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The YouTube member ConversationWithA has produced a special report on the issue of blasphemy in islamic countries, including Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. The barbarism and utter depravity represented by the following video is yet more evidence of the madness which places the importance of words over that of human beings.
About all I can do at this point is shake my head and ask that you watch, if for no other reason than to more fully inform yourselves to just what it is we are up against.
Views: 307
Tough stuff to sit through, Loren. Really depressing. I've always said we're all, all of us, accidents of birth. Just thinking about the chances of being born into a Muslim family is terrifying. But not too much more so that being born into a fundamentalist Christian sect. We have our own jihadists here. Higher learning institutions like Liberty University are not much different than madrasahs where Wahhabist hatred of the West is taught, since many if not most evangelicals hate Muslims. The only thing keeping our own nation from being like Pakistan or Saudi Arabia is the First Amendment, and as you know, the Dominionists are working hard to bring theocracy to America. Thanks for providing the vid. We need to know as much as we can about the enemy, whether in the Mideast or in the States.
The very last segment, with Lou Dobbs talking about the UN resolution, makes the point that if binding on member nations, it would include Islam. He's correct, of course. But it would also include Christianity, here in the US. And, let me guess. That would also include Judaism, which I'm relatively certain not, one single solitary member of the Organization of the Islamic Conference would enforce. Probably the just the opposite. In Mecca, if you insult Judaism, you get a cookie. If you insult Islam, you get razor cut at the neckline.
James is right. The proponents of this totalitarian principle are the enemies of humanity and civilization - both the Dominionists here, and Muslims who seem to be everywhere.
They're also the enemies of free speech, including and especially blasphemy, mockery and derision aimed at their beliefs. They don't care if someone else's ox gets gored, only their own.
Thanks for posting. Now I need a Prozac.
Sorry Loren, I couldn't finish watching the video. All I could think is "giant glass parking lots". That isn't fair to the reasonable people that do live in that area.
These wrenching reports and images chill me to the bone. All these imperatives to obey, submit, and acquiesce to religious dogma are key to the underlying problems facing Earth and all living things. Dominion of one or another religion smacks of superstition and lack of education. Even a notion of a "web of life" in which we all live as part of a much larger whole does not pass their mental barriers.
A struggle against family violence exists as part of the fabric of dominionism. It is part of a much larger roll of cloth; resisting them in support of reason, critical thinking, and understanding creates chaos, even as they strive for decent attitudes and behaviors.
My feeling is that since Islam hates us already and do the most despicable things without any provocation other than the belief that we are infidels and therefore evil, we should give them good reason to hate us. After the next terrorist attack on the west by Islam, raze Mecca and Medina. This religion is a cancer eating away at society and needs to be excoriated without delay or our daughters will have acid thrown in their faces because they attend school and our military personnel will be beheaded in our streets.
Pay close attention to what is going on in London.
I have noted what is going on with shariah zones in Britain with considerable unease and downright disgust and commented on that matter on a video posted by A|N member Napoleon Bonaparte. Her Majesty's government has made a massive mistake in allowing two standards of law for its citizens where there should be only ONE. Were I empowered to do so, shariah law there would be cut off at the knees with no apology, and if islamic fundamentalists there dont' like it, they can damned well emigrate.
As for Mecca and Medina, they will likely remain untouched so long as the US cares for Saudi oil. Iran, on the other hand, may get substantially spanked if they want to persist in their nuclear program. In any case, it is well past time that islam got called to task for its bullshit. Hitchens and Harris have done so repeatedly to limited and generally friendly reception. It's time that audience was radically expanded.
There is a further point as regards hitting places like Mecca or Medina: the fact that most of the rest of the world would see that as being as barbarous an act as 9/11 was. Islam as an entity would have to disqualify itself so blatantly before an attack of that nature would be even remotely palatable that I can't even think of what manner of action would rise to that level.
Granted, they ARE disqualified to US, but the rest of the world doesn't see it that way, and it is liable to be centuries before some of them do.
There's a reason Islam is winning the propaganda war, and allowed to have Sharia zones in London, and demand and receive special privileges in Europe. The Islamists believe it's because they (like all theists) have a monopoly on truth. They're wrong, of course, on that point. The reason they're expanding and doing so well is the same reason Hitler did so well in Europe in the 1930s. (I can see it coming - Pat just proved Godwin's law). Hear me out.
There was only one European leader who had the courage to stand up to Hitler prior to WWII. Strangely enough, that was Benito Mussolini in 1934 when he massed Italian troops at the Brenner Pass against a German takeover of Austria that year. It worked. However, every other European leader gave into the bully tactics and threats of violence until, on September 1, 1939, it was too late. Bombing Mecca and Medina are not the answer. Sending the British military into London's Sharia zones, much like the British Army occupies Belfast, Enniskillen, and Derry, would be a first step. Shutting down mosques where imams openly preach violence toward the government as traitorous act by those imams would be the next. And forcibly closing Sharia courts is yet another step. If the Islamists don't like it, they're certainly free to go back to whatever one of Allah's litter box countries they came from. Same thing in France, Holland, and elsewhere. Allowing the English Defense League to speak freely about the cultural destruction of the UK, rather than silencing them is another remedy.
Bear in mind, I'm not advocating violence, but am advocating standing up to it. Don't kow tow to threats, but do stand up to them. Don't accommodate bullies, but put them in their place. Don't accord fanatics special privileges, but force them to abide by the same rules as everyone else. Now, if they do engage in violent acts, then my advice would be the same as given by Sean Connery to Kevin Costner in the movie The Untouchables. " He pulls a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue! That's the Chicago way..." Too bad British PM MacMillan, French Premier Leon Blum, and Russian dictator Stalin hadn't seen the movie. And, what's worse, neither have the current European leaders who are repeating history.
What. You. Said!
Bombing Berlin preemptively would have never been considered as a way of averting the war yet that is precisely what we had to do in order to defeat Germany. It was simply a question of when not if. All your objections make sense if mutual coexistence is agreed on by both sides or is at least possible. My argument is that it is not and one does not preach tolerance regarding people who behead other people in broad daylight. This is a culture that is looking to take over and convert everyone, like it or not. Islam will bring us back to the stone age if it can; it did the exact thing to its own culture. I agree that we should pay very careful attention to what is going on in London and all over England. .
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Plaid Madison - Mod Kangaroo Pocket Dress
Added Nov 25, 2012
by fraiche
Cambridge, Massa...
Soooo I started this dress 2 years ago after winning a new sewing machine from Burdastyle. I had just finished my first formal sewing class and went all out making a full muslin and multiple versions of the pattern. Then, predictably, I ran out of steam — annoyed by my self-imposed tedium. Then I moved! So the dress went in a bag in the sewing machine box for a very long time, only to be rediscovered last night as I tore through my closet dramatically sighing, "Oh I've nothing to wear to the ballet!". I finished it in about 20 minutes, so I learned a valuable lesson about not getting scared by patterns. The result is pretty good — maybe the muslin fit me 2 years ago but I still think the bodice on this was too big for me, especially in the back. I'd love to make another out of super tight silk jersey.
I should add, I left out the slit in the back of the skirt and made the front and back darts much longer to try to get it tighter. I'm petite with a short torso, and found the pattern cut straight was WAY too long on top.
Material Notes
Ugh. What was I thinking 2 years ago?! At the time I thought this purple-blue-brown-gold poly-wool plaid was Mad Men, but now it looks more like Ted Baxter's leisure pants…
One 9 in invisible zipper
I did not interface the collar as recommended. I think the drape looks gorgeous.
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10 Comments Sign in to add a post
Dec 3, 2012, 03.38 PMby joost52
The drape does indeed look gorgeous. As does the entire thing for that matter ;)
Nov 29, 2012, 09.02 AMby tirrs
Nov 27, 2012, 04.14 PMby hibblenn
Love this dress. It looks great. You've inspired me to start on something. I'm a newbie with a new sewing machine. I've done simple stuff but have yet to sew from a pattern.
1 Reply
Nov 29, 2012, 03.48 AMby fraiche
This will be a great starter project! The pattern comes together very simply and doesn't have any tricky stitches. Good luck!
Nov 26, 2012, 03.35 PMby pixiesam
What a gorgeous dress. It looks great in the fabric you chose, much nicer than the original.
1 Reply
Nov 27, 2012, 01.49 AMby fraiche
Thanks! I have to agree the wrinkly neon-Easter fabric in the sample is probably why this awesome pattern wasn't more popular. She looks like a Peep!
Nov 26, 2012, 12.47 PMby toupinette
I agree… very Mad Men… looks great an you! Definitly a great job!
Nov 26, 2012, 06.20 AMby Mary Athey
i.m glad you fimished it as its gorgeous x
Nov 26, 2012, 02.45 AMby kisses
Really nice dress that will suit me perfectly for work. I especially like the top
Nov 25, 2012, 08.24 PMby Lora Martinez
I love this style of dress, looks great on you.
1 Reply
Nov 25, 2012, 08.43 PMby fraiche
Nov 25, 2012, 07.25 PMby Karen Thoonen
I love your dress! which pattern did you use!? I'd like to make me one!
1 Reply
Nov 25, 2012, 07.37 PMby fraiche
Nov 25, 2012, 07.18 PMby pauline alice
This dress is beautiful and definitely looks like it belongs to one of the cast of Mad men.
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subset: commoncrawl


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The new McDonald's Restaurant in Ladysmith will open to customers on Wednesday at 12:01 a.m.
The restaurant will be open 24 hours for inside dining and drive-thru service.
A grand opening celebration will be announced later, according to Melissa Gordon Wright, senior manager, GolinHarris of Richmond, which handles public relations for the restaurant.
Originally, a grand opening celebration was scheduled for Oct. 26, but had to be canceled due to road work in front of the restaurant.
The owner/operator is Craig Welburn, Jr. and his business organization name is ECC Enterprises, Wright said. This will be Welburn's eighth McDonald's in Central Virginia. Most are in the Fredericksburg area. Welburn and his family live in Manassas.


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See Jane Elope
Why are we so obsessed with Jane Austen's love life?
Why does Jane Austen's spinsterhood bug us so much? Austen, who published six timelessly great novels between 1811 and 1818, never married and never exhibited much of a romantic life. Nevertheless, the film Becoming Jane, which opens today, spins a yarn about the young novelist's sexual awakening, suggesting that an early experience of being loved and left was the true source of her artistry.
Becoming Jane is hardly the first fantasy about Austen's romantic life. In 1924 Rudyard Kipling, better known for The Jungle Book, wrote a poem titled "Jane's Marriage" that imagines Austen's ascension to heaven, where she confesses to the angels that her one unfulfilled wish during life was for "Love." (Celestial matchmakers, the angels swiftly find her a suitable consort.) And at least one modern Austen fan has gallantly offered to wed Austen himself, as if meaning to belatedly right a historical wrong. "Ours will be a tryst for the ages!" film studies professor Richard A. Blake announced in his 1996 review of the film Emma, not stopping to wonder whether Austen would accept his proposal. Why are so many of Austen's admirers eager to demonstrate that, even though she never made it to the altar where she regularly deposited her heroines, she really was marriage material?
The romance at the center of Becoming Jane is between a 20-year-old Austen and a real historical figure, Tom Lefroy, an impassioned but impoverished Irish law student whom she met in the winter of 1795-96. Screenwriters Kevin Hood and Sarah Williams arrange for this star-crossed pair to get tantalizingly close to the marriage bed. The film's penultimate sequence envisions Austen and Lefroy headed in a stagecoach toward a clandestine wedding in Gretna Green, Scotland—the 18th-century equivalent of Las Vegas. But long before they reach the border, Jane remembers that Tom's family relies on him for financial support and realizes that their imprudent elopement would ruin his prospects. She renounces her chance for romantic happiness and returns home to her family. And she determines henceforth to live by her pen. Flash-forward a decade and a half: We see Jane in spinsterly middle-age reading Pride and Prejudice aloud to Tom's daughter.
Becoming Jane is based on a chapter in Jon Spence's 2003 critical biography, Becoming Jane Austen. In the book, Spence does identify Tom Lefroy as the love of Austen's life and her relationship with him as the origin of her genius. But he never suggests that there was an aborted elopement (much less subsequent reading sessions with any of Lefroy's children). And he is careful, as the filmmakers are not, to clarify that in speculating about Austen's romantic experience he is reading between the lines of the family records and of the three rather opaque Austen letters that are his principal sources.
Other scholars have been more skeptical than Spence about whether this pair were ever "a couple." They see a flirtation that terminated without fuss when Tom ended his visit to relations in the Hampshire countryside where Jane lived and returned to the London law courts. True, when well on in years, Tom is reported to have answered yes to the question "Were you ever in love with Jane Austen?" "With a boyish love," he said. But at that point the old man might have been eager to play up his connection with the famous writer.
Austen wrote letters to her sister Cassandra in January 1796 that report on her interactions with Tom and express delight in his company. But while making these reports she also seems to be observing herself from the outside—presenting herself, with a certain cool mockery, as a heroine in one of the sentimental novels that in her teenaged writing she loved to parody. "Imagine to yourself," she writes, "everything most profligate and shocking in the way of dancing and sitting down together." In a second letter, written six days later, she declares: The "Day is come on which I am to flirt my last with Tom Lefroy. … My tears flow as I write, at the melancholy idea." It's worth noting that these sentences are all but buried amid chitchat about the weather and housekeeping. In a third letter, written two years later, Jane describes being "too proud to make any enquiries" about Lefroy, but the letter refers more directly to Jane's fondness for "ragout veal" than to her fondness for Tom.
Spence was up against a familiar problem: Literary biographers who set out to establish how Austen's novels arise from her personal experience have long been handicapped by the scarcity of source material. Nothing much ever happened to her. Austen's first biographer, her nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh, began his 1870 book, discouragingly, with the claim "Of events her life was singularly barren" and neglected to mention even the marriage proposal—from a certain Harris Biggs-Wither—that she did receive and reject in 1802. It doesn't help matters that Austen's sister Cassandra destroyed many of the novelist's letters: Whatever events did befall her are lost to us now.
In some ways, this apparent eventlessness has operated as a spur to the biographical imagination. Spence's Becoming Jane Austen has a truly loopy forerunner in Constance Pilgrim's 1971 Dear Jane, which took an Austen family legend about "Aunt Jane's seaside romance of 1801" and ran with it. Pilgrim proposed that the mysterious admirer on whom those legends centered was a sea captain—and not just any sea captain, but rather the poet William Wordsworth's brother John—who subsequently went down with his ship before he could return to England and whisk a waiting Jane to the altar. (It is true that John Wordsworth died at sea in 1805, but that is the only hard fact in Pilgrim's wholly speculative story.)
Pilgrim's biography reimagined Jane Austen as a version of Anne Elliot, the heroine of her novel Persuasion: Anne is romanced by a Capt. Wentworth, who eventually returns from the sea and weds her. The makers of Becoming Jane exhibit a parallel eagerness to think of Austen as Elizabeth Bennet, the heroine of Pride and Prejudice. The repartee in the film between Jane and Tom is frequently lifted from the novel's dialogue. Like Darcy, Elizabeth's frosty suitor, the film's Tom is a snob who eventually learns better manners. Like Elizabeth, its Austen rebels against propriety and rambles around the countryside in muddy petticoats.
Why this fixation on imagining Austen as the heroine of one of her own stories? Austen wrote on many subjects: women's lack of freedom, the injuries wrought by the 19th-century class system, literature's falsification of life, the importance of manners, the virtues of independent thought. But, by and large, it is Austen the expert on courtship rites who dominates contemporary popular culture. It is this Austen who is emulated by authors of middlebrow women's fiction, from Helen Fielding (who wrote Bridget Jones's Diary) on. A few of the students who enroll in my Austen courses admit that they are there to trawl the books for dating tips. (So far, I have not put Jane Austen's Little Advice Book, chock-full of Austen sound bites on love and marriage, on the syllabus.)
A lot of Austen fans seem to want what the characters in Karen Joy Fowler's novel The Jane Austen Book Club got: "We'd let Austen into our lives, and now we were all either married or dating." Austen fans in real life too seem to want Austen to guide them toward love. And this might be why, as Becoming Jane indicates, we have to imagine Austen as Elizabeth Bennet and grant her a Darcy of her own—even if in the end we take him away again. We can't bear to think that her wisdom was not based on experience.


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Matisse Prints: 1906-1950
Click on the image above to view the prints in the exhibition
Welcome to Pace Master Prints
Pace Master Prints is located on the third floor at 32 East 57th Street, between Madison and Park Avenues, in New York City . In addition to our extensive inventory of Old Master and Modern prints, special exhibitions are always on view. Also located on the third floor is our Contemporary prints gallery that features fine art prints published by our own printmaking workshops as well as prints from other print publishers and artists.
We specialize in museum quality original prints
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New York City 10022
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We are currently celebrating out 45th year as a print publisher and gallery. Enter this site to find out about our contemporary print publishing and exhibition activities.
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FALL RIVER — City officials were notified as early as the end of January that the School department was projected to underfund its net school spending requirements for the current school year, according to a memo from Superintendent Meg Mayo-Brown sent to City Administrator Cathy Ann Viveiros on Jan. 31.
The School Department projects an overall net school spending shortfall of just over $1.4 million, which includes $800,000 in unexpected transportation cost increases that were ultimately transferred from the department's teacher and professional salaries accounts.
The rest of the shortfall comes from about $500,000 to $600,000 in health care cost savings. That is because, though health care costs increased, they did not increase to the level that had been forecast by city officials when the budget was planned.
In the memo to Viveiros, Mayo-Brown explained why student transportation costs increased so dramatically from a steady level of about $5.4 million in each of the previous budget years. She pointed to additional special education transportation needs and an increased homeless student population that went from 255 students to 341 in the last year.
Overall transportation costs increased by about $1.8 million to more than $7 million in fiscal 2014.
"The transportation line item requires an adjustment due to unprecedented increases by vendors of 25 percent or more, additional special education transportation as required by law and increases in transportation of the district's ever-increasing homeless student population," Mayo-Brown wrote.
"In accordance with School Committee policy and practice, we will engage in a budget development process that establishes levels of funding that will provide a high-quality education for each of our 10,500 students."
"In my five-year tenure as superintendent of schools, I have witnessed an effective and collaborative working relationship between the city administration, School Committee and City Council as we collectively work together to establish a budget that meets the needs of our students, while acknowledging the city's commitment to public safety and quality-of-life issues," Mayo-Brown wrote.
Mayo-Brown addressed other discrepancies on Wednesday between what the city had been expecting for a School Department budget and what the department is so far requesting.
Earlier this week, Viveiros said the city had projected a School Department operating budget around $93 million. The School Department's request came in around $96 million.
Mayo-Brown noted the difference is partly due to other moves, including the creation of a separate special student transportation account to hold $600,000 in state McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Act funds in the previous year. It artificially lowered the budget to $91 million.
Mayo-Brown said she was concerned that not funding the schools at at least 100 percent net school spending could undermine progress the district has made on its turnaround plan.
She said the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has indicated that it is weighing no longer having the district monitored.
"We're getting signals from the department of education that they may be considering releasing us from the monitoring status that we've been in," Mayo-Brown said. "Again that points to the progress the district has been making over the past number of years.
"Two things: having excellent teachers in the classroom and then having the resources to support those teachers. Those resources are varied. They can be instructional material, or professional supports and coaches for teachers, or school adjustment counselors for students' social and emotional needs. It can mean more vice principals in the building to handle discipline or coaching.
"Our work has been around creating systems, and these systems all have different components or pillars. So when you talk about the budget, it starts to weaken the structure that we built," Mayo-Brown said.


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I Am Legend (US - BD)
Our reviewer Marcus checks just how controversial I Am Legend is on Blu-ray
"The last man on earth is not alone"…He's got his dog.
Will Smith leads an all star cast of just himself, in a future where everything's gone to hell. A miracle cure for cancer has disastrous consequences, leaving military virologist Robert Neville (Will Smith) the sole survivor in New York City. Living his days and surviving his nights, Neville tries to find a cure for whatever's turned the human race into primal, blood-thirsty, nocturnal CGI beasties, with only his trusty dog to talk to.
I am Legend is a movie that I initially had a lot of respect for. The director, Francis Lawrence paints the picture of a deserted Manhattan with a steady hand. It all feels very genuine and literally like everyone just up and left, especially with the use of flashbacks showing you a very much alive city. The first two acts of the movie are incredibly well put together. It all looks fantastically well realised, with an atmosphere that pulls you in and has you right in the palm of its hands. The scene involving Sam, Neville's Dog, chasing a deer into a pitch black 'Hive' is a prime example of what this movie does well: perfectly paced, creepy, and one hell of an introduction to the movie's baddies.
This is a fine vehicle for Will Smith. There are few big name actors who could hold an audience and keep them entertained like the Fresh Prince seems to. This is no mean feat considering that he's alone on screen for a vast chunk of the movie's running time, bouncing his dialogue off of his dog, Sam, and the mannequins dotted about his local video store (actual mannequins, I'm not taking a pop at the other cast members). Big Willy sells the character's world, the isolation and the determination of getting the job done and for the most part you join him for the ride.
The movie drip-feeds you information at a steady pace. From the very effective opening news reels where the cure for cancer is revealed, the total chaos of a diseased New York on the brink of collapse, through to the slow break down of Neville's mental state. You know what's happened and you know why, but this is all just build up to revealing the real nightmare in Neville's life—the infected. The leftovers of New York's current movie disaster. The Dark Seekers.
Now here is where the movie starts falling apart for me. On a base level, the Dark Seekers don't work. The CGI effects are pretty close to the worst in recent blockbuster memory. They look little better than a Playstation zombie from the Resident Evil series and the SFX team do very little to try and sell their realism to the audience. The only highlights being their introduction where they're huddled together in the darkness, which is incredibly effective. That said, even some of the worst SFX can be forgiven if you back it up with character or a killer pay off, but frankly, I Am Legend fails on both. The movie essentially abandons an entire thread that seemed to be developing the Dark Seekers into something more and opting instead for the full-on attack, just undermines all the nods to cleverer things that were peppered in the events that got us to the final act.
Why even bother to hint at the Dark Seekers' intelligence if you're not going to do anything with it? Was that main one the leader? Was he ordering the infected around like an army? Did he set the trap for Neville or was Neville just having a breakdown? None of this is acknowledged. All of this is swept aside for a big explosive blockbuster ending that really lets the movie down.
So what of the alternative 'controversial' ending? The ending does, sort of, acknowledge the possibility of the Dark Seekers' intelligence. The alternative ending shows that they have emotion and maybe even love for their own and all of this was merely a rescue mission for the leader Dark Seeker's wife. It's actually okay. Sort of an M Night Shyamalan twist in the tale. I'm not sure what's so controversial about it though. At least this version gives some form of payoff to the glimpses throughout, that tried to convince us the Dark Seekers were more than just about screeching Gollums. Either way, both endings are stacked with their fair share of problems, the biggest being that neither version does the movie justice.
I Am Legend is a bit of a mixed bag of a an HD transfer. Of course it's stunning for the most part—it's HD. Natural light looks fantastic—the sunrise, the brightness of the midday sun, the vibrant blue sky, the shiny red of that typically brand new car in the opening scenes—it's all pretty glorious. But when the darkness begins to set in, so does its issues.
Some of the edges are a little soft, especially on skin tones. A lot of the darker tones have that bluish tint to them. The blacks in the darker scenes never quite feel black, and after Big Willie sets off the bombs and the dust fills the air, everything begins to get a little muddy.
Of course, none of this is terrible. The transfer is still way more impressive than a standard DVD could ever be, but with big new Warner Brothers titles like this you sometimes picture in your mind that there will be no issues. So, when these tiny issues sneak into your ever-critical eye, it sometimes needs the mention. Don't get me wrong, this is a fine HD transfer, it's just not the finest you're ever gonna see.
I watched this in Dolby Digital 5.1 and it was quite an atmospheric experience. This isn't really one that plays on dynamic speaker movements, but it pretty perfectly captures that feeling of being drawn into the situations and locations.
The multi-layered sound elements of an empty city are all around you: leaves brushing, birds tweeting, and the sound of big open spaces. This really works well for this type of movie, because as soon as the unnatural sounds of the Dark Seekers enter into the mix you are affected that much more.
One particular element I did enjoy was the sound of the muscle-car hammering it through the New York streets in the deer chase. The louder elements build up as the movie progresses towards its explosive closing events and while there's not one particular scene I would say is a 'show off moment' it's a solid sound mix overall. This worked very well when I saw I Am Legend in the cinema and I'm pleased to report that the same can be said here.
There's not a great deal here really. The fact that the alternative cut is put on both the Blu-ray and standard definition versions as a whole feature, as opposed to using a branching system, seems a little strange. There are literally just a few extra scenes and a different ending.
As for the other features, the twenty minute look at 'The Science of I Am Legend' is brief at best. It gives you a very broad overview of how viruses work and have worked throughout history. The feature is essentially a lot of virus-admiring science folk telling you how some of the famous viruses have evolved. This is inter-spliced with some photos of their effects on humans and some CGI shots of cells being attacked. Every five minutes or so the feature also throws in Will Smith or Francis Lawrence in an obvious attempt to tie together real science with their research for the movie. Strangely, some of the most unbelievably random shots from Outbreak are thrown in as well.
As for the main body of the features, there's the 'Creating I Am Legend' mini documentary gallery, all presented in HD. This is basically twenty-one chapters of web doc style featurettes, which all amount to a little over fifty minutes. As expected, these focus on the small elements of the making of the movie, including, shutting down the New York Streets, the stunt guys' work, the SFX people and even some snippets from the writer of the original novel Richard Matheson. There's nothing really to report here. It's all pretty standard short and sweet stuff and what we've all come to expect from these little mini-documentaries over the years.
The one thing that I really took away from these features was that there was a very different movie being made that didn't reach our screens. There seemed to be a bigger religious arc that they played down. There also looked to be more of a play on Neville's sanity via the use of the mannequins and I'm more than certain that there were a lot of different takes on what the Dark Seekers were going to be and how much we were meant to find out about them.
Last up, there're the four Animated Comics. Yep, that's right, no commentary from the director or the Fresh Prince. The comics are those weird computer assisted still images that glide around the screen. Some have voiceovers, some don't, but they are all stories around the tale of I Am Legend. They're quite good, and have some fine comic book artwork, but they're very much a watch once out of interest sort of affair really.
When I saw I Am Legend theatrically on Boxing Day, I felt as if I didn't need to rush to see it again, but watching this Blu-ray release, I'm glad that I did. I still think the last act is one big mess that feels like a compromise over a mixture of different idea's, rather than a definitive choice or clear vision, but there's no denying that I Am Legend is a solid take on the zombie/post-apocalyptic genre. It feels lived in, like 28 Weeks Later did so well. In fact, the events are portrayed so genuinely, that you get a real sense of how this would play out if the real world fell apart in this way.
It would have been nice to have a commentary included here, ideally from Will or the director, if only for a little insight on how they felt the Dark Seekers should have been perceived. With that inclusion it may have elevated this pretty bog standard set of features to something a little more interesting.
I Am Legend is a solid piece of entertainment, which, despite its flaws, is still a pretty impressive. It shows a more mature Will Smith, who has ditched the over use of the 'Hell Nahh's' for a more subtle performance. What with this and his stellar performance in The Pursuit of Happyness, it seems Will Smith is becoming a megastar who's not just going to sit back and play the same ole' tune.
As a side note, in the mid-nineties Ridley Scott planned on directing Arnold Schwarzenegger in I Am Legend. Now that is a version of this movie I would have loved to see!
* Note: The images on this page are not representative of the Blu-ray release.
Review by Marcus Doidge
Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13
Disc Details
Release Date: 18th March 2008
Discs: 1
Disc Type: Blu-ray Disc
RCE: No
Video: 1080p
Aspect: 2.40:1
Anamorphic: No
Colour: Yes
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English, Dolby Digital 5.1 English, French Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Extras: Alternative Version (104 Mins), Cautionary Tale: The Science of I Am Legend, Creating I Am Legend, 4 X Animated Comics
Easter Egg: No
Feature Details
Director: Francis Lawrence
Cast: WIll Smith, Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Salli Richardson
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi and Thriller
Length: 100 minutes
7Review Guide
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Find unique and festive Christmas gift ideas for everyone on your list. Whether they've been naughty or nice, you're sure to find the perfect Christmas presents for everyone this year.
From the smallest stocking stuffers for husbands to the most heartfelt Christmas gifts for Mom, we've got the gifts that will make this year extra special for everyone. Imagine a Christmas season without last minute shopping at
crowded stores! Instead, imagine sitting down and having your Christmas gifts wrapped and under the tree with time to spare! Imagine time for wassail and stringing popcorn, listening to Bing Crosby and standing under the mistletoe!
If you can't believe it's already time to start thinking about Christmas and you don't even know where to start, we've thought of that too. Take a look at our top ten best Christmas gifts to really give your holiday shopping a jumpstart. You'll find things for the home, thoughtful Christmas presents for men and lots of personalized one-of-a-kind items like personalized Stuffies for kids.
Need a memorable Christmas gift for that special woman in your life? We have the top Christmas gifts for women already sorted out for you. She'll love our personalized jewelry, clothing, gift baskets and home decor. And she'll love you for taking the time to find that special something just for her. From truly heartfelt to romantic to silly, we have everything you need to make this Christmas morning truly memorable.
Or maybe you're the one hoping to get that unique Christmas present? If so, you'll find some great tools to help drop subtle, or not so subtle, hints to your loved ones. Find something you want but need help getting the idea across? Try using our share button to let your special someone know exactly what it is you're longing for. Or with the same click tell the entire social media world?just because.
Make this Christmas season easier and more relaxing on you, and focus on spreading that holiday cheer. From the silly to the sincere you're sure to find something for everyone on your list. Find the perfect Christmas present ideas for everyone and take a deep breath?, you're done.


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Release Date: 2012 |
This was a tricky one to write. Not sure how it turned out. The album is really great though, his
second best after Continuum.
'Queen of California': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSdjo0W4Tvs
'Something Like Olivia': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k_KlCqAZ-I
'Born and Raised': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keXvEcXJnoU&index=6&list=PL248ED9C691FA35BD
Nice work dude.
I love Mayer's skill, but I thought this album was kind of disappointing.
Digging: The Presets - Hi Viz
Thanks bloc. Yeah the direction he took here seems to be a bit love or hate. It's nice to see him try new things nonetheless. Battle Studies played it far too safe for my liking.
Excellent review, man. I've never been too big on John Mayer, except for an occasional few songs.
@Paperback - Thanks mate, I always appreciate your feedback. I have to admit Mayer's music is something of a guilty pleasure for me. I've been playing this in the car a lot lately and thought I might as well write this since it was missing a review. Perhaps the John Mayer Trio live album Try! might be more up your alley, it leans much more towards blues than pop. Mayer is one hell of a blues guitarist.
didnt even have to apologize for having bad english. im impressed.
oh, just the indian news guy...sorry for not clarifying.
Haha no worries man I thought you were implying there were mistakes in the review and I was like damn I'm sure I proofread!
Yeah, I've heard a few of his stuff and I agree that John Mayer is a pretty talented blues guitarist. I've just never really paid much attention to him but I'll check those albums out, thanks for the recs.
I know that Mayer has absolutely amazing Guitar skills, but i've never given an album of his a shot and some of the songs I actually have heard don't do it for me...
Would this be a good album to start with? Has it got much Guitar work?
Hey buddy, I'd get Continuum first. It's easily his best record. It has a lot of great guitar playing it's all very understated and tasteful. He doesn't really wank much, only on his live stuff.
Album Rating: 4.0Yep, I think you nailed it with saying Continuum>this>Battle Studies
great album, sad it will be overlooked by so many just because it's John Mayer and/or it's country
Album Rating: 3.5Man I completely forgot about this release. I am going to have to check it.
@Cipieron - Yeah man ah well that's the way it goes. I wouldn't really call this full blown country, I mean there are some country influences but his voice is way too smooth/no southern accent haha. Apparently he was listening to a lot of Neil Young while writing this and it shows.
Album Rating: 4.0hah, didn't know that.. but I can totally hear it now
It'll be interesting to see where he goes from here
The mans a guitar god.
i mean he's a great player but nah
sweet thanks
Bands: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


text:
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Happy New Years!By Angelo on Tue, 12/31/2013 - 5:19pm
We want to wish you and your family a happy and healthy New Year! We hope you will stay with us into 2014 and beyond. Continue to expect new and innovative programming by Stony Brook students, alumni, faculty/staff and community members. It will be an exciting time for us!
SPECIAL: Local Music Marathon, Saturday November 23, 2013.By Angelo on Sat, 11/16/2013 - 9:20pm
It is our honor to share a plethora of all music genres during this year's local music marathon on Saturday, November 23, from 11:00 AM to 11:59 PM.
There will be recorded and live music from local Long Island musicians, interviews with promoters, organizers, musicians, etc.
12:00 --- Phantom and the Fox
5:30 --- Christine Sweeney
It's a Radiothon special, so PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT for great programming like this
WUSB BENEFIT CONCERT: Saturday, December 14By Angelo on Thu, 11/14/2013 - 10:33pm
Join us for this great WUSB benefit concert on Saturday, December 14.
There will be tons of great Long Island bands at 89 North, one of Long Island's hottest music venues.
See the image to the left for more details.
We hope to see all of our listeners there!
HIP HOP MARATHON: Thurs (11/14) 10:00 PM to Sunday (11/17) 9:00 AMBy Angelo on Tue, 11/12/2013 - 12:03am
Its time for HIP HOP MARATHON! 48+ Hours of Hip Hop of all Sorts and Kinds!
THURSDAY NIGHT into FRIDAY: Tune in from 12AM-3AM and then from 8am to 12PM for Hours of that signature "Boom Bap Hip Hop Sound" from Cutsupreme and his team at the Trimmix Wusb.
12pm-1pm: WUSB NEWS AT NOON
1PM-8PM Its the TRIMMIX PART 2
FRIDAY NIGHT into SATURDAY MORNING
8am-6pm TUNE IN AS THESPIAN AND DJ AND HOST Vaughn Ike Infamous Johnson and his STREETFM CREW take over the airwaves like they do every Monday Night.
6PM-9PM STREETFM Sweeps thru once More with three hours of the Greatest and Latest in this Hip Hop Game.
9PM-11PM THE GREATEST EVENT EVER IN THE NATION OF LYRICAL SPIRITUAL HOT SPITTAS. Join us for a LIVE BROADCAST of an assortment of rappers bringing their A+ Game to the Hip Hop Marathon. 2 Hours of Live Renditions of RAPS AND HUSTLES, RHYMES AND MUSCLES. ok i'l stop now.
SATURDAY NIGHT into SUNDAY MORNING
STONY BROOKLYN: Pattern is Movement and Alexa DexaBy Angelo on Tue, 11/05/2013 - 11:50am
On Thursday, November 7, Pattern is Movement and Alexa Dexa will performing in the University Cafe'. Doors open at 8pm, 21+.
If you can't make the show, WUSB will be broadcasting both performances live. The live broadcast will begin around 9:00 PM.
Show your support for live music and make a pledge!
Saturday Nov. 2nd: Lou Reed Special 12:00 AM - 7:00 AMBy Angelo on Wed, 10/30/2013 - 11:41am
Join Chris Phillips of Interzone Radio & Mr. Edison of No Apologies as they play seven hours of music of the legendary Lou Reed-another one of those guys who came along and changed everything.
It will be an audio wake with dancing from two guys whose lives were saved by rock and roll.
Let us know you're tuning in by attending our Facebook event.
RADIOTHON SPECIAL: 25th anniversary of Sonic Youth's DayDream NationBy Angelo on Tue, 10/22/2013 - 10:57pm
WUSB's Omega will celebrate the 25th anniversary of Sonic Youth's and indie rock's landmark release Daydream Nation.
Tune in on Saturday, October 26th, 2013 at 9:30 PM where we will play the album in its entirety with no interruption. Perhaps we will play some bonus tracks from those sessions as well.
It's a Radiothon special, so PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT and help support great programming like this.
SALSATHON, Friday Oct. 18 through Sun. Oct 20, 11:59 PM.By Angelo on Fri, 10/11/2013 - 12:31pm
This years annual Salsathon broadcast celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month and the 35th anniversary of Long Island's longest running Latino music program ONDA NUEVA with Felipito will take place from Friday October 18th at 1:00 P.M. until Sunday the 20th at 11:59 PM.
This year's broadcast features a wide array of renowned Latino non commercial radio programmers from such entities as WBAI WKCR, WHCR, as well as historians, collectors and critics. We will also have community member participation and a substantial WUSB contingent with participation by some of our own noteworthy programmers.
And don't miss our annual live session on the eve of the 35th anniversary celebration on Saturday afternoon with a noted local Salsa band and a fokloric aggregation from NYC. Hope you are all present for the live sessions.
Special Guest: Stony Brook President Samuel L. Stanley. Sunday, 10:00 PMBy Angelo on Sat, 09/28/2013 - 8:48am
UPDATE: Jeff Bernstein's interview with Dr. Stanley is now available for your listening pleasure at the link below:
He will be talking Seawolves sports, the new Stony Brook Arena and upcoming University-wide initiatives.
Seawolves Sports Weekly is a new WUSB sports talk show centered exclusively on Seawolves sports, featuring interviews with players, coaches, media and administrators. Learn more at www.wusb.fm/sports
LIVE BROADCAST - Stony Brooklyn Presents: BIRD COURAGE & ALAN SEMERDJIANBy Angelo on Sun, 09/15/2013 - 8:52pm
This week's Stony Brooklyn presents BIRD COURAGE and ALAN SEMERDJIAN.
Doors open 8:00 P.M. at the University Cafe, which is located inside the Stony Brook Union Building.
FREE show, 21+. WUSB will be broadcasting both bands live.


text:
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This is an activity that compares the magnetic field of the Earth to the complex magnetic field of the Sun. Using images of the Earth and Sun that have magnets attached in appropriate orientations, learners will use a handheld magnetic field... (View More) detector to observe the magnetic field of the Earth and compare it to that of the Sun, especially in sunspot areas. For each group of students, this activity requires use of a handheld magnetic field detector, such as a Magnaprobe or a similar device, a bar magnet, and ten small disc magnets. (View Less)
Materials Cost: Over $20 per group of students
Temperature Variations and Habitability: Activity A Observing, Describing, and Adapting to Environmental Variations
In this activity, student teams design and conduct a scientific investigation in which they explore the conditions necessary for life. They conduct observations of environmental conditions both indoor and outdoor, and determine the range of... (View More) variation they see. They compare these data with published temperature data for Earth, Mars, Pluto and Venus. The activity supports inquiry into the real world challenge of searching for life in extreme environments. The resource includes several student data sheets, data table and images, and a teacher's guide. Materials needed for this activity include weather instruments (e.g., thermometers, barometers, anemometers). This is Activity A of two activities in the first module, titled "Temperature variations and habitability," of the resource, "Earth Climate Course: What Determines a Planet's Climate?" The course aims to help students to develop an understanding of our environment as a system of human and natural processes that result in changes that occur over various space and time scales. (View Less)
Materials Cost: Over $20 per group of students


text:
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 11th Dec 2012 23:12 UTC
"Perhaps most likely to raise some eyebrows is that Ubuntu 13.04 will let users purchase music or apps directly from the desktop Dash, without having to open a browser or a separate client." That's going to go down well.
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RE[4]: Whatever....
by Casey99 on Wed 12th Dec 2012 15:37 UTC in reply to "RE[3]: Whatever...."
RE[5]: Whatever....
by lucas_maximus on Wed 12th Dec 2012 17:41 in reply to "RE[4]: Whatever...."
What exactly do you think they should do then? Also what is wrong with them allowing in OS purchases of media precisely?
Ubuntu isn't used for Enterprise (neither server or desktop Suse, Oracle and Redhat have that wrapped up) and you can't really charge money for Desktop Linux for the masses because most people just use another free Distro (many have failed before, Linspire I recall was a Debian based distro).
Affiliate schemes (Amazon and probably Steam) and App stores is the only way they can realistically pull in a profit.
Ubuntu doesn't even mention it is a Linux distro on the the home page.
Edited 2012-12-12 17:42 UTC


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On a lush planet called Pandora live the Na'vi -- beings who appear primitive, but are actually highly evolved. Because Pandora's environment is poisonous, human-Na'vi hybrids, called Avatars, are linked to human minds, allowing for free movement on Pandora. Jake Sully, a paralyzed ex-Marine, is made whole again through one such Avatar, and falls in love with a Na'vi woman . As his bond with her grows, he is drawn into a battle for the survival of her world.
Copyright © 2018, The Morning Call


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ColinOldnCranky wrote:If indeed the Aldi is the one then there are two cautions:
As always, you need to be certain that it has a seat post long enough or even excessively long. You can buy unis that have a seat post that is inadequate for many.
+1 to this.
I have the Aldi one. I have the seatpost about 5mm beyond minimum insertion, and it's marginal. I don't have long legs (I wear 30-31" inseam trousers). That's how it came in the box, no cutting has been done.
That said, mine's a few years old now, and Aldi may have done a bit of design refinement since then.


text: I haven't tried BG, but from the reviews I would buy it instead of GF, which I found to be too sharp at first and too simple in the drydown. A decent slightly soapy green is Chaleur d'Animale for men (also cheap). A somewhat green incense cheapo is One Man Show.


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The Polka Dot Gift Guide
Maybe it's nostalgia, but there's something about a cheerful polka dot pattern that makes me smile. Whether you're looking for a gift for your foodie friend or fashionista sister, we've got you covered.
1. Deluxe Dot iPad Case ($34.95) Uniea
2. 12 Tiffany Blue Polka Dots Cupcake Wrappers ($7.99) Dress My Cupcake
3. 50, 4" diameter Wall Sticker Decals ($29) Etsy
4. Collection Cashmere Sweater in Navy Lilac ($268) J Crew
5. Dots Sheet Set in Green Pastel ($12-$109) Land of Nod
6. Oven Mitt & Pot Holder in Sky ($14) Anthropologie
7. iPhone 5 Case ($40) Kate Spade
8. Sukan 14" x 22" Handmade Silk Velvet Ikat Pillow Cover ($69.95) Etsy
9. Set of 25 Hot Pink and White Paper Straws ($3.85) Etsy
10. Spot Tea Pot (£15) John Lewis
(Images as credited above.)


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autouse - postpone load of modules until a function is used
use autouse 'Carp' => qw(carp croak);
carp "this carp was predeclared and autoused ";
If the module
Module is already loaded, then the declaration
use autouse 'Module' => qw(func1 func2($;$) Module::func3);
is equivalent to
use Module qw(func1 func2);
Module defines func2() with prototype
($;$), and func1() and func3() have no prototypes. (At least if
Module uses
import, otherwise it is a fatal error.)
If the module
Module is not loaded yet, then the above declaration declares functions func1() and func2() in the current package, and declares a function Module::func3(). When these functions are called, they load the package
Module if needed, and substitute themselves with the correct definitions.
autouse will move important steps of your program's execution from compile time to runtime. This can
Break the execution of your program if the module you
autoused has some initialization which it expects to be done early.
hide bugs in your code since important checks (like correctness of prototypes) is moved from compile time to runtime. In particular, if the prototype you specified on
autouseline is wrong, you will not find it out until the corresponding function is executed. This will be very unfortunate for functions which are not always called (note that for such functions
autouseing gives biggest win, for a workaround see below).
To alleviate the second problem (partially) it is advised to write your scripts like this:
use Module;
use autouse Module => qw(carp($) croak(&$));
carp "this carp was predeclared and autoused ";
The first line ensures that the errors in your argument specification are found early. When you ship your application you should comment out the first line, since it makes the second one useless.
If Module::func3() is autoused, and the module is loaded between the
autouse directive and a call to Module::func3(), warnings about redefinition would appear if warnings are enabled.
If Module::func3() is autoused, warnings are disabled when loading the module via autoused functions.
Ilya Zakharevich (email@example.com)


text:
Photo courtesy of Tabitha Wilson.
Session III Recap | Brackets | Session IV Results | Team Standings | Photo Gallery | Press Conference Quotes
OMAHA, Neb. - Senior J.P. O'Connor will compete in the 157 finals at the 2010 NCAA Wrestling Championships Saturday night after winning his semifinal match by major decision Friday night in front of a sold out crowd at the Qwest Center.
"I feel lucky," O'Connor said in his post-match press conference. "Even though I'm only the third finalist in school history, some great wrestlers have come through Harvard. Obviously, John Harkness and Jesse Jantzen – Jesse is someone I have looked up to my whole life … I know the history (at Harvard) and I am very proud to be a part of that now."
O'Connor is Harvard's third NCAA finalist and first since Jesse Jantzen '04 in 2004. The three-time All-American dominated American's Fittery to win 14-2 in the first ever meeting between the two. O'Connor scored a takedown and scored three back points just 22 seconds into the match to take a 5-0 lead. He extended it to 10-1 before the first period was over. O'Connor started on bottom in the second and scored on a reversal.
He will meet Chase Pami of Cal Poly in the final tomorrow night. The two met earlier this year with O'Connor earning a 5-4 victory and the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational title. Last year, the duo met three times with O'Connor going 2-1. Pami beat him in the round of 12 at last year's NCAAs.
O'Connor improves to 34-0 on the season and has 131 career wins, one shy of the Harvard program record, held my Jantzen.
Harvard has 23 team points, which stands as the third most points scored at the NCAAs by a Crimson team.
The NCAA finals will air live on ESPN Saturday beginning at 7:30 p.m.
157 – No. 1 J.P. O'Connor
defeated Vincent Salminen (North Dakota State), 15-2
defeated Jake Kerr (Iowa), 8-1
defeated Justin Gaejthe (Northern Colorado), 8-1
defeated No. 5 Steve Fittery (American), 14-2


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At Kinnikinnick, we always say that 'Gluten Free Has Never Tasted So Good.®'
Never was this truer than during the month of July, when Kinnikinnick was able to participate in two awesome gluten free pancake breakfasts across the city. On July 21, we were invited to participate in the Mayor's Pancake Breakfast held at Churchill Square. As an alternative to the regular offerings, we served yummy gluten free pancakes & Grimm's Farmers Sausage to 300 hungry people!
The following is an example of some of the great feedback we received.
"When I found out through Twitter that Kinnikinnick was going to be making gluten free pancakes during the Capital Ex Pancake Breakfast, it was a pure joy to hear! Finally, I was able to take part! I met with some coworkers early, and without concern over the food that was going to be served, we sat in Churchill Square and shared in an amazing breakfast together! I loved the fact that I overheard a guest ask why they didn't have both regular and gluten free in the same spot, and one of the servers explained that it was about cross-contamination... that having food prepared by a company who understands the importance of not only the product, but the preparation, means that you can eat the food with confidence... which is something that we don't always get the chance to do when we eat out."
Not to be forgotten, the Edmonton Chapter of the Canadian Celiac Association held their annual Gluten Free Pancake Breakfast on July 23rd at the Kinnikinnick facilities. This gluten-free feast included all-you-can-eat pancakes, Grimm's Farmers Sausage, mini muffins, grilled cinnamon buns, mini lemon tarts, Tim Horton's coffee, and juice! Over 475 people attended this wonderful event, making it the best year yet!
Huge thanks go out to all the amazing volunteers who helped make these two events such a big success! We couldn't have done it without your help!


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Antique Treasures antique mall and auction AU411 AB3757
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Merchandise - Collectibles / Art, December 14
We are new to Okeechobee but not to the antique,collectable and auction marketAU 411 AB 3757. We have a good selection of items with more coming in every......
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***NICE TOURING TOWN & COUNTRY*** ****BACK-UP CAMERA*** ***DVD 2nd & 3rd ROW*******NAV**** ***REAR AC*** ***STOWNGO*** ***REMOTE START**** ***LEATHER......
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2006 Honda Accord EXL with a gasoline engine, automatic transmission and only105,339 miles.Runs and drives great. No issues at all.I am posting this ad for......
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Why pay full price for a new appliance when it can be a quick fix?We are afamily owned appliance repair company, and ready to fix your appliance.We......
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Slip business banking into your pocket
Put your home's equity to work for you
The point of a bank isn't money – it's service.
National Bank recently supported the efforts of several
employees who volunteered their time and creativity to the Neighborhood
Christian Centers, Inc.'s (NCC) 8th Annual Spring Jam as part of the
bank's Assisting the Community Through Service (ACTS) program. Employees who
participated were able to help NCC simulate a trip to Japan for nearly 1,300
students and adults during spring break.
"We are
proud to support the Neighborhood Christian Center, which provides programs and
events that help enhance and shape the lives of students and adults in our
community," said Robert Shaw, Chief Executive Officer of Paragon National Bank.
"We encourage our employees to give back through our ACTS program and those who
supported the NCC Spring Jam really enjoyed helping with such a unique and fun
the bank's ACTS program, each Paragon employee is granted one week of paid time
to support the nonprofit organizations of their choosing. Since the program's
inception in 2005, Paragon employees have contributed more than 2,000 hours to
community organizations around the Mid-South.
this year, Paragon hosted an informational lunch event for employees to learn
about NCC's mission and encourage participation in its Spring Jam, which
simulates a trip for students and adults to learn about life in another country
during spring break. The latest trip took visitors to visit the Japanese cities
of Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo.
employees decided to devote time to help, including Pamela Caviness, Vice
President Property Manager; Dorothy L. Cleaves, First Vice President Private
Banking; Pam Hibler, Deposit Operations/Customer Service; Mary E. Jackson,
Private Banking Associate; Scott Penny, Interactive Solutions Support; Margie
Smith, Executive Assistant; Chad Tribble, Financial Services Associate; and
Lisa Word, Residential Real Estate Associate.
Paragon employees donated more than 35 hours to assist NCC in transforming its
office to include an airplane and customs area, as well as a Japanese restaurant
and school. Caviness and Jackson helped to create passports for the students,
while Smith, Cleaves and Word assisted with creating the inside of the airplane
for the visitors' flight. Tribble helped with setup of the event, including
building a ferris wheel, and Hibler helped create curtains for the airplane.
Penny helped build the airplane frame, as well as built and painted Japanese
"I really
enjoyed the projects and teamwork, but overall, it was great assisting an
organization that is doing something great for our community," said Penny. "The
volunteers were incredibly energetic and excited, which made it very clear that
they loved and wholeheartedly believed in NCC and its mission."


text:
If you want to argue your point of view on such issues as pipes vs. electronics, trackers vs. non-trackers, and the politics of the organ world, you'll love this forum.
Use this control to limit the display of threads to those newer than the specified time frame.
Allows you to choose the data by which the thread list will be sorted.
Order threads in...
Note: when sorting by date, 'descending order' will show the newest results first.
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The last time the St. Paul football team failed to win the Casco League championship was in 2008 when the Bucks lost out to the rival Perrydale Pirates. Since then, the Buckaroos have swept through the conference each year and have been crowned Casco League Champions for four straight years.
St. Paul (6-4, 5-0 Casco) made it five straight Friday night, in 62-38 victory against the same Perrydale team that last defeated the Bucks half a decade ago.
Led by sophomore running back Tyler Smith, the Buckaroos used their ground game to punish the Pirates for 523 rushing yards. After Perrydale scored the opening touchdown of the game on their first possession, the Bucks proceeded to score four straight times to build a 30-6 lead mid-way through the second quarter.
Sophomore quarterback Carson Smith was the first to punch it in, carrying the ball one yard for the score to tie the game at 6-6 before completing a two-point conversion to Cody Faber to give the Bucks the lead for good.
Fernando Dela Cerda scored the next two touchdowns on carries of 46 and 18 yards. The freshman running back finished with a team-high four touchdowns on the ground to 149 yards rushing, but it was teammate Tyler Smith who stole the show Friday night.
The speedy sophomore amassed 310 yards on 27 carries, three of which went for touchdowns. The Pirates were not finished, though, and scored on their next two possessions to crawl back to with 36-20 at the half.
The two teams traded touchdowns in the third quarter, as Perrydale scored from 15 yards out to make it a 10-point game before Dela Cerda countered on the Bucks next drive for his third touchdown of the game.
The Pirates were able to find gaps in the Buckaroo pass defense by completing 13 of 21 passes for 305 yards, but every time Perrydale mounted a strong drive, the Bucks were there to counter.
St. Pauls victory marked the 32nd straight win over a conference opponent as the Bucks prepare to open the first round of the postseason at home this Friday against the No. 9 Yoncalla Eagles (8-2, 5-2 Special District 5), who are making their debut in the 1A playoffs this year after dropping down from the 2A classification.
The winner of Fridays game will advance to the quarterfinals on Nov. 15 against either No. 1 Lowell or Condon/Wheeler.


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Regardless of the type of boat we own, dock mates tend to socialize even when we're not out on the water. For a day, a weekend, a holiday and sometimes even longer, we live in close proximity to one another-neighbors sharing a neighborhood. It's the good-hearted nature of things at most marinas.
In recent times many of us have increased awareness of our personal responsibility to limit the impact of our activities on the planet and its resources. In the news we read tips on saving energy, conserving water, reusing materials, and recycling almost everything. When we listen to the radio or watch TV we hear the same things. Our kids come home from school talking about the Three R's-Reduction, Reuse and Recycling. We're learning. Our hearts are in the right place, but is our trash? Are we doing the right things when it comes to recreational boating and the way we inhabit our boat docks?
Like most sportsmen and women, boaters naturally strive to conserve and protect. We take care not to litter the lakes, rivers and beaches with our refuse. We don't allow fuel, oil or other marine fluids to leak or drain into the water. We try to use products that produce the least negative impact. Most boaters are responsible people doing what they can to preserve the resources they enjoy so much.
There is a vast amount of information available on issues relating to the environmental impact of our daily activities. There's also a lot of misinformation. According to one source, for example, recycling a single aluminum can saves enough energy to drive a typical mid-sized car five miles. Another source claims it is two miles. For the purpose of this article, no source could be found that actually converts soda pop cans into dock parties, but we'll work on that here.
Whether or not a person subscribes to the full scenario of changing climates, melting icecaps, carbon footprints and inconvenient truths, it is common sense that reducing the amount of waste we create while recycling what we can is generally a good idea. A lot of people doing just a little can make a big difference, and the boat docks where we spend so much of our free time-our "second neighborhoods" so to speak-are good places to do a little more and make a bigger difference.
It doesn't require heroic action or significant sacrifice. With modest effort and just a little commitment, we can make our boat docks and marinas more environmentally friendly, and there's a hidden bonus-greening our docks can also help to green our wallets.
Source Reduction
Solid waste is generally defined as all the stuff we throw away-the paper, the plastics, the bottles, jars, cans and kitchen scraps. It's fundamental to realize that there is no such thing as "away." It all has to go somewhere, and in most cases it's to the land fill, which costs money and uses energy resources.
As you leave the boat dock after a weekend of fun, chances are the trash collection bins are filled, maybe even to overflowing. According to the EPA, the average American creates 4.6 pounds of solid waste per day, and while that number continues to increase, land fill space is being used up at a record rate. The easiest way to reduce the amount of trash that must be disposed of is to limit the amount we generate in the first place. It's called "source reduction," and the benefits are immediate. We don't have to pay disposal costs for trash that's never created in the first place.
Buy In Bulk
Packaging makes up a huge percentage of the solid waste we create. When practical, choose larger packages of groceries and supplies, and then make provisions for storing the smaller day-to-day quantities in your own reusable containers. Can you share bulk purchases with one or more of your dock neighbors? Chances are they need some of the same items, and it will probably save everyone money in the long run. It's not always practical or even possible, especially when it comes to grocery items that might spoil in longer storage. But some examples that come to mind are toilet tissue, paper towels, detergents, coffee, and of course gummy worms, which I recently saw for sale in a one-gallon jug.
Reuse Utensils
It's not always convenient to wash and reuse drinking glasses, cups, plates, bowls and utensils, but look at the volume of trash created when we opt for the disposable kind. It requires oil and energy to make all that plastic and Styrofoam, but only a little soap, water, and maybe a good husband to wash dishes. Even the more durable plastic disposables can be washed and reused. Water is still cheaper than oil-except, of course, drinking water sold in individual bottles. I've had decent wine that was cheaper than premium bottled water. Okay, maybe it wasn't that decent, but you get the point.
On the subject of water, do we really need all those individual disposable bottles of drinking water? If you believe bottled water is better than your own city water-and tests prove that often it is not-a less wasteful idea is to purchase drinking water in returnable five-gallon jugs. Durable, non-disposable sports-type drinking bottles are available for refilling. Think about sharing the jug with your dock mates, and perhaps taking turns bringing water for the weekend.
Buy Aluminum
These days everyone recognizes that aluminum is money, although they have not yet begun coining nickels out of the stuff. Sodas and other beverages should be purchased in cans instead of glass or plastic bottles, because you can bet somebody wants that aluminum. Plastic bottles have much less value and too often end up in the landfill. Likewise, there is little market for recycled glass; almost all of our glass gets thrown in the trash and ends up in the landfill. If something gets thrown, it should not be plastic bottles into the trash; it should be a dock party, paid for with the proceeds of a season's worth of aluminum cans. There ya go.
Buy Local Produce
If you can't grow it in your own back yard, it is easy to find a local farmers' market or food cooperative. Besides being fresher and tasting better, locally produced meats, vegetables and fruits save an average of 1500 transportation miles over most store-bought. It also supports the local economy and builds community. Remember that for your next dock party or cookout.
Kitchen And Food Waste
Although it is not a common issue on personal water crafts or most fishing boats, houseboats have galleys, and galleys produce food waste. On the national average, about 11 percent of the municipal solid waste dumped into landfills is food waste. Chances are you or some of your dock mates have gardens, and possibly already have a backyard composting bin. Don't let food waste go to waste. Vegetable leftovers should be collected in a covered, fly-proof bin and hauled off for composting to nourish a new crop of veggies.
Here's a tip, and you don't have to tell anyone: You can store fresh vegetable waste in a closed container in the freezer or refrigerator until it's time to go home and drop it in the compost bin. It won't spoil over a reasonable amount of time. It also makes a swell surprise for your brother-in-law when he goes nosing around in your boat looking for a snack.
Establish A Recycling Program
The sweet thing about recycling is that it doesn't require doing anything difficult; it just means doing things a little differently. The first step in setting up a recycling program on a boat dock, just as at home, is to check with your local recycling center to find out what types of materials are accepted, how they should best be collected at your location, and whether they can be picked up by the center or should be dropped off by a volunteer. In most cases it's as simple as a phone call. Many recycling centers will even provide bins for little or no cost, and pick up or accept recyclables with no disposal fee. Some centers accept "mixed recyclables," using a single bin combining waste paper, cardboard, plastics and metals, while others require separate bins for different recyclables.
On individual boats, recycling is a personal choice and we make it work for ourselves. For a dock-wide enterprise you and your dock mates might need to seek out a volunteer to coordinate the effort, aptly titled a "Recycling Coordinator." Don't discount the teenager with the blue hair and multiple piercings. Greatness often begins as boldness, and many young people these days have a great respect for the world they will inherit.
There are other things we can do to bring about the "greening" of our boat docks. For example, we should make sure that marine fluids such as motor oil, transmission fluid, antifreeze and even dirty bilge water are collected and disposed of responsibly. We can find safer alternatives to bleaches and caustic cleaning products. A quick internet search will yield tons of ideas, even if half of them consist of lemon juice and/or baking soda. Leftover, partially-used containers of paint, varnish, insecticides and similar products should be turned over to household hazardous waste (HHW) collection centers. Many recycling centers provide these partially used materials to consumers at little or no charge.
There are many things happening in the world today that we can do little about. But if enough of us take responsibility for doing a little when we can, then we stair step our way to bigger changes still. No, we're not going to save the world by "greening" our docks and marinas. But we are going to make a difference in our own little corners of the world, and that's how meaningful change usually begins. To paraphrase Arlo Guthrie, or at least to borrow a concept from him, "Can you imagine 50 people a day? I said 50 people a day walkin' in, singin' a bar of `Green, Green Docks of Home' and walkin' out? Friends, they may think it's a MOVEMENT. And that's what it is."
There are countless opportunities to conserve energy and resources and to reduce, recycle or reuse the materials we've been calling "waste." Obviously, we can't discuss all of them here. Many of these ideas may be yours, and we'd love to hear about them. Please drop an email to Brady Kay, the editor of Houseboat magazine at email@example.com and let us know what's going on at your dock or marina.
A perfect way to start is by recycling this very magazine. It's made of good, reusable stock so you could put it in the paper bin when you're finished with it.
But a better idea, we think, is to put it in the hands of a friend.
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Monday, May 10, 2010
Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - My Matrilineal Line
Mom (1932 to Present)
Erminia Polito (30 Mar 1912 Las Animas, Colorado - 12 Oct 1974 Yonkers, Westchester County, New York
Vincenza Macchione (21 Jan 1883 Malito, Cosenza, Italy - 1959 Malito, Cosenza Italy)
Rosa Nucci ( Abt 1855 Malito, Cosenza, Italy - After 1908 Malito, Cosenza Italy)
Francesca Pirozzo (21 Jan 1811 Malito, Cosenza, Italy - 29 Jan 1888 Malito, Cosenza, Italy)
Orsola Bombini ( Abt. 1780, Grimaldi, Cosenza, Italy - Bef. 1889, Cosenza, Italy)
Looking through this list I realize that I still need to source a few things and firm up some dates. I have never had a mitochondrial DNA test or any DNA testing done but it is something that I have been thinking about for a while. Perhaps this year I will have one done.
4 comments :
- NickMGombash said...
Colorado? New York?! How'd you come to be a Canadian girl? haha :-p
I've been thinking about DNA tests as well. I'm curious about my paternal line from Hungary. Maybe I really DO descend from Attila the Hun! On my mom's paternal line I need to have my uncle or a cousin get the test done for me, to compare with the other Rodgers researchers and then I'm really curious about my mom's maternal line. It's traced back to a tiny village called Hohenweg in Germany in the mid-1700's.
- May 10, 2010 at 3:56 PM
- The Persian said...
YAY! I have always been fascinated with my matrilineal line! I made posts on it before. Thanks for sharing!
- May 11, 2010 at 4:53 PM
- nuccia said...
Thanks Jim..mine is not as complete as yours but I'm hoping to get there!
- May 12, 2010 at 1:45 AM
- nuccia said...
Nick-Grandma was born in Colorado but moved back to Italy as a toddler and married an Italian so she lost her citizenship but was able to pass it to her youngest daughter (a minor) who used it to move to the US. My grandparents and Uncle followed. My mom married a Canadian, so she came here instead.
- May 12, 2010 at 1:49 AM


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What to Expect From Groupon's Earnings
Groupon reports its first earnings since firing founder Andrew Mason last February. Heard on the Street's Rolfe Winkler discusses what to look for.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... I ... I ... I ... Group on the social media I did on a high wire act stop whatever the online coupon Clipper ... reports earnings after the bell Ralf Winkler is looking at this company what it means what we can expect to deftly one column highflier BA ... recently I ... write it got a couple or three bucks a share and it's it's come back alive from there but ... honestly I don't own a twenty dollars added ... absolutely get ... right ... on what we do see this afternoon leading it that in the Indian high fly home and was tough on ... I'm I'm ice remain ... a bit confused about how it's come back his massive hands ... I interesting thing about DD we deal in history in general is ... people haven't thrown it away ... LivingSocial raise new money has trouble that they raise their money ... on to their credit which can keep the business of small daily deal company called Josie and Stephen Sysco also raise new money ... Group on you know their stocks up they've got some fans that that that that's a big big name investors piled into that thing on the low price and don't appear yet to have ... an teens in the scene of the believers ... now that they're they're they're leather one challenge ... now this'll be the first quarter ... after the management shake up that the company already have two co CEOs now injure Mason was shown the door right after ... they're ... bad quarterly report at last quarter ... and now they had Eric Lefkofsky who is ... one of the founders of the company the guy in one of the guys to push them to go public early ... on in also Ted Leonsis ... is the other co CEO so we have this tag team and these days like this any better than domestically up ... yet ... will actually internationally morte looking for putting internationally ... on tell me of though the key rate a great also look unfortunately I that's the that's the jargon for the margin that the people on and ... on their deals ... and the tape rate this most important are well under the core daily deals business which is the coupons you get ... aam for ... a haircut or ... leasing ... they have cut once ... the Santa Ana ... it was they also sell products ... but ... keep all that aside as a separate business for them ... aam did take rate on ... on regular deals ... had always been around forty percent from ... the last quarter it fell to thirty two percent settling in and just a step function down ... and ... that is a bit of a worry now they say ... ALM ... that part of reasoning Feliz because they're they're hoping the key ... merchants keep their deals live longer than that there's a marketplace of deal so they don't just have to push the new you can actually go and have deals there for you call when you want ... to actually more compelling we think about it right will be if that Martian is getting keep trending down ... so that's something we I want to an internationally with new international aid since a mass so that when this when when when Eesti legal businesses were growing up ... he was a land grab everyone decided oh my gosh ... I'm gonna have market share not just in every local market in the United States identity in Korea and when I mean this is a company that I'm ... off Atomic analysts say the gap to nearly fifty countries ... buying but they're not even four years old right ... it's a huge mess and is not a restriction that ... they are a ... good stuff for all think you're a much thank you


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CINCINNATI — A knockout hit by Cincinnati linebacker Vontaze Burfict wound up knocking the Bengals out of the playoffs — yet again.
Thanks to Burfict's headhunting hit to the helmet of Pittsburgh receiver Antonio Brown — followed by an unsportsmanlike call on the Bengals after the play — the Steelers pulled off an 18-16 victory in a wild card game, clinching with a 35-yard field goal by Chris Boswell.
The rain-soaked crowd, delirious just minutes earlier, watched in devastated disbelief. Orange crushed.
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who had to be carted to the locker room late in the game with a right shoulder injury (the result of another Burfict hit), came...


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But where the touch strip really earns its cash is during tough solos. During special sections you'll see notes connected by purple lines: This means you don't actually need to strum the notes but can instead just slide your fingers across the strum bar and automatically catch notes in the process. If you want, you can also try and tap each individual note on either the touch strip or the fret buttons; the purple lines mean none of the notes need to be strummed. It opens up a world of possibilities, and if nothing else, should be a big help in getting players struggling with crazy solos.
One question we've been asked repeatedly about the new guitar: Does it have a detachable neck? Yes, it does. But before people start freaking out about how some of the Les Pauls had loose necks that would sometimes lose connection, rest easy: The connection has been completely overhauled and is far more solid. The connection looks very similar to an HDMI jack (just bigger), and on every guitar we tried the neck was locked firmly into place. We loved this feature on the Les Paul -- as did many of the ScoreHero guys, who had packed their own guitars into backpacks for the trip to Neversoft -- and we're glad to see it return improved.
In addition to putting the new guitar through its paces, we also spent a few hours testing out the new World Tour drum kit. If you're used to Rock Band's four-across layout of the pads, there's a little adjustment needed to the World Tour kit, which has three large pads on the lower level (they're 8" across, as opposed to Rock Band's 7" pads), and two cymbal pads on an upper level. The pads are extremely cushioned, and have a good amount of bounce without making much noise. The cymbals? They're even quieter.
The new layout proved best in songs with a straight 4/4 high-hat / snare beat. As a "real-life" drummer, crossing over to play the left (yellow) cymbal with your right hand and using the left (red) pad as the snare feels extremely natural. The right (orange) cymbal is generally used as a crash, and the other two pads as toms. I had some concerns that the additional note, combined with the new layout, might prove hard to get the hang of, but both myself and the rest of the players in attendance jumped in pretty quickly.
In-game, some interesting twists have been added when compared to what Rock Band drummers might be used to. To activate Star Power, you don't have to wait for special sections to appear: You can activate at any time by hitting both cymbals simultaneously. When there are long sections without any drums, you can noodle around and add your own fills for a few extra points. Additionally, some notes have graphics on them indicating "accents"; the drums are all velocity-sensitive, and hitting the accents will also give you some bonus points.


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April 1, 2010 by RVBusiness · Comments Off on Coon Touts RVing Health Benefit to Task Force
In response to a request for comments by the federal Task Force on Childhood Obesity regarding ways to stem the epidemic of obesity in American children, Recreation Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA) President Richard Coon submitted recommendations last month that outline the health benefits of RVing and encourage an increase in RVing among American families.
The full text of Coon's comments, as published in the current issue of RVIA Today Express, are reprinted below.
"The Task Force goals of encouraging children to eat healthy, affordable food and engage in more physical activity are directly supported by the outdoor recreation and camping experiences enjoyed by recreation vehicle (RV) owners.
In a February 2010 study by Harris Interactive, 81% of RV owners said that children who RV spend less time on sedentary activities like TV and video games. 72% of RV owners also stated that traveling by RV helps families make healthier eating choices during vacations, because they are able to purchase and prepare their own foods, affordably, on the road. 74% of owners surveyed by RVIA in its March 2010 "Campfire Canvass" survey said they are more active on RV vacations than on other types of family vacation.
To meet your objective of increasing physical activity in communities, we encourage the Task Force to recommend that federal, state and local governments take action to promote recreation visits to the nation's parks. This should include development of policies to ensure that public lands offer access and facilities to RV visitors, thereby facilitating the healthful vacation experiences enjoyed by the nation's 30 million RVing families.
We further recommend that the Task Force embrace key events like Great Outdoors Month in June and National Get Outdoors Day to encourage healthy activities that will appeal to children throughout their lives — because they are fun. The First Family should be invited to embrace these events and outdoor activities through personal involvement.
Another important action the Task Force can take to help increase physical activity is to put a new focus on recommended steps/activities per day by setting a specific goal, and suggesting activities at all federal recreation sites to achieve this goal. For example, a national park, forest or wildlife refuge – all popular destinations for RV travelers — could list walking trails as fulfilling a certain percentage of daily recommended activities for families.
To meet the objective of empowering parents with information and tools to make good choices for themselves and their families, we encourage the Task Force to coordinate the development of and promote to the public an online public-private sector clearinghouse of healthy lifestyle resources. This should include outdoor recreation and RV camping sites such as GoRVing.com. We further suggest that the Task Force work with RVIA and other RV organizations to encourage RV owners with grandchildren to take them to fun outdoor recreation sites where physical activity is the focus.
To build major public support for the goals of increasing physical activity and healthy eating, we recommend in closing that the First Lady lead a national "Get Healthy Outdoors" campaign — much like the "See America First" campaign headed by First Lady Lady Bird Johnson in the 1960s to encourage visits to national parks and other American destinations.
Thank you for this opportunity to provide input on the important work of the Task Force of Childhood Obesity."


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AMARILLO, Texas - Federal agents who searched the Texas apartment of a Saudi man accused of gathering materials to make a bomb found sulfuric acid and nitric acid, among other things, an FBI agent testified Friday.
During the first day of testimony in the trial of Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, Special Agent Aaron Covey walked jurors through the 22-year-old former chemical engineering student's apartment in West Texas using photos taken hours after Aldawsari's Feb. 23, 2011, arrest. Prosecutors contend Aldawsari gathered bomb components with the goal of targeting sites across the U.S.
Prosecutors presented more than 80 exhibits Friday, many of them photos that gave jurors a first look at Aldawsari's sparsely furnished apartment near Texas Tech University. In addition to the bottles of sulfuric and nitric acids, prosecutors showed photos of cellphones, Christmas lights, journals and notebooks, a laptop computer, wiring, a stun gun, a hazmat suit and a baby scale.
Aldawsari faces up to life in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. Investigators say the targets he researched included the Dallas home of former President George W. Bush, dams and nuclear plants.
Defense attorney Dan Cogdell argued that though Aldawsari had intent, he never took a "substantial step" to make or use a bomb. Under cross-examination, Covey confirmed that none of the bottles of sulfuric and nitric acid had been opened.
Cogdell also asked Covey about a third chemical Aldawsari allegedly had tried to obtain to make a bomb.
"In that time did you find any phenol?" Cogdell asked.
"No," Covey testified.
Testimony was scheduled to resume Monday.
Aldawsari came to the U.S. in October 2008 from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to study chemical engineering at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. He transferred in early 2011 to nearby South Plains College, where he was studying business. A Saudi industrial company, which was not identified in court documents, paid his tuition and living expenses.
In his opening statement earlier Friday, Cogdell called his client a failure who never presented a true threat.
"Was he a lone wolf or was he a loser alone?" Cogdell asked. "I think the evidence will show he was a loser alone who failed."
Cogdell said one word came to mind in describing his client: Failure.
"He's a failure academically," Cogdell said. "He's a failure at relationships."
Prosecutor Jeffrey Haag described "10 blocks of evidence" he would present to the jury, including emails, writings and recordings of phone conversations in which Aldawsari described his desire to attack Americans.
"Maybe they deserved 9/11 and maybe it should happen again and again because these people actually deserve it," Aldawsari allegedly said, according to Haag.
Aldawsari sat quietly in the courtroom during Friday's testimony, looking up occasionally as photos of his apartment were shown. At one point, he wrote for several minutes on a legal pad, though he never passed anything to his defense team.
Authorities say they were tipped to Aldawsari's online purchases by chemical company Carolina Biological Supply of Burlington, N.C., and shipping company Con-way Freight on Feb. 1, 2011. The chemical company reported a $435 suspicious purchase to the FBI, while the shipping company notified Lubbock police and the FBI because it appeared the order wasn't intended for commercial use.
Prosecutors played recordings of a frustrated Aldawsari complaining to the supply company when his order was held up. "They keep asking me why I'm using this product," Aldawsari is heard telling a customer service employee. The employee told Aldawsari that the company couldn't ship hazardous materials on a personal credit card.
Aldawsari became a familiar caller as he grew angrier. One worker is heard telling another, "I have Khalid. He's hotter than a firecracker." Workers were eventually instructed to always transfer Aldawsari's calls directly to a supervisor's voicemail.
Court documents say Aldawsari wrote in Arabic in his journal that he had been planning a terror attack in the U.S. even before he came to the country on a scholarship, and that it was "time for jihad," or holy war. He bemoaned the plight of Muslims and said he was influenced by Osama bin Laden's speeches.
FBI bomb experts have said they believe Aldawsari had sufficient components to produce almost 15 pounds of explosive - about the same amount used per bomb in the London subway attacks that killed scores of people in July 2005.