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The school will cost approximately $43 million and construction should b complete by 2014. The 77,000-square-foot school will have 15 classrooms - two set aside for special education students - rooms for the arts and sciences, gymnasium/auditorium, and a library.
Macare-Bison Architects said in a statement that the design is specifically planned for the dense area. To give students an outdoor space, the facility will have rooftop play yard.
Along with a new building, Sunnyside residents will be getting a new clock tower which will be displayed on the exterior of the school.
Steve Zimmerman, a Sunnyside resident and founder of two charter schools in western Queens, said a smaller school is a good idea. Zimmerman is also the director of the Open School Project, and said that smaller class sizes are needed.
"The willingness of the Department of Education to put money into small schools is a good thing," Zimmerman said. "Smaller schools is just a great thing."
Although school overcrowding is a problem in Sunnyside, Zimmerman said that other areas of Queens are much worse. However, he said that Sunnyside is an up-and-coming neighborhood. Zimmerman said he is noticing more and more people moving to the neighborhood from Brooklyn because they are being priced out.


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Behind the Voices - "We are a generation that grew up in the middle of new technologies"
- 116 Posts
Please introduce yourself (name, age, what you do, etc.):
My name is Facundo Sutherland, I'm 18 years old. I'm from Rio Gallegos, a small town at the south end of South America, in Santa Cruz Province (Argentina) which is part of this beautiful region of the world, Patagonia. From childhood I grew up in a family that is actively involved in social issues of the community. My grandmother was provincial deputy and she led for a long time as the Municipal Council for Children and Adolescents in our city working actively on issues- such as the fight against adolescent drug abuse.
For this reason, I was always interested in discovering ways to take action on issues of my city and country in order to help improve these situations. I have collaborated with the Provincial Culture Secretary conducting creative workshops with 7 to 11 years-old children based on the ideas of the great Italian writer and educator Gianni Rodari in his "Grammar of Fantasy." In 2012, I represented my province in the Youth Mercosur Parliament carrying out a project on the role of Children's Rights in today's globalized society with a focus on the right to education and recreation. I've recently made, along with a friend, a research and sociocultural intervention project about the small space given to Divergent Thinking in the current educational system which has received recognition from our school. One of my personal goals is to promote creativity among children in order to achieve a future where different ways of seeing the world can coexist and we all can appreciate them. We should also gain access to culture for all people and end the unequal access to information, which luckily is achieving a good work of institutions. I'm also interested in analyzing the role of media in our society.
My main work now is to achieve further promotion of a network that we started with friends from countries such as Ecuador, France and Senegal called "The Nation of Youth." Our goal is to strengthen a network of collaboration and exchange ideas among young people with the idea of working together for a better world.
I often speak about Ken Robinson, Gianni Rodari, Luis Pescetti, Maria Montessori Eduardo Galeano, Pedro Brieger (I recommend his reports on international politics which are clear and show a great knowledge of the treated subjects), Spike Jonze, Eva Peron, Steve Irwin and Héctor Germán Oesterheld. Next year I will move to Buenos Aires to study a filmmaking career, which is one of my biggest passions as well as literature.
What are the expectations of young people in your country or community?
In Argentina we have a resurgence of interest in youth participation, young people working in social organizations or being part of the political debate. I really enjoy this, because as young people the future is ours. The best way to ensure a promising future is to work on it right now, each one giving their best and with our different ways of thinking, for this cause. It is something that during the last Argentinian military dictatorship, which persecuted, tortured and murdered thousands of people who thought differently (including many young students from schools and universities), tried to end using the fear. But our country has rebuilt. We have shown that we can overcome that fear, although there's still some people who try to silence youth, stigmatizing us as seen in many newspapers and TV channels.
Why is youth participation in today's society very important/necessary?
As I mentioned above, I think there is no better way to ensure a promising and equal future than working right now for it. Besides, we need to make our voices heard, and take the role we have: an indivisible part of the social process. We want to opine and change things that we see that are wrong and perhaps others are unable or unwilling to see, not necessarily for stubbornness, but perhaps because they can't get to understand it all. We are a generation that grew up in the middle of new technologies and we live in a globalized world where there are thousands of ways to communicate, but there are still some voices that can't be heard. Who better than youth to get those voices heard?
Are you engaged in civic issues? If so, what do you do?
"Nation of Youth" was born as a proposal published in Voices of Youth. I was looking for other young people in order to exchange ideas on issues that concerned us. From there, "Nation of Youth" began. I must say that without the impetus that Alfonso gave to the network, we would not have succeeded. We use Facebook as the basis for the diffusion of our work. It is also a way to contact people and coordinate projects as the one we had in Ecuador with a group of young people, whom I admire so much. In Ecuador, we conducted workshops with children at risk or as another workshop of fantastic creation that we had in my city with support from the Culture Secretary.
Our objective for the "Nation of Youth" is to consolidate this network to create a connection between young people around the world to carry out social and cultural projects and exchange ideas and solutions about problems of diverse communities. We work as if there were no borders, and we want to delete those borders to create this "nation" where we can work towards that goal. Some people think is as a utopia, but we believe it is possible for a better world. Burundi, Ecuador, France, Pakistan, Senegal, Argentina are all very different places but are joined together in an atmosphere of cooperation and solidarity. In 2014, we will work more than ever to achieve our goals.
What is your motto or your favorite expression?
It is difficult to choose a motto that guides my thinking, so I will give you two:
"The total use of the word is a beautiful demonstration of sound democracy. Not that everyone is an artist, if not, to no one is a slave" by Gianni Rodari and "Happiness is only real when it is shared" by Christopher McCandless.
Is there any advice or message you want to give to youth?
Take an active part in the processes of your community, debate, be involved with organizations in the way you want. Make your voices heard, and don't let anyone silence you. Work to ensure education, is our right. Receive and share culture because this is the highest expression of human reason. Do not let anyone hurt a child. If the most pure thing from our society is hurt, what can we expect from others? Fight for equality in all fields. And above all, live your life to the fullest.

subset: commoncrawl


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rsteven needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 77 designs submitted by 36 freelance designers.
I am looking for a logo for a SEM company called Reverse Broadcast.
Reverse Broadcast
not sure yet
Desired Color Scheme:
open to suggestion
Desired Style:
open to suggestion
Accepted File Formats:
Vector Formats (.eps, .pdf or .ai); Layered Formats (.psd or .tiff)
The idea behind the name:
- In traditional advertising the advertiser broadcasts their advert to a lot of people to reach a few.
- Search engines are different. They are a "reverse broadcast system" where the person searching has identified their requirement by their search criteria. The smart web marketer can plug into this!
I have had a few ideas around radio masts, group feedback, megaphones as I am sure you will....
Let's be creative :-)
The logo style etc will dictate the site style (other contest to be held later)
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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Brussels, 27 November 2002
Commission imposes heavy fines on four companies involved in plasterboard cartel
The European Commission today imposed fines totalling € 478 million on four companies which operated a long-running cartel on the market for plasterboard, a product which is widely used in the building industry and by DIY practitioners. The plasterboard market, which had a turnover of more than €1.2 billion in 1997 (the last full year of the infringement) is the largest in terms of value to have been covered by a Commission cartel decision over the last ten years or so. The cartel affected 80% of consumers in the European Union, namely in France, the United Kingdom, Germany and the Benelux countries. Two of the companies involved, Lafarge and BPB, were committing their second infringement of EU law on restrictive agreements, having already been fined once in 1994. "The building industry is the pulse of the economy. The substantial amount of the fine reflects the size of the market, the impact of the illicit agreement on the consumer and the repeated infringement of the competition rules by two of the companies. The Commission is focusing its drive to stamp out cartels on the key sectors of the European economy, where its action can directly improve the well-being of consumers, as is the case here," Mario Monti, the Commission Member with special responsibility for competition, stated.
Following a detailed investigation during which it carried out surprise inspections in 1998, the Commission concluded that, between 1992 and 1998, BPB PLC (United Kingdom), Gebrüder Knauf Westdeutsche Gipswerke KG (Germany) and Société Lafarge SA (France) participated in a plasterboard cartel in the United Kingdom, Germany, France and the Benelux countries. Gyproc Benelux SA/NV (Belgium) joined the cartel in 1996.
Plasterboard is a manufactured product used as a prefabricated construction material or by DIY practitioners and consisting of a sheet of gypsum plaster sandwiched between two sheets of paper or some other material.
The companies covered by the decision produce virtually all the plasterboard manufactured in the countries concerned, in some of which the name of the relevant company's product is commonly used to designate the product itself ("gyproc" in Belgium, "placoplâtre" in France), with the names of the companies being very clearly identified as a brand name by consumers (Rigips/BPB or Knauf in Germany, Lafarge in France).
The cartel started at a meeting held in London in early 1992 at which the representatives of BPB and Knauf decided to end what they called the "price war" that was then taking place and expressed the common desire to reduce competition to a level that suited their interests on the German, French, United Kingdom and Benelux markets. In previous years, the price of plasterboard had fallen sharply as a result of fierce competition, which had directly benefited consumers.
Following the London meeting, a secret information-exchange system was set up to monitor market trends and avoid over-aggressive competition. Lafarge and subsequently Gyproc also joined the system, in mid-1992 and June 1996 respectively.
The information assembled by the Commission shows that, on the United Kingdom market, BPB, Knauf and Lafarge repeatedly, through high-level contacts, exchanged information on their sales volumes so as to provide mutual reassurance that the price war had ended. Similarly, they repeatedly gave each other advance warning of price increases.
Top representatives of the companies also met in a hotel at Versailles in 1996, on the fringes of a trade association congress, in order to prevent a new price war in Germany in the mid-1990s, when the four companies were simultaneously increasing their production capacity in Germany and imports from eastern Europe, particularly Poland, were rising. Other meetings followed in Brussels, in 1997, and in The Hague, in 1998, in order to share out or at least stabilise market shares in Germany.
These high-level meetings were followed up, at a lower level, by repeated concerted action by BPB, Knauf, Lafarge and Gyproc on the application of price rises on the Germany market between 1996 and 1998. This concerted action took the form of discussions on the fringes of trade association meetings, the sending to competitors of letters announcing price increases to customers and even the sending, to the private addresses of the directors of the German subsidiaries, of the instructions given to sales forces.
Such conduct constitutes a very serious infringement of the competition rules laid down in Article 81 of the EC Treaty.
Individual amount of the fines
The Commission has consequently decided to impose the following fines (€ million):
The amount of the fines reflects the size of the plasterboard market, which was worth more than €1.2 billion in 1997, the last full year of the infringement, and the length of the period during which the cartel operated - more than six-and-a-half years.
In the case of Lafarge, the Commission has also taken account of its overall size, which is much greater than that of the other companies, so as to ensure that the fine has a real deterrent effect. Lafarge is the largest cement company in the world, and its turnover is five times that of BPB or Knauf. Gyproc is much smaller still.
As far as BPB and Lafarge are concerned, the Commission also viewed as an aggravating circumstance the fact that the two companies have previously infringed the competition rules. Lafarge was fined in 1994 in the cement cartel, and BPB, through its subsidiary BPB De Eendracht, was one of the companies fined in the cartonboard decision, also in 1994. This means that, at the time when these decisions were notified to them, the two companies were participating in another restrictive agreement in which they persisted.
There were no mitigating circumstances to justify a reduction in the fine imposed on Knauf and Lafarge, since, unlike BPB and Gyproc, they did not cooperate with the Commission in its investigation. Under the leniency policy introduced in 1996 (see below), the Commission can reduce a fine even where there has been repeated infringement of the competition rules, provided the companies cooperate in uncovering the cartel.
Conducting the investigation
The Commission's investigation began in November 1998 with inspections on the premises of several producers. Following the inspections and information requests sent to the companies in 1999 and 2000, BPB and Gyproc Benelux cooperated in the investigation and provided evidence.
In April 2001, the Commission sent a statement of objections to the four companies and also to Etex SA, a Belgian financing company which was also included in the investigation, but on which the Commission is today closing the proceeding.
Etex holds 54% of Gyproc Benelux, the other parent company being BPB with 46%. Nevertheless, the Commission has concluded that there is not enough evidence to prove that Etex participated in the infringement or to hold it responsible for Gyproc's conduct.
Calculation of the fines
In calculating fines in cartel cases, the Commission takes account of the gravity of the infringement, its duration and any aggravating or mitigating circumstances. It also takes account of the market share held by the companies and their overall size, so as to ensure that the fine reflects each company's participation in the infringement and its capacity to harm other operators, particularly consumers, and so as to ensure that the fine acts as a deterrent. The fines are not therefore calculated primarily by reference to a company's turnover, although, under the legislation in force, the fine may never exceed 10% of a company's annual turnover.
Once the amount has been determined, the fines may be reduced to take account of the companies' cooperation in the investigation, in line with the Commission's policy regarding the non-imposition or reduction of fines in cartel cases.
The Commission has accordingly granted a reduction of 30% in the fine imposed on BPB and a reduction of 40% in the fine imposed on Gyproc because they provided it with additional information on the cartel before the statement of objections was sent. Knauf and Lafarge did not cooperate in the Commission's investigation and the fine imposed on them has not been reduced.
Although a new leniency notice was adopted in February 2002, it is the previous provisions that are applicable in this case (the notice published on 18 July 1996). This is because the cooperation took place before February 2002. For further details on the new 2002 notice, see
General information
The companies have three months in which to pay the fines, which are entered into the general budget of the European Union once they have become definitive. The overall EU budget is fixed in advance and so any unscheduled revenues are deducted from the contributions made by Member States to the EU budget, ultimately to the benefit of the European taxpayer.
The total amount of fines imposed today in the plasterboard case is the second highest ever imposed by the Commission, after the vitamin cartel case (€855 million in December 2001). The fine imposed on Lafarge is the third largest ever imposed on a single company in any one case.
Today's decision is the sixth cartel decision since the start of the year. The other cases concerned Austrian banks (IP/02/844), methionine (IP/02/976), industrial gases (IP/02/1139) and Christie's and Sotheby's fine arts auction houses (IP/02/1585), together with today's decision on methylglucamine (IP/02/1746).
In 2001, the Commission took 10 cartel decisions in which 56 firms were fined a total of €1 836 million.
List of the 10 largest cartel decisions, in terms of total fines
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A conversation with Les Baxter
Even in the age of electronic media, some historic moments go unrecorded. Such a turning point occurred in early 1956, when Les Baxter shared a TV variety show billing with a young Elvis Presley. Here was the immovable object meeting the irresistible force.
Ultimately, the irresistible force won out. Today we know all about Elvis, right down to the peanut butter and bananas and pain killers. But we don't know much about Baxter, who in the mid-fifties was a pop sensation, bigger than Elvis and peering straight through this world into places far away.
And then -boom- Baxter met Elvis, and Elvis extinguished everything that came before him. Les Baxter made rock & roll records -in a career spanning seven decades, Baxter made every kind of record- but he is rooted in a world pre-dating rock & roll. We know him best today as the composer of the oft-covered 1951 "Quiet Village", but as the tune gave way to the global village, Baxter slowly disappeared like a vapor trail in the night.
-RJ Smith, LA, 1996
The death of Les Baxter on January 15, 1996, at the age of 73, closes a unique era in exotica music as well as in film scoring. A virtuoso master of low-budget scoring, Baxter worked for fifteen years in the music department of American International Pictures, scoring a variety of films from biker movies to bikini movies.
But he made the greatest mark in horror films, providing inventive and effective scores for pictures with miniscule budgets -many of those films have mercifully faded from memory. But plenty of them remain classics of a kind -AIP's Poe films like The Fall Of The House Of Usher.
The low-budget horror films produced by Roger Corman and American International Pictures in the 1950´s and 60´s, despite their low budgets and cheap effects, often maintained an effectiveness through moody set design, noteworthy direction, memorable performances by actors such as Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff, and through a highly effective musical scoring, more often than not penned by Les Baxter.
Baxter´s music, calculatingly quirky, brooding, ominous or terrifying, provided the final ingredient that gave these films life, and in some cases was the only memorable element of some of these forgotten features.
Baxter was born in Texas in 1922, and gained an interest in the piano at an early age. He studied at the Detroit Conservatory of Music and later at Los Angeles´ Pepperdine College before working as an arranger for famous bandleaders in the 40´s, and ultimately in radio and films. Baxter´s career has been as varied as the films on which he has worked.
In addition to scoring movies, Baxter recorded a series of exotic and easy-listening albums for Capitol Records and arranged the recordings of many other artists, notably Yma Sumac.
He has also written show music for theme parks and sea worlds, all of which has provided him with an arena for his penchant toward musical experimentalism. This inclination was particularly suited to science fiction and horror films, and it is with these films that Baxter´s reputation is linked the strongest.
How did you first get into film scoring?
I was offered a film through an agent who was interested in my music. It was a sailboat travelogue, but it initially gave me the chance to do my first picture TANGA TIKA, 1953. I had done a number of albums and I'd studied composing at the Detroit Conservatory of Music and then at Pepperdine College who gave me a Doctor degree… and so I was really a serious concert composer at the time I got waylaid into popular music. If you know any of my albums - 'Le Sacre du Sauvage', 'Tamboo!', 'Ports of Pleasure' or 'La Femme' - they are not like popular music.
I really did not know what popular music was at the time, but they were my attempts being a concert composer to do little suites of music for the pop field. Mysteriously, they started hitting and then I had a lot of pop singles, and that waylaid me off the serious composing which I'm able to do more of now. So… films enabled me to compose the sort of serious music I wanted to do. I gradually got into film scoring from that first little movie and went on from there.
People often regarded American International as a much commercialized exploitation studio, although they provided a wonderful range of subjects for film composers to tackle. Were they always sympathetic towards the musical aspects of each picture? Did you consider them a studio where a composer could really develop his art? Did you enjoy working for AIP?
Indeed they did provide a wonderful range of subjects to score, although at that time I was very happy to be offered any sort of film, quite frankly. You see, Hollywood is made up of a number of cliques: the Academy has a clique, the major studios have their cliques, and anyone connected with records is even more of an outsider than most people. As a matter of fact, record artists are suspect. It's assumed that anyone who has hit records cannot compose, and I could only get work from independent producers of small pictures. I would very much like to have done large pictures with large orchestras.
Some of my scores, CRY OF THE BANSHEE for instance, have passages I think that are really unlike anything being used for films. A major film might have given me the opportunity to come out with a really respectable suite of music. But the only films I was offered were small pictures. It's a fact that I was respected far more in Europe and South America than I was here, but I could only get B-pictures, always with a very, very small budget, and I learned to perform miracles with small orchestras.
Most of the orchestras were 30 musicians or under. We went in a hurry, monaurally, recording directly to the soundtrack, and nobody really thought of or took much interest in running off a quarter-inch protection. Neither did anyone think of preserving the original tapes for any sort of purpose. As soon as the film was recorded and the music tracks dubbed in, then they were erased or dumped into the garbage can.
The fact that now people think some of those scores were valuable is unfortunate, but didn't seem to matter at the time. Of the 100 or more films I have scored, only a handful of the original tapes have survived.
How long did AIP normally give you to score a picture?
Two weeks! And we did the actual recording of each score in 4 to 6 hours. The major studios were taking weeks to record, some of my friends were taking all day to do a main title, but of course I would finish an entire score in half a day.
I move more quickly than a lot of people because I trust the orchestra and I'm not as concerned with perfection as a lot of other people are. I have rarely found that the orchestra makes mistakes and I find one balance as interesting as another. My things are written to balance in the Stravinsky style.
I like emotion in a performance and I think you lose that if you go over it and over it. The musicians that I used were outstanding, I had the best musicians' in the world and I always insisted on certain people.
I had 4 to 6 concertmasters in my orchestra - Felix Slatkin was one. A lot of the Los Angeles Philharmonic concertmasters and top men from all the major studios were there, and the orchestra was never a problem, although the fidelity in those days was not so hot. But the orchestra always played beautifully, they played very well for me, they liked me and responded to my music. I use humor, which helps keep a pleasant atmosphere.
Were all AIP movies scored in 2 weeks, even MASTER OF THE WORLD?
Officially I was supposed to get 4 weeks, but the way things ran at AIP I barely got half that time, except in a few instances. The way it works… I see a script, the film is run for me, the producer does the 'spotting' and the music editor very quickly breaks down the cues and starts sending them out to me.
I start composing immediately because I never know whether I'm going to have 4 days or 2 weeks or whatever. (If it's television it goes on the air Tuesday night whether you're ready or not!). So you have to work fast. I ask them to please not cut me down to less than 3 weeks, but they keep cutting, the cue sheets still aren't coming out, and finally I get 2 weeks or less. I learned how to work very fast.
Did you work well together with Ronald Stein, the other composer at AIP? You're co-credited together on WARRIORS FIVE. Which sequences did you score, also what additional scoring without credit on Stein's PREMATURE BURIAL did you do?
AIP was a totally different set-up from, say, Warner Brothers where Korngold and Steiner were friends, or MGM with Rozsa and Kaper, etc. Things were done at great speed there and the fact is I never even met Ronald Stein! I was there 15 years, so was he, and I spoke to him perhaps once on the telephone. Offhand I don't recall working on WARRIORS FIVE or PREMATURE BURIAL, although the studio sometimes used my left-over cues or took my cues illicitly from other pictures.
I don't think I worked on SAMSON AND THE SLAVE QUEEN, but if you watch the film you can hear practically half the music from GOLIATH AND THE BARBARIANS. Actually, some of the titles in my filmography are things I could never dream of scoring… DAGMAR'S HOT PANTS, INC… what on earth's that?
Presumably they used my cues from another film and played them in the picture. And maybe another reason I don't recognise some of my film titles is they get re-titled. I did TAMBOURINE for Nicholas Ray, but some genius decided to call it HOT BLOOD, which sounds more like a vampire picture.
A film composer must presumably have to plunge himself into the mood of each movie he scores. Did all those Poe exercises ever begin to have a morbid effect on you?
Not in the least! It depends on one's attitude whether one considers them morbid. I found them stimulating and I loved the Poe stories. Today they do much bloodier and more terrible things which I would not find morbid, but I would probably not enjoy scoring. Really it's my profession. People ask do I have to be in a mood to compose or when do I do it. I do it in the daytime in a very businesslike manner because I know how to do what I'm doing. I have an enormous "bag of tricks" like most composers.
Going back to Beethoven and others of that period, I don't believe he waited for lightning to strike. I think Beethoven knew symphony form so thoroughly that he could in a very businesslike manner put together an exquisite work based on his skill.
Certainly, the themes we would hope come from some kind of marvellous or mysterious inspiration; but I do think composers, if they are quite knowledgeable or skilled at what they do, can create themes and compositions of much greater quality through their ability and their knowledge than people who are not as skilled and well-trained who are, shall we say, waiting for lightning to strike.
Do you feel you scored too many films in the horror genre? Or in the western genre?
Not at all. The more you do in one genre, the more opportunity you have to be different and experiment. Bach wrote a lot of fugues, but after he'd done a few, people didn't ask if he was a spent force. No, he carried on and wrote lots of others, brilliantly. The reason I did a lot of westerns is they were very big in the 50s. But horror films, in actual fact, present far less restrictions to a composer because of the extreme range or orchestral color at your disposal.
The hardest films to score are those like BORN AGAIN where nobody turns into a monster or develops X-ray vision, where there are no ghostly houses sinking into the swamp, etc. Straight movies are more exacting, one cannot be too indulgent in the instrumentation, and the drama and the situation have to be scored very accurately. One cannot have all storm or all loud. Loud is only loud if preceded by calm; soft is only soft if it follows loud. That's a very basis principle that some of the newcomers are missing.
Do you find working with the same director over a period of years (like, say, with Roger Corman) has a particular benefit on the end product?
Roger Corman never took any interest in the music, never attended a recording session. I think he was more of a businessman than anything else. Roger and I were hired separately and we worked separately. He would make a picture at breakneck speed; I would score it quickly while he went on to the next one.
Even so, I do like to feel that I take a serious interest in every work I do, even though pictures I've done were quickie pictures. Every note that I write I'm very serious about. I feel that it represents me and it's an original composition. So I took every movie no matter how small very seriously and tried to write a very good and original musical work.
How do you please a producer and retain your integrity?
A legitimate composer doesn't complain about restrictions. Perhaps an inexperienced, concert composer with an enormous ego who only wants to shoot off his lilted fireworks might complain about restrictions, but I don't. Sometimes I would pretend to give a producer what he thought he wanted, but in actual fact would work in a better idea or treatment.
Once James Nicholson (executive producer, AIP) called me into the dubbing room and said, "You know, Les, this isn't what I asked for… it's better!" He was an extremely kind and useful producer, and always said nice things about my work. But I was always sufficiently confident in myself to never be intimidated by any producer.
Do you like to research the music before composing the score?
Yes, absolutely. I would never want to be guilty of errors of authenticity. Fortunately, I have had a very wide musical training (I even studied Chinese music in my teens), and I know a lot about music of other countries. In the exotic album series, for example, I brought in actual African or South American or Cuban source music, and 'La Femme' was mainly French melodies. But it would be appalling to tackle something and not know what you're doing.
Why did AIP go to all the expense of having those Italian epics rescored? Your scores were excellent, but the original Italian scores were good also.
The feeling of James Nicholson was that the Italian scores were dreadful. The ones that I heard were really quite terrible and the ones I rescored almost unacceptable, both from a fidelity standpoint and a picture standpoint. I don't know how much improvement I made because I had such small orchestras, but at least we improved the fidelity.
The performing credit on GOLIATH AND THE BARBARIANS - Sinfonia of London conducted by Muir Mathieson - is a little surprising. Was that one of those dummy credits? (In 1953 Miklos Rozsa scored KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE in Hollywood, but the credits gave "London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Muir Mathieson" to get round a union restriction.)
I was sent to London to do GOLIATH AND THE BARBARIANS, and there was a union problem. Things that were done in London had to be conducted by an English conductor. It was very difficult in some of the foreign countries, Italy as well, to bring in a composer from the States to conduct his own work, owing to union restrictions.
I was delighted to have Muir do it, he conducted the music beautifully and I enjoyed working with him. He was a very strong-willed person and even changed the tempo of certain things in GOLIATH, which was startling because I wrote the music to fit the picture. But we had many wonderful conversations together as he was Scottish and I am Scottish.
Do you prefer to conduct your scores? It's noticeable that Al Simms was credited as "musical supervisor" or "musical co-ordinator" - whatever that means - on all your 57 scores for AIP.
I'm trained to conduct, I studied it for many years, and I think I'm best qualified to conduct my own work. In Hollywood I conducted all my scores. Al Simms sat in the booth and did his musical supervising from there. Meanwhile, outside, I conducted… quickly.
The only places I wasn't allowed to conduct were England and Italy. I did THE GLASS SPHINX in Rome, for example, but they made me sit in the booth while an Italian conductor (Franco Ferrara) conducted the music.
What about Mexico? Were there any problems there?
When I went there to score THE SACRED IDOL in 1959, I was flown in, ensconced in a hotel room and, without a piano or any instrument whatsoever, I sat down and wrote the whole score just sitting at a desk. Sounds difficult, but a composer if he's a composer can do that. Anyway, then we had trouble recording the music.
We found we could hire a Mexican orchestra and a Mexican recording studio, but never both together at the same time. Finally I had to bring the movie back to the States and score it here. But I do love the Mexican people and would never decline an offer to score a Mexican movie.
Do you still conduct your own orchestra or has it been disbanded?
Well, here's what happened. I was going great guns until rock'n'roll came along. Then, when they discovered they could sell a lot of records with just four or five guys in a rock group, they became disinterested in strings. Then, after a while, strings became more acceptable again, but rock was still king. So more and more, composers and orchestra leaders made use of session players.
These days I work a lot with the 101 Strings in England. They're a large and beautiful orchestra, we do a lot of both commercial and non-commercial albums together, and so where in the past you had 'Les Baxter and his Orchestra', now you have 'Les Baxter and the 101 Strings'. I'm mostly a composer now; only occasionally am I the artist.
Why did you score ALL THE LOVING COUPLES under the pseudonym 'Casanova'?
I simply never turn down anything. Once I made the mistake of turning down FANCY FREE for Jerome Robbins and recommended Leonard Bernstein to do it… It was the first great success of his career and since then I've never turned down anything. However, if the picture is of the nature of ALL THE LOVING COUPLES, I may use a pseudonym.
We're sorry to hear there has been a disgraceful rumour going around that you had some of your better scores "ghost-written" for you. Can you tell us how such a rumour could have started?
It is something believed only in Hollywood by members of the Academy's music branch, and by some of those cliques going around in the major studios. It was very easy to pick on Les Baxter because I was a "lone wolf", I was hired from outside the business, from records, and I was not a member of or had any friends in those cliques. And so I was under attack.
A disgruntled orchestrator, who emulated my style note for note, started spreading the rumour. He wanted more credit for himself, he wanted more jobs, and in the end he got more jobs. But the rumour, which started in a small way, gradually snowballed into a truly infamous scandal. The music departments at the major studios - the cliques - they really loved the story and for years I became the pet whipping boy in film music. If my name came up at MGM, for Instance, it was always with the greatest disdain.
They delighted in dismissing me as some sort of cafe orchestra leader with a violin under one arm, his back to the musicians and smiling at the customers. And the fact that - horror of horrors - I had hit records merely aggravated the situation. Suddenly, Les Baxter is the worst of those guys not doing his own stuff… he can't hold a pencil, he can't write a note, he can't read the scale, he knows nothing about music (but I had an honorary L. L. D. !).
Once, I was selected by MGM to do a big picture, GREEN MANSIONS, which they thought I was perfect for. But the staff there said, "No, no, don't use him." Bronie Kaper, a good friend to me over the years, had to do it and told me personally he would rather I had taken the commission.
But MGM would not give me any of their big pictures, only THE INVISIBLE BOY. I have handed out work to an orchestrator. It's common practice even by those composers in the major studios who have criticised me and supported the rumour. In such cases I have been uniquely fair and never taken due credit away from anyone. THE BIG DOLL HOUSE is credited solely to my orchestrator Hall Daniels.
But, one cannot just hand out some cue sheets to an orchestrator, a copyist, and say, "Go away and write me the whole score for GOLIATH AND THE BARBARIANS!" If an orchestrator could do that he'd be selling himself short to ridiculous lengths. No-one in the business sounds like I do.
My friends say they can always recognize my music even though I've done so many styles. CRY OF THE BANSHEE, for instance, is so vastly different from MASTER OF THE WORLD. I think too I'm unique in the business in that I have orchestrated more of my scores myself than any other composer. In 1972 I worked entirely on my own and did both FROGS and BARON BLOOD single-handed. The orchestrator I've used most often is someone I've known from childhood whom I taught to orchestrate; he knows that my work is completely original. He's never "ghost-written" for me.
(Hall Daniels, Baxter's leading orchestrator for over 25 years, confirms: "It's just sour grapes! All too often here people who are envious of the success of others try to undermine it. But no one, try as they may, can ever sound like Les.")
Isn't there a sort of hierarchy at work where classical composers all look down on those who compose film music?
And, by the same token, many film composers look down on those in the pop field… Don't forget that a number of film composers have become concert composers and vice versa, and that there is no longer such a strong distinction. Some of the great masters such as Wagner and Mahler occasionally sounded like movie music, even lesser movie music. People generally conclude all of Beethoven's works - I happen to believe Beethoven was the great composer of all time - were without exception brilliant.
But the truth is like all composers he had great works and lesser works and sometimes composed inferior stuff. It's not all good. Some of Mahler's lesser works sound like very bad film music, in my view. My own music is distinctly my own and in my own style, and there's no difference in style between my film scores and concert works.
That's why, for instance, the TV-score AN EVENING WITH EDGAR ALLAN POE was so easily adapted into The Edgar Allan Poe Suite. The subject matter writes the music and dictates the form, irrespective of whether it will be heard in the concert hall, in the cinema or on television. Coming back to why concert composers look down on film music…
I do feel that many so-called concert composers would dearly like to pick up the revenue from films, but in truth their avant-garde music is totally unacceptable in any field: unlistenable, evasive, and unpalatable. I'm especially proud of the concert commission I did for the Wilmington Symphony (The Movies: A Satirical Essay for Orchestra, 1973).
It was commissioned to open an opera house there and was a half-hour work, the last piece of the evening. They put on a very distinguished programme: Beethoven, Rodriguez and Baxter! The audience loved it and the critics loved it, but all that's left is the critical reviews, unfortunately. Nobody thought of recording it.
Of all your musical activities (films, records, concert works, theme parks, etc), which medium do you most like to work in?
I like to write music, never mind the medium. Fortunately, most of the films, records, theme parks, concert commissions I've done have given me "carte blanche" so I've done pretty much what I want to do. I like to work in all media, and I like to write for any size orchestra.
The Vincent Price TV-special, for example, used only a very small orchestra, a double string quartet. But like I said, I never turn anything down. I have to make a living. I wouldn't say I'd be happy to starve in an attic and just write what I believe in. It would be very self-indulgent to do that, to say I'm too good for this or that, or pretend I don't have to work like everyone else does. I have to work and I do work, but I try to do the best I can.
Even the rock music I've written I think has a certain elegance. I think it is foolish to compose for one's contemporaries out of embarrassment music that is safe and beyond criticism or is so weird that if a person criticises it, they supposedly don't understand it. I think there is new music that is accessible to the ear and which people will recognise as good music and like.
Can you explain to us your musical approach to FROGS?
We thought it would be a very interesting experiment (and I've always been daring in my scores or tried to be) to score the film entirely with synthesised sounds, in this case recorded frog sounds.
I taped frog sounds, slowed them down and used them I think intelligently and effectively. It was a one-man score all the way through - I composed it, arranged it and I played it on the synthesiser with no assistance from anyone. So it was marvelous later on when the Academy, who were always keen to get down all the music credits on each picture, asked me who collaborated on the score. I was delighted to be able to reply, "It was just me and the frogs!"
Does the effects dubbing by the sound department ever spoil your music?
Dubbing can ruin a score. When I did the gang picture series like HELL'S BELLES I would usually say if a cue included motor cycles revving away… forget it. I don't see any reason for composing music to get buried by things like that. Unfortunately, in my experience, the sound effects man and the composer have rarely got together to work things out. Both want to do their own thing.
What can you tell us about the row over A WOMAN'S DEVOTION?
In all these years I've never known anything about a row over A WOMAN'S DEVOTION. The director was very polite to me and no-one ever hinted that there was a problem. I think I read something in the Soundtrack! articles (prior source Media Montage) that the director objected to the use of a guitar. I did use an unamplified guitar as a solo instrument behind some of the scenes, but the director never at any time discussed with me what he wanted or did not want.
I had a great deal of respect shown to me at the time I scored the picture, anything I wanted to do I was allowed to do and no-one questioned it. For once I used a very large orchestra and I thought it was quite a good score. If anyone was displeased, I wish they'd have mentioned it.
May we know what your company Bax Music does? We noticed the credits for SAVAGE SISTERS gave "music composed and conducted by Bax". Is that another pseudonym?
Bax Music publishes all my albums and I run it together with Hall Daniels from a head office in Torrance. Any fans who want to write to me may write there. I was the only record artist for many years who did original suites, others did just standards, and Bax Music still publishes the music from my oId LPs even though they're not in release. 'Bax' is a rock name I've used from time to time whenever I've done rock scores.
Do you like having other people do the songs for pictures you're scoring?
I did a lot of successful rock movies and the BEACH series made a lot of money, but I always felt capable of writing a rock song myself if I was asked. I'm only sorry more of my music didn't get on the albums. In WILD IN THE STREETS - a fine, futuristic movie - I wrote a for then 'current' piece of music for the Sunset Strip sequence, which was a prediction of disco, progressive jazz and so on.
But they left it off the LP which is a pity… Sometimes a producer of a non-musical picture would try to persuade me to use somebody else's theme song, but I generally fought against that.
Coming now to television work, why are so many composers brought in to score TV-series these days?
Time limitations.
Gerald Fried said he was usually given 2 weeks to score a STAR TREK episode. What sort of time is allotted on the current BUCK ROGERS series per episode?
2 weeks is still about average, but I must tell you there is a lot of "weekend scoring" going on. See it on Friday, write it over the weekend and it's on the air Monday. I must say I can tell and don't like what I hear when people work too quickly.
AIP was a very economy-conscious studio, and I learned how to work very fast. However, I never write faster than I can work. And I don't believe in repeating cues over and over like some. I know my own style of music so well, I'm uninhibited, so I can do things quickly, but not all composers can… and not all TV-producers are obsessed with speed.
I once did an episode of something in 2 weeks, the next composer took 4 weeks over his, but he still got re-hired. On CLIFFHANGER last year, a series that had a lot of music, about 40 or 50 minutes music per week, they needed 3 composers working on alternate weeks. I wrote a new score every other episode by myself. On the second to last episode, I did the score and the producer came to see me and asked if I was tired after such a tough schedule. I said, "Not at all. What's on your mind?"
He asked if I could do the last show as well, since all the others seemed to be sick. This would mean two hourly shows in a row, a week apart. I said I'd be delighted. In the last segment we got to kill off Dracula, and I must tell you the orchestra really loved playing that last score.
I was staying in the Universal hotel, to be nearby if needed, when one of the executive producers called me from the dubbing room and said there were 10 people in the dubbing room, including the mixer who was very blasé, and that all 10 people were in tears and with cold chills. She said it had never happened before and it was my music.
At the end of the recording session, the orchestra had stood up and applauded, which is exceptionally rare in TV-scoring, to say the least. What I did, I simply threw in everything from my "bag of tricks" (including a little Tannhäuser!) into that last episode. I just pulled out all the stops and let the orchestra go.
Happily for me, something like that happened the previous year too. I did BORN AGAIN at Warner Brothers studios, using a good-sized orchestra. And people came out of the booth, the recording engineers and so on, to applaud the music, and ask me why this music isn't being heard more.
The session players get very blasé too, usually, and even fall asleep during sessions because it's so boring playing synthesised Ravel and Stravinsky every day. But one of the violinists stood up and said it was like a breath of fresh air. What more can a composer ask?
On the darker side, I suppose one must say that your concert works tend to stay in the piano bench, your hit records get all the attention, your movie scores get some attention sometimes, but your TV-scores just fly by one day in a week and nobody ever hears them again. It's like throwing music down the drain.
Are there any other film composers you particularly admire?
I love Jerry Goldsmith's score for THE OMEN. And David Raksin I think is wonderful, although I don't think he knows my work. Very few of them know my work… they haven't taken the time to listen. All they do is just say nasty things. If they went through the bulk of my work they'd realise it has to be the output of someone pretty serious.
Unfortunately, I have been what might be called a "lone wolf" or "loner" most of my career, even "outcast" might be appropriate, although I have acquired a number of friends in recent years, mostly in the concert field. Almost all the unpleasantness is forgotten now. There are certainly some megalomaniacs among film composers, but there are many sincere people also. Now I find many orchestras giving me a great deal of respect, and so do the composers I meet.
Are any of your closer friends noted film composers?
John Williams and I have been friends since our record days. He's really something special. Pete Rugolo has been a friend for years too, and André Previn and I were quite close in our teens before we went off in opposite directions.
Which would you say was your best film score?
I like MASTER OF THE WORLD, and I like the first long cue in CRY OF THE BANSHEE. I think HOUSE OF USHER has some certainly innovative sounds for a motion picture score, and I'm fond of THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM by the way.
There's some atonal music and experimentation on the main title that people are doing today and thinking they're doing something vastly new, but PIT AND THE PENDULUM was early sixties. It was a modern score for the time and I think I did some very interesting writing on that one. Playing against the picture was unusual then and came in very much later.
The Japanese feature cartoon ALAKAZAM THE GREAT was a' real wall-to-wall score, almost like a full-length ballet. The orchestra played really well for me that day, but don't ask me how I managed to fit new songs to Japanese lips mouthing Japanese melodies!
Unfortunately, the ALAKAZAM album had little to do with the movie proper. It was really just a little pop spin-off, and you have to see the picture itself to get the full effect. Howard Koch, a respected producer in the business, told me he thought my first score for him, YELLOW TOMAHAWK, was the best score he'd ever heard. It was Stravinsky-esque, but with voices, so rather bold for a B-western in 1954. It was a very good injun picture and I wrote an unusually modern score. A lot of people seem to like my end-titles, and I'm delighted. However one of the best I wrote was for a, rarely seen little movie called MACABRE.
Do you recall your Capitol albums with equal satisfaction?
Yes, there are a number of "original suites" I find particular satisfaction in recalling. I used colors that the average arranger was not using at the time; also I introduced Latin rhythms, African drums or Afro-Cuban drums to concert composing. When I went into a studio, everyone would say, "Well, it's Les's usual combination - a cello and 12 drummers!"
And sometimes that was true… my combinations were unusual at the time. People were used to just one drummer sitting at one drum-set, but I would come in with 4 drummers or maybe 12 Africans, and that was a little bit of a Puzzle to the people at Capitol Records, at first.
Yma Sumac was an unusual phenomenon too. It was during the Elvis Presley heyday, but who would have thought an Inca Soprano would have hit number one? There were at least 4 Peruvian folk albums out with Yma doing her thing before I did "Voice of the Xtabay", but those albums sold absolutely zero. Subsequently, she took on another musical director and her sales went back to zero.
Are there any recent films you would have liked to score?
My friend John Williams gets all the prize commissions these days… STAR WARS, SUPERMAN, etc. I would like to have scored ALTERED STATES as I admire Ken Russell and love his films. And I could do some interesting scores for any of the current crop of horror films. It's a matter of luck very often whether one scores a successful film. The luckiest guy in town is the one who happens to score the movie nominated as Best Picture. So often he gets the award.
Can you tell us about your most recent activities, also what your plans are for the future?
I'm moving back closer to Los Angeles and perhaps then I'll do more films and television. The recent musicians' strike caused a lengthy lay-off for most of us in that field. I'm intently studying Beethoven, primarily to get the clarity of symphony form as he used it. Also, I'm going through the Bach fugues again, continually studying counterpoint (fugue-writing). It's the counterpoint, by the way, that helps make the scores I've done recently, like BORN AGAIN, a little stronger.
Right now I'm doing yet another show for Sea World which will be recorded at the end of this month (February 1981). Actually, they've taken quite a liking to my songs there, so much so that last year they commissioned me to do an entire musical. It's a light and amusing work, the same kind of musical they would open on Broadway, and I would give anything if it were on Broadway instead of playing for whales and dolphins down at the park!
Originally published in Soundtrack! Magazine. Used by permission.


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Lenoir County Fair Senior Day; Trudy Pickett's Home Solutions column
Senior Day at the fair
Sept. 18 was Senior Day at the Lenoir County Agricultural Fair.
Sponsored by the Lenoir County Cooperative Extension, the special day offered an afternoon full of activities. Neuse Extension and Community Association members assisted seniors with games of bingo and making a take-home craft. ECA member Mary Tyndall assisted Mineko Holloway, executive director of the Lenoir County Council on Aging, and Kathy Brown with making a craft.
Another ECA member, Joan Wiggins, assisted with bingo.
Home Solutions: Carbon monoxide risks in the home
Carbon monoxide is a toxic gas produced when any carbon-based fuel is burned. It is colorless and odorless; therefore, you may not be aware of its presence. CO can collect in enclosed spaces (including homes, offices and workshops) without the awareness of the occupants.
According to the National Safety Council and the Center for Disease Control, between 500 and 1,000 people are killed in the home each year by CO. Nearly 5,000 people in the United States are treated in emergency rooms for carbon monoxide poisoning.
It is believed that many other people are made ill by exposure to elevated CO levels, but are either misdiagnosed or untreated.
Most carbon monoxide produced in homes comes from combustion of fuel for heating and cooking. CO may accumulate in the home when a blocked chimney, broken chimney flue or damaged furnace heat exchanger allows gases to enter the home. It can also enter the home from the garage when an automobile, lawn mower or other engine is in operation.
Backdrafting chimneys and flues (common when ventilation fans are used in tightly sealed homes) may allow combustion gases, including carbon monoxide, to enter the home.
Gas stoves and ranges can produce CO, which can present problems if the appliances are used for prolonged periods or if they are not operated properly. Gas ranges are not intended to be used to heat the home.
Some other common sources of carbon monoxide include unvented fuel burning space heaters and indoor use of charcoal for heating or cooking.
Carbon monoxide bonds to hemoglobin in red blood cells, interfering with the capacity of the hemoglobin to transport oxygen throughout the body. Common symptoms of CO poisoning include nausea, dizziness, weakness, muscle aches, vomiting and a general weakness or sleepiness. Because the symptoms may resemble the flu or food poisoning, carbon monoxide exposure may be mistaken for these common illnesses.
Carbon monoxide usually affects all occupants of a household at the same time (which may help distinguish carbon monoxide poisoning from the flu.) Higher dosages of CO can cause impaired judgment, confusion, paralysis, coma and death.
Victims of CO poisoning must be removed from exposure as quickly as possible and require prompt medical attention. Symptoms may not disappear immediately after the victim is removed from exposure to the gas. In some cases, symptoms may recur days or weeks later.
Regular inspection and maintenance of all fuel-burning appliances (stoves, furnaces, water heaters, dryers, etc.) should be conducted by a qualified technician. Metal flues and heat exchangers should be inspected for signs of rust or cracking.
Carbon monoxide detectors carrying the Underwriters Laboratories listing are recommended. Next week: �Carbon Monoxide Detectors, Do I Need One?�
Source: WVU Extension Service
Trudy W. Pickett is extension family and consumer agent at the Lenoir County Cooperative Extension Office, 1791 N.C. 11/55. Reach her at 252-527-2191 or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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I was very interested in trying out the latest OpenSolaris release, hoping to find an operating system that could rival the likes of Ubuntu and OpenSUSE. The goal of Project Indiana is basically to create GNU/OpenSolaris, slap on a GNOME desktop, and try to capitalise on OpenSolaris' key features, among which ZFS. I had the plan to write a nice review of it, but the experience was so bad, I had to let go of that plan.
The experience was nothing short of a major disappointment. I think if there is one word that really summarises the entire experience, it would be "slow". Installation is slow. Booting takes forever. It takes far too long for applications to load or for windows to appear. Responsiveness is terrible. On a slightly less important note, Compiz performs much worse on OpenSolaris than it does on Linux. On top of that, the package manager is slow during all operations - even downloading the packages. It was a horrible experience. I was using it on a 2.8Ghz Pentium IV with HyperThreading, 2GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA 6200 video card.
Of course, the OpenSolaris effort is still relatively new, so we should cut the project some slack. They should be given the time to mature the project, and work on improving the overall performance. In addition, they should also work on getting more packages in the repositories, because I could just about make out the tumbleweeds rolling across my desktop.
However, even if they did improve the overall experience (again, especially overall performance and responsiveness), there's an additional problem that I think is a little harder - if not impossible - to solve. While I was using OpenSolaris, it dawned on me that if it weren't for the custom theme, there's very, very little to set OpenSolaris (the Project Indiana variant, that is) apart from various Linux distributions.
And distributions like OpenSUSE, Fedora, and Ubuntu all provide a far, far better user experience than OpenSolaris does. While I see no problem in Sun trying to turn OpenSolaris into a Linux distribution (effectively) I'm left wondering if that's enough. I have the idea that if Sun wants OpenSolaris to achieve the same kind of success that desktop Linux distributions have seen, they'll have to offer something different.
As it stands now, OpenSolaris felt like a really, really bad Linux distribution from 5 years ago. I'm not saying that Solaris is a bad operating system - oh no - I'm just saying that it's a bad Linux distribution.
What are your experiences with OpenSolaris?


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[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]
Here with more exciting news is Victoria, who wants to tell you all about our just-announced BlackBerry Jam program! – Ed.
Over the past few years, one of the priorities for BlackBerry® Developer Relations has been growing community programs. We've worked to support, grow and promote BlackBerry Developer Groups, share more information, and help through our Inside BlackBerry Developer's Blog and @BlackBerryDev Twitter account.
We also recently hosted several BBM Apps Hackathons to help get developers started with our Social Platform pieces. We've been focusing on building relationships and finding new ways to collaborate with our developer communities.
I'm very excited to tell you a bit about the "BlackBerry Jam" program that was unveiled at BlackBerry DevCon Americas 2011. I think of BlackBerry Jam as a continuation of the promise that we are making to developers to keep listening, keep learning and keep sharing information back out to them.
So why did we call it BlackBerry Jam? It really goes back to jamming with your friends, your peers, and your family. It's those conversations that lead to new ideas and new connections.
BlackBerry Jam really highlights our commitment to working closely with developers to become an important partner in their success. This program draws together the services and programs we have built that help developers with go-to-market and success strategies, as well as aligning our Web portals with the BlackBerry Jam focus of communication and partnership.
One of the areas close to my heart is the BlackBerry Jam Community program.
BlackBerry Jam Community will encompass a lot of the programs we are building, allowing us to reach out to the community, connect with our developers and have face-to-face time. The Support Forums, the meetup programs we're involved in, the hackathons we've been hosting, our BlackBerry Developer Groups and global Developer Days will all be part of a larger BlackBerry Jam Session program.
This is a reinvigorated focus on "us": RIM and our developers. A pledge to continue our focus on how we can collaborate, to listen and use the feedback you are providing to us, to meet you and have you meet us, to find new ways to learn from each other and to work with you to evolve our tools and the support system we have in place for you.
I, for one, cannot wait to get started. So, how would you want to work with us, to jam with us?


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Margaret T. George, age 96, of Hawley died Thursday, March 20, 2014 at home.� She was preceded in death by her husband, David Lewellyn George, on March 27, 2004.
Margaret T. George, age 96, of Hawley died Thursday, March 20, 2014 at home. She was preceded in death by her husband, David Lewellyn George, on March 27, 2004.
Peggy George was born June 1, 1917, in South Orange, NJ, the daughter of the late Russell W. Trimpi and Hilda (Holtz) Trimpi. A graduate of Dana Hall in Wellesley, MA, and the Katherine Gibbs School, New York, NY, Peggy took up bridge as an adolescent and played at a highly competitive level well into her 90's. She was a longtime member of the American Contract Bridge League and the Honesdale Duplicate Bridge Group.
Peggy was a lifelong lover of and advocate for all animals. As a young woman she bred and showed Great Danes. She was a horsewoman as well, having ridden with the Essex County Hunt Club and the hunt club on Nantucket Island. Over the years her pets included tropical fish, turtles, quail, pigeons, an armadillo ("They make terrible pets!"), a skunk, squirrels, and many dogs. At the time of her death, her household included her beloved toy poodle Hannah, Kitty Cat, a stray she had rescued as a kitten, and Love Dove, a pet dove.
Peggy served her country during World War II as a driver for the Red Cross in New Jersey. David, also a resident of South Orange and a serious bridge player, proposed to her shortly after returning from military service. The couple married in 1946. David, who was an avid hunter and fisherman, loved bringing the family to the Trimpi camp outside Hawley weekends and summers. During those visits Peggy taught her boys and any other children around all about nature in the Pennsylvania woods. Peggy and David left Pelham, NY, to live full-time in Hawley upon his retirement from the International Paper Company.
The couple had three sons, David L. Jr., Russell T., and William T. George, all of whom preceded them in death.
She is survived by two daughters-in-law: Susann P. George of Hawley and Lindsay Barrett George of White Mills; four grandchildren: Russell T. George, Jr. of Hawley, Matthew S. George and his wife Jessica Ann (Foster) of Hawley, William T. George, Jr. of Washington, DC, and Campbell Barrett Kawka and her husband Ernest of Geneva, Switzerland; two great grandchildren: Zachary M. Meling and Natalie Ann George, both of Hawley; three nephews: John Trimpi, Michael Barrett, and Rick Trimpi; and two nieces: Robin B. Mechem and Jane Trimpi Kiesel.
A Memorial Service will be scheduled later in Spring. Private cremation was held at Lake Region Crematory, Lake Ariel.
Memorials may be made to Hawley Public Library, 103 Main Ave., Hawley, PA 18428; NEPA Audubon Society, 600 Park St., Honesdale, PA 18431 or www.nepaaudubon.org; Hospice Of Sacred Heart, 340 Montage Mountain Rd, Moosic, PA 18507; Hawk Mountain, 1700 Hawk Mountain Rd., Kempton, PA 19529 or www.hawkmountain.org.
For further information or to leave a Remembrance Candle, please go to www.TeetersFuneralChapel.com. Funeral arrangements were made by Teeters' Funeral Chapel, 505 Church St., Hawley, PA 18428.


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An independent review into an August arraignment of Jared Remy, who is charged with killing his girlfriend, found that the Middlesex District Attorney's Office could have pursued information about him more aggressively in the days before the murder.
An independent review into an August arraignment of Jared Remy, who is charged with killing his girlfriend, found that the Middlesex District Attorney's Office could have pursued information about him more aggressively in the days before the murder.
Former Essex County District Attorney and Secretary of Public Safety Kevin Burke and Norfolk County First Assistant District Attorney Jeanmarie Carroll concluded their independent review of Remy's arraignment on Aug. 14 in Waltham District Court, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan announced Wednesday.
Remy was charged at that time with assaulting Jennifer Martel, his girlfriend, at their Waltham home. The next day, Martel, formerly of Taunton, was found murdered at their home, and Remy was charged with the crime.
Ryan said during a press conference Wednesday that she was not aware Remy had been charged with assaulting his girlfriend until the night of Martel's murder.
"Looking at the way these tragic events unfolded, it's clear we should have done something differently," Ryan said. "I am answerable for all the decisions of the 258 employees in the 40,000 cases they prosecute each year."
The review revealed that there was information about Remy that could have been pursued more aggressively and assessed more thoroughly prior to arraignment. The review also concluded that assistant district attorneys in the district court would benefit from a more formalized structure of supervision by more senior prosecutors when making bail recommendations, a change that had been instituted in August across the county by Ryan, according to her office.
Burke, who was also at the press conference, would not disclose the name of the assistant district attorney at Remy's assault arraignment and Ryan would not say whether he was being disciplined. Ryan did say he had been working with the DA's office for two and a half years before the arraignment and continued to work there today.
"He made a calculus that led to a decision that was not the best," Ryan said. "In this case we considered all these appropriate factors; he just did not give sufficient weight to the criminal record."
Burke noted that in hindsight it was easy to point out that Remy "was and is dangerous." Prosecution on the district level could be changed, Burke said, adding that there should be time given for consultation and supervision of the handling of domestic violence cases.
"What was missing," Burke's report stated, "was attention at the pre-arraignment stage on decision-making by assistant district attorneys and victim witness advocates and their need for supervision and consultation on whether and when to move for a dangerousness hearing, how to analyze that issue at that stage, what conditions of release should be requested, what risk factors should be addressed at the pre-arraignment stage, how to include the victim's involvement or expressed interests, and similar matters."
The report stated that a "deficiency" before the arraignment led to the decision to request that Remy be released with only bail warnings and a no abuse order.
"We found that Remy's domestic violence criminal history, the facts in the August 13, 2013, police report, and the fact that there was a young child in the home were not given sufficient weight, while the victim's decision not to come to court to extend the emergency restraining order or to request conditions of release was given excessive consideration in the evaluation," the report said.
A comprehensive overhaul in the office's handling of domestic violence cases is not needed, the report added.
Ryan said they would not be providing the report in its entirety, as just the executive summary and scope of the investigation was provided to the press. The report could be released upon conclusion of Remy's trial.
Ryan would not say whether she had personally apologized to Martel's family, but did make them a vow.
"I spoke with Jennifer's mother and as an experienced prosecutor and more importantly, as a parent, I know there is absolutely nothing that we can say to her or her family that assuages the pain and the loss that they feel," Ryan said. "What we can pledge to her is that we have made those policies and practices that we believe do everything humanly possible that maximizes the safety of victims."
Ryan defended her reputation on the matter when asked about people calling for her resignation immediately following Martel's death.
"I am not going to be distracted from our mission here by calls to politicize something that is a tragedy, and that's what this is – this is a terrible, terrible tragedy," Ryan said.
Remy, who is the son of famous Boston Red Sox broadcaster Jerry Remy, was arraigned on the murder charge in Middlesex Superior Court in October. He is being held without bail and his trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 7, 2014.
Ryan denied all claims that Remy's last name had any influence on the decisions made in the case.
Despite the initiatives and policy changes taken by Ryan and her office since the murder of Martel, Ryan was not convinced herself that the end result would have been different in Martel's case.
"In light of the changes that we made, I would expect that there would have been a different recommendation [in court]," Ryan said. "What would have happened after that recommendation was made, obviously we cannot say."


text:
http://mmajunkie.com Welterweight Ricardo Funch (8-2 MMA, 0-2 UFC) is returning to the UFC as an injury replacement at next month's UFC 142 event in Brazil.
Funch has replaced injured Paulo Thiago (14-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC) and now meets Mike Pyle (21-8-1 MMA, 4-3 UFC), UFC officials today announced.
Featuring a featherweight title fight between current champion Jose Aldo and undefeated contender Chad Mendes, UFC 142 takes place Jan. 14 at Rio de Janeiro's HSBC Arena.
UFC 142's main card airs on pay-per-view, and the prelims, including Pyle vs. Funch, air on FX.
Funch, a Brazilian now based out of Massachusetts, joined the UFC in 2009 as an undefeated prospect. However, following a decision loss to Johny Hendricks a submission defeat to Claude Patrick, UFC officials cut ties with the fighter in 2010.
After an 18-month layoff from competition following the release, "Golden Boy" fought at a Dec. 3 Premier FC event in Massachusetts. There, Funch scored a unanimous-decision victory over Bellator veteran Ryan Quinn (6-2-1 at the time).
Pyle returns to action after a disappointing setback to red-hot prospect Rory MacDonald at UFC 133, which snapped a three-fight win streak. Those previous triumphs included Jesse Lennox, John Hathaway and Ricardo Almeida that had the IFL/Strikeforce/WEC vet close to title contention.
The latest UFC 142 card now includes:
MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view)
- Champ Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes (for featherweight title)
- Vitor Belfort vs. Anthony Johnson
- Mike Massenzio vs. Rousimar Palhares
- Carlo Prater vs. Erick Silva
- Edson Barboza vs. Terry Etim
- Sam Stout vs. Thiago Tavares
- Ricardo Funch vs. Mike Pyle
- Fabio Maldonado vs. TBA
- Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Ednaldo Oliveira*
- Felipe Arantes vs. Antonio "Pato" Carvalho
- Yuri Alcantara vs. Michihiro Omigawa
* – Not officially announced
For the latest on UFC 142, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.
(Pictured: Ricardo Funch)


text:
Roehl Transport CDL Truck Driver in Valparaiso, Indiana
You'll have predictable and consistent home time with a set schedule in any of our Flatbed HOMEtime PLUS™ fleets.
Choose between one of our two flexible schedule work configurations:
- 14 days driving, 7 days off
- 7 days driving, 7 days off
You'll drive OTR and deliver unique freight across America and Canada, and then you'll be home for the time prescribed by your fleet.
Flatbed Primary Commercial Zone
The Flatbed HOMEtime PLUS™ Fleets offer many of the same benefits as the OTR Flatbed Fleet, including the Your Choice Pay Plan ™ that allows you to earn a pay increase each quarter up to our top rate, and you'll also be paid for extras like tarping.
We pay you for services many other companies overlook—like all intermediate pickups and drops, tarping pay, premiums if you go to NYC and Canada.
Availability of specific fleet options and pay will vary by location.
Our Driver Employment Specialists can provide the options availble in your area.
This particular fleet is based out of one of our Las Vegas, Phoenix, central Wisconsin, Chicago, or Atlanta locations.
CDL Truck Driver
US - IN - Valparaiso


text:
Enter the Starlink: Battle for Atlas Sweepstakes!
Enter the Starlink: Battle for Atlas Sweepstakes!
Enter the Starlink: Battle for Atlas Sweepstakes for your chance to win out of this world prizes, like FREE Dippin' Dots, a Starlink prize pack, or a $350 gift card!
Click below to enter the Starlink: Battle for Atlas Sweepstakes today!Enter Now!
@DippinDots are the key to my heart
Dec 1
Dippin' Dots fan right here! What flavor do you cheer for?!
Nov 26
If I see Dippin Dots, I will buy Dippin Dots? You hear that, @DippinDots?
Oct 8
Spookies 'n Cream is eerie-sistably good! It's the perfect treat that all boys, ghouls, mummies and daddies will love!
Oct 1
Dippin dots 4 life
Sep 15
I need some @DippinDots !! But what's new lol
Sep 9
Who dough-sn't love Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dippin' Dots?
Sep 7
What do all of these things have in common? They're all a lot of FUN!
Aug 20
Bubble Gum? More like Bubble YUM!
Aug 7
Well that day has come!!! Just ordered DIPPIN DOTS to be served at my wedding!!!! 😍😍😍 @DippinDots #10days
Jun 6
Had a good time at the baseball game today #dippindots (📷:@hannah.aspinwall)
May 30
We hope you enjoyed the zoo and your Dippin' Dots, Lazaro Abundes from Chicago! (📷: @labundes)
May 21
@DippinDots can you please start to sell dippin dots tubs? Because 3oz at a time is not enough.
May 13
Dippin' Dots website not only tells you where the closest store is, but also the places that have dippin' dots coolers.(📷@aliciacferguson)
Apr 20
Ran this morning with some kind of snow resembling #DippinDots pelting me in the face. Ready for spring! #6run4 #cbus (@happypower_1)
Apr 17
#dippindots #virginiabeach (📷:@laurenmekennedy)
Apr 14
when is @DippinDots gonna figure out they should sponsor this blizzard as a means of promotion (@heidi_naps)
Apr 14
Whoever said money can't buy happiness is wrong! It can buy dippin' dots and that's happiness! (📷: @azure_chaos)
Apr 12
Date night + @OrlandoMagic game + #DippinDots = me living my best life 🏀🏀 (@TreniseFerreira)
Apr 11
#dippingdots#happykid#growingtofast (📷: @alwaysthetrueme)
Apr 9
Skip the Ferris wheel. Dodge the Tilt-a-Whirl. You're here for the fun, sweet, melt-in-your-mouth Cotton Candy Dippin' Dots Ice Cream!
Apr 10
I LOVE @DippinDots 💕 . I wish I had a life's supply of it 😍 !
Apr 8
Dippin' Dots CEO Scott Fischer shared his 5 tips that has led to the success of Dippin' Dots on MSNBC's "Your Business."
Apr 8
Went to the zoo today, and it wouldn't be complete without dip n' dots 🍦🍦 . (📷: @ableachlife)
Apr 8
The sweet taste of springtime!
Mar 29
Everyone's getting married and having kids and I'm sitting here watching how Dippin' Dots are made.
Mar 25
My dipping dots date forever ❤ love her so much and am so thankful I get to be her mama! #mymini #dippindots (📷:@staciemh87)
Mar 25
I want @DippinDots.
Mar 22
Atlanta zoo. Quinn was more intrigued with his dippin dots than the animals around him.🦅(📷: @fullmetalquincy)
Mar 21
I may have been the only adult in line for these 😊I'm a happy girl 🤗 #dippindots #stl #pinkconcert #marathoner (📷: @ally_o_run)
Mar 14
Never too early for dippin dots right???? #dippindots #cottoncandy #icecream #breakfast (📷: @russell_wolfpack)
Mar 13
Could literally live on @DippinDots.
Mar 11
Orange you glad we have orange ice flavored Dippin' Dots?
Mar 5
@harper_leigh119 A little mommy and me time with Chuck E. #dippindots #chuckecheese #mommyandme #letthembelittle #brandrep #harperleigh119
Feb 21
#dippindots @dippindots Fun day with my big girl
Feb 19
@_mallorymae Dippin' Dots with Dot in polka-Dots🍦 #dippindots
Feb 10
@lorieggleston31 Babygirl had her best meet yet! Dippin' Dots for the win! #waytogoac #dippindots #happygirl #anothermeetinthebooks #ggi
Feb 9
@kylereynoldsmusic @kalinriley and I freakin did stuff today and it was awesome. #dippindots #kayaking #seals #tacos #stuff
Jan 28
@emilie_and_evan Yum! Dippin Dots in Cookies and Cream is our favorite. #dipping #dippingdots #icecream #smile #siblings #instasnack
Jan 22
@rheabioreTo be a kid again... #chuckecheese #dippindots #familyfunday #nobills #tobeakidagain
Jan 18
dippindotsWOW, @afashionnerd's outfit is as colorful as our Dippin' Dots! We love your style Amy! Enjoy the Dippin' Dots! :) #dippindots
Jan 16
@shopper76 #icecreamofthefuture #dippingdots
Jan 7
@exploring__places🤩🍦🎡// #exploringtheglobe #exploring__places #exploringtheworld #exploringlosangeles#photooftheday #dippingdots#icecream
Jan 2
Had a great day with my Jude #mommysondate #thelastjedi #dippindots
Dec 27
@xoxo_missbrileybee ...These 3 enjoying #dippindots together ....They are so sweet to BRILEY🐝
Dec 12
@nadiamumster Friday Nights @dippindots at the Reigns VS Heats game with @shasha_n13
Dec 18
@chloetracey29 #dippindotsatjingleball
Dec 8
As the sponsor of the #DippinDotsatJingleBall 💃 concert, we held a "Cheers to You" contest to give someone a one-of-a-kind experience in NY
Dec 8
Huge throw back to my childhood today with cotton candy Dippin' Dots. So much love for these tiny dots of ice cream.
Dec 5
You know you love your family when you share your Dippin' Dots. (📸 @howwelife)#Cousins #HowWeLife #dippindots #family #wildadventures
Nov 25
Rainbow Dippin' Dots 🌈 #rainbow #rainbows #icecream #dippindots #frozen #dessert #sugar #sugary #sweet #snack #food #foodie #photo
Nov 14
Nicolette Huebner
Screaming Ice Cream Dippin' Dots 📸 @Nicolette Huebner
Nov 13
@mandy l.c.y.
🍨#dippindots(📸:@mandy l.c.y.)
Nov 5
Happy Halloween 🎃 Claire won first place at baby boo at the zoo! #firsthalloween #dippindots (📷: @hayleydiane)
Oct 31
First Halloween! My girls are the "sweetest". Literally. #dippindots (📷: @diblingdelight)
Oct 29
When you found out 30 seconds ago you can order @DippinDots online.. #DippinDots #TellMeSomethingGood
Oct 28
I'm the happiest 31 year old child in the whole place!!!!! #dippindots #rainbow #yum #itsoktobejealous #thankyouabbey (📷:@rachellimebeer)
Oct 26
Always have to get my favorite food in the whole world💕 #dippindots (📷: @bailey.grayy)
Oct 15
Orlando soooon which means....@DippinDots I'm coming for you!!!!!! 😍😍😍
Oct 15
Fall in love with #DippinDots all over again with FREE Dippin' Dots on your birthday & special online offers! Sign up for the Dot Crazy club
Oct 11
Offer the kid a spoon and he uses his hands. #stonemountainpumpkinfestival #stonemountainpark #babylove #dippindots (📷:@christinecarollo)
Oct 8
A Sunday well spent brings a week of content. #SundayFunday 📸: @alexjulian91
Oct 8
#dippindots #badgerhockey #creasecreatures #uwathletics #badgers #thanksforreadingallmyhashtags (📷: @jonathandstevens)
Oct 6
In desperate need of some @DippinDots
Oct 1
This October, we're Dippin' & Poppin' for pink! We've teamed up with Susan G. Komen in the fight against breast cancer - and you can help!
Sep 28
She loves some dippin dot ice cream !!! #dippindots #icecreambaby #kentuckykingdomday (📷: @miss_k_a_t_e)
Sep 24
Could go for some @DippinDots right now
Sep 23
@DippinDots would make this day so much better.
Sep 21
Ice cream time #dippindots #southbank (📷: @kylz182)
Sep 20
shoutout to the guy next to me eating @DippinDots for breakfast
Sep 18
I could never say no to #dippindots 👯 (📷: @belknap.hannah)
Sep 13
My son dumped @DippinDots into my purse today. #parenthood #toddlers #lifewithboys
Sep 13
I had a dream that I was about to get @DippinDots .... and right before I got it I woke up .... not cool brain
Sep 12
Finally got a @DippinDots fix at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom today!
Sep 5
It's safe to say Christian loved his first Ice cream #christianalexandercarroll #dippindots #laborday #familytime #milestones (📷: @tns2262)
Sep 4
Spookies 'n Cream is eerie-sistably good! It's Cookies 'n Cream, all dressed up for Halloween. Check out Spookies 'n Cream...it's a scream!
Sep 1
Welp my boyfriend clearly spoils me... ☺#dipndots (📷: @heartsaraht)
Aug 30
I could really go for some @DippinDots. Where'd that craving come from?
Aug 30
Pure happiness and deliciousness #DippinDots #sixflags (📷: @nategeezy44)
Aug 28
I am determined to have a @DippinDots bar at my wedding 😛
Aug 25
Mom looked away for one second.... 👅🍦🍦 (📷: @yorkiegnss)
Aug 24
Y'all Dan & Nicola had never heard of @DippinDots before getting here on Monday. Lets just say they have a new food they love 😂
Aug 23
#CheyenneZoo#ColoradoSprings#DipNDots#Bestfriends (📷: @lindseyylou92)
Aug 20
Looking for a sweet treat while watching the silver screen? Dippin' Dots is the coolest co-star for whatever movie you're watching.
Aug 10
Hudson doesn't want the summer to end. #dippindots #summerfun #stonemountain #funkybunch #sweettooth #sweetkid #huddylove (📷:@genevievenoel
Aug 10
Raise your hand 🤚🏼if you like #dippindots #icecream #cowabungabay #vegassummerday #summervacation #waterparkfun (📷: @rickyanddominic)
Aug 9
#dipndots #icecream #quicktreat #railridersgame #scrantonwilkesbarrerailriders #firsttimers #fun #birthdayparty (📷: @bella_lisamerritt)
Aug 6
So just had my first experience of Dippin' Dots! 😍 well done america! #culture #dippindots
Aug 6
@DippinDots are AMAZZZING
Aug 6
Cooling off with some Dippin Dots #myloves #myworld #mywhy #dippindots #makingmemories (📷: @charmain_okumura)
Aug 5
Last full week of summer break. Somehow, time managed to fly by. Thanks to @dollywood for all the fun over the last few days. 📷:@unboxedmom
Aug 3
The only good #dippindots is in my belly @DippinDots #yummy #besticecream
Aug 2
it's august 1st and i haven't had @DippinDots yet this summer😩
Aug 1
A salute to service! Dippin' Dots honored U.S. Military personnel and their families during an appreciation day at Six Flags America
Aug 1
Monkeying around #whatcolorismytongue #zoo #summer2017 #dippindots #animaloutthecage #sundays #sillyface (📷: @bombayduckling)
Aug 1
Most people go to the zoo for the animals. We go to the zoo for #dippindots 😍🍧☀ (📷: @marceewhoa)
Jul 31
His first time having Dippin Dots! Of course he LOVED them and thought they were the COOLEST!! #milwaukeezoo (📷: @orangegoat14)
Jul 31
@mia.banion & @ryleighmangen
#dipndots #greatclipsgreatpics (📷:@mia.banion)
Jul 30
Dippin' Dots, Titus O'Neil & Susan G. Komen come together to achieve our common goal of preventing & curing breast cancer.
Jul 29
I'm going to a baseball game tomorrow which is fun and all but what I'm really excited for is the cup of @DippinDots I'm gonna get FINALLY!?
Jul 29
Rick Lamb
Without a doubt I am Dippin Dots number 1 fan. Frozen bliss.
Jul 28
@leahvoysey @mbertani
Yesterday I ate dessert for every meal. It was pretty epic. #dippindots (IG: @leahvoysey 📷: @mbertani)
Jul 28
Hey Dippin' Dots- my dog is cooler than your dog!
Jul 27
Because every successful adventure ends with dippin dots ⚪🔵😋 #dippindots #endofdaytreat #cookiesncream #icecream #thisissummer #notsobaby
Jul 27
You're never too old for #dippindots
Jul 27
First dippin' dots experience #allsmiles #dippindots (📷: @bessmihyun)
Jul 25
#Nats are trailing 7-0... but I got @DippinDots so I'm still in a good mood. #baseball
Jul 25
That time you come to the US all the way from the UK and have to try #dippindots coz @carliejoprints swears by them
Jul 25
Saluting those who serve. This Saturday, July 22nd, join Dippin' Dots 🍡 and Six Flags America in celebrating our national heroes!
Jul 21
One must always accessorize with the hopes that ice cream will be a part of the day #cocolove #detroitzoo #dipndots (📷:@sarahleblanc_rf)
Jul 20
In desperate need of some rainbow ice @DippinDots
Jul 18
#dippingdots #amusementpark #funday #delicious (📷: @isa_castellon)
Jul 16
How sweet it is to be loved by you. Congrats @maceinyoface5 and @blakebozett on your wedding! (Photo: @maceinyoface5/@andieaveryphoto)
Jul 6
#DippinDots sound sooo good rn 😍
Jul 5
If I could get a giant bucket of @DippinDots I would be happy forever 😍😍😍🙂😊
Jul 5
Fulfilling her dream of eating Dipping Dots in different baseball stadiums across the country. #dippingdots #suntrustpark(Photo:@taryn.pond)
Jul 4
#4thofjuly with baseball, family, and @dippindots. pretty sure this is as america as it gets. (photo: @tiffness.fitness)
Jul 4
If I had some @DippinDots right now, I would be a happy camper
Jul 2
We love us some dippin dots!! #lagoon #dippindots #yummy (photo: @hope_e_robinson)
Jun 30
Dang I think I have officially decided that @DippinDots is my favorite ice cream. 😱 I love the dots
Jun 29
Just be yourself and have fun! #WednesdayWisdom
Jun 28
What do I want? @DippinDots!!! When do I want it? Now!!!
Jun 27
Yummy @dippindots 😁 Love it here at @kentuckykingdom #vacation #sundayfunday #dippindots (photo: @stess420)
Jun 26
All this #internationalfedtival food around them and all they want is #dippindots (Photo: @heatheraientile)
Jun 25
#dippindots in #wildwood #funnight on the #beach & #boardwalk (photo: @kindlykenikki)
Jun 23
Sophia loves Dippin Dots! #dippindots #dessert #navypier (photo: @masterranma)
Jun 22
Why are @DippinDots so much better than regular ice cream? 😍😍😍
Jun 21
He should be a @DippinDots #model (Photo: @Sarahlillian77)
Jun 19
Went to a baseball game, lost another tooth, and had some #dipndots. Great Father's Day. (Photo: @inktolbert)
Jun 18
💙 Dad . . . A son's first hero, a daughter's first love. Happy #FathersDay
Jun 18
Best thing invented since ice-cream... Dippin dots #dippindots (Photo: @starduz)
Jun 17
The munchkin 👸 has good taste... 👨👧 #likefatherlikedaughter #mintchocolatechip #dipndots (Photo: @hapahaoleboy)
Jun 17
Windows down, wind in my hair, eating @DippinDots, living my best life.
Jun 17
Daydreaming of banana split @DippinDots out of a @Braves hat souvenir cup
Jun 15
One nation, one people, one flag 🇺🇸. Happy #FlagDay
Jun 14
Getting it out of the way... #dippindots @ Six Flags Over Georgia &… (photo:@dt_ono)
Jun 14
I love Dippin Dots and Sundaes!!! #dippindots #Angelsbaseball #Yankees (photo: @Ava_Silvas)
Jun 13
🍡 Want free Dippin' Dots on your birthday and special online offers? Sign up for the Dot Crazy! email club! #TipTuesday
Jun 13
this is how we do lunch on vacation! #vacation #dipndots #rainbowflavor #icecream #nyc #vacationfood (photo: @jessanne7586)
Jun 12
We loved our Dippin' Dots in our OKC Dodger helmet bowls!!!! #dippindots #perfectonahotday #baseball #okcdodgers (Photo: plexusgrl87)
Jun 12
When @DippinDots is screaming ur name 💆
Jun 12
These strawberry @DippinDots are 🔥🔥🔥
Jun 9
#2017 #dippindots #universalstudios #harrypotter #icecream #iphonephotography #iphone7 (Photo: Sid1529)
Jun 8
@ValeriaBetanc Can @DippinDots endorse me to travel the world and find new flavors for newer Dippin Dots ??
Jun 7
How Teddy feels about dippin dots 😎... because who doesn't love dippin dots?#oceanbreeze #waterpark #dippindots (photo: the_mrs_christenson
Jun 6
NOW summer can begin 😁 #knoebels #companypicnic #dippindots #mintchocolate
Jun 5
The bus broke down and I was not happy but then the truck stop had this.... @DippinDots
Jun 4
Do you think I could get @DippinDots to sponsor me? Like I'm not famous or anything but I just live for Dippin Dots and will tell everyone
Jun 4
😻 All you need is love . . . and a cat 🐱 #HugYourCatDay
Jun 4
🍡 Live for the moments you can't put into words! 🌈 #FriYay
Jun 2
@DippinDots bring me so much happiness. I'm on cloud 9 right now 😍
May 30
Celebrate 🍡 Honor 🇺🇸 Remember 🙏 #MemorialDay
May 29
Have some fun with your food! 🌈 📸: @ryanmc715
May 28
The @detroitzoo opens at 9am. So today, I went there and had @DippinDots...at 9am.
May 27
#DippinDots + the beach?! Yep, that sounds pretty perfect! #DippinDots30a #SoWal #SouthWalton #YUM #YummyInMyTummy #30a #DippinDotsIceCream
May 25
I didn't know people went to places like the zoo, stadiums or arenas for anything other than @DippinDots
May 24
💯 Be yourself, everyone else is taken. #WisdomWednesday
May 24
A girl without Dippin' Dots is like a day without sunshine @DippinDots #bitsofhappiness
May 23
Dippin' Dots is the best! The banana split flavor is 🙌🏽💯😋. I always have to get some when I go to Universal.
May 22
Dippin' Dots by the sea☀🍡⛵ 📷: @hersheysunnyisles
May 21
It's not officially a #baseball game until I've eaten #icecream out of a baseball cap. ⚾ #AtlantaBraves @Braves @SunTrustPark @DippinDots
May 20
It's Friday, be fierce. #FridayNight #Friyay
May 19
Aaaand this thread is how I started seriously considering Dippin' Dots as my wedding dessert...
May 18
👍 Good energy is contagious! #WednesdayWisdom
May 17
💗 We LOVE fan pics 📸! This one comes from Chacha Shen (on IG). Thank you! 🙏 What's she eating? --> 🍡 http://dippindots.link/YoDots
May 16
Could really use some @DippinDots at work right now. #BoringCorporateLife
May 16
👨🏫 A teacher takes a hand, opens a mind, and touches a heart ❤ #NationalTeachersDay
May 9
I LOVE Dippin Dots!
May 9
Remember - You're a force 💫 to be reckoned with 💪 💅 #MayThe4thBeWithYou
May 4
The answer you've been waiting for! @RocketCenterUSA sells 25,000 3oz. bags, or 30,000,000 individual @DippinDots per year!
May 4
Don't forget to tell your siblings 👨👩👧👦 you're thinking of them 💓 #BrotherandSisterDay
May 2
Idk ab yall, but I need me some @DippinDots right now. I love dippin dots.
May 1
Dippin' Dots are an egg-cellent addition to any Easter basket that everybunny will love. 🐰
Apr 14
Hey zoo lovers - it's your day to go bananas! Happy Zoo Lover's Day from Dippin' Dots! #dippindots #icecream #tastethefun #zoo #love
Apr 8
Enter the Batter Up Sweeps for your chance to win tickets to a ballgame or FREE Dippin' Dots! promos.dippindots.com/batterup
Apr 3
Dippin' Dots Home Delivery will soon be flying the friendly skies by offering drone delivery, right to your front door!
Apr 1
Puppy kisses are pretty sweet...but so are Dippin' Dots. Happy #nationalpuppyday!
Mar 23
Happy St. Patrick's Day!🍀 What's the only thing better than a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow?🌈 A cup of Dippin' Dots! Lucky you!
Mar 17
Why dunk your Oreos when you can give them a dip? #DippinDots #Oreo #NationalOreoDay
Mar 6
A Rich Blend of Chocolate & Crème de Menthe Ice Creams!
Mar 2
Do you know just how cold the Dippin' Dots HQ freezer is? Check out Dippin' Don't Ya Know? to find out! http://www.dippindots.com/Didyaknow-
Feb 17
Everyone knows Dippin' Dots are cool. But do you know just how cold they actually are? Check out Dippin' Don't Ya Know? to find out!
Feb 17
@DippinDots are PHENOMENAL and I will NEVER get to old to eat them hahah #justsayin
Feb 7
#IceCreamforBreakfastDay is a thing. And it's glorious! #dippindots #breakfastofchampions
Feb 4
Big game, big flavor, big fun! No matter who wins the big game, everyone wins with Dippin' Dots! #riseup #gopats #dippindots #yummy #superbo
Feb 2
Share your Dippin' Dots love story & use #dippindots #lovestory. Had Dippin' Dots on your first date? Had them at your wedding? Let us know!
Feb 2
#IceCreamForBreakfastDay is a thing. And it's glorious! 🎉 #dippindots #icecreamforbreakfast #breakfastofchampions #foodie #yummy
Feb 4
💗Share your Dippin' Dots love story💗and use #dippindots #lovestory. Did Dippin' Dots help melt some hearts? #heart #love #valentinesday
Feb 2
Go Frozeti, it's your birthday! Enter the Big Birthday Giveaway for a chance to win great prizes! Go to promos.dippindots.com/bigbirthday
Jan 26
AP Entertainer of the Year and Star of Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda is reading up on Dippin Dots! #HamiltonMusical #DippinDots
Jan 9
HE'S HERE, PEOPLE. President Will D. Herbert has flown in from California to give the people what they want: @DIPPINDOTS. 🇺🇸
Nov 28
What's better than @DippinDots?! Best sweets at #SharkGroupLife #NationalDessertDay
Oct 14
Our personal favorite @DippinDots flavor, Cougar Freeze... no bias. #NationalDessertDay
Oct 14
Have you downloaded the Dessert Remix by @dawin yet? Download it now! http://www.dippindots.com/dessertremix #dippindots #Dawin
Jul 18
Tailgate the right way with Dippin' Dots! Choose your team colors and create your own flavor for ultimate tailgating experience.
Dec 1
Dippin' Dots on Fox & Friends!
Dippin' Dots brings the fun to Fox & Friends, and reveals our next great flavor!
Aug 20
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
Happy #NationalIceCreamDay!! Our little "Boardwalk Expert" reviews one of our favorite ice cream treats, Dippin' Dots. Have a wonderful day!
Jul 17
Coming 2017. #NationalBrownieDay #dippindots
Dec 8
Ice cream we can believe in. #Decision16 #dippindots
Nov 7
Oct 14
Orange Sherbet | 🍊🍨😋 | #dippindots #icecream
Oct 7
#halloween #dippindots #yummy #icecream #2016 #cookiesncream #sixflags #magicmountain
Oct 3
This is what happiness in your hands looks like. A cup of Dippin' Dots a day keeps the blues away.
Jul 16
Nothing will ever compare to ending your day with a nice cold cup of Dippin' Dots
Jun 6
We've partnered with the singer/songwriter Dawin on our very own remix - "Dessert (Dippin' Dots Remix)"!
Jul 7
Dippin' Dots—they're an amusement park, zoo, aquarium and overall summertime staple. The mini balls of ice cream that melt in your mouth...
Jun 22
We love supermarkets, but they're just not cool enough for Dippin' Dots. More about this from Thrillist.
Dec 29
Our friends at Dollywood are helping those impacted by the Great Smoky Mountain Wildfires. Learn how you can help: dollywoodfountation.org.
Dec 6
Spookies 'n' Cream is back! It's Cookies ' Cream all dressed up for Halloween!
Oct 1
It's a beautiful day to enjoy some Dippin' Dots. #dippindots
Oct 12
One of the best things on earth.
Jul 17
Happy National Selfie Day! Nothing better than taking selfie while tasting the fun! #dippindots #selfie #nationalselfieday
Jun 21
The more the merrier!
Jul 10
dippindotsdon't stress. it's only monday. the weekend will be back soon enough. 📷 by: @thecravingcouple
Jun 22
#brainfreeze #astronaughticecream #frozenicecream
Aug 4
Man, I can really go for some @DippinDots right now
Jul 3
#hamiltonmusical #dippindots
Hamilton Star is reading up on Dippin Dots!
Jan 9
Hamilton Star is reading up on Dippin Dots!
Jan 9


text:
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — A Texas Tech athletics official says Billy Gillispie is on indefinite sick leave.
Spokesman Blayne Beal said Monday that Gillispie is taking sick days. It was not clear how long Gillispie will be out.
The school announced Aug. 31 that it had opened an investigation into alleged mistreatment of players by Gillispie. Earlier that day and hours before he was to meet with athletic director Kirby Hocutt, Gillispie called 911 and was taken to a Lubbock hospital.
He told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal he thought he was having a heart attack or a stroke.
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He spent six days at University Medical Center before being released last Thursday.


text:
Let it be known, folks: where there's malignant will, there's a way to make Angelina Jolie's ridiculous leg pose even more absurd. Thanks to the Internet and some still anonymous crafty Photoshop work, we have this fantastic image of Angie spread-eagle on the red carpet. And you know, listen. She was kind of asking for it. All night she was throwing her lean limb out at us like an egomaniacal leg wrestler, and it was only a matter of time before someone took to the world wide web to take the piss out of her. Tee. Hee.
Her behavior last night was bizarre. When she presented for Best Adapted Screenplay, she got up to the podium, thrust out her pale stem, then ... paused ... and stood there waiting for applause that never came.
Why? Because no one at home or in the audience was quite sure how to react. Was she getting ready to pop a baby out? Mount a horse? Was it like a laugh with her thing, or like a laugh at her thing? Was it even OK to laugh? God it was confusing.
More from The Stir: Angelina Jolie's Naked Leg Was a Fashion Fail
Clearly, something was up. She was posing as I'd imagine Alana "Honey Boo Boo Child" Holler would if she were on the Oscars stage. Totally over exaggerated, totally clueless as to how she's coming across, totally a symbol that there's something very, very wrong with America today.
But, you know, from the way the nation has reacted, from Twitter to office water cooler one-liners to this Photoshopped image, the jokes about Angie's leg-endary performance are reassuring in a way that, in fact, proves that there's a lot right with this country, too.
What did you think of Angie's leg propulsion?
h/t The Gloss