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Recognising and supporting carers
At the East End Community Carers Centre in Glasgow, a group of older carers and friends are catching up over tea and scones. As they chew over the week's events, it is clear they draw enormous comfort and strength from each other. One is consoled as she lists the plethora of emotions she experienced as she helped her granddaughter move into supported care that week. She had been caring for her since her own daughter died five years ago, but when her husband died six months ago, she knew she needed to put a plan for the future in place. Another shares her anger at the impact staffing cuts are already having on her niece's care and the additional stress it has heaped upon her as she struggles to plug the gaps; while another talks of her loved one's dismay at the loss of befriending services and the treasured contact with his 'chums'.
They are a feisty bunch whose battle stories demonstrate they have not been shy in fighting to get the support they need. But anxiety bubbles over in their conversation as they swap tales of valued services under threat, and their concern as older carers of what will happen to their loved ones when they are no longer there to fight for them.
Regrettably, these concerns are not unique, with four out of five of Scotland's unpaid carers fearing the consequences of cuts to care services. The new research, which will be published today to mark Carers Week, also found that almost half, 46 per cent, don't know how they will cope as the axe falls on some of the vital support they rely on.
The theme of this year's Carers Week is 'The True Face of Carers,' and will see calls for greater recognition and support for the diverse range of people who are carers. It will also highlight the incredible economic contribution unpaid carers make, as research from Carers UK and the University of Leeds will show that unpaid carers save the UK economy £119bn each year by relieving pressure on health and social services.
For its part, the Scottish Government has been seeking to reassure carers in recent months that it has heard their concerns and recognises their "hugely significant" contribution to their families, communities and society. The SNP's manifesto contained several pledges of financial support for carers, such as funding to maintain its commitment to an extra 10,000 weeks' respite provision per year and a promise to ensure that from 2012-13, at least 20 per cent of the £70m Change Fund established to smooth the integration of health and social care will be dedicated to supporting carers to continue to care. It also promised to work to treat carers as equal partners and ensure their knowledge and experience is fully taken into account to improve treatment for those cared for.
In his victory speech at Prestonfield House in Edinburgh, First Minister Alex Salmond also expressed his gratitude to carers, announcing that, 'Team Scotland' – the job creators, the carers, the nurses, the small businesses, the ambitious and the aspirational – were the true winners of the election. Later, as he set out to Parliament his re-elected government's plans for taking Scotland forward, he pledged: "For our unpaid carers, men and women, young and old, who give so much of their lives to look after the people they love, we will work to ensure that they are true partners in the delivery of care and that their very special role is fully recognised."
This recognition matters a great deal to carers, says Florence Burke, Director for Scotland of The Princess Royal Trust for Carers.
"The fact that the First Minister in his acceptance speech mentioned carers, everybody picked up on that. We had carers coming back to us saying, 'Did you hear…?'"
The warm tones in which the SNP Government has been speaking about unpaid carers were undoubtedly influenced by carers who met with party officials during the campaign and shared their experiences, says Burke.
"People say you can't ask a leaflet a question. We can all talk about what people have said. We can talk about anecdotes. There are people who work in this organisation who are carers but they are not here to talk about their own caring situation. What you can do with carers is hear first hand what is happening with policies, that is where you can quite clearly and quickly identify the law of unintended consequences.
"It is hearing that experience from individuals, whether it is a young carer or an adult carer on, 'What does it actually mean for me,' and, 'I will tell you what the policy is in practice because this is the impact it has on me.' And that is not all negative, some have positive things to say about the support they have received and the difference that things like short breaks have made and the critical importance of that to them."
However, there are as many stories as there are carers, and so it is important this vital feedback continues to be sought. As part of this, the Scottish Government has proposed holding an annual Carers' Parliament so as to allow politicians and civil servants to hear first hand the real-life experiences of carers from all walks of life.
Burke is cautiously optimistic about the creation of a Carers' Parliament, saying, "all of the blocks are there", but adds the detail remains to be seen.
In the longer term, however, she says she would also like to see the creation of a carers' champion within the Cabinet.
"To have that as a voice and a link, because carers cross so many policy strands and ministerial briefs – there is housing, there is education, there is health, there is welfare, employment – a whole range of issues, so to have a voice for carers within the Cabinet so that issues are cutting across all those ministerial briefs would certainly be useful."
The Scottish Government has also already declared its intention to continue to take forward its Carers and Young Carers strategies, which were published last summer. Again, Burke says she is "optimistic" about progress so far, and says the implementation and monitoring group will ensure the strategy, "isn't something that is static that sits on the shelf."
This, she says, is hugely important to carers.
"It does have a life and for carers involved in that, that is all really positive," she adds.
However, while Dave Clark, centre manager, Glasgow East End Community Carers, says it is difficult to argue with the sentiments expressed by the Government; he urges them to make the rhetoric reality.
"In my experience, the elected members all say the right things. It is difficult to argue with anything they have in the carers' strategy or the young carers' strategy.
"But the reality is that making that strategy a reality needs resource and the resources don't, in my experience, get to the front line. And that is a real constant worry for us."
In the East End of Glasgow where the centre is based there are around 12,000 unpaid carers, Clark says, and there is a high demand for support and advice.
"Of the 12,000 carers, we have about 1,000 who have at some point been supported by the centre and on an ongoing basis, we are probably supporting something like, including young carers, 180; which is a bit of a case load for two and a half support staff posts."
To avoid letting these individuals down, Clark says government must be clear about the services they want to be provided, adding that there is no point in making promises to carers if it is not possible to meet them with the funds made available.
However, he stresses this is a message for all of the political parties in Scotland.
"No matter what colour of government has been in Holyrood, carers' strategies and the commitments from government of all complexions and the policies they've put in place have been impossible to argue with. But it is about controlling the resource. Very often the council will say we don't have enough funding to provide that service and then our lobbyists go to the Government and they say, 'No, we gave the councils sufficient money,' and it is about tracking where the resource goes. And they are not very good at that, I think."
This is a historic issue, he adds. "Even when you had a Labour administration in Glasgow and a Labour administration in Holyrood, they still would argue so it is not a party political thing. But that is, for me, fairly basic that they have to be clear about what you want to give carers and make sure the resources are there, that lets people like us provide the services that carers need."
While concerns evidently remain about the future, Burke says it is nevertheless a "thrilling" time to be working with carers and they are determined to make the most of the current mood of government.
"There is so much happening but the thrill is seeing if it makes a difference because I think we are all aware that we can be active doing things – we can be active responding to consultations, we can be active going to meetings – but the end result has to be what is the outcome for the carers and the best part for us is when you see the difference it has actually made.
"…So there is lots going on and there are so many opportunities, we just need to make sure we seize those opportunities and make a real difference."


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Now in 9 Languages
Majestic is now available in 9 languages. You can choose your language from the top right hand corner of the main website, or you can bookmark the subdomain of your choice. Or just click on the language you want below.
- English remains our default language
- Chinese is an cn.majesticseo.com
- German is at de.majesticseo.com
- Spanish is at es.majesticseo.com
- French is at fr.majesticseo.com
- Italian is at it.majesticseo.com
- Polish is at pl.majesticseo.com
- Brazilian Portuguese is at pt.majesticseo.com
- Russian is at ru.majesticseo.com
Please Tweet / Facebook / Orkut / Tell people in your language!
We are pleased with our translations and hope you will not find too many glaring errors. If you do, please tell us, but if you do speak another language and you can reach out locally, we would greatly appreciate you passing on this message – because there is only so much we can do.
Setting up your language preference as a default
We will, in due course, set up a system to default you to your language preference. There are several ways to do this technically – and I am sure many of our customers would have their own view. I do not think this final part of the puzzle will take too long.
Thank you Webcertain
If you ever need to translate your site into multiple languages, we'd like to say thank you to Webcertain.com for their work on this. I'd link to them – but someone might suggest it was some kind of back-hand deal. There isn't. We chose the company we felt was best able to handle the task. We have had at least two professional translators look at every word in each language. I'm sure it is not all perfect – but please feel free to use the feedback button on every page if you spot something we missed.
Thank you Ambassadors
On top of the two (or more) professional translators per language, we also would like to thank our ambassadors for their help – especially in defining local variations of SEO and industry specific keywords which no translator would know unless they were in the industry.
Thank you to our Development Team
Translating a website which has huge amount of dynamic data and a fearsome development cycle is an incredible challenge for a small team. Before we could even start, we had to rebuild our entire site to be able to handle language files. Otherwise, functionality in each language would have been held back on every product launch with the translated versions continually playing catch up. Steve and the development team have not only built a way to handle translations – but have also enabled a process which means translation files can be worked on independent of the functionality development process.
Thank you to our Customers
Ultimately – our choice of languages is down to our customer base in those countries. Without you, we would not have been able to make this investment. We hope you find Majestic easier to use in your own language.
Our Blog is in three languages
We decided not to try and translate every blog post into all 9 languages. Instead – as we develop – we will produce blog posts in languages where they are relevant. At this point, the blog is available in English,. French and German.
15 Responses to "Now in 9 Languages"
Well done! Are you also planning translation in Slovenian language? Contact me.
We'll evaluate support for further languages in the future. The more popular we are in a particular country, the more likely we'll add support for its language!
Ok, i'm planning to write a post about Majestic SEO tool on our seo Slovenian forum internetmojster to find out the response. Keep on the good work guys!
Great that you have added Polish language, you are very popular among SEO people here in Poland. Good job!
Yeah translation into Slovenian language would be very cool…
W końcu można kupić majesticseo w języku polskim. Super.
Hey, on the screenie, you got Chinese wrong. What you have there says belonging to China. it should be 中文(简体).
- Majestic SEO w polskiej wersji językowej | Blog Deva Group Kraków
- Majestic SEO Now Supports 9 Languages
- La herramienta en linea MajesticSEO.com ahora en español | ImperioWeb.Net
- Majestic SEO now Supports 9 Languages
- Tools News Update: Updates, changes and additions to different SEO Tools – State of Search

subset: commoncrawl


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Tomic shows his best and worst in Wimbledon first-round win
Greg Baum Stampeding bulls generally pass through china shops more delicately than the way Bernard Tomic is proceeding at Wimbledon.
'Court is dangerous': Nine players succumb to injuries at Wimbledon
Greg Baum Suddenly, Wimbledon is a matter of last man - and woman - standing, tentatively. On Wednesday's rate of attrition, it might not even last until Sunday week.
Stosur, Tomic through to third round at Wimbledon
Greg Baum Sam Stosur wipes the court with Russia's Olga Puchkova and Bernard Tomic beats American James Blake.
A corner of Wimbledon becomes Australian
Greg Baum Sam Stosur was authoritative as she wiped the court with Russia's Olga Puchkova.
Stosur exits Wimbledon disappointed
Greg Baum Sam Stosur leaves Wimbledon a little less mystified by its famous grass courts, but still unable to make inroads on them.
Wimbledon shocks continue as Williams shown the door
Greg Baum Sabine Lisicki felled Serena Williams and marked the moment by flinging herself to the court and staying there, face-down. When she got up, she was shaking and crying.
Welcome to the Flip side of the Wimbledon survivors' guide
Greg Baum All the attention this Wimbledon has been on those who didn't make it through. Henceforth, it's all about those who did.
Murray holds his nerve in epic Wimbledon comeback
Greg Baum True to the theme of Wimbledon 2013, there was much falling down again on Wednesday, and two memorable feats of getting up again.
Bartoli storms into Wimbledon final
Greg Baum, London Via what was technically a tennis match, unconventional Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli reached her second Wimbledon final in six years with a 6-1 6-2 victory over Belgian Kirsten Flipkens on Thursday.
Djokovic makes history at Wimbledon
Greg Baum In what became the longest semi-final in Wimbledon history, it took Novak Djokovic nearly five hours finally to spike the Juan Martin Del Potro forehand cannonade on Friday.
Nadal suffers shock first-round Wimbledon exit
Greg Baum Twelve-time grand slam champion Rafael Nadal crashed to one of the most humiliating defeats in Wimbledon history on Monday at the hands of Belgium's world No.135 Steve Darcis.
Bartoli wins Wimbledon women's title
Greg Baum Marion Bartoli romps to her first Grand Slam title, thrashing Germany's Sabine Lisicki 6-1, 6-4.
Lisicki, Bartoli to fight for Wimbledon crown
Greg Baum As no-one could have predicted a fortnight ago, Sunday's Wimbledon women's final will be between the 15th seed and the 24th seed, and the only certainty about it is that either Marion Bartoli or...
Murray unites a kingdom with historic Wimbledon win
Greg Baum After 77 years of waiting for Andy Murray and this kingdom, rarely before as united as now, there came a few minutes that felt like 77 years more.
They could have been mother and daughter: Bencic v Date-Krumm
Greg Baum It was a pairing of extremes: the oldest against the youngest.
Roger Federer as smooth as ever in downing James Duckworth
Greg Baum Australian James Duckworth finds out that Roger Federer is still very much on his game.
The Fed machine rolls on without a hiccup
Greg Baum As a ball boy in Basle, Roger Federer once collected Stefan Edberg's autograph.
Australian Open: Tiny Slovak now the giant killer
Greg Baum If there is a theme to this year's Open, it was articulated long ago by Henry Ford: 'History is bunk.'
'I lost my way': Hewitt comes up short against unpredictable Brown
Greg Baum Leyton Hewitt has been defeated in Wimbledon's second round by Dustin Brown in four sets.
Like 'magic': Stakhovsky shocks himself with victory over Federer
Greg Baum To Ukranian Sergiy Stakhovsky, Roger Federer on his court, Wimbledon's centre, was two formidable opponents in one, the tennis player and the legend.


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"Want to go to a party at the drummer from Muse's house?" Skrillex turns and asks.
"Sure, why not."
Fifteen minutes later, the car is full and navigating through the Hollywood Hills. Skrillex is in the back seat with his girlfriend, U.K. singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding, and the bartender from the hotel we just left. In the front seat is his tour manager, Road Hog, who's never been in the hills before.
Ratatat's "Loud Pipes" is blasting through the car. Goulding and Road Hog are celebrating the moment, singing "the Hog is in the hills" to the instrumental track. Skrillex – nee Sonny Moore, known to close friends as Skrilly and drunk friends as the Skrill– is recording the jam on his iPhone. "This is going to be a track," he says excitedly as we park. Behind us, another carload of Skrillex's friends and crew unloads, and they all climb the hill, a mobile party. "Every night is like this," Skrillex says, bounding up to the house. "It's just totally random."
To spend a week with Skrillex is to learn to operate with no sleep, no silence and no pause. Even sitting still, he's moving – bouncing a leg up and down, tapping his fingers, looking around the room to take in everything going on. "He's inhuman," says his European booking agent, Simon Clarkson. "We gave him only one night off in Europe, and he calls and tells me he's putting together a party that night so he can DJ. He doesn't stop."
"I book myself tight," Skrillex confirms. "If I have any time off, I get antsy. I haven't taken a vacation in, like, eight years."
It is this tireless, jittery energy that's propelled Skrillex through an accelerated music career: He joined his first indie and punk bands when he was 12, toured the world fronting the Top 40 screamo band From First to Last at 16, and signed a solo deal with Atlantic Records the year he turned old enough to legally go to the clubs he'd been performing at. Now, at 24, he's performing 300 shows a year playing the most noncommercial music of his career – his tonally dirty, dynamically aggressive brand of bass-rattling dubstep – and to everyone's surprise, most of all his own, he has become the most exciting thing happening in popular music this moment. He won three Grammys in February. His Facebook page has been growing by 300,000 new fans a week. And everyone is blowing up his phone, from Dr. Dre to Kanye West, who took Skrillex to Vegas in his private jet, watched him DJ and then invited him to his hotel room to cut some tracks.
"I'm aware of what's going on, but at the same time there are parts I can't see with any perspective and don't know if I should," he says as we stand in a bedroom with Muse drummer Dominic Howard and four girls who are cavorting around the room, hungry for the pair's attention. "I mean, it's surreal when you step back and see everything going on. But when I'm in the moment, I don't realize it."
If Skrillex continues to have his way, he will never realize it. "I don't like being overexposed," he says. "I don't like being on covers. And I don't like people talking about me."
So in order to get a better understanding of who he is, here are a few scenes culled from eight days spent in a nonstop maelstrom of vodka, bass and late nights with pop's reluctant phenomenon.
Interior, car, Arts District, downtown Los Angeles – afternoon
"I gotta ask management to take down that sign," Skrillex says as we pull into a parking lot. The sign reads lofts starting in the high 300's. He straps on a black backpack, which contains his entire studio (a MacBook and Dre Beats Pro headphones), and walks through the courtyard to the last unit. "I prefer the gloominess to the sun," he says as he opens the door. "I don't know why."
He walks inside and marvels at the bare loft. It is almost his – just as soon as he closes – along with the adjacent apartment. He then points out where he's going to build a studio, bar and lounge for his crew and friends to hang out in. "I haven't met any of my neighbors yet," he says. "But the walls are thick – and we've done screaming tests."
Standing on the edge of his metal stairwell, Skrillex looks like a skate-kid-turned-goth-turned-computer-hacker. He's a diminutive five feet five in all black – from the long, greasy undercut and thick-framed glasses to the G-Star pants and Converse trainers.
Four days earlier, he turned 24. These lofts are his birthday present to himself – and a surprising purchase, because he rarely spends any of the hundreds of thousands of dollars he earns from his shows on anything but creating new shows. He rarely even stays in the luxury hotel rooms promoters buy for him on the road, preferring instead to crash on the couches of friends.
Just 21 months ago, Skrillex was at an all-time low. A solo rock release on Atlantic Records had been delayed for months because of an obscure legal dispute; he had spent the entirety of his advance, was living off his credit card, and touring expenses and medical bills had left him about $60,000 in debt. (When he was fronting From First to Last, he had an operation to remove nodes that had formed on his vocal cords.) Collection agents were calling his friends trying to track him down, unaware that he was basically homeless. Evicted from the warehouse he was squatting in, Skrillex was sleeping on his fellow DJ 12th Planet's couch in a downtown apartment, management office and studio known as the Compound.
While stuck in limbo, he decided to put out My Name Is Skrillex, an EP of electro-industrial-dubstep songs he'd been working on. But his label, which wasn't enthusiastic about the project to begin with, held it up for nine months trying to clear the samples. So Skrillex released it himself as a free download on his manager's website, promoting it on his MySpace page. The downloads came – hundreds of thousands of them, crashing the website countless times. Soon Deadmau5 was calling to put him on tour as an opening act and sign him to his label.
Skrillex remembers the moment when he realized that everything had changed: a year ago at a 3,600-ticket show in Austin. "At that time, it was the biggest show I'd ever sold out by myself," he recalls. "And I felt this new responsibility, like, 'Fuck, it's real now. I'm not just playing raves and clubs, but they're here to watch me.'"
The other vindicating moment came shortly afterward, when he paid off his debt in one day. Now, just a year later, Skrillex is turning money away, including $200,000 to put his song "Kyoto" in a G.I. Joe movie and $300,000 to do a promotion with a mobile-phone company. "The minute I start to overthink something, I know I shouldn't do it."
After Skrillex leaves his apartment, he heads to the hipster sausage restaurant Wurstküche for lunch. However, before he can get through the door, he is waylaid.
"Aren't you the guy who was looking at apartments?" a man in his thirties asks.
"I actually bought the one in the corner," Skrillex tells him.
"Then I'm your neighbor," the man says. "But don't worry: I'm quiet. I can't stand noisy neighbors."
Skrillex shifts his feet, and looks around uncomfortably.
"So," the man continues, "what do you do for work?"


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Saturday, May 2, 2009
Kentucky Derby Live Blogging
Heeeere we go again, people. Live blogging yet again from Churchill.
This is the big one, the big julep. Should this day go well, I will bathe myself in bourbon. Should this day follow suit with every other day, I'll drink that bourbon.
Good Ol' Pete and I have put the ABC on a treadmill, the steambox and fed it Hydroxycut and the results are amazing. The videos are trimmer, shorter and possess an unrivaled sex appeal. Check out the new videos for Oaks Day Recap and Kentucky Derby Preview. Or don't. Jerks.
11:19 ... All insults aside, it's nice to see my dirty turf writer colleagues actually dressed up for a change. I don't see one Hawaiian shirt and no traces of body odor. I think many of them shaved as well. It's like the prom all over again.
So you KNOW something special is going to happen.
11:24 ... If you tried to place your bets ahead of time and got a dirty look from your teller, it was because I Want Revenge scratched this morning and she's tired of telling people about it.
The morning line favorite as of Wednesday was scratched this morning after an undiagnosed problem was detected in his left front ankle by trainer Jeff Mullins.
Mullins begins a suspension tomorrow for bringing illegal substances into the security barn on the Wood Memorial undercard, not to mention the slew of infractions he has accrued over the years.
Any believers in karma need look no further than here.
11:43 ... Time to start gambling. I'm getting cold sweats.
12:07 ... 50 cent Pick 4 just started. I went wide since this was somewhat affordable. I hit the first leg with 4-1 Glenwood Canyon. He took the lead from Northern Prince at the top of the lane and drew away with an eighth to go.
Next leg I've got two horses in Why Tonto and Mr Maccool. Why Tonto, why anything?
12:10 ... it is a bummer that Revenge is out. It would have been nice to see the 19-year-old jockey Joe Talamo get a shot here at roses.
"Really, I'm at a loss for words," he said. "I'm just glad the horse is OK. It could have been a lot worse. Something could have happened on he track. I'm just glad it happened in the stall and I believe everyone did the right thing by the horse. He's the one who got us here, so you have to the right thing by him."
12:42 ... Dead. Calvin Borel strikes again with 16-to-1 Jazz in the Park. Desert Wheat took second and Pick Six was third. What does all this mean? Losing never rests.
1:01 ... Friesan Fire is the 4-1 favorite right now five hours to post. Funny, if you did an Oaks-Derby Daily Double with Rachel Alexandra and Friesan Fire, you would make less money than if you simply bet Friesan to win.
1:25 ... Hit first leg of rebound-Pick 3 ticket with the mudlark Accredit. Alive with Four Gifts and Auspicious. Dead with hope and good cheer.
1:30 ... We need more votes for ABC feedback. Call it insecurity, call it what you will, I call it research. This survey extends beyond just the pilot, but also to our shorter clips. Get used to the shorter clips. They are easier on the eyes.
We are working on a Fat Head of Jeannine Edwards. Stay tuned.
1:42 ... I'd like to say hello to the most gracious employers I have ever had in the Fleet Feet crew at Adams Morgan, Washington D.C. My flat arches have never felt better. Overpronators unite. Hello to Shawn, Roger, Kim, Jan and Phil. If I have left anyone off this hello, too bad.
2:14 ... Great win for Four Gifts. Great only because it kept me alive in a Pick 3 and gave Good Ol' Pete a $760 win.
2:34 ... Will pays for me are $111 or $375. A more accurate term is Possibly Pays. If I had to define it, it would be Never Pays.
That said, it's julep time. See you soon.
3:13 ... Like I said, Never Pays.
3:14 ... Pi entry ... The time between races is agonizingly long now. Up next is the Humana Distaff. Game Face should wins this.
So, I've been alive heading into the last leg of my Pick 3's twice this weekend and they have all been flushed down the toilet like a goldfish.
Tizaqueena ran a gutsy race in the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile. She ran away from challengers the way my dates run for the exit.
3:37 ... I'm gonna go get my GAME FACE on. Uh huh, that's right. My face is ready for the game. My face is going to be in the winner's circle.
As I said yesterday, my hope is that I can at least get a whiff of success. But, success is like a good perfume, you can only smell it from close up. However, you can only smell it when the wearing allows you to be close.
Hence my lingering stench of failure.
4:14 ... I hate this sport.
4:16 ... Seriously, I mean it.
4:20 ... I'm not taking it back.
The problem is that losing never gets old even for the perpetual loser. I mean this in a handicapping sense, but it is easy for this to bleed over into other facets of life, say, everything.
Is losing the opiate of losing?
4:59 ... Excuse me, please excuse me. I'm in a terrible, terrible mood.
Well, Einstein held off Cowboy Call in the Woodford Turf Reserve. There was really never any doubt. Sure, he was contested, but when a horse like Einstein locks eyes he is not going to lose.
That makes two Grade I wins on two different surfaces for this horse-of-all-trades — his other big win coming in the Grade I Santa Anita Handicap.
5:06 ... So we got our first "hated it" vote for ABC and I almost have to agree. I need more feedback. When 20 percent of all voters hate it, one has to listen.
5:14 ... Leanne Rimes just sang the National Anthem. Frankly, the one she did when she was 9-years-old at Texas Stadium was better. I have no basis for this.
6:53 ... So angry. Mine That Bird won the most prestigious race in the world.
7:03 ... Mine That Bird had nothing going for him. Nothing. His highest Beyer was an 81. He had zero significant works. His only graded earnings came in a third-place finish in the Grade III Grey at Woodbine as a 2-year-old.
The only thing — and I mean only thing — he had going for him was that his sire is Birdstone.
7:07 ... This is your classic Taco Bell day. I think I'll have a Grilled Stuft Burrito, hold the dignity.
7:08 ... So I watched this useless race in the winner's circle, and when Calvin Borel stormed up the rail, he pointed his whip right at me — and only me — as he shocked the world.
Birdstone screwed us again. First by spoiling Smarty Jones' bid at the Triple Crown and now THIS.
This is the end, this is the end of horse racing.
7:15 ... Well friends, we've had a lot of fun, ups and many downs. Thanks for sticking with me. We'll bring you the ABC Kentucky Derby recap tonight, sure to be filled with rage and tears.
So long!
5 comments:
I'm pairing Hold Me Back with Papa Clem in the climax - ask the HOT one what he thinks of that! His dam mare is going with 5-11-15 in a huge tri-box.
- May 2, 2009 at 1:17 PM
- Brendan O'Meara said...
It looks like you're pairing a couple of losers which would give you a lot in common with both me and this supposed hot one.
- May 2, 2009 at 1:29 PM
Wow! HOT and rich... no wonder he wears Joseph Abboud suits. One would have to assume his co-host is spending too much binocular-time studying the fillies. Come on, win one for the RickSir.
- May 2, 2009 at 3:13 PM
- Stan Hudy said...
I would announce on your blog that Pete and I will be taking over ABC after I correctly selected Mine That Bird as the Kentucky Derby winner!
Have fun covering Little League this summer!
- May 2, 2009 at 8:03 PM
- jlein said...
Was there ever a time the GSB let you down? I'd put money on "no".
- May 4, 2009 at 4:15 PM
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FAA lists approved ATP training programs online
The FAA is taking steps requested by AOPA to help ATP applicants locate the resources they need to pursue their training.
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Record setter gets second chance at pilot certificate
A double heart valve replacement kept Rachel Carter—who at 9 years old had set the unofficial record for youngest pilot of a transcontinental flight—from earning her private pilot certificate after her medical certificate was denied.
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Santa Barbara Business College offers aviation degree
Santa Barbara Business College is offering a new accredited associate of science degree in aviation through its Ventura, California, campus.
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Flying, airport management, career scholarships offered
Aviation organizations and companies are offering scholarships covering areas including flight training and airport management.
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Categories > Original > Drama > The Stupid Boy and the Outsider
Chapter 241 Reviews
The Stupid Boy and the Outsider Chapter 24
As for the song, after realizing that I already had the song on my youtube I decided not to upload the full song. Haha You're just gonna have to miss out on the last chorus, which is the same as the others. Haha You can just turn it off after the chorus after the second verse. -_- After that it's just instrumental. I just wanna let you guys year the song if you haven't heard it before. So you don't have to listen to it, but here it is anyway. :D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juDIvRGRZBo
I do not own "Flying With Angels," nor do I own/know Na Leo. I also don't own Ricado's.
Chapter 24
We were in the boys' bathroom trying to figure out how to get past the janitor when Jackie took the pocket watch from my hands and started to clean the fingerprints off of it. She's so weird sometimes.
All of a sudden I saw her shoulders tensed and she stopped cleaning. She looked over to the door, so Idid too. I could hear it now. It was the janitor's bazillion keys and the sound of his pushing trash can thing. We are so busted.
Jackie stuffed the watch into my pocket and just stood there. Why is she just standing there? She should hide or something. All of a sudden she grabbed my face and kissed me. Surprised? Yes I was. Stopping? Absolutely not. It just felt really good. Is it wrong for me to be enjoying this? Well, I don't care. I ran my hands from her sides to her lower back and it felt right. She fit perfectly in my arms. Her lips were so soft and gentle, nothing like Kristine's kisses.
I wanted just a little more, deepen it a little. So, I ran my tongue along her bottom lip. Mmm... strawberries. As soon as I did that she pulled away. I guess I went too far. Crap.
"Oh, sorry," she said, but she wasn't talking to me. She was looking toward the bathroom door.
She pulled me out of there and that was when I saw the janitor. I didn't even hear him come in.
"Hormonal kids," he grumbled as we passed by.
When we were finally out of the bathroom and alone in the hallway she didn't say anything. She didn't even look at me. Just look at me! Let me know every things okay.
"Ummm... we should get that watch back," she said before walking to the main office.
Okay, the important stuff first then.
We walked to the office. After making sure there was no one in the hallway that might get suspicious, we walked inside. The main office seemed empty.
"I'll go put it in his office," I said before hopping over the front desk.
I ducked behind every desk and looked around every corner to be sure no one was there. I felt like I was on a secret mission. It was exciting.
When I finally got to Mr. Miller's office door I got a little nervous. What if he was hanging out inside waiting for the contest? Was he even going to the contest?
I reached for the door knob and started to turn it slowly so that it wouldn't get anyone's attention if there was someone on the other side... but I couldn't turn it. I tried again, but it wouldn't twist. It was locked. So, I snuck back over to the main desk.
"It's locked," I said. Jackie just sighed. "All this for nothing."
Jackie looked over to the side. She then took the watch from my hand and walked over to the wall of mailboxes for the teachers and staff. I jumped over the front desk, almost falling on my face, to get a better look at what she was doing. She pulled one of the mailboxes open and placed the watch, still wrapped in the paper towel inside.
"I guess that's it," she said.
"That's it?" She just nodded."That wasn't fun."
"Very anti-climactic, I agree."
We still had a little over an hour before the contest started. We were just standing in the middle of the hallway not knowing what to do.
"Sooo..." I wanted to talk about what happened earlier, but I didn't really know how to start.
"I should... get back to the auditorium," she said.
"Yeah... right." I was a little upset. "I'll just... wait in the bathroom again."
Jackie looked like she wanted to say something so I stood there and waited.
"I think... you could come in the auditorium too," she said. "Unless you need to use the bathroom," she added with a laugh.
"No, I already went earlier."
We didn't say much after that. We just walked to the auditorium and ended up just sitting there watching people set up the mikes on stage and some doing some last minute practicing.
I looked over at Jackie and she looked worried.
"Hey, you okay?" I asked her.
She slowly turned to look at me. "I don't know." She looked a little confused.
"Well, as long as you don't have a panic attack." She actually looked like she was about to have a panic attack when I said it. "Jackie?"
"I'm fine," she said in a high pitched voice.
"Okay everyone!" Ms. Hetrick yelled before someone handed her a mike. "Oh, thank you. Okay, so, contestants please come backstage."
Jackie made a little whimper sound before saying, "Bye."
"Good luck." She just smiled in return and walked away.
After a few minutes I saw my family walk in with the Mathews. JD, Jerby, and Berna came a little after them.
I wasn't really paying attention when the contest started. I was too busy thinking about that kiss. Why did she do it? So that we wouldn't get caught? Maybe that was it. If we were just standing there it would look a little more suspicious than if we were caught making out. So, she didn't do it because she liked me like that, but did she like it as much as I did? That's what I have to find out.
"You've got to be kidding me," Berna said from next to me. She had a disgusted look on her face while looking at the stage. Kristine was up there singing in a high pitched voice about cupid or something. "Out of all the songs in the world," she said without finishing her sentence.
"What is this song?" Jerby asked from the other side of me. He was cringing at the sound of her voice. Icould have sworn she sounded better. Maybe it was her song choice. It was a little too high.
"It's from the movie The Princess Diaries. Mandy Moore sang it," Berna explained. When the song was over she lightly booed. I could barely hear it, but I did, and from the smile on JD's face he heard it too.
A few acts later an all girl group just finished. They looked a little disappointed since their harmonies were a little off. I bet it was just nerves. I've heard them in the hallways afew times. They're usually really good. I hope Jackie doesn't let her nerves get the best of her too.
Ms. Hetrick came out and introduced the next performance before Jackie walked out to stand behind the mike. There was a short guitar intro before Jackie started singing.
Where are you going, inside your mind
I guess were always livin'
On borrowed time
Yes I will be here, to hold your hand
Just close your eyes and sleep
I understand
You're flying with angels
Above us all and I'll be here
To catch you if you fall.
Jackie took the mike off the stand and started to walk around the stage.
If others leave you, you know I'll stay
My dreams will whisper to you
And guide your way
So sleep my darlin'
One kiss goodnight
Another song awaits you
With rising eyes
You're flying with angels
Above us all and I'll be here
To catch you if you fall.
I could see some tears in her eyes, but that didn't stop her from putting up a good performance. For someone who's never performed before she knew how to work a stage... and she was singing a slow song. I was definitely impressed with her.
You're flying with angels
Above us all and I'll be here
To catch you if you fall
Oh I'll be here to catch if you fall.
Jackie wiped away a tear before heading back to the mike stand. She gave a little bow and walked off stage with a smile. She was great!
I guess this was one of her mom's songs. She must have been a great song writer.
I heard a little squeal next to me. Kevin, Nick, Maya, and Mrs. K, who were sitting in front of us, must have heard it too since they turned around. We were looking at Berna and we all could see she had tears in her eyes.
"That was so beautiful," she managed to say in a tiny voice.
I just laughed at her, but Mrs. K had tears in her eyes too and I could see mom and Mrs. M two rows ahead of us wiping away tears. I rolled my eyes. Women.
Forty-five minutes later all the contestants were done performing and the judges were done picking the winners. All the contestants and judges were on the stage now ready to tell us who the winners are.
"Okay ladies and gentlemen," one of the judges said into the mike. "If you've already forgotten I'm Andy Pacho. I'm one of the judges and the winner will be working with me as well as the other two judges, Quincy Thomas and Faith Larson, on his or her demo." There was some applause. "And now," he said, "we have the winner's right here in my hand. Faith would you like to reveal the third place winner?"
"I'd love to," Faith said taking one of the papers. "Third place goes to... Irene Grace." There was applause for her.
Irene walked up to the judges and gave them all handshakes before accepting her prize and a hug from Ms. Hetrick. It looked like a basket of... snacks or something.
I looked over at Jackie and she looked a little nervous, but still managed to have a genuine smile on her face.
"Congrats to Irene," Quincy said. "Second place and the winner of this great HP notebook goes to... Jackie Mathews!"
Our group cheered the loudest making it obvious we were only there for her. She stepped up shaking the judges' hands, hugged Ms. Hetrick, and got a basket just like Irene's and a box. I guess that was the laptop. She looked really happy.
"If Kristine wins you'll kill me right?" Berna asked me. I just laughed at her.
My eyes wandered over to Kristine. She looked really confident as she fixed her shirt and hair.
"Good job Jackie,"Andy said. "And now... the first place and the winner of studio time with Quincy, Faith, and me to create a demo that will be distributed to all the major record companies in the US is... Adam Owens!"
There was a lot of cheering, but I think Berna was a little too happy.
"What?" She asked after she saw us looking at her. "I'm happy for him. He was really good."
"And Kristine didn't win anything," Nick said quietly so that none of the adults could hear him.
Five minutes later the contest was completely over and Jackie came walking up to us with her basket and laptop. Her parents got to her first giving her hugs and congratulating her. The rest of us joined in after.
"Listen, how about we all go out to dinner. We can go to Ricado's," Mrs. M suggested.
"Mom, we don't have to," Jackie said.
"Of course we do," mom said. "It's time for a celebration."
"Will you kids be coming?" Mrs. M asked JD, Berna, and Jerby.
"I can't," Jerby said.
"Neither can I," JD added. He looked at his watch. "Actually I should be going now. My mom's probably waiting for us outside," he said looking at Jerby. They congratulated Jackie one last time, JD gave Berna a kiss goodbye, and they left.
"Ooooooo," Jackie and Maya teased Berna together. Berna just shrugged and we all headed out to the cars.
We were all in the main hallway when we heard someone calling Jackie behind us.
"We'll meet you at the car," Mr. M told us as and the other parents continued walking to the parking lot.
We all turned around to see Kristine, Francis, and Cindy walking towards us.
"So, how does it feel?" Kristine asked.
"You mean how does she feel knowing she got second place and you got... hmmm... what did you get? Oh right, you got nothing," Berna asked with a smile on her face.
"No, I meant how does it feel knowing you only got second place because people feel sorry for you?"
"The judges don't know anything about me," Jackie said.
"Wrong." Kristine stepped closer to get in Jackie's face. "I told Mr. Pacho everything. If I knew it would help you I wouldn't have, but I did."
"Don't listen to her Jackie. You were great," Berna said pulling her toward the parking lot. "And you were way better than her." We just turned around and walked away.
I can't believe Kristine. She says she wants to get back together with me, but treats Jackie like crap. Idon't understand how that's supposed to work.
When we got to the restaurant we got two tables. One for the adults and Frankie and another for the rest of us kids. I was lucky enough to get a seat next to Jackie. I could tell she was still thinking about what Kristine said.
"Hey," I said to get her attention. "You really were great. I'm sure Kristine was lying about telling that judge about... whatever she told them. I mean she could have been lying about all of it."
She gave me a half smile. "Thanks."
Before we could say anything else the food came and we were about to pray. I could see that Jackie was hesitant to hold my hand during the prayer, so I just grabbed it and held it firmly in my own hand. I really wasn't paying attention to what dad was saying. I could only think about how soft her hands were. They were just as soft as her lips. I didn't realize I was stroking the back of her hand with my thumb until she whipped her hand away. It was like there was a jet pack attached to it. Apparently Jackie didn't feel what I felt when we kissed.


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Yes, I'd have quite liked some kind of apology for being tarred with the same brush as your troll (you're not that distinguishable BTW).have I missed something?
Last edited by Nuttyprof; 29th September 2010 at 09:22 AM.
The only argument I'm hearing people saying on here is VPN is insecure\not an ideal solution and the whole Capita holding data.
VPN being insecure is silly
VPN is an existing method (used for SLG) - cost savings, why reinvent the wheel
And Capita holding data is no different to your ISP holding copies of your emails etc - there still subject to the data protection etc
At least if you going to claim capita to be the spawn of Satan make a good argument, like the re-licensing of academies, or the high cost of the "extras", or the fact they've just stuck to two fingers up at companies like schoolscomms. I hate it when people moan without good reason, it's like me saying your network rubbish because of your server, then not explaining it's because your server has a rubbish raid controller. Especially when that server is your career\business.
Bah, brick wall.
::sigh:: I'm not going to spell it out, but there is a clear difference between these two: a) "the troll", b) "your troll"if you're referring to me as a TROLL, then perhaps you owe one to me also!
This is very frustrating and this is the most diplomatic way I can say it: You're not unique by any means, but you sound out of your depth.VPN being insecure is silly.
Some VPNs have been inherently insecure e.g. PPTP back when I was energetic enough to actually start XORing ciphertext excrypted with reused keystreams etc. AFAIK there are no such concerns with OpenVPN, but that is perfectly capable of being worthless unless it is configured appropriately. If you want an analogy Windows passwords can be OK, if you turn off LANMAN hashes and if they are are reasonably "complex" (I prefer to talk about entropy because a good password doesn't have to follow the MS rules).
To put my reasonable questions in simple terms: What has been configured to stop someone hostile sitting on a beach on the other side of the world from getting into a system via that VPN? What stops some theoretical bad apple at Capita getting into more than your SIMS?
It's really interesting that you feel some kind of contractual blame-shifting i.e. anything bad happens to part of a school network then it's OK because Capita get the blame, is the end of the story. Perhaps I'm weird, but I would feel 100% responsible if anything bad happened to my network that could have been avoided had I pulled my finger out and asked a few questions. The answers to the questions may well be perfectly good, reassuring ones, but lacking any I automatically assume the worst - I've seen more than enough reasons not to fold because [Insert Big-Company-Name or Security-Celebrity Here] says "hey, it's secure, don't worry!".
Last edited by PiqueABoo; 29th September 2010 at 03:59 PM.
box_l (3rd October 2010)
If you want to have an indepth discussion about details of the VPN link, phone them up. They're not going to publically post detail as that would be a security hole. They may give more details out on SupportNet then a public form having said that.
PS: Yes, I know it'll be a pain to get hold of someone who actually knows the system inside out
(To avoid doubt, I am a Capita employee, posting a personal view)
A colleague and I presented at the EduGeek conference earlier this year on the subject of centralisation and virtualisation of the general IT estate in the public and private sectors and I picked up on your comment;
"Mr Neal seems to think it will all end up in shipping containers sooner or later. Personally I think there still a few cost of bandwidth vs. increasing data bloat issues to contend with. Plus with a lot of business critical eggs in a basket the very first outage longer than say 36 hours i.e. hitting Day 2, will put a lot of folk into reverse. "
and would like to explore this a little.
Its my opinion, as expressed at the conference, that industrialisation of the data centre will drive very large cost savings for end users. Technologically the missing link has been stable and ubiquitous internet connectivity, but there seems to be a general acceptance that internet connectivity is no longer luxurious but essential to businesses in the UK. Google, Amazon and more recently Microsoft I believe have shown the way industrial levels of computing power can be placed at the disposal of end-users at a predictible and relatively low cost.
I made the point at the conference that owning a server within a school (or any other SME) might seem idiosyncratic within a medium term timescale, as performance, security, uptime and scalability could be more cheaply and more dependably provided by a industrial computing "power company" off-site. There may be special circumstances where this formula did not work - for instance in defence, healthcare and other critical national functions. Even then, distributed computing might not provide a better service than a centralised node (the RNLI currently host their SAR IT on Microsoft Azure).
Having made a case for centralisation, I am interested in the opinions of within the forum to understand the opposite point of view.
Since the internet is a routed protocol, and was designed partially to give a high availability in spite of network degredation, what would be the major concerns of a school or educator in off-siting (note: not neccessarily outsouring to my Company - such an arrangement might be provided within the Public Sector) their school MIS ?
I realise there are a number of schools where physical internet infrastructure provision is not yet capable of providing a good service - and assume for the purpose of future-gazing that the "provision will follow the demand" and these blackspots will be filled in much like they were in cellular phone coverage a couple of decades ago. Other than this hurdle, what would an educators general concerns be about off-siting ?
Thanks in advance.
PiqueABoo (29th September 2010)
Just my 2penneth.
We signed up for SchoolPost this summer. it doesn't bolt onto Sims like others but rather is a online version where you securely upload the contact info to their website.
little rough around the edged but I am very impressed with it so far.
It's better nowadays, but I haven't noticed the Internet actually being all that good at "routing around trouble" and as you get out towards the Internet users there are often no alternative routes to take.Since the internet is a routed protocol, and was designed partially to give a high availability in spite of network degredation,
But it's the application layer that concerns me most. Imagine some web-fronted service in the cloud & this is what you might depend on right now: target DNS server, local DNS server, RBC[1] DNS server, proxy/filter, RBC proxy/filter, RBC firewall, target firewalls, load balancing gizmos, complex multi-tier service (with truckloads of disks at the bottom). YMMV but one or more of the first few have had sustained outages around here in recent years.
If you envisage (it's not clear) most everything in in school being some fancy 21st century terminal you still have most of those, but it's not obvious to me that anyone could put together a service that meets all the current requirements in a school, just some of them. Perhaps those apparent requirements can be massaged into a more achievable set, I don't know.
The many BSF debates seem relevant - compare and contrast a) local resources with people who can (admittedly not always) go do something about an issue, with b) the very well-established fun and games you have trying to battle your way through support desks and actually get something done this week if you're lucky. Add enough extra money and the latter can get quicker but then we're chipping away at those very large cost savings.
I'm a life-trained cynic - and costs that initially look smaller have a nasty habit of turning much bigger. What might look reasonable from a stratospheric viewpoint, can turn out to be rather complicated and much more expensive than expected when you do start drilling down into that devilish detail.
Last edited by PiqueABoo; 30th September 2010 at 12:10 AM. Reason: inevitable typos!
Some interesting comments here, I particularly interested in the potential conflict of interest between Schoolcomms and Capita. Now working on the periphery of SIMS and school, I had a very good working relationship with both last year, and interested to now how this development of inTouch has come about.
It isn't just about schoolcomms! this decision to enter the comms spaces should sound warning bells to EVERY CAPITA PARTNER!
Other Capita partners in this space alone are Truancy Call, ParentMail, Keepkidssafe, Teachers2parents, Groupcall and so on. All of these companies are paying Capita for the right to be 'partners', and they have all been stitched up.
This isn't a one off either as Capita have a track record of doing this. (look at parentpay and pass - both of them had the same treatment when SIMS introduced lesson monitor and the dinner money module)!
Why - take a guess ... Money, profit and most importantly .... To control the market. Capita don't want any companies getting too big a foothold in the education space so as soon as a company starts to do well and get a good number of schools using their product/s .... You've guessed it .... In come Capita with a 'built into SIMS' option thats easier and cheaper!
I had the MD of ParentMail at my school recently, and he told me that he has personally contacted the CEO of Capita (Paul Pindar) to try to persuade Capita to consider producing a 'partner charter' which would grant partners a guaranteed amount of notice if they intend to enter a partners space. Guess what ... He didn't even get a reply! He also told me that he was given only one terms notice that Capita were planning on entering the comms market!
To my mind this type of behaviour by Capita is despicable and I've said before schools should act with their feet and refuse to use InTouch.
Last edited by marshharrier; 3rd October 2010 at 11:24 AM.
Anyone interested in InTouch\SLG, Capita will charge for re-installation (VPN etc). Just something worth thinking about when your getting a new server\InTouch.
no one seems to have mentioned groupcall, we're already using that integrated with sims. dunno how much it's costing tho.
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Pitch Black (2000)
Average Rating: 5.6/10
Reviews Counted: 104
Fresh: 59 | Rotten: 45
Despite an interesting premise (and a starmaking turn from Vin Diesel), Pitch Black is too derivative and formulaic to recommend to sci-fi or action fans.
Average Rating: 5.1/10
Critic Reviews: 28
Fresh: 12 | Rotten: 16
Despite an interesting premise (and a starmaking turn from Vin Diesel), Pitch Black is too derivative and formulaic to recommend to sci-fi or action fans.
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Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 276,829
Movie Info
In this science fiction thriller, a spaceship is transporting a disparate group of people to a far-away galactic outpost called New Mecca. Mechanical failures cause the craft to crash-land on an abandoned planet that has three suns and no night. The only member of the crew to survive is junior pilot Carolyn Fry (Radha Mitchell), while the passengers who climb from the wreckage include a police officer (Cole Hauser) and the prisoner he's transporting, Riddick (Vin Diesel). As Fry and the other
Feb 18, 2000 Wide
Oct 24, 2000
Gramercy Pictures/ USA Films - Official Site
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Radha Mitchell
Vin Diesel
Richard B. Riddick
Cole Hauser
Keith David
Lewis Fitz-Gerald
Claudia Black
Rhiana Griffith
John Moore
Simon Burke
Les Chantery
Sam Sari
Firass Dirani
Ric Anderson
Total Stranger
Vic Wilson
Angela Makin
Dead Crew Member
Latest News on Pitch Black
December 21, 2012:Weekly Ketchup: Vin Diesel to Star in Big Screen Version of Kojak
The last full week of 2012 was another sort of slow week in the world of movie development news....
August 3, 2009:David Twohy Talks Riddick Sequels
They're still at the idea stage, but David Twohy and Vin Diesel are committed to continuing "The...
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All Critics (107) | Top Critics (28) | Fresh (59) | Rotten (45) | DVD (37)
A smart, suspenseful sci-fi movie from director Twohy, whose underrated 1996 film, The Arrival, also brought visual imagination and intelligence to the genre.
The script is a compendium of science-fiction clich�s, familiar in Hollywood movies since the early fifties.
Pitch Black is so jaunty, so limber, and so visually self-assured that art peeks through where crap has traditionally made its home.
The film works because it's strong on fundamentals: fear of the dark, fear of helplessness, fear of the unknown, and fear of unpredictable human behavior.
Barely intermittent, reminding us that the B-movie is still very much with us.
In the movie's last hour, writer-director David Twohy pretends to explore his stick figures' moral choices, and he forgets to deliver the thrills.
Pitch Black is such a stinker that it makes Twohy's previous sci-fi thriller, The Arrival, look halfway decent.
...your typical run-for-your-life-the-monsters-are-coming science fiction adventure that requires one to park his brain at the front door of the theater before entering.
One of the better sci-fi movies to come around in a very long time.
A fairly efficient science fiction monster film, somewhat in the mold of an old 1950s B-movie.
If only there had been as much time spent on creating believable aliens as there obviously was on the landscape.
Under the circumstances it's not really fair to blame the actors, whose amateurishness seems appropriate to the material (although Diesel's stolid machismo is so over-the-top as to be pretty laughable).
Hey man, it's February. You've already picked through all the leftover Oscar-bait you can take, so it's no time to be picky.
PITCH BLACK deserves to be recommended as a solid piece of genre entertainment.
The derivativeness of the script keeps any tensions from building into any kind of scariness.
Lackluster both as science-fiction and horror.
A solid entry in the genre of science fiction horror.
Some hard-core science-fiction fans might nit-pick over details in Pitch Black, but for the average moviegoer looking to be entertained, this roller-coaster of a film should not be missed.
At least as much as The Blair Witch Project before it, Pitch Black shows us how disconcerting total darkness can be.
Audience Reviews for Pitch Black
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
The plot isn't quite as predictable as one would expect and the premise makes a pretty original survival. The provocative moral struggles in the end are also something to behold. It's no Aliens 1 or 2 but it's definitely good enough for a watch.
Super Reviewer
Its a simple tale really, hardly original, just a basic survivor thriller set in space. A group of people on a spaceship are forced to crash land on a remote desolate planet. The planet is a vast arid desert with no signs of life or water or so they think. Into the fold comes 'Riddick', a prisoner who was being transported by a merc. At first he seems a threat to the stranded crew but they all soon realise they are not alone on the planet and must trust Riddick to help them.
So yeah its nothing special in terms of plot, the planet they crash on is yet another desert planet (popular in sci-fi) and the hunter/prey aspect is as old as the hills. The cast playing the crew are pretty bland also, none of them really interest you, the strong female lead played by Mitchell is actually annoying and an obvious wannabe 'Ripley' type character (difficult to avoid that comparison I'm afraid). The fact she wanted to kill the crew to try and save the ship as it went down just annoyed me even more, some leader. But I guess that sets up the finale doesn't it, she was still annoying though.
The rest are dull, Keith David playing some religious Muslim preacher type and Hauser as usual being the shifty guy, the rest are merely alien fodder. Its no surprise at all that the film is saved and interest levels are heightened by Riddick the criminal. Its not specifically because he has big muscles, but mainly because he's a bad ass, a typical Clint Eastwood type anti hero who doesn't say that much, growls a lot, mutters the odd cool tagline, has a rebellious anti society/law view on life and an all round kick your ass attitude. Of course his glow in the dark night vision eyes just look uber cool and add to the intrigue. A real 'Snake Plissken' type character in all essence but he doesn't show much evidence of being a cold killer as tagged throughout.
Admittedly it is a disappointment that you find out he paid a surgeon for his special eye job because he needed it for a spell in a dark dank prison. This kinda takes away the mystery behind that idea as you tend to think he's some kind of special mutant-like human or something. Although as we all know we do find out he isn't human after all...in the sequel.
I think the other thing that impresses with the film is the visuals and especially the way the film has been lit. You can see the film has been purposely overly lit (almost over exposed) for most outside planet sequences to try and show a more alien terrain and atmosphere. Its a simple trick really that shows initiative and does work at times although at others it can look cheap. There is also a nice variety of color intensities going on throughout too, all to show various perspectives (often forced) such as alien vision, Riddick's vision, heat, reflective, shadow, glowing, cool etc...its all quite inventive.
But there are some nice CGI effects in here too, some nice skylines, space panorama's and a cool eerie eclipse. There were obviously limitations for the film and you can see this, but all in all everybody did really well to make the film look glossy and realistic. A classic example of having to think and work hard to make the film work, where as if you have too much money you can become too complacent and lazy letting too much CGI do it all for you.
The alien creatures are so so and not overly stunning. Nothing wrong with them, the bat concept works well for the story but they do look a bit too CGI, bit plastic and shiny. Really this could be called attack of the giant vampire bats in space, but hey its a sci-fi horror that's not suppose to be serious.
After watching I still gotta ask why the aliens don't often attack Riddick though. These creatures are suppose to be darkness feeders and attack anything they come across in the dark, even more so if its bleeding. Yet so many times Riddick is wandering around alone in the dark and never gets so much as a bite, weird. Also I'm guessing the aliens started to attack each other for lack of food? and the presence of aliens in this universe must be common knowledge? because no one is bothered when they come across the mass of alien skeletons on the planet (the big ones) or the live aliens.
Must just mention Riddick's goggles, he needs them for protecting his eyes in light, yet he does tend to wear them almost all the time, even in the dark. Many times in dark sequences he has the goggles on or removes them to see in the dark. If you're in the dark why not just take them off completely? you wouldn't need them at all. I'm guessing this is for the image, also to make the odd luminous eyes reveals more dramatic I think.
Yeah its silly in places but its not suppose to be ultra realistic. I mean would you be able to pop out of cryo-stasis without batting an eyelid, feeling right as rain within minutes ready to pilot an out of control spaceship? doubt it. The film has that happy balance of your typical action hero flick crossed with some semi serious sci-fi so its not completely ridiculous. The basic premise is a trashy B-movie-like sci-fi action flick and it could so easily of bombed, but it works perfectly mainly down to ingenious use of light effects and a superb anti hero character.
Super Reviewer
Movies Like Pitch Black
- Johns: Zeke! Fully loaded clip, safety's on, one shot if you spot him.
- Zeke: Don't tell me you're going off too.
- Paris: What happens if Mr. Riddick spots us first?
- Johns: There'll be no shots.
- Richard B. Riddick: You're not afraid of the dark, are you?
- Johns: Hey, I thought I said no shivs!
- Richard B. Riddick: You mean this? This is just a personal grooming appliance.
- Richard B. Riddick: You got it all wrong, holy man. I do believe in God, and I personally hate the fucker.
- Richard B. Riddick: Didn't know who you was fucking with!
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Born in 1977, Lara lives in Lisbon and London.
Currently a PhD student at the University of the Arts London, where she develops a research project entitled "Additive processes: the creation of new methods in design and production of clothing?", under the supervision of Prof. Sandy Black at the London College of Fashion, with a grant of the Foundation for Science and Technology in Portugal.
She attended the MA Fashion Artefact, at the London College of Fashion, with a grant from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and graduated with distinction.
She graduated in Fashion Design from Citex in Porto in 2003. In 1996, Lara started her jewelry and Metals graduation, at Antonio Arroio Art School, in Lisbon, finishing in 1998.
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Dave Hendricks | November 18, 2010 | Comments
Why e-mail is destined to remain the best-performing, yet least appreciated marketing medium.
Advertising in television is tough. It's expensive, it's competitive, and it's cutthroat. The channel has withstood the transition from over-the-air transmission to cable to HD. It survived the invention of the VCR, DVD, and DVR. And so far, it has survived the Internet.
The fact that television has survived as a legitimate marketing channel - and has even thrived - this far into the "time-shifting" era of today's Internet is tribute not only to its near-universal reach, stable format, and desirable content, but perhaps most importantly to its ad-selling model.
In a post a couple of weeks ago, Mark Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks and HDNet owner who made his fortune selling Broadcast.com to Yahoo for almost $6 billion, makes the case that the reason TV has survived where CDs, DVDs, magazines, and newspapers have failed is because TV is sold in aggregated, not single, advertising units.
TV monetization sounds a lot like retention and acquisition e-mail marketing to me.
Like television, e-mail is almost always sold as a large undifferentiated unit. That unit is "audience." If you are an advertiser and you want to market your product in the e-mail channel, you are buying in a very similar way to TV - you find a newsletter (aka channel) or publisher network (aka network) and you get the rate card. The publisher tells you what the audience looks like and quotes you a price based on the audience size, the content (show) it's running against, and the time of the deployment (prime time).
Television doesn't always appear very targeted. But have you ever watched the evening national network news? It's almost all denture ads and personal incontinence products. In cable, there are some services that allow spot-buying, but for the most part, you buy the whole audience or none at all, and you're buying the audience that Nielsen says is watching that show - audience selection without any sophisticated behavioral or demographic mapping.
E-mail is a little more flexible in this regard - if you're lucky you may find a publisher who's willing to sell you a fraction of their audience - such as "female purchasers," but as soon as you try to cherry pick your target audience, your CPM rates soar and campaign turnaround gets slower and slower.
Audience measurement is an inexact science in both television and e-mail. The biggest mystery to any media buyer purchasing television or e-mail is: with all the cable boxes and the website sign-up forms, why don't we know more?
Compared to Internet display advertising, with its behavioral and demographic targeting, audience reporting, heat-mapping, ad verification, and frequency control, TV and e-mail are practically stone-aged. Does your cable box fire pixels and drop cookies, or even keep track and suggest shows you should watch? Neither does mine. If you spend all of your time watching monster trucks and Ultimate Fighting and fishing shows, you should probably be seeing more John Deere and less Jenny Craig, right? Nope. In TV, you cannot buy by the drink - only by the bottle. What's in the bottle?
Who knows! And no one's telling.
Both television and e-mail are long overdue for a change in their audience selling models. In display, we've seen the rise of demand side platforms and exchanges. Companies like eXelate, BlueKai, and Acerno track the sites you visit and sell your pageviews in predictive segments. Companies like Rapleaf find you on social sites and sell your data to marketers based on your demographic. Media6Degrees, 33Across, and Lotame create segments based on affinity.
Barely any of this audience purchasing sophistication has crept into e-mail, and none has made its way into TV ad buying. As a result, advertisers get a monolithic audience experience that doesn't account for all the different people seeing their content.
Boxee and Google TV are trying to shake things up and change the way TV is watched and bought. When can we expect to see the same sort of shake up in e-mail? Until e-mail becomes more like display and tools are built to do things other than to block spam, it's destined to remain the best-performing, yet least appreciated marketing medium ever devised by mankind.
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As president of LiveIntent, Dave Hendricks has overall responsibility for revenue, finance, legal, and operations. Prior to joining LiveIntent before its 2009 Series A, Dave was EVP of operations at PulsePoint (then known as Datran Media), where he worked with LiveIntent founder and CEO Matt Keiser and ran Datran's ESP StormPost. Before all that, Dave held senior roles at data management companies InfoUSA and Experian. A member of the founding executive team at ExperianCheetahMail, Dave began his email adventure at Pioneering ESP MessageMedia after running global partnerships for Oracle Corp. Dave was named one of Silicon Alley Insiders Top 100 technologists in 2011 and is active in several IAB Committees including Mobile and Email. Follow him on Twitter @davehendricks.
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Welcome to the Office of the Secretary's information pages. On these pages you will find information about the scope of services within the office of this cabinet-level executive.
The Secretary of Taxation and Revenue is an appointee of the Governor and serves at his or her pleasure. The Secretary is responsible for administering taxation and revenue laws as well as laws pertaining to the Motor Vehicle Division.
Housed within the Office of the Secretary are the Tax Research, Analysis and Statistics Office, the Tax Information and Policy Office, the Legal Services Bureau, Administrative Hearing Office, the Ombudsman and the Director of Communications.


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LinkedIn: Professional Networking Tool, but 'Do it right'
In Wednesday's edition of The Daily News, I spoke with Vaco Memphis about their use of social media to recruit new hires.
Cheryl Citrone, logistics executive recruiter for the Nashville-based consulting firm, said by far, her biggest returns come from LinkedIn. But, that's not to say everyone with a page on the world's largest professional network is a home run.
"LinkedIn is huge and I would encourage anyone on the market to have a page," Citrone said. "And if you're going to have a LinkedIn page, have one, don't just throw maybe a couple of lines out just to have a presence. Have it fully compiled and do it right."
Part of that presence includes a professional head and shoulder shot.
"It really reflects on your ability to market yourself," she said.
Cynthia Saatkamp, principal of Hemline Creative Marketing LLC, told a similar story to The Daily News in June about Twitter. Don't just jump on the bandwagon, do it with purpose, she said.
"People don't realize how a business can truly seem more transparent and less guarded, more honest by tweeting," Saatkamp said. "Twitter followers are your tribe, your confidantes and your friends. They expect, and deserve, to be treated on a one-to-one basis like a real conversation at a speed faster than email can convey."
Read more on the topic in a follow-up blog post I did here.


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2002-01-02 / Front Page
Local folks in the news
Rosemarie Dearing, executive director of the North Amityville Community Economic Council is shown with some of the toys donated by the Amityville Rotary Club and the Press Club of Long Island for distribution by NACEC to needy families in the area. Photo by Joe Turner
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I loved working with plants. The stress level was extremely low, it gave me exercise, and made me content.
Creators constantly use their imagination and like creating physical manifestations of their work. They are very content when they are able to build, assemble or craft something with their own artistic flair. They are attracted to peculiarities in their surroundings. Creators are body-oriented and inventive in the way they solve practical problems.


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Broadneck High School's wrestling coach for nearly a decade will be leaving the school in the same year that his son won the state championship title for the second time.
Scott Harrell announced recently that he would no longer be the coach of the school's wrestling team, and he hopes to spend more time focusing on his family.
In a post on online forum MarylandWrestling.org, Harrell explained his reasons for leaving.
"After seven years I am stepping down in an effort to focus my efforts on my family and career. I would like to Thank the Maryland wrestling community for all the support that has been shown to me and my family over the years. While I may not be in the corner for Broadneck any longer I will always be in the corner of Maryland wrestling," Harrell wrote.
Harrell also said the school was looking for a viable replacement, and stood up for the school's reputation.
"There is great parental support and they really appreciate what the sport does for their children. The kids are the best...both on the mat and off," he wrote.
Harrell's son Cameron Harrell captured the Class 4A/3A state championship title earlier this month—the second time in his wrestling career. The Broadneck student has also said that he is considering leaving the school in the fall, stating there were more opportunities elsewhere.


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3 Stocks to Invest in the Improving Auto Market
Robinson is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.
The automotive industry continues to recover at a rapid pace. The decline in the unemployment rate, coupled with low interest rates, have propelled automotive sales in the United States. Although a typical strategy to gain exposure to the automotive market is to invest in car manufacturers, a Foolish investor may also be interested in parts manufacturers. Auto parts companies should fare well as auto demand increases. The following three stocks may be bought as a basket to expose a portfolio to the automotive industry.
The automaker
Ford (NYSE: F) is one of the giants in the automotive manufacturing business. The company is developing faster, more comfortable, and more fuel-efficient vehicles. As Ford continues to develop more fuel-efficient cars, its presence in the European and Asian markets should continue to grow--and that's important because gas prices in Europe and Asia are sometimes more than double that of the U.S.
From a fundamental analysis perspective, Ford trades with a P/E ratio of 10.6, and a forward P/E of 9.45, while the industry's P/E average is around 14. Ford reported an outstanding first quarter as it increased net income to $1.6 billion, an increase of $215 million over last year. The Mustang sports car developer also saw a steep increase in units sold in North America, despite some weakness in international markets.
Regarding the future, Ford is poised for more growth. The domestic market continues to strengthen and the Asian market is improving despite fierce competition from Honda and Toyota. Sales in European markets increased for the first time since 2011, which should boost revenue. Ford also increased its sales by 14% in May, the best number for May since 2005.
A good year
Despite recent underperformance by Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (NASDAQ: GT), the stock is ready for a rebound. Since auto sales are increasing, the demand for tires goes right along with it. Goodyear continues to be a top choice for the supply of tires to car manufacturers. North America makes up for 50% of its revenue per year, but one of the key drivers will be higher demand in emerging markets such as Latin America and Asia. Furthermore, revenues from Europe should start picking up as demand for autos strengthens.
From a fundamental perspective, the company's margins have been steadily improving since 2010. Goodyear hopes to increase its North American margins to 5% from 3% over the next several years. The company's P/E of 17.3 is below the industry average of 20.2. Although its sales fell 12% to $4.8 billion last quarter, its net income increased $37 million because of margin expansion.
Auto parts
Magna International (NYSE: MGA) designs, develops, and manufactures automotive systems, modules, and components which are sold to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Its operations are primarily in North America, Europe, and several emerging markets such as Latin America.
The fundamentals look good as the company trades around an 11 P/E, while the industry average is 19.9. Its price to book ratio is also below the industry average. Further, revenue growth for the last 3 years is 21%, while the industry average is 4.5%. Its sales increased 9% to $8.5 billion for the first quarter of 2013. Its net income grew to $369 million, or $1.57 per share, from $343 million, or $1.46 per share year over year.
Management expects revenue in 2013 to range between $32 billion to $33.4 billion as a new emission standards boost demand for fuel efficient components. Moreover, since its presence in the domestic and European markets is strong, sales should move in unison with Ford. Magna has a solid balance sheet, trades below the industry average in many financial metrics, and has catalysts for growth.
A foolish note
The automotive industry is improving. And these companies are excellent options to gain exposure to this market. Ford's performance has been steadily increasing, and the car maker should gain market share in the European markets. As the demand for tires increase, Goodyear should see a push in revenue. Lastly, the demand for Magna's products should increase as companies like Ford boost auto production to meet rising global demand.
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Robinson Roacho has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Ford. The Motley Fool owns shares of Ford. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Is this post wrong? Click here. Think you can do better? Join us and write your own!


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