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Buddhist Wisdom in Family, Work & Society
Ngakpa Intl is an international association of Buddhist Yogis founded by Pema Khandro.
Our vibrant community trains in the philosophy and practices of Tibetan Buddhist Yogis,
the non-celibate, life-embracing path of Tibetan Buddhism.
The emphasis of our practices are simple, direct experience of wakefulness and ease. Our centers, clinics and schools focus on the teachings known as the great perfection (Dzogchen) – Buddhism's most treasured path to awakening intrinsic wisdom.
We celebrate the system of meditation and personal transformation found in the practices of Dzogchen, the Six Yogas, Chod and Tibetan Yoga as taught in the Nyingma lineage.
We explore the practical application of Buddhist wisdom in the modern context, with a specialty in integrating Buddhism with a dynamic, complex life.
We also emphasize nourishing body-mind vitality through natural medicine – embracing Buddhist wisdom as applied and embodied.
We are dedicated to providing accessible, in-depth Buddhist education for students, teachers and leaders. Due to our commitment to integrating Buddhist Wisdom with technology – our online courses allow an unprecedented access to ongoing and advanced study.
About Us
The tone of our community is serious study with a non-sectarian spirit, in an atmosphere of joyous, down-to-earth warmth and kindness. We favor a non-dogmatic approach to exploring Buddhist resources with an emphasis in the value of questions, doubts, diversity and contradictions.
Our Activities: include community-led meditation classes, group retreats, ongoing phone and online web-cast courses, and a seminary for advanced study.
Our Projects: include a clinic, three residential urban centers, research to preserve the history and culture of Buddhist Yogis, support of Ngakpa schools worldwide and sponsoring orphans in the Himalayan border regions.
Our Values: Above all, Buddhism's goal is to become a wakeful, ethical and compassionate human being. We believe spiritual awakening goes hand in hand with unraveling the roots of racism, sexism, homophobia and bigotry of all kinds. We are committed to ecological sustainability.
Our Methods: We offer a range of learning environments from study oriented, to practice-oriented, community oriented and discussion oriented, both in person and online – in order to foster diverse relationships with Buddhist wisdom and affordable access to in-depth training.
Plug in and connect with us…
- Become a Member,
- come to our Upcoming Programs,
- see our Schedule of Events
- learn about Pema Khandro, our founder and teacher
- visit our newsite to catch up on the latest announcements at PemaKhandro.com
- and join us on Facebook !


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Sure, there are tons of "take me to your leader" movies on the horizon, but the news that the hyper-stylish Timur Bekmambetov is saddling up to produce The Darkest Hour is good indeed.
Hollywood is overflowing with alien-invasion movies in development, but The Darkest Hour sounds particularly intriguing. Nightwatch and Wanted director Timur Bekmambetov will produce it in his native Russia, where the filmmakers can use his Moscow studio, and Chris Gorak — who last made 2006 frighteningly amazing dirty-bomb thriller, Right At Your Door (pictured above) — will direct. Juno's Olivia Thirlby will play a little-miss-rich-bitch who teams with a band of survivors to repel the alien threat.
(Via Heatvision)

subset: commoncrawl


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The Racer Coat
- Made in USA!
- The Racer Coat:
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The forerunner of the National Air Races at Cleveland was the Pulitzer Trophy Race. The first one was held on Thanksgiving Day 1920, at Mitchell Field, Long Island. At the time of the first race, America's planes were getting a top speed of 180 mph while the French, who had become heavily involved with military aviation after World War I, built planes reaching speeds close to 200 mph. However, the Pulitzer series of races brought the winning average speed up from 156 mph in 1920 to 248 mph in 1925.
These Pulitzer races produced several other beneficial technological developments, but also perpetuated the mistaken belief that the biplane configuration had more potential for high speed than the monoplane. This belief may have put America as much as 5 years behind Europe in the development of the monoplane.
The Pulitzer races were always exciting events which also included stunts and parachute jumps. When they were discontinued, the American aviation community wanted to keep a series of national air races going. The National Aeronautic Association was formed and organized big national air shows in Philadelphia and Seattle. While this new series of air races was launched, a group of businessmen in Cleveland decided they wanted this event as a permanent annual showcase for their new Hopkins airport, still under construction. A continuing series of air races would also promote the city of Cleveland to the status of hub of the aviation industry in the United States. Fred Crawford, Vice President of Thompson Products, and Louis Greve, head of Cleveland Pneumatic Tool, were committed to the aviation industry. They and their management teams were racing enthusiasts. Crawford and Greve convinced local businesses to put up prizes and sponsor races and were able to get enough backing to secure the air races for Cleveland beginning Labor Day weekend, 1929. Over 100,000 people attended the opening of the 10-day program.
The Military and the racers. The first Air Service racer, a Verville-Packard 600, originally designated the VCP-1 when built in 1919. It was redesignated the VCP-R in 1920 and the R-1 in 1922. It won the 1920 Pulitzer at Mitchel Field, Long Island, in November with Lt. C. C. Moseley at its controls. In the same plane, Moseley took 6th place in the 1922 Pulitzer at Selfridge field, Michigan. It was also flown by Major "Shorty" Schroeder in the Gordon Bennett race in Paris in 1920 but an overheated engine forced the pilot to land before the race was completed. Because of the constant striving for higher speeds for its pursuit planes, the Air Service partcipated in many races, both military and civilian, during the 1920s. One of the first of significance was on November 25, 1920 when Lt. C. C. Moseley won the first Pulitzer Trophy race in a Verville-Packard 600 at 156.5 mph. On October 14, 1922, the Pulitzer was won by Lt. R. L. Maughan in a Curtiss R-6 at 205.8 mph. Four days later, General Billy Mitchell flew the same type of plane to a world speed record of 224.4 mph. On March 29, 1923, Maughan boosted the record to 236.5 mph. Lt Cyrus Bettis flew a specially-built Curtiss R3C-1 racer in the Pulitzer held on October 12, 1925 and won with a new record of 248.9 mph. Two weeks later, Jimmy Doolittle flew the same plane equipped with pontoons and redesignated the R3C-2 to victory in the Scheider Trophy race at 232.5 mph. He later flew the same plane to a new world seaplane record of 245.7 mph. For winning the Pulitzer and Schneider races, Bettis and Doolittle were awarded the Mackay Trophy for 1925. The Air Service entered many races which it did not win. However, practically every new idea which was developed and applied to its speed planes, and then tested and proved under the most exacting conditions, was later applied to its new pursuit planes. The VCP-R on Aug. 2, 1920 after colliding on landing with an automobile which had been timing its speed tests at Wilbur Wright Field (now Patterson Field area of WPAFB). Schroeder broke his goggles in this accident but was not seriously injured.
Order the iconic leather flight coat today!


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Reno businessman guilty of embezzling faith-based funds
RENO, Nev. -- After deliberating for two hours on Monday, a jury rejected claims by Reno businessman Mike Stickler that his bookkeeper stole his company's federal grant funds, and found him guilty of embezzling a portion of his faith-based initiative grant.
Stickler, 53, could face a maximum of 10 years in prison at his sentencing, set for June 30.
Of the guilty verdict, Assistant Federal Public Defender Lauren Gorman said "we fully intend to appeal."
Nevada U.S. Attorney Dan Bogden, who attended the verdict announcement, declined comment after the verdict, saying his office is prosecuting Stickler in another case where he's charged with failing to send to the Internal Revenue Service the taxes that he withheld from his employees paychecks.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Carla Higginbotham asked U.S. District Judge Miranda Du to place Stickler in custody, arguing that his conviction coupled with his tax case make him a flight risk. Gorman argued that he has family in Northern Nevada and is indigent, making him unlikely to flee.
Du agreed and allowed him to remain free on his own recognizance.
The Reno Gazette-Journal first wrote about Stickler in 2011 after hearing reports from churches that he took their money for his Help Build Hope Haiti project, but no homes were built. The RGJ then investigated problems with his federal grant and one year after that story was published, he was indicted on the charge of stealing grant funds.
Earlier in the day, lawyers on both sides made their final arguments to the five-woman, seven-man jury.
Stickler's company, Faith Based Solutions, received a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2007 and under the terms of the grant, $200,000 had to be dispersed to smaller organizations. Instead, Stickler spent the money, Higginbotham said.Besides overpaying himself and taking his family on a Hawaiian vacation, "there was $244,000 on 'other costs' — 1-800-Flowers, Babies-R-Us, Reno Cleaners, dry cleaners and Starbucks — there was nothing in the budget for lattes," Higginbotham said, reading from a list that was created from the receipts he turned in to justify grant spending.
But Gorman said the company's bookkeeper and grant manager, Katie Petri, controlled the funds and took the money, not Stickler.
"She stole and she lied and she walked out of this mess unscathed," Gorman said, adding Petri was given immunity for her testimony.
Contrast that with Stickler, Gorman said. When federal agents came to his house to ask questions about the grant, he spoke with them for more than three hours and then left a message on Petri's phone telling her that she should call a lawyer, Gorman said. Petri was a family friend and he wanted to protect her, Gorman said.
Higginbotham told the jury to use common sense while considering whether it was Stickler or Petri who took the money.
"Ask yourself, whose story has remained the same, whose story has been corroborated by the testimony of other witness and you'll find that Katie Petri was the one who had the consistent statement," she said. "It was Mike Stickler who would benefit, not Katie Petri."
Stickler claimed that he and his wife were busy and didn't pay attention to the company's finances, Higginbotham said. But he owned the company, was the managing partner, and signed the grant application, she said.
"The defendant wants you to believe that he didn't know what was going on in his family-run business," she said. "'I didn't know' — that's what he wants you to believe. Ask yourself, does that make sense? This isn't Microsoft or Google. Does it make sense that the managing partner of that company didn't know what was going on with the finances?"
Higginbotham said the proof goes beyond Petri's testimony. It is revealed by the bank statements, she said.
For example, $12,000 was drawn from the grant and placed into the company's account designated for grant use, she said. On the same day, $12,000 was deposited into Stickler's personal account, she said, reading from a list of similar transactions.
"If you accept that he didn't know, you'd have to accept these are a series of amazing coincidences," Higginbotham said. "It's not possible."
And after all of the money was gone, instead of calling the police or hiring an outside accountant to make sense of the books, Stickler hired her back to work for him, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Rachow said.
Gorman said Petri was Kim Stickler's best friend and someone they knew from church, and "they believed she was truthful," Gorman said.
"Mike and Kim did not check on the grant funds because they trusted Ms. Petri," she said.


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After Shit Silicon Valley Says comes Shit Programmers Say. There's a swear word at the end, so if you're at an office that doesn't tolerate salty language, make like the programmers in the video and switch to headphones!
Thanks to Andy Baio at Waxy.org for the find!
This article also appears in the Shopify Developer Blog.
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Handmade with Solid Color Glass from the Czech Republic by a professional artist.
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This doulbe cased bohemian glass hookah is unique, just like you. What is double cased glass you ask? Double cased glass consists of two or more fused layers of different colors and cut so that the inner layers show through. Isn't she beautiful? This is a true collectors piece that you won't find anywhere else because it is one of a kind. This hookah was created by a professional artist with solid color glass that comes directly from the Czech Republic. The red glass is more expensive because it is infused with read gold to bring out it's color.
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Price: $2,000.00


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The Michigan Supreme Court on Friday unanimously decided not to step in early to decide the legality of the state's right-to-work law.
LANSING, Mich. (AP) ? The Michigan Supreme Court on Friday unanimously decided not to step in early to decide the legality of the state's right-to-work law.
The court said it wasn't persuaded that ruling now would be an "appropriate exercise" of its discretion ? despite a request for a special advisory opinion from Republican Gov. Rick Snyder in January.
Since Snyder's request, three lawsuits challenging the contentious law have been filed in state and federal courts. The law prohibits forcing public and private workers to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment.
Snyder wanted the justices to especially decide whether the law applies to roughly 35,000 state employees who belong to unions and are under the authority of the Michigan Civil Service Commission. Contracts expire later this year.
"We're confident that the constitutionality and legality of the freedom to work laws will be upheld in the courts," Snyder spokeswoman Sara Wurfel said. "The goal in making this request to the Michigan Supreme Court was to bring that clarity to this public policy as quickly as possible and avoid protracted litigation. We respect the Supreme Court's decision and will continue to defend the freedom to work laws in the lower courts."
A separate union-led suit on whether the law applies to state employees is pending in the Michigan Court of Appeals.
An Ingham County judge is considering an "uphill" challenge ? his words ? that contends the law should be invalidated because demonstrators were locked out of the Capitol for hours while the measure was debated. And a federal judge in Detroit is overseeing a suit that argues the law shouldn't apply to private-sector workers because federal labor law regulates their rights.
Justice Stephen Markman, who had previously wanted to issue an advisory opinion, agreed on Friday that one shouldn't be given now. He cited a June brief from state Solicitor General John Bursch, who said while the Supreme Court should have intervened immediately at Snyder's behest, the issue is likely moot five months later because the state appeals court is expected to rule soon on the law's impact on state workers.
The right-to-work law passed the Republican-led Legislature in December and took effect in March over the objections of thousands of protesters at the Capitol. It made Michigan the 24th right-to-work state.
In making his request, Snyder hoped for a ruling before the court's term concludes at the end of July.
It's not the first time the Supreme Court has been asked to review a controversial law. In 2011, Snyder wanted the court to leapfrog lower courts and look at a law that placed emergency managers in distressed cities and school districts. The court didn't act before voters killed the law last fall.
The court did, however, agree to bypass the lower courts in 2011 to rule on the constitutionality of a law Snyder signed that lifted a tax exemption for pension income.


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Morgenroth Music Centers have been making music across the state of Montana for generations. Since 1957, we've specialized in giving our customers the highest quality of service paired with reasonably priced instruments and accessories. We are proud to be Western Montana's only full-line music store, offering a large selection of instruments, music and accessories. Visit us today! Located in Missoula, MT we look forward to meeting you!
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18 August, 2015
Way to Long AfterNot my most sentimental but I got to take my cousin, namesake, godchild and 1st nephew by heart to this show. You guys forgot to add that they flowed into Stand By Me after I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. The version of Vertigo was probably the most BAD ASS, I have seen ( kept old laptop to replay it in true form)
29 January, 2014
One of 84,467We went to Boston 4 days earlier which was great and then this too was awesome. To be part of the record breaking attendance at Giants Stadium was a highlight as was seeing the Worlds Best and Biggest Band in this famous venue. To see 2 stadiums next to each other was epic, before Giants Stadium was knocked down 4 months later.
11 October, 2010
I'm ready to die nowI've was literally racing to get some U2 tickets for 10 years but with my luck they always sold out or were too much for me at the time. Well not this time. They sold out in L.A. where I live, they sold out in Vegas. Damn it, I'm not missing another show! So I saw them in New York Yankee Stadium. Well worth it, everything. It just didn't matter what I spent. U2 stand for more then music and they give back, so I didn't care what I spent. I can die happy now, :-)
21 April, 2010
AmazingOut of all the U2 concerts this was one of the best one they plaid my favorite song where the streets have no name and another one of my favorites Ultraviolet light my way i though it was amazing and i wish i could see them again when their near New Jersey again.
10 November, 2009
Intimate setting of 84,000 fansThere were a heck of a lot of people there, but Bono and the boys really knew how to draw the crowd in. It felt like we were in the palm of U2's hand, not in a "giant" stadium. It felt like I was in an intimate nightclub with 84,000 of my best friends. Never dreamed I would hear U2 play Unforgettable Fire live....my favorite song of all time, along with my other fave, The End of the World. I just used my new presale code today to get tix for the 2010 Philadelphia show. Ground control to Major Tom!
08 November, 2009
I said I wouldn't cry...But the tears were like a waterfall on my face again...it's been the fifth time live...It's been twenty years now...twenty years I hear those tunes and they make me cry, just like it was the first time when I was a teenager. They meant even more back then... Thank for whispering to my soul throughout these years. Thank you for every tear.
02 November, 2009
IncredibleAbsolutely incredible show... So excited for the announcement of a show at the NEW Meadowlands Stadium!! My boyfriend said it was the best birthday present anyone has ever given him... Guys, keep coming around so that we can enjoy more shows! We'll be coming to every single one!! LOVE U2!!!
02 November, 2009
Great show but not my top favoriteAn all round great show ... U2 can never really disappoint ... good mix of songs ... Unforgettable Fire was a standout for me - an great album that I think has been under-rated / overlooked by some. I do have to say, though, that the Elevation and Atomic Bomb shows I saw were, I felt, even better overall with their mix of songs and the spiritual feel. Those shows, however, were also in smaller venues by comparison, so it was a different feel because of that as well. Anyway ... rock on boys!!!!!!!
16 October, 2009
What can I say? THE BEST!!!Hubby and I traveled from Corpus Christi, Texas to see the show. This was 2nd show on 360 Tour. Again, amazing show, of course. We always know it will be. They do not disappoint. I am not picky with set list, any song they play from their catalogue is fine by me. What a treat it is to hear/see them play. Next time, I will try for GA. I gotta try it once even though I'm a shorty. Thanks again for a SPECTACULAR show! We love you! XOXO from C.C., Texas! Jennifer
14 October, 2009
What an incredible night!!Wow! This was my second show ever in 2 days, and I am still speechless!! My best friend drove all the way up from Delaware to join me, and we quickly got into the GA line by 7am. The line was again very organized, very calm, and much better than I expected. After the mad dash again into the stadium, my quick speed got me to the front with my friend close behind! Couldn't believe it- we were railside at U2, right in front of The Edge's spot! Ahh a feeling money can't buy for sure. The night was tremendous, Muse are terrific & a perfect opening act. Quick, rocking songs without trying to steal away U2's spotlight. Once "Space Oddity" started playing, the crowd found it's excitement. And then once U2 hit the stage, the adrenaline started pumping! "Breathe" is a fantastic opener, and once it hit the ground there was no turning back! Awesome performances of "Mysterious Ways," "Elevation," "Until the End of the World," and "Ultraviolet." "With or Without You" was pitch perfect- possibly the best live version I've heard in years. Bono's voice is really at a place it's never been before, and I say that with utmost amazement. Astounding show! Unfortunately I got into an accident & totaled my car on the horrendous drive home [sorry for the traffic backup! =O], but it truly was still the BEST night of my life!!! Thank you U2, please add more NYC area shows!!!
08 October, 2009
can't wait till the next timei must say that the sound sounded funny from where we were sitting (mezzanine level behind the stage) and i think bono might have had some trouble hearing during moment of surrender but, really, can anything ruin a U2 show? it was amazing. this was my sixth show and they never disappoint. the emotion is always overwhelming and it was great to hear ultraviolet, stay and especially until the end of the world and unforgettable fire back in the set. loved the little boy during city of blinding lights; what a lucky kid! maybe that will be my daughter someday... :) as soon as she's old enough she'll be there with me!!! the stage was just beautiful. stunning! it's always amazing to be in the same space as U2. a beautiful show.
02 October, 2009
Worth the 3400 mile trip!!Travelled 3400 miles from Glasgow, Scotland with my brother. Fantastic experience, loved every minute, sound was really good and the new york/new jersey crowd seemed really up for it. 2nd time seeing the show as I saw them in Glasgow as well. U2 just get better and better.
28 September, 2009
First time in NYWow. 9th time seeing them, first time i've seen them in a different city. Proud to be part of the record setter! Amazing show as always. Disappointed by some of the fans slowing down for the new stuff. Other than that energy was awesome, performance brilliant. Bring on Vancouver!
28 September, 2009
Bring on RaleighLooking forward to the Raleigh NC show on Sat 3rd Oct. Will be my sons first U2 concert, he Is so excited. He will be rocking out in his wheelchair and singing every song. Would love to hear either Kite or Sometimes You can't make it on your own, for my dad.
28 September, 2009
Well worth the risk...Almost thought twice about attending the second show, with the recent terror warnings, and stuff going down in Queens, but I figured, what the hell. I just wore comfortable shoes instead of sexy boots in case I had to bolt! GA tickets were amazing, thanks U2 for being so good to your long time fans. I always liked U2, but didn't fall in love with music until Achtung was released, it was so great to hear Stay and Ultraviolet. The boys sounded great,the stage was absolutely amazing, I almost forgot I was at Giants stadium and not at the Garden. Starting with Breathe and ending with Moment of Surrender, it don't get better than that!!!!
Frankie V
28 September, 2009
M-A-G-N-I-F-I-C-A-N-T!!!!From Breathe through Moment of Surrender, the show was amazing. As a long time fan, I always look forward to hearing songs I've never heard U2 perform live before and once again, they didn't disappoint. All the new stuff from No Line, plus Unforgettable Fire, MLK, Stay & Ultraviolet, were spectacular. And of course, the "standards" never get old; from the great sing-a-long's of Still Haven't Found What I'm looking For & One, to the stadium shaking experience of Where the Streets Have No Name live, it was a concert to remember. Thanks guys for keeping Rock-n-Roll alive and well.
28 September, 2009
The Forgettable FireOur seats were in the last row of the first tier. The overhang of the second tier blocked out most of the stage, completely blocked the screens and the sound was abysmal. The only time the screens were visible was when they were lowered for several songs in the latter part of the show. The last five to seven rows of the first tier should not have been sold or sold as limited view. We were able to walk down during Moment of Surrender and from there the view of the stage was spectacular and the sound was clear. The seats were purchased through the first round of the presale. My tickets for every other pre sale have always been good to great. I left the show feeling like I had wasted my money.
28 September, 2009
Daylight88U2 is the best!!! This was our second night and it rocked even more than the first night. We were under the cover too and the sound was fine a bit muffled but it was windy too. I don't know how anyone close to this arena and this show could have had a bad time. The entire building shook...if i was blind I would have loved the sound. Anyway best show ever!!!!!
27 September, 2009
Long Time Fan's PerspectiveU2 have been my favorite band since Boy was first released (I bought it here in the US as an import at Cheap Thrills in New Brunswick). This was my 8th U2 show. The first time I saw them was at the Fastlane in Asbury Park in 1981 (which the band seems to think was called Hitsville South). The stage show certainly has gotten a little bit more polished since that show (and ticket prices have gone up a little bit as well). I would rate this as my 3rd favorite live performance by them. My favorite was when I saw them at The Ritz on Saint Patrick's Day in 1982 (opening act was, I believe, the Black Watch Pipers...post-parade)...amazing, unbelievable energy that night...crazy wild slam-dancing and pogo-ing...I somehow squeezed my way right up to the stage for most of the show...I really think this show was U2's coming out party in the US...definitely the greatest rock-and-roll show I've ever seen (and I have been to somewhere between 100 and 200 concerts since 1976). Second favorite show (U2 and all time) was the "City of Blinding Lights" show on October 24th in 2001. That show was so emotionally overwhelming in a good, cathartic way...the band really, really, really connected with the audience and each elevated the other that night (pretty appropriate since this was the Elveation tour). When I arrived in the city I felt so scared and anxious and left feeling uplifted and triumphant. It would be nearly impossible to beat the impact those two shows had on me as a fan so I guess it's somewhat unfair to compare. Anyway, the all I can say is that the band has gotten better with age (which I love to say since I'm the same age as the boys in the band). They have all matured as performers, each and every one of them. Adam and Larry were tighter than I have ever seen them. Adam has really stepped up and improved his playing. Edge was not only his usual technically excellent self but he meshed so well with Adam and Larry; each of them complimenting and enhancing the others playing. Bono has always been a showman but even more than ever this show; I really felt him taking on the voice and the persona of his (for lack of a better term) characters in every song. Stage show..simply amazing. Great song selection...especially loved Ultraviolet and Moment of Surrender...did not LOVE the I'll Go Crazy arrangement but it WAS fun and showed a different side of the band...I wish they had played something from October...I Threw a Brick would be my pick...but With a Shout would have been a good follow up to the I'll Go Crazy remix...I can almost hear Larry doing the starting drum riff on his bongo (or was it a conga?) in my head right now. I do hate to say this but...I have to echo the sentiment of the earlier poster regarding Muse. So loud it was nothing but noise...and I love their studio stuff...given the choice I would have rather had no opening act then that lesson in sonic pain.
27 September, 2009
A Giant Stadium for a Gigantic bandFlew from Miami for the show Thursday in NJ. I will never miss an opportunity to see U2 on stage as I have been a fan for more than 20 years and attended almost every tour!! 360 is an amazing staging, unbelievable performances, great mix of old tunes (MLK, Where the Streets and Stay among my fav!!!) and the new album. I've never heard With or Without You played the same way twice in 10 years !!! My greatest satisfaction? I came with a good friend who is not a huge fan and at the end he said to me: "The most amazing concert I've ever seen in my life, this band rock!! how could I'd missed that for so long?" Thank you guys you always deliver, you are THE Best and you will always be my # 1 band!
25 September, 2009
now i'm sad....now i'm sad.. u2 has left the building of giants stadium...the show was a great mix of new and old.. some of the people are just clueless though.. most sat down during a great version of stay(far away so close), and even sat during mlk and walk on...i've seen every tour since zoo tv and i'm not sure which is best.. they are all great...and i can't wait to see them again and again and again..."in bono we trust"
25 September, 2009
Another Amazing Show!Day 2 - this time GA! Right on the rail next to Edge! What an AWESOME show! Once Again, I am EXTREMELY GRATEFUL for the Pre-Sale Codes, being a U2.com member. You guys/gals ROCK! Seriously, without the code, I cannot even imagine that I would have been in the spot in which I was. Thank You, Thank You! P.S. - tell Edge he has a beautiful smile! :)


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The INTERREG project Rh(e)in-Solar focuses on the development of an emergent photovoltaic technology implementing organic molecules to convert light into electricity. The so-called "Organic Solar Cell technology" is an outcome of recent multidisciplinary research activities, performed worldwide, on the development of photoactive molecular and polymer semiconductors, and their utilization as active material in opto-electronic and photovoltaic devices. About fifty researchers, engineers, students and technicians, working in thirteen public research institutions, clusters and private companies, all located in the Upper Rhine region, participate to the RH(E)IN-SOLAR project and join their efforts to boost the development of efficient organic solar modules. By bringing together a broad field of scientific skills and technical means in a geographically confined region, the project partners endeavor to speed-up the resolution of major bottlenecks that currently limit the development of organic photovoltaics and to establish favorable conditions for innovation and technological transfers in the Upper Rhine region.
PROOF – Photovoltaic Panels for Roofing Elements of Commercial and Industrial Buildings
Following on from the successful project Rh(e)in-Solar, the story continues with PROOF. This new project aims to develop large area photovoltaic panels with high power conversion efficiency, that are to be integrated into roofing products. […]
Press release
Lichtblicke in der Solarforschung Das Projekt Rh(e)in-Solar stellt Fortschritte in der organischen Photovoltaik vor Zum Anfang des "internationalen Jahres des Lichts und der lichtbasierten Technologien" der Organisation der […]
RH(E)IN-SOLAR closing event: Final report and outlook – January 19th, 2015
The partners of the INTERREG project RH(E)IN-SOLAR are pleased to invite you to the event RH(E)IN- SOLAR: A cross-border research network along the value chain of organic photovoltaics in the Upper-Rhine valley >> Final report […]
Third Rh(e)in-Solar Research & Industry Forum on November 19th, 2014
Organic Photovoltaics: from material design to device optimisation - 19th of November, 2014 in Karlsruhe The third Research & Industry Forum on Organic Photovoltaics of the Rh(e)in-Solar project will take place on November 19th 2014 […]


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Once again, our Sandplace community here in the Looe Valley in Cornwall felt it was time to foster some local community spirit. So we're throwing the doors open at Polraen Country House on Friday December 7th for a Looe Valley community fundraising night in aid of Help for Heroes. Having raised over £440 for the Help for Heroes charity last year at a similar event, this year we fancied some live entertainment so we'll be 'Crooning for Christmas' with all proceeds from the evening going to 'Help for Heroes'once again.
Why Crooning for Christmas? Well on a recent visit down to Truro for the Cornwall Food & Drink Festival, I discovered a very talented guy called Andy Marshall singing some Frank Sinatra favourites and it occurred to me that he was just the ticket for an event at Polraen Country House. Talking of tickets, at just £12 per head, the night includes a Gourmet Bangers 'n Mash meal, with live entertainment from 1940's Crooner Andy Marshall and a prize draw for Sunday Lunch for 2 at Polraen. Raffle tickets will also be available on the night. Tickets must be purchased in advance from Polraen (first come first served with only 40 available so please book soonest on 01503 263956).
And now to give credit where credit is due. The effort involved in organising this has been shared among a few Looe Valley residents including this brilliant poster by Adam Grundy. We don't necessarily want it to be a 'one off', so along with Derek, Terry and Caroline, we've agreed that if it's well supported by friends and neighbours, Martin and I are quite happy for our facilities at Polraen to be available for other such good community based causes. Sometimes just for fun and to socialise, perhaps on other occasions to discuss topics that affect our community and the Looe Valley.
We're open to ideas. Oh and if you can't come, please donate a raffle prize from the larder or wine rack or donate via our Help for Heroes Charity page. Hope to see you.


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MADRID (AFP) – Barcelona star Lionel Messi has been named as a suspect in a tax fraud probe and summoned to appear in court, a spokesman for the public prosecutor's office in Barcelona said Thursday.
The 25-year-old four-time World Player of the Year and his father Jorge Horacio are accused of defrauding the Spanish tax authorities of more than four million euros ($5 million, £3.4 million).
Spanish financial crimes prosecutors filed papers with a court in Catalonia, northeastern Spain, on June 12 accusing Messi and his father of cheating on income related to the use of his image from 2006-2009.
Messi and his father aimed to deceive the state by ceding Messi's image rights to companies based in tax havens such as Belize and Uruguay so they would pay no tax in Spain, according to the prosecutor's complaint.
"The judge today accepted this complaint and has summoned Messi and his father to appear in court on September 17. They are considered suspects," the spokesman for the public prosecutor's office in Barcelona, Jose Miguel Company, told AFP.
The striker and his father have fiercely denied any wrongdoing and Barcelona president Sandro Rosell has said the club has no doubt that the superstar was innocent of tax avoidance.
"We have always fulfilled all our tax obligations, following the advice of our tax consultants who will take care of clarifying this situation," Messi said in an English-language statement released on his Facebook account the day prosecutors filed their complaint.
The accusations of tax fraud are a huge blow to the prestige of Messi, who has long been seen as a more humble figure than most top-class footballers — in particular his fierce Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo.
The prosecutor's complaint also alleged Messi and his father drew up deals related to his image rights in Britain and Switzerland, ensuring that the income went straight to the tax havens without any tax being paid.
They acted with "total opaqueness" towards the Spanish authorities, it added.
The complaint lodged with the court in Gava, near Barcelona, accused them of defrauding the state of 1.06 million euros in 2007, 1.57 million euros in 2008, and 1.53 million euros in 2009.
The father was accused of being the brains behind the scheme, allegedly setting it up in 2005 before his son turned 18 on June 24 of that year.
The prosecutor said Messi later agreed with his father's tactics so that he would avoid any taxes on income from the use of his image rights during the period.
The income related to his image rights included contracts with FC Barcelona, Banco Sabadell, Danone, Adidas, Pepsi-Cola, Procter & Gamble and Kuwait Food Company.
Messi's net income from image rights amounted to 2.56 million euros in 2007, 3.82 million euros in 2008 and 3.80 million euros in 2009, the complaint said.
Messi's achievements on the field have made him one of the most marketable sportsmen in the world.
He was ranked 10th amongst Forbes' list of sports stars' incomes this month with an annual $21m from endorsements alone.


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Collection Summary
|1985 Neptune Plaza Concert Series collection, 1985
|Collection Number
|Inclusive Dates
|Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
|Extent (Manuscripts)
|8 folders
|Extent (Sound Recordings)
|11 sound tape reels : analog, 7 1/2 ips, double track, mono. and stereo. ; 10 in.
|Extent (Graphic Images)
|444 photographs : black and white, negatives
|Extent (Graphic Images)
|10 photographic prints : black and white ; various sizes
|Extent (Graphic Images)
|316 slides : color
|American Folklife Center
|English, Scottish Gaelic, Omaha, and Spanish
|Manuscript materials, sound recordings, and photographs documenting the performance of African American Piedmont blues music; music of the Andes; bluegrass music; Scottish harp music and Gaelic songs; Omaha Indian music and dance; Spanish flamenco music and dance, and African American gospel music recorded live outdoors on Neptune Plaza in front of the Thomas Jefferson Building, Library of Congress, at concerts from April through October 1985, sponsored by the American Folklife Center and the National Council for the Traditional Arts.
|Finding Aid Permalink
|Cite or bookmark this finding aid as: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/eadafc.af011012
|LCCN Permalink
|LC Online Catalog record for this collection: https://lccn.loc.gov/2004695155


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Welcome to Australia's Greatest Pie Shop
Parker Pies is a family owned business located in the heart of Victoria's oldest wine region, Rutherglen in North East Victoria. Our traditional Pies and Gourmet Pastries have won over 200 awards and we use only the freshest, locally sourced ingredients in everything we make.
Be seduced by our pies including the Jolly Jumbuck - tender lamb cooked in a rosemary and mint sauce or tiger king prawns cooked in a creamy coconut and coriander sauce, all wrapped in a crisp, golden pastry crust.
Resistance is useless really!


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Check out our Brabham BT62 photo gallery
with 12 HQ pics.
Last update in BT62 gallery was at Saturday, 05 May 2018 with 12 new photos.
Alfa Romeo announced about the imminent completion of the production of the Giulietta hatch.
The new generation Mitsubishi Pajero SUV will not receive a frame design, but its hybrid performance will appear
The organizers of the motor show in Paris said that the coronavirus epidemic would affect the car dealership
One of 5 copies of the Nissan Juke from the RML Group, which has a 700-horsepower engine from the GT-R, went on sale
The coronavirus pandemic caused the cancellation of the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS).
Beijing Hyundai has unveiled a slightly updated Tucson SUV for China
We select only big size brabham bt62 photos
for our photogallery.


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Manila's 10 Best Desserts, 2007: Part 1
6. Ube Cheesecake at The French Corner
If you've ever thought that the color purple is no good for food, this dessert will make you change your mind. For good. Made from the vividly-hued tuber that's anything but lowly, this cheesecake is its perfect partner. Out it comes with its halo of golden spun sugar being hailed in a bliss pool of pandan cream and strawberry slices. And there in the center it sits: ube cheesecake!
Its crust is surprisingly, fresh-from-the-box cornflakes, a most unlikely but willing partner. Conveying none of its characteristic crunch, it's been crushed to a smooth paste until it takes on almost the same texture as the custard it carries. Expressing surprise at the avant-garde use of this native crop, I marvel at its exquisite smoothness and coo over its delicate flavor. It's like eating crème brulee. A dessert that stands up to deep exploration in mind and on tongue, this dessert is an exceptional tour de force of legendary chef Billy King.
The French Corner
Commerce Avenue corner Filinvest Avenue
Westgate Center, Filinvest Corporate City
Alabang, Muntinlupa City
7. Trio of Frozen Brazos from Karen Young
I'm amazed at how the frozen brazo went from being an innovation on a classical dessert to one that's teetering on the brink of entering the mainstream. Correct me if I'm wrong but Dimpy Camara of San Lorenzo Village may have been the first home baker to offer this frozen delight to the public late last year. Other home bakers have followed suit and I've tried those but I've yet to try the original, which is Dimpy's.
Meantime, one of my favorite home bakers and friend, Karen Young, has come out with yet another twist on the frozen brazo: flavored variations in strawberry and green tea. Imaginative, yes? She also offers the original frozen brazo "" graham cracker crust, yema custard filling, mantecado ice cream, and swathes of meringue that she's whimsically dubbed "Manila Vanilla." Her Green Tea Frozen Brazo has its separate components steeped in green tea to infuse flavor and color thus, a green tea chiffon cake, green tea yema, green tea ice cream, and meringue. The green tea flavor rings through, its sharpness rounded out by the creaminess of the yema.
The Strawberry Frozen Brazo has a piquant strawberry taste that's a true-to-the-fruit flavor that perks me up quite nicely. With its profusion of color in brown, yellow, pink, red, and white, it's indeed a striking dessert. I have my doubts however, as to whether the chocolate cake bottom layer fights or flows with the strawberry, but you be the judge. A caveat: let frozen brazos defrost at room temperature for a few minutes to facilitate slicing. Lesser knives have been known to break and wrists strained while attempting to "saw" through.
Karen's Kitchen (KEY Specialty Foods)
428 Adalla St. Palm Village, Makati
8. Chocolate Fudge Cake of Gina Lopez
Every time I eat Gina's Chocolate Fudge Cake, I feel that all is right with the world. A plump and pleasing 8-inch affair, its thick and buttery batter bakes up into a cake with an open crumb that focuses solely on chocolate, its frosting even more so –waves of fudge stroked into almost flouncy curls, an unceasing reverie of butter, cocoa, and sugar stroked with vanilla. Such is its potency for pleasure. Gina makes phenomenal crinkles and carrot cake too, but her chocolate cake is one of those desserts where every bite is an affirmation of how good it is.
Paisley Pastry by Gina J. Lopez
9. Cookie Dough Cheesecake of Chelsea
I have a pressing attraction for cookie dough, raw or cooked. When I make chocolate chip cookies, a large part of the batter goes into my mouth, never even making it onto the baking sheet. Apparently, it runs in the family since Boo likes it too. And don't get me started on cookie dough ice cream, Ben & Jerry's or Sebastian's only, please.
My elation is unparalleled when I discover that Chelsea's cookie dough cheesecake is as good as it looks. In the past, desserts like these are an insult to both cheesecake and chocolate chip cookies, two stalwarts in the dessert pantheon, so I'm momentarily put-off by the concept. But Chelsea's take on this very 90's dessert is the way it's meant to be.
The custard itself is relatively pristine, its top liberally strewn with cookie dough that bake up into these mini chocolate chip cookies when done. The whole bounty rests on a cookie dough crust speckled with mini chocolate chips. Sweet, crunchy, creamy, smooth, there's enough going on here that make me feel like I'm getting two desserts in one, and that's never a bad thing.
Chelsea Market & Café
Bonifacio High Street, Serendra,
Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
909-7011 / 909-7012
10. Cheesecake of Jill Sandique
There can be no humbler name or more beautiful cheesecake than that of of Jill Sandique's. And I, a former full-time cheesecake maker know that to be the gospel truth.
Possessing a shadow of a crust "" almost an afterthought, really "" it's the perfect foil to the gently-baked custard. So soft is it that it almost quivers in its lusciousness, brought on by a mixture of whole eggs and egg yolks married with cream cheese and just enough sugar. Long, slow cooking "" most probably in a waterbath "" ensures a surface that is unblemished, unequalled, umarred. This cheesecake is, in a word, utopia.
Jill Sandique of Dèlize
33 Sunrise Drive, Cubao, Quezon City
721-7022 (ask for Lea, Mimi, or Vangie)
Allow a minimum of 2-3 days for your order(s).


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Now that the competition in every industry gets tougher and tougher, a lot of business owners today are using different innovative tools to gain an edge over their competitors. Digital advertising is one of the most exploited methods today because it offers a lot of benefits. However, you, as a business owner, should understand the benefits that you can get from digital signage companies before you start looking for one. Today, I will be showing you some of the benefits that you and your business can get from digital signage companies. Reading this article will give you an idea as to whether you should search for a company or simply install your digital solution on your own.
One of the most prominent advantages that you can get from digital signage companies is the fact that they will help you find the digital advertising package that suits your business needs and your budget. All you have to do is to let them know the things that you want to implement, and they will come up with a package that is perfect for your business and your budget. Finding a digital signage company will save you from the trouble of learning everything about digital displays, because they will be explaining everything to you. There are companies that will even give you several options to choose from, allowing you to have the one that is perfect for your business without burning a hole in your pocket.
Another benefit that you can get from a reputable digital signage company is the fact that they will be helping you install and manage your digital advertising. Although there are packages that can be installed and managed with ease, it will still be better if you have professionals who can help you whenever you are dealing with problems. They can also provide you with a program that will make it easier for you to manage and update your digital advertisement. This will help you save a lot of time, and will prevent you from having troubles in the future.
These are some of the benefits that you can get from digital signage solutions. So, if you are planning to join the bandwagon and start using the most advanced advertising solution today, you should first look for a company that will help you with your needs. Search the Internet and start looking for a company that will help you find the best digital advertising solution for your business.


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Posts Tagged 'books'
New in Paperback for April
When you head out to the bookstore this month, keep your eye out for these new paperback titles and you won't be disappointed.
The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison
Beginning with her experience as a medical actor who was paid to act out symptoms for medical students to diagnose, Leslie Jamison's visceral and revealing essays ask essential questions about our basic understanding of others: How should we care about each other? How can we feel another's pain, especially when pain can be assumed, distorted, or performed? Is empathy a tool by which to test or even grade each other? By confronting pain—real and imagined, her own and others'—Jamison uncovers a personal and cultural urgency to feel. She draws from her own experiences of illness and bodily injury to engage in an exploration that extends far beyond her life, spanning wide-ranging territory—from poverty tourism to phantom diseases, street violence to reality television, illness to incarceration—in its search for a kind of sight shaped by humility and grace.
Truth's Ragged Edge: The Rise of the American Novel by Philip Gura
From the acclaimed cultural historian Philip F. Gura comes Truth's Ragged Edge, a comprehensive and original history of the American novel's first century. Grounded in Gura's extensive consideration of the diverse range of important early novels, not just those that remain widely read today, this book recovers many long-neglected but influential writers—such as the escaped slave Harriet Jacobs, the free black Philadelphian Frank J. Webb, and the irrepressible John Neal—to paint a complete and authoritative portrait of the era. Gura also gives us the key to understanding what sets the early novel apart, arguing that it is distinguished by its roots in "the fundamental religiosity of American life." Our nation's pioneering novelists, it turns out, wrote less in the service of art than of morality.
Visitation Street by Ivy Pochoda
Summer in Red Hook, Brooklyn, an isolated blue-collar neighborhood where hipster gourmet supermarkets push against tired housing projects. Bored and listless, fifteen-year-old June and Val take a pink plastic raft out onto the bay.
But on the water, in the humid night, the girls disappear. Only Val will survive, washed ashore, bruised and unconscious, in the weeds. The shocking event will echo through a group of unforgettable characters, including Fadi, an ambitious Lebanese bodega owner; Cree, a lost teenager who unwittingly makes himself the cops' chief suspect; Jonathan, Julliard drop-out, barfly, and struggling high school teacher; and Val, the grieving girl who must contend with the shadow of her missing friend and a truth she holds deep inside.
Woke Up Lonely by Fiona Maazel
Fiona Maazel's Woke Up Lonely follows a cult leader, his ex-wife, and the four people he takes hostage. It's about loneliness in America, North Korea, espionage, a city underneath Cincinnati, cloud seeding, and eavesdropping. It's also a big, sweeping love story.
Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success by Adam Grant
For generations, we have focused on the individual drivers of success: passion, hard work, talent, and luck. But in today's dramatically reconfigured world, success is increasingly dependent on how we interact with others. InGive and Take, Adam Grant, an award-winning researcher and Wharon's highest-rated professor, examines the surprising forces that shape why some people rise to the top of the success ladder while others sink to the bottom. Praised by social scientists, business theorists, and corporate leaders, Give and Take opens up an approach to work, interactions, and productivity that is nothing short of revolutionary.
Harley Loco: A Memoir of Hard Living, Hair, and Post-Punk, from the Middle East to the Lower East Side by Rayya Elias
When Rayya Elias was seven, her family fled their native Syria to settle in Detroit. Bullied in school and rebelling against her traditional home-life, Rayya turned her sights to fashion and music. She became a hairdresser and started a band that played the club scene in the early 1980s before she moved to New York at age twenty-three to further her musical career. She lived on the Lower East Side at the height of the punk movement and had passionate affairs with both sexes, but her casual drug use turned to addiction and Rayya was often homeless—between her visits to jail. Yet, her passion for life always saved her.
My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf
The best books elicit emotions from its readers. Truly great books give rise to conflicted feelings. My Friend Dahmer, the graphic novel by Derf Backderf, falls firmly within that second category.
Backderf grew up in Richfield, Ohio, attending Eastview Junior High and Revere High School in the 70s, which would all seem innocuous enough had it not been for a certain classmate, convicted serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.
Dahmer went largely unnoticed — even when he was drinking heavily throughout the school, reeking of alcohol — but Backderf and his group befriended the odd character, laughing at his impressions of a physically challenged interior decorator and egging him on for public disturbances. Throughout this time, Backderf drew sketches of Dahmer, recording his antics, both humorous and disturbing — all of which aided his memory when recalling details for the book.
From time to time the group was privy to the darker side of Dahmer's antisocial behavior — his taxidermy experiments with roadkill (he liked to dissolve already dead animals in acid) and his aforementioned drinking problem (pounding a six pack in the back of a car in under 10 minutes). Once, while picking him up at home, they met his mentally ill mother (who ultimately left Dahmer alone in his childhood home when his life was in the most danger of going off the rails).
Most people will remember, if not the details, the horror they felt when they learned of Dahmer's arrest — a young serial killer who not only murdered his victims but ate them as well. It was the first time I'd heard of an actual cannibal living among us — not just some desperate exploratory group in a history book.
The copy of My Friend Dahmer that we see on shelves today grew out of Backderf's self-published comic, first drawn and written after Dahmer's death in 1994. With his R. Crumb-like stylings, detailed and at times grotesque, Backderf went back and fleshed out his story using not only his memory and interviews with former classmates, but also interviews Dahmer conducted after his arrest, legal documents, news accounts, and Dahmer's father's memoir; all of which is well documented in the back of the book.
Backderf makes it very clear that he loses all sympathy for Dahmer as soon as he kills his first human but, at the same time, he does a great job of showing what a tragedy this was, not just for Dahmer's victims but for Dahmer as well. At times in the book it seems as if Dahmer knew he was deeply troubled and had few resources to cope with his urges. The reader, now having seen the teenage life of a future serial killer, is left wondering, like Backderf, if all of this could have turned out differently. Had the school acknowledged his alcoholism, had his parents not been dysfunctional, had his taxidermy experiments been brought to light, would Dahmer's murderous tendencies have manifested or could they have been controlled? This is where the inner conflict kicks into overdrive.
My Friend Dahmer is an engrossing read, one that lingers in your bones, and will make you think twice about talking to strangers.
Buy My Friend Dahmer from your local bookstore
Listen to Derf on Boing Boing's Gweek podcast
Read an interview with Backderf on Comics Reporter
Visit Derf's website
New in Paperback for March
Keep your eye out for these paperbacks coming out this month.
Made to Break by D. Foy
Two days before New Years, a pack of five friends–three men and two women–head to a remote cabin near Lake Tahoe to celebrate the holidays. They've been buddies forever, banded together by scrapes and squalor, their relationships defined by these wild times.
After a car accident leaves one friend sick and dying, and severe weather traps them at the cabin, there is nowhere to go, forcing them to finally and ultimately take stock and confront their past transgressions, considering what they mean to one another and to themselves.
With some of the most luminous and purple prose flexed in recent memory, D. Foy is an incendiary new voice and "Made to Break," a grand, episodic debut, redolent of the stark conscience of Denis Johnson and the spellbinding vision of Roberto Bolano.
Waiting for the Barbarians: Essays from the Classics to Pop Culture by Daniel Mendelsohn
Over the past decade and a half, Daniel Mendelsohn's reviews for The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, and The New York Times Book Review have earned him a reputation as "one of the greatest critics of our time" (Poets & Writers). In Waiting for the Barbarians, he brings together twenty-four of his recent essays—each one glinting with "verve and sparkle," "acumen and passion"—on a wide range of subjects, from Avatar to the poems of Arthur Rimbaud, from our inexhaustible fascination with the Titanic to Susan Sontag's Journals. Trained as a classicist, author of two internationally best-selling memoirs, Mendelsohn moves easily from penetrating considerations of the ways in which the classics continue to make themselves felt in contemporary life and letters (Greek myth in the Spider-Man musical, Anne Carson's translations of Sappho) to trenchant takes on pop spectacles—none more explosively controversial than his dissection of Mad Men.
The Story of My Purity by By Francesco Pacifico; translated by Stephen Twilley
Thirty years old, growing flabby in a sexless marriage, Piero Rosini has decided to dedicate his life to Jesus. He's renounced the novels and American music that were filling his head with bullshit; he's moved out of his fancy bourgeois neighborhood, which was keeping him from finding spiritual purity and the Lord's truth. Now that he and his wife have settled into an unfinished housing development on the far outskirts of Rome, he'll be able to really concentrate on his job at an ultraconservative Catholic publishing house, editing books that highlight the decadence and degradation of modern society, including one claiming that Pope John Paul II was secretly Jewish. But Piero is suffocating. He worries that The Jewish Pope might be taking things too far. He can't get his beautiful sister-in-law out of his head. Temptations are breaking down his religious resolve. He decides to flee to Paris, which turns out not to be the best way of guarding his purity.
With a charismatic narrator as familiar with the finer points of Christian theology as with the floor layout of IKEA and the schedules of European budget airlines, Francesco Pacifico's exuberant novel brings us Europe old and new and the inner workings of a conflicted but always compelling mind. The Story of My Purity is fiction with great humor, intelligence, neuroticism, and vision, from a young writer at the beginning of a tremendous career.
Present Shock by Douglas Rushkoff
People spent the twentieth century obsessed with the future. We created technologies that would help connect us faster, gather news, map the planet, and compile knowledge. We strove for an instantaneous network where time and space could be compressed.
Well, the future's arrived. We live in a continuous now enabled by Twitter, email, and a so-called real-time technological shift. Yet this "now" is an elusive goal that we can never quite reach. And the dissonance between our digital selves and our analog bodies has thrown us into a new state of anxiety: present shock.
Douglas Rushkoff weaves together seemingly disparate events and trends into a rich, nuanced portrait of how life in the eternal present has affected our biology, behavior, politics, and culture.
The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards by Kristopher Jansma
As early as he can remember, the narrator of this remarkable novel has wanted to become a writer. From the jazz clubs of Manhattan to the villages of Sri Lanka, Kristopher Jansma's hopelessly unreliable—yet hopelessly earnest—narrator will be haunted by the success of his greatest friend and literary rival, the brilliant Julian McGann, and endlessly enamored with Evelyn, the green-eyed girl who got away. A profound exploration of the nature of truth and storytelling, this delightful picaresque tale heralds Jansma as a bold, new American voice.
Drunk Tank Pink: And Other Unexpected Forces That Shape How We Think, Feel, and Behave by Adam Alter
Most of us go through life believing that we are in control of the choices we make—that we think and behave almost independently from the world around us. But as Drunk Tank Pink illustrates, the truth is our environment shapes our thoughts and actions in myriad ways without our permission or even our knowledge. Armed with surprising data and endlessly fascinating examples, Adam Alter addresses the subtle but substantial ways in which outside forces influence us—such as color's influence on mood, our bias in favor of names with which we identify, and how sunny days can induce optimism as well as aggression. Drunk Tank Pink proves that the truth behind our feelings and actions goes much deeper than the choices we take for granted every day.
Sailor Twain by Mark Siegel
One hundred years ago. On the foggy Hudson River, a riverboat captain rescues an injured mermaid from the waters of the busiest port in the United States. A wildly popular—and notoriously reclusive—author makes a public debut. A French nobleman seeks a remedy for a curse. As three lives twine together and race to an unexpected collision, the mystery of the Mermaid of the Hudson deepens. A mysterious and beguiling love story with elements of Poe, Twain, Hemingway, and Greek mythology, drawn in moody black-and-white charcoal, this new paperback edition of the New York Times Best-Selling graphic novel by author/illustrator Mark Siegel is a study in romance, atmosphere, and suspense. Don't miss Sailor Twain.
Week in the World: New music, new love, British TV, and more
Here's a roundup of what's been occupying my time these past few weeks.
St. Vincent's new album, eponymously named St. Vincent, is out this week. If you haven't heard her music yet, think Bjork and Tori Amos and you're pretty close. Studio 360 spoke with her and The Guardian is streaming the new album.
New York magazine spoke with television producer Lorne Michaels about Saturday Night Live, the comedians he's launched, and the various shows that have come out of his legendary late night program.
NY Mag: Have you ever felt restricted by the standards of broadcast TV?
LM: No. I believe that there's no creativity without boundaries. If you write a sonnet, it's got to be fourteen lines. If you write one that's nine lines, it's not a sonnet. So we have to be clever. We're in a medium that goes into people's homes, and, very often now, people watch our show with their kids.
Marc Maron is now dating Moon Zappa, and appears to be very happy. He tells the story of how they got together in the monologue of this episode. It's a great reason to go back and listen to his interview with Moon from October 2013.
Speaking of podcasts, I can't believe it took me until the 123rd episode to start listening to Throwing Shade, an irreverent comedy show hosted by Erin Gibson and Bryan Safi. Together they take on the pop culture topics of the day with blatant disregard for political correctness. They are hilariously brilliant — and brilliantly hilarious. If you want to break out of the winter doldrums, put this on your iPod.
If you've finished watching House of Cards and are waiting for the second season of Orange is the New Black to start this summer, you should consider watching Shameless, a British TV show about a family (and their surrounding neighbors) who live in a public housing community. There are no connecting themes to either of the Netflix shows, except that all seasons are streaming and it's awesome. The first season features James McAvoy if you need some incentive.
I just plowed through Will Self's 2006 collection of essays, Junk Mail. Spanning much of the 90s, these nonfiction works are taken from places such as the Evening Standard, the Observer, the Independent, Esquire, GQ and the like. The opening piece, "New Crack City," describes a crack den Self once knew and the second, "On Junky," is an introduction to William S. Burroughs' popular work of semi-autobiographical fiction. But it's not all drugs in this one. Self also writes about his stay at a hotel made of ice, there's a profile of Bret Easton Ellis, a thought piece on Morrissey, and interviews with artist Damien Hirst and author J.G. Ballard.
The other week, The New York Review of Books ran the short story To Kill a Child by Swedish writer Stig Dagerman. It's eery and compelling and might just bring back those winter blues so have Throwing Shade handy after reading.
Geek Dating with Eric Smith
When one hears the words "geek" and "dating" in a single sentence images of awkward guys wearing taped glasses, too-short pants, and pocket protectors come to mind. Most likely they're inching towards a girl who's out of their league and scurrying off just as she's about to notice.
While it's true that many geeks, whether self-professed or labeled by others, might need a bit more help than the average person when it comes to socializing, Eric Smith is optimistic. Smith, a geek of the self-professed sort, believes that geeks are well-prepared for dating and, to prove it, has written a guide specifically for this vibrant and varied subculture.
In The Geek's Guide to Dating, Smith harnesses the innate passion that connects all geeks, whether they're spending their paycheck at the record store, on video games, or the latest epic fantasy series.
For the release of his book, Eric and I chatted about the definition of "geek," why they're well-suited for romantic involvement, and gay geek culture.
Contextual Life: This is a basic question but I feel like you might have an interesting answer, what made you write The Geek's Guide to Dating?
Eric Smith: Actually, the book idea came from Quirk's publisher, Jason Rekulak. He's one smart guy that loves pulling ideas out of thin air.
I'd been writing essays about the intersection of relationships and my geek life (a few of which you can see on the Bygone Bureau), as well as rambling about local geek culture on my blog here in Philadelphia, Geekadelphia. He encouraged me to take my love of all-that-is-geek and mash it together with a dating book, one that we'd potentially illustrate with 8-bit artwork.
It was a natural blending of interests for me, and incredibly fun to write.
CL: You're the Social Media and Marketing Manager for Quirk. What did it feel like to write a book for your own company?
ES: It was interesting! I mean, how many authors get to see the day to day creation of their book? I got to see incredibly early artwork, the "dummies" (blank copies of the book) floating around the office, specifics about the print run, publicity updates right from my colleagues who sit next to me; all that good stuff. I even put my own book on the company's website!
There were also some challenges though. I promote all our titles via our various social media accounts. On the blog, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, you name it. I had to make sure I was balancing out promoting my book with everyone elses! It sounds silly, but it's something I've been keeping very aware of. I adore all our authors, and I didn't want them thinking I forgot about them.
CL: Another basic question, say we just met at a social gathering and I asked you to define "geek," how would you answer?
ES: After I recovered from the shock that you didn't know, possibly after sitting down and taking a deep breath, I'd explain that a geek is someone who is so invested in a hobby or a passion, that it becomes a part of their everyday life.
CL: In your book you differentiate between different types of geeks, which one are you?
ES: Me? I'm a video game geek and (much like yourself) a book geek. I'm the sort of guy who gets a kick out of midnight releases, takes days off to play new games, and plans evenings around gaming with friends on Xbox Live. I also love surrounding myself with books, from comics to classic literature. I spend a lot of time writing about both of those passions and love doing so.
CL: I'm so far out of the video game loop it's not even funny. What kinds of games do you play and why?
ES: You know, it's never too late to start a hobby that's cripplingly addictive, Gab.
I really just love a game with a great story. Perhaps that's my book geek shining through. Games that have epic narratives really get me excited to sit down and experience a new world. Some recent favorites include the Mass Effect series, Bioshock series (Infinite was incredible), and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. I still haven't stopped making "I took an arrow in the knee" jokes.
CL: We're kids of the 80s so I have to ask, what was your favorite Atari game?
ES: The Halo series holds a special place in my heart. I'll admit it, I've even read the Halo novels. I know, I know.
CL: You seem to believe geeks have an extraordinary amount of potential for dating. This is counterintuitive. What made you come to this conclusion?
ES: I've always felt like geeks are social creatures at heart. We thrive in communities where people share our interests.
I mean, just look at an event like San Diego Comic Con, DragonCon, or [Insert City, Video Game, or Genre] Con. We descend on those conventions en masse, eager to meet our peers and talk to the people who produce the things we love.
You can't play Magic the Gathering or D&D without a bunch of friends. There's no going raiding in World of Warcraft by yourself. I mean, I'm sure you could find a way. It's just more fun with others.
CL: Speaking of Cons, what's one of the best experiences you've had at one?
ES: Probably two years ago, when I went to Philadelphia Comic Con in my Master Chief suit for the first time. I'd never tried walking a convention floor in a costume before, and I was actually a little nervous that my armor wasn't going to size up to the rest of the outfits there. My best friend Tim (who runs Geekadelphia with me), showed up in his Stormtrooper armor, and we made quite the pair, wandering the con together.
People stopped me every few feet to take a photo and it took me all afternoon to make it from one side of the convention to the other … and I loved it. We made so many people smile that day. Such a great, great feeling.
Also, the 501st Legion invited me to change with them, which was great. I was getting suited up next to a Boba Fett and a Darth Vader. No big deal.
CL: You acknowledge that The Geek's Guide to Dating is written from the male perspective and that you use the male pronoun throughout; however, you say that your "sweeping generalizations" apply to both sexes. Do you find that geek guys and geek girls adhere less to gender stereotypes?
ES: That's an interesting question, and one that's always a hot one in the geek community. Stereotypes and what makes a geek a geek. What constitutes a geek girl? A geek guy? I think, unfortunately for us, there are tons of stereotypes slapped onto those titles. Real geek girls should do this, real geek guys should do that … personally, I don't think we adhere to them at all, but some people assume that we do, or worse, should.
Sidenote, the amazing writers over at The Mary Sue dissect this issue a lot, and way better than I can. This tag rounds up all their outstanding pieces.
CL: How does this stereotyping affect geek dating?
Then again, if you're the kind of person passing those kind of judgements, I really don't want you talking to or dating any of my awesome geek friends in the first place.ES: The way all things do when you make assumptions based on no facts. Negatively. You're judging a girl or a guy before you get to know either of them? Well, you might be missing out on someone totally amazing.
CL: Agreed! So, big news, you recently got engaged. Meeting your fiance seems to coincide with the writing of your book. This leads me to wonder what your research was like.
ES: Hah! Yes, it was pretty serendipitous! We met a few months before I started working on the book, leading her to ask me if there will be a Geek's Guide to Engagements and Weddings.
My fiancee was actually a big fan of reading dating books, so, while I was doing research, she let me borrow a few of her old books. It helped a lot with some of the sections in the book. I also let her read bits and pieces. Though as a very non-geek girl, she had plenty of questions. I didn't mind though. It actually gave me a chance to teach her more about all the stuff I care about.
So I guess, in a weird way, my book helped me with dating as I was writing it.
CL: That's beyond adorable. By now people can tell that you are a heterosexual guy. Your book focuses on heterosexual relationships but I'm wondering if you have any thoughts on gay geek culture.
ES: Just that they have an amazing geek network! Geeks Out! does outstanding work, and now there's the Gaymer X video game convention. All geeks rally together to support their passions, so it's really no different.
And their gay geek icons are pretty damn incredible. Ian McKellen? Neil Patrick Harris? Sean Maher? So awesome.
CL: Huge thanks for taking the time to talk about your new book. I hope every geek reads it!
ES: Anytime! Thanks for having me! And hey, if you'd like to watch some cute geeky couples talking about their relationships, there's an adorable webseries tie in to the book. You can catch them on the Quirk blog and on Geekosystem every Tuesday! Here's a link to the recent videos.
New in Paperback for February
Here are just a few paperbacks coming out this month that have caught my eye.
Artful by Ali Smith
Artful is a celebration of literature's worth in and to the world—it is about the things art can do, the things art is made of, and the quicksilver nature of all artfulness. A magical hybrid that refuses to be tied down to either fiction or the essay form, Artful is narrated by a character who is haunted—literally—by a former lover, the writer of a series of lectures about art and literature. Ali Smith's heady powers as a novelist and short story writer harmonize with her keen perceptions as a reader and critic to form a living thing that reminds us that life and art are never separate.
Me, Myself, and Why: Searching for the Science of Self by Jennifer Ouellette
As diverse as people appear to be, all of our genes and brains are nearly identical. In Me, Myself, and Why, Jennifer Ouellette dives into the miniscule ranges of variation to understand just what sets us apart. She draws on cutting-edge research in genetics, neuroscience, and psychology—enlivened as always with her signature sense of humor—to explore the mysteries of human identity and behavior. Readers follow her own surprising journey of self-discovery as she has her genome sequenced, her brain mapped, her personality typed, and even samples a popular hallucinogen. Bringing together everything from Mendel's famous pea plant experiments and mutations in The X-Men to our taste for cilantro and our relationships with virtual avatars, Ouellette takes us on an endlessly thrilling and illuminating trip into the science of ourselves.
The Story of Ain't: America, Its Language, and the Most Controversial Dictionary Ever Published by David Skinner
Created by the most respected American publisher of dictionaries and supervised by editor Philip Gove, Webster's Third broke with tradition, adding thousands of new words and eliminating "artificial notions of correctness," basing proper usage on how language was actually spoken. The dictionary's revolutionary style sparked what David Foster Wallace called "the Fort Sumter of the Usage Wars." Critics bayed at the dictionary's permissive handling of ain't. Literary intellectuals such as Dwight Macdonald believed the abandonment of the old standard represented the unraveling of civilization.
Entertaining and erudite, The Story of Ain't describes a great societal metamorphosis, tracing the fallout of the world wars, the rise of an educated middle class, and the emergence of America as the undisputed leader of the free world, and illuminating how those forces shaped our language. Never before or since has a dictionary so embodied the cultural transformation of the United States.
What's Important is Feeling by Adam Wilson
Bankers prowl Brooklyn bars on the eve of the stock market crash. A debate over Young Elvis versus Vegas Elvis turns existential. Detoxing junkies use a live lobster to spice up their love life. Students on summer break struggle to escape the orbit of a seemingly utopic communal house.
And in the title story, selected for The Best American Short Stories, two film school buddies working on a doomed project are left sizing up their own talent, hoping to come out on top–but fearing they won't.
In What's Important Is Feeling, Adam Wilson follows the through-line of contemporary coming-of-age from the ravings of teenage lust to the staggering loneliness of proto-adulthood. He navigates the tough terrain of American life with a delicate balance of comedy and compassion, lyricism and unsparing straightforwardness. Wilson's characters wander through a purgatory of yearning, hope, and grief. No one emerges unscathed.
Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi
Electric, exhilarating, and beautifully crafted, Ghana Must Go introduces the world to Taiye Selasi, a novelist of extraordinary talent. In a sweeping narrative that takes readers from Accra to Lagos to London to New York, it is at once a portrait of a modern family and an exploration of the importance of where we come from to who we are.
A renowned surgeon and failed husband, Kweku Sai dies suddenly at dawn outside his home in suburban Accra. The news of his death sends a ripple around the world, bringing together the family he abandoned years before. Moving with great elegance through time and place, Ghana Must Go charts their circuitous journey to one another and, along the way, teaches us that the truths we speak can heal the wounds we hide.
Seeing Power: Art and Activism in the Age of Cultural Production by Nato Thompson
A fog of information and images has flooded the world: from advertising, television, radio, and film to the information glut produced by the new economy. With the rise of social networking, even our contemporaries, peers, and friends are all suddenly selling us the ultimate product: themselves.
Here curator and critic Nato Thompson interrogates the implications of these developments for those dedicated to socially engaged art and activism. How can anyone find a voice and make change when the world is flooded with images and information? And what is one to make of the endless machine of consumer capitalism, which has appropriated much from the history of art and, in recent years, the methods of grassroots political organizing and social networking?
Highlighting the work of some of the most innovative and interesting artists and activists working today, Thompson reads and praises sites and institutions that empower their communities to see power and re-imagine it. From cooperative housing to anarchist infoshops to alternative art venues, Thompson shows that many of today's most innovative spaces operate as sites of dramatic personal transformation.
The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide; Eric Selland (translator)
A bestseller in France and winner of Japan s Kiyama Shohei Literary Award, The Guest Cat, by the acclaimed poet Takashi Hiraide, is a subtly moving and exceptionally beautiful novel about the transient nature of life and idiosyncratic but deeply felt ways of living. A couple in their thirties live in a small rented cottage in a quiet part of Tokyo; they work at home, freelance copy-editing; they no longer have very much to say to one another. But one day a cat invites itself into their small kitchen. It leaves, but the next day comes again, and then again and again. Soon they are buying treats for the cat and enjoying talks about the animal and all its little ways. Life suddenly seems to have more promise for the husband and wife the days have more light and color. The novel brims with new small joys and many moments of staggering poetic beauty, but then something happens
Europe in Sepia by Dubravka Ugresic; David Williams (translator)
Hurtling between Weltschmerz and wit, drollness and diatribe, entropy and enchantment, it's the juxtaposition at the heart of Dubravka Ugresic's writings that saw Ruth Franklin dub her "the fantasy cultural studies professor you never had." In Europe in Sepia, Ugresic, ever the flâneur, wanders from the Midwest to Zuccotti Park, the Irish Aran Islands to Jerusalem's Mea Shearim, from the tristesse of Dutch housing estates to the riots of south London, charting everything from the listlessness of Central Europe to the ennui of the Low Countries. One finger on the pulse of an exhausted Europe, another in the wounds of postindustrial America, Ugresic trawls the fallout of political failure and the detritus of popular culture, mining each for revelation.
Infused with compassion and melancholic doubt, Europe in Sepia centers on the disappearance of the future, the anxiety that no new utopian visions have emerged from the ruins of communism; that ours is a time of irreducible nostalgia, our surrender to pastism complete. Punctuated by the levity of Ugresic's raucous instinct for the absurd, despair has seldom been so beguiling.
Glyph by Percival Everett
Baby Ralph has ways to pass the time in his crib—but they don't include staring at a mobile. Aided by his mother, he reads voraciously: "All of Swift, all of Sterne, Invisible Man, Baldwin, Joyce, Balzac, Auden, Roethke," along with a generous helping of philosophy, semiotics, and trashy thrillers. He's also fond of writing poems and stories (in crayon). But Ralph has limits. He's mute by choice and can't drive, so in his own estimation he's not a genius. Unfortunately for him, everyone else disagrees. His psychiatrist kidnaps him for testing, and once his brilliance is quantified (IQ: 475), a Pentagon officer also abducts him. Diabolically funny and lacerating in its critique of poststructuralism, Glyph has the feverish plot of a thriller and the philosophical depth of a text by Roland Barthes.
On Loving Women by Diane Obomsawin; Helge Dascher (translator)
On Loving Women is a new collection of stories about coming out, first love, and sexual identity by the animator Diane Obomsawin. With this work, Obomsawin brings her gaze to bear on subjects closer to home—her friends' and lovers' personal accounts of realizing they're gay or first finding love with another woman. Each story is a master class in reaching the emotional truth of a situation with the simplest means possible. Her stripped-down pages use the bare minimum of linework to expressively reveal heartbreak, joy, irritation, and fear.
On Loving Women focuses primarily on adolescence—crushes on high school teachers, awkwardness on first dates—but also addresses much deeper-seated difficulties of being out: fears of rejection and of not being who others want one to be. Within these pages, Obomsawin has forged a poignant, powerful narrative that speaks to the difficulties of coming out and the joys of being loved.
Her first English-language work, Kaspar—a retelling of the life of Kaspar Hauser, the mysterious German youth who was raised in isolation and murdered just a few years after emerging from his imprisonment—was critically lauded for its simple but expressive storytelling, and for the way it portrayed traumatic material compassionately but without self-indulgence. Preview.
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; all the members of the second expedition committed suicide; the third expedition died in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another; the members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within months of their return, all had died of aggressive cancer.
This is the twelfth expedition.
Their group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain and collect specimens; to record all their observations, scientific and otherwise, of their surroundings and of one another; and, above all, to avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.
They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life forms that surpass understanding—but it's the surprises that came across the border with them, and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another, that change everything.
Excerpt: Everything Happens as It Does by Albena Stambolova
In her debut novel Everything Happens as It Does, Bulgarian writer Albena Stambolova tells the story of seven characters, their lives weaved together through an experimental structuring of events and relationships. Here is a brief excerpt, taken from the opening chapter.
1. Little Boys and Their Parents
In the beginning, Boris was unable to think about the surrounding world. Things just happened to him, and he had no way of avoiding them.
His parents, for example, meek as they were, looked like a grandpa and grandma rather than a mother and father, and that always unsettled him. His sister was eighteen years older than him, and people mistook her for his mother.
Later, as he grew older, he devised a way to escape. He would try to lose himself in uninhabited worlds, where it was hard to establish relationships of the family kind.
It was with the bees that he first managed to draw the boundaries of something he could call his own.
Before he enrolled in the English Language School in Plovdiv, he had a lot of time on his hands and nothing to do. He made it his purpose simply to pass the time. Afterward the opposite happened: he learned to stretch time to fit whatever work he was doing. And to stay in his room, while his sister's family, although he was supposed to be living with them, carried on a life of its own.
When he started to wear glasses, the painful awkwardness of his childish face shifted into a look of seriousness. The glasses somehow set everyone at ease, as if things had finally slipped into place. Wearing glasses had the effect of calming the vague fears the family harbored about Boris. Not that they now knew him better than before. But an introverted boy with glasses was less worrisome than an introverted boy without glasses.
Boris could feel the change in people's perception of him and immediately saw its advantages. Later, when he grew a beard, he could see how, just as the glasses before, the beard replaced whatever it was in him that provoked fear in others. One thing substituted for another. And behind it all stood the child named Boris.
He never asked himself how others did it. Getting to an inviolable place of his own was all that mattered, and he could always tell when he was there.
He learned to do things no one paid attention to. Or to do things in such a way that no one paid attention to him. For instance, he was willing to eat something he couldn't stand, rather than give himself away and make his dislike known to others. He realized that his mother felt anxiety and, although he could not understand why, he felt he knew enough already.
Excerpted from Everything Happens as It Does by Albena Stambolova, published by Open Letter. ©2002 Albena Stambolova. Translation ©2012 Olga Nikolova
Read more about Everything Happens as It Does
Find Everything Happens as It Does at your local bookstore


text: Thursday, February 28, 2013 APTA Special Communication: Sequestration and Time-sensitive PT Issues Look for a special e-mail today from APTA that includes important information about sequestration and other time-sensitive issues that have a significant impact on physical therapists (PTs). Included in the e-mail is a new video featuring APTA President Paul A. Rockar Jr, PT, DPT, MS, outlining 2013 policy implementation dates that PTs need to know and how they can support APTA's advocacy efforts. For more information, go to APTA's recently updated 2013 Medicare Changes webpage, which includes the video, a new graphic and Heard on the Hill podcast, and other resources to help members comply with the latest policy requirements.


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The sight of Liam Neeson in the trailer for "The Grey," taping mini liquor bottles to his fist so he could punch a wolf had folks giggling for months, and then they saw the movie, and the raves started rolling in. Suddenly, director Joe Carnahan had the #1 movie in the country.
And on the heels of such an unlikely success, Carnahan has landed the job of helming a remake of the 1974 vigilante classic, "Death Wish," reported The LA Times.
U.S. & World
The original "Death Wish" starred Charles Bronson as a New Yorker whose wife and daughter are the victims of a savage rape at the hands of three thugs (one of them played by Jeff Goldblum) that leaves the leaves the daughter in a coma and kills the mother. Bronson's character is so traumatized that the one-time conscientious objector learns to use a gun and goes on a killing spree, dropping crooks across the city with impunity.
Despite many critics dismissing it as immoral, the film took in a then impressive $22 million (on a budget of only $3 million), making Bronson an international icon and inspiring four sequels.
As great--in its of-the-era way--as "Death Wish" is, they'll need to massage it quite a bit to make it palatable to today's audiences. There were a lot of great things happening in New York City in the '70s, but the city was also a smouldering sinkhole ravaged by murders (five times today's rate), rioting and arson, and Times Square teemed with hookers and junkies (as opposed to Eurotrash).
Just a decade after the release of "Death Wish," much of the country was outraged by Bernie Goetz shooting four kids who were trying to mug him--how are pumped will audiences get for a guy hunting muggers? Then again, if Carnahan were to cast Liam Neeson in the lead and release the film in January, there's a very good chance he could be #1 at the box office.


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Lil' Kitten Shopping Cart Game
This app requires students be able to read on their own to some extent. Student must help Lil- Kitten choose items from a shopping list that Mama Cat gives to Lil' Kitten. Of course there is a budget and Lil' Kitten's goal is to stay as far below the budget as possible in order to have the most possible money left over. With saved money the Lil' Kitten then gets to choose a toy from the toy store.
This app could be made into a center, as the game is set up already for good money practice. This could extend into using it to write their own story problems for others to solve using scenarios in the game.
Here is a youtube demo of the game:
Notice that there are more than one brand and price for the items on the list! This requires the students to do some thinking and looking before choosing what to put in their cart. This could extend into upper elementary and middle school levels by sparking a discussion on brands, pricing, and finding the best deals in stores!


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Plum cake with crumblesSunday, September 6th, 2009
Finally plum season! Unfortunately my two plum bushes that I planted last autumn didn't even flower this year but luckily for me there's plenty of plums in the store. And yes, it's bushes that I have and not trees. I don't know what flew into me when buying them since it's practically like serving a buffet to our local roe deers. It's the perfect eating height for them and they found the bushes already the day after planting and ate half of the leaves so now the bushes are behind net. Let's hope that they will flower and give some fruit next year instead. But back to this lovely plum cake that tastes like autumn thanks to the plums and spices. There's something extravagant with a cake with additional crunchy crumbles on top. It also reminds me of my childhood as my mother often made cakes based on yeast with crumbles on top.
Plum cake with crumbles
100 gram butter, room temperatured
200 ml caster sugar (of which half is vanilla infused)
2 eggs
100 ml milk
180 gram flour
1 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp ground cardamon
1 tsp ground cinnamon
8-10 plums, cut into wedges
50 gram demerara sugar
100 gram flour
50 gram butter
Place the sugar, butter and flour in a bowl. With the tips of your fingers rub the ingredients together until you have a crumbly mixture.
In a bowl beat butter and sugar with an electric beater until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time while beating. Add milk. Combine the flour, cardamon and baking powder in a separate bowl and then fold into the egg/butter/sugar/milk bowl. Divide the batter into a buttered spring form (mine was 20 cm but larger is fine, then the cake will be thinner and therefore will be baked quicker). Stick the plum wedges into the cake. Divide the crumble on top and bake in 175 degrees C (convection oven) for 30-40 minutes, until a tooth pick comes out clean.
More plum recipes:
Plum tray bake with cheesecake ripple
Knedle ze śliwkami (dumplings with plums)
Plum Pie with caramelized almond cream
Ilva's plum muffins
Pille's clafoutis