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In the days after the June 2009 wedding party that took place at the 284-acre Sarsden estate, 75 miles northwest of London in the Oxfordshire countryside, it would be noted by the British press how remarkable it was, considering who the guests were, that the bride had managed to keep the event a secret from the media. There were no tabloid journalists hanging around the nearby village of Churchill, no paparazzi hiding in the bushes on the morning of June 13, the day Rebekah Wade, the editor of The Sun, Britain's largest daily newspaper, celebrated her marriage to the former racehorse trainer and "international playboy" Charles Patrick Evelyn Brooks.
The prime minister, Gordon Brown, and his wife, Sarah, attended, as did David Cameron, the Conservative Party leader and prime minister–to–be, and his wife, Samantha. Rupert Murdoch, *The Sun'*s owner, had flown in. Murdoch's daughter Elisabeth and her husband, the P.R. man Matthew Freud, who had helped to orchestrate the "media blackout," had driven over from Burford Priory, their $7 million, 22-bedroom country home, 15 miles away. The guest list attested to the power Rebekah Wade had achieved, at the age of just 41, as the editor of The Sun, a tabloid with three million readers, and as the first woman to hold that job. But it also attested to her charm, "her warmth," her "gregariousness," and "her straightforward, sympathetic manner," because the guests were also close friends. Sarah Brown had her for "sleepovers" at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat. David Cameron was so close he reportedly signed his letters to her "Love, David."
That the media blackout had been so successful was even more surprising, considering that, by 2009, Wade had become something of a celebrity herself, with her first husband, Ross Kemp, a star of the hugely popular soap opera EastEnders, and then with Charlie Brooks. Endlessly written about and photographed—at Ascot, sitting in the royal box at Wimbledon, helicoptering to the Glastonbury Festival—she was instantly recognizable with her pile of red ringleted hair. In the competitive, ruthless, often cruel, and largely male culture of the British tabloids, Wade stood out. She spoke French, and had attended the Sorbonne; she and Charlie Brooks were at the center of the social scene in Chipping Norton—the weekend hub of the wealthy and powerful in Oxfordshire.
The wedding party at Sarsden's lake—where, according to a friend, Brooks's father had proposed to his mother—was, as one guest recalls, "incredibly romantic and lavish." It was "all very Disney-esque, where everything looks right." And at the time, everything was going right for Rebekah Wade—now Rebekah Brooks. In just 20 years she had gone from being a secretary at one of Rupert Murdoch's newspapers to running his Sunday tabloid, the News of the World, at the age of 31, to running The Sun at 34. Her ambition had been described by the British media as "terrifying" and "phosphorescent," but in her ascent up the ladder, it seemed she had never put a foot wrong. And just 10 days after her wedding party, she would climb even higher, when, on June 23, she was promoted to C.E.O. of News International, Murdoch's newspaper empire in the U.K., which would make her one of the most powerful women in Britain.
As the 200 guests sipped champagne by the lake that day, few could imagine how fast Rebekah Brooks would fall. On July 15, 2011, two years after she became C.E.O., Brooks resigned. Two days later she was arrested "in connection with allegations of corruption and phone hacking" and interrogated by Scotland Yard detectives for nine hours before she was released on bail. Almost overnight—ever since it was revealed in early July that employees of the News of the World had hacked into the cell phone of Milly Dowler, a missing 13-year-old who was found murdered in 2002—Rebekah Brooks seemed to have become the most reviled woman in Britain, the woman at the center of what had begun as a phone-hacking scandal but has spread to include allegations of bribes to police, e-mail hacking, surveillance by private detectives of politicians and lawyers, and questions about a massive cover-up at News International. No charges have been filed against Brooks, and there have been no specific allegations of criminal wrongdoing against her, but the intensity of the anger toward Brooks has been accompanied by a growing number of questions as the judicial and parliamentary investigations have expanded and the extent of her influence has slowly emerged.
Brooks was the woman almost everybody had heard of, but about whom almost nothing was known. She rarely spoke in public or gave interviews, and when she did, she revealed nothing about herself. She was said to be closer to Rupert Murdoch than any of his six children, but of that relationship she never uttered a word, leaving it to Murdoch to raise questions about his own grip on reality in a remark he made on July 10. In an effort to stem the public rage, he had just shut the 168-year-old News of the World and put 280 people out of work. While walking with Brooks in Mayfair, he was asked by a reporter what his top priority was. Looking at Brooks with what seemed like deep affection, he answered, "This one." It was a stupefying remark, but what Rebekah Brooks thought of it, no one could tell. She just smiled at the cameras, the cryptic Mona Lisa smile that could be seen in so many of her photographs—"as if she knows something she's not telling," says one journalist.
But that smile wasn't on display on July 19 as Brooks told the parliamentary committee investigating the hacking scandal that she had never "condoned or sanctioned" hacking or even known that it was taking place at the News of the World while she was the editor. She said she had learned about the allegations that Milly Dowler's phone had been hacked only when they were revealed in a story in The Guardian two weeks earlier. At the hearing she appeared exhausted, her trademark hair stringy and disheveled, but she testified calmly and coolly for nearly two hours. She said she had never met or had any dealings with Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator whose files, seized by the police in 2006, would trigger the national scandal with some 11,000 pages of notes and 690 audiotapes, indicating that nearly 6,000 people—including politicians, celebrities, police officers, and crime victims—may have had their phones hacked by the News of the World.
Like Rupert Murdoch and his son James, who both testified before her that day, Brooks would say there were facts she could not recall, matters she could not discuss, issues for which she had not been responsible. But her testimony was more impressive—she didn't fumble like Rupert Murdoch, showed none of the testy defensiveness of James. Some would say her testimony was "masterful" and "deft." Critics would go so far as to suggest that she had hired a makeup artist in order to make her appear so wan and worn. "She looked so vulnerable," says one prominent author. She was "amazing," says a woman who has known Brooks for more than a decade. "Here she is, the most hated woman in Britain, on national television, and the only sign that she was nervous was that she blinked a little more than usual," says this friend. "She is completely nerveless." But her testimony would also raise a question: if she knew as little as she said she did, how had she risen to such power?
Road to Ambition
In the many press accounts of Brooks's life there would be a number of facts on which everyone seemed to agree. She was born Rebekah Mary Wade in 1968 in Warrington, a town in the North of England situated between Liverpool and Manchester. She was an only child, and growing up she had lived in a tiny village south of Warrington.
She went to the area high school, Appleton Hall County Grammar, and studied French. She had been so passionate about becoming a journalist that when she was 14 she began to spend her weekends and school holidays at the local newspaper "making tea," she once said, "and helping out." Although she later attended the London College of Printing, after high school she took off for Paris, where she worked for a French architecture magazine.
Frequent mentions of her Sorbonne education would come later, after she became editor of The Sun, in 2003. One or two press stories over the years would note that Brooks appeared only to have taken a class at the Sorbonne, not studied for a degree. However, few questions were asked, even by her friends. "She never introduced us to people from her past," says one. "That was a little creepy, as if there was no past." Only recently did the media begin to focus on what the BBC referred to as her "startlingly brief and opaque" biography in Who's Who. It was not that Brooks ever lied. She simply "allowed myths to grow and never challenged them," says Roy Greenslade, the media commentator, who has known her for two decades.
Rebekah Wade was 20 years old in 1988 when she showed up at the Warrington office of The Post, a now defunct national tabloid. As Graham Ball, then the features editor, recalled to the BBC, she approached him and said, "I am going to come and work with you on the features desk as the features secretary or administrator." He told her that would be impossible, as he was moving the next week to work in the paper's London office. On the following Monday, he showed up at his new London office "and there she was." As another editor recalled, she was a "skinny, hollow-eyed" young woman, who was "very, very, very ambitious," and prepared to go to great lengths "to get on."
In 1989, after The Post folded, Wade got a job as a secretary at the News of the World. She would soon move to the paper's Sunday magazine, where she wrote for the TV soap-opera section. At some point Wade caught the eye of Piers Morgan, the editor of the News of the World, and now the host of CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight. In his 2005 book The Insider, he would recount with gusto the thoroughness with which Wade arranged to bug a hotel room in advance of a 1994 meeting between the paper's editors and Princess Diana's lover, James Hewitt. Taken with Wade, Morgan promoted her rapidly—too rapidly, some say. By 1995, when he left to become editor of the Daily Mirror, the 27-year-old Wade was the deputy editor of the News of the World.
Paul McMullan first met Wade in 1994, when she was still features editor. McMullan recalls how inexperienced she was. "She'd never done an investigation or written a news story," he says, and she had little understanding of what went into the reporting of one. A former deputy to Wade, he is today a central figure in the hacking scandal, one of the few journalists to not only publicly admit that hacking was widely practiced but also to defend it. "I think you can do anything to get at the truth," McMullan says. "The criticism is we did it so badly and so often under her stewardship it became ridiculous." In the 90s, though, outright phone hacking was not that prevalent. Before digital-cell-phone technology became common, listening in on cell-phone conversations was done with scanners. It was, McMullan has said, why it was so easy for reporters to listen in on Princess Diana's phone calls, for example. Just as widespread among newspapers, he says, was the use of private investigators to get unpublished phone numbers and addresses—and sometimes for such other "dark arts" as getting medical and financial records, and for surveillance.
McMullan says that Wade knew about the use of private investigators—"Impossible not to," he says. "I was deputy features editor. I ran the same department that she did, and every week we'd see the bills from the private investigators: £2,000, £4,000." However, he can't be sure she always knew what they were doing.
"She was quite sweet in those days," says McMullan. "She knew she was out of her depth and would rely on other people to make her shine. And, funnily enough, it was because she was so hopeless, we wanted to protect her as our boss when we would find out she didn't know what she was doing," he recalls. "So that worked, as one management style, if you like."
"She'd get you to do things," says another former News of the World reporter. "She had this charisma, this magnetic attraction," he says. "She would praise to high heaven, make you feel like you were on top of the world. It was only afterwards that you realized you were manipulated." In a largely male tabloid world—a business in which Brooks was once asked at a corporate golf gathering to sew a senior executive's button back on his shirt, which she did—perceptions counted for a lot.
"She was very tactile, touching you on the arm, looking straight into your eyes as though there was no one more important in the room," this former News reporter says. "From the way she acted, you would think she wanted to sleep with you." But "no," he says, "she didn't want to sleep with the help; she was way too up the scale for that."
She worked nonstop. "She was going at 150 all day," this man recalls. "She was very intense. I thought she was a very insecure woman, actually, desperate for a lot of love and attention," he says. "I was quite friendly with her at some point, as friendly as anyone can get with her, and in her quieter moments she would say, 'No one loves me; I'm in a battle here.' " But even then, she was careful. Even out drinking after work, "she did not get pissed, ever. She never let her guard down," and never spoke about her past. Like others, he wondered. "In the early days she used this accent, a girls'-school accent, meaning she'd been poshly educated, but every now and again the accent would slip and you'd realize: Oh, yeah." There were rumors of a father who "was absent or who left," of some kind of abandonment or "betrayal" that was felt deeply by her mother in particular, with whom Wade was, and still is, extremely close. But no one pressed.
Some believed her father was a vicar, or otherwise well-to-do, although, according to a copy of Brooks's birth certificate, her father, John Robert Wade, was a tugboat deckhand. At some point, he became a gardener. In an interview with the BBC last summer, Brooks's childhood friend Louise Weir would say that Brooks's parents had a tree-pruning business that was so prosperous it afforded the family enviable vacations, and a personalized license plate for her mother, Deborah. When contacted, Weir was agitated, said she had been harassed by the media, and hung up the phone. But she told the BBC the Wades had been a churchgoing family. Rebekah, she said, was "a typical Gemini. She's got her lovely fluffy side and her angry side She's always been able to get what she wants out of people, even if they don't really like her."
In July 1996, a brief article appeared in the local Warrington Guardian. The occasion was Rebekah Wade's engagement to Ross Kemp, whom she had met the year before at a golf tournament. The paper gushed about rumors that Wade's engagement ring had cost $30,000. It also interviewed her father. John Wade was still living in Hatton, the small village where he and his then wife Deborah had been living when their daughter, Rebekah, was born. He said that he had no idea who Ross Kemp was, because he rarely watched television. However, he was "looking forward" to having Kemp visit him and his wife, Barbara, whom he'd married when Rebekah was 20. "The first time I knew of the engagement was when Rebekah rang to tell me she was getting married. It was quite a surprise," he told the paper. Six weeks later, in September 1996, Wade died, at the age of 50. According to his death certificate, the cause was cirrhosis of the liver, so severe it had led to hepatic failure.
The Fantasy Daughter
When people who know Rupert Murdoch speak of his feelings for Rebekah Brooks, they use very emotional language: He "adores her," "is devoted to her," "is besotted with her." The affection is clear in video clips and photographs of the two of them together—smiling into each other's eyes, his arm around her, Brooks leaning in toward him. By most accounts, Rebekah Wade met Rupert Murdoch sometime in the mid-1990s, but it was not until the beginning of 1998 that people began to remark at how close they had become.
That January, Wade left the News of the World to become deputy editor of The Sun. It was a huge promotion—made by Murdoch despite the qualms of *The Sun'*s editor, Stuart Higgins. And almost from the moment she got that job, it was obvious to many that the job she wanted next was Higgins's. Indeed, in May of that year Alastair Campbell, then Prime Minister Tony Blair's press secretary, wrote in his diary—which was later published as Power & the People—of an "odd" party that Wade gave at the Belvedere, in Holland Park, "where you felt Stuart was being prepared for departure and her for his job." But the following month the editorship of The Sunwent instead to David Yelland, the deputy editor of the New York Post. Although, as one former Blair adviser recalls, "she is too clever to have allowed herself to look insubordinate," it was an open secret that she disliked Yelland, whose life, one News International executive recalls, "was made sort of miserable." Two years later, in 2000, Murdoch once again promoted Wade. In a move that still baffles people, he suddenly fired Phil Hall, the respected editor of the News of the World, and gave his job to Wade. In 2003, when David Yelland resigned from The Sun, Murdoch installed Wade as the paper's editor—the job, she would tell the staff on her first day, she had "dreamed of" ever since she was a child.
Although Murdoch has four daughters, two of them grown, over the years he has seemed closer to Brooks than to any of them. She was, people say, like the fantasy daughter, the daughter he always wished he had—the one who never argued with him, who devoted her life to pleasing him. They reportedly swim together in the mornings when he is in London. She fusses over him at dinner parties—making sure he's eating, that his wineglass is full. "She's very attentive," says one News International executive.
"When she wants someone, she will woo them so intensely—there will be invitations, the sharing of confidences," says a former friend. "She wraps herself around you." Much as she apparently learned to play golf because one of her bosses did, she learned to sail because Murdoch enjoyed sailing, as does his family, including his older son, Lachlan, on whose yacht Rebekah reportedly spent the New Year's holiday in 2002.
"It isn't just Rupert who is in love with her; it's also James and the family," says one former News Corp. executive who has known the Murdochs for decades. While her relationship with Murdoch's younger son, James, became closer in late 2007, when he was put in charge of News International, Wade had been friends with Elisabeth for more than a decade. In 2001, she was not only a guest at Elisabeth's wedding to Matthew Freud, but among a select group invited to her bridal shower. The two spent weekends together in Chipping Norton. "They were all over each other in the country," says a friend. In many ways, Brooks had become a member of the Murdoch family, which, says one Murdoch executive, "has been key in her rise."
If to some in the Murdoch empire she was "the impostor daughter," Brooks did share, more than any of his actual children, one of Murdoch's great passions. "She was the one who expressed his love for newspapers," says one newspaper executive. While many at News Corp. would be happy to sell the newspapers, says one former executive, and Murdoch's children have not appeared to share his enthusiasm for the business, Brooks was as passionate about newspapers as Murdoch. He saw her as a "great campaigning editor." Indeed, he supported one of her most controversial campaigns, the 2000 "Name & Shame" series for the News of the World, which was prompted by the murder of eight-year-old Sarah Payne by a registered sex offender. For two weeks, she published photographs, names, and the whereabouts of convicted pedophiles. In the process, she became very close to the child's mother, Sara Payne, at one point giving her a company cell phone, which, according to investigators, may have been hacked, an allegation that Brooks said was "abhorrent."
Murdoch loved Rebekah Wade's "fantastic drive," says one executive. More than anything, he loved the fact that her whole life was wrapped up in his beloved papers; when she was scooped by a rival, she could go into dark funks, so much so that on one occasion, when she was beaten to a story by the Mirror, Murdoch reportedly called Les Hinton, who at the time was the executive in charge of the U.K. newspaper business, to ask, "Is she all right?"
And at every turn, she gave him the papers he wanted. A co-founder of Women in Journalism, an organization to help promote women's careers in the field, Wade—along with Murdoch's former wife Anna—was reported to be personally offended by *The Sun'*s "Page 3," which daily features photographs of bare-breasted women. But they were what Murdoch wanted, and so she continued to run the photos, and defended them roundly. In 2004, in response to criticisms of "Page 3" from Clare Short, a former Cabinet minister, Wade ran a "Hands Off Page 3" campaign which included running a photograph of Short's head on a flabby, naked female body, and describing Short as "fat," "ugly," "short on looks," and "short on brains."
The Power and the Story
That July, six months after her savaging of Clare Short, Wade threw a 40th-birthday party for Ross Kemp. Cherie Blair came, as did Gordon Brown, then chancellor of the Exchequer, along with David Blunkett, the home secretary, and Lord Stevens, then chief of Scotland Yard. The star of Britain's most popular television soap, Kemp was a big celebrity, and her relationship with him had helped catapult Wade into the limelight. But they had not come because of Kemp; the power now was hers—courtesy of Rupert Murdoch. At the News of the World and The Sun she ran not only two of Britain's biggest newspapers but also ones that could, and did, destroy people's lives and careers, frequently with a political agenda devoted to advancing Murdoch's interests in Britain—particularly his profitable satellite-television business. The threat was always implicit: Stand in Murdoch's way and the papers will retaliate. "Everybody was afraid," says one prominent newspaper editor. To many it was "just a fact of life," says this editor, "that you had to give in to them." It was a fear that would reach into the highest levels of British politics, and among his many editors, none would be perceived as a more enthusiastic political partner to Murdoch than Wade.
She was not known to have strong political opinions. "Rebekah wore her politics lightly," says one man, who adds that in the 15 years he has known her "I never heard her offer an opinion about anything in politics. She was interested in power." And, it seemed, enjoyed wielding it.
She had gotten her first political toehold through Tony Blair—the prime minister now regarded as perhaps the most obsequious in his relationship to Murdoch. Wade met Blair through Kemp, who was a major Labour Party supporter and fund-raiser, but it was Alastair Campbell, an old friend of hers from his days as a tabloid journalist, who would really open doors to Downing Street for her. "The relationship between Alastair and Rebekah was a singularly close one," recalls Lance Price, a former Blair spokesperson. Although she was just the deputy editor of the News of the World in 1997 when Blair was elected, largely because of Campbell, she had special access.
Wade became close to Blair and to his wife, Cherie—a "friendship" that would cool but continue even after the police discovered in 2002 that News reporters were planning to set Cherie up by taping a conversation between her and the boyfriend of her "life coach." He had helped find the Blairs' eldest son an apartment at a reduced price—an apparent favor to the prime minister, it eventually became a major story. The News would lambaste Cherie as "foolish" and "arrogant," but Wade's dinners and meetings with Tony Blair continued, perhaps encouraged by an editorial that appeared during her first week as editor of The Sun, a month after the swipe at his wife: "New Labour have had a good run for their money—your money, actually. But it's time to say we're very disappointed." The Sun did not withdraw its backing for Blair; it was just a little reminder of who buttered his bread.
In a remarkable feat of social and emotional gymnastics, Wade would also become friendly with Gordon Brown. As chancellor of the Exchequer before he became prime minister, in 2007, Brown had a famously touchy relationship with Blair—which, according to Lord John Prescott, Wade deftly mined.
Deputy prime minister at the time, Prescott now recalls how "Rebekah Wade used to have dinner with Blair and Brown and play them off against each other." He is still shocked at how easy it was. "If Blair wanted to know what Brown was doing, she'd fix the dinner up and then tell him," he recalls. "They used to use her for intelligence on the other." It was artful, he says, the way she made each man think that she was on his side. "I used to say, 'Why are you listening to that bloody woman?' It was all about Murdoch," says Prescott, who is among the politicians who were hacked by the News—in his case, in 2006, following the exposure of an extramarital affair with his secretary.
As she did with Cherie Blair, Wade also became very close to Sarah Brown. It was something people would note—the intimacy of her friendships with the powerful as she befriended their husbands, wives, and children. That was "the nature of how she operates," says Roy Greenslade. "She gets that close to people. It's not simply a business thing—it's a personal thing. It's domestic." But Wade's friendship with the Browns did not stop her, in the fall of 2006, from phoning them with upsetting news. The Sun had discovered from an informant that the Browns' infant son had cystic fibrosis, and the paper was going to run the story the next day. Which it did, on the cover, with the screaming headline chancellor's baby has cystic fibrosis. The Browns, who had already lost a baby daughter and were still coming to terms with the news of their son's illness, were devastated. It is this story—along with the revelation that Gordon Brown's phone may have been hacked by the News of the World and his financial records accessed by Murdoch's Sunday Times—that today particularly horrifies people. "If that doesn't make your skin crawl, the evilness of it, what does?" says a Murdoch observer. It was a measure of Murdoch's political power, and Rebekah Wade's, that Gordon Brown was among the guests at her wedding three years later.
Not that this bit of fealty made any difference. That September, on the day Brown was to make a major speech, The Sun's headline would read: labour's lost it. *The Sun'*s sudden switch of allegiance from the Labour Party to David Cameron's Conservatives shocked the British political establishment. To some, it was a typically cynical Murdochian move of backing the likely winner, but by then Brooks had also grown very close to Cameron, according to a friend of both Brooks's and Cameron's. Her deputy—then successor—at the News, and her close friend, Andy Coulson, had gone to work as Cameron's media adviser after resigning from the News in 2007 following the hacking convictions of the paper's royals editor, Clive Goodman, and the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire. The Conservative leader was also Brooks's neighbor in Oxfordshire, and Charlie Brooks had gone to Eton with Cameron's brother. Cameron dined at the Brooks's home on weekends. And he was a guest at the annual New Year's Eve bash, thrown by the Brookses with several other couples from the Oxfordshire set.
Within a week of Cameron's election, in May 2010, Rupert Murdoch paid a visit to 10 Downing Street for a private meeting with the new prime minister. In July he visited again, shortly after his company made its bid to control BSkyB. What they discussed is anybody's guess, but that same month Cameron's administration criticized the BBC—the chief competitor to Murdoch's BSkyB and a longtime Murdoch bête noire—for "extraordinary and outrageous" waste and proposed reducing its budget.
Absence and Malice
In the spring of 2009, Wade divorced Kemp. They had been separated for nearly two and a half years. In court papers, Kemp reportedly admitted to infidelity. "The relationship with Ross was very stressful," says a friend. The tensions had briefly made headlines in 2005—and caused much giggling in London—when Rebekah was arrested at four in the morning for assaulting Kemp and giving him a fat lip. No charges were filed, and, as the press reported, she emerged from an eight-hour stint in jail and went straight to the office—wearing a designer suit Rupert Murdoch had sent to the police station.
By then, Wade's relationship with Murdoch had become "an issue," says one executive. "She could say and do what she liked," this person says. As she rose up the ranks, she had become increasingly imperious. She could be rude and abrasive, in one instance reportedly throwing an ashtray at the staff on the newsdesk when a rival paper scooped them. "She was intimidating," says this executive. "She deeply resented certain people and was ruthless," says another, who recalls being warned by his boss "not to cross Rebekah." As far back as 2001, "the power had gone to her head," says Paul McMullan, who resigned from the News of the World late that year. "She became Cruella de Vil. I didn't need that."
What many former staffers now say is that, under Wade, the pressures on the newsroom were intense, particularly at the News. As her deputy, Andy Coulson was as driven and competitive as she was, and he set the pace of the office even while Wade was editor. Unlike most tabloid editors, who constantly roamed their newsrooms, she was frequently away, meeting and dining with politicians and other influential people. One of her dinner partners, according to a former police investigator, was John Yates, the senior Scotland Yard official who was forced to resign last summer, in large part due to the fact that, in 2009, he told Parliament that there was no evidence of widespread hacking by the News in the files seized from Mulcaire—the same files that investigators for a judicial-review committee recently determined contained evidence that the phones of 5,795 people may have been hacked by some 28 News employees.
Wade's absence from the newsroom may have set up a situation where things could occur that she didn't know about. She was on vacation in April 2002 when the News of the World published the first story that referenced messages that had been left on Milly Dowler's cell phone. The story was quickly pulled and re-written, which is why many people didn't notice it then—including Brooks, who told Parliament in July that vetting the story's sourcing would have been the responsibility of her subordinates. Paul McMullan, who was covering the Dowler story for the Sunday Express, is among those who believe that Brooks was probably accurate on this point. "I don't think they'd have bothered telling her, 'This is where we got it from.' " Roy Greenslade says it is "possible that, although she should have known [that hacking was going on], she genuinely didn't know, because I don't think she knew how stories arrived most of the time." Or what her staff was doing.
Today, the accusations against News International go way beyond anything that Brooks would have had responsibility for as the editor of The Sun and the News of the World. As of mid-December, 19 people have been arrested, nearly all in connection with allegations of either hacking, bribes paid to police, or both. Among those was Andy Coulson, who was forced to resign from Cameron's government in January 2011. In recent public testimony Paul McMullan alleged that Coulson not only knew about phone hacking but "brought the practice wholesale with him when he became deputy editor" of the News, and called Brooks and Coulson "the scum of journalism." Politicians and lawyers investigating News International describe a company whose entire culture may have been corrupted by an ingrained sense that they were above the law, that they could get away with anything. Which made believable recent testimony by the singer Charlotte Church that—despite the denials of her agent that she was offered a fee—when she was 13, she gave up $159,000 for performing at Murdoch's 1999 wedding to Wendi Deng in expectation of favorable treatment by his papers. And yet, his tabloids would hound Church and her family, to the point that, she said, her mother attempted suicide. Among the harshest characterizations would come from the Labour M.P. Tom Watson, one of Murdoch's leading critics, who in a November parliamentary hearing referred to News International as "a criminal enterprise."
But if Brooks didn't know about the alleged wrongdoing when it occurred, her elevation in June 2009 to C.E.O. put her in the position, many believe, where, if she didn't know then, she should have.
That June, though, it seemed as though everything had come together perfectly for Brooks. In the 18 months since James Murdoch had taken the helm at News International, she had made herself as indispensable to him as she had to his father, and, with Rupert Murdoch's blessing, James had rewarded her with the promotion to C.E.O. On the personal front as well, she was said by friends to be "blissful" in her relationship with Charlie Brooks. If Kemp, as one friend says, had been "the perfect husband for a tabloid editor," Brooks was "the perfect husband for a C.E.O." Although his family was not as wealthy as it had once been, the Brookses were genuinely "posh," listed in Burke's Peerage and said to be descendants of the 14th-century king Edward III.
Five years older than Wade, Brooks, now 48, had never been married when the two met at the Chipping Norton home of a mutual friend. They began seeing each other in early 2007. Warm, easygoing, and unambitious, Brooks was, according to friends, Wade's opposite, and a perfect foil for her intensity. He'd been a racehorse trainer, dabbled in sports marketing, and run a mail-order sex-toy company. He had also tried his hand at writing, and in April 2009 came out with his first novel, Citizen, which was published by Rupert Murdoch's HarperCollins.
Brooks, friends say, was devoted to Wade. And she to him. She was stunned, one friend recalls, when Brooks handed her his BlackBerry one day, and asked her to see if the tech specialists at News International could repair it. "She felt quite fantastic to have somebody who had no secrets," says this friend, "someone she could trust completely" and "somebody who trusted her." People were surprised when Wade took Brooks's name after their wedding—something she had not done during her marriage to Kemp. Overnight, Rebekah Wade was gone, replaced by "Mrs. Brooks."
The first sign of trouble came four weeks after her wedding. On July 8, The Guardian revealed that News International had made payments of more than $2 million to several people to settle claims that their phones had been hacked—including Gordon Taylor, the head of the football players' union. It was the first public indication that the hacking had gone beyond one "rogue" reporter, as News International had referred to Clive Goodman, the former royals editor, who had been convicted of hacking the phones of members of the royal family. In a letter to Parliament, Brooks took issue with that story and other revelations in The Guardian, which, she wrote, "has substantially and likely deliberately misled the British public."
During the next two years she would staunchly defend News International. When Parliament invited her to testify in late 2009, she declined. Even after it issued a report in early 2010 assailing News International executives for their "collective amnesia" in their repeated denials of widespread hacking, she stood firm. She revealed nothing about the growing tensions within News International, particularly as the relationship between Rupert and James began to fray. Described by sources close to the Murdochs as the "go-between" in an increasingly fraught father-son relationship, Brooks was now under pressure to please and protect not only Rupert but also James, who had both taken the position that they had no idea what was going on inside their company, and particularly James, passing blame on to subordinates.
Family Affair
In May 2010, according to testimony by James, News International's chief attorney, Tom Crone, authorized the use of a private investigator to follow Mark Lewis and Charlotte Harris, two lawyers who represented the growing number of hacking victims who were suing the company— Lewis going on to represent Milly Dowler's parents. The surveillance was part of an effort to get dirt on the lawyers' private lives. Although Brooks is said to have been close to Crone, and he reported directly to her, there has been no suggestion that she knew about this—or about the surveillance of News International's big critic, the Labour M.P. Tom Watson, which took place in the fall of 2009.
But she appears to have known, as far back as 2006, that the hacking at the News of the World went beyond one "rogue" reporter who covered the royal family. As she told Parliament in July, that was when the police informed her that as editor of The Sun she, too, had been hacked by the News, a fact she said she relayed to News International executives at the time.
By February 2010, Brooks may have understood that the hacking was even more widespread. That month she quietly arranged a $1 million payout to Max Clifford, a veteran London P.R. agent who was suing News International for hacking—not only putting an end to his lawsuit against the company, but also preventing the public disclosure, ordered by a judge, of evidence of more extensive hacking.
Recently, Neville Thurlbeck, one of the News reporters implicated in the hacking scandal, said that in July 2009 he had prepared "a dossier" which implicated "an executive." He claimed he had tried to get the file to James Murdoch and to Brooks but was rebuffed by people close to them. "I had a warm and trusting relationship with Rebekah," he wrote in an article for the Press Gazette in November, blaming himself for not trying harder to get his dossier to Brooks. If this account is accurate, then—considering Thurlbeck's key role in the hacking scandal and the investigations—what is striking is that Brooks does not appear to have ever spoken to him.
She does, however, appear to have spoken to a Scotland Yard detective chief superintendent named David Cook. Although she would tell Parliament in July that she did not recall the meeting, it seems from published reports and interviews with Cook himself and his attorney, Mark Lewis, that the meeting took place in early January 2003. Cook was the lead investigator in a brutal unsolved murder of a private investigator who had been found with an ax in his head in 1987. Cook had asked for the meeting because, several months earlier, his family had been followed and photographed by people hired by the News of the World. Cook's mail had also been tampered with. The police investigation had allegedly found evidence that the surveillance had been ordered by one of the News's top editors, Alex Marunchak, as a favor to two of the suspects in the case: Jonathan Rees and Sid Fillery, private investigators whose firm, Southern Investigations, had worked for the News.
The firm also did work for numerous media outlets, and the meeting shines a light on the questions that have been raised today, both in Parliament and in a government judicial review, about the practices and ethics of the British press in general. There is no evidence that Brooks had any prior knowledge of what was going on, but the police suspected that "News of the World staff were guilty of interference and party to using unlawful means to attempt to discredit a police officer and his wife," according to the M.P. Tom Watson.
When Brooks heard from Cook about the surveillance, her response, Cook says, was that she had no idea that it had gone on, but if so it was "in the public interest"—a common justification used by the media in Britain for many of the more questionable reporting practices and privacy intrusions. This, she said, was because Cook was rumored to be having an affair with a television personality, a remarkable response considering that the woman, Jacqui Hames, was Cook's wife.
Brooks also told Parliament in July that she had not heard of the private investigator Jonathan Rees until a few months earlier. "She sat there in front of that parliamentary committee and said she couldn't remember what happened," says Cook, who insists that during his 2003 meeting with Brooks he specifically mentioned Jonathan Rees. He also says that he read her a witness statement that alleged that in the late 80s—before Brooks worked at News International—Southern Investigations had paid some of Alex Marunchak's credit-card bills and the school tuition for one of his children. According to Cook, Brooks "became very defensive about Marunchak, saying how since he'd moved to the Irish desk, sales there had gone up and he was doing such a great job." Cook says he was stunned, but he didn't press any further. He recalls "being told beforehand by a senior officer, 'Remember, she is very close to Sir John Stevens,' " then the head of Scotland Yard. "I took that as a warning," says Cook.
What Brooks did next isn't clear. In September, Tom Crone, the top lawyer at News International, told Parliament that he was never aware of the surveillance of David Cook, which would suggest that she did not inform her legal manager about the meeting. There does not appear to have been any reaction at the News of the World. Marunchak remained at the paper until 2006. Jonathan Rees was rehired by the News in 2005 when he was released from prison after serving time for planting cocaine on a client's wife. And recently Cook learned that his phone had been hacked by Glenn Mulcaire, who allegedly may have also been commissioned by one of Brooks's editors to search his financial records.
Rebekah Brooks may have simply forgotten the meeting. Just five days after it took place, she left the News of the World to become the editor of The Sun, the job she'd wanted so badly. In all the excitement of ambition rewarded, her interest in the murky activities of her staff may have waned.
Right to the end, Rupert Murdoch stood by her. It was only under "intense pressure," says a family confidante, that he finally caved in and accepted her resignation on July 15, reportedly telling her to just take a "leave, travel around the world." As it was, her severance of $2.7 million would cause yet more ire, along with the fact that she still has her chauffeur-driven Mercedes, courtesy of News International, along with an office in downtown London. If she was the perfect daughter, Murdoch was the perfect father. But his loyalty to Brooks, and that of his family—James in particular, who finds himself under increasing scrutiny—will be tested as the investigation, which seems to yield new revelations daily, intensifies.
Off to the Races
For Brooks, there was a brief period of depression in the wake of the arrest, friends say, a spell of humiliation, when she refused invitations and remained almost secluded at her home in Oxfordshire, venturing out only with her trademark hair rolled into a bun so people wouldn't recognize her. But that flirtation with pain and the possibility of failure may be ending. In late November, Brooks was photographed—holding a copy of The Sun, no less—at the Newbury races with Charlie, who has recently announced his return to the horse-training business. And she has re-appeared on the dinner circuit, where, if the hacking scandal is mentioned, Brooks is now among the "victims"—obviously, says one loyal friend, "because she was hacked more than anybody else." And there are signs that she will soon be emerging publicly in a philanthropic role, as suggested by a story that made its way into the British papers in November about her lunch at Boisdale, in Belgravia, with General Sir Mike Jackson, the former head of the British military, to discuss plans for a February charity event.
But she's not off the hook yet. There may be more inquiries and litigation ahead, and Brooks is still awaiting the outcome of the police investigation, which will determine whether or not criminal charges will be brought against her. Last month, Scotland Yard significantly lowered its victim estimates, announcing that it believed only about 800 people had actually been hacked. The other 5,000 names in Glenn Mulcaire's notebook were, it said, "potential targets" and are "unlikely to have been hacked." But there's still the mystery of the laptop and iPad, found in the trash in a parking garage near her home the day after she was arrested. Charlie Brooks said they were his, yet five months later, the police had still refused to release them.
And then there is the baby. As her public-relations firm, Bell Pottinger, announced recently, Rebekah and Charlie Brooks are to be the proud parents of a baby girl, due next month via a surrogate mother, rumored to be a relative. Some critics question the timing of the annoucement, seeing it as a bid by Rebekah Brooks to gain sympathy, but they are being churlish. Having a baby, friends say, has, like having the editorship of The Sun, long been one of her ambitions.
From the Archive
News Corp in turmoil (Sarah Ellison, June, October, and December 2011)
Rupert Murdoch: The Master Mogul of Fleet Street (A Vanity Fair eBook)
Follow to get the latest news and analysis about the players in your inbox.See All Players


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Coffee-to-English Dictionary, Part IV: Decoding the Coffee Bag
Do you ever feel like you could use a little translation at your local coffee shop, or while perusing the bags of beans at your favorite market?
Here's the fourth part in our Coffee-to-English glossary, which will hopefully help you navigate the sometimes-complicated coffee lexicon. Today we'll decode all the terms you might see on a bag of coffee beans.
Acidity: Contrary to popular belief, this terms does not actually refer to a coffee's pH, or its presumed effect on sensitive stomachs. Professional tasters use "acidity" to describe the fruit-like characteristics a bean might have. If a coffee makes your mouth water like a green apple does, that is considered a sign of moderate to high acidity. If it is more subtle on your tongue, like a banana, that indicates lower acidity. (This is also often called a coffee's "brightness.")
Bird Friendly: In order to attain certification by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, an organic coffee farm must meet certain criteria that define it as being a protective environment for migratory birds. This includes but is not limited to pollution control, water management, and the planting tall shade-giving trees around coffee plants to provide habitat opportunities for the birds, as well as promoting biodiversity on the land. (See also: Shade grown)
Brewing parameters: Any recommendations a roaster or barista might provide about a particular coffee. This might include suggestions about coffee-to-water ratio, brewing temperature, extraction time, and grind size, among other things.
Certified Organic: In order for a coffee farm and its products to be certified organic, the farm must be inspected by USDA agents and meet a specific set of requirements. These requirements prohibit the use of artificial hormones, genetic bioengineering, irradiation, or antibiotics on a crop, as well as the complete absence of any materials that appear on the National List of Prohibited Substances. The certification also demands an amount of soil and water conservation from the organic grower on his or her property. The farm must be managed completely organically for three years before it can attain official certification, and all expenses related to the investigation and certification process are the responsibility of the land owner.
Direct Trade certified: A relatively recent evolution of Fair Trade certification, Direct Trade refers to the specific contractual relationship between a coffee grower and a coffee roaster or buyer along guidelines related to price negotiation, growing practices, transparency, communication among all parties involved, and coffee quality. Because this certification lacks national or international accreditation, several coffee roasters have developed their own set of requirements and standards; some submit evidence of compliance to an independent third-party certifying body (such as Quality Certification Services), which can award the Direct Trade stamp.
Fair Trade certified: Coffees with this certification must meet a set of standards as delineated and monitored by the nonprofit organization Fair Trade USA (formerly Trans Fair USA). For coffee, these requirements apply only to small-farmer co-ops, and relate to the democratic management of the collective, land and water conservation, labor practices, and pricing. Fair Trade certification was designed to enable small farmers to simulate economies of scale by uniting into cooperatives, which allows them to pool resources, vie for better prices, and share information, among other things; contrary to popular belief, the "fair base price" the certification sets on certain products was a secondary consideration to the idea of creating a more cohesive system for organizing growers into groups.
Rainforest Alliance certified: In the interest of biodiversity and the protection of natural tropical ecosystems, a non-governmental organization called the Rainforest Alliance developed this certification program to support farmers who do not partake in deforestation efforts to increase the size or productivity of their crops. Coffees achieving this certification meet a series of standards designed by the Sustainable Agriculture Network that relate to land, wildlife, and water conservation. Farmers must also provide proof of acceptable working conditions, community relations and interaction, and pollution control on their land.
Roast date: Quality- and freshness-focused coffee roasters will often fix a sticker or label to their retail bags, with an indication of when the beans inside were roasted. Ideally, coffee should be consumed within two weeks of its roast date.
Roast level: The degree of "darkness" to which a coffee is roasted, and often indicated using a set of somewhat colloquial descriptors. The most common classifications are the lighter, chestnut-colored City or Full City roasts; Vienna, which is the lightest of the "dark" roasts; the smoky and bittersweet French roast; and Italian roast, which is the darkest a coffee can be taken before it starts to become fully carbonized.
Shade grown: Coffee farmers in certain areas of the world, such as Latin America, will often plant "shade-giving" plants like cacao or banana trees around their coffee farms, for a number of reasons. For one, many of the most common shade plants are able to replenish nitrogen stores in the soil, which are essential to ensure and maintain productive coffee plants. Shaded farms also promote local biodiversity, and provide habitats for indigenous and migratory animals in the region. The protection from direct sunlight has the added benefit of slowing a coffee cherry's maturation on its plant, which can increase quality and sweetness in the cup. (See also: Bird Friendly)
Tasting notes: Just as a wine label might contain flavor descriptors, often a high-quality coffee will come with a list of particular flavors or characteristics recognized by the roaster when he or she is tasting the coffee. The list might include things that indicate the aromas, flavor, or fruit-like qualities present in the cup, in addition to body characteristics, or the tactile feel of the coffee in the drinker's mouth (e.g. creamy, juicy, heavy). This is sometimes also referred to as a coffee's "flavor profile."
Coming next, Part V: Brewing Methods
Go back to Part III: Milky Coffee Drinks »
Part II: Espresso Terms You Should Know »
Part I: The Coffee Plant »
This post may contain links to Amazon or other partners; your purchases via these links can benefit Serious Eats. Read more about our affiliate linking policy.

subset: commoncrawl


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Worldwide market data for a broad range of industries and regions. Reports provide concise business information including market size, market segmentation, market shares, market-share weblinks, market distribution, market forecasts, and socioeconomic data provided by the Economist Intelligence Unit, along with a list of "further sources" for additional research opportunities.
Much of the information is available in graphs and charts.


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Our Mission
At the Lewiston and Grand Island Dance Centers we believe dance classes should be designed to develop strength, balance, grace, poise, rhythm and most importantly, self confidence. We encourage our Dancers to broaden their dance experience through technique and performance.
Our students will learn in a relaxed environment where a love for Dance and Physical Activity will become a positive and permanent part of their lives.
Lewiston and GI Dance Centers are dedicated to teaching children and young adults the art of dance.


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RjBeals wrote:Well first of all, thanks WM for taking this on. You've done good so far. Also, just because I had the layers in the PS file I gave you, doesn't mean you have to use them Use whatever creative freedom you wish.
Thanks RJ. I will try to make this map as close to the winning entry as possible. I have no intention of trying to insert my own direction or design to change from that.
Don't worry, I plan to.RjBeals wrote:But anyway - feel free to use me as a resource, I just didn't want added responsibility of another map to complete
DRAGON THEME is out (but we will still have dragons)
Well I have been thinking about the title and everything. Since I agree that the map will not be filled with dragons, calling the map the "Dragon Realm" is not a good idea. We can still use dragon names for places (maybe the Fire mountain region is home to the dragons) but making the theme dependent on them is not a good idea. The map needs to stay as close to the original winner as possible. Why there will be dragons and creatures, the map will not have dragons in the title.hecter wrote:I really like the title, I think that in order to have a dragon or serpent instead, it would have to be done *really* well in order to not look tacky and like you're over doing it. One thing I don't like is the boats way off there. If you were to replace them with something better suited (more fantastic), or take them away completely, I think that'd be better...
edbeard wrote:I also disagree about more dragons. That's not what people voted for. The changes done so far are fine (except the dragon in the Death Swamp/Wastelands mountains which doesn't look good to me). The one on the legend looks awesome. The sea dragon is really cool too. Fix the third one. Maybe move it to somewhere that it isn't blocked by mountains. One more dragon other than that wouldn't hurt but any more and it could get cluttered. remember we need army counts on this too. The reason people voted for the map is the simplicity. Makes sure the newly added theme doesn't intrude on that.
Exactly.RjBeals wrote:I really like the dragon wrapped around the legend color blocks. But I hope you don't over do it with the "dragons everywhere".
And as RJ said here
RjBeals wrote:Also, I kind of liked those ships. Maybe the one beside the legend does look a little cramped, but I hope we can at least keep the top one.
The boats stay. I will work on the legend. We really don't know if the boat fits until we agree on the bonus region names.
I will look into that arrow sizeedbeard wrote:The one way arrow still needs more work. Perhaps make it larger (longer) so it is not solely hovering over the mountains. It kinda gets lost where it is now.
Well here is the thing. The winning map had two tone colored mountains. I think it looks better with it that way as RJ made it. I don't think adding another color to the mountains will help the look.edbeard wrote:do we think these mountains might be better served being like the ones on Wales (the colours being all one type in one area) ?
OK I can mess with the symbol and title font. Like I said earlier, I think the word dragon in the title is too much and imply there need to be dragons everywhere.RjBeals wrote:I played around with that title - but was never satisfied, which is why I turned off the layer. But you've done a great job with it. I think what I didn't like was the Nordic symbol for the "A" in MIDGARD. I like the circle behind it. But I'm good either way.
I will mod the title to the 7 Kingdoms for now until we can find a better one or keep that.
I think this will be the main focus of discussion and adjustment.RjBeals wrote:You can change colors to whatever you wish. The territory names also. Not too much though was put into them, because I was planning on getting some input from the foundry for that.
Once we get the sub title worked out (if we even need one) we can work on bonus region names and then territory names for those regions.
SO maybe the red bonus can be called Dragon Hordes instead of Fire Mountains. Etc, etc...
As far as colors go, I think they look great. Personally that I one of the reasons this map looks so good. The colors are awesome. I really only think they should be adjusted for colorblind issues and if at all possible another step be made to help differentiate them before colors are changed.
I will post a newer, less "dragony themed" version (but still with some dragons) and we can go from there.
Thanks for all of the input so far.


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NOTE: This help page applies to both LifeTopix (and other classic LightArrow apps) as well as to LightArrow Organizer for iOS and Mac. So, the screenshots and directions may vary slightly based on the app you're using.
This help page will show you how to track assets using our LightArrow Organizer App. The Assets topic enables you to manage information about your home or business and the assets that you own. The goal of the Assets topic is to help you keep track of the things that you own or rent and the details about these items. This is important for insurance reasons in case of a loss or when maintaining the items for your home or business.
1. From the modern dashboard view scroll down until you see the the "Assets, Finances & Shopping" card. Then scroll the tiles until you see the "Assets" tile, and then tap that tile.
2. From the "Assets" topic view you can manage all of your assets. You can add a new asset by tapping one of the '+' buttons. After tapping the '+' button enter a title for the Asset and tap the "Full Details" button so you can enter more information.
3. After tapping "Full Details" you'll see the "Asset" view where you can enter more information about the asset. If you tap "Add Photo" that is next to the "Name" and "Comment" field you can add a picture of your asset. If the LightArrow Organizer App has permission to use the iOS Camera you'll see an additional option called "Take Photo".
4. Next tap the "Status" for the asset. You can add additional asset statuses by tapping the "New" button. From the "New Asset Status" view enter a status name and tap the "Save" button.
5. Now fill in the additional fields such as "Purchased", "Cost", etc.
6. Now scroll down and tap the "Seller" tile. From the "Select Seller" view tap the place where you bought the laptop and tap the "Save" button. If you do not see the seller in the list you can tap the '+' button at the bottom of the view and create a seller.
7. Next tap the "Location" tile, and you can set the address of where the asset is located using any of the options.
8. Next tap the Context Tag tile. You can set the appropriate context tag or create a context tag by tapping the "New" button.
9. Next tap the Categories tile.
10. Next, scroll down to the bottom of the "Asset" view and you can associate this asset by tapping the '+' button and you can create a new item to associate to the Asset or choose an existing item from our App. In this example I'm going to tap the "Create New".
11. Next tap the "Task" icon, and then enter a name for the task and tap the "Save" button.
12. After the task is saved you'll see a tasks icon with a badge number that indicates how many tasks are associated with the asset.
13. To make this asset easily accessible from the dashboard view you can pin the asset to a card by tapping the pin button. Then tap which card(s) you would like to pin the locker to and click the "Save" button.
14. From the "Assets" topic view you can view all the assets by tapping the "Assets" tile. From the "Assets" list view you can see the "Total Costs" and "Current" value of the Assets that you've created in our App.
15. From the "Assets" view you can group by categories, context, status, purchase date, and last updated.
16. From the "Assets" list view you can also print by tapping the action button, and then tap "Print". Then you can choose to print in "Portrait" or "Landscape".
17. From the "Assets" topic overview if you tap the "Asset Statuses" tile you can manage the asset statuses. From the "Asset Statuses" view you can add, delete, or edit statuses.


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I hope I can post for both these memes this week. It's going to be a busy weekend what with cooking on Sunday and all.
Here's my photo which I think works for both LATSOF (as Mo would call it) and SSS.
Another later afternoon cemetery shot. When I looked at the shot after I uploaded it to my computer I realized That tree made an excellent shadow. And the sky was so clear and bright blue.
Calvary Cemetery, Queens, N.Y.
Go visit Tisha at Crazy Working Mom for Looking at the Sky on Friday's participants
and Hey Harriet for Shadow Shot Sunday participants.


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Ascension's three mocap products track the real-time position and orientation of sensors or emitters placed on a performer's body for animating computer characters. The two DC magnetic trackers, the tethered Motion Star, and the untethered MotionStar Wireless 2. They support the simultaneous, full-body tracking of up to five performers for close interaction without data loss or gaps in coverage. MotionStar now comes with a Data Optimization tool kit that enables users to predetermine the best setup for the system, helping to eliminate distortion and noise in tracker outputs. The active optical ReActor 2 overcomes occlusions and frequent camera calibration issues while delivering clean, real-time data. Its 544 digital detectors are embedded in a rugged 12-bar frame that virtually eliminates occlusion and dropouts. MotionStar ranges in price from $29,000 to $35,000; MotionStar Wireless, $59,000 to $65,000; and ReActor 2, $85,000 to $88,000.
Image Metrics specializes in performance-driven facial animation. The company's markerless, patented computer-vision technology is based on performance capture, and can map all of the muscles in the human face, mouth, eyes, tongue, and skin. Additionally, its single-camera motion-capture technology does not require the use of special suits, markers, mocap cameras, or complex stages. The company's technology has been for some of today's most popular games, including Grand Theft Auto, Table Tennis, 24: The Game, and more for some of the industry's leading developers. Pricing is project-dependent.
A standard for high-performance motion capture, the CyberGlove II wireless glove captures hand and finger movements for animation, biomechanics, digital prototyping, simulation/training, and virtual-reality applications. Constructed with stretch fabric for comfort and a mesh palm for ventilation, the fully instrumented glove provides either 18 or 22 high-accuracy joint-angle measurements using proprietary resistive bend-sensing technology. For applications needing position and orientation of the forearm, the CyberGlove II wristband supplies mounting provisions for InterSense, Polhemus, and Ascension six-degrees-of-freedom (DOF) tracking sensors. A software-programmable switch and LED on the wristband supports additional I/O capability. And, the optional VirtualHand SDK streamlines the task of adding hand motion capture, hand interaction, and force feedback to mechanical CAD, R&D, or 3D e-commerce applications. Backed by over 10 years of experience, the basic CyberGlove II system includes one data glove, two batteries, a battery charger, and a USB/Bluetooth technology adaptor with drivers. An 18-sensor system is priced at $12,295, while a 22-sensor system costs $17,795.
PTI Phoenix offers a range of advanced, cost-effective, real-time mocap solutions for full-body, hand, and facial capture. Its Visualeyez real-time 3D mocap systems offer professional active-optical mocap solutions. A proprietary technology enables the Visualeyez system to operate at high speed, in spite of the simple one-marker-at-a-time capture method that it uses. After a marker is captured, its data is output to user applications with sub-millisecond delay. This results in a very fast feedback response, allowing users to realize real-time operation. HydraNet, meanwhile, is an optional data composition and distribution network application that allows data captured by one or more Visualeyez systems to be composited and streamed in real time to as many other computers as the user needs. Each application can choose the motion data it needs for its own special purpose. Thus, applications requiring high computing power and/or especially parallel processing can easily be accomplished. The company also offers various software and accessories. Pricing was unavailable.


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Our collection of online resources is accessible simply by entering your library card* barcode and a pin number or password. If you should require assistance or do not have a pin/password, please call the Reference & Adult Services Information Desk at (631) 399-1511, ext. 240.
*Your library card must be in good standing.
For questions about your library card, please call the Circulation Desk at (631) 399-1511, ext. 282.


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The Mystery of Christ
I love a good mystery story from time to time, particularly an Agatha Christie work like the wellknown Murder on the Orient Express. It took a brilliant detective several days to reveal the murderer aboard that infamous train. What is …Read More
True Life
As we look around America today, we see what our forefathers envisioned — a land of freedom and opportunity. Even households at the "poverty level" in this country today have a much better standard of living than those in third …Read More
Where Is Your Treasure?
As I was flipping through the television channels recently, I was overwhelmed to see how secularism is influencing our culture today, particularly through advertising. In the teaching series Christian Worldview, Dr. Sproul describes secularism as that which looks at reality …Read More
John Petersen
John Petersen is the director of development for Ligonier Ministries.


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(HealthDay News) -- Eating healthy is especially important when you have braces. That means avoiding sugary foods, which could lead to plaque build-up and tooth decay.
The American Dental Association's website offers this additional advice for people who wear braces:
- Don't eat corn on the cob, popcorn and whole apples.
- Avoid sticky foods, such as chewing gum and chewy candies.
- Eat a nutritious, balanced diet.
- Practice good oral hygiene and ask your orthodontist or dentist about any other foods you should avoid.


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Grenada on October 28, 2018
St. Lucia on November 3, 2018
Fares begin at $2,200. per person for a double occupancy cabin; $1,900. per person for a single occupancy cabin. Fare includes all meals, port charges and complimentary beer, wine and rum punch.Call for air and advance booking discounts.
For more information call us toll free at 1-877-882-4395.
SAILING THE WINDWARD ISLANDS - GRENADINES WITH APPROXIMATELY 6 DESTINATIONS ALONG THE WAY: 6 Voyage From Grenada to St. Lucia
The graceful and spacious three-masted Sagitta is a sturdy steel-hulled ship. Rebuilt for 22 guests and crew, she offers 10 double cabins with ...
Read more about the Sagitta
Sailing in the Windward Islands with approximately 6 island visits along the way.See a list of destinations below.
Grenada is the fruit basket of the Caribbean. The fertile soils of the 'Spice Island' are perfect for growing cinnamon, cloves, and cocoa beans. Banana trees grow as tall as palms along the sides of the road. The scents of ginger, vanilla, almond and nutmeg linger in the air, while the countryside explodes with every tropical fruit imaginable. The bustling farmers' market in picturesque St. George is one of the Caribbean's liveliest and most replendent. This old and busy small seaport is part of an 18th-century British West Indian colonial town climbing the steep hills. Small, stucco, stone and brick buildings with winding narrow cobblestone streets reflect both the French and English legacy of this island. Large fruit-ships are loading, small ships coming and going, inter-island "one spar" schooners making the run to Trinidad, fishing boats landing their catch, the town market selling spices and produce and engaging in lively banter, marathon domino games in back street shops and reggae music pulsing on every corner. Ancient rum factories at 17th-century cane plantations, island "jump ups" (dance parties). At Grenada you must take in the whole island: The Fishing Town of Guave, stunning blazing beauty of Grand Anse Beach, and spice plantations still using the equipment of plantation days. If there is a Calypso Competition advertised then we must attend. No mere contest, this is a rank-off competition of the first order. Beautiful jungle waterfalls, and you must try the grilled chicken at a roadside barbeque. Busy, bustling, and very, very West Indian.
Bequía, Grenadines
Pretty as a picture describes our beloved Bequia. You'll be captivated by the island's charm while strolling along the lovely harbor with its shops, restaurants, and pastel-painted gingerbread homes. There's a long tradition of boat building and you'll find a slew of handcrafted model ships, old nautical charts, and rare sailing books to bring back home.
Peaceful and removed describes this patch of paradise. Green rolling hills descend to sandy white beaches (typical of the Grenadines.) At Tyrrel Bay, under the shade of palms at the edge of the sea, you can watch local men building schooners by hand. Still unspoiled by mass tourism, this is the perfect spot for getting away-from-it-all.
Mayreau, Grenadine Islands
The island of Mayreau is a true break from reality, with only one road, virtually no development, and farm animals outnumbering the inhabitants. One of the Grenadines, in the larger chain of Windward Islands, it has beautiful beaches, and plenty of solitude. View it as your own private island.
Sandy Island, Anguilla (Brit. Overseas Territory)
Tobago Cays (St. Vincent & Grenadines)
The five small islands of the Tobago Cays are an archipelago with extensive coral reefs located in the Southern Grenadines, and make up the Tobago Cays Marine Park. These uninhabited cays offer heavenly lagoons with green turtles, colorful fishes and crystal clear waters.
Union Island, , Grenadines
The most southerly island of the Grenadines, Union Island is a mere three miles by one mile, garnished with two dramatic peaks and a population of 2000. Once you land on shore, you won't want to leave. Union Island is a sailor's delight offering pretty anchorages, a couple of rowdy bars and some good restaurants. There is mile after mile of undisturbed sand and wild mangoes for the taking.
Young Island, Grenadines
Young Island is an exotic private island resort in the Grenadines, adjacent to St. Vincent. The tiny island, just 25 acres, is covered with tropical flowering plants, palm trees, and lots of green foliage. The white sand beach extending part way around the island is lined with cottages and beach huts. If you have the chance, stop at the famous Coconut Bar.
St. Lucia
This island is a nature lover's paradise. Here, the dueling Piton peaks serve as an inspiring landmark for sailors. You'll have a chance to visit waterfalls, hot springs, botanical gardens, and the world's only 'drive-in' volcano. Hiking boots are what you'll need for trekking tails through the Rainforest Preserve, a favorite for bird watchers. The forest is loaded with wild orchids, giant ferns and towering stands of bamboo.
We are available Monday thru Friday 9am to 5pm (Eastern Time) to answer any questions you might have, to help you plan your vacation or to assist you in choosing the perfect voyage under sail.
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Got that new Torch 9810? If the last leaked OS wasn't too kind on your 9810, find happiness to know OS 188.8.131.523 has dropped. No word on the changes found in this build. However, it is the first OS package to be across the board for all OS 7 devices currently on the market. Make sure to backup before you load up.
Download Torch 9810 OS 22.214.171.1243 from:
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*DISCLAIMER* – This is an unofficial RIM software release. If you choose to , do so at your own risk! N4BB.COM is not responsible for any malfunctions or abnormalities that may occur.


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Wednesday, April 17, 2019, 10:30am - 11:30am
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Murrayville Library
All ages of children and youth are invited to a family storytime with Murrayville's own mascot: Murraybear! This storytime is filled with songs, puppets, stories, finger plays, toys and much more! Free and open to the public.
by ajunius


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(CNSNews.com) - Mainland China has decreased its holdings of U.S. Treasury securities since last October, according to a report updated today by the U.S. Treasury Department.
Since September 2008, when they eclipsed Japan, entities in mainland China have been the largest foreign owners of U.S. government debt. But, as indicated by the Treasury Department chart linked here, Chinese ownership of U.S. Treasury securities peaked in October 2010 and has declined in each of the four most recent months reported by the Treasury Department.
At the end of October 2010, China owned 1.1753 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities. That dropped to $1.1641 trillion by the end of November, $1.1601 trillion by the end of December, $1.1547 trillion by the end of January, and $1.1541 trillion by the end of February 2011.
February is the latest month for which the Treasury has estimated foreign holdings of U.S. debt.
Back in February 2001, according to historical data reported by the Treasury, the mainland Chinese owned only $63.7 billion in U.S. debt. In the ensuing decade, the Chinese massively increased their holdings of U.S. Treasury securities, and especially in the past five years. In February 2006, China owned $318.4 billion in U.S. debt and Japan owned $656.4 billion.
In September 2008, the Chinese moved ahead of the Japanese in their U.S. debt holdings. At the end of that month, the mainland Chinese owned $618.2 billion in U.S. government debt and the Japanese owned $617.5 billion.
In the two years between September 2008 and September 2010, China increased its U.S. government debt holdings by $533.7 billion—from $618.2 billion to 1.1519 trillion. By the end of October 2010, China's holdings of U.S. government debt had increased to their peak of 1.1753 trillion.
After that, mainland Chinese holding of U.S. government debt declined for four straight months.
Entities in Hong Kong have also been decreasing their ownership of U.S. government debt. Hong Kong ownership of U.S. Treasury securities peaked at $152.4 billion in February 2010. By the end of February 2011, that had dropped to $124.6 billion.
In fiscal 2010—which ended on Sept. 30, 2010—the U.S. Treasury needed to redeem $7.206965 trillion in maturing U.S. Treasury securities. In order to cover the principle on those securities and borrow the money needed to cover government expenses that exceeded government revenues, the Treasury needed to turn around and sell $8.649171 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities during that fiscal year.
So far in fiscal 2011—which began on Oct. 1, 2010—the U.S. Treasury has needed to redeem $4.176308 trillion in maturing Treasury securities and sell $4.769522 in new Treasury securities.
At the end of February, according to the Treasury, the total U.S. debt was $14.194764 trillion of which $9.565541 trillion was publicly traded Treasury securities. Of those $9.565541 trillion in public Treasury securities, foreigners owned $4.4743 trillion—or almost 47 percent.
The $1.1541 trillion in U.S. debt owned by the mainland Chinese as of the end of February equaled about 12 percent of the publicly held portion of the U.S. debt and almost 26 percent of the publicly held portion of the U.S. debt that was owned by foreign interests.


text: Element XL, the next stage of the Element Revolution, is here. Maximizing onboard capacity, length and horsepower options, the brand-new Element XL will revolutionize your family's on-water potential. Like never before, the power to cruise comfortably, fish at any time or enjoy a wide range of watersports is at your fingertips. What would we say is the Element XL's most impressive feature? The price tag! Available at just $17,299, the Element XL is designed to get you out on the water and making memories as soon as possible.


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Hour365.com Inc. is working in bitcoin market. Our company is trading in bitcoin and make profits for all of our investors. We buy low price bitcoin in one market and sell high price bitcoin in another market. All trade is made by our company software and it work 24 hours a day! All trade will be made in the same time and we don't worry about our profits, we can make about 200%-5000% profits hourly from our software. Hour365.com choose these bitcoin market for trading for now. If you find more great bitcoin market please contact us and we will added. All deposits will exchange bitcoin in the market and exchange back to pay profits for all investors. And bitcoin deposit will be more welcome here.
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Transform your photos into one-of-a-kind, hand painted masterpieces!
This product is currently out of stock.
Image Size
The image is near the edges of the product but doesn't cover the entire product. Some of the background color may appear around the outside edges of the image.
Background Color
You'll never run out of power again! If the battery on your smartphone or tablet is running low... no problem. Just plug your device into the USB port on the top of this portable battery charger, and then continue to use your device while it gets recharged.
With a recharge capacity of 5200 mAh, this charger will give you 1.5 full recharges of your smartphone or recharge your tablet to 50% capacity.
When the battery charger runs out of power, just plug it into the wall using the supplied cable (included), and it will recharge itself for your next use.
1.80" W x 3.875" H x 0.90" D
Ships Within
1 - 2 business days
Linda, this is so beautiful! Love the colors and texture!
Thanks alot, Shawn! :)
Love it!
thank you :)
I love the black framing. My eye is naturally attracted to it. Nicely done, Linda!
thank you,this is the 2nd image I sold on here! :)
A wonderful photo, very artistic!
You have captured a wonderful atmosphere here Linda.
Average Rating (5 Stars):
Leontin Jakupi
October 24th, 2017
Alan McIntyre
October 23rd, 2017
Steven Schreck
October 2nd, 2017
Josip Mikulic
September 6th, 2017
Worst experience ever. Ordered on 16/08/2017 and estimated ship date was 21/08/2017, it's 06/09/2017 now and there is still no info when item will be shipped. Tried to contact pixels.com twice via contact form, no answer. Charger supposed to be gift for my father's birthday on 09/09/2017 but you managed to ruin it. Since I tried to contact You via contact form, and got no result. I hope that you'll read this comment and return me my money, since you failed to deliver product which is now useless to me because you weren't able to provide any info for couple of weeks
Elizabeth Layman
May 2nd, 2017
I bought this for my sister who is graduating soon. She spends a lot of time on her cell phone, and I thought this would be a personal and usefu giftl. The image is a bit dark but over all nice quality. The charger came with some charge (blue light came on). It looks easy to use, and I'm eager to see how my sister likes it!
Hello, and welcome to my Digital Expressions of digital art and photography. I have dabbled in the digital art arena and discovered a whole new world of expressive art that has become my passion. With each new print I uncover a new atmospheric layer and bring to life imaginative, colorful shapes that are both inciteful and pleasing to the eye. Please, browse my website and discover for yourself the passion for art that drives me to continually improve upon my trade. Thank you very much, art collectors!..http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Digital-Expressions/116821381719362 Do not steal this art by downloading to a computer, printing, copying or reproducing in anyway. It is illegal to do so and all infringements are pursued to the...
Our return policy is very simple:
If you're not happy with a purchase that you made on Pixels.com, for any reason, you can return it to us within 30 days of the order date. As soon as it arrives, we'll issue a full refund for the entire purchase price. Please note - Pixels does not reimburse the outgoing or return shipping charges unless the return is due to a defect in quality.
Pixels sells thousands of pieces of artwork each month - all with a 100% money-back guarantee. We take great pride in the fact that hundreds of thousands of artists have chosen Pixels to fulfill their orders, and we look forward to helping you select your next piece!
All portable batteries chargers ship from our production facility within 1 - 2 business days of your order.


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Miniature Aussie-Poo (Australian Shepard/Poodle Mix)
"Gracie" from Roseville, CA
See "Neck Hug Sizing" section for help in selecting a good fit and Please Note: Any size recommendations made by Wag Tail Farms, is only our "best guess" according to the measurements you have provided. Ultimately, it is the customer's decision in ordering their preferred size.
► The size Small "Neck Hug" Measures a width of 3˝" from neckline to outer edge of "Neck Hug"
► Each "Neck Hug" is stuffed with hypo-allergenic and washable fiber-fill for extra softness to encourage rest during recuperation
► Each "Neck Hug" is made of a blend of Cotton/Polyester fabric and fully lined.
► The neckline is made of soft black color flannel with loops to secure with pet's own collar or a soft ribbon can be threaded through for added security.
► Clean Up is quick, Neck Hugs can be laundered in the washer and dryer with your normal wash load. Please do not use Fabric Softener as it may coat the Velcro making it non-adhesive! If a water softener is necessary, try using a splash of white vinegar added to the wash load. It will not leave any unpleasant scent and works great.
Neckline "Custom-Size" ~ Please notate the special custom size measurement requested upon checkout in the comments section.
All "Neck Hugs", soft e-collars for pets are specially handcrafted for you & your pet and require Approximately 20 *BUSINESS DAYS* to complete their construction PRIOR to Shipping. This is an "Approximate" time frame, not exact. Please allow the required Approximate 20 Business Days in addition to your selected shipping method days for delivery.
Our Regular Business Days/Hours are: Mon - Fri 9:00am - 5:00pm (Saturday, Sunday and Holidays are non-Business Days & are not included in the required Approximate 20 Business Day required product construction time frame).
When no one is home, will your mail carrier leave your package on the doorstep?
Please note that recent feedback from our customers has informed us that the postal service may or may not leave your package on your doorstep if no one is home, depending on your local mail carrier. To avoid having your package held at the Post Office should there be no one home on the day of delivery, please leave a note for the mail carrier, authorizing the delivery to be left or you may also use an alternative delivery address such as your pet's Veterinarian.
Fabric for all Neck Hugs vary - picture shown is provided as a description of the product. Neckline has a Velcro closure
For online orders: Please use the latest Browser version for Yahoo compatibility.
Available Fabric Selections
Your Neck Hug is available in the following fabric prints. Each Neck Hug is sewn with the selected print fabric on the top and outer band areas. The back of the Neck Hug is sewn with a solid black color fabric. This combination adds interest and appeal to the overall style of the Neck Hug.
(Also Laundry Instructions)
Disclaimer: All ideas, utility, design and theory work product discussed and developed between Wag Tail Farms and other individuals resulting in a prototype or finished product from any and all communications (example: emails, telephone, social networking, person to person, website contacts, presentation of live animals for custom product development towards animal health & well being benefit) photographs, drawings or other media work product, that is not considered the legal established property of other individuals or institutes, is the sole property of Wag Tail Farms and can be used in the legal sales or donations determined by Wag Tail Farms. A signed agreement will be required upon any further new product development communications.
We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service to individuals that wrongfully or suspiciously damage or destroy the Neck Hug product. This includes individuals who publicly publish written or photographic material to incite public concern to the detriment of Wag Tail Farms and/or the Neck Hug / Super Neck Hug products.