had with TFA though is undoubtedly my agon (look how I make myself protagonist!) with its confounding reading rules.
The novel's overtly parricidal/infantical scope, its estranging metaphors of language and extinctions, its remote anxieties of parenting—all of these pop up like red flags.
I wanted to—no, I set out to–-deny the book as an allegory. I sought to resist metaphor, symbolism, analogy. But it's hard, you know?
22. "Mythology is the lowest temptation," our narrator tells us at one point.
And then Marcus wedges fairy tales and fables into the mixology.
23. And then our narrator:
I grew so alert to its obvious meanings that they sickened me, leading me to secondary, ironic intentions, disguises of rhetoric I would not normally notice. But soon these, too, felt fraudulent and then I returned to the literal meanings, which had gained more force now that I'd spurned them. That, however, did not last, and by the end the words had shucked their meaning entirely and evolved into a language of groaning, beyond interpretation. Or susceptible to the most obvious interpretation of all.
Language! Language! The problem of language!
24. And hence, what I take to be the book's thesis, a two-sentence manifesto:
Explanations of any kind, in fact, were simply extinct.
Among the many rhetorical modes that had perished.
25. Does The Flame Alphabet enact its own holocaust, its own perishing; does it self-immolate? I don't think so—although maybe that's not what it sets out to do, maybe that's just what I think it should do. I see a stronger book writhing there under the language, eager to consume some of the unnecessary pages, paragraphs, sentences, words. A book that would consume itself. (This is a silly metaphysical conceit; please move on).
26. So maybe I've knocked on the book a bit, rated it low even, you may perceive, dear reader: Let me be clear then: The Flame Alphabet is the sort of burning ugly vibrant affecting blazing grueling confounding bizarre novels that we need more of. It's stronger than most of the contemporary stuff out there, definitely the stuff coming from the major houses. And if I seem to pick at it, it's only because I see in it concessions to a so-called reading public; I wished to see Marcus pull publishing and readers closer to him.
I won't forget cleaning the dead rats from the shed anytime soon; neither will I forget reading The Flame Alphabet.
Iggy Pop Portrait — Charles Burns
Tintin — Charles Burns
A Riff on What I Read (And Didn't Read) in 2012
I didn't really read that many new books—by which I mean books published in 2012—this year.
The highlight of the new books I did read was Chris Ware's Building Stories, the moving story of the lives of several people (and a bee!) who live in the titular building (and other places. And other buildings. Look, it's difficult to describe). Building Stories is a strange loop, a collection of 14+ elements (the big box it comes in is part of the puzzle) that allows the reader to reconstruct the narratives in different layers.
I also really dug the second installment of Charles Burns's trilogy, The Hive; Burns and Ware are two of the most talented American writers working right now, suggesting that some of the most exciting stuff happening in American literature is happening in comic books.
Speaking of second installments in ongoing trilogies, I also listened to Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies, which I liked, and read Lars Iyer's Dogma and liked it as well—sort of like Beavis & Butthead Do America by way of Samuel Beckett.
I read Dogma at the beach the same week I read Michel Houellebecq's The Map & The Territory, an uneven but engaging novel about art; the novel eventuually shifts into a strange murder procedural before exploring a fascinating vision of what a post-consumer future might look like. I dig Houellebecq and look forward to whatever he'll spring on us next.
Another strange book I liked very much was Phi by Giulio Tononi, an exploration of consciousness written as a kind of Dante's Inferno of the brain. A beautiful and perhaps overlooked book of 2012.
Indie presses in general tend to get overlooked—not in the sense that their books don't have a community of readers, but in that their books don't always reach the wider audience they deserve. I liked new books this year by Matt Bell (Cataclysm Baby), Matt Mullins (Three Ways of the Saw), and Jared Yates Sexton (An End to All Things). These books are all very different in style and content, but all marked by precise, unpretentious writing. Good stuff.
Like I said though, I didn't read that many books published in 2012—even when I intended to. Like George Szirtes's English translation of László Krasznahorkai's novel Satantango, for instance. I was right in the middle of something when I got my review copy, and by the time I started it the hype surrounding it was almost unbearable—the sort of palate-clouding noise (to mix and misuse metaphors) that deafens a fair reading. (To be clear: I blame myself. I could easily refrain from Twitter and quit following lit news online). By the time Hari Kunzru documented the hype in a mean-spirited (but hilarious) article forThe Guardian, I knew I'd have to set Satantango aside for a bit. It's worth noting here that Hari Kunzru's own novel Gods without Men had been lingering in my to read stack for some time at that point, but his Satantango article managed to get it shelved. Still, I'm interested in reading it—maybe sometime late next year.
There were plenty of top listed writers who put out books this year that I probably would've been excited to read six or seven years ago or at least feel obligated to read and write about two or three years ago. But by 2012 I just don't care anymore. At the risk of sounding overly dismissive (not my intention), I just can't make time for another middling Michael Chabon novel, or another bloated tome from Zadie Smith, or another empty exercise in style from Junot Diaz, or another whatever from Dave Eggers.
Most of the great new stuff I read in 2012 was really just playing catch up to 2011—I loved Teju Cole's Open City, found Nicholson Baker's House of Holes to be an amusing diversion, and declared Denis Johnson's Train Dreams a perfect novella. I also read Adam Johnson's The Orphan Master's Son, and used it, along with Jeffrey Eugenides's The Marriage Plot as a kind of springboard to discuss lit criticism (which everyone in my particular echo chamber wanted to spar about this year) and what I want from books these days.
Two books I pretty much hated: Joshua Cody's clever but empty memoir [sic] and Alain de Botton's facile self-help book Religion for Atheists.
On the whole though, most of what I read in 2012 was fantastic and most of what I read in 2012 was published before 2012.
The major highlight of the year was finally reading William Gaddis's novels The Recognitions and J R. I also read Gaddis's posthumous novella AgapēAgape, an erudite rant that purposefully echoes the work of Thomas Bernhard, another cult writer I finally got to in 2012. His novels Correction and The Loser challenged me, made me laugh, and occasionally disturbed me.
And while I'm on Bernhard, perhaps I should squeeze in the collection I read by one of his predecessors, Robert Walser, and the poetry collection (After Nature) I read by one of his followers, W.G. Sebald. Both were excellent. And while I'm squeezing stuff in—or perhaps showing how writers lead me to read other writers—I'll admit that I hadn't read Thomas Browne's Urn Burial (referenced heavily in Sebald's The Rings of Saturn) until this year.
Another book that I finally got to this year that blew me away was John Williams's lucid and sad novel Stoner. Reading Stoner, produced one of those can't-believe-I-haven't-read-it-before moments, which I experienced again even more intensely with Flann O'Brien's The Third Policeman, a surreal comic masterpiece which may be the best book I read in 2012. I also finally read—and was blown away by—Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment (why had I not read it yet? Maybe I read it before. Not sure. In any case, if I did read it before it's clear to me that I didn't really read it). I took another shot at Marcel Proust but it didn't take. Again.
Clarice Lispector received some much-deserved attention from the English-speaking world this year when New Directions released four new translations of her work. I found her novella The Hour of the Star sad, funny, and captivating. Also on the novellas-by-South-Americans: I'm working my ways through Alvaro Mutis's Maqroll novellas and they are fantastic.
I also finally got to David Markson's so-called "note card novels," devouring them in a quick stretch. I reviewed the last one, The Last Novel.Markson's novels are often called "experimental," a term I kind of hate, but perhaps serves as easy tag for many of the novels I enjoyed best this year, including Ben Marcus's The Age of Wire and String and Barry Hannah's hilarious tragedy Hey Jack!
Hey, did you know David Foster Wallace wrote an essay on David Markson? The previous sentence is an extremely weak attempt to transition to Both Flesh and Not, a spotty collection from the late great writer; it showcases some brilliant moments along with undercooked material and a few throwaways probably better left uncollected. I fretted about the book on Election Night.
The posthumous book mill also kept pumping out stuff from Roberto Bolaño, including an unfinished novel called The Woes of the True Policeman that seems like a practice sketch for 2666 (I haven't read Woes and don't feel particularly compelled to). I did read and enjoy The Secret of Evil, a book that might not be exactly essential but nevertheless contains some pieces that further expand (and darken and complicate) the Bolañoverse. Going back to that Bolañoverse was a highlight of the year for me—rereading 2666proved to be tremendously rewarding, yielding all kinds of new grotesque insights. I also reread The Savage Detectives, and while it's hardly my favorite by RB, I got more out of it this time.
I also revisited The Hobbit this year and somehow decided it's a picaresque novel. Definitely a picaresque: Blood Meridian, which I reread as well. In fact, I've reread it at least once a year since the first time I read it, and it gets funnier and richer and more devastating with each turn. I also reread Herman Melville's "Bartleby" and tried to make sense out of it. I will reread Moby-Dick next year, although it's not "Bartleby" that sparked the desire—chalk it up to Charles Olson's amazing study Call Me Ishmael.
Olson's study reminds me to bring up some of the nonfiction I enjoyed this year: Stephen Bronner's Modernism at the Barricades, Robert Hughes's Goya biography, the parts of William T. Vollmann's Imperial that I read, Patti Smith's memoir Just Kids,and big chunks of William Gass's collection Finding a Form.
Perhaps the most significant change in my reading habits this year was embracing an e-reader. I got a Kindle Fire for Christmas last year and wound up reading from it—a lot. About half the books I read this year I read on the Kindle. I also read lots of comics on it with my daughter, including all of Jeff Smith's Bone, much of Tintin, and all of Carl Barks's Donald Duck stuff. (I also read several hard to find volumes from Moebius via the Kindle).
And while I love my Kindle and it's become my go-to for night reading (it's lightweight and self-illuminating), I can't see it replacing physical books. To return to where I started: Chris Ware's Building Stories, an innovative, sprawling delight simply would not be reproducible in electronic form. Ware's book (if it is a book (which it is)) reminds us that the aesthetics of reading—of the actual physical process of reading—can be tremendously rewarding as a tactile, messy, sprawling experience.
Perhaps because I've freed myself from the anxiety of trying to write on this blog about everything that I read, and perhaps because I've freed myself from trying to write traditional reviews on this blog, and perhaps because I've freed myself from trying to cover contemporary literary fiction on this blog—perhaps because of all of this, I've enjoyed reading more this year than I can remember ever having enjoyed it before.
Charles Burns Enriches His Wonderfully Weird Trilogy with The Hive
In X'ed Out, Charles Burns created a rich and strangely layered world focusing on Doug, a confused and injured young man. In his parents' suburban basement, Doug parcels out the last of his late father's painkillers, slipping from haunted memories of his relationship with Sarah into fevered nightmares of abject horror and then into a wholly other world, a realm that recalls William Burroughs's Interzone. In this alien world, Doug takes on the features of Nitnit (an inversion of Tintin), the alter-ego he adopts when performing spoken word cut-ups as the opening act for local punk rock bands. What made X'ed Out so compelling (apart from Burns's thick, precise illustration, of course), was the sense that this Interzone was a reality equal to Doug's own "real world" — that it was somehow more real than Doug's dreams.
The Hive (part two of the proposed trilogy) deepens the richness and complexity of the world Burns has imagined. The title refers to a location in Interzone. Doug (or Nitnit) has found employment in The Hive as a kind of mail clerk or janitor. His primary role though is secret librarian, catering to the reading needs of the breeders of The Hive. One breeder seems to be a version of Doug's ex-girlfriend; the other is a double of Sarah, who asks Doug/Nitnit to bring her romance comics—which he does—only he skips a few issues. These missing issues stand in for the information Doug (and Burns) withholds from the reader, the missing fragments that have been x'ed out.
Burns uses romance comics as a framing or organizing device, a motif linking the disparate worlds of his narrative. In the "real world" — which is to say the world of Doug's memory — we learn that he buys a stack of old romance comics for Sarah on their first date.
Throughout the narrative, Burns plays his characters against the extreme, often hysterical dramas of 1950s and '60s romance comics; his strong lines and heavy inks readily recall the early works of Simon and Kirby, but more precise and careful—something closer to Roy Lichtenstein, only more sincere, more emotional.
In The Hive, we learn more about Doug's troubled relationship with Sarah, who has problems out the proverbial yingyang (not the least of which is a violent psychopathic ex-boyfriend).
Burns weaves the story of Sarah and Doug's relationship into the fallout of Doug's father's death—a death Doug was completely shuttered to, we realize. Doug's drug-dreams dramatize the missing pieces of these narratives, and the Interzone set-pieces propel the mystery aspects of the narrative forward, as Doug's alter-ego plumbs the detritus of his psychic fallout. Through the metatextual motif of reading-comic-books-as-detective-works, Burns explores themes of trauma, abjection, and distance. Images of pigs and cats, freaks and punks, portals and holes litter The Hive.
Burns has always been a perfectionist of dark lines and strange visions, and his last full graphic novel Black Hole was a triumph of atmosphere and mood. With the first two entries of his trilogy, however, Burns has showed a significant maturation in storytelling, characterization, and dialogue. I often thought parts of Black Hole seemed forced or rushed (no doubt because Burns faced daunting production troubles during the decade he worked on the novel—including his original publisher Kitchen Sink folding). With X'ed Out and now The Hive we can see a more patient artist, working out an emotionally complex and compelling story in rich, symbolic layers.
I reread X'ed Out and then read The Hive in one greedy sitting; then I went through The Hive again, more slowly, more attendant to its details and nuances. We had to wait two years between X'ed Out and The Hive—and it was worth the two year wait. So if we must wait another two years—or more—for the final entry, Sugar Skull, so be it.


text:
An addition to the repertoire
Why yes, I do so need to make this. And serve it with roasted marrow bones, yes. Then all I'll need is someone who might eat it with me... *casts about for volunteers*
Some changes have been made to LiveJournal, and we hope you enjoy them! As we continue to improve the site on a daily basis to make your experience here better and faster, we would greatly appreciate your feedback about these changes. Please let us know what we can do for you!
See a bug? Let us know! Here you can also share your thoughts and ideas about updates to LiveJournal
Your request has been filed. You can track the progress of your request at:
If you have any other questions or comments, you can add them to that request at any time.


text:
World number one Lee Chong Wei regained the Yonex All England Open Championship title by avenging last year's final loss to Chen Long.
The Malaysian built on a strong start to overcome the Chinese world number two 21-13 21-18 and claim the Birmingham title for the third time.
China's Wang Shixian lifted the women's crown for the second time by defeating 2012 winner Li Xuerui 21-19 21-18.


text:
quote:As long as he financially supports his children, who the frick cares how many women he has kids with.
quote:I love when people say this
quote:Yeah, and you're perfect?
quote:So so mad.
quote:Does she collect Welker's balls immediately after the game or does he get to hold onto them for a couple of hours?
quote:Hes not a murderer, hes an accessory to murder.
quote:Please link the evidence that the infamous "white suit" was "covered in blood"
quote:"Proud of my husband and the Pats," Burns Welker wrote. "By the way, if anyone is bored, please go to Ray Lewis' Wikipedia page. 6 kids, 4 wives. Acquitted for murder. Paid a family off. Yay. What a hall of fame player! A true role model!"
quote:I can't, because it conviently was never found. If I did nothing wrong, I'm not trying to dump my clothes so they're never found. I'm sure you also believe if the glove don't fit, you must aquit


text:
Soul Time
Bobby Timmons
1. Soul Time 6:23 2. So Tired 6:16 3. The Touch Of Your Lips 3:54 4. S'Posin' 6:09 5. Stella B. 5:51 6. You Don't Know What Love Is 3:39 7. One Mo' 6:53
Pianist Bobby Timmons did the bulk of his recording as a leader for Riverside in a trio setting. This album was the exception, as it adds the pungent lyricism of Blue Mitchell's trumpet to the deeply soulful rhythm section of Timmons, Sam Jones, and Art Blakey. Timmons had recently left Cannonball Adderley's quintet to return to Blakey's Jazz Messengers, and was clearly at a peak as both player and composer. The album features four of his characteristically sanctified tunes, including the classic "So Tired," which he also cut with Blakey for Blue Note in the midst of the sessions that produced this album.
with Blue Mitchell, Sam Jones, Art Blakey
Find out more about Bobby Timmons


text: JayCee & EmCee - A Brothers Love By JayCee & EmCee Posted Jan 23, 2011 at 12:00 AM 14 0 11Comments 411 Views for the brothers finished Share Tweet gplus thumblr pinterest 1 A Brothers Love JayCee & EmCee Follow Artist Embed Me To Playlist Download Songs Mixtapes Videos 14 0 11 411 Powered By HOTNEWHIPHOPhotnewhiphop.com Edit Colors Full Player Simple Player Embed Script Copy Short Link Copy Iframe Copy Preview Full Player Simple Player Embed Code Copy NOTE: Minimum player width is 370 pixels, height is 50 pixels. Back Full Player Simple Player NOTE: Player width is 450 pixels, height is 50 pixels. Title Artist Back 01:23 04:56 Embed Code Copy


text:
FMCSA unveils rule to prohibit coercion of drivers by carriers, shippers, brokers
A proposed rule prohibiting carriers, shippers, brokers and others from coercing drivers to drive beyond hours of service limits or other federal rules has been released by FMCSA, and the agency is taking public comment ...
FMCSA nixes EOBR mandate, states looking for trucking options, U.S. trucker jailed in Mexico
Roadside Attractions
Owner-operators have some strong words, an air force vet finds a third life in trucking, a demand for bee hive transport; plus Truck Gauge, Channel 19 and Truck Gallery are featured.
FMCSA opens floor for driver commentary on EOBRs
FMCSA announced it will hold a listening session April 26, in Bellevue, Wash., to gather public commentary on EOBRs and driver harassment.
Owner-operators deliver in MATS EOBR listening sessions
If you haven't read the report my colleague James Jaillet filed from the Mid-America Trucking Show on the Friday listening sessions the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration conducted on the subject of electronic on-board recorders ...
Driver harassment, the hours rule, Navistar's engine transision, sleep apnea regulations and more industry news items are featured.
FMCSA asks court to exclude recorder use survey
Driver survey indicated enforcement officers make poor use of EOBR data, but carriers utilize the devices effectively to harass drivers.
FMCSA denies EOBR violation
OOIDA had filed suit to stop agency from authorizing recorders over driver harassment issue.


text:
Advice, Suggestions and General Help | New Topic | Printer Friendly Version |
river islands, sandbars, Natl Forest
Posted by: sapien on Sep-20-12 1:39 AM (EST)
check some maps, I think you'll find much of the land on one bank or the other that isn't developed, is part of the GW or Jefferson National Forest, where dispersed camping is allowed pretty much anywhere. so I think you'd be OK camping anywhere that's not posted. heck I'd love to make that trip myself, when you going?
Overstock Outlet Foods | Kayak & Canoe Covers | Kindle / iPad Cases | YakSling |
Table of Contents |


text:
Pointless Tainting? Evaluating the Practicality of Pointer Tainting (2009)
Download Links
Venue: | EUROSYS '09 |
Citations: | 32 - 3 self |
author = {Asia Slowinska and Herbert Bos},
title = {Pointless Tainting? Evaluating the Practicality of Pointer Tainting},
year = {2009}
This paper evaluates pointer tainting, an incarnation of Dynamic Information Flow Tracking (DIFT), which has recently become an important technique in system security. Pointer tainting has been used for two main purposes: detection of privacy-breaching malware (e.g., trojan keyloggers obtaining the characters typed by a user), and detection of memory corruption attacks against non-control data (e.g., a buffer overflow that modifies a user's privilege level). In both of these cases the attacker does not modify control data such as stored branch targets, so the control flow of the target program does not change. Phrased differently, in terms of instructions executed, the program behaves 'normally'. As a result, these attacks are exceedingly difficult to detect. Pointer tainting is considered one of the only methods for detecting them in unmodified binaries. Unfortunately, almost all of the incarnations of pointer tainting are flawed. In particular, we demonstrate that the application of pointer tainting to the detection of keyloggers and other privacybreaching malware is problematic. We also discuss whether pointer tainting is able to reliably detect memory corruption attacks against non-control data. We found that pointer tainting generates itself the conditions for false positives. We analyse the problems in detail and investigate various ways to improve the technique. Most have serious drawbacks in that they are either impractical (and incur many false positives still), and/or cripple the technique's ability to detect attacks. In conclusion, we argue that depending on architecture and operating system, pointer tainting may have some


text:
2014 Elise The Christmas Princess Figurine by Lenox
The 2014 Elise the Christmas Princess Figurine is superbly crafted of bisque porcelain. This elegant princess is fully hand-painted, from the snowflake motif of her gown and cape, to the delicate pink in the ears of the sweet fawn. Created for Christmas 2014, this lovely princess reminds us of the true joy of the holidays.
- Limited edition
- Crafted of hand-painted bisque porcelain
- Created for Christmas 2014
- Includes Christmas fairytale
- Height: 9 5/8"
Other products we think you'll love.
Shopping made easy with Lenox EasyPay. Order today and take up to 8 months to pay - interest free!
Learn About EasyPayBreak something?
Lenox Breakage Replacement is one of the best customer satisfaction plans anywhere. So don't worry, you're covered. read more
Need Help?
*Prices Reflect All Savings and Offer excludes kate spade new york, Donna Karan, and Marchesa merchandise.


text: Babylon 5 Series 2 - 12. Acts of Sacrifice Facebook Google Tumblr Pinterest Blogger Reddit VKontakt Print Email About this programme 12/22. Ivanova escorts ambassadors from a mysterious race around the station, and tension mounts between the Centauri and Narns as G'Kar requests help in the war. Cast and crew Cast Capt John Sheridan Bruce Boxleitner Cdr Susan Ivanova Claudia Christian Michael Garibaldi Jerry Doyle Delenn Mira Furlan Dr Stephen Franklin Richard Biggs Vir Cotto Stephen Furst G'Kar Andreas Katsulas Londo Mollari Peter Jurasik Na'Toth Mary Kay Adams Crew Director Jim Johnston Categories Drama Like this? Share it. Facebook Google Tumblr Pinterest Blogger Reddit VKontakt Print Email


text:
Celanese To Hold Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call On October 21, 2013
Celanese Corporation (NYSE: CE), a global technology and specialty materials company, today announced that it will host a conference call to discuss its third quarter 2013 results on Monday, October 21, 2013, beginning at 3:00 p.m. Eastern time. Commenting on results will be Mark Rohr, chairman and chief executive officer, and Steven Sterin, senior vice president and chief financial officer. This call will be available by webcast at www.celanese.com in the investor relations section or by phone:
Dial-in Number: 877.448.3492Participant Passcode: 71217125
The company will distribute its third quarter earnings press release via newswire before the New York Stock Exchange opens on Monday, October 21. The earnings press release, earnings call presentation, prepared remarks from Mark Rohr and Steven Sterin and an audio recording of the prepared remarks will also be available in the investor relations section at www.celanese.com before market opens on October 21.
A replay of the conference call will be available on demand on October 21, 2013, from 6:00 p.m. Eastern time until October 28, 2013, at the following numbers:
Replay Number: 800.585.8367Secondary Replay Number: 855.859.2056Passcode: 71217125 The webcast replay will be available on demand at www.celanese.com in the investor relations section. About Celanese. Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. With sales almost equally divided between North America, Europe and Asia, the company uses the full breadth of its global chemistry, technology and business expertise to create value for customers and the corporation. Celanese partners with customers to solve their most critical needs while making a positive impact on its communities and the world. Based in Dallas, Texas, Celanese employs approximately 7,600 employees worldwide and had 2012 net sales of $6.4 billion. For more information about Celanese Corporation and its product offerings, visit www.celanese.com or our blog at www.celaneseblog.com .Check Out Our Best Services for Investors
Action Alerts PLUS
Portfolio Manager Jim Cramer and Director of Research Jack Mohr reveal their investment tactics while giving advanced notice before every trade.
Product Features:
- $2.5+ million portfolio
- Large-cap and dividend focus
- Intraday trade alerts from Cramer
Quant Ratings
Access the tool that DOMINATES the Russell 2000 and the S&P 500.
Product Features:
- Buy, hold, or sell recommendations for over 4,300 stocks
- Unlimited research reports on your favorite stocks
- A custom stock screener
Stocks Under $10
David Peltier uncovers low dollar stocks with serious upside potential that are flying under Wall Street's radar.
Product Features:
- Model portfolio
- Stocks trading below $10
- Intraday trade alerts
Check Out Our Best Services for Investors
Dividend Stock Advisor
David Peltier identifies the best of breed dividend stocks that will pay a reliable AND significant income stream.
Product Features:
- Diversified model portfolio of dividend stocks
- Updates with exact steps to take - BUY, HOLD, SELL
Trifecta Stocks
Every recommendation goes through 3 layers of intense scrutinyquantitative, fundamental and technical analysisto maximize profit potential and minimize risk.
Product Features:
- Model Portfolio
- Intra Day Trade alerts
- Access to Quant Ratings
Options Profits
Our options trading pros provide over 100 monthly option trading ideas and strategies to help you become a well-seasoned trader.
Product Features:
- Actionable options commentary and news
- Real-time trading community


text:
Invisible Light Lets Us See What The Sun Does To Our Skin
By Kyle Hill on August 17, 2014
The difference between how much of our skin we can actually see and what is invisible to us is startling.
We've used ultraviolet (UV) light for over a 100 years to document the hidden changes to our skin. When skin is exposed to damaging radiation from the Sun, its pigments are shuffled around, cells deform and die, and dangerous clusters can form. But while sun damage like freckles are easy to spot, most of the changes are not. One way to get around this is to use the the invisible wavelengths of UV light and the body's response to damage to our advantage.
Below, photographer and filmmaker Thomas Leveritt decided to bring this dermatological technique to the public, and filmed people in Brooklyn's Prospect Park with a UV filter. His equipment only picked up the UV radiation bouncing off of people's faces. While most people's skin looked fine, the spots where the skin did not reflect UV light — clumps of pigment under the skin or other damages — looked dark. In effect, UV damage from the Sun produced areas of skin where UV was no longer reflected. The differences freaked everyone out:
Because the changes seen under UV light can be so stark, dermatologists occasionally use UV photography to search for damage and to monitor treatment programs for skin conditions. It's not just for freckles either, UV photography can be used to pick up the precursors of skin cancer.
Of course, you can protect yourself from the ionizing radiation of the Sun with proper clothing and sunscreen. And Leveritt's video vividly demonstrates just how good sunscreen is at blocking UV light:
Seeing how dramatically the people in the video reacted to themselves in UV, sunscreen advertisers have probably missed out on a huge advertising opportunity here. It's hard not to protect your skin after seeing how the Sun sees you.
HT Colossal
That doesn't apply to those of with melanin.
[…] Sun damage can be invisible, but invisible light can bring it out. It sounds weird, just […]
Very cool…and interesting. Sunscreen is the great equalizer when fighting the suns harmful rays…oh and Glass.
For those individuals who sunbath and go to tanning salons I can say only one thing…gross!
[…] Sun damage can be invisible, but invisible light can bring it out. It sounds weird, just […]
too bad sunscreen is cancerous
If the damaged[non-reflective] areas are those that look dark, why does the protective sunscreen make the covered area look dark? shouldn't it make the covered area more reflective, this showing up light?


text: Get the perf-ect bag to compliment your game day outfit this season with the new Steelers Perf-ect Bowler Bag by Littlearth. Made from a durable retro perforated vinyl, this throwback Steelers purse features a two-tone color scheme with puff embroidery and detailed side stitching. The interior of this zip-closure bag has two easily accessible side pockets along with a smaller interior zip pocket to keep your phone and wallet safe all day long. Add a touch of class to your wardrobe and order yours today direct from the Official Steelers Online Store.


text:
Hours after the Texas Most Wanted Sex Offender list was released to the public, DPS officers arrested one of the men featured on it.
Gabriel Pena, 41, was arrested Wednesday afternoon after a citizen called the tip line and provided Pena's location in San Jacinto County. Pena was arrested without incident by DPS agents and Highway Patrol troopers at his place of employment.
Pena was wanted by the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office for failure to register as a sex offender. He has convictions for sexual assault and driving under the influence of drugs.
By the end of the day on Wednesday, 11 tips regarding the possible location of several people on the Most Wanted Sex Offenders list had been received.
"We are pleased that releasing the list led to an arrest and encourage others with information about these sex offenders to call the tip line. With citizens' tips and continued coverage by the news media, we will bring these fugitives to justice and make our communities safer," said DPS Director Steven McCraw.
In addition to tips, the DPS hotline also was contacted by three convicted sex offenders inquiring about their registration status. McCraw said he was pleased that sex offenders are getting the message that DPS is serious about enforcing sex offender registration laws.
"The fact that our pursuit of wanted sex offenders caused other sex offenders to call and make sure they were in compliance with Texas law is a win-win for the citizens of Texas," McCraw said.
The Texas Ten Most Wanted Sex Offenders program identifies violent sex offenders who have either violated parole or failed to comply with sex offender registration. These offenders are now fugitives and are considered a threat to our communities. Some of the victims of these sex offenders were children.
A Crime Stoppers reward of $1,000 is offered for tips leading to the arrest of a Texas Top Ten Most Wanted sex offender. Callers can remain anonymous.
The public should not try to apprehend these criminals as they are considered dangerous. Anyone with information on these offenders can provide anonymous tips in three different ways:
• Call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-252-TIPS (8477).
• Text the letters DPS—followed by your tip—to 274637 (CRIMES) from your cell phone.
• Submit a tip through the DPS website by selecting the sex offender you have information about, and under their picture is a link to submit a web tip.
Photos and information about the remaining Most Wanted Sex Offenders are available on the DPS website at http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/wanted/sexoffenders/topTenSexOffenders.htm# [1]. Their last- known addresses are in the following cities:
• Amarillo
• Austin
• Grand Prairie
• Houston
• Dallas
• Lufkin
• Rowlett
• Whitney


text:
More Tutorials
JSP Tutorials Hibernate Tutorials Struts Tutorials JSF Tutorials MySQL Tutorials Spring Tutorials EAI Tutorials JAXB Tutorials Web Services Tutorials JDO Tutorials Java Tutorials Java Certification Linux Tutorials Java Servlets WAP Tutorials EJB Tutorials JDBC Tutorials Bio Informatics Java Server Faces Java Interview Questions
Tutorial: What is a Project?
Tutorial Details: Before understanding 'Project Management' in detail, the first thing one should know is, what is a Project? A project is an independent operation of an organisation that is distinctive in nature with the ongoing business operations and temporary in nature. Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) defines a project as a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.
Read Tutorial What is a Project?. Rate Tutorial: What is a Project? View Tutorial: What is a Project?
Related Tutorials:
Displaying 1 - 50 of about 8090 Related Tutorials.
Send your comments, Suggestions or Queries regarding this site at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Copyright © 2006. All rights reserved.


text:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - View original article
Probability density function Some log-normal density functions with identical location parameter μ but differing scale parameters σ | |
Cumulative distribution function Cumulative distribution function of the log-normal distribution (with μ = 0 ) | |
Notation | |
Parameters | σ > 0 — shape (real), μ ∈ R — log-scale |
Support | x ∈ (0, +∞) |
Mean | |
Median | |
Mode | |
Variance | |
Skewness | |
Ex. kurtosis | |
Entropy | |
MGF | (defined only on the negative half-axis, see text) |
CF | representation is asymptotically divergent but sufficient for numerical purposes |
Fisher information |
Probability density function Some log-normal density functions with identical location parameter μ but differing scale parameters σ | |
Cumulative distribution function Cumulative distribution function of the log-normal distribution (with μ = 0 ) | |
Notation | |
Parameters | σ > 0 — shape (real), μ ∈ R — log-scale |
Support | x ∈ (0, +∞) |
Mean | |
Median | |
Mode | |
Variance | |
Skewness | |
Ex. kurtosis | |
Entropy | |
MGF | (defined only on the negative half-axis, see text) |
CF | representation is asymptotically divergent but sufficient for numerical purposes |
Fisher information |
In probability theory, a log-normal (or lognormal) distribution is a continuous probability distribution of a random variable whose logarithm is normally distributed. Thus, if the random variable is log-normally distributed, then has a normal distribution. Likewise, if has a normal distribution, then has a log-normal distribution. A random variable which is log-normally distributed takes only positive real values.
The distribution is occasionally referred to as the Galton distribution or Galton's distribution, after Francis Galton.[1] The log-normal distribution also has been associated with other names, such as McAlister, Gibrat and Cobb–Douglas.[1]
A variable might be modeled as log-normal if it can be thought of as the multiplicative product of many independent random variables each of which is positive. (This is justified by considering the central limit theorem in the log-domain.) For example, in finance, the variable could represent the compound return from a sequence of many trades (each expressed as its return + 1); or a long-term discount factor can be derived from the product of short-term discount factors. In wireless communication, the delay caused by shadowing or slow fading from random objects is often assumed to be log-normally distributed: see log-distance path loss model.
The log-normal distribution is the maximum entropy probability distribution for a random variate X for which the mean and variance of are fixed.[2]
Given a log-normally distributed random variable X and two parameters μ and σ that are, respectively, the mean and standard deviation of the variable's natural logarithm (by definition, the variable's logarithm is normally distributed), we can write X as
with Z a standard normal variable.
This relationship is true regardless of the base of the logarithmic or exponential function. If loga(Y) is normally distributed, then so is logb(Y), for any two positive numbers a, b ≠ 1. Likewise, if is log-normally distributed, then so is , where is a positive number ≠ 1.
On a logarithmic scale, μ and σ can be called the location parameter and the scale parameter, respectively.
In contrast, the mean, standard deviation, and variance of the non-logarithmized sample values are respectively denoted m, s.d., and v in this article. The two sets of parameters can be related as (see also Arithmetic moments below)[3]
The probability density function of a log-normal distribution is:[1]
This follows by applying the change-of-variables rule on the density function of a normal distribution.
The cumulative distribution function is
where erfc is the complementary error function, and Φ is the cumulative distribution function of the standard normal distribution.
All moments of the log-normal distribution exist and it holds that: (which can be derived by letting within the integral). However, the expected value is not defined for any positive value of the argument as the defining integral diverges. In consequence the moment generating function is not defined.[4] The last is related to the fact that the lognormal distribution is not uniquely determined by its moments.
Similarly, the characteristic function E[e itX] is not defined in the half complex plane and therefore it is not analytic in the origin. In consequence, the characteristic function of the log-normal distribution cannot be represented as an infinite convergent series.[5] In particular, its Taylor formal series diverges. However, a number of alternative divergent series representations have been obtained[5][6][7][8]
A closed-form formula for the characteristic function with in the domain of convergence is not known. A relatively simple approximating formula is available in closed form and given by[9]
where is the Lambert W function. This approximation is derived via an asymptotic method but it stays sharp all over the domain of convergence of .
The location and scale parameters of a log-normal distribution, i.e. and , are more readily treated using the geometric mean, , and the geometric standard deviation, , rather than the arithmetic mean, , and the arithmetic standard deviation, .
The geometric mean of the log-normal distribution is , and the geometric standard deviation is .[10][11] By analogy with the arithmetic statistics, one can define a geometric variance, , and a geometric coefficient of variation,[10] .
Because the log-transformed variable is symmetric and quantiles are preserved under monotonic transformations, the geometric mean of a log-normal distribution is equal to its median, .[12]
Note that the geometric mean is less than the arithmetic mean. This is due to the AM–GM inequality, and corresponds to the logarithm being convex down. In fact,
In finance the term is sometimes interpreted as a convexity correction. From the point of view of stochastic calculus, this is the same correction term as in Itō's lemma for geometric Brownian motion.
The arithmetic mean, arithmetic variance, and arithmetic standard deviation of a log-normally distributed variable are given by
The location () and scale () parameters can be obtained if the arithmetic mean and the arithmetic variance are known; it is simpler if is computed first:
For any real or complex number , the th moment of a log-normally distributed variable is given by[1]
A log-normal distribution is not uniquely determined by its moments E[Xk] for k ≥ 1, that is, there exists some other distribution with the same moments for all k.[1] In fact, there is a whole family of distributions with the same moments as the log-normal distribution.[citation needed]
The mode is the point of global maximum of the probability density function. In particular, it solves the equation (ln ƒ)′ = 0:
The median is such a point where FX = 1/2:
The arithmetic coefficient of variation is the ratio (on the natural scale). For a log-normal distribution it is equal to
Contrary to the arithmetic standard deviation, the arithmetic coefficient of variation is independent of the arithmetic mean.
The partial expectation of a random variable X with respect to a threshold k is defined as where is the probability density function of X. Alternatively, and using the definition of conditional expectation, it can be written as g(k)=E[X | X > k]*P(X > k). For a log-normal random variable the partial expectation is given by:
Where Phi is the normal cumulative distribution function. The derivation of the formula is provided in the discussion of this Wikipedia entry. The partial expectation formula has applications in insurance and economics, it is used in solving the partial differential equation leading to the Black–Scholes formula.
A set of data that arises from the log-normal distribution has a symmetric Lorenz curve (see also Lorenz asymmetry coefficient).[13]
The harmonic (H), geometric (G) and arithmetic (A) means of this distribution are related;[14] such relation is given by
Log-normal distributions are infinitely divisible.[1]
The log-normal distribution is important in the description of natural phenomena. The reason is that for many natural processes of growth, growth rate is independent of size. This is also known as Gibrat's law, after Robert Gibrat (1904–1980) who formulated it for companies. It can be shown that a growth process following Gibrat's law will result in entity sizes with a log-normal distribution.[15] Examples include:
For determining the maximum likelihood estimators of the log-normal distribution parameters μ and σ, we can use the same procedure as for the normal distribution. To avoid repetition, we observe that
where by ƒL we denote the probability density function of the log-normal distribution and by ƒN that of the normal distribution. Therefore, using the same indices to denote distributions, we can write the log-likelihood function thus:
Since the first term is constant with regard to μ and σ, both logarithmic likelihood functions, ℓL and ℓN, reach their maximum with the same μ and σ. Hence, using the formulas for the normal distribution maximum likelihood parameter estimators and the equality above, we deduce that for the log-normal distribution it holds that
If is a multivariate normal distribution then has a multivariate log-normal distribution[29] with mean
Given a random variate Z drawn from the normal distribution with 0 mean and 1 standard deviation, then the variate
has a log-normal distribution with parameters and .
In the case that all have the same variance parameter , these formulas simplify to
A substitute for the log-normal whose integral can be expressed in terms of more elementary functions[33] can be obtained based on the logistic distribution to get an approximation for the CDF
This is a log-logistic distribution.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Log-normal distribution. |


text:
Fall 2005
AMS 310 • Introduction to American Studies
Unique | Days | Time | Location | Instructor |
27975 |
TTh |
Hoelscher |
Course Description
AMS 310 is designed to introduce you to some of the major themes and ideas in American history and culture, as well as to familiarize you with some of the methods and materials that are used in the interdisciplinary study of American society. As a way to focus our discussion, this section of AMS 310 examines the twin concepts of place and region as they impinge on the historical development of American culture and society. Utilizing both historical and contemporary perspectives, and drawing from a wide range of approaches, we will take as our central motif the escalating importance of regional and local identity in a world of globalization and modernization. Specific themes will include: the historical development of American regional diversity; the role of place image and representation in the social construction of region; the relationship of regional culture to national culture; the way in which perceptions and conflicting communities influence the creation of regions; the importance of the regional concept in contemporary urban planning and landscape design; and the role of art, literature, and poetry in regional renewal.
Readings: Edward Ayers, Patricia Nelson Limerick, Stephen Nissenbaum, and Peter Onuf, All Over the Map: Rethinking American Regions Tony Horwitz, Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War Claude Brown, Manchild in the Promised Land William Cronon, Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England Michael Sorkin, ed., Variations on a Theme Park Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop Films: The Alamo Goin to Chicago Fargo


text:
What's New
Improved gameplay performanceApp Description
Everyone loves Real People magazine's brilliant puzzles – thousands of you play them every week! Now you can enjoy all your favourites on the go with our brand new series of free puzzle apps. PLUS, you could even scoop £1000 cash when you enter our amazing FREE DRAW!*This time round, we want you to GET A MOO-VE ON with our brand new game. Simply move the tiles around – up or down, left or right – to rebuild scrambled pictures.
Play on your own or get your friends and family to join in. Test yourself against the clock, or just take your own sweet time. Who'll get the high score? And can you earn a rosette for our fabulous puzzle mascot Florence the Cow?
It's brain food for everyone! And don't forget to keep coming back to Real People's puzzle apps every week. We'll be giving away £1000 plus bags of free puzzles with every new app we release!
*Simply download this free app and fill in your details to enter the prize draw. Time limits apply. See www.realpeoplemag.co.uk for full details.
· £1000 free prize draw
· Free bundle of compulsive puzzles
· Fun, easy-to-use interface
· Earn rosettes for completing puzzles
· Unlock medals for speed and skill
· Featuring fabulous Florence the Cow!
App Changes
June 14, 2013 New version 2.1
June 07, 2013 New version 2.0
February 24, 2013 Initial Release


text:
An Overview Of The Exciting New Features In Stackato 2.0.
Stackato 2.0 now has integrated .NET support via the Iron Foundry.NET project. Iron Foundry is an open source project that extends .NET to any Cloud Foundry-based Platform as Service (PaaS). By integrating Iron Foundry with Stackato, we can now make Windows DEAs available on any Stackato cluster with the ability to run the full spectrum of .NET Web Applications, SQL Server, and more.
Cloudsoft CTO Alex Heneveld shows how to deploy Stackato in a Hybrid Cloud configuration.
Portability is a core principle in Stackato. We developed it on a codebase which is not tied to any particular hypervisor. We distribute it in a variety of formats for all the popular hypervisors.
Today, ActiveState announced a joint technology collaboration with FeedHenry. FeedHenry's cloud-based mobile application platform simplifies the development, integration, deployment. and management of secure mobile apps for business. And that innovative mobile technology is now integrated with Stackato, providing a unified mobility solution for enterprises and developers looking to host mobile applications within a private cloud.
For some developers, cloud computing can serve as a gateway drug for developing "shadow" IT projects. This isn't new: Developers were going rogue long before easy access to computing resources via the cloud. The cloud has just made the potential of corporate risk exposure exponentially greater.
Picture this: A crowd of 450 developers pack a ballroom at the Omni Interlocken Resort in Broomfield, Colorado. The lights dim, the drum rolls, and video plays out a techno-beat as Eric Norlin (@gluecon), conference chair, organizer, and cat-herder extraordinaire kicks off the third annual Glue Conference. Immediately, the crowds start tweeting out #gluecon 144-character quotes and quips. For the next two days, presentations continue non-stop—No breaks between sessions lest a minute be wasted.
Don't get me wrong, I love Dropbox. They offer free storage, handy cross-platform sync clients, give out nice t-shirts at conferences, and have delivered a much needed service with a great user experience.
But a little while ago a friend of mine posted a plea to her Facebook feed which went something like this:
We get asked occasionally about Stackato support for .NET. It's clearly an important enterprise application platform today, but there are some technical challenges to supporting it on a Linux-based PaaS system.
We have just added the well known pet-clinic Java application to the Stackato App Store, and it works well!


text:
Monthly Archive for November, 2010
Frazee posts shutout as Devils win on road again
Jeff Frazee made 34 saves for his first shutout of the season and Michael Swift scored twice as the Albany Devils blanked the Rochester Americans 4-0 for their second road victory in as many nights. The Devils, who were coming off a six-game losing streak, won Friday night at Syracuse 4-3 in a shootout. Albany […]
[Read More]
Devils end six-game losing streak with shootout victory
David McIntyre scored in the fifth round of the shootout to give the Albany Devils a 4-3 victory over the Syracuse Crunch at the Onondaga County War Memorial at Oncenter to snap a six-game losing skid. Tim Sestito, Adam Henrique and Matt Anderson scored in regulation and Jeff Frazee made 32 saves as the Devils […]
[Read More]
New Jersey recalls McKenna from Albany
For the second time in two weeks, the New Jersey Devils have recalled goaltender Mike McKenna from Albany and assigned goalie Dave Caruso to their American Hockey League affiliate. McKenna, 27, has played seven games for Albany (2-4-0) and has a 3.72 goals-against average and a .882 save percentage.
[Read More]
Poll: Was Appert's one-game suspension deserved?
There seems to be a lot of opinion on Seth Appert's suspension, so we'll put it up for a vote:
[Read More]
ECAC suspends RPI coach Appert for one game
The Eastern College Athletic Conference announced today that RPI head coach Seth Appert has been suspended one game as a result of his postgame actions after Friday night's game at Union. Appert will miss the Engineers' game Nov. 26 against Connecticut.
[Read More]
Hurricanes double their Sutter quota in trade
The Carolina Hurricanes today acquired defenseman Ian White and forward Brett Sutter, the cousin of 'Canes center and former Albany River Rat Brandon Sutter, from the Calgary Flames. The Flames got another ex-Rat, defenseman Anton Babchuk, and forward Tom Kostopoulos from Carolina.
[Read More]
Kowalsky on Devils' home woes: 'I feel bad for the fans'
ALBANY — As far as coach Rick Kowalsky is concerned, Ilya Kovalchuk or Martin Brodeur could walk into the Albany Devils' locker room today and not cure the team's current woes. The Devils begin a four-game road trip Friday night accompanied by a six-game losing streak in which they seemed to look worse every game. […]
[Read More]
Devils' notes 'n quotes: A true heavyweight battle
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 4, Devils 1 Notes: A heavyweight division fight took place in the second period between the Devils' Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond and Penguins' Jesse Boulerice, a one-time River Rat. After numerous punches from both players, Letourneau-Leblond finished on top of Boulerice, but the Devil's face was bloodied from the altercation. Each received fighting majors. … The […]
[Read More]
RPI's Bailen named ECAC Player of the Week
Sophomore defenseman Nick Bailen of RPI has been named ECAC Player of the Week for his efforts last weekend for the Engineer hockey team. Bailen scored the game winner in overtime and added two assists Saturday as 18th-ranked RPI (5-3-3) knocked off Union 4-3 to split the weekend series with the Dutchmen.
[Read More]
Penguins spank Devils 4-1 as losing skid hits six
ALBANY — The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins showed why their the class of the early-season American Hockey League, winning their eighth consecutive road game to start the season with a 4-1 drubbing of the Albany Devils in front of 1,478 on a rare Tuesday night game at Times Union Center. The Devils have now lost six in […]
[Read More]
Show More


text:
But why 14 Noah (well, 13, but there was an accident or something) plus a Noah to take on just five Generals? Judging from the Order's reaction to a level 2 akuma at the beginning of the manga, they probably hadn't been seen very often (if at all) before that time. Road said during the Rewinding Town arc (three months later) that the Earl's "scenario" was going to begin soon. I think it's more likely that the akuma started to evolve on their own, or at the very least that it was a natural thing (maybe to get the attention of Exorcists, since they'd have to be around a long time to get to higher levels).
I think it was said that the Order has been around for about a century. It's possible/likely that Exorcists died at the hands of akuma, but I doubt too many of them got caught in that way (just the really inexperienced or stupid ones. Level Ones are pretty easy to take down, apparently). Finding Exorcists is apparently not an easy task, although it's what the Generals do. Of the Exorcists that we know entered the Order in the past few manga-years, three came on their own (Bookman, Lavi, Allen), one was the result of a regular mission (Miranda), and two (Krory and Chaoji) probably would have remained undiscovered, and Chaoji without Innocence, had the Exorcists not been sent to guard the Generals (technically, Cross was responsible for Krory, but he kinda abandoned the vampire-guy, so...).
Reinard said that the one akuma soul becomes responsible for both of those involved, I think. It's also possible, if unlikely, that the souls merge or something... Allen doesn't see the soul as looking exactly like the person who summoned it, and that could be responsible for the degrading of the soul at higher levels to make it look less like one being (the suffering, too; if both souls are suffering, it suffers more. =P But that's probably wrong).Quote:
Now if I remember right, the soul is the power source of the Akuma (the more it suffers the more power the Akuma gets). With this in mind it may seem like a Purgitory type of thing (suffer x years for your sins as an Akuma, and be released) in which case the Earl possibly works for God. Yet what about the sins of the one that summoned the Akuma? Since it isn't their soul, and Allen can see the soul (note he always only sees one soul) suffering, the second soul is probably condemed. I don't think that this would be following the Christain beleifs at all (why give up half of the children, when you state that the end will come when all worship?). Also if we are going into metaphore here, the "apocolypse" the Earl is aiming for might just be that of the Akuma instead of the world.
The Apocalypse, for those who believe in the literal Second Coming/Rapture/whatever, is for humans on Earth. Not sure what you mean by "that of the akuma"; do you mean that only the akuma will be destroyed, or only the akuma will remain, or...?
(Another interesting note is that Road mentions something around the time of the Ark arc about the Noah being "sacrificial lambs". If the goal of the Earl/Noah really is to judge humanity, then it makes sense that the Noah aren't going to survive it, either. They're still human.)


text:
Narrow Results
Belarus War Museum AttractionsHere are the top Belarus war museum listings so you can find the best in Belarus for your trip. Read these war museum reviews written by real travelers. You can narrow these results using the filters to the left.
1 to 1 of 1 | Go to page 1


text:
Important Information:
Due to current weather conditions, we are experiencing high volumes of site closures. We are working diligently to contact all affected candidates by email and phone. We thank you for your patience. If you have any questions, please contact Customer Service.
Email customer service - Continuing education questions
Please allow 3-4 business days to receive a response. For immediate assistance, please call customer service.
Please note
You cannot schedule, reschedule, or cancel your exam appointment by email.
What is going on?
In order to assist you as quickly as possible, please be as specific as possible.
Please complete all of the fields marked with an asterisk (*).


text:
Save Chuy\'s!
We need to save this staple in Dogtown. Please send us your comments. Thanks for your time. www.savechuys.com
Dogtown and concerned St. Louisans
Recent signatures
Karen, United States
7 years ago Comments: My college boyfriend and I shared many fantastic dates at Chuy's while students at Wash U! He's now my husband...the margaritas may have had somthing to do with that. ;)
William Hansen, United States
7 years ago -
joe blow, United States
7 years ago Comments: i hate chuy's and am glad the place is closing, the food is disgusting and the place is dirty. no where near mexican food,
Petition highlights
There are no highlights yet.


text: R15E ABOVE View full-size image < previous next > Is this photo a winner? "Here are a handful of Greenwood Rangers Class of 2015 Juniors being silly. Everyone just loved their shirts. The experience with all of the representatives was amazing! They were so friendly and extremely creative. We would love to win this week's contest. There are a few other students that would like a shirt but cannot afford one. Thanks again Marc and Sylvia Hernandez" - Greenwood Rangers Class of 2015 (Aug 22, 2013) Share this photo on: Twitter Facebook Pinterest Similar Photos: k12 | k-12 | class shirts | purple | class of 2015 | juniors | silly | fun Feeling inspired? Visit the CustomInk Design Lab to start your own group order. Design Your Own comment by Guest - Aug 23, 2013 - back to the top WooHoo! Great pic


text:
Also Trending
- What to watch for in today's game action
- Friendly competition: Harper hacks vs. Stras
- D-backs to serve a Churro Dog this season
vs New York Yankees | 4/4 | |
vs New York Mets | 4/6 - 9 |
Follow the Nationals with MLB.com At Bat, featuring live audio, Gameday, video highlights, news, schedules and more. Available for Apple iPhone, iPad and Android phones and tablets.
Text "Get Nationals" to 65246 to sign up. Text STOP to 65246 to opt-out. Text HELP to 65246 for assistance.
Msg&Data Rates May Apply. Expect 15-20 msg/wk.
Text "NATIONALS" to 91347 to sign up. Text STOP to 91347 to opt-out. Text HELP to 91347 for assistance.
Msg&Data Rates May Apply. Expect 1-2 msg/wk.


text:
(KMOV.com) – Firefighters said nobody was injured in a late morning fire in north St. Louis.
Firefighters said the fire occurred around 11:00 a.m. at a home in the 4700 block of Farlin. Authorities said the blaze broke out when a space heater malfunctioned. According to firefighters, the occupants did not know the fire had broken out until much of the upper part of the home was engulfed because the house did have any smoke detectors.
Firefighters said both men inside got out safely; the roof and attic sustained extensive damage.


text:
Advanced Search | Search Tips
AML61EC1E-001 Honeywell AML61 Series Plain Finish Rectangular Can Mounting Hardware, 1 position
Click Here
Click the button below to add the AML61EC1E-001 to your wish list.
Peerless is an authorized stocking distributor for the products shown! We are certified to AS9100C and ISO9001. The difference is in our quality! Contact us Copyright 2015 Peerless Electronics. Sitemap All prices are in USD. Privacy Policy Designed by LIHQ
Page built in 0.3979s with 22 queries. Memory usage peaked at 3.00 MB


text:
City Favourites To Win At Portsmouth
Match Day Betting
The bookmakers have installed Coventry City as favourites going into the Saturday's game. You can get 6/5 on the Sky Blues to win, 2/1 on Portsmouth and 5/2 on the draw.
If you are planning on having a bet on Saturday's game, make sure you shop around for the best odds before placing any bet. You can check some of the odds on offer by clicking on http://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/league-1/portsmouth-v-coventry/winner
Source: Coventry MAD
Sponsored links
Related Coventry City News


text:
What people think of Obama and Romney — in 4 word clouds!
Perception is everything in politics. It can create a reality or run counter to one — all without a politician having much say in the matter.
Given that, we we were intrigued this morning when Chuck Todd (on his "Daily Rundown" show) showed the positive — and negative — words that respondents to the NBC-Wall Street Journal poll used to describe both President Obama and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.
That he showed them in word clouds — the Fix is a sucker for a good word cloud — made it all the more intriguing. We asked the good folks at NBC if we could get the four word clouds and they sent them over.
We've posted them after the jump. The findings are fascinating.
Let's start with the positive words mentioned by those polled about Obama and Romney. (And for those unfamiliar with word clouds, the bigger the word, the more time it was mentioned.)
Here's Obama's positive word cloud:
And here's Romney's positive word cloud:
On the good news front for Obama is the fact that "good job", "honest" and, interestingly, "health reform" were often mentioned. For Romney, the fact that "change" was one of the words most often used to describe him is a fascinating window into how quickly ownership of the change mantle can switch. (Remember that Obama ran on the twin ideas of "hope" and "change" in 2008.)
Now onto the negative word clouds.
Here's Obama's:
And here's Romney's:
That "economy" is the most mentioned negative word associated with Obama affirms — again — the problem he has in selling the American public on the idea that the economy is, in fact, getting better.
For Romney, his biggest problems are the sense that he is simply not in tune with average Americans and that he looks to protect the wealthiest Americans rather than the middle class.
Viewed broadly, the perception of Obama — according to the word cloud — is of someone who is looking out for the average guy but not handling the economy well enough. The perception of Romney is of a successful and competent businessman who doesn't understand the struggles of average people.
These perceptions are the reality that both candidates must deal with as they try to convince voters they are the right man for the job this fall. Neither case is easy to make — but that's what campaigns and elections are for.


text:
Lately I have been just blowing my money on commissions, because like anyone else here I enjoy seeing my characters in other styles. But I am going to be honest, only about 20% of the work I have even received was actually decent. I noticed that a lot of the art I was getting was half ass crap that looks nothing like the work the artist actually has displayed. Not only that, but every time I received one of those awful pictures the artist wouldn't even upload it, they just sent me a link from like photobucket or some shit. Like they were ashamed of it.
I really wish I wasn't so nice... I just keep my mouth shut and pretend I actually like it, but I have something to say to those of you who have done this to one of your commissioners. If you don't feel like drawing, if you're just not in the mood, don't fucking force it out like you're trying to take a constipated dump. Seriously, I will wait, I will wait forever for some quality artwork, but I won't stand for anything that doesn't have your heart and soul put in to it. Especially when I pay good money. Some of my favorite artists have actually broken my heart because of how poor the art was. Just flat out disappointed.
I think this is why I am starting to prefer art trades, because I feel like I'm just throwing all of my money out of the window. I mean, one of the artists I commissioned got $40 from me, and then just completely disappeared. POOF! Goodbye money, I hope that the artist is actually making good use of you.
Some of you may think of me like hypocrite because of events around a year ago, but if you know me well enough, you'll understand that I was doing my best with the rough situation I was in. Recently I have only been opening small commissions that I know I can finish and that I will have fun with. And I only work when I am in the mood which means I take a little longer. Another reason why I don't charge very much for my work.
If I have ever disappointed any of you after you have commissioned me, please... just tell me. It's your money you're spending so I want you to feel like you're getting what you paid for. (please don't take advantage of that either)
Anyway... yeh