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Ashley Arden | May 12, 2012
By Ashley Arden • Saturday, May 12, 2012 - 10:25
With full page ads in the Globe and Mail and La Presse national newspapers, a major coalition of Canadian environmental non-profits have come together to launch the Black Out Speak Out campaign (Silence, on parle! pour la Francophonie.)
CPAWS, David Suzuki Foundation, Ecojustice, Equiterre, Environmental Defence, Greenpeace, Nature Canada, Pembina Institute, Sierra Club Canada, West Coast Environmental Law, and WWF Canada – groups representing millions of Canadians – are appealing to all who care about nature and democracy to join them in blacking out their websites on June 4th in protest against the federal government's efforts to weaken many of the country's most important environmental protection measures and silence Canadians hard at work defending the public interest.
Canadian environmental non-profits point to changes in the most recent federal budget, which leaves Ottawa playing a much smaller role in protecting people from harmful projects, while at the same time granting politicians the power to overrule the National Energy Board's experts if powerful industry interests don't like its decision - irrespective of fish habitat destruction or threats to species at risk.
The coalition argues that the Federal government will now be able to rubber stamp big projects that powerful oil interests want behind closed doors and away from public scrutiny.
Their core contention is that the Federal government has circumvented the usual process of democratic debate by introducing sweeping change by shoehorning the gutting of environmental protections into the massive budget without discussion.
The campaign is also raising awareness about the chilling effect they say the $8 million in new funding that has been earmarked for the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) to increase its audits of charities' advocacy activities will have on democratic debate in Canada.
Perhaps the most telling budget cut is the Federal government's axing of their last environmental advisory body, the National Roundtable on the Environment and Economy (NRTEE). The NRTEE has worked for the last 25 years to convene thought leaders from across industry, government and civil society to innovative pathways towards a more prosperous and sustainable Canada. (Their advice? Put a price on carbon.)
The federal government's gutting of environmental protection legislation reflects a truly impoverished view of democracy. It also happens to be out of step with Canadian values.
Perhaps the federal government has been so busy ripping pages from the U.S. Republican play book they've forgotten that we are Canadians: we don't like bullies here.
By and large, Canadians aspire to the democratic ideal of diverse perspectives engaged in robust, constructive conversations about the issues that matter. Canadians overwhelmingly support a balanced approach to economic development that respects our country's commitment to strong environmental protection – a public good we all enjoy.
Leading a democratic country is hard work. It means listening to the concerns of an increasingly diverse society, grappling with competing interests, making tough decisions, and finding creative solutions to complex problems.
We can't spur the collaboration and innovation we urgently need to tackle serious environmental and social problems by muzzling dissent. Picking fights by pitting economic development against social and environmental problems only distracts leaders in industry, government and civil society from the real work of rolling up our sleeves and coming together to figure out how we can live more sustainably.
Here at DeSmogBlog, we agree that healthy public debate is the cornerstone of a strong democracy. We will be adding our voice to the growing number of organizations who think the Canadian government's stifling of dissent has gone too far.
DeSmogBlog will be blacking out its website to speak out for nature and democracy on June 4th – will you stand with us?
Follow the campaign on Twitter #blackoutspeakout or at www.blackoutspeakout.ca.
wes george replied on Permalink
Be careful what you wish for
Are you sure that the way to save the Earth is through democracy?
The Canadian people elected their government based upon the very platform of dismantling environmental over-regulation which is now being put in place. Democracy failed environmentalists because they were in the minority.
In Australia, Julia Gillard could barely win an election to become prime minister by promising never to pass a carbon tax. Then when after elected she did bring in a carbon tax - only because she was forced to bargain with the Greens to form a minority government - she became the most unpopular Australian prime minister in the country's history. At the next election, democracy will remove her and install the opposition which promises to dismantle the climate change bureaucracy.
The US has its most eco-friendly president in its history yet he won't produce a cap and trade bill, only gives lip service to the environment and what little he has achieved are the results of unelected EPA official wielding powers outside the democratic process to impliment hugely unpopular regulations.
The Australian former-Green politician and leftist author Clive Hamilton has called for the suspension of democracy in order to deal with climate change, because the situation is so dire it requires the sort of authoritarian rapid response that is the antithesis of the democratic process.
Thomas Friedman noted that totalitarianism is far more efficient than democracy when dealing with hard issues:
"…it's why I have fantasized—don't get me wrong—but that what if we could just be China for a day? I mean, just one day….where we could actually, you know, authorize the right solutions, and I do think there is a sense of that, on everything from the economy to environment."
Even the Desmog manifesto written by Jim Hoggan makes it clear that giving unfettered free expression to the wrong people is the primary cause of the confusion around climate change. And free expression is a prequisite of democracy.
Democracy and freedom are not the cure to our environmental woes, authoritarian command economics and strict rationing of our civil liberties is the only way to check human greed and achieve permanent sustainability. This will require the willingness to use coercion, of course. But I ask you, what price is too high to SAVE THE PLANET?
AnOilMan replied on Permalink
I don't really agree with you.
There are many sides to this problem.
First, you might ask how Harper got elected. The liberals stepped in something very smelly (sponsorship scandal) and have been steadily declining ever since. He got a majority on a very small electoral turn out. He's currently bankrupting Canada and plowing us into debt. (That seems to be the conservative way.)
Second we are only beginning to see the first signs of damage to the climate system and once that begins its going to become pretty obvious what the cause is and what the cure is. I believe that then, Joe Public is going to become quite interested.
So I think there will be a backlash. Doubly because he's plowing the country into debt.
Where the tipping point exactly is… I don't know.
wes george replied on Permalink
True, but
All political parties have scandals and the electorate gets tired of them after a while. So yeah, the bourgeois will toss the bums out sooner than later. But the new bums will be just a left mirror image of the Liberals, saying the right things to appease the environmentalists just enough to continue business as usual.
Democracy is about bogging the rate of cultural change down by letting every yahoo have their imput into the system.
You say the conservatives will fail not because they are bad managers of the environment, but of the economy.
You said we might have to wait for the "first signs of damage to the climate system" to inspire Joe sixpack to vote wisely, but dude, we've been waiting since 1988 when Hansen appeared before Congress and warned that by 2012 there'd be no ice cap left. Didn't happen. Climate is changing much slower than predicted by the IPCC. Sure, it could pick up again at any moment, but pinning necessary political change to what the weather does seems a bit passive.
Besides, your average moosehead Canadian will think global warming is a good thing when it finally comes to Sakastewoobia or whereever.
As for the tipping point, we could easily be already past it and who would know?
The only Green sustainable solution is for a negative growth economy, so going into debt, bankrupting the economy, causing recession will have a good effect, Harpers' on the right track if for the wrong reason.
Maybe that's Obama long term plan for the US. Bankrupt the economy by debasing the currency so badly that the entire global banking system collapses. Chaos rules in the streets, Obama declares martial law, suspends elections and THEN he can get down to taking care of business without the idiots in the Congress deep sixing every good idea he has. Step one: Order the EPA to round up the denialists and let the trials begin.
Oh, sure, there will be difficulties. All revolutions are painful, but think of the sustainable Green future beyond the purges, mass starvation, forced marches and pogroms. Once the population is reduced sufficiently and a natural Gaia balance of life is restored by adopting a total Green culture then democracy and maybe a few civil liberties can be restored. But it might take a few generations before we get there because the damage done is already so tragic.
David B. Benson replied on Permalink
I think
you had better document that bit about Dr. James E. Hansen or else retract it. I doubt he made such a prediction.
AnOilMan replied on Permalink
David, I couldn't find that quote either. My guess is that he's a denier playing at being a communist because that is what they think conservatives like me are;
Fortunately I listen to conservative sources and scientists for all my information, right wes?
Here's what a Republican Scientist is saying;
AnOilMan replied on Permalink
I really don't care for your politics.
Here in conservative Alberta we had a provincial election. The conservatives were likely to loose for the first time in 40 years or so.
Until two things came up… religion and climate change.
Daniel Smith got booed and jeered on stage in dear old conservative Alberta and lost everything.
I'm not sure where you're getting your numbers from and statements about negative growth, but everything I've read says 1% of GDP. And we've made changes in our society many times in the past which cost about the same or more. Plumbing. Roads. They didn't kill the economy. What percentage of GDP is going to taxes now?
Ashley Arden replied on Permalink
In my personal opinion...
Wes, your comments appear to be a thinly veiled attempt to goad this community into responding 'yeah! Communism! yeah! Totalitarianism! Bring on the Revolution!' If so, then it is exactly the kind of manipulative, disingenous bunk that is undermining Canadian democratic processes.
I have immense faith in the Canadian people's ability to make good decisions for Canada in a democracy that extols free and honest speech.
Communications is the medium through which democracy takes place. Canadians should be paying far more attention to how we protect the integrity of public conversations.
'Unfettered free expression' doesn't somehow automatically yield healthy democratic discourse. A strong democracy takes much more than unconstrained self expression; it requires cooperation and constructive conversations. That is much harder and a far nobler aspiration than personal attacks, absolutist positions, and shouting matches.
Much of the political polarization and cynicism in this country is a direct result of the lack of restraint in political communications. Look at the descent of decorum in the House of Commons or the parroting of Ethical Oil's ridiculous aspersions by Federal Ministers. That kind of base mudslinging is exactly what disengages most Canadians from the political process - impoverishing our democracy.
'Free expression' in the public sphere should be tempered by authenicity and transparency. Speech should be both free and true. Industry-funded front groups that go around impersonating concerned citizens should not be treated as legitimate voices.
People engaged in democractic discussions should speak their honest opinions and be transparent about conflicts of interest (ie. getting paid by Big Oil to pollute public conversations about the environment.) To the extent we can come together to achieve this, we just might have fertile ground for strong, functional democratic discussions.
Besides, the planet will be just fine. It is people we are working to save.
wes george replied on Permalink
let's cast veils assunder
I was employed as environmental activist in 1988 and I can tell you for a fact, that even if Hansen didn't say the exact words that the arctic ice sheet would be gone by 2012, that's how we all interpreted the data he presented to Congress showing a dramatic rise in sea level by now, which could only occur if Greenland was melting much faster than it is and if that was the case all the sea ice would be gone too.
That's what we went out and taught the public.
Nobody claimed I was misrepresenting Hansen's ideas back then and they shouldn't today, just because in hindsight Hansen was obviously in error.
As for limiting free expression to speech which is only "honest and/or true" imagine the utter silence that would befall the nation! :-)
…beside eliminating all the fun stuff like comedy, satire, politics, art, punditry, poetry and theatre, who is going to "protect the integrity of public conversations" by deciding just exactly what honest truth is?
You? Me? Hansen? The Ministry of Truth?
What you're really hinting at is that you're all for free speech as long as it's limited to people who mostly agree with you.
If you believe you are in the posession of the honest truth then everyone who disagrees with you must be mistaken.
And if you explain to them your certain truth and yet they won't accept the truth, then they must be dishonest and evil as well. Or as you put it… (ie. getting paid by Big Oil to pollute public conversations about the environment.)
Therefore, to protect the "integrity of the public conversation" people who don't agree with you should have no right to speak at all?
So why should we bother with democracy?
Just install a tribunal of the wise, who are well aware of the truth, in total power and let's get on with saving the bloody planet and building an utopia based entirely on honest, transparent conversation between only the good people who subscribe to The Truth.
Ashley, your comment seems to be in a thinly veiled concurrence with my first comments. You haven't examined the full implications of believing all who disagree with you do so in bad faith.
VJ replied on Permalink
Try providing evidence for
Try providing evidence for your claims, wes. Who were you employed by and where is the evidence of what you say you did?


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Monk defrocked after robbing Phuket "money tree'
PHUKET: A monk chose to be defrocked at the main temple in Phuket Town, Wat Wichit Sangkharam, this afternoon after being caught stealing a temple donation "money tree" and running off with 1,000 baht in cash.
Wichit Police were alerted to the theft at 11:30am after local residents near Wat Nakaram (click map here) reported a monk absconding with a merit-making "tree" from a local mom-and-pop store.
"The monk went into the store and asked to use the restroom. When he came out he grabbed the money tree and bolted out of the shop," Sub Lt Sakorn Naklert explained.
"We searched the immediate area and found the bucket the money tree had been in, but none of donation envelopes were found," he said.
However, while police continued their search for the monk, a group of local villagers caught the 56-year-old in the act of discarding the money tree, now stripped of its cash-filled envelopes.
"After searching his few possessions, we found that the monk was named in his identification book as Phra Boonmee Pasanajitto. He was ordained as a monk at Wat Potan in Chaiyaphum province in 1999. Before he entered the monkhood, his name was Boonmee Wichaisuek," Sub Lt Sakorn said.
"We also found eight empty donation envelopes and 1,000 baht cash in his bag," he added.
As Mr Boonmee denied to police that he stole the tree, the officers took him to Wat Wichit Sankharam, where senior monks deliberated whether or not Phra Boonmee should be disrobed for his conduct.
"At first he denied the allegations. However, he eventually agreed to leave the monkhood as the people who caught him said they would not let him go until he was no longer a monk," Sub Lt Sakorn said.
— Kritsada MueanhawongKeep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page.
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Phuket told to prepare "response plan" in case of second Covid-19 outbreak
As Phuket awaits foreign tourists, city officials are told to prepare a "response plan" in case of a second wave of Covid-19. An official from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports held a workshop in Phuket today to discuss the risk of another outbreak as the country opens up to those on the Special Tourist Visa.
The ministry's permanent secretary Chote Trachu says now that the country is allowing tourists (who are required to quarantine upon arrival) an infection "may somehow slip through." He says a response plan needs to be in place in case this happens, adding that there should be corporation from the Ministry of Public Health and Ministry of Defense.
"If any tourists are found to be infected, the disease must not be allowed to spread among the people. There should be no panic, and public health officers will investigate the case. Tourist Police will track down the suspected person in an investigation with the Ministry of Public Health."
Chote says all provinces – not just Phuket – should have a response plan. Although tourists must go through a mandatory 14 day quarantine upon arrival, Chote says there are some cases where the incubation period for Covid-19 is longer than 14 days.
"There are a variety of cases. Sometimes, the infection does not show after 14 days, or even 15 or 16 days. Each situation is different."
Recently, a woman in Koh Samui tested positive for the coronavirus 5 days after she was released from a Samut Prakan quarantine facility. Traces of the virus were found on gym equipment the woman used at the quarantine, leading health officials to suspect she was infected before arriving to the island.
"We urge Thai people to not let their guard down. Everyone must wear masks, wash their hands and take care of personal hygiene. This will help prevent them from contracting the disease."
SOURCE: Phuket NewsKeep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page.
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Approval sought for multi-billion-baht Phuket medical hub
Industry officials are seeking the go-ahead for a project to transform over 140 rai of government land in Phuket into a world-leading medical hub. The project is budgeted at 3 – 4 billion baht, depending on which report you read. Kitkong Tantijaraswarodom, from the Federation of Thai Industries, believes the development of a medical and wellness hub in the sub-district of Mai Khao, north Phuket, will help revive the southern island's battered economy. Phuket has become increasingly reliant on a steady flow of tourists over the past 2 decades.
The southern division of the FTI covers Phuket, Krabi, Phang Nga, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Trang, Patthalung, Surat Thani, Ranong, Satun, Chumphon, and Songkhla.
"The FTI will ask the government to green-light the project during the scheduled mobile cabinet meeting on the island on November 3."
Kitkong says businesspeople in the south are anxious for the government to approve the project, which will provide both locals and foreign medical tourists with state-of-the-art medical care. The facility is expected to include long-term care, hospice and rehabilitation services, in addition to a dental hospital, sports therapy centre, and a medical training school for doctors, nurses, pharmacists and medical laboratory scientists.
The chair of the FTI's southern chapter is also calling on officials to provide small and medium-sized businesses with additional support, in the form of access to loans, in order to deal with cash shortages.
"In the short term, the FTI wants the government to help SMEs, especially those in the tourism sector."
SOURCE: Bangkok PostKeep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page.
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Man's body discovered hanged in a Phuket Town apartment
A man has been found hanged in Phuket Town apartment yesterday. Police are treating the cases as a suicide at the moment.
The man was found hanged from the apartment's ceiling fan. His lifeless body was discovered around 11am after neighbours complained to the manager about the smell coming from the man's room.
Police and the local Kusoldharm Foundation rescue workers attended the scene. Police later confirmed the incident happened in room on the 3rd floor of an apartment lock in Soi Phoonphol Soi 1, Talat Nuea in Phuket Town. Police said the man was 35-45 years of age and had a 29 year old girlfriend from Chumphon. He was paying 1,000 baht a month and had been renting the room for 2 months. Police estimate that the man had been dead for at least 3 days.
Police told media that the man had used, what appeared to be a dress, tied around his neck and then to the room's roof fan. The apartment manager told police that he had been late on on his recent rent, speculating that the man may have been suffering financial hardship.
The man's identity has not been released at this stage.
His body was taken to Vachira Hospital for an autopsy.
If you or anyone you know is in emotional distress, please contact the Samaritans of Thailand 24-hour hotline: 02 713 6791 (English), 02 713 6793 (Thai) or the Thai Mental Health Hotline at 1323 (Thai).Keep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page.
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Royalists crowd Bangkok's Lumpini Park to support Thai Monarchy
Jailed activists request individual cells, access to books, ahead of exams
2 foreigners in same hotel as infected French woman test positive for Covid-19
Thailand News Today | German Embassy, More STV tourists, Thanathorn in trouble | October 27
Phuket told to prepare "response plan" in case of second Covid-19 outbreak
Don't forget to extend your visa! Thai Immigration warns about fines for late applicants
Man allegedly burns down house because his wife refused sex
"Koh Samui is still safe", Covid-19 measures in place – Health Minister
Royalists rally at US Embassy, call on Americans to stop "interfering" with Thai politics
Pattaya – fighting to survive its Covid crisis
3 new Covid-19 cases in quarantine, all asymptomatic
6 face extortion charges after allegedly posing Thai immigration police officers
145 more on Special Tourist Visa arrive in Bangkok
3 Chinese casino workers arrested with 8 million baht after illegal crossing from Myanmar
Both rallies outside German Embassy broke the law – deputy police chief
Expat in Koh Samui Prison on drug charges, nearly $3,000 raised to get her out
The World's 50 Best Foods… Thai massaman curry tops the list
TAT announces update to compulsory Covid-19 insurance for foreign visitors
Large "chunk" breaks off Krabi island, damaging coral reef at popular dive site
Chinese travellers CAN depart China and travel to Thailand on the STV
Foreign yachts allowed to dock in Thailand, tourists to quarantine onboard
72% think the Thai government are "stalling", 60% say leave the Monarchy alone
Close encounter of the Royal kind – Thai King and Queen stop to praise a royal supporter
Health Minister says quarantine could be reduced to 10 days, maybe eventually zero
Negative Covid-19 results for first group on the Special Tourist Visa
Samut Prakan woman bitten by snake while using the toilet
Bangkok Airways add 3 new local routes to their schedule
"Protests could affect the economy" – Bank of Thailand
Criminal Court reverses decision to close down some Thai media
Pattaya residents accuse Greek expat of throwing sewage, threatening neighbours, and damaging property
Thailand News Today | German Embassy, More STV tourists, Thanathorn in trouble | October 27
Thailand News Today | German Embassy rally, permanent residency prospect, crowds in Pattaya | Oct 26
Thailand News Today | State of Emergency lifted, Quarantine latest, Phuket Light Rail | October 22
Thailand News Today | STV arrivals, Released then re-arrested, Petition to oust PM | October 21
Thailand News Today | Media censorship, Thai parliament to meet, STV flight arrives | October 20
Thailand News Today | Protest update, Samui wants cheap flights, Isaan croc hunters | October 19
Thailand News Today | Bangkok protests, Special Tourist Visa, Prisoners slippery escape | October 16
Thailand News Today | State of Emergency, Pattaya 'online', Veggie Festival plea | October 15
Thailand News Today | BKK protest update, Chiang Mai 'quiet', Baby klong crocs | October 14
Thailand News Today | No STV tourists, Boss in Dubai, border fears in Tak | October 13
Thailand News Today | Land bridge project, "Thai Bridge", Chaing Mai black widow | October 12
Thailand News Today | Army v Twitter, Tourism interrupted, Thailand World's #6 | October 9
Thailand News Today | Tourist arrivals postponed, Will Boss return?, deadly centipede | October 8
Thailand News Today | Poll-Keep borders closed, quarantine exemption, heavy rain | October 7
Thailand News Today | Business people exemptions, road checkpoints, Phuket delay | October 6
- Protests3 days ago
72% think the Thai government are "stalling", 60% say leave the Monarchy alone
- Bangkok4 days ago
Close encounter of the Royal kind – Thai King and Queen stop to praise a royal supporter
- Coronavirus (Covid-19)3 days ago
UPDATE: Covid-19 detected on gym equipment, Koh Samui covid case
- Phuket4 days ago
Man's body discovered hanged in a Phuket Town apartment
- Coronavirus (Covid-19)2 days ago
Permanent residency, changes to quarantine period – Government mulls strategies to revive economy
- Pattaya3 days ago
Pattaya springs back to life over the long weekend, more to come
- Bangkok2 days ago
Bangkok air pollution predicted to reach "unhealthy" levels
- Coronavirus (Covid-19)2 days ago
Officials to choose "low risk" countries for possible reduction in quarantine

subset: commoncrawl


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Enter Infernal Restraints Now!
Safe House
Insex Feature Films are some of the most intense and incredible episodes of fantasy fulfillment around. Elise Graves has long harbored a deep and burning desire to be whisked away to a remote location and used in the most brutal ways possible. Well, that is a wish PD will readily make come true. He has her delivered to him out in the middle of nowhere and wastes no time in making her scream....
Read More
18 U.S.C. 2257 Compliance Statement


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Know where to shop for the best school suppplies
THE excitement of Christmas is a distant memory now as the rush for the return to school is in full flurry.
Organisation is the key. And no doubt most of you have either completed the school shoe roundabout or are well in your stride.
If you have left it until this weekend, hopefully these hints will help ease the stress.
These always bring the dilemma, especially with teenage kids, of fashion or function.
Children have their feet in school shoes for the most part of a day and they need to provide cushioning and support, be breathable and light.
Children can take up to 16,000 steps (5km) in the shoes each day so they must fit well.
You also need them to try to last the year.
Most schools are quite strict in this area both in terms of colour and style.
Prep classes are usually allowed to wear shoes with Velcro straps (Clarks, from $60 at various stockists) with the intricacies of laces left for the more dextrous.
Lynx, Roc, Bata, Colorado and Clarks are some of the big names when it comes to leather shoes usually with an orthotics nod, antibacterial lining and non-scuffing sole.
Prices range from $50-$110 depending on size and style. Major shoe stores like The Athlete's Foot, Mathers and Williams, even David Jones and Myer, are offering a "50% off the second pair" deal, which helps if you also have to buy sports shoes.
These stores also provide a foot measuring service, which means your child will leave with a shoe that fits well.
But $60 can be a lot to pay for shoes especially when you have to also consider uniforms, books and bags.
If your budget doesn't stretch or if you have kids that outgrow shoes every three months, perhaps try stores like Target, which has an impressive range starting from $14, Kmart (from $6) and Big W (from $20).
Here, too, comfort and support should be a priority with kids often required to carry heavy loads.
Harlequin does a good backpack with wide straps and an ergonomic back panel (schoolbags.com.au for stockists) as do Physiopak (1800 815 557 for stockists).
Most large department stores and surf shops carry a range of colourful, trendy and cheerful bags to suit the needs of your child starting from $10.
If you are after personalised bags, which are usually a hit among younger school-goers, try online sites like identitydirect, stuckonyou and yayme.
Alternatively buy a plain bag and get your child's name embroidered at those stores in major shopping centres.
Lunch boxes and bottles
With such variety on offer kids of all ages can have fun choosing a lunch box and bottle.
The only things to consider are whether they are BPA free and how you are going to keep them cold.
Officeworks has the Smash Ultimate Pack ($16.90) which includes a lunch box, freeze pack, drink bottle and insulated cover while Big W has sets from $9.98, Kmart's cartoon character range starts at $6 and Target's Bento Collapsible Lunch Box is $16.
If you haven't got your stationery together as yet, Officeworks and some newsagencies will put your pack together as per your school's list.
If you prefer to do it yourself, Kmart, Target, Officeworks and Big W are your best bets for books, and files, USB sticks and pens.
Girls especially can have fun at stores like Smiggle, which have all the groovy back-to-school supplies.


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Beyonce made it known that she wants nothing to do with the Kardashian Klan attempting to enter her circle via dating her hubby's partner in crime, Kanye West. Khloe Kardashian went to blow smoke up Beyonce's you-know-what on Twitter yesterday in attempts to get on Queen Bey's good side. Khloe was referring to Beyonce's feature in PEOPLE as the most beautiful woman of 2012.
Like HelloBeautiful On Facebook To Keep Up With The Kardashian Klan!
What a good sister Khloe is! the Kardashians seem to do whatever it takes for fame, but they also go that extra mile to support one another. The loyalty is refreshing. Check out Khloe's tweet below:
Do you think Khloe's trying to brown nose Beyonce for Kim? Let's discuss on Twitter @Rhapsodani.
And while we're watching Khloe's tweets, check out her "new look" that she revealed via tweet HERE.
Listen To This Kardashian-Inspired Playlist!
Click Through This Kardashian-Inspired Gallery!
Is Kanye West Sipping The Kardashian Kool-Aid?


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Stone Roses, Blur, Phoenix headline Coachella 2013 music fest
British rockers Blur and The Stone Roses will be joining French indie-rock band Phoenix and Red Hot Chili Peppers to headline this year's three-day Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, organizers said on Thursday.
The annual music festival, set for two consecutive weekends
in April, has become one of the largest U.S. music festivals, attracting more than 80,000 people to the desert town of Indio,
After featuring electronic music DJs such as Tiesto, Swedish
House Mafia, Afrojack and David Guetta among the top-billed acts last year, this year's Coachella sees the music festival return to its rock roots.
The festival will take place on the weekends of April 12-14
and 19-21, with the same line-up both weekends.
Blur and The Stone Roses, who recently reunited after a long
hiatus, will headline Friday. Phoenix, which has a new album coming out this spring, will take Saturday's primetime spot.
Los Angeles rockers Red Hot Chili Peppers, who previously
headlined the festival in 2003 and 2007, will close out the festival in the Sunday headlining slot.
Other anticipated names on the line-up this year include hip
hop collective Wu-Tang Clan, Icelandic indie band Sigur Ros, Grammy nominees The Lumineers and electro-rock music group The Postal Service.
Previous years have seen acts such as Prince, Kings of Leon,
Beastie Boys, Madonna, Muse, Pixies, Jay-Z and Kanye West take the headlining slots.
Last year, hip hop veterans Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre grabbed
headlines as they resurrected late rapper Tupac via hologram on stage for the closing night of the festival.
Ticket prices start at $349 and they will go on sale on Jan.
29 at 10 a.m. PST (1800 GMT). This year, organizers said there will be no layaway option for those wishing to pay for their tickets in installments.


text: Sijun Forums :: View topic - Simon Stålenhag artwork Log in to check your private messages Sijun Forums Forum Index >> Gallery/Finished Work View previous topic :: View next topic Author Topic : "Simon Stålenhag artwork" [Shizo]memberMember #Joined: 22 Oct 1999Posts: 3938 Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2013 8:29 am Nice combination of countryside + high tech. http://www.simonstalenhag.se/ Back to top SumalethAdministratorMember #Joined: 30 Oct 1999Posts: 2898Location: Australia Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2013 4:32 pm Love the style. Great sense of composition too._________________Art Links Archive -- Artists and Tutorials Back to top TzanmemberMember #Joined: 18 Apr 2003Posts: 755Location: Boston MA Posted: Sun Sep 01, 2013 6:30 pm Wow, thats some great stuff. Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First Sijun Forums Forum Index -> Gallery/Finished Work All times are GMT - 8 Hours Page 1 of 1 Jump to: Select a forum Digital Art----------------Digital Art DiscussionWork in ProgressGallery/Finished Work Miscellaneous----------------Random MusingsArchive : Sep99 - Dec00 You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forum Powered by phpBB © 2005 phpBB Group


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Woo Hoo! It's only taken four years on my fourth trip down Whungee Wheengee to finally write up a trip report of one of my favourite canyons and a great one to do in preparation for our forthcoming Mountaineering Trip.
As it is now a well established fact that I get misplaced on trips that I've done before (must be the Alzheimer's setting in) - it was up to Mike to do the navigation!
Yet another beginners trip down Serendipity. Aaron, Bright and Jason hadn't done any canyoning with abseils before, so the Thursday beforehand we spent a couple of hours on some basic abseil instruction.
This fabulous bushwalk was recommended to me By Adrian Spragg - a leader at 1st Sailors Bay. The icing on the cake was that I was able to re-use most of his paperwork which made the admin work heaps easier.
What a great Day. This is my favourite section of the Wollangambe. Wollangambe 1 seems to be the more popular, but I just like this section better.
A nice easy relaxing canyon in the upper Wollangambe which is a perfect beginners canyon. The walk in and out is quite short - around 45mins, it has has a couple of good constricted canyon sections and a good amount of lazy liloing.
It could easily be done in a few hours, but if you take your time gently floating down the creek you can stretch it out to almost a full day.
An OK beginner's canyon. Serendipty itself is nothing special but it is a good introductory canyon. The beautiful and fun Wollangambe Two section of the canyon more than makes up for the average qualities of Serendipty.


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How to watch the full Travis Scott Astronomical event if you missed it
Here's how to watch the jaw-dropping Travis Scott Astronomical Fortnite event if you missed the first showing.
Here's how to watch the jaw-dropping Travis Scott Astronomical Fortnite event if you missed the first showing.
Those who watched the Fortnite Marshmello concert had a level of expectations for the Travis Scott Astronomical event that kicked off last night. Those expectations were shattered as soon as the rapper hit the ground.
It might be recency bias, but this is a strong contender for the best Fortnite event in the history of the game. We went flying into the air, swimming under the water, and finished by soaring through the in-game universe.
This show was only the first in a line of events that will take place over the next couple of days. The rest of the shows can be seen during the times, below:
- Europe & Middle East — 10am EDT, April 24
- Asia & Oceania — 12am EDT, April 25
- Europe & Middle East 2 — 11am EDT, April 25
- The Americas 2 — 6pm EDT, April 25
The show isn't region-locked, so you can tune in at whatever time suits you the best. The tour runs from today until April 25 at 6 PM EST.
You can also watch one of the numerous YouTube videos of the event, as well. It's tough to tell who has the best angle of the event. You can always watch your favorite creator to see his or her reaction.
This was one of the best video game events in history and it's even better to see it in-game. Try to carve out ten minutes at one of the showtimes to catch a replay, if you can.
BallaTW on competitive integrity, format changes, org signings & more
We spoke with Ballatw about competitive Fortnite, changes to the arena system, tournament formats, cheating, and a whole lot more.
Competitive Fortnite fans know Arten 'Ballatw' Esa as one of the most accredited analysts in the esport. Over the course of Fortnite's history, Balla has been the most recognizable voice on official Fortnite broadcasts. He also hosts VoD reviews of professional players on his Twitch and YouTube channels.
We sat down with BallaTW ahead of the Season 4 FNCS to get his thoughts on the current state of competitive Fortnite, the new competitive season, the biggest issues in competitive Fortnite, and a lot more.
We began the interview by talking about how Balla got into Fortnite, his early goals, and how he got into the industry. For the sake of length, we're going to skip that and get right to the Fortnite talk.
- Read More: DreamHack Open ft. Fortnite October results
The first Fortnite question I asked was how many Arena points Balla has. He responded by saying he was only around 5,500.
So, you're not in Champion's League?
No, what's the point of me being in Champ's? I just don't care.
Exactly. That's what I wanted to bring up. Is there anything immediate that Epic can implement to make competitive Fortnite more rewarding for "casual competitive" players like us?
I don't think there's anything that can happen immediately that would do what you want to do. I think that there are things that don't happen immediately that do what we want – like a real ranking system that you can decrease in, that's not linear, that's dependent on the lobby.
There are a lot of changes around that which could work, but immediate changes? The first thing that comes to my mind is a leaderboard. I don't know if there's anything immediate that can happen.
How do you feel about Storm Surge? To me, it's always felt like a Band-Aid for server performance. The Server can't handle so many people, so we need to have Storm Surge.
I think that if it's necessary, it's necessary. I don't think that it's a mechanic that ruins the game by any means. I think with 50% chest spawns it's more rough and random, but both of those things do force the lobby to be more aggressive.
If you're looking for a gameplay solution to make people be more aggressive, I'd rather other things. It definitely is a Band-Aid but I think anything is gonna feel like a Band-Aid in this case.
We've gone through formats that try to incentivize aggressive play – that never works when it comes down to a Grand Finals lobby because the nature of it is that pushing people and playing aggressively is too risky in the grand scheme of things.
I think the best solution that I'd have is try to change that, try to break that risk. Siphon was one that I was pushing for, for a long time and it got added to the game and it did very well at what it was supposed to do.
In this case, Siphon was addressing recovery from fights which is important but still, there is no incentive to go push somebody because you don't gain anything most of the time.
It's a crazy risk and it a grand finals level that will happen only in these very tight circumstances when you know you have a big advantage, so to me I think of an idea like if you get a kill, drop a guaranteed mobility item, like one or two Shockwaves, a launchpad something like that. Just guaranteed.
Or maybe a guaranteed weapon upgrade or something like that. You kill somebody you get an upgrade on your Scar or an upgrade on your shotgun or whatever. I don't know exactly how these things would work out I think that's just an idea like Storm Surge that might help people play a little bit more aggressively.
Let's talk about 50% chest spawn rate. Everyone hates it. Even the most casual player – who knows about it – hates it. It's hard to tell why Epic changed this – maybe to address pacing issues in core game modes?
I think if they were trying to address pacing issues, they would go about it a different way, although I think there might be some validity to that. I think the biggest thing that you touched on is, casuals don't even like it.
And so, that's what I think of when I try to figure out why it went into competitive as well. Is that it's going to be an unpopular change no matter what and if you don't put it in competitive and you do put it in casual, casuals are going to choose to play competitive instead they are going to play arena because it has 100% chest spawn. Which is kind of a similar dilemma to siphon a lot of people don't play pubs.
Ya, we already see that with Siphon
Exactly, so you kind of have to. If there is any reason at all to do 50% chest spawns in casual, then you kind of have to. You are kind of forced to do it in competitive too from their perspective.
I don't agree with it but I think you kind of have to because it's kind of like, 'well this game (Arena) is better, but I still want people to play this game' and to me, its that bad players are better served by a 50% chest spawn, because they get the opportunity to get that dopamine hit of getting a kill because somebody doesn't get a chest.
That's something that a lot of people struggle with. So to me, it's very much that simple. They want that effect for bad players, but if a bad player knew that he had the choice of getting 100% chest spawns, he would rather that even though the other game is better for him.
I'm a huge fan of Ninja Battles. Do you think the 60 player format is the answer to certain Fortnite problems like griefing and server performance?
I've gone back and forth on how I feel about 60 players. I think that we definitely should experiment with fewer people but 60 players is drastic. That's 13 missing teams.
At the same time, I feel like that does devalue players like Chap, players like Arab who hasn't played in a Ninja battle but in any case, these are guys who are very good at not only the early game navigating the early game getting a nice split but also rotating through the mid-game which we kind of miss entirely.
I've been feeling the last couple of weeks that the 20 team format is more like a glorified zone rule scrim than anything else because everyone comes in the end game with full kits, fully upgraded, max metal, all this stuff.
It also gives you the time to fight. If you do fight off spawn you have time to finish without getting third partied.
That's really fun, that's why I think you know maybe remove 5 teams something like that and I mess around with the idea in Elite cup. Well, they used the idea. Let's kick teams out who are playing poorly throughout the tournament after a certain amount of matches. I think that should be experimented with more. Because it gives both the incentive to fight off spawn or not and also reduces the lobby size to make the games more competitive down the line.
We've had a lot of recent org signings in the Fortnite world along with brand-new organizations popping up like Gamma Gaming. It seemed like orgs were divesting in Fortnite early in 2020. Why do you think they're making a comeback?
There are definitely new orgs popping up and to me, Cloud9 getting back in is huge news because they just completely disappeared off the face of the earth at the end of 2018.
I think that just in general, Fortnite did not decline as hard as people thought it was going to. So this return, this resurgence might be a little bit getting back at that. And I think people are also understanding how to actually get value out of orgs in Fortnite.
Things like the NRG guys, things like BBG really strike me as a new understanding of that. Where they are making content, they're promoting their players, they're actually getting people to stream more often not necessarily just tournaments.
I think that there's a new understanding for orgs in Fortnite, I don't think its broadcast returning, to be honest. Even though I alluded people were leaving because broadcasts were gone. I think there was a scare at the beginning of the year because there were no comms for a long time about anything. There was no broadcast where you could get those comms there was nothing so everybody was terrified of what was happening. That's why they left and I think right now they are realizing it was an overreaction.
I loved the days when it was the Liquid boys and the FaZe team and TSM all together, and we don't have that at all anymore. There's no allegiance to an organization and a team – it doesn't mean anything. Do you think they're missing an opportunity there? It sounded like you did.
So, I think that people kind of misunderstood what I was saying about that topic. I mean, I do agree with what you're saying but I was just trying to say that there was no link whatsoever between people, right? People were like, 'Oh. NRG doesn't have any links between their players.' And I come back and I say, 'Yes, they do.' Right?
Unknown is good friends with Clix, Ronaldo is good friends with all of them, like, Edgey has all of a sudden been a really really fun part of that group when they went to the house.
If there are not links, they're making there be links. NRG has done a great job with that to make their team be a little bit more – I don't know – approachable in a sense, because it's not just one-off players, randomly.
So that's why I was confused about Cloud9, like, there's no, you know, similarities between any of these players and they have nothing to do with each other except for Avery and Nosh – now it's Chap and Vivid too – but at the time, Chap wasn't signed.
But, in any case, ya I think there are missed opportunities. I think that's a really easy way to get people to know who your org is. And you brought up the examples of, like, Liquid – the Liquid boys – sure, they weren't necessarily doing many events together but because they were playing multiple duos together, a lot of people wanted – a lot of people loved Liquid, right? The OG Liquid – still, people think about that all the time. OG FaZe, people think about those teams all the time too. Like, even TSM, right?
Daequan. Hamlinz, and Myth. That was – you thought they were gonna rule the world at the time.
Exactly, and so, when you see orgs not have these types of links then you're definitely wondering. You're definitely wondering and I think we're missing an aspect of fandom because of it.
What do you think the biggest problem facing competitive Fortnite is right now?
Competitive integrity, I think is the biggest one. It has to do with Ninja's tweet for example, griefing all those different things. I think that needs to be solved.
I think cheating and I think what happened last season was an absolute abomination. Not necessarily like there was a big problem with hacking but what we did as a community was terrible and it affected the competitive integrity of tournaments. Because when the player base and the community start believing that there is a problem whether there is a problem or not, there is now a problem.
Hacking aside, I think teaming is a problem, I think griefing is a problem, I think agreements and collusion are problems, whether we have found them or not.
Balla is hosting viewing parties for all of the FNCS competitions and is still broadcasting Fortnite with third-party tournament organizers like DreamHack.
You can find Balla on Twitter here, and can catch his weekly FNTASIA podcast on his Twitch and YouTube. He expresses his opinions in written form on his blog, Ballatw.com.
All signs point to The Ghostbusters coming to Fortnite
Fortnite leaks and in-game sightings point to Ghostbusters coming to Fortnite soon.
Fortnite v14.40 introduced the much-anticipated Fortnitemares event to the game. Among the major changes that came with the patch, Midas returned from the dead and reclaimed The Authority – renaming it The Ruins.
This wasn't the only Halloween-related character who was kicking-around the Fortnite map. As players began to log into Fortnite, some noticed a vehicle sitting under a tarp in Camp Cod. It was none other than the Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters.
This could just be a small Easter Egg for eagle-eyed fans, but data miners soon corroborated the sighting with some in-game leaks.
iFireMonkey posted a tweet that told fans of some upcoming skins that should be hitting the Item shop in the near future. Two of those cosmetic packs relate to Ghostbusters – suggesting that they'll be entering Fortnite within the next two weeks.
Fellow data miner, Hypex, added to this speculation with a leak of his own: a Ghostbusters achievement. According to him, players will be able to earn the "I Collect Spores, Molds, and Fungus" achievement by gathering a foraged item while wearing one of the Ghostbusters skins.
- Read More: When does Fortnitemares 2020 end?
We still don't know whether we'll be able to choose one Ghostbusters skin to unlock, or if it will be a cosmetic bundle like the newly-released Skull Squad Pack.
Ghostbusters seems like a perfect addition to the Fortnite universe. The collaboration falls in line with Stranger things from a couple of years ago and gives players another way to celebrate Spooky Season in-game.
Will you be grabbing a Ghostbusters skin if/when they come to Fortnite? Let us know on Twitter @FortniteINTEL.
DreamHack Open ft. Fortnite October results
K1nzеll wins the European region of the DreamHack Open featuring Fortnite.
Another month, another DreamHack Solo competition to help carry us through a week of competitive Fortnite. The tournament began on October 8, when the NA-West region completed its stage to kick things off for the month. Last night, October 2, Europe capped off October's DreamHack competition.
The tournament has showcased some household names, some off-ping warriors, and some rising stars that call North America home. Here are the entire results of the DreamHack Open featuring Fortnite October Finals.
NA-West DreamHack Open results
The NA-West region is, as always, the first to wrap up the DreamHack October tournament. Players on NA-West finished the tournament on October 8, with Demonspect taking home first place. He finished six points higher than 77 Xarez in second.
Rising star in the region, Reet, came in third and one of the established juggernauts in NA-West, EpikWhale, finished in fifth. Nosh and Maken rounder out the top ten. Other noteworthy finishes outside of the top ten include WHofishy at 12, VerT at 14, Marzz_Ow at 20, Jamper playing off-ping at 25, Skqttles at 26, Wavy Jacob at 36, MackWood at 45, and H1ghSky1 at 47.
NA-East DreamHack Open results
Furious, one of the top controller players in any region, walked away with the win in NA-East with a score of 307 points – 7 points higher than skqttles in second. Furious padded his victory by winning two out of the six games.
After Skqttles was Degen in third and Okis in fourth. Other noteworthy finishes include Paper at 10, MackWood at 16, Zexrow at 17, Slackes at 18, and Th0masHD competing off-ping at 19. Here's a look at how the top 15 looked at the end of the tournament.
Europe DreamHack Open results
One of the established Fortnite pros in the EU region, K1nzеll, took home first place in the DreamHack October finals, finishing with 334 points – 23 points above DaeZinhoo in second.
MrSavage, a favorite in any competition in which he plays, came in third with 285 points. His longtime teammate and one of the most popular Fortnite pros in any region, Benjyfishy, barely cracked the top 15 and finished in 14th place.
DreamHack will return in November, but this time with a Duos tournament rather than solos. Most Fortnite players prefer team-based modes, and the Duos format will be an interesting break from the Trios FNCS that we have this season.
We'll keep you updated with everything happening in the Fortnite esports scene, so make sure to stay tuned to the website and follow us on Twitter @FortniteINTEL.
BallaTW on competitive integrity, format changes, org signings & more
We spoke with Ballatw about competitive Fortnite, changes to the arena system, tournament formats, cheating, and a whole lot more.
All signs point to The Ghostbusters coming to Fortnite
Fortnite leaks and in-game sightings point to Ghostbusters coming to Fortnite soon.
DreamHack Open ft. Fortnite October results
K1nzеll wins the European region of the DreamHack Open featuring Fortnite.


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During 2008 campaign, "truth squads" threatened jail time for anyone who told "lies" about Obama
Image: Wikimedia Commons
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com [1]
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
In a bid to 'squash negative stories' about Barack Obama that appear on the Internet, the White House has hired a dedicated propagandist whose role will be to savage people who tell "lies" about the President, in a chilling reminder of how prosecutors threatened people with jail time during the 2008 campaign if they criticized Obama.
"The Obama administration has created and staffed a new position tucked inside their communications shop for helping coordinate rapid response to unfavorable stories and fostering and improving relations with the progressive online community," reports the Huffington Post [2].
The man tasked with the role of "disseminating push back" against Obama's online critics by direct order of the White House will be Jesse Lee, a blogger who has previously put out White House spin in response to claims made by Glenn Beck.
"The post is a new one for this White House. Rapid response has been the purview of the Democratic National Committee (and will continue to be). Lee's hire, however, suggests that a portion of it will now be handled from within the administration. It also signals that the White House will be adopting a more aggressive engagement in the online world in the months ahead."
Lee's first Tweet [3] as an official mouthpiece for White House propaganda and the Obama administration's move to launch an "aggressive defense of the president and his policies" gives us some indication of what we can expect – the post includes a picture of the Terminator robot.
- A d v e r t i s e m e n t
"If you're going to post something online about Obama that isn't true, Lee is going to be the one to handle you," reports Chris O'Shea [4], noting that the move is about "squashing any negative stories" that could derail Obama's re-election bid.
Lee obviously sees himself taking the role of 'Terminator' in destroying 'conspiracies' and 'disinformation' about the Obama 2012 campaign, similar to how Obama-supporting prosecutors and sheriffs in Missouri threatened people with jail time for telling "lies" about Obama [5] during the 2008 campaign. News agencies in Pennsylvania and Ohio were also sent threatening letters demanding they stop airing ads exposing Obama's anti-gun stance.
This has nothing to do with circulating "lies" about Obama, this is about intimidating, silencing and smearing anyone who dares tell the truth about Obama's record or his highly dubious personal history.
Stock up with Fresh Food that lasts with eFoodsDirect (AD) [7]
As we documented in 2008 [8], the Obama campaign's effort to target "lies" about the president's record was actually a transparent bid to keep his extreme anti-second amendment record under the radar as the election neared.
Not only was he on record as opposing handgun rights [9] in Washington DC, Obama served on the board of the Joyce Foundation, probably the largest private funder of anti-gun and pro-ban groups and research in the country. In addition, Obama voted for a bill that would "expand the definition of armor piercing ammunition" and "support[ed] banning the sale of ammunition for assault weapons," including 223 and .308 caliber bullets, the most common rifle ammunition. He supported the Illinois Firearms Owners Identification (FOID) Card, mandatory for residents when they buy any firearm in the state.
Obama's record was clearly anti-second amendment to the hilt [10], but to communicate this fact to the public was characterized as "lying about the campaign" by Obama's enforcers, and was met with threats and intimidation.
Expect the same thing to happen for 2012 – verifiable facts about Obama's voting record and his stance on key issues, as well as documented examples of his deception on a myriad of different topics, will be targeted for 'termination' by Obama's team of online attack dogs led by Jesse Lee.
And all this from the same administration that wants to give Obama a figurative 'kill switch' for the Internet that would hand the President Communist Chinese-style powers [11] to shut down parts of the Internet for "security reasons," in other words to silence and censor legitimate political opposition to Obama's big government agenda.
Of course, this is all straight out of Cass Sunstein's blueprint for hijacking and censoring the Internet by government regulation. Sunstein, Obama's White House information czar, wrote a series of papers before the 2008 election in which he advocated banning or taxing "conspiracy theories," [12] including skepticism about man-made global warming, in addition to mandating by law that websites link to opposing information [13] or that pop ups containing government propaganda be forcibly included on political blogs.
Obama supporter Bill Clinton, not known for his honesty, also recently advocated the creation of an Internet ministry of truth [14] to address "misinformation and rumors floating on the Internet."
Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com [15]. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show.


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Bank of America said in mid-January that it had net income of $2 billion, or $0.15 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2011 vs. a net loss of $1.2 billion, or $0.16 per share in the same year-ago period, meeting analysts' expectations. Revenue, net of interest expense, grew 11% to $25.1 billion on a fully taxable-equivalent basis.
As of Dec. 30, BofA employed 17,308 financial advisors, an increase of 214 from the previous quarter and 1,697 over the previous year. Much of the growth came from the hiring of Merrill Edge advisors, who serve client households with $250,000 or less in investable assets. The company says that its advisor force has grown for 10 consecutive quarters.
In terms of net new assets, the global wealth operations of BofA had inflows of $5.49 billion in the fourth quarter vs. inflows of $1.92 billion in the third quarter and outflows of $2.4 billion in the year-ago period, which included flows associated with the sale of Columbia Management (on May 1, 2010).
For the full year, net new assets totaled $15.68 billion vs. outflows of $27.63 billion in 2010. Average sales (or fees and commissions) per advisor were $873,000 in 2011, up from $850,000 in 2010, excluding Merrill Edge advisors. For the quarter, however, average production per rep totaled $819,000 — a drop from $854,000 in the previous quarter and $913,000 a year earlier.
The global-wealth operations had net income of $249 million, which dropped $98 million from the third quarter and $70 million from the year-ago period due to lower market-driven revenue and higher expenses, the company said.
The unit also reported slightly reduced revenue for the quarter, both sequentially and for the year, which it blamed on lower investment and brokerage income "driven by suppressed 3Q11 market levels and lower transactional activity." For the year, sales were $17.38 billion, a 7% jump from 2010.
Client account balances increased 3.5% during the quarter to $2.14 billion thanks to higher 4Q11 market levels and strong AUM flows, according to BofA. Assets held by Merrill Lynch clients totaled roughly $1.5 trillion, an increase of 3% from the third quarter and a drop of 1.3% from the same period of 2010.
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley reported a loss from continuing operations of $227 million, or $0.14 per share, vs. net income of $871 million, or $0.44 per share, for the same period a year ago — topping analysts' forecasts. The loss was tied to a $1.7 billion legal settlement and issues related to MBIA and credit-default swaps.
The company, led by James Gorman, said its revenue for the period fell to $5.7 billion from $9.9 billion in the previous quarter and $7.7 billion a year ago. Much of the decline was reported by the institutional-securities unit.
Its wealth-management unit saw its flows of net new assets drop about 60% from both the third quarter and the year-ago period to $6 billion. Flows in fee-based asset accounts were down 51% sequentially and 61% year over year to $4.9 billion.
Morgan Stanley, which says it moved to streamline the job descriptions of advisors and staff at its legacy Morgan Stanley and Smith Barney channels, had a pre-adjusted total of 17,156 financial advisors as of Dec. 30 — and 17,649 advisors after accounting for the adjustment.
Overall, its advisor force shrunk about 1% for the quarter (or by some 140 FAs) and declined roughly 5% for the full year (a drop of about 800 FAs). Morgan Stanley has instituted a series of job cuts in the past few years, which included the firing of low-producing reps.
The average yearly sales (or fees and commissions) per advisor were about $745,000 as of Dec. 30, a 1% increase from the earlier quarter and year-ago period.
Total assets in the wealth-management unit were $1.65 billion, a 5% jump for the quarter and 1% drop from the fourth quarter of 2010. Per advisor, assets under management are about $95 million, a slight increase from the earlier and year-ago periods.
"In 2011, Morgan Stanley's wealth-management unit had global fee-based asset flows of $42.5 billion and net new assets of $35.8 billion, the highest for both since the inception of the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney joint venture," the company said in a press release. "The year's pre-tax margin improved to 10% from 9% a year ago," it added.
In early 2011,Citi said its latest results included $43 million from brokerage and asset management sales, down from $136 million a year ago, largely reflecting a decline in the equity contribution from the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney joint venture.
UBS said that its fourth-quarter net income fell to 393 million Swiss francs from 1.66 billion Swiss francs in the 2010 period, missing forecasts. Wealth Management Americas' pre-tax profit was 114 million Swiss francs (or $125 million) compared with a loss of 32 million Swiss francs last year and a gain of 139 million Swiss francs in the prior quarter.
In U.S. dollar terms, operating income for the Americas unit, led by former Merrill Lynch executive Bob McCann fell 5% in the fourth quarter due partly to lower fees and commissions. Net new money was 1.9 billion Swiss francs (or $2.1 billion) compared with 3.4 billion Swiss francs last year and 4.0 billion Swiss francs in the previous quarter.
According to UBS, net recruiting of financial advisors drove net new money during the quarter. Including interest and dividend income, net new money was 7.9 billion Swiss francs (or $8.7 billion) vs. 8 billion Swiss francs in the prior quarter and 8.9 billion Swiss francs in the year-ago period.
Revenue in the quarter ended Dec. 30 was $1.46 billion, down 4% from last year but up 2% from the third quarter. For the fourth quarter, UBS says it had the highest revenue (or fees and commissions) per financial advisor in the industry at $842,000, as well as the highest invested assets per FA and net new money per rep.
Wealth Management Americas included 6,967 FAs at the end of the fourth quarter, up 171 from a year ago and 54 from the previous quarter, reflecting the hiring of experienced financial advisors, according to UBS.
In early February, UBS said it recruited six advisors from Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Alliance Bernstein. The Eubanks Lappin Group joined UBS in Raleigh, N.C., from Merrill with roughly $4 million in production and $750 million in assets under management. Also coming over from BoA-Merrill is the Trudeau Group in Birmingham, Mich.
Joining UBS in New York is David Shorr, a former Morgan Stanley Smith Barney advisor with about $2.8 million in trailing-12-month fees and commissions and assets of $355 million, and Steve Owen comes to UBS in Dallas from Bernstein.
Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo Advisors said it had client assets of $1.1 trillion as of Dec. 30, unchanged from Q3; it also had 15,263 financial advisors, up 75 from three months ago. Close to 11,120 of these reps are in the traditional brokerage channel, representing a jump of 39 from the previous quarter.
WFA is part of the wealth, brokerage and retirement unit, which had net income of $325 million in Q4 vs. $291 million in Q3 and $197 million in the year-ago period.
Wells Fargo said in late January that it hired seven advisors this month from UBS and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney with close to $730 million in total assets and $5.8 million in yearly fees and commissions. One UBS advisor moved to FiNet, an independent channel of Wells Fargo with about 1,050 FA; FiNet, which added 152 financial advisors last year, the company says.
Matthew Montini of San Jose, Calif., came over to FiNet from UBS. His practice, FIG Capital, has about $220 million in assets under management and some $1.1 million in trailing-12-month products (or fees and commissions).
Recently, Tiburon Strategic Advisors issued a report that speculated the wirehouse firms would move more aggressively into the independent channel, which only Wells is active in at present.
Also joining Wells this month from UBS are advisors Christopher Zich, Kenneth Fruehauf, Thomas Buhl and Keeland Howe. They are now part of the traditional employee-advisor channel at Wells Fargo in Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich., and Scottsdale, Ariz. The team's combined AUM is $424 million, while its yearly sales are some $4 million.
Joining Wells in Port Richey, Fla. (near Tampa), from Morgan Stanley is the Cox Wilkins Group, which includes advisors Avery Wilkins and Michael Cox. The team, which will work with Wells Fargo as employee advisors, has total assets of $84 million and total yearly fees and commissions of $738,000. •


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Joint ESA/CNES team leads initial Galileo operations
As the first two operational Galileo satellites enter orbit this week, a closely knit team of engineers from ESA and CNES, France's space agency, will assume control. These experts bring decades of mission operations expertise to the critical early orbit phase.
On 20 October, the first two Galileo In-Orbit Validation satellites will start their missions just moments after separating from the Fregat upper stage of their Soyuz launcher.
As with any satellite, separation marks the start of the critical Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP), when the spacecraft must carry out a series of automated and, later, commanded actions — including deployment of the solar arrays to obtain power, the switching on of communications and other systems and the setting of initial configurations.
Everything must take place at the right time and in the correct sequence.
Joint team provides decades of expertise
This crucial LEOP period, expected to last about seven days, will be overseen by a tightly integrated team of mission operations specialists drawn from ESA and the French space agency, CNES. These engineers have a wealth of experience in areas such as mission control, on board systems, flight dynamics and telecommunications.
"Individually, our ESA and CNES team members represent decades of accumulated experience working on dozens of launches," says Nigel Head, ESA's team lead for the joint LEOP team.
"We started joint training in 2009, and we have worked together smoothly ever since."
For launch of the first two Galileo satellites, the joint LEOP team will work at CNES' Centre Spatial de Toulouse from a dedicated control room that provides data links to the ground stations and networks that will communicate with the satellites in orbit.
Building on success: ESA/CNES team for ATV
The Toulouse centre is home to another highly successful joint ESA/CNES team – the mission operations team for the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV)-series of missions to the International Space Station (ISS).
For later launches of the 30-satellite constellation, the Galileo LEOP team will alternate their work location between Toulouse and ESOC, ESA's Space Operations Centre, Darmstadt, Germany, so as to share the intensive LEOP workload.
"During LEOP, the control room is staffed 24 hours per day. And we rely on support from a wide range of specialist teams at each centre, in areas like ground station scheduling, software maintenance, flight dynamics and networks, so it makes sense for the core team to alternate between the two locations," says Head.
Galileo set for launch 20 October
On 20 October, the LEOP team will follow Soyuz launch progress closely during the countdown, providing a GO/NO-GO confirmation to the launcher control centre in Kourou.
Liftoff is set for 10:34 GMT (12:34 CEST), and separation will take place some 3.5 hours later, marking the start of intense activity in the Toulouse control room.
"We'll be most concentrated while waiting for the ground stations at Dongarra, Australia, and Kerguelen to acquire the first signals from the satellites," says Nigel.
"Establishing contact is the absolutely crucial first step in our LEOP week."
Up above, the satellites will use their attitude control systems to orient themselves to Sun-pointing mode and will autonomously deploy their solar wings, with the team closely monitoring and ready to intervene should problems occur during this automated sequence.
Once this is achieved, about 70 minutes after separation, the team will breathe a bit easier as they start implementing the full range of switch-on and verification activities.
Routine operations in Oberpfaffenhofen and Fucino
Once LEOP ends, the satellites will be handed over to the Oberpfaffenhofen Galileo Control Centre near Munich, operated by the DLR German Aerospace Center, which will be responsible for routine operations. Operating the satellite payloads to provide navigation services will be the task of the Fucino Control Centre, near Rome, operated by Telespazio.
"Mission control specialists from ESA and CNES have worked together for several years on ATV operations," says Claude Audouy of CNES, responsible for Galileo operations at Toulouse.
"Now, we're working together on Galileo and despite the cultural and operational usage differences, it's really just one team, with years of experience from both sides."
"This joint CNES/ESOC Team embodies the extremely tight integration between the engineers from our two agencies," says Manfred Warhaut, ESA's Head of Mission Operations. "I am very proud of their training, teamwork and dedication, combining the best of satellite operations expertise from CNES and ESA to support Galileo launches."


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FRITZ!Fon C6 Service - Knowledge Base
FRITZ!Fon C6 Service
AVM Content
Not your product?
This document is also available for the following products:
- FRITZ!Box 6890 LTE
- FRITZ!Box 6850 LTE
- FRITZ!Box 6840 LTE
- FRITZ!Box 6810 LTE
- FRITZ!Box 6660 Cable
- FRITZ!Box 6591 Cable
- FRITZ!Box 6590 Cable
Beep is heard when conducting calls over a DECT repeater from another manufacturer
You hear a beep every two seconds when conducting calls with a FRITZ!Fon that is connected to the FRITZ!Box over a DECT repeater from another manufacturer (for example Gigaset, Hama or Swissvoice).
- The "verification tone" is enabled in the DECT repeater. The tone indicates that the cordless telephone and the DECT repeater are connected.
1 Disabling the verification tone in the DECT repeater
- Unplug the DECT repeater to switch it off.
- Briefly switch the DECT repeater on: plug the device in for about 3 seconds and unplug it again.
- Switch the DECT repeater on again.
- When the indicator light on the DECT repeater starts to flash slowly, switch it back off.
- Switch the DECT repeater on again.
Note:Since the DECT Repeater is a device from another manufacturer, we cannot answer any further questions if the verification tone cannot be switched off this way. In this case, contact the manufacturer directly.
AVM Section Navigation


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I have a pair of goldenstar projectors that are getting a bit long in the tooth. About 8 years old I think.
One of the projectors has an intermittent blue module and the other has a very dim green, in addition I feel they are only about half as bright as they used to be (but hard to tell).
Anyway, since the scanners are still good, I am considering getting a pair of the Goldenstar 1w RGB modules. With the idea that this would a cost effective way of giving these projectors a new lease of life.
Currently the projector has the following modules.
- 655nm 1w (Fat Beam)
- 532nm 200mw
- 447nm 800mw
These beams get fat pretty quick, and don't mix great, with the red being a lot wider than the rest.
I suspect that although half the rated power the newer 1w modal with look better and possibly outperform the current modules. Any Thoughts on this?
There is plenty of room in the projector,
I am wondering the following:
1) Is this a worthwhile endeavor?
2) Is there somewhere I can find information on what is involved? (I'm pretty handy at this sort of thing).
3) Is anyone willing to help me, by giving me a bit of guidance and answering my stupid questions? (I promise to listen when you tell me something I don't want to hear).
Thanks for you help.


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Brené Brownbrenebrown.com
Brené Brown
Brené Brown, LMSW, PhD, is a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work, where she has spent more than a decade studying vulnerability, courage, authenticity, and shame.
A nationally renowned speaker, Brown teaches graduate courses on women's issues, shame and empathy, advocacy-based research, and global justice. She has won numerous teaching awards, including the college's Outstanding Faculty Award.
Her groundbreaking work on vulnerability, shame, courage, and authenticity has been featured on PBS, NPR, and CNN, and was the subject of two 2010 TEDx talks. Her 2010 TEDx Houston talk on the power of vulnerability is one of the most watched talks on TED.com, with more than 15 million views.
Brown is the author of two #1 New York Times best-selling books, Daring Greatly and The Gifts of Imperfection. She is also the author of I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn't) and Power Connections, a psychoeducational shame resilience curriculum that is being facilitated across the nation by mental health and addiction professionals.
Brown has also released several CDs based on her work, including The Power of Vulnerability, Men, Women & Worthiness, and The Gifts of Imperfect Parenting.
Additionally, Brown is the founder and CEO of The Daring Way, a teaching and certification program for helping professionals who want to facilitate her work on vulnerability, courage, shame, and worthiness.


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Three Cameron Men Cited for Illegal Shrimping on Cameron Prairie NWR in Louisiana
OutdoorHub 06.06.12
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) Enforcement Division agents cited three Cameron men for alleged fishing violations on May 29 on Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge.
Agents cited Anthony G. Theriot, 36, Philip LeJeune Sr., 50, and Jerimie M. Pugh, 37, for taking and possessing game fish with illegal methods, leaving fishing nets unattended, blocking the passage of fish, taking shrimp with illegal gear and trawling at night.
Around 7:30 p.m. on May 29, LDWF agents observed a vessel traveling across the southern end of Calcasieu Lake before stopping in Grand Bayou where the subjects placed a shrimp trawl across the opening at the Grand Bayou water control structure. Grand Bayou is located on the Cameron Prairie NWR in Cameron Parish.
With the aid of handheld thermal imaging systems, agents watched the subjects placing and running the trawl and emptying the shrimp into the vessel. After the three men emptied their net they would leave the trawl and travel in to Calcasieu Lake to cull shrimp.
Around 10:15 p.m. agents made contact with the three men. Agents seized 661 pounds of shrimp, two speckled trout, a 36 foot shrimp trawl and their vessel.
The three men may also facing federal charges through the U.S. Attorney's Office for violating rules on a National Wildlife Refuge since this NWR does not allow commercial fishing activity nor night time fishing.
Taking and possessing game fish with illegal methods brings a $400 to $950 fine and up to 120 days in prison. Leaving nets unattended carries a $500 to $750 fine and 15 to 30 days in jail. Blocking the passage of fish and taking shrimp with illegal gear each brings a $250 to $500 fine and up to 90 days in jail. Trawling at night brings a $100 to $350 fine and up to 60 days in jail.
Agents participating in the case were Senior Agent Carl Pickett, Sgt. Aaron Herpin, Sgt. David Sanford and Senior Agent Stuart Guillory.


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Santa Fe Hummus Bacon Bagel
Take a trip to southwest for lunch - olé!
1 Thomas'® 100% Whole Wheat Bagel Thins® bagel
3 egg whites
4 tbsp black bean hummus (store-bought or homemade*)
2 tbsp. low-fat sour cream
4 tbsp. tomato salsa
Nonstick cooking oil spray
*Homemade black bean hummus:
1 can (15 oz.) black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 garlic clove, chopped
2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
3/4 tsp. ground cumin
Separate and toast Bagel Thins® bagel. Place open-faced and top each half with 2 tablespoons of hummus and 1 tablespoon of low-fat sour cream. Spray nonstick frying pan with cooking oil and put on stove top under medium heat. Beat 3 egg whites together in mixing bowl and then pour into heated frying pan. Once eggs are cooked through, place on open-faced English muffin and top with salsa.
*Homemade black bean hummus:
Mince all ingredients together in food processor until smooth; refrigerate.


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GPSed - location-based service for trip tracking from mobile. In real time tracks are traced on Google maps and stored in an online archive. With a simple geotagging feature it is possible to pin photos to a map precisely at a place they were taken.
Map GPS tracks from your mobile and keep them in a personal archiveRecord tracks of your trips anywhere on the Earth from your mobile phone. Tracks are traced on Google Maps and stored in an online archive. All you need to start tracking is a mobile device with an internal or external GPS receiver.
In areas without network coverage it is still possible to record tracks by a mobile device. These tracks can be imported to GPSed web service when you are in the area with good network coverage. Positioning data can be transferred online via GSM, EDGE, 3G or WiFi networks
Pin your photos to a map with one-click geotagging feature
Take photos while traveling and link them to a map precisely at a place they were taken. The geotagged photos will be stored on your computer for easy and private access. See your geotagged photos in one click on Google Earth.
You can get free desktop service GPSed Photo Take´n´Pin on gpsed.com.Share your position coordinates and tracks with friends and family
Sharing your trip impressions with friends is easy. Just select "Email to Friend" and your friends will receive a link to your public tracks. Let your friends see your instant position on a map when you are recording tracks with GPSed.
The uploaded tracks are stored on the server and available for review and management from GPSed web service
- Open/Close tracks to view them.
- Make your tracks Public/Private.
- Detailed track information.
- Tracks auto-zoom.
- Search among your tracks and public tracks of other users.
For BlackBerry and Windows Mobile handhelds Pro version of GPSed is available. All features that you have already got accustomed to use in GPSed free basic version you will find in Pro, but new features make this version really efficient.


text: Your highest lossless compression kbps value? 2008-01-08 18:24:29 Hi, out of interest and I know it depends from the encoder: Just had a look into the compression values of my lossless files (all encoded with TAK from normal to max). I mainly have IDM (1/3) music files and Classical orchestral (2/3), 577 files to be precise. All in all, for classical music, my experience is that lossless compression is fun, it often clocks in between 400-600 kbps.I was surprised electronic music does often compress worse, surprising for me.But in case of my "worst compression" winner it's not surprising that it's an electronica track, because maybe of it's complexity.My winner is: Autechre - Gantz Graf (971 kbps with TAK 5 max. /Tak v.1.03)The loser isn't too interesting, because it's stuff with lots of silence (ae/hafler/"aeo3") followed by many classical tracks starting at 366 kbps...What's your winner? Last Edit: 2008-01-08 18:25:19 by Squeller


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Change Considered Harmful? - The New Visual Studio Look and Feel
DISCLAIMER: This is my opinion. I don't work for the Visual Studio Team. If you write an article about this and quote me as "The Principal Program Manager for Something Major" then you are a silly person.
The next version of Visual Studio is being worked on and the Beta is coming out soon that we'll all get to download. The Visual Studio design team put a post out today called "Introducing the New Developer Experience" and many of the comments are negative. Some folks are freaking out about the colors and the icons.
Because the first blog post from Visual Studio was on the new look and feel (and because everyone is Metro-styling everything) the public perception is that no work has been happening except the icons and colors have changed.
This is my blog, not hosted, run, organized or written by anyone but me. My post, my blog, my opinions. My initial reaction to the redesign was who moved my cheese? Why are we making everything gray? But I've been running this for a few weeks and I have some perspective even though I'm not on the Visual Studio team (I work on the web team).
There's basically three issues here as I see it.
- First, the new look of Visual Studio.
- Second, look side, what actual new features are in the new Visual Studio.
- Last, what this new look means to Windows applications and app design in general
The New Look
It's dramatic. It's initially gray. There is a light theme and a dark theme. Here's the VS11 next to VS10. It's still Visual Studio, so that's something, but the skin has changed.
The dark theme in Visual Studio 11 looks a lot like my current Text Editor of Choice (and the new hotness everyone is talking about) Sublime Text 2. Here are the two side by side. They are pretty similar. There's only so many ways you can make a minimal UI with a text editor, line numbers, a find dialog and a scrollbar. I actually blogged about simplifying your Visual Studio 2010 a while back. Just turn the toolbars off. You don't need them. In fact, the Web Team (the team I'm on) has a simplified Code View that we've had available since VS 2010.
See how Visual Studio looks very different below than it does above? It's customizable so you can get a number of weird looks. I also blogged about how to change your themes and make VS 2010 look like 2008 here. Also, did you know about http://studiostyl.es? It's a growing list of themes for Visual Studio. There's hundreds. I called some out in my Visual Studio Programmer Theme Gallery.
In VS10, today, you can switch your IDE to Web Development (Code Only) from Tools | Export Settings | Reset and you'll get this dialog. That will hide all your tools windows, and extra stuff in the Visual Studio you already have. This feature has been there for years because folks asked for it. This is the same list that you are offered the very first time you launch Visual Studio. It's a nice way to "tidy up" Visual Studio today. Of course you can change the colors and generally mess about as you like.
Here's VS11 and VS10 next to each other. VS11 shows a preview of images if you hover over it.
Personally, I don't like the ALL CAPS much. I'm sure they have heard that feedback from a lot of people. That's just one man's opinion but I'm not too worried about it. I know the Visual Studio design team is collecting everyone's on their blog and I encourage you to comment there so they see it.
The colorful Visual Studio icons were changed to glyphs. Glyphs are apparently a designer term for icons that are not colorful. You can see a lot of glyphs at http://thenounproject.com and I used a lot in my recent Windows Phone 7 application. We're used to seeing glyphs in Windows already, like in the "tray" by the clock. (Yes I know it's not called The Tray.)
I'd like a little color in my icons, but I don't think they all need to be full color. Just include a splash so I can tell them apart. For example, here's my copy of Adobe Audition next to Photoshop, both from my same machine. Notice that there's some color in important buttons in Audition and very very minimal color in Photoshop, but mostly grays. There's still room for splashes of color in black and white glyph style icons. The idea is to make the icon get out of the way, but also be "scannable" so that I can remember not only where it is, but if it moves still scan and get to it quickly.
In Photoshop I'm editing color photos and in Audition I'm editing a colorful waveform. In both editors the UI is getting out of the way of the thing I'm editing. I like the idea of my editor being less important than the thing I'm editing.
New Features
There are a pile of non-UI/UX features in Visual Studio 11 that are broad and systemic changes that aren't just changing colors. I'm finding it easier to locate the commands and options I need due to the new search features and toolbar reductions I mentioned above. I find myself exploring relationships in my code with the new Solution Explorer without having to switch tool windows like I use to. I also find that unlike in the past when the files I needed to focus on kept getting crowded out by lots of open stuff I didn't need now I keep looking up at my open tabs and seeing only the stuff I care about. It's hard to express this without spending hours inside the IDE. There's bug fixes, speed fixes and memory fixes.
Non-theme-related work that the UX guys are doing cleans up the UI and improve it's functionality without removing features. When you consider only the more commonly used toolbars (Standard, Debug, Text Editor, Work Item Tracking, Test Tools), they've removed 60% of the clutter and globally there's 35% fewer commands in the toolbar in VS11, but all the features are still available. The stuff that has value is up front and easier to find and the obscure stuff I can search for with one hotkey. Don't let talk of icon colors (or lack of) detract from actual thought that's been put into a developer's (in my case, a web developer's) daily workflow.
My team (the angle brackets folks) has talked about the features and fixes in ASP.NET, IIS and related tech on videos and tutorials up on http://asp.net/vnext and will keep updating that mini-site. All the editors have been updated with features like goto definition in JavaScript, color pictures and vendor prefixes and piles more. All added features, but done in a clean way that gives you useful functionality without adding more windows and widgets.
You'll get your hands on the Beta very soon. It's not too late to get or give feedback. All the teams are listening and I'm making sure that your voice (and mine) are going to the right people. To dismiss all the CLR work, the BCL work, the speed and meory footprint work over some icons is premature. Does it work?
Is this Metro-style?
As far as the design, I think that there's a lot more interesting work going on in Windows application design now in everyone's applications. No, not everything is or has to be "Metro-style." It does need to be thoughtfully designed, though. We've seen that in phones and on desktops. We're starting to see applications with design at their heart.
I'm enjoying seeing what's coming next. There's a lot of interesting conversations around the web right now about what all design thought means for Windows, for Office, and for applications in general. Ars Technica has an interesting blurb that talks about an "elegant fusion of ribbon and Metro."
Is Visual Studio a metro-style application now? No. Is Zune or Sublime or iTunes or Photoshop? Of course not. I think the larger more interesting discussion is an increased use of whitespace, of design languages, of "content over chrome," of fewer lines, fewer wasted pixels and clearer spaces, of form meeting function. For now, Visual Studio is Beta, and it will look likely different when it's released. But it is being designed.
The Verge has some screenshots of some early builds of Office 15 and how it might look. I like our they to use color purposefully within the design. It's early to pass judgment on any of these applications, but I think I understand what all these designers are trying to accomplish. They don't (and I don't) want color and bling and flash in the outside application chrome if it doesn't provide information about my content. It's like what Tufte says, make those pixels work for you. Sure, one can blindly "Metro-style all things" but I would rather think of it as a applying design principles like clean lines, appropriate use of whitespace and focus on the the content (in this case, code). This beta is a step in that direction. I'm sure it will improve as feedback comes in.
VS and Me
There's style and there's functionality. So far I've been very happy with the functionality of VS11 and have been writing all my code in it. It opens VS2010 projects without converting and I can round-trip between VS11 and VS10SP1. I can create and target .NET 4.5 apps as well as.NET 2.0 apps. So far VS11 has been faster on my machines than VS10, and since I have more than one processor, I get multi-processor builds automatically. The editor is fast and the builds are fast.
It's far too early to panic. Sure, my cheese has been moved, but I can always change the colors or toolbars. I just want a faster, cleaner, more productive system that focuses on the code.
My advice to you? Go follow the updates on the Visual Studio blog. Keep adding your comments, and check out their new Visual Studio posts each day including the one they just posted today about the Solution Explorer hub. But above all, download it on launch day, use it for a while and see what you think.
About Scott
Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.
About Newsletter
I am betting that Microsoft dumped a large amount of $$$ in this design and doing user studies, etc.Yeah, they did study with all 76 people. That's right, 76 people study (icon study) for this complete and radical change of UI on such an important product. Don't believe me? See VS team blog, it's all there: and all 76 of them agreed these new monochrome icons (glyphs) are better LOL One has to wonder why, how is it possible, just look at all the negative comments there.. (I honestly don't believe they did any studies at all.) I think we all know why: everybody clap your hands.. :( On the other hand, now we have new VS Achievement unlocked: ":::VS11 BETA::: - Design Is Epic Fail." :-)
Comments are closed.


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Superheavy want low key performance
- Bang Showbiz
- 20 February 2012
SuperHeavy want their first performance to be low key and take place in a small venue in New York
SuperHeavy want their first performance to be low key.
While the supergroup - made up of Sir Mick Jagger, Damian Marley, Joss Stone, Dave Stewart and A.R. Rahman - have been offered the chance to play at a number of high profile concerts, they would prefer to make their debut at a small venue.
Dave explained: "We always talk about making it, well, not a secret gig, but just a small place in New York or something like that.
"We haven't set anything. We went through a million different ramifications.
"Everybody wants to do something. Everybody's busy doing things, but we can all regroup at one point. It's a mixture of five managers."
The former Eurythmics musician also revealed one of the shows the 'Miracle Worker' band have been approached to perform at include the London 2012 Olympic Games this summer, partly due to the culturally-diverse nature of the group.
He told Examiner.com: "The funny thing is, SuperHeavy was approached to perform at the 2012 Olympics, because we are mixed culturally: Indian, Jamaican, British. It's all very interesting.
"SuperHeavy, when people realised what it was, we were asked to do everything: The Grammys, the Olympics, the opening of a balloon in Bangkok. There's a wall of invitations."


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The fashionable Tripp Trapp® Junior Cushion is perfect for older children to personalise their favourite chair and give a more grown-up look. Made of interior friendly fabrics, it´s available in Jade Twill and Slate Twill. Simple, yet stylish, it has added function with a no-slip bottom to keep it in place.


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How Maria Jarosh Lost 105 Lbs. – and Kept It Off
First thing Maria Jarosh gave up to lose 105 lbs.? Two late-night sundaes (topped with whole milk!)
Growing up I was always the bigger girl.
I hated being the "clothes holder" for my friends when we went shopping because when I was 13, I was a size 28 and could never try on the same things.
In high school I'd get to class early so people wouldn't see me trying to squeeze into my desk. I was so embarrassed. But then I ate two bowls of cereal and two bowls of ice cream with chocolate sauce, peanuts, cookies and whole milk poured over it to make me feel better before bed.
My mom joined Weight Watchers when I was 15, and I decided to give it a try. I lost the weight by 2008 and have kept it off ever since.
I love my stomach now that it has tone to it. And I love buying bikinis. There is still that anxiety about putting one on, but when I find one that fits, I feel unstoppable!