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Despite depth of talent, teams underachieving
After former Orioles great Paul Blair died suddenly last week, a couple of thoughts kept churning in my head as I read about his career: He was even better than I remembered, and why didn't those Baltimore teams of the late 1960s and early 1970s win more World Series championships?
Actually, I had another thought: Which teams of today will rank as those old Orioles teams of tomorrow?
After former Orioles great Paul Blair died suddenly last week, a couple of thoughts kept churning in my head as I read about his career: He was even better than I remembered, and why didn't those Baltimore teams of the late 1960s and early 1970s win more World Series championships?
Actually, I had another thought: Which teams of today will rank as those old Orioles teams of tomorrow?
I have my list.
First, consider that nobody was more prolific in center field than Blair during his 13 seasons with the Orioles, and it went beyond his eight Gold Gloves. As Frank Robinson said to The Baltimore Sun when recalling the essence of his former teammate as a player, "He was to the outfield what Brooks [Robinson] was to the infield. He was our glue out there. I had to play such a small area [in right field] just to get out of his way, and so did the left fielder, that it felt like we weren't even on the field."
Frank Robinson is in the Hall of Fame, by the way. So is that other Robinson he mentioned. In fact, Brooks was called "The Human Vacuum Cleaner" while collecting 16 Gold Gloves at third base. The double-play combination of Mark Belanger and Davey Johnson still ranks among baseball's all-time elite, and Boog Powell was the Orioles' first baseman. I mean, how can you not prosper with a name like that? Then you had the Orioles' starting pitching, which was nearly peerless courtesy of another Hall of Famer in Jim Palmer and consistent 20-game winners Mike Cuellar and Dave McNally. Among the catchers was Andy Etchebarren, and he was a two-time All-Star. Plus, Earl Weaver was their Hall of Fame manager.
Two World Series championships for those Orioles in nine seasons.
I say nine seasons, because the bulk of those Orioles were together from 1966-75. They shocked the Dodgers of Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale during the 1966 World Series, and they beat down of the Big Red Machine four years later. Not impressed. Given their slew of magnificent players, those Orioles also should have won it all in '69 against the Miracle Mets, in '71 against an inferior Pirates team and maybe from 1972-74. That's when the pitching rich, yet weak-hitting A's captured three consecutive World Series titles instead of the guys with the Robinsons, Palmer, Weaver, Blair and the rest.
Frank Robinson and Powell were gone by 1975, but those Orioles had most of those other guys, including all that pitching. Even so, they finished 4 1/2 games behind the Red Sox in the division to signal the end of that nine-year era for the Orioles that was pretty good instead of pretty great.
So let's tie this to the present. When baseball historians steady the nine-year period that stretches back to 2004, which team will they declare as "The Orioles of the late 1960s and early 1970s of their generation" -- you know, the team that did less despite having rosters to do more?
Five teams come to mind, and I'll start with No. 5.
The Angels.
During the past nine seasons, the Angels have spent like crazy, and they've won, zero championships. Garret Anderson, Vladimir Guerrero, Troy Glaus, Jered Weaver, Torii Hunter, Albert Pujols, Zack Greinke, Josh Hamilton, C.J. Wilson, Mark Trumbo. Those are just some of the noted names the Halos have featured since 2004, and they've also had Mike Scioscia, owner of two AL Manager of the Year Awards with the team.
Not only have the Angels not won a World Series during that stretch, they've made the playoffs just five times, and not since 2009.
Not a good look. Not with all of that talent, but at least the Angels haven't been as disappointing as the Phillies, who are No. 4 on my list. Pitching is huge, and the Phillies have owned the arms. They had the impressive likes of Brett Myers, Billy Wagner and Kyle Kendrick during the early part of the past nine seasons, and they've had the incomparable likes of Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels and Roy Halladay as of late. When you add to that the Phillies' everyday duo of Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins, along with others such as Chase Utley, Shane Victorino and Carlos Ruiz, they should have done more than just reach the World Series in back-to-back years through 2009. The Phillies won the first of those trips to the Fall Classic when they met the Rays, but they lost the second to the Yankees.
Speaking of the Yankees, they're No. 3 on my list, but they easily could be No. 2 or No. 1. That's because the Yanks always should win the World Series. Just ask the ghost of George Steinbrenner. Either that, or look at their team payroll that leads the Major Leagues by a bunch every year. They've spent the last eight seasons with so many megastars, but three really come to mind -- Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Alex Rodriguez.
One championship for the Yankees since 2004.
Then again, that's one more than the Rangers and the Tigers have won during that stretch. Which is why I'm tempted to place them in a tie for No. 1. They both lost twice during the World Series in the past nine years, and they both did so with loaded rosters. For every Adrian Beltre, Nelson Cruz, Ian Kinsler and Michael Young for the Rangers, you had somebody such as Miguel Cabrera, Austin Jackson, Prince Fielder or Alex Avila for the Tigers.
It's just that, even though Rangers manager Ron Washington has an impressive resume that continues to grow, and recently retired Tigers manager Jim Leyland is bound for Cooperstown. In addition, the postseason has become a haven for power pitching, and the Tigers have featured flame-throwers Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer, and the Rangers haven't.
Nobody else has.
Come to think of it, the Tigers are a solid No. 1.
Terence Moore is a columnist for MLB.com.


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President Donald Trump talks to reporters. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Is America governable? That is no longer a bizarre or even a silly question. America faced existential danger during the Revolution, Civil War and the Great Depression and times of great distress and anger such as during the Vietnam War and the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968. Yet, government still functioned. That is no longer the case. The past four or five decades have resulted in excessively politicized politics that are now crippling the ability to govern.
Since the early days of the Vietnam War culminating with the 2016 elections in which both presidential candidates had hugely unfavorable ratings among the electorate, politics have been driven to and controlled by extremes of left and right. Gerrymandering electoral districts to maintain party control and the influence of money are likewise making polarization seemingly irreversible accelerated by talk radio and cable news. Roughly
Cheap Online Sleeveless Top NNPC004A by VIDA VIDA On Hot Sale Classic Clearance Sale Online sdeeaNPP9
of Americans no longer trust the government to govern and believe that the future will not be better for coming generations.
An anecdotal example: my brother is a successful financial manager and investor in New York State. His three grown children attended the finest undergraduate universities and graduate schools in the country. Each is on a successful path in their respective endeavors. All three and his wife are strongly pro-Clinton Democrats and viscerally and irrationally anti-Trump. My brother, once a registered Republican, has seen the light and is now an independent.
The other side harbors exactly opposite views. Extremely hostile to Hillary Clinton, Trump is regarded as a powerful force necessary for change in "draining the swamp" in Washington and turning America toward a more positive direction. How such well-educated and highly intelligent people can have such divergent, emotional and powerfully charged views plays out in Congress, which is a macrocosm of these seemingly unbridgeable ideological divides.
In the coming 10 days, Congress must resolve budget and immigration impasses broadly defined. Immigration entails not only DACA. Building a wall, better called border security, sorting out chain immigration that allows relatives of immigrants to enter America, and the visa lottery system to allow immigration from smaller states are part of this debate. The chances that Congress will resolve these issues satisfactorily is about zero before or after the looming deadline to renew spending.
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Sexual violence against women has become a staple of mainstream entertainment. It's a worrying trend.
– By Sally Feldman –
"You will never be popular." This warning came from veteran politician Harriet Harman to rookie MP Jess Phillips on her arrival at Westminster. And Harman of all people knew what she was talking about. Like all powerful women, she'd had to cope with decades of disdain.
In their recent memoirs both Harman and Phillips – the head girl and naughty first former of Parliament – not only offer impressive accounts of their formidable achievements, but also chronicle the endless sexism that poisons political life. And both are committed to making the path easier for the next generation.
"This is a woman who fought for women like me to get where I am," writes Phillips of Harman. "Every moment she has spent in our democratic palace has been to make sure that girls like me can have a couple of kids, make some monumental mistakes and still stumble upon success and, in my case, one of the most powerful jobs in the land."
But while Harman deplores the prejudices that women in public life have always had to face, Phillips rages against the newest weapon in the sex wars: internet trolling.
Revealing that she once received 600 rape threats in one day, she gives us a sample of the kind of abuse that comes tweeting her way.
Phillips is not alone. A number of online trolls have been convicted of threats towards female MPs, including two who subjected the Liverpool MP Luciana Berger to campaigns of antisemitic abuse. In 2014 a man was jailed for 18 weeks for bombarding the Labour MP Stella Creasy with messages threatening to rape her.
And Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott recently broke her long silence about the constant poisonous verbal attacks that she has had to endure. Messages like "Get yourself spat at by someone with HIV and die a horrible death."
What is striking about these attacks on women in public life is how plainly gendered they are. Women are cunts and fat cows and pigs; in the case of Abbott dollops of racism are thrown into the toxic mix.
Most frequent of all is the threat of the most sexualised form of violence."Now you can press a button and threaten to rape someone," Abbott commented in the .
And it's not just online where sexual assaults on women have become normalised. Rape is now so common in television crime dramas that it has ceased to shock. From to to , serial killers and mutilated women are, it seems, what thrills most.
In a recent article for the Toronto the television scriptwriter Ellen Vanstone raged over how much female rape there is on TV. has featured at least 50 rape acts, with 29 rape victims. Even "quality" shows, she pointed out, are not immune. "We have Anna Bates raped on ; police sergeant Catherine Cawood driven by the rape of her daughter, who died by suicide, in ; Gillian recovering from years of marital rape on ; Joan Holloway raped by her fiancé in Queen Mary raped by Protestant soldiers in ; Detective Robin Griffin dealing with fallout from her own prom-night gang rape while solving a child-rape case in .
"Note how my repetition of the word 'rape' becomes numbing after a while," wrote Vanstone. "It's because seeing something over and over tends to normalise it, and eventually make it meaningless."
Not all portrayals of rape set out to be exploitative, according to Lis Cuklanz. In her book , she argues that some representations of rape on television "can help us to think about sexual assault from a new angle, or in a way that we have never done before [...] They could be considered to be contributing to social change." That was certainly the intention of the treatment of a rape case in the most recent series of .
But Phillips, who worked in Women's Aid and is a powerful advocate for abused women, hasn't seen much evidence of that change. "Where I live, a domestic violence incident is reported to West Midlands Police every twelve seconds," she writes. "In 2016, a woman is murdered in the UK every three days. The number of sexual offences recorded in 2015 was the highest ever."
Yet rape and murder of women continue to be staples of mainstream entertainment. They're just as ubiquitous in crime novels – even those written by women. An honourable exception is Sara Paretsky, creator of the female detective V.I. Warshawski. Paretsky has never featured women as victims and deplores the way in which violence against women in detective fiction has become so commonplace.
"Whereas in the heyday of noir, a vamp was a villain, today the female presence in thrillers and crime fiction is often the victim of horrific assault," she wrote in "The Detective As Speech", an online essay. "The change began at first as a threat, but escalated rapidly into graphic rape, dismemberment and death during the making of snuff films."
And on the big screen, two recent movies have also endorsed rape as a legitimate vehicle for thrills. Yet both have received almost universal acclaim. Tom Ford's won a Golden Globe award, the Special Jury Prize at Venice and received 14 Bafta nominations. Not a single critic seemed to flinch at its overt misogyny.
That was left to the columnist Victoria Coren. "If you're the kind of person who is excited by dead, naked women, then the fear scene will be massively improved by my having told you what's coming," she wrote in the . "Enjoy the dread, the sobbing, the terrified and hopeless maternal embrace: rape is definitely coming, death is definitely coming and you'll get to see those corpses! With blood smeared carefully on the bums!"
Coren is scornfully dismissive of the critics who have commended the beauty of the cinematography. "The corpses look beautiful [...] They look exactly how a pair of raped, murdered women wouldn't look. But if you want to believe that a pair of raped, murdered women would be a lovely sight to behold, then is the film for you."
And then came Paul Verhoeven's . Starring the impeccable Isabelle Huppert and in French – and therefore sophisticated – this film has been largely applauded as a "grown-up" exploration of women's desires, as "brave" and even "feminist". In fact, though, it is a full-on woman-loathing fest disguised as an intellectual treatise.
Huppert plays a tough, competent boss of a successful company who is violently raped, then gradually comes to crave her rapist. We see her masturbating while gazing through the window at him, then inviting him to do it again. And again. No matter how accomplished the performance, no matter how clever the mise en scène, this vile creation manages to reinforce some of the most time-honoured chauvinist myths: women who say no mean yes; women are asking for it; any woman who succeeds in business must be mentally deranged. Powerful women must be silenced.
"When you speak – and when you are heard – you are committing a political act," wrote Paretsky. "Those who are silent – are silenced – have no access to change, to choice, or to control of their lives [...] The overwhelming effect of video games, of books and movies with women raped, skinned, snuffed out is to push women into a similar silence."
This is Phillips's message, too. "I am often contacted by young women who are looking for support and advice about how to deal with the vitriol, sexism and misogyny they face every time they speak. Most of these women tell me they're going to stop posting blogs and tweeting about their politics and their views. The very first thing I say to every one of them is 'Don't stop, whatever you do. Don't let them silence you.'" Abbott agrees that online abuse has become so "turbo-charged" that "it's almost as if they want to drive some of us out of politics."
When their identities are uncovered these tweeters will claim that this kind of harassment is just a bit of "fun", of laddish "banter", that it doesn't mean anything. But for the women on the receiving end it never feels like fun. And one horrifying event last year demonstrated just where such vicious hate campaigns can lead. An outspoken and vigorous activist, the Labour MP Jo Cox had been bombarded with brutal Twitter attacks before she was murdered. She was, appallingly, well and truly silenced.
You know what would be funny. Pouring molten iron down this cunt's cunt until she starts vomiting bullets. These are the kind of people who deserve to be bound up in a basement and repeatedly raped. I think watching her spirit die as you slowly removed strips of skin would be a really rewarding experience. Remove the eyes last, she should have her mutilated broken body be the last thing she sees.

subset: commoncrawl


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With the NFL draft just over a week away, another big name wide receiver is on the move - Denver's Brandon Marshall.
According to ESPN, Marshall is being shipped to the Miami Dolphins for a second-round pick in this year's draft and a possible second-round pick in the 2011 draft.
Marshall, a talented but controversial player, scored 10 touchdowns and posted his third consecutive 100-catch season while making his second straight trip to the Pro Bowl in 2010. However, he was involved in several off the field altercations and repeatedly clashed with Broncos head coach Josh McDaniel.
The deal gives the Broncos three picks in the first two rounds of next Thursday's draft, but leaves them with a gaping hole at an important position. The team's second leading receiver, Jabar Gaffney, only caught 54 passes for 732 yards and two touchdowns in 2009.
The trade also shakes up the AFC East, which already got a jolt on Sunday night following the trade that shipped troubled former Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes from the Pittsburgh Steelers to the New York Jets for a fifth-round pick.


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NEW YORK (AP) — Markets are taking a breather between a dismal manufacturing report Monday and the release of crucial job numbers Friday.
In light premarket trading Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrial futures are up 13 points to 12,963. The broader S&P futures added 1.5 points to 1,408.60. Nasdaq futures are up 3.75 points to 2,674.
Friday's Labor Department report could have a huge influence on how the government acts in trying to kick-start the economy.
Superstorm Sandy is still skewing economic data, and economists believe more than 100,000 people may have been pushed off employment rolls by the storm.
On Monday, the Institute for Supply Management reported U.S. manufacturing declined in November to its weakest level since July 2009
The trend had been one of steady improvement.


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Pesticides are chemicals used to eliminate or control a variety of agricultural pests that can damage crops and livestock and reduce farm productivity. The most commonly applied pesticides are insecticides (to kill insects), herbicides (to kill weeds), rodenticides (to kill rodents), and fungicides (to control fungi, mold, and mildew). The latest US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) information on US pesticide usage, from 2007, reports that over 1 billion tons of pesticides are used in the US every year. FThis is 22% of the estimated 5.2 billion pounds of pesticides used worldwide. FAgricultural use accounted for 80% of pesticide use in the US. FOf the pesticide classes, herbicides are the most widely used in all US sectors. F
A Brief History
Pesticides are not a modern invention. Elemental sulfur was used by ancient Sumerians to protect their crops from insects. Medieval farmers and scientists experimented with chemicals ranging from arsenic to lead on common crops. Nineteenth century research focused on more natural techniques involving compounds made with the roots of tropical vegetables and chrysanthemums. FIn 1939, Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane, or DDT, was discovered to be extremely effective and rapidly became the most widely used insecticide in the world. Twenty years later, serious concerns about the human safety and biological effects of DDT led 86 countries to ban its use. FThe consolidation of farms and subsequent rise in industrial growing practices (such as monocropping G) that began in the 1950s kicked off an era of heavy pesticide use. FThere are over 350,000 current and historic pesticide products registered in the United States, Fand the pesticide business is a 12.5 billion dollar industry in the US alone. F
Regulation and Monitoring of Pesticides
Pesticides are tested and approved for use by the EPA, which establishes "tolerances," or maximum residue levels, that describe the amount of a given pesticide that can safely remain in or on a food. FThe US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is then responsible for monitoring pesticide levels on fruits and vegetables, while the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is charged with the task of surveying pesticide residues in meat, eggs, and dairy products.
There is some criticism of the EPA's methods for setting "tolerances" for pesticide exposure in humans. FShort-term testing is conducted on laboratory animals exposed to only a single chemical at a time, usually in high doses. FHowever, in real life, humans are often exposed to a number of different chemicals over long periods of time – this type of exposure can cause problems that might not be observed in a short-term study of the effects of a single chemical. FThe FDA has also been criticized for inadequate monitoring of pesticide levels on fruits and vegetables. FIneffective sampling of food for pesticide residue testing, problems with data analysis, and lack of authority to fine or otherwise punish growers (or importers) who use illegal pesticides are common criticisms. F
The Environmental Working Group compiles a yearly list of fruits and vegetables with the highest levels of pesticide residues, based on USDA and FDA testing data. FThe current top 12 are: F
- Apples
- Celery
- Sweet Bell Peppers
- Peaches
- Strawberries
- Nectarines (imported)
- Grapes
- Spinach
- Lettuce
- Cucumbers
- Blueberries
- Potatoes
Pesticides and the Environment
According to Cornell entomologist David Pimentel, "[i]t has been estimated that only 0.1% of applied pesticides reach the target pests, leaving the bulk of the pesticides (99.9%) to impact the environment. FHarmful environmental impacts of pesticide use include:
- Loss of biodiversity G and elimination of key species (e.g., bees) F
- Water pollution F F
- Soil contamination
- Pest resistance, resulting in the need for increased application of pesticides, or formulation of alternate pesticides. F F
Pesticides and Public Health
Pesticides have been linked to a number of health problems, including neurologic and endocrine (hormone) system disorders, birth defects, cancer, and other diseases. F FAlthough it is widely understood that exposure to pesticides is dangerous to humans, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data show that a high percentage of individuals tested had certain pesticides or the chemical breakdown of those pesticides (metabolites) in their blood and/or urine. F FCDC research also shows that people in the US carry levels of pesticides in their bodies that, for certain pesticides, exceed the EPA's "acceptable" levels. FFor example, CDC data show that the average American child between the ages of six and eleven carries unacceptable levels of the organophosphorus pesticides, chlorpyrifos and methyl parathion, both of which are known to have neurotoxic properties. F FIt should also be noted that the human health effects of low dose, chronic exposure to many of these pesticides is listed as "unknown" by the CDC. F
Children are especially susceptible to the harmful effects of pesticide residues due to their lower body mass, rapid development, and higher rates of consumption of affected products. F FIn children, exposure to certain pesticides from residues in food can cause delayed development; disruptions to the reproductive, endocrine, and immune systems; certain types of cancer; and damage to other organs. FPrenatal exposure to certain pesticides can affect cognitive development and behavior. FSeveral studies have found that pesticide levels in children dropped to low or undetectable levels when test subjects consumed an organic G diet. F F
Farmworkers are also highly vulnerable to these health threats due to intensive exposure to a variety of pesticides, either from applying these chemicals or from harvesting pesticide-sprayed agricultural products. F
- Read more about farmworker health
Pesticide Use on Factory Farms
Pesticides and Animal Feed
Approximately 80% of the corn and 22% of the wheat produced in the US every year is used for animal feed, while 30 million tons of US-produced soy meal is consumed annually as livestock feed. FThis grain is grown by intensive industrial farming G operations that use large amounts of pesticides and other inputs, and often rely on genetically engineered (GE G) crop varieties. F FCommon genetic modifications include plants that are bred to contain insecticides within their genetic makeup (e.g., Bt corn) or to withstand direct application of herbicides (e.g., glyphosate resistant soybeans).
In addition to causing environmental damage, when grain is grown with pesticides and then fed to livestock, pesticide residues can accumulate in the animals' fatty tissue and milk. FPesticides, such as arsenic compounds, are also included in livestock feed to control intestinal parasites and other pests. F
- Read more about animal feed and genetic engineering
Alternatives to Pesticides
Integrated Pest Management
Many sustainable farms use Integrated Pest Management (IPM) as an alternative to the heavy use of pesticides. FIPM is a growing movement among farms of all sizes that incorporates a variety of techniques to eliminate pests while minimizing environmental damage. FFor instance, an IPM farm may grow pest-resistant crop varieties, use predatory insects to kill plant-eating pests, employ mechanical pest traps, and eliminate pest nesting areas by plowing under harvested crops. FChemical and natural pesticides are used only as a last resort. F
Crop Rotation and Other Growing Techniques
Other techniques used by sustainable farms include crop rotation, which involves planting crops in different places each season in order to replenish nutrients removed from the soil by a particular plant, and intercropping, a method of planting crops in close proximity. These practices help to break pest cycles, allow the soil to naturally replenish itself, help reduce weeds, and encourage plant diversity in order to avoid insect and pest infestation.
- Read more about sustainable agriculture
What You Can Do
When you prepare conventional food, you can take several measures to reduce your intake of pesticides. Washing fruits and vegetables helps remove some pesticide residues – but only for certain pesticides (others are not affected by washing). FPeeling fruits and vegetables is a more effective method of removing pesticide residue. For meat and dairy products, it is best to consume foods that contain less fat, since pesticides typically accumulate in the fatty tissue of animals. Purchase skim milk or low-fat dairy products and remove the fat from cuts of meat before you cook them. F
The best way to avoid consuming pesticides along with your food is to eat organic produce, meat, and dairy products. Organic food is grown and processed without being treated with pesticides. Look for the USDA-certified organic label on your foods and visit local farmers' markets or farms, where you can ask the farmer directly about his or her pest control methods. Some sustainable farms aren't certified organic, but don't use any pesticides at all. The only way to find out is to ask!


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About Matteo Massagrande
Matteo Massagrande paints interior scenes with multiple focal points, a compositional style absorbed from having studied Renaissance masterworks while working as the assistant to a restorer of 15th- to 19th-century artworks. He blends late 19th-century Italian Realism with contemporary photorealism and Renaissance art techniques. Addressing themes of remembrance and temporality, Massagrande depicts interior spaces in varying states of deterioration. His cinematic perspectives and eerie light effects suggest the presence of previous inhabitants and their former lives. The artist builds each composition in sections, adding texture and patina as if restoring the painting while creating it. Massagrande once met Giorgio de Chirico, who inspired him to develop his own style rather than adhere to more popular abstract styles.
Italian, b. 1959, Padua, Italy


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The Bull Market in Narcissism
The booming social media industry is obviously driven by narcissism.
-- Sigmund Freud (being too mean, or too truthful?)
The fact that Fight Club, a film with a distinctly anti-corporate, anti-consumerist message, came out in 1999 is quite interesting.
Do you remember 1999?
The American economy was basically a great big hot tub party with room for everyone in the land.
The dot-com driven Nasdaq (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) rose 86%.
The most common props in hip-hop videos were bottles of Cristal and shiny suits.
The business cycle was gone -- it was all up, up, up!
And in the midst of all that, we had Fight Club's Tyler Durden delivering this message:
I see all this potential, and I see squandering. Goddamn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables, slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate, so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires and movie gods and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very p*ssed off.I can relate to this. To a certain extent, we all want to be a big deal and we all want to feel important. Though it seems that as you age, it becomes easier to settle for less and harder to fight for something more.
When I was a kid, I dreamed of playing for the New York Mets, even though I sucked at baseball. I mean, I was really, really bad. The biggest contribution I could make to my Little League team was being willing to get hit by a pitch so I could get on base.
In high school, I started dreaming of playing guitar in a big, famous band, even though I knew I wasn't putting in the work to achieve that goal.
And in college, I imagined I'd make a fortune on Wall Street, even though, once again, I wasn't putting in the work to make it happen. My grades were so-so and I had no evidence that I was some kind of investing prodigy. There was no chance of Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) knocking on my door.
Following my college graduation in June 2001, reality finally set in as job application after job application went unanswered: Maybe I'm not predestined to greatness. Maybe I'm not that talented. Maybe I'm gonna grow up to be a working stiff in a dead-end job that's just passing time until I die.
How did I delude myself so badly for so long?
The easiest, and to me best, explanation is that we live in something of an "everyone gets a trophy" society where everyone's taught that they're special.
I don't know, maybe kids should be told no one is automatically special or even interesting, and that the only special people are the ones that work to achieve special things.
Now the reason I bring all this up is because earlier this week, I came across what may be the most interesting datapoint I've seen about anything in years.
The Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) of the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA released the results of its Freshman Survey, which is meant to identify demographic and attitudinal trends among college freshmen.
Surprise, surprise! College kids think they're awesome!
According to the new Freshman Survey results, there is a significant increase in the number of college students describing themselves as above average in terms of academic ability, drive to achieve, mathematical ability, and self-confidence.
The BBC posted this graphic illustrating the trend:
However, while the drive to achieve is on the rise, study time is decreasing:
And while in the late 1980s, almost half of students said they studied for six or more hours a week, the figure was little over a third by 2009 -- a fact that sits rather oddly, given there has been a rise in students' self-proclaimed drive to succeed during the same period.But even if study time stayed the same, the rise is still dramatic and increasing.
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Square Enix really do love RPGs, don't they?
Romancing SaGa, the latest in the legendary SaGa series, introduces a host of all-new game play elements and the most expansive story yet.
A thousand years ago Saruin was imprisoned. Now the barriers are weakening, and his foreboding shadow threatens to swallow the world of Mardias once again. Who will rid the world of Saruin's scourge? The player must decide.
Occupying a prominent place in the story, the mysterious minstrel sometimes guides the party to adventure, and at other times shields them from shadow. And occasionally he forces upon them grave choices.
Minstrel Song brings back the free-roaming scenario system, allowing for the ultimate in open-ended adventuring. Choosing between eight playable characters, a variety of plots develop, with each action the player takes affecting the world of Mardias.
The character and background design is rendered with vivid 3D graphics, making the magnificent realm of Mardias a truly enjoyable place to explore. Events and side quests come alive as still images morph dramatically into cut scenes and mini-movies with the use of "sketch motion." This combination of technology and creative vision comes together to produce a world of wonder, filled with charming characters and inviting vistas.
A couple more screenies can be viewed on the media page.


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STOCKTON - Races for the 5th Senate District, for a Stockton Unified School District trustee seat and several other races remained too close to call Tuesday evening as San Joaquin County elections workers completed counting the 28,000 mail ballots turned in at polling places a week ago on Election Day.
STOCKTON - Races for the 5th Senate District, for a Stockton Unified School District trustee seat and several other races remained too close to call Tuesday evening as San Joaquin County elections workers completed counting the 28,000 mail ballots turned in at polling places a week ago on Election Day.
Registrar of Voters Austin Erdman said his staff would today begin counting 17,000 provisional ballots. That count could take days as workers individually check the addresses of voters who showed up at precincts where they were not registered or make sure that voters who also received mail ballots did not vote twice.
The mail ballots counted in the last week in San Joaquin County chipped away at the lead of Republican Bill Berryhill, who was ahead by almost 4,000 votes, or 2 percent on election night.
By Tuesday evening, with the San Joaquin County mail ballots counted, Berryhill's lead over Democrat Cathleen Galgiani had shrunk to 2,049 votes out of more than 250,000 ballots counted, or less than 1 percent.
"It is going to go down to the wire, for sure," Berryhill campaign spokesman Justin Matheson said.
Because Galgiani made gains in the mail ballots turned in the day of the election in San Joaquin County, Berryhill campaign strategists believe it is likely she will make further gains from the provisional ballots, Matheson said.
Counting only votes cast within the county, Galgiani would now have an almost 2 percent lead.
The district also, however, includes Galt in Sacramento County and part of Stanislaus County. In those areas, Berryhill leads.
The question is whether Galgiani can make up the difference with provisional San Joaquin County ballots.
As close as the 5th Senate District race has become, Stockton Unified School District's Area 1 (south Stockton) got even tighter Tuesday, with a difference of less than one-tenth of 1 percent separating the two candidates.
Incumbent Trustee Gloria Allen's lead over challenger Monica Hernandez shrank from 40 votes to 25 with the updated totals. The registrar counted 801 additional votes in Area 1, with Allen maintaining a narrow lead of 2,033 to 2,008.
"There's certainly enough votes (not yet counted) to flip that race," Erdman said of the SUSD Area 1 contest.
Also still in contention, Erdman said:
� Stockton City Council District 5, where challenger Moses Zapien is up by 2,002 votes, or a little more than 3 percent of the 60,506 votes counted so far, in the race against incumbent Diana Lowery.
� San Joaquin Delta College Trustee Area 2, where Claudia Moreno leads Elizabeth Yip Blanchard by 2,885 votes, or a little less than 2 percent of the 144,960 votes counted in San Joaquin County.
Throughout Area 2, which includes areas beyond San Joaquin County, Moreno led Blanchard by a total of 1,869 votes on Tuesday.
The margin had been just 162 votes immediately after Election Day.
Moreno led Blanchard in San Joaquin County, while Blanchard maintained a slight advantage in Calaveras, Solano, Sacramento and Alameda counties, where there are fewer votes to be had.
Record reporters Roger Phillips and Alex Breitler contributed to this report.
Contact reporter Dana M. Nichols at (209) 607-1361 or email@example.com. Visit his blog at recordnet.com/calaverasblog.


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The last of the four Unlock The Past Expos was held this weekend in Geelong, and it was the biggest and best ever. It was held at the Geelong Arena, the home of the Geelong Supercats (a basketball team, I believe). The Exhibition Hall was a transformed basketball court, with carpet laid over the shiny wooden floor, and was swarming with visitors and exhibitors.
There were two streams of talks and my biggest regret was that I didn't get to see any of them. I was kept very busy, helping out with registrations at the beginning of both days, and helping people with their research the rest of the time. There were lots of interesting questions and even though I couldn't always find answers immediately for them we always managed to find somewhere else they could look. It's important to remember that not everything is available online!
For more photos go to my photo album in Facebook, and for a full rundown of all the talks see Shauna's blog.


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A Couple O' Jerks is one of the newest, if not, THE newest brand of jerky on the market as of this writing. The brand is owned by A Couple O' Jerks, LLC, based out of a Labadie, MO.
The business was started by Don Self, a guy who's been making his own jerky for years and years. The company got started like most others, where Don shared some of his homemade jerky with his friends, and his friends telling him he ought to sell the stuff. So with the help of a friend, A Couple O' Jerks was born.
The company makes jerky at its own USDA approved facility. They only have this one flavor, Original. And the package says, "We believe that when you take a bite of jerky, it should bite back!"
Beef, water, salt, spices, brown sugar, fermented soy, worcestershire powder, dehydrated onion and garlic, tomato powder, natural hickory smoke.
The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a light salty flavor, followed by a light worcestershire, a bit of smokiness, and then a light "meaty" aroma wafting up into my sinuses. I can also feel some spicy "bite" taking hold, and I can taste some black pepper.
In the chewing, the first I taste is the natural meat flavors, which seems to carry inside it some more of the worcestershire and soy sauce. I can also pick up that garlic aftertaste.
My initial impression is that this jerky is indeed quite good with a strong meat flavor, boosted with some black pepper flavor, worcestershire and soy sauce. Worcestershire and soy sauce is a common one-two-punch marinade in many jerky brands, and this is no exception, but it's flavor is quite different than the others. Maybe that's because the ingredients says "worcestershire powder" and "fermented soy".
But they don't overpower the meat flavors.
I'd rank the natural meat flavors as the primary flavor of this jerky. It's similar to a grilled rib eye steak, rubbed with a lot of black pepper. But it has carries the flavors of worcestershire and soy sauce, in light enough amounts that the meat flavor is still the primary flavor.
The saltiness is perhaps the second-most dominant flavor. I'd say the flavor intensity anywhere from medium to high. There's a bit of spicy heat in this jerky that perhaps exacerbates the saltiness to where it might seem more salty than it really is.
And that spicy heat is not really all that hot. I'd rank it at "medium" on my hot scale, and I'm someone who tends to tolerate hot foods pretty well. Some of you might see it at a higher, "medium-hot".
The black pepper flavor is perhaps the third-strongest flavor. I don't see it listed in the ingredients, but I'm assuming its in the "spices". In fact, I don't really see it on these pieces either, but I can clearly taste it.
There's also a very light sweetness on the surface, but it's very short lived, maybe a couple of seconds at the longest. It's actually the very first flavor, now that I think about it. But it so short, the saltiness takes over immediately.
Overall, what you're going to get from this jerky is the natural meat flavors, tasting like a grilled steak, with good deal of black pepper, and highlighted with some worcestershire and soy sauce. There's quite a bit of saltiness in this, and you'll also get a decent amount of spicy heat.
Meat Consistency
These appear to be slices of whole meat, sliced to a medium thickness, and in strips of about 2-5 inches in length.
It's a dry jerky, with some brittle quality, to the point where if bent with the grain it snaps apart. But it's not really "hard" or "tough". It does however take some effort to chew, but not really all that bad.
The chewing texture starts out feeling stiff, and with some sucking and light biting, it breaks down, and chews down to a soft mass in about 20-30 seconds. It has a steak-like chewing texture, but just a little crumbly. It's not mushy or gummy at all.
These pieces all seem to be pretty lean, I see no streaks of fat on them. I didn't encounter any tendon or gristle, and I didn't find too many chewy sinews. It's mostly all meat.
Eating this jerky seems pretty clean, the strips allow me to bite off chunks instead of tearing them apart with my fingers, and because they're sliced against the grain, they snap off easily enough. My fingers do pick up some residue however, and I tend to wipe them on my jeans.
Snack Value
A Couple O' Jerks sells this Original variety from their website at a price of $7.80 for a four ounce bag. The shipping is included in that price. That works out to a price of $1.95 per ounce. You can buy it in various bulk prices, and get it down to as low as $1.48 per ounce.
For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $1.95 price per ounce, it seems to present a good value. I'm getting a lot of snackability for its natural meat flavors, and its high flavor intensity based on that black pepper, worcestershire, and soy sauce. But it's really the meat flavor that creates the snackability for me. The $1.95 price per ounce is more expensive than compared to the mass-market brands, but I think you're indeed getting a much better jerky, and it seems to provide a lot of return for your snacking dollar.
I'm giving this a best rating.
This original variety from A Couple O' Jerks starts out by giving you a strong natural meat flavor, and then enhanced with the flavors of black pepper, worcestershire, and soy sauce, and further boosted by some noticeable spicy heat and garlic. If you're a meat snacker like me, you want to taste the meat, and you'll taste it in this.
This jerky has a lot of flavor intensity. Each bite is bursting with flavor. It makes me want to suck on each piece, extract the juices, and enjoy the flavors.
The chewing texture is good, quite steak-like. But these pieces are indeed on the tough side, but not too terribly so. It actually helps that they're cut into strips, and cut against the grain, to make it easier to bite off. That helps preserve snackability, in that you don't have to fight the jerky.
If you like spicy jerky, this is one for you. Don't let the "Original Recipe" on the package make you think this tastes simple. It's quite the opposite.
For my beer recommendation, go with a dark, smoky, porter.
Rating: Best
Buy this online:


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BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. –The undermanned Houston Dynamo played to a 65-minute, 1-1 tie against the Chicago Fire at Toyota Park on Sunday in a game that included a 70-minute delay and was ended early because of lightning.
Will Bruin and Logan Pause traded goals midway through the first half, then the teams slugged it out for 40 more minutes before the skies opened and officials were forced the cancel the match.
OPTA Chalkboard: Plenty of rain, not many chances in Windy City
The Dynamo played without three midfield starters, including 2011 MVP candidate Brad Davis, but they were able to escape their fourth-straight road contest – and their first game since March 23 – with a point.
Fire forward Dominic Oduro had the first chance of rain-soaked evening when he was sprung free on the left side of the penalty area by Patrick Nyarko. Oduro tried to chip Houston goalkeeper Tally Hall, but Hall was able to easily corral the shot.
The Fire went on to recover several Houston turnovers on the slippery field before referee Geoff Gamble called a halt to the game because of a bolt of lightning and the peal of thunder in the 13th minute. The game was halted for 70 minutes before it resumed.
The first scoring chance after the intermission came off the foot of Sebastian Grazzini, who curled a shot from 25 yards to the upper corner, but Hall was able to make a flying fingertip save.
Minutes later, the Dynamo broke through. Brian Ching peeled off the backline and sprung Will Bruin on a through pass that split center backs Jalil Anibaba and Arne Friedrich. Bruin coolly beat Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson to put the Dynamo on the board in the 24th minute.
The Dynamo goal was Houston's only shot on target in the first half.
Just three minutes later, the Fire lucked into an equalizer. After Nyarko was taken down at the top of the box, a Pavel Pardo direct kick deflected off of the back of Pause, curled over Hall, hit the underside of the cross bar and found the back of the net. The goal was Pause's first since May 8, 2010.
After 20 minutes of back and forth action in the second half, which included no shots on target, another bolt of lightning was sighted and Gamble pulled the players off the field. All parties (League Office, Referees, Home Team, Visiting Team and Stadium Officials) agreed to make the game official.
The Fire (1-1-2) have yet to register a multi-goal game through four contests in 2011. That streak continued on Sunday despite some lively play from Grazzini and Nyarko. The Fire will try to register their first win since beating Philly 1-0 on March 23 this Saturday at Toronto.
The Dynamo (2-1-1) have lost only one game in their first four while they wait for the completion of BBVA Compass Stadium. They'll head to Columbus in the next stop on their seven-game road trip.


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First Swing Goes Bibyjeri_lickwet©
My husband and I had never done any swinging before but had talked about it many times. It was just kind of a fantasy thing that we shared. Then through a friend of ours, we were invited to what was billed as a swing party although it turned out to be more like an orgy.
The party started out mildly enough. Val, our host had only invited couples. We kept to ourselves at the beginning and found ourselves in a darkened room. We took off our clothes and tried to fit in with the groups of people in the room. That's when I noticed one pair of couples on a mattress at the far side of the room. What surprised me was that the two girls were kissing each other and the one of the guys was sucking the other one off. I whispered to David to look and as he did, I reached down and squeezed his balls. I whispered to him that this was a lot kinkier than I thought it would be. He took hold of me and embraced me and we kissed. Then he asked me if watching them turned me on.
I just nodded yes as I again began to stare at the scene. I said, "God, look at that guy suck that cock. That's so hot."
David was rock hard by now and I was playing with his cock and balls as he moaned, "You get off on that man to man stuff, huh?"
I just sighed, "Oh, yes, I've never seen such a thing and it really turns me on." Then as I watched the guy shoot cum all over this blond guys face, I moaned with excitement, "Oh god, David, he's shooting his load in the guy's mouth. God, that makes me horny."
That's when David entered me and began to pump me. I was so wet and so turned on by what I had seen and got a strange but exciting thought. I began to visualize David sucking a guy's cock and watching him take his cum load into his mouth.
David moaned, "I kind of like the girl/girl thing. I think that's pretty sexy." I glanced at the two girls as they were embracing and kissing and I could see one girl's hand buried in the other girl's pussy. Then I noticed that the guy had finished unloading his cum in the guy's mouth and one girl got up and began kissing the blond guys cum drenched face with the guys cock still in his mouth.
David began pumping me harder and I went just wild. I whispered, "Oh god honey, just look at her lick that cum off his face. God, I could really dig that. Watch you suck a juicy cock and have him cum all over your mouth and then lick it off and kiss your cum soaked mouth. Oh god, yes, that's so hot and wild."
This must have struck a cord with David because he bucked and came in me like crazy as he moaned, "Oh, honey, yes, tell me what you want. Tell me to suck it. You want him to fuck my mouth and shoot cum in my mouth." Our climaxes lasted what seemed like an eternity. After we settled down, we noticed that the foursome had left and we were alone. We got up and left the room and went downstairs to the bar. We had a few drinks and talked with some of the others. I began to get horny again and I noticed David's cock was growing in size so I knew his cock was coming back to life.
We went back upstairs and went into another darkened room. We found an empty mattress at the far end of the room and settled down. I began to stroke David and he lightly touched me back as we slowly drifted into some light foreplay. I then moved down and went down on David's cock. I sucked his cock for a minute or so and began to think about what we saw in the other room. As I glanced up, I saw this guy, who was still half-dressed in that he had a pair of tight leather jeans on. The guy was leaning against the wall and was watching us intently. I licked up David's shaft and then smiled at the guy. Then I move back up and kissed David full on the mouth and then stuck my tongue deep into his mouth. I knew he could taste his own cock juices and I heard him sigh. "Oh yes, honey, get me hot for it. That makes me want it. It makes me want to suck it for you."
I knew that I had David hot for cock sucking now and I just had to make this happen. I pulled away from David and looked deep into his eyes. They were on fire with lust. I blurted out, "Will you do it for me, honey, really do it?"
David replied with a passionate, "Yes, honey, only if you watch me, help me do it, make me hot for it." I then looked over at the guy with the leather jeans and smiled and then motioned for him to come over. A smile came across his face as he moved toward us. He began to speak, but I motioned with a finger to my lips to remain quiet. I didn't want anything to break the passion of the moment. I lifted David off me and we both sat up. The guy began to tug at the leather clasp of his jeans but I reached up and pulled him down on his knees on the bed and said, "Let me, let us do it."
I took hold of David's hand and moved it up to the leather clasp. I wasn't sure if the guy was into it so I looked up at him and smiled as I did so. He just grinned and arched his hips forward. I placed my hand behind David's head and pushed his face down toward the man's crotch. Again, I looked up at the man to see his reaction as I gave him a grin. He smiled back a strange kind of smile and I noticed a burning look in his eyes as he again arched his hips forward thrusting his leather clad crotch into David's face. To my surprise, David stuck his nose up to the leather bulge in his pants and then licked the leather. My emotions stirred wildly as I saw David's saliva glistening along the black leather bulge that seemed to grow larger as David continued to lick up and down.
David then paused and I was amazed at the wild look in his eyes as he struggled with the leather clasp. His mouth was opened and his tongue protruded slightly from his mouth as he licked his lips in anticipation of sucking his first cock. I was on fire as I began to use my own hand on myself as I watched in anticipation. David finally released the clasp and pulled on the man's leather waist-band and I stared intently as the mushroom tip of the man's penis peeked over the top of the waistband. David bent over and licked up from the still leather covered shaft to the tip of the man's penis. As he did so, the man let out a moan. I could see traces of David's saliva on the now exposed tip. David pulled down harder on the tight leather jeans and soon all of hardness was exposed. David continued to lick the thick silky shaft and as he pulled the leather jeans down further, I could now see David running his tongue all the way down the man's seven hard inches to the sack of balls hanging at the base.
I watched closely, my own pussy on fire, as David ran his tongue along the man's balls and then took one of them into his mouth. It was really hot seeing my husband with a man's balls stuffed in his mouth. "Oh yes, honey, do him, suck his cock for me", I cried out.
David let the man's balls fall from his mouth and slid his tongue all the way up the shaft. Then, I sighed again as I watched and I saw the mushroom tip disappear into David's mouth. God what a great turn on, watching my husband suck a hard cock. "Oh yes David, suck it, harder, feel how hard it is in your mouth. It's so hot watching you suck it, I can see it in your mouth, I love to see it slide between your lips, it's so hot baby, it's so hard in your mouth, oh god baby, suck it for me, suck his big cock." I was going crazy watching inch after inch slide between David's lips only to see it slide back out to the point where the now purplish tip came into view, poised at David's open mouth, and then plunge back in. David continued to suck faster and more wildly.
Just then, a girl came over and said, "So there you are" to the man that was now fucking my husband's mouth. As she noticed who was sucking him, she giggled, "Oh baby, I know you like blow jobs, but this is pretty kinky, oh yes, really kinky." Then she looked at me and gave me kind of a strange twisted smile as she knelt down on the mattress so she could watch David closely. "I always wanted to watch Mick get a blow job from a guy. That's a really hot mouth he's got there. Oh yes, Mick, let him have it. Stick that big hard cock of yours into his mouth. Fuck his mouth like you fuck my pussy."
Hearing this girl describe this scene the way she did really was getting me off and I had my first climax as I heard her say "fuck his mouth."
"Oh yes, honey, he's so hard, he's fucking your mouth so hard, it's so hot watching him fuck your mouth, I want to see him fuck your mouth so hard, I love it, god it makes me so hot, I want to see him shoot, yes, baby, make him shoot his cum in your mouth, oh yes, baby, I want to see cum on your lips, I want to lick his cum from your mouth."
David went wild as he heard me and Mick began to buck as well. He was pushing his cock deep into David's mouth and David sucked him harder. Then the guy let out a deep groan and I knew he was about to blast off down my husband's throat. The idea that another man was going to shoot his cum load down David's throat was such a turn on, but I wanted to see him shoot his load on his face like the guy we watched before. I cried out, "Back off, let me see it shoot in your mouth." As David heard me cry out, he backed off and took his hand and pumped the man's shaft while his tongue swirled around the purplish tip. Then I heard another groan from the guy followed by a loud splash as I watched a huge load of creamy white cum gush out all over my husband's tongue. David swirled his tongue around and then closed his mouth and rubbed the spurting tip all over his lips. Gooey cum spurted all over his cheeks and his lips and was oozing down his chin. I came again as I rubbed myself violently as I watched the hot cum spill out all over David's face.
The girl had begun to rub herself as well and just as her boyfriend came, she moaned and bucked as well. "Oh yes, Mick, fuck his face, cum all over his face, shoot that spunk all over his face, that's it Mick, cum hard baby, shoot it in his mouth."
Once I calmed down from my latest orgasm, I realized that Mick must have finished as David, cum all over his lips and dripping down his chin, now had Mick's limp cock between his lips. I moved up and licked a big glob of the cum off David's chin and then rubbed more on my face as I placed my mouth on David's still cock filled mouth. As he felt me, he let the now flaccid cock fall out of his lips and his cum splattered lips met mine in a deep tongue dueling kiss. We shared the cum as we swirled our tongues in and out of each other's mouths and soon, David laid me down and entered me. Our lips remained locked in a cum soaked kiss as David humped me wildly and shot his own load inside me in seconds. I had another climax as I felt David stiffen and shoot his cum into me as I still savored the taste of Mick's cum on his mouth.
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zagget, puppyluppy and 191 other people favorited this story!
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- by Anonymous09/25/18
Great story
How you write more stories. Please.by Mistressholyscuck09/04/18by kathy25172404/04/18
Fucking hot!
We talk about it a lot. He even eats his own cum, but unfortunately I can't get him to take the next step.by Anonymous03/31/18
My wife is such a fuckin cunt..so fuck you son of a bunch of bitches
One night at a swingers party my wife tied me up and sat on my face and rode my cock for hours. She left and soon came back with a dude with about a 9 inch cock. They fucked right beside me, then on topmore...by Anonymous02/15/18
The never-ending story ...
... as Mike's wife slid her tongue deep into the the used pussy of David's wife ...
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Style # 176315
Shine time in one of our most coveted pieces from the bebe Gold Collection. Garnished with tiny 3D embellishments, our strapless Allover Stones Dress takes the cake! Mini cut with a curved bustline and contrast-wrap gems. Polish with our Satin Wedge.
- 100% Nylon
- Imported
- Model is 5'10" and wears a US size S
Allover Stones Dress is rated out of 5 by 1.
Rated 5 out of 5 by lelele from lov it lov it... a little strange on the bubs but great! great form!
Date published: 2014-01-27


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A new Zika zone has been confirmed in Miami-Dade, Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced Thursday, within a month of another zone in the county being declared closed.
The Florida Department of Health discovered that local transmission of Zika is occurring in an area about one square mile, Scott said in a statement. That zone runs from Northwest 79th Street south to Northwest 63rd Street and from Northwest 10th Avenue east to N. Miami Avenue.
Five people, two women and three men, have tested positive for Zika in the zone, according to the DOH. Four of the cases had already been announced but the investigation into the fifth case was completed Thursday.
"Today's announcement of a new area in Miami of ongoing local transmission of the Zika virus underscores the urgent need for federal funding to combat the Zika virus," Scott said in a statement. "It has been two weeks since federal funding to fight Zika was approved by Congress and signed by President Obama. However, Florida has not yet received a dime. We don't need bureaucratic timelines – we need funding now."
A second Zika zone in Miami Beach stretches from 8th Street to 63rd Street. The first Zika zone, which was in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood, was lifted last month.
Federal and state health officials recommend that pregnant woman refrain from traveling to all the Zika zones.
More than 1,000 cases of Zika have been confirmed in Florida. Officials say 155 of those cases are non-travel related.


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Beaumont/Port Arthur
The sheriff, his deputies, family and friends gave away toys to fulfill families' Christmas wishes during the Orange County Blue Santa giveaway at the VFW in Orange on Dec. 17.
The Orange County Sheriff's Office and community volunteers provided the parents of 437 children with gifts, including 93 bicycles.
The Beaumont Police Department completed its annual Santa in Blue rounds on Dec. 12. This year, the drive delivered presents to about 300 children, according to Officer Justin Proenza.
Proenza and his partner, Officer Tom Swole, have overseen the Santa in Blue drive for the past 14 years.
For the sixth year in a row, Beaumont Animal Services and Petfinder.com are participating in the national "Foster a Lonely Pet for the Holidays" pet fostering program. The event will run from December 7th through January 4th.
Volunteers and officers from the Port Arthur Police Department came together at the Bob Bower Civic Center in Port Arthur on Friday, Dec. 20, to distribute toys and gifts to local families to help make their Christmas brighter. Blue Santa coordinators spent about $16,000 on gifts to assist close to 300 Port Arthur families during this holiday season.
The Orange County Sheriff's Office helped local children celebrate the Christmas season during their annual Blue Santa event at the VFW in Orange on Dec. 14. Officers and their families volunteered to be Blue Santa's little helpers and distributed toys to local families who had signed up for the program. The event provided gifts for more than 300 Orange County children.
The first ever Blue Santa "Show and Shine" was held Saturday, Dec. 1, in the Vidor Walmart parking lot from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Christmas morning is filled with happy times from many a childhood memory. But with a troubled economy and families all across America barely scraping by to afford necessities, this Christmas might not produce the same warm fuzzy feelings for children hoping to find something from "Santa" under the tree come Dec. 25.
Fortunately for kids in Southeast Texas, first responders and volunteer agencies from all over the region are putting in work now so that no child will have to go a Christmas without a visit from the man who is rumored to know when the youths have been "naughty or nice."
While we harbor no disrespect for the Wall Street Journal who called us "that scrappy little paper from Southeast Texas," we prefer to think of ourselves as simple seekers of the truth. We're of the opinion that headlines and sound bites never tell the whole story. Our readers demand all the facts, facets and flavors of every story or event. And, they expect to be informed, educated and stirred to action.
For this week's New York Times crossword puzzle, pick up a copy of this week's The Examiner on newsstands now.


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Supported by the United Nations and the World Bank: Yemeni Government Takes Serious Steps towards fighting poverty in the New YemenAug 17, 2014
Sana'a, The Government of Yemen requests support from the United Nations to accelerate progress on eradicating poverty. Under a joint leadership by the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation and the Ministry of Local Administration, partners and stakeholders have been invited for a two day workshop to discuss the unfinished business of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Notable efforts have been made over the years to address poverty in Yemen – what are the bottlenecks hindering progress? How can they be removed? To identify elements hampering progress, and to focus further efforts, the discussion will apply a tool developed by the United Nations Development Group, known as the MDG Acceleration Framework (MAF).
The initiative builds on findings from recent socio-economic assessments, in particular of the 'Multidimensional Livelihoods Assessment in Conflict Areas' conducted last year, as well as the outcomes of the National Dialogue Conference. Based on assessments, the Government has chosen to focus acceleration efforts on employment for women and youth, and improving rural livelihoods. Poverty in Yemen remains pervasive, unemployment among 15-to-24-year-olds is close to 53 percent. More than 90 percent of Yemeni women of working age do not participate in the labor force, and more than 90 percent of those who do work, mostly rural women, work without pay. Initially, the focus of the initiative will be on Taiz and Ibb governorates in Al Janad province.
The MAF is a participatory process that will help all partners and stakeholders to collectively analyze and work on addressing the key constraints that hamper the effectiveness of strategic interventions for poverty eradication and to identify viable and multi-sectoral solutions, in line with national priorities.
A high level delegation to Taiz comprising Mr. Paolo Lembo, United Nations Resident Coordinator, Ms. Sarmite Bulte, MDG Acceleration Framework expert, Abdulrakeab Saif, Vice-Minister of Local Administration and Dr, Mohammed al-Hawri, Vice-Minister of Planning and International Cooperation participated in meetings with the Governor of Taiz, Mr. Shawqi Ahmed Hayel and officials from the Local Authority. Other meetings were organized with representatives of the private sector and youth entrepreneurs.
"Yemen is facing one of its most critical yet significant times. The Government is working despite challenges on continuing the promising beginning of change," says the Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Mohammed al-Saadi.
Contact information
"Despite international and national speculations that Yemen would fall into war following events in 2011, Yemen has surprised the world by standing firm and by carrying out the national dialogue conference. What we are doing today is to show that Yemen is determined to continue on that track," says the Minister of Local Administration.
"The fruitful results of the consultative meetings will enhance the outcomes of the national dialogue conference, especially on decentralization," says Mr. Paolo Lembo, United Nations Resident Coordinator. "We at the UN support the Government to secure a safe and successful transition which cannot be achieved without responding to the people's needs," he says.
A technical workshop on the MDG Acceleration Framework is carried out on 17-18 August at Movenpick hotel in Sana'a. The event brings together over 200 stakeholders from line ministries, UN agencies, development partners and donors, the private sector, CSOs and NGOs, including broad participation from Taiz and Ibb Governorates.
The discussions includes issues of skill development, the promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and the role of the private sector in creating job opportunities, especially for women and youth, and improving rural livelihoods.
The outcomes of the discussions will contribute to the development of a concrete and prioritized Action Plan that will help accelerate poverty reduction in Al Janaad Province, also paving the way for similar efforts in other parts of Yemen. The elaboration of the MAF for Yemen is foreseen to inform and feed into the formulation of the next National Development Plan as well as related development plans at Governorate level.
The Government of Japan is amongst the key donors supporting youth employment generation in Yemen,
Kawkab al-Thaibani,
Mobile :+967-712221950,
Email : email@example.com


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After waiting nearly a decade and a half, Sean Considine has finally found something he has been searching for since high school … and it's a lot bigger than his first Super Bowl.
The 8-year veteran special teamer will suit up for the Ravens on Sunday in Super Bowl XLVII, a game the former Byron all-stater and Iowa all-Big Ten safety has wanted to be part of since he was drafted by the Eagles in 2005.
But it's the group of guys with whom he's made this journey that has become the best part.
"I've been searching for this atmosphere, this type of team, ever since the 1999 state championship in Byron," Considine said earlier this week, via telephone from New Orleans. "A group that comes together so tight, basically puts up a wall where all the guys inside are on board, respect each other, get along, and fight for the same thing. If you've ever been a part of something like that, you know it doesn't happen very often.
"But every now and then, you'll have that type of group combined with a magical year. It happened in 1999, but I haven't quite had that with any team I've been a part of since … until this year in Baltimore, where it feels like that's happened again."
Just when he thought he was out
It's just the latest step in Considine's remarkable road in football. The former Hawkeye walk-on developed into a fourth-round NFL draft pick, and spent his first 6 years with two teams, the Eagles and the Jaguars.
But last season, just 4 weeks into the year with the Panthers, Considine was cut after a rough special-teams outing against the Bears. He landed on his feet with the Cardinals, but wasn't sure if he would continue his career.
Then, he got a phone call from Ravens coach John Harbaugh, his former special teams coach in Philadelphia. The Ravens, one of the worst teams in the NFL on special teams in 2011, were ready to bring Considine in to help shore up their issues.
The rest is history, still being written.
"For the stars to align the way they did this year … the whole deal has been just tremendous luck or whatever you want to call it, and what a great opportunity it's been," Considine said. "For Baltimore to need a veteran role player like me, for John to be in the position he was in, for us to have had that relationship in the past … it's not often that a plan comes together and plays out exactly the way you mapped it like it has for me this year.
"Back in the offseason, going into my eighth year, I was thinking, 'Man, I've got to get to the Super Bowl.' It was one of the last things left in my career that I hadn't had the opportunity to compete for and experience, and I wanted it so bad."
One team, one mantra
All season, Harbaugh studied the past, talking to his veteran-laden team about what it would take to play their best football come playoff time. He looked at the recent Super Bowl winners, searching for the key.
The message in the Ravens locker room throughout the postseason has been simple: Do your job, trust your teammates, focus on the little things to have big-picture success.
Harbaugh had no trouble selling the formula.
"This is a team sport, and the ability to have the talent and the experience get overlooked sometimes these days, with everybody trying to find the next new superstar," Considine said. "To have kept this nucleus in place all these years, you've got to give credit to [general manager] Ozzie Newsome. Then, to bring in a coach like John, who, like Ozzie, understands the true value of 'team,' of 53 guys believing in and committing to things as a unit, that really gives you a great chance to hoist that Lombardi Trophy. Baltimore's done it better than any franchise I've seen."
The team's mantra has bounced around Considine's head since the AFC Championship win over the Patriots 2 weeks ago – even during a week off to spend time with family and friends in Byron, even as the team got back together in Baltimore for their flight to New Orleans on Monday.
"It's easy to see how players can lose focus during Super Bowl week," Considine said, "and I've been really challenging myself to concentrate on the football game itself. My No. 1 goal is to win the Super Bowl, not just play in one."
The Big Easy challenge
The challenge of zeroing in on the game was even tougher once the Ravens got to the Big Easy. Some 7,000 media credentials were assigned to all manner of writers and broadcasters, and they're all in one place at one time for the media day activities.
Considine said he gave interviews to Christian organizations, media outlets from foreign countries, even Nickelodeon.
"It's a frenzy, all sorts of people out there," he said. "Some are dressed up in crazy costumes, some are from publications you've never heard of and will never come across again. It's about as much fun watching them walk around and talk to guys as it is for them to hear what we have to say."
Among the hordes of people that will descend upon New Orleans this week are roughly 50 of Considine's family members and friends from Byron, Dixon and Amboy. The team was given evenings off, and he spent dinnertimes with those who went down to share his experience of a lifetime.
Considine's maximum allotment of tickets is 15, meaning that most of those folks won't be attending the Super Bowl itself. But he was sure those without tickets will would stay occupied.
"It's not hard to find something to do in this town," he said with a chuckle. "They'll probably be running around Bourbon Street, just having a good time."
Future tense
Considine, too, is taking everything in as much as possible. He doesn't know how many more chances, if any, he'll get at this go-round.
Retirement has been a big focus in Baltimore throughout the playoffs, after veteran linebacker Ray Lewis – the face of the franchise – announced before the postseason that he would be playing the final games of his 17-year NFL career. It's an issue not completely foreign to Considine, whose career has already lasted twice as long as the average NFL player.
"It always crosses your mind, especially when you hit the age I am, 31, and think about how much you've got left and the impact the game takes on your body," Considine said. "I love the game of football, and to make the decision to walk away is very difficult. But one of these days, it's going to be the best decision for not only me, but my wife and kids as well, and I'll focus on that more once I'm done with this game."
But the urge to step aside from football isn't as much in the forefront for Considine after following up the instability of 2011 with the playoff run he's been dreaming about since he first entered the NFL.
After last season, Considine found himself dealing more with the business of the NFL than the joy of playing football. But 2012 has renewed his faith in the league and the game, and he said he's experienced enough to enjoy the position he's in more than he would have earlier in his career.
"I had the opportunity to play in an NFC Championship with Philadelphia [after the 2008 season], and I don't think I was quite old enough, or at a high enough level, to understand how tough it really is to compete for a Super Bowl berth," Considine said. "To be that close, I didn't quite appreciate it as much as I should have.
"This year, especially with the way things have been in my career, bouncing around so much the past few years, I just understand so much more how fortunate I am and unbelievable this whole experience is. It also has a lot to do with my attitude, just having fun playing the game and enjoying being part of this team this year. It's been a breath of fresh air, and I'm pinching myself every day."
Road to the Super Bowl
Sean Considine
• Byron High School, class of 2000: Won Class 3A state championship in 1999. … 2-time all-state running back. … Ran for school-record 4,010 yards & 65 TDs in career, & school-record 34 TDs as a senior. … Had three straight 1,000-yard seasons.
• University of Iowa, class of 2005: All-Big Ten safety as a senior. … Part of best 4-year run in Hawkeye history, as Iowa went 38-12, including 24-8 in Big Ten, from 2001-2004. … Part of four bowl games, where Hawkeyes went 3-1. … Scored TD off blocked punt in final game, Iowa's 30-25, last-second win over defending national champion LSU in Capital One Bowl following 2004 season.
• NFL: First pick of 4th round (102nd overall) by Eagles in 2005 draft. … Has played for Eagles (2005-08), Jaguars (2009-10), Panthers (2011), Cardinals (2011) and Ravens (2012). … Has 260 career tackles (195 solo), 15 passes defended, 6 fumble recoveries, 4 INTs, 2.5 sacks & 2 forced fumbles. … Also has 100 special teams tackles. … Played on Eagles teams that lost in second round of playoffs after 2006 season and lost NFC Championship after 2008 season.
• 2013: Has played in every game for Ravens on special teams, recording 7 tackles. … Also has 2 tackles (1 solo) as back-up safety. … Reunited with head coach John Harbaugh, who was Considine's special teams coordinator with Eagles. … Had 1 rush for 3 yards on fake punt against Eagles in Week 2.
NFL breakdown
• Philadelphia Eagles (2005-2008): Drafted as first pick in 4th round (102nd overall) of 2005 draft by defending NFC champion Eagles. … Played strong safety in 46 games (17 starts) over 4 years in Philly, with 136 tackles (93 solo), 2 INTs, 1.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble, 2 fumble recoveries. … Also played special teams, covering kickoffs and punts, recording 68 special teams tackles (including team highs of 26 in 2006 & 32 in 2008).
• Jacksonville Jaguars (2009-10): Signed as free agent in offseason. … Played in 25 games (11 starts) a strong & free safety on 2 years with Jags. … Had 78 tackles (62 solo), 2 INTs, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble, 2 fumble recoveries, 2 passes defended. … Also played special teams, covering kickoffs and punts, recording 17 special teams tackles.
• Carolina Panthers (2011): Played 4 games without a start on defense. … Had 1 fumble recovery. … Covered kickoffs and punts. … Was released after Week 4 loss to Bears.
• Arizona Cardinals (2012): Signed with Cards 1 week after being let go by Panthers. … Played 8 games without a start on defense. … Had 4 assisted tackles, 1 fumble recovery. … Covered kickoffs and punts, recording 8 special teams tackles.
• Baltimore Ravens (2012): Signed as free agent in offseason. … Has played in every game this year as special teamer, recording 7 special teams tackles (6 solo). … Also has 1 solo tackle and 1 assist as back-up safety. … Reunited with head coach John Harbaugh, his special teams coordinator with Eagles. … Also had 1 rush for 3 yards on fake punt against Eagles in Week 2.


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Somewhere Over the Rainbow - Judy Garland
The dream to see beyond where you are right now to someplace better is in the heart of everyone. So no matter what stage of life you were in when you first saw The Wizard of Oz, it wasn't difficult to imagine life in her pig tails and prairie dress. She was stuck in black and white but yearned for a world full of color. That's where we first find "Over the Rainbow". The song comes near the beginning of the film as a young Dorothy is pondering a place where she won't get into trouble as she can't seem to escape it in her tiny Kansas town. What follows is one of the most popular songs of all time winning the Academy Award and the hearts of fans for generations. You want to dream along with Dorothy when she leans against a haystack and sweetly sings, "Somewhere, over the rainbow, skies are blue / And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true." The second verse is what really gets me. She plans to make a wish and be far away in a place where "troubles melt like lemon drops." I don't think there's anyone who hasn't daydreamed of such a sense of peace and joy. At the end of the song, she makes it all sound simple. "If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow / Why, oh, why can't I?" It's something so intangible, but completely within her view. I know how that feels, and I bet you do too. May we never lose that sense of wonder to look beyond what we can see and hope for something better.
-J. Jones