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The Blawgosphere Turns a Page (Finally!)
I've been consuming lots of analysis of Tuesday's happenings. Thousands (tens of thousands) of words on implications of the election for the parties, the economy, corporate law; some amazing journalism (reminding you of the value of professional reporters) peeking behind the scenes of the campaign; and a bit about the Emanuel brothers. (Imagine the strength of the mother that handled that trio.)
The brilliance of the political blogosphere throws a harsh and unflattering light on the law professor blogosphere. I don't mean to harp, but it is striking to me that almost all political commentary you've seen on law professor blogs this last 6 or 12 or 18 months has been ill-informed, or vapid, contentless, and much, much too meta. (Yes, I get the irony. Indulge me.)
I originally wrote a long post trying to make sense of why law professors, who aren't stupid, have time on their hands, and are selected professionally for their ability to write, have done such a bad job adding value as political commentators. But then I recalled that silence is often the best thing to say.* Still, I've spent too much time not to boil down my conclusions, with the personal stuff left out: [1] innumeracy leading to fetishizing statistical significance; [2] a failure to adopt Web 2.0 technologies; [3] silo-ing expertise;** [4] not enough conservative law professors bloggers to argue with and learn from;*** and, most importantly, [5] bloggers drawing the wrong lesson from their students' willingness to write down every word they say.
I'll expand a bit on [5]. Not everything a professor says is interesting. When 40, 60, 100, or more students laugh at your jokes, I guess it becomes easy to forget. Generally, people add value by writing and talking about things they know something about. Thus, I agree with Leiter that Bill Henderson is one of the country's best law professor bloggers. Most law professors have no personal experience with the innards of a modern political campaign (serving as an consultant on a committee about a substantive legal issue isn't the same at all). We aren't well positioned to know what commercial will appeal to lower-middle-class voters, or what song will inspire youth turnout. But we've blogged about it anyway.
In any event, as I've made clear in the past, I been pretty disappointed by the blawgosphere's last six months. I hope that it's behind us, and smell change is in the air. (The scent mixes the gravity of pounded sand and a freshness of a mountain glade.)
So . . . what's next?
*** An example: Rick Hasen is tremendous, and it is great he's on HuffPo, but it isolates him a bit from conservative law professors who believe that the right F/V ratio is <1. Those professors, in my view, are operating under a normatively undesirable assumption that lower, "better-informed" turnout is superior to higher turnout. They've mistakenly discounted the social utility of perceived legitimacy in ill-served subpopulations.
*** Notable exceptions include Kerr, Bainbridge, Volokh, and Garnett. I want to single out Orin for a second here in particular because Greenwald has libeled him. Orin has ably defended himself on the merits. And maybe Greenwald hasn't really been reading Orin all that carefully, because I don't see how you could conclude that OK is anything other than lucid, open-minded, and very pragmatic. Greenwald, by contrast, seems to be interested in maximizing his audience by slashing at people who disagree with him on the merits of a hard policy question. I guess it's a living.


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child abuse
Every Catholic Congregation in Belgium Has Been Affected By Sexual Abuse
I meant to highlight this over the weekend, but it slipped my mind. P.Z. Myers points out a stunning finding about sexual abuse in the
George Rekers' "Boy-Spanking" Practices Led to an Attempted Suicide
Read it and marvel/vomit over the fact that this man runs free, still able to hurt little boys like the one described here: What do
Parish Priest Calls on Pope to Resign
A Springfield, Mass.-area Roman Catholic priest has publicly called for Pope Benedict XVI (a.k.a. Joseph Ratzinger) to resign. According to today's Boston Globe, Rev. James
Maureen Dowd Lays It on the Line Re: The Child Rape Scandal and the Vatican's Cover-Up
I am no Maureen Dowd fan, but her op-ed today has me cheering: The church gave up its credibility for Lent. HA. And: Canon 1404
Zombie Zealots Coming of Age
Weekly Column It is generally understood that today' youth are more supportive of equality for gay and lesbian people. Faced with losing the next generation,
Reported by AP via Edge yesterday: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport has acknowledged in court papers that it documented 32 accusations of sexual abuse

subset: commoncrawl


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On fre, 2012-04-27 at 18:09 -0400, Tom Lane wrote: > Robert Haas <robertmhaas(at)gmail(dot)com> writes: > > It seems we need another signal for the new mode, and the obvious > > candidate is SIGUSR2. But what shall the mapping look like? > > > [Choice #1] SIGUSR2 -> slow, SIGTERM -> smart, SIGINT -> fast, SIGQUIT > > -> immediate > > [Choice #2] SIGTERM -> slow, SIGUSR2 -> smart, SIGINT -> fast, SIGQUIT > > -> immediate > > SIGTERM needs to correspond to a fairly aggressive shutdown mode, > since (at least on some systems) init will send that during the system > shutdown sequence, shortly before escalating to SIGKILL. That only happens if the postgresql init script itself didn't do a good job. We already have this setup currently, and it doesn't seem to cause a great deal of problems. > If we were willing to consider wholesale breakage of any scripts that > send these signals directly, I'd almost consider that it should be > SIGUSR2, SIGINT, SIGTERM, SIGQUIT. But that might be more churn than > we want. Keeping SIGTERM attached to the default/"smart" shutdown mode > seems like a reasonable compromise. I don't think we should change the traditional "severity" order of signals.
Next: From: Simon Riggs Date: 2012-04-28 11:04:37 Subject: Re: smart shutdown at end of transaction (was: Default mode for shutdown) Previous: From: Peter Eisentraut Date: 2012-04-28 09:39:31 Subject: Re: smart shutdown at end of transaction (was: Default mode for shutdown)


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All Android applications categories
Drake's whole discography is going hard and loooking sexy like Drake in this free HD LWP of the legendary musician! Aubrey Drake Graham (born October 24, 1986), who records under the mononym Drake, is a Canadian recording artist, rapper, songwriter, and actor. He was born in Toronto, Ontario,[1] and first garnered recognition for his role as Jimmy Brooks on the television series Degrassi: The Next Generation. He later rose to prominence as a rapper, releasing several mixtapes before signing to Lil Wayne's Young Money Entertainment in June 2009.[2]
Drake's EP, So Far Gone (2009), spawned the hit single "Best I Ever Had" and the moderate hit "Successful". His first studio album, Thank Me Later (2010), debuted at number one on the Billboard 200[3] and generated notable singles, "Over" and "Find Your Love". It was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). His second album, Take Care (2011), is his most successful to date, topping charts in the United States and Canada and producing multiple hit singles, including "Headlines", "Take Care", "Make Me Proud", and "The Motto", the last of which is also credited for popularizing the widely used acronym YOLO. In promotion of Take Care, Drake embarked on the worldwide Club Paradise Tour, which became the most successful hip-hop tour of 2012, grossing over $42 million.[4] His third studio album Nothing Was the Same was released on September 24, 2013. It has so far been supported by the singles "Started from the Bottom" and "Hold On, We're Going Home".
Drake has sold over 5 million albums worldwide.[5] His work has earned him a Grammy Award, three Juno Awards, six BET Awards, and holds several significant Billboard records. With twelve number-one singles, Drake has more than any other artist on Billboard's Hot Rap Songs chart. With ten number-one singles, he also has more than any other rapper on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, passing Jay-Z in August 2012.[6] He is one of two artists (the other being 50 Cent) that has simultaneously occupied the chart's top three positions.
Drake, along with being a record producer under the pseudonym C. Papi, has also written songs for other artists, including Alicia Keys and Jamie Foxx. He featured as a voice actor in Ice Age: Continental Drift.[7] Drake was tied with Rihanna for the most nominations at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards.[8] He was ranked No. 2 on MTV's Hottest MCs in the Game VII list in 2012.[9] Drake became the #1 Rhythmic artist of 2012 based on Mediabase.
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An accountant is introduced to a mysterious sex club known as The List by his lawyer friend. But in this new world, he soon becomes the prime suspect in a woman's disappearance and a multi-million dollar heist.
Links: Screenshot | IMDB
Deception (2008) 1080p BluRay x264-YIFY
Published on: Feb 28, 2016 @ 02:20


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Welcome To H&R Block!Full transcript
Roshelle Fetzer
Roshelle Fetzer


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Religion Under Socialism in China (Chinese Studies on China)
A study of religion in contemporary China based on field research by Chinese social scientists. Written by a group of scholars at the Religion Research Institute of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sceinces, it responds to the designation of religion as one of the twelve "key topics" for special study by the Sixth Five-Year Plan for Economic Development, an astonishing reversal fo the cultural revolution goal of the eradication of religion completely and forever.
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Uccellacci Uccellini; 5 p.m.; A2, DRL (Italian Studies; Romance Languages).
Decameron; 5 p.m.; A2, DRL (Italian Studies; Romance Languages).
on stage
Arts House Dance Company and Penn Masala present Sexy Pitch; 8 p.m.; Iron Gate Theatre; $10, $8/advance; also November 6, 8 p.m. (PAC).
Spirit of Penn Gospel Choir presents Nearer My God to Thee; 5:30 p.m.; Irvine Auditorium; $10, $8/advance (PAC).
Onda Latina and the Inspiration present I O TV: In Living Color; 8 p.m.; Iron Gate Theatre; $10, $8/advance; also November 13, 2:30 and 8:30 p.m. (PAC).
A Conversation with Michelangelo Pistoletto and Christine Poggi; 5 p.m.; Terrace, Cohen Hall (Italian Studies, Romance Languages).
AT PENN Deadlines: Submissions for the Update are due every Monday for the following Tuesday's issue. For information see www.upenn.edu/almanac/calendar/caldead-real.html.
Events are subject to change. Information can be found on the sponsoring department's website. Sponsors are listed in parentheses. For locations, call (215) 898-5000 or see www.facilities.upenn.edu.
Additional events are in November AT PENN Calendar.


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Mitt Romney Must Decide What Kind of America He Believes InNews at Home
4-30-12Obama's America: A Transformative Vision of Our National Identity", forthcoming in July, and is Associate Professor of History at S.U.N.Y.-Empire State College.
We now finally know who the presidential nominees of our two major political parties will be this fall. Republicans and Democrats stand opposed to one another on a range of policy issues. As a historian who studies national identity in multiethnic societies like ours, I am especially concerned by the growing divide between the two camps. Increasingly, some very conservative political figures describe Americanness in starkly different terms than do moderates and liberals.
The question of our national identity is not determined by specific legislation, although laws play a role in drawing the boundaries of who wins wide acceptance as a member of the American community. How we define Americanness is much more a matter of consensus, of broadly embraced terms, of offering inclusion, and seeing that offer reciprocated as mutual bonds turn a population into a people.
The 2010 census documented demographic trends that have been noticeable for a long time. In the future our country's population will consist of ever-greater numbers of Asian and Hispanic Americans. But this itself is nothing new. At the turn of the last century some feared the huge influx of non-Anglo-Saxon European immigrants, people, some said, who could never be truly American. Such fear of "outsiders" and "unassimilable" immigrants or racial minorities has long haunted our politics.
Whether old or new, political rhetoric that labels some Americans as outside the bounds of the national community because of who they are is clearly exclusionary. Such tactics today play on the anxiety people feel about the social and cultural changes reflected in the recent census, and how these changes will affect the way we understand what it means to be American.
Barack Obama has long spoken of our national identity in terms that include Americans of every religious tradition, region, ethnic background, and sexual orientation in what he has repeatedly called the "American family." The president has focused specifically on invigorating national bonds that unify Americans across ethnic lines. Even in his most populist recent speeches about the need for higher taxes on the wealthy, Obama has never even hinted that they are somehow "not American."
On the other hand, there is the signal example of exclusionism coming from a leading conservative. In 2008 Sarah Palin declared: "We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America. ... This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans." Palin here divides our population into those who live in "small towns," folks who are disproportionately white, Christian, and culturally conservative, and those who do not. Members of the first group are "everyday Americans" who live in "real America." The rest of us are, well, not.
Romney's competitors for the Republican presidential nomination have used similarly exclusionary language to define President Obama as "not American." Rick Santorum proclaimed: "Obama is detached from the American experience. ... He just doesn't identify with the average American because of his own background—Indonesia and Hawaii." Newt Gingrich characterized Obama's worldview as "Kenyan." Romney himself made a remark that a New York Times editorial called "close" to as bad as Gingrich's when he asserted: "I don't think [Obama] understands America."
And then there's Ted Nugent, whose endorsement Romney actively sought and received after calling the aging rocker in March. Nugent recently referred to the Obama administration as "vile, evil, America-hating."
To his credit, John McCain has repeatedly rejected the "othering" of Obama, as did Jon Huntsman. Such language is by no means universal among Republicans. As the newly-minted standard bearer of conservatism, Mitt Romney must publicly declare whether he accepts or disavows the exclusionist definition of Americanness reflected to varying degrees in the above remarks. The American people deserve to know what kind of Republican Governor Romney is, and what kind of Republican Party he wants to lead. Does he believe that President Obama "hates America"? Does he agree with Sarah Palin about who is a "real American," and thus about the definition of our national identity?
Many Americans—in particular those who are white and middle-aged or older—remember growing up in a far more homogeneous place than the present. The sense of mourning for — and the desire to restore — that world is powerful, as is the fear of what is to come in the new, far more diverse America. The question is whether politicians choose to exacerbate that fear through divisive rhetoric, or to assuage it with language that seeks to unify us as Americans and encourages us to transcend our differences. Mitt Romney must openly declare which kind of politician he is.
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Texas Department of Criminal Justice
Date of Execution:
November 15, 2000
Tony Chambers #999009
Last Statement:
Mom, I just want y'all to know that I love you. No matter what in life, I want you to stay strong. Doreen, you have been a very special part of my life, too. I want you to keep doing what you are doing. Stay strong. Dad, I want you to stay strong.


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We use cookies to optimise the design of this website and make continuous improvement. By continuing your visit, you consent to the use of cookies. Learn more
Our mission is to become a worldwide reference for education in the field for all professionals involved in the process to disseminate knowledge & skills of Acute Cardiovascular Care.
Our mission is to promote excellence in clinical diagnosis, research, technical development, and education in cardiovascular imaging.
Our mission is to promote excellence in research, practice, education and policy in cardiovascular health, primary and secondary prevention.
Our mission is to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease through percutaneous cardiovascular interventions.
Improving the quality of life and reducing sudden cardiac death by limiting the impact of heart rhythm disturbances.
Our mission is to improve quality of life and longevity, through better prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heart failure, including the establishment of networks for its management, education and research.
The ESC Working Groups' goal is to stimulate and disseminate scientific knowledge in different fields of cardiology.
The ESC Councils' goal is to share knowledge among medical professionals practicing in specific cardiology domains.
Dr. Stuart J Pocock,
Dr. Roxana Mehran,
Presenter abstractDiscussant reportAll the Scientific resources on ESC Congress 365
By Roxana MehranOther authors: Usman Baber USA; Giulio Stefanini Italy; Samantha Sartori USA; Gregg W. Stone USA; Martin B. Leon USA ; Giora Weisz USA; William Wijns Germany; Edoardo Camenzind Switzerland; Gabriel Philippe Steg France; Peter Smits The Netherlands; Clemens Von Birgelen The Netherlands; David Kandzari USA; Soren Galatius Denmark; Takeshi Kimura Japan; Ghada Mikhail UK; Hyo-Soo Kim Korea; Marco Valgimigli Italy; Adnan Kastrati Germany; Patrick Serruys The Netherlands; Marie-Claude Morice France; Dipti Itchhaporia USA; Rebecca Ortega USA; Laxmi Mehta USA; Alaide Chieffo Italy ; Stephan Windecker Germany
Background:Drug-eluting stents (DES) have been shown effective and safe in patients with coronary artery disease in numerous randomized trials. However, data on women remains sparse as they comprise less than 30% of recruited patients. In response to the FDA guidance on sex difference evaluation in medical device clinical trials, we aimed to study the safety and efficacy of DES in women.
Methods:Individual patient-level data in female participants from 26 randomized DES trials (RAVEL, SIRIUS, E- and C-SIRIUS, TAXUS I II IV and V, SIRTAX, ENDEAVOR II III and IV, SPIRIT II III and IV, BASKET-PROVE, COMPARE I and II, EXCELLENT, RESET, RESOLUTE AC, TWENTE, LEADERS, ISAR-TEST 4, PRODIGY, and PROTECT) were pooled. Baseline characteristics and long-term clinical outcomes were evaluated and stratified according to stent type (i.e. bare-metal stents [BMS], early-generation [eDES], newer-generation [nDES]). Prespecified safety endpoints were all-cause death, myocardial infarction (MI), and definite or probable stent thrombosis (ST). The prespecified efficacy endpoint was target-lesion revascularization (TLR).
Results:Of 43,904 patients recruited in 26 trials, 11,557 were women (26.3%) included in this analysis (mean age 67.1 ± 10.6 years). Diabetes was present in 31.2% of women, hypertension in 75.6%, hypercholesterolemia in 67.4%, and smoking in 26.6%. Clinical indication for revascularization was an acute coronary syndrome in 34.7% women, and multivessel disease was present in 28.8% women. 1,108 women (9.6%) received a BMS, 4,171 (36.1%) received an eDES, and 6,278 (54.3%) nDES. Mean follow-up was 2.9 ± 1.4 years. By 3 years, all-cause death occurred in 5.6%, MI in 3.9%, ST in 1.3%, and TLR in 7.7% of women. Rates of all-cause death, MI or ST among women receiving BMS, eDES, and nDES were 10.7%, 8.5% and 7.6%, respectively (P<0.001, Figure 1). A marked reduction in TLR rates (BMS 18.5%, eDES 7.6%, nDES 6.0%, P<0.001) was associated with eDES and nDES use.Conclusions:Women comprise less than 30% of patients recruited in randomized trials examining the role of DES in patients with CAD. This largest patient-based pooled analysis shows that the use of DES in women is safe and effective as compared to BMS during long-term follow-up. Among women, nDES use was associated with improved safety outcomes as compared to eDES.
Stuart J. PocockThis comprehensive meta-analysis of individual patient data from 26 RCTs provides important evidence on the relative merits for women of bare-metal stents and both early- and newer-generation drug-eluting stents (DES). Such evidence specific for women is unique and robust, and leads to key findings: the increased risk of stent thrombosis with early DES no longer exists for newer DES. Also the benefits of DES over BMS in reducing risks of TLR and also MI are significantly enhanced with newer-generation DES.
I wish to raise three key issues:
In conclusion this study provides clear evidence that in women the use of newer-generation DES carries important benefits for both safety and efficacy.
Gender Data Forum: Safety and Efficacy of Drug-Eluting Stents in Women: An Individual Patient-Level Pooled Analysis of 26 Randomized Trials Including 11,557 Women
Our mission: To reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease
Contact us
© 2017 European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved


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Nearly a year ago, Kate Middleton and Prince William took baby Prince George home to their royal quarters all bundled up in an Aden + Anais bird print–covered swaddle. The brand sold out of the wrap everywhere almost immediately (oh, the power of a Prince!), and the under-the-radar brand flew into the international spotlight. Already beloved by royals, the U.S. company is now expanding the lives they touch by creating a new collaboration capsule with the Bono and Bobby Shriver–founded (RED) nonprofit organization, and 10 percent of each item sold is donated to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS. The fund helps ensure that babies around the world can live an HIV-free life.
"These are items that newborns love, that toddlers continue to enjoy, and that expecting parents find essential for their baby registry," says Moya-Jones, who noted they're perfect for a prince, too. "It would be great to see Prince George sporting the bright red colors and designs," she adds, "but most importantly supporting this great charity effort."
The collection ranges from $20 for a three pack of snap bibs to $50 for a four-pack of swaddle blankets. See the whole collection at adenandanais.com and find a store near you where they are sold.


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Darnell Christopher Ross, NE D.C. pedestrian, fatally struck, driver flees
Less than an hour before he died, 20-year-old Darnell Ross called his mother and told her he loved her. Now, she and the rest of the family are asking for help to find the hit-and-run driver who ran him over.
Ross was struck by a car and killed Saturday night in a hit-and-run near the NoMa-Gallautet U. Metro station, and detectives are searching for the car and driver involved in the crash.
Metropolitan Police say it happened a little after 10:30 Saturday night at a crosswalk on M Street NE, just blocks away from the Metro station.
For an unknown reason, Ross fell and landed partially on the sidewalk and partially on the crosswalk.
At some point after that, a car initially described as a white Buick ran him over. Police say the driver did not stay at the scene.
"There's no excuse for anybody to be hitting him and just keep going, not stop and see if he's alright," said Ross's mother, Cassandra, from the family's home in Upper Marlboro. "That's dehumanizing."
Cassandra says her son, a 2011 graduate of Henry Wise High School, decided to spend a night in the city Saturday. She says he drove there alone and the family doesn't know where he was walking to when he fell in the road.
Family members say they can't have closure until the driver who ran Darnell over and left the scene is found.
"It's just a lot of unanswered questions that we have," said Nicole Carter, who was Darnell's sister-in-law. "If you have any information definitely come forward so we can try to have some sort of closure."
Family members describe Darnell as a loving person who had a gift for caring for people. They say he'd spent time working with people with mental and physical disabilities.
"Whoever did this...I wish they would turn themselves in," Cassandra said. "His mother and his brothers and his nieces are really going to miss him."


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Matthew McConaughey proposes to Camila Alves
Considering Matthew McConaughey and Camila Alves have been a couple for years and have two kids, this shouldn't come as a huge shock. The 42-year-old actor proposed to the Brazil-born model on Christmas. Couldn't think of anything else to get her, huh, Mac?
"Just asked camila to marry me," he wrote in a WhoSay post with a photo of the couple kissing in front of a Christmas tree. "Merry Christmas." Their two kids are Levi, 3, and Vida, who will be 2 in January. McConaughey has previously said Alves, 28, was the love of his life so he finally decided to sign the paperwork.
You know who this is bad news for? Brangelina. Those kids have been asking Brad Pitt to marry their mom for years now. This is just more ammunition for their argument.
[Photo: WhoSay.com]


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We are delighted and proud to announce that Clarion Events has won the Association of Event Organisers "Most Respected Company of the Year 2017" award.
We were nominated by an anonymous industry peer who said, "Clarion is one of the longest standing and leading event organisers in the World. They've grown from humble beginnings in 1947, to now employing over 800 people based in 13 offices across the world, delivering events across numerous markets. Despite their size they operate with integrity and humility, having some of the best talent in the sector delivering a wide range of exhibitions, conferences, tradeshows, and websites serving their markets and customers. A gentle giant, who understand their markets, puts the customer first, and is always willing to lend a helping hand."


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By MICHAEL FALCONE and AMY WALTER
The political fortunes of the current crop of potential Republican presidential candidates rose and fell with extraordinary volatility this week. At least one of them violated the do-no-harm clause -- repeatedly -- another proved that money may still be paramount, and a third seemed to increase his political net worth simply by doing nothing.
Here's what we learned:
All About Ryan. The first shot has been fired in the 2012 campaign. Democrats are going to make Rep. Paul Ryan's budget and Medicare overhaul plan the centerpiece of election cycle. A case-in-point comes today as one of the new Democratic fundraising groups, led by former White House communications guru Bill Burton, launches its first ad. Priorities USA Action, is trying to revive the flip-flop charge on Mitt Romney. According to the group, "In the ad, Romney is pressed on whether he stands with Newt Gingrich -- who called Congressman Ryan's plan to essentially end Medicare 'radical' -- or Governor Nikki Haley, who said that Gingrich was cutting Ryan 'off at the knees.'" (The spot is timed to Romney's visit to South Carolina this weekend.) The Ryan plan was already going to be a big part of the campaign, but Gingrich opened that can of worms even further this week and now every Republican candidate is going to have to answer for it.
The Romney camp swiftly responded to the new ad this morning: "President Obama's first campaign ad is an attack ad," said Andrea Saul, spokeswoman for the Romney for President Exploratory Committee. "President Obama and his team are desperate to change the subject to anything other than jobs and the millions of Americans out of work. With 9.6% unemployment in South Carolina, voters are looking for a jobs plan not a smear campaign." The fact that an outside group is taking the first shot is telling: the parties and the campaigns are going to be marginalized like never before. http:// abcn. ws/mkX6No
First Impressions Matter. Former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman kicked off his debut trip to New Hampshire last night, telling ABC's George Stephanopoulos in an exclusive interview that if he had to do it all over again (that whole working for the guy he may soon be seeking to defeat thing), he would. "I'd do it again. Of course. I've always been trained and I hope to train my own family that when your country needs you…if there is the prospect that you can get in there and bring about change in a way that helps your country through public service, I'm there," Huntsman told Stephanopoulos when asked about his service in the Obama administration. It's a question he will get over and over again and how his answer plays with voters in the Granite State, in particular, could make or break his candidacy. (More on Stephanopoulos' interview with Huntsman below). http://abcn.ws/mdZ2Ff
Second Impressions Matter Too. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich proved this lesson over and over again this week, beginning with his choice of words last Sunday to describe fellow Republican Paul Ryan's budget plan -- he called it, "right-wing social engineering" -- and continuing with his attempt to walk those comments back this week. It's almost too easy to point out how the flaws in Gingrich's handling of the issue, from start to finish (though we'd bet it's not quite finished since he's going to get grilled on it again this weekend on CBS' "Face the Nation") reflects flaws in the former House Speaker's candidacy. As we noted earlier this week, if the Republican primary comes down to discipline, it's not clear that Gingrich is going anywhere fast.
Money Talks. Mitt Romney kno ws how to raise serious coin, and he showed us -- and probably sent chills through the rest of the GOP field -- earlier this week after a dialing-for-dollars event in Las Vegas netted him more than $10 million in a single day. "As today's event makes clear, Gov. Romney will have the resources to be competitive and to spread his jobs and economy message," Romney's national finance chairman Spencer Zwick said on Monday. He's certainly right about that, but now it's time for Romney to show that he can not only appeal to big-money crowd but also to primary voters on Main Street. He's been quieter on the campaign trail that some of his potential rivals, but he'll be making two strategic visits in the coming days -- South Carolina this weekend and a trip to Iowa next week. http:// abcn. ws/jY8 Uiw
Slow And Steady (Could) Win The Race. " Don't confuse being loud with being strong," former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty told Time Magazine in a recent interview. And that's fast becoming Pawlenty's mantra for the presidential race. Pawlenty is doing as much as anybody to build a campaign structure block-by-block and his method consistently earns him points with activist types in key primary states who equate that kind of effort with respect (and possibly with their votes). As Pawlenty told Time's Michael Crowley, "I think I'm the one candidate in the race who can unite and excite the whole conservative movement and the Republican Party … I think most of the other candidates are going to appeal to one of those buckets. But I can appeal to all of them deeply and authentically." http://ti.me/lu2 YKM
It's Nice To Be Wanted. These days, it seems like all Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has to do is show up at events, get asked about his plans for the 2012 race, give a variation of the same answer he's been giving for months, and the excitement around him kicks up another notch. Daniels said this week that he's closer to a decision, but he's playing the "humble" card for all it's worth. When asked about whether there was a void in the GOP field that only he could fill, Daniels said, "I think there's a lot of good people and it's awfully early. We haven't heard really what some of them think about the big questions, so no, nobody is indispensable, least of all me." A variety of key establishment Republicans want him in -- badly -- and we'll likely see within the next week or so whether he'll take the bait. http:// abcn. ws/j8 LwbU
HOW CLOSE IS HUNTSMAN TO JUMPING IN? ABC's George Stephanopoulos spoke to the former Utah governor last night as he kicked off his inaugural trip to New Hampshire. Huntsman told Stephanopoulos he is "close" to making a decision about a presidential bid. So he asked him how -- after serving in the Obama administration for two years -- does he stand a chance at winning the Republican nomination?
"The president asked me, the president of all the people. And during a time of war, during a time of economic difficulty for our country, if I'm asked by my president to serve, I'll stand up and do it," he said. Huntsman dismissed calling Obama a "remarkable leader," saying he was referring to Obama's historic election in a thank you note.
Does he still believe it? "History will show how effective he is," he said. On foreign policy, Huntsman broke with Obama on Libya: "I would have chosen from the beginning not to intervene in Libya. I would say that is not core to our national security interest." And he suggested that a drawdown from Afghanistan was inevitable: "We have too much in the way of boots on the ground in corners of the world where we probably don't need it." It was the former ambassador's most comprehensive interview since his return from China on April 30 and he laid out his positions on everything from the stimulus to " Obamacare."
More from Stephanopoulos' exclusive interview with Jon Huntsman: http:// abcn. ws/mdZ2Ff
ON TODAY'S "TOP LINE." ABC's Rick Klein and Amy Walter feature Jonathan Karl's "Subway Series" interview with Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., a former member of the "Gang of Six" (preview below). Also on the program Politico's intrepid Congressional correspondent, Manu Raju, to talk about all the action on Capitol Hill. Watch "Top Line" LIVE at 12:00 p.m. Eastern. http://bit.ly/ ABCTopLine
COBURN AT ODDS WITH GOP LEADERS. " Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) tells ABC Ne ws that the federal debt is now so out of control that the credit rating of the United States is in jeopardy and the only way to deal with it is a bipartisan agreement that increases tax revenues. "The fact is we're at the lowest tax rate this country's been in a hundred years," Coburn said in an interview on ABC's Subway Series with Jonathan Karl. "And nobody believes that we're going to get a bipartisan agreement without some way to increase revenue for the federal government. We're also at the lowest level in a long time in terms of revenues coming in." Increasing tax revenues, Coburn said, does not mean increasing tax rates. Higher revenues could be accomplished by closing tax loopholes for individuals and/or corporations. "Do I want tax rates to rise? Absolutely not. Will I fight that? Yeah," Coburn said. "Would I agree to a plan that would create great economy that would markedly increase revenues to the federal government? You bet. And that's what I want to do." Earlier this week, Coburn dropped out of the so-called Gang of Six, a bipartisan group of Senators that has been working for months to find an agreement to curtail entitlement spending and reduce the deficit. http:// abcn. ws/ lRFokF
COBURN TO GINGRICH: KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT. In the same interview, Senator Coburn says Newt Gingrich needs "keep his mouth shut" about Paul Ryan's Medicare plan until he has his own plan to deal with skyrocketing entitlement spending. "If you haven't put a plan on the table, you need to keep your mouth shut because the problem hasn't gone away," Coburn told ABC Ne ws. "You're elevating yourself by being critical of someone else." http://abcn.ws/lhBR31
PALIN SAYS SHE HAS 'FIRE IN MY BELLY' " The question remains -- will former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin run for president, or won't she? In a Thursday appearance on "On the Record" on the Fox Ne ws Channel, host Greta Van Sustren asked Palin if she had the "fire in the belly' for such a run, especially after former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee announced he would not be running in 2012 on his Saturday night show. Palin's response: She does indeed," The Daily Caller's Jeff Poor notes. "'That's a great question,' Palin said. 'I think my problem is that I do have the fire in my belly. I am so adamantly supportive of the good traditional things about America and our free enterprise system and I want to make sure America is put back on the right track and we will do that by defeating Obama in 2012. I have that fire in my belly.' However, Palin pointed out there are obstacles to making a run for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, primarily family concerns." http://bit.ly/m0K0oh
THE DEMINT PRIMARY. "Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) isn't ready yet to cut Mitt Romney loose following the Republican presidential candidate's defense of his Massachusetts healthcare plan last week," The Hill's Michael P. O'Brien writes. " DeMint, the conservative kingmaker who had endorsed Romney for the nomination in 2008, said that he hadn't yet ruled out endorsing Romney again in 2012 — or for that matter any other candidate. 'I haven't stricken anybody off my list, or put anybody on it, really,' DeMint said. 'And it's going to be several months before I look at endorsing.' A source close to the Palmetto State conservative had emphasized in March that DeMint 'would never consider' endorsing Romney again unless he were to admit that the healthcare reform plan he installed as governor of Massachusetts was 'a colossal mistake.' Romney did just about everything but that during a high-profile speech last week in Michigan, where he stood by his healthcare plan, warts and all." http://bit.ly/m79 MiM
2012's SECRET DONORS. "The five are among the outside, or non-party, organizations that have played a growing role in federal elections. They include trade groups, unions and nonprofits started by political operatives that raise and spend money for advertising. The $305 million they reported spending in the 2010 elections was more than four times the amount such entities paid out in the midterm elections in 2006, according to the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics, a research group that tracks FEC filings," Bloomberg Ne ws reports. "Growing more sharply is a subset that keeps secret the identities of donors who bankroll the ads. These outside organizations told the FEC they spent $137 million in the 2010 cycle -- 25 times the 2006 level. Commission on Hope represents an even more secretive type that has taken itself off the radar of federal regulators entirely -- by reporting neither spending nor donors to the FEC. Non-party groups, including the secretive ones, are already planning to raise more money in the 2012 elections. They received a boost from the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United case last year, which for the first time allowed corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts on ads advocating the election or defeat of a candidate. The organizations face little scrutiny from the FEC, where split votes between Republican and Democratic commissioners have stymied enforcement in case after case for almost three years." http://bloom.bg/isiF3h
IS OBAMA ABOUT TO BREAK THE LAW ON LIBYA? "From the beginning of the U.S. military intervention in Libya, the Obama administration has cited the 1973 War Powers Act as the legal basis of its ability to conduct military activities for 60 days without first seeking a declaration of war from Congress," ABC's Jake Tapper and Devin Dwyer report. "The military intervention started on March 19; Congress was notified on March 21. Those 60 days expire tomorrow. Last week, Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that President Obama 'has been mindful of the provisions of the War Powers Resolution and has acted in a manner consistent with them. He will continue to do so.' Steinberg said the administration is 'mindful of the passage of time including the end of the two-month period, we are in the process of reviewing our role, and the president will be making decisions going forward in terms of what he sees as appropriate for us to do.' What is President Obama -- a former lecturer in constitutional law -- going to do? White House officials refused to say. And the chorus of criticism -- from the right and left -- is rising." http://abcn.ws/j4I8i8
DEMOCRATS WON'T RELEASE SPENDING PLAN. "Senate Democrats decided Thursday not to release their spending plan to counter the budget blueprint approved last month by House Republicans, saying they will wait to see whether talks at the White House produce a compromise plan for reining in the national debt," The Washington Post's Lori Montgomery writes. "Democrats said they are close to agreement on a spending plan that would reduce borrowing by more than $4 trillion over the next decade, with about half the savings coming from higher taxes. That would offer a sharp contrast to the GOP budget, which relies entirely on deep cuts in spending. But rather than subject a proposal for higher taxes to Republican attack, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said he would "defer" action "because of the high-level bipartisan leadership negotiations that are currently underway" involving lawmakers from both parties and Vice President Biden." http:// wapo.st/ lQREhJ
@ jonward11 : by endorsing Ryan, DeMint and Boehner positions, Huntsman's trying to remove his Obama tattoo huff.to/ jONANl
@ rickwtyler : Good morning from Council Bluffs, IA. Packed house welcomes @ newtgingrich http:// yfrog.com/h2v1 gmcj
@ mkraju : Durbin and Schumer planning to headline a big DSCC fundraiser at Cubs-Yankees game at Wrigley next month. http:// politi.co/iyE2t6
@ JillDLawrence : No future press release from anyone will ever match RT @ hollybdc Lithgow reading the Gingrich statement is just amazing http://is.gd/h69C90
@ jeneps : George W. Bush has made $15 million on speeches since leaving office, including three the week after OBL capture http:// politi.co/ itRdxx
* Jon Huntsman speaks at house parties Keene and Hancock, NH in the morning. Later he visits VFW Post 1631 in Concord.
* Rick Santorum will have lunch with local activists at the Thunder Bay Grill in Davenport, Iowa. In the evening, he will attend a "Presidential Pool Party" in Davenport
The Note Futures Calendar: http:// abcn. ws/ZI9 gV
* Get The Note delivered to your inbox every day.
* For breaking political news and analysis check out The Note blog: http://blogs. abcnews.com/ thenote/ and ABCNews.com/Politics: http:// abcnews.com/politics


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3' 3 x 5' 3 Kashan Design Rug
This Turkish Kashan Design rug is made of Polypropylene. This rug is easy-to-clean, stain resistant, and does not shed.
Colors found in this rug include: Green, Beige, Black, Orange, Red. The primary color is Green.
This rug is 1/2" thick.
The measurements for this rug are: 3 feet 3 inches wide by 5 feet 3 inches long.
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WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid issued the following statement on the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision on Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka:
"Fifty-three years ago, the United States Supreme Court handed down its Brown v. the Board of Education ruling. Their decision found racially segregated public schools unconstitutional and helped civil rights progress in our great country. When I look at the diversity in our schools and see how children of all races are learning together, I'm proud that the Supreme Court Justices serving back in 1954 had the courage to go against what was then thought the norm and move this country closer to racial equality.
"Just this morning USA Today reported that for the first time America's minority population has topped 100 million. In Nevada alone, 1 in 4 people are Hispanic. Now more than ever, we must all work to ensure that the promise of equality becomes a reality for all."


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Multipurpose E-Newsletter
This multipurpose email newsletter template perfect for almost any project, especially fashion industry one, presented in five sharp color schemes . You can easily send your email marketing campaigns, updates or periodical news and impress your subscribers by the striking design of this product.
Features: 650 px wide layouts – ideal for email distribution
5 chic color schemes
All layers are organized in groups and are fully editable
Fonts: Arial – default OS font
Roboto – http://www.dafont.com/roboto.font
Please feel free to ask for any questions and I will be happy to answer them.
Important notice: Images in preview are not included in main download file, you will see grey spaces instead of them.


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|search Mr. R.'s world of math and science free and accessible educational resources for all
Ionic Bonding Poem
I've said it once,
What is an ionic bond?
An ionic bond is a chemical bond in which electrons from one atom are released and transferred to another atom.
Ionic bonds are usually formed between metals and non-metals, for example, sodium (a metal), and chlorine (a non-metal) to make NaCl, or table salt.
Cool ionic bonding images of sodium flouride from Wikipedia User: WDCF


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Insurance Premiums Rise As Threats to Ships Grow
By KEITH BRADSHER
Published: August 25, 2005
Malaysian commandos captured a freighter after a 17-hour sea chase in the Strait of Malacca, maritime authorities said Wednesday, an event that has sharpened a debate between insurers and shipowners over premiums on voyages through the waterway.
Abdul Rahman Ahmad, the commander of Malaysia's marine police, said that special operations commandos and marine police had recovered a vessel early Tuesday that had disappeared nearly three years ago after being reported as hijacked. After the ship initially sailed on in defiance of orders to stop, the crew of 20 Chinese sailors surrendered without a fight when commandos boarded the freighter from police vessels, he said.
The incident comes as many insurers have begun charging extra premiums for ship passages through the strait, one of the world's busiest seaways, in response to fears of a possible terrorist attack there. While the recovered ship was linked to piracy, not terrorism, the strength of radical Islamic groups in Southeast Asia is increasingly worrying insurers.
Neil Roberts, a technical manager at Lloyd's Market Association in London, which helped prepare a list of risky regions that included the strait, said insurers wanted to be financially ready in case an attack occurred.
''They're preparing to fund a loss, they're building up a reserve to fund a loss, if and when it occurs,'' he said.
Bombings in Indonesia over the last several years -- in Bali and at the Australian Embassy and a Marriott hotel in Jakarta -- have focused attention on the country's radical groups. The risk to insurers has been that terrorists might ally themselves with the many seasoned pirates in Indonesia who conduct attacks on commercial vessels for profit, robbing crew members and sometimes kidnapping them as well.
But the increased premiums have drawn considerable criticism in the last week from shipowners, who say that vessels have been attacked only by people interested in profit, not politics.
Terrorists might seek to blow up a ship, which would be costly for insurers. But pirates seldom inflict much damage on ships, shipowners and their associations said, and the ransoms occasionally paid for sailors kidnapped by pirates are not covered by insurance policies.
''Yes, there have been piracy attacks, but there is a big difference as far as we're concerned between a piracy attack and a terrorism attack,'' said John Fawcett-Ellis, the general counsel and regional manager in Singapore for the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners, which is based in Oslo.
The extra premiums being assessed in recent days are small -- typically one-hundredth of a percent of a vessel's value for each one-way trip through the strait. The world's highest rates are for Umm Qasr, a deepwater port in Iraq; premiums for ships there can reach half a percent, 50 times the new premium for the Strait of Malacca.
But the extra premiums for the strait set a precedent that could start to drive up the cost of transporting huge quantities of oil and other goods around the southernmost tip of continental Asia, the shipowners warn.
Noel Choong, the director of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, said that the number of pirate attacks in the strait was little changed in the first half of this year compared with the period last year.
There were practically no attacks in the first two months of this year, probably because of a heavy Western military presence during tsunami relief operations. A surge of attacks in the spring followed the Western navies' departure, but the attacks have nearly stopped since the Indonesian navy stepped up patrols in July.
Mr. Choong said that not one of the attacks appeared to involve terrorists.
Alex Duperouzel, the managing director of Background Asia Risk Solutions, a company that provides armed guards for vessels in Asian waters, especially American-owned ships and those with American crews, said his company's guards and intelligence contacts had uncovered no hints of terrorist activity either.
''We certainly don't think there's Al Qaeda floating out there,'' he said.
The Joint War Committee, which represents the London marine insurance industry and includes members of both the Lloyd's Market Association and the International Underwriting Association, issued a new list of risky regions around the world in June. The main changes were to remove a dozen countries from the list, mainly in the Middle East and West Africa, and to add the Strait of Malacca, the southern Gulf of Thailand and parts of the southern Philippines.
Despite complaints by associations of shipowners, most notably at a meeting of the owners with insurers in London last week, many insurers are now starting to respond to the new list by raising rates. Other insurers are likely to follow suit so as to continue to be able to share the risk of maritime policies with reinsurers, ship insurance brokers in Hong Kong said.
The list was prepared with a new methodology, Mr. Roberts said. The new list relies less on previous insurance losses in each region and more on security assessments by Aegis Defense Services, a British company best known for its role in trying to coordinate private military companies in Iraq on a $292 million American contract.
Mr. Choong said the MV Paulijing, the vessel intercepted by the Malaysian authorities this week, was actually the MV Natris, a Malaysian-owned freighter hijacked off an Indonesian island near the southern end of the Strait of Malacca in late 2002. The International Maritime Bureau had been tracking the vessel for six months after becoming aware that it had been repainted and was calling on ports in India, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
The bureau, which is part of the International Chamber of Commerce but works closely with international law enforcement agencies, waited until the vessel headed for Vietnam with a cargo of soybeans before notifying Malaysian authorities that the vessel was headed their way and likely to pass through the strait.
The six-month delay was at the request of lawyers for the vessel's Malaysian owners, as it will be much easier for the Malaysian owners to recover the vessel from the Malaysian police than from any other country's legal system, Mr. Choong said.
The MV Natris had just completed minor repairs at the Indonesian island of Batam and was at anchor when pirates seized it on Nov. 17, 2002, put the crew safely ashore and sailed off, he added.


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- Home
- Kids
- Kids Craft Kits
- Kids and Teen Craft Kit: Craft-Tastic™ Paper Bowls
Kids and Teen Craft Kit: Craft-Tastic™ Paper Bowls
Product ID: 10000093
This cute craft kit from Craft-Tastic™ will bowl you over! Kids and teens (and adults, too) can use this craft kit to create 3 handmade paper bowls from pretty patterned papers.
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- 3 Paper bowl forms
(4.75, 6, and 8 inches wide)
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The bowl forms that come with this kids craft kit are reusable if carefully separated from the finished bowls. Please note that the finished bowls are for decorative use only. (Not for use with food.) Ages 8 & over.
Material: Other
Product Type: Other
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Our Price: $15.97
1 paper bowl craft kit per package.


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I should probably delete "Candy Crush" from my phone. I'm not going to, but I probably should. Here's why:
The other day while having a conversation with my sister, I found myself wishing I could reach across the space between us, place my index finger on her left eye, my thumb on her right eye and squish them together until they exploded and disappeared. Sadly this isn't even a move in "Candy Crush," though it's similar to one, but for it to really work her eyes would have to be made of candy and she would need to have at least three. I also long to group trees, cars and buildings into groups of three — or, be still my heart, groups of four — and slam them together to make them disappear.
It's not that I'm destructive, mind you. It's that I'm obsessed.
For the uninitiated, "Candy Crush" — or "Candy Crush Saga," its full name — is a super popular game that refers to itself as "an addictive and delicious puzzle adventure." It's made by King.com, a British company that's currently the top supplier of games to Facebook and Apple (they passed Zynga, maker of "Words with Friends" and other popular games, in June) and worth somewhere between 5 billion and 7 billion dollars.
I'm not really a big video game or puzzle person. In fact, I can think of nothing more deadly boring than a big jigsaw puzzle spread out in a zillion pieces on an empty table. To me, jigsaw puzzles have always been something you do to pass the time when you have absolutely zero better options. I can imagine someone saying: "You guys go ahead to prom. I'll just stay here and work on this thousand-piece puzzle of a kitten.
"No, you guys go ahead to the amusement park. I'm under house arrest and the electricity has gone out, so I'm going to drink cold Postum and work on this 2000-piece jigsaw puzzle of a dandelion.
"Hot air ballooning? I couldn't possibly go hot air ballooning with you. I am paralyzed from the waist down and have contracted scabies, so I'm just going to stay home, break in these new pajamas, scratch myself and put the finishing touches on this 3000-piece puzzle of, get this, a hot air balloon!"
In terms of time wasters, I'm more of an '80s sitcom and mess-around-on-Twitter person. Sometimes I'll spend an hour or two looking for something I've misplaced — but somewhere in between hearing my fiance talk to my mom about how much money the makers of "Candy Crush" had raked in and how he refuses to download the app because he's convinced it's somehow so persuasive it convinces otherwise sensible people to part with tons of money to keep playing, I decided I would take that challenge. It's sort of the online equivalent of being compelled to take a drug after watching an after school special.
Thus far I haven't fallen into financial ruin or sold an organ on the black market to keep playing. The only negative consequence of allowing "Candy Crush" into my life — I mean, other than wanting to squish my sister's eyes — is that it's functioning like a gateway drug, and I need something stronger. Candy is dandy but strip clubs and murder might be more my speed. Do I dare dip a toe into the world of "Grand Theft Auto V"? My coworkers have discussed looking at their calendars and making sure they didn't have anything they really needed to get done before purchasing the game. Unfortunately, once again, I see this as a challenge. Other than a ton of work and planning a wedding, I think I'm wide open!
So, talk to you in a few months?
Hear more from Alison Rosen on her podcast, "Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend" or on the immensely popular "Adam Carolla Show" podcast. Follow her on Twitter @alisonrosen or visit her website at www.alisonrosen.com. To find out more about Alison Rosen and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.


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Imagine if you're at lunch and bored. Why not check KW? Or maybe between class changes you have to let you're friend know that they are good to hangout later.
Do you think students should be aloud to use cell phones in school during free time?
Today, October 12, 2013, is my last day on KW.
Goodbye everyone! Have a good life!
Proud Republican
*If you want to live, don't be afraid to die* - Jake Cross
Gumi supports 2nd amendment.
Why don't you?


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- Trends in life expectancy by the National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification, 1982–2006 (132.2 Kb Pdf)
- Health Statistics Quarterly - No. 45, Spring 2010: Inequalities in healthy life expectancy by social class and area type: England, 2001–03 (767 Kb Pdf)
- General Health in England and Wales, 2011 and Comparison with 2001
- Health gap in England and Wales infographic
A health gap is the difference in the health experienced between different groups. Health gaps can be measured between men and women, localities, social groups, economic factors or environmental characteristics. Tackling health inequalities or closing the health gap is an important policy issue.
The health gaps discussed in this summary are the differences in self-assessed health experienced between socio-economic groupings of occupations. They are measured as the percentage point difference in the rates of "Not Good" health, reported in the 2011 Census, between the most and least advantaged socio-economic occupations. Current legislation places a duty on health organisations to have regard to reducing health inequalities in decision-making.
The analysis uses seven occupational groupings in the National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SEC) derived from questions asked in the 2011 Census.
'Not Good' health rates are highest for those from the most socially disadvantaged socio-economic classes
An examination of the rates of 'Not Good' health from the 2011 Census show there was a pattern of deteriorating health with increasing disadvantage associated with the socio-economic position of the occupation. Routine workers in Class 7 had the highest rates of 'Not Good' health nationally, regionally and at local authority level for both men and women. Conversely, the most advantaged higher managerial and professional class (Class 1) had the lowest rates of 'Not Good' health.
It is estimated that an additional 1.6 million men and 1.8 million women would be assessing their health as 'Good' if they had the same self-assessed health rates as those in the most advantaged occupations such as lawyers and medical doctors in England and Wales.
Health gaps between all classes at regional and local authority level
There is a North-South divide with the northern regions and Wales having larger health gaps than those in the South. London is not included in the South due to its differing characteristics which, include its transient population, access to services and limited rural population.
The East of England had the smallest health gap, measured by the Slope Index of Inequality (SII), for both men and women at regional level, at 16.7 and 17.2 percentage points respectively. The North East had the largest health gap for men at 21.6 percentage points, but for women Wales had the largest health gap at 23.4 percentage points.
Regionally, the health gaps are generally bigger for women than men and this is mirrored at the England and Wales level. The picture at local authority level is more varied but the health gaps still tend to be larger for women.
At the local authority level the health gaps are narrower for some local authorities and wider for others than at regional level; the largest health gaps for both men and women are concentrated in large population centres. Conversely, those with the smallest health gaps are in local authorities with no large towns or cities. Islington in London had the largest health gap in England and Wales for men and women at 33.3 and 31.4 percentage points. South Holland in Lincolnshire and Rochford in Essex had the smallest health gaps for men and women at 9.8 and 11.1 percentage points.
Across all regions and local authorities it appears that it is the health rates of the most socio-economically disadvantaged classes, rather than the most socio-economically advantaged classes, that determined the size of the health gap. In the local authorities with small health gaps the 'Not Good' health rates of routine workers were lower than the England and Wales average. Stronger correlations were found between the size of 'Not Good' health rates of routine workers and the size of the health gaps than any other class.
Background Notes
1. 'Not Good' general health was derived from those assessing their general health as either 'Fair', 'Bad' or 'Very Bad' to the general health question in the 2011 Census. The 'Not Good' health rates in this summary are age standardised to the European standard population 2013. Age standardisation allows geographies, sexes or occupational classes with differing age structures to be compared.
2. In this summary the age standardised rates of 'Not Good' health are reported. Therefore the health gaps are measured as the difference in the rates of Not Good health. As an example a health gap of 15% 'Not Good' health would mean that there is a difference of 15% between the least and most socio-economically advantaged people in their self-reporting of 'Not Good' health.
3. The range between the health rates of the most advantaged higher managerial and professional occupations and the most disadvantaged routine occupations is a simple measure of the health gap. To get a more complete measure of the health gap a statistic called the Slope Index of Inequality (SII) is used.
4. The SII represents the absolute inequality in health rates between the least and most disadvantaged socio-economic classes, taking account of the health rates in all classes and also accounting for the varying distribution and numbers working in each of the classes.
5. Data is for all usual residents aged 16 and over, who work (or did work) and are classifiable into the reduced NS-SEC, in households.
6. Local Authorities have been ranked on the age standardised rates of 'Not Good' health to more than one decimal place.
7. Due to small population counts, data for City of London has been merged with Westminster and data for Isles of Scilly has been merged with Cornwall. Therefore, in this analysis, there are 346 local authorities in England and Wales.
These statistics were compiled and analysed by the Health Analysis team in the Public Policy Analysis division. For further details on health gaps by socio-economic position of occupations at national, regional and local authority level, see this infographic and short story. If you have any comments or suggestions, we'd like to hear them! Please email us at email@example.com.


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Chezza's transformation in her latest music video reminded us here at kgbdeals HQ just how much we loved the swinging sixties. Boisterous bouffants, high-waisted skirts and bold colours were the style of the era, so when it came rocking accessories, it was all about who could wear the brightest colours or the most unusual pieces that were considered to be the most stylish. And since then, not much has changed…
For just £6 you can update your summer wardrobe with a beautiful multi-coloured stone Swarovski Elements pendant from Jewellery Select. Perfect for both day and night, this chic summer accessory provides the ideal way to add a dash of colour to your everyday ensemble. Save up to 85% on a beautiful piece even Ms. Cole would be proud of.
about Jewellery Select
Jewellery Select offers a wide range of high-quality jewellery for those seeking glamorous items. Ideal for birthdays, weddings, parties or simply a treat, why not browse their website and take a look at some of the stunning products available?


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Foursquare partners with New York Times for Olympics
New York Times' Bits Blog
Foursquare, the location-based social media application, has announced another major media deal, this time partnering with The New York Times to provide an interactive experience for readers attending the Winter Olympics this month. The Times will provide recommendations for restaurants, attractions, shopping and nightlife in the Vancouver area. Foursquare users who "check in" using their mobile devices at the recommended locations will receive a special New York Times Olympics "badge" that is displayed on their Foursquare profile. "Going forward," said the Times' Stacy Green, "we are looking into other ways we can work with Foursquare in New York and other markets to integrate our strong travel and entertainment content." In recent weeks the company has announced similar partnerships with Bravo, Zagat, Canada's Metro newspaper and Warner Bros.
> Beyond The Badge: Big Media Brands Strike Foursquare Deals (Advertising Age)


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Dream Sluts
Brooke Skye was a little nervous about going on the Bubba the Love Sponge show on Sirius radio. On the cusp of her 20th birthday, Skye has been in porn for a little more than a year; so far, it's been pretty much soft-core stuff, diddling and groping herself and tonguing other girls, and she hasn't acquired the veteran porn star's tough, impermeable shell.
She knew all about the Sponge, who had joined Howard Stern on satellite radio after the FCC-spooked Clear Channel canned him and his pushy way with guests. She knew he could be pretty brutal, especially with porn girls.
But on the day of the show, there Skye was, having the time of her life, standing almost nude in the Tampa studio whipping Chip the Intern in the balls with a nasty-looking whip. It should come as no surprise that Chip, who was wearing only blue gym shorts, didn't volunteer for the job. Bubba had shamelessly orchestrated a contest of sorts in which he cajoled various male employees at the studio to line up so Skye could feel their crotches.
After she winnowed the field down to Chip, Bubba had commanded the poor bastard to be strapped to a vertical torture rack. Chip yelped as Skye first fastened clamps on his nipples. Sporting only the bottom of a shocking-blue Wicked Weasel bikini and nipple tape, she grasped the black whip with four-foot tassels that Bubba had equipped her with. Bling dangled from her pierced belly button, next to a tiny tattoo of two stemmed cherries.
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"Easy at first, easy at first," instructed Bubba, a fleshy, middle-aged dude dressed in a gray tank top and gym trunks, a man clearly enjoying escape from the confines of broadcast radio.
Skye's first swing was leisurely, more a pantomime of a beating than anything else.
"Oh, you're gonna have to do it like this, like you're whipping it around the farm," Bubba said, demonstrating with his arm.
The second blow still didn't make the grade.
"You gotta snap him harder than that," he bellowed. Skye put enough elbow grease in the next one to make Chip yipe. She bent forward, giggling in disbelief.
"Give him one right across the chest, really hard," Bubba shouted, letting the bloodlust flow. "Don't make me get Greg the Bulldog to show you how to torture someone."
Skye delivered the whip across Chip's bare chest with a vigor that surprised even her, and the leather on skin connected with a bass tremor that segued into the intern's shrieks.
The past two years have been a strange, wild ride for Brooke Skye. Until she was about to turn 18, she lived the quiet, predictable life of a small-town girl dated the same guy for a couple of years, carefully protected her virginity. "Before this whole thing, I was little Miss Goodie-Goodie," she says. Life exploded with an alcohol-fueled auto crash, a DUI, an unplanned pregnancy, a hasty marriage and divorce and, finally, porn and a move to Fort Lauderdale.
In Skye's case, however, porn was the life raft that helped lift her pummeled body out of the drink. Today, she's the star of an immensely popular website that receives an astonishing number of visitors. According to Alexa.com, a web tracking site that ranks the 100,000 sites receiving the most traffic, BrookeSkye.com has maintained a ranking of roughly 3,000 since last summer. (For perspective, Hustler magazine's site in late April ranked 6,846, and South Florida's own Sun-Sentinel came in at 1,758.) Thousands visit her site daily.
The site's success comes in part from Skye's online personality, a mixture of goofiness and sexual allure that's appealing to porn aficionados looking for something different from the standard pizza delivery boy trades a pie for nooky. With a few caveats, the Brooke you see is the Brooke that lives and breathes and cries and giggles and pouts. She's slim and girlish-looking, with unenhanced boobs "a far cry from the 1960s archetype of the womanly woman," says Vinnie Rose, manager of the popular porn review and merchandising website SkullGame.com.
Porn viewers say that BrookeSkye.com, which claims to be the first web-cam site to offer high-definition video, may represent a lunge toward new, less lurid territory in the collective male libido. The slight, schoolgirlish Skye has become not the latest hot porn vixen but a virtual girlfriend for hundreds of lonely web surfers. Rose compares the website to videogame representations of real-life situations. "She's like a sim, an avatar of the girlfriend, living her life on the video monitor," he says.
"You just keep coming up with the next new thing," says the man behind the website, Michael Strouse, a veteran of online adult sites who has meticulously flogged BrookeSkye.com, slowly increasing the number of other sites that promote it in return for a small fee. "Unlike what a lot of guys think that you have to go harder and harder and more raunchy you can go softer. Surprise, everybody still likes it."
On a recent Tuesday afternoon, Shawn Piscopo slides three tripod lights to full height in the living room of Skye's Fort Lauderdale apartment. A 22-year-old with a hulking build, Piscopo has filmed many of the dozens of videos available to members on Skye's site, which include the young woman involved in everything from girl-girl-girl fests and solo masturbation to a try at skydiving.
Piscopo is as low key as Skye is high tempo. As he sets up for a striptease he plans to film this afternoon, he talks about the job of filming porn.
"I have members e-mail me, and they say, what would be cool is this, or put her in high heels. They want to see something they haven't seen before." He laughs. "Most of it's bullshit, though. They say, 'Oh I wanna see Brooke licking on a wet pussy.' We already have, like, 20 videos of that!"
Today, he wants to get footage of Skye cleaning her apartment, which she shares with longtime friend Samantha, who has appeared in numerous videos with Skye. Samantha will soon be the centerpiece of a similar site created by the same company. Today, though, she remains holed up in her bedroom after frying herself in a tanning bed.
Piscopo turns on the lights, and the apartment suddenly glows like an atrium at noon. "When [members] see me on the web cam, when I'm recording her, they say, 'Who the fuck is that guy?' Brooke tells them that it's her cameraman. They all say, 'He has the fuckin' greatest job in the world. I wanna work for him. I'll hold his camera. '"
He shakes his head. "Once you see everything and you do it every single day... Imagine you had sex four times a day, every single day, for the rest of your life. Do you think you'd get sick of it? I bet you would."
Skye isn't quite as porn-world-wearied as her cameraman and friend, it turns out at least, it seems that way when a writer and photographer from New Times stand nearby during the shoot.
"Do a strip in front of the couch," Piscopo requests quietly. She's wearing a jean skirt and pink hoodie over a fancy white brassiere. They banter for a minute; Skye's laugh is a hearty guffaw that seems incongruous for a woman who's as strikingly skinny as a fasting ascetic. The bolt of skirt covers only the upper two-thirds of her buttocks.
"You ready?" he says. "I'm gonna start here." She's standing, and he's got the video camera at her waist. She begins to writhe, rubbing her hands across her bare belly, her thighs, across her chest.
"Hold on," she says, as giggles overtake her.
"What are you laughing about?" he asks.
"I'm so embarrassed. It's weird. I'm sorry. It's just weird having these two here."
"Now I'm feeling weird too," he mutters. They both crack up.
She addresses the interlopers. "We used to have a crapload of people when we filmed, but for so long, it's just been him, so it's all like... funny."
She moves off to the kitchen. "I feel like such a geek," she groans. "Let me make this coffee and I'll be good, I swear."
Undoubtedly, it's this kind of genial self-deprecation that keeps members paying that $30 a month or, for the long haul, $80 for a half year. Well, her humility and a serious onslaught of ads and spam promoting BrookeSkye.com.
To that end, Skye and Piscopo spend many hours a week filming webmaster requests, which are short promos in which Skye praises another website by name. It's done to curry favor with other webmasters, so that they in turn promote BrookeSkye.com.
"Sometimes they have me doing goofy shit, like running around in pantyhose and a bra and blowing bubbles," she says of the promos. "Don't ask I don't know. My boss has these shirts that say, 'Don't ask me, I'm just the model.' That's my motto."
Once curious surfers actually arrive at the site, a mockup of a live, interactive web cam beckons, "Click here to start chatting with Brooke now!" Sure enough, Brooke Skye is seemingly online replying to the most lascivious requests. Try to join in yourself, though, and you'll be told that only members can send messages. Meanwhile, Brooke starts messaging the screen name you entered: "Where did you go?" "Are you still out there?"
When a member signs up, he's e-mailed a photo of Skye, which, through the miracle of digital manipulation, holds a greeting sign with the member's name on it. Inside lie roughly 100 videos of Skye in acts erotic and mundane: shopping for a car, masturbating, moving to a new apartment, muffdiving two girls, cleaning her apartment, nibbling nipples.
With some coffee and a little food in her stomach, Skye finishes filming the striptease in yeoman fashion, a performance that will soon join the archives of her pseudo life.
Sitting at a sidewalk table at Tarpon Bend Restaurant on a recent blustery afternoon, Skye looks like a typical spring breaker, dressed in shorts and a tank top, with hair whipping about in the breeze. Although this had been scheduled as a lunch-time interview, she'd been held up by the vagaries of filming and a woefully insufficient sense of direction that left her hell and gone from the restaurant. By the time she arrives, it's midafternoon. She's now wolfing down a seafood appetizer.
"I love food!" she gushes with a just-off-the-farm sincerity. At her age, a hectic pace and a gleeful excess of cigarettes and coffee lets her eat what she wants and remain Kate Moss-thin. She speaks expansively, as though there's nowhere else in the world she'd rather be right now.
Skye, who asked that New Times use only her porn name, hails from Plant City, Florida, where her family has lived for several generations. About 40 miles east of Tampa, the town is surrounded by strawberry country; its water tower is painted to look like the fruit. It's the kind of place where "everybody knows everybody," she says, and "when you see a Ferrari drive by, it's like seeing a frickin' eclipse."
Reflecting back on the path to porn, Skye recalls: "I always wanted to be a model. That was like my thing. I'd say, I'm going to be a model, a supermodel." Her mother enrolled her in Barbizon modeling courses and cheerleading. "That's all I ever worked on. We went to schools, conventions. They were the kind of places that just wanted money, not really legit, but it gave me the skills I have now."
She did have a shocker in her young life when she learned that the woman she called mother turned out to be her grandmother. And the girl she thought was her older sister was her mom. Her older brother, who's now a Marine and was recently shipped off to Iraq, used to tease her that "my mom's not your mom." She ignored it until she asked her mother about it around age 13.
"Then she sat down and told me about the whole thing," she says. "Then I thought, 'My sister's my mom. Hmm. Kinda cool. '" She adds: "I thought my sister was so cool."
She and her close friend and current roommate, Samantha (not her real name either), started skipping classes in senior high and ended up taking equivalency tests to graduate early. A few days from turning 18, she and Samantha got an apartment in Plant City, and she supported herself as a rollerskate-clad waitress at a drive-in.
Basically, she'd stayed out of trouble. "I remember the first time I ever drank a beer one beer and I was 17," she says. "I was so scared. I thought I'd be in so much trouble when I got home."
And she remained a virgin, she says. That is, until she turned 18. "One after another, things started happening," she says. "Stupid crap." After crashing her car one night, she was arrested for driving while intoxicated. Soon, she learned she was pregnant after having sex with her longtime boyfriend, Kyle. "That was a huge shocker. My family had been so proud of me."
Kyle pressed her to have an abortion; she refused. "We were both young and freaking out," she says. "Then he came to realize that he was going to grow up one day and want to be the dad and didn't have a chance," she says. In an act of impulsiveness and responsibility, Kyle signed up for a five-year stint in the Marines in order to provide health insurance for Brooke and the baby.
About five months into the pregnancy, though, she miscarried. "It killed me because I was so attached to it," says. "And poor Kyle. He was devastated. And he hates the Marine Corps. He hates it so much."
He also came to resent her, she admits, because she was so angry at the world. A kind of angry soliloquy played over and over in her head: "What do you want from me? I get a DUI, then I'm pregnant, and I don't want to be, then I accept it, and then I lose the kid. What do you want from me?" She didn't get an answer. They divorced when he returned from boot camp.
The next chapter of her life actually began while she was pregnant, though she didn't recognize it then. When a friend needed a ride to a porn shoot in Tampa, Skye offered to drive her. It was a hardcore, man-woman shoot, and as Skye watched, she was impressed by the cold, hard professionalism of it all. "It wasn't a bunch of dirty, nasty people," she says.
She'd also become friends with a man who worked as an agent for adult models. He'd been pestering her about giving the work a try, and in the wake of the divorce, she finally said yes.
Her first shoot was for an all-girl website called "We Live Together," whose conceit is exactly as it sounds. "I was so scared," says Skye, whose sexual experience with women was nil. "Oh... my... God."
"It goes boom, boom, boom," she recalls of her inaugural foray into girl-girl sex. "You go in, they give you your outfit, they do your makeup, you meet the girls, then you go to the location. They'll give you a little briefing as to what you'll be doing. It's acting sucky acting at that. The crappy part is that there's no script. So I was walking on the beach with these girls, and I'd never been in a thong on the beach before. I had a towel around me. The cameraman is motioning: Take the towel off, take off the towel. We acted like we'd just met each other, then went back to the apartment."
Sex with a woman was "weird," she says, but adds, "It's not that complicated. I didn't feel disgusted with myself. Everybody has their own opinion. I understand that."
As to whether she derives any sexual pleasure in the girl-girl and masturbation scenes, Skye is contradictory. On the one hand, those performances aren't what she regards as her personal sex life (she dates men). But, she adds, "I do get off most of the time."
The newbie porn actress could have ended up just another pretty face toiling in the crotches of young girls were it not for Michael Strouse, the 31-year-old web entrepreneur with operations in Minneapolis and Fort Lauderdale.
Sitting at a café near his downtown Lauderdale office recently, Strouse talked about the fast-evolving field of adult web entertainment. He's baby-faced, with short, dark hair and a powerful voice. Dressed in baggy shorts and sneakers, he's confident and unexpectedly candid.
At the beginning of 2005, Strouse and his company, MayorsMoney, planned to create a website based on the pseudo life of a young woman. "We were looking for somebody who was cute with a good personality doesn't need to be superhot, just needs a super personality," Strouse says. A freelance photographer mentioned a young brunet in the Tampa area. He quickly recognized that Skye had the right mix.
Strouse had been involved with online porn most of his adult life. He grew up in the Minneapolis area and never went to college. By 1996, the consummate autodidact was dabbling with website design. Among his first clients was Sex World, a venerable adult store in Minneapolis' warehouse district. From that point, he never strayed far from the adult entertainment field.
In 1997, he created porncity.com to cash in on the explosion of online adult content. "It was a service that let someone set up his own website, like Geocities. But I designed it to be adult in nature because Geocities were kicking adult sites off." Porncity.com proved to be enormously successful, and Strouse dubbed himself "The Mayor" of the site.
"Bandwidth costs were sky-high," he explains, "but the traffic was also high, so we could afford to pay a fortune." The dot.com crash wiped out most of that traffic, and he finally shut it down because of complaints about spam. "I don't like to be in the position of policing people to make sure they're complying with laws and regulations, and I didn't want to be in the position of claiming ignorance and saying it's not my fault they were breaking the law." The site still exists, but it's mainly used to entice web surfers to buy memberships to adult sites and as an online-porn industry bulletin board.
Strouse has been running a handful of sex sites over the past few years that offer generic bump-and-grind content made by contract producers. The site that was to become BrookeSkye.com was an "experiment," he says, the kind of site he'd like to see. "Not the standard ultra-hard-core gangbang," he says.
"For the most part, people aren't joining a site because they like the idea; it's because they've seen one girl who caught their eye and they want to see more of her. The trick is finding the girl who has mass appeal."
Skye possesses a stick-in-your-mind quality, he says. "She's approachable. She's obtainable, a human aspect to a very impersonal kind of transaction. You go to an adult website, usually it's just a bunch of nasty, porn-star kind of girls. The thing we wanted with Brooke was to make it two-way communication, an interactive communication between the user and her.
"It's kind of like a Big Brother thing. They're watching her whole life, or what we're putting out there as her whole life. They eat up every aspect of it. That might not be 'stroke' material, but it might be something to watch after they're done doing their business and they want to get to know more. The idea is to make the site sticky, to give them as much entertainment as watching a cable show. That's why she does stuff like the mini golf and skydiving. They need to be able to log in during the day and get what they want."
The site has exceeded Strouse's expectations, though he declined to talk about how much money it's pulled in. He said "tens of thousands" of members have had memberships in the ten months it's been operating.
So what keeps all those salivating longtime members coming back? New Times asked several of them; all requested that only their screen names be used.
Lee, a 51-year-old who lives in south Georgia, is single with three grown sons. He first saw Skye in a Girls Gone Wild video in which she appeared in a masturbation scene, and he was quite taken with her. Last summer, he got several spam messages promoting the site. He bit and immediately recognized her.
"It's been fun watching her erotically grow you can just watch her becoming more comfortable with her body and her pleasure," he says. "I think she really is just blessed with this incredible erotic energy. She really does just love pleasure, and it really is kind of cool, because she doesn't just give it away; she kind of keeps it hidden and something of a mystery."
When the site first appeared, Skye left the web cam on 24/7, and Lee would pop online at various times to see what she was doing. "I did get emotionally attached, no doubt about it," he confesses.
Asked about his feeling and expectations toward her, Lee laughs and says, "You know, I don't think that she's going to marry me. I don't figure she's fixin' to run up to Georgia, because, wow, you said all these things about me and I've fallen in love with you."
Ice, a 20-year-old from England who became a member in December, wrote in an e-mail, "I guess she sort of seems like a girlfriend to me, but I haven't really thought about it much. It would probably bother me if she did start doing hard-core scenes, but I wouldn't stop going to the site if she had them. And I don't think it would really bother me if she had a boyfriend who came on the cam, as long as he was fully clothed, lol."
Another member, goblue who'd sent Skye the bikini she wore on the Bubba show describes himself as professional, middle-aged, and recently divorced, living in a small college town in the Southeast.
"Brooke has something different here," he wrote in an e-mail. "She is allowing members to interact with her in basically all of her moods, see her moving to a new place, getting new stuff, etc."
So does he see her as a quasi-girlfriend? "Interesting question, basically you are asking if I am delusional just kidding," he responds. "No, not a quasi- or other girlfriend, but part of a normal fantasy life."
On a late Monday afternoon in April, Skye perches on the edge of her unmade bed, madly typing messages on her laptop. Clipped to the top of the computer's monitor, a video cam aimed at her transmits her somewhat distorted movements to a couple of dozen people who've logged on to BrookeSkye.com.
Skye is well into her daily, two-hour live chat, during which paid members watch her dance, prance, flash, and type as they carry on a chaotic conversation with her and one another. On second thought, this isn't exactly a conversation. It's more like a group of wisecracking guys trying to impress the girl or perhaps a bunch of young dudes on their first visit to a strip club, where each tries to out-hyperbolize the other. For example, when one asks Skye how old she was when she started masturbating, another guy quickly interjects, "Brooke could masturbate in the crib."
But there's a strong strain of solicitousness from her longstanding admirers, a gentlemanliness that's peculiar for porn sites.
Today, Skye is wearing a tight, white, pocket T and a short, short wrap-around jean skirt. From the members' perspective, her long and oval freckled face looms large on the screen. She has big brown eyes, long, dark-brunet hair, and a smile that reveals a full battery of sparkling white teeth. She habitually pushes her hair back out of her face with both hands.
As she does frequently, Skye scurries out of her bedroom for a smoke break or something or other. Like every day, this camcast rolls on, with and without her. As members wait for her to reappear, they comment among themselves, often answering questions posed by newly arrived members. After months at the helm of these chats, Skye tries to greet each new visitor, answer questions, and, with aplomb, deflect the more demanding entreaties.
That's something she learned to do the hard way. During her first week on the web cam in June 2005, she started to cry because of one member's messages.
"He was, like, show me this, show me that," she recalls. "I'd say, I don't feel like it. He'd say that you have to show me, what the fuck did I pay for, you're a slut. I wasn't used to being disrespected like that. It made me feel trashy about myself." (She can now ban members.)
"Now I would never cry," she chirps. Indeed, on this day, with a little assistance, she'll deftly handle a French importuner who's logged in as Guest120.
After she zips back into her bedroom with a cell phone to her ear, she's warmly greeted by members and given advice.
Twin15: Stop biting your nails!! Bad habit.
Jimbo: Brooke who are u talking to?
Brooke: lol I know I'm sorry
She then gets a message from the Frenchman, but she doesn't reply, dealing with other questions instead.
Jimbo: Brooke may I see what you're wearing?
Twin15: They are called clothes lol jk sorry man
Brooke: lol
Ron: A lot of guys want to see what Brooke isn't wearing lol
Pussyman2: The problem with Brooke is that the best clothes for her is her hide
Jimbo: Well all you can see is her white top I kinda wanna see everything else
Skye jumps up and pulls up her shirt, which stays buoyed by her nipples. She turns around and hikes up her skirt, revealing a red lacy thong as she shakes her behind in hip-hop video fashion. She then bends close to the web cam and pantomimes a kiss with lips that fill the screen. She darts out of the room.
Bobby: An amazing butt
Ron: I have to go to confession tonight.
Bobby: That butt is a show stopper
Skye returns, and Guest120 pleads with her to do something with a sex toy. "Sorry, I don't have any toys," she taps into the keyboard. When he persists, she and other members try to cool him off.
Guest120: Can you take your clothes off pleaz
Brooke: In a little, take it slow baby
Bobby: Slow down dude, the show lasts a long time
Ron: Yeah, don't rush her. She's a pro and knows how to build up the climax
Guest120: Can I see your pussy
Brooke: Nope not today
She retreats across the room and in subdued lighting changes into different panties, which cover even less skin. The treat elicits another round of sexual bombast, such as "She could turn a gay man straight" and "She could raise troop morale" if she joined the USO.
Deconman gingerly queries, "Brooke if it's not to much to ask may I know how often u masturbate?" She answers, "Hehehehe."
Guest120 pleads once again for her to "do a show for French people," but other members flame his ass.
Twin15: No Americans don't like French
Pussyman2: I am French and eat shit every day
Discussion turns to Skye's breasts, which, there is firm agreement, should retain their God-given diminutiveness. (Stand down, boys; her contract prohibits that kind of body modification.)
Coosh: Brooke never ever get fake tits please
Brooke: I won't coosh
Lee: And if you ever let anyone talk you into putting fake tits in I will never talk to you again
Guest120 remains obsessed with another part of her anatomy, however, repeatedly hounding, "Can I see your pussy?" He announces he wants to marry her.
Chiming in with a message unusual for its length and earnestness in this forum, Nitro writes: "Brooke, just know that no matter what anyone says or does to you in your life that there will always be those few in between that truly enjoy your company and the wonderful way you present yourself to the world."
Guest120 is in another world. "Don't you care?" he moans.
Skye genuinely likes many of her members in a way that's perhaps possible only for a 19-year-old whose life quickly exceeded her small-town expectations.
"In their minds, they make-believe I'm all theirs," she says. "I don't get attached to one certain person. It's more like, the way I am with one, I'm with all." She thinks for a moment, then delivers a typical Skye-ism: "I have my ones there that are the ones."
Her site attracts all ages, but she finds the older men easier on the soul. "The younger ones say, show me this, show me that more disrespectful. The older ones, they're more like, hi, sweetheart, how are you today?"
And how does Bubba the Love Sponge treat her?
"Whaddaya do on this fucking website?" he howls at her as she sits before him in the studio. "Are you fucking monkeys?"
"A lot of girls and myself," she coos. She gently deflects his questions about how much she's paid.
Returning from a commercial break, Bubba strikes a slightly reverential tone. "Brooke, I gotta kinda apologize to you. I just checked the stats on the website. It completely fuckin' smokes my ranking. This is a hot little bitch right here."
Brooke Skye giggles contentedly.
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