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Nerium is an anti-aging treatment sold through independent representatives. It enjoys a pretty high level of popularity, with generally good consumer reviews.
Nerium is based on the properties of Nerium Oleander, an Asian and Mediterranean plant. While the plant is known to be toxic, the Nerium formula is touted as safe and effective. I have read a few who were skeptical or critical of this, but have not seen any actual proof that the toxic nature of the plant is of any real concern. Instead, most report good results with the product with no issues.
The product itself is of a lotion consistency and has a fairly strong smell. It absorbed fine when I tried it and I generally liked it during the brief time I was able to test it. I was unable to give it a long term test, so I can't really report total results. However, browsing online reviews, I found that the majority of users reported that it worked well on fine lines and wrinkles and was particularly effective on sun spots and sun damage.
Given that Nerium is a rather unique product in terms of ingredients, anyone who has not had luck with other anti-aging products, might be interested in giving it a try.
Buy Nerium Age Defying Treatment
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Microsoft Office @ LMUInformation Technology Services (ITS) now has Office 2010 for PC and Office 2011 for Mac available for all faculty and staff computers on campus. To request upgrade, please contact ITS Help Desk at firstname.lastname@example.com.
To reduce learning curve and to ensure continued day-to-day operations, ITS has compiled a host of resources - from Microsoft Web site to instructor-led demonstration workshops.
- What's New in Excel 2011 (Mac)
- What's New in Outlook 2011 (Mac)
- What's New in PowerPoint 2011 (Mac)
- What's New in Word 2011 (Mac)
For more information contact Janet Lee, ITS Technology Coordinator, at firstname.lastname@example.com or 310.338.7771.
Last Modified 8/17/2011

subset: commoncrawl


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Sarah, this is a nice airy sketch of the bridge. What a lovely place to sketch from.
Jen C & C's always welcome
Thanks Alex and Jen.
Geri....you are quite right about composition but it was meant to be a topographical. sketch viewed from where I was sitting..
feel free to make constructive c/c...no digital alterations please
mcInda ~ Thanks for commenting on my drawing/wash. To answer your question, yes it did "flow" pretty easily because I thought I had ruined the portrait already with the pencil. I was free to play with the water soluble because it was "just for fun"! The next day, I saw that I liked the effect once it was dry. So I worked on it until I came to the point where it was getting overdone.
Question: How does everyone know when their artwork is "done"?
Comments and critiques are welcome.
Hi Nealey, haha! I love your question about knowing when artwork is "done." When I was producing more, I used to take pictures at intervals throughout the process and there were definitely pieces where I could see that I went a step too far ...
Comments and critiques are welcomed and appreciated.
Jen Sarah & Alex ~ Thank you MUCH for your kind comments!
Haha Alex for calling me a "portraitist". Trying to do likenesses is all pretty new to me and I'm really taking to it! My lil sister mentioned that I used to draw her & our mom had them on the wall, but that was a loooooong time ago and I don't remember doing so.
If it wasn't for you all at AD, I would not be taking my art seriously and trying to be better at it. Big hugzzz!!!
Sarah ~ Lovely ink sketch of your daughter's view! I love the bridge - such a nice place to sit and draw. I'm envious! Have you ever painted from this perspective? Reminds me of Monet's gardens.
Hello Alex! Yes I understand about going too far. I tend to over-think & over-do! I'm practicing taking many breaks & looking with refreshed eyes.
Question: How does everyone know when their artwork is "done"?
Its when you get tired of looking at it. Some get finished sooner than others ;)
C and C always welcomed
Hello Nealey,
No, haven't had a chance to paint there yet. Daughter moved there (new house...no garden as such) a year ago and I have only been to visit in wintertime.
Will paint there one day.
When is a work finished? Half way through (with hindsight!!!!)
this is a view of my daughter's previous garden.....I turned the Summer daylight scene into a moonlit one because of the stone moon rabbit ornament.
A4, Bockingford, watercolour
Sarah very nice WC I could see it as an illustration on the cover of a book
Thanks Geri..
I.hope to paint something tomorrow; so dark. wet and humid here today again.
I know how you feel about when is the art piece done. My husband will start telling me " it's done isn't". I will answer not yet! I love the detail work, and he just sees a design on the paper. His question is a sign that it is getting close.
I have to agree I don't trust my opinion yet.
Oh my gosh, Sarah! This watercolor is wonderful!! I love the atmosphere around the moon and the night shadows on the stone bunny. Geri is correct in that it looks like an illustration from a storybook. I'm a librarian every Friday & I look at lots of children's books. Your painting is better than so many of the published stories.
Well I guess your answers to my question sound about right....I guess it's all trial and error and experience. Geri, your comment had me chuckling......"It's done when I'm sick of looking at it."
Sarah, I agree your painting has a wonderful atmosphere and would make a great cover for a story book. Maybe you could write a little story to go with it!
As to when a painting is finished a lot of times I would have to agree with Geri many times! Then some rare paintings just paint themselves and you know when it is finished and know it is good. Manny, many more I am not satisfied with but don't know how to fix it. It is all a learning experience and you learn from everything. Trouble is theses days I don't remember what is was I learned! :)
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Narrow your search
A CIA-backed technology company says it's spotted credentials connected with the departments of Defense, Justice, Treasury and Energy, as well as the CIA itself.
Security firm iSight says the "Sandworm" team has targeted NATO, the European Union, Ukraine and industry through a previously unrecognized Windows zero-day exploit.
Celebrities will continue to take nude photos of themselves and certain hackers will try their damnedest to uncover the goodies. All the more reason, say security experts, to fix bad habits.
Drawing on thousands of leaked documents, The New York Times and the UK's Guardian offer up lengthy looks at the beleaguered spy agency.
Google wants technology firms to cut down on the amount of time it takes to fix zero day vulnerabilities, but some are crying foul.
Company says the "attacks will continue," particularly against high-profile media companies.
The civil liberties group claims AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint aren't doing enough to protect users' private data because they're not sending out timely Android security updates.
Security firm Mandiant delivers compelling evidence that the Chinese military is behind a torrent of intrusions targeting the networks of U.S.-based companies. Here's what happens next.
It might have taken five years to discover, but a government-snooping spying campaign dubbed Red October has been exposed by Kaspersky Lab.
Malware targets individuals at organizations in Philippines, Taiwan, Canada and elsewhere via "spear-phishing" e-mails bearing tainted PDF files.


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Denise Vasi and her longtime boyfriend, director Anthony Mandler were married this weekend in California, and we want to express our most sincere and heartfelt congrats to the Single Ladies star and her new husband! The couple became engaged last summer and ever since then, they've tweeted and Instagrammed the wedding planning process under the hashtag #VasiMandlerMerge, and they appear elated that the merge has finally happened. The wedding, which was held in a vineyard in Santa Ynez, California and featured Jennifer Hudson as entertainment (oh, NBD), looked stunning, as did Vasi herself. Check out some of the best photos from the day in our gallery and leave a comment to wish the new husband and wife well!
[Photos: Instagram]


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View e-mail address | Add Contact Info to Outlook
MU 102 Phone: 765-285-5557
School of Music
Hargreaves Music Building (MU) 203
Ball State University
Muncie, IN 47306
Mary Kamack
Kothman is currently the concertmaster of the Muncie Symphony Orchestra and
adjunct professor of violin at Taylor University and Ball State University. She
performs frequently with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and the Fort Wayne
Philharmonic, does studio recordings across the state and performs a wide
variety of chamber and new music. Kothman is a former member of the Austin
Symphony and has performed with the Royal Orchestra, Stockholm, the San Diego
Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony and the Naples Philharmonic. She has served
on the faculty of the Interlochen Arts Camp and is the former conductor of the
Beginning Strings Orchestra of the Civic Youth Orchestra, San Diego. Kothman
holds a BM and MM in violin performance from the University of Texas at Austin
where she studied with Vincent Frittelli.
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TOP 5 Over-the-Top Shots by the Dems
After Joe Biden's "chains" comment this week, Repbulicans are denouncing the President's reelection campaign. POLITICO's Alexander Trowbridge rounds up the top five times Democrats went too far in attacking Mitt Romney. Produced by Brad Zerivitz.
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Nintendo's global president Satoru Iwata has stated that the Wii U is "selling steadily," admitting that the console has been unable to match the success of its predecessor.
"At the end of the Christmas season, it wasn't as though stores in the U.S. had no Wii U left in stock, as it was when Wii was first sold in that popular boom," Iwata explained to Reuters during an interview. "But sales are not bad, and I feel it's selling steadily."
He also discussed the challenges of pitching two separate console versions, in the form of the Wii U Basic and Premium Packs.
"It was the first time Nintendo released two models of the game console at the same time, and I believe there was a challenge with balancing this," Iwata explains. "Specifically, inventory levels for the [Deluxe] package was unbalanced as many people wanted that version and couldn't find it."
Whilst he didn't provide an exact figure of the current install base, 638,339 Wii U systems were sold in Japan between December 8th – 30th, whilst 400,000 units were sold across North America during November.
That in itself means that global sales have surpasses one million units, with Nintendo aiming to achieve 5.5 million sales by the end of the fiscal year in March.
Alex Seedhouse+ Alex's early adoration for Nintendo began with a Yellow Game Boy and a copy of Donkey Kong Land. This developed over the years, later peaking when he hid in his room to play The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time one Christmas. Nowadays, his enthusiasm is shared through Nintendo Insider, a place in which he can document his thoughts regarding the big N.
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Quantity Available:
EcoSmart Fire is the award-winning, high-end brand of The Fire Company, based near Sydney, Australia. Launched in 2004, EcoSmart Fire has revolutionized the fireplace industry with its stylish contemporary designs and the use of clean-burning, eco-friendly bioethanol. This ground-breaking fuel and design versatility mean that EcoSmart Fire fireplaces, inserts, burners and accessories now heat and visually enhance indoor and outdoor spaces in more than fifty countries worldwide.
The Fusion Fireplace is available with the following:
- Made of brushed stainless steel, toughened glass and MDF
- Includes BK5 bioethanol burner, 1.3 gallon Jerry Can, lighter and lighting rod
- 1.3 gallon (5 liter) capacity
- Thermal output of 13,000BTU; heats space up to 377 sq. feet
- Approximate burn time: 9-20 hours depending on setting
- Completely self-contained; no chimney, venting or fuel line required
- Recommended for use with e-nrg liquid bioethanol fuel only
- 2 year warranty
- Designed by Paul Cohen
Finish: Black, White
Option: 12 qts Fuel, No Fuel
- Item: Height 39", Width 37.2", Depth 17.7", Weight 129.4lb
Manufacturer IDs: view
Need help with some of our terminology? Check out Lumens' Lighting & Design Glossary.
Related Items
e-nrg Bioethanol FuelBy EcoSmart FireFrom: $69.002 Size Options{boxId:"compareuu496495", id:"uu496495"} See Comparison


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CBA of Kenya Sees 'Smoothen' Mobile-Bank Boosting Clients
July 11 (Bloomberg) -- Commercial Bank of Africa Ltd., whose deputy chairman is the younger brother of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, plans to become the nation's biggest lender by clients through its mobile-banking service.
Closely held CBA plans to increase the number of M-Shwari mobile-banking customers by 32 percent to more than 10 million by the end of this year, Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Ngunze said in a July 8 interview in the capital, Nairobi. Those accounts hold an average of 1,000 shillings ($11.40), he said. Mshwari means smoothen in Swahili.
The bank's M-Shwari unit has a loan-loss ratio below the industry average of 5 percent on the $80 million of lending it has made since starting in November 2012, Ngunze said. CBA will eventually target all 15.2 million mobile-money service customers on the network of Safaricom Ltd., Kenya's biggest mobile-phone operator.
"We shall then become undoubtedly the largest account holder, including the top lender by number of people in the market," Ngunze said.
M-Shwari allows individuals without assets to build a credit record through regular savings after which they are allowed to borrow small loans that can be increased progressively to as much as 20,000 shillings. Loans have to be repaid within 30 days at a flat interest rate of 7.5 percent.
Smart Business
Safaricom and Kenya Commercial Bank Ltd., the nation's biggest lender by market value and outlets, on July 9 introduced a mobile banking product branded biashara smart, a Swahili phrase for smart business, targeting small companies.
CBA plans to have operations in 16 African nations by 2022, Ngunze said. The lender will build a presence in South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Angola, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo through acquisitions, joint ventures or direct investments, he said. The company also has operations in Tanzania and Uganda.
In Tanzania, where CBA introduced a mobile-money service branded M-Pawa, which means gift in Swahili, in May, the bank already has 400,000 customers, Ngunze said.
Increasing capital requirements for Kenyan lenders will boost financial stability and spur mergers and acquisitions among the 43 commercial banks in East Africa's biggest economy, Ngunze, who is vice chairman of the Kenya Bankers Association, said.
"The minimum capital requirements are still pretty low at $15 million," he said. "There is probably room for us to consider increasing the level of capital which perhaps would force a level of consolidation in this market."
CBA Deputy Chairman Muhoho Kenyatta is also a director in other companies in which the president's family has interests, including Brookside Dairy Ltd., Heritage Holdings Ltd., and Timsales Ltd., according to CBA's website. The Kenyatta family also has a stake in Mediamax Networks Ltd.
To contact the reporters on this story: Eric Ombok in Nairobi at email@example.com; Charles Wachira in Nairobi at email@example.com
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shaji Mathew at email@example.com Dylan Griffiths, Antony Sguazzin, Paul Richardson


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Ex-AFG CEO Hand Pleads Guilty to Plot to Kill Witness
Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Ex-AFG Financial Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Aaron Hand, already imprisoned for his role in a fraudulent $100 million mortgage scheme, pleaded guilty today to plotting to kill a witness who testified against him.
Hand, 40, sentenced in 2010 to as long as 25 years in prison, pleaded guilty today before Judge Laura Ward in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan to one count of conspiracy to commit murder.
Hand, who faces 8 1/2 to 16 years in prison on this plea, is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 6, prosecutors said in a statement. His sentence is to run consecutive with the one is he already serving, according to prosecutors.
"The defendant's actions strike at the heart of the justice system," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said today in a statement. "Nothing is more important than the safety of witnesses."
Hand pleaded not guilty when he was charged in October. His lawyer at the time, Kevin Canfield, said his client was entrapped by the police.
"Entrapment is an extremely difficult affirmative defense," Hand's lawyer, Lee Ginsberg, said outside court today. "This was a more appropriate way to resolve the situation."
Hand was the mastermind of a mortgage scheme that defrauded Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and other banks, according to Vance's office, which said it won convictions against all 27 people charged.
In August, an investigator with the district attorney's office received a tip that Hand, while incarcerated at New York State Coxsackie Correctional Facility, was attempting to arrange the murder of a witness who testified against him during a nine-week trial in July 2010, according to the October statement.
The case is People v. Hand, 4870/2011, New York Supreme Court (Manhattan).
To contact the reporters on this story: Chris Dolmetsch in New York at firstname.lastname@example.com; Tiffany Kary in New York at email@example.com.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: John Pickering at firstname.lastname@example.com; Michael Hytha at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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The BOSL Awards are back with a vengeance with an extravaganza of a show for you with categories reflecting the enormous range of skills to be found in Second Life. The list of nominees for each category came from the residents of Second Life and the winners were the ones with most votes. Watch and see who they were.
Metaverse Television is part of the Metaverse Broadcasting Company, dedicated to using Virtual Worlds to construct and engage a global audience.


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A Muscatine man lives to talk after a close encounter with a bobcat.
This survival story represents a growing and shifting population for these animals. It's one reason why bobcat hunting will expand into rural Muscatine County this November.
They call Jim Huber the "Critter Gitter."
"Oh, it was a ferocious roar," he recalled.
A bobcat almost got Huber while he was mushroom hunting in Muscatine County last year.
Huber runs an animal nuisance control business in Muscatine, but this incident threw him for a loop.
"There was no doubt in my mind what this was," he remembered. "It sounded as big as an elephant."
Adrenaline and instincts kicked in between man and beast. The "Critter Gitter" got out of there pronto.
"I knew to just back out of there," he said.
While Jim Huber's bobcat encounter is more the exception than the rule. there have been a few recent sightings at Wildcat Den State Park.
Once endangered, the bobcat is a conservation success story. They're secretive, nocturnal animals about three times the size of a house cat.
Now, the bobcat population is growing and moving. It's on the move enough to allow limited bobcat hunting in Muscatine County.
"The bobcats are expanding their range in Iowa," said Conservation Officer Ed Kocal. "We decided to allow more counties."
The season begins in November for those with a fur harvesting license. It will include nearly half of Iowa's counties.
"Hunters are already accidentally trapping these animals," said Muscatine naturalist Dave Bakke. "That gave them the indication the population was starting to increase."
That's just fine for Jim Huber, considering his brush with the bobcat.
"I feel lucky," he concluded. "But I also feel lucky that I got to have that encounter. It was an experience."
It was quite an experience for the "Critter Gitter."


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It's that time of the year again folks.
GT's annual NBA Rookie Mock Draft will be up and going soon, so make sure to ask GTucker about it and also check out the NBA Section of the Forums.
Right now we have a discussion up for everyone to take part in!
The team and I are looking for dedicated writers who love sports and love to write about them. Are you interested? We would like to have an abundance of writers for the most popular sports, and even the less popular. Just a little something that will help this site and also give members a chance to see what real writers think about their favorite sport, team(s), etc. If you are a writer already, or are just interested in writing about your team and sport for the fun of it, send me a message here to provide your info. Just send a message to my profile (GTucker) and I will send a sheet for you to fill out just so I know what to expect.
We're beginning to get some writers coming through. Make sure you check out our Blog. Find out what Columnist Gary Cooper has to say about the MLB and his predictions! Stay tuned for more guys as time progresses.
You can also send me a message if you're interested in joing my team here at Sports Forums and Memorabilia. I need some dedicated people to help promote and get this up and running.
Thanks! -GTucker
Speaking of writers, check out one of our own writers blogs, in the blog section. Get the feel with what's going on in sports, as well as what is on blogger's mind, as well as his partner. "A daily blog about everything sports!"
Follow Gary's blog, as well as others in our Blog Section! Great blogs, written by great people!
Check out our Sports Threads in the Community part of our site. Voice your opinions on any sports you'd like. Show what you know with some of the world's best minds according to sports. Think you know the most about sports and your favorite teams? Discuss your teams with fellow dedicated fans and prove your point against your biggest rivals!
Our Community has a never-ending supply of sports to discuss. Check it all out!
Look at Iowa's favorite pic enjoy!
If HE IS COMPLAINING JUST POST THIS!


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May 3, 2014
Box Score
PDF Game 1 Box Score
PDF Game 2 Box Score
LAKE CHARLES, La. - For the second straight year, the Lamar Lady Cardinals' season comes down to the final day of the season.
The Lady Cardinals find themselves needing a win at Southland Conference leader McNeese State on Sunday or a Central Arkansas loss to visiting Northwestern State to earn a berth in next weekend's Southland Conference Tournament.
Last season, Lamar got into the tournament with a walk-off win over Houston Baptist in the final game of the season.
"We just have to do what we did last season," Lamar coach Holly Bruder said. "We're going to keep fighting until the final out."
Lamar (20-29 overall, 12-13 Southland) saw its Southland Conference streak reach eight games after dropping a doubleheader at McNeese State by scores of 9-1 and 9-0 on Saturday, with both games ending early because of the mercy rule. Meanwhile, Central Arkansas split with Nicholls on Saturday to move to 12-13 in conference play as well, putting the Lady Cardinals and Bears into a tie for the sixth and final spot in the tournament. Lamar holds the tie breaker over Central Arkansas by virtue of sweeping the three meetings between the teams.
Lamar took a 1-0 lead in the first inning of the opener thanks to Casey Cromwell's eighth home run of the season. That was the only run McNeese State starter Jamie Allred allowed, as she scattered six hits over six innings, striking out five.
McNeese State (37-15, 19-6) responded with three runs of its own in the bottom of the first and never looked back. The Cowgirls scored in every inning but the second, ending the game via the mercy rule on Stacey Conley's pinch-hit solo home run.
Tina Schulz (9-14) took the loss, allowing six hits and five runs, four earned, over three innings. Shannon Millman allowed seven hits and four runs, three earned, in 2 1/3 innings of relief.
Things got away from the Lady Cardinals quickly in the nightcap, as McNeese State scored four runs without getting a ball out of the infield in the first inning, as the Cowgirls took advantage of three Lamar errors.
Lamar never recovered, getting just three hits off or Rachel Smith (8-4). The Cowgirls added four more runs in the third and one in the fourth. The game ended after the top of the fifth due to the mercy rule.
Lauren Dannelley (3-3) took the loss, allowing 10 hits and nine runs, four earned, in four innings.
Candyce Carter had three hits on the day for Lamar.
Sunday's game against McNeese State starts at 1 p.m. The Nicholls at Central Arkansas contest is set for a noon start.
"We definitely need to clean up our defense," said Bruder, who saw her team make at least one error for the 16th straight game. "Our pitching and defense has to keep us in games and our offense has to come through to help us win."


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Richmond, VA (SportsNetwork.com) - Treveon Graham registered 24 points and eight rebounds off the bench to lead the Virginia Commonwealth Rams past the Northeastern Wildcats, 79-66, in non-conference action at the Siegal Center.
Graham shot 9-of-12 from the field, including 4-of-4 from beyond the arc for VCU (5-2). Juvonte Reddic tallied a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Melvin Johnson pitched in 13 points.
For Northeastern (2-5), David Walker led the way with 19 points. Scott Eatherton added 17 points, eight rebounds and four assists, while T.J. Williams and Zach Stahl poured in 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Both teams shot greater than 51 percent from the field in the first half, but VCU was able to carry a 37-34 lead into intermission by earning extra possession by forcing nine Northeastern turnovers.
The Wildcats tied the game up at 49-49 on a Williams layup with 13:11 left, but the Rams answered on their next possession with a Rob Brandenberg 3- pointer to give them a lead they'd never relinquish.
VCU won despite a poor night from the foul line (7-of-17).
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Alcohol Ads in Magazines Drop Dramatically
Viewing of ads for alcoholic beverages in magazines by young people age 12-20 fell almost one half (48%) between 2001 and 2008 according to the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY). That includes viewing by adults age 18, 19 and 20. Viewing by adults age 21 and older fell 29% during the same period.
Alcohol beverage ads have virtually disappeared from magazines with more than 30% readership by adults age 21 and older. It the words of CAMY, it "fell to almost nothing."
Since 2003, the three major alcohol producer trade associations (the Beer Institute, the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States and the Wine Institute) have all voluntarily imposed 30 percent as the maximum permissible under-age-21 readership composition for magazine ad placements.
CAMY points out that in recent years alcohol marketers have gone so far as to place alcohol beverage advertising in special editions of publications for which the "full run" editions have significant youth audiences. These editions of Spin, Vibe, Sports Illustrated, ESPN The Magazine, Rolling Stone and Jane have typically been sent to qualifying subscribers age 21 and older.
CAMY concludes that alcohol companies have "almost universally" met the rigorous standards they set in 2003 for maximum youth audience composition of magazines in which they would place their advertising.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has earlier commended the alcohol beverage producers for their very high level of compliance with their advertising codes.
Some segments are doing better than others. CAMY found that although youth exposure to distilled alcohol ads fell by 62 percent in national magazines as a whole, it rose by 57% for beer ads.
Alcohol beverage producers also place numerous ads promoting the responsible consumption of their products, including not drinking and driving and discouraging drinking by those under the age of 21. The CAMY study did not examine responsibility ads.
- Center for Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY). Youth Exposure to Alcohol Advertising in National Magazine, 2001-2008. Baltimore, MD: Center for Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY), August 10, 2010.
Readings on Alcohol Advertising
- AdAge Special Report on leading national advertisers ranked by total advertising spending in the U.S. Advertising Age, June 28, 2004, p. S-2.
- Bloomberg News, FTC Says Alcohol Type Not Aimed at Minors. Los Angeles Times (June 5, 2002).
- Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY). Overexposed: Youth as a Target of Alcohol Advertising in Magazines. Washington, DC: Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY), 2002.
- Hacker, George, R. Collins and Michael Jacobson. Marketing Booze to Blacks. Washington, DC: Center for Science in the Public Interest, 1987
- Connolly, G. M., Casswell, S., Zhang, J-F., and Silva, P. A. Alcohol in the mass media and drinking by adolescents: A longitudinal study. Addiction, 1994, 89, 1255-1263.
- Federal Trade Commission. Alcohol Marketing and Advertising: A Report to Congress. Washington, DC: Federal Trade Commission, 2003.
- Fisher, Joseph C. Advertising, Alcohol Consumption, and Abuse: A Worldwide Survey. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993, p. 150.
- Jernigan, David. Selling booze to our babies. Albuquerque Tribune Online, 8-28-03. David Jernigan heads the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY). The "babies" to whom he refers include adults age 18, 19 and 20.
- Melillo, W. FTC: Ads for "Alcopops" Not Aimed at Teens, Adweek (June 6, 2002)
- Nelson, J.P and Young, D.J. Meta-Analysis of Alcohol Advertising Bans: Cumulative Econometric Estimates of Regulatory Effects. Pennsylvania State University and Montana State University, January, 2003
- Sanders, James. Alcohol Advertisements Do Not Encourage Alcohol Abuse Among Teens. In: Wekesser, Carol (ed.) Alcoholism. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1994. Pp. 132-135, p. 133.
- Snyder, Susan. Ruling could put alcohol ads back in college newspapers. A federal court overturned a Pa. law that banned paid alcohol ads. Schools and their student papers are assessing the impact. Philadelphia Inquirer, August 4, 2004.
See Also
Filed Under: Alcohol Advertising


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Posts in Design (15)
Making your own Shanghai street sign
At my recent engagement party we had designed some personalised Shanghai street signs! A lot of people asked me how to make one, so I thought I'd provide a tutorial.
If you're not familiar with Shanghai street signs, this is how modern signs look! You'll still find older green signs around Shanghai, but all signs in central Shanghai use the new format.
My first step was to recreate the shapes, colors and fonts in Illustrator. If you don't have Illustrator you can download a 30 day trial version from Adobe as part of Creative Cloud.
You can download my completed Illustrator AI file here.
For fonts I'm using 黑体-简 for the Chinese text and Helvetica for the English text. You can substitute similar fonts if you don't have those on your computer.
It's best to convert text to outlines before sending to a printer - you can do that in Type > Create Outlines.
Next, I contacted a printer: I can recommend PicJoy in Shanghai - you can email them on print at picjoy.com. For 2 copies on A2 sized foam board, 1 side printing, matt lamination, they quoted me just 50 RMB.
In 1-3 days you should receive your street signs! You can easily cut them out of the board using an Exacta knife and a ruler.
If you make your own Shanghai street sign, do send us a picture!
Helping Local Entrepreneurs
LeiPing, originally from Sichuan, has been successfully running her own business as a masseuse and skincare specialist here in Shanghai for over 8 years.
How can we help small-size entrepreneurs in a way that enables them and their business to reach out to new markets?
We took a short break from our usual work and designed a brochure and business card for Lei Ping. This allows her to build her brand, and find new clients, Chinese and foreign alike.
It was good to step out of our daily routine and design for print for a day. Now, back to apps!
If you want to schedule an appointment, please contact Lei Ping at 136 3632 6672, or connect with her on WeChat (Jessicaleiping).
One small catch, she only treats women.
ReignDesign's Map of Shanghai
Last month, visiting graphic designer Anja Riese created a colorful and abstract map of Shanghai. It was her love for the city that inspired her to create this map. "I really like that the team of ReignDesign comes from all over the world. With all the different cultural backgrounds, I think it's nice to get an idea of what they like about the city."
The ReignDesign map of Shanghai is now ready for distribution! If you would like a copy, feel free to swing by our office to pick one up: Park Space Innovation Center, 169 Mengzi Road, Building 3, Unit 301-302. Or contact us, and we'll be happy to mail it to you.
July App Love
Here are the apps that the RD team finds themselves using a lot, or are inspired by feature-, or design-wise in July:
AppJamm: 8 ways to make your app amazing
This weekend the ReignDesign team are helping out at AppJamm, an exciting event where teams will concept, design and pitch a mobile app in 45 hours. I was asked to give the kickoff speech to inspire the teams into making something amazing!
At ReignDesign, we've had a lot of experience making apps for our clients, as well as our own apps and games. Here are eight things we've learned about making amazing apps, together with examples of apps that get it right.
First, do one thing well. In a smartphone app, you have the user's full attention. Help them accomplish something. Identify a pain point and solve it for the user in the simplest way you can. There's a temptation to stuff in as many features as you can into the first version of your app, to make it more attractive or sticky. But in practice, this doesn't work. Apps which fulfil a single task well will succeed better.
A good example of that is this Android app called ShopSavvy. It's really simple to use - imagine you're in a book store. You scan a barcode and the app will load information about the book: prices from online retailers and reviews, to help you make a better buying decision.
Second, focus on your audience. Who are your audience? What problems, pain points do they have? How much might they be willing to pay to solve the problem?
So, why did I pick this image to illustrate the slide? This is a Kenyan farmer. Kenyan farmers are a valid audience for an app, they have pain points that need solving. But I'm not a Kenyan farmer. And that makes it really hard for me to get into their mindset. So initially, think about problems that you encounter yourself - would you use this app? Do you have access to the audience you are targeting for testing?
Here's a great example of an app which understands its audience. IA Writer is an iPad app which is targeted as people who need to write - journalists, authors. They want a distraction free environment. So IA Writer has been designed with these people in mind. The user interface is really stripped back to the essentials. But they've included tools that writers will find useful, like a word count.
Next, think about spontaneous use. Most smartphone sessions are very short. The user wants to get in, do a task, get out. Here's a classic example. A commuter waiting for a train - and she's pulled out her phone for a few seconds or minutes. You need to account for this behaviour. Make your app start really fast. And focus on the most important information on the first screen.
Don't forget that most people spend most of their time on other people's apps. So don't break their expectations with your app. If your navigation system is totally different to the way most apps work, people will get confused and leave.
A great example of this is the Tripit app for iPhone. Tripit lets you store your travel itineraries in one place.
Last week I was catching a flight to Singapore and I knew I was running a little late. I pulled up Tripit on my phone, and on the first screen it gave me all the information I needed to know: the flight number, and how long until it departed. I didn't have to go hunting through menus to find it: the app was smart enough to give me the information I needed.
The latest smartphones are packed with sensors. That lets us answer important questions like:
- - what time is it (clock)?
- - where am I (GPS/Wifi location)
- - which way is my device oriented, which way am I facing, am I moving (accelerometer, gyroscope, compass)
- - what can i see (camera)
- - what can i hear (microphone)
Think about interesting ways you can use all these sensors. And what makes these sensors much more exciting is when you mash it up with data from other sources. For example, with a time and a location you can pull up weather information, or nearby points of interest.
An app called Nearest Tube uses the iPhone's camera and sensors to create an "augmented reality" view of the world. You can move your phone around and see the location of the nearest metro stations shown on your iPhone screen. And imagine mashing this up with live data: if there are delays on a line, or a station is closed, this can be shown right on the display.
Before smartphones and tablets became mainstream, most of the ways we interacted with our computers and phones were indirect: mouse, keyboard, buttons, stylus. But now the primary interaction model is touch. We can use our fingers to directly act on content. Drag things around. Stretch and squish them. Most people find the touch model much more intuitive. If its appropriate, try to model real world objects in your app.
Apple's app GarageBand is a great example of this. It lets you play all sorts of virtual instrument - like a guitar. And notice the way as the user's finger plucks the string, the string actually moves and warps. That's providing instant feedback that the user's gesture is working. If you can provide that combination of direct touch manipulation and instant feedback, you can create a magical and intuitive user experience.
Your first version of an idea may be flawed. That's OK. Any great app idea has to go through a process of iteration and testing. It's vital to get early and frequent feedback. So while you're working on your app idea, be sure to get input from other people. Show them sketches, see how they would interact with your idea. Test names and ideas. The process of iteration needs to happen both before launch (the concept phase) and after launch, via listening to customers, and providing app updates.
One of our own apps, Pig Rush, was launched a couple of years ago. We thought we'd made a pretty cute and fun game. We contacted all the big review sites, told our families and friends, posted the news on Facebook and Twitter, and excitedly waited to see our first day's sales report. We made $6. Only six people had bought our app. And the second day was even worse!
What was the problem? We knew the game was fun. So, we went back and did more testing. We listened to the feedback of the people who'd bought the app. We tweaked the controls, added highscores, created new themes. We tried changing the price. We launched new versions to the app store. Still, it took 4 months of iteration before we started making more than $10 a day. But it was worth it: we ended up with a much better game, and Pig Rush has now been downloaded over 3 million times on iOS and Android.
Developing an app is tough! But there are lots of ways to take shortcuts. You can learn many insights before you ever write a single line of code. Create simple mockups and prototypes, with tools like Balsamiq and Graffletopia are great for making concept mockups. Low-fidelity is great. A simple pen and paper sketch can help you explain a concept. If it doesn't work, throw it away.
And "faking" can even be part of a real product.
This is Aardvark. As a startup, they prototyped lots of ideas about how to connect people who have questions, to the right experts in their social graph who could answer them.
They gave the simple prototypes to a bunch of people and saw how the interacted with them. But initially, there wasn't any real backend to the service to match askers and answerers. Instead a bunch of humans would answer questions and assign them. It worked well enough to prove that one concept resonated with users, and then they could get the funding to develop the backend for real. And eventually Aaardvark were acquired by Google for $50 million.
Finally, do something worthwhile. Apps are a very competitive industry. Most ideas fail - and if you're going to fail, do something worth failing for.
Alexis Madrigal recently wrote in the Atlantic:
Get four college kids in a room, fuel them with pizza, and see what thing they can crank out that their friends might like. Yay! Great! But you know what? They keep tossing out products that look pretty much like what you'd get if you took a homogenous group of young guys in any other endeavor: Cheap, fun, and about as worldchanging as creating a new variation on beer pong.
This weekend at AppJamm you have access to some amazing people to create ideas with. So, think beyond a better version of beer pong, and think about our theme: what you can do to help the "Global Good"?
This app called SpillMap was created after the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It allowed people to "crowdsource" their photos, and pinpoint the locations of places where they found oil on beaches, or wildlife that had been affected. The overview helped get the attention of local politicians and direct cleanup efforts.
A final thought. 43 years ago humans sent man to the moon. The smartphone in your pocket today is thousands of times more powerful than the computers that NASA used to control the mission.
So - think big. Do a global good. And have fun at AppJamm!


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Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 has two flagship devices–the HTC 8X and the Lumia 920. Both these devices have been received well by the lucky few who got to review them. In HTC's favor is the wide-angle camera and the light & thin form-factor. In Nokia's favor is the NFC, PureView camera and exclusive apps, it's weight being a huge letdown. The difference between the two was the price. According to a preemptive pre-order initiative by Best Buy, the Lumia 920 was priced at $149 while the 8X was $99. It was tough choice which made me hold back on pre-ordering either phones through Best Buy. Turns out, it was a wise move.
Earlier today, AT&T announced prices for the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820, and they are a good bargain. The Lumia 920 is priced at $99 & the Lumia 820 is $49, both on a two-year contract. In addition to these attractive prices, Lumia buyers will be getting a free wireless charging plate, that costs $49. For anyone in the market to buy a smartphone this holiday season, the Lumia 920 is a very enticing choice. The ones who wanted to buy an iPhone 5, already got theirs. The ones who didn't, are still on the fence; they're like the undecided voters (go vote America!). The price of the phone and the free charging plate in addition to exclusive apps, better maps, features like music streaming, Nokia has a lot to offer if the sales representatives get the word out. Microsoft's pop-up stores will definitely help the company.
Windows Phone 8 brings in several innovative features for an everyday regular user, and has features that competitors are trumpeting. For example:
If you go to Apple's iOS6 page, here's are the features they're promoting:
- Maps (they suck, and everyone knows that by now.)
- Siri (good improvements, still useless)
- Facebook integration (Windows Phone 7 has had this)
- Shared photo streams (SkyDrive, that's a Microsoft product)
- Passbook (pretty neat, actually)
- FaceTime (Skype)
- Phone (love the geo-fencing features)
- Mail (inline photos is nice)
- Safari (IE10's not bad at all)
- Find my Phone & Friends (WP7 has Find my phone, but not friends)
- Panorama (it's actually very easy to use)
Now let's look at what Windows Phone 8 offers:
- Interactive Start screen (it's actually a big deal being able to track people & apps acting like tiny widgets)
- SD Storage (sorry iPhone users, you can't simply transfer pics between devices without a cord)
- Rooms (shared OneNote, Calendar & location sharing makes this very unique)
- Kids Corner (seems like a useless feature to the 20-something hipster, but if you're elder brother or parent, you'll want this)
- DataSense (useful to everyone who owns a smartphone, depends on carriers though)
- Enterprise-readiness (this is huge!)
- Wallet (a good attempt that needs developer & merchant adoption, Passbook wins here)
- Office (no, iWork doesn't come close to the fidelity Office on Windows Phone offers)
- Bing's music tagging and local scout–very useful
As I said in an earlier piece, Joe Belfiore introduced Windows Phone 8 as an operating system for humans, not tech enthusiasts. The new OS has pretty much everything Apple's iOS6 has to offer, barring some features while compensating for those with its own personalisation and communication capabilities. When it comes to the hardware, there's something similar. Windows Phone 8 hardware pushes the envelope of phones to beyond what Apple has stuck to. iPhone 5 is purely a form factor upgrade. The chips have gone smaller, the phone's lighter and thinner; it offers nothing new in terms of features. Nothing. As opposed to Nokia. Let's take a look.
Here's what Apple promotes on their iPhone 5 page:
- Bigger retina display (Nokia's is as big. And has a higher dpi than Retina display!)
- LTE (lol!)
- Faster processor (
A6 and Snapdragon S4 are pretty equalA6 is better than the S4)
- Camera (Lumia 920 has the same camera resolutions)
- Tinier connector
- New ear pods (HTC has Beats, Lumia 920 has Dolby Digital)
Now compare this to what Lumia 920 brings to the table:
- PureView camera (springs in the camera assembly are breakthrough technology in mobile cameras)
- NFC integration for streaming
- Wireless charging
- High sensitivity screen allowing use of gloves
If I have to, I will stand in line for the Lumia 920. The phones will be available from November 9th, and AT&T begins pre-orders from November 7th. Long story short, Microsoft and Nokia have pushed the envelope with Lumia 920 and Windows Phone 8, something Apple failed miserably at with iOS6 & iPhone 5.


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Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, December 1997, Pages 7-8, 92
Mossad: An Agency With a Licence to Kill
Bungled Amman Assassination Plot Exposes Rift Within Israeli Government Over Peace Negotiations
By Victor Ostrovsky
There is only one thing more dangerous than an intelligence agency with a license to kill, and that is such an organization in the hands of a prime minister like Binyamin Netanyahu. The latest fiasco in Jordan can attest to that.
The decision-making process used by Netanyahu can be compared to that of a drunk driver trying to maneuver a truckload of volatile explosives in an unmarked mine field. His lack of personal integrity and common sense complicate the matter. His adversaries are unaware (as he is himself) of what it is he really wants. This makes it impossible for them to compromise, even if they want to.
Netanyahu promised the Israeli public peace and security while campaigning for the May 1996 election after spending much of 1995 calling then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin a traitor and standing by without protest while his own right-wing followers carried a mock coffin with Rabin's name on it. Whether or not it was deliberate incitement to murder, Rabin's assassination took place, opening the way to Netanyahu's election.
This year, after his election pledge of peace with security backfired, Netanyahu began scraping the bottom of his excuse barrel for reasons why he had not fulfilled his promise. Then, after the July 30 suicide bombing in West Jerusalem's Mehane Yehuda market, there was no doubt in Netanyahu's mind that he had to do something to bring an end to the wave of terror his miscalculations had brought on the people of Israel. He refused, however, to even consider allowing the peace process to move forward.
Although by doing so he would bring Arafat on board in the battle against terror, as was pointed out by the leadership of Israel's intelligence community, instead Netanyahu chose to plunge into the perpetual motion cycle of terror and counter-terror.
On July 30, Israel's security cabinet unanimously authorized the prime minister to take extreme measures in combatting Hamas, leaving the final details to his discretion.
Netanyahu then held a preliminary meeting with the heads of the intelligence community. These included Ami Ailon, head of the Shabak; Danny Yatom, head of the Mossad; Amnon Lifkin Shahak, commander-in-chief of the Israel Defense Forces; Gen. Moshe Lalon and Gen. Amos Gilad, head and deputy head of Aman,1 the national intelligence evaluation section; and Uzi Arad, the prime minister's personal intelligence adviser, a Mossad officer until six months ago in charge of analysis.
With the exception of the prime minister and Arad, the entire group opposed an assassination campaign. Ami Ailon pointed out that Shabak was barely capable of handling the situation as it was. Any further agitation of the Palestinians in the occupied territories would cause a rapid acceleration of terror and could ignite a total rebellion.
Amnon Shahak agreed, saying that the IDF would pay a high price if it had to fight a guerrilla war on two fronts, against Hamas in the occupied territories and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. The Aman representative said that such a campaign without a move on the peace front would increase the influence of Hamas in the territories and weaken Arafat. Mossad's Yatom, one of the architects of the Oslo accords, refrained from commenting, as his opinions already were known.
The meeting ended with no conclusions reached, but the prime minister said that he would consider the opinions offered. To understand what followed, it is important to note that most of Mossad's presently serving department heads were appointed by Yatom's predecessor, Shabtai Shavit, and are right-wing in their political opinions. Yatom therefore finds himself isolated in his own agency. As a mid-level officer in the agency told me recently, "He is in control, but unaware of what is going on." Said another, "Yatom is as isolated in the new pentagon-shaped headquarters [of the Mossad] as is his private elevator."
The following day, the prime minister called Yatom to his office and instructed him to prepare a list of Hamas leaders responsible for the bloody terrorist attacks. Yatom had a list ready, but pointed out that the names on the list were of members of the secret military arm of Hamas, and are not prominent figures. Their elimination would have little impact on the organization or on public opinion. Arad then suggested that they eliminate leaders on the political side of Hamas. Ultimately they are responsible, he argued. The prime minister agreed.
Yatom acceded to the prime minister's wish but hoped, as he told some of his loyal friends in the agency, that he could postpone such acts by citing operational difficulties. The leadership of Hamas, he pointed out to Netanyahu, is dispersed among countries like Syria, Libya, Iran and Jordan. Yatom concluded that the only soft Hamas target outside the occupied territories is in Jordan, and that Jordan was out of bounds because of promises made to King Hussein in 1994 when Rabin was prime minister of Israel.
There was, however, an additional discreet weekend meeting between Netanyanu, Arad and two Mossad department heads who expected Netanyahu to shorten Yatom's term as head of Mossad and replace him with Gen. Amiram Levin, presently head of the IDF northern command. With their direct line to the prime minister, such a move would put them in the running for the positions of Mossad deputy and Mossad head of operations. It was from this meeting that Netanyahu emerged convinced that Jordan should be the scene of the assassination operation, and Khaled Meshal, the political director of Hamas, would be the target.
On Sept. 19, six members of the Israeli hit squad arrived in Amman and registered at the Amman Intercontinental Hotel. Two had come on a flight from New York and registered as Canadian tourists. The others arrived from Europe, three with Canadian passports, one under the assumed name of Guy Erez, and the fourth on a French passport. All four posed as businessmen, and also had fake Egyptian passports in their possession to be left behind in the event of an accident, to point a finger in a different direction.
The passports did not attract the attention of Jordanian officials because all passports used in such operations are replicas of the real thing, and the persons to whom the real passports belong actually reside in Israel. These persons turn in their passports willingly, and promise not to report them stolen. Unknown to them, however, they are unable to leave the country while their passports are in use by Mossad agents unless they are active, in which case their addresses and phone numbers are used as umbilical cords for operatives in the field.
The two triggermen, using the names of Shawn Kendall, 28, and Barry Beads, 36, set out to see the city and did not associate with the other team members. They already knew details of the plan and they went over their planned escape route.
The other agents rented a Hyundai automobile and several cellular phones. By coincidence, however, on Sept. 22 there was an attack on two security officers from the Israeli Embassy in Amman. Because this raised the fear of heightened alertness in Amman, and a possibility that there had been a leak, the operation was almost called off.
Yatom, in fact, presented these possibilities to the prime minister, but Netanyahu insisted the project be continued. The prime minister's decision probably was assisted by Yatom's adversaries in the Mossad, who assured Netanyahu that the operation was simple and that Yatom was overcautious and an impediment, in their minds, to the agency's effectiveness.
Mossad Attacks
On Sept. 25, "Kendall" and "Beads" accosted Meshal as he sought to enter his office in Amman. One stepped in front of him while the other assaulted him from behind, placing a pressure-gas injector against his neck and releasing a toxin that immediately penetrated the skin without breaking it.
As they fled, one of Meshal's two bodyguards, Mohammad Abu Saif, sprinted after them. He was gaining on them until they turned a corner and jumped into the Hyundai, driven by "Guy Erez," who was waiting for them with his motor running. Abu Saif then flagged down a passing vehicle and continued the pursuit. He caught up with them when the Hyundai stopped and the two triggermen got out, as part of a prearranged plan to switch cars.
When they saw Abu Saif, however, "Kendall" and "Beads" ran across the street and then attempted to disappear into an alley while the Hyundai sped off to the Israeli Embassy. But Abu Saif overtook them, knocked one of the two to the ground, was in turn gashed in the head, and then pushed the other triggerman down a slope, plunging after him.
At this time a Jordanian security guard who was passing by came to Saif's assistance and, together, they managed to subdue the two triggermen, get them into a taxi, and deliver them to the police.
Meanwhile the other members of the Mossad hit team sought to take refuge in the Israeli Embassy in Amman. The Mossad liaison officer in the embassy contacted Mossad headquarters in Tel Aviv to ask if the men were bona fide Israelis working for the government as they claimed. It took more than an hour for a positive response.
The reason was that hit squad operations are regarded as secret, even within Mossad. Therefore the Mossad officer in Amman and probably his normal contact in Mossad headquarters were outside the circle of those who "need to know."
During that time the two triggermen were unwilling to cooperate with Jordanian police, who still believed they had on their hands only two Canadians who had been involved in a scuffle, despite the insistence of the Hamas bodyguard that they were assassins who had just attacked Meshal.
When a Canadian diplomat arrived at the jail and offered a local lawyer, the two asked that their names be kept secret and said they had no need of assistance from the Canadian Embassy. This reaction finally aroused suspicion among the Jordanian police that the detainees were would-be assassins, as the Hamas bodyguard insisted.
By that time Meshal was in the hospital in critical condition. Jordanian interrogators then turned their attention to the two men in custody and, after several hours of intense interrogation, they broke down and admitted their real identity.
Soon negotiations were underway between Israel and Jordan in an attempt by the Israeli government to contain the storm. King Hussein warned that if Meshal died, Jordan would try the triggermen and have them publicly hanged for murder. He insisted that Israel could avoid this only by handing over the antidote the Mossad back-up team, now holed up in the Israeli Embassy in Jordan, must be carrying in case of an accident.
The Israelis insisted on the release of their agents and claimed the antidote the agents had been carrying had been discarded. They offered to send some antidote from Israel.
Hussein, not trusting Netanyahu and suspecting the antidote sent from Israel would be nothing more than another dose of poison, demanded to know what the poison was. Netanyahu, through emissaries, since at this point the king would not talk directly to Netanyahu, refused, stating the poison was a state secret. King Hussein asked U.S. President Bill Clinton to intervene. The frustrated president declared Netanyahu an impossible man, but finally the prime minister agreed. The poison was identified, the Jordanians applied the antidote, and Meshal's life was saved.
As quid pro quo, the Jordanian government allowed the Mossad back-up team holed up in the Israeli Embassy to leave for Israel. By this time some of the information was in the hands of the media, and events moved rapidly.
The king was ready to break off diplomatic relations with Israel in retaliation for Netanyahu's breaking of Rabin's promise that Mossad would not act on Jordanian soil. To forestall that, Netanyahu and some of his cabinet members traveled to Amman for secret negotiations with the king's brother, Crown Prince Hassan.
The crown prince pointed out that if there were even the slightest suspicion by Hamas or the Jordanian public that there was some Jordanian complicity in the affair, it could spell the end of the rule of the Hashemite dynasty in Jordan. Netanyahu suggested that if he released the spiritual leader of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who had spent eight years in Israeli prisons, the king would be seen as the man who brought about his release, putting a different spin on the matter. (Several months earlier, Netanyahu turned down a similar American request, saying that Sheikh Yassin's release would be a direct threat to Israeli security by bolstering Hamas.)
That offer started the negotiations, and Netanyahu at first believed that he had secured the release of his two jailed agents. In fact, however, the Jordanians insisted on getting more.
Meanwhile, the news that the Mossad hit squad had used Canadian passports struck a raw nerve in Ottawa, my home. The Israeli government had promised the Canadian government not to do this after it was revealed that Canadian passports had been used in Mossad operations in Cyprus in the mid-1980s and one in Lillehamer in the 1970s, when a Mossad hit team killed a Moroccan waiter married to a Norwegian in the mistaken belief that he was a PLO member involved in the deaths of Israeli Olympic team members in Munich.
This time Canada recalled its ambassador to Israel "for consultation," and contemplated other measures. At the same time, a Canadian reporter posted in Israel found the real Shawn Kendell, an employee of a Jewish charity, in his apartment in Tel Aviv.
After the release and return of Sheikh Yassin to Gaza, the release from Israeli jails of 20 Hamas members accused of "terrorism," and a promise of 50 more releases, the Jordanians returned the two triggermen and Netanyahu hoped that the story dubbed by the Israeli media as "the Jordanian affair" would come to an end.
In a news conference following the release of the two agents, Netanyahu vowed not to resign, calling instead for an investigative committee (made up of three members appointed by him and with no real powers) to assign responsibility for the matter.
In his speech on the subject, Netanyahu also called on the world to help him fight terrorism, seemingly unaware of the irony of holding out an olive branch only hours after he had retrieved two would-be assassins he had sent to a neighboring friendly country on a mission of death.
Despite the probable cooperation of the U.S. and possibly also of the Canadian press, the consequences of the affair may be difficult to smooth over. As a Canadian, I am as appalled today as I was when I was a member of the Mossad by the misuse of Canadian passports (which I reported in my two books on my experiences in the Mossad), which endangers every traveling Canadian in the world.
Equally appalling is the effort by the Netanyahu government and by a former Canadian ambassador to Israel, Norman Spector, now the editor of the Jerusalem Post, to try to implicate Canada in this affair, in order to mitigate the outrage against Israel.
Spector suggested that there must have been some cooperation between the two countries that led to Israeli misuse of Canadian passports. By deliberately circulating this charge of Canadian government complicity, both Spector and Netanyahu turned Canada and Canadians into legitimate targets for Hamas. If his charge is untrue, as I believe it is, this former Canadian ambassador has abused the trust Canada placed in him in a treasonous manner.
In addition to the mess Netanyahu has created for his own people, there is a side to this fiasco that to date has not been touched upon by the Western press, although it should be. Netanyahu, and his predecessors, are endangering all of the Jewish communities in the diaspora by the casual use of their members by the Mossad. Convicted U.S. spy for Israel Jonathan Jay Pollard is an example of how an insecure and unstable non-Israeli Jew is exploited and then abandoned by Israel after serving her. (Netanyahu already has missed more than one opportunity to get Pollard freed.)
This is only one example of how callous the Israeli government has been in recruiting sananyim—supporters within foreign Jewish communities—to betray the countries in which they live and thus make Jewish citizens of every country in the world suspect in the eyes of their countrymen.
Middle East politics is a delicate balancing act. To participate, one must have a plan or a road map for a journey that, despite its twists and turns, will bring the leader and his people to a pre-determined destiny. In other words, a vision.
Rabin was such a leader. Netanyahu is not.
Incredibly, I believe that Netanyahu, who thinks of himself as another "comeback kid," feels that he still can come out of this disgraceful affair a winner. Right now he is seeking to pin the blame on Yatom. If he succeeds to the extent that he can get rid of his cautious Mossad director, he may regard the whole operation as a plus.
The most damaging aspect of this whole catastrophe, in my opinion, is the fact that Israel has proven once again that it does not honor its own word, and that it has no respect for the rights of others.
Its successive governments still live by the Mossad motto, "By way of deception, thou shalt do war."
1.Gilad was the officer who in 1982 warned of the massacre of Palestinians about to take place in the Sabra Shatilla camps. His communication was strangely "misplaced."
2.The real Erez was found in Toronto claiming that he had no knowledge of the fact that his passport was used, although it was strange for a Mossad agent to be using a Hebrew name as cover in an Arab country when he could have taken any name at all.
Victor Ostrovsky, a former Mossad case officer, has written two books about his experiences, By Way of Deception: The Making and Unmaking of a Mossad Officer and The Other Side of Deception: A Rogue Agent Exposes the Mossad's Secret Agenda. Both are available through the AET Book Club. Mr. Ostrovsky also has written a novel based upon Mossad operations entitled Lion of Judah.


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Cornel West tells UNC students: "Try again, fail again, fail better"
Audience members snapped their fingers, the popping noises reverberating across the auditorium, in agreement with Cornel West's words.
"Try again, fail again, fail better. We all fall on our face," West said.
But the question is, he asked, what kind of people are we when we bounce back?
On Friday, last day of Black History Month, West spoke to a packed audience at UNC-Chapel Hill's Memorial Hall about the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and race issues affecting both North Carolina and the world.
West lectures around the country at institutions and on TV shows about race, poverty and injustice. He is a Princeton graduate and professor and also has taught at the Union Theological Seminary, Yale, Harvard and the University of Paris. He made his film debut in the Matrix. He has collaborated with artists such as Prince and Andre 3000 on spoken-word albums.
In a market-driven society fueled by the desire for power, money and status, freedom fighters with a foundation based in sacrifice and love are harder to find, he said.
"I am who I am because somebody loves me," West said. When people think about MLK, "you think about a love warrior."
He said when civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois wrote "The Ordeal of Mansart" in 1957, Martin Luther King became the answer to the questions raised in his novel.
How does integrity face oppression? What does honesty do in the face of deception? What does decency do in the face of insult? And how does virtue meet brute force?
"Justice can only be rescued by something greater than justice, meaning love," West said.
Before Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis in 1968, his popularity was dwindling among both blacks and whites. Auditoriums weren't filled to hear his speeches. Black preachers even dissuaded people from listening to him.
West said while he grew up in Sacramento, Calif., he saw firsthand the intense police surveillance and economically depressed neighborhoods that became everyday life for his brothers and sisters.
He added that when individuals become highly successful, they also are in danger of becoming well-adjusted to indifference, and more money in the U.S. must flow into high-quality education and decent housing for low-income families.
But "when it comes to prison, Lord behold, the money flows," he said.
West also spoke of the raw message of Negro spirituals and of blues music, contrasting that piece of black history with the one-dimensional purpose of music today, to entertain.
"These days, young folk, not enough voices, too many echoes," he said. "... Folks can be successful and not even sing in tune. They don't even take the time to learn how to harmonize."
Individuals need to stand up for what's right, to take notice of injustices and respond in such a way that shows love rather than revenge, West said.
Harriet Tubman said she would have saved more slaves if they realized they were part of slavery. Sleep-walking, West called it. Martin Luther King's biggest challenge was breaking through the "n*****ization of black people," or the spread of societal fear among African-Americans at the time.
West also called upon the story of 14-year-old Emmett Till, who was brutally murdered in 1955 after supposedly flirting with a white woman while visiting family in Mississippi.
His mother, Mamie, held an open-casket funeral in Chicago, showing the world what racism did to her son.
"I don't have a minute to hate," she said at the funeral. "I'll pursue justice for the rest of my life."
West said there's importance in carrying forward the missions and memories of freedom fighters, not just of MLK, but also of those who may have never been named.
"Let us never, ever forget the love, the vision, the courage."


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Published on: December 9, 2010
Some guys have NO shame -- first, RANDY TRAVIS stole his dentist's wife - and now the lovebirds are shacking up in the guy's house!
The recently divorced country legend has moved in with Mary Beougher, and the couple - who are both 51 - are playing house at her place in Plano, Texas.
"Randy persuaded Mary to kick her ex-husband out of their family home so he could move in," an insider told The ENQUIRER.
"He promised Mary he'd marry her when he was finally single.
"But now that he's divorced and settled into her place, Randy's no longer talking about a wedding."
For the full story - it's only in The ENQUIRER - on sale now!


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If you are a fan of rustic charm and the elegance of chic, then you will find a perfect balance in the style known as Rustic Chic. Combing the best of both into one entity, rustic chic brings a homely yet classy appeal to your item of design. In this case, we are focusing on rustic chic wedding invitations, in varied themes but in essence the same style. Let us find out more about how your wedding invitations can be inspired from rustic chic styling.
Let us first understand the two styles infused in one before embarking on the style known as rustic chic. Rustic had more of a homely and affordable appeal, before it was revamped to convey sophistication and trendiness while still being affordable. Wood and earthly elements is important to a rustic style, beautiful and unique pieces of wood, to polished surfaces and twigs tie very well into the rustic charm. From beautiful latticework to clean lines and patterns are held hand in hand with it, which is mostly done in contrasting shades of earthy colours, from the white and off-whites and cream to brown and shades of beige. When you take rustic wedding invitations and a rustic wedding theme, you might find yourself with wooden like textures or polished look that carry sophistication as a whole.
Chic on the other hand, as a style means to be stylish or smart, bringing in some form of control into the range of possibilities. Therefore, when you combine chic with a rustic style, you bring in elegance to a sophisticated element, making it cleaner and more appealing. Therefore, when you opt for rustic chic wedding invites coupled with a rustic chic wedding theme, you find yourself with a balance between two opposite style elements, cohesively united for a grand and elegant effect.
When you take wedding invites to be rustic chic, you find yourself with browns, cream, off-white hues, and the odd brilliant white in the mix. Mostly, you find yourself with wood textures as the base or background paper with dark brown text, but also, white or off-white with dark brown text works out well too. Embossing or texture paper is quite lovely and can be included in this styling, with the likes of letter pressing as the finer details on your wedding invite cards. Try out a few options that are available in this theme, by trying out accessories and accents and ordering samples so you can visually assess which one to decide on as the winning wedding invitation for your special day.