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One of the most controversial political attack ads of the year didn't originate with an actual candidate or political party. It came from Stephen Colbert. Or more accurately, "Stephen Colbert," his satirical alter ego.
The ad was funded by Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow, a super PAC formed by Colbert as part of his "exploratory committee to lay the groundwork for
"I don't know if Mitt Romney is a serial killer," he told Stephanopoulos. "That's a question he's going to have to answer.… I do not want any untrue ads on the air that could in any way be traced back to me."
It was brilliant political satire—earning Colbert a prestigious Peabody Award, his second—that crossed into the realm of performance art. Colbert mocked the system from within, using himself as a comedic straw man. Although Colbert's main gig is behind a desk as host of Comedy Central's faux pundit news show The Colbert Report, it wasn't the first time he'd blurred the line between satirist and subject. Colbert has mocked President George W. Bush to his face at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, testified before the House Subcommittee on Immigration (where he called for Americans "to stop eating fruits and vegetables") and co-hosted with The Daily Show's Jon Stewart a political rally on the National Mall that attracted an estimated 215,000 participants. Jon Stewart, Colbert's former boss at Comedy Central's The Daily Show, once described his job as "throwing spitballs" from the back of the room. But Colbert seems more comfortable at the front of the classroom, trying to see if he can steal the teacher's chalk.
"Colbert has radically redefined satire by not only mocking the news, but also by becoming a major source of news," says Sophia McClennen, a professor of comparative literature at Penn State University, and the author of Colbert's America: Satire and Democracy. She's not the only academic who's given a lot of thought to Colbert. Boston University now offers a seminar exploring Colbert's use of "syllogism, logical fallacy, burlesque, and travesty." There are at least a dozen books devoted to Colbert, including one with a chapter titled "Is Stephen Colbert America's Socrates?" It may seem like making mountains out of comedy molehills, but McClennen insists that all the attention is justified. "Colbert is the greatest satirist of his generation," she says. "Maybe of all time."
Born in Washington, D.C. and raised in Charleston, South Carolina, Colbert was the youngest of 11 kids. He had a happy childhood, at least for the first decade of his life. But in 1974, when he was 10 years old, his father, Dr. James Colbert, and his two brothers closest to him in age—Peter, 15, and Paul, 18—were killed in an airliner crash. Colbert found solace in science fiction and acting. He ended up in Chicago, studying theater at Northwestern University and joining the Second City comedy theater. He was hired as a correspondent and writer by The Daily Show in 1997, where he stayed for nine years before the network offered him The Colbert Report. Within a year, Colbert was averaging 1.5 million viewers a night. In April he was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World.
It's been uphill for Colbert ever since. The now 48 year-old comedian has two bestselling books—one of which, I Am A Pole (And So Can You!), is on exhibit at the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia, right next to a handwritten version of Ulysses by James Joyce—and a new tome, America Again: Re-becoming the Greatness We Never Weren't, was released just last month. The Colbert Report was recently renewed through the end of 2014, and at press time Colbert may or may not be a second-time candidate for U.S. president. When he isn't changing the world with satire, he enjoys a quiet home life in Montclair, New Jersey with his wife, Evelyn—an actress he met in 1990—and their three children, Madeline, Peter and John.
We sent writer Eric Spitznagel, who last interviewed Charlie Sheen for Playboy, to talk with Colbert. He reports: "I met Colbert at his studio office in New York's Hell's Kitchen. I'd actually met him before, back in 1992, when I was a newly minted box-office employee at Second City in Chicago and he was in his final months performing with the main-stage cast. During Christmas of that year, he randomly picked my name in the theater's "Secret Santa" gift exchange, and gave me a xeroxed copy of an unpublished J.D. Salinger story from what he called his 'private stash.' When I reminded him about the gift, twenty years later, he remembered every detail, including the extensive notes he'd written in the margins.
As we talked, Colbert sat behind his desk, his most recent Peabody in front of him, as well as a homemade award statue given to him by actress Olivia Wilde (which she'd labeled 'Acted the Hardest'). Outside the open window behind him, an American flag fluttered in the breeze, perfectly positioned over his right shoulder in a way even his fictional doppelgänger couldn't hope to choreograph."
PLAYBOY: When people meet you for the first time, which version do they want, Stephen Colbert or "Stephen Colbert"?
COLBERT: I think they always want to meet the guy who's going to show up and tell jokes. But if I'm asked to do something that isn't specifically a performance, then I have to be very specific that he's never going to show up.
PLAYBOY: "He" being the other Stephen?
COLBERT: That's right. If I'm doing a talk show or an interview like this, or pretty much anything where I can't control the context, I'm loath to do the character.
PLAYBOY: Why?
COLBERT: Because outside the context of the show, you have to be okay with the clang of him against reality.
PLAYBOY: But isn't that what makes him funny?
COLBERT: Yeah, but that doesn't always work in a different context. We create our own reality on the show. I'm in a cocoon of the character's creation. Even within that reality, he's in a cocoon. Unless I'm doing something like the Correspondents' Dinner, testifying before Congress, doing the rally or something where I'm purposively injecting myself into a story, there's no benefit to pushing him up against reality. While I'm an improviser and enjoy discovery, the show follows a script. I have a pretty good idea what's going to happen. It's a very crafted, controlled environment.
PLAYBOY: You can't control what happens with the guests, can you? They're not following a script.
COLBERT: No, but they've all been warned. I tell everybody the same thing: "I do the show in character, and he's an idiot."
PLAYBOY: Is that still necessary? Do people come on The Colbert Report and not know what to expect?
COLBERT: It's usually someone from another country or from a rigorous academic discipline who doesn't have a lot of time for TV. Mostly I tell them because it's a ritual for me. I have to remind myself what I'm about to do, because I rarely hit it as hard as I used to.
PLAYBOY: Why not?
COLBERT: It's hard to remember. Often I'm just very interested in what my guests have to say. You have to be vigilant to stay ignorant.
PLAYBOY: Your guests have to be willing to play along too.
COLBERT: They do, yes. That's what I tell them before the show. I tell them, "He's willfully ignorant of what you know and care about. Honestly disabuse him of his ignorance and we'll have a good time." The important thing in that sentence is [speaks slowly] "honestly disabuse him of his ignorance." Actually tell him why he's wrong. Hopefully that makes it easier for the guest. All they have to do, as my guest producer Emily Lazar says, is talk to him as though he's a harmless drunk at the next bar stool.
PLAYBOY: That can still be intimidating. You're essentially asking them to walk into an argument.
COLBERT: Yeah, but it's an argument with an idiot. Some people perceive me as an assassin or at least someone who can slip under your guard with a knife. But if you watch what I do, that's almost never the case. I'm just trying to keep the balloon in the air. It rarely turns into anything combative. It's mostly just silly, or it's my character expressing his ignorance on a difficult or not-at-all difficult subject. It's an opportunity to knock down common ignorances. And I would pray that guests do that.
PLAYBOY: Democratic Virginia congressman Jim Moran compared doing your show to "consensual rape." Does that seem about right?
COLBERT: I wouldn't put that on my business card, nor would I make it my campaign slogan if I were Jim Moran. I suppose the consensual part was him being unbelievably playful. He was up for anything, even after I called him a poor man's Ted Kennedy.
PLAYBOY: If people think you're an assassin or that being on the show is like rape, why do they do it? What's the benefit for them?
COLBERT: I don't know. Maybe they have a book to sell. I hope that perception is starting to change. I think politicians are the only ones who are wary about us. That's why we get almost no conservatives anymore. Even conservative pundits are hard to come by, which is too bad.
PLAYBOY: Who's your ideal guest?
COLBERT: We want someone who represents something, who feels strongly about what they're talking about and will allow for a little dramatic friction. The most disappointing guest is somebody who won't be their personality.
PLAYBOY: What does that mean? How can you not be your personality?
COLBERT: Take Mr. Bill O'Reilly. He was a perfectly lovely guest, but he wouldn't be his personality. He wouldn't be the guy he is on his show. And I don't know why. I went on his show, and I was my personality. That was our deal; I'd go on his show and he'd come on mine. But he came on my show and he wasn't his personality. He wasn't an unpleasant person. He's a perfectly fine guest and I have no complaints other than the fact that I booked Bill O'Reilly and I got William O'Reilly.
PLAYBOY: Did he give you any advice? Any words of wisdom from one pundit to another?
COLBERT: He said, "Watch your guest list. If you book the same kind of people over and over—Al Franken, Keith Olbermann—people notice that pattern." I told him, "Oh, Bill, I toy with those guys. I'm slapping them around." He said, "I know, but not everybody is watching your show as closely as I am." I was like [clasps hands and holds them to his chest], "I've totally made it!" That was about five, six months into the show.
PLAYBOY: That's like being a priest and having the Pope compliment your communion skills.
COLBERT: Exactly! He's just so fantastic. He's so great at what he does. I still enjoy watching his show.
PLAYBOY: Do you watch it for homework?
COLBERT: No, just for my own personal joy. We don't really model The Colbert Report after him so much anymore. We haven't for years. I remember our last show of our first year, we did something called Guitarmageddon. We've been doing it for six years now, but that was the first one. We had a guitar solo contest between myself and the lead guitarist from the Decemberists. We had Morley Safer and Eliot Spitzer and Henry Kissinger and Peter Frampton. It was a weird, weird show. I can't believe we packed it all into a half hour. After rehearsal, the staff was laughing and I said to them, "Remember, guys, it's got to be just like O'Reilly." That's when I realized how far we'd gotten away from that.
PLAYBOY: One of your friends from high school said you once joked about starting a cult. Is that true?
COLBERT: Yeah, that was an L. Ron Hubbard reference. I was with a bunch of guys—we were all science fiction fans—and we were sitting around one day, drinking beer or doing something we weren't supposed to be doing, talking about power. The question posed was, If you wanted power over people, what would you do? What career would you pursue? I remember one guy, who's actually a colonel now, said, "If I wanted real power, I wouldn't be a politician. I'd be in the Joint Chiefs of Staff." It got around to me, and I said, "Well, I think I would probably major in psychology and start a cult." [laughs] There's something enjoyable about cults to me.
PLAYBOY: Enjoyable?
COLBERT: I'm interested in what makes someone a cult figure and what engenders cult adherence, what engenders that behavior.
PLAYBOY: Are you surprised people are drawn to cults?
COLBERT: Not surprised. I'm fascinated. I'm fascinated that people want to know what to do. And people want to know what to think. And people want to know how to feel. Not just what to feel but how to feel.
PLAYBOY: Do you think that's unnatural?
COLBERT: No, it's completely natural. I'm surprised there aren't more unbalanced people in the world, because being alive is not easy. We're just not that nice to one another. We're all we have, and Jesus, are we shitty to one another. We really are. The only thing that keeps us going back to one another is that we're all filled with such enormous self-doubt. We have doubts about our ability to be alone, to self-actualize. We're on such a rocky road all the time. Every moment is new. Every inch of the mountain is fresh snow. If someone said, "I have been out ahead and I know what you're supposed to do," if I believed that were true, I would absolutely obey whatever father told me. I would stay on the compound.
PLAYBOY: You would just as happily be a cult member as a cult leader?
COLBERT: I'd love to be a cult member, just another loyal follower. It sounds very comforting.
PLAYBOY: The Colbert Nation could arguably be described as a cult.
COLBERT: In the loosest possible sense. It's an ironic cult.
PLAYBOY: But your audience listens to you. It may be a joke, but it's a joke with a lot of followers.
COLBERT: Which is not what we set out to do. When we started the show, we wanted it to have a mythos that would never be real. We'd play on the difference between reality and my character's perception of reality.
PLAYBOY: He would think he had influence but he really didn't?
COLBERT: Exactly, right, right. He thinks that he says things and people listen. They take action. He's got a nation, this army that he can mobilize. (Saturday Night Live writer) Robert Smigel is a friend of mine, and when we started working on The Colbert Report I hired him as consultant. Right before the first show launched, he was like, "I think a week in you should say to the audience, 'Look, I want to address something here. I'm not a prophet. I get it. I understand why you're feeling this way, but I can't heal people with my hands.'" And a week in, he called me and said, "Too late!" We were already too successful for that joke, to play on the vast difference in status between thinking you're a prophet and being on a show that nobody watches.
PLAYBOY: Because people were actually watching?
COLBERT: They were actually watching! The quick success of the show killed some of the games we were hoping to play. Like the original Colbert Nation website. It was a fan site we put together, which was supposedly run by a shut-in whose entire life revolved around just watching the show. And he was super dedicated. But then people made their own fan sites, which were much better and way more obsessive.
PLAYBOY: They got the joke.
COLBERT: Not only did they get it, they were willing to play along. I'm constantly awed by their willingness to play along with almost anything. They actually cheer things they don't believe in because my character says it. You know what I mean? I have a generally liberal audience, but they will applaud when I nail a liberal lion because they want my character to win. It's a strange relationship that seems natural now, but every so often I have to remind myself that this is not normal. This is not common.
PLAYBOY: When did you realize your relationship with your audience could be collaborative?
COLBERT: It was the bridge in Hungary. They were trying to decide on a name, so they sponsored an online poll. I think Chuck Norris was high on their list. One of my writers, I wish I could remember who at this point, said, "Why don't we try to get you the bridge?" So I suggested it to the audience, and we destroyed the competition. When the final votes came in, I think we had something like 17 million votes. And there are only 10 million people in Hungary.
PLAYBOY: But you didn't get the bridge named after you?
COLBERT: No. The Hungarian ambassador came on the show and explained to me that the winner had to be dead. And Hungarian. But he made me an honorary citizen and invited me to speak at their parliament. That's when I realized we had something special with our audience.
PLAYBOY: Will they do pretty much anything you say, or are there rules and parameters?
COLBERT: I put a lot of thought into the ways we engage with them. [laughs] I always say "we," like "We're pregnant." But there are a lot of people involved. It's not just me, by any means. With the audience, we think about things like whether we are dictating their actions or inviting them to take action. Dictation of action is not nearly as fun for an audience. We've done it sometimes, and it's been a mistake. It's much better to invite them to be part of an action rather than saying, "I command you to do this." The other thing is, you have to follow through. If you initiate a game and they take part, you can't stop until it reaches a mutually satisfying resolution.
PLAYBOY: The Colbert character is obsessed with fear. He even had a rally in Washington, "Keep Fear Alive." Why is fear so intoxicating?
COLBERT: I suppose fear is like a drug. A little bit isn't that bad, but you can get addicted to the consumption and distribution of it. What's evil is the purposeful distribution of fear. As Paul said when he was faced with the gom jabbar, "Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration."
PLAYBOY: Did you just make a Dune reference?
COLBERT: I did! [laughs] If you're injecting fear into other people, then you're trying to kill their minds. You're trying to get them to stop thinking. That's antithetical to the founding of this country. It's on the Jefferson Memorial. I'm stealing this from Jefferson, but I'm also stealing it from the movie Born Yesterday. Bill Holden takes Judy Holliday to the Jefferson Memorial, and they read the inscription together. "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." Fear is an attempt to impose tyranny over someone's mind. It's an act of oppression.
PLAYBOY: We know what Stephen Colbert the character is afraid of, or trying to make us afraid of.
COLBERT: Everything.
PLAYBOY: Bears, jazz robots, happiness.
COLBERT: [Laughs] The list is endless.
PLAYBOY: But what about you? What are you, the real Stephen Colbert, afraid of?
COLBERT: [Pauses] Accidentally driving my boat into a pillar with loved ones onboard.
PLAYBOY: You are going to need to elaborate on that.
COLBERT: I really like boats. I was driving a boat this summer with my family and some friends. About a quarter mile away there was a channel marker, and I was heading straight for it. Now there is no way on God's green earth that I would not have seen that channel marker in the 45 seconds it would have taken me to get to it. But at the second it appeared I wasn't looking up. I was looking at my instrument panel. Then I looked up and my wife said, "You see the channel marker, right?" And I said, "Of course." But I actually hadn't seen it yet. I have no doubt that everything would have been fine, but in my mind I see myself for the next 45 seconds, I don't know, somehow…closing my eyes and slamming into the channel marker with a boat full of friends. [pauses] I don't know what that means.
PLAYBOY: That's an incredibly specific fear.
COLBERT: It really is. [laughs]
PLAYBOY: You could have just said "drowning."
COLBERT: I don't like spiders. How about that?
PLAYBOY: That works.
COLBERT: I actually don't like bears.
PLAYBOY: Seriously? Like your character?
COLBERT: I don't dislike bears, but I am kind of afraid of them. There was a time when, if I had dreams about bears, something bad was going on in my life.
PLAYBOY: How did bears become a recurring motif on the show? Was it just to have something to talk about that wasn't topical?
COLBERT: For the very first show, we were trying to find something that had a repeatable structure. We had this bit called "ThreatDown," when he talks about the number one threat to America that week. We were considering another story, something from Florida about a Burmese python that had grown to 13 feet long and swallowed an alligator and the alligator had eaten its way out of the snake. It was a really crazy story with horrible pictures. Then a bear story came up that wasn't as flashy, but we went with it. Partly because bears are very resonant to me, because I really do have a bit of a bear problem. And it just seemed like a richer fear to us. We always said that anything my character is concerned about qualifies as news. If he says bears are the number one threat to America, then that is the case.
PLAYBOY: He's justifying his own anxieties?
COLBERT: Exactly. "I want to make you afraid of the things I'm afraid of."
PLAYBOY: Do you feel tied to the news cycle? When you're doing political comedy, a joke may be funny in the morning and irrelevant by that afternoon.
COLBERT: There's a good and a bad in that. We are the shadow cast by real people. And that shadow changes shape as the news cycle changes shape, so you always have fresh dirt to dig in. That's exciting. Like with this presidential race. It's as simple a narrative as any made-for-TV movie: two men, one victorious.
PLAYBOY: So how do you deal with that?
COLBERT: We know everything that happens structurally between here and there. You just prepare yourself to collect the news on the dates that are preordained. There are surprises, but there's a tent pole of a narrative between today and the inauguration. But we also try to release ourselves from that. We don't need to follow what everyone says is the story. Not because we're mavericks but because sometimes the story holds no interest for me. I'm perfectly happy to talk about a story that's not necessarily timely or newsworthy but is just interesting to me. Like super PACs.
PLAYBOY: Super PACs aren't newsworthy?
COLBERT: They're newsworthy, but they weren't in the news. Not many people at the time were talking about Super PACs, at least not in the mainstream media. Most people had no idea what they were. So for the first six months, we had to explain them to the audience every time I brought them up. I had to go all the way back to Santa Clara versus Southern Pacific Railroad in 1886 to explain how corporations are people. Every time! And then recapitulate that story as quickly as I could to get to Citizens United and the use of unlimited corporate, union and individual donations in political speech. That process of educating the audience is really educating ourselves.
PLAYBOY: But you took it one step further and started your own super PAC.
COLBERT: We did, yeah.
PLAYBOY: Isn't that unnecessarily complicated? Why not just make jokes about super PACs in the abstract? Wouldn't that be easier, and cheaper?
COLBERT: It would be, absolutely. But I have an opportunity as this character to do things. I have an opportunity to do things that lead to discovery.
PLAYBOY: For you or the audience?
COLBERT: For me and the audience. If you just talk about it, everyone sits on their hands and the reality of it just looks at you talk about it. But by putting yourself in it, reality has to respond to your actions. And their response is generally the same response that happens in reality. I don't pretend that the camera doesn't change things. But it's a version of reality that allows us to show what normally doesn't get seen. You know what I mean?
PLAYBOY: No. Could you give us an example?
COLBERT: I've had my lawyer Trevor Potter as a guest on the show. He's a former Commissioner and Chairman of the FEC (Federal Election Commission). And he's my actual lawyer. Everything that Trevor and I talked about on the show are the same things that get talked about with Super PACs and 501(c)(4)s. But we're not talking about it in a quiet room, as Mitt Romney would say. The important thing is to not talk about it in a quiet room. Almost every time Trevor's been on, and he's explaining Super PACs to me, there's been a moment, sometimes audibly, where the audience is like (gasps).
PLAYBOY: Is that gasp more satisfying than laughter?
COLBERT: Sometimes it is, yeah. Because I feel the same way. It's that joy of discovery.
PLAYBOY: How much money did you ultimately raise for your super PAC?
COLBERT: About $1.4 million. We've got somewhere between $850,000 and $900,000 left. We've spent about half a million dollars of it so far. Because running for president—or not running for president, whatever it was we did—is expensive. But I can spend it on anything I want. I could use my super PAC money to buy a private jet, and I have to justify it to no one. I wouldn't have known that unless I had my own super PAC. That's the great thing about throwing yourself into the story. You find out things you wouldn't have known otherwise.
PLAYBOY: Have you always had this curiosity? As a kid, did you get the same excitement from digging into a complicated subject and trying to figure out how it ticks?
COLBERT: To some extent, sure. Any curiosity I have probably comes from my dad. He was a big thinker, a true intellectual. His idea of a good time was to read French philosophy, often French Christian philosophy.
PLAYBOY: Did he have strong political opinions?
COLBERT: I don't really know. The only bumper sticker my parents ever had just said "Kennedy." That's all it said. And my father was I think president of Physicians for Kennedy. We have a picture of my father and President Kennedy at the White House. My father had just come out of a rainstorm. He's soaking wet and wearing a raincoat. Kennedy is shaking his hand and my father is just laughing. That's the only political involvement I know about. Otherwise, I think my parents were pretty conservative.
PLAYBOY: Were your parents funny?
COLBERT: My mom is very warm and funny and quick to laugh and quick to hug and kiss. My father died when I was pretty young, so I don't remember any specific jokes, but he certainly encouraged us to be funny. But my brothers and sisters are the funniest people in the world to me. I have comedy influences, other comics I really like, but none of them is as influential as those 10 people above me. I've had people say, "Oh, you're the baby. You have a built-in audience." But I was their audience.
PLAYBOY: What kind of comedy did the Colbert kids enjoy? Slapstick, wordplay?
COLBERT: Everything. Every one of them is different. Some are great at telling stories. Some are into jokes. For my brother Billy it was all about jokes. "A guy walks into a bar." And W.C. Fields. He had W.C. Fields posters all over his room. If there was a W.C. Fields festival on television, he would force me to watch it. "You have to watch this pool cue trick that he does." Or Gahan Wilson. Billy was a huge Gahan Wilson fan. It was very dark comedy, and I was a little kid, but he'd show me all these Gahan Wilson cartoons. And he taught me how to juggle. [laughs] My brother Billy was a big comedic influence.
PLAYBOY: When did you think you might want to be more than just an audience member?
COLBERT: It was when we were driving back from my father's funeral. He was buried in Annapolis, and we were all driving home in a funeral limo. I don't know if that's what they're called. It's a limo with the jump seats that face front and back, like the presidential limo where the aide is talking to the president. You know what I'm talking about? In those espionage movies, right before the aide shoots the president and you find out he's really a Russian spy or whatever. It's that Mission Impossible style of limo.
PLAYBOY: We know what you mean.
COLBERT: One of my sisters, I think it was Mary, made a joke to Margo. Or it could have been Lulu to both of them. I don't remember. One of them made Margo laugh so hard, she snorted and fell on the floor. There was enough room between the seats to actually fall on the floor of this limo.
PLAYBOY: Do you remember the joke?
COLBERT: [Pauses] I don't, but I remember the laughter. I remember thinking [softly] I would like that. That connection.
PLAYBOY: Your father and two brothers died when you were just 10.
COLBERT: That's right.
PLAYBOY: They were on a commercial airliner that crashed while landing in thick fog. Your brothers were both teenagers, and your father was taking them to Connecticut to enroll them in private school. How did you make sense of their deaths?
COLBERT: Things didn't seem that important anymore. Nothing seemed that important anymore. My mother said to me—and I think she said this to all my brothers and sisters—she urged me to look at everything in the light of eternity. In other words, it doesn't matter what I wear. I just wear the uniform of my youth. I wear an oxford-cloth shirt and khakis. What does it matter? What does it matter what I wear?
PLAYBOY: As a 10-year-old boy who just lost his dad, that advice helped you?
COLBERT: Sure, absolutely.
PLAYBOY: It's been almost four decades since it happened. Does the grief dissipate?
COLBERT: No. It's not as keen. Well, it's not as present, how about that? It's just as keen but not as present. But it will always accept the invitation. Grief will always accept the invitation to appear. It's got plenty of time for you.
PLAYBOY: "I'll be here."
COLBERT: That's right. "I'll be here when you need me." The interesting thing about grief, I think, is that it is its own size. It is not the size of you. It is its own size. And grief comes to you. You know what I mean? I've always liked that phrase He was visited by grief, because that's really what it is. Grief is its own thing. It's not like it's in me and I'm going to deal with it. It's a thing, and you have to be okay with its presence. If you try to ignore it, it will be like a wolf at your door.
PLAYBOY: It's a loud wolf. It huffs and it puffs.
COLBERT: [Laughs] It does, doesn't it? It can rattle the hinges.
PLAYBOY: Not long after their deaths, you immersed yourself in science fiction.
COLBERT: It was right after we buried my father and brothers. I was staying with my brother Ed, who's 18 years older than I am and was married with kids. I was in their guest bedroom, where they kept stacks of science fiction books. I just randomly picked up The Long Arm of Gil Hamilton by Larry Niven. I read it and loved it. From there I just dove into the world of science fiction. When I was 13, one of my friends pressed into my hands The Lord of the Rings and said, "You've got to read this." And I loved it. As you can tell, I'm a little obsessed. [points to a Lord of the Rings pinball machine in the corner of his office]
PLAYBOY: What appealed to you about the books as a teenager?
COLBERT: In some ways it was about escape. I think there's absolute truth in escaping the reality of your present predicament. And that can just be about being young. It doesn't have to be tragedy. There's a tragedy to being 13. Things are changing. Friends are changing. Your body is changing. You need to escape that. My additional emotional crises don't necessarily explain my interest in it.
PLAYBOY: Didn't you visit the Hobbit film shoot in New Zealand?
COLBERT: I did. [Director] Peter Jackson invited me to the set last year. I flew out and watched them shoot some scenes and went to some locations. I saw a 25-minute cut, and it was amazing. Jackson knows I'm a big fan of the films.
PLAYBOY: You flew out to New Zealand just to watch? He didn't hire you as an extra or something?
COLBERT: [Smiles]
PLAYBOY: Are you telling us you're in the Hobbit movie?
COLBERT: Could be. [smiles]
PLAYBOY: Can you elaborate?
COLBERT: [Fumbles with paper on his desk] So, uh, I was just writing Mr. Jackson a note to congratulate him on making The Hobbit into three movies. Because I think that's just fantastic.
PLAYBOY: You're not going to tell us anything, are you?
COLBERT: [Smiles, says nothing]
PLAYBOY: You sneaky bastard.
COLBERT: You were asking how the book affected me as a teenager.
PLAYBOY: Sure, let's talk about that.
COLBERT: I think [Lord of the Rings character] Aragorn is the model of manhood. He's the Apollonian ideal. He's a warrior, a scholar, a poet, a healer. He's all things you can aspire to be. As a kid I thought I wanted to be like that.
PLAYBOY: But it wasn't all science fiction and fantasy for you. You also had a collection of Bill Cosby stand-up records.
COLBERT: Yeah, after the boys died, I inherited their record collection. I had Bill Cosby Is a Very Funny Fellow…Right! and Wonderfulness, and I listened to them over and over and over again, every night. [pauses, looks at his feet] I just wore them out.
PLAYBOY: Do you still have them?
COLBERT: Not the originals, no. But somebody sent me those two albums on CD, as a thank-you for something. I have them on my iPod now, and I can do every joke. I can do every joke with the exact same rhythm and timing that Mr. Cosby does them, after 30 years of not listening to them, because they were so deeply ingrained in me. The funny thing is, the albums were so scratched that I missed entire punch lines. He'd be doing a setup, and then it would skip ahead to a huge laugh. And in my mind I was like, What could that punch line have been? I was writing Bill Cosby's punch lines in my head.
PLAYBOY: Now that you've heard the CD versions, were you close?
COLBERT: Not at all. [laughs] My jokes were so far off.
PLAYBOY: Were those albums the only things you inherited from your brothers?
COLBERT: No, I got clothes and all kinds of things. I still have…I still have my brother Peter's belt. I've been carrying it in my closet since I was 10. I didn't even realize I'd been holding on to it until last year, when my son Peter had to go off to school one day.
PLAYBOY: Your son is also named Peter?
COLBERT: Yeah. I think it was a school concert, and he had to wear a belt and couldn't find his. I said, "Oh, I have something that might fit you." I went and found it and put it on him. It was a small belt. Peter was a skinny guy. I belted it on my son and my wife, Evie, said, "Where did this belt come from?"
PLAYBOY: Was that when you realized?
COLBERT: Yeah. I said, "Oh, that's Peter's." And she said, "You have your brother's belt?" And it occurred to me at that moment that I had moved that belt from closet to closet for 37 years without telling anyone, not even my wife, whom I've known for 20 years. We moved many times, and in every new house I've been [mimes clicking the belt onto a hook].
PLAYBOY: That makes sense. What were you going to do, throw it away?
COLBERT: That's exactly it! What do you do with these things? The other day I thought, I wonder what happened to that belt. And I realized that I don't care. Now I don't care.
PLAYBOY: Because you gave it to your son?
COLBERT: Because it got used. It got used. I remember when I was a teenager, I went skiing in Vermont. I had an aunt up there, my mother's older sister, who lived in Plainfield and was a dairy farmer. You need goggles when you ski, and I wore my uncle Eddie's goggles. These were black, heavy rubber goggles, with dark green lenses. He wore them while he was a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne.
PLAYBOY: The Screaming Eagles?
COLBERT: That's right. He died in the war. These were the goggles he wore on D-Day, and I would ski in his goggles. I remember on one of these ski trips, I lost the goggles. I had to tell my mom. I was devastated. And she said to me, "These things are to be used."
PLAYBOY: She sounds like a wise woman.
COLBERT: She is.
PLAYBOY: Was she supportive of your becoming an actor?
COLBERT: Absolutely. She had wanted to be an actress at one point in her life. She spent a lot of her college years doing theater, but then she got sick. She was bedridden for much of a year. When she recovered, my father said, "Let's get married." And they did, and she never did theater again. Her mother wanted to be an actress too, but that was very frowned upon in my grandmother's day. Being an actress was akin to being a streetwalker.
PLAYBOY: So you have acting in your DNA?
COLBERT: I do. My mother always loved acting and taught us as kids how to do falls.
PLAYBOY: Pratfalls?
COLBERT: Right. She would be in the kitchen and she'd suddenly just faint in a swoon, put a hand on her forehead and fall backward like this [demonstrates a melodramatic swoon], like Cleopatra learning of the loss of Antony or something. She would teach us to do the roll-down so you wouldn't hurt yourself as you fell. "Remember, it's ankle, knee, hip, chest, arm, head." We all learned how to do the falls. And we'd fall all over the house, all the time, and my mom was fine with it. I guess that love for all things theatrical just rubbed off on me. Also, I met my wife at the theater because of my mom.
PLAYBOY: How so?
COLBERT: She had an extra ticket to the Spoleto Festival in Charleston. She asked if I wanted to go, and I said sure. I walked into the theater, and there across the lobby was my wife. I thought, Oh, wow, there's my wife.
PLAYBOY: You knew immediately?
COLBERT: There was never a doubt in my mind.
PLAYBOY: Did you talk to her first, or did she talk to you?
COLBERT: [Laughs] That's a two-hour story, I'm afraid. It really is. People who have heard the whole story—and it's not a bad story; it's a good story—will later say to Evie, "Stephen told me the story of how you guys met." And Evie will go, "I'm so sorry." I can't start it and leave out any details, because to me it's somewhat miraculous that we're married. Let's just say I met her at a theater and leave it at that.
PLAYBOY: Didn't she know Jon Stewart before you did?
COLBERT: She did. She was an actress living in New York, on the Lower East Side in Alphabet City. Jon was a young guy trying to do comedy in New York. A friend of Evie's, her roommate, dated Jon's roommate. Or something like that. So Jon ran in her social circle. It was this gang of people who hung out, some of whom came to New York to be actors, some of whom came to do architecture. They were all University of Virginia people. Some just came to New York to be part of the go-go 1980s. It was very Bright Lights, Big City.
PLAYBOY: Was there lots of cocaine and recreational sex?
COLBERT: [Laughs] I don't know what they were doing. Jon just remembers the world not being enough for these people. Evie remembers Jon being a quiet guy. He was the one nursing a beer in the corner. And not funny. He was not the funny one. A nice enough guy, but his friend was the funny one. When Jon got the gig on The Daily Show years ago, Evie was like, "Jon Stewart? He's not funny." [laughs] She likes to lord that over me. "Oh, I knew him long before Stephen did."
PLAYBOY: Is it true you met Stewart for the first time while asking him a question at a press conference?
COLBERT: Yeah, that was it. I'd been doing The Daily Show when Craig Kilborn was hosting. I heard they were doing a press conference to announce that Jon was the new host, and I said, "Isn't that the sort of thing we should be covering?" So I went, sat down in the audience and raised my hand when they opened it up to questions. I was like, "Stephen Colbert, Daily Show." Oh God, how did I phrase it? "Does this announcement have any effect on the prospects of me getting the hosting job?" Jon looked at Doug Herzog, who was the network president at the time and is again, and said, "You said he wasn't funny."
PLAYBOY: Are you and Stewart friends or just friendly?
COLBERT: We're actually friends.
PLAYBOY: When it's just the two of you, do you talk about politics?
COLBERT: Not politics specifically, but we'll talk about the news. We also talk about our families. We talk about anything friends talk about. That's grown over the years. I'm an ardent admirer of his. I would say the thing that has kept me from being as good a friend to Jon as I would like is just that I am such a fan. I am gobsmacked by his abilities. But that being said, we go out to dinner, and we sometimes pick up the phone just to say, "How are you?" Or, "Do you mind if I tell you how I am? I had a shitty week."
PLAYBOY: It can be shitty sometimes?
COLBERT: Rarely, but yeah, it happens. That's another reason not to be tied to the news cycle. It's damned depressing. I have no interest in behaving or thinking cynically. But it's an easy trap to be cynical about anything, certainly when you're talking about politics or the media.
PLAYBOY: Doesn't comedy require a little cynicism?
COLBERT: Not really. I believe that people, more often than not, act with the best possible intentions. And when they don't, that's funny to me. That's why comedy ends up seeming cynical, because you're talking about the gap between what people say and what they do. You seem cynical because you're always talking about that selfish behavior that's dressed up as altruism. It doesn't mean there isn't altruism. It just means that it's harder to make jokes about altruism.
PLAYBOY: There have been quite a few books written about you.
COLBERT: I heard that that exists.
PLAYBOY: There's America According to Colbert, The Stewart/Colbert Effect, Colbert's America: Satire and Democracy. The list goes on and on.
COLBERT: It's all poison to me.
PLAYBOY: Poison? How is it poison?
COLBERT: Other people's deconstruction of your motivations doesn't help you do what you do. You can't swallow and think about swallowing at the same time.
PLAYBOY: You don't think about why a joke works or doesn't work?
COLBERT: I do sometimes. Comedians dissect jokes all the time. Comedians are beautiful structuralists. But ultimately it's an athletic endeavor. You have to be able to just hit the backhand. You can't think about all the pieces of it. You can't think about your swing. You just have to do it. Reading someone else's deconstruction of what I do, all it does is put me in my head. On nights when the show goes particularly well, I am not aware of its fluidity. A lot of nights I'm just worried that I'm not going to be as good as the script in front of me.
PLAYBOY: You have more faith in the script than your own abilities?
COLBERT: There's a great book called The Lyre of Orpheus by Robertson Davies, a Canadian writer. In it someone has written a symphony. It's part of her doctoral thesis, and she brings it to a professor, who says, "Okay, I'll let you know what I think." He's asked, "Don't you want to hear it?"—there's an orchestra at this school—and the professor says, "No. All an orchestra can do is get the notes wrong. I'll play it perfectly in my head." I understand what that means. When I look at a script for one of our shows, I'm playing it perfectly in my head. All I can do is fuck it up.
PLAYBOY: You recently extended your contract with Comedy Central through the end of 2014. Is it exhausting to think about doing The Colbert Report for another two years?
COLBERT: I try not to think about it in terms of years. You can't do 161 shows. It can't be done. All I can do is today and tomorrow and have some idea of what we're doing next week. That's all I can worry about. I have a script for today, I have probably half a script for tomorrow, and that's as far down the road as I ever look. I know the mechanism of my show, and I know how it works. There's a joy in that.
PLAYBOY: You've called the process of making The Colbert Report "the joy machine."
COLBERT: It still feels that way. I have no fear of doing the show. I have no exhaustion in doing the show. I have no idea what's going to happen tomorrow. I can't predict what we'll be trying to make jokes about in the next six months. I don't know what the next super PAC game will be for us or who will win the election. You can't plan for any of that. If I thought I knew what was going to happen, it wouldn't be worth doing. The challenge is how joyfully, with what sense of fun and adventure and playfulness, we will greet it. We don't have to look for what the next thing will be. If experience is any judge, it'll come flowing toward us like a river.
(This story originally appeared, in a slightly different form, in the November 2012 issue of Playboy magazine.)


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Town of Salem
Inspired by the party games Werewolf and Mafia, Town of Salem is a game of murder, mystery and deception.
Town of Salem
Inspired by the party games Werewolf and Mafia, Town of Salem is a game of murder, mystery and deception.
Town of Salem
Play the alpha version at: www.blankmediagames.com/townofsalem
Town of Salem is a fresh innovation on the classic party games Mafia and Werewolf. It is a game of murder, accusations, deceit and mob hysteria. Town of Salem takes place in the early 1600's during the era of the Salem witch trials.
How To Play
The game ranges from 7 to 15 players. These players are randomly divided into alignments - Town, Mafia, Serial Killers, Arsonists and Neutrals. If you are a Town member (the good guys) you must track down the Mafia and other villains before they kill you. The catch? You don't know who is a Town member and who is a villain. If you are an evil role, such as a Serial Killer, you secretly murder town members in the veil of night and try to avoid getting caught.
Town of Salem has 29 unique roles ensuring a different experience each time you play. Before a game starts, players are put into a lobby where the host can select what roles will be in the game. Players are then assigned roles at random from the list of chosen roles. Players have an in-game role card that explains their role's abilities and alignments.
For an in-depth look at the abilities of each role please visit: www.blankmediagames.com/roles
Game Phases
The night phase is when most roles use their abilities. For example, Serial Killers stealthily murder people, Doctors heal people who are attacked, and Sheriffs interrogate people for suspicious activity.
The day phase allows the Town members to discuss who they suspect of being an evil role. Once the voting phase starts a majority vote from the town will put someone on trial.
The defense phase is when you plead your innocence to the town. Have a convincing story or find yourself facing the gallows!
During this phase the town will vote on the fate of the defendant. Players can vote guilty, innocent or abstain. If there are more guilty votes than innocent votes the defendant is sentenced to death by hanging!
Influenced By The Community
We want the game to be influenced by the community. There will be forums to allow users to suggest anything they would like to see added to the game. This can mean new roles, characters, houses, maps or features. These suggestions will then be put up to a community vote. If the vote is successful the suggestion will be added to the game!
Game Platform
Town of Salem is a Flash game that uses the Facebook API to have players log in so their achievements can be saved. You can play Town of Salem from any computer and still have all of your characters, houses, maps, items and achievements. We are currently working on features that will allow users to play with their friends. A multiplayer game like Town of Salem is the most fun when we can all invite our friends to play with us!
Players are able to choose their own map (town setting), character, house and a custom name. The other players in the game will see your chosen character, house and name. As the game grows we will add many more cool maps, characters and houses. There are currently, 4 maps (1 is exclusive to Kickstarter), 6 characters (1 is exclusive to Kickstarter) and 6 houses (1 is exclusive to Kickstarter) to choose from.
We have an achievement system! There are currently over 300 unique achievements in the game. Earning achievements will grant special tags that will be displayed above you character (however the tags for rewards are exclusive to Kickstarter).
Last Will
The Last Will allows players to leave a message that will be displayed upon their death. This is your last chance to leave valuable information to the town in case you die!
Death Note
Roles that can kill people can leave a Death Note. This note will be displayed anonymously to the town when you kill someone. Use it to throw the Town off your tracks by framing someone else or just use it to taunt the Town!
How Much Does It Cost?
Free! Town of Salem is a free to play game.
About Us
We are a small team of game enthusiasts that consists of one programmer, two artists (one focusing on UI and characters, the other on backgrounds and houses) and one sound designer. We are spread across the globe but united by our passion for gaming. We want to bring the fun of playing party games like Mafia and Werewolf into a video game that can be played with friends online. Sometimes it isn't easy to get 15 people to meet at your house for a game!
Work In Progress
We have spent the last year creating Town of Salem out of our own pockets and unfortunately we can't keep working for free forever. We have more features in progress that we feel are core to enhancing the game play experience of Town of Salem. These features consist of:
-Achievement Browser - Everyone wants to be able to see all of the cool achievements they have earned and the achievements that they still need!
-Playing With Friends - Town of Salem is a social game and we want users to be able to play with their friends. We are developing a system for inviting friends into your game and creating private games that only your friends can join.
-Items That Let You Play Your Favorite Role - With 29 unique roles in the game there will be some roles you love playing but it could be hard to get that role from a random allocation. We want to have items that will increase your chance to be certain roles (25%, 50%, 75% increased chance). The item you get as a donation reward will be the best version of these items.
-Tutorial System - The game can be confusing to new users who aren't familiar with the game genre. We would like to have a tutorial system that detects new users and displays useful tips as they play the game.
-More Maps, Characters, Houses, and Roles - There are many more map designs, houses, characters and roles we want to add to the game!
Town of Salem is currently in Alpha testing (www.blankmediagames.com/townofsalem), but without help and positive feedback from the Kickstarter community we will not be able to finish it and many of the features that are in progress will not be completed.
We hope that you enjoy games of this genre as much as we do and that you will help us finish this project we have worked so passionately on for the last year.
Bonus Eye Candy
Risks and challenges
Since Town of Salem is already in alpha testing there is little risk in completing the project if we make our goal. We have a working game but there are bugs that need to be fixed along with testing and features that need to be completed.Learn about accountability on Kickstarter
Funding period
- (35 days)

subset: commoncrawl


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William Leon "Hoss" Brinlee
b. 27 Oct 1873, Blue Ridge, Collin Co., Texas
d. 5 Jan 1952, Collin County, Texas
& Myrtie Short Wilson
b. 23 Sep 1879, Texas
d. 27 Apr 1961, Wolfe City, Hunt County, Texas
m. 10 Jun 1897
|--Guy Leon "Square" Brinlee
|----b. 17 Oct 1899, Collin County, Texas
|----d. 30 Nov 1978, Greenville, Collin Co., Texas
|--Vernon Argos "Bun" Brinlee
|----b. 9 Nov 1903, Blue Ridge, Collin, Texas
|----d. 3 Apr 1985, Grand Prairie, Dallas, Texas
William Leon Brinlee was the son of Hiram Carroll Brinlee, Jr. and Diza Caroline Boone. Myrtie Wilson was the daughter of W. A. Wilson and Lydia Short.
There are rumors that Vernon "Bun" Brinlee actually got married at one point while his parents were out of town but was too afraid to tell them, so he came home and lived with them as though he was still single. He is listed as single on the 1930 census and is living with his parents. There is at least one family tree that shows him married to a Mary Josephine McDonald on 17 September 1928, and I found a birth record on Ancestry in which a Mary Argos Brinlee is listed as the mother.
Bun and Square Brinlee continued to live on the family homestead after their parents died. Square acquired his nickname from being a square-dance caller, and Bun was apparently short for "Bunnen" (?=Vernon). They led an exciting life and worked in many different jobs: shoeing horses, farming, rodeo circuit rider, gunsmith, barber, and others. The story went that they themselves owned no guns and would allow no hunting on their farm (which did not have any electricity or other modern conveniences), but this was apparently a fiction they allowed people to believe; people who visited them as kids (their place was a favorite hangout to hear stories of the old days) said that they were allowed to hunt and fish. A book was written about them by Dr. Joseph Faulds called Conversations with Kid Cougar and Lim Hang High.
I would love to share information with anyone related to/researching this family; you can contact me at my e-mail address, which can be found by going to my profile page (there is a link to that page in the About Me section to the left).


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If you're looking for a chic, upscale dining and wining experience, head over to Bouligny Tavern. This Uptown establishment has become a popular locale for patrons looking for an evening of style and class. Their food and drink menus raise the bar for typical bars in the city, including small plates, fine wines, house cocktails and a huge selection of top-shelf liquors.
The food selection of Bouligny Tavern is varied to suit any taste. They have assorted appetizer and small plates like Gougeres with Comté 6 Kobe Pigs in a Blanket, Duck Confit, Bowfin Caviar and Seared Beef Short Ribs. They have fried foods like Fried Aioli, Tempura Green Beans and their Fritto Misto: fried shrimp, calamari, octopus, anchovy and oyster. They have a variety of Bruschetta and Crostini per piece that feature Steamed Clams, Marrow and Garlic, and Roasted Fennel, Tapenade and Lemon Zest. They also provide a selection of sliced meats, including Mocetta, Proscuitto di Parma and Oysters, from both the East and West Coast.
If you're looking for a top-shelf drinking experience, you'll find a wide array of options to quench your thirst. Their list of premium cocktails includes a Sage Julep, which replaces muddled sage for the classic mint, and a Teaticket Fizz, which features Oolong Tea Infused Vodka. And in terms of their liquors, they carry everything from rum, gin and bourbon to Armagnac, Eaux de Vie, Grappa & Marc and and Calvados & Applejack.
Their wine list is also extensive and covers the gamut in terms of types and origins. They have some bottles that go as high as $170 in price (for their Gosset "Grande Rose" NV Brut Rosé Champagne). They have several red, white, rosé and sparkling wines by the bottle or glass, in addition to a couple of sakes. From there, their bottled wine list seems endless and full of possibilities for pure enjoyment or food pairings.
The location itself is beautiful with its slim but far-stretching structure leading to a quaint courtyard in the back. The bar is packed but neatly organized with colored vases on the top shelves. The tables and booths are cool and comfortable, and they really shine when decorated with fine plates of food from the kitchen.
Bouligny Tavern may be just the place for you to have a bite or a drink with friends in a classy, upscale environment. The tavern is located on Magazine St between Antonine and Amelia just a few blocks off of Louisiana Ave.


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FOCUS blog, resources and stories can all be found on the FOCUS student site. Get involved by getting conneted with a person on your campus.
Visit focusoncampus.org
If you have any questions or need help setting up your gift, please contact us at firstname.lastname@example.com.
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Trademark & Copyright Notice: ™ and © 2019 National Geographic Partners, LLC and its related entities. All rights reserved. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC and the Yellow Border design are trademarks of National Geographic Society and used with permission. Use of this Website (including any and all parts and components) constitutes your acceptance of these Terms of Use and Updated Privacy Policy. Ad Choices


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In the last few weeks, I've celebrated my 60th (gulp!) birthday in Atlanta, Denver and Minneapolis (why stop with just one city?) and that, along with the impending Thanksgiving holiday, has given me occasion to reflect on all the things I'm grateful for.
I have to say, I feel blessed in almost every possible way. Sure, my muscle tone and mental acuity may be rapidly waning, but I've still got a Jack Palance-like grip on my Denver friends from 40 years ago (I refuse to let them go, no matter how much they try)… plus all my friends from Philadelphia (you know who you are)… and my newest and dearest friends from Atlanta. Plus my own humongous family, of course. And if that's not an embarrassment of riches, I don't know what is.
Speaking of friendship, I'm also reminded that this time last year, I was in Malawi with my friend Patti Ross, as part of my global travels with Heifer International.
Malawi is one of the poorest countries on earth, yet it's also known as the Warm Heart of Africa.
The people we met were memorable in the extreme…
…from the Heifer staff to women farmers to kids in the village —
I can still see their faces and feel the force of their personalities as vividly as if it were yesterday.
Not to mention a memorable feast day of cooking in the village of Mchinji that I will only mildly recreate this Thursday.
So this holiday season, when you have your family and friends gathered around, I hope that you will remember Heifer in your giving ……for my friends in Malawi, and for all the families around the world who are hoping and praying for your generous gift of an animal.Happy Thanksgiving, thanks a million for being such loyal readers, and I love you!
More posts on beautiful Malawi:


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He's all set to do it in New Zealand, and will be only the fourth England bowler to the landmark - and the first for more than 25 years.
Because I don't know which of the NZ batsmen are likely to be picked (even Taylor's out of the side now, isn't he?) I'm going with a bowler - Tim Southee.


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Millions of people take medications that will not help them. As health data proliferates, it is becoming evident that clinical trial outcomes are routinely not replicated in the real world.
The pharmaceutical industry can look elsewhere for outcomes. In services. A services-founded approach enables product and medical device companies, pharmaceutical companies, "Big Pharma" and emerging biotechs to improve clinical and economic outcomes. This approach can help companies deliver new value to customers and strengthen competitiveness.
True services-founded offerings may also command new revenue streams themselves. Realizing these gains demands rethinking services, transforming how they are designed, deployed and measured to fuel growth, profitability and trust.READ REPORT [PDF]


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To truly enjoy all of the unique sights and sounds of Austin, you should consider the increasingly popular trend in renting a vacation home. Downtown condos, large estates or rental homes will allow you a haven from all the hustle and bustle with amenities that a hotel just can't offer.
Austin is home to the University of Texas and the Largest State Capitol building in the country. The university and government populace give rise to a diverse selection of activities. With nearly 200 live music venues, Austin is The Live Music Capital of the World. Lined with clubs, restaurants, pubs and galleries, Sixth Street transforms into a multi-block party every weekend. Popular daytime treks include the University of Texas with the LBJ Library and Lady Bird Johnson gardens or, perhaps a dip with the kids in the 1,000- foot-long Barton Springs Pool. You may want to tackle a Segway tour of the city or visit the Austin Nature and Science Center to dig for dinosaur bones. At the end of one day, don't miss the nightly gathering of bats under Congress Avenue Bridge.
Lively adults should take the Cosmic Cowboy Tour to learn about places the musicians hang or take the plunge into Lake Austin on Austin's Amphibious Cosmic DUCKs to enjoy refreshing libations and tales of Austin's musical heritage with a tour of almost everything. Ready to eat? There are plenty of choices from Uchi for sushi and Asian, or Rudy's Country Store and Bar-B-Q and Chez Nous a small friendly French restaurant. Tochry's, Taco's and Z'Tejas Grill deliver the feel of the Southwest.
Taking advantage of the many vacation home rentals, you'll enjoy the residential feel and the savings on mixing home-cooked meals with dining on the town. Once you settle into your haven, you can plan each day over coffee and end your evenings with a glass of wine on your balcony. Whether you choose a secluded Lake Austin Estate or an urban 2-bedroom condo with cruiser bikes, you will enjoy the privacy, space and well-equipped convenience of your home away from home. Home rentals afford a mix of on-the-run excitement with the quiet pleasure of enjoying your stay at your own pace.


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Go here to discuss Lara Croft GO. It's Lara Croft as you've never seen her before: a turn-based puzzle experience set in a long-forgotten world, delivering gorgeous visuals, a mesmerizing soundtrack and challenging gameplay, all at your fingertips.
© 2016 SQUARE ENIX LTD. All Rights Reserved
SQUARE ENIX and the SQUARE ENIX logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd.
Square Enix Limited, Registered in England No. 01804186 Registered office: 240 Blackfriars Road, London, SE1 8NW.


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Beluga Whales, when a full grown adult they are white. Until they reach maturity they are grey or spotted.
AWCC - Brown Bear AWCC
AWCC AWCC - Reindeer or Caribou
AWCC-Mux Ox
First snowfall of the season. Pond has a layer of ice forming that is covered in fall leaves.


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Utsav is a prominent and well reputed Indian fashion brand. This brand gets huge response among women and girls as well. Here we are sharing with you the latest collection of Indian stylish Utsav lehenga choli collection 2015 for girls. Nowadays, this collection is getting very popular among fashion lovers. This fashion brand has been running many years ago. The main reason of Utsav popularity is huge choice of production such as ghagra choli, sarees, bridal lehenga choli, salwar kameez and many other collections. Utsav has introduced its latest lehenga choli collection 2015 that is contained wide variety of Indian fashion. These Indian lehenga choli are available in different pattern and modern styles. These dresses are designed with beautiful embroidery and pretty color shades.
These Utsav lehenga choli collections 2015 are the amalgamation of bright colors hues, fancy needle work, unique designs and cuts. These lehenga choli bridal dress 2015 are looking good-looking and fanciful design and their presence. The colors used in this lehenga choli 2015 are optimistic clothes and traditional outfits. Look at this stunning collection of lehenga choli designs in Utsav style most adored collection 2015. We are distribution the images of Utsav colorful Indian stylish lehenga choli collection. Fill in your clothing with favorite exciting lehenga choli designs that adored by Utsav.
Stylish Bridal Lehenga Choli
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Part of our Trench Fighters range, these Greatcoat legs fit perfectly with our Greatcoat torsos.
The legs are approx 16.5mm tall and measure approx 7mm across the waist.
Product contents:
- Five pairs of differently sculpted legs with a short greatcoat.
They are most compatible with our Regiments torsos, but can be used with many 28mm heroic scale miniatures if you clip the waist peg off.
If you don't need bases please let us know, alternatively you can request a 25mm slotta base be supplied with each model at no extra cost.
This Regiments product is not a toy, and is not intended for under 14's.
We recommend testing the poses and assembly of each miniature in the set before glueing in place. Some components can be left unglued, be magnetised or held in place with Blu-Tac or similar to allow weapon changes.
For further guidance please see the "Working with Resin" guide at the bottom of the page.
Short Greatcoat Legs 1 - Static
- Product Code: AN7409
- Availability: In Stock
- 2 or more £4.50
- 5 or more £4.00
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* Required
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Tags: Regiments, Regiments Legs, Trench Fighters


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Science Friday® is produced by the Science Friday Initiative, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Science Friday® and SciFri® are registered service marks of Science Friday, Inc. Site design by Pentagram; engineering by Mediapolis.
|Reporting in Science, researchers write of editing the genomic code of living bacteria, switching out a specific string of DNA building blocks with a similar sequence, over 300 times. Study author Peter Carr of MIT talks about the work, and what the technique could be used for.


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RobDIKUM wrote:StuckInSoCal wrote:Why is sfx3's sig still Hitler?
this had to come up in the sharks thread didn't it?
anyway, sharks are seriously kicking ass. They let the preds steal one a few games ago and what happens last night? serious domination, in hockey and fighting. Anybody see the second Shelley fight? that uppercut was vicious. Staubitz got it from tootoo a little though.
dude, this team is nearly perfect. they got the best 1st line, the best make up o the others. the best 1-2 goaltending duo, a new coach thats got his players hungry for a championship... and u have to think we will be getting a couple more people in some trade deadline deals. Loving this stuff


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(Updated 12:35 p.m.) COLEBROOKDALE - A two-vehicle collision resulted in a pickup truck on its side and minor injuries Thursday morning.
The incident happened at the intersection of Second and South Madison streets around 11 a.m.
The truck was stabilized by Friendship Fire Hook and Ladder before the driver was taken out through the windshield.
The driver of the overturned truck was treated on the scene by emergency personnel.
Check back here for more updates.
BOYERTOWN - A woman was rescued from an overturned vehicle after a crash at Second and Madison streets in the borough Thursday morning. The woman suffered minor injuries.
Check back here for updates on this story.


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Arzu Studio Hope Letterpress Stationery
With beautiful pattern and subtlety, Jeff at Telemetry Studio designed this identity and stationery system for Arzu Studio Hope. Started by a former Goldman Sachs partner, Arzu is a social entrepreneurship company that works at a grassroots level to better the lives of women in Afghanistan. We letterpress printed multiple elements for this stationery system using gray ink and contaminated opaque white ink on Neenah Classic Crest papers. The business cards are 165lb Solar White, a smooth stock with a with enough thickness for some impression on both sides with minimal show through. We printed on pre-converted envelopes opening the flaps, printing envelope face and flap at the same time, allowing the pattern to wrap from front to back. The pressed pattern in this system is elegant and understated, creating real tactile inspiration.


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Credentials within RightScale offer a convenient way to store sensitive or frequently used values in an easily manageable interface. It's important to remember that RightScale credentials consist of a Name, Value and Description and are intended to be used as inputs for servers. Credentials are accessible via the RightScale dashboard as name/value pairs where the value is passed into a script or other object as any other text input would operate.
A credential is not, however, a key/value pair such as a username and password that are bound together or otherwise related. So if you wanted to store a set of login data, you would need to use two distinct credentials: one for the username and a second for the password (potentially another for domain if you are working within a Windows Active Directory environment). While the security features are nice, credentials also offer an easy way to store commonly used or complex inputs which can make managing inputs easier.
Storing Secure Information
Credentials are passed into RightScripts™ and Chef recipes in such a way that RightLink™ masks the value within the Audit Entry screen showing the log from scripts and recipes running. This is useful for storing passwords and other critical or sensitive information, but it is also important to remember that any users who have "admin" privileges within your account will be able to view the credential's value. Those with "designer" rights will be able to use them without being able to see the actual value. These inputs will show a value of <hidden credential> when their output appears in the log. I wrote a very simple PowerShell RightScript that writes the value of the credential out directly and then assigns the value to a local variable and writes that local variable out to the console:
*RS> RightScript: 'Credential Test' **** 09:13:26: Credential Value is <hidden credential> 09:13:26: Credential Value from local variable is <hidden credential> Credential Value from ToString() local variable is <hidden credential> 09:13:26: Script exit status: 0 09:13:26: Script duration: 0.858011 09:13:26: Chef Run complete in 0.873611 seconds
Then I've set the script up to run on an instance of the Base ServerTemplate for Windows (v13.0) with a credential that I created called "test_credential":
Once the script has completed, from the Audit Entries tab of the instance of the server, we can check out the log from the process of running the script — specifically I'm looking for the three lines that were output via the Write-Host commands. Here's the log output from just the script itself (notice that all three outputs are hidden in the log):
*RS> RightScript: 'Credential Test' **** 09:13:26: Credential Value is 09:13:26: Credential Value from local variable is Credential Value from ToString() local variable is 09:13:26: Script exit status: 0 09:13:26: Script duration: 0.858011 09:13:26: Chef Run complete in 0.873611 seconds
A couple of things to remember related to security:
- Using credentials, even assigning them to local variables, will still keep the values hidden
- Don't forget: Only users with "admin" rights will be able to see and create credentials, while those with "designer" privileges can utilize but not see the values
Although a lot of common inputs when launching servers are sensitive (user name, password, certificates, and keys, etc.), credentials make life easier by reducing the number of times you have to actually type the values in, which reduces errors and speeds up the process of getting your servers launched. This can be helpful for the input process, but sometimes can make debugging scripts difficult in that it's often useful to be able to write variables out when debugging. I find that when I'm developing scripts or RightScale ServerTemplates™, I'll use raw text inputs until I have a working product so that I can easily output the values to the console. Once the process is proven, I quickly switch over to credentials so that I can avoid making mistakes! Some "ease of use" tips:
- Credentials are great for storing sensitive information
- Use credentials for complicated inputs or things that you'll likely mistype if you had to input it multiple times
- Remember that you aren't going to see the value in the Audit Entry logs — use another form of input if you'll need to see the value in the console
- Credentials (like most things in the RightScale dashboard) will show up in alphabetical order when you open the drop-down boxes to select one. If you're storing user name and password combinations, end the credential name with _USER and _USERPASSWORD so they show up in user/password order in the list. For example: MYSQL_USER/MYSQL_USERPASSWORD and IIS_APPPOOL_USER/IIS_APPPOOL_USERPASSWORD
Real-World Examples
Within the Load Balancer with HAProxy (v13.0) ServerTemplate, there is an option to allow for SSL offloading to happen within Apache before it gets to the HAProxy process. Under the WEB_APACHE inputs for the server, there are seven advanced inputs — four of which are related to the SSL Certificate itself which are commonly set up as credentials. In fact, the help text gives examples that reference credentials rather than text inputs.
Another example is that I'm working on a Windows-based ServerTemplate where the product I'm installing requires multiple accounts to be set up. I've been doing it manually while testing it, using the Microsoft Active Directory (v13.0) ServerTemplate and the AD Create a new user operational RightScript to create users and I'm simply checking down my list of credentials to speed through the process of creating the accounts:
More Information
There are a ton of great ways to use credentials to keep inputs secure and consistent throughout your deployments while avoiding the dreaded "fat-finger" input error. More information is also available on the RightScale support site, which has some great tips on how to manage credentials, and some common uses of credentials within the RightScale dashboard.
And if you haven't yet tried RightScale cloud management, you can test it out with the RightScale Free Edition, through which you can have five users on your account and run approximately five small servers.


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|After photo of Chalk Paint™ by Annie Sloan on leather.
|Before picture - applying Chalk Paint™ on leather at Piorra Maison
What you will need to complete this project:
- Chalk Paint™ decorative paint by Annie Sloan.
- Multiple well chosen colours for colour blocking.
- I chose Coco, Old Violet, Graphite, Aubusson Blue and Paloma, Sample sizes (118ml) are enough for this project.
- Any good quality paint brush will do but I used Annie's brushes to create texture and applied the paint quite thickly.
- Annie Sloan's Clear and Dark Soft Wax.
- Your Wax brushes, one for Clear and one for dark wax.(this allows you to go back and forth with your wax without contaminating it.
- Small scraps of burlap and bubble wrap.
- I used numeral and script stencils but you can use any stencil design your heart desires.
- TSP (Trisodium Phosphate) a must.
- TIME: 3hrs to complete this project :).
The first rule of thumb before painting any surface is to clean with TSP (trisodium Phosphate) to remove any dirt, grease or grim that will prevent the Chalk Paint™ from adhering properly to the surface. It is well worth it to take 10 minutes to wash and rinse your surface with TSP to avoid any complications down the line. You may find TSP at your local ANNIE SLOAN Stockist location (some may not carry it) or any hardware store. It is sold in powder form (the most economical) or in a spray.
We are now ready to have fun.
I first started to apply my Graphite Chalk Paint™ on the base. You can start with any colour, as the paint is opaque and will cover up all your hit and misses that have gotten on other surfaces. While the Chalk Paint™ dries (15-25 min), proceed to the other surfaces to create the colour blocking effect. I really just slip slopped the Chalk Paint™ on in every direction to create an interesting effect once I waxed. The soft waxes enhance all your brush strokes to give a natural leather effect.
|Applying the Chalk Paint™ with the rustic technique.
The Rustic technique is the easiest method you can use to apply your Chalk Paint™. Your children can even join in the fun. Seriously at this point it looks like a 5 yr old painted this but at the end of your project, after the wax application, the result is a beautiful handcrafted piece of furniture none of your friends will believe you created. It's that easy. Once the paint is dry, apply a second coat in the areas that need it.
Now, its time to get creative.....
As you can see while I am in my creative mode I can get quite messy but I just love this part of the project.
|Caroline in atelier at Piorra Maison.
I just randomly applied a stencil here a stencil there layering different numbers and letters, one on top of another. You can't go wrong!! If you don't like some of your work the Chalk Paint™ will easily cover it up.
|Stenciling on leather with Chalk Paint™ by Piorra Maison
Creating different textures and stamping was the most enjoyable part if this project. I used burlap and bubble wrap to create different textures on the surface. I just brushed on the Chalk Paint™, placed it on the surface and rubbed it with my hands to transfer the paint in random places.
|Stamping with Chalk Paint™ on leather by Piorra Maison
Below is a close up of the burlap stamped on the surfaces. I used the Coco on the Graphite, Graphite on the Coco and then mixed some of the Aubusson Blue, Coco, Paloma and Old Violet and stamped this mix of colour here and there to tie it all in together.
|Chalk Paint™ on leather by Piorra Maison.
The Bubble wrap is also a combo of the above colours but I did not premix them. I randomly painted the different colours on the bubble wrap keeping them separate to give a variance of colour on the surface. Hence the 8 brushes I used to slap the different colours on the bubble wrap. Frantic Artist at work, no time to wash brushes in between.
|Chalk Paint™ on leather by Piorra Maison
Once you are satisfied with your project it is now time to wax your surface. Yes I said wax. Contrary to what most people think, the wax once cured will not rub off onto your clothing. The curing time takes about 30 days depending on the humidity of the room. After 24 hrs it is quite safe to use your piece if you are applying your wax properly. Many think that the surface will be better protected with a NICE thick coat of wax....THIS IS FALSE. The wax needs to be applied in thin layers. The Chalk Paint™ has porous properties that allow the wax to penetrate the paint and the excess is wiped off. If you apply a thick layer of wax you will only be wasting Good Wax and wasting time removing the excess wax on the surface that can no longer penetrate the paint. Always, Always apply a coat of clear Soft wax prior to applying Dark Soft wax. The Dark Soft Wax must be applied over a FRESH COAT of clear wax. A second or third application of Clear Soft Wax can be applied on high traffic surfaces but you must wait 24 hours in between each coat. The Dark Soft Wax is used mostly for antiquing effects, your Clear Soft Wax is your most important for sealing your Chalk Paint™.
For this project...once my layer of Clear Soft Wax was applied and the excess wiped off I proceeded with a layer of Dark Wax applied in a circular motion to mimic a leather effect. You can see it in the photo above.
And here we have it.....the finished Lounge Chair.
|Chalk Paint™ on leather by Piorra Maison.
This project was a blast to complete and took me all but 3 hours from washing to waxing. You can view the actual piece and see more of our handcrafted painted furniture for sale in our Montreal Boutique (2500 sq ft)
PIORRA MAISON located at
5377 Saint-Laurent, Montreal, Qc.
Lounge chair selling price: $599.00
Piorra Maison located in Montreal and Pointe-Claire can also custom finish your old and outdated pieces in our studio or on location using only CHALK PAINT™ decorative paint by ANNIE SLOAN. The authentic and original high quality Chalk Paint™ created over 23 years ago in Europe by Annie Sloan.
Come by and visit us for more info on Chalk Paint™. As an official Annie Sloan Chalk Paint™ retailer (a.k.a stockist) we can answer all of your questions if you are the DIY'er or not to create gorgeous finishes on your outdated or family heirloom pieces.
Piorra Maison our 2nd location:
247A Bord du lac, Pointe-Claire, Qc 514-694-7979
Looking for your closest ANNIE SLOAN retailer (a.k.a. stockist) in Quebec
Looking for your closest ANNIE SLOAN retailer (a.k.a. Stockist) in North America
Looking for your closest ANNIE SLOAN Stockist Around the World
****The inspiration for this project was by Annie Sloan (See inspiration) from one of her recent projects. go have a look. :)
And now back in the day when I blogged more frequently, I always had a quote of inspiration relating to my blog post. This one should last a few months because that is how often I blog.
For all you DIY'ers or Not who hesitate to just get it on.
― Eleanor Roosevelt


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A vivid display of northern Alberta pride.
A region that's well-known for playing just as hard as it works, Lesser Slave River's seasonal festivals, tournaments and cultural events never disappoint. They're well-known to most locals, and some events even warrant an annual pilgrimage for thrill-seekers across the nation. From a world-renowned fishing derby to fairs, rodeos and a wide variety of native cultural activities, the reasons to celebrate our uniquely beautiful boreal home know no bounds.
Here's where you'll find an ever-growing inventory of must-see festivals and events happening across Lesser Slave River. Notice something missing from the list? Please contact Alanis Marleau, Communications Coordinator for the MD.
Don't miss out on these special events
[powr-event-gallery id="f5796d02_1483820725775"]
Life, Work and Leisure in Lesser Slave River


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How to cite GREAT
Please cite GREAT as follows:
Cory Y McLean, Dave Bristor, Michael Hiller, Shoa L Clarke, Bruce T Schaar, Craig B Lowe, Aaron M Wenger, and Gill Bejerano. "GREAT improves functional interpretation of cis-regulatory regions". Nat. Biotechnol. 28(5):495-501, 2010.
A stable link to the publication is http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nbt.1630.
Why Cite GREAT
Over the long run, the best way to assure the continued availability and development of GREAT is for us to be able to show its relevance and contribution to biomedical research. We thank you for your support!
Publications & Reprints
The above Nature Biotechnology paper is currently the inaugural GREAT publication. Reprints are available at http://bejerano.stanford.edu/publications.html#ref27.
Papers that cite GREAT
- Fujita, P.A. et al., The UCSC Genome Browser database: update 2011, Nucleic Acids Res., 39(Database issue):D876-882, 2011.
- Mak, H.C., Trends in computational biology--2010, Nature Biotechnol., 29(1):45-49, 2011.
- Novershtern, N. et al, Densely interconnected transcriptional circuits control cell states in human hematopoiesis, Cell, 144(2):296-309, 2011.
- Cullum, R. et al., The next generation: using new sequencing technologies to analyze gene regulation, Respirology, 16(2):210-222, 2011.
- Rada-Iglesias, A. et al., A unique chromatin signature uncovers early developmental enhancers in humans, Nature, 470(7333):279-283, 2011.
- Sullivan, A.L. et al., Serum Response Factor utilizes distinct promoter- and enhancer-based mechanisms to regulate cytoskeletal gene expression in macrophages, Mol. Cell. Biol., 31(4):861-875, 2011.
- Ma, Z.Y. et al., Sequence-specific regulator Prdm14 safeguards mouse ESCs from entering extraembryonic endoderm fates, Nature Struct. Mol. Biol., 18(2):120-127, 2011.
- McLean, C.Y. et al., Human-specific loss of regulatory DNA and the evolution of human-specific traits, Nature, 471(7337):216-219, 2011.
- Soccio, R.E. et al., Species-specific strategies underlying conserved functions of metabolic transcription factors, Mol. Endocrinol., 25(4):694-706, 2011.
- Capellini, T.D. et al., Pbx homeodomain proteins: TALEnted regulators of limb patterning and outgrowth, Dev. Dyn., 240(5):1063-1086, 2011.
- Capellini, T.D. et al., Control of pelvic girdle development by genes of the Pbx family and Emx2, Dev. Dyn., 240(5):1173-1189, 2011.
- Tijssen, M.R. et al., Genome-wide analysis of simultaneous GATA1/2, RUNX1, FLI1, and SCL binding in megakaryocytes identifies hematopoietic regulators, Dev. Cell, 20(5):597-609, 2011.
- LePendu, P. et al., Enabling enrichment analysis with the Human Disease Ontology, Journal of Biomedical Informatics, Available online 29 April 2011.
- Zentner, G.E. et al., Epigenetic signatures distinguish multiple classes of enhancers with distinct cellular functions, Genome Research, Published in Advance June 1, 2011.
- Sandve, G.K. et al., The differential disease regulome, BMC Genomics. Published in advance July 7, 2011.
- Yoon, S.J. et al., HEB and E2A function as SMAD/FOXH1 cofactors, Genes Dev. 25(15):1654-1661, 2011.
- Lowe, C.B. et al., Three periods of regulatory innovation during vertebrate evolution, Science, 333(6045):1019-1024, 2011.
We really appreciate people's supportive e-mails and re-cap a handful of them here to encourage folks to take the plunge.
Date: April 21, 2011
Hi Gill,
Just wanted to let you know that we tried GREAT on a new kind of genomic data set
after your talk. It worked amazingly well and made sense with respect to known biology.
Keep up the good work!
Subject: your tool is cool
Date: October 19, 2010
Dear GREAT developers
I find this tool very useful in analyzing my ChIP-seq peaks, especially
after being quite frustrated using other tools to get insight into the
functions/pathways associated with my TF. ...
Subject: Re: great
Date: May 5, 2010
Hey guys, I had a chance to try out GREAT for a bit with our ...
chip-seq data. It looks like an amazing tool and it's way ahead
of anything else out there for chipseq-related functional analysis. My
favorite part is being able to click through each annotation and
seeing the actual genes that were assigned.. very fancy and cool. That
and the integration with the mouse phenotype ontologies--a big thing
that other tools dont' have. Anyway we'll definitely be using it and
I'll be sure to spread the word!
Date: May 4, 2010
Hi ...
This is not a ... ad. GREAT is awesome, we have been playing
around with it quite a bit.
you certainly will be referenced in a paper that we want to submit by
the end of this month. And I suspect many more after that.


text: Yesterday I was at the movies and watched Alice in Wonderland by Tim Burton. I loved it! The colors were so nice and inspiring. The mad hatters tea party got me in the mood to create a scene with miniature things I had at hand. Tables and chairs. Books and nick knacks. I also got the opportunity to display some of my teapots. After all this is a tea party and wouldn't be completed without it. If you like to make your own teapots and need some guidance I have several tutorials on my YouTube channel. If you know me I am also happy to show some of my baked goods. The mad hatter, Alice and the animals are not present. I my mind they just haven't arrived yet or who knows maybe they just left;) Have you seen the movie and did you like it?


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I was wondering if there are indoor courts in the Houston are where we can go, pay a fee, play and maybe use the ball machines. I know there are many in the area; but all I have found require a membership. I am not planning to go very often and honestly I'm more interested in using the machines to train so a membership may be a little too much right now.
Thanks for your help.
Views: 128
Replies to This Discussion
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Pregnancy & New Parent Services
Every family, every birth and every baby is unique. From planning and pregnancy through labor and post-delivery, we look forward to supporting you every step of the way.
Family Birth Center
When you have your baby at John Muir Health, the focus is on your needs and preferences. Our state-of-the-art labor rooms offer all the comforts of your home with showers to relax in, space for your guests and oversized chairs that fold into beds so your partner can be at your side. Take a tour
Childbirth and Pregnancy Classes
Having a baby can be an overwhelming process. From pregnancy nutrition to breastfeeding, our prenatal program includes a broad range of classes to help answer your questions and give you the confidence to be the mom you want to be. Download Resources for Expecting and New Parents.
Your Birth Preferences
We know you've spent some time thinking through your hopes for this special day. Your birth preferences help us make your experience the best it can be. A birth preferences checklist is a simple way for you to document your wishes for those who will be involved in the delivery of your baby. And because we support low intervention birth as well as the use of medication, we welcome deliveries with OBGYNs or Certified Nurse Midwives.
Breastfeeding Support
Breastfeeding is one of the best things you can do for your newborn. John Muir Health offers a wide range of services to help you achieve the nutritional goals you set for your child. Download Resources for Expecting and New Parents and Breastfeeding Guide: How To Get Off To A Great Start.
We support the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding, and our staff will guide and help you in your breastfeeding experiences from the moment your child is born.
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
In the rare event your baby needs specialized care during or after your labor and delivery, you can take comfort in knowing we're prepared. The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at John Muir Health is a world-class Level III NICU that provides around-the-clock care for premature and critically ill babies.
Pre Register for Your Delivery
When you're in labor, the last thing you want to think about is filling out paperwork. Ensure an easy check-in by completing our online registration form in advance.


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Finance Consultant - Commissions Operations
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- , United States
- Full-Time Finance
- Job # 402649
- Date posted -
This job posting is no longer active
For problem-solvers and the analytically inclined: Help a world-leader in technology invest strategically, allocate wisely and drive shareholder value. Formulate groundbreaking processes, provide in-depth analysis and expertly manage Verizons assets.
At Verizon, we innovate constantly to help the biggest names in business do business – quicker and smarter. It takes vision. It takes focus. And we apply both every bit as much to the way we do business too. The brightest minds, the latest technologies and pioneering processes are combining to enhance this critical business function at our Center for Excellence. We're finding new ways to add value and provide strategic support. This is the kind of work we do. And you can be part of it.
Our business is fuelled by our passion for delivering unprecedented results for customers in over 52 countries. Throughout the world, we're helping to create a better future – transforming how doctors battle cancer, rescue workers save lives, and people, businesses and communities interact with one another. If you have the drive, talent, energy and commitment to join over 180,000 like-minded people who are unlocking this positive potential of technology, we'll support you every step of the way. Whether that's through competitive compensation, award-winning training, or benefits so comprehensive we call them Total Rewards.
Start creating powerful answers today.
Equal Employment Opportunity


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Create an Account - Increase your productivity, customize your experience, and engage in information you care about.
Thank you for your interest in doing business with the City of Garland!
The City of Garland uses the IonWave online bidding system to publish and receive formal bids and proposals. Registering as a supplier will enable you to receive email notifications when a contract within your commodity comes open for bid.


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This is the final installment of "Meet the Actor," where the cast members of the Worship Rally DVD are featured. If Tizoc were sitting here beside me, I feel certain he would say, "You saved the best for last." He has a great sense of humor, and I loved bantering back and forth with him. (I, of course, would have to say to him that I liked all the actors equally. Then he would probably tell me he was certain that couldn't be true!)
Like his fellow cast mates, Tizoc arrived prepared to work each day. And though he takes his work seriously, he also provided us with great comic relief! What a fun kid to have on a shoot!
I loved meeting his sweet mom, Kimberly. I'm thankful to ALL THE PARENTS of these kids, who made sacrifices to get them to the location each day and pick them up at our best-guess time!
Now, I introduce you to my friend Tizoc. . . .
Q: What character do you play in the VBS 2012 video?
A: I played Hollywood. I was one of the three nerds and "the closest thing to a leader type." 😀
Q: What was the hardest part of the video shoot?
A: Sitting in that stuffy military bunker all day. 😛 But it was definitely still fun, especially when we were in the far back and all the lights got turned off.
Q: What was the best part of the video shoot?
A: Working with the wonderful people there. I've seldom meet quite as many questionably odd people who were so much like myself. 😀 I love 'em all!
Q: Was this your first acting job? If not, what other jobs have you had?
A: No, I have been in Alice in Wonderland and Aladdin, both musicals. I gained a lot in those plays. I never had the ability to sing onstage before that, so it was definitely a good experience.
Q: What's your favorite part of school?
A: Art class. I like being able to pour my mind out onto paper so that others may view my perception of the world.
Q: What sports do you like, and do you play any?
A: I don't really play sports and I'm not too interested in any. I used to be on the racing team in grade school, but that was before my addiction to pizza ruined my life. 😀
Q: If you could go on vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go?
A: Europe. I've always been fascinated with the language they speak there, so elegant and refined. Besides, I've never seen snow before, and that's something I must do before I die. 😛
Q: Would you like to continue acting?
A: Yes. Acting is one of the few things that can cheer me up. I must say, I haven't had the happiest life of all, but when I'm onstage everything becomes new. I'm no longer Tizoc Fleishour, I'm the nerdy kid who hangs out with other social outcasts, or the crazy old March Hare that everyone knows and loves. I will definitely continue acting, but only if that's what God wants for me.
Q: Anything else you'd like to add?
A: The time I spent doing VBS will not soon be forgotten. I learned very much from that whole experience. It gave me something that all actors need (seeing as how many times we don't make the cut :P)—confidence. That no matter how many times you fall off the horse, you can always get back up. J I loved every second I spent with all the crazy whack-a-doos (that's a compliment in my book) that were in the VBS crew.
P.S. Muffins are just ugly cupcakes. :o)


text: Wednesday, April 06, 2011 Most Americans Support Patient-centered Care Systems, Says Survey More than 7 of 10 adults think the US health care system needs to be fundamentally changed or completely rebuilt, according to a Commonwealth Fund survey released today that reveals strong support for more patient-centered care systems and innovative use of teams and information systems. The new survey found that a large majority of US adults (71%) have concerns about gaining access to needed health care, including the inability to get timely appointments or advice from their physician on the phone or to obtain after-hours care without going to the emergency department. Nearly half (47%) experienced poorly coordinated care, and more than half reported wasteful (54%) care. "A Call for Change: The Commonwealth Fund 2011 Survey of Public Views of The US Health System" also reports that at least 85% of adults support policies that would make care better coordinated and would provide more transparent information about health care costs and quality. Respondents voiced strong support for medical homes and a team approach to care, with 93% saying it was important or very important to have one place or physician responsible for primary care and coordinating care, and 86% of people supporting physicians and nurses working in teams or groups with an expanded role for nurses. A large majority (88%) thought it was important or very important for physicians to use electronic medical records, and 92% thought it was important or very important for physicians to be able to share information electronically with other physicians. Comments Absolutely correct. The "health care system" is a joke, and anybody spouting on about "socialised medicine" and it's supposed shortfalls, needs to look at why the US pays twice as much as any other Western Country, with poorer societal and health outcomes, than any Western country. Greed people, pure and simple greed, nothing to do with quality. Compare US to Australian costs and outcomes, or Canadian or German or French. Drop the cliches about waiting lists and government bureaucrats controlling healthcare. Heard of insurance company profiteers doing far worse than this?? These are patent cliche ridden, political furphies with no substance at all. BTW, having used electronic versus paper records, I see absolutely no benefit in electronic record keeping at all, except for companies charging for overpriced, underperforming, reductionist programs that spit out unusable prompts which don't apply to real patients. Raise taxes,pay for healthcare and cut military spending by half. Still have a huge war machine to play gunslinger with, but also reduce the deficit, and take care of the populace ! That should make the country a much happier and healthier place. Posted by Kevin Mulvey PT RN on 4/7/2011 2:55 PM