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I have made no secret of my love for Zombie Jesus Weekend and my belief that it should be an atheist holiday. Judging by the number of zombie parades, parties, and the like, many atheists feel the same way. I'm sure some of the fun has to do with the broader love of zombies, but I'd like to think that Zombie Jesus Weekend also provides a perfect excuse to celebrate our escape from the clutches of faith. That is what makes the holiday so perfect: it is an ideal blend of silly fun, an excuse to acknowledge how absurd the whole Jesus-returning-from-the-dead thing really is, and an opportunity to reflect on our personal journeys to atheism.
The image of a decayed Jesus corpse emerging from a tomb to munch on the brains of believers really is a great metaphor in many respects. You've got the fun observation that if Jesus really did come back from the dead, this would make him a zombie. You've got the munching of brains as saying something about how Christianity (and faith in general) afflicts the mind. You have the spread of the zombie virus from person-to-person and the similarities it bears to the viral nature of religious belief. You have the highly resourceful nature of the holdouts - small groups of uninfected survivors banding together to oppose the infected hordes. You get the idea.
Some will protest that celebrating Zombie Jesus Weekend amounts to little more than mockery of the Christian faith. It certainly does have that aspect to it, but I do not think it has to be so limited. And besides, there may be some value to poking fun of absurd beliefs from time to time.
March 30, 2013
Why I Love Zombie Jesus Weekend
Posted by vjack
Why I Love Zombie Jesus Weekend
Christianity |Comments
Labels: Christianity
March 29, 2013
Atheist Alliance International President Explains His Apology
|English: A (not yet) regularly used symbol for "atheism". It resembles (but only a little) the anarchist symbol or the "at" @. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The most important part of his comment, at least for me, was his explanation about why he felt I had "trivialised harassment of women in the atheist community." As you will see from his comment, he took issue with the section of my post labeled "Behavior that is Clearly NOT Harassment." He indicated that some of what his organization considers harassment was identified in my post as not being harassment. That is certainly a fair point. My post focused on legal definitions of harassment; his organization appears to use a different sort of definition. He pointed to items #3 (wearing clothing with social or political messages at conferences) and #5 (inserting oneself into someone else's conversations and making absurd accusations against them) as examples. He seems to consider these to be legitimate examples of harassment while I noted that they do not seem consistent with the common components of various legal definitions.
Posted by vjack
Atheist Alliance International President Explains His Apology
Atheist Movement |Comments
March 28, 2013
An Atheist in Awe
|Loch Awe from the A85. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Instead of telling myself that the beauty of nature is the work of some sort of god, I am free to consider the science behind it. And while I do not assume this will be true for every atheist, I certainly feel closer to nature and in greater awe of the beauty around than I ever did as a believer.
Posted by vjack
An Atheist in Awe
Atheism | Science |Comments
March 27, 2013
My Reaction to the Atheist Alliance International's Apology
|Misunderstood (Photo credit: Howard Dickins)
I was surprised to see the AAI claim that what I wrote "trivialised harassment of women in the atheist community." I do not believe that my post said anything specific to to women. I recognize that harassment can and does occur between women, between men, and in both directions between women and men. Moreover, I most certainly did not attempt to trivialize anything in this post. To the contrary, I think that harassment is a serious issue and that we should exercise some caution and good judgment in labeling behavior as "harassment" when it may fall short of the definition.
In my post, I attempted to find common themes which appeared in legal definitions of harassment and explore their implications for the accusations of harassment I see today in the atheist community. I noted that many of the behaviors commonly characterized as harassment in our community fall short of what appear to be the central components of many legal definitions. I also noted that some of the behavior occurring in our community clearly does appear to meet these legal standards.
I'm not quite sure what the AAI found so objectionable about the contents of this post. When I read the statement of apology and re-read what I had written, I do not see an accurate characterization. I did not and do not condone harassment, defend harassment, or think we should be accepting of harassment. I believe I have been quite clear on these points.
Nevertheless, I recognize that the AAI is a large organization with a diverse membership to whom they must be accountable. If they received several complaints about promoting my post, it makes sense that they would remove the links and apologize. I do not fault them for doing so.
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Posted by vjack
My Reaction to the Atheist Alliance International's Apology
Atheist Movement |Comments
March 26, 2013
Clergy Abuse in Australia
|Orthographic map of Australia centered at 26.75° S, 133.25° E. Official territory. Claimed territories. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I'd like to introduce you to lewisblayse.net, a blog by Lewis Blayse about the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Australia. Lewis reports that he survived victimization in church-ran children's homes, and is bringing this perspective to bear as he provides commentary about the investigation into similar crimes.
I am sorry to learn about what Lewis endured as a child; however, I am grateful that people like him are standing up to religious organizations and shining a light on their crimes. Perhaps such efforts will make future victimization a bit less likely.
Posted by vjack
Clergy Abuse in Australia
Hypocrisy | Religion |Comments
Understanding Harassment
|Anti-Sexual Harassment Graffiti reading: No Touching allowed: Castration Awaits You (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In this post, I will examine legal definitions of harassment, highlight the key components which appear to distinguish harassment from other objectionable behaviors, and begin to explore some of the most common accusations of harassment in the online atheist community to see what should be labeled as harassment and what should probably not.
Posted by vjack
Understanding Harassment
Atheist Movement |Comments
March 25, 2013
Introducing Smart Apparel
With atheism on the rise, it is making it easier for closet atheist to come out and be heard, and Smart Apparel is doing what we can to ensure that this movement continues to grow by creating a wide variety of shirts that promote a smarter world. Some of our atheist shirts are very subtle in promoting skepticism and reason while others will expose you for the godless heathen that you are.
But we don't just create shirts about atheism and skepticism; many of our products focus on philosophy, politics, and of course science. We have one of the most popular science shirts on the web called Recycled Stardust along with a new line called Family of Retro Scientists which currently feature Carl Sagan, Bill Nye, and Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Not only are we promoting a smarter world with our tee shirts, we often post interesting and mind boggling statistics about the universe on our Facebook page. For example, did you know that if you were to count to a trillion counting one number per second, it would take you 31,000 years to finish counting!
Join Smart Apparel in promoting a smarter world and check us out on Facebook and Twitter.
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Posted by vjack
Introducing Smart Apparel
Atheism |Comments
Labels: Atheism
Blog Tips: Paying Taxes on Your Blogging Income
|Logo of the Internal Revenue Service (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Fast forward to a few years later. My expenses grew to include things like software, advertising, and various fees. I realized that there were things I needed to be a more effective blogger, and few of them were free. Fortunately, my ad revenue had increased along with my expenses. For the first time ever, I was able to cover my basic expenses. I was no longer losing money in order to write this blog.
My expenses have continued to grow, but my ad revenue has grown at an even greater rate. The result is that for the past few years, I have found myself in the position of earning a small profit from this blog. Since I have been reading up on taxes lately to make sure I understand how blogging income is taxed in the U.S. and some of the options we bloggers have, I figured it would be appropriate to share with you what I have learned so far.
Posted by vjack
Blog Tips: Paying Taxes on Your Blogging Income
Blogging |Comments
Labels: Blogging
March 24, 2013
|First reconstruction of Neanderthal man (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
As it was adopted by other groups outside the gaming community, "dudebro" appears to have evolved into what some describe as a gendered slur akin to characterizing men as Neanderthals. I found this fascinating, and I am grateful to @16bitheretic for the information. The next time I see the term being used online, I will have some idea what it means.
Posted by vjack
Feminism | SJW | Social Media |Comments
Labels: Feminism , SJW , Social Media
March 21, 2013
Keep the Faith, Lose the Religion?
|Icon-religion (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
She went on to say something I found quite interesting.
I'd like to keep the religion but lose the church. I have faith, and I am still a Christian. I just think the church structure and clergy may need to be something I let go.
Posted by vjack
Keep the Faith, Lose the Religion?
Religion |Comments
Labels: Religion
March 20, 2013
Yes, We Do Make the Choice to Use the Internet
|Example forum view, from PhpBB. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I thought this was an obvious thing to suggest. If someone were to tell me that they spent the last 6 hours watching a marathon of their favorite reality TV show and that they were getting sick of it, I'd probably suggest that they take a break and do something else for awhile. But I suppose this sort of solution was not nearly as obvious as I thought, at least not when it comes to the Internet.
Frankly, I find your "we are making the choice to do so" argument re: the internet to be extremely disingenuous. One might argue that people reading newspapers in the 1960s were "choosing" to do so as well. Heck, they even had to go outside to pick the paper up! The internet is the medium of communication now. It's real life. It's not a fairyland where people happen to wander into unicorns.What I wrote certainly was not intended to be disingenuous. Yes, someone in the 1960s who read newspapers was in fact choosing to do so. Someone in the 1980s who watched television was choosing to do so. I certainly knew people in the 80s who did not own televisions even though they could have afforded to do so. And today, someone who spends time on the Internet is choosing to do so. While these statements are true, none of them gets at what I was suggesting in the post. So here's yet another stab at it.
Posted by vjack
Yes, We Do Make the Choice to Use the Internet
Atheist Movement |Comments
March 19, 2013
I'm Back and Picking Up Where I Left Off
I'm back now, albeit somewhat reluctantly. I am lousy about taking breaks when I need them. I needed this one for other reasons, but I also hoped that having some time away would be good for adjusting my perspective a bit. I'm not yet sure if anything of the sort happened. I guess we'll see. What I will say is that this is the first time I can recall where I have taken a deliberate break from this blog and found myself unable to stop thinking about the sort of content about which I write. I suppose it shows me I still give a damn, and maybe that realization is worth something.
This should not imply that I thought about atheism and related content all of the time. I didn't. But neither did I manage to clear my mind like I wanted. The new Pope and the wall-to-wall media coverage got in my way, as did the breaking news that Mississippi's conservative legislature and governor have passed a measure promoting prayer in school. The fact that everyone I encounter here in Mississippi seems to want to talk about their Christian beliefs did not help either. But honestly, I can't blame my inability to get away on any of that. I find this stuff too interesting to keep my distance for long.
I found that one particular subject kept returning to my thoughts: how great it would be to have a somewhat more unified atheist community - or at least one without so much bickering over things that seem somewhat trivial once one gets some distance from them. Try as I might, I couldn't escape the conclusion that I really don't have any answers regarding to how to bring that about. I've realized that I am guided by little more than a vague sense that it is better to keep talking about our differences with the goal of resolution and/or tolerance than it is to demonize one another and form opposing factions.
Perhaps the atheist community is dying or already dead, and we will instead have many atheist communities with different priorities. That does not seem so bad, especially if it would bring an end to the personal attacks. Of course, it would also be nice if the various factions could co-operate effectively and not regard the others as enemies.
This should not imply that I thought about atheism and related content all of the time. I didn't. But neither did I manage to clear my mind like I wanted. The new Pope and the wall-to-wall media coverage got in my way, as did the breaking news that Mississippi's conservative legislature and governor have passed a measure promoting prayer in school. The fact that everyone I encounter here in Mississippi seems to want to talk about their Christian beliefs did not help either. But honestly, I can't blame my inability to get away on any of that. I find this stuff too interesting to keep my distance for long.
I found that one particular subject kept returning to my thoughts: how great it would be to have a somewhat more unified atheist community - or at least one without so much bickering over things that seem somewhat trivial once one gets some distance from them. Try as I might, I couldn't escape the conclusion that I really don't have any answers regarding to how to bring that about. I've realized that I am guided by little more than a vague sense that it is better to keep talking about our differences with the goal of resolution and/or tolerance than it is to demonize one another and form opposing factions.
Perhaps the atheist community is dying or already dead, and we will instead have many atheist communities with different priorities. That does not seem so bad, especially if it would bring an end to the personal attacks. Of course, it would also be nice if the various factions could co-operate effectively and not regard the others as enemies.
Posted by vjack
I'm Back and Picking Up Where I Left Off
Atheist Movement |Comments
March 14, 2013
Guilt By Association
|Guilt by Association Vol. 1 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Hypothetical scenario time. Suppose you discover an atheist blog with which you are previously unfamiliar. It is not brand new, but it is new to you. The title suggests that you may have some interest in the subject matter and the perspective of the author. Perhaps this is a blog you should add to your blogroll, RSS aggregator, or whatever other method you use to read blogs you like. But then you notice something that gives you pause. The blogroll of this particular blog is filled with links to PZ Myers, Richard Carrier, Ophelia Benson, and even Greg Laden. What do you do? Do you go ahead and link to this blog anyway, or do you pass? Is this a matter of guilt by association, or is it something else?
Suppose you decide to go ahead and link to the blog in question. You tell yourself that it is their content you are interested in and not the content of these others bloggers. But since they are linking to these other bloggers, does it seem almost as if you are driving traffic to these other bloggers? If so, does that present a problem?
Alternatively, suppose you decide to pass on linking to this blog. Is this fair? By refusing to link to them because of who they link to, are you engaging in guilt by association? And if so, is what you are doing really that different from Melody Hensley preemptively blocking anyone who follows @ElevatorGATE on Twitter?
If guilt by association is bad when "they" do it, isn't it still bad when "we" do it? What do you think?
Update: The @ElevatorGATE account has been banned by Twitter since this post was written.
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Posted by vjack
Guilt By Association
Atheist Movement |Comments
March 8, 2013
Taking a Short Break From Blogging
I will be taking a break from posting here for the next week or two. I have several things that require my attention offline, some of which will keep me away from a computer for a bit. While unavoidable, this break comes at a good time for me because I think it might do me some good to have some time to clear my head and step away from thinking about this stuff so often.
I will return, but I thought I should give you a heads-up so you won't wonder what happened when things get quiet around here for awhile.
I will return, but I thought I should give you a heads-up so you won't wonder what happened when things get quiet around here for awhile.
Posted by vjackComments
Taking a Short Break From Blogging
March 6, 2013
Taking Responsibility For Our Feelings
|Street musician in Amsterdam (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Who is Responsible For How You Feel?
You and you alone are responsible for how you feel. Nobody else can make you feel sad, angry, upset, or anything else without your agreement. I know we sometimes talk as if other people cause our feelings, but this is misleading.
If you insult me, I may experience feelings of sadness. My feelings are based on my understanding of our interaction and are guided by the whole of my personality and life experience. If I care what you think of me, I may feel sad; if I do not, I may not feel much of anything. It is not your insult that leads to my feelings; it is my interpretation of your insult, the meaning I assign to it, and the manner in which I put it in context. That is, how I feel following your insult is far more about me than it is about you.
Posted by vjack
Taking Responsibility For Our Feelings
Atheist Movement | Reason |Comments
Labels: Atheist Movement , Reason
March 5, 2013
Problems With Jesus: The Character of the Christian God
|Jesus Christ figure in London. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The first of my concerns with the possibility of a historical Jesus deals with the character of the Christian god, as described throughout the Old Testament of the Christian bible. In brief, sending Jesus to die for our sins has always struck me as the last thing the evil sort of god described in the Old Testament would do.
Posted by vjack
Problems With Jesus: The Character of the Christian God
Bible | Christianity |Comments
Labels: Bible , Christianity
March 4, 2013
Makers: Women Who Make America
|First Lady Betty Ford sports a button expressing her support for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment while taking some personal time as President Ford plays in the Jackie Gleason Inverrary Classic Celebrities Golf Tournament, Hollywood, Florida. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
One of the things that struck me while watching it and which I often forget was what a short a time frame we are talking about. The first edition of The Feminine Mystique was published before I was born, but most of the women's movement occurred within my lifetime. And their successes during the 1960s and 1970s were truly astounding. One of the great things about Makers was that it reminds us of all the obstacles women faced at the beginning of the movement and highlights what the movement was able to accomplish.
Posted by vjack
Makers: Women Who Make America
Feminism | Reviews |Comments
March 3, 2013
Problems With Jesus: Morality and Family Values
One of the most common claims I have heard from Christians on the subject of morality is that the god described in the Old Testament of their bible is a very different sort of god than the figure of Jesus as described in the New Testament. This claim is typically made in response to my questions about the mass murder and other atrocities in which the Old Testament god appears to delight.
Perhaps they are right. Maybe Jesus abolished the entire Old Testament. But this possibility seems highly controversial even among Christians. After all, many seem quite eager to claim that at least some of Leviticus is still relevant today.
Even if we decided to ignore the entire Old Testament and focus only on Jesus, we find some serious problems with the sort of morality he allegedly promoted. In her brilliant essay, "If God is Dead, Is Everything Permitted?" (which can be found in in The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever), Elizabeth Anderson wrote:
Perhaps they are right. Maybe Jesus abolished the entire Old Testament. But this possibility seems highly controversial even among Christians. After all, many seem quite eager to claim that at least some of Leviticus is still relevant today.
Even if we decided to ignore the entire Old Testament and focus only on Jesus, we find some serious problems with the sort of morality he allegedly promoted. In her brilliant essay, "If God is Dead, Is Everything Permitted?" (which can be found in in The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever), Elizabeth Anderson wrote:
Jesus tells us his mission is to make family members hate one another, so that they shall love him more than their kin (Matt. 10:35-37). He promises salvation to those who abandon their wives and children for him (Matt. 19:29, Mark 10:29-30, Luke 18-29-30). Disciples must hate their parents, siblings, wives, and children (Luke 14:26). The rod is not enough for children who curse their parents; they must be killed (Matt. 15:4-7, Mark 7:9-10, following Lev. 20:9). These are Jesus's "family values."
Posted by vjack
Problems With Jesus: Morality and Family Values
Bible | Christianity | Morality |Comments
Labels: Bible , Christianity , Morality
March 2, 2013
Hurt Feelings on the Internet
|The IMP Log: The Very First Message Sent on the Internet (Photo credit: FastLizard4)
Time for me to confess something. I think I'd be about a 20 on this scale. It is not that I am indifferent to the feelings of others. There are times when I attempt to word something in a gentler manner, but they are infrequent. I rarely hold back unless I think I might be interacting with a child. At the same time, I generally avoid name-calling and so-called profane language in my writing because I do not think they add anything of value. So while I avoid these things, I do not do so because I am worried about offending someone. All in all, I think I'd have to say that I'm not particularly concerned with hurting someone's feelings on the Internet. I do not go out of my way to do so, but I also do not expend much effort trying to avoid doing so.
Posted by vjack
Hurt Feelings on the Internet
Society |Comments
Labels: Society
March 1, 2013
The Importance of Self-Awareness
|(You discover directly) that your own immediate self-awareness is just this (and nothing else), and that it has an inherent self-clarity, which is entirely un-fabricated. (Photo credit: Wonderlane)
There is something advantageous about developing the ability and willingness to perceive ourselves as we are perceived by others. If nothing else, this should allow us to develop a greater understanding of our own strengths and weaknesses. By doing so, we might be able to make ourselves more effective in accomplishing our goals.
Back in December, I wrote a post called "Atheism and Nonconformity" in which I mentioned an experience I had in a local atheist group listening to a woman complain about her life without realizing that her behavior was almost certainly a contributing factor to many of the things about which she was complaining. I wrote:
It was not terribly long ago that I was listening to a particular atheist woman with blue hair, tattoos, and piercings share how difficult it was for her to maintain friendships here in the South because her friends typically ended the relationship once they learned of her atheism… But over a few interactions, I noticed that she was loud, domineering, self-centered, and rather rude in conversations with others… In any case, I found myself not wanting to have anything to do with her, and I am fairly confident that it was not because of her atheism.This particular woman stopped attending the group, and it was clear that everyone else had experienced similarly negative reactions to her. She was abrasive, unpleasant to be around, and generally off-putting. Everyone was nice to her, but nobody has missed her. I had nearly forgotten about her, but I've since learned that she's been trashing the group and various people in the group on Facebook, claiming she is going to start an alternative group, etc.
Posted by vjack
The Importance of Self-Awareness
Atheist Movement | Reason |Comments
Labels: Atheist Movement , Reason


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Career Center
Welcome to AMGA Career Center
For assistance please contact customer service at 888.491.8833 x 2344 | firstname.lastname@example.com.
| Walla Walla, Washington -- Seeking a BC/BE Internal Medicine physician. Full-time position. Outpatient care only with 1 in 7 weekend call. Competitive compensation; comprehensive benefits. Incentive options, relocation allowance, loan repayment and hiring bonus may be available. H1b candidates are welcome to apply. Join Providence Medical Group's strong and growing practice serving eastern Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Enjoy outstanding quality of life in southeast Washington.
Located in sunny southeast Washington, Walla Walla is a place where scenic beauty, western history and outdoor adventure blend with small town friendliness, taste-tempting restaurants and more than 100 local wineries to create a vibrant, family-friendly community. Walla Walla's very name - many waters - reflects the numerous rivers that cool and refresh the region. From the scenic beauty of the Blue Mountains to the educational opportunities of Walla Walla University and Whitman College, Walla Walla has it all. Click here to see how one of our providers interacts with Walla Wallas natural beauty!
Providence Medical Group - Walla Walla is our growing, physician-led organization of employed physicians and advanced practice clinicians in the Walla Walla area. Our providers consistently earn high provider engagement scores, and our tightly integrated medical network boasts a broad range of specialties including Cardiology, Family Medicine, Gastroenterology, General Surgery, Hospital Medicine, Internal Medicine, Nephrology, Neurology, Neurosurgery, Oncology, Physiatry, and Urology.

subset: commoncrawl


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Superior Solar Powered Piston Pumps
This model of pump is excellent for those who need to achieve different levels of pressure – with a maximum level of up to 85 pounds of pressure per square inch. This is attained through the repeated motion of a piston through the central cylinder of the pump, drawing the fluid in with greater suction. As the piston moves, the pressure can be built up to varying levels, forcing the liquid to pulsate & move through the pump at a rate dependent on the speed of the piston.
Benefits of choosing to go with the piston
Because this variety of pump has such a broad pressure range, you are capable of controlling the pressure without impacting upon the flow rate. This means that changes in pressure & the discharge rate have little effecton the performance of the pump. You can achieve a continuous rate of discharge throughout use, whilst having the freedom to change the pressure range as you use it.
This is advantageous for individuals looking to move corrosive fluids,depending on the metal used. For those using our solar powered piston pumps for irrigation or watering their livestock, they are useful for controlling the rate of discharge & achieving an adequate pressure output for the needed task.
The sun is your friend
If you live in rural Australia & don't have easy access to a mains power grid, utilising solar energy to power your pumps can be a very practical solution. Not only do they require little maintenance to run, they are also efficient, quiet & save you money on fuel & power bills as well as repairs. They are also much more beneficial to the environment.


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Business Law
Ask a Business Lawyer. Get Business Law Questions Answered ASAP.
Beverly,This is a situation where if you see that the report and the testimony is somehow incorrect, you or your attorney find the means to dispute and impeach the credibility of the person who made the reports. In your case it appears that two prior courts sided with the parents and with the report that was made against you and that is of course not a good sign but it is still possible to prevail--you just need to have your attorney find holes in testimony and find legitimate inconsistencies with what was reported. The fact that you believe (or know) the report to be untrue is no longer relevant as what is truly relevant is what the courts believe, so the job here is to convince them if possible.Good luck.
Beverly,Then your attorney must object to the language on your behalf and ask that the report be edited or withdrawn from evidence on the fact that the information is untrue or incorrect. But you can only make that argument and make that claim if you have evidence that the information is true. Typically you have to object to the report when it is initially presented, not once it was moved into evidence (that is something your attorney should have done for you).Good luck.


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Welcome to Dragon Cave! Dragon Cave is an online adoptables game. Collect eggs, raise them to adulthood, and then breed them to create interesting lineages. New types of dragons are added regularly!
Originating from a single species that thrived in ancient times, Xenowyrms have become an incredibly diverse breed whose appearances vary depending on their habitats. Each Xenowyrm subspecies is heavily reliant on the power of different types of mana, making them powerful magic users. Chronos are often considered to be the most elusive of all Xenowyrm subspecies: they live in the darkest and densest forests, far from civilization. They are masters of time magic, allowing them to manipulate the flow of time at will. It is said that Chrono lairs are protected by a field of magic that makes the minutes tick by at a slow pace for any unwanted visitors.
Dragons are creatures with nearly unlimited life spans. They can survive for long periods of time, and no one has found a dragon that has died of old age. Adolescence is usually marked by the growth of a hatchling's wings, although not all breeds of dragons grow wings and some breeds have other traits that indicate the beginning of maturation. Once they hit adolescence, hatchlings change quickly, maturing to their full forms in only 2 years.
Dragons don't communicate with each other verbally, but they will growl to scare off predators and frighten prey. Young dragons will emit an extremely high-pitched squeal when they are frightened. To communicate, they use telepathy with each other and to speak to other creatures.


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Feeling froggy tree frog chart duo by Jenna Greer
Welcome! You are browsing as a guestWould you like to see projects made from this pattern and much more? create a free account What am I missing?
© jenn greer
© jenn greer
© jenn greer
Feeling froggy tree frog chart duo
This pattern is available for $3.00 USD buy it now
two pack of tree frog charts - one is 35 x 30 stitches, the other is 70 x 75 stitches. Cute addition to any project. For personal use only.


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The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente
I really enjoyed this read - it was a delightful combination of Alice in Wonderland with a dash of Neil Gaiman and a smidgen of Terry Pratchet's wit. While there were a few times it felt a little forced, it was still a charming book and I look forward to reading more of September's adventures in the future.
I'm also working thru Book Two of the Kristen Lavransdatter Triology and enjoying book 2 much more than book 1. I must give the author credit as I think the dislike for Kristen and Erlend I ended book 1 with was intentional and has made Kristen transformation from a silly young girl to a morally aware young woman that much more powerful.
In addition I'm also working through Wendall Berry's Bringing It To The Table. Berry always takes me a little while, because I like to take my time with his essays and they're always worth the time to read.
As a family we've been fully enjoying the music of the Okey Dokey Brothers and are keeping tracks on them in hopes of catching their next performance near by.
I've been gearing up for March and our annual Gaelic Storm concert! I really hope they continue a March concert in our area for a few more years it's becoming a great birthday tradition. One good thing about March birthdays for short, little Irish girls is that there's always a wealth of touring bands around this time of year! Apparently I'm a bad fan and didn't realize a new cd had come out last year so now I need to catch up!
On My Mind
- Trying to really, prayerfully discern the next step in growing our family
- Getting back on the budget train
- How to educate my children
- Knowing that I have some really great friends who aren't afraid to share their rough times to let me know I'm not alone.
- Still very much ready for more sun and warm weather!


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(Saturday to Sunday)
Doors open at 6:15 PM - 7:00 AM
Lock-In for Life is an overnight event where teens (8-12th grade) experience amazing pro-life talks, all night fun, and celebrating the gift of life with youth from all over the diocese. The Lock-In also includes music, pizza, snacks and drinks, sporting tournaments, prayer time, a live sonogram! (A note to parents: some Pro-Life talks may contain mature abortion content.) The Kick-Off for the Pro-Life Essay Contest for the March for Life scholarships will be announced at the end of the Lock-In.
Most Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church
2100 N Davis Dr.
Arlington, TX 76012
Google Map
If you plan on attending please register with your Youth Minister or cleared Chaperone by November 2nd. Teens: Please make your checks out to your church and NOT the diocese.
$30 admission (t-shirt included)
$15 Chaperones
Attention: Do not register individually. This registration is for Parish Youth Ministers or Group Leaders only. Individuals should contact their parish youth ministry program to register.
Step 1: Watch this registration "how to" video
Step 2: Online Registration
Click the link below for the following diocesan forms:
Form A, Out of State Form A, Form B, Form D, and Form G.
Jason Spoolstra
Marlon De La Torre, MA MEd.
Melissa Loza
Broken link or website issue? Please contact the .


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Labour markets are transforming, driven by rapid technological change and changing socio-demographics. In this year's CEO survey 72% of CEOs were concerned about the availability of key skills and most CEOs (75%) said that a skilled, educated and adaptable workforce should be a priority for business in the country where they're based.
Through investing in education we enable our network an access point to help solve important problems and power an effective skills transition.
For example:
Social enterprise and NGOs are solving some of societies biggest problems and our global network of people have the skills and knowledge to support them. From working to build trust and transparency in the NGO sector to directly supporting the start up of innovative social enterprises, we're working across the globe to accelerate change in collaboration with those having some of the greatest impact in creating sustainable and enterprising economies. For example:
As global humanitarian disasters increase in frequency we continue to explore how we can best support people and communities affected – utilising our skills and experience. For example, teams from PwC Netherlands are helping towards the refugee crisis by bringing together key stakeholders to find the best solutions to issues such as refugees getting permits to access regular home and work opportunities. We also work with others through our Global Crisis Centre – supporting clients prepare for, respond to and recover from a crisis.
As disasters increase, the economic losses and impact on business is being increasingly recognised. That's why we worked with the UN to co-create the R!SE Initiative which aims to contribute to risk resilient cities through risk sensitive investments.
In FY16 we saw our community investment increase to an all-time high as a result of our focus on skilled volunteering and capacity building.
Community investment in numbers
Volunteering in numbers
Note: These figures relate only to the 21 largest firms in the PwC network. Donations include cash donations made directly by the firm to charitable organisations, donations provided by the firm to match funds raised by staff and the value of non-cash in-kind donations other than professional services (e.g. equipment, property, access to our facilities). Volunteering hours accounts for the value of the time contributed by our staff through volunteering activities (calculated based on the London Benchmarking Group standard for measuring corporate community investment). Management costs include the administrative and management costs that are directly attributable to delivering the firm's corporate responsibility activities e.g. salaries of our CR teams Pro bono and discounted engagements include the value of our professional services provided free of charge or at discounted rates to non-profit or community organisations.
This year we started on a journey to improve our social impact measurement on community organisations – transitioning from inputs to outcomes.
Our first round of measurement identified the following key findings.


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Various ethnic Burmese and ethnic minority city-states or kingdoms occupied the present borders through the 19th century. Over a period of 62 years (1824-1886), Britain conquered Burma and incorporated the country into its Indian Empire. Burma was administered as a province of India until 1937 when it became a separate, self-governing colony; in 1948, Burma attained independence from the Commonwealth. Gen. NE WIN dominated the government from 1962 to 1988, first as military ruler, then as self-appointed president, and later as political kingpin. In response to widespread civil unrest, NE WIN resigned in 1988, but within months the military took power after crushing student-led protests. Multiparty legislative elections in 1990 resulted in the main opposition party – the National League for Democracy (NLD) – winning a landslide victory. Instead of handing over power, the junta placed NLD leader (and Nobel Peace Prize recipient) AUNG SAN SUU KYI (ASSK) under house arrest from 1989 to 1995, 2000 to 2002, and from May 2003 to November 2010. In late September 2007, the ruling junta brutally suppressed protests over increased fuel prices led by prodemocracy activists and Buddhist monks, killing at least 13 people and arresting thousands for participating in the demonstrations. In early May 2008, Burma was struck by Cyclone Nargis, which left over 138,000 dead and tens of thousands injured and homeless. Despite this tragedy, the junta proceeded with its May constitutional referendum, the first vote in Burma since 1990. Parliamentary elections held in November 2010, considered flawed by many in the international community, saw the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party garnering over 75% of the seats. Parliament convened in January 2011 and selected former Prime Minister THEIN SEIN as president. Although the vast majority of national-level appointees named by THEIN SEIN are former or current military officers, the government has initiated a series of political and economic reforms leading to a substantial opening of the long-isolated country. These reforms have included allowing ASSK to contest parliamentary by-elections on 1 April 2012, releasing hundreds of political prisoners, reaching preliminary peace agreements with 10 of the 11 major armed ethnic groups, enacting laws that provide better protections for basic human rights, and gradually reducing restrictions on freedom of the press, association, and civil society. At least due in part to these reforms, ASSK now serves as an elected Member of Parliament (MP) and chair of the Committee for Rule of Law and Tranquility. Most political parties have begun building their institutions in preparation for the next round of general elections in 2015. The country is preparing to chair the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2014.-CIA World Factbook
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SANUWAVE, Inc.
Reports Third Quarter 2012 Financial Results
ALPHARETTA, Ga., Nov. 14, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SANUWAVE Health, Inc. (OTCBB:SNWV) today reported financial results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2012 and provided a business update.
Kevin A. Richardson, II, Chairman of the Board of Directors of SANUWAVE, said, "I am very pleased that we have been able to reduce the Company's cash burn while making sure we do not affect the value of the business or our capability to start up and conduct our next dermaPACE® study to treat diabetic foot ulcers. We are taking additional cost cutting measures in the fourth quarter of 2012 that will reduce further the Company's expenses not related to the upcoming dermaPACE study."


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Florida & Arizona Concealed Carry Permit
Top Shot Academy
Saturday, July 6, 2013 from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM (CDT)
Who's Going
San Francisco, California
London, United Kingdom
Florence, Italy
Event Details
This is a 3 hour Concealed Carry Permit Course, which includes a 1 hour range session.
This course meets the approved curriculum for the non-resident Florida CCW permit, non- resident Arizona and the resident Wisconsin CCW permit.
All Top Shot Academy instructors are NRA Certified Instructors and Illinois residents.
Our specialty is getting new shooters comfortable with firearm safety and proper shooting techniques.
Course Covers:
- Concealed Carry Laws
- Hands-On Revolver and Pistol familiarization
- Basics of Cartridge Components
- Gun Handling Skills- safely loading and unloading of firearms, Proper handling while in private and in public, Range Commands.
- Shooting Skills demonstrations, tips on grip, stance and trigger control.
- Proper storage, cleaning and lubrication discussion and demonstration.
- Range Session- Basics of marksmanship and safe shooting.
Classroom Instruction: 9am - 12 noon
Range Qualification: 1pm- at Offsite Location
Class size is limited! Register early to save your space.
When & Where
Cabela's Hoffman Estates, IL
5225 Prairie Stone Pkwy
Hoffman Estates,
Saturday, July 6, 2013 from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM (CDT)
Add to my calendar
Top Shot Academy
Chicago's premier firearms training group. Offering IL CCW, basic instruction, tactical, home defense, concealed carry, and competition training.
We are Illinois State Police Approved Concealed Carry Instructors,
NRA certified instructors, NROI certified Range Officers.
We occasionally have guest instructors from History Channel's Top Shot and all over the world!
The History Channel, or A & E Television.>>>


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Golf Course Pollensa Mallorca Spain
Golf Pollença is a nine hole course that has the right mix of challenge, variety, and harmony with nature around which the clubs success revolves. The well maintained greens are with two lakes and much indigenous vegetation, above all olive and pine trees makes your golfing experince perfect. The course offers a panoramic view of […]More Info
Golf Course Maioris Mallorca Spain
Just 15 minutes from Palma, Golf Maioris is privileged to have wonderful surroundings, with sea on one side and the pictersque view of the Spanish landscape on the other. This 72-par course has as a lot of challenges in store as you move through the 18 splendid, different, attractive and varied holes. Open in 2006 […]More Info
Golf Poniente Mallorca Spain
Golf Poniente is one of Mallorca's oldest courses operational since 1978. This is a John Harris course. This 18 hole, par 72 and 6.430m long course is a combination of flat and raised holes. A spacious driving range, two short play greens with a bunker and a wide putting green of 2.000 square metres makes this […]More Info
Golf Park Puntiro Mallorca Spain
Golf Park Puntiro Overview One of the new kids on the block, this classic Nicklaus designed course provides a real golfing challenge for all levels. A park land course with almost a links feel to it on the back nine and good use of bunkers and water. Ideal for low and medium handicappers, though high […]More Info
Pula Golf Mallorca Spain
The Pula Golf Course is graced by stars such as Claudia Schiffer on a regular basis, with pictures of the celebrity tournaments very much prominent at the club. Therefore, green fees are a bit expensive as compared to the decidedly average course which has rolling terrain tightened by the presence of several ponds and views […]More Info
Son Vida Golf Mallorca Spain
Son Vida was the first course to be built in Mallorca. It opened in 1964, originally designed by F.W. Hawtree and more recently remodeled by the German architect Kurt Rossknecht. Son Vida is now part of the 5 star Arabella Golf and Spa resort. It is relatively short and some of the doglegs can be […]More Info
Son Termens Golf Mallorca Spain
Golf de Son Termens is Mallorca's newest golf course. Situated only 10 kms from Palma, in the direction of Valldemosa, between S'Esglaieta and the road to Soller, Son Termens opened in May 1998. This golf course is ranked among the most ecological in Mallorca. Designed by the Harris group and Jose Rodriguez, it is a […]More Info
Son Servera Golf Mallorca Spain
The 'Golf Club de Son Servera' was one of the first golf courses and remains one of the best known in the Island of Majorca. Son Servera is situated on the east coast of the Island, right by the sea it is set in the most delightful and peaceful surroundings. The greens stretch down from […]More Info
Son Quint Golf Mallorca Spain
Son Quint – A golf course made for Mallorca. Lush and green as far as the eye can see; golf for beginners, demanding courses for experienced golfers; Mallorca is a golfers paradise for all. A few kilometres from Palma, the capital of the island, you will find the 3 courses that comprise Arabella Golf in […]More Info
Son Muntaner Golf Mallorca Spain
This is a commercial golf course reserved exclusively for guests staying at the two hotels in the Son Vida Park, a lovely holiday village with two golf courses lying just 10 minutes away from Palma. Golf at Son Muntaner has been designed to fit in perfectly with its Mediterranean environment and is lined with almonds […]More Info


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Coronet Carpet in Saranac NY 12981
When it comes to residential carpet installation, our main concerns are aesthetics, functionality and comfort. You want to go home to a place where you feel unmatched comfort after a stressful day. The first thing that you want to do when you arrive home is to kick off your shoes, get on the couch and dig your warm feet into a Coronet Carpet Saranac NY 12981 plush and cushy carpet. This is the kind of comfort that you want to achieve when it comes to residential carpet installation.
Aside from the comfort, you also have to ensure that you achieve the appropriate level of quietness in your home. You must consider and focus on how you can reduce or get rid of the echo effect in your home. Saranac NY 12981 This is an important acoustic characteristic that you must focus on in your carpet installation.
You can choose from a wide array of styles for residential carpet that are guaranteed to deliver the benefits that we expect from our carpet installation. In most cases, you final choice will be defined purely by the decorative considerations. Since beauty is generally subjective, there are Coronet Carpet Saranac NY 12981 no set rules or guidelines that we have to follow. However, you have to remember that for practical considerations, you must look for the perfect match for the color choice with the home interior as well as your external environment. This means that it is not wise for you to choose plush carpet materials in white color if you kids and Saranac NY 12981 dogs are running around for the most part of the day.
On the other hand, the foot traffic is the major consideration when it comes to commercial carpet installation. You have to make sure that your choice will not easily wear after being subjected to high volume of traffic. In your choice of the right carpet material for commercial use, it is Saranac NY 12981 essential that you carefully examine the specifications to determine the level of beating that the material can withstand.
Carpets that are designed for commercial use are normally 12 feet in width; although there also variants that are 6 feet in width or die cut in smaller sizes of 12 inches, 18 inches or even in square carpet tiles. While floor covers intended Saranac NY 12981 for residential require a power stretcher for proper installation, commercial covers are required to be installed without the padding and directly glued to the floor. This is the reason why commercial-grade floor matting comes with high-performance cushion material or other types backing system.
The backing system is the most important component of the floor cover when it is expected to be subjected Saranac NY 12981 to intense punishment. You must select a carpet material with a sturdy face fiber if it is intended to be used in hotel lobbies, hospitals and other commercial areas that experience high volume of traffic.
Carpet Cleaning and Maintenance
Cleaning and maintenance of carpets, whether these are intended for residential or commercial use, must be performed even before we observe that it is Saranac NY 12981 time for such activity. Regular vacuuming has to be strictly observed. You must also prevent the accumulation of dirt and other debris as these can seriously damage the outer layer of the yarn. If you don't have the technical competency, it is best that the task is left to those who possess the technical expertise.
Cost Considerations for Carpet Installations
You must have Saranac NY 12981 a budget range from $25 to $35 per square yard if you want to have decent carpet material, carpet installation and cushion material. The quality of the floor cover will have to be assessed by considering the twist of the yarn, fiber type and general density. There are instances where commercial grade of floor cover is used in residential spaces. This Saranac NY 12981 is normally done by interior designers and decorators to achieve the perfect match in the elements of their interior design.


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Sunday pops
University of Chicago finance professor John Cochrane says the best way to deal with the coming collapse of ObamaCare isn't another government intervention but by making the purchase of individual health insurance a true and national free market. What a novel idea, eh? ... George Mason University economics scholar (and regular Trib columnist) Don Boudreaux calls the furor over "income inequality" a precursor to policies "rigged to 'distribute' privileges and booty to those who do not deserve them." And he says that professors and pundits pimping for "income envy" are doing more to incite the civil unrest they claim to abhor and seek to avoid. ... The Pennsylvania Independent notes that South Philadelphia High School, a public school, scored 36.5 out of 100 in the new statewide assessments. But a mile away, the Preparatory Charter School of Mathematics, Science, Technology and Careers scored 70.6. Hmmmm, there should be a lesson there for the educratic establishment, don't you think? ... Says Molly Ball, writing in The Atlantic magazine: "(Democrat) centrists fear that liberals will drive the party out of the American mainstream with their talk of income redistribution and political correctness." Psssst, Molly! That come-to-their-senses moment is well underway.


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Our videos are available for download in different languages. To download please click with the right mouse button on the appropriate version and choose "Save target as" to name the saving-location on your computer.
BLAUBRAND® -The right line in volumetric measurement
MP4 File HD 720P - The Quality of BLAUBRAND® EN ES CN


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This disguise is juuust riiight!
She'll love trick-or-treating as this lovable storybook character! Goldilocks costume includes a blue floral dress, ruffled pantaloons, a pair of hair bows with ribbon curlicue accents and three plush bears. 7-piece set.
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All Bar One Sheffield
13-15 Leopold Street, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S1 2GY
13-15 Leopold Street, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S1 2GY
With everything from brunch with a great coffee, well-chosen wine over lunch or post-work cocktails that inevitably lead to a big night out - All Bar One is your perfect all day social. Download and register now to start earning rewards, checking out your latest exclusive offers or even brushing up on your wine and cocktail knowledge.
The All Bar One loyalty app features:


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Sun Laboratories Tan Overnight Self Tanning Lotion
Sun Laboratories Tan Overnight Self Tanning Lotion Reviews
Surprised at good ratings.I ordered the fair to medium version, sample pack. I used the exfoliator as recommended, then the tanning lotion. The color is WAY too dark for fair skin, looks dirty, and went on very unevenly. I've used self-tanners for years, so I'm not a novice at applying, so that is not the reason. The worst part? When I looked for the return information, I found out that ALL SALES ARE FINAL, there is no...read more return policy. I've never seen that before on a non-sale product, but I've learned my lesson. BUYER BEWARE, don't pay a ton for a full-size before trying the trial size. I was very dissappointed in both the product and the company policies. The only reason I gave it two stars is because the product does smell nicer than others. — 3 years, 4 months agocbg0973 | 1 reviews
This review is: Helpful | Not helpful | Inappropriate | 0 of 0 people said helpful
OK But Not GreatIn my quest to find the perfect self tanner, I decided to give Sun Labs Tan Overnight a shot. I found out about it on kind of a shady website so I was a little nervous about trying it. When I finally got it, I was surprised by how dark the lotion was. Turns out, it rubbed in pretty well into my skin. After I washed off the guide color the next morning, my color was actually pretty nice. How...read moreever, there was a bit of that "self tanner odor". It wasn't horrible but I could def smell it. Anyway, my tan lasted about 4 days, which I was pretty happy with. So would I try this again? Probably. But I wasn't blown away :) — 4 years, 2 months agoKaylaFisher | 4 reviews
This review is: Helpful | Not helpful | Inappropriate | 24 of 24 people said helpful
Alternative to sun labsI used sun labs all last summer with perfect results, well this summer I decided to try timewise self tan from Sally's for about $10. Guess what?! It works exactly the same and even smells exactly the same. Give it a shot, if you love the overnight tan you will love timewise for half the price! — 5 years, 2 months agoAhart12 | 10 reviews
This review is: Helpful | Not helpful | Inappropriate | 3 of 5 people said helpful
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A total of 151 delegates - including El Salvadorans, Eritreans, Zimbabweans and Ugandans - have applied, a Canadian newspaper reported.
An immigration lawyer said the women were facing severe discrimination.
South Africa's Aids policy came under scathing criticism at the global conference in Toronto.
Slow provision
An immigration lawyer, Michael Battista, said the women were facing severe stigma and discrimination that amounted to persecution - loss of homes, loss of jobs and in some cases threats of physical violence.
The asylum seekers are being housed in a Toronto hostel while their cases are investigated - a process that could take up to a year.
South Africa's approach towards Aids - backed by President Thabo Mbeki and controversial Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang - promotes alternative therapies.
This has been blamed for the slow provision of anti-retroviral drugs and was a policy attacked during the conference.
The UN's special envoy on Aids, Stephen Lewis, denounced what he called theories more worthy of a lunatic fringe than a concerned and compassionate state.
Now it is reported in the South African press that the ministry of health has instructed its officials to have nothing to do with Mr Lewis, who had been invited to visit the country by Aids activists.
The trip has now apparently been cancelled.
Most Popular Now | 56,514 people are reading stories on the site right now.";


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Looking for TÚS Staff? Let us know!
Westmeath Community Development is currently seeking Community Groups around the County for TUS placements. If your community group is interested in placing a person with them, the contact details are at the end. Below you can find some information of what the TUS programme is.
Westmeath Community Development's TUS scheme currently has 160 places. Initially, the allocation was for 100 places but this allocation was increased to 160 places in early 2014 in order to match demand from local community groups. This scheme aims to provide short term working opportunities for unemployed people, and all work that is to be carried out by TUS participants benefits their local community. Every parish in County Westmeath continues to benefit by the placement of workers in local projects.
The TUS scheme is an excellent opportunity for community groups in Westmeath who are looking for specific work to be carried out to get a worker for at least a year.


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Our neonatal expert explain why newborn babies experience touch differently to us, and Mary Moore looks at how massage can get your newborn to sleep better, improve their health, and help parents bond with their infant.
In an article titled 'The Sense of Touch and How It Affects Development' by Crystal Leonard (14 May, 2009) she explains how the sense of touch develops before all other senses in embryos, and is the main way in which infants learn about their environment and bond with people. In fact, a baby's first experience with the surrounding environment occurs through touch, developing prenatally as early as 16 weeks in amniotic fluid, so gentle and calming touch is an important source of stimulation for newborn babies.
Massage helps newborns to foster the neurodevelopment of brain regions producing oxytocin, thus enhancing their future socio-emotional development, and is also linked to the 'growth of physical abilities, language and cognitive skills', according to an article on Urbanchildinstitute.org, titled 'Enhancing Development Through the Sense of Touch' (23 May, 2012). Massage is also calming and especially helpful, according to Gayle Friedman, who runs workshops from Baby Grow Clinic in Cape Town, as well as privately or to groups on request, and has been teaching baby massage classes for 21 years for "colic to help with digestion, and helps soothe a baby who cannot settle easily."
Through touch, the baby learns to experience pleasure and, Friedman adds, "Non-verbal communication between the parent and child is enhanced." This is vital for the development of attachment behaviour and "for early social development of the young child, in that both the infant and parent have the capacity to elicit and respond to behaviours in mutually pleasurable ways, according to an article on healthyfamily.org titled 'Touch Communication, The Power of Infant Massage' by certified infant massage instructor, Elaine Fogel Schneider, Ph.D., C.I.I.M


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Online casino games
The Invisible Man Online Slot
Grail Maiden Online Slot
Hurdy Gurdy Online Slot
Ja Man Online Slot
Online casino game types
Casino WarNumber of games: 26
Casino War has to be the simplest card game to learn how to play. Initial bets are made. The dealer then deals out the cards and the player with the highest card wins. In the event of a tie, there is a showdown, possible raises and betting round,... more
Online gaming software platforms
Tain Online Gaming Platforms
Tain AB Overview Tain started out in 1999 with a sports book and added a betting exchange. They began developing casino games on the platform and then created a poker network,. The poker network merged with Playtech creating the iPoker...
Media Live Casino Limited
Medialive Casino Ltd Overview Medialive Casino Ltd was founded in 2005 as a provider of virtual casino games for the online market. In 2007 they introduced the Live Dealer aspect to their product. Located since inception in Malta they are...


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(VIDEO) Jim Iker: BCTF will vote on escalation; full-scale strike could follow
BCTF president Jim Iker addresses the province via news conference on Wednesday, June 4, 2014. Iker says B.C. teachers will vote next Monday and Tuesday for or against potential strike escalation, and a full-scale could start in the next two weeks.
Video: BCTF website
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Locker suffered no shoulder damage
The Titans' Jake Locker has no structural damage to his left, non-throwing shoulder and coach Mike Munchak says the quarterback will be day-to-day this week.
Locker dislocated his shoulder Sunday early in a 38-14 loss to Houston when sacked by Texans cornerback Glover Quinn. He watched the rest of the game and had an MRI exam Monday.
Munchak says the Titans (1-3) will know in the next couple days whether Locker will play Sunday at Minnesota (3-1).
The coach says Locker surprised everyone with his quick recovery hurting the same shoulder in the opener. Munchak says Locker held the ball too long on a three-step drop.
Tennessee's bigger issue may be fixing a defense that has given up a league-worst 151 points – 20 more than any other team.
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This page is about the slang term kick-ass
Meaning: forceful, aggressive
For example:
- Geoff says he's sick of kick-ass politicians sending our kids off to die in unnecessary wars.
- Some people seem to think a macho, kick-ass image is good for the country, but I think it makes us look like immature schoolyard bullies.
Variety: This is typically used in American English but may be used in other varieties of English too.
Quick Quiz:
Bill's got a real kick-ass attitude, so he's
This entry is in the following categories:
Contributor: Matt Errey


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Opening day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
It's opening day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Temperatures will be in the low 60s Saturday and rain will develop later this afternoon. Less than a quarter inch of rain is expected with wind gusts up to 25 mph out of the northwest. That could affect the practice schedule at IMS today.
Saturday's events at the track include driver practice as well as the Celebration of Automobiles. Around 180 cars from 1914 to 1970 are on display, including race cars, pace cars, muscle cars and vintage autos.
"This is a great way to celebrate the Speedway," said IMS COO Doug Boles, speaking to Eyewitness News Sunrise this morning.
If you're heading out to the track, you may see familiar faces like Johnny Rutherford and Mario Andretti. Andretti is a head judge for the event, which features awards and a banquet later.
"It's a fantastic event for them," said Boles. "They enjoy showing their cars and they just love being here."
As for this year's race, Boles said it's the "second year with brand new cars and brand new engines. We can't wait to get them on the track!"
If you're going:
Public gates open at 10 a.m., with practice from noon-6 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults, with fans 12 and under admitted free when accompanied by an adult general admission ticket holder.
See news, schedules, parking info and directions here.
Boles also encouraged fans to look into getting a one-day garage credential that they can buy trackside.
Featured drivers for the 97th Indianapolis 500 include three-time winners Helio Castroneves and Dario Franchitti, who will look to join the exclusive company of A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears as four-time winners of "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing." Others to watch include reigning IZOD IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay and first-time IZOD IndyCar Series winners this season James Hinchcliffe, who won at St. Petersburg and Sao Paulo, and current points leader and Streets of Long Beach winner Takuma Sato.
Indy 500 tickets
Suggested Links
Tickets are on sale for the 97th Indianapolis 500 Mile Race on Sunday, May 26 at IMS.
Race Day ticket prices start at just $30. Fans can buy tickets online, by calling the IMS ticket office at (317) 492-6700, or (800) 822-INDY outside the Indianapolis area, or by visiting the ticket office at the IMS Administration Building at the corner of Georgetown Road and 16th Street between 8 a.m.-5 p.m. (ET) Monday-Friday.
Children 12 and under will receive free general admission to any IMS event in 2013 when accompanied by an adult general admission ticket holder.


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Triangle Driving II FAQ's
Is Triangle Driving II licensed by the Texas DMV to offer behind-the-wheel training courses?
Although we include Triangle Driving II in our directory of driving schools for Beaumont Texas, we cannot make any assurances about whether or not Triangle Driving II is certified by the Texas DMV. You should contact Triangle Driving II directly and ask them if you are thinking about enrolling in their Beaumont Texas behind-the-wheel training class.
Somebody told me that I can skip out of attending a driver training school if my parents give me behind-the-wheel training instead. Is that permissible in Texas?
Each state has its own laws regarding behind-the-wheel training. Some states will allow parentally-supervised driver training as a substitute for attending a behind-the-wheel training course which is taught by a professional driving instructor. However, not all states allow this. You should contact the Texas DMV to find out for sure.
What happens if I don't know how to operate a manual-shift vehicle? Will Triangle Driving II allow me to do my driver training with an automatic-shift vehicle?
Considering you're a brand new driver, you probably don't know much about driving any type of vehicle--manual-shift or automatic-shift! However, if you prefer to complete your behind-the-wheel training using an automatic-shift vehicle, you should contact Triangle Driving II and inform them before you register for their behind-the-wheel training course. That way you will know for certain if they will accommodate you.
I live in a very remote area, where there are mountains and a lot of dirt roads. Do you know if Triangle Driving II offers training for driving in rural areas like where I live instead of just driving on smooth, paved roads in city areas?
Since you live in a remote area, a local driving school such as Triangle Driving II will tailor your behind-the-wheel training to handle the conditions in your area.
I just turned 14 years old. Can I apply for my instruction permit in Texas?
Probably not. The minimum age requirement for holding a learners permit in most states is 15 1/2. You should contact the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) or a licensed driver training institute such as Triangle Driving II to find out more information about the minimum age requirement in Texas.
Do you know if the laws in Texas require new teen-aged drivers to take a behind-the-wheel training course in addition to a drivers education classroom or online course?
The laws vary from state to state, but many states do require you to enroll in a driver training course with "hands-on" practice in addition to a drivers education classroom or online course.
Does Triangle Driving II provide a hands-on driver training course like the one that is required by the State of Texas? I need to enroll in one in order to obtain my driver license.
Triangle Driving II offers hands-on driver training courses which are approved by the Texas DMV. You may want to contact Triangle Driving II directly for more information about their courses and how to go about signing up for one.
What are the requirements in Beaumont Texas for getting a drivers license?
It depends on your state's laws, however in many states, teen-agers must complete both a drivers education classroom course and a driver training course. Triangle Driving II may offer an approved driver training course which you could take. Please contact Triangle Driving II for information regarding their available classes and how to go about registering for them.
Is a behind-the-wheel training course required in Beaumont Texas for me to get a drivers license?
The law in Texas requires that all drivers complete a driver training course as part of their driver education. You should contact Triangle Driving II directly to find out about the types of courses they offer.
Will Texas allow me to sign up to take a driver training course before I actually receive my instruction permit?
You will need to contact your state's DMV office to find out. However, most states require that you receive your instruction permit before you enroll in a driver training course.
Triangle Driving II
Triangle Driving II
4140 Gladys, Suite 103
Beaumont, TX 77706
Get Directions


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Half Baked: Unrealized Noble Failures
Jan 27—Feb 14 2014
Sculpture Gallery
"Half Baked: Unrealized Noble Failures" is an exhibition of work by Sculpture students, faculty and staff that is decidedly unfinished or incomplete for one reason or another.
All artists have pieces that don't turn out according to plan; things break, experiments fail, molds leak, resins won't cure, money runs out, time runs out, artistic direction changes. New ideas creep in and suddenly a work in progress gets shelved. This show is about process, works that could be categorized as false starts, misdirections or blind alleys. Hopefully these "failures" were noble and led to better results.
For additional information contact email@example.com.
Opening Reception: Thursday January 30, 5 – 7 p.m.Hamilton Hall
Full Events Calendar


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Teachers, Authors, Speakers, Writers And Experts!
Copy My Blogging System To Sell Your Online Course. Follow My Step-By-Step Blueprint, Updated For 2017
I've been working on CrankyAds.com now for over a year, although there have been a few start-stop sessions, so it hasn't been exactly all-steam ahead during that time.
Developing software is a lot of fun, when you have the people who can make your vision a reality. Thinking of how you want something to work in your head and then seeing it work in real life is very gratifying.
On the flipside though, it's just as frustrating to realize how many features you are NOT including because you simply don't have the funds or the manpower to complete them.
When I first began development of CrankyAds I figured a quick and dirty version could be done in a couple of months to offer the core features. The development company I hired seemed to agree, and quoted a timeframe that slightly exceeded my expectations (although I always add one or two extra months on top of my expectations because nothing goes according to plan).
As development continued, I realized that no, this was not going to be quick and just developing the basics was going to be challenging.
Last year I left the development company and partnered with a friend, Walter, who has been our lead developer and co-owner ever since.
Walter is a talented programmer – very talented – but he's still only one man. Part of our development process has been prioritizing what needs to get done and in what order. The prioritizing part isn't too hard, what is difficult is creating features and then making sure they work for most people in most environments (different browsers, operating systems, wordpress installations, plugin conflicts, etc).
We're fairly confident that for the great majority of people we now have a stable set of core features that deliver the service much how I envisioned it would. Just saying that is satisfying, it's taken a long time to get to this point.
Now I can say with comfort – go use CrankyAds, it works and provides value.
Walter has been working hard at the start of 2012 to roll out a few new features, aspects we highlighted as important and worthy of focusing on first.
Here's what we have been up to –
One of the most annoying things I experienced using other advertising management systems is inaccurate statistic tracking. The software I used would say that the ads on my site get X amount of impressions and Y clicks, yet the advertiser would tell me their stats, usually click tracking software or just Google Analytics, would report back something else.
Unfortunately my ad software stats were always more than what the sponsor recorded, sometimes as much as ten times as much, which didn't make me look good.
The problem you see is that most ad management tools track non-human impressions and clicks. These are "bots" sent out from other services designed to collect information from your website. If the bots count as humans in your stats, you are artificially inflating your numbers.
Google Analytics is apparently quite good at eliminating bots from their data, which is why so many webmasters trust Google. I previously used webalizer or awstats, two server log analyser stats packages which usually come with most web servers. Unfortunately these stats packages also count bots. I remember comparing numbers and Google Analytics reported back as much as 30% less traffic than what I thought my site had with awstats. It was a shock, but it taught me how important it is to have accurate statistic tracking.
We had the same problem with CrankyAds until earlier this year. We were counting quite a few bots in our numbers, which I suspected we were because Google Analytics was reporting a certain number of impressions for EJ, yet CrankyAd campaigns on EJ were delivering as much as 50% more, according to the numbers.
Walter recently finished some updates to CrankyAds that we believe has eliminated this problem. We've taken out the bots to the best of our ability and now CrankyAds data is a more accurate reflection of what your true human visitor count is.
If you want to read more about how we did this, Walter writes about bots at the CrankyAds blog.
Prior to using CrankyAds I used to have just plain old paypal links for payment because the ad management tool I previously used only handled ad rotation, not payment management. Although it was less automated this way, I had complete freedom over pricing options.
I try to minimize options so as not turn away potential advertisers with a "paradox of choice" (give people too many options and they end up making none), but I did like to offer alternatives – the option to pay in advance for campaigns and receive a discount the further ahead you pay.
Initially CrankyAds didn't have this feature built it. You set one price for each ad zone. After initially showing our first BETA of the software to Pat Flynn, he mentioned things like offering discounts for longer term campaigns, and maybe having coupon codes too. We had these ideas on our to-do list, but thanks to Pat's feedback and my own needs on EJ, we decided to expedite the alternative pricing options in CrankyAds.
A couple of weeks ago we rolled out the feature. You can now add as many additional pricing options per zone as you like. For example you could have a per month fee, another fee if they pay for three months in advance, and another option for six months in advance. My usual formula is to offer the equivalent of one month free out of every six months paid for in advance.
This is a feature we knew CrankyAds had to have. People need to rotate their own ads on their site, either to promote affiliate products or their own products. It's also a good tactic to have some ads running on your site when you first start offering sponsorship so it doesn't look too empty, which is a form of negative social proof to potential new sponsors.
You want to balance having an "advertise here" banner informing potential sponsors you accept ads, but you should also have some ads of your own running too (unless sell to enough sponsors of course). You need to get a good mix to keep your advertising interesting to users and to attract new sponsors.
CrankyAds is built to help you sell ads to sponsors, however if you want to use it just as an ad management tool to rotate ads, you don't have to sell ads. You can just rotate your own.
When CrankyAds first launched the only way to upload your own ad into the system was to effectively buy an ad on your own site, skipping the payment part unless you want to give yourself money. You would then login to the manager and approve your ad. Not an ideal solution, but functional.
In one of our team meetings we discussed how to make uploading your own campaign easier and more intuitive. It took quite a bit of brainstorming to come up with the best way to integrate this into CrankyAds. We wanted a simple solution, but it was difficult to come up with something that didn't clash with or make the ad buying process for paying sponsors more confusing.
It's amazing how hard creating "simple" is. It required about two hours of tossing around ideas before we found what we ended up developing…
A simple tab inside the existing CrankyAds manager that says "upload campaign", which then takes you to a page where you choose which ad zone you want to ad the campaign to. The campaign then appears inside the regular manager area, but instead of listing a price, which is what you see for sponsored campaigns, you see an "internal" notification. This tells you that the campaign is internal – added by you the publisher.
You can then manage the campaign as usual, canceling it or changing the media whenever you want to.
There's probably an even simpler way to do it, but for now I like what we have created. It makes CrankyAds a simple to use ad rotator too.
These three features are helping CrankyAds become a more robust and valuable tool. I personally know this as a blogger using CrankyAds here on EJ, not just as a founder.
We're working hard to continue to develop the features we think people want, given what we also deem a priority.
In the spirit of user feedback and to help make CrankyAds better, I'd love to hear what your number one most wanted feature is?
Please leave your suggestion as a comment reply.
Since EJ is a chronicle of my own entrepreneurial endeavors, you will see more posts like this as we continue to develop CrankyAds. I hope you benefit from learning about our start-up process.
Yaro Starak
Hi Yaro,
Welcome to the world of software development, where finding a solid developer can make or break your odds of success. Crazy, yes, but so so true.
But it looks like you found someone to really dig into the project with you, so I think you have increased your odds considerably.
Reach out if you want to brainstorm on architecture. Would love to connect again.
(I'll kick the tires on cranky this week.)
Hi Yaro, haven't had a chance to look at Cranky Ads as I said I would in your last blog post about it. I've just acquired a nice tech blog which I'll put cranky ads on with these new features and let you know my feedback. Aaron
Hi Yaro,
I spied CrankyAds on your blog last month and quickly added it to mine. I'm not really making the most of it yet (not advertisers) but I love the scalability of the features you've added. Do you think you'll be adding a marketplace soon?
I wish Cranky Ads was around in this condition a couple of years ago when I got my hands on IOI Publisher, it would have saved me relying on a reletive to buy it for me (when I want a premium plugin I request it as a birthday/christmas present).
Does Cranky Ads offer different payment methods? Like PayPal, Google Checkout, Invoice, etc? I think that would be a good addition.
I agree. I use Paypal to pay for most of my business expenses online.
Yaro, thanks for this post. Very useful information. I would love to use CrakyAds for my blog, but unfortunately it is not run by WordPress. I have read you intend to make CrankyAds a cross-platform tool, which would work not just for WordPress. Do you have an approximate time in mind when it might happen?
So, WP owners will have to wait a bit. Oh, well, I hope that funding and hiring will finish up quickly and that new features will be with us soon enough.
I came across a book in the library the other day and found it very interesting. I looked up some websites and blogs and found your site thru an article you wrote on another blog. Long story short, I have read your blog and probably most of your articles and wanted to say I have learned so much that I'm going to start my own blog up to a select niche in the international travel area. Thanks for your hard work. Your blog by far is the most helpful I've found!
Thanks for these tips. I'm actually interested in learning programming to be the next facebook billionaire.
Hey Yaro, I've been following your Cranky Ads progress with interest as I'm also a founder of a small software startup. It's been slow going as we're all still working full time but I'm making inroads into that problem with my blog and a few personal sites. It's great to see that you're software startup is progressing well.
Anyway, I see some comments about you needing another developer. I know of a couple of pretty good MVC .net guys in Brisbane who may be interested. Let me know if you're still looking.
Zac Sky
I don't know if you have any plans for other types of sites besides WordPress, but I think you would have a good chance at developing CrankyAds for other scripts too. I haven't had an opportunity to try it on a live WordPress site only in a offline development site, but I certainly like what I see. You definitely have great idea with a lot of potential.
Thanks for the internal campaign instructions, that's a great tool.
Now I just have to wait to reach the 50.000 impressions to get into the plus service. 🙂
Thanks for this amazingly simple and complete software Yaro.
My main WishList suggestion would be the ability to split test different ads. Even if this was only available for my personal ads it would be wonderfully profitable info to have.
I'm also wondering how to best sell one-spot ads eg inside a post about Sydney Chiropractors, where I might want to 'auction' it off to all Sydney Chiropractors I can contact, rather than try and decide a price ahead of time.


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You will most likely find me dancing at the Sugar Foot Ballroom, Leading my 12 piece amateur Jazz/Blues band Read and the Happy Hep Cats, performing with the Mad Cat dance troupe, or hosting a party at my house.
When I am not dancing I like running story rich RPGs, brew my own beer (I am not much of a drinker but it is fun for the culinary and chemical), and cooking gourmet meals for the social aspect of sharing them.
I'm a very social fellow. I am one of the pillars of my community. I usually have a relatively full but flexible social calender.
Fixing things
Running story rich RPGs (Character driven, improv heavy)
Running events (I have been successfully running the biggest Lindy Hop workshop in western Canada for the last few years.)
I have been really enjoying Neil Gaiman, Cory Doctorow, George R.R. Martin, Patrick Rothfus, Ken Follett, Steven King, Philip Pullman, William Gibson, and many many more. I have a fairly large audiobook library.
Some of the many podcasts I listen to are: WYNC's Radiolab, This American Life, Savage Lovecast, Dan Carlin's Hardcore History, and a lot of CBC podcasts.
When I find a TV show I find interesting I usually wait until I can get the entire season and watch it in a short period of time.
Good coffee
Intellectual conversation
Story rich RPG's
A gorgeous gourmet kitchen to cook in


text: SourceWASHINGTON, U.S., December 5,2012 (Washington Times): While preparing for overseas deployment with the U.S. Marines late last year, Staff Sgt. Nathan Hampton participated in a series of training exercises held at Camp Pendleton, Calif., designed to make him a more effective serviceman.There were weapons qualifications. Grueling physical workouts. High-stress squad counterinsurgency drills, held in an elaborate ersatz village designed to mirror the sights, sounds and smells of a remote mountain settlement in Afghanistan.There also were weekly meditation classes -- including one in which Sgt. Hampton and his squad mates were asked to sit motionless in a chair and focus on the point of contact between their feet and the floor."A lot of people thought it would be a waste of time," he said. "Why are we sitting around a classroom doing their weird meditative stuff? "But over time, I felt more relaxed. I slept better. Physically, I noticed that I wasn't tense all the time. It helps you think more clearly and decisively in stressful situations. There was a benefit."That benefit is the impetus behind Mindfulness-based Mind Fitness Training ("M-Fit"), a fledgling military initiative that teaches service members the secular meditative practice of mindfulness in order to bolster their emotional health and improve their mental performance under the stress and strain of war.Designed by former U.S. Army captain and current Georgetown University professor Elizabeth Stanley, M-Fit draws on a growing body of scientific research indicating that regular meditation alleviates depression, boosts memory and the immune system, shrinks the part of the brain that controls fear and grows the areas of the brain responsible for memory and emotional regulation.Previous studies have shown that habitual meditation: Changes the way blood and oxygen flow through the brain; Strengthens the neural circuits responsible for concentration and empathy; Shrinks the amygdala, an area of the brain that controls the fear response; Enlarges the hippocampus, an area of the brain that controls memory.Much more at source.


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My One Big Idea for Baltimore
Technical.ly Baltimore asked me to give my "one big idea" for Baltimore and this is what I came up with. As I've blogged about before, I really believe Baltimore can become a hub for social innovation and social entrepreneurship.
And while we're on the topic of social entrepreneurship, I finally had a moment to watch the "Impact Capital Is The New Asset Class" panel discussion at the Forbes 400 Summit on Philanthropy. It was a great panel that included venture capitalists Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz and Jim Breyer of Accel Partners, Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff, and Echoing Green President Cheryl Dorsey.
The most fascinating comment came from Dorsey, who credits Millennials for helping to redirect Echoing Green's investment strategy. Prior to 2007, the vast majority of Echoing Green's deal flow involved traditional nonprofit organizations; since 2007, commercial businesses, hybrid organizations, benefit corporations, etc. have accounted for 40 percent of Echoing Green's deal flow. Quite striking to see such a quick evolution in such a short period.


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According to the Korean based manufacturer, once the Windows Phone 7.8 update goes through, Samsung will add the new feature to the device. The big question, of course, is when will the Windows Phone 7.8 update be pushed out? Samsung says that it is just a matter of Microsoft flicking the switch to send out the long awaited update.
source: WindowsPhoneItaly(translated) via WMPoweruser


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The Japanese press doesn't seem to have had quite the frenzy of millennium coverage that took place in America, but there were various attempts to look back at the recent past of Japanese literature and to forecast its future. I found two discussions in particular interesting for their contrasting viewpoints.
The December issue of Bungakukai had a highly intellectual discussion of Japanese literature in the 1990s by four literary critics: Suga Hidemi, Shimizu Yoshinori, Chiba Kazumiki and Yamada Junji.
First they discussed the end of literature with a capital L, as it were: a unified literature that could fit into the Japanese literary tradition; and then the reverberations of real-world events such as the death of the Showa Emperor in 1989 and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Chiba noted that the situation is similar to that in music, where many artists are selling CDs but there is no single big-name star dominating the era the way Misora Hibari once did.
After discussing the 1990s as a time after the end of history and in some senses a comic replay of the late 1960s and early 1970s, they talked about the impact of the "scripted" Gulf War and of the absorption of people in such reality-based tales as the O.J. Simpson trial in the U.S. or the Satchi boom and other media storms in Japan. In the 1970s imaginary space was smashed and the real exposed. In the 1990s this imaginary space was rebuilt in smaller tales of the imagination and the real covered up.
They agreed that younger Japanese no longer are familiar with the Japanese literary tradition and that authors cannot now write based on a commonly held literary heritage and language. They are now all diaspora authors who have to create their own language and literature. Shimizu recalled a story about Murakami Haruki, symbolic of this loss of words and struggle to find a voice. Murakami reportedly first started writing in Japanese, but after his wife found it uninteresting he hit upon the idea of writing in English and then translating it into Japanese, thereby developing his own writing stance.
The 1990s saw the emergence of writers outside the Tokyo-centric literary tradition, such as several Okinawa-based writers and the Kansai-flavored works of Machida Ko, as well as of authors from a nonliterary background such as Machida (punk music), Yu Miri (theater) and Tsuji Hitonari (rock music). We now have a generation of authors who grew up without sets of world literature and Japanese literature in their homes, in a world where books are competing for attention with music, movies, video games and the Internet.
The four are quite dismissive of J-bungaku, which Suga says stands for junk bungaku. Chiba sees it as an attempt to revive literature commercially by producing more writers. He rather wistfully says the best thing to do would be for publishers to protect writers and make financial arrangements, similar to those Soseki had with the Asahi Shimbun, so that writers could survive while creating at the pace of one book every three years.
After struggling with the abstract discussion in Bungakukai, it was a relief to read the more concrete views of two representatives of the younger generation, in outlook if not age, in the February issue of Gunzo.
Abe Kazushige, author of the so-called J-bungaku and "Shibuya literature" novel "Individual Projection," and Azuma Hiroki, who recently won the Suntory Prize for a work on Derrida, do not deplore the demise of high culture but take for granted the new borderless multimedia and digital world.
They see a growing rigidity in the literary establishment in the late 1990s, with literary critics simply giving demerit points to works not fitting their preconceptions of what literature should be and making no real attempt to analyze present-day literature. Azuma is particularly irritated by the treatment afforded to Hirano Keiichiro as the savior of Japanese literature, and wonders if it doesn't represent elements of a PR campaign to attract older readers frightened of youth culture.
Abe then cites an earlier bit of cultural analysis by Azuma as the sort of observation literary critics now seem incapable of making: These days people tend to focus either on things close to them in their everyday life or on things distant from them, like death or the end of the world. Missing is attention to the middle range of things shared societally.
Azuma agrees that the present world of literary fiction is a type of gyokai bunka (company culture) unrelated to what is going on in the real world.
Azuma notes the advent of a new generation which has its own teen culture of dyed hair, body piercing and pagers. He feels it makes them more self-confident and less conscious of the previous generation and its standards. Even though his own generation boasts of its lack of hierarchy, somewhere they are still sensitive to the opinions of literary and cultural critics, to the status of different magazines. (Azuma was born in 1971 and Abe in 1968.)
Azuma is envious of young people who want to both create video games and write fiction. Abe agrees that there are lots of possibilities in the emerging hybrid culture. Azuma and Abe also discuss the cultural splits that started in the late 1980s.
Azuma sees a split into subcultures and otaku, with the otaku strain particularly concerned with Japanese identity, in part as a backlash against the illusion of internationalism in the early 1980s.
Abe felt that division at the time as one of oshare vs. dasai and notes that present-day Internet bulletin board debates of right and left are actually based more on cultural than political difference.


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Conor Edwards stroked four hits, while Tony Jarmoluk was dominant in long relief, as Elk River Pioneers stymied the Quamba Cubs 5-2 Wednesday evening in Quamba.
Edwards was 4-for-4 and scored three runs for the Pioneers (2-15) .
Lance Johnson got the win as he pitched five-plus innings, allowing two runs (one earned), and striking out six. Jarmoluk earned the save, striking out 10 in four scoreless innings.
"We played good ball tonight, offense and defense" said manager Ken Ott.
Jake Johnson pitched a complete game loss for Quamba, striking out nine.
Ryan Cordon was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI for the Cubs.
Elk River hosts Howard Lake Saturday at 2 p.m.