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Arlington, VA (September 30, 2009) Nexus Systems, a leading provider of accounts payable automation software and services, is pleased to announce that Edens & Avant has chosen its flagship product, NexusPayables, to automate its accounts payable ("A/P") invoice process. The NexusPayables system will be fully integrated with their JD Edwards accounting platform, to include a complete integration of all job cost elements. To gain ultimate efficiency in A/P processing, Edens & Avant will also utilize Nexus's managed scanning services division, Nexus Services, for receipt, electronic conversion, and submission of all invoices into its NexusPayables application.
The NexusPayables complete electronic purchase to payment solution combines PO and invoice management, invoice imaging, and sophisticated workflow-initiated approval routing with line-item budget comparisons, general ledger cost allocations, optional job cost features, and flexible reporting tools. NexusPayables is the best of breed application in use by companies that require the expense management control, visibility, efficiency and cost savings associated with accounts payable automation and best practices.
After a thorough evaluation of the market's offerings, Edens & Avant recognized that the maturity of the NexusPayables solution offered them far more functionality then any other solution available. Specifically, Edens & Avant was pleased by the quality integration of construction and job cost management items. The NexusPayables interface allows users to allocate line item level expense to a Contract, Change Order, Job Code, Phase Code, or Cost Code. Additionally, Retention amounts can be designated and subtracted from the net amount due on an invoice.
About Edens & Avant (www.edensandavant.com)
Edens & Avant develops, owns and operates community-oriented shopping places in primary markets throughout the East Coast. With 140 shopping centers in 14 states, Edens & Avant is one of the leading retail real estate companies in the nation. The Company's portfolio consists of neighborhood, lifestyle and power centers, with many located in infill locations in urban markets. Edens & Avant has headquarters in Boston, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Miami and Columbia, S.C. (Corporate Office).
About Nexus Systems, LLC.
Nexus Systems is the leading provider of electronic solutions that automate the traditionally cumbersome paper-intensive purchase to payment process resulting in the reduction of operating costs and faster invoice processing with tighter controls. Nexus Systems' product and services greatly aid financial management by automating and centralizing systems through scanning, electronic workflow, approval routing, and budget controls of PO and invoice management. Nexus' best-in-class solution, NexusPayables, enjoys continued success as a result of its mature in-depth functionality, intuitive interface, user friendly configurations, and overall ease of use for clients.
For Immediate Release
Contact: Jennifer Shaw


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Mentor Name
Title – City, Country
Sample Bio:
Mexican business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. Slim has been ranked by Forbes as the richest person in the world since 2010.[3] His extensive holdings in a considerable number of Mexican companies through his conglomerate, Grupo Carso, SA de CV, have amassed interests in the fields of communications, technology, retailing, and finance. Presently, Slim is the chairman and chief executive of telecommunications companies Telmex and América Móvil.
América Móvil, which was Latin America's largest mobile-phone carrier in 2010, accounted for around US$49 billion of Slim's wealth by the end of that year. His corporate holdings as of June 2013 have been estimated at US$66.8 billion.

subset: commoncrawl


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Nokia recently asked for Bluetooth headset designs inspired by a certain song; this is what G. Smith presented after listening to "Robot Rock" a few dozen times. R. Kelly and Michael Jackson are also well-represented.
I was really torn between which of these three are my favorite, because this one inspired by R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly" is very special:
As is this Orca-colored pair for "Would You Be There," aka the Free Willy theme:
The contest received over 8,000 proposed song-inspired designs, and these were among the handful of winners that were actually made into working headsets, which are on display in Nokia's flagship store in London. More to be seen at: [CR Blog]


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A winning Imran Khan uplifts a romance that's charming, but also a bit too fond of clichés. Plus, a silly sci-fi spectacular.
JULY 6, 2008 – IT'S BEEN A WHILE SINCE I'VE SEEN a display of such superb supporting performances as the one in Abbas Tyrewala's Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, so you'll forgive me if I leave considerations about Imran Khan (Aamir's nephew, whose launch pad this is) for later. Arbaaz Khan and Sohail Khan are at their riotous best as dimwit brothers who, for reasons that aren't quite clear at first (but click together subsequently with a marvellous snap), saunter into a disco on horseback. Freed from the compulsions of mugging under Priyadarshan's megaphone, Paresh Rawal proves, once again, what an exquisitely subtle comic he can be. As a Rajput warrior slain in a feud, Naseeruddin Shah has himself the kind of high old time he possibly hasn't had since he wore a crooked hat on the sets of Tridev. And once-familiar faces like Jayant Kripalani and the ever-gorgeous Anooradha Patel dust the clichés off stock characters simply with their welcome presence.
But the most unexpected delight of Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na is seeing Ratna Pathak Shah (as Savitri, a social worker) commandeer the big screen as if she's never heard of television. If there's one line reading I'll remember by the end of the year, it's going to be that of Savitri spitting faux venom at her dead husband (played by her real-life husband), who has the unfortunate habit of needling her from within the confines of his portrait frame. "Sirphire, hinsak… mard," Savitri fumes, frustrated at her spouse's macho posturings that are eternally at odds with her pacifist leanings, and she saves the full import of her bile for the last bit of name-calling: that he's unhinged and violent and a… man. Tyrewala develops this squabbling into a joyous running gag, which, thanks to his casting, comes with a delicious hint of gossipy sensation: it's like getting front-row tickets to embarrassingly private goings-on in the Shah household.
Savitri has an equally memorable exchange with her son Jai (Imran), when he falls in love with Meghna (Manjari) and demonstrates the lightness of his being by ambling into the house late at night, a whistle on his lips, a spring in his step. Looking up from the book she's reading on the couch, and at the son who's walked past without apparently noticing her, Savitri enquires, "Hoton pe seeti, chaal mein uchhaal… maajra kya hai?" (It's a moment like this that can make you at once happy and sad – that we have amongst us such wonderful actors who can, simply with a well-tuned inflection, turn the simplest of lines into a delightfully broad joke, and that we refuse to make better use of these talents.) Jai stops in his tracks and confesses to his mother about his newfound love, and a strange mix of joy and sorrow envelops Savitri's face. She cups his chin and murmurs, "Silly boy."
The love story of this silly boy is what Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na is about. Like almost everyone else in the country, Savitri knows her Hindi cinema and has probably seen Kuch Kuch Hota Hai a few too many times. She knows that "best friends" is just another phrase for "meant for each other," and that Jai's future isn't with Meghna but with his bosom buddy Aditi (Genelia D'Souza). As regular consumers of Hindi cinema, we know this too. The friends know this too, the refreshingly next-door boys and girls that make up the gang that Jai and Aditi hang out with. The only people in the dark seem to be Jai and Aditi themselves, which is the inevitable cliché about these kinds of romances – and the director does everything he can (though, sometimes, not nearly enough) to make us believe we're watching something fresh and fun.
For one thing, he convinced me that a group of early-twentysomethings – they're just out of college, getting ready for that first big step into the world outside – would collectively launch into a song from Aa Gale Lag Ja, the one that gives this film its title. (Mera tujhse hai pehle ka naata koi… Jaane tu ya jaane na.) All too often, these sequences make me wonder if these kids are reliving their past or the screenwriter's – but Tyrewala fashions a lovely stretch where the boys in the group, one by one, reveal how they'd serenade the girl of their dreams. The first one picks a fairly recent number, Tu hi re, and the second goes with the ageless Aaja aaja, main hoon pyaar tera, and so, by the time Jai begins to hum this somewhat obscure number (which is more likely something that Tyrewala remembers from his radio days), it doesn't seem all that strange. It feels right that a gentle romantic like Jai would be the one man in his generation who still tunes into Vividh Bharati late at night.
And this scene builds beautifully to illustrate what else Jai is about. Hearing Jai – a.k.a. "Rats" – butcher this tune out of recognition, Amit (Pratiek Babbar, lending welcome doses of angst as Aditi's alienated brother; he reminded me of Paul Dano's misfit teen from Little Miss Sunshine) looks down from his terrace perch and asks Jai to stop, taunting him that he hasn't got the money or the looks or the voice to land himself a girlfriend. But Jai isn't ruffled. He simply shrugs and voices his hope that there's perhaps a poor, ugly girl somewhere for him, who sings even worse. The line that Tyrewala shapes these thoughts into – "Koi gareeb badsoorat ladki to mil hi jaayegi – jo mujhse bhi bura gaati ho" – brings a smile to your face, but it also brings your attention to the low-key, self-deprecating charms of Jai, who just won't be drawn into an argument, let alone a fight.
He's emblematic of the new "sensitive" hero that the multiplex-era cinema keeps promising to deliver, but rarely does, with the odd exception of an Abhay Deol in Socha Na Tha. Jai doesn't need a six-pack or even a stubble, and he's content to be introduced to us in as understated a manner as is possible in the context of a first film: he's asleep at his desk, the phone rings, he dashes off to help Aditi with an emergency. (For the kind of hero we're usually saddled with, refer this week's other release at the multiplexes, where Harman Baweja is presented to us in little installments of lips and eyes and sideburns as he drives his father's MG. Soon after wrecking the car, he walks away from the camera in slow motion, turning just enough to allow us our first full glimpse of his face.) With his big black caterpillar brows and his gawky, post-adolescent frame – it's like someone who's shot up too fast and is still learning how to negotiate the extra height – Imran is perfectly cast as Jai.
I hesitate to label this a star-making performance simply because (in all selfishness) I'd rather he stayed in the shadows and made the kind of film choices that Abhay Deol makes, but it's hard to see how Imran is not going to be seen as the greatest thing since sliced bread (or, at least, Ranbir Kapoor) after his charming work here. Genelia is good too, though Manjari (who plays Meghna) makes a stronger impression because she's given the role that's far more interesting. Aditi is mostly a collection of clichés – it's Kajol in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai all over again, and I found myself wishing she had more scenes with Pratiek Babbar; now there's a relationship to be explored – whereas Tyrewala writes Meghna as a wonderful mix of all-too-human contradictions. She's beautiful and the way she carries herself tells us she's more than aware of the fact, and yet all this confidence is merely on the outside.
Meghna plays this little game where she gives mundane objects exotic descriptions – a tree with hanging branches becomes a witch taking flight at night – and soon it becomes clear that this isn't really a game. She lives life like that, idealising people and things and relationships by painting them in happier colours. She doesn't want to accept that her parents (played by Rajat Kapoor and Kitu Gidwani in a single, misconceived sequence at a dinner table) are in a relationship that's not working, and she doesn't want to face up to the fact that she's herself in a relationship that's not working. (There's a lovely scene after Jai discovers he's actually in love with Aditi, when he's walking alongside Meghna in the rain and gets frustrated that she doesn't see things for what they are. Of course, he can't bring himself to say that he's talking about them, so he pretends he's referring to her parents.)
I realised, while writing this, that the character of Meghna alone – the way she's been shaped – would be enough to make Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na a no-brainer to recommend to people. Scene for scene, there's so much thought that's gone into this production – from the shimmering colours of the impressionistic opening credits that could be titled Mumbai by Monet to the too-clever Samuel Beckett reference at the end of this film that's all about "waiting" to the numerous little writerly touches strewn all through the middle, like the fact that Aditi's fondness for cats has left her with the nick of Miaow (all the better to illustrate her Tom-and-Jerry bickering with "Rats," see?) – that you feel a twinge about whining, especially in a movie year that's not been kind to us at all.
But I came away from Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na with the impression that Tyrewala is a far better writer than director – and it's not just because a better director would have found better ways to conceptualise AR Rahman's snappy soundtrack (the uninspired picturisation of Kabhi kabhi Aditi is a disgrace to the song's brilliance) or because of annoyances like the framing device of a group of friends narrating the story. (They're a most irritating Greek chorus, jabbering incessantly about what should instead be shown, and what, in some instances, has already been shown.) These are minor distractions that can be ignored when the larger picture – the film – is so delightful and diverting.
But the major problem with Tyrewala is what appears to be the problem with Farhan Akhtar too – and that's that the film seems to have been written in English and merely translated to Hindi (as opposed to the film being felt and written out in Hindi; and speaking of similarities, the cultured-yet-boorish stopgap boyfriend that Tyrewala provides Aditi is just the kind of boyfriend that Akhtar likes to write for Preity Zinta). That's where, perhaps, one can begin to distinguish between a good director and a good "Hindi film" director – because there's little doubt that a Tyrewala or an Akhtar possesses the skills to craft a solid mainstream entertainment. But you come away thinking that had the same scenarios played out in English, they would have truly caught fire, instead of simply emitting the occasional spark.
And when rendered in Hindi, many of these moments have a stiffly formal feel to them – like a just-improvised skit. They don't flow all that organically – and it isn't just the language of the lines but the language of the thoughts themselves. The natural mode of expression for filmmakers like Tyrewala and Akhtar seems to be ironic detachment, and when this wry tone is inflicted on filmi, heart-on-sleeve material, the results aren't always pretty. (Only Imtiaz Ali, among the current crop, appears to have a handle on how to seesaw between the nature of the multiplex audience and the necessities of having to make a film for everyone else too.) And yet, the reason I walked out of Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na with happy thoughts was the final stretch, which is, in fact, the most filmi of material. It's the dreaded airport climax, but the madcap cleverness of the handling and the sweetly sentimental culmination of the romance left me with moist eyes as well as a big silly grin.
THE ONLY THING WORSE THAN A BAD MOVIE that bores you to tears is a bad movie with a terrific conceit that still manages to bore you to tears. Harry Baweja's Love Story 2050 – quite possibly a film-industry father's most indulgent (and at a reported fifty crores, most expensive) gift to a star-aspirant son who looks and acts alarmingly like Hrithik Roshan – puts a fascinating spin on a hoary staple of our cinema: it's a reincarnation drama, but with a sci-fi twist. So it's no longer lovers dying and being reborn in order to be reunited so much as lovers zipping off to the not-so-distant future to round out a romance cut tragically short in the present, hacking their way through the space-time continuum in search of happily-ever-after. What a mouthwatering premise!
And what a letdown! Karan (Harman Baweja) goes in search of Sana (Priyanka Chopra) with the help of a time machine built by his uncle (Boman Irani, overacting horribly). But as he assimilates almost miraculously into the Mumbai of 2050 – which looks fabulous, by the way; every paisa is clearly up there on screen, along with visual effects lifted from A.I. and Minority Report and Star Wars – there's barely any conflict of cultures or of generations. The love portions aren't engaging, the sci-fi parts aren't convincing, so we're left with the kind of overall silliness where a moronic villain pops up from nowhere, decides to follow Karan in order to get his grubby hands on the time machine, and fires missiles at Karan's vehicle along the way, unmindful of the fact that if Karan goes up in smoke, there's no one left to lead him to the damn contraption. Harman isn't bad – we'll have to wait for a proper movie to decide whether anything can be made of him – but poor Priyanka… Whatever did she see in this part that has her giggling over a hand puppet named Winkydinks and a teddy bear named Boo?
Copyright ©2008 The New Sunday Express. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without


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Several Guruji.com executives, including founding CEO Anurag Dod, have been arrested for alleged copyright infringement. The police action was triggered by a FIR (First Information Report) lodged by T-Series (Super Cassettes Industries Ltd).
Guriji.com is India's first crawler based search engine. It was started by two IIT-Delhi graduates and has raised capital from Sequoia and Sandstone Capital. Although, it covers several verticals including Music, City, Movie Timings and Cricket, its focus is clearly on Music. The search engine's home page brandishes a list of Top Songs as well as Top Albums. Although, Guruji.com doesn't host any illegal content, it aggregates and serves content provided by music piracy websites like songs.pk, musicplug.in, and bollymobile.in.
Speaking on the arrest, T-Series VP digital content Neeraj Kalyan said, Guruji.com was infringing our copyright under the garb of a search engine. The website was working in nexus with some music pirate websites and was exploiting our content.
Guruji.com clearly encourages its users to violate music copyrights. In fact, one can even argue that music download is one of its biggest draws. However, is Guriji.com breaking the law or is it simply exploiting a legal loophole? Does its disclaimer, "Guruji.com indexes third party websites and does not have control over, nor any liability for the content of such third party websites", hold any legal merit? I have little expertise when it comes to laws that govern our country, so I am not in a position to say. Drop in a word if you have more to say on this developing story.


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More in the ongoing series of images of signs….. today a side-by-side view of the same image. Only one word is changed. You already know my fascination, interest, obsession with textual content in images and art.
Well since I've switched to B&W. This obsession has been renewed and re-imagined.
I've started one series called THE STORY OF OUR LIVES which is simply just photographs of signs with the idea that signs tell our life story.
What do signs mean? What do they tell us? How do they control us? etc.
I've since started a new series which is a spin-off of that. The new series is about re-texting our lives. In this new series I am actually re-wording the signs I photograph typically just one word. The previous 3 images I've posted are part of this series. How does one word change the meaning of a sign? What happens when we mis-read a sign (thinking it says one thing when it actually says another)? How much attention to we pay toward signs anyway? Are signs just the ignored art of our time?


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Greenhouse Poly: Tufflite IIIProduct Number:
$ 207.00
Please contact us for quantity pricing.
We stock Tufflite Greenhouse Coverings. These special films have the proper UV treatment to hold up outdoors, unlike standard clear construction grade plastic.
Tufflite III is a 3 year film. We can special order other sizes.
Please click here for installation recommendations from the manufacturer.


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Review: Ready or Not (2019)
After being featured at this year's Fantasia Film Festival and Frightfest, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett's latest film has been quietly making waves among critics and audiences alike. With a twisted family drama at its core, Ready or Not has the elements of the classic 'hunted' horror film. However, it is anything but. After marrying Alex Le Domas (Mark O'Brien) on his parents' estate, Grace … Continue reading Review: Ready or Not (2019)
Review: The Dead Don't Die (2019)
I have to admit, I am not the biggest Jarmusch fan. Given the usual slow pace of his films especially with uneventful dramas such as Only Lovers Left Alive and Paterson, his style is a love-or-hate thing. So, having this as the foundation of his latest film – his first foray into horror – is questionable. Starring an ensemble cast that includes Bill Murray, Adam … Continue reading Review: The Dead Don't Die (2019)
The reinvention of Disney's animated films
This all started at the screening for Ralph Breaks the Internet. It was a kid-friendly screening with Disney so the essential PG-rated trailers appeared. One of them was the live-action adaptation of Dumbo. It was all going okay until I hear a boy ask his mum: "What kind of name is Dumbo?" Cue this face ——> With one comment, I realised that up until that … Continue reading The reinvention of Disney's animated films
The inspirational heroines of Studio Ghibli
Let's face it, Disney is currently having a hard time in terms of female representation. Their iconic princesses have been criticised for being poor role models for younger audiences – so much so, that celebrities are banning their daughters from watching classic Disney films. However, there is another animated film studio that can step in to inspire younger female audiences. Established in 1985, Japan-based Studio … Continue reading The inspirational heroines of Studio Ghibli
Looking Back: The Handmaiden
In 2014, Korean director Park Chan-Wook announced that his next project, following his English-language debut Stoker, would be an adaptation of Sarah Waters novel, The Fingersmith. Transporting the action from the Victorian era to Japan-occupied Korea, Park offers his most erotic feature yet. The Handmaiden follows three characters – young pickpocket Sook-hee (Kim Tae-ri), fragile yet rich heiress Lady Hideko (Kim Min-hee) and a charming con-artist … Continue reading Looking Back: The Handmaiden
An evening with Jackie Chan
This is actually a personal request, which is a first for me. So here goes… For everyone who knows me, I am a huge Jackie Chan fan. Since I was eight years old, my family bonded over his early films such as Project A, Wheels and Meals (which has one of the best fight scenes ever), Police Story and Armour of God and as they were recorded … Continue reading An evening with Jackie Chan
Looking Back: Ruby Sparks
Everyone dreams of their perfect partner. Romantics call them their soulmate. Cynics call them non-existent. So what do you do if you are lonely? Take a lesson from John Hughes' Weird Science and create someone. Ruby Sparks is the second feature film project by husband-wife directorial team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, six years after their successful Sundance debut Little Miss Sunshine (2006), and is the … Continue reading Looking Back: Ruby Sparks
Looking Back: 'Beauty of the Beast' (1991)
We all have our favorite Disney film, but for those who belong to a certain generation, the films released during the Disney Renaissance era (1989-1999) hold a special place. This era saw the company produce some of their most commercially and critically successful films in Disney's history, by injecting its own unique brand of magic into well-known fairy tales and stories. A key feature from … Continue reading Looking Back: 'Beauty of the Beast' (1991)


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Engineering & Project Mgmt
Being a primarily engineering focused business, Telecommunications demands the best of expertise to design, plan and execute the project to the requirements of the project deliverables.
Being an exclusive partner with Motorola for over 15 years, NASCO has always believed in having vendor trained engineers to be able to execute the design engineer phases of projects as well as coordinate as a team to provide the highest standards of professional services to its clients
The two-way radio communication business entails mission critical systems used by the government depts. and other public safety departments that need to be planned design engineered and executed right from day 1.
The engineering staff within NASCO works closely with the PMO for every project undertaken.
NASCO currently possesses around 22 vendor trained engineers from Motorola and various other vendors to be able to satisfy the demanding needs of its business, technology and customers.


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the film
Montana Intervenesby Staff
A federal judge in Oregon last week granted Montana the intervenor status it had requested a day earlier in a complicated lawsuit over salmon recovery affected by Columbia Basin dams. This action gives the state "an equal seat at the table," according to Gov. Brian Schweitzer, and seeks to protect several species of fish by maintaining higher water levels longer at the Libby and Hungry Horse dams.
Earlier this summer, U.S. District Judge James Redden ordered five dams in the Columbia Basin to release water to aid salmon heading for the Pacific Ocean. His order, upheld by a federal appeals court, affects water flows through the end of this month. The judge also scheduled a Sept. 14 status hearing in Portland to discuss ongoing negotiations.
The governor said in his Aug. 23 statement supporting the intervenor request that the Kootenai and Flathead River systems are home to "several important and sensitive fish species," including the white sturgeon (which is listed under the federal Endangered Species Act as endangered), the bull trout (listed as threatened), and the west slope cutthroat trout (legal efforts are under way to list it as threatened).
The request to intervene also stemmed from concern over how the lawsuit might impact both Montanans' utility bills and grain transport on the lower Snake River and Columbia River. "Montanans are willing to pay their fair share for measures that protect endangered species, but paying an inordinate price for them is something I must take steps to avoid," the governor stated. The Bonneville Power Administration has estimated Judge Redden's order could cost $67 million and cause ratepayers in a four-state region to make up the difference.
As for grain transportation (more than 40 percent of the state's exported wheat is transported via Columbia River barges), Gov. Schweitzer stated, "Even a few cents increase in that transportation cost, for some Montana growers, may represent the difference between selling grain at a profit, or not selling it all."
The lawsuit was initially filed by the National Wildlife Federation and 15 other groups against the National Marine Fisheries Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Oregon has intervened as a plaintiff, as have two irrigators' groups. Montana joins Idaho and several utility and farm groups (plus Alcoa and the Machinists Union) as intervenor defendants.
All Montana really wants out of the deal is to hold back the water an additional month to help the fish here, according to Bruce Measure of Helena, one of the state's two representatives on the Northwest Power and Conservation Council. He and fellow council member Rhonda Whiting were appointed by Gov. Schweitzer.
Mr. Measure, previously a Kalispell attorney and former president of the Flathead Electric Cooperative board of trustees, indicated that while Montana cares about salmon, " our own fish are affected, too."
Montana is being represented in the suit by Mark Stermitz, an attorney with Bullivant Houser Bailey in Portland. A Montanan, he has been an attorney for the Port of Portland and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Mr. Measure said his fees are being paid through the Attorney General's Office.
learn more on topics covered in the film
see the video
read the script
learn the songs
discussion forum


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Bitcoin Is Recognized As "Legal Tender" In Germany
Bitcoin Is Recognized As "Legal Tender" In Germany
Bitcoin Is Recognized As "Legal Tender" In Germany
Virtual currency bitcoin has been recognized by the German Finance Ministry
as a "unit of account", meaning it is now legal tender and can be used for tax
and trading purposes in the country.
Bitcoins is not classified as e-money or a foreign currency, the Finance
Ministry said in a statement, but is rather a financial instrument under German
banking rules. It is more akin to "private money" that can be used in
"multilateral clearing circles", the Ministry said.
"We should have competition in the production of money. I have long been a
proponent of Friedrich August von Hayek scheme to denationalize money. Bitcoins
are a first step in this direction,"said Frank Schaeffler, a member of the
German parliament's Finance Committee, who has pushed for legal classification
of bitcoins.
(Read more: Bitcoin gets the FBI, Homeland treatment)
Bitcoin is a virtual currency that allows users to exchange online credits
for goods and services. While there is no central bank that issues them,
bitcoins can be created online by using a computer to complete difficult tasks,
a process known as mining. Currently one bitcoin is worth just over
Schaeffler said the new ruling showed German authorities were preparing
regulations on how to tax bitcoin transactions. According to German newspaper
Die Welt, the government has stated that the legal classification of
bitcoin means that commercial profits that stem from using the currency may be
Kathleen Brooks, a research director at FOREX.com, told CNBC that
classification by the German government gave bitcoin legitimacy to be used as a
settlement currency in one of the world's largest economies. She said this was a
big step forward for the bitcoin movement.
(Read more: Bitcoin banned: Country outlaws virtual
"I think it is interesting that Germany has gone ahead and given legal status
to the bitcoin, as it could become an alternative to the euro if the single
currency ever ceased to exist," Brooks said. "If the euro does go belly up the
German authorities could potentially still collect tax if everyone started using
the bitcoin - that's a good example of German forward-thinking!"
Success for bitcoin rests on regulatory fair-treatment and the existence of a
level playing field with other currencies, said, Schaeffler. He added that it
would be bad if national authorities smeared bitcoin as a criminal tool for
money laundering, just because it makes anonymous transaction possible.
(Read more: Bitcoin ATM Gets Ready
for Roll Out)
"Sooner or later, depending on the success of private currencies, authorities
will feel the urge to ban or regulate private currency. A free country should
resist and not intervene in citizen's private choice of money. In my opinion the
production of money is none of the government's business," Schaeffler
Bitcoin regulation has been a hot topic in the last couple months. The New
York Department of Financial Services issued subpoenas last week to several
companies associated with bitcoin, as part of an inquiry into the business
practices of the industry, and both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are investigating the
In addition, Thailand moved to ban the digital currency in July,according to
Bitcoin Co., a Bangkok-based website that trades the digital currency. Bitcoin
Co. said it was prevented from registering with Thai governmental agencies,
which would have allowed people to legitimately use bitcoin.
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The Inaugural Meeting of The Arctic Circle
Event Type: Conferences and Workshops
When: 12 October 2013 to 14 October 2013
Where: Reykjavik, Iceland
The inaugural Arctic Circle will be held October 12-14, 2013. The mission of the Arctic Circle is to facilitate dialogue and build relationships to confront the Arctic's greatest challenges. We aim to strengthen the decision-making process by bringing together as many Arctic and international partners as possible under one large "open tent."
By facilitating circumpolar meetings of leaders across disciplines, we will identify truly sustainable development practices for the Arctic, the world's last pristine environment.
The Arctic Circle is nonprofit and nonpartisan. Organizations, forums, think tanks, corporations and public associations around the world are invited to hold meetings within the Arctic Circle platform without surrendering their institutional independence. The agenda for the first Arctic Circle gathering will include plenary sessions with international leaders on emerging topics of interest, such as:
- Sea ice melt and extreme weather;
- Security in the Arctic;
- Fisheries and ecosystem management;
- Shipping and transportation infrastructure;
- Arctic Resources;
- Tourism
Subsequent Arctic Circle gatherings will be held in a different Arctic location each year, so that participants can become familiar with the challenges, needs and opportunities presented by these unique environments.


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Aaaaand here is the Ohhdeer pillow fight competition again!
Except that for round 2, all pillows go on sale, yeepee, for a limited time of three weeks.
Beyond this point, the most "commercially viable" design will stay in the collection.
Pretty cool idea if you want my opinion.
So if you like my drawing and want to bring a lil' piece of me in your home (in a non creepy way), this is where the magic happens BUY ME
They do make nice christmas presents :) Yes, it IS time to think about it... and you would be helping a starving artist, which is very very good karma let me tell ya.
Sweet sweet pillow for sale!
Monday, 8 October 2012 at 23:30
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Reviewed by: Katie P.
LearningRx has helped my son to improve on his focus and attention in school. He began the year struggling with getting his school work done in the time allotted and now he completes all of his work during school hours. Thank you LearningRx for your help!


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Faith in Jesus(Video)
Preaching on , Anthony Carter reminds the congregation that there are no extraordinary men and women of God, there are only those who determine to believe the word of God. Praise God that, "we might lose sight of Jesus, but Jesus never loses sight of us." Used by permission of The Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Here's a few quotes from the Sermon:
"We might lose sight of Jesus, but Jesus never loses sight of us."
"A lot of racism and race conversations we are having today are rooted in ungodly fear."
"Our faith does not satisfy the wrath of God on our behalf, Jesus satisfies the wrath of God."
"Jesus saves those of little faith and those of great faith."
"The good news is that though the amount of our faith may change, the one in whom our faith is placed—Jesus— does not change."
"The climax of the story is not that Peter walked on water, but that Jesus saved him."
22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. 25 And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, "It is a ghost!" and they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid."
28 And Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." 29 He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me." 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God." (ESV)


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Monetary Assertion Analysis
This workshop is delivered as a flipped classroom – watch the videos earlier than the class and put together to discuss the activity at school. Throughout 2006 – 2007.. er, sorry,.. 1796 – 1797 there was a collection of downturns in the credit score market that led to broader business downturns on sides of the Atlantic. In 1796, the land speculation bubble burst as properly. To make issues worse, England and France were at war and the English have been afraid of an invasion by France. Consequently, there was a run on the Bank of England. The Parliament, so as protect their remaining gold reserves and forestall insolvency, ordered the Financial institution of England to suspended fee for fiat foreign money in species thus making the fiat forex mainly worthless.
Bundle your cable, television and telephone traces to get the cheaper upgrades for the companies. Most of the these corporations have enterprise ties with each other that they offer low cost bundled products. Be aware that their promotion runs for 12 or 24 months solely and you should renew them to keep on paying the promotional rates. Asset-backed safety: A safety that's collateralized by loans, leases, receivables, or installment contracts on personal property, not real property.
An officer or owner borrowing from the enterprise is the worst type of observe receivable. If an officer takes money from the enterprise, it must be declared as a dividend or withdrawal and reflected as a reduction in net value. Treating it in another means results in doable manipulation of the enterprise's acknowledged web price. Banks and other lending establishments often condemn this apply.
These statements show how money is predicted to maneuver round (hence the phrase cash stream) at a given period of time. It is useful for planning future expenses. It reveals whether or not there will likely be enough money to carry out the deliberate activities and whether or not the money coming in are enough to cowl the bills. The cash circulation statement is useful within the determination of the company's liquidity in a given time period.
never get too worried about money. Sure, it's cash. Sure, it issues, but solely to a degree. I've seen too many people destroy themselves (bodily and mentally) over money. Don't let it occur to you. This may mean some advanced planning and would possibly mean you do not have the fanciest car, or the largest TV. But who cares? Along these traces, one of the best definition of wealth I've ever heard is Wealth = monetary wealth / wants.


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The Power Outfit
As September comes to an end, fall is beginning! I love fall – the clothes, changing leaves, lots pumpkin, I could go on and on. However, fall also means the dreaded career fairs. Summer internships, figuring out a life plan, career goals all come with the territory.
I was watching a Google Hangout with Kate White & Carly Heitlinger titled Set Yourself Up for Success, and a question was posed about interview outfits and trying to pick at advice beyond the usual: dress for the job you want, not the job you have.
Carly mentioned finding a key piece that you love – but I believe in a key combination. Enter the power outfit, with style. Kate stressed the importance of keeping style in your outfits and I could not have been happier! I always push the boundaries just a little bit in career fairs and interviews. I hate a typical suit. I refuse to wear a black skirt or pants with a black blazer and a white blouse and black heels. It's so boring! However, keeping it conservative and within acceptable norms is important too.
My power outfit? A printed pencil skirt in neutral colors (mine is dark grey with black spots), a white blouse & blazer. I also throw on a necklace to bring the look together. The heels & pencil skirt are really my key combination! For some reason, I stand a little bit taller and have a lot more confidence in them.
If you're not into wearing a skirt (or afraid you'll freeze!) pants are a good option too. I like to wear a colored statement necklace when I wear a suit to add some interest. Or you could wear cute flats!
Disclaimer: I wouldn't wear both leopard flats & an orange statement necklace together to a career fair! Just pick one and remember simple is better.
Pick an outfit you feel good in and will beam with confidence in. If you aren't the greatest wearing heels, stick with flats. Remember a watch when you go to a career fair – you'll want to know how much time you have left! If you're not comfortable wearing a blazer, that's okay but wear it anyways. College students aren't really used to wearing professional clothes, so it may take some adjustment. But you will find a combination you can rock.
When you find your power outfit formula, there are a million combinations! I will always buy a pencil skirt or a colored blouse over black pants or cute flats. Stick with what you're comfortable in (and always add a blazer even if you hate them, like me).
What's your power outfit for career fairs and interviews?


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About Us
About VorTek Driver Recruiters
As demand for qualified truck drivers continues to increase, many companies are turning to VorTek Systems for their hiring needs. VorTek combines unmatched reach into the driver community with a highly experienced transportation recruiting staff, to arm our clients with a major competitive advantage in attracting, recruiting and retaining highly qualified commercial truck drivers, at substantial savings over internally managed driver recruiting efforts.
Make our expertise in driver recruiting an integrated component of your business and optimize your recruiting dollar, reduce your recruiting lead-time and improve your overall recruiting effectiveness.


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Program Description
This study program has the mission to unify the juridical training gained through the undergraduate studies with the complementary training in the law field, offering master students a unique opportunity to study European law within an interdisciplinary context of law, politics and philosophy through deepening the principles, policies and rules that form the basis of a juridical system that is still under development.
The specific objectives of this study program aim:
- Forming and improving the human resources, highly qualified in the field of law, in correlation with Romania's integration requirements to the EU, through increasing the quality of teaching, developing the knowledge, deepening, adapting, developing and improving of the knowledge gained during the undergraduate studies;
- Forming qualified human resources in the field of European law and European politics;
- Initiation in the practices of running international commercial contracts through deepening the European law knowledge;
- Recognizing the European quality of products and services in order to integrate in the EU;
- Knowing the stage of development and harmonization of the national standards system, in conformity with the requirements of the European and international standardization bodies;
- Initiating students in the raising of European financial resources and the promotion of participating in the exchange of international values. Among the subjects studied within this program we can name: The recognition and execution of decisions inside the European Union's Legal Space, The legal procedure of the EU, The employment contract in the compared law, European legal cooperation in civil procedural matters.
Those who graduate this master's program may obtain a carrier such as:
- Foreign relations reviewer,
- Public European clerk,
- Reviewer/consultant legal harmonization,
- Mediator,
- Expert in European public administration,
- European public administration consultant,
- Public procurement expert, European affairs consultant,
- Diplomatic consultant.
Admission is based on the documents sent in by the candidates, taking into account the undergraduate grade average.
About the School
This institution, founded in 1992, assumes the role of enriching the values of the Romanian culture and civilization, of supporting the assertion of national identity and spirituality, in order to dev ... Read More


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Indiana Jones is undoubtedly one of the most popular film franchises ever made. With Raiders of the Lost Ark, Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford, and George Lucas crafted an iconic character for the ages, and so when it was announced earlier this year that Indiana Jones 5 is officially in the works, with Ford starring and Spielberg directing, fans were enthused to hear that Indy would be returning for yet another go-around over 30 years after Raiders first hit theaters.
Disney and Lucasfilm subsequently announced that screenwriter David Koepp, who collaborated with Spielberg on Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds, and yes Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, would be handling scripting duties for Indiana Jones 5, and so when Collider's own Steve Weintraub recently spoke with Koepp for an exclusive interview in anticipation of the release of Inferno (which Koepp wrote), the conversation obviously turned to Indy 5.
Koepp said he's hard at work on writing the script for Indiana Jones 5, but one big question that loomed over the film was whether Lucas would be involved. The way the franchise worked in that past was that Lucas would come up with the idea for the movie and Spielberg would execute it. When Indy 5 was announced, Lucas' name was nowhere to be found. Spielberg subsequently said Lucas would serve as an executive producer on the film, but in speaking with Koepp, the screenwriter revealed that Lucas is not involved in the story of Indiana Jones 5:
"He's not, to my knowledge. I've had no contact with him."
That's certainly a curious revelation, as it marks a first for the franchise. Some may find this development promising as it was Lucas's insistence that Indiana Jones 4 tackle the concept of aliens in the 1950s setting that made the film so tough to crack. Indeed, a number of screenwriters worked on the Last Crusade follow-up before the script was in a place that made Spielberg, Lucas, and Ford all happy, and thus Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was born.
As the credited screenwriter on Crystal Skull, Steve asked Koepp what he thinks they learned from that film that may have informed the approach they're taking for Indiana Jones 5. As it turns out, it's all about the MacGuffin:
"I think that what [Indy] looks for and when he looks for it dictates what the movie's gonna be. So the selection of the MacGuffin is everything. I think Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, being set in 1957 there was a conscious desire to say, 'Much like two of the other ones were World War II movies set in the 30s and early 40s, this is '57 so a lot of our influences are gonna be science-fiction movies.' You got that with the original [script], Jeb Stuart took the first shot at it with Indiana Jones and the Saucer Men from Mars. That was a really conscious decision that dictated a lot about what the story would be and what the movie would be like, and I think that was followed through on really nicely. I thought Steve did a really good job with that. I don't know that the idea was most suited to an Indiana Jones movie, but that was what we did. So we tried to be very careful with the selection of the MacGuffin and the eras to give ourselves as much latitude to make the best kind of Indiana Jones movie that we most want to see. Learning how that's the importance of the choice of the MacGuffin is a big deal."
As for what else Koepp learned from Crystal Skull, he noted that not repeating past mistakes is obvious, but reiterated that they really focused on the MacGuffin—i.e. what Indy is trying to get—this time around and making sure that fit with what kind of Indiana Jones movie they wanted to make:
"It's hard because you can learn like if something maybe didn't work as well as you think it would well we certainly wouldn't do that again, but you wouldn't have done that again anyway, you already did it, so it's hard to say. For me it was the MacGuffin dictates everything, and so we tried to make the best possible choice we could. Not that nobody didn't try to make the best choice that they could in the past, but we tried to give us the one that gave us the Indiana Jones movie we most wanted to see."


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Scarring doesn't pose any health risks under normal circumstances, but it can make you self-conscious. Small, pink scars and acne scars often benefit from surface treatments like dermabrasion. This treatment uses a coarse material to remove the top layer of skin so healthy, normal skin can grow back in its place. Dermabrasion is just one type of scar treatment. Your doctor may recommend a different treatment depending on your specific scar and its location and appearance.
Schedule an appointment with your dermatologist to determine what type of scar you have, in what area and over what type of wound. Schedule a microdermabrasion treatment if your doctor determines you're a good candidate.
Stop taking prescription blood thinners, over-the counter and prescription pain relievers, anti-inflammatory medications and herbal supplements one week before the procedure, according to the Cleveland Clinic.These medications increase bleeding risk, and lengthen healing and recovery time.
Prepare your skin for treatment by wearing sunscreen and avoiding real or artificial tans for at least a week before treatment. Stop using acne and aging treatments that contain sailicylic acid, Retin-A or other skin resurfacing products.
Plan on seven to 10 days to recover from your treatment. Keep your skin clean and dry. Cover any areas that scab or week with clean gauze. Use the prescription creams your doctor prescribes according to her specific instructions.
Schedule a follow-up treatment to determine how many treatments you'll need to achieve the best possible results.


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Richard J. Grostern, M.D., is the is the Director of Comprehensive Ophthalmology at Rush University Medical Center, as well as the Director of Ophthalmic Pathology and an assistant professor of Ophthalmology and Pathololgy at Rush. He completed dual fellowships in Uveitis and Eye Pathology at the University of Wisconsin after completing his residency in ophthalmology at Rush in 1999. He completed medical school at the Chicago Medical School after graduating with Distinction from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
Dr Grostern has published approximately 14 papers and abstracts and 6 book chapters. He has received the Golden Apple teaching award as both clinical and surgical teacher of the year from the ophthalmology residents at Rush. He has also received an Achievement Award and the Secretariat Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology. He currently serves the American Academy of Ophthalmology as the Chairperson of the Comprehensive Ophthalmology section of the Practicing Ophthalmologists' Curriculum Panel, responsible for developing the curriculum upon which board recertification is tested.
Dr Grostern has been practicing ophthalmology in Chicago and Skokie since 2000, and has a busy practice as a comprehensive ophthalmologist and uveitis specialist. His concentrations include cataract surgery, diabetic eye care, and uveitis. He is board certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology.
Uveitis Fellowship
University of Wisconsin – Madison
Ophthalmic Pathology Fellowship
University of Wisconsin – Madison
Rush University Medical Center
Medical School
The Chicago Medical School
Professional Affiliations
American Academy of Ophthalmology
Chicago Ophthalmologic Society


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Lamentations 3:34-39
To crush underfoot
all the prisoners of the earth,
to deny a man justice
in the presence of the Most High,
to subvert a man in his lawsuit,
the Lord does not approve.
Who has spoken and it came to pass,
unless the Lord has commanded it?
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that good and bad come?
Why should a living man complain,
a man, about the punishment of his sins?
When I read these verses, I am reminded of the arrogance of man and so is Jeremiah who wrote these lamentations for Israel. I am reminded of the arrogance of people who assume that all justice is defined as they see it. I am talking about the arrogance of those who think that punishment is to be doled out to their own sense of revenge. The assumption that they are the sole proprietors of making the determination of the punishment to fit the crime. People believe they are the center of the universe and therefore the balance is of their doing and it is to be to their satisfaction. But we are only a mere sub atomic particle in the infinity of space.
Justice is very subjective. Continue reading


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Jon Chambers
Name: Jon Chambers
Title: Talking With the Dead (working title)
Summary: Obsolete computers will once again be relevant by creating a simple stand-alone network between them, such as serial or LAN. The computers will talk through this network by sending an image file or text message to one other, aestheticizing the input in their own unique way: the screen. Minimal software is the key element holding this web together, reviving these old machines as communication devices.
Onsite: Yes
Duration: May 21-25, 2014
Equipment: TBA
Documentation: Article, Video, Jon's Website


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Winegard 39-Inch J-Mount for Satellite D...
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What processor are does your machine have, and how fast is it? G5, Quad 2.5GHz CPU
How much RAM do you have? 2G
What video card do you have? GeForce 6600, 256M VRAM
Is there anything else that makes your computer unique? A 23" LCD display. I was playing in windowed 1920x1200 mode.
The Mac runs 10.4.6 and all OS updates. Disk Utility reports no errors.
I was re-playing trickfred's EW1 mod. I was in the final level, and I had three squads wailing on some virii. When I say "wail," I mean that they were practically standing in the same spot, and I was madly clicking away with the grenades, and typing "1", "2", "3" with my other hand to maximize my firepower. Once before, in an earlier level in this mod, I was doing the same thing and got a similar crash.
There was a big difference this time. When I re-ran Darwinia, it was in full-screen mode but had reset to 800x600 (I'm guessing) and the game itself had been re-selected (as evidenced by the Garden being the only point in the sphere with me). All my profiles were gone, and I was NewUser again. The Mod button was gone.
I looked in the 'preferences.txt' file, and the screen res is what I originally had it set to, as well as:
Code: Select all
ModSystemEnabled = 1
Mod = EnemyWithinPart1
I haven't touched the files or run the game again, in case anyone wants a peek at them. I've made a copy and zipped it, to preserve the strange state.
Code: Select all
VERSION : macosx-ppc-full-1.4.2
ERROR : 'Fatal Signal (10) Received
retAddress = 0x3d994
retAddress = 0x3d750
retAddress = 0x90131794
retAddress = 0x94328


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How To
Avoid Being Stripped Of Your Autism Parenting Power While Searching For A Cure
Lynette Louise aka THE BRAIN BROAD says Don't Wait, Start Connecting and
Lynette Louise aka THE BRAIN BROAD is an author, podcast host, speaker,
and creator/host for the international reality series FIX IT IN FIVE with THE
BRAIN BROAD airing on The Autism Channel. A global mental health expert, Lynette
is Doubly Board Certified in Neurofeedback and working on her PhD in Psychology
with a specialty in Psychophysiology at Saybrook University
Bring Lynette Louise on your show and your listeners will The
news is often filled with new autism studies, theories, and therapy arguments.
As an autism parent, or autistic individual, it can be tempting to sit in fear
and wait for a definitive answer or waste precious time in search of a cure
before truly parenting with confidence.
International mental health and autism specialist Lynette Louise aka THE BRAIN
BROAD says, "Don't! While you're sitting in wait, precious early intervention
connecting and brain organization is going undone. Equally dangerous is the
control you are handing over to professionals and studies by feeling you must
wait for them. Yet they change their idea of what is true month to month. The
autistic person in your life is walking around with the answers, and it's up to
you to roll up your sleeves and get discovering."
As an international practitioner, Lynette doesn't discount the value of seeking
ideas and answers from outside sources. In truth, it would be foolish not to
take advantage of the years of experience and the perspective scientists and
therapists contribute to the possible solution in the ASD child's challenges.
Also, don't ignore the non-degreed long time parent who is eager to share
knowledge in a fashion that keeps you in the drivers seat.
"Beware the hawkers touting causes and cures and systems that take control of
your choices. Seek answers from professionals, other learning disciplines, and
parental perspective sharing." Lynette says. "We know what causes Down Syndrome
but we can't cure it. We can however embrace people with it. In other words,
don't waste time waiting to know why. If your child is autistic hug them now.
Don't wait to learn how to play or teach them to talk, play and teach them to
talk while learning how. Don't give your power away–make it bigger, be the
expert. And then learn from others the bits and pieces that will make you better
at helping your child along the way. This is important because if you believe
that others are better than you it will become true and this will make you and
your child dependent, forever."
A show segment or story with Lynette Louise aka THE BRAIN BROAD will example for
your audience how to learn from the child rather than the changing winds of
education and science.
As the single mother of eight now grown kids (six adopted, four on the autism
spectrum) Lynette recalls clearly the attempts and ideas that worked to help her
children (and herself!) and the ones that didn't. Your audience can laugh and
learn as she shares stories of those mishaps, while revealing the truth that it
was the connecting and trying–her believe in herself as the expert–that led to
her family's inevitable and impressive success!
Because Lynette always shares play tips and brain growth facts with passion and
easy to understand examples, your audience will also be gifted with concrete
tools for their parenting and autism tool box.
schedule an interview with Lynette Louise, contact Janet Carson at
760-208-4990 or firstname.lastname@example.com.
Lynette Louise's Website: www.lynettelouise.com
About Motivational
Motivational Press is a global leader in the field of general
interest publishing, dedicated to providing the best in nonfiction for consumers
of all ages, across all printed, electronic, and audio formats. Motivational Press is a broad-based publisher with
strengths in business books, self-help books, health, wellness, sports,
narrative nonfiction, reference, pop culture, design, and religious and
spiritual books. Motivational Press is consistently at the forefront of
innovation, using digital technology to create unique reading experiences and
expand the reach of its authors. Its divisions include Motivational Press Adult
Publishing, Motivational Press Children's Publishing, Motivational
Press Audio, Motivational Press Digital and international companies in
Australia, Canada, Germany, Brazil and the United Kingdom. For more
information, visit www.MotivationalPress.com.
Marketing Officer
Motivational Press


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MARILYN AND SHEILA BRASS are the authors of Heirloom Cooking With The Brass Sisters and Heirloom Baking With The Brass Sisters, a finalist for the James Beard Award. They have hosted their own specials on PBS and the Cooking Channel; have appeared on Throwdown with Bobby Flay and on PBS's Simply Ming. They appear regularly on NPR's All Things Considered - Found Recipes and the NPR blog, The Salt. They live in Cambridge, MA and enjoy baking with their family and friends in their home kitchen.
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Warnings: Sheldon/Penny, Penny/Leonard, spoilers for mid season 3
Rating: PG for UST and spoofery, about 5,200 words
Disclaimer: Not my characters, now or in any future fic.
Category: Humor, spoof, light UST, people being dumped right and left
Summary: Sheldon will go to any length to maintain his social paradigm, including playing matchmaker, and, if necessary, much worse.
Comments: Finally, months later, my help_haiti fic submission for lisaboston. Most of this text was written three months ago, when Leonard and Penny breaking up was just a rumor, and I haven't actually seen the last three episodes that jossed it...so what would have been a future fic is now decidedly AU. I wrote this initially as a balls-out spoof fic, but it kinda turned a bit genuine in parts.
Feel free to ignore those parts and take this with as little seriousness as a bag of mini marshmallows.
Let's See How Far We've Come
Almost everything was right in the world this morning. Sheldon had a new Doctor Who episode streamed and buffered on his television, his early lunch was prepared, and he had the living room to himself. Nothing pleased Sheldon more than to see a routine proceed uninterrupted.
"Sheldon," said Penny, dragging his roommate in from the hallway and shuffling into his line of vision. She smiled in a nervous twist of her face. "We have some news."
He didn't look up from the television, determined that this interruption would end up a figment of his imagination. "Whatever it is, I doubt it's new to me since I've seen your Facebook feeds and your DVR list, none of which contain professional news programming."
"Sheldon," said Leonard, "You should listen. This is personal news." They stepped forward, side by side. Sheldon's eyes moved right-ward from the screen and traveled gradually up their symmetrical stances. Being a conservative soul, he feared the worst.
"We're breaking up," said Penny, squeezing Leonard's hand.
Sheldon heard this, thought about the short and long term consequences in less time than other people think about flicking on a light switch, then opened his mouth.
"But we're still friends, see!" That was from Leonard, holding onto Penny's hand as if yanking hard enough would prove it. "Everything will be okay. Nothing will change."
From the couch, Sheldon didn't even stop the frown. He stood up and smoothed the full bottom perimeter of his shirt. "Excuse me," he said, and walked briskly to grab Leonard by the elbow. "We will be returning momentarily. Don't sit down and don't eat my snacks."
Leonard was dragged into his own room, where Sheldon rounded with a diatribe ready: "Are you mad? Are you unaware of the delicate balance of our living environment and how its continued stability directly affects my productivity and general wellness?" This didn't have quite the dramatic effect Sheldon anticipated, so he added, "It could also affect your productivity. Under the optimistic assumption, of course, that your work might one day produce something. No one has published memorable experiments under the influence of pop ballads."
"James Blunt isn't that bad," Leonard argued before he remembered reality and how much he'd like to escape to it. "Look, Sheldon," he said, "things change. You'll survive."
"You don't understand. This is the second-worst news you could possibly give me."
Genuine curiosity sidetracked him, a common downside to having an alien for a roommate. "What's the worst thing?"
"Now why would I tell you that? It'd only give you ideas."
"The point then, Sheldon, get to the point!"
"You have to get back together with Penny."
"That's none of your business." They stared each other down; Leonard lost. "Okay, look, it's just better this way. Penny was changing to be like what she thought I wanted, and it didn't make her happy. Being with her made me so worried all the time that I changed for the worse too. We decided a week ago, but we waited to tell you because we wanted to show you that everything would still be okay."
His roomate's head tilted to one side, not unlike a bird of prey sighting down a gerbil. "Was it the day you got your car washed?"
"Uh, yeah. Actually, it was. How do you know that?"
"I knew something was off!" Sheldon snapped his fingers and pointed at the shorter man. "There had to be reason you chose Spring Blossom Rain scent instead of Fresh Pine when we all know you think Fresh Pine is what Penny likes. It's always pleasant when hindsight validates my subconscious deductions."
Groaning, Leonard waved his hands between them as if he could wipe the last minute out of the conversation entirely. He adjusted the back rims of his glasses and said, "Since the day Penny moved in you've been telling me our future was doomed and our future children were fictional. What makes you sure that breaking up is a mistake?"
His roommate folded his arms and came as close to tutting as his nature would allow. "You've chosen Penny and she has chosen you, seeing in each other the complement to what each lacks in a genetic line: above-average intelligence and above-average aesthetic appeal. Your relationship, while initially doubtful, benefits both yourselves and your potential progeny."
Awe and fear holds Leonard's tongue for a moment, but if there were ever to come a day when Leonard could believe a speech like that from Sheldon Cooper, it was definitely not a week after he was dumped. Or dumped her. Mutually. Anyway, his eccentric friend probably wasn't lying, not per se, just being highly creative for selfish purposes.
"You don't believe that," he said. "You're just worried because you got used to a routine at last, and now it will have to go back a year, so you're making excuses. It's selfishness, which I don't even get because you hated us together. Last Thursday you compared our relationship to Intelligent Design."
"Try to explore her interests," said Sheldon, electing to roll right over his friend's protesting noises. Just because Penny and Leonard's relationship was analogous to the cancerous spread of Creationism in the American public education system didn't mean he was ready to go through lifestyle readjustment yet again. Leonard would just have to try harder. "I have read that men in your situation--"
"What situation?" interrupted Leonard. "There's no situation."
"--often fail to express an interest in an attractive partner beyond admiring their physical or sexual attributes. Without shared efforts, progress stalls. For example, Penny likes popular music and film comedies. She once had a fleeting interest in being a playwright."
"I know that," challenged Leonard, who had been her boyfriend for more than half a year, thank you very much.
"And you need to challenge her," Sheldon asserted, leaning close into his friend's personal space. "She's an aggressive, dominant female who is attracted to aggressive males."
Leonard, who was told with specific detail by Penny seven days ago that she hated how he'd turned into an aggressive jerk once they started dating, did not take this last proclamation seriously. Unlike her previous aggressive jerk boyfriends, Leonard was capable of listening to criticism.
"And you must attempt," concluded his roommate with a dramatic smack of the palm, "to build a meager store of self-confidence."
Leonard rolled his eyes, knowing that Sheldon wouldn't notice. There were not many things that could be said in response to what was, all things considered, the worst wing-man pep talk in history.
"Whoa. Thanks, pal."
Sheldon nodded affirmatively. "I try to help those in obvious need, when it compliments my own goals."
"If you say so."
"I do. But this conversation is over, as I can hear Penny violating my lunch." He flowed past Leonard, muttering, "Why won't she give up and realize that I can anticipate her every move?"
Penny had fled with Sheldon's bowl of chips by the time he made it to the living room, and he didn't see her again for two days. They were the most annoying two days of his month thus far, in no small part because her post-break up absence meant he had to overhaul weekend meal plans completely and reorganize their platform gaming schedule. When the aggravation reached its maximum tolerable peak, Sheldon knocked three times on Penny's door with a gift in hand.
She opened it and he thrust a loaf of cranberry pumpkin bread at her chest. "Please get back together with Leonard."
"Nope," she said, and went to the cutting board. He followed her in, invitation not required.
"I've come prepared with a list of talking points for why you're making a colossal mistake."
"Go ahead," said Penny, "I was looking for a reason not to do my taxes."
Sheldon learned from the attempt with Leonard, and felt that Penny would respond better to underhanded tactics. There's no room for mercy in agenda enforcement. "As a good friend," he said, putting triple emphasis on the adjective just in case, "I must tell you that you're underestimating the value Leonard brings to your current lifestyle."
Penny looked up from the two neat slices of cranberry pumpkin bread now laid out on saucers. "My current lifestyle?"
Sheldon declined the bread, instead parking himself on his seat and beginning, "Paramours of the past have left you lonely, weeping, and doubting yourself. Leonard admires you, and wouldn't be able to conceptualize cheating. To him, you are beautiful and vivacious. Your intellect, while considerably below ours, is standard for societal norms and doesn't hinder your other assets."
He paused, eyes jumping across her features to gauge the success of the conversation so far, but Penny did not appear to be in a demonstrative mood. Sheldon attributed her patient expression to agreement and continued, "Your talents lie in the area of adaptability, resourcefulness, and charm--all things Leonard could benefit from."
A spark of loyalty in Penny must have driven her to argue, because she stop nibbling on a piece of sweet crust to interrupt: "Leonard is resourceful. He finds practical solutions to things, I always liked that about him."
"As do you," Sheldon agreed, achieving a conversational about-face he thought worthy of commendation. "Another excellent reason for you to get back together."
"I can't believe I'm about to say this, but maybe you could try putting it to me in movie terms? Because I still don't understand your point."
"Oh, an excellent idea." He swiveled in place, one hand on his chin, then began: "In the climax of the first Superman film, years of principle photography nineteen seventy-seven to nineteen seventy eight, Superman is faced with a terrible decision. The San Andreas Fault has been ruptured on a continental level by nuclear attack from Lex Luthor, and the great hero must ignore his family's teachings and forcibly interfere in a situation that has spiraled out of control, or risk losing--"
"I take it back! Please, I take it back."
"But there is a relevant point to be made with the circumstances of Lois--"
"Just stop, please. I don't care." She put her hand over her head, rubbing her hair back. "What do you get out of this, Sheldon? Why does it bother you either way? Is your routine so precious that you don't care about why we broke up, just as long as things are fixed and everything is convenient again?"
"Penny." He took a deep breath, then two.
"The answer, of course, is..." but there Sheldon stalled. His plans to drive home her weaknesses to induce a bout of insecurity that would make her cling to Leonard like a radioactive mollusk had turned into a speech expounding her positive qualities. He wasn't prepared for this tack; it was time to retreat before it became a chicken and tree situation. "...irrelevant, because it's seven PM and I have to defragment my laptop hard drive."
"What?" said Penny, staring at him as if she had difficulty understanding English, which Sheldon privately thought she must.
"Defragment my laptop, Penny. It's basic computer maintenance." He backed toward the exit, stumbling over a laundry basket on the way. "Think about it: you and Leonard might live happily ever after, if such a thing is possible, which it isn't, but either way he'll probably call you and want to make up."
Feeling nauseous at having provoked too much social interaction in too short a research period, Sheldon ran through his apartment door, across the living room and into his sanctuary, where he sat on the bed and leaned forward, locking his hands in his lap.
Three days later, he was running it over and over in his mental movie theater. Everything he'd felt from the hour and the minute that his friends had announced their impending division: the shortness of breath, the frustration, the irrational stomach-dropping fear that Penny would leave because of Leonard breaking up with her and Thursday nights would be ruined forever. As well as Monday nights, and probably Sundays. Laundry would go undone, burgers would be improperly served. His social circle would be reduced to two friends and an acquaintance.
"This is intolerable," he said to his white board. "She has to stay. If Leonard can't keep her here, then it's up to me." Renewed confidence lifted Sheldon's spirit, and he dug out his phone to make Raj drive him to the mall. Six hours later, he was back on his own doorstep with a small brown paper bag and a contemplative mood. His plan was sound, but it would require some changes to his own behavior in the future. Shared television rights, no doubt, and dietary negotiations. Sexual activity would be a challenge, but he could suffer through. The rest was manageable, even appealing with the right contract. Sheldon turned the key in his lock and entered, prepared to declare his change of plan to the nearest victim.
"Oh!" mumbled Penny, peeling her face off Leonard's and looking at the entrance. "Hi Sheldon."
"Mmmrrph," said Leonard. "Hey buddy!"
"You're back together," observed Sheldon. "You've...reconciled."
Penny smiled, and leaned into Leonard's neck. Her hair spilled in bright waves over his collar, and her lip gloss was long since rubbed away. "We thought about what you said. We were right in being too hasty, giving up on a good thing without trying to make it work."
Leonard, who could not stop grinning, nodded about twenty-two times in three seconds. His hands galloped over Penny's curvier extremities. "For once your advice was really nice. Thanks for trying so hard."
"Inconceivable," said Sheldon, and voluntarily banished himself to the bedroom.
Four days later, a nondenominational Hell had descended on the Hofstadter-Cooper kitchen, and Penny, aspiring actress, was finally getting to experience a real life Mexican Stand-off. It was not as fun as the classic movies made it appear. They stood arrayed in a triangle, with awkwardness threatening to slay the unwary if the tension tipped too far. It was half-past eight and forty seconds. Birds chirped on the wires that had once held undergarments, and a band was playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts were light. Inside, a pin could shatter the scene if the wrong person moved.
Always the one to hold off a social apocalypse, Penny wet her lips and cast her eyes from physicist to physicist. "Um." She looked down at the ivory felt box in her hand, spilled open like a clam and thrusting up its contents. "Hi guys."
"Why do you have an engagement ring?" Leonard asked. His voice went a little high with the question, and he pushed his glasses against his nose.
"It's his," Penny said, and pointed at the other occupant of the #4A living room.
"No," Sheldon corrected with exasperated gentleness, "It's yours."
"What?" said Penny. "It's mine?" She closed and re-opened the box, as if it might not be there the second time. It remained, a generous gold circle and a black opal flanked by two small diamonds. The ring didn't rest in the felt; it swam atop it like a resplendent shark.
"How is this happening?" demanded Leonard.
Sheldon walked further into the kitchen and set his satchel on the counter, digging out his laptop. "I think the question you are searching for is 'When?', and the answer, of course, is now."
"Mine?" repeated Penny.
Leonard adjusted his glasses again and breathed through his nose. "You're giving my girlfriend an engagement ring? Right now, as in, today? Did Howard put you up to this?"
"Of course not," his roommate replied. "Howard's proclivities in the realm of formal gift-giving are not up to the standard a woman like Penny would expect. At least, not according to my mother."
"Your mother put you up to this? But I've met her!"
"Leonard, you must be acting intentionally thick. I purchased the ring of my own sovereign determination and left it taped to the back of our coffee tin knowing that Penny would discover it."
"But it's a ring," said Leonard, enunciating every word as if reading a primer to a school child and barely restraining himself from adding that it was also his coffee tin.
"Yes," replied Sheldon, just as forcefully.
"So, this is mine?" Penny's conscience had lingered several retorts back, circling the magic word like a thief in a pâtisserie circles an unguarded eclair. Her mind had blocked out both men and fixated on the idea that an astoundingly tasteful and expensive piece of jewelry had been waiting, in the cupboard, for her.
"Yes," Sheldon said.
"But..." She drew the word out, stretching it across her breath, then doing so again just to make sure. "But... I'm dating Leonard. You told us to get back together."
Leonard, her boyfriend, rounded on this. "That's all you can say when Sheldon gives you an engagement ring? That's it?"
"Well," Penny hedged. The ring oozed temptation from its soft ivory nest. "Come on, even you have to admit this conversation is kinda confusing."
"Don't you want to know why he's proposing to you?" exclaimed Leonard. "Don't you want to ask why he wants to marry you? And how long he planned this? And why he thinks you're amenable to his proposal? If he loves you?"
His mouth whipped shut at the last sentence, and his face turned a pasty pink. As if it crossed their minds at the same time, both of them looked to Sheldon. They stared until Penny asked the ludicrous question, and then they waited.
The taller participant in this little drama popped open a diet soda and set it on the counter. For all intents and purposes, he appeared untroubled. Causal, for Sheldon, even pleased with himself. "I believe that I might," he allowed. "Love is, of course, unquantifiable and unprovable, but I find Penny's physical features to be attractive, her attitude to be refreshing in its reliable contrariness, and her willingness to accommodate my needs satisfying."
"Eugh," said Leonard, taking two steps back. Penny threw the engagement box square at Sheldon's forehead.
"Go to hell!" she shouted, and banged the apartment door shut behind her. A hushed silence fell over the physicists, and then their limited edition Heinlein wall clock fell off its hook with a smash.
"That clock is out of production," Sheldon said, examining the glass and metal carcass from a safe distance. "It's irreplaceable."
"So is my girlfriend," snapped Leonard. "Who you just proposed to!"
Sheldon held up the ring box and waved it a little. "She rejected me. Try to keep up with events."
"That's not the point."
"I must leave to reassess my strategy," Sheldon decided. He ignored Leonard's gurgling noises and slammed the door to his sanctuary.
In the common area, Leonard's head moved back and forth as he tried to look at both doors at once. Sheldon. Penny. Sheldon. Penny. Penny. Penny, then Sheldon.
Penny was his girlfriend. Penny first, Leonard concluded. When he knocked, she threw open the door and, right in front of him, blew a sob into a blue paper tissue.
"Penny, are you okay?"
"No, I'm not okay!" She blew her nose again. "Sheldon proposed to me, Leonard. I think he's missed the bus at last."
Leonard wanted to move closer, but it was like trying to hug a cat. She jerked to one side or the other, not fighting him but not cooperating either. He wasn't sure she even noticed.
"Is that why you're crying?" he asked, going for Understanding Boyfriend Casual.
"No!" Penny wailed. She wasn't normally the type of girlfriend who sounded like a shrieking brat in conversations like this, so Leonard assumed this was a special occasion and she was getting a lot satisfaction from the volume.
He almost reached for her hand, but didn't. "Then why?"
"Because it was awful!" Penny grabbed another three tissues and whirled in short paces across the apartment. "I mean, who says that in a proposal? What the hell kind of offer is that? What's wrong with him?"
He dropped his chin and rubbed at the carpet with his shoe. Here it was, a question Leonard hadn't wanted to ask all week. "He's been weird about our relationship for a long time. First he hates it, then he wants us together."
It was The Question, the one none of them had the courage to ask, so once again the hard job went to Dr. Hofstadter, roommate, gamekeeper, and re-boyfriend. "Have you guys ever...well?"
Penny shook her head and barely answered him before rattling on. "Of course not, Leonard, you know I wouldn't cheat. But he's the first man to ever propose to me, and who says that? Where did he get the idea that was an acceptable way to propose, even with a gorgeous ring? I don't get him. He's an alien or something."
"Penny," said Leonard. He tried to keep his voice from sounding disappointed.
She tossed her used tissues in the waste basket and looked up. "What is it?"
"I want to break up."
Penny opened her mouth, then grabbed more tissues, then said, "You're breaking up with me again?"
Leonard gulped. "Yes."
"Right now?" she clarified with deliberate enunciation. "Because of Sheldon?"
He wrung his hands against his jacket pockets. "It's not just Sheldon proposing to you for no earthly reason. It's, it's, it's a combination of things that all became suddenly clear to me. Just that there's many different motivations to someone's behavior, and..."
Penny threw the plastic tissue box at his head.
"Achk," Leonard cried, not quite dodging it. He really should have seen that coming. He'd have thrown something at himself, too, if their places were switched.
"I can't believe you, either of you! You can go right to hell too, Leonard Hofstadter." She pointed at the exit. "Start by getting out of my apartment."
"Going, going, sorry!" Leonard apologized, backing out of his re-ex-girlfriend's living room and not surprised to have another door slammed on him. Despite everyone's effort, there would be no joy in Mudville today.
He returned to find Sheldon organizing the cups and bowls in the dishwasher so as to fit the maximum possible items in a single wash cycle. He cut immediately to the question at hand. "I've got to know why you proposed to Penny."
Sheldon rolled his eyes. "I understand it's a difficult prohibition for common people to remember, but as my roommate I've asked you repeatedly not to approach me with stupid questions."
"As my roommate, I am asking you to explain yourself."
"Are you going to assault me in a fit of jealous rage now that I've challenged your perception of your own machismo?" Sheldon asked. His hand hovered over the upper rack with a particularly uncooperative ladle.
"No," said Leonard. Then, a little insulted, he added, "Maybe."
His roommate triumphantly jammed the ladle between pasta bowls and a mug. He nodded at Leonard. "Then I won't push my luck."
"Just answer the question!"
Sheldon gave a minute sigh, and walked over to the table where his laptop waited. "Oh all right. I've reviewed my social environment and I've decided that I don't want Penny to leave. Ever. You were supposed to take care of that, but obviously you failed. Only nine months in a relationship before you ruined everything. If Penny's feelings are hurt by the separation, and she has economic temptations elsewhere, then it's 'goodbye neighbor!' and that is unacceptable."
Sometimes talking with Sheldon was easy, and sometimes it made Leonard's head hurt. "Is this because she got a recurring job as an extra on that sitcom in Burbank? She's been fine commuting. Sheldon, not wanting someone to move out doesn't mean you should marry them to keep them around."
But apparently his friend didn't want to hear this. "Oh now you're being sarcastic, aren't you? If I believed that was the solution to keeping roommates, you and I would be married and you'd be attempting to convince me to march in opposition to Prop 8, but of course if we were married you'd already know such attempts would be futile as I have no interest in state politics or antiquated religious dogma."
Leonard, who hadn't been sarcastic, suddenly couldn't must a reason to be otherwise. "You would let politics destroy our love," he asked in a deadpan voice.
"And religion, Leonard, I just explained that." Sheldon rolled his eyes. "Of course there's also my potential fiance Penny, whom I did not propose to only because she might move to Burbank."
He didn't care how the conversation arrived, he was just glad it had circled back again. "Then elaborate, Sheldon, on your previous 'explanation' before I assault you over my irritated machismo."
Lifting his eyes to the ceiling in what had to be a carefully practiced social gesture, Sheldon hand-waved for his friend to sit on the couch while he drew out the white board easel. He held up a blue pen in one hand and a green pen in another, and proceeded to draw Leonard the most convoluted relationship graph the experimental physicist had ever seen. There were dangling tangents, unresolved floating variables, contradictions so blatant Leonard was actually surprised, and underneath it all, a disturbing lack of a unified thesis.
"Now," encouraged Sheldon, "If I account for her class background and social history as V^4 in comparison to mine as V^3, where mine is diminished by a religious neo-conservatism that Penny's middle class parents appear to have dodged in favor of farm crop economic liberalism with a patina of social conservative ethics, it's fair to say that our decision to live in the Golden State shows a shared desire to reject Mid-West American culture in favor of more elastic social---"
"Stop! Please for the love of Gallifrey just stop talking."
"What is it now? Aren't you following this?" He gestured at the multicolored spaghetti graph. "I've written it so simply that a earthworm could follow it." He added, "They're blind."
"A tapeworm would get lost in that mess," protested Leonard.
"Mess?" Sheldon yelped. "Mess? You asked me to lay out my reasoning and I have done so in a clear and logical visual display. I didn't realize I had to dumb it down even further for you to grasp the essence of my conclusion, but if that's what it takes, we'll start at the beginning." He took the green marker again, "Penny, defined from here as p, is a waitress. She resides in Pasadena, California."
Knowing with complete authority what the next fifteen minutes would be like if his buddy went unchecked, Leonard stood up, flung his arms out, and said, "Enough, Sheldon, I get it."
"But I'm not done."
"I get it, Sheldon. I get it even better than you do. You want to keep Penny a part of your life and you've decided that romantic partner is the role she's best suited for. You want to marry her. I get it."
Sheldon capped the dry-erase marker. "Well, I'm a better teacher than I expected."
Leonard sneered and walked toward his bathroom, where he intended to take a long and wasteful shower. "Not really," he said, and shot over his shoulder, "That's the most unscientific, illogical, irrational, and baseless proof you've ever tried to write. It's total nonsense. Congratulations, Sheldon. I'll loan you some good albums if you need them later. Just ask."
The shut door failed to reopen no matter how long Sheldon glared at it. "Sarcasm is the refuge of the ill-witted and weak-minded!"
There was a faint, distant answer that might have been "Not sarcasm," but also might've been an old Vertical Horizon CD.
It was was almost dinner hour when Penny confronted her would-be fiance, knowing ahead of time from Bernadette's text message that the group had gone for Korean barbecue at a Sheldon-blacklisted restaurant.
"Sheldon. Sheldon. Sheldon." He opened the door, and Penny slid under his arm. She stalked over to her spot and sat down. Mouth open at her audacity, Sheldon sat in his.
"I've reconsidered your proposal." Her voice was quite delicate, almost unrecognizable as the woman he knew. She kept smiling too widely, and she wouldn't look him in the eye. "The answer is still no."
"Have you considered all the advantages?"
"Ooh yeah. Believe me, I got those right away. But there are problems, too. For a big start, you don't love me."
Sheldon felt insulted, though his id was having trouble explaining the reaction to his superego. All he knew was that it mattered to him that Penny believed his sincerity, and clearly she didn't.
"You don't," she continued. "Whether or not I'd even think about marrying you, or whether marrying anyone is what I need..." Penny's voice trailed. She took a deep breath, and widened her mouth again in a kind attempt. "Irregardless, we have start with the fact that you don't love me like a man loves a woman. You don't love me the way I'd want my husband to love me. You wouldn't know how."
He knew it was childish, but he glared at her anyway. "Regardless. And for someone who doesn't give credit to scientific method, you make a great deal of assumptions," he said.
Penny put her hands together and leaned her forehead against her joined fists. "I'm not saying that you don't feel something. I think...maybe you do? And that's amazing." She turned a full smile to him then, genuine this time, bright as a ray. "I'm so proud of you, and I'm flattered."
"Then accept my proposal," Sheldon pressed. The thought of her doing otherwise made his throat inexplicably tight and dry, as if he were having an actual physiological reaction to this conversation.
It didn't matter if Leonard's theory was right or not. The situation had been spiraling out of conceivable bounds, and he'd made his decision. This was supposed to be the part where the Earth spun the other way, just once, for Sheldon Lee Cooper.
"Sheldon," sighed Penny. "I'm going to be honest, because I'm not sure anyone's ever actually explained this part to you. In order for me to marry someone, I gotta believe that I want that person to be my best friend and best lover for the rest of my life. You can't promise me that. Right now, you're going through something big, and you're going through it really unbelievably fast. Enough to make you change your policy on relationships entirely and make you propose to be my husband, when you can't even agree with my choice of kitchen utensils. I get that this is important to you, but it's not enough."
She stopped, and met his eyes in a pleading request. He felt he could offer a commendable list of rebuttals to that speech, but her voice had gone straight through his ears and stopped somewhere in his chest. It lingered uncomfortably there, and Sheldon didn't feel like arguing it down.
"Ask me again in a year," Penny blurted, gnawing her bottom lip.
His whole frame perked up. "Are you implying that you will answer positively if I wait a year?"
"No. In fact, I'll probably still say no." She let slip a smile, and stroked a finger along his cheek to rest lightly under his chin. "But I'm saying it's okay for you to ask. The future is an undiscovered country, right?"
"For how long?" Sheldon persisted. His fingers tugged at each other in his lap, and his knuckles popped. "Is this an indefinite invitation?"
Penny gifted him with a soft petal kiss where her hand had touched, and said, "That's really up to you, Superman."


text:
'Hidden Figures' author will give UNCG's commencement speech
"Hidden Figures" author Margot Lee Shetterly will present the commencement address at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro's graduation ceremonies this spring.
Graduation will be May 12 at the Greensboro Coliseum.
"Hidden Figures" was made into a major motion picture nominated for multiple Oscars and Golden Globe awards.
"We are honored to welcome Ms. Shetterly to UNCG as our 2017 Commencement speaker," said UNCG Chancellor Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr., "I can't think of a better person to address our graduating class with a message of excellence and opportunity - that regardless of your background or socio-economic status, incredible things are possible with hard work and commitment. 'Hidden Figures' brings to life UNCG's values of inclusion, opportunity and excellence. As our 2017 graduating class looks to the future, we are confident that they too, like the real-life heroes portrayed in 'Hidden Figures,' will go out into the world and accomplish great things."
The book and film tell the story of the pioneering female mathematicians, known as "human computers," who worked at NASA during the space race.
"Hidden Figures" has a direct connection to UNCG.
Alumna Virginia Tucker, 1930, was one of five trailblazing women to join the first human computer pool at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory (now Langley Research Center) in 1935. Langley was the main research center for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the precursor to NASA.
When World War II broke out in 1939, more women were recruited as computers to conduct wind tunnel testing and other critical research for the military. Tucker recruited heavily at institutions across the East Coast, including UNCG (known then as the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina).
UNCG graduated one of the largest cohorts of women who went on to work as human computers.
Commencement speakers at UNCG date back to 1893, with then-Governor Elias Carr addressing the students. Since that time, the university has welcomed ambassadors, governors, authors, university presidents, professors, bishops, ministers and other notable speakers throughout its history.
Shetterly is the founder of The Human Computer Project, an endeavor that is recovering the names and accomplishments of all of the women who worked as computers, mathematicians, scientists and engineers at the NACA and NASA from the 1930s through the 1980s.
Shetterly is a native of Hampton, Virginia, where she knew many of the women behind the history in Hidden Figures. She lived for many years in New York and Mexico before moving to Charlottesville, Virginia, where she lives with her husband, writer Aran Shetterly.
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text: TWC picks up 'The King's Speech' 3:43 PM PDT 9/2/2009 by Gregg Kilday , AP FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME Colin Firth to star as King George VI King George VI is the latest British royal to get the big screen treatment: Colin Firth has signed on to play the monarch in "The King's Speech," and the Weinstein Co. has snapped up rights for North America and a host of other territories. Tom Hooper, whose resume includes HBO's "Elizabeth I" and "John Adams" will direct the feature, which shoots later this year aiming for a 2010 release, from a script by David Seidler. Firth will play George VI, known as Bertie, the father of the current Queen Elizabeth II, who assumed the throne when his brother Edward VIII abdicated in 1936 to marry Wallis Simpson. The film will focus on his efforts to overcome a nervous stammer with the help of speech therapist Lionel Logue, to be played by Geoffrey Rush. The two actors previously starred together in "Shakespeare in Love." "Speech" is being produced by Iain Canning and Emile Sherman of See-Saw Films, and Gareth Unwin of Bedlam Productions. Bedlam's Simon Egan will serve as co-producer. In addition to North America, the Weinstein Co. has acquired rights for Germany, France, Benelux, Scandinavia, China, Hong Kong and Latin America. David Glasser, TWC president of international distribution, and TWC president of theatrical films Tom Ortenberg announced the acquisition, their second since Ortenberg joined the Weinstein Co. in January. Glasser, Michal Steinberg, senior vp, business and legal affairs and acquisitions, and Rhodri Thomas, vp of production and development, negotiated on behalf of TWC. Sherman and Canning negotiated on behalf of See-Saw Films International, together with Libby Savill, head of the film team at London-based law firm Olswang. FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME Gregg Kilday email@example.com @thr AP firstname.lastname@example.com @thr