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Liesl, 7N
I want to know who the first woman was who thought it was ok to wear stockings with sandals. Who is this woman of very bad judgment? Did she think she was fooling everyone? Hey look! my tan extends down to my toes which are oddly fused together! Seam? What seam? No, just NO.
I think this stockings with sandals epidemic has reached new heights of wrongness lately. What makes me state that? The fact that they now make stockings with toes that are cut out so that you can wear them with sandals without looking like it. Again, who is this fooling? The only women who have perfectly smooth, tanned legs and feet are models in magazines. Want to know why? Do you? Because they're air brushed! No, just NO.
If you are going to wear a fabulous pair of sandals why would you ruin the effect with a $2 pair of stockings? Liberate your toes, ladies! Oh, and don't forget to get a pedicure before venturing into sandaland.
Today's favorite shoe:
Nicole Miller Fedora
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Liesl, 7N
Suz, 10N
Pantyhose with open toe shoes and sandals. The HORROR!
I was out with two old friends last night, and naturally, the conversation turned to shoes, and particularly, poor shoe wearing habits. The general consensus was one should never, ever wear pantyhose with sandals OR open-toed shoes.
Why, why why do women persist in doing this? It looks horrible. It's almost like the flesh colored sock figure skaters wear over their skates sometimes. It just makes your feet look weird and alien. Even worse is when the pantyhose have a seamed toe. And sometimes the pantyhose make your feet smell - especially in the summer. Not to mention, they defeat the purpose of wearing sandals in the first place.
If you feel you must wear hose, at least wear this kind: http://www.spanx.com/pls/enetrixp/!stmenu_template.main
Bare feet in sandals leads to another conversation about good grooming, but I'll save that for another day.
Today's shoe:
John Fluevog 'Mandalay'
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Suz, 10N
Olympic Figure Skating - Flesh Colored Skates or White?
As I've watched the Olympic figure skating competitions, I was struck by two things. One, the costumes are DREADFUL. Two, flesh colored skates make the skater's feet look like chunks of beige cement hanging off a stump. I think the problem lies with the odd flesh-toned sock that is often placed over the skate, rather than wearing a beige leather boot. Nonetheless, it looks odd. Are they trying to pretend they are skating in bare feet? That's a neat trick. Everyone knows you can't skate in bare feet. It will ruin your pedicure.
The white skates look much more elegant. They imbue the skater with grace and style points. Skaters wearing white skates always look more graceful than those who do not.
I didn't realize I was such a traditionalist about figure skating, but there you go.
Today's shoe:
GAM 3 Esprit Ladies Figure Skates
Liesl, 7N
I admit it, I love figure skating. I tell my husband that figure skating is to me what the Broncos are to him; if he hears me screaming in the other room he knows I am watching competitive figure skating. I can't skate at all, though. When I was a little girl I would get out on the ice and sort of shuffle my feet around the rink. I looked ridiculous! Oh, I looked ridiculous except for one thing: I had some damn cute skates.
It boils down to the footwear every time, doesn't it? I had gotten skates for Christmas because I had happened upon a movie with Sonja Henie on TV. She looked so cute with her tippy toe moves and her twirls and her blond curls. I wanted to be just like her! So, as usual, my mom bought me a nice pair of white skates. I wanted white ones because that was what Sonja Henie had in her movies. However, when I got to the rink the next day I noticed a few girls who had flesh colored skates! Oh! those were unique! I wanted those instead. Gone were my dreams of Sonja Henie tippy toe moves and in were my dreams of streamlined fashion.
In watching the Olympic figure skating I find myself still drawn to the flesh colored skates. I like to think of my ice dancers as having the natural ability to glide along the ice on their bare feet. Yes, that is the impression flesh colored skates give. Their flesh colored tights extend right down to their flesh colored skates as if that is what a normal person would look like if they didn't have to wear skates. Every now and then a moment of reality sets in and I imagine their feet falling off from frostbite (black skates?), but those moments of reality are few and far between. I usually only see some interesting looking feet gliding across the ice, and oops, falling every now and then.
I wonder whatever happened to my skates?
Today's favorite shoe:
Charles by Charles David Aloof
Friday, February 17, 2006
Liesl, 7N
I grew up going to the opera and I was so excited when B bought Suz tickets to the opera for Christmas. He chose La Traviata, one of my favorites and one that is usually sumptuously costumed. I love that the audience members in the orchestra seats are on the same level as the shoes onstage.
I was once hanging out in the wardrobe room before a performance of Les Contes d'hoffmann (my favorite opera) when someone asked the wardrobe lady why they chose such beautifully ornate shoes no one would see under the long dresses; the wardrobe lady replied: "Because they will sing more passionately when they know even their feet are beautiful." That made perfect sense to me then and it makes sense to me now. Do we do things with more panache when we know we are covered in pretty from head to foot? I wonder.
Oh, I love the opera!
Today's favorite shoe:
Gina Pearl
Suz, 10N
A Night at the Opera
My fabulous husband B took me to my first opera last night. La Traviata at the Met. The first performance I've ever seen in Lincoln Center. Quite possibly the most amazing evening out I've experienced in my life. B, I love you.
What has this to do with shoes, you ask? Think about it. People dress for the opera. Well, some people. Some don't. During the intermissions, I was out in the lobby checking out shoes. Woman in black cocktail dress with red satin slingbacks. Fashion do. Woman in sequinned dress and brown leather ankle boots. Fashion don't. Ladies - never, ever wear ankle boots with a dress. Especially a formal one. There were many women wearing all sorts of variations on black strappy sandals. all looked lovely, yet they all faded into each other. I am guilty of falling into the black evening shoe habit. It's easy, and always appropriate. I have learned a lesson. Color in your evening shoes is fun. In fact, I believe it may be a requirement. Because out of all the shoes I checked out last night, the ones I remember are the red satin slingbacks.
RSVP 'Sabine'
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Suz, 10N
You may wonder how my spouse feels about my love of shoes. Probably the way I feel about his love for Madden Football for the Xbox.
B is quite indulgent of my shoe love. He knows how hard a time I have finding ones I like that fit, so he doesn't bat an eye when I come home with a new pair. This might be different if I had an average size foot and could walk into any store, pick out my size in a cute shoe and buy it. If we are out and about, and pass a shoe store, and he catches me looking longingly into the window - he simply says "do you really want to do that to yourself?" He knows that if I go in, I will quickly become angry and distraught because the store doesn't carry my size.
He is also very good about praising my shoe purchases. He always compliments my choice. Then again, he's pretty free with the compliments anyway. I'm a lucky girl!
Today's shoe:
Vaneli 'Yazz' Sandal
Liesl, 7N
I have a very understanding husband. He agreed to marry me knowing that I have this odd shoe fascination and that I stalk shoe stores. Really, he's a saint.
I was in a funk a couple of weeks ago and decided to go to a movie with a friend of mine; on the way out the door MFP (husband) told me to take my time and, get this!, go shopping! Of course I took that to mean, go shoe shopping. I thought he had temporarily lost his mind since he knows what I can do in a shoe store. He knows! But no, he was serious and he was just trying to cheer me up. Is he not the best husband in the world? He indulges my passion for shoes and doesn't judge me for it! Oh, however did I get so lucky?
I came home with 4 pairs of shoes only to find that not only had he encouraged me to go shopping but he had cleaned the house while I was gone. This was almost too much to bear. However, it did present a weird problem: as soon as I got in I wanted to rip those shoes out of their boxes and show MFP just how cute my feet looked in my new pretties. He, on the other hand, wanted to show me all he had done in the house. Guess which one won? Did I mention that he's a saint?
Now, if I can just get him to see the wisdom of Kenneth Cole loafers for men.
Today's favorite shoe:
Brian Atwood Asymmetrical
Monday, February 13, 2006
Liesl, 7N
I live in Dallas where there isn't much call for boots, snow boots or otherwise. However, I do have a fabulous pair of boots. I did recently see them in the "what never to wear" in some magazine, but I think they are wrong.
I bought these boots (see below) at Bloomingdales in Manhattan for all of the long, snowy Montana days and nights. We lived in Montana at the time, in case you couldn't deduce that from the previous sentence. Anyway, I bought these boots and envisioned myself looking so snow bunny-ish as I pranced down the street walking Zelda in these boots. I would have on my perfect little pants and my perfect coat with my perfectly coifed hair and my perfect little earmuffs and my perfect afghan hound looking boots. Can you see me? Can you see how cute I looked?
Yeah, um, no. The first time I wore those boots and pretended to have the coquettish snow bunny thing down I got them so dirty they became unwearable thereafter. The instructions said to wash them like you would your hair, so I tried that. Yeah, um, no. Instead of looking like dirty afghan hounds they now looked like matted, dirty, homeless afghan hounds. Where are they now? In their box under our bed.
And I never once pulled off the snow bunny thing.
Today's Favorite Shoe:
Uggs Fluff Momma Boots
Suz, 10N
There are two kinds. Practical and fashionable. In my experience, they rarely mix. This is ok. When there is 2 feet of snow outside, I don't care what my feet look like. I care that they get me safely through the 6" puddles of slush and over the 4' mounds of snow at the corners. Not to mention the icy sidewalks. I laugh at the people who are tiptoeing around trying not to ruin their shoes, or worse yet, fall down.
Today is a good day for my snow boots. It would be a bad day for my 3 1/2" stiletto boots. I would post a picture, but I bought them a year ago, and can't find one. But they have very pointy toes. Strangely, they fit like a glove. Nine West sometimes runs narrow, though.
Having said that, I must confess my love for my snow boots. I adore them. I've had them for at least 6 years. I spent over $100 on them (for me, that's a lot).
Here they are - the shoe of the day:
La Canadienne "Gaby" Collection
Mine are the ones on the left.
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Suz 10N
I am hard on my shoes. Very hard. Since I have such a hard time finding shoes that fit, I tend to hang on to my favorites long past their prime. You know what I'm talking about.
I always think I'm going to get them reheeled, or resoled, but I never get around to it. Yet I can't just get rid of them. They are perfectly good shoes. Only in need of minor repair. For example, the metal thingy in the heels showing through, causing a little "click click click" when you walk (otherwise known as VLS: Very Loud Shoes). Why not just take them to the cobbler and let him stick on new little plastic heels? How hard and time consuming can that be?
Where should shoes go when they die? Mine migrate to hidden corners of my closet. Twice a year or so, I get the urge to clean it out, and I find them. Usually one or two pairs will be thrown in the trash before I can allow myself to even think of keeping them. The rest? Into a little pile that's meant for repair. 6 months later, I find them hiding in the corners again, and maybe another pair hits the trash. I just can't bear to throw them away unless they are truly disgusting and beyond hope.
Maybe I need some sort of intervention.
Today's shoe is Vaneli's Bena. I posted 2 pictures, because I like both colors a lot.
Liesl, 7N
I wear my shoes into the ground. I have worn shoes with holes in the soles because I loved them so much. I have worn shoes that no longer fit because I loved them so much. I admit it, I can't let go of my shoes.
When a pair of shoes has clearly seen better days most people, I would think, are able to throw them away. I, on the other hand, cannot do such a thing. I see them sitting in the trash with the cans of cat food and remains of dinner and they just look so forlorn, so lost. Those sweet shoes didn't deserve that kind of end! If I don't put them in the trash and then put trash on top of them I will take them out of the trash sooner or later. It's really, well, pathetic.
I think someone should provide a shoe cremation service. I could save all of the ashes of my shoes and have them mixed in with my ashes when I die so that we can all be together for eternity. We can all be made into a ball and placed in a reef that needs repair; or shot into space; or dumped in the ocean ceremoniously. Either way, we could be together forever as I intended when I bought them.
Today's Favorite Shoe:
Vigotti R1950
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Suz 10N
So where to buy shoes? I'm lucky - I have all of NYC at my disposal. Yet - believe it or not - for a girl with narrow feet, the choices are limited. Wait. Allow me to clarify. For a girl with narrow feet on a budget, the choices are limited.
Now that I've cleared that up, let's discuss. When I shop in the city for shoes, I have a few favorite haunts. The first being Filene's Basement on 6th Ave & 18th St. Hit or miss, but they have loads of shoes, in tons of styles, and they won't break the bank. Looking for shoes that will fit me is like a treasure hunt, but the thrill of the catch is incredible! When I see that magical 10N on the bottom of a sweet pair of shoes, my day is made.
Another haunt is TJ Maxx - at the same location. I can't forget Burlington Coat Factory on the corner of 23rd & 6th. They've got a Marty's Shoes in there where I have excellent luck.
Next, I like to go to Medici on 23rd St between 5th & 6th and Shoegasm which is just up the street from there. They don't always carry narrow shoes, but they have a big selection, and some of the shoes run narrow, so I luck out. Besides that, how can you not shop at a store called Shoegasm?
Online, my favorites are Nordstrom, Zappos and Naturalizer.
Happy Shopping! Remember - comfort does not equal ugly!
Today's shoe:
Hollwould Velvet D'Orsay Pump
Liesl, 7N
When I walk into a shoe store I inhale deeply. The smell of the shoes gives me a euphoric feeling like nothing else on earth. It smells so, so... what? luxurious? No, that's not quite right. I think it smells like me. When I say me, I mean, it smells like something I love deep down in my very soul. Maybe I am a bit dramatic but have I mentioned? I love shoes.
I prefer to go to stand alone shoe stores mostly for the smell factor. When you browse shoes in a department store the smell dissipates into the lingerie or jewelry or better clothes section and it isn't as pure. Stand alone stores also tend to be less crowded into a tiny space in a larger area so there is more room to stroll among the shoes and lovingly stroke them.
I went to Designer Shoe Warehouse the other day and walked out with 4 pairs of shoes in about half an hour. I am pretty quick when it comes to spotting what I want; there isn't a lot of equivocation on shoes with me. Since that day I've been back to DSW twice. Once to make my mom buy a pair of the Tommy Bahamas posted recently and once more to find something else. I would drag my butt out of a hospital bed if someone mentioned shoe shopping. I'm not kidding.
So the moral of the story is, stand alone shoe stores smell like happiness.
Today's Favorite Shoe:
Anne Klein Bahia
Monday, February 06, 2006
Liesl, 7N
As I stated previously, I have tiny feet. They are the average size in length but they are so narrow that they almost look like half of a foot. Finding shoes that fit is damn near impossible. Suz has trouble with her large narrow feet, I have trouble with my small narrow feet. Why don't manufacturers make shoes for all foot types?
I wonder about this drive for sameness in fashion and society. We are all supposed to have the body of a 12 year old boy (flat stomach, no hips) with the boobs of a Barbie doll. This carries over into shoe sizes; we, as a society of women, will always have cankles and swollen feet and wide feet and narrow feet. Our feet will not all be an elegant size 7 with the right proportion of width. Oh, would it were so!
You would think that shoe manufacturers would understand that the more styles they make in wearable sizes, the more money they will make. Do you have "normal" sized feet? Does Stuart Weitzman design shoes with your feet in mind? Didn't think so.
Raise your hand if you have ever had the skin rubbed off of places on your feet. Raise your hand if you've ever had to shove things in shoes to make them fit. Raise your hand if you've ever walked in shoes that pinch like a mutha. Raise your hand if you are tired of ill fitting shoes.
Now, write your congressman. Oh, wait... write your favorite shoe manufacturer? Excuse me, I must hobble on away in my too small Kenneth Cole slingbacks.
Today's Favorite Shoe:
Kenneth Cole Dress Around Slingbacks
Suz, 10N
Hard to Fit Feet!
As I was riding along on the subway this morning on my way to work, I pondered yet again upon the shoe manufacturers' blindness towards women who have hard to fit feet.
Why is it that so few manufacturers actually make beautiful, affordable shoes for women who, through no fault of their own, wear sizes outside the norm? Do they think that there aren't very many of these women? They are wrong. Do they think we all want to wear orthopedic shoes? They are wrong. Do they think we only want to wear serviceable shoes? They are wrong.
I am grateful to Nordstrom's. They stock nice shoes in a wide variety of sizes and price points. Yet, even there, the choices available to women with hard to fit feet is inferior to what is available to those with "average" sizes. I also have pretty good luck with Naturalizer.com. Not the stores, but the website. Still - while they do have a pretty good selection for me, I often see shoes that I want, only to find they don't make them in my size. Imagine all the money they're losing! Worse yet, I think their narrows run a little wide. So if I were to go to a size 10S, there is almost NOTHING available at the site that I would be caught dead in. I often end up wearing shoes that don't fit just right, because otherwise, I'd have no shoes at all.
So shoe manufacturers, WAKE UP! You are missing out on a whole lot of profit from a whole lot of women are desperate for pretty shoes for their hard to fit feet. Somebody step up to the plate, for God's sake!
Today's favorite shoe:
Sofft 'Napoli' Sandal
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Liesl, 7N
Not all shoes have to hurt our feet. There are certain shoes I think many of us would suffer for because they are just that special. But let's be honest for a moment and admit that we don't all wear 4-inch Manolos everywhere we go. The problem I see with the generation of comfortable shoes is that many women seem to think that shoes have to be ugly to be comfortable. I am here to proclaim quite vociferously that this is not the case!
I have tiny feet. Tiny. I've had people swear my parents must have bound my feet as a child to make them that small. No, I'm just lucky. Yeah. I have suffered for beautiful shoes for years and I will never stop suffering for them. However, I do think we should acknolwedge that there are some pretty shoes that are comfortable. I recently bought the Tommy Bahama shoes below and they are incredibly comfortable and not so bad on the eyes.
I realize there are more pretty shoes that hurt, but doesn't that mirror life? How many of us have been hurt by a beautiful person? Beautiful food causes cellulite, you know. Beautiful art is painful on the purse. Beautiful music can kill! OK, maybe I've gone too far with that one. The point is, beauty is desirable partially because it is so unattainable. Having beautiful shoes is a small step in the direction of the prettification of our worlds. Take that step with me; you know you want to.
Today's Favorite Shoe:
Tommy Bahama Bayamo
Comfort does not equal ugly, people!
In discussions with friends about shoes, I have found many of them labor under the myth that only ugly shoes are comfortable. This is not true! Ugly shoes are just that. Ugly. Ladies, you must expand your footwear choices. Live a little. Take a risk. Try on a fabulous pair of driving mocs. Or loafers. You will be surprised at how comfortable they can be.
Step away from the cement block sandals, please.
Today's favorite shoe:
Amalfi "Deck" Flat
Saturday, February 04, 2006
Welcome Sisters!
I'm Suz, one half of the Shoegirls. I have loved shoes since I popped out of the womb wearing a darling pair of Jimmy Choos. It was an uncomfortable birth for my mother, poor thing. Stilettos and vaginas don't mix.
Ok, maybe I wasn't really born wearing a pair of Jimmy Choos, but I have loved shoes for as long as I can remember. It's both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because, well, beautiful shoes are always a blessing. A curse because I wear a size 10N, and am not rich.
We all have our crosses to bear.
Today's favorite shoe is:
Via Spiga Swann
Shoes are life!
Suz and I created this blog to indulge in our love for shoes and to share that love with all of the ugly shoe wearers around the world. It is time to just say no to function over form!
My name is Liesl and I have loved shoes since I was a child. I well remember the smell of patent leather Mary Janes with crisp white socks as a child. Every year my mother would take me to the shoe store to buy a new pair and I would look forward to that day for weeks beforehand. I still love Mary Janes... Manolo Mary Janes!
I have indulged in my passion for shoes for probably 33 years, now. During the 80s and my teenage years it was all about the low heeled pump and the L.L. Bean Duck Boots. In the early 90s and my twenties, it was all about classic high heeled pumps. By the time I moved to L.A. in the mid-90s it was all about Steve Madden open toed mules. I had three pair and kept them until our dogs chewed them up a month ago. I still have one pair left.
Now? I just love them all. Except Crocs. And Birks.
Today's Favorite Shoe:
Manolo Blahnik Mary Janes.


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Queensland police have shot at an armed man at a home near Rockhampton.
The bullet missed the man, who had tried to enter the Gracemere house while armed with a gun on Tuesday night.
The 41-year-old was arrested and later charged with two counts of contravene domestic violence order, threatening violence, serious assault, unlawful possession of a firearm and drug possession.
He will appear in the Rockhampton Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
* National domestic violence helpline: 1800 737 732 or 1800RESPECT. In an emergency, call triple-zero.

subset: commoncrawl


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First Hug
In this moment here, As she breaks herself into my arms I hold her closer to my heart. I have no letters or words To
Being an engineer it is imperative for him to be a procrastinator and I would say he has managed well being one, he would update this section tomorrow, if it ever comes. For the time being to apprise the reader well about the person you are reading about, I would say that this person is, well to be honest he is a Writer who also happens to be a Civil-Engineer, sounds strange isn't it, well that is just the tip of the iceberg of his strange yet simple life. He is a Patriot but at times can exhibit Chauvinism when it comes to India and Pakistan. He loves reading and if I am not wrong he has a penchant for politics although he doesn't have affinity for politicians. Being from a very small town he manages well in metropolises, he is immaculate in disguise, nobody and I mean nobody can tell that beneath this tech savvy, english speaking guy lies another guy who speaks an amalgam of Hindi, Urdu and Bhojpuri. He hates social evils, all of them without any sifting and envisages to eradicate if not all, then atleast some from the metropolis he lives in, from the town he was raised and from the village his parents migrated from.Would update more as I get to know this person, thanks for reading until here.


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Madura Island is located in the east of Java island with an area of approximately 5.168 kilometers. Madura Island is included in the territory of East Java Province. Madura Island has been connected with Java Island with a sea bridge called "Suramadu" which stands for Surabaya-Madura. Madura is known for a cow racing game called "Karapan Sapi".
The natives of Madura are known as ethnic or Madurese with the Madurese language which is very different from the Javanese language. The Ethnic or Madurese tribe with a large population in Indonesia. In addition to the island of Madura, Madurese tribe also many inhabit other areas, especially close to the island of Java, Madura island. The area is known as "Tapal Kuda" / "Horseshoe" (Pasuruan, Situbondo, Bondowoso, Jember, Probolinggo, and Banyuwangi) there are many Madurese who lives in this area.
Sleep on Sand
There is one uniqueness in Madura that may not be found in other parts of Indonesia, that is sleep and play on the sand. In Madura, there are some villages that have such uniqueness, the village of Kampung Legung Timur, Legung Barat and Dapenda village. These villages are called Kampung Pasir which is located in Sumenep district, Madura.
The distance from Sumenep Town to the villages is about an hour's drive by road.
Sleeping habits in the villages is a tradition or custom conducted by hereditary. According to the custom is required every house in the villages have one room in the house with sand. Sand can be placed in the bedroom as a bed or in the living room as a place to play and gather. The belief of the people in the villages that sleeping on the sand can cure sickness and rheumatic pain.
The sand used by the people in the villages is taken from around Lombang Beach. This type of sand is not sticky on the skin or body even in a state of basis. The grains of sand have very fine crystals, clean, shiny and ivory white. Sand to be used, screening is done in advance so that there are no other objects such as stones and other objects that can be dangerous and then the sand is dried in order not to wet and moist.
How to get there?
If you want to visit the unique villages, you can go directly to Sumenep first by plane through Juanda International Airport, Surabaya – National Airport, Trunojoyo, Sumenep. The existing flight routes at Trunojoyo Airport for a while only serve the Surabaya-Sumenep and Sumenep Surabaya routes. From Sumenep, you will travel by land with a vehicle with a travel time of about one hour. If you want to travel on land by vehicle, from Surabaya to Sumenep takes about four hours.
For accommodation and lodging, you do not need to worry because in the city of Sumenep already widely available lodging and hotels.
Other tourist attractions
If you are still in Sumenep, do not miss to visit Gili Labak. Yes, Gili Labak is not in Bali or Lombok but it is in Sumenep Madura. Gili Labak is a small island that has the beauty of white sand. In Gili Labak you can also snorkel and dive. To go to Gili Labak Island can be reached through Kalianget harbor and hire a fishing boat to this island. Travel time is about two hours.
Do not miss also other tourist destinations like the former stone white stone. The location is only 30 kilometers from the town of Sumenep. Can be reached in just one hour by using the vehicle. This place presents a panorama of rock hills former stone mining that formed the former carvings of miners. Looks exotic and very beautiful to serve as the object of photography.


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AAF Day of Cricket 2014: Sunday 6th July
Last years Day of Cricket at Burton Court, The Royal Hospital Chelsea was a huge success which we hope to repeat this year with teams representing Afghan Appeal Fund, Freshfields, the Army Wanderers and welcoming new competitors – the Guards XI – with Freshfields hoping to retain their title. Email firstname.lastname@example.com for more details. There will be lunch, refreshments and stalls as well as some excellent cricket! TICKETS are £15 (under… Read more


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Youre Next (2011)
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Torrent details: DVD Rip, Dual Audio, English sub
125 Seeds 83 Peers
Year: 2011
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Director: Adam Wingard
Starring: Sharni Vinson, Nicholas Tucci, AJ Bowen
23 0
If the Davidson family is attacked during their holiday wedding anniversary, a mysterious killer gang soon learns that one of the victims harbors a secret talent rebuffed.
This film is a bit of revenge for I Spit On Your Grave with a future invasion of the home games and pranks. But to say that it looks like the Gulf of blood, the blood of an enemy surprise the family that ends badly for everyone, and have a lot of fun. In the first half hour, when we meet many fascinating characters less action and dialogue that seems largely pointless, through the principle of home invasion, where the public is on stage as a character running in slow motion in the barbed wire. It seems that the film is the audience we fail (more alarming for the film itself) is the rebellion and become a movie Rocky Horror interactive experience. Then the girlfriend of one of the brothers from Australia to the family at the center of the invasion, he began to struggle and put the movie directly back to court and won back the audience. As we lose more central character and explore the motivations of masked raiders, the shares rose to one of the last girl I saw in proactive long. The finish is a bloody free for exploring humor and suspense and arouse applause. There are moments of great humor intentionally subtle, but some parts of the film seem very serious not simply the m. The first character is one of two unpleasant characters? not in a good way - or not brave enough for us to win. This is the reason for the hearing on the bad side. I do not think this is intentional on the part of the filmmakers. First clumsy and weak characters are the only things I removed from the proposal in its entirety.


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It's National Butchers Week next week (14th-20th March), and we decided the best way to celebrate is to find some of the best places to get your meat fix in London.
Macellaio RC
Macellaio RC is based in two London locations in Exmouth Market and South Kensington. Macellaio's are passionate about serving the finest food made from the best ingredients from his native homeland in Italy. His ethos – choose the best produce and cook simply to get natural flavours shine through. And if you go down to Macellio's you can go have a look at the restaurants very own butchers counter to choose your steak before it is cooked and served to your table.
Tom's Kitchen
Tom's Kitchen are now working with Rhug Estate and Lake District Farmers. Their commitment to working with British suppliers and farmers is ever-growing, and they are always aiming to produce food with the very best seasonal and locally sourced ingredients. Their A La Carte menu will include a 220g/275g Cumbrian ribeye steak or a Cumbrian sharing steak – all served with either béarnaise or peppercorn sauce.
OXBO Bankside
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text:
More Details on the Increasingly Bitter Koch/Cato Lawsuit and Feud
As mentioned here last week, controversial libertarian philanthropists Charles and David Koch are suing the country's largest libertarian think tank, the Cato Institute, in a dispute over ownership shares. Cato President Ed Crane, who is one of the defendants, has described the suit as an attempted "hostile takeover," an "effort by the Kochs to turn the Cato Institute into some sort of auxiliary for the G.O.P"; the Kochs counter that they intend no such takeover and are instead fighting for the sanctity of contract and rule of law.
The case has brought forth a torrent of commentary in and around the libertarian universe (the best distillation/compilation of which can be found at Skip Oliva's constantly updating blog). Before linking to some of that I'll list here some factual advances of the story since last week.
The New York Times Tuesday reported more on the "personal acrimony" between Crane and the Kochs:
Mr. Crane, the Cato president, was once close to Charles Koch, sharing libertarian beliefs and traveling with him to China and the Soviet Union as they joined to form Cato in the mid-1970s, officials said. But the two had a falling out, and the Kochs tried to have Mr. Crane removed as president some years ago, the officials said.
Exacerbating tensions was an article in 2010 in The New Yorker magazine, in which an unnamed Cato Institute official was quoted comparing Charles Koch and his "market-based management" philosophies to an "emperor" with no clothes. The quote was said to infuriate Mr. Koch.
Charles and David Koch have rarely attended Cato board meetings in recent years, and Cato officials have rarely been invited to the family's regular galas for influential conservatives. As the relationship with the institute has deteriorated, their donations have declined as well.
Since Cato was formed, the Kochs have donated about $30 million, officials said, but the bulk came in its first decade; by last year, the Kochs gave no money at all.
On Saturday, Cato Senior Fellow Jerry Taylor told The Volokh Conspiracy's Jonathan H. Adler about how the feud has played out on Cato's board:
Last year, they used their shares to place two of their operatives – Kevin Gentry and Nancy Pfotenhauer – on our board against the wishes of every single board member save for David Koch. Last Thursday, they used their shares to force another four new board members on us (the most that their shares would allow at any given meeting); Charles Koch, Ted Olson (hired council for Koch Industries), Preston Marshall (the largest shareholder of Koch Industries save for Charles and David), and Andrew Napolitano (a frequent speaker at Koch-sponsored events). Those four – who had not previously been involved with Cato either financially or organizationally – were likewise opposed by every member of our board save for Gentry, Pfotenhauer, and David Koch. To make room for these Koch operatives, we were forced to remove four long-time, active board members, two of whom were our biggest donors. At this moment, the Kochs now control seven of our 16 board seats, two short of outright control.
Cato Board Chairman Bob Levy gave an updated list of board members to an inquiring Skip Oliva, who determined that the four ousted board members were John C. Malone, Lewis Randall, Donald G. Smith and William Dunn, the latter of whom sits on the Reason Foundation's Board of Trustees (as does David Koch), and was until recently our board chairman. As you may expect, various employees of Reason (including me) have various professional and personal relationships with most of the people under discussion on both sides of the dispute; many of my hyperlinks under people's names in this post are to their Reason archive.
Levy also gave this anecdote to former Reasoner David Weigel over at Slate:
In early November, David Koch met with Bob Levy, chairman of Cato's board of directors, at Dulles International Airport. They were joined by Richard Fink, Koch's chief adviser, and Kevin Gentry, a vice president of Charles Koch's charitable foundation who'd been put on Cato's board of directors. (Former Americans for Prosperity President Nancy Pfotenhauer had joined the board after the same meeting.)
"They said that a principle goal was to defeat Barack Obama," remembered Levy. "The way David [Koch] put it was, 'We would like you to provide intellectual ammunition that we can then use at Americans for Prosperity and our allied organizations.' AFP and others would apply Cato's work to advance their electoral goals."
Levy asked them: "What gives you the impression that [Cato isn't] providing intellectual ammunition?" He says now: "I never got a satisfactory answer. The only answer that makes sense was that Cato needed to be more responsive to their needs. We would take closer marching orders. That's totally contrary to what we perceive the function of Cato be."
More in this vein from Jerry Taylor:
Just before the last shareholders meeting, the Koch brothers also nominated –but were unable to elect – eight additional individuals for our board. Those nominees included the executive vice president of Koch Industries, a staff lawyer for Koch Industries, a staff lawyer for the Charles Koch Foundation, a former Director of Federal Affairs for Koch Industries, a former Executive Director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (and who was, incidentally, a McCain bundler), and a lifelong Wichita friend of Charles Koch. Aside from those functionaries, they also nominated a couple of people with public profiles that make the jaw drop:
* John Hinderaker of the Powerline blog, whose firm counts Koch Industries as a client. Hinderaker has written, "It must be very strange to be President Bush. A man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, he can't get anyone to notice. He is like a great painter or musician who is ahead of his time, and who unveils one masterpiece after another to a reception that, when not bored, is hostile." Hinderaker supports the Patriot Act and the Iraq War and calls himself a neocon.
* Tony Woodlief, who has been president of two Koch-created nonprofits and vice president of the Charles Koch Foundation. Woodlief has blogged about "the rotten heart of libertarianism," calling it "a flawed and failed religion posing as a philosophy of governance" while complaining about libertarians "toking up" at political meetings.
Woodlief responds in part here:
I don't know much about this Cato business. I do of course know Koch. I know people there well enough to find laughable the notion that they are somehow opposed to liberty, or that they could ever imagine Cato is essential to some secret partisan or corporate agenda and must therefore be taken over.
And like everyone, I know about Cato. I know many people smarter than me who work there, and I appreciate very much their efforts for decades to make mainstream many valuable ideas that once would have been relegated to the fringe. I don't agree with all of them, and I think libertarianism, to be an intellectually cohesive philosophy, needs critique and work. Fortunately, I've always found the people I know who work for Cato to welcome the kind of spirited debate that tends to make idea-generating organizations healthier.
But I suppose right now the point is to circle the wagons, craft a narrative of conspiracy, and paint whatever side one is not on as intransigent and small-minded. None of which will have any bearing on the final legal decisions, but all of which is to the great delight of those who despise liberty and would love to see Cato torn down.
And Woodlief has a more substantive post about the case here.
Former Catoite Will Wilkinson, while saying "it seems clear enough that the Kochs are trying to take over by stacking the board," pronounced the "hand-wringing" over its new members to be "overwrought":
It's worth noting that David Koch has been on the Cato board for years, the whole time I was employed there and more, and I don't remember anyone once suggesting he was an ideological or strategic danger to Cato's mission. But suddenly he's an existential threat! Cato and Cato's chairman Bob Levy didn't seem to have a huge problem with Ted Olson, a Solicitor General under G.W. Bush, when he was at Cato arguing for gay marriage on constitutional grounds. Andrew Napolitano is a stout libertarian who put a ton of Cato guys on Freedom Watch, his recently cancelled show on Fox Business. Cato executive VP David Boaz seems to get along pretty well, ideologically and otherwise, with Napolitano in this recent clip. Nancy Pfotenhauer, a former G.W. Bush and John McCain campaign operative, strikes me as a classic right-leaning fusionist, of which there are not a few at Cato. That she was married for a while to Cato senior fellow Dan Mitchell I think suggests that she does not inhabit an ideological/institutional universe foreign to Cato, as does the fact that the Independent Women's Forum, of which Pfotenhauer was for years the president, is currently run by Cato alum Carrie Lukas. Kevin Gentry is a hard-core Virginia Republican Party operative with whom I worked back when I was at the Institute for Humane Studies and the Mercatus Center. He's a fundraiser. [...]
The way Cato has so eagerly jumped on the Koch-bashing bandwagon in its hour of crisis strikes me as both transparently opportunistic and damaging to the broader libertarian movement. Charles Koch is the chairman of the board at the Institute for Humane Studies which as far as I can see has not become a whit less libertarian in orientation over the past several years. When I worked there, Charles Koch was also chairman of the Mercatus Center's board and he's on the board currently (but I can't tell from the Mercatus website who the chair is, if they have one.) A number of Mercatus' policy staff once worked at Cato and they don't seem to have changed their ideological orientation at all. Is Cato's management now arguing that Mercatus' scholars labor under a cloud of partisanship which threatens the independence and integrity of their work? Is Cato's management arguing that IHS's libertarian principles are now suddenly threatened by Charles Koch's money and leadership? Cato has worked closely with IHS for decades, and has long been a proud host each summer of a number of IHS Charles G. Koch Summer Fellows. Cato's worries about Charles Koch's baleful un-libertarian influence are completely new to me! That CGK is a partisan threat to an independent libertarian perspective is now a very popular idea at Cato that coincides exactly and suspiciously with the onset of CGK's attempt to capture control of the institution he co-founded.
Most libertarian commentary on the matter has been much more pro-Cato/Crane and anti-Koch than Wilkinson's piece. Cato staffers (UPDATE: Former Cato staffers, I have been corrected) have formed a popular Save Cato Facebook page, complete with list of bullet points; and there have been a variety of lengthy essays on the subject, from the likes of Cato Executive Vice President David Boaz, (Reason.com columnist) Gene Healy, (former Reasoner) Julian Sanchez, (former Reason intern) Jonathan Blanks, Jason Kuznicki, and Justin Logan. Other broadly sympathetic sentiments have come from Reason.com columnist Steve Chapman, Don Boudreaux, Ilya Somin, Charles Rowley, and many others. There has been a smattering of ambivalence or skepticism about Cato's legal/moral case, from the likes of Arnold Kling, Jonah Goldberg, Erick Erickson, Ted Frank (link is currently not working), and Jeff Bercovici. Haunting this whole discussion, obviously, is the ghost of Murray Rothbard.
How do the Kochs explain their actions? Here's an excerpt from a letter that the Charles G. Koch Foundation sent to various alumni earlier this week:
Charles Koch and David Koch went to great lengths to avoid this dispute. Their efforts were numerous, sincere, and went literally up to the last minute.
The disagreement over the shareholders' agreement has been going on for years with Charles Koch and David Koch receiving several proposals from Cato's officers to dissolve the agreement. Charles and David consistently declined these proposals because they feel the shareholder structure is important to preserve donor intent. At the unfortunate passing of one of the four shareholders, Bill Niskanen, some issues came to the forefront with discussions about how his shares should rightfully be disposed.
Charles Koch and David Koch, mindful of how this dispute could be a distraction to Cato and its mission at this critical time, sought to resolve the issue, or alternatively, to table the issue for a year or longer.
* They proposed a standstill agreement to delay any discussion on the shareholders agreement, and to delay any shareholder meetings and maintain the current board of directors for one year or longer.
* They proposed third party mediation.
* They proposed alternative corporate structures for the other side to consider.
All of these efforts were rejected, and Cato's other shareholder [Ed Crane] demanded that a shareholders' meeting be held on March 1 where a new party (Ms. Washburn — Bill Niskanen's widow) would be named a shareholder and new directors would be named.
The court action, filed immediately before the shareholders' meeting, was a last resort to ask the court for help in confirming the meaning of the governing documents and the shareholders' agreement.
What about the alleged hostile political takeover of Cato?
Charles and David are absolutely committed to libertarian principles and the libertarian issues Cato works on. They merely want the integrity of the shares, the original structure that all parties agreed to, upheld and for Cato's officers and directors to act in a manner consistent with the principles the organization was founded on. As you know, a key principle of libertarianism is recognizing and respecting the rule of law. The founders of the Cato Institute reached an agreement and are bound by it. And that is what Charles Koch and David Koch are seeking here — that the parties stand by what they voluntarily agreed to when they founded Cato.
When former President George Bush said, "I've abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system," we all know how disastrous the consequences were for free markets and the economy. Principles are not what you abandon in difficult times. Rather they serve as the foundation for action in challenging times. And like President Bush, if Cato's leaders are willing to abandon a key libertarian principles—adhering to voluntary agreements—when they feel it's convenient, the organization has lost its way as an advocate of these principles. Cato can't save libertarian principles by its leaders abandoning its principles any more than President Bush could save the free market by abandoning free market principles.
Charles Koch and David Koch believe in Cato, its mission, and its principles. As champions of the rule of law, voluntary agreements, and property rights, Charles and David believe that upholding the shareholder agreement is crucial to protecting Cato's principled mission in the future from the path of the Ford Foundation, Pew, and others that have strayed when they deviated from their founding principles.
The Kochs and Ed Crane (and many of Ed Crane's employees) seem headed for a massive fork in the road. Skip Oliva has some very preliminary thoughts about what a post-divorce post-Cato might look like, but regardless of the speculative future, the present looks to be contentious and painful. Bob Levy is telling reporters that some of Cato's biggest donors have declared that "we will not give a single dollar until we know the Kochs do not have more of a say over Cato." Expect plenty of such talk, and escalating recriminations, long before the first day in court.
Editor's Note: We invite comments and request that they be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of Reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason at any time. Report abuses.
This comment should elicit the ban hammer.
This comment should elicit the whiny little bitch hammer.
All this talk of hammers is generating in me a mighty thirst.
Let's all get hammered!
When all you have are trolls, every hammer looks like a nail.
Maybe you should try Camels With Hammers
Image: Cato as it appears in an Archer episode
Image: Cato as it appears in an Archer episode
Is there a dry cleaners at the entrance?
Charles Koch and his "market-based management" philosophies
Oh, horror!
WTF is that even supposed to mean? Results-based oppression?
I think it might mean buying off politicians, as the anti-union bill in Wisconsin had a clause that has not received much attention -- namely for the governor to sell state assets like factories at will.
Wisconsin has factories? For what?
Cheese curds. Government cheese curds.
No whey?
They have state run utilities, that make and sell power. So the law allows them sell it at a fire-sale price to the Koch Bros.
right, i'm sure there's no review or competitive process. just Walker saying, "here ya go."
fucking troll.
Why the fuck does the state own utilities in the first place?
They should be giving them away not selling them.
MBM: http://www.kochind.com/MBM/science_of_success.aspx
It's pretty straight forward actually... it's mostly about utilizing decentralized information and entrepreneurial principles within a business organization.
As a corporate lawyer, I find it amusing and instructive (although not in the way intended), when this:
One of the founders of a company uses their shares in the company in the manner allowed by company documents, to appoint directors.
is described as "forcing" board members onto the board, trying to "take over" the board, etc.
Without knowing, or caring, a goddam thing about what is behind this, I tend to sympathize with the Kochs. Unless and until it can be shown that they are violating Cato's charter, they have the right of it, it seems to me.
I don't see how "forcing" is inappropriate here. You can legally force people to do lots of things. Isn't that what contracts are for?
I can force you to get off my land if I don't want you there, but I'm not wrong to do so.
If they have the authority to appoint people to the board, doing so is not really "forcing" them onto the board even though others, who have no say on who they appoint, may disagree.
If you agree to do something in a contract, and then decide you don't want to, is the other party really "forcing" you when it demands that you do what you agreed to do?
Sure, you can use the word that way, but its the kind of rhetoric that makes me think anyone who uses it is on the losing side.
Some of these situations get positively arcane. Remember the dispute between Liberty Media and IAC several years ago? During the litigation in Delaware, it turned out that John Malone had basically given Diller total control of Liberty's stock in IAC, converting Diller into a CEO+ (in many ways, with the power of an owner). Big mistake, and it all started because Malone thought he and Diller were buddies.
Most charitable foundations end up being run by board members who did nothing to start them but feel they own the foundation anyway.
Most charitable foundationsAll incorporated entities end up being run by board members who did nothing to start them but feel they own the foundation anyway.
True. it is just that the CATO folks are a bit more bold than most in that they are doing it while the founder is still alive and owns stock.
"If you agree to do something in a contract, and then decide you don't want to, is the other party really "forcing" you when it demands that you do what you agreed to do?"
I'd say so.
Otherwise, I don't disagree. They have the right to do whatever they can do according to the contract that set up Cato. But if they are actually trying to push it in a more partisan ideological direction, I think that the other people are right to complain, even if Koch is completely in the right legally. But I suppose that if Koch is fully in his rights to do what he is doing, the lawsuit is silly, loser behavior. But I don't know.
I tend to agree that it sounds that way with what superficial information that we have, but I also find the Koch's description of their play a little disingenuous. They may be legally in the right, but it's also possible that Crane is telling the truth about their political intentions. I know so little about the Kochs that I don't know one way or the other. Other than cashing their weekly paycheck for my comments here, that is.
Wow. You are a sucker. I only accept payment in bullion. Fuck that "check" shit.
I get paid in top hats and monocles myself.
My check is made of solid gold.
Other than cashing their weekly paycheck for my comments here, that is.
How much do they pay you?
Cuz my last check was light.
Amateurs.You're doing it all wrong ProL,with enough personas you can collect a check from the Koch Bros for commenting AND one from Soros and Obama for trolling.You don't think the greifers come here to gambol and shit for free do you?
You have to understand RC how these things work. Someone starts a company. And he is nice enough to invite some of his friends to sit on the board. After a while those friends start to think they own the company. Like it was their money that created it. So when the original owner starts exerting control again, the board members are shocked. How dare he take away their corporation.
This sounds a lot like the plot to the musical, Rent, to me.
yeah. The anti-Koch team seems more intent on name calling...which by the way I love, but seem to lack any legal, contractual or rational argument against what Koch is doing.
If you don't like it then quit and start a different organization.
The problem, of course, is that the Koch-controlled Cato would own all of the intellectual property—the existing publication rights, copyrights, the Cato name and related trademarks, and probably the actual donor lists.
Hold on. I thought CATO was against IP. Why do they have copyrights and trademarks on anything? These guys sound more and more like the typical DC establishment. Claim to believe one thing, but do the exact opposite.
Cato is anti-IP? I don't think that's right.
Apparently random reason commentors discussing IP at reason.com is the same thing as Cato.
Cato (if Julian Sanchez's articles there and at Ars are any indication) is opposed to oppressive, unbalanced measures like PIPA and SOPA that would strip little people of due process to make life easier for big IP holders.
They also like to point out that IP lobbyists lie their asses off to convince Congress of the economic impact of piracy.
That means they hate IP and want to eliminate it.
It gives me great pleasure to place you in the filter.
Congrats on this accomplishment.
It gives me great pleasure to know that you're bothered so much by a different opinion that you must censor it. Just confirms my suspicions.
What opinion?
Whether Cato is pro or anti IP is a fact, opinion has nothing to do with it.
Is not listening technically censoring?
If I see Obama on the news and change the channel am i censoring, or just exercising my preference for the TV show Justified?
I find this dispute distressing. Cato has done some very good work and has had a decent amount of influence in DC, despite being libertarian. Whatever the result, I hope Cato doesn't end up radically transformed or diminished by this internecine squabble.
This. Whoever is right is right. Fine. But the damage to the libertarian movement that this is already causing is sad.
The Cato pussies should quit and start their own foundation.
Oh, that takes hard work, never mind then.
Pretty much. Maybe we should start the Reason comentariot foundation.
Dibs on Chairman!
I think we would have to have Roman Republican titles like Pro Counsel or Patrician.
Dibs on Plebian Tribune.
Fear and tremble at the power of the masses!
Dibs on Imperium Maius
I think we all know what I call.
Maybe we should start the Reason comentariot foundation.
I am in. Though i will only write small checks. I do not plan on doing any work.
"Maybe we should start the Reason comentariot foundation."
Emphasis on the RIOT!
Yeah.....they should call it Dogo.
I do find the idea that they want Cato to coordinate with AFP to be a bit concerning. AFP is an activist, grassroots group that already has an associated research group (Americans for Prosperity Foundation) and is dedicated to getting conservative economics believers elected (functionally, they're pro-Republicans and anti-Democrat). CATO is essentially an academic research group that thinks most of the ideas Republicans and Democrats hold are idiotic. I like those things remaining in their respective spheres.
It gives Cato some credibility standing aloof of political activism. I sure hope that's not where this is going.
It's funny to see people who talk so much about enforcing contracts whine so much when someone tries to enforce a contract. I guess CATO isn't any different from the rest of DC when it comes to engaging in hypocrisy.
I don't think it's hypocrisy. At least, not necessarily. Crane and some of the others there have been involved for many years and see this as something very important. It's not illegal for them to fight back, after all, and I don't think they're going to be violating any libertarian principles to do so, unless the provisions allowing the board changes are crystal clear.
Also, it's possible that the Kochs merely have a better legal argument and not necessarily the only one.
If giving Bruce Bartlett(?) and Will Wilkinson the boot is representative of the direction the Kochs would like to nudge CATO, I'm not sure I'm willing to complain.
Bartlett never worked for them. It Brink Lindsey (and Wilkinson) who got the boot.
Why? Uniformity of mind is not the ideal for a think tank, and there needs to be contrarians involved. The question is whether the overall orientation as a whole is shifting away from a libertarian basis towards a more establishment Republican basis.
The Kochs don't seem to be doing anything underhanded or dishonest here, but I wonder what they expect to gain by turning Cato into essentially a Koch PR outfit. I hope they change their minds.
"The Kochs don't seem to be doing anything underhanded or dishonest here, but I wonder what they expect to gain by turning Cato into essentially a Koch PR outfit. I hope they change their minds."
The thing I've found particularly interesting about the reactions to this whole thing so far is that the only person claiming or assuming this would be the case is Ed Crane, and since he got that message out pretty much the instant the suit was filed, a lot of other people have just taken that assumption for granted.
But IHS isn't a "Koch PR outfit", and neither is the institute that I work for... I'm just speaking on behalf of myself here, but if you find anything in the videos I've made at www.economicfreedom.org to be an intellectual "ammo shop" for AFP, I'd love to know what it is.
Sadly enough, Balko had been whining about this on his FB page because he's afraid that the dude from Powerline will start writing for CATO.
I know the Kochs have contributed a lot to libertarian ideas and organizations, but this action just throws up a lot of red flags to me. Especially since their comments seem entirely based on concern about some shareholder structure than on any concerns about Cato's actual work. It's a pretty naked power grab.
However right their legal claim may be, they should recognize how this might threaten the integrity of Cato and just back off.
Sounds to me like they did everything that could be asked of them to avoid this public confrontation. If anyone is to blame for the shit storm it's the (previous) Cato board for not dealing with this privately and by the letter of the law.
It sounds to me like the Kochs are the ones who made this public with their lawsuit. And since the entire situation seems to be about resolving what exactly the letter of the law (or contract) is, you can't really say the previous board members are to blame. Well, you can of course, but you know.
Umm. FTA:
Charles Koch and David Koch, mindful of how this dispute could be a distraction to Cato and its mission at this critical time, sought to resolve the issue, or alternatively, to table the issue for a year or longer.
* They proposed a standstill agreement to delay any discussion on the shareholders agreement, and to delay any shareholder meetings and maintain the current board of directors for one year or longer.
* They proposed third party mediation.
* They proposed alternative corporate structures for the other side to consider.
All of these efforts were rejected, and Cato's other shareholder [Ed Crane] demanded that a shareholders' meeting be held on March 1 where a new party (Ms. Washburn — Bill Niskanen's widow) would be named a shareholder and new directors would be named.
Yes, the Kochs made some demands of the board and the board didn't grant them. Do we know if the board had any legal or contractual obligation to consent to these demands?
Looks to me like the Koch's privately made numerous legal overtures specifically designed to avoid this ugly, public situation. You can characterize proposing third party mediation as a 'demand' if you want, I wouldn't.
Do we know if the board had any legal or contractual obligation to consent to these demands?
Apparently the only way to find that out is to sue Cato. And here we are.
Thanks for the well-rounded update Matt.
Yes, I was looking for something like this earlier and had to browse through lew's various blog posts. I know they don't like Cato over there, but damn. Matt's update was much more thoughtful.
Has anyone looked into the political leanings of the widow? For all we know she could be a Soros sympathizer, enjoy Michael Moore movies, or simply some Fluke-like "slut".
It surprises me to read that Andrew Napolitano was opposed by all but the Koch contingency. I wonder what their oppositions were.
And from a more deliciously gossip-y perspective, it's funny to see a man beloved by the LewRockwell.com branch be given a reputable job at a place the LewRockwell.com branch takes frequent jabs at by a group of people the LewRockwell.branch take frequent jabs at.
Yeah, seems like the Judge would be welcomed. Maybe they opposed him just because the Koch people proposed him.
I didn't think about that. I wonder if LRC is having fits right now.
If Cato loses its free-love stoner vibe, then I'm gone.
The Kochs will turn CATO into another GOP appendage just like the Heritage Foundation and the Tea Party.
Just wait until CATO issues policy papers on the glories of open-ended war, nation-building, and the security state. Authored of course by John Hinderaker.
Why haven't they done this with the Institute for Humane Studies, or the Charles Koch Institute? Curious.
Why haven't they done this with the Institute for Humane Studies, or the Charles Koch Institute? Curious.
Quoting Alex Pareene on this makes me want to vomit.
'Long-dormant' = No Longer Valid, I suppose.
"But I suppose right now the point is to circle the wagons, craft a narrative of conspiracy, and paint whatever side one is not on as intransigent and small-minded."
In other words: LET'S LITIGATE!
It Brink Lindsey (and Wilkinson) who got the boot.
So, whatever happened to Murray Rothbard's shares? According to one of the guys at Lew Rockwell, Murray's shares were never accounted for in any substantive fashion, and Lew his own self might have the legal custody of them. If that's really the case, I can't imagine why Lew wouldn't get up in the middle of this, just to screw with both Cato and the Kochs.
The ghost of Murray Rothbard, huh? Why does this read like a Reason report on the 1992/1996/2000/2004/008 Libertarian Party Presidential Nominating Convention? There are no drama queens like libertarian drama queens.
Except you, darling. You get the tiara, as always.
Tearing down Cato would free up outdoor smoking space.
Thanks Matt this is a great summary.
"The Kochs are making me root for that asshole Ed Crane," tweeted Will Wilkinson, a scholar with some liberal leanings
Go Kochs!
People are going to miss this country when it's gone.
moar rockwell shares plox
it's all about the money isn't it.. it's really just koch's donation doing the talking. without it, they are neither pronounced intellectual nor spiritual leaders, or anything of that sort. how about taking donation from small donors instead.. you might actually have to think about what grassroots level libertarians care about for once, and that isn't many of the schmucks in LP. wonder why you never grew? take a page out of the paul movement. funny a libertarian movement funded by 1 or 2 individuals trying to have a heavy hand in its policies is proclaiming itself as the true libertarian inspiration, and is actually trying to change things. can't get anymore hypocritical, ironic, and pathetically hilarious


text:
Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases
Volume 14, Issue 2, Pages 97-102
Coxiella burnetii Seroprevalence of Shepherds and Their Flocks in the Lower Saint-Lawrence River Region of Quebec, Canada
1Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Centre Hospitalier Régional de Rimouski, Rimouski, Canada
2Department of Public Health of Lower Saint-Lawrence River Region of Quebec, Rimouski, Canada
3Ministère de l'Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l'Alimentation du Québec, Quebec, Canada
4Institut Armand-Frappier, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
5National Microbiology Laboratory, Health Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Received 26 February 2002; Accepted 12 September 2002
Copyright © 2003 Hindawi Publishing Corporation. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
OBECTIVE: To determine the seroprevalence of Coxiella burnetii among the shepherds and their sheep in the lower Saint-Lawrence River region (LSLRR) of Quebec, Canada.
DESIGN: A prospective human-animal comparative study was conducted with 81 shepherds from 46 farms and a control group matched for sex and age. All participants answered a standardized questionnaire to evaluate their risk factors for Q fever, including a specific section on the work practices of the shepherds. All human subjects had a blood sample taken for serology to phase I and phase II antigens of C burnetii performed by indirect immunofluorescence assay. At each participating farm, seven to nine sheep had blood samples taken for C burnetii serology to be assessed by the complement fixation test.
RESULTS: The seroprevalence to C burnetii was higher in the group of shepherds (28.4%) than the control group (1.2%) (P<0.005). Among the group of shepherds, spending more than 5 h/week in the sheep barn (P=0.06) and buying and/or trading sheep within the past six months (P=0.004) were associated with positive C burnetii serology. A total of 137 of 334 sheep (41%) were seropositive for C burnetii. These positive sheep were distributed in 41 of the 46 flocks (89%). No correlation could be demonstrated between a serology for C burnetii in the herds and the shepherds.
CONCLUSION: Q fever is highly prevalent in the LSLRR of Quebec, affecting 89% of the flocks and 28% of the shepherds. Shepherds in this region are at increased risk for C burnetii infection in comparison to the general population.


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Sustainability 2014, 6(3), 1427-1447; https://doi.org/10.3390/su6031427
Socio-Economic Survey as a Support Tool during the Scaling Up of Improved Stoves in the Logone Valley (Chad/Cameroon)
CeTAmb LAB, Research Laboratory on Appropriate Technologies for Environmental Management in Resource-Limited Countries, University of Brescia, via Branze 43, Brescia 25123, Italy
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 2 October 2013 / Revised: 6 March 2014 / Accepted: 12 March 2014 / Published: 19 March 2014
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessment Methods Applied to Environmental Projects in Low- and Middle-Income Countries)
AbstractField assessment plays a key role in the evaluation of the energy access modalities and of the socio-economic features that may influence the beneficiaries' choices and preferences in the adoption and use of an energy technology. This work presents the findings of a survey conducted during the implementation of a cooperation project in the Logone Valley (Chad/Cameroon). After an initial period of promotion of an improved cookstove (ICS), a survey was conducted that was aimed at identifying different beneficiary groups, matching their preferences and cooking habits to the technology proposed, in order to best tailor the scaling-up strategy. In-depth analysis of the data gathered identified two household-user behaviors and the relative influencing features: in the urban area, the increased adoption rates confirmed the appropriateness of the technology proposed and its sustainability, whereas in the rural area, ICS use was not perceived by the final users as advantageous and lower adoption rates were observed. Thus, due to the outcome of the survey, the project action was re-oriented in order to achieve a higher impact on the territory and on the population. View Full-Text
Keywords: Chad; cooking habits; energy access; improved cookstoves; in itinere assessment; on-field survey; wood consumption►▼ Figures
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Vitali, F.; Vaccari, M. Socio-Economic Survey as a Support Tool during the Scaling Up of Improved Stoves in the Logone Valley (Chad/Cameroon). Sustainability 2014, 6, 1427-1447.
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Vitali F, Vaccari M. Socio-Economic Survey as a Support Tool during the Scaling Up of Improved Stoves in the Logone Valley (Chad/Cameroon). Sustainability. 2014; 6(3):1427-1447.Chicago/Turabian Style
Vitali, Francesco; Vaccari, Mentore. 2014. "Socio-Economic Survey as a Support Tool during the Scaling Up of Improved Stoves in the Logone Valley (Chad/Cameroon)." Sustainability 6, no. 3: 1427-1447.
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On June 2, Mirmahmud Miralioglu, the chairman of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (Classics) (APFP), met with the advisor of the USA Embassy on economical and political issues Pole Noreen, Yusif Sevdimaliyev, the deputy chairman of APFP on political issues, informed Trend.
He noted that the meeting focused on social-political situation, the role of the political parties in the society, parliamentary elections held on 6 November 2005 and repeat election held on May 13, 2006, and the 11 May and 25 October degrees issued by the president on upgrade of the electoral practice.
Besides, Sevdimaliyev stressed that the meeting also covered the events taking place in the region and the world and the issue of the violation of the rights of our compatriots in Southern Azerbaijan. The position of APFP on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the fight for single Azerbaijan was delivered to the attention of advisor. And then, the meeting discussed the issues of the future mutual relations between APFP and the USA Embassy.
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Ashley Carole Stiles, a daughter of Thelma L. Stiles of Napa, Calif., and the late Patterson Stiles Jr., was married yesterday to Dr. Paul Jacob Turek, a son of Shirley A. Wochomurka of Tolland, Conn., and Jacob Turek of Newington, Conn. Canon Frances Tornquist, the vice dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, performed the Episcopal ceremony there.
Mrs. Turek, 35, is the business manager of the emergency department at Stanford University Medical Center and of the division of emergency medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. She graduated and received a master's degree in public health from the University of California at Berkeley. She is a chairwoman of the South of Market Childcare Center, a preschool for low-income families in San Francisco.
The bride's father was a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, Calif., and later a commodities broker in the San Francisco office of Dean Witter. Her mother retired as a technical editor and writer for software manuals for the Information Systems Center in San Francisco, a unit of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Dr. Turek, 42, is a microsurgeon and male fertility specialist at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center and an associate professor in the urology and obstetrics-gynecology and reproductive science departments at the medical school of the University of California at San Francisco. He graduated summa cum laude from Yale and received his medical degree from Stanford. His previous marriage ended in divorce.
The bridegroom's mother is the administrative secretary to the Tolland town manager. His father retired as a sheet metal mechanic and welder for Sheet Metal Workers Local No. 40, which is based in Rocky Hill, Conn. He is a stepson of Danuta A. Turek and of Eugene Wochomurka.Continue reading the main story


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What I Played on Wii U in 2015
Quarter 1
Kirby and the Rainbow Curse – What I played of Kirby and the Rainbow Curse was mainly in Co-Op with my wife. While the game does have the charm of the Kirby series, and the claymation style art looks really cool, I wasn't overly impressed with it. We currently are around the 5th World, I keep telling myself I want to go back and finish this, but I never pick it back up. It's not a bad game at all, but compared to other Nintendo titles it feels like filler material.
Mario Party 10 – I've never been that big of a Mario Party fan, but I do like to play casual multiplayer games with friends who aren't gamers. I also got suckered into buying this sooner because of the included amiibo. The regular mode is unsurprisingly like regular old Mario Party. The amiibo Mode was a little more interesting, getting to use your amiibo like a game piece and upgrade/level up your amiibo/character on-screen. I had the most fun with the Bowser Mode where the players all played together trying to reach the end of the board before Bowser could capture them. Overall though Mario Party 10 is your typical Mario Party game and similar to Kirby, it was filler material for early 2015.
Quarter 2
Splatoon – I was excited for Splatoon when it was announced at E3 2014, but when I got to try it out in the Global Testfire I knew it was something special. After the Testfire I couldn't wait for release, and then once it was released I sunk a bunch of hours into it. This was the most refreshing shooter I had played in years, it is one of my Game of The Year candidates. Nintendo did a great job introducing a new IP and it did very well supporting the Wii U through the summer and Fall with added free DLC. It's a great game to pick back up and jump into at any time, I can't wait to see what Nintendo does with the franchise next.
Quarter 3
Super Mario Maker – This is the ultimate 2D Mario Experience. Ever since I was a child I wanted to create my own Super Mario Bros levels, and now I can. There is an infinite amount of replay value, even if you are playing the same kind of levels over and over with no end goal. Seeing it played at the Nintendo World Championship during E3 got my hype level very high for the game. I was not disappointed at all and highly recommend it to old-school Mario fans. This game is probably the best use of the GamePad yet, I hope to see more "Maker" games from other classic Nintendo franchises.
Yoshi's Wooly World – I only played through the first 2 worlds with my wife, we got overly obsessed with collecting all of the collectibles in the levels and completing all the tasks (such as beating the level with full health). I'm surprised we didn't play more of this. Yoshi's Wooly World is a great 2D platformer with some clever level design, it is something I plan on playing more in 2016 and hopefully finishing.
Quarter 4
Animal Crossing amiibo Festival – I was expecting this game to be similar to Mario Party, but it's really not. The main game plays like an interactive board game, it's about rolling the die (with your amiibo) and landing on the space and getting results. The mini-games are a lot of fun too and some of the best uses of amiibo so far, booting up AC amiibo party and playing some quick mini-games is a lot of fun. We still play this off and on. For more on my first impressions of it, read here
Mario Tennis Ultra Smash – This was pretty bare bones from what I played. I never actually tried it online so I need to give it a fair chance. From what I played though, it seemed very basic and simple. It didn't seem like much content was put into the game and it, like other titles this year was just filler material.
Xenoblade Chronicles X – I actually didn't start playing this until January 2016, but I felt like squeezing it in here. This game is very deep, and somewhat overwhelming at first. The combat system is an evolved version of your standard JRPG turn based combat, and I love it. There is so much to do in this game, both my wife and I have been hooked on it (particularly my wife). We have nearly 30 hours into it already and this is a very strong candidate for Game of The Year 2015. This is one of the big "hardcore" games Nintendo should flaunt off much more, if this were on Playstation 4 or XBox One I'm sure the media would've been much more excited about it.
Devil's Third – This always interested me, even when it didn't look like it was going to be a good game I still was hoping they'd bring it to the US. Now it's here, and it's apparently pretty rare so I held off on opening my pre-ordered copy, now it sits on the shelf as a collector's item. I was able to find another copy online and it will arrive early February. As soon as it comes, I will open that one up and play it. I'm very curious how this is, it seems like something I would enjoy even if the main population doesn't think it's very good.
Posted on February 2, 2016, in Featured Opinion and tagged 2015, Animal Crossing amiibo Festival, Kirby and The Rainbow Curse, Mario Party 10, Mario Tennis Ultra Smash, Nintendo, Splatoon, Super Mario Maker, Wii U, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Yoshi's Wooly World. Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.


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"So you're trying to get a snapshot of Sheffield? Like, the hopes and dreams of the common man?" asks Bomar, an eccentric resident of Sheffield, England, hometown of famed alternative rock band Pulp. This knowing query is, in fact, exactly what director Florian Habicht is after in the documentary Pulp: A Film About Life, Death, and Supermarkets, though it might be more accurate to say he's after "common people," and not solely due to the fact that the band's final performance of their hit "Common People" opens up this rock-doc-cum-sociocultural-survey, but also because he's out to illustrate the way Sheffield and Pulp go hand in hand.
As Habicht interviews an array of blue-collar Sheffield lifers, he draws a distinct parallel between their stories of the town's rough-and-tough mentality and frontman Jarvis Cocker's abrasive, sardonic lyrics. The aforementioned Bomar asserts that getting mugged in Sheffield is better than getting mugged in London because at least in Sheffield "you usually know the person who's mugging you," a wry, cheekily cynical quip that could have come from one of Cocker's lyric sheets. There are other moments from these man-on-the-street testimonials that suggest the band's music is intrinsic to the town's collective unconscious. From the Sheffield Harmony chorus group, who performs a cappella renditions of the band's songs, to the magazine-stand employees and slaughterhouse workers who claim to have known the band since before they hit it big in the early '80s, to the elderly patrons of a local diner who sing the band's songs while having lunch, it seems Pulp fandom is directly tied to the local identity.
Conversely, members of Pulp assimilate themselves with the greater community: Guitarist Mark Webber takes the bus to work, and drummer Nick Banks coaches a local youth soccer teams, the Pulp logo emblazoned on the jerseys. The band's relationship with the city is symbiotic, exemplified by Habicht's pictorial style, framing both the first-person interviews and the lively concert footage—complete with raving fans and flailing band members—in the same rich, cleverly arranged tableaus.
Sometimes, though, Habicht unwisely shifts his focus from Sheffield and its unique denizens to the band's personal history, effectively turning the film into an episode of Behind the Music, detailing familiar stories of drugs, infighting, the pressures of worldwide fame, and egos. (Asked if he considers Cocker to be among the "common people" he so often sings about, Webber responds, "He could be, if that's what he wanted.") Ultimately, Pulp's story is pretty conventional, which is enough to flounder the mystique generated by the fans, turning the film into a middling ode to hero worship occasionally lifted by the interesting personalities and creative style on display.


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My articles in Chmag
Well its a late announcement phir bhi
My articles have been posted in Chmag on forensics for Matriux Vibhag, More to come yet
Forensics Part-I — Introduction and Acquisition
Foreniscs Part-II — Analysis
Forensics Part-III – Analysis part II have to be published , article submitted 🙂
Your Comments and suggestion will make my articles more interesting and knowledge sharing stuff . Please give the feed back after go through them :).
|First Indian Security and Hacking Magazine
Articles related to Forensics
Hi friends,
Here is some of the interesting Forensics articles, More coming soon
Linux live forensics
Analysis of Stuxnet using System internals
Stuxnet's Footprint in Memory with Volatility 2.0
Prefetch files at Face Value
Virtual Machine Data recovery using Open VMFS Driver
All the credits will go for the respective authors of the posts , i am only sharing the data .
In India we were waiting to see any 'hacking' magazine to happen and the wait was getting little longer. So finally ClubHack decided to come out with its own 1st Indian "Hacking" Magazine called CHmag. We at ClubHack are very much excited about the magazine and this fits into our main objective of making hacking and information security a common sense for a commn man.To start with we have the sections below. We hope to add a lot of sections in future, all we need is input from you on what would you like to see in your magazine Moving further we need a lot of help form the whole information security community of the country to make this a success.
ClubHack magazine which has 11 issues till date u can check www.chmag.in for the issues.Its a free magazine to get and to contribute if you have any new ideas / want to share any new technologies with security enthusiasts u can send here it will printed in the magazine if the topic has the stuff and We at ClubHack aremore than thrilled about the magazine and this fits into our main objective of making hacking and information security a common sense This magazine is divided into the following sections:
0x00 Tech Gyan of the month
0x01 Legal Gyan of the month
0x02 Tool Gyan of the month
0x03 Command Line Gyan of the month
0x04 Mom's Guide of the month
0x05 Awareness Poster of the month
We hope to add a lot of sections in future, all we need is input from you as to what you would like to see in your magazine
Recent CHmagazine issue
Hope you enjoy the magazine and get the knowledge .
Support is the need for the development.
KERNEL the heart of operating system
Will Linux and windows use same kernel?
How can we update our kernels in windows?
What details can we get in kernel?
Another Process to identify your kernel details by using System Internals tools like WinDBG. Open a local Kernel version using debugging session type "List Module" to list the details for the kernel image.
*please be sure the symbols are present.
We can check Product Type and Product Suite under HKLM/System/Current Control Set/Control/Product Options > Product Type and Product Suite.
Kernel is purely works on the base of HAL (HAL is a layer of code that isolates the kernel, device drivers, and the rest of the Windows executive from platform-specific hardware differences).
Linux and windows use different Kernels
By changing / upgrading our operating systems we can change the kernel versions till now Windows vista have WinNT and Windows server 2008 have Lanman NT / server NT as a product ID.
We can use tools like SIPolicy and Windows Driver Kit to get more details about Kernel.
Booting Process in windows :
How To Test a software
Every one uses many Software's in our day to day life, a user have a chance to report the bugs and errors in the software to the manufacturer, then how can we test a software, there are many ways to test a software for example if we take a software which uses Microsoft operating system, mostly users use Windows operating systems as a interface as it is very user friendly, We can check in Performance, Usability, and Security perspectives.
Performance: We can check most of the performance details in our powerful tool "Windows Task Manager". It includes application access time and how it performs for a single operation, what is the CPU usage and Processes usage when running the application, it depends on the application how much it uses but every application should be run with normal priority how much time taken to access the service, how much virtual memory used, what is the processor ID and how much page file size used all those stuff.
Usability: The usability of the application can be identified as we use it , stopping the services from services.msc,changing the users while running the applications, restarting the services while application is running, accessing the application at a same time i.e running the application and opening the same application again, observing the installations and UN-installations by canceling, going front and back while installing and more …
Security:Securing a product is the most interesting part of testing and working with the software.We can check this from Exact path of the file locations where it is installed and shortcuts created, what are the services it is using for running the applications which port numbers it is using for communication, is there any chance of deleting and replacing the running application files in installation folders replacing registry entries of the software and more ..


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The characteristics of the target learner population are one of the main starting points for the design and development of educational opportunities. In order to provide appropriate learning environments, including materials and activities, these characteristics need to be analysed for specific target groups. The analysis of learner characteristics is one of the first steps in the ADDIE-model (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation) of instructional design (Dick, Carey & Carey, 2014) and the model itself is described as being very useful for large and complex learning and teaching designs, although for small courses it may become redundant (Bates, 2014) and "[…] too time consuming to implement" (Kruse, 2009, line 20). And whilst it might be true that in practice an intensive analysis of the prospective students in each course is rather unrealistic, it remains "[…] extremely important to focus on the […] characteristics, motivation, abilities, prior knowledge, [and] experience […] of the learners" (Zawacki-Richter, Müskens, Krause, Alturki, & Aldraiweesh, 2015, p. 137).
In the context of distance education, teachers and students are challenged to develop specific media competencies in order to maximise the potential of distance education programmes. Learners should ideally be self-directed and capable of building and using their own personal learning environments (PLEs) (Campbell & Schwier, 2014). Whilst the idea of 'digital natives' (Prensky, 2001) as competent (self-)learners, building their own PLEs might sound tempting, we know that not every student (or teacher) is capable of doing so. Moreover, generation differences are not the issue, because Meta-Analysis did not support this claim and "[…] doing a proper analysis of the needs and characteristics of learners and avoiding the temptation to rely on generalizations" (Stöter, Bullen, Zawacki-Richter & von Prümmer, 2014, p. 436) are essential in order to develop appropriate learning scenarios.
This paper is based on findings from Zawacki-Richter et al. (2015, 2016) regarding students' media usage. Using a latent class analysis (LCA), those authors describe a typology of four media usage patterns, namely "entertainment users, peripheral users, advanced users and instrumental users" (Zawacki-Richter et al., 2015, p. 136). Brandtzæg (2010), who then developed a typology of eight different media usage types, had carried out a comparative meta-analysis of 22 media usage typologies earlier. However, that meta-analysis did not have a focus on study-specific usage patterns, as did the studies by Zawacki-Richter et al. (2015, 2016). Whilst the latter typology provides a detailed insight into students' media usage, a deeper understanding of student perceptions is needed in order to expand our knowledge about specific media usage and possible implications for the instructional design process.
The objective of this paper is to broaden our knowledge about students´ media usage and the impact their study related media usage has on the media selection process. The specific aim of the empirical analysis carried out in this study is to test the validity of the typology of the four media usage patterns presented by Zawacki-Richter et al. (2015, 2016). The instrument developed by those authors contains 246 items; a shorter, more directed questionnaire is required in order to identify media usage patterns in smaller, less heterogeneous groups and to identify typical students in each type to interview in order to collect qualitative data. Implications for the development of an economically useful method for describing the media usage patterns of students are discussed.


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On 16 November 2017 at 19.00 we are inviting to a business education and career opportunities in Switzerland master class and meeting with Magdy Attalla in Nizhny Novgorod.
Hospitality industry is a fast developing sphere of world business and in the year 2021 it is expecting more than 323 million people to be involved in (on the information of World Travel and Tourism Council).
Open World Education Group is an official representative of Business and Hotel Management School in Russia.
For the participation in the master class, please, contact Open World by phone: (495) 228 0300,


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My modern mind at work
As I write in this moment, my focus is on the way are brains work efficiently, but I am certainly not modeling it for you.
I am multitasking, the buzz word of business for a decade now. And, I think I am proficient. I'm sitting in my comfy, black leather office chair, eyes watching "Everybody Loves Raymond" on Netflix on my iPad, hands typing at the Macbook Pro, ears listening to a Ted Talk playing into earphones from my iPhone. Kids are readying for school in the hall outside my office, four of them, and mom is yelling ... I mean raising her voice.
Moments when I sit in quiet thought have become quite rare, and with four cute children, a lovely wife, teaching, reading, and writing, I see less mindfulness in my future. Mindfulness refers to extended periods of calm reflection on a single item, the present moment, and multitasking is the exact opposite.
Myth of multitasking
Recent psychology and neuroscience debunk the years of training in multitasking, reinforcing the human need for mindfulness throughout the day. Many psychology and neuroscience scholars suggest that working on one task easily trumps multitasking. We accomplish less when managing multiple jobs, and yet hold tight to the belief that we are doing more.The scientific support for uni- or mono-tasking made news recently, buried in the opinion section.
On a recent Sunday, The New York Times ran the opinion piece "The Power of Concentration" by Maria Konnikova, where she explores the science which is calling for a change in the way we work each day. She claims, and research supports, that we are doing damage to our efficient, one-track minds.
Konnikova invokes the image of Sherlock Holmes when he receives a new case, remaining in his comfy chair, pipe smoke billowing, silently reviewing the details. Holmes is mindful, in the present moment, as he ponders the one task at hand, and we see the benefits of this meditation when he solves the case.
Neuroscience and Mindfulness
Konnikova suggests that we should emulate Holmes' approach, working at one task and allowing ourselves moments of mindfulness. She states that Holmes' regulates his emotional wellbeing and that:
His approach to thought captures the very thing that cognitive psychologists mean when they say mindfulness. ... But mindfulness goes beyond improving emotion regulation. An exercise in mindfulness can also help with that plague of modern existence: multitasking.
Of course, we would like to believe that our attention is infinite, but it isn't. Multitasking is a persistent myth.Two neuroscientific truths should give us hope. Konnikova reviews several studies in the past two years that illustrate neurons in our brains functioning:
- Neurons, neural pathways, and brains possess plasticity.
- Mindfulness and single-mindedness alter our brains in positive ways.
The first point refutes the centuries old belief that our minds are frozen after the age of 21, unable to change, adapt, or grow. Neuroscientists found instead that our minds are plastic throughout our lives, meaning that they continually adapt and reprogram. So, at your age, you can still change your brain.
The second point reveals the power of quiet moments and reflection during the busy day, while illustratin that multitasking fails. Neuroscientists offer scientific evidence that our brains function more efficiently on single, relatively quick tasks, and the structure of neural pathways adapts if we change our habits. Quiet moments of mindfulness reinforce these altered neural pathways.
Hope for the future of your mind
In this time of reflection on the past and anticipation of the future, bear in mind that regardless of your age, your brain can change grow and adapt, and resolutions that might seem beyond your reach are actually attainable. However, the trick is not simply doing more. The real secret lies in doing one thing well at a time.
I am not discouraged with the news that I have worked inefficiently for many years because neuroscience provides new hope, and my brain is not permanently damaged. I can exercise my mind to reshape it, and so can you!


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The crew of the Enterprise planned a big night on the town. But when they dock, they find the place completely deserted, except for three new graves.
Add this episode to your queue to receive more information about
Three Graves and we will let you know when it becomes available.