text:
|Scene Title
|Harpy Days
|3 Harpies Attack, Kung Fu Supermodels and Jay's Fatal Break up
The Corrupted Scions have a plan. An awful evil plan. Throughout the city, harpy eggs have been laid out, hidden from general view. Large human sized eggs would cause a bit of a problem afterall anyway. One group of Scions thought they cleared the city of the threat of the harpies, but alas, one neighborhood was overlooked. Hell's Kitchen, that is.
Off at a nearby alley, not too far from Crime Alley itself, a couple of eggs crack. Something wicked this way comes..
It's been quite a day for Rain. Meeting people, following Leonard around and generally being a chef. For now, she is passing by the rougher parts of town to get to wherever it is she calls home. She is blissfully unaware of whatever evil things might be lurking, cheerfully wandering on - pen tucked behind her ear and purse at hand.
It's Hell's Kitchen and she's a rather well-known model. Yet here she is with her Prada Bag, with a cat head poking out, Jimmy Chu shoes and wearing a Vera Wang active short set and silk shirt. She's about as out of place as can be. The ebony Layla smiles as runs a finger across the cat's head, "Abba.. Where have you got me going today?" Almost as if expecting the cat to respond to her. She stops at the corner of an intersection waiting for the walk sign to light up.
Earlier in the day, Jay recieved several addresses from one of his half-brothers… and one of those addresses just happens to be in Hell's Kitchen. Of course, Jay wasn't so lucky to be told WHOSE address this is. Given that too many people already know that he is a Scion of some sort, Jay decided there was only course of action. Jay… shouldn't come here.
And that's why there's a dirty homeless man, dressed in rags and smelling of unwashed body, dirt, grime and cheap liquor shuffling along the street. Not really anything to focus your attention on, right? When he looks up, his face is worn and weathered, teeth dirtied and yellowed, lips cracked and gnarled. Another facet of the ugly side of NYC…
Leonard is along for Rain's trip, the man making for dropoff point before the two part ways. Despite trip through the city he's not lost any of his enthusiasm, though he has taken his hat back. The thing is balanced between fingers, spun back and forth in front of his chest as eyes scan the buildings.
The light changes and Layla steps onto the street and walks across. She frowns a bit, "Oh this is going to ruin my shoes sweetie. I should have worn a pair of Nike.." She sighs softly to herself as Abba jumps from her purse and down onto the ground. The cat meows back at her and starts to pad along side her. The white spotted cat stops every now and then to sniff around, but doesn't stray to far. Layla on the other hand stops at a window and looks into it. "Oh isn't that just darling." She points to an antique lamp. "Abba, come dear." She says as she goes to open the door.
Why would there be this many people in a shady area of the city? Could it be that fate has brought them all here for a reason? Who knows? Still, it's quiet and soon, theeggs start to crack, causing Abba to hiss just a bit, it's back arched as it stares towards the alley way. Even Thor senses something about starting to screech excitedly, though there's a worried frown on his features. The animals always know first…
The dirty homeless man pauses a little as he hears something, that screeching of a capuchin monkey that is SUPPOSED to be being quiet, tailing his master and whatnot. Right now, the furry capuchin is up on a second floor window sill, having his little freak out. The homeless man's shuffling forward comes to a halt, eyes closing. That's it. No more Jameson for THAT monkey in the mornings! The filthy man shifts a bit, craning his head to look up at the source of the screeching commotion, irritation fading a bit as he notices Thor's reaction a bit more in depth. No. This is soemthign different.
This is somethign wrong.
Rain looks to Leonard. "This place is kind of rough," She comments quietly. She is for the most part, just walking around. There are no animals to alert them sadly. But huh. The alleyway seems to be drawing people and unhappy animals. This causes her to stop and tap Leonard on the shoulder. "A monkey?"
"The same monkey?" Question in return from Leo. His head rises, peeking over toward the place that Rain indicates. "Should we look?" He doesn't give much a chance to answer, staring in that direction without further ado.
"Oh honey.." Layla says as she looks back at her cat arching her back and hissing. "It's not that dirty here.." She says walking over and leaning down to pick up Abba. "What's up sweetness." She says holding the cat close to her as she scans the area around her. Hearing the screeching monkey she looks over toward the source of the noise and coos softly to the cat, "It's just a little critter sweetie. Don't worry.."
As the eggs start to crack open, the foul stench of harpies wafts over towards everyone near the alley. It's a foul stink, a mixture of sulfur and other putrid things. It's definitely..disgusting to say the least..and more than enough to trigger most gag reflexes.
Thor is a fairly recognizable monkey, his red fur coloring hardly being the norm. "Thut up, mon-kay!" comes the slurred yelling of the vagrant, shaking a fist at the monkey. That, at least, gets Thor's attention, who screeches and shakes his own fist back. "I'm… I…" stammers than man, just as a horrid stench wafts from teh alleyway, hitting the man full on. "HRrrr!" he grunts, liprs pursed tightly before he drops down to let loose with a spectacular display of everything he's consumed today. It's… not pretty.
Ewww… Rain *hrks* and has to pause, gagging. "Oh … that's /gross/," She coughs and gags. While a few of whatever she's eaten might return, Jay has beaten her spectacularly. Not that it's a contest anyone wants to win.
Her nose wrinkles up and she covers her mouth. "Oh dear god." Layla says as she turns toward the building and doubles over and unleashes that meal she had with her agent earlier in the day. "Oh god.." She says as the cat jumps down and then looks up at her. A camera flashes from a little girl's cellphone; nothing like getting a model puking on the side of the street to get a few hundred dollars extra in the pocket. When she is done she places a hand on the wall of the building and takes a deep breath. "Jesus fucking christ.. What is that…." She is interrupted with another bout of vomit…
Leonard doesn't fare much better than his companion. He's about to speak when the stench hits, his face contorting into visage of pure disgust. The man reaches hand out to grab at the nearest wall, head bowing as he spews out ugly looking contents of his stomach. He at least manages to avoid important things that aren't shoes.
Soon, the three harpies break out of their eggs and the stench grows only more powerful. With our heroes distracted from throwing up, the three fly out of the alley and pick up the homeless man, ripping him into three as he cries out in pain. Blood splatters the ground and our heroes as the homeless man is no more as three harpies are flying in the air screeching happily as they munch on his remains…
Layla's eyes follow the man and then follow the gore that lands on the ground. She slips her shoes off and puts them into her purse as she chucks it through the open door to the shop. She takes a glance around and spots a way up to where the harpies are. She takes off toward the power line support cable. Once there she moves up it, like a cat, and stands on the power lines quite easily. "Ok.. Bring it bitches…" She says stepping back into a taebo stance, while on the power line.
Ugh. That… was not pleasant. The homeless man growls and spits into the pile of his own vile beofre pushing up with one hand, only having to dodge to the side as the harpies fly directly overhead, the screams of the homeless man that truly picked the wron galley way to sleep in are suddenly silenced, a shower of blood, guts and limbs falling down. The disguised Jay rolls to the side, winding up in a crouch and slipping a hand into the dirty tattered jacket that drapes out of his form…and the sleek polished black Peacemaker that is pulled out is certainly NOT something one would buy with foodstamps…
That stink is not normal stink. Once Rain's lunch finishes punishing her for not getting the salad, she slips the pen from her ear. *fwip* A knife, with hieroglyphs on the handle is slipped out. That's - definitely ominous. She takes a deep breath and looks to Leonard, staying close to her friend. She winces at the poor homeless man's plight. That's not fair at all… poor fellow! She offers a quiet prayer to dad, just let him find his right afterlife…
Leonard takes his usual precautions to these things, once he's not vomiting across the wall. Fingers rise to make one sharp arc across the air, sputtering cough coming from Leonard before he pushes upward. Hand reaches into his jacket, touching there, beginning to draw out his own weapon as he steps forward. "What is it?"
Flail! Rain has to be brave! Maybe she was inspired by meeting David, who knows? Either way, showing a remarkable nimbleness for the normally slow moving and hard to motivate chef, she scrambles up the phone pole. Jackals and Rains are not known for climbing talent. Whatever it is, it must have been something in the water or - who knows. Either way, she's up, springing off the pole like a dog bouncing between poles or flags and taking a stab at one of the airborne harpies. Be brave! Be brave! Wait - she's gotta LAND. It's almost comical seeing her bolt up a pole, inspired by a monkey and then spring like a hunting jackal, swinging a weapon and then … gravity. Gravity? It's the law. Flail!
Fortuantly, Jay can count on the citizenry of New York to react in a calm and orderly fashion. You know, calmly screaming their heads off, shrieking for their lives like civilied beings and exiting the area in a orderly moblike fasion that would no doubt tramble smaller being. Jay, still in full vagrant disguise and now brandishing his Peaceender, rushes forward towards a car that the driver had dived out of and scurried out. Of course, the jerk left his girl and their kid /in/ the car when he did so. The young mother shriekd, "Get away from me, you hobo!" since, well… he /does/ have a gun. "Shut it woman, I'm a goddamned hero!" and then, hiding slightly behind that opened door, sticks his can past the door and pops off a few rounds at the harpies. Despite the lack of any silencer on the gun, however, the only noise that issues forth is a bearly audible little 'pffft' with each discharge.
Course, whether he can HIT anything or not…
And the bullet just twangs off the hard scales of the harpy up in the air. That definitely gets her attention though as she starts to make a sweep down towards Jay, "MMm, you will make a lovely mate!" she cries out screeching happily in the end.
Meanwhile, Rain's stuck in the air, hanging ou by her chef's knife in the harpy. It screams in pain as it tries to knock her off, instead deciding the best course of action would be to slam into the ground.
Then, there's the third…it just watches the events and laughs.
Someone fired a gun? Wha…? Then comes a crazy woman with a chef knife flailing into the back of one. "Fuck this noise." The model says as she runs down the line, hardly paying attention to the line itself. She moves with the grace of a cat right about now as her eyes narrow and she fixates on the laughing harpy. She moves into a kart wheel and when her feet hit the line she pushes down on it and thrusts her body up into the air.
Layla spirals into the air only slightly above the harpy as she bends her knee and screams out. "Taebo bitch!" As she does she aims that knee right for the soft spot where body trunk and neck meet… "Ke—-YAH!"
Rain is as surprised as anyone else. Maybe her brief forray into herodom might be shorter than one hopes? Before she can really think about it all, knife in harpy - she clings for dear life. What in the world lead her to think she could do *this*? Either way, she grits her teeth as the harpy slams her into the ground. At least she's not big enough to leave a crater, but that's an ugly thud noise. Something's definitely going to bruise. The wind's knocked out of Rain. But she's the child of a Death god. Do they really give up so easily? Taking a breath after a moment, Rain pulls back, kicking off with her legs and readjusting her grip on the knife. Be as one with the knife? Maybe? No. She twirls it neatly in her hand, as if about to make sashimi and holding it close to her hand and arm lunges forward and drives the knife towards the harpy woman. Rain is remarkably restrained, grunting as she lunges.
"No need to me alarmed! It's all part of the shooow!" Leonard's stage voice does him well in these times. He watches Rain skitter up and away, then down again with just a flick of eyes, focusing more upon his own work for the moment. Out comes the Khopesh, the thing tossed over one shoulder. It makes several arcs, managing to avoid innocent heads before Lenny's fingers pinch down on the blade once the weapon is behind his back. It snaps forward again after, cast up and toward enemies above.
Oh. Shit. Jay had /really/ hoped that with all the chaos of civilians running to and fro that the harpy he shot at wouldn't from where the bullet came from but… alas. With the fanged creature of death coming down to bear, Jay doubts he'd have time to take it down. What would Loki do now? Well, bad thought. He'd probably use the child in the backseat as bait. Nevermind. Moving on!
Suddenly the vagrant that had shot the harpy steps out from behind the cover of the door, gun lowered to his hand. "Mating?" he replies, a deep tone of suggestion suddenly into his voice. A ragged hand reaches up to gip the the side of his face and he pulls away…and suddenly, the face of the hobo melts away into a dull green wooden mask, the mask lowered to reveal the far too handsome features of Jay, all the imperfections and flaws of his disguise melting away. "Well, if that's what you wanted to do… why didn't you say so? Here I thought you wanted to do something… unpleasant." he says, voice filled with that suggestion, putting all the power of his not-inconsiderable charms to bear on his would-be paramour.
Oh please, let this work somehow…. Harpy sex is /not/ how he wants to met his half sister Hel!
When the Harpy /doesn't/ decend apon Jay and reduce him to nothing more than ScionBits…which is hopefully not a part of today's balanced meal… Jay steps a bit closer, keeping his eyes locked on the Harpys. He keeps his gun at his side, ready to bring it to bear if she turns violent though. Getting closer, he reaches up to caress the side of her monstrous face. "Course, there's only one of me…and the other two…" he pauses, letting his eyes flicker over to her two sisters and then back to her. "Well. Somehow, I don't think they're going to want to share." Espesssialy since well, the mates of harpies don't tend to live long enough for a second go at it. Eyes return to his new girlfriend (shudder!) and he lets his smile turn a little more suggestive. "But I bet together… we can make sure it's /just/ you and me…"
She drops down onto the ground, landing as light as a feather on the ground. She quickly survey's the scene. Layla gives a nod to herself and takes off toward Rain and the harpy. Abba comes running up beside her as the pair seem to move in tandem. As Layla closes in she bring herself down and does a spinning roundhouse kick toward the biggest part of the harpy she can strike. Abba on the other hand stands there hissing up a storm, occassionally making a swatting motion with her paw…
The seduced harpy flies up towards the one in the air and tries for a slash as she cries out. "That's my man! STAY AWAY!" she says. Alas, she misses and gets slashed back pretty hard, sending her to the ground bleeding quite profusely. "My love! Help me.."
And no statement has ever made Jay feel more like needing a shower.
And there's the harpy still on the ground, wrestling with Rain. She gets out of the grasp as she's kicked by Layla and oomphs quite a bit as she eyes Layla and charges towards her, her claws trying to slash at the woman.
Fortunately, Rain's not harpymasexual, so the tussel is more rawr and less jell-o and bikinis. She takes hold of her knife once more, tossing it into the air, a little twirl. Pulling herself up, readjusting her grip and preparing to - well, miss Layla seems to give the offending harpy a good what for. Huff. Rain takes a deep breath, shakes her head and comes at the harpy. "Hiya! - wait, that's karate - nevermind," Rain mumbles. So much for a dramatic battle cry. Either way, Rain prepares tit for tat (No pun intended, it's unlikely harpies would ever hit the mall for t-shirts.) and manages a spinning sort of slash at the harpy's back.
Leonard is here to help. He does, of course, have to take back his misplaced birthright first. The man darts after the thing bending to snag it from the place its clattered to. He doesn't stop moving though, just lofting the thing up with one smooth motion and proceeding toward where Rain is having her trouble. Weapon arcs out, blade moving to slam into the back of the the woman's new friend.
Jay watches his 'date' fly up only to get mauled and come tumbling down to crash on terra firma yet again. The Scion of Loki walks over to her as she reaches out, calling for her love to come and aid her…and so he does. The harpy will see the object of her desires moving forward, standing right over her in fact. Jay tilts his head down to look at her but this time, there is no suggestive tone to his voice, no faked desire in his eyes. Instead, his face turns cold. "I think we should see other people… I'm sorry. It's you. Not me." And then the gun is pointed right down at her beastial features.
And muzzle of the magically silenced gun flares up twice.
She continues the spiral from the kick and flips back onto her bare feet. "Right-o.." Layla sees one of the harpies in the air still and she hunkers down into a crouching position as she runs up the power-line support cable again, and grabs the power line with her hands and spins around like a gymnist. She spirals up and swings from the line onto a flag pole and stands there regaining her balance instantly. She then jumps up and then bounces off the flag pole toward the roof of a building. She hits the overhang of the roof and spirals around for a flying roundhouse kick toward the torso of the harpy.
And as Layla hits the harpy, it screeches and tries to swipe it's claws at her, but alas, she must be getting tired. Meanwhile, there's still the bleeding incapacitated harpy..
Leonard leaves Rain with the mess of what remains of her harpy. She is, after all, daughter of a God of death. The magician skips over the downed creature, making minuscule nod at Rain before he's clattering up upon the nearest car. First step takes him to the hood, next few to the top, the man spinning weapon behind his back and squinting toward the creature still in the sky.
Rain has to boggle at the goings on. Man seduces harpy. "When the hell did supermodels learn kung fu?" Crazy! But she has to remember her own responsibilities. Taking up her knife, Rain's normally bright green eyes seem to dim a little. Part of the Death aspect of it all is to administer the end when it is time. She takes a deep breath, mumbles a soft prayer to dad and quietly ends it with but a slash. She doesn't cut senselessly, just a quick, simple motion across the throat.
With his 'date' now well and fully canceled, Jay can look to helping with the last of the cleanup. A quick glance around will see Rain wetting her blade with the blood of the second harpy to be sent to the afterlife, eyes then shifting to the last one still flying. He reaises his weapon but just before he pulls the trigger, the harpy screeches in agony as Leonard's attack hits home. Gritting his teeth, Jay piots on one heel to follow the pained flight path of the wounded harpy, "Say hi to your sisters…" he grunts, finger squeezing down on the trigger.
With Leonard's precise aim, the harpy in question gets a boob job. Actually, it's more of a breast reduction to the point that instead of breasts she just has stumps that are bleeding all over the place. It's then that the gun is pointed and the bullets strike the beast true causing it to land on the ground, it's corpse now smellier than when it was alive.
She lands on her feet once more and stands up and flexes her back. "Wow. That's a good workout." Layla says heading toward the shop where he shoes and purse went. Once there she retrieves both and slips her shoes back on. "Well that was fun." She smiles.
Leonard has to go get his Khopesh, again. He's going to have to talk with his mother about that. Once he's yanked it free from harpy flesh and wiped it on the fallen creature the man rises, head turning slowly around the street. "What a show." Just that, the man stepping back toward his beginning point. "Are you alright?" That for Rain.
Phew. Rain looks a little rattled, one of the first times she's ever killed anything vaguely humanoid. It's freaky! She just winces and tries to find something to clean her knife on. She finds a clean spot to wipe it off on, and flick! It shifts back to a pen once cleaned. She smiles weakly at Leonard, "Yeah… how about you?" She peers around. "More new people."
Jay stands there for a moment by himself, just holding the smoking gun in his hand… it's been awhile since he's actually taken a life, usually able to avoid having to use the weapon on his escapades.Clearly though… he's had some practice. After a second, the look of thoughtfullness passes and he slips his pistol back into the tattered jacket of his hobo disguise, a disguise that's pretty useless now tha the doesn't have his 'face' on.


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What you get with your Hootsuite Social Selling Certification
- Industry-leading certification showing you have the necessary skills and expertise to drive better sales results using social media.
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Get your Hootsuite Social Selling Certification by passing a 50-question online exam, testing your knowledge of the core principles of using social media in sales, based on Hootsuite's online Social Selling Training course.
The online exam is based on a series of easy-to-follow video tutorials that covers everything from setting up effective social media profiles to convey a professional online presence to tactics for finding customers and prospects.
Frequently asked questions
No. Once you pass the exam, the certification is yours forever.
The exam is based on the Social Selling courseware that teaches sales professionals how to leverage social media to save time, find a larger number of better qualified leads, and increase deal sizes. We strongly recommend reviewing the course before attempting the exam.
40-question timed online exam.
The minimum passing grade for the exam is 80%
You'll have 60 minutes to complete the 40-question exam.
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Yes. If you're confident in your social selling skills, you can go straight to the certification exam.
The Hootsuite Academy team creates exams following established instructional design best practices. More information can be seen here.

subset: commoncrawl


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Meet HireMyFriend, a new product from Makeshift
Today we're really excited to share our latest product with you — HireMyFriend. You can check it out right now, but first I'd like to tell you a little about why we've made it.
A couple of months ago a friend came to me with a problem. The startup she worked at was imploding—as they do—and she needed to find a new job. She is a respected designer with a whole bunch of Twitter followers and LinkedIn connections that she could usually reach out to for leads, but in this case couldn't.
When you're in a full-time job and need to find new work, it's really difficult to reach out for help.
"Hey guys, I'm looking for work as a visual designer. I'm London based and can start from Monday"
If you tweeted that you'd get fired! You have to have some tact; unfortunately this usually just means silence. Sneakily emailing your confidants is risky and time consuming; even updating your LinkedIn profile looks suspicious. That network you can usually rely on for favours in a time of need? Gone.
Over the next few months I noticed this recurring trend. My friends who work as freelancers would blissfully tweet out their availability—which I'm more than happy to pass around—whilst my friends in full-time jobs tip-toed around and only revealed their career intentions in hushed whispers.
There would be occasional private messages: "Hey, do you know anyone hiring? Please don't tweet about it!", and public tweets saying "My friend is looking for work", but that seems like a slow & disjointed way of finding opportunities.
The web is revolutionising the way we look for work—and as employers, the way we find talented people to work with—but lots of people are left out of this process.
A little help from our friends.
We want everyone to find a job they love and we want to avoid awkward situations in the job search process. We want to give full-time employees the same freedom to move around that freelancers enjoy. And we want to make job searches social.
At Makeshift, we started prototyping tools to make this a thing of the past, which brings us to today.
Introducing HireMyFriend.
Here's how it works:
Create a profile. It can be as vague or descriptive as you want. We'll blur out your name and face!
It's totally anonymous.
Ask some friends for a helping hand. They'll give you an endorsement and—if you ask nicely—share your profile for you.
You know your friend who just wrote a book that everyone is talking about? Ask her. Or your friend who has a zillion Twitter followers? Ask him! Get people talking!
Recommendations from the right people will get employers excited.
Employers get in touch. This is where you can drop your veil. We'll filter out the sketchy recruitment agencies, and you can choose who finds out your true identity.
Did your current boss coincidentally get in touch? It's a small world, but we've got you covered — just reject the message and she'll be none the wiser.
I'm really excited about HireMyFriend. It has already helped place people in great companies, and I'd love for you to try it out.
Special thanks go to Jase, Stef, CBM, Nick, & the rest of the Makeshift team for making this plan come together :)


text:
Podcast: Download (Duration: 57:47 — 79.4MB)
"The premise of my book," writes Thomas F. Gieryn, "is that place matters mightily for what people believe to be true. We can better understand why some assertions or propositions or ideas become for some people credible and believable by locating them somewhere on the skin of the earth—and by asking what things are to be experienced at that spot and how this place is culturally understood."
Gieryn, the Rudy Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Indiana University in Bloomington writes that in the introduction of his new book Truth Spots: How Places Make People Believe. It is a scholarly, provocative, and accessible book, as well as a sort of grand tour of places that help us believe things. He begins in the ruins of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, where once the prophetess spoke cryptic words to seekers of the future. From there he goes to other places, perhaps less obvious. Among others, there are Thoreau's retreat on the banks of Walden Pond; Henry Ford's ersatz village of Greenfield; the courtyard of the Detroit Institute of Arts; the road to Santiago de Compostela; and the pristine clean rooms in which leaded gasoline was determined to be environmentally harmful. All of these, Gieryn argues, are places which help those who visit them–or even so much as know of their existence–believe something. "Truth may well be the daughter of time, Gieryn argues, but it is also the son of place."
For Further Investigation
The Henry Ford: Greenfield Village


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Interim Kyrgyz government recognized by US
The interim Kyrgyz government that took power in a violent revolt last week has been officially recognized by the United States, the US ambassador to the country announced Sunday.
"We are working with the provisional government and I plan to meet with its members in the near future," US ambassador Tatiana Gfoeller said in a statement posted on the embassy's website, dpa reported.
"I am deeply committed to our continued partnership with Kyrgyzstan for the benefit of the Kyrgyz people. I look forward to continuing to support the economic and democratic development of Kyrgyzstan."
The announcement comes a day after interim government leader Rosa Otunbayeva telephoned with US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton about humanitarian aid and after the Kyrgyz government assured the US that it could continue to operate a military base - vital for resupplying Afghanistan - on its soil.
However, the US government has said it does not plan to use the base for the time being, though some humanitarian aid will arrive via the facility.
The news also came as the death toll from last week's violence rose to 81 and the number of wounded rose to more than 1,600, 500 of whom remain hospitalized. Some remain in critical condition due to injuries sustained in the clashes.
Additionally, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev remains in the country's south and, despite international isolation, has not formally renounced his office.
The protests started Tuesday in reaction to government censorship and corruption, resulting in clashes between citizens and security personnel that eventually forced Bakiyev and his associates to flee the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek.
Bakiyev enjoys more support in southern Kyrgyzstan. However, he was termed a traitor to his people by Otunbayeva during memorial services Saturday night.
Large parts of the country remain troubled after the plundering and violence that broke out last week. But the situation was stabilizing as international organizations such as the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe sent observers to the country.
An official state of mourning continued in the country Sunday.


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As part of their business, Lensrentals carry quite a selection of interchangeable-lens camera bodies and lenses from various manufacturers, and they don't just stock a few copies of each item. It's a pretty well-established fact of life that slight (and sometimes, not so slight) variations occur across a production run, the camera industry being one where product pricing is a fairly important part of the equation, whether for enthusiast or professional products. As Lensrentals CEO Roger Cicala notes in a recent blog post, his company typically has dozens (and sometimes dozens upon dozens) of copies of any given lens or camera body available for rental, and that makes him uncommonly familiar with the issue of product variance.
For the average man--or product reviewer--on the street, it's just not feasible to test out more than a handful of samples of any given product before offering one's opinions, as the cost would quickly become prohibitive even for products aimed at enthusiasts, let alone professional gear. (Although with that said, early last year our sister site SLRgear.com published a couple of articles looking at sample variations with prime lenses from Canon and Nikon, with Lensrentals' assistance.)
For Lensrentals, though, it's a different matter--and that's thanks not only to the number of copies they have on hand, but also to the fact that they routinely test each product after every rental to ensure it performs to spec before going out to the next customer. All that testing not only keeps Roger and his technical staff busy, but it has led them to build up a wealth of information on product variance, be it across a production run, between individual batches (at least, where the manufacturer provides a way to ascertain this), or over the lifetime of a given item.
Thankfully for us, Roger's recognized the value of this mountain of data, and taken the time to turn it into a very interesting article looking at the issue for both lenses and camera bodies. The post includes a number of graphs that nicely demonstrate the difference between normal sample variance, and a product that's genuinely starting to demonstrate real-world performance issues. Entitled "Notes on Lens and Camera Variations", the article is well worth a read for anyone who's obsessed over getting the sharpest possible images from their SLR or system camera, as are a couple of related articles which Roger's published over the last couple of years: "'This Lens is Soft', and Other Myths", and the followup "'This Lens is Soft', and Other Facts". Interesting stuff!


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- back to catalog
Bullwinkles 75g
This natural, NO-fat treat helps your dog maintain healthy gums and clean teeth. It is ideal for dogs who love to chew. You can keep your dog amused for a long time with this healthy treat made from dried cow pizzle.
Depending on the size of your dog, we will select the best size for you.
12 - 15cm long.
Product of Australia


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British and Foreign State Papers
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H.R.4708 - SAFE Limos Act116th Congress (2019-2020) |
BillHide Overview
|Rep. Tonko, Paul [D-NY-20] (Introduced 10/16/2019)
|House - Energy and Commerce
|Latest Action:
|10/31/2019 Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR H8682) (All Actions)
This bill has the status Introduced
Here are the steps for Status of Legislation:
- Introduced
- Passed House
- Passed Senate
- To President
- Became Law
Subject — Policy Area:
- Transportation and Public Works
- View subjects
All Actions: H.R.4708 — 116th Congress (2019-2020)All Information (Except Text)
2 of 4 results for All Actions | Compact View
|All Actions
|Referred to the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce.
Action By: Committee on Energy and Commerce
|Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Action By: House of Representatives
10/17/2019 Referred to the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce.
10/16/2019 Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.


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The iPhone was released in 2007 and since then, its popularity knows no end. Apart from the fact that more than 100 million units were sold in iPhone's first 4 years, it is the phone's sheer functionality that ensures it remains a must-have item.
Apple's iPhone is still talked about as the most successful smart
phone on the market and perhaps it is the benchmark for some of the best smartphones to be judged against.
A Host of Mind-Blowing Features
The iPhone is a line of smartphones produced by Apple and which runs on the iOS mobile operating system. The iPhone comes with a host of amazing features that simply help people to get things done easier and quicker.
We look at some of these features –
- The iPhone is the only device with iOS and now the 6 digit passcode offers more safety. You can use letters and numbers in your password, giving you an unlimited number of possible passwords.
- Another cool feature which makes iPhone so popular is that if you don't wish to take a phone call but you also don't want it to go to voicemail, with iOS you can respond to the call with a text message. You simply swipe upward on the phone icon that is found alongside the unlock slider and select 'Respond With Text'.
- Rich Formatting – you can use rich formatting with a few iOS apps including Whatsapp, Mail and Notes to make certain sections of text stand out. Open an app that supports rich formatting, highlight the text you want to edit by double-tapping it and choosing the formatting menu.
- With iPhone, you can save batterywith Low Power Mode. Simply choose settings, battery and lower power mode. The feature turns off a number of iPhone features, and the battery lasts that much longer.
- How useful it can be when you want to know who is calling you without retrieving your phone. You simply assign certain ring tones to a contact. You can also give them a custom vibration pattern if you prefer. Select a contact, tap the Edit button, scroll down to find the ringtone field to get an assortment of built-in vibration patterns you can choose from.
- With an iPhone, an iPod is included in the design so that you no longer have to carry around two devices. You can now listen to music and communicate with one device.
- With iPhone, did you know that you can be filming magic moment and take a photograph at the same time without stopping with recording? You just press the camera button as well as the shutter button as you film.
iPhone owners will also tell you that the reason they love their iPhone so much, especially when you compare them with Android phones is that AppleCare is so awesome. Any problems with your iPhone and you can have it taken care of in an Apple Store. Android phones, on the other hand, come from different companies but their customers care departments don't come anywhere close to the AppleCare support you get.
Even though the features of an iPhone are always changing with each of the new models brought out, they are known for their quick response touch screens. At the time of its release, the design of the iPhone differed from other smartphones, with the largest part of the phone consisting of a large touch-sensitive screen where the user can access all the phone's functions.
Manage every Aspect of your Business Life
The iPhone is more than a phone; it offers a wide selection of communication options. In addition to traditional phone calls, you can send and receive text messages and emails.
Why not own the popular iPhone? Yes, it can be costly but by owning one, you can manage every aspect of your professional life. You can do banking, pay bills and handle a host of daily operations and there are literally thousands of all – a number of them free – and which are available for download to the device from Apple's App Store. Then there is Siri, the voice-activated virtual assistant which helps users by providing information that simply helps you get on with life.
Easy to Learn and Use
Probably why iPhone is so popular is that it is easy to get to know in a short while. Those who own one will tell you it is so much easier than the confusing layout of Android.
The iPhone has certainly changed the way we use technology and interact with each other and even though it seems as though the iPhone can't possibly improve, the world is waiting to see the mind blowing innovation still to come.


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The Safer West Sussex Partnership brings together community safety partnerships (CSPs), along with other key agencies, to provide a coordinated approach to reducing crime and anti-social behaviour in West Sussex.
Membership of the group currently includes:
- West Sussex County Council
- district and borough CSPs
- Sussex Police
- Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner
- West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service
- Drug and Alcohol Action Team (DAAT)
- Kent, Surrey & Sussex Community Rehabilitation Company
- NHS Sussex
- voluntary sector representation (currently the Council for Voluntary Service).
Local priorities
Each district and borough CSP undertakes an Annual Strategic Assessment that identifies crime and disorder priorities using partnership data. Consultation with communities is a key part of this process, allowing residents' views to be included as part of the review for their local area.
Once all priorities have been identified, CSPs publish them in their partnership plans, which are available online through district or borough websites.
West Sussex Community Safety Agreement
The West Sussex County Community Safety Agreement is the Partnership Plan for the whole of the county. It pulls together information from the CSPs and other West Sussex agencies to provide a whole picture of crime and anti-social behaviour in the county, and shows how the partnership is working to deal with identified issues.
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The wedding rules are changing with the times. Here's everything you need to know about getting hitched in today's world.
To Have Or Have Not
Groom's Cake
"Trends come and go and I haven't seen the groom's cake as much lately," Stephanie notes. "If they do have one, they really go full force with a theme—fishing and hunting are popular here—and table decorations. If there is a groom's cake, then the other is automatically labeled the bride's. To me, a wedding is about a union. I say put both personalities into one cake." Verdict: Have not, but if you must, go all out.
Assigned Seating
"Assigned seating just doesn't work," says Roxanne. "I can't tell you how many times we've had a seating chart and someone is sat with someone they don't want to sit with and it just snowballs from there. It actually ends up bringing attention to the exact issues you were trying to stay away from. It's a challenge to perfect and it's really just an unnecessary stress. Don't overlook reserving tables for the bridal party, but overall open seating is easier." Verdict: Have not.
The 1st Anniversary Cake Tier
Stephanie keeps detailed records of all her projects, which she recently used to create a miniaturized version of a wedding cake for a couple now celebrating their 10-year anniversary. "I've heard people say they saved the top and it was just as good, but we can make just the top tier fresh on their one year anniversary or make a batch of cupcakes in the same flavors." Verdict: Have, but have it fresh.
Engagement Photos
Engagement photos can be a great trial run with the photographer before the wedding. "Photography is an investment," Lisa points out. "It's important to see if you work well with the photographer, if you have the same style ideas. Don't wait until the day of to find out that you don't have the same vision." Verdict: Have
Save the Dates
Save the Dates were originally intended to give out of town guests enough of a heads up to make travel arrangements. "If most of your guests live in town and everyone knows you're getting married, it's not really a necessity," Roxanne says. Verdict: If you're inviting a lot of out-of-towners, have. If mostly locals, have not.
Photo Booth
"Having a photo booth at your wedding reception is kind of genius," Jesse notes. "It entertains and it's a gift to your guests. When was the last time you got a photo with your grandmother or your aunt? They get a keepsake that they will hang on to. I see these on fridges and even in frames long after the wedding. Who holds on to the monogramed bubble container? Plus, the bride and groom get a photographic record of the people who attended their wedding that shows their personalities." Verdict: Have
The Wedding Arch
"The lattice arch that you traditionally think of for weddings isn't as popular," Devorah at Enchanted Occasions says. "Either they don't do it at all or they build something unique. I've seen people do cool things with lots of flowers. We also have Jewish chuppah, which is nice because you can really fit people under it." Verdict: Have if it's in your vision, but make it your own.
Event Planner
Hiring an event planner doesn't necessarily mean they have to do everything. Roxanne says, "For brides that really want that hands-on experience, we can come in just for the day or the weekend or the week of and handle all those little last minute details you don't want friends and family to have to do. If mom is off making sure the caterer is serving dinner on time, she might be missing out on a once-in-a-lifetime moment. What we really do is allow everyone to enjoy the day." Verdict: Unless you're a hardcore DIYer, have.
Digital Invite
While E-vites are more and more common these days for birthdays and BBQs, Roxanne says for weddings, it's really still not appropriate. "Unless it's a last-minute, super casual, getting married at the courthouse thing, I think we should still maintain that little bit of formality and mail invites." Verdict: We're not quite there yet. Have not.
The post The Modern Wedding appeared first on Las Cruces Magazine.


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The entire old town of Salzburg is a pedestrian zone and is not accessible by car. We therefore recommend using the public car parks in Mönchsberg or Nonntal. There are other car parks at the Mirabellgarage, the Rotkreuz-Parkplatz near the Salzach or at the end of the Linzergasse. Visitors parking cars at the convenient 'Park & Ride' parking spaces at the exhibition center (A1 - highway exit exhibition center) or on the Alpenstraße (A10 - highway exit Salzburg south), can reach Salzburg's old town quickly and without traffic jams by public transport.
Have parking tickets stamped at the ticket window
Get your parking ticket stamped at the ticket window to receive a discount parking tariff for the garage in Mönchsberg.
Salzburg's main railway station is only about 20 minutes' walk from the old town. Travelers can find bus stops for city buses in the station square. The O-bus (trolleybus) lines 1, 3, 5, 6 and 25 go from the main station directly to Salzburg town center. Get off at the bus stop Rathaus (Town Hall) or Ferdinand-Hanusch-Platz (Ferdinand-Hanusch Square). Walk along the Getreidegasse and past the old market, to reach the Residenzplatz in about five minutes.
Salzburg airport is the second-largest airport in Austria and is located around four kilometers from the city center. It provides very good flight connections to major European cities and is well linked to the main transport hubs of Frankfurt, Vienna, London and Zurich. The old town of Salzburg can be reached from Salzburg airport by taxi or public transport buses (O-bus line 8) in around 20 minutes.


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Forget the underwater vintage sea town that was BioShock's Rapture. The latest game, BioShock Infinite, is a mind-trip set in the skies. Check out the latest trailer, which is set in the city built on the backs of blimps.
BioShock Infinite is set in the early 1900s in the city of Columbia. And as you can see, the whole thing is hovering above the Earth, thanks to a collection of blimps and other early 20th century flying machines. Columbia was supposed to be a "floating world's fair" celebrating post-Civil War American achievement and patriotism. But, like many floating cities before it, nothing is what is seems to be in Columbia.
For more information head over to our sister site Kotaku, which was front and center at the BioShock reveal, and has a detailed run-down on Columbia.


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The retrospective of Memphis-bred filmmaker Ira Sachs kicks into full drive. Earlier in the day, a selection of Ira Sachs Shorts (Circuit Playhouse, 11 a.m.) will screen, followed by Sachs' made-in-Memphis coming-of-age debut, The Delta (Brooks Museum of Art, 2 p.m.).
And then, the gala screening tonight is, in my mind, the signature event of the festival, the Memphis debut of Sachs' newest and best film, Keep the Lights On (Playhouse on the Square, 7 p.m.), a delicate, richly textured epic about the troubled, decade-long relationship between two New Yorkers that's been hailed as "landmark in gay cinema" and one of the year's best films. You can read my profile of Sachs in this week's Flyer here.
Keep the Lights On trailer:
There are five other features we highlighted this week that are screening today.
Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin and The Farm Midwives (Studio on the Square, 11:15 a.m.) "paints a picture of how medicine changed in the 20th century and how the counterculture of the 1960s came of age and is still alive and well today," according the Greg Akers. The film follows the still-at-it Gaskin from hippie Haight-Ashbury to a commune in Summerton, Tennessee.
The rabble-rousing doc We're Not Broke (Studio on the Square, 1:45 p.m.) debunks the notion that the government is out of money and that austerity measures are needed, pointing the finger instead at a trillion dollars in corporate profits that aren't being taxed. Greg Akers says that "We're Not Broke is in part a tax-evasion procedural, illuminating places like the Ugland House in the Cayman Islands, where the magic happens."
Pilgrim Song trailer:
Indie Memphis regular Cory McAbee returns with Crazy and Thief (Circuit Playhouse, 7:15 p.m.), in which he casts his seven-year-old daughter and two-year-old son in the title roles, as they wander, ostensibly unsupervised through the streets, parks, and back alleys of Brooklyn. Chris Davis likens the film kiddie Waiting for Godot and says "the film's tensions are all wrapped up in a marriage of unfettered joy and never-ending peril."
Very Extremely Dangerous (Playhouse on the Square, 10 p.m.) teams Irish filmmaker Paul Duane and Memphis writer Robert Gordon for a documentary portrait of Jerry McGill, an obscure and notorious figure from the back pages of Memphis music. A onetime Sun Records also-ran and Waylon Jennings sideman, McGill is troubled 70-year-old fresh from prison and still battling demons in what Chris Davis calls a "wild, occasionally flinching documentary."
There are several promising features showing out of competition. Three that jump out in particular are:
Detropia (Playhouse on the Square, 4 p.m.), an impressionistic portrait of the downsizing of Detroit that premiered to very strong notices at Sundance earlier this year.
Gimme the Loot (Studio on the Square, 9:15 p.m.), which follows two graffiti taggers in the Bronx on a daring attempt to raise their profile. This won the best narrative feature award at the South By Southwest Film Festival.
V/H/S (Studio on the Square, 11:45 p.m.), is an anthology horror film built on the conceit of a group of thieves (among them Memphis actor/filmmaker Kentucker Audley) who break into a house and discover a cache of disturbing videotapes.
V/H/S trailer:
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Embattled SCO Group is offering the bankruptcy court a deal it could be hard to refuse. The company has received an offer of US$36 million from JGD Management for its business and intellectual property. JGD Management, a current debtor of SCO, is an investing arm of York Capital Management, which owned more than 91,000 shares of SCO stock from March 2005 to September 2006.
The offer is for "assets relating to its Unix operating system, and certain related claims in litigation, as well as certain transfer, cross-license and related agreements pertaining to the Hipcheck product line and Me Inc. Mobile intellectual property owned by Me . . . all tangible personal property, supplies, computers, printers, equipment, furniture, fixtures, goods and other similar assets . . . all trade names, trademarks, service marks and service names relating to the Unix Business and . . . all customer and client lists, vendor lists, catalogues and data," according to the filing.
The amount includes a cash payment of US$10 million, US$10 million to fund continuing litigation with Novell and IBM, US$10 million or as much as a 20% interest in the event of a favorable judgment in litigation, and US$6 million for SCO's OEM agreement with Me, a mobile applications vendor.
The US$36 million offer is subject to approval from the bankruptcy court by November 9, with transaction completion by December 7. In the filing, SCO said it would accept bids from other potential buyers. Both SCO and York Capital declined to comment.