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The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Wednesday that it has separately charged a pair of hedge fund managers and their firms with lying to investors about how they were handling the money invested in their respective hedge funds.
In one case, the SEC alleges that San Francisco-based hedge fund manager Hausmann-Alain Banet and his firm Lion Capital Management stole more than a half-million dollars from a retired schoolteacher who thought she was investing her retirement savings in Banet's hedge fund. In the other case, the SEC charged Chicago-based hedge fund managers Norman Goldstein and Laurie Gatherum and their firm GEI Financial Services with fraudulently siphoning at least $147,000 in excessive fees and capital withdrawals from a hedge fund they managed.
The charges are the latest in a series of actions taken by the SEC Enforcement Division and its Asset Management Unit against hedge fund-related misconduct in the markets. On the same day, the SEC's Office of Investor Education and Advocacy issued an investor bulletin detailing some of those cases as examples of why investors must rigorously evaluate a hedge fund before investing in it.
Since the beginning of 2010, the SEC says it has filed more than 100 cases involving hedge fund malfeasance such as misusing investor assets, lying about investment strategy or performance, charging excessive fees, or hiding conflicts of interest.
This month, the SEC also plans to launch a new examination strategy targeting advisors to hedge and private equity funds who registered in response to the Dodd-Frank Act.
According to the Regulatory Compliance Association, the SEC plans to dispatch "Regulatory Expectation" letters to these advisors, "outlining the new exam approach, requirements and document production obligations."
The new "Presence Examination" strategy, the Regulatory Compliance Association says, constitutes a new regulatory inspection developed by the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE), "which seems more comprehensive than the traditional 'sweep' examination yet more targeted than the typical routine examination."
Robert Khuzami (left), director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, said in a statement that "these hedge fund frauds have lured even the most sophisticated investors using the siren song of outsized returns or secured and guaranteed investments. As fraudsters increasingly capitalize on the cachet of hedge funds, we will maintain our strong presence in policing this industry."
In the past few weeks alone, the SEC lists the charges it has brought against hedge fund and private fund managers. The agency has charged an Atlanta-based private fund manager and his firm with defrauding investors in a purported "fund-of-funds" and then trying to hide trading losses, charged a hedge fund adviser in Oregon with running a $37 million Ponzi scheme through several hedge funds he managed, and charged a New York-based hedge fund manager who touted a diversified and controlled-risk investment strategy for his fund while in reality misusing investor assets to prop up a failing private company. The New York-based fund manager also failed to disclose conflicts of interest, and he falsely overstated his firm's assets under management in various magazine articles he authored.
According to the SEC's complaint filed against Banet and Lion Capital Management in federal court in San Francisco, Banet led the teacher to believe that his hedge fund would invest in the stock market using a long/short equity investing strategy. Instead, "Banet brazenly took the teacher's investment totaling $550,000 and used it to pay unauthorized personal and business expenses, including his home mortgage, office rent, and staff salaries. Banet also provided phony account statements showing nonexistent investment gains and listing an independent administrator that performed no actual work for the fund."
In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced criminal charges against Banet.
According to the SEC's complaint against Goldstein, Gatherum, and GEI Financial Services filed in federal court in Chicago, investors in the hedge fund were not told that its adviser removed various performance hurdles when calculating fees. Furthermore, inappropriate capital withdrawals were made from the fund.
"Goldstein, Gatherum, and their firm never told their advisory clients that Illinois regulators had stripped Goldstein of his securities registrations in 2011, barring him from providing investment advisory services in the state," the SEC said. "But even after losing his registration status, Goldstein continued to make all investment decisions on behalf of clients, and he and Gatherum caused GEI Financial Services to violate compliance rules applicable to SEC-registered investment advisers."


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Here's a picture of Jake Gyllenhaal spitting out sea water and a dead unicorn.
You're welcome.
The day after Thanksgiving I was returning my home to its normal layout. (We'd transformed our living room into a banquet hall; it looked good, but I still don't know how I'm going to repair the dent in the floor left by the wind octet.) In the process of carrying the pool with live swans upstairs to the sewing room (you have to make due when living in the city) I heard a sound come from my lower back that sounded like an excerpt from a composition by Harry Partch…
Yes, Christmas came early and Santa brought me sciatica. (Even though I specifically asked for a pony. With sciatica.)
What is sciatica? It is a set of symptoms including pain that may be caused by general compression or irritation of one of five spinal nerve roots that give rise to each sciatic nerve, or by compression or irritation of the left or right or both sciatic nerves, the source of which typically stems from tiny devils prodding the inside of your bowels after the neighborhood witch has cursed you.
This is exactly what my leg looks like now.
As a result, I haven't been able to sit at my desk for a month and I've been doped up on pain-killers, steroids and craziest of all, smoking those reefer cigarettes.

subset: commoncrawl


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CFO Moves this week include:
|Heidrick & Struggles
|Citrix Systems, Inc.
|Universal Corporation
|Walmart Inc.
|Valero Energy Corporation
|Cardinal Health
|Cardiovascular Systems, Inc.
|FormFactor, Inc.
|Airgain, Inc.
|SandRidge Energy, Inc.
|City of Hope
|Blackboard Inc
|Cogent Energy Services
|Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc.
|Perion Network Ltd.
|Broward Health
|Central Logic
|Liquidia Technologies, Inc.
|Mutualink, Inc
|Micron Technology, Inc.
|Heritage Insurance Holdings, Inc.
|Corizon Health
|Mercury Systems, Inc.
|T2 Biosystems, Inc.
|Guess & Co. Corporation
Would you like to receive our weekly CFO Moves directly in your email? Click the SIGN ME UP! button on the right of the blog page.
Should you have any CFO Moves to report, please email us.
NOTE: CFO Search Report available monthly to CFOs only. Read more here.
CFO Moves is published by Samuel Dergel (Executive Search Consultant and CFO & Financial Executive Search Specialist with Dergel Executive Search). Samuel can be reached by email at email@example.com or by phone at +1 (415) 738-2070.
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Heidrick & Struggles [CHICAGO] (NASDAQ: HSII) announced that Mark R. Harris joins the firm and will succeed Richard W. Pehlke as Chief Financial Officer when Pehlke retires. Harris had been CFO at Hercules Capital. Formerly, Harris was the Senior Managing Director/Head of Asia, Chief Financial Officer and Head of Asset Management of Avenue Capital Group's Asia funds. Earlier he had been Corporate Financial Controller at Hutchison Telecom. Previously, he had been Vice President – Finance as well as General Manager for both the Financial Shared Services and Human Resources Solutions lines of business at Vsource in Singapore.
Citrix Systems, Inc. [FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.] (NASDQ: CTXS) announced that Andrew "Drew" Del Matto has been appointed executive vice president and Chief Financial Officer. He will succeed Mark Coyle, who has served as Citrix's Interim CFO since July 2017. Andrew joins Citrix from Fortinet, where he has been CFO since 2014. He also served as Symantec's corporate treasurer and vice president of finance business operations. Prior to Symantec, he held senior finance leadership roles with Inktomi Corporation and SGI Corporation.
Universal Corporation [RICHMOND, Va.] (NYSE: UVV) announced that David C. Moore, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the company, plans to retire. The Board of Directors has named Johan C. Kroner, currently Senior Vice President, to succeed Mr. Moore as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Kroner has been with the Company since 1993 and has served in numerous positions of increasing responsibilities in finance and operations, including overseas assignments in England and Italy.
Walmart Inc. [BENTONVILLE, Ark.] (NYSE: WMT) announced that it has appointed Sarah Friar, chief financial officer of Square, Inc., as a new independent director to the company's board. Since July 2012, Friar, 45, has served as CFO of Square, Inc. Prior to that, she served as the Senior Vice President of Finance & Strategy at Salesforce. From July 2000 to April 2011, Friar served in various positions at investment banking company The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., including Managing Director in the Equity Research Division. Friar currently serves as a member of the board of directors of computer software company Slack, and at New Relic, Inc.
Valero Energy Corporation [SAN ANTONIO] (NYSE: VLO) announced that Michael Ciskowski has decided to retire as the Company's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Valero has appointed Donna Titzman, currently Senior Vice President and Treasurer, as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Ms. Titzman was elected as Senior Vice President and Treasurer of Valero in 2013. Ms. Titzman joined Valero in 1986. She held various leadership positions before being elected as Assistant Treasurer in 1997, Treasurer in 1998, and Vice President and Treasurer in 2001. She has also served as a Director and as the Chief Financial Officer of Valero Energy Partners since September 2013.
Cardinal Health [DUBLIN, Ohio] (NYSE: CAH) announced that its board of directors has elected Akhil Johri, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of United Technologies, to the Cardinal Health board. In addition, Johri has been named to the board's Audit Committee. Akhil Johri has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of United Technologies since January 1, 2015. Johri returned to United Technologies after serving as Chief Financial Officer for Pall Corporation. Prior to joining Pall Corporation, Johri spent 26 years at United Technologies in various executive positions of increasing responsibility. His most recent role was Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer for UTC Propulsion & Aerospace Systems. Before that, he led UTC's Investor Relations and Financial Planning & Analysis groups. Johri also had senior financial roles at UTC Fire & Security, and Carrier Corporation, including 12 years in the Asia Pacific region.
Cardiovascular Systems, Inc. [ST. PAUL, Minn.] (NASDAQ: CSII) announced that Jeff Points was named Chief Financial Officer. Points succeeds Larry Betterley as CFO. Prior to CSI, he served as Assistant Controller at Empi. Points also held various leadership positions at CliftonLarsonAllen.
FormFactor, Inc. [LIVERMORE, Calif.] (NADAQ: FORM) announced that its Chief Financial Officer, Michael Ludwig, has notified the company of his plans to retire.
VictorOps [BOULDER, CO] announced the appointment of Jim Lejeal as chief financial officer. Prior to joining VictorOps, Jim served as CFO at Sphero, Inc. His other roles include CFO at Rally Software Development Corp; co-founder and CFO at Raindance Communications Inc.; corporate vice president of finance at ConferTech International; and advisor at Techstars Central LLC.
Airgain, Inc. [SAN DIEGO] (NASDAQ: AIRG) announced the appointment of Anil Doradla as Chief Financial Officer. Doradla will succeed Leo Johnson, who will remain at Airgain as principal financial officer and principal accounting officer. Prior to Airgain, Doradla served as an Equity Research Analyst at William Blair & Company. He also previously worked with the equity research groups at Deutsche Bank and Caris & Company. Prior to working on Wall Street, he held a variety of strategic and engineering roles at SBC Labs and LCC International, Inc.
SandRidge Energy, Inc. [OKLAHOMA CITY] (NYSE: SD) announced that Julian Bott, the Company's Chief Financial Officer, will depart from the Company. Mike Johnson, the Company's Chief Accounting Officer, has agreed to serve as Interim Chief Financial Officer.
City of Hope [DUARTE, Calif.] announced the appointment Jennifer Parkhurst as the new chief financial officer. Most recently, Parkhurst served as a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in San Francisco. Before joining PwC, Parkhurst was a partner at PRTM Management Consultants in Mountain View, California, and held several management roles at Eli Lilly.
Blackboard Inc. [WASHINGTON] announced the appointment of Rick Essex as Chief Financial Officer. Rick joins Blackboard from Survey Sampling International (SSI), where he served as CFO since 2012. Prior to joining SSI, Rick served as a Principal at Providence Equity Partners. Earlier, he held a variety of roles in private equity, investment banking and public accounting with BCI Partners, Dillon Read & Co (now UBS) and Arthur Andersen.
Cogent Energy Services [HOUSTON] announced David Gutierrez as its chief financial officer.
Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. [LAS VEGAS] (NYSE: SWX) announced that Roy Centrella, Senior Vice President/Chief Financial Officer, has announced his retirement from the company and its subsidiaries. Centrella began his career with Southwest Gas Corporation in 1983, has been Southwest's Chief Financial Officer since August 2010, and became the Company's Chief Financial Officer in connection with our holding company reorganization in January 2017. The Company announced that Gregory Peterson will assume the duties of the Company's principal financial officer and be promoted to Senior Vice President/Chief Financial Officer of both the Company and Southwest. Peterson began his career with Southwest in 1993, has been Southwest's Vice President/Controller and Chief Accounting Officer since August 2010, and became the Company's Vice President/Controller and Chief Accounting Officer in January 2017.
Perion Network Ltd. [TEL AVIV & NEW YORK] (NASDAQ: PERI) announced that Ophir Yakovian has tendered his resignation as Perion's Chief Financial Officer to pursue new professional business opportunities. Maoz Sigron, Perion's Vice President of Finance and a senior finance executive has been appointed as Perion's CFO. Mr. Sigron has served in various finance leadership and senior accounting, in positions at Tnuva Dairy Corporation as well as Allot Communications and Stratasys Ltd. Earlier in his career he served as a CPA with PwC.
Broward Health [FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.] has brought on Paul C. Schwarzkopf to assume the role of chief financial officer at Broward Health Medical Center. Schwarzkopf comes to Broward Health from Tenet Healthcare where he most recently served as senior director of regional finance for its Coastal Division. He began at Tenet in 1991 as CFO of the West Boca Medical Center and has also been director of regional finance for Florida. Prior to that, he was with Universal Health Services as controller of Wellington Regional Medical Center and held various positions at HCA Healthcare.
Central Logic [SANDY, Utah] announced that Brian Lanier has joined the company's senior leadership team. Prior to National MedTrans Network, Lanier served in financial roles at AutoPoint, Service Repair Solutions, American Residential Services, and Ernst & Young.
Celmatix [NEW YORK] announced that Richard Hofbauer has joined its executive team in the role of Chief Operating Officer (COO) and interim Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Prior to Celmatix, Hofbauer was COO at Intersection, Inc., having previously served as a Partner at Control Group. Before that, he was the first employee hired at MortgageIT Holdings (MHL).
Liquidia Technologies, Inc. [RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.] announced the appointment of Kevin Gordon as President and Chief Financial Officer. Most recently, Mr. Gordon served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Quintiles Transnational Holdings Inc. Prior to that, he served as Executive Vice President and CFO at Quintiles from 2010 to 2015. Before joining Quintiles, Mr. Gordon was Executive Vice President and CFO at Teleflex Incorporated. Mr. Gordon held various management positions with Teleflex, Package Machinery Company and KPMG. He currently serves on the board of Veracyte, Inc.
Omni-ID [ROCHESTER, N.Y.] announced that James Dole has recently retired as the company's Chief Financial Officer and has been replaced by Mag Saba. Mag Saba joins Omni-ID from American Aerogel Corporation, where he was the Chief Financial Officer. He has held several executive roles at Bausch & Lomb Inc, including CFO positions for their Asia-Pacific, and "America's" Divisions.
Mutualink, Inc. [WALLINGFORD, Conn.] announced Bill Leimkuhler as Chief Financial Officer. Bill joined Mutualink in November 2017 with over 30 years of experience.
Micron Technology, Inc. [BOISE, Idaho] (NASDAQ: MU) announced that the company has appointed David Zinsner as senior vice president and chief financial officer. Zinsner succeeds Ernie Maddock, who is retiring from Micron. Zinsner most recently served as president and chief operating officer at Affirmed Networks. Prior to that, Zinsner was senior vice president of finance and chief financial officer for eight years at Analog Devices, and before that, he was senior vice president and chief financial officer for four years at Intersil Corp.
Heritage Insurance Holdings, Inc. [CLEARWATER, Fla.] (NYSE: HRTG) announced that it has appointed Kirk H. Lusk as its Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Lusk will serve as co-Chief Financial Officer with Steven Martindale, the Company's current Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Martindale's contract expires on April 28, 2018, and he intends to pursue financial consulting opportunities. Mr. Martindale has agreed to remain involved with the Company and has been appointed to the Company's Board of Directors. Mr. Lusk joined the Heritage team on November 30, 2017, when the Company acquired NBIC Holdings, Inc. Mr. Lusk served as Chief Financial Officer for NBIC since January 2013. Prior to NBIC, Mr. Lusk served as International Chief Financial Officer of Aetna, Inc., Chief Financial Officer of Alea Group Holdings Bermuda Ltd., and Chief Financial Officer of GE Employers Reinsurance Corporation Global Casualty and GE Capital Auto Warranty Services.
Corizon Health [BRENTWOOD, Tenn.] announced Shalin Shah has joined the company as Chief Financial Officer. Shah was most recently the CFO of two prominent St. Thomas Health medical centers – Midtown and West.
iboss [BOSTON] announced that it has hired Christian G. Kasper as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining iboss, Kasper was President and CEO of Harvest Power, Inc. He has also served as CFO of several companies, including The Princeton Review, Inc.
Slack [SAN FRANCISCO] announced the company is naming long-time employee Allen Shim as the company's first CFO.
Mercury Systems, Inc. [ANDOVER, Mass.] (NASDAQ: MRCY) announced that Michael D. Ruppert, Mercury's Executive Vice President, Strategy & Corporate Development, has been named Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. Mr. Ruppert succeeds Gerald D. Haines, who assumed the role of Mercury's Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer in 2014 after having joined the company in 2010 as head of Corporate Development. Mr. Ruppert joined Mercury in 2014 as Senior Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Development.
T2 Biosystems, Inc. [LEXINGTON, Mass.] (NASDAQ: TTOO) announced that John Sprague has been named chief financial officer. He replaces Darlene Deptula-Hicks, who is retiring to pursue other opportunities. Mr. Sprague was most recently the chief financial officer at Caliber Imaging & Diagnostics, Inc. Prior to Caliber Imaging & Diagnostics, Mr. John Sprague spent six years working in several financial positions at GE Healthcare, most recently being the chief financial officer of the US & Canada Core Imaging Division, GE Healthcare's pharmaceutical business supplying contrast, Spect and PET imaging agents to heath care providers. Mr. John Sprague originally came to GE Healthcare through a merger with Xcellerex, Inc. where he was the chief financial officer.
Guess & Co. Corporation [Durham, North Carolina] announced that Kenneth Vanden Berg has been named Senior Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining Guess & Co. Corporation, Mr. Vanden Berg was Senior Vice-President of Finance for an international manufacturer and distributor of cosmetics and nutritional products with locations in China, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Mexico, Canada, Spain and Australia. Mr. Vanden Berg began his career at Arthur Andersen, where he was a Senior Audit Manager for 15 years.


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Bill's Games 1.0
Bill Kendrick has put together a large and entertaining collection of basic games to play.
There are puzzles, word games, board games, card games, all designed to occupy your time without the trouble of a lengthy download. Though there are a couple of downloadables on the site, the majority are posted for web-based gaming.
It's worth a look; the format is clean, and this isn't one of those annoying Geocities or Xoom sites, either. Bill seems to take pretty good care of his site and his games. Have fun!
No local download file is associated with this listing. Clicking the Download link will redirect your browser to a page from which the application can be obtained.


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4x4 Diesel Truck Tech - Ali's Smoke House
Diesel Dilemma
From The Time The Glow Plugs heat up to the last clanking compression cycle of the engine, everything about a diesel just feels right. It reminds me of a family trip I took many years ago along a rural stretch of I-40. We were heading back from a weekend trip at the beach when we began to lose electrical power in our '89 6.2L diesel Blazer. I will never forget the calmness in my father's voice as he simply asked me if I wanted my window up or down for the next two hours. This completely blew me away as everything I thought I knew about cars came to a screeching halt. How could you drive a vehicle with no battery power, no alternator, and nothing electrical, period? It may have been that moment in time when I realized that owning a diesel meant more than just filling up from a different pump. It meant dependability.
Although the days of V-belts and self-sustaining diesels are long gone, my love for them is not. And even though I dearly miss the simplistic nature of the diesel engines that I grew up wrenching on, I do feel that all the electronic nannies that come with the modern diesel may be the very equipment that will save us from ourselves. Historically diesels have been known for two things, massive torque and superior engine life when compared to most gas engines (many operating daily with more than 500,000 miles on the clock). So it's no surprise that once the American engineers figured out how to quiet the rattle and refine the power of the diesel, every truck lover in this country became an overnight diesel enthusiast.
Unfortunately many have gone on to create a world of smoke-filled hot-rod diesels that have caught the eyes of activists on both sides of the environmental fence. Even with modern engine controls and complex turbo systems, we're still smoking worse than the old trucks that once chugged up and down our Interstates.
Now, I'm not slamming all you diesel thumpers for your smoky love, because truth be told, even with my larger-than-stock ATS turbo, my Dodge still smokes more than I would like when I turn up the juice.
Currently I see a future where the diesel segment splits into two distinct groups; one that buys the diesel for its performance potential and the other who owns it for the famed endurance and longevity. As many of you may know, there is more energy in diesel fuel than any other fuel on the planet and what you plan to do with all that stored energy is entirely up to you. My suggestion is this: If you want to crank up the power, do it wisely. With performance upgrades such as compound turbos, handheld programmers, and comprehensive data loggers, the technology is there, but it isn't always cheap. For most of us the diesel power game is fun, but having a truck that can live longer with fewer problems is what owning a diesel was once all about.


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New York Students Say 'Yes' to Education
NEA President Van Roekel and Education Secretary Duncan promote innovative reform effort at magnet school
By Tim Walker
NEA President Dennis Van Roekel and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan visited Martin Luther King Elementary magnet school in Syracuse, New York to spotlight the Say Yes to Education, an education reform initiative committed to increasing high school and college graduation rates for underserved, inner-city youth.
"This program models what education reform can look like when it's moved beyond theory and rhetoric," says Van Roekel. "Here in Syracuse, we're looking at a collaborative program that's actually succeeded in getting more underprivileged kids into higher education. These are kids whom the current system doesn't serve well."
The program provides underserved, urban students comprehensive support systems to help them graduate and attend college. Say Yes offers free college tuition to any Syracuse student who completes high school and meets college entry requirements. The program has already helped generate higher graduation rates with its chapters in Philadelphia, Cambridge, and Hartford. In 2007, Syracuse became the first city in the nation to launch Say Yes district-wide.
When Van Roekel first visited NEA members at the MLK school back in June, he was struck by the level of collaboration that teacher unions had established with local businesses, private foundations and civic leaders. Inspired by what he saw, Van Roekel lauded the program in a meeting with U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
"When I met with Secretary Duncan a few days later," Van Roekel recalled, "I told him he had to take a look for himself in person." Duncan scheduled the visit for the start of the school year and invited Van Roekel to accompany him.
Joining Van Roekel and Duncan to discuss the program were a large group of education and civic leaders, including New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) President Richard Iannuzzi, and Say Yes to Education President Mary Anne Schmitt-Carey.
The Say Yes model, Schmitt-Carey told the gathering, has been implemented, tested, and refined and is already having an effect on students. Schmitt-Carey says the teamwork and shared commitment has been overwhelming and will ensure that the results seen in other cities will be duplicated in Syracuse.
"It's all about coming together," she told the gathering. "All of us – government, educators, unions, business – can be pioneers in helping urban, lower-income students go to college. We are putting our differences aside and working together." Schmitt-Carey thanked NEA and NYSUT and praised the Syracuse Teachers Association for negotiating new agreements to provide flextime for district social workers and make them 11-month employees. As a result, more social workers were added in every building.
"The program provides essential support for students," explains social worker Antoinette Singleton. "Real health services, for example, and counseling. Now classroom teachers are able to concentrate on teaching."
Van Roekel believes the program can serve as a reform model across the country. "Say Yes to Education will change the system for every child in Syracuse," Van Roekel said. "I want this to work because I want there to be a model for every child."
What is your community doing to improve college access? Come tell us here.
- The latest education news
- NEA's Higher Education Faculty & Staff
- NEA's Higher Education Advocate
- Make High School Graduation a National Priority
- Improve Achievement for All Students
- Association Representative Resources
- Practical Classroom Tips from Teachers Like You!
- NYSUT Website


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Did you sit through the endless red carpet coverage? I did. I'm pretty sure I lost some IQ points and all I wanted to do was feed Giuliana Rancic a sandwich, but I powered through it. Ryan Seacrest just needs to embrace his vertical challenge and start standing on a phone book because when he interviews people like Taylor Swift or Nicole Kidman, he looks like a 12 year-old. It's so awkward. Kat McPhee looked like a deer in the headlights when she was interviewed by Seacrest. I mean they KNOW each other right? Why was she so weird? I'm thinking it's because she forgot to wash her hair.
Ariana Grande was interviewed with her new guy Big Sean and he was her biggest accessory. The level of cuteness was pretty high on the nausea scale, I mean she wanted everyone to know "this is my man and you can't have him". Look girl, if you want a man that will take your inevitable breakup and use it to write a marginally interesting song that will be played on radio stations everywhere, then you do you. I look at this and I think about my ex that I brought to my sister's wedding. He's in the pictures and I wish he wasn't. I feel like when Ariana looks back at these pics after the public breakup, she will wish she hadn't hung all over him like a cheap suit.
I'm not a fashionista by any stretch of the imagination, but here are my picks from the red carpet.
BEST: Taylor Swift, Chrissy Teigan, Jessie J and Gwen Stefani.
WORST: Rihanna (WHAT WAS THAT?) Iggy Azalea's hair crown, Kim Kardashian's bedazzled robe and Keith Urban's ponytail.
New England Patriots will be on stage? What!! I had no idea. I was hoping for a Grammy Gronking, but Edelman and Butler did pretty well with a well-played interception joke.
Kanye West put on his best sweats to Auto-Tune his way through a crappy song. Someone please explain Kanye and his "art" to me, because I don't get it.
Madonna as a matador. I don't think I need to say anymore do I? I love her, she does no wrong, haters to the left. She kept it classy on the red carpet as well…
Keith Urban has a ponytail? Stop. Just stop.
I felt the song with Paul McCartney, Kanye and Rihanna was all over the place. Matching black suits? Is it me or did Rihanna show NO skin this evening? Something is wrong in the world somewhere. The song is good, but I just can't listen to Kanye sing. Mostly because he can't. And Paul just looks so out of place. And constantly surprised.
The Grammy's were far too long and peppered with performances that truly sucked (Usher singing Stevie Wonder) and performances that delivered (Madonna, Beyonce and Tom Jones) but it's the one time where I will sit in front of the TV for hours on end that doesn't involve Netflix.
Better known for his time in The Black Eyed Peas, Will.i.am is actually an accomplished producer, singer, and designer in his own right. For his new album, "#Willpower," set to be released in February of 2013, Will.i. am teamed up with everyone aaaand their mothers. His collaborations are the cool-kid-list of the music world:
Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Beiber, Cheryl Cole, Kanye West, Nicole Scherzinger, David Guetta, Alicia Keys, Natalia Kills, LMFAO, Eva Simons, Chris Brown, Mick Jagger, Busta Rhymes, Demi Lovato, Ne-Yo, Avril Lavigne, 2NE1, Lindsay Lohan, and Kim Kardashian. That's all for ONE album.
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Some like them exotic, some like them simple. I guess I like them big, luxurious and… Roman. I can't say exactly when my passion for Roman villas (I guess the title gave me away, eh) started, but there surely is a pattern there: from the moment when I was asked to do a research for my Archaeology & Anthropology class in high school, and I chose to discuss the Villa of the Mysteries in front of a bunch of clueless 17 years old Australians, to the life-changing moment when I submitted my application for a Curatorial Internship at the J.-P. Getty Museum. But this is not the story of how I spent my days as a Classical Archaeologist strolling around the reconstructed peristyle of the Villa of the Papyri – although I could fill pages with the amazingness of experiencing my dream job [Dream job /dri:m dʒɒb/: to work in any Archaeological Museum filled with Classical Antiquities].
This is the story of how I decided to come back home, to Italy, and got myself a room with a view on Mt. Vesuvius.
The year, 2010. I am writing my thesis on some Neronian frescoes (not just "Neronian" but "Neronian-Neronian", aka, from one of the many wings of Nero's palace in Rome), and decide to go look at similarly themed-frescoes in the best wall-paintings archive in the world: the Vesuvian sites. On a sunny day, I make my first encounter with Villa San Marco and Villa Arianna, and immediately fall in love (Pompeii what?).
Four years later, I am currently working in Castellammare di Stabia for the Restoring Ancient Stabiae (RAS) Foundation, trying to preserve and make known this often-forgotten site (by tourists at least) to local and international audiences. Each year, the Foundation facilitates archaeological excavations and conservation campaigns from all over the world; promotes summer schools and university-level lectures and visits to the archaeological sites of Campania, as well as programs for local schools. It has also funded some major exhibitions and made the objects recovered at Stabiae tour the world – a big pro for a museum geek like me. So what does an archaeologist do at the RAS? Or rather, what do my colleague, Paolo Gardelli, and I do? We try to fit together a puzzle of pieces, often on the very same day!
Piece 1 – Digging and Restoring
Mind there: before actually digging and restoring, there's a lot of paper-work to do. But once that's over (if it is ever over), and once the projects and the collaborations have been signed, the archaeological fun begins. I have been here only a month now, but I did get my peek on all the different projects that are taking place at Stabiae: from looking for the lost root cavities in the gardens – or in a corner viridarium – to washing floors to make the marble pieces stand out; from scooping underground to see what is left there to scratching the surfaces of columns to take the salts away, I got to see all this taking form and meaning. After a long pause, I even got to hold a trowel again. And it is like going on a bycicle: you just never forget how to use it.
Piece 2 – Research
Digging is publishing, shouldn't this be the rule? And what does an archaeologist like me do in two villas full of frescoes? She picks one. Daily task for me: finding a wall-painting that needs publishing, or I think deserves publishing, or I love particularly (okay, this is getting harder). Then study it, make it as if I painted it with my own bare hands and amazing taste in juxtaposing colors and themes. Find the reason beyond a certain subject (why that small Psyche over there?), a color (why is that column green?), a context (why in that room?).
Piece 3 – Education
Last but not least, our daily tasks also involve teaching and taking schools and university groups to see the villas. Our Education programs are many and varied, and they also include simulated digs in a dedicated area at the Institute, workshops, lectures on the Vesuvian sites, archaeo-music… There's much to choose from, and I personally enjoy doing it. I'm truly convinced that part of the mission of an archaeologist (or a curator, for that matters) is to share his/her knowledge and simultaneously take from others. Have you ever met a 10 years old girl asking you if Diodorus Siculus ever wrote anything on Cremona? It's a priceless experience.
Day is over, time to go and immerse myself in one of the many books that has been written on the cities buried by Vesuvius. Oh yes, another perk of working here.


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Schauen Sie hier nach Artikeln in deutscher Sprache
Mira aquí para artículos en español Articles en français
See AVM Bulletins; produced every month
See report of 2019 UK conference here
Code of practice for Africa's theological educators here
Alliance for Vulnerable Mission Purpose Statement
Vulnerable mission aims to encourage cross-cultural workers to follow the humble example of Jesus, who demonstrated His vulnerability in part by living like the Jews of His time and place. Examples of humble vulnerability include but are not limited to carrying out ministry in culturally appropriate ways, refusing a high-status position, learning a local language, and avoiding the use of imported resources in favor of local ones.
Introduction to AVM (Alliance for Vulnerable Mission)
The AVM (Alliance for Vulnerable Mission) seeks to encourage wider use of mission and development strategies that depend on locally available resources and local languages. These strategies are "vulnerable" in the sense that they do not have fringe benefits built into them, deliberately or otherwise. They will therefore fail unless or until there is strong local confidence in their spiritual or developmental value. The missionary or development worker will allow them to fail rather than prop them up with outside money.
"Vulnerable mission" may be seen as part of the movement toward contextualization of the Gospel of Jesus, which we regard as the theory of many and the practice of few. We would like to see more people take the risks of contextualization and vulnerability in order to reap the rewards that only come to those who value local resources and invest in local languages. If local tools seem slow or weak by comparison with foreign money and English (Spanish etc. – European language), then we say with a wise missionary of long ago, "When I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Cor. 12:10) While vulnerable mission may not be the only biblical approach to mission, it deserves much more attention than it has been getting. Let's talk.
… that there should be some missionaries from the West whose ministries are conducted in the language of the people being reached, without use of outside financial subsidy.
Contact: email@example.com
To participate in a list-serve discussion of vulnerable mission issues by email click here (if this link does not work for you, write to email@example.com): PEARL To receive the monthly AVM bulletin, send an email to: firstname.lastname@example.com For back copies of the Bulletin go to https://missiology.org.uk/journal_alliance-for-vulnerable-mission-01.php For a video presentation of vulnerable mission click here A series of conferences are periodically arranged to further these aims. The rationale for the advocating of these policies is given in many papers collected especially at the following locations:
Articles by Jim Harries, chairman of the Alliance for Vulnerable Mission (in academia.edu)
Prior editions of the monthly AVM Bulletin
Some of the above articles are already published in Journals including: Missiology: an international review, Exchange: Journal of Missiological and Ecumenical Research, Evangelical Review of Theology and Lausanne World Pulse. More articles are sought for publishing on the web and/or presenting at the conferences.
In brief, vulnerable mission is a means of over-coming widespread problems in mission (and development activities) in the two-thirds world, such as the creation of unhealthy dependency, neo-colonialism, the prosperity gospel, mission as secularisation, corruption and chronic under-development. These issues are avoided because by confining themselves to the use of local languages and resources missionaries ensure that their activities are appropriately contextualised. The use of local languages in ministry combined with 'missionary poverty' (the two key principles of AVM) enforces humility and operation on a 'level playing field' with local people. Once these two conditions have been given as foundation, then 'Vulnerable Mission' can be extremely wide in its expression and can certainly include: provision of care for the sick, faith healing, theological and other education, church planting, literacy, water projects and so on.
AVM already has partners in many churches, missions and schools including SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics), SIM (Serving in Mission), Church of God (Anderson), WEA (World Evangelical Alliance), WCIU (William Carey International University), WMA (World Mission Associates), GMI (Global Mapping International), TWR, and many more. More partnerships and affiliations are sought. Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox churches, groups and individuals are welcomed.
The AVM is led by a small executive board made up of Tim Reeves, (Norwich Central Baptist Church, UK), Dr. Chris Flanders, (Abilene Christian University) and Dr. Jim Harries (Chair, Missionary in Western Kenya). This is supported by an Advisory Board that includes: Alex Araujo (Partners International) and others (see below). Readers are encouraged to peruse the above websites. For a few discussions already engaged in and recorded by Jim Harries with people over vulnerable mission see:
Board Members
Dr. Jim Harries. Chairman. Missionary in East Africa.
Video recordings of Day workshop on vulnerable mission, How to do Partnerships Better, Pasadena, California, 24th September 2013 (watching these four videos would be an excellent way to give a group a dynamic introduction to vulnerable mission, and to how to do partnerships better …)
1. Stan Nussbaum's presentation. Vulnerable Missions – Dependency
2. Jean Johnson's presentation. Avoiding being Source of Resources.
3. Jim Harries's presentation. The Bugbear of International Languages.


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Lesson 5: Techniques To Reduce Test Anxiety
- Make the first exam "relatively" easy, but not so much so that they are disillusioned regarding upcoming exams.
- Give more than one exam.
- This is particularly important if your goal is to facilitate learning.
- Periodic testing tends to result in better performance on final exams.
- Too few exams may not motivate students to study, nor do they give students or instructors enough feedback.
- Avoid "pop" quizzes.
- Give students advice on how to study, such as...
- spread studying out over several days versus cramming.
- get a good nights sleep.
- review with another student and/or form a study group.
- Schedule extra office hours before an exam and/or encourage study groups to make an office visit.
- Schedule in or out of class review sessions.
Ideas for in-class review sessions might include:
- Focused Listing - The students list information they believe other students should know to be successful on an upcoming exam. Students come to some consensus in small groups and then share results with the large group.
- Matrix - The students are given a list of terms that they have to put under the appropriate label.
- Jeopardy - Give students the answers and they have to come up with the question you desire.
- Ask students how you can help them feel less anxious. Or, ask them what makes them feel anxious.
- Distribute practice exams either in-class or as a take home assignment.
- Explain the format prior to the test day to include such information as the number of questions, the types of questions, etc.
- Emphasize on the exam what you emphasized in class, the readings and the homework. In other words, test to what you teach.
- Have students that succeeded in one of your classes write a short note of advice to incoming students on how to study for your exams. Distribute these to the next class. Students often hear advice better from other students versus the instructor.
- Consider allowing students to write information on a 3 x 5 card that they can use while taking the test.
- To reduce their anxiety during the exam, leave space for students to write comments after multiple choice and true false questions. Be sure to explain why there is extra space so that students don't interpret this space to mean that they need a longer answer.
- ask students to write a short justification for any questions they perceive to be tricky or misleading.
- let students rewrite multiple choice items. (Limit two per test.)
- include a blank question on the exam and ask students to write a question and answer over content they were well prepared to answer.
The instructor announces a "magic moment" and students have only one minute to utilize whatever resources they wish to aid them in taking the test. Keep in mind that this needs to be given before anyone finishes the exam. Students are told prior to the test date that they will be allowed one "magic moment."
Center for Teaching Excellence
TLC Building
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Lansing, MI 48933
Phone: (517) 483-1680
Email: email@example.com
Additional contact information
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fill-out the Applegram form.


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We offer a wide range of services from Fuel to Pilot Supplies.
For those who need schedule flexibility, Journeys offers personalized flight instruction conducted by experienced Certified Flight Instructors.
Journeys Aviation™ offers a diverse fleet of aircraft with single-engine, complex and multi-engine aircraft.
If you own an aircraft, and would be interested in renting it out through a lease back agreement with Journeys, click HERE for more details.
Journeys Aviation is currently looking for a light twin aircraft.
Our staff is our greatest asset, as they enjoy what they do, and constantly strive to provide excellent service. Knowledgeable in all areas of flight training and FBO services, they will be glad to answer your questions and provide whatever help you need.
With low overhead and a wide variety of aircraft and an ELITE RC-1 flight training device, Journeys can satisfy a wide range of budgets. We also provide training in a supportive and stimulating environment where you will likely share a cup of coffee with anyone from an Airline pilot to an Alaskan bush pilot.
We provide flight instruction at Boulder Municipal Airport for Private Pilot, Commercial Pilot, and Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) Certificates and Instrument, Multi-Engine, and CFI-Instrument ratings. We have superior Certified Flight Instructors with thousands of flight instruction hours, and an advanced simulator to provide realistic training and reduce your overall training costs.
We offer full-service flight planning with an on-line aircraft scheduling system, computers for flight planning and training, and an Aviation Library containing book and video resources. Stop by, or fly in to Boulder Airport to see what we have to offer.


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We are completely delighted by Wink, Hushpuppy, Sticks, Walrus, and the rest of the townspeople from Bathtub in beloved indie flick Beasts of the Southern Wild. And we're even more smitten in this first-ever clip where Hushpuppy raises a blue-limbed crab to her ear like a phone, no doubt listening to the universe or something delightfully poetic like that. Beasts of the Southern Wild hits theaters June 27 — here's the synopsis:
Faced with her father's fading health and environmental changes that release an army of prehistoric creatures called aurochs, six-year-old Hushpuppy leaves her Delta-community home in search of her mother.
And here is a new featurette.


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Johannesburg O.R. Tambo International Airport is located 22km (14 miles) east of Johannesburg.
O R Tambo Airport Rd
Johannesburg 1627
South Africa
Dialling Code: +27
Tel: +27 11 921 6911
Lufthansa at the airport
Lufthansa Lounges
You can relax, take forty winks or get down to some work before your next flight in the Lufthansa and Star Alliance partner lounges at all major international airports.
To the loungefinder
How to get there
Driving Directions
From Johannesburg, take the R24 to the airport; from Pretoria, take the R21. The airport is clearly signposted from these approach roads.
The high-speed Gautrain (tel: (0800) 428 87426; www.gautrain.co.za) runs between Johannesburg O.R. Tambo International Airport, Malboro and Sandton. The travel time to Malboro is 10 minutes and Sandton 15 minutes, while fares to both start at R115.
Magic Bus (tel: (011) 548 0822) operates scheduled bus services to Sun City and other places of interest: it has an office on the ground floor of the domestic car park building.
Airport Link (tel: (011) 794 8300; www.airportlink.co.za) and EZ Shuttle (tel: 0861 397 488; www.ezshuttle.co.za) provide door-to-door shuttle services from the airport to city destinations.
Official taxis operate from in front of the multi-storey car park building. The journey time to central Johannesburg is upwards of 30 minutes (depending on traffic conditions) and the fare is around R500.
Car Parking
There are several car parks offering short- and long-term parking, including an underground facility as well as outdoor and covered areas. A free 24-hour shuttle bus service operates between the furthest away car parks and the terminals. Further information is available from the ACSA office (tel: (011) 921 6090/1), which is open 24 hours a day. Valet parking, operated by Executive Carports (tel: (011) 390 2062; www.executivecarport.co.za) is also available.


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Though Robert Patrick may never escape his first breakthrough role as the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, over the last twenty years he's built a great resume as a character actor. In Gangster Squad he plays a seasoned vet that's part cowboy, and it's a part that Patrick was born to play. We got a chance to talk to the actor about his character and some of his previous work while on the set of Gangster Squad. Our interview follows after the jump.
Can you talk about the intrigue with Gangsters in this era for you?
Robert Patrick: My personal fascination? Well, it was still sort of a lawless time and LA was sort of like the old West and Mickey Cohen came in after the prohibition and set up shop… I think the police were corrupt at the time, and it's just a really sexy time period, to be honest with you. Cars were sexy. Clothes were sexy, women were sexy.
So do you feel like you were playing an Earp brother?
Patrick: Well my guy Max Kennard is the oldest of all the guys, and he was born in the 1800's and raised in Texas. So he was transplanted to Los Angeles. They had me written in the script as the deadliest cop. I've got more kills than any of the other guys, I carry a Colt 45 Peacemaker. So I'm sort of a throwback to an old Western character and LA is very much an Old West town for me. Max is a cowboy yeah. I have a Colt 45 and I do all the quick draw stuff and like I said my guy was from the 1800's, so he's very much from that time period.
I heard you have some good gun tricks now that you can do?
Patrick: Yeah Johnny "Rocket Shoes" Dylan trained me how to do the quick draw. We have a cool scene where I shoot a can into the air 6 times and keep it up in the air. This guy's an expert marksman and has the Texas lawmen mentality. Shoot first, takes names later. But my guy's trying to redeem himself from some of the things he did in his past.
Did you get to meet any of the family members of your character?
Patrick: No, I don't know if my guy actually existed. I think my guy is like a combination of guys. Ruben said he did exist, but I don't think he had a lot of family.
Would you say your character danced on the border of being a good and a bad guy?
Patrick: I think he's a good guy. He knows what's right, but he's not politically correct about it. He's a lawmen in the old school way. He would have been a Republican. He'd be a pretty conservative Republican.
How was it working with Ruben?
Patrick: Ruben's fantastic this is his third film, he really knows his stuff, he's a great guy, he's very collaborative, he wants ideas. We're all coming to him with ideas we have for our characters, he's very open to that, let's us interporate it. It's just a great group of guys to be working with, the Gangster Squad itself. Josh is just so well cast as the leader, and Ryan, Anthony, Giovanni, Michael, they're terrific.
Do you think everyone has good chemistry?
Patrick: I think so yeah. Michael Pena's my partner and without giving away too much of the story, he kind of weasels his way in to the Gangster Squad. And one of the things I do like about my character is that Michael's Hispanic, and I'm one of the few cops who would partner up with him. At the time in 1949 it wasn't… he was not somebody you'd want to partner up with on account of his heritage. And I take him on, and he's my partner every day and then he sneaks his way in to the Gangster Squad. And Max is that way, he's the quiet one of all of them, a typical laconic cowboy. But I feel as if, what I'm trying to do with the role is make him the protector for all the guys, he has everyone's back, and I don't want to say in a fatherly way but in a protective way he feels responsible for all of them. He's definitely got Josh's character's back, he's looking out for the leader at all times, so I'm always, my back's against the wall looking at what the situation is. It's interesting; I'm having a lot of fun doing it.
Can you talk about working with Sean and with Ryan?
Patrick: I haven't actually worked with Sean yet; we had the table reading with Sean and everybody. I'm primarily with the Gangster Squad and work a little bit with Nick Nolte. And I have a scene with Sean where he'll be doing all the talking, so that will be interesting to see. We don't have too much interaction because he's the guy we're really trying to get. So that becomes more of a showdown at the end. That hasn't been shot yet.
And what about Ryan?
Patrick: Ryan's definitely a part of the Gangster Squad, he comes in, and he's a very big part of it. He really helps us because he has a relationship… I don't want to give too much of the story away… there's a woman involved and he has a relationship with her and that works to our advantage. It's always a woman! It's a film noir you know.
What about working with Ryan?
Patrick: It's the first time I've worked with Ryan. He's an amazing actor, truly a gifted individual. He's the real deal. I just saw The Ides of March. That's an amazing film. So he's a lot of fun to work with.
Is there anything that you've added to your character?
Patrick: Well he has so much, you know, being the quick draw guy, you'll get to see the gun play with that. Trying to see if there's anything I added… he's so well written, my character's so well written on the page and has great lines all the way through it that are there. Maybe just that I'm hyper aware that I'm trying to protect all the guys, and have their backs, and maybe just the age thing I'm really trying to play that up even more. He's a little bit more mature than the other ones.
Ruben often suggests to his actors some films to watch…
Patrick: That's a great question. OK, so when I got the role Ruben and I were on the phone talking and he really suggest that I watch Clint Eastwood and The Magnificent Seven to really get an idea of what he was trying to do as far as an iconic Western portrayal of Max Kennard. So this Max Kennard has that kind of iconic visual with him, the way he's dressed, the way he handles himself. And I've pretty much got that in my mind when I'm working. I watched a lot of Clint Eastwood's films, a lot of Westerns, John Wayne, Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Searchers and we had long discussions about that, and that's what he specifically brought up about the character. A real strong, silent type. It helped me tremendously, it was actually motivating to watch it to see which actor was really gifted with the gun, and the gunplay and the way they handled themselves. You can do a lot with just a look. And there's a lot of that with Max.
I hear you have some really great action scenes coming up, is there any you're particularly excited about?
Patrick: Well yeah, actually, the stuff we are doing tomorrow night is looking to be even better than I thought it would be. There's going to be some quick draw stuff going on with me, I get to shoot a couple of people like that. It's fun. It's just fun because my gun is so different to everyone else's, it's literally old school. You fan it. It comes out of the holster and you fan it, it's a single action. So that will be interesting. Maybe the scene where you actually see me do my gunplay stuff for the first time… it's not really an action scene per se but it's where you actually see how well he can handle a gun. It's done very well; it's set up very well. So hopefully people will see it and think about some of those Westerns I mentioned.
How have you transformed yourself physically?
Patrick: I've lost 30 pounds. One of the things I did was when I was watching the films I thought that all the cowboys were super lean, and I'm a little bigger than I should be for this role, so I did that on my own, and leaned up for the role. Just to kind of give that visual of a long lean cowboy. Losing 30 pounds was a shocker, I didn't know I could do that… all I had to do was change what I was eating.
And you grew a moustache…
Patrick: Yeah the moustache was part of it. And my hat. There was a lot of discussion about my hat, which I'm not wearing tonight so you can't see it. And I had a long duster they gave me. Mary who did the wardrobe she's just impeccable she's amazing. She's really tremendous. To be honest the whole character came together when I started to put on the clothes that she had picked out for me… and the hat. And Ruben was very hands on about that as well. That was maybe the second time that I met him was at the wardrobe fitting, after I read for the role.
Does your character have a woman in his life?
Patrick: No we don't really discuss that, and he doesn't wear a wedding ring. I see him as sort of a loner. There was a lot of backstory that I did that will stay with me, but we gave him a whole history, that I'm keeping to myself. But my guy is hell bent on redemption, and that's part of the reason why he's in this whole-heartedly. Once he's invited to join this group he jumped at the chance and I think he sees this as a way to redeem what he did earlier in his life I don't think he's too proud of a lot of things he did.
Do you think he has any issues with them stretching the law a little bit to do what they need to do?
Patrick: No and I think that's what's really going to be identifiable for America. I think we're all… I'm speaking for Americans and this is totally my opinion, but I think we're all looking for someone who's going to stand up for what's right, and I think that's what's so empowering about the Gangster Squad. We need more of that. And I think that's what's going to be the rally cry for people who see this movie. There's right and there's wrong. And we need heroes to stand up and do what's right.
It seems to me you've played a lot of characters on one side of the law or the other, at times both at the same time, like Cop Land…
Patrick: Yeah, Copland was a great movie. In fact their anniversary's coming up, they're re-releasing that on Blu Ray. We did CopLand in 1990…
Patrick: 1997! Thank you. You guys are good! They're doing a Blu-ray release. But getting back to your question…
Do you have a side of the law that you like to play?
Patrick: No, not really. I mean I'm very grateful to be doing this movie though, for the reasons I just mentioned. The characters are interesting. You pick up and do what you want to do based on the character. Sometimes it's interesting to be on the wrong side of the law. But this is very validating to be on the right side of the law. I always find it very interesting to be heroic characters who are willing to do what a bad guy would. Josh even has a line like that 'you know we need to be just as tough and mean as they are, it's the only way we're going to succeed' And they're bad, bad dudes.
Gangster Squad opens January 11.
For more on our Gangster Squad Set Visit:
- 15 Things to Know from Our GANGSTER SQUAD Set Visit
- Josh Brolin Talks GANGSTER SQUAD, Fascination with Gangster Culture, His Character, Working with the Incredible Cast and More During Our Set Visit
- Director Ruben Fleischer Talks GANGSTER SQUAD, Classic Gangster Movies, the Incredible Cast and the Level of Action During Our Set Visit
- Producers Dan Lin and Kevin McCormick Talk Story Origin and the Vibe They Were Going for on the Set of GANGSTER SQUAD
- Giovanni Ribisi Talks Gangster Fascination, 1940s Technology, and His Character Moustache on the Set of GANGSTER SQUAD
- Anthony Mackie Talks the Appeal of the Gangster Genre, African-Americans in Film Noir, and More on the Set of GANGSTER SQUAD


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HP48 Series RPN Calculator
From Openmoko
|In progress: This article or section documents one or more features whose implementation are in progress.
Eddie C. Dost and Iñigo Serna Robledo wrote an open-source emulator for the HP 48 series of RPN calculators. This code can be used with a ROM image of the code from a specific HP 48 series calculator, to provide a working calculator. The emulator is not fast by any means - running on a neo1973, the emulator is only about 70% faster than an HP 48G. It is definately usable - it is faster than the real calculator after all.
Their original source code, available at http://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/pc/emulators/ will build on standard unix/linux distributions, and displays using the GTK+ toolkit and X11. There are only three things that prevent their original code from being directly usable on an Openmoko phone. First, the image of the calculator the code produces is too large for a VGA display, and the bottom ~3 rows of keys are not displayed. That was fixed by removing some of the protions of the display which were merely cosmetic (showing the HP logo and model number, for example). Secondly, the source code package is not designed for crosscompilation, which is what is usually done for Openmoko code. Thirdly, the default fonts the code uses aren't present in the Openmoko rootfs (at least the 2007.2 family of releases), so they needed to be changed.
Your going to need extremely fine finger control to run this thing without a stylus. I think in practice this device must be considered stylus-based.
Like many programs, the command line options can be seen by executing the program with the argument --help. The most important command line options are -rom, which must be followed by the rom file name (with path, if not in the current directory) and -home, which must be followed by the directory into which the program should store the RAM image.
The emulation of the calculator is exact enough that the calculator will turn itself off after being idle for a few minutes. For some reason, you must press the ON key several times to turn the calculator back on. I will try to fix that bug.
I have done the little changes to the code required to make the calculator image fit on a VGA display, as shown above, and I have gotten the code to crosscompile.
The emulator reproduces the real calculator's power saving feature of turning off after a few minutes with no activity. When the calculator is off, the screen will be blank. To turn it back on, tap the on key twice in rapid succession.
The modified code and/or an opkg package may be found here:
Please send comments, suggestions and questions to firstname.lastname@example.com


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Another school shooting, and another Michigan lawmaker gaffe — just a month after the Newtown massacre and the ill-fated guns in schools legislation were introduced on the same morning, (vetoed by Gov. Snyder) — here we go again….
As details of the Texas school shooting come in, it is reported that Sen. Rick Jones (R) introduced the Firearms Freedom Act in Michigan — a bill that is described by The Tenth Amendment Center as:
"Originally introduced and passed in Montana, the FFA declares that any firearms made and retained in-state are beyond the authority of Congress under its constitutional power to regulate commerce among the states. The FFA is primarily a Tenth Amendment challenge to the powers of Congress under the commerce clause, with firearms as the object."
Translation: Guns manufactured and sold within state lines are exempt from all federal gun laws. Lawmakers readily admit that the legislation is unconstitutional and that their intent is merely a push-back on potential upcoming gun regulation legislation.
Way to go Michigan lawmakers…way to go.
Amy Kerr Hardin This article also appears in Voters Legislation Transparency Project


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Celebrating A Legend
Jazz clarinetist Tony Scott once said "When Ella Fitzgerald sings 'My man he's left me,' you think the guy went down the street for a loaf of bread. But when Lady sings, you can see that guy going down the street. He's got his bags packed and he ain't never coming back."
He was referring, respectively to Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holliday.
Some music fans might think that comment as a putdown of Fitzgerald, dubbed by her fans and comrades in song as "The First Lady of Song,� since Ella never transmitted the sorrowful blues of Holliday. But Ella's men were forever suitors who always came back for more.
Some of those suitors, including legend Quincy Jones, Ruben Studdard, Stevie Wonder, join with women singers in a gala celebration of what would be Ella's 90th birthday this week in the television special, "We Love Ella! A Tribute to the First Lady of Song," a special from Thirteen/WNET premiering on Wednesday, June 6 nationally with repeat performances throughout the week. Repeat performances in the New York City area include screenings on Thursday, June 7 through Sunday, June 10 with times ranging from 10 am to 9 pm. Viewers in other national markets should check their local PBS schedule for times.
It is hard to estimate the worth of a singer who had the classic torch song, "Cry Me a River,� actually written for her and her only. Or to weigh the importance of a lady whose recordings of the composers Rogers and Hart, Ira and George Gershwin, Cole Porter were produced in songbook series, which still set the silver for many current musicians' feasts.
Some of the current musicians who honor Ella's swing on the program include chanteuse, Nancy Wilson who closes the show with a heart throbbing, "Someone to Watch Over Me,� after describing how she listened to Ella as a child dreaming of a career; singer Natalie Cole who co-hosts the show with Quincy Jones tells of meeting Ella as a child with her father Nat King Cole and calling her "Aunt Ella.�
But Ella's influence must perhaps must be understood in the context of her early years when she got her start singing in the band of a four-foot tall dwarfed drummer, Chick Webb, who had the heart and strength of a giant. Webb actually adopted Ella as a teenager since she needed an adult guardian to sign contracts as a minor. Ella repaid Webb's faith in her by fronting his band in many legendary big band competitions with the like of the Benny Goodman's orchestra.
While the flower best associated with Billie Holliday was the gardenia she pinned in her hair to initially cover a burned spot, perhaps the petals that could be associated with Ella might be a crystal rose, flung through the heavens, joining lovers everywhere and somewhere, waiting for the right person and the right time to climb stairways to heaven. Singer Patti Austin evokes this destiny when she sings Ella's classic "Heaven is Where You Are.�
But we must not forget the famous scat interpretations of Fitzgerald. Stevie Wonder and the a capella group Take Six give memorable renditions of the do wop vocals that Ella introduced so well because she said "I just wanted to be able to talk to musicians in the language they would understand.�
Music critic John Rockwell spoke of the woman who received the National Medal of Arts from President Regan in 1987 and sold over 40 million albums that "She brings together the major influences that have shaped American popular music in this century. Her style is not just a combination of pop and jazz, but of white and black, girl and woman, voice and instrument.�
When the suitors left Ella when she passed away in 1996, they had stardust on their sleeves. But heaven has sent her many children to help us see the midnight sun she always knew was burning. See her magic in new generations this week and dance. That's what Ella would have wanted.
Check www.pbs.org or www.thirteen.org for the countdown clock.
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A high quality, fully shielded microphone and audio lead, capable of carrying balanced signals with exceptional sound and reliability. Made with pure copper conductors and cotton-reinforcement; a soft-grip, anti-tangle, rubberised jacket; machine-soldered connections; and professional, locking, die-cast XLR male and female connectors.
Cable diameter 6mmØ
Conductors 20 x 0.08mmØ
Connectors Male XLR, Female XLR
Pin-out Balanced: 1-Ground, 2-Hot, 3-Cold
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0.300 kg
Delivery & Returns
Free Delivery
This is offered on all products regardless of order value to all mainland UK postcodes. Your purchase will be with you within 3 working days of your order being placed.
If you are in the Scottish Highlands, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man and the Channel Isles you will still get free delivery but your order may take up to 5 working days to get to you.
I need my products quickly- can you help?
Absolutely! At check out you can select the option that suits you best.
We offer Next day, Saturday, Pre-10am and Pre-12pm delivery.
Unfortunately these options are not yet available for customers in the Scottish Highliands, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man and the Channel Isles.
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Length 6.00m
Average 100% (1 reviews)
Date Score Customer Comment Our Response 06-Mar-2020 Product:
Good quality at s good price. Read more reviews on Feefo


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For too long, women have been forced to endure the tyranny of hotel rooms that were not designed specifically to meet their needs. But good news: our collective suffering is over because there is a new trend of hotels creating rooms that are just for women. What, exactly does this mean? Well, at the Dukes London, it means "fresh flowers, women's magazines and size-appropriate slippers and robes and female staff members who are escorts at check-in." Vancouver's Georgian Court Hotel has the Orchid Floor, a special women's only floor where the rooms are equipped flat irons, yoga mats and beauty products. A hotel in Copenhagen also has a floor that's only accessible to female guests using a key card.
So basically, what it comes down to is that these are special floors where you'll feel safer? That's a perfectly acceptable service to offer—though hopefully they're not charging extra for the privilege. It seems like a bit of overkill to invoke women's stereotypical love of robes, flowers, and scented lotions, but at least they haven't doused the rooms in Pepto pink. Still, maybe spare us the yoga mats? The last thing anyone, ladies included, wants to do when they are ordering a mediocre burger from room service at midnight and trying desperately to finish that presentation for tomorrow's meeting is have a yoga mat whispering from the corner of the room, "You should really work out more."
Hotels Create Rooms and Floors Just for Women [New York Times]
Image via hfng/Shutterstock.


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Beethoven was the first classical music I ever got interested in. When the Israeli Olympic team was murdered in 1972, they held a memorial, and at the memorial the orchestra played the funeral march from Beethoven's Third Symphony. I'd never heard it before (I was thirteen). But then I took it out of the library and worked my way through the symphonies. And like anything you hear or read as a kid, they sort of fell into wet cement and never went away. They became a permanent part of my inner landscape.
But I haven't really listened to the symphonies since I was a teenager. Once puberty arrived, I was cast out of the garden of perfection and became more interested in Led Zeppelin. Then, when I returned to classical music in my twenties, it wasn't to get reacquainted with music I already knew, but to discover new things.
This all goes to say that I haven't really listened to the Beethoven symphonies in decades, but just started to, and it's an interesting experience.
I'm not sure about this — I'm no classical music expert — but when I was kid, Beethoven was either the most respected of composers or the most popular with the general public. Not Mozart. Everybody thought Mozart was great, too, but Beethoven was the favorite. And among the laity, Beethoven seemed like the fruition of things Mozart started. I'm saying this was the popular pre-AMADEUS perception — and I may be wrong about this, too. It's been a long time. How long? I remember telling a friend that I preferred Beethoven to Mozart, because I could do my homework to Mozart but Beethoven was too distracting. So the last time I gave this any thought I had homework.
Just a few impressions, listening to Ricardo Muti's recordings of all nine symphonies, now that I'm almost as old as Beethoven ever got.
1) These no longer strike me as expressions of invincibility and certainty, but of assertion and false assertion in the face of doubt. This doesn't make them worse, or better. But it makes the experience different.
2) The personality is almost manic-depressive. I often find myself thinking, "Why are you yelling? You don't really believe this. Calm down."
3) I hear the transitions now. These works seem very labored over. Sometimes there will be a passage of ten or twenty seconds and I'll think, "What are you doing? You went away. You're not saying anything here." Invariably, this is just before he's about to introduce something new — and good. Basically, I'm hearing the glue — the parts in between the good parts. It's not one big flow.
4) I hear other composers — I hear the later influence. For example, the fourth movement of Beethoven's Fifth sounds like Beethoven is about to climb into Wagnerian heights, and then he pulls himself back down into a late 18th century idiom. I imagined the young Wagner hearing this and saying, "No, keep going — higher — higher — don't bring it down." Likewise, am I imagining things or is the opening to Brahms' Fourth symphony a wonderful romantic elaboration and riff on the opening of Beethoven's Ninth?
5) In a way, the Eighth symphony, which could be regarded as lightweight in comparison to the others, also feels the most perfect. This is not to say that perfection is the highest ideal of art. It's not.
6) I don't feel the transition thing going on in the Ninth. Nor do I hear a smooth flow. I hear audacity. He's saying "This fits next to that, because this is how I'm feeling it. Take it and like it." And he was right.
All these great artists — we think of them as complete entities because they left behind so much. But Beethoven was growing and going to some interesting places. I'd like to hear what he would have composed next.
Oh, and if you want a movie reference, because this is after all supposed to be a movie blog — check out Abel Gance's BEETHOVEN, with its creative use of sound.


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Clashes between government troops and Islamist insurgents have displaced more than 55,000 people from Mogadishu since the beginning of February, with many of them heading out of Somalia to neighbouring Kenya, according to the UN Refugee Agency.
In the border town of Liboi, people told IRIN by phone that 300 to 400 Somali families were waiting there to be registered as refugees. In all, almost 570,000 Somalis are refugees and most of them live in camps in Kenya.
"Staying in Mogadishu now is like a death sentence: you are not safe; your neighbour is not safe," Hawo Sheiikh Ali, one of the refugees, told IRIN on 22 March.
She left Mogadishu at the end of February after a mortar shell killed 15 people in her Wardhigley neighbourhood.
"I was selling tea when it hit and all of a sudden I could not see anything. By the time the dust settled 10 young boys were dead," Ali said. "I don't know how I survived but I did and I left. I also lost two of my sons, aged 10 and 11; we got separated and up to now I don't know where they are."
Ali said she had never considered becoming a refugee, but now felt she had no choice.
Map showing Liboi on the Kenya-Somalia border
Map showing Liboi on the Kenya-Somalia border
Monday, March 22, 2010
Thousands flee Mogadishu "death trap"...
Map showing Liboi on the Kenya-Somalia border
Photo: ReliefWeb
Another reason for the exodus from the Somali capital is an announcement by the country's Transitional Federal Government that it would soon mount a major offensive against insurgent groups including al-Shabab.
Ali Bashe Haji, a Somali journalist in Liboi, said: "I came here [Liboi] with my family and another 70 families from Mogadishu; many more people will be leaving."
Haji said it took his group 15 days to get to Liboi as they took a longer route, towards Bulo Hawo, another border town. "We wanted to avoid Kismayo and Dobley [on the most direct and shorter route] for fear of being detained or not allowed to proceed."
Kismayo and Dobley are under the control of Al-Shabab.
When Haji's group arrived in Bulo Hawo and tried to cross into Kenya, they were denied entry and directed to Liboi, some 600km southwest, where most Somali refugees enter Kenya.
Haji said most of the would-be refugees had fled Mogadishu and surrounding areas. "There are no longer safe areas [in Mogadishu]; you are a target no matter what area you are in," he said.
Many more families were likely to arrive soon. "Many of my neighbours and friends were planning to leave as soon as they could get enough money for the trip," he said.
"They are in a terrible condition when they arrive but people are providing water and some food; Kenyan officials are also helping them," one Liboi resident told IRIN.
He said many families were continuing to arrive "almost daily".
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions


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President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney recently spelled out their positions on agriculture issues for the American Farm Bureau Federation. In a questionnaire, both candidates went into detail about their positions on energy, environmental regulations, farm labor and more.
Every four years, the American Farm Bureau Federation asks the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees to address the issues that concern farmers and ranchers most. This election, energy issues and farm policy are the driving forces in the candidate's responses.
"Our rural communities, farmers and ranchers can increase our energy independence and boost the transition to a clean energy economy," Obama responded. "Last year, rural America produced enough renewable fuels like ethanol and biodiesel to meet roughly 8 percent of our needs, helping us increase our energy independence to its highest level in 20 years…and the new Renewable Fuel Standard helped boost biodiesel production to nearly 1 billion gallons in 2011, supporting 39,000 jobs."
Romney, too, supports the RFS and other agriculture-derived energies.
"I have a vision for an America that is an energy superpower, rapidly increasing our own production and partnering with our allies, Canada and Mexico, to achieve energy independence on this continent by 2020," said Romney. "The increased production of biofuels plays an important part in my plan to achieve energy independence. In order to support increased market penetration and competition among energy sources, I am in favor of maintaining the Renewable Fuel Standard."
On farm policy, Obama said he understands the need for a strong farm safety net. "That's why I increased the availability of crop insurance and emergency disaster assistance to help over 590,000 farmers and ranchers keep their farms in business after natural disasters and crop loss," he said. "My administration expanded farm credit to help more than 100,000 farmers struggling during the financial crisis…and as farmers continue to go through hard times because of this drought, we are expanding access to low-interest loans, encouraging insurance companies to extend payment deadlines and opening new lands for livestock farmers to graze their herds."
Romney said he supports passage of a strong farm bill "that provides the appropriate risk management tools that will work for farmers and ranchers throughout the country." He also pointed out that his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), voted for drought relief—a bill which the Senate never took up.
Original Article Here


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The snow white sand and the crystal clear waters of Mackay Cay act as the ultimate holiday backdrop. As a small sand island approximately fifty kilometers from Port Douglas, Mackay Cay is located on the north west corner of the Mackay Reef.
Mackay Cay is one of many coral cays that are small islands that rise mere metres above high tide. Protecting a variety of endangered plant and animal species, the coral cays are internationally recognised. Take the kids on a trip to one of the most significant sections of the reef or lounge on the picture perfect beach.
Note: Information on listed products and services are provided by the operator and were correct at the time of publishing. Rates are indicative based on the minimum and maximum available prices of products and services. Please visit the operator's website for further information. All prices quoted are in Australian dollars (AUD).


text: Walt Flanagan wears a lot of hats. He's the manager of a comic book store, a comic book artist (having drawn everything from the epic classic monster mash-up "War of the Undead" to Batman) the star of AMC's "Comic Book Men", and a co-host of the popular, multiple award winning podcast "Tell 'Em Steve Dave". This October, Flanagan (along with writer and co-creator Bryan Johnson) brings us "Cryptozoic Man".


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Oscars 2014: Social Media Winners and Losers
Oscars host Ellen Degeneres set a record for most retweets during the Oscars telecast. Who else were the social-media winners and losers at the Oscars? David Neuman, social-media manager at Prime Visibility, joins digits. Photo: Twitter.com/TheEllenShow.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... I ... while commit Digits I'm Steve Ursillo ... the award for the most retweets ever goes to ... Oscars host Ellen DeGeneres whose celebrity filled selfie gained over one million retreats in less than one hour during the telecast Sunday night ... less than twenty four hours later it has over two point eight million tweets weeks ... who else with a social media winners and losers at the Oscars ... joining me now is that David Newman social media manager at times visibility they've thanks much for joining us ... so ... far none of the US has less than Alyson sweater take us through it ... it was absolutely insane Steve I expected when she did that that out sweet to me the chemical border thousand but to get one million in the in the span of a couple hours than two point eight million at this point ... the visit Breaks where that's pretty crazy I close with net debt ... at a DNC early on not everyone saw the social media but it was the use of it like that ... so take us there were some of the winners and losers from last nights ... sure sure so up what's are the losers I would say John Travolta was ... really the of the biggest one ... mis pronouncing themselves in the months where Dudley was of was ... a big catastrophe of crop prices for the landscape ... all the gutters was kind of a mixed one ... a lot of people that enjoy her hosting the Oscars with arrows Aussie actually alot of negative feedback as well so much she was a little bit boring ... aam Lupita speech was was really high the clear winner and I thought across social media ... aam a lot people bought her her its opposition very heartwarming ended up we generated a really positive response ... so far it's what are they had over fourteen point seven million sweets yet that were set out ... during the telecast last night which is this an astonishing number ... how does that stack up if you think of other big moments but the the Super Bowl or maybe some other big moments ... on to run a social media to steer it now ... yet you know I would say is probably on Carnival even seen lately I've you look back maybe two or three-year two years ago to immediate reach to the couple million ... mark but now every year stopping growing exponentially and the ice I would expect the number to grow even more so next year as more people came to join interact and attracted Twitter ... so is there some of the most tweeted about nominees during this time to announce the steel was out there that that aam before entering the Oster is definitely the ... the the best picture and best actor of the ones that generate usually the most have a response of twelve years a Slave ... was the plea of big one ... on several boards actually even though ... she was the nominee to generate more response with a couple of other things she generated out with her falling ... during the right are carving a sermon is a concern that she fell last year ... in office yet I come up off the top moment where she out she directed its reply to the audience things stop laughing at me and that ... you know even though she was a nominee that type of things entering the more synonymous across ocean together ... as I guess the question now is as you know what's next for Twitter how do they keep this momentum going obviously what they're doing is working ... great now but how to keep it up ... it gets its name to focusing on the user base on integrating it into ... the sky events the Oscars The Super Bowl is only a great way to do a cheddar on catering to events where people are to be ready for this opinion ... is always good to be a homerun for Twitter ... I mean that even the Oscars now on the website or a data ... projector pole with a few books we got the rejection of the website it says that just a great way to get people to to further interact ... with with sweater and also the brand ... it is they don't know what happened last night as well is that ... if you were just watching social media ... you might not actually predicted who actually won some of these big awards write exactly you know what we actually saw on prior to the Oscars was that while the Wall Street we and our DiCaprio worthy out for the best picture mobile Wall she was the most popular one across what are ... we in our DiCaprio was the most part there in terms of the of the best actor ... and badly in all those two weren't the of the winners ... aam but that we seem to cater more to me she morning trading is why generate more response when our DiCaprio I think he can start anything they'll be the most popular across Twitter and mobile Wall Street while me but maybe not the best reviewed or and are not the winner for the Oster is it that we seem to cater more to mainstream audience more so than twelve years a Slave an ... uneven gravity so that that was awfully wide seem to be the most popular across whether I was talking alot about sputtering out but what about Facebook and how some of the other social media ... platforms fair and all this ... it suddenly is out Facebook more of a person all types of interactions of people voice their same type of opinions ... but they know it's not as silly as public facing at something like Twitter so it's more about that s only a one-on-one communication but it's an outlet for them to communicate with their family and friends on there ... on Twitter Facebook as well dinner is a large volume of responses ... aam but that the difficulties that in a lot of people keep their profiles private so you don't really get not only grasp the true extent of how ... how ... often do we utilize fees but for now like this fascinating stop David Newman thank so much for joining us thank you ... and I'm Steber slow thanks for watching digits ...


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Khong Island, LaosKirsty Turner
The pace of life is slow on Khong Island and this is a great place to relax and unwind. Although not a lot of travellers make it this far south there are still a good range of hotels and guesthouses here and many visitors are tempted to extend their stay as they become seduced by the gentle pace of life.
The 12 mile long island is home to a stunning collection of flora and fauna and for the patient it is possible to spot the rare Irrawaddy dolphins playing in the Mekong River. A good way to spend a day is trekking to the the Khonephapheng waterfall, which is one of the largest falls in Southeast Asia.
Another pleasant activity is to hire a boat and simply sail away. Many villages are located on the banks of the river such as Muang Saen village and this is a good way to visit these villages and meet the friendly people that live there.
There are a number of pretty temples and monasteries to explore on Khong Island, among them Wat Phu Khao Kaew, where the monks who stay there are welcoming and happy to answer questions.
Palm sugar production is big business on Khong Island due to the large number of palm trees. As you wander around the island you will be able to watch to sugar being harvested for the palm trees and women boiling it in huge metal pans. When the palm sugar is cool it hardens and tastes a lot like fudge. The palm sugar is delicious either eaten on its own or added to tea or coffee and makes a great souvenir.
The evenings are quiet on Khong Island. Sit by the river and watch the sun set through the palm trees. Many people gather at the night market, and this is a good place to swap gossip, do some shopping and find a good meal.