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Jakarta – The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) emphatically opposes the Draft Law on the Elimination of Sexual Violence believing that it contains Western feminist ideas which are anti-religion and has the potential to legalise Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) activities.
"Currently there is a lively discussion for and against the Draft Law on the Elimination of Sexual Violence (RUU-PKS) in the DPR RI [House of Representatives]. After we studied it, the RUU based on a draft that we obtained from the official DPR RI website, the FPI opposes the RUU-PKS", said FPI Chairperson Sobri Lubis when giving greetings to the FPI's 21st anniversary as seen in by Detik.com in a YouTube video aired on the Front TV account on Saturday August 24.
Lubis said that the RUU-PKS is an attempt to smuggle in Western feminist ideas. According to Lubis, these Western feminist ideas conflict with religion and the state ideology of Pancasila.
"Why? Because this RUU is very dangerous, because in this RUU we saw that there was a systematic attempt to smuggle in and force through Western feminist ideas which are anti-religion, to be applied in the lives of families in the Indonesian nation which hold the values of religion in the highest regard as enshrined in the first principle of Pancasila, Belief in the Almighty God", he said.
In addition to this, he said that Western feminism has a destructive character in its position on relations between men and women. Yet he continued, Islam teaches proportional relations between men and women.
"Western feminist ideas endeavour to create gender equality, which is destructive because it positions relationships between men and women like a relationship between enemies who are always ready to battle against one another. Meanwhile Islam teaches us the concept of gender accord (keserasian gender), that is a proportional relationship between men and women. Relationship which fulfill and complement each other", he explained.
He also took issue with the definition of the phrase "hasrat seksual" (sexual desire) which he believes is unclear in the law. According to Lubis, this phrase could potentially lead to a discussion on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues.
"Furthermore the RUU-PKS even has the potential to legalise LGBT. Why is this so? In the definition of sexual violence, in Article 1 Paragraph 1, sexual violence includes insults, attacks against the sexual desire of a person. There is no further elucidation on the meaning of this phrase in the appendix", he said.
"We strongly suspect that the phrases 'someone's sexual desire' means sexual orientation. If we are discussing sexual orientation, then we will end up discussing LGBT", he added.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "FPI Tolak RUU PKS: Berbahaya, Berpotensi Melegalkan LGBT".]
Source: https://news.detik.com/berita/4679068/fpi-tolak-ruu-pks-berbahaya-berpotensi-melegalkan-lgbt


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20t Terex – 20T Fleet of Terex Franna Cranes
Length: 9.75m
Width: 2.5m
Height: 3.1m
Outrigger footprint: Front Wheel Track 2.5m
Max tip height: 18.0m
The smaller brother to MAC25, the AT20 has all the same fundamentals just in a smaller package. The slightly shorter jib of 17.9m, with the 3rd section being a manual extension. With the correct planning, the AT20 franna will assist in any condition.

subset: commoncrawl


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After the onslaught of records that was last night's finals session at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland the athletes clearly wanted to make night two just as exciting as six Commonwealth Games records were broken which included one world record.
The individual records themselves were impressive, but so was Dan Wallace's swim in the men's 400m IM to take home another gold for the host nation. The Scotsman swam a hard 4:11.04 in prelims this morning to break the previous Commonwealth Games record held by Chad Le Clos of South Africa. With that time, Wallace was seeded first in finals.
Thomas Fraser-Holmes of Australia was the closest man to him at the end of the race which featured a complete domination by Sebastian Rousseau up until the freestyle leg. Both Wallace and Fraser-Holmes passed him on the last 100 meters posting very similar splits of 57.78 (Wallace) and 57.59 (Fraser-Holmes) respectively. Wallace's time was a 4:11.20 to win the event, just shy of the record he set this morning but good enough to take down Fraser-Holmes who finished second in the event after winning the 200m freestyle earlier in finals with a time of 4:12.04.
This was a big win for the Scottish team as Fraser-Holmes was the clear leader going into the meet. He had posted a 4:10.68 going into the meet and was the current Commonwealth record holder in the race. Fraser-Holmes still did amazingly considering it was an extremely tough double, but he just wasn't able to close on Wallace.
You could say there was a little disappointment for Scotland in that race masked by Wallace's win as the two other swimmers representing Scotland in the final weren't really in the race. Lewis Smith who went into the Games as the fourth fastest Commonwealth swimmer this year finished sixth with a time of 4:16.17. Smith was faster than that in prelims with a time of 4:15.64 that was faster than the 4:15.76 he swam at British Nationals to rank him 15th in the world this year before the games. Smith could have probably been more in the mix of things, but with the pressure of competing in front of a home crowd mixed with a tough event like that, a performance like that isn't unwarranted.
The third Scotsman in the final, Ross Muir, finished back in eighth place with a time of 4:21.50. Like Lewis, Muir was significantly faster in prelims posting a 4:19.22 this morning. That time would have been good for a seventh place finish tonight as Muir was the only swimmer not to go under 4:20. Muir is only 22 so he has plenty of time to improve on that performance.
The domination of Games records continued tonight as they were absolutely slaughtered.
Benjamin Proud stepped onto the blocks in the men's 50m fly final to take gold in 22.93. That was not only a new Commonwealth Games record, but a new British record beating Proud's old mark of 23.10. Proud got to break the record in the same final as the previous record holder, Roland Schoemann, who ended up grabbing silver for South Africa in 23.13.
Chris Walker-Hebborn bettered the new Games record of 53.30 that he set earlier in the meet with a 53.12 to win the men's 100m backstroke tonight. Just like in Proud's case, he did so with previous record holder Liam Tancock swimming in the final as well. Tancock finished in a tie for third with a time of 53.75.
Canadian Katerine Savard broke the 100m fly Games record with a 57.40 to give her, her first major international win. The Canadian fly star has been faster than that before, but this will put her as one of the top contenders heading into the event at the Pan Pacific Championships.
The women's 50m freestyle Games record has been tossed around all day, being broken a total of four times. It's currently resting with English swimmer Francesca Halsall who won her semifinal tonight in 24.14 to better her prelim swim of 24.31.
England's Adam Peaty swam a brilliant 59.16 to set not only a new Commonwealth Games record, but a new English record in the men's 100m breaststroke. Peaty broke the Games mark this morning but came back with vengeance during that semifinal. He'll be heading into the final as the top seed, but will need to be on the watch for Scotland's Ross Murdoch who absolutely tore a strip of the field in the 200m breaststroke final sporting a 2:07.30 new Games, Scottish, British, and Commonwealth record.
Last but not least the Australian men absolutely dominated the 4x100m freestyle relay tonight, posting a 3:13.44 to break the record that was held by Australia. The team which consisted of Thomas Fraser-Holmes, Matt Abood, James Magnussen and Cameron McEvoy took down the South Africans who ended up finishing second in 3:15.17. The Scottish team which was welcomed with loud cheers from the crowd set a new Scottish record with a time of 3:17.66 which gave them a fourth place finish. The race gave Fraser-Holmes his third medal of tonight, and second gold.
Maddison Elliot broke the third world record at these games thus far by winning the women's para-sport 100m freestyle S8 final. The Australian swimmer broke the previous mark held by USA's Jessica Long of 1:05.62 which was set back in 2012.
Elliot's time of 1:05.32 was good for the new World Record. She was pushed by English swimmer Stephanie Slater and Australian Lakeisha Patterson all race long.


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Switch Account
On 7-6-13, I decided to join Verizon FiOS base on a bundle plan that I thought was a great deal to me. This plan included 20/10 FiOS + HBO & SHOWTIME channels. Before I submitted my application online, I summoned a live-chat agent to confirm my purchase. I specifically asked the agent to confirm if HBO channels were included in my bundle, mainly because the Summary review page prior to my submission did not have HBO listed. I re-confirmed (I copied pasted what was showing on my screen) withe live-chat agent and he again, reassured me that both HBO + SHOWTIME will be included in my plan. At the time, I assumed that perhaps due to promotional or marketing reasons, my HBO channels would not show on the summary plan, but certainly will be added on when my service is up and running. I was wrong.
On 7-20-13 around 10pm EST, 4 days after my service with FiOS started, I noticed that HBO channels were not available. I immediately called customer service:
So I waited until the following morning, 11:30am EST, 7-21-13, to only get the following:
However, the solution offerered were the following:
Finally, I've suspended my efforts via phone to correct the mistake that Verizon FiOS made. I now turn to this community and its managers and hope that there is still some good quality representatives that would listen and help me with my plea. I am not a selfish or greedy customer, I just want what is fair and agreed upon. Below is a chat log that I've saved as reference to show that conversation I had with the live-chat agent before my subscription to VZ FiOS. Since customer service weren't able to pull up this record, I've taken the liberty to provide it for all of you to see below:
{edited for privacy}
Hi mrwma237,
Your issue has been escalated to a Verizon agent. Before the agent can begin assisting you, they will need to collect further information from you. Please go to your profile page for the forum and look at the top of the middle column where you will find an area titled "My Support Cases". You can reach your profile page by clicking on your name beside your post, or at the top left of this page underneath the title of the board.
Under "My Support Cases" you will find a link to the private board where you and the agent may exchange information. This should be checked on a frequent basis, as the agent may be waiting for information from you before they can proceed with any actions. Please keep all correspondence regarding your issue in the private support portal.
Hello mrwma237,
We have not heard from you regarding your case and our team is going to close it due to no response. We were able to get your issue escalated to a representative who resolved the problem. Please let us know if there is anything more we could do to help you.
Thank you,


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Sydney - Australia's beleaguered rugby chiefs insist they have not botched their efforts to reduce the country's Super Rugby presence despite players calling the saga a "fiasco".
The Rugby Union Players Association (RUPA) on Wednesday unanimously backed a Victorian Rugby Union call for an emergency meeting of ARU voting members to examine the governing body's processes as the sport agonises over which team to axe from next year's competition.
The RUPA board, which includes Wallabies captain Stephen Moore and fellow Test stars Bernard Foley, James Slipper and Scott Sio, have blasted the ARU for a lack of transparency and consultation "in this ongoing fiasco".
It follows the ARU announcing in April that either the Western Force or Melbourne Rebels would be cut from the southern hemisphere competition along with two South African teams in 2018.
ARU chairperson Cameron Clyne, who has agreed to the meeting, denied the culling process had been botched.
"Nothing could be more incorrect," he told The Australian newspaper Thursday.
"We haven't botched the process... we have been very clear about how the process is being run but a lot of that has got lost.
"There is no floundering. We are responding to people who are desperate to stay in the competition."
RUPA vehemently opposes any reduction to the number of Australian teams, presenting various models to the ARU for consideration by Super Rugby's governing body SANZAAR which support the retention of all five franchises.
Clyne said the ARU did not have a fallback plan.
"We are just focusing on working towards our stated position of having four (Australian) teams," he said.
RUPA chief executive Ross Xenos believes the threatened Rebels could potentially be bought by the ARU for up to Aus$10m and then shut down.
"The most consistent narrative we hear from the ARU is about the financial challenges the game faces and how tough times are," Xenos told the newspaper.
"Axing an Australian team and disenfranchising a rugby community was justified five weeks ago by the ARU on financial savings.
"Now, Aus$6-$10 million promised to be invested into the game, including at grassroots level, could be burned so that the ARU can cull a team and save face around the SANZAAR table."


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Last week was the first day of Junior Kindergarten for my first-born son, Jax. We have been fortunate to have had a plenty of bonding time over the past 4 ½ years, starting with maternity leave and ... READ MORE
Welcome to Fair Season in Ottawa
We are nearing the end of July, which means that fair season has started in the Ottawa area! Our little family kicked off the fair season at this year's Kanata Ribfest which featured a small scale ... READ MORE
It's a Kid's Kingdom in Orléans!
One of our favourite play centres in the Ottawa area is Kids Kingdom Orléans. We originally signed up for Kids Kingdom Kanata when Jax (who is now 4) was around 18 months. It was super convenient ... READ MORE
Beautycounter – An honest mom review
There are so many new products that come to market daily and I have only JUST recently learned about Beautycounter! I used to sell Stella & Dot Jewelry and I loved it. My former colleague, Sandra ... READ MORE
My Picky Eater – Part 2
Did you catch part 1 of "My Picky Eater"? Got it? Ok great, let's continue! We have now completed three sessions of the CHEO Feeding Clinic and it's been such a great experience that I can't wait ... READ MORE
My Picky Eater – Part 1
In February, as most of you know, Hudson turned two years old, so it was time for our 2-year check up at the doctor's office! He seemed to be right on track despite his picky eating that really drives ... READ MORE
My Birth Stories – Jax & Hudson
When I found out I was going to have my first baby, Jax, I started on a planning frenzy. I had to find out the gender as soon as I could to plan out the nursery, choose my stroller colour, buy clothes ... READ MORE
Post Vacation Juice Cleanse from Raw Pulp & Grind
If you read my last blog post you know about my family's recent vacation to Mexico. With all-inclusive vacations you can eat and drink to your heart's content. Of course, we did a little too much of ... READ MORE
Family Vacation 2019 – the Royalton Life in Mexico
Hola! Our family just returned from the most wonderful time at the Royalton Riviera Cancun in Mexico - a much-needed break from this terrible Ottawa, Canada winter! We stayed at the same resort ... READ MORE
Tan on the Run Ottawa West – Mobile Spray Tanning
Ladies, is there anything worse than pale skin? Especially as a Canadian who was about to embark on a vacation down south (after months of sunless hibernation!) I should note that some people do look ... READ MORE
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Peanut 1cup
Jaggery 1/2 cup
Cardamom Powder 1tbs
Ghee For greasing the tray
Water 2tbs
Roast the peanut in low flame untill the skin peels out.When it cools spread over a soft cloth and rub in between your hands to remove the peels. Coarsely grind the peanuts to make then into half bits.Keep it aside.Keep a greased tray ready so that we can pour the final product in it.In a pan add two tbs of water add the powdered jaggery to it.Stir well.When bubble comes in the pan add cardamom powder to it.Stir it well and add the peanut to it. Remove from heat.Directly pour into the greased tray.Just as it settles cut in to desired shape.It takes some time to become thick.At this stage you can take out the candy.


text: Former Illinois and New Mexico State coach Lou Henson has died at age 88.The Illinois athletic department announced Henson's death on Wednesday, citing the Henson family saying he died Saturday at his home in Champaign, Ill."Our Orange and Blue hearts are heavy," Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman said in a statement. "We have lost an Illini icon. We have lost a role model, a friend, and a leader. We have lost our coach. Coach Henson may be gone, but the memories he provided us, and the legacy he created, will last forever. He was responsible for almost 800 wins in the record book and countless Fighting Illini moments frozen in time, but Coach Henson's true measure will be felt in the lives he touched — the lives of his former players, people on this campus, and friends in our broader community."We are all better for whatever time we were privileged to spend with Coach Lou, whether it was five minutes or 50 years."Henson is the all-time leader in victories at both Illinois (423) and New Mexico State (289) and led both schools to the Final Four — the Fighting Illini in 1989 and the Aggies in 1970.Henson, who was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015, had a 779-412 overall record, according to the NCAA. His coaching stops included a four-season stint at Hardin-Simmons (1962-66), two stops at New Mexico State — from 1966 to 1975 and 1997 to 2005 — and at Illinois from 1975 to 1996.His official victory total doesn't include 18 wins at New Mexico State for the 1997-98 season after he filled in when coach Neil McCarthy was reassigned in the wake of NCAA allegations.


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Swimmer Puppy Syndrome is a developmental deformity of newborn dogs and cats, where the limbs are splayed laterally resulting in an inability to stand or walk. PetEducation.com explains that the term 'swimmer' in Swimmer's Syndrome is used to describe a puppy that paddles his legs much like a turtle would, but is unable to stand. "A puppy should be standing and walking by three weeks of age. As a result of weak muscles in the rear limbs, swimmers are generally unable to stand at the normal age." Casper was an unlucky Siberian Husky puppy born with not only this syndrome, but had a weak heart with a faint pulse.
Watch the video below to see what a beautiful dog Casper grew up to be, all because of a good samaritan who stepped in to save his life. Share this wonderful story with friends and family to spread the important message that every life matters.


text:
Blades of Illusion, the second book in the Crown Service series is now out. You can pick it up at exclusively on Amazon.
When I started this series, I wanted to explore the largest civil war in the history of the Algardis empire. But with this second book, the backstory has become so much more complex. It's not just about the battles and the fighting. It's about the reason why the war began, the shadowy figures behind it's inception, and what one lone young woman can do to change it. Here is the second novel in Sara Fairchild's story and I hope you enjoy it as much as you did the first books!
To jog your memory, here are what some readers said about Blades Of Magic: Crown Service #1 –
I don't really think that it is like any author, I've never read anything like your books! But if I had to pick one then probably Brandon Sanderson based on the similarities with unique and imaginative magic systems, and strong female characters.
Here are the first two chapters and the blurb for a brand-new series set in the Algardis Universe. Time to have a fun weekend once more getting lost in Sara Fairchild's world!
Chapter 1
Sara Fairchild had no idea where she was. Neither did her captain nor her fellow mercenaries. Oh, they had a general idea. A vague notion of the direction in which they needed to head to get to the battlefield. But frankly, it was a battlefield that she wasn't sure she'd ever see. With the time passing quickly, she had lost all faith in the abilities of the commanding team to lead them to their rendezvous point. She had lost all respect for them after finding out in the worst way possible that the captain she had trusted—that they had all looked up to—had decided to take evasive actions that left the bulk of his unit stranded under a deadly hail of battlefire and poisoned arrows. Arrows that dissolved your flesh if they didn't kill you outright from the impact. The man who was supposed to have been the leader that she could look to, but not just her; hundreds of other mercenaries had looked to him. Instead, they had died for a man who sacrificed them for the greater good. His greater good.
Captain Barthis Simon had led his elite third division away from the whole of the Corcoran mercenary marching unit in case of an attack by the Kade mages in the dead of night. The betrayal stuck in Sara's gut like a massive knot that wouldn't unravel. His actions went against everything she had learned. Every core value of honor and service her father had instilled in her. Simon was supposed to have been responsible for every man, woman, and child who served in all seven divisions of the Corcoran guard. From the littlest of the runners, orphans that she had mockingly taken to calling 'Cams', to the dozens of archers, smiths, and fighters under his charge.
With a little smile, Sara remembered the youngest of the Cams', as in Come here 'ams, that she had run into. He couldn't have been more than twelve, with knobby elbows and knees and spindly black hair, the kind that a mother would set straight with a dash of water and a quick comb through until it fell flat against his skull in damp submission. That is, at least, until he managed to find a way to scruff it up again minutes later.
Sara hadn't labelled him or any of the other younglins' Cams' because they shared the exact same name as any of the other orphans. No, she called him and his fellows Cams' because all the young charges of the guild shared rhyming names like Rams and Vams courtesy of their mercenary caretaker, an archivist with a biting wit whose name she had yet to learn. Hell, she wasn't even sure if the old caretaker was still alive. He hadn't served in just one division, which would make the question of his death or life so much easier. He was one man who crossed all regimental and divisional boundaries as an administrator and overseer. But Sara knew he was more than some detached flunky. Instead of acting solely in the capacities of his office, she had seen him take charge of all of the orphans, include those younglings that were the least of the guild. And yet, in her heart, Sara felt the loss of the orphans more than any of the warriors slain on the battlefield. It was worse in a way she just couldn't grasp fully but it felt like a tight vice around her heart.
She smiled grimly. It was hard to put into words, like many of things she had lately experienced. The violation of her mother's corpse at the hands of a necromancer was a similar instance. The memory filled her with indescribable rage and unabashed sorrow.
Her lips twisted as if she had sucked on a bitter lemon. "It's because of who they were," she whispered to herself. "My mother was an innocent. Did no harm to anybody. The orphans were the same."
Sara may not have been able to put her feelings into perfect words but she felt the loss in her gut like a punch to the stomach. She knew that sickening feeling was because their young lives had been snuffed out before they'd ever had a chance to truly know what it meant to be alive. She knew it wasn't right. Everyone deserved a chance to live and experience life as it came. In a way, the adults of the guild knew what they had signed up for. For glory. And for death. They may not have expected death in such a manner. So gruesome. So painful. But they knew death was coming for them, in some manner, at some time. But what child knew that the shade of death stood on their doorstep? What child understood that each sunrise might be their last?
What child doesn't think they're immortal and will live forever in the rays of the sun and the light of the moon's caress? Sara thought to herself. It was one of the rare instances where she felt reflective about the loss of life. Any life. But then again if she hadn't been, Sara knew she'd fear she'd loss her humanity entirely.
A female mercenary hobbled past Sara. The woman didn't say anything as she used a stick to navigate through the swamp waters surrounding her bad leg. Sara could tell at a glance that leg's ailment was natural rather than a result of any recent attack. Finally Sara decided to stare openly at what she had found. It wasn't the arthritic gait of the woman that had caught her eye, but the swirls and scar ridges that marked the same leg. It so happened that the woman was from a tribe of people that tattooed their heritages on their limbs and kept those limbs on display no matter what. Her tough and leathered skin was bare to the elements, and she could see twisted flesh ran up the length of her leg from foot to knee, which made Sara wonder what she was doing in the mercenary's guild.
One person's deformity was another person's downfall when you stood sword-to-sword and depended on the prowess of your shield mate to guard your side.
Taking a slow breath in Sara decided to see for herself why the woman was a member of the Corcoran guard. If she couldn't stand in a shield line, perhaps her gifts lay not in the mundane nature of physical prowess but in the might of a magic gift.
Closing her eyes and opening herself to a gift that she had firmly shut down while marching through the swamp, Sara reached down in her dormant well of power and scoop out a line of magic so thin it wasn't enough to do much more than open her vision to the magic that inhabited the creatures, people, and nature around her.
Opening her momentarily shut eyes Sara looked forward. Expecting to be mistaken and perhaps find that the woman was a bookkeeper or a washer for the mercenaries she accompanied. But the blaze of the deformed woman's magic made that wonder a moot point from one moment to the next. The old woman might have had a bad leg, but she was powerful. Her magic blazed like the sun as it swirled around her like a cloud of power so thick that Sara felt like she was in the present of a second sun in the mist of this gloomy swamp. If her magic had been visible to the naked eye, Sara was very sure the woman wouldn't have been walking for very long. People would pay a lot for the influence that kind of magic could buy.
But powers and gifts are two very different things, Sara knew very well. She couldn't guess what the woman could do yet but she was quite sure it had nothing to do with flying. No one who could sprout wings or a wind tunnel would be stuck in this miasma by their own choice for very long. Sara least of all.
Sara dropped her aura vision with a shrug. It had its uses but what it didn't show her was what exactly the woman's gift was. To tap into that kind of knowledge she'd need more focus and more magic than she was willing to give right now. It didn't matter. The woman paused to look Sara in the eye with a hardened gaze of her own. Then slowly and deliberately turned to spit a vile ball of phlegm into the swamp. If the woman had spit the substance in Sara's direction, she would have punched her first and asked questions later. There was such a thing as disrespect and such a thing as disgusting; the phlegm fell under both categories.
"Is there something you have to say?" asked Sara.
"Your thoughts are very loud child for such a silent person," the woman responded.
Sara flinched in astonishment. Well, that was unexpected.
If there was anything she hated more than a surprise was finding out that that surprise involved a mage with mind-reading powers.
"You read my mind," Sara said accusingly.
The woman smirked. "I read a lot of minds. It helps to keep me a step ahead of my opponents. Bad leg and all."
"Of course," Sara murmured. She was still discontent but there wasn't a fat lot she could do about it.
"Not a thing," cackled the woman.
"Do you mind?" Sara asked crossly. She preferred that someone didn't invade her thoughts at every turn.
The woman's face morphed back into a serious state.
"Before you spoke aloud," the woman said in a dark tone, "you voiced a thought. I remember what you said, girl. 'What child doesn't think they're immortal and will live forever in the rays of the sun and the light of the moon's caress?'"
Sara grimaced, but nodded. "So?"
"The answer is none," the woman said with a sad note in her voice and hobbled further onwards.
Sara raised her eyebrows. She understood now that the action the woman took had been a sign of commiseration rather than a blatant challenge. Still, it did nothing to ease the loss.
Then the woman turned back toward her with a contemplative look on her face. Sara stood and watched her bare her receding gum line with blackened teeth and take a swig of whatever was in her hip flask. The woman held it out in offering, but Sara declined. She needed her wits about her, she doubted the flask contained water. The woman was savoring the drink a bit too much for that. But Sara didn't blame her. It was probably the last time they'd see a flask of liquor until they got to the Algardis camp. If they got to the camp.
The woman licked her lips with a satisfied grunt and said, "None of those brats knew what they signed up for. But I'd argue that none of the rest of us did either."
The wizened mage gestured around the putrid swamp without further explanation.
Sara nodded. "It could be said none of us knew of the sordid conditions we would march under. That we didn't know that at any moment or any day we could come across a foe we couldn't beat. That we could die."
The woman snorted, "Everyone knows they're going to die. Even snot-nosed brats barely out of their mother's swaddling."
Sara bit her tongue, but she very much doubted an eight-year-old with a belly laugh a mile long, a Cams' she remembered fondly, was thinking about how and when he would die, and she doubted even more that any of those lads and lassies had a mother who swaddled them in anything. It was well known that the orphans who joined the guilds didn't come from well-off houses in search for apprenticeships. They came from the streets, from mothers who had abandoned them at birth. These women feared the stigma of giving birth to a child with no man in sight or they came from families who had fallen on hard times. Sara had learned that people were willing to do a lot worse than sell their children to the guilds for a profit. It made sense to them after all—one less mouth to feed and even a bit of coin for handing their children over.
The old and wizened mage nodded toward the front.
"Not like that one."
"Not like what one?" Sara echoed.
"That one was no orphan," the woman replied.
She was looking ahead and Sara could tell, just from the way her face was set, that she would say no more. If Sara were a betting woman, she would have sworn on a day's wages that the woman's beady eyes were fixated on the scalp of a certain red-haired gentleman. Sara had questions on her mind, but the woman hobbled forward and out of sight before the words had a chance to escape her lips. That was the last Sara saw of her as she disappeared into the crowded ranks of mercenaries further up ahead.
As Sara let out a slow breath and her eyes remained trained on the red hair that she could see thanks to her own battle mage gifts she couldn't help but feel the fury rise once more within her. Sara didn't have the emotional strength or the desire to stomp through a sixth of a mile of mud to race up to the front and confront the captain on a suspicion. A suspicion of ineptitude, of moral ambiguity, or of general cowardice. She couldn't. Besides, the second suspicion wasn't exactly a capital crime and the first and last were something she couldn't prove. The man certainly hadn't risen through the ranks of the cut-throat mercenary's guild based on his good looks. For now she would wait and watch and let the pain, the anger and the fear simmer like a black cauldron over a banked fire. As long as she didn't allow her emotions to control her actions, Sara felt that the pain they awoke kept her mind sharp, acting more as a boon than a burden. It kept her awake. It kept her alert.
Chapter 2
Sara's fist slowly clenched by her side as she felt the pain in her heart manifest itself into an almost physical knot that grew tighter and tighter in her stomach. Sara was no fool. The captain had abandoned the lot in favor of saving his own skin, keeping his prized division of fighters away from the fray. Above all—continuing on with his mission to deliver the captured Kade mage known as Nissa Sardonien, the revered Sun mage, to the council at the battlefield.
He'd done it for a reason. But in her opinion, his reasoning was flawed. His logic was corrupt. He was without honor.
"Can't do anything about it now though," she muttered softly to herself, "The only option that remained would be to bring him up on court martial charges back in Sandrin."
As things stood that would just have to do. She didn't have to like the conclusion. It rankled her skin like a cat that had gotten wet and was trying to rid itself of the odd sensation on its fur. Sara felt pain, anger, and a smoldering desire for retribution, retribution that would come. Her resentment wasn't because of some all-consuming love of her fellow mercenaries. She hadn't really liked any of her campmates. In fact, she had flat-out disliked a few. Still, she felt some responsibility to fight for the memory of her fallen comrades, just as she fought for her father's ghost. Besides, none of them deserved to die like that. They had signed up for glory on the battlefield in the name of their empress, not to be sheep slaughtered as one captain's diversionary tactic.
Sara spit into the swamp in the disgust while she felt her lip curl up in anger. She couldn't help it. Disgust roiled through her from the bad taste in her mouth to the dark pit in her stomach that threatened to make her hurl. She shivered, though it had nothing to do her sweat-stained armor or the swamp water that seeped into her boots and everything to do with the man who led them. Sara would call him a coward before she called him a leader. But fortunately for him, the captain would never again have to hear her opinions of his actions. In fact, the man cared less for her opinion than he did for Ezekiel Crane's at the moment. Except for one brief exchange, the captain had made a point of studiously avoiding her while looking important at the front of the lines. At least, Sara liked to think he was avoiding her. The fact that he might not consider her significant enough of a threat to even entertain a conversation briefly crossed her mind. Briefly.
The one time he had approached the two of them, days past, it had been to deduce Ezekiel's opinion on their location. Sara hadn't thought then that Ezekiel knew where they were. She had been surer by the minute however after that exchange, Sara Fairchild was sure that the captain didn't know his ass from his hands, in addition to being a coward. Ezekiel, however, hadn't been able to shed any light on where they had ended up. He had quietly and respectfully explained that he had not one clue where they were in the swamp nor the distance to the end. As a 'rare items acquirer for the wealthy', Ezekiel's explorations had taken him to various parts of the empire, but never had he wandered into these lands.
Neither Sara nor Captain Simon had bothered asking why he'd overlooked this part of the empire. They had only to look around at the miasma of heat and wet to see why. This place was like living in someone's armpit. In addition, Sara hadn't seen any sign of intelligent life living in the swamp, neither human nor even kith, and the stench of the place was worse than her underclothes after a fortnight on the march. She had to wonder what in the seven hells a swamp was doing smack-dab in the middle of what was supposed to be the most bountiful farmland in the empire.
However it came to be here, Sara thought with a weary wipe of her brow, The temperatures are going to make me weep for a mug of cold water from home.
Sara remembered asking a builder about how the swamp had come to be here. He was a mercenary assigned the sole tasks of maintaining the long-abandoned war machines and the roads their mercenary core traveled on and so if anyone would have known the answer, he would have. His face had been a curtain of sweat as he quietly said, "Magic. Magic is all it is. This civil war is less than a decade old and the mages are changing the very fabric of the landscape. Mark my words, Algardis will never be the same. Never look the same after this is done."
Sara had wondered what he had meant then. But when she had questioned further, he had just wandered off muttering about mold on the spokes of his carriage wheels and rust lining his cannon casings. Sara would be the first to admit she didn't know much about taking care of machinery, but she knew weapons and a dank swamp didn't belong anywhere near the empire's most fertile fields.
"These lands are supposed to be filled with fields of golden wheat and brown barley for as far as the eye can see," she muttered distastefully as she eyed a frog-like creature that gazed right back at her with two of its three eyes; the last one tracked on an insect she couldn't see.
As Ezekiel had nodded in understanding and given the captain his somewhat-sincere apologies that he couldn't help, after all, he was stuck here— too—and if the captain was lost, so were they all, he kept a tight grip on Sara's left wrist. Because she wasn't thinking of pleasantries or even giving the man who had brought them here a sympathetic look. No, Sara knew and Ezekiel knew, that she was very likely to bring up her clenched fist in a swift left hook, being ambidextrous had its benefits after all, and clock the captain straight into his nose. She hoped her fist broke the captain's fine, patrician nose too. It would serve him right.
Sara couldn't abide incompetents any more than she could evil-doers. This captain, in her mind's eye, was a lot of one and a slight bit of the other. A person had to have a little bit of evil in them to blithely make the decision to leave his mercenaries in the path of an assault like sitting ducks while he took cover. Sara's left wrist had ached, not from Ezekiel's grip, but from the tremor that ran through her muscles as she fought the urge to jerk free and assault her captain. It would do them no good here. She had known that. She hadn't liked it, but she had known.
Under the captain's assessing gaze, she had watched as he had figured out that she would deck him if he had stayed a minute more. To his credit, Captain Barthis Simon had turned away quietly, not questioning the defiant rage in her orange eyes that undoubtedly made them glow like the coals of a banked fire. He didn't turn away because he was afraid; he, too, was one of the fabled battle mages. He had turned away because he was smart, and Sara Fairchild was a fight he didn't need at the moment.
As she had watched him walk away with rage and disgust in her heart, Sara remembered huffing and irritably yanking her left wrist out of Ezekiel's bruising hold. She had stared at the retreating captain's back and said to Ezekiel beside her, "Don't ever get in my way again."
"Fine, I'll just let you hang in the gallows for assaulting an officer," he had said dryly.
Sara had then turned to him with a solemn look on her face and a bit of the anger still in her eyes.
Ezekiel had stilled at the look. "I was only trying to help."
"When I need your help, I'll ask for it."
A tic had appeared in Ezekiel's eye. "You see, Sara, that's something friends do."
She folded her arms crossly as she watched him. "What?"
"They help without being asked."
Before she could get another word in, Ezekiel Crane had proceeded to do what he did best in a huff—ignore her. He had strode forward silently. She had followed moments later, and they had been silent marchers for the better part of an hour before Ezekiel broke as he spotted a crested-something-or-other bird that he had to get Sara's attention for.
"Look at that, Sara! That's a black-crested Willow Pike C—," Ezekiel had exclaimed.
Sara hadn't paid his words the least bit of mind. But she had obediently trained her eyes on the bird Ezekiel's trembling finger pointed at while putting a hand on his raised arm and forcing him to lower it. Caution had forced her to put a wary hand on a knife even as her eyes sought out his prey. She wouldn't know if the bird was one of those caged balls of feathers so popular with nobles on Market Street or a terrifying, razor-beaked predator until she had set her eyes on it. Relief that it was the former and not the latter put a small half-smile on her face. You could never actually tell if whatever Ezekiel was pointing at like an attraction in the central square was dangerous or simply interesting. He seemed to find both qualities mesmerizing. Both because the bird was the former and he was talking to her again. Sara tensely wondered for a minute if she could have trusted Ezekiel to shoot it out of the sky; she hadn't exactly had a chance to test his mettle with the old bow-and-arrow.
She had reluctantly decided to just be grateful the issue hadn't come up.
"You're sure it's not a threat?" she had teased.
"Of course it's not a threat," had said Ezekiel, "But I don't know what it's doing here. They're woodland birds, not swamp creatures."
She had watched the black and white winged creature flit from branch-to-branch before it took flight, away from the direction they were heading. Its movement left her both with a sense of unease and cautious satisfaction. Satisfaction because she had been right. Unease because being right meant they were stuck up the creek without a paddle, so to speak. In other words, they were screwed.
"It's going away from us," Sara said.
"I know," grumbled Ezekiel as he hastily put away the sketchbook he had brought out from a pocket of his non-regulation gear.
"That's bad," Sara said.
"I know," Ezekiel repeated with slumped shoulders while staring ahead. Then he side-eyed Sara in surprise. "Wait. Why do you think it was bad?"
It was obvious he thought it was the end of the world because he had just missed his opportunity to illustrate the rare bird.
"Because," Sara said as she looked forward into the endless swamp that lay before them, "You never want to go somewhere a damned bird won't, and…"
"And?" Ezekiel prodded after she was silent for a moment.
"And," said Sara grimly, "We're three miles into this swamp trek, by my estimations, and we've yet to see anything as close to normal as that bird, rare though it is, as we walked by. That tells me two things: one, the builder was right—this swamp is mage-made."
"And the other?" Ezekiel asked quietly.
Sara looked over at him, "That we've barely reached the beginning. The bird turned around because it could. It would rather turn back to fly to normal land, presumably, than go further into this swamp."
"Oh," said Ezekiel with a thoughtful look. "How much longer do you think the swamp lasts?"
"I don't know," Sara remembered answering, "And that's what worries me."
Ezekiel nodded to the rapidly receding form of their red-haired captain visible in the distance and said, "You're not the only one."


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Did You Know? – Going to Mars
by Michael Rato
It's time again for Did You Know? On DYK days here at Escheatable, we try provide you with interesting information regarding the unclaimed property laws to amaze your friends and frighten your enemies.
This trip to Mars is brought to you by unclaimed dividends.
According to this article in the San Francisco Chronicle, the State of California is holding $6.1 billion in unclaimed property (bringing in some $633 million in the past year). To put that number is perspective, $6.1 billion is:
- about the same as the gross domestic product of Nicaragua;
- the annual state budget of South Carolina; or
- the projected cost of NASA's Mars booster program.


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text:
Under the Dome reports that the NC Center for Public Policy Research (NCCPRR) has recently won two awards from a coalition of like minded (leftist) think tanks called the Governmental Research Association (GRA) for a report it released recently criticizing charter schools.
Well, guess what? The head of the NCCPRR, Ran Coble, is also the President of the GRA.
So congratulations for giving yourself an award!
And to give yourself an award for a questionable study that ignored many of the unique qualities of charter schools is pretty ballsy as well. (For more on problems with the report, see this op-ed by Lindalyn Kakadelis that ran in the Charlotte Observer. See also this post by Max Borders).


text:
A bit confused here.Anybody got any idea what size facing a berg Larsen size 4 Alto mouthpiece would have? Its the mouthpiece which came with the trevor james 'Horn' when it was bought new in the late 90's
As far as I know all Berg Larsen non-metal pieces were and are made of good quality hard rubber (originally black, but now also in a grained finish). I wonder whether they made a student line at one point ?It is plasticy. Its very much like the rico graftonite that I have.


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The incident happened at 4am yesterday (August 4) at the Co-operative Food store on London Road, Macclesfield.
It is believed that a vehicle was used to try and gain access to the rear of the shop via the customer car park.
The shop was temporarily closed while police investigated and a large part of the rear of the building was boarded up.
A spokesperson for Co-op said: "There was an incident in the early hours of this morning (Tuesday, 4 August) at around 4am. A vehicle has damaged the rear of The Co-operative's London Road, Macclesfield store. The store has re-opened, and we would like to apologise to our customers for any inconvenience while it was temporarily closed to allow the Police to investigate."
Anyone who witnesses the incident, or who may have seen the vehicle, is asked to call Cheshire Police on 101.
Alternatively, call the charity Crimestoppers line on 0800 555 111 where information can be left anonymously.


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Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Here are some quick responses to a few of the questions / concerns that have been posed:
"What constitutes the "Richmond area" -- it appears that Petersburg is included -- what about Fredericksburg?"
For this, we used membership in the Richmond Alliance of Professional Theatres as a guide. Members include Sycamore Rouge in Petersburg, Swift Creek Mill in Colonial Heights and Barksdale at Hanover Tavern in Hanover.
"Is there some sort of commitment from the critics association that a majority of members will see [a show that falls into the universe of consideration]?"
One of the most significant challenges we found as we approached the process of starting these awards was the fact that none of us had seen all of the productions that could be considered for recognition. However, as we have researched other critics associations, we have found that this is a common problem (and, apparently, a problem for major awards shows like the Oscars, Tonys, Emmys, etc.) and we are looking to them for guidance on how to deal with it. Some form of scoring system that takes into account the number of shows an individual critic has seen is often employed. Some associations spell out their elaborate systems, some state the processes more vaguely, for instance, that winners are arrived at "by consensus."
Obviously, as this is our first year, we will have to figure out what works best for us. It is unlikely that a majority of critics (all of us who are freelance writers) will ever see all or even most of the shows that open in the Richmond-area, mostly because of the vigor of the local scene. This year's "universe of consideration" included 14 musicals, 40 plays and 8 productions we have categorized as interactive. That's at least 62 productions to see in a year – seeing all of them would be a Herculean effort even for a full-time critic. However, I know that the establishment of these awards has raised my commitment to see more shows and, while I can't speak for any other critic, I believe it has had the same effect on my compatriots.
"I beg of all of you not to fall into the trap of last seen, first awarded."
I understand this concern but am happy to see that one of the most nominated productions this year is "Urinetown," which opened almost a year ago. Going forward, I believe all of us critics will be watching shows with an eye toward which performances and productions are worthy of consideration at the end of the theater year.
"What about a special award for Outstanding Achievement by a Youth Actor?"
This is a good idea. We'll keep it in mind for next year.
"With any awards some will feel there are omissions…" "I didn't see any Chamberlayne nominations."
One of the most tortuous aspects of coming up with nominations for these awards was knocking productions or performances off the list. In some of the categories, as many as nine different nominees were offered for consideration. Productions and performances from all companies were considered but the final nominees reflect our determination of the best of the best. As with any situation of this kind – whether it be in sports or academics or the arts – recognizing some nominees as exceptional (in our collective opinion) is not meant to demean any other performance or production as unworthy or substandard.
More info to come!
4 comments:
Thanks for the further clarifications. And I appreciate that nobody could see ALL the shows up for consideration each year. But in order to say that you are awarding the "best of the best" rather than the "best of what we saw" -- I would think that even a "consensus" would require that some substantial percentage of the organization had actually seen each of the shows. Perhaps for the coming year, there could be communication on the committee to ensure that each show has an adequate number of the committee attending.
Also, wondered if your "universe" language could use some tweaking. What constitutes a "published season" -- does posting on the internet an addition to a season count? How about a last minute switch because the rights to the scheduled show were pulled? What about a first rate production from an upstart company without a regular season? It would seem that none of these could be considered -- but maybe they should be?
And "locally produced, professional theater" would seem to include, for example, Swift Creek's children's series, Murder Mystery shows, ComedySportz shows, the Patrick Henry reenactment, etc. It seems clear at least certain of these weren't considered, because they were in a separate "other" category.
Just food for thought, I guess.
Geez. Can you tell I'm a lawyer? Sheesh.
Amy Berlin
Thanks for taking on the questions and answering forthrightly. As this is a voluntary endeavor, you could have just said "that's the way it is." That you didn't says a lot.
I thought Comedy Sports performers didn't get paid.
- Thespis' Little Helper said...
These are great!
I don't know if there are enough, but maybe it at least merits consideration to have a Special Events category (Elaine Stritch: At Liberty, Bea Arthur Between Friends, Dame Edna, etc. etc. or other...).


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Don Cheadle tells NZ to 'turn down the beautiful'
Oscar nominated and golf fanatic Don Cheadle had some words of advice as he landed in New Zealand this week.
Academy Award nominated Don Cheadle arrived in Queenstown for this week's New Zealand PGA Pro-Am Championship. Cheadle is one of the big name celebrities taking part in the event in Queenstown and he offered some advice for the country (via Twitter) that cracked me up.
Damn, New Zealand, turn down the beautiful…
— Don Cheadle (@IamDonCheadle) March 26, 2012
This should be New Zealand's new tourism campaign slogon. Just wait 'till he sees Jack's Point and The Hills Golf Club.
(movie buff hat on)
I do not hesitate to add that Don Cheadle is one of the world's best (and also under-appreciated) actors. Yes, the world took notice for performance in Hotel Rwanda, but his roles in Traffic and Crash were also brilliant. And if you missed him in last year's under-appreciated The Guard, make sure you catch it.
(movie buff hat off)
The David Feherty interview with Don Cheadle is a great watch and gives you an idea of not only Cheadle's background but where he got his love for the game.
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With the announcement this weekend that Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton and Prince William are expecting a second child, the cash is already starting to roll into the royal baby (and royal baby betting) industry. When Prince George of Cambridge was born in July of 2013, it was predicted that he would give a $400 million boost in sales of food, drink, souvenirs and media to the nearly $2.5 trillion British economy. His new sibling could likewise give another kick to U.K. businesses.
Experts caution that there is something of a "been there, done that" effect with this new birth, however.


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Confucius Hall Secondary School, Caritas Charles Vath College, St Paul's Co-educational College and Buddhist Fat Ho Memorial College only have enough cash to pay their expenses for less than two months
Confucius Hall Secondary School, Caritas Charles Vath College, St Paul's Co-educational College and Buddhist Fat Ho Memorial College only have enough cash to pay their expenses for less than two months
Hong Kong education officials have been urged to take enforcement action against schools being "risky" with their finances after a study found the reserves of four were at "alarming" levels.
The city's 72 direct subsidy scheme (DSS) schools, which receive some financial help from the government but also charge fees, are required to have at least two months' worth of operating expenses in the bank. But a study of 2016-17 financial reports has found the reserves of four schools at the end of the academic year would have kept them operating for less than two months.
Confucius Hall Secondary School, Caritas Charles Vath College, St Paul's Co-educational College and Buddhist Fat Ho Memorial College – all secondary schools – were found with cash only able to fund expenditure ranging from 0.7 to 1.8 months.
As Ying Wa College celebrates 200th anniversary, here's a look at its history
Under Education Bureau guidelines, schools are supposed to meet the two-month reserves requirement after five years in the DSS.
Hong Kong's public auditor in 2010 recommended the government take measures to ensure schools complied with the requirement after an examination of accounts found six had failed to do so. But the problem has persisted. DSS schools occupy a middle ground in Hong Kong between public schools fully funded by the government and private schools on no financial support. They therefore have a degree of flexibility in resource deployment, admissions and their curriculum.
An Education Bureau spokeswoman said counsel and support would be provided to the four schools to help improve their financial arrangements and ensure their compliance with the rules.
St Paul's Co-educational College's Treble Choir takes grand prize at Busan Choral Festival and Competition 2018
However, lawmaker Michael Tien Puk-sun, a supervisor at a DSS school, said the bureau ought to take firmer action against operators not performing properly. Officials could start by issuing warning letters to the schools, he said.
Dr Samuel Cheng Kin-tak, vice-chairman of the Direct Subsidy Scheme Schools Council, said it was alarming that some institutions had been found with reserves adequate for less than two months. At least three months' worth was needed to be considered financially healthy, he said.
"Schools need to hand out salaries every month. If the reserves are for less than two months, the school might have cash flow problems. Schools cannot be too risky."
2018 Jupas results show more Hong Kong students offered places in one of their top 3 programme choices than last year
Cheng is the principal of United Christian College (Kowloon East), a DSS school. At Confucius Hall Secondary School, which joined the DSS in 2011, the surplus was equivalent to only 0.82 months of annual expenditure at the end of the 2016-17 academic year.
Principal Dr Yeung Wing-hon said a lot had been spent on helping pupils from poorer families with their fees and on organising overseas learning trips to countries including Denmark, Germany and the United States.
"These trips are entirely free for pupils from families on Comprehensive Social Security Assistance," Yeung said, referring to a Hong Kong welfare scheme.
80 per cent of 2017 DSE candidates get one of their top three Jupas choices
The finances would improve as more pupils enrolled in the school, which was also studying ways to draw more donations, he added.
Wong Wai, principal of Caritas Charles Vath College, also said missing the mark on the surplus could be down to the cost of helping pupils from lower-income families. The school only had enough cash in the tank to fund 1.5 months of spending. Both principals said it was unlikely they would increase fees to fill the gap.
St Paul's Co-educational College and Buddhist Fat Ho Memorial College had surpluses of 1.8 months and 0.7 months, respectively. The two schools did not reply to queries.
St Paul's charges secondary pupils between HK$61,000 and HK$91,500 a year, depending on the curriculum studied. Fees for the other three schools range from HK$4,030 to HK$8,400 a year.


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NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Engaged Capital ("Engaged"), an investment firm specializing in small and mid-cap North American equities and stockholder of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. ("Abercrombie", "ANF" or the "Company") (ANF: NYSE), announced today that it has nominated:
- Alexander P. Brick, former Chief Executive Officer of Specialty Retail Group
- Robert D. Huth, former Chief Executive Officer of David's Bridal
- Michael W. Kramer, former Chief Operating Officer of J.C. Penney
- Diane L. Neal, former Chief Executive Officer of Bath & Body Works
- Glenn W. Welling, CIO & Managing Member of Engaged Capital
for election to the board of directors (the "Board) of Abercrombie at the upcoming 2014 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. These nominees collectively bring decades of retail and brand experience, a proven ability to execute, financial acumen, and true independence from Abercrombie, the Board, and management team.
Engaged Capital believes that despite recent incremental governance improvements, enacted only after substantial pressure from stockholders, the Board still lacks a majority of qualified, independent and accountable voices.
"We need a Board of independent leaders who can set a new direction for Abercrombie," said Glenn W. Welling, CIO & Managing Member of Engaged Capital. "For far too long, stockholders have suffered under the failed leadership of a Board that has lacked the independence necessary to properly act as our fiduciaries."
Abercrombie's incumbent directors have a well-established track record of failing investors by approving wasteful capital spending, enriching management at the expense of stockholders, and showing a complete disregard for succession planning. The Board's blatant disregard for stockholders culminated most recently in the premature extension of Mr. Jeffries' lucrative employment contract only days after receiving Engaged's letter to the Board on December 3, 2013 (available at http://www.engagedcapital.com/news.html) and before speaking with any of Abercrombie's largest stockholders.
While the recent addition of three new directors and the appointment of an independent Chairman represent positive steps, Engaged notes that the Board still retains all nine incumbent directors, two of whom are not independent by the Company's own admission. "We believe the addition of our highly qualified candidates alongside the Company's newly appointed directors can only increase the objectivity and independence of the Board," said Mr. Welling.
"In the near future, Abercrombie's directors must make several major decisions, including a plan for CEO succession, the hiring of brand presidents, and the selection of a new chief financial officer. Given the importance of these tasks, we cannot let responsibility for these critical decisions remain in the hands of nine incumbent directors who have failed the Company and its stockholders so spectacularly for years," continued Mr. Welling.
Additionally, Engaged notes that this public nomination follows the failure of weeks of private outreach to the Board to arrive at a negotiated settlement. Engaged believes this is yet another example of the incumbent directors' unwillingness to put the interests of the Company and stockholders ahead of their own pecuniary interests.
"We have been, and continue to be, open to engaging in discussions with the Board to determine if we can reach a mutually agreeable resolution without the need for a costly and disruptive election contest. Unfortunately, rather than work constructively with us to reconstitute the Board with our highly-qualified nominees, the Board has instead demonstrated its readiness to spend stockholder capital on self-preservation and trying to defend its indefensible incumbent directors – directors whom lack the skills, experience, and independence necessary to drive the changes so desperately needed at Abercrombie. This irrational behavior reveals that, despite recent additions, the Board's decisions continue to reflect the will of the nine incumbent directors," said Mr. Welling.
If elected, Engaged Capital's nominees are committed to ensuring that the reconstituted Board finally acts in the best interest of its stockholders. Mr. Welling commented, "We would look forward to working with the Company's three newly appointed directors to bring an era of accountability to Abercrombie. I am confident that the stewardship of new, independent directors will substantially improve the Board and help unlock the full value of Abercrombie's iconic brands."
Alexander P. Brick, age 55, is a senior advisor to the Lewis Trust Group, owner of River Island, a retail chain with approximately 300 stores across the UK, Ireland, Asia, the Middle East and Europe known for its stylish and affordable fashion. Prior to joining the Lewis Trust Group in June 2012, Mr. Brick was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Gordon Brothers Europe, which is the trading name of Gordon Brothers International, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Gordon Brothers Group LLC ("Gordon Brothers Group"), a global advisory, restructuring and investment firm specializing in the retail, consumer products, industrial and real estate sectors, from March 2009 to May 2012, where he was responsible for leading the expansion of Gordon Brothers Group throughout Europe. From 1983 until 2005, Mr. Brick served as Chief Executive Officer of Specialty Retail Group, one of the UK's well known specialist menswear retailers, which includes a number of well-known High Street brand names including "Suits You", "Racing Green", "Young's Hire" and "Chester Barrie". Mr. Brick also previously served on the board of the British Council of Shopping Centers (BCSC) for seven years. He began his career as a chartered accountant. In addition, Mr. Brick is active in numerous community organizations and is currently Chairman of the Everyman Media Group. He received his BA in Economics and Accounting from The University of London. Mr. Brick's extensive experience serving in senior executive positions and managerial roles, particularly in the apparel retail industry in Europe, coupled with his financial expertise well qualifies him for service on the Board.
Robert D. Huth, age 68, served as President and Chief Executive Officer of David's Bridal, a leading national specialty retailer of bridal apparel and accessories, from 1999 until March 2013. David's Bridal was sold to Clayton, Dubilier and Rice, LLC, a private equity firm, in October 2012. Previously, Mr. Huth served as the President and Chief Operating Officer of David's Bridal from 1995 to 1999 and also served as a member of its Board of Directors from 1995 to March 2013. Mr. Huth is credited with transitioning David's Bridal from an entrepreneurially managed, marginally profitable family business into a national specialty retail chain. Prior to David's Bridal, Mr. Huth served as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer, a member of the Board of Directors, and a member of the Executive and Operating Committees of Melville Corporation (n/k/a CVS Caremark Corporation), a NYSE listed specialty retailer in the health and beauty aid, apparel, footwear, toys and household furnishings segments, including CVS, Marshall's, Linens 'n Things and Footstar, from 1987 to 1995. From 1981 to 1987, Mr. Huth was a Partner at the accounting firm KPMG Peat Marwick where he led audit engagements serving as the Audit Partner for clients in the retail, wholesale and real estate leasing practices. Mr. Huth has served as a member of the Board of Directors of Special Occasion Limited since 2012 and previously served as a member of the Boards of Directors of Skinstore.com, one of the leading online beauty retailers worldwide, from 2006 to 2008, and Stage Stores, Inc. (NYSE:SSI), a department store company specializing in retailing brand name clothing, accessories, cosmetics and footwear, from 1997 to 2000. Mr. Huth earned his B.A. in Accounting from Fairleigh Dickinson University and earned his M.B.A. in Accounting & Finance from Pace University. Mr. Huth's expertise as an executive in the retail industry, a member of numerous public company boards, along with his extensive financial background including his time as an Audit partner at a leading accounting firm, will enable him to provide effective oversight of the Company as a director.
Michael W. Kramer, age 49, is currently the Co-owner and Operator of SPIN! Neapolitan Pizza ("SPIN!"), a fast casual Neapolitan style restaurant with company and franchise owned stores operating in the states of California, Missouri, and Kansas. Mr. Kramer became co-owner of SPIN! in August of 2013. Previously, Mr. Kramer served as the Chief Operating Officer of J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP), one of the nation's largest apparel and home furnishing retailers, from December 2011 until April 2013, where he was responsible for Store Operations, Finance, Purchasing, Information Technology, and Planning & Allocation. During that time, Mr. Kramer also served on the Board of Directors of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. (NYSE:MSO), an integrated media and merchandising company. From 2008 until November 2011, Mr. Kramer served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Kellwood Company, a designer, manufacturer and marketer of premier fashion brands across a broad range of consumer lifestyles including Rebecca Taylor, David Meister, Sag Harbor, Briggs NY, Jolt, My Michelle, and XOXO. Prior to that, Mr. Kramer served as Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer of the Company from 2005 until 2008, and as Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer of Apple Retail for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:APPL), an American multinational corporation headquartered in Cupertino, California that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software and personal computers, from 2001 to 2005. Prior to that, Mr. Kramer was the Vice-President, Assistant Corporate Controller of Gateway, Inc., a global hardware and software wholesaler and retailer, from 2000 to 2001, and Controller and Acting Chief Financial Officer, Lane Bryant Division of the Limited Inc., a major fashion retailer based in Columbus, Ohio, from 1998 to 2000. Previously, Mr. Kramer held key financial leadership roles with Einstein Noah Bagel Corporation as Chief Financial Officer and Pizza Hut, Inc., a subsidiary of PepsiCo, Inc., as Director, Financial Services. He also previously served as a Supervising Senior at KPMG Peat Marwick and on the Board of Directors of Giggle, a retail chain for babies and infants, from 2009 to 2012. Mr. Kramer is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the Missouri Society of Certified Public Accountants. He earned his Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting from Kansas State University. Mr. Kramer's more than two decades of senior management experience in the retail industry, his service on multiple public company boards and his track record of building highly innovative organizations focused on emerging consumer trends and markets will make him a valuable member of the Board.
Diane L. Neal, age 57, currently provides consulting services and serves on the Board of Directors of Fossil, Inc. (n/k/a Fossil Group, Inc.)(NASDAQ: FOSL), a global design, marketing and distribution company that specializes in consumer fashion accessories, a position she has held since February 2012, where she currently serves as a member of the Compensation Committee and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. Previously, Ms. Neal served as Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") of Bath & Body Works, a national retailer of personal care products, from June 2007 until her resignation in July 2011 to relocate to San Francisco for personal reasons. Ms. Neal joined Bath & Body Works in November 2006 as President and Chief Operating Officer and held those positions until her promotion to CEO in June 2007. Prior to joining Bath & Body Works, Ms. Neal served as President of the Outlet Division for Gap Inc. (NYSE:GPS), a leading global specialty retailer, where she was responsible for the outlet business for all three Gap Inc. brands – Old Navy, Gap and Banana Republic. Prior to joining Gap Inc., Ms. Neal spent 22 years with Target Corp. in multiple divisions, including Dayton's Department Stores (now Macy's), Mervyn's, Target Sourcing Services and Target Stores. During her career with Target Corp., Ms. Neal spent 16 years at Target Stores, where she held multiple positions and responsibilities, including merchandising, planning, distribution, and sourcing. She was promoted to President of Mervyn's in 2001 and served in that capacity until 2004, when she joined Gap Inc. Ms. Neal also currently serves on the Boards of Directors of two private companies, Giggle, a retail chain for babies and infants, and Soft Surroundings, a retailer of women's clothing. She earned her BS degree from Michigan State University and served as President of the alumni advisory board for the college of Communication Arts and Sciences, from 2010 through 2013. Ms. Neal's extensive leadership experience as the CEO of a large retail organization and her substantial experience in merchandising, retailing and operations across multiple leading brands as well as her public company board experience makes her a highly qualified director.
Glenn W. Welling, age 43, is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Engaged Capital, a California based investment firm and registered advisor with the SEC focused on investing in small and mid-cap North American equities. Prior to founding Engaged Capital in February 2012, Mr. Welling was Principal and Managing Director at Relational Investors LLC ("Relational"), a $6 billion activist equity fund and registered investment adviser with the SEC, from June 2008 to October 2011 and served as its consultant from October 2011 until April 2012. Mr. Welling managed Relational's consumer, healthcare and utility investments and was responsible for investment selection, strategic development and catalyzing change at Relational's portfolio companies. Prior to Relational and from February 2002 to May 2008 , Mr. Welling was a Managing Director at Credit Suisse Group AG ("Credit Suisse") (NYSE:CS), a leading global financial services company, where he was the Global Head of the Investment Banking Department's Advisory Businesses, which included The Buy-Side Insights (HOLT) Group, Financial Strategy Group and Ratings Advisory Group. Previously, Mr. Welling served as Partner and Managing Director of HOLT Value Associates L.P. ("HOLT"), a then leading provider of independent research and valuation services to asset managers, from October 1999 until January 2002 when HOLT was acquired by Credit Suisse. Prior to HOLT, he was the Managing Director of Valuad U.S., a financial software and training company, and senior manager at A.T. Kearney, one of the world's largest global management consulting firms. Mr. Welling also teaches executive education courses at The Wharton School of Business and is a frequent speaker at finance and investing conferences. He graduated from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where he currently serves as the Chairman of the school's tennis program and as a member of the Wharton School's Executive Education Board. Mr. Welling's senior executive experience as an investor, consultant, and investment banker at Credit Suisse advising senior executives and boards of directors in developing strategies that will increase the value of their companies along with his expertise in improving governance structures including developing executive compensation plans that align pay with performance, will enable him to provide effective oversight of the Company as a member of the Board.
About Engaged Capital: Engaged Capital, LLC, ("Engaged Capital") was established in 2012 by a group of professionals with significant experience in activist investing in North America and was seeded by Grosvenor Capital Management, L.P., one of the oldest and largest global alternative investment managers. Engaged Capital is a limited liability company owned by its principals and formed to create long-term shareholder value by bringing an owner's perspective to the managements and boards of under-valued public companies. Engaged Capital manages both a long-only and long/short North American equity fund. Engaged Capital's efforts and resources are dedicated to a single investment style, "Constructive Activism" with a focus on delivering superior, long-term, risk-adjusted returns for investors. Engaged Capital is based in Newport Beach, California.


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American Sign Language (ASL) 11
Curriculum Langage ASL 11e PDF Grade-Set: 11-12
- Download Curriculum▼
- Télécharger le programme d'études▼
Core Competencies
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Big Ideas
Grandes idées
Viewing and expressing with intent supports our acquisition of a new language.
Language and culture are interconnected and shape our perspective, identity, and voice
The communicative context determines how we express ourselves.
Exploring diverse forms of cultural expression
promotes greater understanding of our own cultural identity.
forms of cultural expressionrepresent the experience of the people from whose culture they are drawn; for example, celebrations, customs, folklore, language use, traditions, and creative works (e.g., books, paintings, pictures, sculpture, theatre, dance, poetry and prose, filmmaking, musical composition, architecture)
Developing proficiency in a new language provides unique opportunities for careers, travel, personal growth, and study abroad.
Learning Standards
Show All Elaborations
Curricular Competencies
Students are expected to be able to do the following:
Thinking and communicating
Recognize how choice of signs
affects meaning
choice of signsnuances among tenses, pronouns, placement and location of signs, similar signs with different meanings
Share and negotiate meaning derived from a wide variety of texts
and contexts
texts"Text" is a generic term referring to all forms of written, visual, and digital communication. Written and visual elements can also be combined (e.g., in dramatic presentations, graphic novels, films, web pages, advertisements).
contextsaudience, purpose, setting, formality/informality
and explore a variety of authentic representations of ASL
Locatediscovering various types of ASL materials
- using expressions of time and transitional signs to show logical progression
- using past, present, and future time frames
storiesStories, including handshape stories, are a narrative form of text that can be written or visual. Stories are derived from truth or fiction and may be used to seek and impart knowledge, entertain, share history, and strengthen a sense of identity.
Respond personally
to a variety of materials
personallye.g., providing personal interpretations or opinions
in meaningful conversations on a variety of topics
- with peers, teachers, and members of the wider community
- can include virtual/online conversations
Express themselves with growing fluency
Share information using the presentation format
best suited to their own and others' diverse abilities
presentation formate.g., digital, visual; aids such as charts, graphics, illustrations, photographs, videos, props, digital media
Personal and social awareness
Investigate regional variations in ASL
Identify and discuss perspectives
in texts
perspectivesA text can reflect the author's point of view which may include bias.
Engage in Deaf cultural experiences
Deaf cultural experiencese.g., blogs, vlogs, school visits (including virtual visits), performances, exchanges, festivals, films, pen-pal letters, plays, social media
Identify and explore educational and personal/professional opportunities
requiring proficiency in ASL
educational and personal/professional opportunitiese.g., academic research, translation, international affairs, government, teaching, travel, study abroad
Analyze personal, shared, and others' experiences, perspectives, and worldviews through a cultural lens
cultural lense.g., values, practices, traditions, perceptions
Recognize First Peoples perspectives and knowledge, other ways of knowing
, and local cultural knowledge
ways of knowinge.g., First Nations, Métis, and Inuit; and/or gender-related, subject/discipline specific, cultural, embodied, intuitive
Students are expected to know the following:
non-manual signals
non-manual signalsNon-manual signals (NMS) are parts of a sign that are not signed on the hands (e.g., ASL adverbs made by eyes and eyebrows; ASL adjectives made using the mouth, tongue, and lips). For this level, non-manual signals include but are not limited to:
- facial expression matching the meaning and content of what is signed (e.g., mad, angry, very angry)
- conveying "tone of voice" while signing
- mouth morpheme: "cha" (big), "fish" (finish), "diff-diff-diff" (different), "pah" (finally, tends to), "pow" (suddenly)
- head nod/shake
- WH-face (eyebrows down for a WH question, shoulders up, head tilted slightly)
- shoulder shift/contrastive structure/spatial organization
- eye gaze: must be used with deixis (pointing)
- distance signals: eyes open wide, cheek to shoulder, mouth open, teeth/tongue
- nose twitch
increasingly complex vocabulary and sentence structures, including:
past, present, and future time frames
time framesASL timeline (e.g., mark tenses with signs, as well as location, and indicate short and long time spans)
ASL resources and services
resources and servicese.g., blogs, courses, clubs, informal and formal groups, associations, online resources
contributions to society and other accomplishments of D/deaf
or hard-of-hearing people, including Canadians
D/deaf"D/deaf" refers to both "Deaf" people who identify with the Deaf culture and "deaf" people who do not. It is often used as a shortcut to describe both groups who are similar but not exactly the same when it comes to communication.
creative works from Deaf culture
society's perceptions
of Deaf people over time
society's perceptionse.g., descriptive terminology, perceived capabilities, societal status
cultural aspects
of Deaf communities
cultural aspectsDeaf communities and culture and their collectivistic nature (i.e., focused on the group and its interests); impacts of history and experiences on language and culture
D/deaf perspectives and points of view
First Peoples perspectives connecting language and culture, including histories
, identity
historiese.g., conversations with an Elder about local celebrations, traditions, and protocols
, and place
identityIdentity is influenced by, for example, traditions, protocols, celebrations, and festivals.
placeA sense of place can be influenced by, for example, territory, food, clothing, and creative works.
Note: Some of the learning standards in the PHE curriculum address topics that some students and their parents or guardians may feel more comfortable addressing at home. Refer to ministry policy regarding opting for alternative delivery.


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