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Beck connects Obama, Soros to "violent revolution" coming to "our shores"
Written by Zachary Pleat
Glenn Beck tied President Obama and George Soros to a group he has vilified for purportedly bringing "violent revolution" to "our shores." Beck has repeatedly demonized Soros as "evil," characterized Obama as a Soros pawn, and has accused Soros of putting a "bounty on my head."
Beck ties Obama and Soros to The Coming Insurrection
Beck: Obama is "keeping his true identity in the shadows" because "[t]hey are not ready to be visible yet." On the October 27 edition of his Fox News show, Beck criticized Obama for his use of teleprompters and said:
He is keeping his true identity in the shadows. He can't risk being seen for what he really is, a radical. Every word must be scripted. They keep him on prompter for reason. In fact, I read about it just yesterday as I reread The Coming Insurrection. And this is not my marked copy. In the place where they're talking at the very end about structure and the structure that's not in place yet, they say, quote:
"Visibility must be avoided. But a force that gathers in the shadows cannot avoid it forever. Our appearances as a force must be reserved for the opportune moment. The longer we avoid visibility, the stronger we'll be when it catches up with us. And once we become visible our days will be numbered. Either we will be in a position to break its hold in short order, or we will be crushed in time."
So what is going on? Why is George Soros pumping all this money? Why are they coming after this show and you and Fox and the tea parties and everybody else? Because they're not ready to be visible yet. And that is your greatest strength. Put light on their words. Make them visible. And watch them scurry.
Beck has claimed that The Coming Insurrection will bring "violent revolution" to "our shores"
Beck: The Coming Insurrection "calls for violent revolution" and is "about to come here to America." On the July 1, 2009, edition of his Fox News show, Beck said (from the Nexis database):
The government -- the government is so unbelievably out of control, they are so unbelievably blind to the things that are going on and arrogant, and then they warn that it's the right-wing extremists -- you know, the crazy people that like to talk about the Founding Fathers that might be domestic terrorists. "The New York Times" has said that I and Bill O'Reilly incite those crazy conservatives to violence.
Tonight, here is the One Thing that everybody seems to be missing: the extreme left on this planet is actively calling for violence. As world economies go down the tank and unemployment continues to rise -- which some might say maybe some of these politicians actually want -- the disenfranchised people are set to explode.
And now, I was handed this this morning when I got into work, I have been trying to get a copy of this for a while. It is a brand new book. It is a dangerous book. It is called "The Coming Insurrection" -- "The Coming Insurrection."
It is written by the Invisible Committee that calls for violent revolution; an anonymous group from France -- of all places -- called the Invisible Committee penned it. They want to bring down capitalism and the western way of life. This started in France and started to spread to countries like Greece and Iceland, where people are out of work, out of money and out of patience. Now, it's about to come here to America.
The book comes out in English in August. I think it is August 9th. This is one of the first copies finished in English. The book was written after the riots in the Paris suburbs in 2005 that tore the country apart. Do you remember that? That was before the economy really got bad.
This book is the anti-common sense. In fact, I talk about books like this in "Common Sense," in a section called "The Enemies Within."
In this book, when I wrote this, I knew people like this -- I didn't know this book was coming out -- but I knew people like this were going to show up, enemies within. And they were going to tell you to pick up a gun and they're going to use every kind of emergency and stress to get you to do it.
This is a book about revolution. This is a book of peaceful revolution. This one is from the right -- you know, the radicals everybody is so worried about in government. This one is from the left.
Let me read you just a little bit of this. "Take up arms. Do everything possible to make their use unnecessary. There is no such thing as a peaceful insurrection. Weapons are necessary."
The French government is so freaked out about this book that they arrested nine people believed to have written "The Coming Insurrection," on charges of criminal association for the purposes of terrorist activity, for allegedly sabotaging train lines in France.
Beck: The Coming Insurrection is "now on our shores." On the December 17, 2009, edition of his Fox News show, Beck said (from Nexis):
OK. You have never seen anything like that from the Tea Party goers. Europeans have been promised this socialist communist Utopia for a very long time. They were told, just play it down, we will get it through, we will get it through slowly but the government, those people on the left in the government have not delivered and the people there, the ones who have been promised the radicals are fed up. I told you earlier this summer about a book from Europe. I was handed this morning when I got to work. I have been trying to get a copy of this for a while. It is a brand new book. It is a dangerous book. It is called "The Coming Insurrection."
OK. It is now on our shores. When you've seen Copenhagen, he's from the coming insurrection. This little book is dangerous. It talks -- you must destroy the family. You must go in. They're tired of waiting. It is a book of communism. The extreme Uber left. Michael Moore said that he was reading this book over the summer. The left is at a tipping point in America. They have huge majorities, a progressive president, and they feel this is our time.
Beck: "This is quite possibly the most evil thing I've ever read." On the February 10 edition of his Fox News show, Beck said (from Nexis):
Let me show you what his finished product looks like. It's this. I told you last summer read this book. It's "The Coming Insurrection." It's by the invisible committee.
This is quite possibly the most evil thing I've ever read and it's about to play out in the streets of Greece. It's been played out in France.
The story is written by 12 people. Some of them were in jail now over in Europe. They're actual communists. They've been masquerading as democratic socialists. "Oh, we're not Marxists, we're not communists, we're like you."
And they got into bed with their politicians, their version of Nancy Pelosi and they were backing those people. And according to the book, they realized those people aren't serious, just like Van Jones on the left is starting to figure out that Barack Obama, they're starting to say, "Wait a minute, is this guy serious? Is he going to do it? We had an unspoken understanding. He is going to bring us the socialist utopia."
Well, this is their manifest. And the message is: everyone in government has been lying to you. And that's why they call for the coming insurrection.
This is evil stuff. These are the things that will free the worker. In it, one chapter on how to destroy the family.
On Friday, I'm going to spend a full hour on Europe -- because everything that's happening over there is going to play out over here if we're not careful. You have to know the truth of "The Coming Insurrection."
Beck: The Coming Insurrection "urges people to go get in the streets and be violent." On the May 3 edition of his Fox News show, Beck said (from Nexis):
Last year, I showed you this book. And, of course, the media was like, "Glenn, you crazy conspiracy theory." This is a book called "The Coming Insurrection." I asked you last summer to please read it and said you want to know what the future is, read it.
It's one of the most evil books -- I mean, it talks about how to go in and destroy families. It's basically, cause trouble. That's what it is.
It's put out by the invisible committee. It's 12 communists. I think some of them are professors. What a surprise.
And basically what it is, is Europe promised us a social communist utopia. And they're never going to give it to us. And the whole thing is on the verge of collapse. So, now, let's go get it -- and it urges people to go get in the streets and be violent.
Beck has spent months demonizing Soros
Beck: Soros is "looking to replace the capitalist system once it's been destroyed." On June 21, Beck said, "I don't know if [George Soros] is a radical that's been trying to implement the Cloward and Piven strategy on collapsing the system." Beck went on to claim that Soros is "one of the guys looking to replace the capitalist system once it has been destroyed." This accusation is based on a distortion of a Soros quote. Soros said that the international currency system -- not the capitalist system -- is "broken and needs to be reconstituted."
Beck suggests Soros will try to have him killed. On June 21, while detailing the conspiracy theory that the U.S. is funneling money to Brazilian oil company Petrobras in order to enrich George Soros, Beck said, "Gasoline Brazil. Now why am I telling you about this? Have you heard of another word? Soros. George Soros. I do have a bulletproof car, George. I just want you to know."
Beck: Soros is "evil." On his June 7 show, Beck said: "Who are the elites? I mean, you could put a billion people up here. But Al Gore -- he's just trying to help the planet, that's all he's trying to do. That's all he's -- George Soros, he's just -- I don't know what he's -- he's evil. 'Well, I'm just trying to help tell you that it's all unsustainable, and we got to raise taxes.' And here are some more elites. OK? They're taking from you. You can't afford it. They're taking it from you and giving it, under the guise of giving it to the poor, to their elites. That's what is happening. Hello?"
Beck accused "spooky dude" Soros of orchestrating a collapse of American currency to enrich himself. On the October 5 edition of Glenn Beck, Beck claimed that Soros "thought the dollar needs to be devalued" and cited a Financial Times op-ed in which Soros argued for more stimulus spending. Beck said, "Spooky dude says spend more money." He added: "I don't know if this is the start of the latest, you know, Soros push to collapse a currency. I don't know if this is it; oh, but it's coming. Be prepared, because powerful people like George Soros would like that to happen. Because they're preparing. Have you?"
Beck called Soros the "king" and Barack Obama a pawn. On the September 15 edition of Glenn Beck, Beck displayed a large chess board, which he claimed would illustrate "how far the establishment would go to protect the power that they have built up." Beck assigned various figures roles based on the pieces of the chess game. Beck said, "Now who are the king and queen and advisers and the knights, the protection of the castle." Grabbing the king piece, Beck continued, "Well, if I may -- I think you've got Soros." Beck later said that Barack and Michelle Obama were "pawns."
Beck: Soros put a "$1 million bounty on my head." On the October 21 edition of Glenn Beck, Beck claimed that "progressives" were "working overtime to gain control." He added:
This is their opportunity, and you are seeing them now remove the masks. I told you they would about a year ago.
They can't win on the battlefield of ideas, so they have to resort to the battlefield of attack. George Soros yesterday gave $1 million to his favorite progressive hack site, which is nothing less than $1 million bounty on my head.
George, I'm a little nervous about my life and the life of my family. I don't think you should be inciting violence. There are nut jobs that might take all of your words. Union members, Color of Change, SEIU, Media Matters, Tides Foundation. Tides Foundation did 10-2-10. Those are revolutionaries. Don't incite them, please.


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I met Rick Tulka at Le Select.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Hier en Paris
Hier/yesterday in Paris...
I met Rick Tulka at Le Select.
I met Rick Tulka at Le Select.
I ran to Anne Maisonneuve to buy another mac T-shirt on rue Raspail
I shot the vitrines at Le Bon Marche.
Yesterday I got yelled at for shooting inside Le Bon Marche
Yesterday I followed this girl on 'rollers'
I followed this woman in high-heeled 'baskets'/sneakers.
I followed this older French Girl in leather leggings.
Yesterday I flirted with mini eclairs at MIYOU.
But I ate this salade instead.
I ate this marshmallow-pistachio sucette/lolly at Pain du Sucre.
And their tarte citron vert...miam miam
I couldn't finish the bitter lemon gananch cake from Christian Constant.
I ate again at Cojean.
The exact same thing I ate my first day in Paris.
20 comments:
The last day is always so intense tying up so many loose ends! Seems you did it all though...and ate well along the way. The night before, I always pack EVERYTHING back to see if there is any room left in the suitcases! (Or do I need to buy another bag to check!)I love the shirts and the Lacroix scarves.
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subset: commoncrawl


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"A significant and growing number of samurai and commoners throughout Japan were enthralled by the notion [known as 公武合体: koubu gattai] that devotion to the emperor could solve the nation's political problems. Central to radical loyalism was the belief that foreigners in Japan constituted a pollution of the land of the gods'. Only by expelling the foreigners could imperial subjects prove their loyalty; anything less was not just cowardice, but also a disgrace to the emperor and the gods. The principal tenets of radical imperial loyalism could be summarized in one sentence: Revere the emperor [son-nou: 尊王] and expel the barbarians [jou-i: 攘夷]'".
"The emotional force of sonnou joui thought was enormous. Like radical Islamic fundamentalism in our day, it seemed to answer deep-seated grievances and humiliations with a visionary, if vague, promise of purity and vengeance. The irrationality of sonnou joui rhetoric was part of its appeal. Ito Hirobumi once observed that if one speaks logically of the (things that happened then), they are impossible to understand but emotionally it had to be that way.'" (Mark Ravina, The Last Samurai, pp. 110-111.)
"Values are broad tendencies to prefer certain states of affairs over others. Values are feelings with an added arrow, indicating a plus and a minus side." (Geert Hofstede et al, Culture and Organizations: Software of the Mind, pp. 10-11.)
Evil versus good Dirty versus clean Dangerous versus safe Forbidden versus permitted Decent versus indecent Moral versus immoral Ugly versus beautiful Unnatural versus natural Abnormal versus normal Paradoxical versus logical Irrational versus rational
Evil versus good Dirty versus clean Dangerous versus safe Forbidden versus permitted Ugly versus beautiful Paradoxical versus logical Decent versus indecent Moral versus immoral Tolerant versus intolerant Unnatural versus natural Abnormal versus normal Irrational versus rational Infinite versus finite Unlimited versus limited
"characterizes the Western self' as a bounded, unique, more or less integrated motivational and cognitive universe, a dynamic center of awareness, emotion, judgment, and action organized into a distinctive whole and set contrastively both against other such wholes and against its social and natural background' (emphasis added)."
"an analytic framework that equates self/individual with such things as spontaneity, genuine feeling, privacy, uniqueness, constancy, the inner' life and then opposes these to the persons or personae shaped by mask, role, rule or context is a reflection of dichotomies that constitute the modern Western self."
"the Western notion of a constant "I" [is missing from] tribal cultures in which kinship and identity are forever things to be negotiated in diverse context'."
"cuts across all these points of view, Cartesian and anti-Cartesian, modern and post-modern alike. Postmodernism, because it is set against' the modern paradigm, winds up sharpening binary oppositions of modernism/postmodernism, centrism/decentrism, uniformity/diversity, and so on. It is as if one cannot escape the logic of opposition, but must create a new opposition in order to defeat an older one. Priorities are now reversed, though still presented in oppositional terms. Underlying opposition logic is a strong conviction, which in turn generates a strong opposition. Theism is as oppositional as atheism." (All above citations/quotations from Takie Sugiyama Lebra, The Japanese Self in Cultural Logic, pp. 4-5.)
"In opposition logic, the subject is logically separated from the object, even if the two might seem in some ways to overlap. By contrast, in contingency logic subject and object share the same space, are contiguous and intersecting, even when they at first may appear to be separate. These two models of logic are available for universal use, but I assume there is cultural bias, habitual or consciously reasoned, for choosing one over the other when such a choice becomes necessary, with individual cultures resorting more readily to one logic over the other. I propose that Japanese tend to follow contingency logic and to resist opposition logic more often or more consistently than do Westerners."
"Because it is a residual category to opposition logic, contingency logic encompasses a broad range of reasoning at the expense of precision and coherence. Adherents of the opposition-logic point of view might dismiss contingency logic simply as non-logic' or anti-logic'. Yet that, in itself, is too simplistic." (Lebra, op.cit., pp. 8-9.)
"In looking at subject and object, or self and other, contingency logic would say If self, then other', or put another way, There is no self without other'. I call this binding (conditioning, implicative, structuring), as opposed to oppositional. Q may be either a sufficient or a necessary condition for p, but not necessarily both." (Lebra, ibid.)
"often manages to emancipate itself or run away from the binary constraint. Such emancipation is made possible by seeking out a higher level of logical hierarchy, which I call ternary. A third factor, R, thus intervenes in the P -- Q binary, distantiating P from Q and then mediating the two in a loop: P -- R -- Q. The ternary mode is mobilized to play down or supersede the oppositional binary as P is unlocked from Q by R." (Lebra, op.cit., p. 11.)
"Paradoxical as it may sound, the unitary mode is an expression of the ultimate randomness of reality, of the complete unlocking or disengagement of P from Q. Whereas opposition logic would locate unity and randomness at opposite ends of a continuum, in the unitary mode unity is seen in chaos itself, as suggested in the Buddhist insight into the identity between nothingness and existence. It can be thought of, perhaps, as random unity,' unitary chaos,' or, to coin a word, chaosmos.' Japanese contingency logic and Western oppositional logic thus diverge most widely when they are applied to metaphysical and cosmological beliefs and speculations. " (Lebra, op.cit., pp. 13-14.)
"for having allowed himself to be suspected, which could have been avoided had his character been flawless. To refer to futoku [不徳: unworthiness] in a context such as this is common practice, allowing one to express modesty or humility and often having nothing to do with guilt or moral offence. What matters was the exposure of the scandal to the public, not accountability. In this ternary mode of reasoning, guilt and innocence were non-oppositional: both could apply." (Sugiyama Lebra, op.cit., p. 14.)
"Especially to be noted is the very nature of contingency logic, which sensitizes us to the anomic side of socialityas expressed in a basic ambivalence towards social expectations. Self-other relationship thus shifts across the four zones horizontally, vertically and diagonally. This dynamism is a strong characteristic of contingency logic.
Particularly familiar to students of Japan is the diagonal shift from omote (front) to ura (back), and uchi (inside) to soto (outside), and vice versa. These diagonal pairs, contrasting as they do in both distance and civility, seem almost to have nothing in common. I argue, however, that these diagonals can be reconceptualized, such that the diagonal pairs are necessarily interconnected by binding' contingency logic (if omote, then ura; without ura, no omote)." (Lebra, op.cit., p. 41.)
"When a choice is to be made in matters of self-presentation, Japanese tend to favor omote over uchi, focusing on the public component of self. A respectable outsider, thus, commands more polite attention than does an intimate insider, as does a foreign (Western, Caucasian) guest vis-à-vis a Japanese national. This is why I object to the usual equation of omote/ura with tatemae/honne (omote as tatemae, or external pretense; ura as honne, true feeling): to my mind, one's omote display can be one's true feeling." (Lebra, op.cit., p. 91.)
"In our minds we repeat counting hito (1), futa (2), mi (3), yo (4), itsu (5), muyu (6), nana (7), ya (8), kokono (9), tari (10)' three times, and then conclude with reciting momo (a hundred), chi (a thousand), yorozu (10 thousand). Ame no kazuuta is the way of counting in kotodama (spirit of language: a traditional belief that mystical powers dwell in words and names). Hito means the sun, fire or spirit; futa, the wind; mi, the water; yo, the world or stage; itsu, the life or emergence of life; muyu, the insects; nana, the fish; ya, the birds; kokono, the four-legged animals; tari, the human beings; momo, a hundred; chi, a thousand; and yorozu, ten thousand. Ame no kazuuta chants the history from the birth of the universe to the emergence of human beings. We shake the hands while praying for the prosperity of our earth for hundreds of thousands of years." (Morito Suganuma, Aikido Preparatory Exercises, p. 7.)
"In a vocal culture, this would be a situation where verbal bullets are shot at the target ruthlessly and at a high pitch. The difference in noise level between Japanese and American TV soap operas in serious, confrontational, scenes may have a great deal to do with the different ways of asserting hostility: vocal battles amplifying to maximum decibels on the one screen, and dead silence on the other." (Lebra, op.cit., p. 183.)
"The inner domain, symbolically located in the internal organs, most commonly in the heart or chest (kokoro) but also in the belly (hara), is where truthfulness, frankness, sincerity, fidelity, authenticity and integrity reside. In contrast the outer half, localized in the face, mouth and lips, in words and speech, is associated with deception, disguise, pretense, falsity and trickery. Truthfulness, sincerity and moral integrity are thus allied to reticence." (Lebra, op.cit., pp. 183-184.)
口に蜜あり、腹に剣あり。 Kuchi ni mitsu ari, hara ni ken ari. Honey in the mouth, a dagger in the belly. 阿呆の話食い。 Ahou no hanashi gui. A fool eats whatever is said. 話半分。 Hanashi hanbun. Believe only half of what you hear. 美言信ならず。 Bigen shin narazu. Beautiful speech lacks truthfulness.
"The mind, and especially reason, so central to the Western philosophical tradition, are inseparable from confidence in linguistic articulation. St John's prelude to his gospel praises the Word with astonishing unequivocality: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.' Christ is the Word' of God. The Word, stemming from the Greek logos, is elevated to be synonymous with God, the rational creator of the cosmos out of chaos." (Lebra, op.cit., p. 185.)
"The difference is obvious. In contrast to the Word, which is associated with logos, rationality, and the mind, kotodama (an utterance of ancient origin with supernatural potency, leading to either propitious or ominous events) is magically empowered. Although the supernatural potency of kotodama has faded away, these expression still live on in the social form of aisatsu greetings, delivered at holidays and celebrations. In the Western religio-philosophical tradition, then, the inner self is linked to mind, reasoning, transcendental existence, and the Word, while in the Japanese inner self, apart from kotodama, it is tied to spiritual serenity, integrity, sincerity and silence." (Lebra, ibid., with alterations made to the sentence sequence.)
"kokoro spreads across the space that lies between pure mind and physical body; physically located in the heart, it has to do with sensation, feeling, emotion, desire, as well as thinking, and may be translated, unsatisfactorily, as the embodied mind or heart / mind. In fact, kokoro, while it unites body and spirit / mind, also refers to the spiritual side of self that exists in parallel to the physical body (karada)." (Lebra, op.cit., p. 186. Karada: からだ, カラダ, 体, 體.)
"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touchedthey must be felt with the heart. Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy."
"also refers to the person's inner state of mind, dispositional, emotional, intentional and spiritual. While kokoro is associated with the blood (heart), hara conjures up the lungs and breath."
"Amorphous, and circulating throughout the body / mind, ki moves in and out of the body like air, breath or gas. The ki, usually translated as vital energy that emanates from the center of hara, is fully mobilized in martial arts."
"it may be placed closer to the mind pole of the mind-body continuum, both because it has no physical locus and because it is also associated with seishin ryoku (spiritual power), which is used to overcome physical and material shortcomings. Although the character shin in this word means a spiritual entity, seishin cannot be equated with the disembodied mind because it is driven by concentrated energy'."
"Mi as an intricate, unbounded complex of self that combines spirit and body, mentation and sensation, conscious and unconscious, literal and metaphorical, is not a fixed entity, but a relational unity'. As such mi is as multiple as these relations are and forms a vulnerable unity open to constant reintegrationwhich can include dramatic self-transformation, as when engaging in a sacred rite, one ritually cleanses one's body in order to attain a supramundane status. (Lebra, op.cit., p. 187.)
"Written in Chinese characters, mi and kokoro together become shinshin, a compound term that suggests awareness of the semantic distinction between the spirit (mind) and the body and yet is routinely used, as in the phrase, Strengthen your shinshin, as if the two shinkokoro and mioverlap completely. Oneness of the two shins is summed up as shinshin-ichinyo." (Lebra, ibid.)
"First logic'if we include in this term even the most fundamental or formal rules of reasoning such as the law of non-contradictionis important to the conception of every kind of critical or philosophical discourse. This is true regardless of whether the philosophy is self-described as either cultural or universal. Why? Because such a basic law of logic is not about truth but intelligibility. As Aristotle noted when he first articulated the law of non-contradiction: to contradict oneself is not to speak a falsehood, but to say nothing at all. If someone asserts both p and not-p, this means that both p and not-p are supposed to be true in exactly the same way at exactly the same time. Such an assertion is unintelligible; it has no meaning that can be judged true or false. One can neither agree nor disagree with it. (Agreement and disagreement assume that what is false at one time and in one way cannot be true at the same time and in the same wayand vice versa.) To deny the law of non-contradiction would make discussion and critical thinking impossible not only between cultures but within any culture." (Kasulis, Intimacy or Integrity, p. 16.)
"Second, the radical relativist is justifiably suspicious about something here. But the problem is not the formal logic itself. Instead the problem is the misapplication of this logic to justify a particular worldview. Logic can tell us how to think and express ourselves clearly, but it can tell us absolutely nothing whatsoever about either the way the world is or the way it should be. No worldview follows from intelligibility. Intelligibility and its formalization as fundamental rules of logic can only help us articulate a particular worldviewa worldview that may or may not be accurate. Logic requires only that we, not reality, make sense. If an individual or group misconstrues this relationship and tries to go directly from logic to ontology, only then do we find the situation that someone might want to label patriarchal,' hegemonic,' Western,' or whatever. Logic is a tool used to sharpen analysis, thinking, articulationnot a weapon to bludgeon to death any philosophical position one does not like. The point is to describe the way things are with as much logical clarity as possible; the error is to use logical clarity as the main criterion for the way things are." (Kasulis, op.cit., pp. 16-17.)
Peter Goldsbury (b. 28 April 1944). Aikido 7th dan Aikikai, Emeritus Professor at Hiroshima University, teaching philosophy and comparative culture. B. in UK. Began aikido as a student and practiced at various dojo. Became a student of Mitsunari Kanai at the New England Aikikai in 1973. After moving back to the UK in 1975, trained in the Ryushinkan Dojo under Minoru Kanetsuka. Also trained with K Chiba on his frequent visits to the UK. Moved to Hiroshima, Japan, in 1980 and continued training with the resident Shihan, Mazakazu Kitahira, 7th dan Also trained regularly with Seigo Yamaguchi, Hiroshi Tada, Sadateru Arikawa and Masatake Fujita, both in Hiroshima and at the Aikikai Hombu. Was elected Chairman of the IAF in 1998. With two German colleagues, opened a small dojo in Higashi-Hiroshima City in 2001. Instructed at Aiki Expo 2002 in Las Vegas, Nevada.


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The Newtown Massacre triggered President Barack Obama's gun control fight. And the staggering growth in the number of illegal residents spurred Obama's quest for immigration reform.
But a potentially more important political battle lies ahead for Obama, one that could force drastic automatic cuts to the domestic programs millions depend upon for survival: the sequester.
SEE ALSO: Obama Pressures GOP To Avoid Sequester
For now, Obama is looking for a short-term resolution that will keep the government funding flowing. Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress seem set to allow the deadline to pass in less than two weeks and let the forced budget trimming begin.
The possible cuts could start March 1 and would be the first of a massive $1.2 trillion budget cut that would phase in over the next 10 years.
The President and his Democratic supporters say the cuts will unfairly hit poor and middle class America, with some estimating that more than 700,000 jobs could be lost in the cuts.
Congressional Republicans say that Obama has spent too much time planning to raise taxes on their ranks (re: wealthy folks) instead of looking to trim fat from the federal budget.
It's likely that both sides have some merit to their arguments.
Still, there is no doubt that poor folks will feel the slash of the budget cutting ax far more than wealthy folks who can lean on their savings and stock portfolios.
But we all know there is plenty of fat in the federal budget that could be better spent: how many times have we seen stories about nonsensical federally funded studies pouring millions in to the mating life of the sea otter or some such drivel?
The sequester fight pits the age-old philosophies of the two major political parties in a battle to the death.
In basic terms, Democrats want a larger, more active government with the wealthy among us paying their fair share. Republicans, on the other hand, want a smaller, less robust government and believe the wealthy should be able to keep virtually all of its money in its pockets.
The only difference this time is that the well-being of millions of Americans are hanging in the balance as the sequester clock ticks down.
Sound off!


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Cat, Dog, Not You
Why Your Dog Can Get Vaccinated Against Lyme Disease And You Can't
By Curt Nickisch June 27, 2012osta/WBUR)
BOSTON — Eleven-year-old "Ned Kelly" is in for his annual physical at a clinic in Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood. As part of his check-up, he's getting a booster shot to protect him against Lyme disease. Ned doesn't like needles, but he holds still while Dr. Joel Kaye squeezes the pink serum under his skin.
"Little pinch," says Dr. Kaye, "we'll be home free. All right, good job!"
Ned is lucky, because he's one of the select few who can get the vaccine that gives him immunity against Lyme disease.
Ned is lucky because he's a dog.
At the MSPCA Angell Animal Medical Center, dogs are regularly vaccinated against Lyme. Ned's owner, Joe Turchin, lives in Falmouth. Ticks are bad there and Lyme is prevalent.
Turchin's glad he can protect his dog. But he wishes there were a human vaccine, too.
"You know, if there were a vaccine," Turchin says, "our doctors would be suggesting it to us, certainly for those of us on the Cape and the islands. Because it's a horrendous plague!"
Actually, modern science has given us a human vaccine against Lyme disease.
Too bad we don't use it.
"Lyme disease is the only infection I know of where we have a safe and effective vaccine, but it's not available to the public," says Dr. Allen Steere, the physician who uncovered the disease. Steere was 33 years old back in 1975 when he was sent to the Connecticut town of Lyme to look into a mysterious cluster of kids who had gotten arthritis.llen Steere, the discoverer of Lyme disease (Josh Berlinger for WBUR)
"Four or five months into the investigation, we came to suspect that ticks may be involved," Steere said of his team's work. They had found a previously unknown disease, and ever since, Lyme has been Steere's life's work.
After the discovery, he and other scientists first isolated the spiral-shaped bacterium that causes Lyme disease, and then they looked for ways to make people immune to it. Today, Steere's laboratory is at Massachusetts General Hospital. He says finding a biological pathway to vaccinate against Lyme was a major milestone.
"Lyme disease was epidemic in certain locations, particularly in the northeastern United States," Steere says. "So here was the possibility of really changing that."
By the mid-1990s, two pharmaceutical companies began trials of candidate vaccines.
Dr. Gregory Poland is a vaccinologist at the Mayo Clinic. He says the vaccines helped people build up lots of antibodies that killed the Lyme agent relatively quickly. "So that when a tick bites you and sucks your blood, it is sucking up the antibodies out of your blood," Poland says. "Those antibodies go into the tick's gut, kill the Lyme organisms so that when that tick then regurgitates into your skin, you don't get Lyme disease."
Poland says as innovative as these vaccines were for killing the Lyme bacterium before it even got into your body, they weren't perfect. You had to get booster shots, so it took a year to become immune. It wasn't approved for children 14 and under. Still, for those 15 and above, it worked pretty well. Human trials conducted by Steere showed that about 80 percent of those vaccinated gained immunity.
"People are fed up! This is a terrible situation we're in, which means that a vaccine still makes sense."
–Sam Telford, veterinarian
Introduced in 1998, the vaccine sold well at first. But then opponents spoke out: self-described 'vaccine victims' — perhaps similar to people today who claim the MMR vaccine causes autism. Back then, they said that the Lyme vaccine gave them arthritis.
"And this sort of got into popular lore," Poland recalls. "It got on the Internet. There were a number of East Coast lawyers who started putting together class-action lawsuits. There were anti-vaccine advocacy groups that were formed."
And there were threats against the scientists who had worked to help protect people against the disease. Poland had to hide where he lived. Steere got a security detail.
The clinical data did not back up any of this. The trials had not shown such side effects. The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control looked into the claims, and then continued to recommended that people exposed to tick-infested areas get the vaccine.
But it was too late. Sales had plummeted. Four years after offering people immunity against Lyme, SmithKline Beecham stopped making the vaccine. The second vaccine-maker, Pasteur Mérieux Connaught, saw what had happened and never put out its own product.e vaccine kills lyme bacteria in the tick before they even make it into the dog's body. (Curt Nickish/WBUR)
"Now with the withdrawal of the vaccine, people are doing all kinds of things," Poland says.
Poland notes that since then, Lyme has become more widespread and is now the most common tick-borne disease in the country.
"I'm personally aware of individuals, who in desperation have gone to veterinarians and remarkably convinced the veterinarian to inject them with the canine vaccine," he says.
Despite the growing demand for access to a human vaccine, many drug companies say not they're not interested in working on one.
"There are so many diseases," notes Farshad Guirakhoo, senior director of external in North America at Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of the drug giant Sanofi. His company is working instead on a vaccine for dengue fever.
"For diseases like Lyme disease, the medical need is smaller," Guirakhoo says. "So we need to put our resources toward where the medical need is greater and then you can make the vaccine."
With little to no interest from drug companies, some people want government to step in — even state government. Earlier this month, at a hearing of the new Massachusetts Lyme Disease Commission, veterinarian Sam Telford suggested the Bay State license GlaxoSmithKline's FDA-approved vaccine.
"We all know that the market has changed," Dr. Telford said then. "People are fed up! This is a terrible situation we're in, which means that a vaccine still makes sense."
Telford arguess the state could make it at the UMass Biologics Laboratory in Jamaica Plain, a facility that has made other vaccines before. GlaxoSmithKline would not say whether it would consider such an option.
So for now, there's no sign of any vaccine becoming available. And if there were, Poland says the old opponents are already promising to fight the introduction of any new Lyme vaccine.
"So we know scientifically how to develop a vaccine that would protect against all this human misery," Poland says with an air of regret. "And yet, for these societal and cultural reasons, not scientific reasons, that will not be done in the foreseeable future in the U.S."
Steere is a little more hopeful. The man who first connected the mysterious affliction to the ticks of Lyme, Conn., back in 1975, has worked on the disease his entire professional life. Losing the human vaccine that he had helped along, he admits, was a major setback. But he doesn't want to assign blame.
"Multiple things happened," Steere says. "What I'd like to see happen now, is that it's possible to move on. Even make a better vaccine. I think that's still possible."
Until that day, people are going to have to try to protect themselves. Long pants. Insecticides. Body inspections. People are going to have to keep living with Lyme.
WBUR Topics · Boston · Health · Radio Broadcast
Link to article: www.wbur.org/2012/06/27/lyme-vaccine


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Cheers. Been busy beavering away on 1.43!Oh I use Opera btw - not as fast as it used to be though (last nippy version was Opera 5 AFAIR). Table copy and pasting worked fine with it though.-Twinbee (April 22, 2012, 04:51 PM)
You have about 150 colours there, but Wikipedia lists about 900 (not sure if there's a better source). Now if I can find a HTML table to CSV converter...-Twinbee (April 11, 2012, 09:29 AM)
It's just so much nicer to do math in words rather than fart around so much. -Renegade (April 22, 2012, 09:55 AM)
It's just so much nicer to do math in words rather than fart around so much. -Renegade (April 22, 2012, 09:55 AM)"Number of farts allowed safely before causing global warming catastrophe." -TaoPhoenix (April 25, 2012, 07:53 PM)
so you geniuses should be able to make a 50 line script
Shift + F1 now opens the last session, even if you didn't save it (providing OpalCalc was previously closed). -Twinbee (May 09, 2012, 01:24 PM)
Alternatively, to make it easier for me, I could add an option to restore just the last working session (sheet). Would this offer most of what you're looking for, or should I allow restoring of previous sheets (or sums) too?-Twinbee (April 09, 2012, 11:54 AM)
I just thought to myself, "Gee... I haven't opened 'calc.exe' in ages!" Still loving OpalCalc! It's such a better way to do a calculator on a real computer. -Renegade (July 11, 2012, 01:29 AM)
I have a FARR alias for "calc" pointed at OpalCalc,
Thanks all! I'll be working hard on 1.48 which is due out soon (and fix the currency update issue that's currently in 1.46).-Twinbee (July 11, 2012, 09:11 AM)
WHAT THE HECK IS A HOGSHEAD ANYWAY????-kunkel321 (July 17, 2012, 11:28 PM)
The metric system is the tool of the devil! My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it!-Grandpa Simpson
So Opal Calc has 17,456 different functions and each one has a bug. So 17,456 times $50.... Hmmm I'm gonna need Opal Calc for this!
Hey this thing is pretty smart!


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This article originally ran in the October 2012 issue of Food Manufacturing.
Throughout its 89-year history, Just Born in Bethlehem, Penn., has produced such iconic candy brands as PEEPS® and MIKE AND IKE®. The family-owned company prides itself in maintaining a sense of tradition, while continuing to generate growth through innovative production processes.
When Russian immigrant Sam Born opened a small candy-making and retail store in 1923 in Brooklyn, N.Y., he advertised his daily-made creations with a sign that read, "Just Born." Soon after, he invited brothers-in-law Irv and Jack Shaffer to join him in the business.
In 1932, Born moved Just Born's operations to an empty printing factory where the Saturday Evening Post used to be printed in Bethlehem, Penn. The company's headquarters has remained there ever since.
Throughout its history, Just Born has acquired a variety of candy businesses, perhaps none more influential in the company's future than its 1953 acquisition of the Rodda Candy Company in Lancaster, Penn. At the time, Rodda was best known for its jelly beans, but it also made a small line of marshmallow products, including Easter chicks that were produced by workers who hand-squeezed the marshmallow through pastry tubes.
After acquiring Rodda, Sam Born's son, Bob — who had joined the company in 1946 — helped develop a way to automate the marshmallow-forming process in 1954. That innovation has helped Just Born become the world's largest manufacturer of novelty marshmallow treats, with the company producing more than two billion marshmallow PEEPS each year.
PEEPS are packaged into trays at the Just Born factory in Bethlehem, Penn. |
In addition to PEEPS, Just Born has introduced other classic candies throughout the years, including MIKE AND IKE chewy, fruit-flavored candies and cinnamon-flavored HOT TAMALES®. Other products manufactured by the company include TEENEE BEANEE jelly beans, ZOURS sour candies and GOLDENGERG'S PEANUT CHEWS®.
The Bethlehem plant, originally estimated to be fewer than 100,000 square feet, has expanded over the years to accommodate the company's massive growth. The facility currently sits at just under 500,000 square feet and employs about 540 workers, or associates, as the company prefers to call them.
A smaller plant of about 90,000 square feet in Philadelphia, Penn., houses approximately 30 associates who produce the company's GOLDENGERG'S PEANUT CHEWS candies. All other products are manufactured at the Bethlehem facility.
It's A Marshmallow World
The process to produce PEEPS chicks, begins with three simple ingredients: liquid sugar, water and granulated sugar. These items are mixed and heated until the water is boiled off the mixture. Once the mixture reaches the ideal temperature, corn syrup, gelatin and other trace ingredients are added, essentially creating liquid marshmallow.
The liquid marshmallow is sent to a whipper, which uses thousands of high-speed blades to inject air in order for the mixture to achieve a fluffy texture. The result is a nicely aerated marshmallow.
The marshmallow is mechanically deposited into chick shapes onto a conveyor covered in a bed of colored sugar — yellow, pink, lavender or blue — to coat the bottom of the PEEPS. As the PEEPS move along the conveyor, compressed air is blown around the chicks to create a "tornado effect" that coats the remainder of the marshmallow.
The coated chicks proceed up a long, inclined conveyor which gives the product time to cool. The sugar bed is then separated from the marshmallow and returned to the beginning of the belt to be reintroduced into the process.
At the top of the incline, a machine stamps decorative eyes on each chick. "Here is an example of where [Just Born has] tried to automate the process," says Mark Wright, Operations Business Director for Just Born.
According to Wright, the stamping used to be performed manually. As each cluster of chicks would go by, associates would hand-stamp the eyes. "[Automating the process] eliminated a lot of ergonomic issues from a repetitive-motion standpoint. From a quality perspective, it is much more consistent to apply the decoration in this way."
Many of the production processes at Just Born have become more automated over the years, but Wright says this has not eliminated any jobs. "As something becomes automated, we are simply able to move that person somewhere else. It's something we're proud of."
PEEPS products continue their journey on the conveyor system to the packaging area where overhead systems form trays which are automatically fed from above into position on a conveyor. The PEEPS are then fed into each tray, five chicks at a time. The trays are collated and each package is date-coded, time-stamped and marked with the production line on which it was produced and packaged.
Once packages are stamped, they move onto a flow wrapper which applies cellophane film over the product to maintain freshness. The flow wrapper can manage a variety of package sizes, ranging from five to 15 PEEPS per package.
Wrapped packages run through a metal detector to ensure food safety. Approved packages are cased manually and then automatically palletized at the end of the line. Pallets are then moved to the shipping area, where they are loaded onto trucks headed for Just Born's warehouse on the other side of town where they will await distribution.
A Polished Product
Packages of HOT TAMALES are collated and loaded into trays. |
The company's MIKE AND IKE and HOT TAMALES products are created by first batching, blending and mixing liquid sugar, corn syrup, cornstarch and other trace ingredients. This liquid mixture is sent to a cooking system that injects steam to heat it. The result is a jelly-bean slurry that travels to the starch-casting operation.
The starch-casting operation features boards filled with cornstarch. A print board imprints the cornstarch with MIKE AND IKE shapes, and the cooked slurry is pumped into the printed shapes in the starch. Boards are stacked and loaded into curing rooms where the slurry will cool and harden until the next day.
Day-old boards are transported from the curing rooms to a machine which flips over the boards and dumps the cornstarch and the hardened centers. The dumped contents run through a sifting screen, which sifts out cornstarch to be recycled and put back onto the boards. The remaining centers continue on to the next process. Once boards are dumped, they are flipped again and refilled with starch to restart the cycle.
The colorless and flavorless centers continue on a conveyor into a cooling tunnel which cools the centers from about 100°F to about 65°F. Centers are then weighed and stored in trays until needed for flavoring.
The flavoring process starts by loading the cooled centers into large pans. Granulated sugar is added and then the pan begins spinning. As the product is tumbled, liquid coloring and flavoring are ladled into the pan. The coloring and flavoring attach to the granulated sugar, and the mixture begins to stick to the center to build a shell containing the color and flavor of the MIKE AND IKE or HOT TAMALES.
Colored and flavored product is loaded back into trays. At this stage, the product has a dull, powdered-sugar-like finish. The flavored pieces are then sent to polishing pans where associates add liquid sugar, a glaze and other trace ingredients to build up a protective, shiny coat as the product tumbles in the pan.
Wright says the polishing process adds an appealing look to the product as well as a sort of shelf-life protection. "Ideally, [the process] prevents moisture from getting into the piece and making it sticky, and it prevents moisture from getting out of the piece and making it hard and stale."
Polished product will sit for at least four hours in a staging area to give the coat time to harden before packaging. As needed, finished product will be taken to packaging, where it will be loaded into a variety of package sizes — from 0.5-ounce boxes to 5-pound bags.
For packages containing a variety of flavors, such as MIKE AND IKE products, the different flavors are layered next to each other onto an inclined conveyor. As the layers of product move up the conveyor, some product cascades down, helping to create mixing action.
At the top of the conveyor, product is dropped into a rotary screen which tumbles and mixes the product and screens out any "doubles" — two-jelly-bean pieces that have become stuck together during the production process.
Doubles are melted down and reintroduced into the production process, along with any other pieces that may not have been up to quality throughout the process. These melted down pieces are used to create the red centers used to produce HOT TAMALES.
Once product falls through the rotary screen, it heads to a scale, which measures the candies into pre-determined increments. These increments are then dumped into a bagging machine below for packaging.
Completed gingerbread PEEPS are robotically packaged at Just Born's facility. |
Boxed product is filled volumetrically rather than weighed. Candy is fed from above into each box; boxes are then sealed shut and date- and time-stamped. A visual inspection system checks each time stamp before the boxes proceed through a metal detector and across a checkweigher to ensure the correct amount of candy is in each box.
Boxes are collated and loaded into trays, which travel through a shrink wrapper for a protective film. Wrapped trays are conveyed to the shipping area, where seven palletizing stations supported by two robots automatically palletize them.
The palletizing operation is completely computer-controlled, so the machines know which product is coming down from the conveyors and the count of cases in each pallet. Pallets are stretch wrapped and loaded into trucks to be shipped to the company's warehouse.
A Sweet Outlook
Just Born's primary distribution is to retail stores in the United States, where millions of consumers purchase their classic candies each year. The company also has a growing international business in areas such as Canada, Korea and Israel.
In addition to its retail customers, the company has recently launched a new e-store and retail locations. The stores, called PEEPS & COMPANY®, are currently located in National Harbor, Md.; Bethlehem, Penn.; and the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn.
Just Born has been affected by recent economic volatility, especially higher commodity prices. Wright says sugar- and corn-based products have posed the largest challenge when it comes to rising costs.
"I think everyone in the food, and particularly the confectionary, industry has faced the same challenges — primarily with commodity costs," Wright says. "The pricing of commodities has been so affected by floods in the Midwest, by droughts in the Midwest, by hurricanes in the Gulf."
Just Born has responded to increased costs by raising some of its prices, and the company also has reduced some of its package sizes. Theater-sized candy boxes have been cut from 6 ounces to 5 ounces.
But Wright says the company has focused on improving business efficiencies in order to avoid pricing and packaging changes. "We've really looked to focus on operational improvements so that we don't have to take price action and don't have to downsize."
Despite an economic recession and rising commodity costs, Just Born has continued to experience growth thanks to its focus on innovation. "The consumer is interested in innovation — something new, something different," Wright says. "We've [invested] capital in new processes and new equipment on the manufacturing floor to produce different types of products."
The company has embraced innovation especially in its PEEPS brand, developing new marshmallow creations for various holidays, as well as more indulgent versions of the treats. A new chocolate enrobing system has allowed Just Born to produce chocolate-coated and chocolate-dipped PEEPS products that are quickly gaining popularity with consumers.
Looking to the future, Wright says Just Born will continue to develop new products and variations on traditional favorites. But the company will always hold a strong focus on its classic confections that have become familiar to so many. "People can relate to [these candies] from their childhood."
Thanks to Just Born's steady growth and popularity, children — and adults — will continue to create sweet memories for years to come.


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Godfather's Pizza has launched a photo-sharing campaign in which their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram followers are encouraged to submit photos for a chance to win a limited-edition shirt and a personal phone call from the company's official spokesperson, The Godfather.
The campaign encourages fans to submit photos showing how much they love Godfather's Pizza to the hashtag #getmade or via Godfather's Pizza's Facebook Fan Center. "How exactly do you show how much you love Godfather's Pizza? This can be just about anything. You can submit a photo with yourself doing a Godfather impression, a photo of you being really happy with our product offerings, or a photo of some creative artwork that you've created that pays homage to Godfather's Pizza. The sky is the limit!" says Jan Sammons, director of marketing at Godfather's Pizza.
The #getmade campaign takes place now through July 19, and a winner will be chosen at the end of each week. Followers can enter as many times as they would like from a computer or smart phone.
For more information on how you can #getmade, visit the Godfather's Pizza Fan Center.


text: It's play time and learning time all in one! Let children exercise their minds, imaginations, and bodies with play furniture for preschools.If it's a rainy day, or you just want to keep your class indoors, look into soft balance beams or wooden balance beams for children to learn Balance and play out gymnast dreams. Simply lay them out over Activity Rugs. If they need to Climb and Slide, try offering the class a child loft, an indoor slide, soft climbers, and toddler tunnels. The children will have a great time climbing, hiding, and honing their motor skills.Let children expand their imaginations with Dramatic Play. Your classroom will feel more complete with a kitchen set for children, preschool castles, dress up centers for children, and all of the doll accessories necessary to make a child feel like their doll is their baby. If you need more specific play sets, there are toy woodwork sets, toy laundry sets, preschool puppet show sets, rocking boats for toddlers, and a space playset to choose from!Blocks allow for fine motor and building skills. Keep children focused on building block sets and keep the blocks neatly in building block storage when not in use to keep your room neat!When it's time to go outside for Riding Activities and outdoor play with the class, offer toddler tricycles and keep the toddler helmets on to prevent injury! Allow children to set up toy traffic signs to maneuver around. If you're going on a Walk, keep children close by on a walking rope with handles, or keep them safe in a buggy for children or a group stroller.You'll never be bored with all of these playset options for preschools and daycares! Have the best classroom playsets in the school and allow children to have fun and expand their minds!


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Holistix Massage
Welcome to Holistix Massage
Tucson (; TOO-son; Spanish: Tucson, O'odham: Cuk-Ṣon) is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States, and is home to the University of Arizona. It is the second-largest city in Arizona behind Phoenix, with a population of 542,629 in the 2020 United States census, while the population of the entire Tucson metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is 1,043,433. The Tucson MSA forms part of the larger Tucson-Nogales combined statistical area. Both Tucson and Phoenix anchor the Arizona Sun Corridor. The city is 108 miles (174 km) southeast of Phoenix and 60 mi (97 km) north of the United States–Mexico border.
Aldea Linda, Alvernon Heights, Armory Park, Arroyo Chico, Balboa Heights, Barrio Anita, Barrio Blue Moon, Barrio Centro, Barrio Hollywood, Barrio Nopal, Barrio San Antonio, Barrio Santa Rosa, Barrio Viejo, Blenman-Elm Historic District, Campbell Grant


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Eyelid surgery, known as blepharoplasty within the medical community, is one of the most consistently popular cosmetic procedures. It's in demand among both women and men.
Despite the fact that the procedure enjoys such widespread appreciation, however, there are still many misconceptions about blepharoplasty. Let's set the record straight.
Blepharoplasty Only Addresses the Upper Lids — Fiction
Blepharoplasty is actually a term that is applied to lower lid surgery as well. Upper eyelids are typically lifted as excess skin is eliminated, while lower lids often have fat pockets removed, as well as saggy skin.
Over the years, the procedure has grown to encompass additional steps to rejuvenate and brighten the eyes as needed. Dermal fillers or a patient's own fat can be used to smooth tear troughs and hollows beneath the eyes, and some patients elect treatment with BOTOX® Cosmetic to relax forehead wrinkles at the same time as surgery.
Eyelid Surgery is Mainly for Older People — Fiction
Given the surgical options and non-surgical add-ons today, younger people as well as middle age and older folks seek eyelid surgery. Some younger patients have naturally droopy eyelids and want to brighten their look, others have bags or hollows under their eyes at an early age. Asian patients sometimes want to open up their eyes without obliterating all traces of their heritage. Nowadays, blepharoplasty is a choice that can work for many.
People with Extra Risk Factors Can't Have Surgery — Fiction
It's true that some conditions—such as dry eyes, bulging eyes or poor skin tone—make eyelid surgery more challenging. Indeed some patients are not good candidates, but many can still benefit from a modified procedure with a blepharoplasty expert.
Blepharoplasty Recovery is Painful — Fiction
Actually, eyelid surgery is one of the least painful cosmetic procedures. Patients usually report feeling some tightness and scratchy eyes—rarely do they characterize recovery as "painful."
You May Not Be Able to Close Your Eyes After Surgery — Fact
Like all types of surgery, blepharoplasty does involve some risks. A few, such as infection, unusual bleeding and unfavorable scarring, are common to just about any procedure. Some, such as the inability to close your eyes, are specific to eyelid surgery.
Strictly speaking, it is possible that a patient may not be able to close his or her eyes after surgery. Fortunately, this complication is extremely rare. In the hands of a highly experienced blepharoplasty expert, the likelihood of this happening is almost nil.
Eyelid Surgery Can Be Performed by a Variety of Doctors — Fiction
Although eyelid surgery is generally not dangerous, because the area is delicate and the stakes are high, patients should consider only board certified plastic and oculoplastic surgeons. It's important to choose one who has performed hundreds of blepharoplasty surgeries and can demonstrate consistent success and satisfied patients.
Eyelid Surgery is Often Covered by Insurance — Fiction
Unfortunately, most eyelid surgery is considered cosmetic and is not covered by insurance. Carriers will sometimes make an exception for cases in which droopy eyelids obstruct vision.
Blepharoplasty has been around for many years. It has always offered tremendous rejuvenation potential with a smooth recovery period—that's why eyelid surgery has enjoyed so much popularity among both men and women. Today, the procedure is more flexible, more effective and safer than ever.


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I recently wrote a non fiction book. A marketer from the publishing company, advised me to setup a small website with a few pages dedicated to this book. This website will have a description of the book and will link to online bookstores. I was wondering what the best way is to do this for somebody who doesn't make websites for a living.
- First, do I really need to have such a website?
- If not are there any better alternatives?
- Do I need to register a domain for this website?
- Do I need a premium hosting plan?
I was thinking of just winging it with a free hosting plan for instance on Wordpress.


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This article is more than 1 year old
Iranian hacktivists hand-crank DDoS attack
Farsi hackers do without botnets
The controversial outcome of the Iranian elections has spawned a parallel conflict on the internet.
The cyberconflict is more akin to hand-to-hand fighting than the more sophisticated botnet-powered assualts that have accompanied political conflicts involving Russia and its neighbours over recent months.
Cyber attacks against pro-Ahmadinejad (government) websites have largely been driven by hand, in sharp contrast to the botnet-fuelled attacks associated with cyberconflicts between Russia and Estonia, for example. Security watchers are describing the Iranian conflict as a "crowd sourced cyber-war", featuring DIY denial of service attack tools, web page "refresher" tools and PHP scripts, security blogger Dancho Danchev reports.
"Rather than using simple code, with automated viral botnets and the like, these efforts are largely being driven by hand. There are a number of simple scripts going around that can be downloaded and which continually reload the target Web sites in a browser window," said Jim Cowie, CTO of security tools firm Renesys, Net Effect reports.
Although there is little or no DDoS traffic against opposition websites, they too are being affected because of government-imposed limits of Iranian international bandwidth. Iran all but cut off international data links after last week's election and has only slowly reactivated external circuits since, Arbor Networks reports. In response to the attacks, some websites have applied low-bandwidth versions.
The DDoS attacks, in their current form, are basic and straightforward to thwart, ISC reports. In addition, they carry security risks for hacktivists tempted to get involved.
"The attackers who participate by loading these pages and going off to dinner, sleep, or on with their days open themselves up to attacks back through drive-by attacks," writes Jose Nazario, manager of security research at Arbor Networks.
"Imagine a simple scenario: the victims modify their sites to include some code like LuckySploit that commits a simple set of attacks. The attacker's machine reloads the page (this is, after all, part of the attack). Hit a browser or accessory bug and bam, the attacker has been attacked." ®


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North West wages worth £2,500 less than in 2008
The figures confirm that, despite some strengthening of wages over 2014 to 2015, workers in the region still have a long way to go to restore all the earnings they lost following the longest squeeze on wages since records began in the 1850s.
The average North West annual wage increased in real terms by £374 from 2014 to 2015 – the first annual increase for several years.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdHowever, current indications suggest the wage recovery may already be stalling. Monthly data on average weekly earnings from the Office for National Statistics show wage growth slowed in the second half of 2015.
The TUC warns that the government's plans to continue to hold back wages in the public sector will be a significant drag on average wage growth. And recent monthly surveys by employment information service XpertHR suggest private sector wage settlements remain well below their pre-crisis trend.
The TUC says that while forthcoming increases to the minimum wage have an important role to play in improving wages for some workers, this is not enough in itself. Concerted action from the government is needed to support stronger wage increases for all low and middle-income workers, not just those at the very bottom.
However, the TUC warns that the government's Trade Union Bill will weaken the power of workers to negotiate a fair share of economic growth through decent pay rises. This could lead to slower wage growth becoming embedded as a longer-term problem, causing trouble not only for workers and their families, but also for businesses that rely on their spending.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdInstead of attacking workers and their representatives, the TUC is calling on the government to engage with trade unions to improve both pay and productivity through stronger collective bargaining rights, modern wage councils to ensure pay increases follow productivity gains, and worker representation on remuneration committees.
TUC Regional Secretary Lynn Collins said: "Working people deserve a fair share of the wealth they create. But despite five years of economic growth, the pressure on their living standards has barely let up. The average annual wage in the North West is still worth nearly £2,500 less than it was back in 2008.
"The government must do the right thing for the economy, and the right thing by workers. They should invest more in the skills and infrastructure the UK needs for higher productivity. They should make sure that working people see productivity gains in their pay packets. And they should work positively with trade unions instead of attacking workers and their representatives with the Trade Union Bill."


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Ingress 2.43.4 Release Notes
You should soon receive an update to version 2.43.4 of the Ingress app, which includes the following changes:
- UI: Currently selected avatar is visible on Agent profile
- UI: Copying Agent stats to clipboard uses a share intent. Tap the Share button on the Agent profile to bring up the Android or iOS Share activity view
- UI: Show Mind Units (MU) gained from Field creation
- UI: Added an NIA filter for nearby Mission Day missions
- Bugfix: Fixed crash on startup on iOS 11
- Bugfix: Fixed crash on Android 5 and 6
- Bugfix: Reduced the map screen rotation when zooming in to a Portal to enter the Portal details screen
- Bugfix: Fixed media thumbnails on media Manage screen
- Bugfix: Fixed email settings checkboxes on the Settings menu
- Bugfix: Fixed the Claim a Portal objective during Ingress Agent Tutorial
Additional notes or known issues in this release:
- Portal Scanning has rolled out to Level 16 and recursed Agents globally
- Sign in with Apple has been temporarily disabled, and the Settings menu has a placeholder space above the options to link a Facebook or a Google account
Hydracyan ✭✭✭✭✭
Most of portals in my area are either graffitis or buildings (government, churchs) or playground/public gyms. Are those kinds supposed to be scanned too? Some are impossible to walk over it (360) and playground will probably end with a weird results...
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Hydracyan ✭✭✭✭✭
It's working fine for me. What language you're using?
And speaking of languages: when the translation will be finished? There's still many things appearing in English only during gameplay. My main concern are the glyphs, since they have a important role and some players are unable to understand the messages, caming up with funny names to memorize instead of just understand what they're saying.
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daawg ✭✭✭
Now that we have portal scanning, would it be too much to ask to FINALLY fix the scaling of portal photos? This is some really basic stuff to code you know, and some of us actually make an effort to take nice looking photos to the portals we submit.
Just look at how vertically (bad) or horizontally (terrible!) oriented portal photos are scaled when viewed through keys. Currently the only way to see portal photos correctly is through Intel or Wayfarer nominations (which is rather subjective!).
@NianticBrian seriously it's an hour's effort for any programmer but would mean a lot to the look and feel of Ingress Prime and especially everyone who wants to take good looking portal photos.
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DSktr ✭✭✭✭
First time worked well on my old Moto xt1550 with stock Android 6,then began to stuck and FC (now installed 2.40 there,the latest stable build for that phone). Other phones work without problem. And,some new animation of gathered items,nice.
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NianticBrian Niantic › admin
@daawg can you confirm what you mean by scaling Portal photos when viewing through Portal Keys? Do you mean the auto crop/resize of the Portal photo thumbnails, the byte size of the Portal photos, or something else?
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PhantomR1982 ✭✭✭
@NianticBrian Now that your team and @NianticCasey have hopefully fixed the crashing issue can you and @ofer2 continue to look into my issue Please ???
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Hydracyan ✭✭✭✭✭
Portrait pictures got cut on top and bottom to look life a landscape/widescreen. Since old scanner used crop bars on keys, that wasn't a big problem because we were seeing all the picture, but resized and with black bars. But prime just cut it, and mostly of old pictures are off-center and most of new submission are still on portrait mode. The key view got cropped, but when we try to click the picture to see it in full screen isn't show it's but a zoomed in, with all sides a bit cropped.
Landscape pictures aren't damaged for key view, but if try to see the full picture it got completely zoomed and cropped.
Full picture:
Key view:
Clicking the key pictures, it get zoomed in and cropped again:
It's impossible to see the original picture in-game.
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Hydracyan ✭✭✭✭✭
Now with a landscape picture.
Original that I sent above.
The key view:
And finally the zoomed, by clicking the key pictures:
It got cropped on the sides and zoomed in.
I'm already used on how it's works, so I don't mind it anymore. But would be nice to have a way to do little edits on the picture before submitting, to align it with the keys size (like when we are changing the profile picture of most social media) .
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InvictusArya ✭✭
Thank you! I really hope it fixes my issue. I just checked the play store but the new version isn't live yet for me. (Fingers crossed) lol
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Hydracyan ✭✭✭✭✭
Other example:
Here is a good picture. The portal is the stone. But look how the key view is:
Just woods. I solve that by almost always taking portrait mode, but using grids and centering the object on the middle:
Even zoomed in, won't loose much.
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starwort ✭✭✭✭✭
It probably isn't working fine for you, but I'm guessing you don't recharge a lot of portals so it looks fine because you didn't trigger the bug yet.
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jontebula ✭✭✭✭✭
@NianticBrian No message about portal scanning are complete upliading. Please fix it soon. Now i dont know if my portal scanning are uploading.
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creelbm ✭✭
I'm running Android 5.1 on a ZTE Warp Elite. In the App Store, it says I have installed the 2-43-3 version. It's still crashing on me, and not loading.
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Hydracyan ✭✭✭✭✭
Actually I forgot to came here earlier. I just noticed it today, sometimes some keys do not show up in the list, at least not where it should be. But most of them are correct for me.
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InvictusArya ✭✭
Did not fix the issue. Still stuck on Niantic loading screen. Running Android 6. Uninstalled and reinstalled. No go.
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Offlean ✭✭
Same here. It's even worse. With the previous version (2.43.2 I believe) I could at least play once after re-install or data-wipe. Now it won't even allow me to login sigh.
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creelbm ✭✭
Still having issues. It got me to log in one time, and the game played, but after that, I'm stuck on the login screen.
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jontebula ✭✭✭✭✭
@NianticBrian Very easy now when we only scan same portal and soon have onyx. Please fix block and we must scan diffent portals.


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I felt like doing one of my roundups of interesting things I have seen or heard lately in my podcast experience. It seems like a fair bit of it overlaps with the recent discussions here of "going pro" in new media, of making money and general issues of new media as an industry. Let's what we can make of this.
I ran across this interesting video via a link from Twitter. It is Cheryl Colan's observations about the ads in Epic-Fu. I don't follow Cheryl and in fact this was the first time I've ever heard of her. I think her video and the examples she raises are worth thinking about. She points out that the ads in Epic-Fu make the recommendations segment that is adjacent seem like product placement. In the comments to that post, which I only saw 90 seconds ago preparing this post, Steve and Zadi seem pretty defensive and refer to "accusations of dishonesty." I thought Cheryl was quite clear that she has no inside knowledge of their motivations and only is referring to her experience as a viewer of their videos. I know that when I have recommendations in episodes for which I had sponsors, I have made statements that "my opinion hasn't been bought. That's not to say it couldn't be, just that it would take a hell of a lot more money than they are paying." Worth a watch for anyone interested in this conversation.
I'm late to this particular show but Colette Vogels's Rules for the Revolution podcast has a fantastic episode talking about new media insurance. For those of you who are convinced this is what you want to do (and can't be talked out of it), it is worth your time to listen to this show. Particularly if you have enough assets that getting them sued out from under will really ruin your life and you are a professional podcaster, spend the half-hour listening to this show. Really, do it.
I forget how I first ran across the Writers Strike Chronicles podcast but I am enjoying it, if "enjoying" can be considered the right term for something I wish didn't exist at all. The host, Tanja Barnes, as best I can tell is an actress and also an aspiring writer. I believe at least one person she interviewed was someone whose screenwriting course she had taken. [Update: Tanja corrects me in the comments, it was a poetry writing workshop not screenwriting and she has no aspirations as a screenwriter. ] This show does quite a service for the cause of the writers. Having listened to a dozen or so episodes, I feel like I understand their position much better. I'm not sure what Tanja's motivation for doing the podcast is, but she is demonstrably doing a service to the writer's community. I doubt that she is looking for a direct payoff, but somewhere in here she is building up a karma surplus. Later on in her career, she might well find herself needing that goodwill and being able to draw on it. There's a way where you can consider a podcast where someone is receiving value for their work, even if no cash ever changes hands.
I was a fan of the Rounders poker podcast, as someone interested in both poker and podcasts. I listened to it for about a year, and when I first subscribed I went back and got a few older episodes of particular interest to me, like the one with Chris Ferguson. It was a solid podcast that was also on radio in Vancouver. It went through a quick period where it was dropped from the AM sports station and was a podcast original. After a fairly short period, it morphed into the official podcast of Two Plus Two, one of the most well known poker publishers. In fact, I think the show was actually improved by this because now it has things like the "Sklansky minute", which may not mean anything to you podcast geeks but as a poker geek it about made me pee my pants. I don't know the terms of this move, but one presumes there is some recompense for Mike and Adam. This might the absolute best way one can monetize a podcast, by doing one so good that you become the official house podcast for a business that then pays you. Assuming, like these guys, that you pretty much do the same show before and after that's about the best case of such things. I've recently tried out the Poker Road podcast and despite the pedigree of the high profile players involved I find it has too much AM sports talk style bullshitting around for my taste while the Two Plus Two cast is pretty much all business while still being fun. I highly recommend it.


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(Washington, DC) - The Bahrain government has detained prominent opposition activists on terrorism charges, closed publications and websites, and intimidated civil society activists in the period leading up to parliamentary and municipal elections scheduled for October 23, 2010, Human Rights Watch said today.
Bahraini authorities should investigate torture allegations by the detainees and allow them to meet with lawyers, and rescind closure and takeover orders against independent media and civil society organizations, Human Rights Watch said.
"What we are seeing in Bahrain these days is a return to full-blown authoritarianism," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "The government has taken over associations and shut down media it doesn't like to silence the loudest critics and intimidate the rest, and Washington says nothing publicly."
Although the US Embassy in Manama is fully apprised of the current situation, the Obama administration has failed to speak out about what has become a serious human rights crisis. Human Rights Watch urged US officials to issue an unambiguous public statement deploring the sharp deterioration in human rights in Bahrain in recent months. Bahrain, a close political and strategic ally of the United States, is home to the US Fifth Fleet.
The crackdown began on August 13 with the arrest of opposition activists, some of whom had just returned from participating in a public event in London at which they criticized the government. The arrest of a blogger, Ali Abdulemam, on September 4 brought the total of high-profile detainees to 22. They have been charged under Bahrain's 2006 counterterrorism law with advocating and plotting the overthrow of the government. Most of the specific charges relate to their political opinions and writings, including "spreading false information" and "inciting hatred of the government." They have not been permitted to meet privately with lawyers, contrary to Bahraini law, and many allege they have been subjected to torture during interrogation.
A mass trial of 25 prominent opposition activists and bloggers arrested in August and September, including several living abroad who are not in custody, will start on October 28, according to a recent government announcement.
Other arrests throughout September swept up a large number of less prominent individuals, at least some of whom face charges in connection with recent street violence. Some trials in those cases have begun. The exact number of those arrested since mid-August is not known, but it appears to be between 250 and 300. Human Rights Watch said that it is also concerned about alleged torture and basic due process violations against these detainees.
Several of the prominent detainees are members of opposition groups that the government considers illegal and that advocate boycotting the elections. The Information Affairs Authority has also blocked websites affiliated with legal opposition societies participating in the elections and has shut down the newsletters of the two main opposition societies, al-Wefaq National Islamic Society and the National Democratic Action Society (al-Wa'ad). On September 6, the Social Development Ministry dissolved the board of the independent Bahrain Human Rights Society (BHRS) and appointed a ministry official to run the society, after the society expressed concern publicly about allegations of torture and other violations of the rights of detainees.
"The government has not just put the brakes on political reforms initiated a decade ago but shifted abruptly into reverse gear," Stork said. "Under the current circumstances, it is hard to see how these elections will meet basic conditions for fairness - such as freedom of expression and association."
The human rights society had been expected to play the leading civil society role in monitoring the elections. The takeover order was accompanied by a ministry statement criticizing the group for "only serving one segment of society." On October 6, the ministry announced it intends to prosecute board members of the group for alleged financial, administrative, and criminal violations of the Civil Associations Law (Law 21/89). The members of the dismissed board have denied these allegations. With the exception of the local Transparency Bahrain organization, most of the groups now mandated to monitor the elections are closely affiliated with the government or fully support its agenda.
During visits to Bahrain in September and October, Human Rights Watch met with government officials to raise concerns about allegations of abuse and the closing of media associated with opponents and critics of the government.
Bahrain is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which among other things, protects freedom of expression and the right to receive and exchange information. Bahrain has also ratified the Convention against Torture, which prohibits torture and other ill-treatment under all circumstances. In a February 2010 report, Human Rights Watch documented the systematic use of torture by security officials for the apparent purpose of coercing confessions from security suspects from 2007 through 2009. Bahraini officials claimed in response that torture is not systematic, and that any official found responsible would be punished. But to Human Rights Watch's knowledge there have been no independent investigations or prosecutions concerning cases documented in its report.
US officials have so far declined to issue any public statements criticizing the Bahraini government's crackdown despite the manifold human rights abuses it has engendered, although some have told Human Rights Watch that they have raised concerns privately with Bahrain at high levels. After the State Department spokesperson in Washington responded to a media question on September 15 with a non-specific statement of concern, the Bahraini government forced newspapers in Bahrain to use its version of the statement, which suggested complete US support for its actions, Bahraini journalists told Human Rights Watch. As far as Human Rights Watch is aware, the US Embassy in Manama took no steps to correct the record despite being fully aware of the situation.


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7.42. ( Upgrades ) - I've just upgraded to the x.y.z kernel, why isn't IP Masquerade working?
There are several things you should check assuming your Linux IP Masq box already has proper connections to the Internet and your LAN:
Make sure you have the necessary features and modules are compiled and loaded. See earlier sections for details.
Check /usr/src/linux/Documentation/Changes and make sure you have the minimal requirement for the network tools installed.
Make sure you followed all of the tests in Chapter 5 of the HOWTO.
Make sure you are using the proper firewall tool for you kernel be it IPTABLES, IPCHAINS, or IPFWADM.
If you are doing PORTFW functionality, make sure you use the correct tool for your kernel version. IPTABLES has everything built-in, IPCHAINS requires the use of IPMASQADM, and IPFWADM reaquires the use of IPPORTFW or IPAUTOFW. This is completely covered in Section 6.7.
Go through all setup and configuration again! Usually, it's just a typo or a simple mistake you are overlooking.


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Variable clouds, warm. Continuing the October trend of double-digit departures from average temperatures, November has begun with readings above the high end of the forecast range. Just ahead of a cold frontal passage, National was at 73° at 3:00, while Dulles had dropped to 62°, and Leesburg was down to 59°.
Despite some associated clouds, the front was rain-free through the entire Mid Atlantic area. The latest weekly drought monitor report, released this morning, shows that last week's torrential rains have improved the immediate metro area into the abnormally dry category with some areas of only moderate drought to the northwest and southeast.
CapitalWeather.com chart from NWS data, photo © Kevin Ambrose
Tonight and Tomorrow
Clearing, cooler. Skies will clear tonight with lows in the mid 40s in the city to the mid and upper 30s in the 'burbs. Tomorrow will be mostly sunny, breezy, and cool with highs 56-60°.
For the outlook through the weekend and beyond with Larson's Long-Range, scroll on down to Josh's post below.
Tropical Topics
Tropical Storm Noel strengthened somewhat today as it began to accelerate toward the north-northeast, passing over Nassau early this afternoon. As a result, the tropical storm warning for southeastern Florida was cancelled at 2pm, but a gale warning has been issued for Bermuda. Maximum winds at 2pm were 65 mph; the National Hurricane Center was unreachable for the 5pm report, at least from this particular corner of cyberspace. As it moves northeastward toward the Canadian Maritimes and becomes non-tropical, the models indicate that it will potentially undergo bombogenesis.
Science vs. Religion?
The AP reported last night (via virtual WaPo) that "Religious Leaders Act on Climate Change". A broadly ecumenical coalition of religious organizations have joined to lobby Congress to "ensure that the poor and most vulnerable are protected from the effects of climate change."
The week's edition of NOW on PBS featured the journey in August of "an unlikely alliance of Evangelical Christians and leading scientists to witness the breathtaking effects of global warming on Alaska's rapidly changing environment." Video and audio podcasts are available on the show's web site.


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I need to remove my rear derailleur so that I can attach an alignment tool and straighten things out.
Images of the rear derailleur while the bike is upside-down:
- http://www.zooomr.com/z/photos/zoom/9626152/size-8/
- http://www.zooomr.com/z/photos/zoom/9626153/size-8/
Where is the derailleur's hanger's bolt that attaches the derailleur to the frame?
- Find a hex wrench with a long handle (at least as long as the 3-way hex wrench from Park Tools)
- Turn counter-clockwise in the area circled in red by Jerry.


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OCEAN CITY – After 33 years of service, Liljenquist and Beckstead Jewelers located in the Gold Coast Mall regretfully announced this month it's closing.
The family business began in 1979 when it was founded by college buddies and business partners Tom Liljenquist and Sid Beckstead.
Before Liljenquist and Beckstead came along, they opened their first store on the Ocean City Boardwalk, the Jewel Box. At one time, the two ran five businesses in Ocean City at one time.
"They were venture capitalists," Sherrie Beckstead said.
While the founders' venture was taking off, the Gold Coast Mall was being constructed and that's where they decided to add a second business, which became Liljenquist and Beckstead.
"The two guys saw an opportunity to have a little bit of a nicer line of jewelry," said Sid's brother, Richard Beckstead, a partner in the company. "There really wasn't anybody in Ocean City offering higher-end merchandise so they took another risk and decided to open a store to sell better things and that's when Liljenquist and Beckstead started."
The company's start in Ocean City branched off into six other locations in Maryland and Northern Virginia.
"They took this amazing operation that they started on the Boardwalk and it grew to an upscale fine jeweler that is now one of the top jewelers," Sherrie Beckstead said. "I am amazed at what these guys have done. It is one of the finest luxury jewelers in the country and it started in Ocean City so it is very sad for us to close the doors here."
Richard Beckstead explained that the company found itself in a touch position when it came to the Ocean City location.
"We haven't arrived at this easily," he said. "The economy is lousy and it has gotten harder and harder … with the economy going down and the price of everything going up, it is a bind."
Sherrie Beckstead said the Ocean City store has served their family with a "plethora" of memories. Her daughter, Jessica, has recently recalled spending many nights working on her homework in the store's back office and placing the drapes over the jewelry cases before closing time.
"This is what we know," Sherrie Beckstead said. "This is our home, and it will always be our home. It is hard to take something that is such an integral part of who and what we are and leave it behind but it's a prudent decision, and I think those are the most emotionally difficult."
She added that Liljenquist and Beckstead brought a level of luxury and elegance to Ocean City.
"We have a wonderful, loyal client base that we know will come visit us in Annapolis and our other locations," she said. "We are looking forward to continuing those relationships that we have worked so closely with."
The company takes pride in individually selecting each piece of jewelry available in their stores.
"We are hands-on family business," Richard Beckstead said. "We desire to show the best."
In conjunction with the quality of merchandise, the company also takes pride in the level of service provided to its clients.
"We have world renowned quality in craftsmanship," Richard Beckstead said.
Liljenquist and Beckstead's chief goldsmith is currently re-setting Marie Antoinette's crown for the Smithsonian Museum. He has also re-set the Hope Diamond twice.
Richard Beckstead concluded that "it is too soon to tell" if the family will return to open a business in Ocean City in the future.
"We have not ruled any of those options out" Sherrie Beckstead said.