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by David Crane [email protected] SFTT/DefenseWatch has published a Pinnacle Armor press release regarding the recent partial/unfinished testing of Dragon Skin scalar flexible hard armor system (body armor) that was conducted by U.S. Army Project Manager Soldier Equipment (PM SEQ). Karl Masters and James Zheng, both out of U.S. Army Natick Soldier Center/Natick Soldier Systems Center/PEO Soldier (Program Executive Office Soldier), …Read More »
Tag Archives: dragon skin
U.S. Military Body Armor Saga Enters New Phase: New Trouble for Interceptor?
by David Crane david at defensereview.com For the last few months, DefenseReview has been writing about the Pinnacle Armor SOV/Dragon Skin vs. Interceptor Body Armor fight. We consider this situation to be one of the most important developing news stories in the country, as it directly impacts the lives/survivability of our infantry warfighters. As the situtation has progressed, DefenseReview (DefRev) …Read More »
U.S. Air Force Sets the Record Straight on Dragon Skin Body Armor
by David Crane david at defensereview.com In our latest article on Pinnacle Armor SOV/Dragon Skin body armor, DefenseReview discussed the extensive and unrefutable (unclassified) ballistic test data on Dragon Skin that we recently viewed with our own eyes. This data was compiled by three different well-known ballistic test centers (ATC, USTL, and H.P. White). In fact, to my knowledge, I …Read More »
DefRev Sees Test Data: Dragon Skin Hands-Down Superior to Army's Interceptor
by David Crane david at defensereview.com Defense Review has confirmed it. Just as we expected, Pinnacle Armor SOV-2000 (Level III/III+) and SOV-3000 (Level IV) Dragon Skin body armor appears to be significantly superior in every combat-relavant way to U.S. Army PEO Soldier's and U.S. Army Natick Soldier Center (NSC)/Soldier Systems Center's Interceptor Body Armor, which is comprised of the following components: …Read More »
Pinnacle Armor Responds to U.S. Army SOUM and Gen. Sorenson
by David Crane defrev at gmail.com On April 5, 2006, DefenseReview published the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense news transcript (Unclassified) of Major General Jeffrey Sorenson's News Briefing on Pinnacle Armor Dragon Skin body Armor and the Safety of Use Message (SOUM) relating to it. In his news briefing Mr. Sorenson made a …Read More »
Transcript: Gen. Sorenson's statements about Dragon Skin vs. Interceptor armor
The following is a U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) News Transcript – Unclassified Presenter: Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Sorenson, deputy, Acquisition and Systems Management, for the Assistant Secretary of the Army, Acquisition, Logistics and Technology March 31, 2006 News Briefing with Maj. Gen. Sorenson GEN. SORENSON: Good afternoon. I've just been asked to …Read More »
Interceptor vs. Dragon Skin: Body Armor Fight Gets Ugly
by David Crane [email protected] Everyone who's been following the U.S. Army's body armor drama involving Interceptor body armor program vs. SOV/Dragon Skin body armor is probably already aware that U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center (Natick)/Natick Soldier Center and PEO Soldier (Program Executive Office Soldier) have essentially declared war on Pinnacle Armor. According to Major General Jefferey A. Sorenson, Deputy for …Read More »
DefRev Exclusive Video: Pinnacle Armor SOV/Dragon Skin Gets Live-Fire Tested
by David Crane [email protected] The following article contains links to video clips of Pinnacle Armor Dragon Skin/SOV body armor being live-fire tested against 7.62x39mm military ball ammo (FMJ) and 9mm military ball ammo (9x19mm FMJ) at short distances. As our readers know, DefenseReview has been reporting on the Pinnacle Armor SOV/Dragon Skin body armor vs. Interceptor Body Armor for a …Read More »
Pinnacle Armor Dragon Skin vs. Interceptor Body Armor Continued…
by David Crane [email protected] DefenseReview has confirmed a report that Pinnacle Armor met with General James R. Moran, Commanding General, U.S. Army Natick Soldier Systems Center and Program Executive Officer Soldier (PEO Soldier), on January 17, 2006 in order to give him the opportunity to see the official DoD/military protocol test data on Pinnacle's SOV/Dragon Skin body armor. Upon viewing …Read More »
Is the U.S. Army Deliberately Endangering the Lives of Our Warfighters?
by David Crane [email protected] On January 11th (2006), DefenseWatch/Soldiers For The Truth (SFTT) published an article by DW/SFTT editor Nat Helms about a critical/damaging U.S. Marine Corps forensic study on Interceptor OTV body armor, titled Interceptor OTV Body Armor Costs Lives, An Internal USMC Report Shows.Two days later, on January 13th (2006), DefenseReview reported on the current Pinnacle Armor Dragon …Read More »


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Product Description
Our Nostalgia:
We had fun designing the look of this sunsuit. We definitely had our littlest one Fiona in mind the whole time we were playing around with the embellishments. Fiona is fun, outgoing, charming and full of character. She is also very cute with her words. She can throw tantrums, she can sing loudly. She is very vocal, opinionated and every bit of a toddler. She makes a mess, spills things on the floor and on herself but she likes to "help" cleaning up as well. She is adorable and we just want to squeeze her tight. We wanted to make a sunsuit that would speak for all the heart-melting moments that a toddler can give. We wanted an outfit that truly honors the wild-and-sweet toddlerhood that we will forever treasure in our hearts. So here it is!

subset: commoncrawl


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The swimming pool in Kulmbach features safe disinfection
Kulmbach, a small town in Bavaria, has approximately 27,000 inhabitants and is also called the "secret capital of beer". The town has a lot to offer in the cultural area, for example, the historic Plassenburg (the Plassen Castle). In addition, the town has manifold possibilities for leisure time activities, such as an indoor and an outdoor swimming-pool with a skating rink close-by.
In June 2008, there was an incident at the ice rink: poisonous ammonia gas escaped through a leakage in the technical installation. 50 people in the adjacent outdoor pool were hurt. Fortunately, most of them could go home after having spent a short period of time in medical care. This incident has caused the town to have all leisure facilities checked for potential security risks.
WBG, a local water treatment company, was asked to check the chlorine gas doing unit in the swimming pool and to look for possible alternatives. As WBG had successfully cooperated with Grundfos Water Treatment (at that time still called Grundfos Alldos) in the past, they approached us to find a safe and reliable solution to replace the chlorine gas installation.
The situation:
As chlorine gas units were installed in both, the outdoor and the indoor swimming pool, a new chlorine gas dosing system would not have been a real alternative. Disinfection with ozone or UV was also not an option as both methods need additional chlorine disinfection to maintain the chlorine content required by the European Badewasserverordnung. And if you need chlorine disinfection in any case, why not use chlorine bleaching for the complete disinfection process? As investment costs would be low, the only flaw would be high running costs.
Therefore, Grundfos Water Treatment proposed the following: why should they not manufacture their own sodium hypochlorite on-site with an electrolyzer? You only need salt, water and electricity as basic materials and all of them are easy to handle and not hazardous in itself.
The Grundfos Water Treatment solution:
To produce sodium hypochlorite electrolytically, you can either use an undivided cell or a membrane cell. The membrane cell offered by competitors has less salt consumption per kg chlorine, but their system is more complicated and therefore more susceptible to failures. It also has higher investment and maintenance costs. Therefore, the solution offered by Grundfos Water Treatment, an electrolyzing system with an undivided cell, was highly appreciated. Grundfos and WBG discussed and explained the offer to the operators in detail and in the end, Kulmbach opted for a Selcoperm electrolyzer made by Grundfos for both swimming pools.
The Selcoperm only requires minimal maintenance while running. This was an important decisive factor, as the staff should mainly take care of the guests and only spend little time on solving technical issues.
Grundfos and WBG delivered and set-up the following:
Outdoor swimming pool:
Selcoperm 500, max. 500 g Cl2/h incl. salt and batch tank,
DDI 222-60 (swimming pool),
DDI 209-13,8 (children's pool)
Indoor swimming pool:
Selcoperm 2000, max. 2000 g Cl2/h, incl. salt and 5 m³ batch tank
1 x DME 940 l/h (swimming pool)
2 x DME 375 l/h (fun pool)
1 x DME 150 (children's pool)
The outcome:
Both Selcoperm systems have run flawlessly since their installation three years ago. The limit values of the Badewasserverordnung are met at any time. Staff and operators have been very satisfied with the Grundfos systems and said that it was the right decision to install the two Selcoperm units.
The swimming pool in Kulmbach features safe disinfection
Kulmbach, Germany
City of Kulmbach
If you need a similar solution, please contact us for further information.
If you need a similar solution, please contact us for further information.


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No Title
Humility is not the first character trait that generally comes to mind when one thinks about what it takes to rise up the corporate ranks. Yet, some of America's most successful executives are those who cultivate a quiet strength to create a winning corporate culture. The book Start With Humility: Lessons from America's Quiet CEOs on How to Build Trust and Inspire Followers (GreenLeaf Center/Available now) will teach you how you can use tiny gestures, sincere empathy and consideration to transform yourself from a boss into a leader. Authors Merwyn. A. Hayes and Michael D. Comer come up with an all-inclusive gameplan that will help you build meaningful alliances - from the lowest rungs of the corporate ladder all the way through the C-suite. Merwyn is CEO/president of The Hayes Group International, a consulting firm that focuses on people issues within organizations. Comer is a consulting partner with the Hayes Group. Here are 10 highlights:
This article was originally published on 09-14-2011


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Bean Sprouts Acquitted in Deadly E. Coli Outbreak
Just shortly after declaring bean sprouts from an organic farm in Germany the cause of an E. coli outbreak in Europe that has killed 22 and sickened thousands, health officials have now backpedaled.
Apparently a majority of samples of sprouts came back clear of the bacteria. Now that cucumbers, lettuce, and tomatoes have been let off the hook, the real killer is still on the loose. I bet it is peppers. They always did look really shifty.


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Seems like as good a time as any since the Rancor Keeper is one of the handful of figures from the 90s era that has yet to see a resculpt in the past few years.
Well so far...based on Q&A rumorsReturn of the Jedi (Spring 2009 Wave 3?)Luke Skywalker (Death Star II)Princess Leia of some sortMalakiliEwok 2 Pack (Wicket, Paploo or Teebo to be included)
Princess Leia of some sort
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Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert Avoid Coordinating on Tonight's Daily Show
[There was a video here]
By now we all know that Jon Stewart has taken over Stephen Colbert's Super PAC and has started running some attack ads. But what should he do next? And how can he figure that out without coordinating with Colbert? On tonight's Daily Show, Stewart and Colbert made a clever mockery of the Super PAC rules and didn't coordinate the entire time.


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Maker: Revolve Release Date: August 2019 Product ID: 4571452940542
Please note that due to the COVID-19 situation, shipments from Japan to Australia are temporarily suspended. This will affect most items on our site, except for those listed under "For Immediate Shipment" as well as Blu-Ray & DVD Titles. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. Dismiss


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Print "A small tear relieves a great sorrow"
Regular price €12,00
Unit price
Tax included.
This is a limited edition (1 from 100) print of original work from Lucky Laika artist Olivia Lipartia. The picture "A small tear relieves a great sorrow" is inspired by the same proverb and is one of our "Proverbs" series pictures.
The picture is printed on a quality paper with original inks which ensures a long fade resistance. Still, we suggest using UV-protection glass to keep the art safe.
Every picture is titled and signed by the artist.
Size of a large picture: picture 23 x 15 cm, paper 30 x 21 cm.
Size of a small picture: picture 15 x 10 cm, paper 20 x 15 cm.
Choose the size of the print when buying.
The print is shipped in a cello sleeve and stiff package - so there is a smaller chance for a postal worker to damage the picture :)


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CBS announcer Gary Danielson takes shot at Notre Dame
If the four undefeated teams atop college football's polls all finish undefeated, CBS' Gary Danielson says Notre Dame is the last team he'd put in the Bowl Championship Series title game.
"My personal tiebreaker is that a conference championship game has to stand for something," says Danielson, who'll call CBS' Alabama-LSU on Saturday (8 p.m. ET). "I would penalize Notre Dame for not playing in a conference championship. So after Alabama, my first nod would be to Oregon, since its conference has earned respect, then Kansas State and only then Notre Dame."
Actually, says Danielson, even if Alabama had one loss he might put the Crimson Tide in the BCS title game over undefeated teams: "You'd have to put them in the discussion, because they've earned it given what the conference has accomplished."
But Joey Harrington, studio analyst for Fox, which airs No. 2 Oregon at No. 17 USC Saturday (7 p.m. ET), couldn't disagree more about any team with a loss -- even Alabama -- being allowed to bypass unbeaten teams: "No, not even a chance. The SEC historically has been the best conference and probably is this year. ... But Alabama's schedule this year does not make them deserving if they have a loss."
Harrington, an ex-Oregon quarterback, also has an explanation for how the Ducks have gone from so-so to a perennial national title contender: "It was a combination of the (flashy Nike) uniforms, which gets them in the door with recruits, and coach Chip Kelly, that got them to the top."


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By John Hayes, iContact Business Development Executive
According to a survey we conducted of over 600 marketers, businesses are aiming to grow their email list size by 28 percent over the next year. And yet, one of the most frequent questions we get asked at iContact is, "How do I grow my list?"
Our clients understand that they cannot use purchased or other dubiously acquired lists, and this isn't an issue for most of them. As successful marketers, they understand that unsolicited commercial email will not return significant results and could ultimately damage their brand's reputation. But for many marketers, poor list growth is a major roadblock en route to greater email marketing success.
My answer is simple: Be aggressive in your approach to list growth, and ask for permission at every available opportunity.
Quick Steps to Help You Grow Your Email Marketing Lists
- Improve Your Website-to-Email Conversions: Make it as easy as possible for visitors to your website to register for your email newsletters. Place your subscription form on every single page (not just the home page). Never hide your subscription form behind a link in your website navigation – very few people will actually click here. Remember, once people have left your site, it is very hard to get them to return.
- Get Social #1: Drive subscribers to your email marketing list via your social media activity. While it is easier to grow your following on Facebook or Twitter than to collect email addresses, email marketing has the potential to drive more significant ROI. Be sure to add an email subscription form to your Facebook pages.
- Get Social #2: Make it easy for your email recipients to share your emails with their friends and family members by adding social media share buttons to your newsletters. This will ultimately send more traffic back to your website, which, if optimized as per point #1, will help drive email subscriptions. The best way to encourage sharing is to invest time in creating great content.
- Keep on Blogging: An active blog gives your website a pulse, aids your SEO efforts, and helps your business stand out in a sea of static website content. Don't forget to include your email subscription form on every page of your blog.
- Get Mobile: Email marketing apps for the iPhone and Android mobile devices make it easy for you to add names to your list on the fly. Whenever you meet potential clients, ask them if you can add them to your email list.
- Take Advantage of Trade Shows: It's not a high-tech solution. But there is nothing wrong with placing a goldfish bowl in your booth and soliciting email subscriptions (perhaps with the aid of a competition) from trade show attendees. The cost of adding names to your list is negligible; therefore, email marketing offers an ideal solution to dealing with lukewarm leads while your sales team focuses on more immediate prospects. The unsubscribe functionality on your emails will also go some way toward helping your clients self-prioritize their lead status.
- Ask at the Point of Sale: How much repeat business is lost at your sales counter? If you don't ask for your customers' email details, you'll never know. Sweeten the deal by offering an incentive to share their details.
- Incentivize and Reward: You don't need to offer a financial incentive to win repeat business. How about offering email exclusive promotions, such as the first chance to buy? This will be particularly useful if the customer is presented with a perception of scarcity.
- Keep It Relevant: Don't be a generalist. Maintain multiple lists and send targeted campaigns. Manage your unsubscribes carefully by offering alternatives. Just because someone no longer wants to receive your weekly newsletter, doesn't mean that s/he would not appreciate a more targeted or less frequent communication.
The survey results expand on the role of email marketing in today's marketing strategy. You can download the entire survey, an infographic with key information, and learn more about the survey at iContact, email marketing from Vocus.


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For Immediate Release, June 10, 2010
Lawsuit Targets Harmful Public-lands Livestock Subsidy
WASHINGTON— Today the Center for Biological Diversity, Western Watersheds Project, WildEarth Guardians, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, and Oregon Natural Desert Association sued the Departments of Interior and Agriculture to compel them to respond to a 2005 rulemaking petition that seeks to increase the fee for livestock grazing across 258 million acres of federal public land.
"The federal grazing program is as fiscally irresponsible as it is ecologically harmful," said Taylor McKinnon, public lands campaigns director for the Center for Biological Diversity. "In responding to our petition, the government must now choose between correcting and continuing the subsidized destruction of America's public land."
The current grazing fee does not recover even the administrative costs of operating the program, leaving U.S. taxpayers to pay the difference. The fee also falls short of paying for the environmental problems this land use causes, and instead enables high levels of livestock grazing that harm ecosystems, degrade watersheds, and cause species decline. In 2010, the government charges just $1.35 per month to graze one cow and calf on public lands administered by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, which is the lowest possible rate under the current fee formula.
"Given the massive budget shortfall our country is facing, we can no longer afford to subsidize a small group of ranchers to graze public lands at public expense," said Mark Salvo, director of the Sagebrush Sea Campaign for WildEarth Guardians.
Although the Administrative Procedures Act requires the government to respond to rulemaking petitions, the Departments of Interior and Agriculture have not responded to plaintiff's 2005 petition. Today's lawsuit seeks that response.
"Our public lands are worth far more than cheap forage for private livestock operations," said Great Anderson, Arizona director of the Western Watersheds Project. "The agencies should take this opportunity to set an appropriate value for livestock use of these lands, which provide habitat for plants and animals, clean our air and water, and provide recreational opportunities for millions of Americans."
The conservation organizations are represented by attorney Marc Fink of the Center for Biological Diversity and attorney Matt Kenna of Durango, Colorado.
To see a copy of today's complaint, click here.
To see a copy of the Center's report on assessing the full cost of public-lands livestock grazing click here.
Livestock grazing is one of the most ubiquitous and destructive uses of public land. It is also a contributing factor to the imperilment of numerous threatened and endangered species. Those species include the desert tortoise, Mexican spotted owl, southwestern willow flycatcher, least Bell's vireo, Mexican gray wolf, Oregon spotted frog, Chiricahua leopard frog, and dozens of other species of imperiled mammals, fish, amphibians, and spring snails that occur on western public land. Public lands livestock grazing is also a primary factor contributing to unnaturally severe western wildfires, watershed degradation, soil loss, and the spread of invasive plants — as well as annual greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to that of 705,342 passenger vehicles.
Grazing fees apply to livestock grazing across 258 million acres of western public land administered by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management — 81 percent of the land administered by the two agencies in the 11 western states. There are approximately 23,600 public-lands ranchers, representing about 6 percent of all livestock producers west of the Mississippi River.
The low federal grazing fee contributes to the adverse impacts caused by livestock grazing on public lands for two primary reasons: (1) the below-fair-market-value fee encourages annual grazing on even the most marginal lands and allows for increased grazing on other areas; and (2) since a percentage of the funds collected is required to be used on range mitigation and restoration, the low fee equates to less funds for environmental mitigation and restoration of the impacted lands.
A 2005 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service grazing receipts fail to recover even 15 percent of administrative costs and are much lower than fees charged by the other federal agencies, states, and private ranchers. The U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the Bureau and Forest Service grazing fee decreased by 40 percent from 1980 to 2004, while grazing fees charged by private ranchers increased by 78 percent for the same period. To recover expenditures, the Bureau and Forest Service would have had to charge $7.64 and $12.26 per animal unit month, respectively.
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All You Need to Confidently Design, Test, Measure and Monitor
For more than sixty years, engineers have turned to Tektronix for test and measurement instrumentation to solve design challenges, improve productivity and dramatically reduce time to market. You can always count on Tektronix to give you the domain expertise, innovation, performance, practical advice and quality you need.
Bringing the Next Generation of Innovation Closer
Whenever you view a web site, click a mouse, make a cell phone call, or turn on a TV you touch Tektronix's work. As a world leader in test, measurement and monitoring technology, they enable their customers to do more than they ever have. Technical innovators of all kinds benefit from their products and expertise.
Tektronix's customers work in communications, computer, semiconductor, military/aerospace, consumer electronics, education, broadcast and other fields all over the globe. Their reputations and success depend on Tektronix's passion for solving their most complex measurement problems. Tektronix helps them measure, analyze and test next generation devices to ensure accurate performance, reliability, and compatibility.


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I always go to your tips guide when I pick up your mag.I love the satisfaction of making my own hunting and fishing gear. I have made two ladder stands the are great and even mobile. I made the buck rattle and hope to use both the stand and rattle to harvest a buck this year. I'll send pics if I do. Thanks Field and Stream.
Hats off to Field & Stream. You guys rock!!
Field and Stream is the most honest and reader- friendly magazine on the market. It is well rounded all year long, with articles on everything I love. I don't have a lot of time to read, however, I make time for my monthly issue of Field and Stream. Thanks!
Nothing better than coming home after a long day at work to a hot cup of tea, a warm loving wife and the latest edition of Field & Stream. That day everything else wait.
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Syria: A Brief History
What's the short version of Syria's recent history? WSJ's Jason Bellini has #TheShortAnswer.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
I ... with us considering military action in Syria on ... Asian country has become a modern day humanitarian ... geopolitical disaster ... we wondered what is the short history of Syria over the last hundred years ... start out in nineteen eighteen ... World War one comes to him ... and with the four hundred years of Ottoman rule over Syria ... almost immediately with European powers redrawing the world map ... the French state controlled Syria ... national uprisings eventually push the French to agree to Syria independence ... but when troops remain in the country through World War two ... so after the allies win the war the French wine glass ... as with Damascus the capital looks like around them ... but these Muslims come from various ex majority pursuing ... thirteen forties nineteen fifties are turbulent political pawns ... the most part military whose ... country ... eventually align themselves with the Soviet Union ... which supplies arms to Syria ... Mr. into ones with Egypt to form a company called United Arab Republic ... but just three years later Syrian army officers reclaim Damascus ... Syria returns to being a sovereign state in the sixties are decade of coups militarily boards and riots ... capped off by the six day war ... Israel with its Arab neighbors to attack it preemptively bombs in all but destroyed the Egyptian Jordanian ... Iraqi and Syrian Air Force is ... among the territories Israel captures ... Syria's Golan Heights ... after that series Defense Minister Hafez al Saud seizes power becomes from hell white minority set ... to keep Syria at the center of the Arab Israeli conflict washing with Egypt the surprise attack on Israel to win back the Golan Heights ... becomes a war of attrition Secretary of State Henry Kissinger travels Damascus brokering a peace deal ... to return some of Golan to Syria ... but sure U S relations dollar after the Iranian Islamic revolution ... when Syria allies itself with five or Khamenei ... and support drawn into war with Iraq ... but in totally Islamic groups are unhappy with the stock's lack of values ... and try to topple ... you probably suppress the Muslim Brotherhood uprising in the city of ... thousands of civilians died in relation to the West improve when after Summers inventory in nineteen ninety ... Syria joins the US led coalition against Iraq ... ten years later us on the rising sun Wishart takes over ... after the September eleven attacks in two thousand one nation with us to another term for the worse ... with Syria making the Bush administration's axis of evil ... the slide further with the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister tropical really un implicated Syrian officials ... a few years later Israel Bond is what it says is the Syrian nuclear facility under construction ... present Obama review sanctions against Syria over its alleged support for terrorist ... revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia inspired protest against SA leading to government suppression ... which escalates into sectarian civil war has now killed over a hundred thousand people ... Sears turbulent recent history ... another troubling milestone with allegations that the regime has used chemical weapons ... and now seems that on certain time as any in the country's history ... short answer ...


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Jason busts into the church and demands the cure but Ewen doesn't have it. He wants to talk to Jerry and is taking Liz with him. Liz tries to break free but Jason orders her to stop. Jason knows the connection Ewen has to the Jacks family and Ewen confesses to killing John in cold blood. He'll kill Jason too if he has to and shoots him in the leg. Ewen loves Liz and wants to be the one to fix things. He refuses to let Jason be the hero. Liz breaks away and Jason shoots Ewen in the stomach. He tells Ewen he deserves to die for what he did. Jason cuts Liz's hands free and she checks on Ewen – he needs to get to the hospital or he will die.
Port Charles One Percenters.
Todd gathers Port Charles' richest citizens, Jason and Ewen have a shootout, and John and Sam chase the cards.
At the hospital Kate has some good news for Sonny – Joe Jr. checked out of Metro Court. Sonny may have had something to do with that but he didn't hurt Joe. She wonders what stopped him. He gets a text to meet Todd at the Quartermaine's to get the cure and leaves. Later, Steve tells Kate that Olivia has not had another acid flashback like when she thought Ewen was the devil, although that has turned out to be true. Kate knows Ewen is a good man and will not hurt Liz. Just then Liz and Jason come in with Ewen. Kate begs Steve to help Ewen while Liz takes Jason into a room to work on him. Jason and Liz share a close moment while she works on his wound.
Johnny is sick in his office when Carly comes in. Looters have taken everything in the club, but no one can get into Luke's safe. He hugs her. All he cares about is her. Carly is thankful that Michael and Morgan can take care of Joss when she is gone. Johnny thinks there has to be a way to get that cure. At the same time they get text messages from Todd to meet at the Quartermaine's.
At PCPD John has a hunch Jerry hid the cure with the cards. The last time Sam saw them Jerry threw them in her face when his father died. The last person she remembers having them was Tracy Quartermaine.
Joe Jr. is very sick at Tracy's house and Tracy can't figure out why she is fine and he isn't. Todd rings the bell repeatedly until she answers. He tells her about his plan to pay Jerry off and needs $17,622,000 dollars from her. She realizes he divided the total by five to get that figure and wants to know who the others are. One of them is Sonny. Joe Jr. runs upstairs when the bell rings. Sonny, Carly and Johnny all arrive at once and Todd welcomes them to the first meeting of the Port Charles One Percenters. The bell rings again and this time it is Sam and John looking for the dead man's hand. Tracy tells them the last she heard Luke had them and they leave. Todd wants to know who is in on his plan. Todd reminds Carly she is still married to Jax and his billions - it is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. Johnny tells him he has no access to his money because he is out of the mob. Todd asks Sonny to brew up some cash from his coffee business. Todd is upset – they can't stand there and do nothing and let Jerry laugh at them while they are all dead! Finally, Sonny is in and Todd thinks it is like "It's a Wonderful Life" starring Joe Pesci. Everyone starts making calls to get the cash.
From his cell, Jerry tells Jax that Ewen is the one who killed their father because he swindled Ewen's dad of the dead man's hand! Ewen's family went into ruin after John took the cards and he was killed for revenge. In a strange way Jerry was thankful for Keenan making a choice he couldn't. But he could not let him get away. He blackmailed Ewen and tucked him in his pocket. Jerry is not poisoning the town for the money. It was never about the money! He can't expect Jax to understand. Jax had a deluded hope there was a trace of the old Jerry left in there, but he sees now there is nothing but a murderer. Jax takes a cop hostage and demands he open the door. As Jax leads Jerry out of the jail, Joe Jr. arrives and tackles Jax. He and Jerry escape. The one percenters arrive at the jail to pay Jerry, but Jax tells them he escaped.
Sam cracks the safe at The Haunted Star with John and finds the cards. But there is something else too …
Tomorrow's Port Charles spoilers for General Hospital:
Sonny yells at Jax, "Why couldn't you just have stayed gone?" Jax replies, "What, and rob you of the chance to try to kill me again?"
Ewen says to Steve, "Get me Patrick Drake."
Patrick says to Maxie, "Whatever you are going to say, I don't want to hear it. We are past that all right?"
Joe asks Jerry, "If the antidote isn't here, then where is it?"
Todd says to Tracy, "You are the picture of health. Why is that?"
Sam collapses at the Haunted Star as John calls out to her.
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- Hollie Deese


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Published in October 1950 with three articles including "Peru, Homeland of the Warlike Inca," this map of South America is the first to show airports on the continent. Land transportation was growing as well at this time, as evidenced by the roads and railways under construction.
Coverage Area: South America


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'Sexual predator' means any person who is convicted of a violation or attempted
violation of the following sections of the Criminal Code of 1961, and the
conviction occurred after July 1, 1999:
Sexual Predators are required to register annually for their natural life.
All persons suffering from a mental disorder, which the mental disorder has existed
for a period of not less than one year, coupled with criminal propensities to the
commission of sex offenses, and who have demonstrated propensities toward acts of
sexual assault or acts of sexual molestation of children, are hereby declared sexually
dangerous persons. Sexually Dangerous People are required to register every 90 days
for natural life.
"Sexually violent person" means a person who has been convicted of a sexually
violent offense, has been adjudicated delinquent for a sexually violent offense, or
has been found not guilty of a sexually violent offense by reason of insanity and who
is dangerous because he or she suffers from a mental disorder that makes it
substantially probable that the person will engage in acts of sexual violence.
Sexually violent people are required to register every 90 days for natural life.
Public Act 97-0578 became effective January 1, 2012 which requires retroactive registration for sex offenders. A sex offender or sexual predator, who has never previously been required to register under the Illinois Sex Offender Registration Act, has a duty to register if the person has been convicted of any felony offense after July 1, 2011. A person who previously was required to register under this Act for a period of 10 years and successfully completed that registration period has a duty to register if: (i) the person has been convicted of any felony offense after July 1, 2011, and (ii) the offense for which the 10 year registration was served currently requires a registration period of more than 10 years.
Public Act 97-0578 explains further retroactive registration requirements regarding sexual predator offenses, and all offenses which have an exact effective date.
Section 10 of the Illinois Sex Offender Management Board Act states "sexually
motivated" means one or more of the facts of the underlying offense indicates conduct
that is of a sexual nature or that shows an intent to engage in behavior of a sexual
A sex offender must register in person annually for a period of 10 years. The
10-year registration period will start upon conviction for those offenders sentenced
to probation. Those offenders sentenced to the Illinois Department of Corrections,
another state's department of corrections, or federal corrections must register for 10
years from final parole, discharge, or release.
An offender must register in person once a year. The offender must re-register
within 1 year of the date of their last registration and every year thereafter.
Any changes in an offender's registration must be made within three days
with the law enforcement agency who has jurisdiction.
An offender who is convicted of a violation of the Illinois Sex Offender
Registration Act on or after July 1, 2005 is required to register every 90 days for
the duration of their registration.
Those offenders adjudicated as Sexually Dangerous or Sexually Violent, must
register every 90 days for natural life.
Upon completion of an offender's 10-year registration period, their information
will no longer appear on the web site.
Offenders classified as a sexual predator must register annually for his/her
natural life.
All offenders convicted or adjudicated of first degree murder and registering under the Sex Offender Registration Act must register annually for his/her natural life.
A sex offender must register with the law enforcement agency having jurisdiction
where they reside. If the offender lives within the city limits, he or she will
register with the city police department. If the offender resides in an
unincorporated area, he or she will register with the county sheriff's office.
Yes, there is an initial registration fee of $100 to be paid the very first time a registrant registers under this Act and an annual registration fee of $100 to be paid once each year.
An offender must register any and all places he or she resides for a period of 3
or more days in a calendar year. If an offender changes his or her address, he or
she must inform the local law enforcement agency in which they reside of the move,
and the law enforcement agency in which they are moving to within 3 days of that
A sex offender visiting the State of Illinois for more than 3 days in a calendar
year will be required to register with the local law enforcement jurisdiction where
the sex offender is staying. This means cumulative days; it does not necessarily
have to be 3 consecutive days.
According to Public Act 97-0578 which became effective January 1, 2012, if a person moves to Illinois on or after the effective date of this public act, the person is considered a sexual predator with lifetime registration if the person is required to register in another state due to a conviction, adjudication or other action of any court triggering an obligation to register as a sex offender, sexual predator, or substantially similar status under the laws of that State. Registration is required within 3 days of arriving in Illinois.
A person who moved to Illinois prior to January 1, 2012, is required to register in Illinois if the offense in his/her convicting state is substantially equivalent to an offense in Illinois requiring registration. Length of registration is determined by the substantially equivalent offense in Illinois (either 10 year registration or lifetime).
You can either report the information to the local law enforcement agency where the sex offender registers and request they investigate or you may contact the Illinois
State Police Sex Offender Registration Unit at 217/785-0653.
It is unlawful for a child sex offender to be present in any school building
or property, or loiter within 500 feet of school property without the permission
of the superintendent or school board, or in the case of a private school the
principal unless the child sex offender is a parent of a child at that school,
and the parent is on school grounds for one of the following reasons:
As of January 1, 2011, it is unlawful for a sexual predator or a child sex
offender to knowingly be present in any public park building or on the real property
comprising any public park. The definition of public park includes a park, forest
preserve, or conservation area under the jurisdiction of the state or unit of local
government. A person who violates this is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor. Exempts
child sex offenders convicted of Criminal Sexual Abuse (720 ILCS 5/12-15-b) and
Sexual Abuse (720 ILCS 5/12-15-c).
Illinois laws says a person who commits a sex offense on or after January 1, 2010
and is convicted of this offense on or after January 1, 2010 must refrain from
accessing or using a social networking website while on probation, parole or
mandatory supervised release.
The Illinois State Police receives addresses of schools from the State Board of
Education on a quarterly basis. This information is sent out to the Illinois
Sheriff's Departments who are responsible for providing a list of sex offenders
in their county to the superintendent/school board of the public schools, and the
principal of the private schools. In the city of Chicago, the police department
is responsible for school notification.
It is unlawful for a child sex offender to reside within 500 feet of a school,
playground, or any facility providing programs or services exclusively directed
toward people under age 18, unless they owned the property prior to July 7, 2000.
There are no Illinois laws which prohibit a child sex offender from being around
children, unless it is at a park, school, or any location designed exclusively for
people under the age of 18. If you would like a further investigation into the
welfare of a child present in the same house as an offender, you should contact the
Department of Children and Family Services. The Department of Children and Family
Service Hotline is 800-25-ABUSE.
Within three days of beginning to reside in a household with a child under 18
years of age who is not his or her own child, the child sex offender must report this
information to the registering law agency.
It is unlawful for a parent or guardian of a minor to knowingly leave that minor
in the custody or control of a child sex offender, or allow the child sex offender
unsupervised access to the minor. This does not apply to those child sex offenders
who 1) is a parent of the minor, 2) convicted of Sexual Abuse (720 ILCS 5/12-15-c),
or 3) is married to and living in the same household with the parent or guardian of
the minor. A person who violates this provision is guilty of a Class A
A victim and the victim's parent or legal guardian may request automatic
notification of the change of address of the associated registered sex offender. To
obtain automatic notification, the individual must notify the Illinois State Police,
Sex Offender Registration, 801 South 7th Street, Suite 200
South, Springfield, Illinois 62703, in writing of their request to receive automatic
notification. It is the responsibility of the requestor to notify the Illinois State
Police of any updates with the requestor's current address.
Additional information about a sex offender's conviction can be obtained by
contacting the circuit clerk's office of the county in which the offender was
convicted to get a copy of the offender's court case information. Additionally,
criminal history information on an offender may be obtained through the
Uniform Conviction Information Act.
By law, every time a sex offender registers, the local law enforcement agency must
take a photo of the offender. The local law enforcement agency must forward a copy
of the photo to the Illinois State Police to be added to the web site.
Some offenders lack photos on file due to a photo not being taken at registration
with the local law enforcement agency, or because the photo was never forwarded to
the Illinois State Police. The Illinois State Police tries to ensure all sex
offenders have a photo attached to their information. If you see an offender that
lacks a photo on the web site, you should contact the local law enforcement agency to
inquire about the lack of a photo.
A sex offender becomes non-compliant when he or she fails to:
In addition to being Non-Compliant, a person may be listed with a Location Unknown
The sex offender has vacated his last reported address and has not provided new
information regarding his current whereabouts to law enforcement as required by law.
Law enforcement officials have confirmed that the offender has vacated the last known
address by conducting a physical address verification of the offenders last reported
address. The offender's current whereabouts at this time are unknown. An offender
listed with an address of location unknown also means the offender is missing. This
individual would also be non-compliant in regards to the Illinois Sex Offender
Registration Act.
Law enforcement agencies are required by law to verify a sex offender's residence
in person at least once per year.
First Degree Murder of a Child, Kidnapping, Aggravated Kidnapping, Unlawful Restraint, Aggravated Unlawful Restraint, Child Abduction, and Forcible Detention are offenses which are eligible for transfer from the Sex Offender Registry to the Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Registry when the following stipulations are met according to 730 ILCS 154/11:


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In sports, gone are the days when at least a portion of the game was not slathered in money and sponsors. While owners of teams have always tried to make money, the lengths nowadays to which they and the TV networks covering the sport have gone to squeeze out every drop of cash has gotten somewhat ridiculous. There's the Bud Light Replay, the Chevy Play of the Day, the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl (formerly the Motor City Bowl, which was a pretty cool name and you also knew where it was being played), the Capitol One Bowl was originally the Citrus Bowl and at one point called the Ourhouse.com Florida Citrus Bowl (God forbid they misspelled that one in the sports pages), and on and on.
The same has occurred with stadiums and arenas, which used to be named to match the owners' outsize egos or for some geographic locale or noble idea that resonated with fans: Comiskey Park, Wrigley Field, RFK Stadium, Candlestick Park, Boston Garden. So, in that vein AdvisorOne, using some research by the SportsBusiness Journal, gives you the Top 7 Richest Stadium Naming Deals centering only on financial services firms, which are ranked according to average annual payout of the deal. 7) Prudential Center: Newark, N.J.
Team: Nets (moving to Brooklyn for 2012-13 season) and Devils
Company: Prudential Financial
Deal: $105.3 million, 20 years, $5.26 million/year
Ends in 2027
6) TD Garden: Boston
Team: Celtics and Bruins
Company: TD Bank
Deal: $119.1 million, 20 years, $5.95 million/year
Ends 2025
5) Lincoln Financial Field: Philadelphia
Team: Eagles
Company: Lincoln National
Deal: $139.6 million, 20 years, $6.98 million/year
Ends in 2022 4) Bank of America Stadium: Charlotte, N.C.
Team: Panthers
Company: Bank of America
Deal: $140 million, 20 years, $7 million/year
Ends in 2023
3) Barclays Center: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Team: Nets (starting in 2012-13 season, from Newark, N.J.)
Company: Barclays PLC
Deal: $200 million, 20 years, $10 million/year
Ends in 2032
2) Citi Field: Queens, N.Y.
Team: Mets
Company: Citigroup
Deal: $400 million, 20 years, $20 million/year
Ends in 2028
1) MetLife Stadium: East Rutherford, N.J.
Team: Giants and Jets
Company: MetLife Insurance
Deal: $425 million-$625 million, 25 years, $17 million-$20 million/year
Ends in 2036
Top 10 lists from AdvisorOne:
- Top 10 Worst Financial Meltdowns by Athletes
- Top 10 Best & Worst Baseball Contracts
- Top 10 Favorite Super Bowl Numbers
- Top 10 Favorite Athlete-Philanthropists
- Top 10 Best & Worst Sports Business Deals
- Top 10 Financial Scams
- Top 10 Worst Tax States for Retirees
- Top 10 (Surprisingly) Best Cities for Retirees


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Amazing Benefits of Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutations)!
Amazing Benefits of Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutations)!
Naina Srinivas April 21, 2017
About The Author
Naina Srinivas
Naina is a fashion and beauty expert who promotes healthy living with DIY home remedies. She believes that living organic is the way of life. She explores many home remedies and DIY recipes and contributes her knowledge and expertise in this blog. She is also an avid fan of arts and crafts.


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Islam vs. Islamism: Defining the Militants Tearing Through Iraq
The militants known as ISIS wreaking havoc in Iraq are an 'Islamist' group. The terms 'Islamism' and 'Islam' are often used interchangeably, but there are very distinct differences between them.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
I ... I ... Sunni militant group my sister's biweekly overrun cities in both Iraq and Syria ... ICE's is what's known as Islamist organization ... but not all Muslims are Islamists ... muscles practice Islam Islam is practiced Islam ... Islamism is an ideology or belief Islam should be the dominant force in political and personal like ... is Lummus due to reject secularism in little ... favoring a more literal and dogmatic interpretation of Islam is the basis for governments ... that Islam is more likely to believe that society should be governed by strict version of Islamic law also know initially ... the goal of BAE systems to carve out a new Islamist state in the Middle East where all Muslims would be forced to leave understeer interpretation of Islam ... some Islamists like al Qaeda ... Isis and build up a run in Nigeria based terrorist tactics to spread their ideology and the vehicle ... but not always ... Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood is an Islamic political party to use the ballot box elected President Mohammad Morsi ... though he was eventually deposed by the military ... the


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The CIA nominee wants to dump the drones program on the Pentagon, but Defense nominee Chuck Hagel won't be happy about that.
With President Obama's CIA nominee, John Brennan, in the spotlight this week, Washington is engaged in a big debate over the ethics of covert drone warfare. But like it or not, "targeted killing" will continue and perhaps even increase in years to come. The more realistic questions to ask about what some Obama administration officials call "the new normal" of warfare are these: Who's really going to run the drone program — the White House, the Pentagon, or the CIA? And how long is it likely to last?
And you can depend on this: As intense as the public debate over drones has been, the internal bureaucratic battle will be even more tumultuous.
Brennan had indicated that he wanted to see big changes in control of the drone program even before his confirmation hearing on Thursday. Under his watch as White House counterterrorism coordinator, Brennan's former employer, the CIA, has become much more of a "paramilitary" organization, and he wants to return the agency to its roots. "John thinks that the traditional role of the CIA is to be the biggest, baddest, most effective human-intelligence collection facility on the planet," says a senior administration official, who would discuss Brennan's views only on condition of anonymity. "That's the tradition of the CIA he grew up in, and that's what he thinks the CIA in its essence should be."
"A lot of what's driving Brennan, from what I've heard, is that he feels the [drone] program has run its course as a CIA operation," says Philip Giraldi, a former CIA counterterrorism official. "He feels that basically the collateral damage is causing more problems than any success coming out of the program." Meanwhile, the debate over the ethics — and, perhaps more significantly, the efficacy — of targeting rogue American citizens and others abroad is going to grow more intense, too. "My sense is there is a growing recognition that these strikes can hurt organizations but they are rarely the main reason for the end of the organization," says Seth Jones, a counterterrorism expert at the Rand Corp.
According to other people who know Brennan's thinking well, he also believes that moving drones to the Defense Department will allow greater congressional and public scrutiny. He fears that if the United States does not lead in developing an ethical and legal policy framework on the use of drones, decades' worth of international law will be undermined and other countries that are close to developing their own drones, particularly China and Russia, will abuse them. The nominee to head the Pentagon, former Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., is nominally in support of targeted strikes, but he is also keenly aware of the possibly perilous precedent that's being set, and he is concerned about the backlash from "collateral damage" when innocents are killed, possibly creating even more jihadists than are being taken out.
Obama himself, while more than tripling the number of drone strikes from the previous administration, has given his bureaucrats' considerable ammunition for the battle over who runs the show and how. The president wants to put a "legal architecture in place … to make sure that not only am I reined in, but any president is reined in," as Obama said on Jon Stewart's show (of all places) last year. At the same time he's trying to avoid going down in history as the "drone president," emphasizing to his team economic development and diplomacy over "kinetic action" as ways of transforming places like Mali from terrorist havens into viable polities. "The president is not turning to his team and saying where do we put next drone base to solve the North Africa problem," the senior administration official says. "Drones aren't a policy. They are a tool. The president's directive to all of us is to think bigger, and with regard to Mali or Somalia think long term."
Obama has also indicated he understands the potential moral quandary if covert drone strikes become a new permanent way of war, declaring in his Inaugural Address that "enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war."
The bureaucratic fight is already under way. In his written answers to the Senate Intelligence Committee, Brennan said that targets are picked "on a case-by-case basis through a coordinated interagency process" involving the Pentagon, CIA, State Department, and other agencies. But in fact, behind the scenes the CIA has not always cooperated in sharing the vetting process, especially in Pakistan, and Brennan is likely to change that. One major underlying issue is which agency—the CIA or Defense— operates under tighter rules for disclosure and congressional notification. On one hand, the military does conduct itself under rules of engagement that are more spelled out and governed by clear codes, such as the Uniform Code of Military Justice. On the other hand, covert war by the military has in some ways been conducted under even less scrutiny in recent years, particularly when it comes to special operations.
Some critics, such as former Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre, have worried that special ops now has generic authority to deploy where it wants without case-by-case orders. Without proper civilian oversight, a bin Laden-style success can easily become a "Black Hawk Down." According to a senior CIA lawyer, the statutes reining in the CIA, which date from the famous Church Committee hearings of the 1970s, have set up effective procedures under Title 50 of the National Security Act. "Now, almost 40 years later, we're in a situation where the CIA has to go through this bureaucracy, and at the same time you have the [special-operations] military doing all sorts of things that present worse types of concerns with much less congressional notification," he said.
The only way to lay all the ethical and bureaucratic questions to rest is to declare, at some point, that the war against al-Qaida is over. But that too is the subject of debate. With new splinter groups rising in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, that's unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future. And administration officials tend to contradict each other occasionally about how they see the end game. In a speech last November, Jeh Johnson, the Pentagon general counsel, said that the "tipping point" for the end will come when "so many of the leaders and operatives of al-Qaida and its affiliates have been killed or captured [that] the group is no longer able to attempt or launch a strategic attack against the United States."
But the senior administration official told National Journal on Thursday that the new dangers emerging from groups such as al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb do not focus on the U.S. homeland. "What Americans need to understand over the long term is that there will likely be more attacks like we saw in Algeria and Benghazi. Al-Qaida has metastasized and now has affiliates in more places, but ones that unlike core al-Qaida don't necessarily have an interest in striking the U.S. homeland."
And so the drone debate will drone on, as long as the war does. And that too will be a long time.


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On the weekend of May 18 and 19, The Garden Players, an after-school drama class, will once again perform their annual musical production at the Forest Hills Community House, located at 15 Borage Pl.
This year is their first performance of "The Most Epic Birthday Party Ever."
In the past, the Garden Players have performed productions such as "Musicville," "Space Pirates" and a series of fantasy-filled, family-friendly musicals and show tunes, all with a hint of humor. The same concept is applied once again, but instead of monsters and aliens, it's a backyard birthday party gone wrong.
The musical starts off with a group of kids attending a birthday party, when they suddenly realize that all the adults have vanished. There is no food in the house, the front door is locked and they must "survive" by themselves until the adults come back.
"We actually first got the idea when Hurricane Sandy happened," said Betina Hershey, director of the Garden Players since 2003. "We thought, what would happen if we made a musical centering around a complete disaster?"
"An apocalyptic situation," she added.
The melodramatic musical sprouts into a full show of hilarity as the children attempt to survive for what seems like months, but in reality only lasts for a few hours.
From attempting to make pizza for fuel, to separating into societies ("Skymerica" and "Charlandia"), to lonely monologues from a girl stuck in the bathroom, the community group does it again.
The Garden Players are a mixture of Queens students in first through ninth grades, who meet once a week for rehearsals in Forest Hills' Church-in-the-Gardens. The group has worked on the show for months with the help of parent volunteers Hershey and Denver Casado.
"The kids are really excited right now," Hershey said. "This year we've really allowed the kids to help out in the production, which has really been giving the project a community feel."
Hershey added that the group has hosted benefit concerts to raise funds for the production, allowing them to formulate a safer and more innovative performance.
"There is a lot of work and money that goes into producing these musicals every year," she said. "From paying the stage rent, the accompanists, to sets, to paint supplies, to costumes - it adds up."
This year they have made some advancements, from purchasing fireproof set paint to muslin cloth backdrops. The musicals have certainly improved from the past where everything came from the wallets of parents.
"The most exciting moment in producing the musical would probably be the excitement after and during our first show," Hershey explained. "All the kids are so happy, they realize that all their work has paid off. They realize, 'Oh, so that's why I'm doing it!'"
Saturday performances at The Community House will be held at 2 and 7 p.m. and on Sunday at 1 and 5 p.m. Tickets are $14 and will be sold at the door. You can also call (917) 204-5647 to purchase in advance.


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11 Cakes To Make For Christmas
No way around it, the holidays are more than a little bit about decadence. And while beautiful holiday cookies are great, what makes a better centerpiece for your festive meal than a gorgeously iced cake?
Whether you're looking for something traditional, like a Bûche de Nöel, or something festively novel, like a Hot Chocolate and Marshmallow Cake Roll, we've got the thing for you.
Go Straight To The Recipes
Chocolate and Salted Caramel Bûche de Nöel
Fruitcake That Won't Make You Gag
Bûche de Noël
Chocolate-Hazelnut Layer Cake
Orange Cake with Mulled Wine Cranberry Jam
Ginger Cake with Spiked Custard
Pío V (Nicaraguan Christmas Cake)
Flourless Chocolate Cake with Spiced Pears
Hot Chocolate and Marshmallow Cake Roll
Orange Olive Oil Cake With Candied Walnuts
Little Debbie-Style Christmas Tree Cakes
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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Applying for Summit Creek Apartments?
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You can schedule a free consultation with Credit Glory, or call one of their Credit Specialists, here (855) 938-3044 ➔.
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If your credit score is not up to par, you may be denied for Summit Creek Apartments. Before applying, we strongly recommend a fast, free credit consultation. A five minute conversation with a credit specialist can mean the difference between rejection and your perfect apartment. Our credit specialist team helps build your credit and increase your approval odds for Summit Creek Apartments. Call today on (855) 938-3044 ➔


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MetroPCS will forever hold the distinction of being the first to offer the U.S. an LTE market and phone 11 months ago, but it's also been the slowest in developing a 4G portfolio. The LG Esteem represents the carrier's second LTE smartphone since MetroPCS first launched the Samsung Galaxy Indulge.
Unlike the Galaxy Indulge, the Esteem has no slide-out keyboard to accompany its all-touch screen. It's thick, solid, and square as a brick, but it's also MetroPCS' best smartphone to date. The large, vibrant touch screen, the dual cameras, and the faster processor all add to the appeal, but there's a major sticking point that keeps the Esteem from reaching its potential: its abysmal battery life.
There are some other perks as well: the HDMI-out port, for one, and the 720p HD video capture for another. In addition, MetroPCS will offer a 90-day free subscription to Rhapsody. The LG Esteem costs $249 after a $100 mail-in rebate, without a contract.
The nice way to describe it is that the LG Esteem is a brick with racing stripes. It's a thick black square with sharp edges and thin silver metal accents down the spines (the square edges on the phone's face take some getting used to.) It's a hefty 6-ouncer, which we usually see when a phone is brimming with metal accents and a thick keyboard. There's no keyboard here, but the upside is that the phone is sturdy-strong and likely to take a little abuse before cracking (not that we'd recommend it, mind you.)
Beaming up at you is a 4.3-inch WVGA touch screen (480x800-pixel resolution) with a Corning Gorilla Glass topper and support for 262,000 colors. The result is a bright, colorful, and sharp screen. The Esteem runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread, with a subtle custom interface that adds just a few touches, like access to Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, airplane mode, and so on from the pull-down notification bar. Swype comes preinstalled on the Esteem, but you can always switch to the standard Android keyboard if you'd prefer.
The Esteem, as we said, is a thick phone, and the dimensions match--5 inches tall, 2.6 inches wide, and 0.5-inch thick. It's a bit bulky for most pockets and the weight is significant--just know what you're getting into.
Below the screen are four touch-sensitive buttons: Menu, Home, Back, and Search. On the right side there's a covered Micro-HDMI adapter port and the volume rocker. On the left, you'll find the covered Micro-USB slot. Up top are the lock/power button and the 3.5-millimeter headset jack. The 5-megapixel camera lens is on the back, along with a flash (it does 720p HD video capture, too). Beneath the soft-touch back cover is the microSD card slot.
In addition to the rear-facing camera, there's a 1.3-megapixel lens above the display that's well-suited for self-portraits and video calls.
With Android, you know where you stand. As with the rest of the Gingerbread men, the Esteem has all the Google goodies--Google Maps, Gmail, turn-by-turn navigation, Google Places, YouTube, the works.
That subtle custom experience we mentioned also finds its way into other aspects of the phone, for instance the deep integration of several social networks. For example, when you begin adding accounts, you can sign into Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace apps that have been customized by LG to work on the phone. LG has also made Yahoo and Windows Live Hotmail accounts easy to sign into from the Accounts menu.
Back in the land of apps, LG and MetroPCS have laid down a thick welcome mat. The upside is that the phone looks less empty and more populated than it might otherwise. The downside is, if you don't like the selections, the prepopulated app tray may smack of uninstallable bloatware. For starters, there's Astro file manager, an application manager, Yahoo finance, Guided Tours, Loopt, Pocket Express, Polaris Office, and the Rhapsody music service.
There's also the SmartShare home networking app (the Esteem supports DLNA), and essentials like a clock, a calendar, a calculator, a newsreader, and a memo pad. MetroPCS has also added its regular complement of apps, including a browser, a navigator, a backup app, an online storefront for purchasing more ringtones and music, a 411 service, and a Wi-Fi sniffer. There's also the MasterCard-backed VCPay mobile app for MetroPCS customers to use for purchases--it's designed to be used as a debit card for those who don't have a credit card, and it requires a $1.49 monthly fee.
When it comes to music, the Rhapsody music app complements the basic Android music player. MetroPCS has partnered with Rhapsody to offer Esteem owners a free 90-day trial subscription. The Esteem also boasts the Dolby Mobile Surround 7.1 system. Music sounded plenty loud and fairly rich when played through the Esteem's speakers, though even Dolby wasn't able to completely eradicate the slight buzz and tininess that are par for the course when playing music from a cell phone. Hard-core audiophiles still won't be pleased with the audio quality, but most people should be happy enough with the sound. We were certainly happy enough listening to songs play while working on this review.


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SAMJ: South African Medical Journal
versión On-line ISSN 2078-5135
versión impresa ISSN 0256-9574
SAMJ, S. Afr. med. j. vol.101 no.4 Cape Town abr. 2011
Doctors' political powers unfairly diluted - new HPCSA president
Teaching hospitals are national assets that must urgently be taken out of the hands of provincial governments and doctors must exit the central bargaining chamber where their negotiating power is reduced to that of 'labourers and sweepers'.
These are among the views of the newly appointed President of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), Professor Sam Mokgokong, a ground-breaking local neurosurgeon and distinguished academic.
Interviewed by Izindaba last month, Mokgokong was unusually outspoken for an HPCSA President, displaying an independence rarely seen in his predecessor, Professor Nicky Padayachee, now the national Deputy Director-General of Health.
Mokgokong, best known internationally as a specialist and lead surgeon in separating craniopagus Siamese twins, was pressed on a number of issues that have historically angered doctors and distanced them from the HPCSA. Doctors, especially those in the public sector, are cynical about the HPCSA's supposed autonomy and its incongruous track record when it comes to 'protecting the public and guiding the professions'. While stressing that his views did not necessarily represent those of the HPCSA, Mokgokong said that they would inform much of his tenure - which happens to coincide with a sea-change in health leadership generally in South Africa. He described complaints of under-representation of doctors at Council level as 'worth probing'. The Medical and Dental Professions Board (MDPB) has up to five times the registered membership of the 11 other HPCSA disciplines (50 000 versus between 4 and 10 000 members per board).
Skewed numbers torpedo doctor vote
There are, however, only 3 MDPB members on the 32-person Council versus one or two from each of the other boards. In terms of the Health Professions Amendment Act, the Health Minister appoints 11 'others' consisting of 9 community representatives, a legal advisor and a health department official. His peers in education and defence appoint one person each, with three more coming from higher education. This ministerial voting power in the HPCSA was a source of great MDPB consternation when the law was amended, with doctors claiming they had been sidelined professionally and deeply distrusting the motives of the then controversial health minister, the late Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.1
Mokgokong disagreed with moves by the medical profession to have their own standalone council, saying the current set-up was actually more democratic than in the past. 'The [then] SA Medical and Dental Council was called a doctors' club because it was almost exclusively run by doctors, so if patients wanted a case against them, the perception was that nothing was done, irrespective of the merits of the case,' he argued.
He said that on matters of discipline, education and training standards, each board's decision was 'almost final', while Council's role was to manage the professions, work out the budgets, audit risk and play an administrative role.
Viewed from a 'functions and litigation' perspective, however, 80% of the HPCSA's activities centred on doctors (and dentists), 'so they have a point; in Council as it stands, they are under-represented. The new Council must look at this and if we agree, take it to the health minister to change,' he conceded.
Mokgokong intimated that on volatile issues like the 2009 public sector doctors' strike (centering on the occupation-specific dispensation salary structure) he would be more likely to 'speak up' to the health minister about working conditions. Doctors at the time, 76 of whom (all from KwaZulu-Natal) were notified by the HPCSA of preliminary disciplinary hearings for allegedly contravening their Hippocratic Oath by striking, were incensed by the Council's lack of censure of often dysfunctional provincial and national health departments. They saw their employer as culpable for dismal working conditions, lack of vital equipment, administrative mismanagement and salaries out of kilter with other State professionals - and striking as their last resort to protect patients in the long term.2
Create trouble-shootingdoctor commission
Mokgokong was happy to wade into the ethical debate, much of which focused on the government refusing to sign a minimum service level agreement that would set out protocols for patient protection during labour disputes - and enable legal strikes. 'My answer is for doctors to get out of the joint bargaining chamber [Public Health and Social Development Sectoral Bargaining Chamber]. We deserve a special dispensation. The whole world does this. While I don't have a specific model in mind, if we had a sort of commission ... all that needs doing is [to provide] good contact between the profession and such a commission, on which members of the profession must serve. It can deal proactively with issues specific to the profession like determination of fees. They [fees] shouldn't depend on South Africa's annual GDP or inflation. It must be looked at internationally and compared with equivalent countries. We need to deal proactively and quickly with these issues ... there's no need to strike.'
Mokgokong said the 'ethics of humanity' were such that when doctors were angry, they did not let people die. 'You don't strike, no matter how angry you are - we now have a minister who seems to be a listening minister, so things are looking up. I must be honest, in the past things were not great. The worry is who takes care of doctors' complaints? That's where we as the HPCSA can fulfil our mandate to advise and/or lobby the minister. That strike was unprecedented - I mean there were certainly grievances in the apartheid era. How do you strike when Mkhize dies because you're angry with Strydom in Parliament? That argument still holds today. You cannot bargain with innocent lives, even when some MPs don't use public health services.'
In his inaugural HPCSA presidential speech Mokgokong cited Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, publicly labelling the health and education sectors as 'cash cows for fraudulent provincial administrators'. He told Izindaba that money was being wasted in terms of the Public Finance Management Act via irregular and unauthorised expenditure.
Deal with doctors' working environment
'We in Health have already picked this up and run to the minister, saying that teaching hospitals have to come out of the hands of provincial governments and put into national's hands. When money goes missing everything comes to a halt. Tertiary hospitals attached to universities are national, not provincial assets. The playing fields are not equal and professionals move to provinces where things are done better.'
Asked what his priority as president would be, Mokgokong said all Council stakeholders were important, 'but I must start with the doctors themselves. Many of us are with the SA Medical Association and experience the problems expressed by them. We have to improve the conditions of doctors so they can be in a happier environment and produce better work. The Act prescribes that we protect the community and health care delivery has to be improved.'
Asked if he planned any innovations to lure doctors back from among the legions who've left South Africa, Makgokong said measures like moratoriums on HPCSA re-registration fees were ineffective and at best 'cut off our noses to spite our faces' financially. 'Every year the HPCSA faces an increasing bill of arrears (non-payment of fees) and a lot of professionals abscond. I think incentives should be at the operational level, in the working environment. Let's get that right.'
The newly elected Council sat for the first time on 1 March this year and has 6 months to craft a strategic plan that is in alignment with the amended Health Professions Act. Mokgokong seems determined to chip away at doctors' negative perceptions of the HPCSA, but still has a mountain to climb.
Chris Bateman
1. Bateman C. Too late for tears as Manto tastes victory? S Afr Med J 2007;97:807-810. [ Links ]
2. Bateman C. OSD deal - a flicker of hope for mid-level doctors? S Afr Med J 2009;99:618-622. [ Links ]


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Dance. This double dance,"I Land", sees eight of Sweden's most promising young dancers performing at The Göteborg Opera. Two choreographers from The Göteborg Ballet are each creating a dance piece exclusively for them.
NUdans is a seasonal dance company consisting of eight graduate students selected from Sweden's professional dance schools. During four weeks they will train daily together with The Göteborg Ballet and will work with a set created exclusively for them. The students come from the Ballet Academies in Gothenburg and Stockholm, the Royal Swedish School of Ballet and the University of Dance and Circus.
This year it's The Göteborg Opera's dancers Hlín Diego Hjalmarsdóttir and Satoko Takahashi that have each created an exclusive dance piece for the students. The choreographers share the fact that they both grew up on islands that have been affected by disasters in recent years: Hlín's homeland Iceland has experienced volcanic eruptions and economic meltdown, while Satoko's Japan has suffered from the natural catastrophy that, among other things, led to the nuclear power plant accident in Fukushima. Each of their dance pieces has been based on the feelings of sorrow, hope and reconciliation that both unite and distinguish the people on those islands.
Hlín Diego Hjalmarsdóttir
"Iceland. Wonderland of contrasts. This mysterious place, with its remarkable light and its unusual colours and formations, allows the imagination to flow free. An island of volcanos, proud, isolated and separated from the rest of the world, sustained by underground power generating the ebb and flow of its natural beauty. Expect the unexpected."
Satoko Takahashi
"I saw people that had suffered greatly from the natural disaster in Japan in 2011. They had lost their families, their homes, their jobs … I was deeply touched by these people and the way they got on with their lives despite all their hardships. To live can sometimes be harder than to die. But human beings have to keep on living – and they do, believing in the hope that exists beyond their sorrow and pain. It would make me happy if I could convey a positive message through the piece."
I Land
Eina meδöllu
Choreography Hlín Diego Hjalmarsdóttir
Music Þorgrímur Andri Einarsson
Choreography Satoko Takahashi
Music Mashahiro Hiramot, Acidman, Gavze, Does
Artistic Co-ordinator and mentor Rayco Cano Cortes
The production goes on tour to France and Spain from May 10th to May 20th.


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Thursday, September 22, 2005
If you have done nothing wrong, then you have nothing to fear from these surveillance policies in the Patriot Act. There it was–the one line that is continually uttered by those who are determined to turn America into the society of Big Brother. Its the one line that will instantly bring out my own urge to kill anyone who has said it. My patience has run paper thin for such short-sighted, quivering, knee-jerk reactionaries who are willing to sacrifice our precious liberties for some false sense of momentary security.
Now, during a radio interview on the subject, sitting in my office on the opposite end of the telephone, I heard it said by my host. I had been feeling the frustration growing throughout the interview as he dismissed my fears of an allseeing, controlling government that can invade my own home without a search warrant or even a court order issued by a real judge. To him it was perfectly fine to pat down little old ladies and children in airports, while those fitting the profile of a terrorist could walk by, protected by political correctness. Its OK that all of our personal lives, our bank accounts, records of books weve read and videos weve rented could be searched. And above all, to him, the greatest idea yet devised for protecting freedom in this nation was the creation of a national ID card. Now, he said, we can control who comes in to this nation, where they go and who they are dealing with. And if you have done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear!
I lost it.Have you any idea what living under a national ID card will be like? Have you given it the slightest thought beyond your own selfish, primal fear of some unstated threat, I shouted into the telephone and over the airways. Well, I spend a majority of my time looking into this issue and let me tell you what I've found to be true. And then, you tell me if this will be a nation you want to live in. It was surprising to me that my host let me talk at this point. Perhaps the murderous tone in my voice warned him to stay quiet. Nevertheless, he let me continue.
The Real ID bill that has just passed Congress and will establish a national ID card within the next 18 months will transform all state motor vehicle departments into agents of the federal government. They have now been told to install a high tech computer chip into every single drivers' license in every single state. That chip will be used to carry either a finger print or voice print. It will be used to track almost every single transaction made by every single American, including buying guns, using credit cards, buying gas, getting on an airplane or a train.
Oh, yes, I said, I know what you're going to say next. Your ilk always says it. So what. If that keeps me safe, it's OK. Well, I continued, consider how those ID cards will be used. Without one, you won't be able to get on a plane or a train. You will be denied all government services. You will not be able to open a bank account. You will be literally shut out of American society.
And all the time the federal government has been passing this law mandating a national ID card it vigorously denies it is doing it. It's not mandatory, they tell us. It's all voluntary. It's just that without the approved card you can't use government services. Why have they lied? Perhaps its because Congress knows full well that the American people are overwhelmingly opposed to being boxed in like this.
But still you say, if you haven't done anything wrong, so what. Well, I shouted, I'll tell you so what. Once this system is set up, you as an American no longer have control of your life. That will now fall under the whim of any government official or bureaucrat that controls the data in your file. Do you know how much information currently in government data files is incorrect, I asked. Then I answered my own question; Over 25 percent. Underpaid, undereducated government employees are paid to input information into massive data banks. They make mistakes. Have you ever tried to get credit, only to find a mistake on your credit report, I asked. Have you ever tried to fix it? Now take that experience and consider what happens when such mistakes block you from accessing your checking account so you can't buy groceries. Consider what might happen if a mistake puts a false arrest warrant under your name. How do you prove you're the wrong guy? How do you get it fixed!? Now you have no money, no drivers license. No ability to travel. You are completely cut out of society. What do you do now?
And to make it even worse, I said, really warming up to the subject, what would happen if you actually made someone in the government mad at you and that person had the power to mess with your records? What if things that are legal now are illegal in the future? It happens. Governments change. New laws are made. Drugs were once legal in this country and they arent now. Guns are now, but may not be in the future. It used to be perfectly legal to protect your private property from trespassers. It isn't now. Do you ever pay cash for something so that the transaction isn't recorded? They are out to stop that. Laws change. Now tell me, if the laws change and you are tied to a national ID and total government surveillance, how long until you suddenly have something to hide from an all seeing government? Will you be so smug then?
And, I finally concluded, the sorriest part of your eagerness to abandon liberty for a chance to be safe from the big bad terrorists none of these intrusions into American life will do a bloody thing to protect you. Within five minutes of the issuing of a government national ID card there will be counterfeits on the streets and a black market emerging to see them to any pirate, illegal immigrant or terrorist in need. So we will lose our freedoms for nothing.
Finally, I took a breath. There was silence on the other end of the phone. Dead air time. I felt this interview had come to an end, so I just finished by saying, if that's the kind of nation you want to live in, there are plenty of totalitarian societies which can provide you with all the sadomasochistic torment you desire to satisfy your need for pain and control. Please leave America for the rest of us who want to be free. As for you, this interview is over.
? Tom DeWeese 2005


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One tradition of Oscar night – besides the red carpet, the musical numbers, and Jack Nicholson grinning in the front row – is the self-referential film clip. You know the one: Judy Garland, John Wayne, Paul Newman, Ingrid Bergman, or some other combination of famous faces speed by, smiling, grimacing, and dropping signature lines ("Go ahead, make my day") while the music swells and Hollywood tells us that movies make us laugh and cry, touch our hearts, change our thinking, yadda, yadda.
Movies aren't as profoundly important as Hollywood wants you to believe. But movies aren't piffle, either. Some have powerful messages. You can talk movies with strangers. When a must-see blockbuster is at the multiplex, you can feel the national conversation changing. People suddenly start dropping lines like "To infinity and beyond!" or "Love means never having to say you're sorry."
Movies mean something, but what? Do they capture the national zeitgeist or are they just escapism? Can they lift a nation's mood or are they merely made to separate you from your dollars? Critic Neal Gabler, author of this week's cover essay, makes a strong case that recent movies reflect our mental state, meaning our collective worry and uncertainty because of the economic difficulties we have been going through.
Although ... one could argue that "The King's Speech" was more touching and inspiring than bleak. And "Inception," like mind-bending shows every year ("Avatar" last year, "The Dark Knight" the year before), was visually impressive but didn't seem particularly applicable to daily life.
Or take "Toy Story 3." It was just as much a mix of adventure, comedy, and separation anxiety as "Toy Story" 1 and 2 a decade and more ago. (Exhibit A: the toys trying to rejoin Andy's family in "TS-1." Exhibit B: the heartbreaking neglect of Jesse the cowgirl as her owner grew up in "TS-2.") And besides, making a movie takes three years on average, so nailing the national mood on première day would be quite a trick.
Neal's the critic. He's thought about these things professionally. As has Peter Rainer, whose writing graces our pages each week. I'm a rank amateur. But that's really my point. When it comes to movies, we all get a vote. We all have our reasons why some movies are great, some are howlers, and some are like a warm blanket that we turn to over and over again.
Is it any wonder that there are a dozen different ways of measuring the best movies of all time? Besides the impressively named Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, there's the Screen Actors Guild, the Golden Globes, People's Choice, Cannes, and many more contests that combine serious judging with the opportunity to showcase celebrities on red carpets.
Best movie of all time? Critics have their considered opinions. You can also check IMDb, the big Internet site, where visitors have voted the 1997 prison film "The Shawshank Redemption" No. 1.
Go to Metacritic.com and you'll learn that the way-serious art film "Balthazar" (1966) heads the list.
"Citizen Kane" (1941) is at the pinnacle for the American Film Institute.
Rottentomatoes.com likes "Toy Story 2" (1999).
Blockbuster, Netflix, and Redbox also rank top movies, as do cable companies like Comcast and Time-Warner.
It doesn't stop there. All of us have movies we are fond of. Richard Nixon famously watched "Patton" over and over while embattled in the White House. Howard Hughes loved "Ice Station Zebra" for some reason.
I need to watch "Groundhog Day" at least once a year. I have friends who never miss a chance to see "The Big Lebowski," "Shakespeare in Love," or the first and second (never the third) "Godfather." And on any list of favorites, most people would say "The Wizard of Oz" is one because, well, because of the wonderful things it does.
We all get a vote. Drop me a line and tell me what your all-time favorite is. I'll tally them and publish the Academy of Monitor People's Screen Guild list in a future issue.
John Yemma is the editor of The Christian Science Monitor.


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While Butler University's long-shot bid collapsed Monday night against the University of Connecticut in the NCAA title game, basketball fans got a glimpse of another Cinderella story that may have a better chance of success.
Buick, the long-struggling General Motors brand, recently signed a three-year sponsorship deal with the NCAA, highlighted by the debut of a new "anthem" commercial during the final days of March Madness.
"Our intention is to plant the flag and inspire a reappraisal of Buick," said Craig Bierley, the brand's marketing chief.
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Not many Americans are aware that Buick is still around, Bierley concedes. Indeed, many analysts have long urged GM to abandon Buick, and it was expected to be one of the first brands to go when the giant carmaker plunged into government-controlled bankruptcy in 2009.
The U.S. government forced GM to cut four of its eight North American brands. In the end, Saturn, Hummer and Pontiac were closed, while Saab was sold. Buick survived, along with Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC.
Buick not only survived, it's now starting to thrive. For the first two months of the year, the nameplate, which is being positioned as a mid-luxury brand, outsold Lexus, a vehicle brand that has long been dominant in the U.S. luxury market.
Lexus regained its lead in March and the two carmakers were, in turn, surpassed by BMW for the first quarter. Nonetheless, Buick's sales are readily outpacing the industry's overall recovery. The GM division sold 15,663 cars and crossovers last month, a 20.9 percent increase over the same month a year before. For the first three months of the year, sales totaled 44,739 — a 39.2 percent jump over the previous year.
Equally significant is the fact that those increases came even as Buick trimmed back on sales to rental companies — long the dumping ground for the brand's unwanted offerings.
Of course, it helps to have a largely new line-up. Buick's oldest model is the still-strong Enclave, introduced for the 2008 model year. The crossover was the first sign that something was changing at Buick. It not only won a number of awards, but also began attracting the sort of younger, more affluent and better educated buyers Buick hadn't seen in decades.
Since then, a procession of new car offerings has been added to a Buick line long starved for product, including the big LaCrosse sedan, the 4-door Regal, and, later this year, the compact Verano. At the upcoming Shanghai Motor Show, meanwhile, Buick will pull the wraps off a show car likely to morph into an all-new compact crossover.
Buick's decision to reveal the concept vehicle in China rather than at April's New York Auto Show is significant, yet not really surprising. In fact, Ed Welburn, GM's global design director, acknowledges Buick likely only still exists "because of China."
In a curious twist of fate, the last emperor owned a Buick, which was later captured by the communists only to become the prize possession of Mao's long-time lieutenant Zhou Enlai. When GM approached Chinese officials a dozen years ago with plans to put a factory in Shanghai, the company was told it had to produce Buicks rather than one of the company's stronger brands. Since then, GM has grown to become China's largest automaker, and Buick one of its largest foreign brands.
Now the challenge for Buick is to reproduce their success in China here in the United States, "where the perception [of the Buick brand] is out of touch with reality," lamented Chris Perry, GM's North American marketing director.
The NCAA campaign — which will include basketball, football, hockey and women's soccer — is central to Buick's push to rebuild its image.
Meanwhile, the GM brand may also benefit from the impact of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan that have crippled the Japanese auto industry.
Michael Jackson, CEO of the giant AutoNation retail network, warned this week that Japanese vehicles will likely be in short supply in the coming months. That could be particularly true for Lexus, as all of the Toyota luxury brand's products are currently assembled in Japan. Toyota is only just beginning to restart assembly lines shuttered by the March 11 disaster. And the ongoing nuclear crisis, which has left the country short of power, is expected to limit automotive manufacturing for some time to come.
Still, Buick's long-term success is anything but guaranteed, cautioned automotive analyst Dan Gorrell of AutoStrategem, a Southern California-based market research firm. The Buick brand still attracts an older, less affluent buyer — although that is beginning to shift. And Buick — like the rest of GM — still sees sales lag in key coastal markets.
The brand also has a smaller line-up than key competitors, such as Lexus, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. But Bierley is optimistic that with fewer divisional mouths to feed GM can now afford to give Buick more of what it needs. The new Verano, in particular, "opens up the playing field for us," targeting a compact luxury segment long dominated by brands imported from overseas.
As March Madness fans well know, there are plenty of long-shot teams that enter the annual tournament only to see their dreams, like Butler's, shot down. But Buick is betting it has the staying power to go all the way. Whether it's a Cinderella team remains to be seen, but so far, Buick is defying the odds.
© 2013 msnbc.com. Reprints


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New England rookie left back Seth Sinovic admits he feels nervous from time to time when he steps on the field with his more experienced teammates. It just doesn't show in the way he plays.
"It's been fun," Sinovic told MLSsoccer.com earlier this month. "I think I've done pretty well. The speed of play is quicker, but after about a week, I think I adjusted to it pretty well."
Revolution coach Steve Nicol said the 23-year-old Leawood, Kan., native has shown well as he has settled into the demands of professional soccer. While some players struggle to make the shift to the next level, Sinovic transitioned fairly seamlessly into the squad during his first training camp by displaying the type of intelligence required to man his position, according to Nicol.
"It's his general understanding of where he's been playing," Nicol said. "He picks up a good position. He picks and chooses when to get forward at the right time. He's been decent on the ball. He's done a lot of good things."
New England selected Sinovic in the second round of the SuperDraft after he impressed observers during a successful four-year career at Creighton. Although Sinovic possessed a solid resume and showed the type of qualities required to make the leap to the pros, he had to perform well to earn his place.
"We're not expecting anything out of anyone," Nicol said. "You don't know what is going to happen when guys come in [to camp]. We don't place any expectations either way and then we see what happens. He's done well."
Sinovic did enough in training camp to earn a deal with the Revs for the upcoming campaign. With a contract now in hand, Sinovic can focus on continuing to make an impression on Nicol and the Revolution coaching staff and mounting his case for playing time when the season opens in Los Angeles on Saturday night.
"I think I need to keep doing what I do well," Sinovic said. "I need to get forward -- that's one of the biggest attributes to my game, going forward as an outside back. That's what makes me stand out in comparison to other backs."