text: LAFAYETTE, La., Sept. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- PetroQuest Energy, Inc. (NYSE: PQ) announced today that the Company's bank group has completed its semi-annual re-determination of its borrowing base under its credit facility. As a result, the Company's $100 million borrowing base has been reaffirmed. The Company currently has no borrowings outstanding on its revolving credit facility and is in compliance with the financial covenants under the credit facility. The next re-determination of the borrowing base is scheduled to occur before March 31, 2011. About the Company PetroQuest Energy, Inc. is an independent energy company engaged in the exploration, development, acquisition and production of oil and natural gas reserves in the Arkoma Basin, East Texas, South Louisiana and the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico. PetroQuest's common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker PQ. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks, trends and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Among those risks, trends and uncertainties are our ability to find oil and natural gas reserves that are economically recoverable, the volatility of oil and natural gas prices and significantly depressed natural gas prices since the middle of 2008, the uncertain economic conditions in the United States and globally, the declines in the values of our properties that have resulted in and may in the future result in additional ceiling test write-downs, our ability to replace reserves and sustain production, our estimate of the sufficiency of our existing capital sources, our ability to raise additional capital to fund cash requirements for future operations, the uncertainties involved in prospect development and property acquisitions or dispositions and in projecting future rates of production or future reserves, the timing of development expenditures and drilling of wells, hurricanes and other natural disasters, including the impact of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on our present and future operations, and the operating hazards attendant to the oil and gas business. In particular, careful consideration should be given to cautionary statements made in the various reports PetroQuest has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. PetroQuest undertakes no duty to update or revise these forward-looking statements. Click here for more information: http://www.petroquest.com/news.html?=BizID=1690&1=1 SOURCE PetroQuest Energy, Inc.


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Greetings, vodes!
I've been reading the forums for months now, and have spent a lot of time contemplating the Mando armor I want to design. I'm just now working up the nerve to actually reach out to others for help and advice as I prepare to get started on my armor. Besides, it'll be the perfect winter project.
I'm creating the armor for my own Mandalorian character. I'm no longer certain what era he's from, but he's Jedi-trained, and his parents were Mandalorian. He's a fringer, has a ship, does smuggling and bounty hunting jobs, and largely only wants to be left alone. His lightsaber is crafted from some Beskar he managed to obtain. The bio is still a work in progress, so bear with me if some of its a bit lame...
I want to make the helmet first, as I feel the rest of the armor should be built around it. I was thinking of using the Rubies Boba, though I've read on here that it's pretty small. I'm not very big (I'm 5'8", 150 pounds or thereabout), so I thought it might still work for me, but what would all of you recommend? Oh, and here's a picture of the coloring I want for the helmet:
Also, could anyone point me to a thread or page that has a list of tools and other things that I'll need for working on the helmet? I've seen threads that have mentioned one tool or another, and haven't found a comprehensive list yet.
After asking all of my questions, I'll show you all a picture of the one thing I have been able to start on: the lightsaber, which I started building earlier this year with interlocking pieces of heavy piping. Here's a picture of it so far:

subset: commoncrawl


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From Pea-Nutty 1998-2012's Dogster Photos[ View profile page ]
|"I loved the sunshine and fresh air!"
My loves that it looks like you got a little snarl look going on.
You're not only a beautiful Chi but it looks like you live in a very beautiful place!! Great pic pal!
Tons of love, Mini and Kiki
Tons of love, Mini and Kiki
savour the moment! :)
Beautiful pics... been sitting here looking at all your stuff! been awhile since I visited your pages.... so sorry... they are so entertaining...easy to get lost here...right now, anything that grows is beautiful to us... still have snowbanks! kisses, mazy,baby and angel foxie


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Sex offender pleads guilty to harassment in West Seattle incident
by Tim Clifford
When discussing the crimes of violent sex offender Michael Stanley it may be easier to break them down by the locations where they were committed.
On Tuesday Stanley pleaded guilty to charges of harassment and resisting arrest during an incident in a West Seattle alleyway in October. Stanley had been held on $100,000 bail, an unusually high amount for these crimes so that the King County Prosecutor's office could investigate a sexual assault that is alleged to have occurred at the same time as the charges Stanley plead guilty to. Stanley was sentenced to two months in prison.
Last fall Stanley re-entered the United States from Canada where he had tallied up an extensive record of sex crimes. Cutting off the electronic monitoring bracelet that had been placed on him he made his way across the border and into the west Seattle area. Previously convicted of first degree burglary and DUI in Washington State, Stanley found himself in trouble once again on Oct. 22 in alley behind a residence in West Seattle.
In this instance Stanley had allegedly lured a sixteen-year-old boy into the alley way with alcohol and proceeded to sexually assault him. The boy struggled, pulled a knife and managed to run away. Those living in houses nearby called police, reporting yelling and loud noises in the alleyway. One resident who began yelling out of his window at Stanley to be quiet was answered with threats of physical violence. When police arrived, Stanley resisted arrest but was ultimately detained and charged. A trial for the sexual assault case has yet to be set.
Credit for time served as well as a suspension of 154 days from the 364-day sentence for harassment means that Stanley will be eligible for release on March 10. According to an official press release from the Seattle City Attorney's office Stanley must "provide a DNA sample; obey written anti-harassment orders protecting the three victims; not violate criminal law; have no alcohol or drug offenses; abstain from marijuana; undergo chemical dependency treatment; possess no weapons, and update the court on his current address".
As of this writing Stanley is recognized as being homeless.
We encourage our readers to comment. No registration is required. We ask that you keep your comments free of profanity and keep them civil. They are moderated and objectionable comments will be removed.


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Internship Opportunities
The Heidi for North Dakota Senate campaign is looking to hire paid interns now through November 6, 2012.
This isn't your typical internship; it is a hands-on learning experience where you will be exposed to a variety of tasks and projects that make a political run successfully. Whether it is working with the Finance, Scheduling, Political, Research or the Communications team, you will have a role in helping elect Heidi in November.
We are looking for college juniors and seniors with an interest in politics and government who are preferably majoring in political science or government. Academic credit can be arranged through your school. Full time or part time internships are available, preference to students who are available 3-5 days/week.
Please send a cover letter indicating why you want to intern for the campaign and your availability along with your resume and three references to Emily Crerand at email@example.com to top


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Housewife Hai
Schedule: From 7.00pm to 7.30pm (Mon-Fri) on Star-Plus Last Updated: 24 - Aug - 2013Aaj Ki Housewife Hai... Sab Jaanti Hai is an Indian television drama broadcast on Zee TV which replaced Afsar Bitiya. Suhasi Goradia Dhami and Anirudh Dave are the lead actors of the serial. The serial airs every Mon-Fri 7 pm on Zee TV.The show (popularly called Gaziapur Ki Housewife by a certain section of the media) is titled Housewife Hai Sab Jaanti Hai. The story revolves around a dabang cop (played by Aniruddh) and a journalist (played by Suhasi) and how the two get married and Suhasi is asked to quit her job. The show is set against the backdrop of Uttar Pradesh."Households that run like well-oiled machinery will come to a standstill and families will fall apart if these hardworking women stop doing the job they do! Yet, they are constantly made to feel like they do not make a significant contribution".Watch Aaj ki Housewife hai Sab jaanti hai ,Mon - Friday at 7 Pm Only on ZeeTv With Male Lead Aniruddh Dave and Female Lead Suhasi Dhami


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RH Embroidered Dot Bath Wrap
Mongrammed cuteness.
These are the nicest and plushes towels I have found for a reasonable price on the net...I highly recommend these towels for guest rooms.Added 9 Years Ago from Restoration Hardware
Hooded towels that are eco-friendly and cute. Personalize it so you know who it belongs to. Cute.


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The second edition of Advanced Google AdWords should be shipping to stores this week. Usually, it takes one to two weeks before a book is available on the store shelves.
Amazon is listing the ship date as April 24th; however, it would not surprise me if it shipped a few days earlier.
I have been assured by Wiley (my publisher) that the book will be available in the Kindle format by the 24th of April, but they are trying to make it available even sooner.
Update: The kindle version is now available at amazon
Regardless, before the end of the month the 2nd edition should be available online, in retail stores, and on the Kindle.
The companion site, Advanced AdWords Book should also be updated in the next week or two to reflect the new book.
You can preorder the physical book right now at Amazon.
I just received a nice image of the updated cover, which you can see here:
A lot of work went into the 2nd edition.
I hope you enjoy it


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JEFF KNAPP: Getting hook out of flesh can be tricky
The subject line on the email message was titled "ouch." It was an appropriate tag for the cyber-sent image, one taken by my friend Mark, that depicted a Rapala X-Rap with two tines of a treble hook firmly embedded in my flesh.
A few hours earlier Mark Transue and I had been fishing the Allegheny River in the East Brady area. During the summer months my boat partners and I catch a lot of fish — smallmouth bass mostly — on Rapala X-Raps. We've had many 50-plus-fish days, which also means a lot of unhooking.
It's this phase of the experience that can be tricky, as a lively fish hooked on a multi-treble hook lure has the potential for a bad ending.
During a typical year I'll log a couple "assists" in helping a guide client remove a hook implanted when a slippery fish was dropped during the unhooking process, when a dangling treble grabbed and then penetrated epidermis during the fall.
So while not a new experience, this was the first time in about 30 years that I'd been on the receiving end (the last one from an encounter with a Keystone Lake walleye and a Lindy Shadling).
This latest adventure was extra challenging. A smallmouth in the 2-pound range had t-boned the X-Rap, managing to hook itself in both the top and bottom lips; all three tines of the front treble were buried, effectively clamping shut the fish's mouth. The "lip grip" is the safest way to hold a bass as you work on it, but not much of an option in this case. As I tried to penetrate the smallie's mouth (which was still in the net at this point) with my thumb, to get somewhat of a grip on it, it thrashed. A split-second later tines of the lure's tail treble were in my 1) thumb and 2) index finger.
Ah, and interesting situation: a spirited bass with its mouth locked shut, hooked to my hand, similarly clamped in thumb and forefinger. It was clear a multi-stepped operation would need to take place before we, or at least I, would be back to the fishing. The first step was to cut the line, so the rod was untethered.
The next was to free the bass. Using long-nose pliers we were able to free one tine of the treble, open the poor bass's mouth, get the rest of the treble loose and the fish back in the river.
Now the fun part: getting the hook out of my hide. An accepted method of removing an embedded hook is to tie a piece of fishing line to the bend of the hook, push down on the eye (to ease the tension on the barb) and give it a quick yank. I carry a Baker T-handled hook remover that does the same basic thing. They're great when dealing with deep-hooked fish, as well as hooked angling partners. But this deal was more complicated, as two tines were stuck.
I asked Mark to get the side-cutters I keep on the boat's console. But as sometimes happens, in a Murphy's Law kind of way, they were missing. Fortunately, Mark had a Leatherman multi-tool in his tackle box, a new one with sharp cutters. While not as ideal as side-cutters, since the Leatherman's cutters are located behind the needle-nose portion of the tool (rather than out at the tip), I was able to work the pliers in deep enough to cut the hook hanger on the X-Rap, freeing the lure.
Then it was a matter of cutting the hook so only the two embedded tines were left. This accomplished, the hook-out did a fine and painless job of plucking out the remaining bronze. A quick wipe of the punctures with an antiseptic towelette from the first aid kit, application of a couple Band-Aids, and we were soon back to casting.
I've always believed a person should learn something from any day on the water or in the field, even during the slow days. On this one I learned the need to keep a set of side-cutters in the first aid kit, ones dedicated to such use. I was lucky Mark had the Leatherman.
This situation was one where we were able to deal with an embedded fish hook. But some circumstances call for medical attention.
According to the Internet website Web MD, you should not try to take the hook out yourself: if the hook is in or near an eye; the hook is in a joint, in a bone, or deep in muscle; you're concerned that removing the hook may damage nearby blood vessels; the person who is injured is not calm and cannot help with the procedure; or you are afraid to remove the hook.


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Best Of :: Food & Drink
We'll be honest. We went for the gelato but stayed for the accordion player, and when that beautiful septuagenarian belted "That's Amore," we had to wipe a tear from the corner of our eye. On Wednesday nights at Sonny's Gelato Café in Boca Raton, you too can be serenaded while relaxing outdoors, the wind caressing your hair as you lick a nutella and banana gelato. The Italian family who runs it knows their stuff they've got creamy, sweet cassata Siciliana, stracciatella, and zuppa Inglese gelato and it's all made healthy, with skim milk and not much fat. The only problem with Sonny's is that it tends to run out of things, as retirement home aids often schlep their entire crew over for an afternoon treat. It's therefore beneficial to show up early and often. You can't miss the mango-colored building on Federal Highway, just north of 20th Street. We also recommend the appetizers, soups, salads, panini, and classic Italian hot subs, served daily from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Psychologist Marla Reis gave up her practice last year to open Café Emunah in Fort Lauderdale with a friend and kindred spirit Rabbi Moishe Meir Lipszyc. With hip, calming décor and a rule that "only positivity is allowed," Emunah is a place where the pair hoped to offer "an experience for the senses and an oasis for the mind, body and soul." That, and really killer sushi.
New Times: Is it true that one of the menu items at Café Emunah is "a side of conversation"?
Reis: A side of table talk. It's offered in 15-minute increments. I sit tableside with guests, and if they have questions or issues as far as bringing about a greater consciousness, we could discuss it in an informal way. It's very flexible and tailored to individual needs, or we can do a group conversation.
What kind of discussions do you have?
People might ask, How can I find a husband?' or I want to increase spirituality in my life -- what can I do to increase awareness?' or I'm having a hard time getting along with my best friend what do I do?' It's a little less imposing than traditional therapy. Almost like a tune-up to help people continue in their lives. I'll have hours where I can be scheduled. I recommend making a reservation. It's $20 per 15 minutes -- much less expensive than a regular therapy session.
Speaking of people who need consciousness-raising, there's the man who sometimes carries his Walther PPK in a hollowed-out Bible. Got any favorite James Bond locations?
Well, I have investors I've spoken to about bringing the café into Manhattan! The only real James Bond locale would almost have to be the café, because it's a very modern, hip atmosphere. Oh, and my townhouse in Victoria Park.
Aiyee. If we're ever invited, we'll wear a kevlar vest.
Jean-Pierre Brehier's mother was a Cordon Bleu chef, so by the time he was five years old, the French-born chef/cooking school maestro could make a cake from scratch. At 12 he began his professional career, first learning to trim zee lambchops in a butcher shop, then braiding dough in a bread shop, and finally apprenticing in a restaurant. Before opening the Chef Jean-Pierre's Cooking School in Fort Lauderdale, he had been the proprietor for 20 years of Left Bank, one of South Florida's prime dispensers of delectable wine sauces and pouffe pastry.Jean-Pierre still has the outrageous French accent and attitude, as well as the unpredictable sense of humor that makes every class a laugh session. There was this bit of wisdom for Jean-Pierre's charges recently: "Dose people at the Bennigan-again-agains they do not love you they do not caramelize de on-yon."
New Times: Do you think you could you teach a kitchen-challenged dufus like me to cook French delicacies?
Jean-Pierre: I just believe that anybody is capable of becoming a phenomenal chef. There is only one way to slice an onion.
What's the big secret?
There are only 40 or 50 ingredients you use on a regular basis; if you learn how to handle those then you know how to cook!
Are there any exotic destinations that you would like to see that you haven't gone to yet?
I would love to go Australia. Of course, it's very English influenced and that's the problem. I don't know how good the food is going to be.
What's the coolest spy tool in your kitchen arsenal?
I have the coolest toy! It's a digital thermometer that shoots a ray of light, and it bounces back and gives the proper temperature. It is very, very cool. So you are now sure the temperature is 375 degrees by shooting this laser beam into your oil. It even looks like a gun.
We remained stoic through the mad cow scare. We refused to buckle to e. coli hysteria, and we snickered through Super Size Me. We'd never turn our back on the hamburger, our comfort food through many a dark night of the soul. But when the $100 burger arrived in South Florida (at the Boca Raton Resort), we knew we were in the End of Times. The people's snack that had evolved from chopped, salted beef favored by 19th-century German sailors into Macburger for the masses had suddenly taken a very scary turn: into pretentious Kobe beef and Argentine grass-fed steak territory. It's definitely time to get back to basics, and Prime 707's chopped beef on a bun doesn't pretend to be anything but what it is: an addictive, soothing mouthful of meat, best slathered with mayo and a shake or two from a bottle of Heinz. This is not, at $12 for ten ounces, the cheapest burger on the market. But it's made from prime, well-marbled sirloin tips and filet mignon scraps that chef/owner Tony Acinapura says are ground daily in the kitchen, then charbroiled and set inside a pillowy bun made at Le Petit Pain French bakery (twice a New Times "best of" winner). The smoky, fatty juices tend to dribble down your chin when you bite into the burger, and it comes with a mountain of perfectly respectable salted shoestring fries. In short, it thoroughly restores the good name of a sandwich that has lately been much abused and maligned.
In an era when it takes a cool couple of mil to open a restaurant with any hope of success what with the obligatory solid-gold threads in the throw pillows, the de rigueur kryptonite flooring, and the water walls take comfort that a little candlelit closet in Hollywood is flourishing without pretensions or spectacle. The only circus act at the cozy, year-old Boulevard American Bistro comes at the end of your delicious meal, when co-owner Jean-Paul Varona sets your rum-laced guava bread pudding alight. But don't rush things. Truffle-oil-laced fries scattered with pecorino and provolone are meant to be savored, along with Chef Jorge Varona's terrific New Orleans-style grilled andouille with creole mustard and spectacular artisinal bread, or his pan-seared blue crab cakes with fruit salsa and a dash of chipotle. Generous servings of fat-loaded braised short ribs, big plates of grilled marinated hanger steak with crisp red pepper and polenta fries it all looks like the people's food, but it's so beautifully conceived and executed that you'd almost think the people had done something to deserve it. For once, the best restaurant in South Broward is a place you can afford to go back to, week after week.
The downtown lunch crowd packs the tiny parking lot on weekday afternoons like a parched pack of bison at a watering hole, randomly wedging their oversized SUVs between yellow lines and racing in to place orders. A few Windy City-themed hot dog joints flourish in Florida, but Michael's is the lone local franchise of an actual Chicagoland institution. So what you'll find here are the same staples you'd encounter amid the gum-splattered sidewalks around Wrigley Field: Polish sausage, char dogs, chili cheese dogs, and, of course, the perennially awesome Chicago dog, top-loaded with pickles, relish, and peppers. The Sears Tower of hot dogs, this time-tested tubesteak is truly a tastier-than-thou, top-of-the-line victual item. And that soppy, drippy masterpiece, the Italian roast beef sandwich which Michael's deifies with beef juice, giardinera (pickled carrots, celery, cauliflower, and peppers), and cheese if you want is so hot and yummy you'll swear it just arrived on a first-class flight from O'Hare. Eat one with your eyes closed and a Cubs game on and you might think you're standing on the corner of Addison and Clark outside the stadium. Best of all, the counter kids here are so damned sweet and friendly, you'd think they were on an Up With People tour stop. If you're nice enough, they'll even remember your name and what you want and if you call ahead, you can beat that long-ass lunchtime line. Also available: Italian sausage.


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We're still on a festive high, but come the early months of 2014 the post-Christmas blues will blow in. The only way, obviously, to alleviate this is with a gastro mini-break. The St Moritz Hotel in Cornwall is offering a lucky reader and their friend a three-night gourmet break. Enjoy a five-course tasting menu by chef Jamie Porter at the St Moritz on the first night, a tasting menu at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen on the second night, and a final evening at Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant. Can you think of anything more delicious?
For more information, visit stmoritzhotel.co.uk


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Jerusalem тАУ A Palestinian resident of the West Bank was arrested last week for allegedly luring a British tourist into a robbery with offers of gay sex, and then leaving him naked and stranded at a busy intersection.
Police say the alleged attack took place on April 4, when the Briton, a resident of London, became acquainted with the suspect on Tel AvivтАЩs beach promenade. The tourist was driving a family-owned Volkswagen Golf vehicle, and was convinced by the suspect to drive to the Israeli Arab village of Tira so that the suspect could тАЬpick up money from a friend,тА? Insp. Doron Ahrak, of the Taibe police station, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.
The car containing the two men pulled up under a bridge at an intersection near Tira, and the two men began engaging in sexual acts, before the suspect suddenly ejected the Briton from the vehicle and threatened him, police said.
The suspect then drove away with the BritonтАЩs car, belongings and all of his clothes. The victim had to walk to a nearby gas station naked, where he asked staff to contact police.
Officers from Taibe station quickly arrived on the scene, and soon located a vehicle matching the touristтАЩs description.
тАЬWe pursued the car, and identified the suspect,тА? Ahrak said. тАЬThe suspect eventually chose to abandon the vehicle, and managed escape on foot.тА?
The car was filled with bottles containing alcoholic beverages, and police forensic officers took DNA and fingerprint samples.
тАЬBased on the samples, we identified the suspect, a resident of a village on the outskirts of Nablus, who has a history of robberies,тА? Ahrak said.
This past Wednesday evening, Ariel and Taibe police launched a joint operation to arrest the suspect. His custody was extended by five days, and he is due to appear again before the Tel Aviv MagistrateтАЩs Court on Monday, Ahrak said.
The victim returned to Britain right after the attack.
Learning about 'alternative' sexualities through time is often a murky business, beset with the prejudices and right-leaning morals of almost every culture in history. And when you're looking as far back as ancient Egypt, the task becomes infinitely harder. This makes the Petrie Museum's latest endeavour all the more impressive, as it falls in line with LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) Month, a UK-wide event running throughout February.
Like lesbian or gay history in general, you'll have to do more than scratch at the museum's surface to get a sniff of alternative sexualities in Egypt. 'Beyond Isis and Osiris: Alternative Sexualities in Ancient Egypt' is a recondite retrospective of gay and lesbian life, shown via 14 artefacts. Organiser John J. Johnson is hardly surprised at the lack of conspicuous gay iconography millennia ago: "That there is an 'official' somewhat censorious attitude towards homosexual acts in Pharaonic Egyptian culture is difficult to deny…The twenty-seventh declaration of the Book of the Dead is a confirmation by the deceased that he did not have homosexual relations."
Yet Mr Johnson argues that this suppression proves homosexual activity occured in ancient Egypt – and there is no lack of museum evidence to back his claim. A stela of Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti shows the heretic king in a wholly effeminate light, suggesting some sort of hermaphroditic aspect to his heretic worship of Aten, the sun-disk. The Tale of Horus and Seth, a papyrus fragment, describes how the two gods "lay down together. At night, Seth let his member become stiff and he inserted it between the thighs of Horus…"
The Classical Period is also explored in the trail, including the alleged romance of Alexander the Great and Hephaestion. Emperor Hadrian, one of Rome's greatest leaders, was supposedly embroiled in a love affair with a young man called Antinous: a bronze coin of the former and marble statue of the latter prove handy insights into the tale.
The trail is part of a wider series of events and lectures run by University College London this month, which has already featured Andrew Lear's fascinating views on Greek pederasty. And Mr Johnson claims the Petrie Museum is the perfect venue for such a trail, as "Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie was particularly keen, in his excavation of settlement areas, to reveal the truth of the ancient Egyptians' day-to-day lives rather than uncovering the art treasures and funerary artefacts sought by his contemporaries." Catch the LGBT Trail throughout February.
The High Court in London has overturned an order that a gay man from Algeria seeking asylum in the UK should be repatriated.
The Home Office had argued the 27-year-old man, referred to as B, would be safe from persecution as long as he was тАЬdiscreetтА? about his homosexuality.
However Mr Justice Collins disagreed, saying that B, who has been fighting to remain in the UK since 1996, was at risk of persecution.
The ruling has infuriated the tabloid press, with The Sun reporting that:
тАЬA FAILED (sic) asylum seeker had his deportation halted yesterday тАУ because he is too CAMP to go home.тА?
The judge stressed that this case was exceptional, and that he was satisfied that B is gay and would not be able to conceal his sexuality.
A medical report backed the assertion that he would not be able to reintegrate into Algerian society.
Allegations that B had over-emphasised his sexuality to stop his deportation were rejected by Mr Justice Collins.
тАЬIt may be, when the matter is investigated and tested, that conclusion could be drawn, although it is highly unlikely in the light of the evidence so far produced,тА? he said, according to PA.
The Home Secretary will now have to reconsider his case.
Sodomy and тАЬoutraging public decencyтА? are both offences in Algeria and carry a prison sentence or a fine.
Gay activist group OutRage! has previously claimed there is a тАЬserious dangerтА? of an openly gay man such as B being murdered by Islamic fundamentalists if returned to Algeria.
Few social groups can boast the visibility and media attention that male-to-female transsexuals have received in Turkey in recent years. At one point, hardly a month went by without some feature in a popular magazine or a television interview. The cartoonist Latif Demirci captured this frenzied interest with his depiction of an apartment block in a notorious back street of Istanbul. Through each window, a transsexual could be seen being interviewed, filmed or recorded, while building janitors implored a queue of journalists waiting in the street outside to be patient. A recent book offering vignettes on modern Turkey devoted an entire chapter to an interview with Sisi, a famous transsexual.1 The popular magazine Kim featured an intriguing article that voiced a complaint by the male gay community concerning these flashy upstarts.2 They contended that an estimated five to six million gay men–the true heirs of Ottoman tradition forced into retreat after post-Tanzimat westernization–had to lead secret lives, while a handful of transsexuals were making quick money from prostitution. Whatever the scale of this urban phenomenon, it appears to have caught the public imagination and evoked an almost voyeuristic curiosity.
Part of the fascination surrounding transsexuals in Turkey is undoubtedly related to the sense of unease they generate in the morally and existentially loaded realms of sexuality and gender identity. In a society that prizes masculinity and places severe taboos on the expression of female sexuality, they parade an aggressively overblown feminine style and generally inhabit a shadowy underworld of entertainers and prostitutes. They inevitably raise questions about the sexual inclinations of their clientele since they tend to command considerably higher prices than their genetically female counterparts. They are also the unsettling harbingers of a new urban scene; the mega-metropolis where everything is on display and for sale, a new arena where the landscapes and, especially, the nightscapes of Istanbul, Rio, New York and Bangkok may become indistinct and shade into one another. Indeed, transsexuals appear to inhabit a social space where the influences of the local and the global meet and merge in varied and unpredictable ways. They are, on the one hand, subject to the legal regulations of the Turkish state and are monitored and often harassed by the forces of order. They are members of a self-conscious local subculture that has evolved its own coded vocabulary.3 On the other hand, they participate in a broader circulation of people, fashions and ideas–in an international market for sex-change surgery, for jobs in European clubs and in the international gay movement's networks of political solidarity.
Recent legislation that made sex change surgery lawful in Turkey was based on the precedent of Bülent Ersoy, a popular singer who applied to the courts for legal recognition of his identity as a woman following a sex-change operation in London. The new article–added to the 29th clause of the Turkish Civil Code in 1988–stated that "In cases where there has been a change of sex after birth documented by a report from a committee of medical experts, the necessary amendments are made to the birth certificate."4 This outcome ended a lengthy legal battle dating from 1981 when the military regime adopted a particularly uncompromising stance on any form of what it regarded as social deviance.5 There is now an established medical-legal procedure that culminates in the award of a pink identity card (to replace the blue identity card held by men) which confers on its holder the full legal status of a woman. Despite these changes, the fact that medical and legal preconditions for sex-change surgery have not been fully worked out creates areas of uncertainty and the potential for medical malpractice. Sahika Yuksel, a psychiatrist with extensive experience in psychotherapy with transsexuals, has made a strong plea for the full legalization of sex-change surgery, because illegality encourages unscrupulous forms of medical intervention for profit, compounding the difficulties of an already stigmatized group.6
The foothold of transsexuals in urban space is precarious. They are subject to frequent clamp downs by the police. In the summer of 1995, the back streets behind Taksim Square presented the appearance of a fairly settled community. Police raids had an almost ritualistic feel suggesting a well-established routine of protection and payoffs. A year later, when Istanbul hosted the United Nations Habitat II conference in the luxury hotels surrounding Taksim, transsexuals bore the brunt of the massive "cleanup" operation that preceded the event. Transsexuals–evicted en masse from the back streets of Taksim and dispersed throughout the city–kept in touch through the clubs, hairdressers and cafes they frequent. Few are politicized and prepared to fight for their rights. Militants like Demet Demir, a member of the Human Rights Association, have been struggling to find a voice through the Association of Sexual Rights and Liberties, a fragile coalition of gay and feminist activists. Many male gays accuse the transsexuals of riding the sexual liberties bandwagon only as a means of gaining more freedom as prostitutes. Some transsexual activists, on the other hand, consider themselves to be feminists and progressives.
The transnational nature of transsexual networks is apparent on many levels. The search for sex-change surgery takes transsexuals from the Philippines to Istanbul, where operations are cheaper, while more affluent Turkish transsexuals travel to London as their preferred destination. Those who are able to find jobs in European clubs are thoroughly cosmopolitan. News about new clubs, better surgeons, television programs and magazines travels fast.7 Role models for fame and achievement include local idols like Bülent Ersoy but also extend to the West as in the case of the fashion model Tula, who is held up as the epitome of success. There is a sense in which the dreams and materialistic aspirations of some for a fast-track to fame and fortune capture the cultural mood of post-1980s Turkey to an uncanny degree, while others include themselves in a broader search for identity and legitimacy that reaches beyond Turkey. The fact that Demet Demir was recently offered an award by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission confirms this latter tendency. There will undoubtedly be many more troubled chapters in the history of Turkish transsexuals and these will be narrated by the members of this increasingly articulate community themselves.
1 Tim Kelsey, Dervish: The Invention of Modern Turkey, (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1996).
2 Özdilek, "Muazzam bir escinsel kültür, sanat ve geçmis," Kim 47 (February, 1996), pp. 98-101.
3 This vocabulary is claimed to be based on gypsy dialect with traces of Spanish, Latin and possibly Armenian. The word lubinya is used as a self designation by transsexuals but they are more commonly referred to by others as travesti or dönme.
4 Amendment to the 29th Clause of Law no. 743, Turkish Civil Code, May 12, 1988.
5 Ilmi ve Kazai Içtihatlar Dergisi 22/253 (January, 1982), pp. 911-13 provides the details of a ruling stating that the decision of whether the complainant, who merely has the appearance of a woman, really is a woman is a medical matter. The complainant's appeal was therefore rejected on the grounds that further medical examinations were necessary. Two dissenting opinions to this ruling were recorded noting that there could be no question of a sex change for someone who had lived as a male beyond puberty. Interestingly, a June 1988 fatwa issued in Egypt by the Mufti of the Republic on the question of Sayid 'Abd Allah, alias Sally, who had also undergone a sex-change operation concluded that the operation could only be justified on medical grounds, although the debate that followed condemned such deviations in gender identity as abominations. Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen, "Never Change Your Sex in Cairo," paper presented at the workshop on "Cases and Contexts in Islamic Law," December 3-4, 1994, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
6 Sakiha Yüksel, Cumhuriyet, February 13, 1988, p. 2. An article titled "Butcher of Travestis" in the popular weekly Aktüel 202 (1995) revealed that some transsexuals were subjected to castration rather than vaginal reconstruction and that operations were performed under local anaesthesia in hurried and unhygienic conditions. The victims refer to themselves as duvar (literally meaning walls) and consider their sexuality as irreversibly blighted.
7 I was surprised, for instance, to be asked for back copies of Roses, a Manchester-based transsexual magazine, even though few could read or speak English.
A crackdown in Egypt destroyed a vibrant gay community and sparked a worldwide protest.
For "security reasons," New York police ordered the crowd of 30 or so demonstrators to move away from the steps in front of the gray, concrete building where the Egyptian consulate is housed. On that early May weekend the New York demonstrators in Washington, London, Toronto, Montreal, Paris, and Berlin were marching in front of Egyptian consulates and embassies. The protests, organized by Amnesty International and Al Fatiha, a gay and lesbian Muslim organization, marked the second anniversary of an Egyptian police raid on a floating disco on the Nile, the Queen Boat, frequented by gay men. The May 11, 2001 early morning raid resulted in the arrest and subsequent trial of 52 men suspected of being gay.
The Queen Boat incident won international attention, thanks to outside pressure, including that of Amnesty International activists. Even Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak took note.
Less well known, however, is that ever since the Queen Boat affair, Egyptian authorities have mounted a sustained attack against gay men and what was once an emerging gay community. "The raid marked the beginning of a two-year public campaign of harassment, intimidation, and detention of those perceived to be gay," said Michael Heflin, director of AIUSA's OUTfront Program. "Beyond those originally arrested, scores have faced police surveillance, entrapment, drawn out trials, and long periods of detention. Some were rejected by their friends and family, lost their jobs, or were tortured. All were subjected to profound public humiliation, often in the Egyptian media."
Just back from Egypt, where he spent three months documenting the abuse of gay men, Scott Long of Human Rights Watch took the megaphone and told a chilling story of how the police tortured and killed one young gay man and then, in a transparent attempt to make the death look like a suicide, threw his body off a building.
There are no hard figures, but Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch estimate that in the past two years, police have arrested up to 200 men for "debauchery," the official codeword for homosexuality. Not all meet such a horrible ending as torture and death, but it is fair to say that most of their lives are shredded by the stigma of being gay in Egypt.
At the rally, I picked up a sign in red, hand-drawn letters, saying "Stop Torture." The group walked in a circle as a woman with a pink triangle on her black T-shirt led us in chants she shouted through a megaphone. I used both hands to direct my sign toward the men in suits and women in head scarves who peered from the consulate offices on the second and third floors of the consulate.
As I walked, I thought of "Ahmad," one of many young gay Egyptian men I met while on assignment in Egypt for three weeks last December.
Ahmad worked at his family business on the outskirts of Cairo, hauling and selling coal. He came from a very conservative family. His mother and three sisters cover their heads with the traditional Muslim scarves. His brother studied at Cairo's premier Muslim university. Ahmad himself prays five times a day.
And yet he was not torn between his religion and his sexuality. He had found a way, as many spiritual people of any faith do, to bridge the gap between the teachings of his religion and his sexual identity. What Ahmad struggled with was not religion, but loneliness and fear.
There was a time, he told me, when he had been able to escape the strict bounds of his family life and go into Cairo to be in the company of men like himself. He recalled visiting the Queen Boat, before it was raided. It was "incredible" he said, as was the sense of community. There were private parties so large "you would have thought all of Cairo was gay."
These were havens for Ahmad not because, as Egyptian authorities have said, they featured public sex and devil-worshiping. These were havens because gay men could come together and meet and socialize and even talk about building their own movement, making their own place in Egyptian societyтАФsomething that the government might well have found more threatening than devil-worship.
But in the past two years, all of that has essentially vanished.
Today, Ahmad lives in near-isolation from other gay men, fearing that if he is found out, he will be arrested, his family shamed, and his life ruined. He is lonely enough that he risks the occasional walk along segments of the Nile where gay men still dare to venture in hope of finding one another.
But, he told me, he feels gay life is over in Egypt. He has no hopes of ever finding anyone to love. He dreams of leaving the country, but cannot afford it. And so he is stuck in Egypt and trapped by fear and loneliness.
That is why I went to the New York rally, and that is why it is so important that we tell the Egyptian government that what it is doing is intolerable. It is especially important for Americans to speak out because Cairo receives Washington's second largest foreign aid package. We need to tell our own representatives that it is unacceptable to continue to support a government that practices such blatant human rights violations against gay men. But there is more we as Americans, and as gay people, can and must do. Many of my fellow gay Arabs come to this country specifically for the freedom to be gay, something they would never have at home. Yet I know that many of my fellow gay Arabs have been made unwelcome by gay Americans since September 11 cast suspicion on all Arabs. That must stop.
I know also that this is a difficult time for every Arab in the United States. We've all lived in fear and under suspicion since Sept. 11. But my fellow Arabs must stop trying to tell gay and lesbian members of our community that this is not the time for gay issues. Now more than ever is the time for fair-minded Arabs in America to embrace their gay and lesbian members and to stop forcing us into a lie of invisibility.
And we in America who are gay and who are Arab have a responsibility to speak up and to counter the worst of all lies spread by our enemies both here and abroad: that we as gay Arabs do not exist.
Egypt's great director
The notes below were issued by Channel Four television to accompany a season of Arab films shown on British TV in the late 1980s.
YOUSSEF CHAHINE, director of some 40 films, is probably the most independent of Arab film-makers, producing what he thinks is important, even at his own expense, and raising issues that disturb.
Born in 1926, son of a Syrian lawyer and a Christian family in Alexandria, Egypt, Chahine attended the prestigious Victoria College. He dreamed of the cinema and theatre, watched Hollywood musicals, and in 1946 left to study drama in California. ChahineтАЩs early films in Egypt included Raging Sky (1953), begun while Farouk was still King and dealing with a peasant farmerтАЩs challenge to a feudal landlord. But the first truly indicative film of his style and preoccupations was Cairo Central Station (Bab al-Hadid), in 1958.
Chahine himself plays the central character, Kenaoui, a simple-minded man, beneficently employed as a newspaper-seller. He cuts pictures of women from magazines for the station hut he lives in, but a living focus of his sexual frustrations is Hanouma (played by the popular actress Hind Rostom), who sells lemonade and is engaged to Abou Serib (Farid Chawqi), porter and trade union organiser. With unthinking but affectionate playfulness Hanouma exacerbates KenaouiтАЩs frustration and adds to his confusion which leads to tragic death. Egyptian audiences, used to simpler melodramas, were disturbed and rejected the film. It was not seen again for some 20 years.
In 1963 Chahine made Saladin (original title: El Nasser – defender/deliverer – Salah ed-Dine), an epic, three-hour film in CinemaScope named after the 12th Century Sultan who, as the film begins, is preparing to liberate Jerusalem from its Christian Crusader occupiers. It was scripted by Naguib Mahfouz and the poet and progressive writer, Abderrahman Cherkaoui, and a parallel between Saladin and President Nasser is easily drawn. Saladin is shown as an educated and peaceable man – at one point he is asked to give clandestine medical help to Richard (the Lion Heart), shot by an arrow, and later he tells him: "Religion is GodтАЩs and the Earth is for all … I guarantee to all Christians in Jerusalem the same rights as are enjoyed by Muslims."
A novel by Cherkaoui, serialised in 1952, formed the basis of The Earth (1968), noted particularly for its image of the peasant farmer – "eternal тАШdamned of the earthтАЩ" – which broke with "the ridiculous image the cinema had (hitherto) given him" (Khaled Osman). There followed a further collaboration with Mahfouz on The Choice (1970), ostensibly a murder investigation story involving twin brothers, but with the underlying theme of intellectual schizophrenia. In 1976 he made The Return Of The Prodigal Son, a "musical tragedy", but four years earlier had made one of his greatest films, The Sparrow (1972), both co-productions with Algeria. A journalist and a young police officer meet while investigating incidents of corruption. They and other people of the left pass through BahiyyaтАЩs house, whose name represents the idea of the mother country and is invoked in Cheikh ImamтАЩs song at the end of the film. After NasserтАЩs announcement of the defeat in the war and his subsequent resignation, Bahiyya runs into the street, followed by a growing crowd, shouting "No! we must fight. We wonтАЩt accept defeat!"
In Alexandria, Why? (1978), Yehia, a young Victoria College student, is obsessed with Hollywod and dreams of making cinema. It is 1942, the Germans are about to enter Alexandria, thought preferable to the presence of the British. YehiaтАЩs cousin is gay and тАШbuysтАЩ drunken British soldiers. Jewish friends are forced to leave and decide to settle in Palestine. In An Egyptian Story (1982) Yehia is a flim-maker, going to London (as Chahine had earlier) for open-heart surgery. He has a brief affair with a taxi driver. As a result of the operation, he reviews his life: moments of ChahineтАЩs own films are replayed against their autobiographical and social historical context. Memory is very important to ChahineтАЩs most recent work тАФwhether of the "city of my childhood, Alexandria, between the two world wars tolerant, secular, open to Muslims, Christians and Jews" or of a more distant past: such as evoked in Adieu Bonaparte (1985), based on the cultural aspect of BonaparteтАЩs expedition into Egypt (1798). "Out of this marvellous confrontation there was a rebirth of Egyptian consciousness, of its past … which belongs to humanity."
Published earlier this month, a new report on information used by the UK Border Agency to make decisions on asylum cases found that reports on the situation for gays in Iran are тАЬsub-standard or erroneousтА?.
And in the case of deporting gays back to Iran, and a few other countries, any mistake could well be lethal.
The report deals with the situation in the United Kingdom. But one wonders if there is a similar flaw in the Norwegian system where 40-years-old gay Iranian Asghar Hedayati could well be on the brink of deportation following his application for asylum six-and-a-half years ago.
From what he claims, he has had a number of appeals to the immigration department turned down. But he has not, he says, had his day in a court of law. Certainly, he has no access to a specialist immigration/asylum lawyer, he reports.
There is no way of checking on this as the Norwegian authorities are like the UK Border Agency inasmuch as individual cases are never discussed.
On their Website, LLH (Norwegian LGBT Association) wrote last November that тАЬgay asylum seekers need protectionтА?. The article, in Norwegian, which can be read HERE (in English through Google translator), addresses gay Iraqis and the problems they face with asylum applications in Norway.
But if there are major difficulties for Iraqis, it is fair to assume that it is the same for gay Iranians.
It could well be that gays seeking refuge in Norway from tyranny in their home country are in much the same position as those in the United Kingdom тАУ they are playing a game of refugee roulette.
And тАЬRefugee RouletteтА? is the title of a report produced by the UK Immigration Advisory Service (IAS) which found that recommendations from a previous review on improvements to use of Country of Origin Information (COI) had not been followed up.
COI is, of course, an important part of the refugee status determination process.
The IAS report noted that in the Iran COI report there is a paragraph that talks about тАЬa park in Tehran where homosexuals can meetтА?. This paragraph is regularly relied upon to refuse a claim for protection on the basis that gays can exist тАШdiscretelyтАЩ in Iran.
This is something that does not quite tally with gay Iranians in Terhan who were filmed by a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation television news crew three years ago is this particular park. (The video report is no longer available on the CBCтАЩs Website, but it is now on YouTube тАУ links are at the end of this commentary).
Meeting other gays in this park is dangerous, CBC was told. One gay Iranian said on camera it was тАЬsuicidalтА?
Perhaps a copy of this video should be part of the COI folder on Iran?
In UK appeal cases, the paragraph on the park is often used тАУ and has shown to be wrong, as has the translation of the Iranian law on homosexuality, which provides for the death penalty for тАШlavatтАЩ (sodomy).
IAS says in its report that тАЬthis point still has not been rectified and exists in the Iran COI report of August 2009тА?.
In December the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), the Iranian Queer Organization (IRQO), and COC of the Netherlands launched an appeal for twelve youths under sentence of death for тАШlavatтАЩ. Their statement noted that in Iran тАЬrather than paying attention to evidence, the judge often sentences defendants to death based on his speculationsтА?.
With the support of Pride London, an Iranian gay man recently won asylum in UK. Just a few days earlier he spoke of his plight and what it was like to be gay in Iran to a Pride London meeting.
However, his тАШvictoryтАЩ was on appeal as the Home Office said he should be returned to Iran as he only needed to keep his head down, be тАЬdiscrete and not show that he was gayтА?.
Spain recently accepted its first gay Iranian for asylum. He had been arrested and tortured for a week by Iranian police who shouted тАЬfags, the next day we will kill youтА? at him.
Now Norway is preparing to deport Iranian gay man, Asghar Hedayati, on the same тАЬbe discreteтА? basis which forms the apparent Home Office/UK Border Agency policy.
The тАШdiscreteтАЩ theory does seem to be an amazing thing for a government to say тАУ and UK Gay News has been in two Home Office appeals tribunals and actuall heard the тАЬjudgeтА? (not a real judge but a chairman, apparently appointed by the Home Office) say the very same thing.
The IRS Report says that the Home Office policy documents, which have country specific guidance on particular asylum seeking groups for decision makers, are тАЬnot monitored by an independent monitoring body and arguably selected on the basis of policy considerationsтА?.
And it is not only gay men who are treated this way by the UK government. Gay women are, as well. Remember Pegah Emanbakhsh?
тАЬ[Refugee Roulette] underlines what case workers, lawyers and campaigners have been saying for years тАУ the system is riddled with homophobia,тА? says Paul Canning of LGBT Asylum News.
тАЬBoth Phil Woolas and, previously, Jacqui Smith have said that it is safe to send gays back to Tehran so long as they are тАЬdiscreteтА?. Now we have the evidence showing that the advice they based this on was thoroughly flawed.
тАЬGiven the situation in Iran, it is high time Ministers intervened and shook up the system.
тАЬIt is sheer hypocrisy for the government to trumpet the Foreign OfficeтАЩs pro-LGBT human rights strategy at the same time as we are sending gay people back to death zones like Iran, тАЬ he suggested.
As one former UK Home Secretary famously said, the Home Office is тАЬnot fit for purposeтА?. And rarely does a senior politician actually tell the truth.
The bottom line to the entire situation in the UK is that, when it comes to the way gay men and women who are seeking refuge from violent persecution тАУ even incarceration for life or death тАУ in their own country, the government is practicing a form of тАШmental tortureтАЩ on some applicants.
Canandian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC): Out in Iran: Inside Iran's Secret Gay World. A 20-minute report, filmed mainly in Terhan, broadcast in the Sunday Night programme on February 18, 2007. From YouTube: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
тАЬNow I Have Lost HopeтА? тАУ Gay Iranian Who Faces Deportation from Norway in Hours. A forty-years-old gay Iranian is today facing deportation from Norway тАУ and it could be in less than 48 hours. (UK Gay News, January 24, 2010)
Hey friends,
I teach International Politics at a university in Istanbul. Just to make it clear: the Turkish government is the most secular one in the middle east. It is true that the recent one, namely AKP party is somehow conservative in terms of its focus on keeping Turkish traditions alive and keeping good reliations with the rest of Islamic World.
However naming them as a fundemantalist or an Islamist party would be too unfair when you look at their strong efforts to unify Turkey with EU, liberal management of internal affairs – alcohol is totally free, night clubs are full of young people, there is no intervention to gay life, women and men are free to walk together, kiss each other on the streets etc.
Modern life in big cities like Istanbul, Ankara or Izmir is not less liberal than London or Paris: women wear short skirts, go swimming with bikinis etc. Some women wear scarves but this shows the other way of being tolerant and liberal, am I wrong?
In the rural areas though, people are more traditional and you can see more women covering their heads but that is perfectly understandable: When you go to the country sides in all Europe, people become more traditional too.
The gay community in Istanbul will surprise you there. Being a gay is completely legal in Turkey. There are 4 gay organizations working actively on gay rights. There are many local gay social web sites too.
Because of the traditions, gays do not want to show their gay sides openly in the public but Turkish men like very much having sex with gays. Having sex with same sex is not perceived by them as being gay if it is kept intimate. One of my Turkish friend had told me that having same sex relation has been very wide spread for hundreds of years in this society.
You can meet so many very attractive men there but they wouldn't do it for money. They simply liked being with men. You can meet many gay people over there too, they can easily flirt with so many nice men whenever they want. For example go to a 4 stores gay club, packed with hundreds of gays and good looking men, everything is so free: people kissing, licking and believe me even having sex on the sofas. Those horny men try to romance with you. In Istanbul, there are at least 20 gay night clubs where you can find anything for your taste and all of them are full of young horny men aging between 18-28.
I am not sure whether Istanbul is the gay capital in 2010 but there are many very nice stuff to discover if you go there with no prejudice of course.
Take care…
Original thread here
Hey friends,
I teach International Politics at a university in Britain. Just to make it clear: the Turkish government is the most secular one in the middle east. It is true that the recent one, namely AKP party is somehow conservative in terms of its focus on keeping Turkish traditions alive and keeping good reliations with the rest of Islamic World.
However naming them as a fundemantalist or an Islamist party would be too unfair when you look at their strong efforts to unify Turkey with EU, liberal management of internal affairs – alcohol is totally free, night clubs are full of young people, there is no intervention to gay life, women and men are free to walk together, kiss each other on the streets etc.
I have been to Turkey several times and modern life in big cities like Istanbul, Ankara or Izmir is not less liberal than London or Paris: women wear short skirts, go swimming with bikinis etc. Some women wear scarves but this shows the other way of being tolerant and liberal, am I wrong?
In the rural areas though, people are more traditional and you can see more women covering their heads but that is perfectly understandable: When you go to the country sides in Britain, people become more traditional too.
I was suprised by the gay community there. Being a gay is completely legal in Turkey. There are 4 gay organizations working actively on gay rights. There are many local gay social web sites too.
Because of the traditions, gays do not want to show their gay sides openly in the public but Turkish men like very much having sex with gays. Having sex with same sex is not perceived by them as being gay if it is kept intimate. One of my Turkish friend had told me that having same sex relation has been very wide spread for hundreds of years in this society.
My experience over there supports this too: I met so many very attractive men there (believe me if they came to Blackpool, they could earn several hundred pounds every night) but they wouldn't do it for money. They simply
liked being with men. I met some gay people over there too and I am jealous of them because they can easily flirt with so many nice men whenever they want. I went to a 4 stores gay club for instance, packed with hundreds of gays and good looking men, everything was so free: people kissing, licking and believe me even having sex on the sofas. Those horny men were trying to romance with me and at the end of the night I found myself sleeping with four of them in one gay friend's apartment. In Istanbul, there are at least 20 gay night clubs where you can find anything for your taste and all of them are full of young horny men aging between 18-28.
There are many very nice stuff to discover if you go there with no prejudice of course.
Take care…
Gay Muslims made homeless by family violence
A UK charity is dealing with an increasing number of young gay Muslims becoming homeless after fleeing forced marriages and so-called honour violence.
During a weekly drop-in group held by the Albert Kennedy Trust in London, Suni, a 20-year-old London student, helps himself to a warm mince pie and a steaming cup of coffee.
In 2008, during a holiday to Pakistan to visit relatives, his parents suspected the truth about his sexuality. They believed marriage would тАЬcureтА? him of what they considered to be a psychological disorder.
Name тАШblackenedтАЩ
тАЬThey told me IтАЩm going to be forced into marriage and theyтАЩre looking for a girl and IтАЩll be married in two to three months and I wonтАЩt be able to come back to London,тА? Suni said.
When he refused, he was imprisoned in his familyтАЩs ancestral home in a remote village of Pakistan and subjected to regular beatings and abuse as he had brought тАЬshameтА? on the strict Muslim family.
I think IтАЩd be vulnerable if people knew about me тАУ IтАЩve heard a lot of remarks in the past about people saying that gay people should die for religious reasons
Shelim, East London
тАЬI stayed there for three months and he was always beating me. He was telling me I had blackened our family name and he was saying itтАЩs a sin. I know it was just for honour.тА?
Suni managed to escape and return to the UK, penniless and homeless.
Relatives and friends were reluctant to help him due to fear of violent reprisals from his family.
After a night spent in a police cell, he was put in touch with the trust, which helped find him safe accommodation.
тАШGay demonsтАЩ
Trust worker Annie Southerst said in the past six months there has been an increase in the number of Muslims coming to them for help.
тАЬThey face threats of physical violence, actual violence and restriction of liberties,тА? she said.
тАЬWeтАЩve had people chased out of the house with knives and we have had issues around young people who had exorcisms planned to get rid of the gay demons, I suppose.
тАЬThey come to us because theyтАЩre homeless, or in danger of being homeless imminently. We sort out emergency accommodation for them.
тАЬBut the biggest loss they face is the loss of their families.
тАЬI canтАЩt imagine what it must be like to suddenly in your late teens, early 20s suddenly not to have a family anymore.тА?
An Emirati nicknamed Hamdan British who is accused of committing lewd acts with men went on trial yesterday.
The accused, MS, 22, was brought to Dubai Criminal Court separately from other defendants under special guard. He denied five charges.
He is accused of practicing lewdness with men and allowing another man тАУ who is currently facing trial at Dubai Misdemeanour Court тАУ to perform a sex act on him.
In addition, he is charged with creating obscene photos of himself and distributing them on the internet, wearing women's clothes and insulting Islamic rituals.
Defence lawyer Jassim Al Naqbi called for the trial to be held in secret and asked to hear the testimony of two prosecution witnesses, both policemen. Dubai Police arrested MS at Dubai International Airport on July 20 as he was about to fly to London accompanied by another person.
The trial was adjourned until January 20, and the defendant will remain in custody until then. The public prosecution was instructed to ask the two police witnesses to appear at the session.
If found guilty the defendant could face up to six years in jail and a fine of Dh15,000.
Hate preacher Anjem Choudary launched a vitrolic attack on gays last week in which he said that they should be stoned to death.
The former lawyer, who lives on benefits, added that this would include gay business secretary Lord Peter Mandelson, who, under Sharia law, would first be educated about the "evils" of homosexuality then executed if he confessed to a same-sex relationship.
He was speaking at a press conference in London organised by Islamic extremists to justify a protest in Luton last week against soldiers returning home from Iraq.
Choudary said: "If a man likes another man, it can happen, but if you go on to fulfil your desire, if it is proved, then there is a punishment to follow. You don't stone to death unless there are four eyewitnesses. It is a very stringent procedure.
"There are some people who are attracted to donkeys but that does not mean it is right."
Conservative MP Patrick Mercer told the Daily Mail: "These statements show the depravity of this man's beliefs. They must incite hatred and encourage terrorism, and I would encourage the Metropolitan Police to investigate them as rigorously as possible."
A Scotland Yard spokesman said police would investigate Choudary's remarks if a complaint was made.
Choudary has previously called for Sharia law to be implemented in the UK.
Last week, he called for all British women to be forced to wear burkhas, saying: "тАЬEvery woman, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, would have to wear a traditional burkha and cover everything apart from her face and hands in public.
тАЬIn matters to do with the judicial system and the penal code, one male witness is sufficient to counter the testimony of two females. People who commit adultery would be stoned to death.тА?
Why is it that gay people are so hated on this continent? What makes people in Africa want to murder, imprison or beat up on them? And before you start telling me it is a tribal thing, a black thing or a whatever thing, I can tell you a lot of white Africans donтАЩt like them either. I went to an all-boys (and pretty much all-white) school and the levels of homophobia ran high. It was part of that whole rugger bugger (oh, the irony) thing. To be honest, while I was at school, the concept of gay men scared me. All IтАЩd ever heard was they were bad and that if you were in the same room as them, they would try to have sex with you. That was until Std 8 and my Uncle Bobby in London died of Aids. Unknown to me, he had been gay. He cheffed at various high-roller clubs in London and by accounts partied quite hard. While the family had their suspicions about his sexuality, they adopted a тАЬdonтАЩt ask, donтАЩt tellтА? type attitude to it. That was until he lay dying and they had to confront it. IтАЩm quite proud to say that love won out and everyone realised it didnтАЩt matter how Bobby chose to live his life, he was still our awesome uncle and that was that.
From that point onwards, IтАЩve had a slightly better understanding of what it is like for some gay people, often having to lead double lives and having to keep secrets from their families, employers and friends. ItтАЩs a tough break.
But in Africa those breaks are even harder still. For many gay people in Africa, their sexuality comes with very heavy toll. From discriminating legislation to violence to plain old prejudice, Africa has a problem with homosexuals. Lesbian footballers have been gang-raped and then murdered because of their sexuality. In Uganda gay men could face the death sentence, while in Malawi a gay couple have been arrested and if the state can prove they have had sex, theyтАЩll do time in prison. In Zimbabwe, long before Robert Mugabe went mad, he spoke out against the evilness of homosexuality. He couldnтАЩt make up his mind who he hated more тАФ the gays or the imperialists?
Now the thing is Africa is one place that should be a little bit savvy about intolerance and hatred. Africa is one place that has experienced discrimination first hand. From Afrophobia, to xenophobia and every other form of cultural exclusion in between, Africa has been exposed to it. So it stands to reason that when it comes to gay people, Africans should be a little bit sympathetic. But vast majority of us are not. Yes, our Constitution is designed to protect the rights of gay people and yes, in the more cosmopolitan areas of our country gay people can live without fear. But leave those suburbs and the world changes. People donтАЩt dig gays. In fact, they hate them.
Across our entire country and our entire continent you will hear people candidly say I hate them because God hates them. I hate them because they are not part of my culture. I hate them because they are different. I think they are a disease. A disgrace. I think they are immoral. Repugnant. A perversity. TheyтАЩre not natural.
And the worse thing is we have all heard this talk before, sometimes told as a joke and other times more seriously, and we say nothing back. We just let it slide. For the sake of peace, because we donтАЩt want to disrespect another personтАЩs culture or religion, because we donтАЩt spoil an otherwise nice day.
But imagine if we flipped a few words around. Say we were to exchange the word gay for black or white or Indian or Muslim. I hate blacks because God hates them. I hate whites because they are not part of my culture. I hate Indians because they are different. I think Muslims are a disease. A disgrace. I think blacks are immoral. Repugnant. A perversity. TheyтАЩre not natural.
If you heard that, youтАЩd say something.


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Twitter Updates
- Bah bagger weekend.... moe, pijn, futloos, last van spijsvertering...... #hsp sucks..... 1 month ago
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Tag Archives: Glenglassaugh 19 yo
#Whisky Experience by World of Drinks Zierikzee
This post is more about the experience then giving you tastings notes, so don't expect long notes…. 😉 . My hometown liquor store is organising whisky tastings in a different form. It is named "whiskyexperience". A very informal tasting. About … Continue reading


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Imagine America Foundation's Website Redesign Eases the Scholarship Application Process for Career College Students
Washington, D.C. (May 20, 2011) – Searching online for scholarship money and other financial assistance for college is a time-consuming process. Whether you're an individual student, parent or a high school guidance counselor, an ideal website would likely be one that placed scholarship information and application up front – on its home page – so it can be found without the monotonous search time.
The Imagine America Foundation has completed a redesign of its organizational website, making the scholarship application process easier for students. The newly redesigned website features links to the Foundation's scholarship programs and application forms on the homepage. Students who want to apply to the Foundation's three scholarship programs can do so directly through the website by selecting from three scholarship and award categories: the High School Program, the Military Award Program (MAP) program, and the Adult Skills Education Program (ASEP.) Users can even return to check the status of their scholarship application, which is another feature available without clicking beyond the home page.
"Given the significant growth of our scholarship and award programs, we wanted to make our website more convenient for students," said Robert L. Martin, President of the Imagine America Foundation. "Assisting students is the Foundation's number one mission. We felt that warranted them some prominence on our website."
In addition to highlighting its scholarship programs, the entire website has been reorganized so information can be more easily accessed. The website features an area specifically for high school guidance counselors and career college educators who want to learn more about the Foundation and sign up their schools to participate. The Foundation's research work and related publications involving the value of career education is also available in the "Career College Research/Publications" section. Beneath "21st Century Workforce Fund," there is information about the Foundation's role in supporting career education, its important and valued supporters, along with a contribution form for supporting the Foundation.
The Foundation has concentrated on developing a strong online presence in the last year, which has contributed to its substantial organizational growth. Last year, the Imagine American Scholarship and Award Programs set a record for the most applications it has received since inception. The ASEP program alone experienced a 35 percent growth in applications received in its first year of existence. Some of the many thousands of success stories are now available in video or text format through the website.
About the Imagine America Foundation
The Imagine America Foundation (IAF), established in 1982, is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing scholarships for education, research and training support for the career college sector. Since its inception, the Foundation has provided over $50 million in scholarship and award support for graduating high school seniors, adult learners and U.S. military personnel attending career colleges nationwide through its award-winning Imagine America® programs. The Foundation also publishes vital research publications for the higher education sector, honors achievement in career education and offers faculty development training. For more information about the Imagine America Foundation's programs, please visit www.imagine-america.org.


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Languages Lab
Language Lab
Welcome to the Language Lab!
Our lab is located in the LRC/Language Center room LRC 229 and provides the following services:
- Open lab for all students enrolled in language classes.
- Lab reservations for language classes in intervals of 1 hour per class.
- Teacher training in multimedia applications.
Tutoring services for students in the Department of Languages will be available in the Language Center
Open Language Laboratory Schedule7:00 AM to 3:30 PM
Monday - Friday
Language Laboratory Class Reservations
Available any time the LRC is open on a first reserve/first serve basis For class reservations contact Jim Lugo at ext. 2508 or firstname.lastname@example.com


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No cash for a summer vacation of your own? I've got the next best thing--a photo album from the weekend Domenico Dolce & Stefano Gabbana spent in Capri with Naomi Campbell, Jennifer Lopez, and Marc Anthony. And yes, there's karaoke.
Did you girls have as much fun playing voyeur as I did? Which fashion designers would you most want to go on a vacation with? And which photos were your favorites? Discuss.


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Stage Collapses at a Music Festival in Miami
Published March 15th, 2013
Loading Video...
Four people are injured after a jumbotron screen collapsed at the Ultra Music Festival in downtown Miami last night.
The accident happened during setup at festival's main stage in Bayfront Park.
Miami Fire-Rescue received a call about the stage collapse just before 8 pm.
Two male crew members were trapped and seriously injured.
The victims were transported to Ryder Trauma Center in critical condition.
A third crew member was also injured and is in stable condition, the fourth was treated on the scene.
The first weekend of the festival is scheduled to start today.
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text: My 1 year old got it first, now I have it. My wife and 4 year old seem fine. This is my 3rd day home sick from work. Ugh. It's been kinda nice since I've been able to catch up on some reading and plan out building our chicken coop and greenhouse.In case anyone's wondering, it feels no different than the regular seasonal flu. It came on really fast. Haven't thrown up or anything, I guess that doesn't happen with most people with the swine flu. But the headaches and coughs are horrible. My fever is dropping and I'm hoping to return to work tomorrow.Sean Kelly


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Charlie F. Kane
Charlie F. Kane (14/1/1989 / Solihull, Birmingham)
» Click to list general statistics » OR, select a date :
Her Name I Forget
Her name I forget, although sometimes I remember,
And the words come back to me,
As I begin to form the syllables with my mouth.
read more >>
- Hits: Number of visitors who read the poem on the given date.
- Posts: Number of visitors who posted the poem to a friend (via e-mail) on the given date.
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Member Since: September 2, 2010
Country: United States
I'm having an issue with this board.
I bought the MMCX to SMA antenna adapters, and it doesn't fit on this board. It fits in the module fine, but there is a chip on the eval board that is too close to the GPS slot, and the adapter hits it. I'm going to have to file down the corner on the adapter.
That chip really needs to be moved away a couple centimeters.
Was this also used as the cutdown? Anyone know?
Not to rain on SparkFun's parade (love this site!) but you can get the updated GM862-PY(THON SUPPORT!) for $80 here: http://www.semiconductorstore.com/cart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=42834#details
I'd rather buy it from SparkFun, but no way i'm going to buy an older module with less functionality for more.
Need MOAR! When is sparkfun going to receive more of these?
No public wish lists :(


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Added on 20-Aug-2012
Don't stop me now, it's Freddie For A Day fever! FFAD 2012 downloads are now availableFreddie For A Day fever is spreading and this year we hope to have people from even more countries take part. Flash mobs, school concerts, people at work with a moustache, there are all sorts of ways of taking part ranging from just donning a 'tache to going the whole hog and spending the day out and about dressed as Freddie.The 2012 downloads are now available in the Useful Downloads section. There you will find information on FFAD and the MPT, as well as posters, flyers, banners and logos that you can print off or use on your social networks to encourage others to sponsor you.Last year's FFAD highlights included moustachioed Japanese businessmen taking over Tokyo's Shimbashi Station SL Square, a flash mob on the Buenos Aires metro, a UK carpenter dressed as Freddie on his building site complete with collection box, a Ukranian music student who gave an impromptu concert in the streets of Odessa and a German triathlon athlete who travelled to London to run a half marathon around Hyde Park in her 'Break Free Freddie' gear.Freddie For A Day is fun, wacky initiative which ultimately aims to raise all important awareness about HIV/AIDS and funds for Mercury Phoenix Trust fighting AIDS worldwide. Over £200,000 were raised last year, and this year we hope to do even better.So get out there, get your 'taches, tshirts and Freddie regalia on. Get friends, family and colleagues to sponsor you by setting up a JustGiving page, or make a donation to the MPT via PayPal. If you are in the UK, you can contact co-ordinator Maureen Barclay to ask for an official MPT collection box.If you don't think parading as a fully suited and booted Freddie would go down well in your place of work, how about just printing a FFAD certificate from the Useful Downloads section and hang it off your desk together with a moustachioed jam jar to collect donations? You can print a few MPT leaflets so that you can inform your colleagues about what you are collecting for.You can also throw a Freddie Party of course! Full details on the party packs and how to become a host click here!YOUR MOUSTACHE AWAITS YOU!www.freddieforaday.com
Submitted by:
Queenzone Ghost


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This Isaac Mizrahi video on organization is a riot.
The Cherry Blossom Girl BlogDecember 11, 2008
ime to swoon! Have you heard of French blogger The Cherry Blossom Girl? Alix is a photographer and fashion designer who loves things like fancy tights, frilly dresses, twinkle lights and glitter.
It's one of those blogs that you can just melt into and zone out completely in a happy daydream of cotton candy beauty. I especially love her set of HOME photos.
Her travel photos will make your little heart yearn to hop on a plane. The Cherry Blossom Girl is my latest obsession!
Via: Lesley Denford.
(images from john murphy)
Inspired by Skona HemDecember 11, 2008
I'm feeling VERY creative lately, I think it's due to the friends I've made here in Germany (and in other countries nearby) and being around so many ladies who are so into all things handmade, it's absolutely inspiring. All of my friends are making something by hand and I find it very motivating too. I really love life in northern Germany, it's not perfect in any country but I'm satisfied with what I have and the things I've been exposed to. Wonderful!
Another thing that has been fueling my creativity lately is the access that I have to so many different cultures, I don't even have to leave Germany for this but when I do it feels almost surreal to hop over the border to another country because I'm American and when we leave our state we are still in America (unless we go up to Canada or down to Mexico of course). It's so different on this side of the pond and I'm enjoying it immensely. I was at the train station the other day and nearly fainted when I saw a train boarding for Moscow. As in Russia. That is one train I cannot take in New Hampshire! :) I traveled up to Stockholm last year for under $100 round trip and felt so appreciative of that opportunity as I'd wanted to see Sweden for most of my life. I love America but I am really having fun with this experience!
Speaking of travel and Stockholm in particular, I always think of Skona Hem magazine and their glorious monthly spreads, they feature mostly Scandinavian homes that are very impressive and I wonder how they never seem to run out of gorgeous pads to feature given that Scandinavia is not that large. But they continue to publish beautiful places… here are a few to inspire you today.
Psst: Skona Hem has a blog so you can keep up with what's going on in the world of Swedish design.
(images from skona hem)
Fun! The Selby PhotosDecember 11, 2008
This is such a fun website: The Selby.
Made By HankDecember 11, 2008
I spotted these over at Oh Joy! today and had to share them with you (and bookmark them for me!) since I think they are affordable, pretty, and provide practical on-the-go storage for little odds and ends. I like small bags to store fabric and paint swatches, measuring tape, and shopping lists so that when I'm out I always have these things on me in case I find a treasure – I don't have to run home and grab my notes and things before making a decision. Made By Hank is a collection of gorgeous little handmade bags created by Philadelphia-based twentysomething crafter Katie Henry. They have darling cursive stitching on them, and of course the patterns and colors are fun and feminine.
I'm all about getting more organized right now, it's one of my big goals and I spent the past few days on mini organization projects in my flat. I love the feeling of knowing where everything is and that all items have a place — that is my 'secret' to not only keeping the home clean but also to keep things organized, to have a place for EVERYTHING and I do mean everything. The second I don't follow my own rules things go completely wrong.
View more Made By Hank bags right here. Aren't her product shots fun too?
Find Made by Hank here: {etsy shop} {website} {blog}
(images from made by hank)
Mateo Ilasco: New ProductsDecember 11, 2008
I'm also so pleased when I hear from Meg (Mateo Ilasco), she is such a talented and clever business lady and I find that she is a really positive example for small business owners out there. As a product designer, blogger, author, online shop owner, as well as many other things (lot of hats!) she has many things to juggle but manages to stay organized and continues to inspire so many through her work and life. Meg's resolution for the new year is to be more organized so she developed a collection of office products around this theme and added them to her online shop.
These products include: the Numbers Desk Set which includes a Blueprint Notepad, Numbers Notepad, and Number Organizing Clips, and the Office Desk Set which includes a Weekly Notepad, a To Do List Pad, and Action Organizing Clips. During the month of December you can enter the coupon code TEN upon checkout to receive 10% off your order.
Meg is based on the west coast but surprise! she's currently in New York with a shop at The Holiday Shops at Bryant Park for 6 weeks (look for the brand Mixed Co. which includes Meg (of course), Allymoon, SusyJack*, Nantaka Joy, Linea Carta, Carrie Saxl of Blue Wild Indigo, Laurel Denise, and Good on Paper Design.) until December 28th at booth #C03. There you can view and shop for Mateo Ilasco products and books, including signed copies of her lovely and popular book for small business owners called Craft, Inc. In addition to Meg, there are seven additional shops featuring gifts, stationery, and jewelry, over 100 in fact! Artisans, designers, and food merchants from around the world.
And stay tuned! Meg is finishing up on the Craft, Inc. Business Planner, a companion to Craft Inc. that will help a creative business get organized in order to build a successful business. This book will be released during Fall '09 by Chronicle Books. Yay, Meg!
(images from meg mateo ilasco)


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So duff that you wonder why they didn't ask Roger Moore to star. Jack Ryan (Ford) has retired from his CIA job as an analyst, but finds himself dragged back into that world after foiling an IRA assassination attempt on a Brit royal. He kills a terrorist, whose brother Sean (Bean) vows vengeance on Ryan and his family. In fact, Sean becomes an uncontrollable menace to terrorist organiser Kevin (Bergin), though this is sabotaged by plaintive Irish jigs whenever he dons the ski-mask. Attempts on the lives of Ryan's wife (Archer) and daughter (Birch) force him to sign up again with avuncular Admiral Greer (Jones). Between the implausibilities - Lord Holmes (Fox) decorates Ryan on behalf of Britain in Ryan's front room - the loose ends, and the climactic speedboat duel, one might be forgiven for seeing it as a Saturday Morning Picture Club serial.
Release details
|117 mins
Cast and crew
|Phillip Noyce
|Peter Iliff, Donald Stewart, Steven Zaillian
|Harrison Ford
Anne Archer
Patrick Bergin
Sean Bean
Thora Birch
James Fox
Samuel L Jackson
Polly Walker
James Earl Jones
Richard Harris
Average User Rating
5 / 5
Rating Breakdown
- 5 star:1
- 4 star:0
- 3 star:0
- 2 star:0
- 1 star:0
1 person listening
a very good film with great acting and good twists.
a very good film with great acting and good twists.
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Tess Vigeland: Delinquency rates are way up on everything from home loans and credit cards to car payments. Cash-strapped Americans are looking for money anywhere they can find it.
Last year, nearly 20 percent of employees took out loans from their 401(k)s and the numbers are climbing.
Josephine Bennett tells us that once you tap into retirement funds, it can be tough to pay yourself back.
Josephine Bennett: There are two ways you can take money out of your 401(k): you can take what's called a hardship withdrawal or you can take out a loan.
To qualify for a hardship withdrawal, you have to be facing what the IRS calls "immediate and heavy financial needs" -- things like college tuition, medical expenses, buying your first home or foreclosure.
But if you're just short on funds, you can take out a low-interest loan against your 401(k). Most employers allow people to take out up to $50,000. You have five years to pay it back and those deductions come right out of your paycheck.
43-year-old Anjanette Rumney worked as a nurse in the same Macon, Georgia hospital for 15 years. During that time, she was a regular contributor to her 401(k). The longer she worked, the more she saved.
Anjanette Rumney: You know I started off with just like 5 percent and then I went up to 7 percent so I got up to about 10 percent that I was saving and then the medical center would match that. So I had a pretty good amount in there.
At one point, she had close to $100,000 in her retirement account, but as a single mother with two boys, she still struggled to make ends meet, so she borrowed money from her 401(k) to pay off bills.
But then she changed jobs and here's the catch: if you leave your job, the government only gives you 90 days to pay back the loan. If you don't, you'll be hit with taxes and a penalty.
What seemed like a good idea became a bitter pill this year when she paid her taxes. Anjanette lost nearly half the amount in taxes and penalties.
Rumney: As we all know that our economy, everything else, is going up and your paycheck isn't and then when I didn't get my money back that I was used to getting from my income taxes because I had to pay those penalties, it was like "Wow!"
Anjanette does not regret her decision. She says she needed to do it to avoid a disaster down the road.
57-year old John McIntyre has been a victim of corporate downsizing -- twice -- and both times he's qualified for the 401(k) hardship withdrawal.
John McIntyre: I had to do it. There was no other way. I really couldn't take out any loans at the time. When was I going to start to work? Was it going to be next week? Next month? Three months? Five months? Being at the age I was at -- I was close to 50 -- it was much more difficult to find a job.
As a result of those withdrawals, he'll have to work a lot longer than he expected. He's just starting to put a little back in savings.
Certified financial planner Steve Rosenberg knows people often have to make tough choices under fire, but he cautions his clients not to let emotions get in the way, even if they're about to lose a home.
Steve Rosenberg: If you are facing foreclosure and effectively if the house is worth less than what you owe on it, then do you want to take the money out of your 401(k), which is protected from suits and things like that and do you instead want to just walk away from the house?
Rosenberg cautions his clients against borrowing from their 401(k)'s. He points to the current housing crisis as an important lesson:
Rosenberg: The problem is that people are treating their 401(k)'s like a bank. We know that's a bad idea, because there's already a model that shows how bad an idea that is and that's people who have taken money out of their houses, refinanced, took out the money, spent it and they've blown their equity in their houses. If they take it out of their 401(k), they end up blowing their 401(k) too.
But with $49 billion in outstanding 401(k) loans, it's clear that many Americans are willing to take that risk.
In Macon, Georgia, I'm Josephine Bennett for Marketplace Money.


text:
Contact us 24/7: +1 877 678 9627
View product details
Zoom In
- - This item's measurements are:
- Circumference 12.5cm
- Width 1cm
- Width of Opening 2.5cm
EXCLUSIVE TO NET-A-PORTER.COM. Pamela Love uses recycled metals wherever possible to give her jewelry a unique, antiqued effect. This weighty silver cuff is studded with hammered arrowheads and will look equally cool stacked with other styles or worn alone.
Shown here with: A.P.C. Atelier de Production et de Création top, Pamela Love ring, Ksubi shorts, K Jacques St Tropez shoes, Stella McCartney bag.
- - Textured-silver
- - Open back
- - Slips on
Product Code: 431379
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Product Code: 431379


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Playtime with X6 Hybrid
View Single Post
Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Boston MA
Posts: 1,590
My Ride: has a D-Pillar
View My Garage
Playtime with X6 Hybrid
So I was driving home from work and I spotted a red X6...no bigs. When I got closer, I noticed that the badges were covered in a black tape...all around the car. I thought, "humm thats odd."
Before we really started driving hard, I did see that it had a pretty sizable hood bulge- and for a few seconds thought it might be an X6M. Needless to say, it wasn't, but it certainly wasn't a normal X6.
Then the X6 started really pushing it- and we were on a twisty road. I disengaged my traction control and proceeded to play follow the leader. I failed miserably. The thing was soo f'ing fast. He out-cornered me, clearly out-accelerated me, and generally put me to shame.
At the next light I pulled up to him and noticed a small "Hybrid" sticker on the side. I rolled down my window and talked to the guy driving. Apparently it was a Test vehicle from South Carolina (but the plate said North Carolina!?!). It was for sure a 400hp X6 Hybrid. (Another odd thing is that this was in Cincinnati OH- I know of no BMW facilities here). The guy had a HUGE smile on his face. I wish I could have chatted with him more- but when the light turned green he really stepped on it (great soundtrack), and I never caught up again!!
Very fast, super sexy, and now I have A LOT more respect for them after running with him through the twisties. Shame I didn't have my camera
What do you guys think of the new X6 Hybrids? Twin Turbo V8 and decent MPG...
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AXIe Embedded Controller, Quad Core, 8GB RAM, 320GB HDD, 2 GB/s
Manufacturer's part number :
Description :
The Keysight Technologies M9536A is the first AXIe embedded controller available on the market. It provides a high-performance PCIe Gen2 link to the AXIe backplane and is a powerful one-slot computer that can be used to build compact AXIe systems. It easily integrates into hybrid test systems using GP-IB, USB, and LAN due to the built-in front panel interfaces.
The embedded controller is built upon a high-performance Intel® Xeon® quad-core processor with Hyper-Threading Technology. This makes the embedded controller perfect for high-performance applications and multi-tasking environments. Select either a 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 7 Professional operating system.
View our wide range of AXIe products
View our portfolio of PXI / AXIe / DAQ and modular solutions
See all products from our supplier Keysight Technologies
Technical Data :
Quote and availability
- One-slot, AXIe module
- Intel Xeon EP L5518 processor at 2.13 GHz
- 160 GB solid state hard drive and up to 24 GB RAM
- USB (3), 10/100/1000 LAN (2), VGA (up to 1600x1200), RS-232
- Gen 2 x4 PCIe link to AXIe backplane results in fast data transfer rates to other modules
- Intel Xeon processor provides excellent system performance for multi-threaded applications
- Designed for AXIe systems for more confidence in chassis compatibility than desktop PCs with cabled interfaces
- Preloaded with Keysight Technologies I/O libraries, operating system, and chassis drivers resulting in reduced startup time
- Aerospace and defense
- Communications
- Electronic test
- High-energy physics


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Jonathan Gerard, DMin
Rabbi, DMin
208 Sunset Dr, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27516
I am a couples and family therapist. I also work with parents and teens. I also help with depression and some of life's spiritual issues.
Carla MooreMcNeil, MSW, LCSW
Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Master Hypnotist
502 East Cornwallis Dr, Suite N, Greensboro, North Carolina 27405
Are you dealing with depression? Is anxiety keeping you from reaching your full potential? Is anger getting in the way of relationships? Are you in the need for an unbiased third party for couples counseling? I also specialize in acute trauma and ADHD. I work with child
Marina Ervin, MS, LPC, NCC, BCPCC
Licensed Professional Counselor/National Certified Counselor
502-N East Cornwallis Drive Ste. B, Greensboro, North Carolina 27405
With 20+ years in the field, I look forward to providing you and your family with Grace-Based Biblical Counseling, as well as Play Therapy, Family Therapy, and Outpatient Counseling/Therapy for Children, Adolescents, Adult Individuals, and Couples.
Carolina Castanos, Ph.D
Marriage and Family Therapist
3711-A West Market St, Greensboro, North Carolina 27403
Do you feel disconnected to someone you love? I can help you reconnect and create a new, safe,and loving relationship. I offer therapy,intensive programs, workshops, and consultations to individuals, families, and children. I offer a free initial consultation.