text:
I have to be honest. I'm not a huge fan of poetry. Never have been. Sometimes, it just seems like too much work for the benefits. And I feel stupid reading poetry. Words that don't make any sense....why wasn't my time?
Then I read Alfred, Lord Tennyson's The Lady of Shallot...and everything changed. Since The Once Upon a Time Reading Challenge started, I thought this would be a good time to talk about it. I mean, this is a Fantasy poem about Camelot, Sir Lancelot, and an evil curse?? Sounds like it fits the OUaT bill to a tee!
Originally written in 1833, The Lady of Shallot has been depicted in many paintings (a few pictures I've added here), song, and verse. It is an incredibly beautiful poem, and if you haven't read it, DO IT. Take the word of someone that really dislikes poetry. It's worth the time. Fair maiden cursed forever to never be able to see the world, except through a mirror, spends her time weaving a magical web. Until she sees the beautiful knight, Sir Lancelot....and risks the curse to glance at him. Unfortunately for her, she can't escape the curse, even for Lancelot. It's actually incredibly sad to think that she risked everything for love....a love that was never returned. In fact, Lancelot never even had a chance to meet the Lady of Shallot.
"There she weaves by night and day
A magic web with color gay
She has heard a whisper say,
A curse is on her if she stay to look down on Camelot.
She knows not what the curse may be,
And so she weaveth steadily,
And little other care hath, she
The Lady of Shallot."
Then she sees Lancelot:
"His broad clear bow in sunlight glowed;
On burnished hooves his war horse trode,
From underneath his helmet flowed
His coal-black curls as on he rode, as he rode down to Camelot.
From the bank and from the river
He flashed into the crystal mirror
"Tirra Lirra", by the river
Sang Sir Lancelot.
She left her web, she left the loom,
She made Three paces through the room,
She saw the water lily bloom
She saw the helmet and the plume, She looked down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide,
The mirror cracked from side to side,
"The Curse is come upon me," cried, The Lady of Shallot."
Arthurian literature has always been something that has intrigued me. And after reading this wonderful poem, I know that I have to read more. This lovely poem made me cry the first time I read it. It brought on deep emotions, and I can see how it has stirred many an artist. The last picture, I found on the internet is a Steam-punk Version/rendition of The Lady of Shallot. So Cool. And if you have a few minutes, please listen to the Lorenna McKinnet video I posted at the end. She adapted this poem to music, and it is truly beautiful. It makes my heart ache.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
The Lady of Shallot
Posted by Stephanie at 8:31 AM
Labels: Once Upon a Time V Challenge, poetry
20 comments:
- Debi said...
I actually enjoy poetry but never seem to make any time for it. :( Thanks so much for posting the video--such gorgeous images and her voice is just so stunningly beautiful!
- March 24, 2011 at 12:45 PM
- Stephanie said...
I know!! I love her music so much, and I love this poem too!
- March 24, 2011 at 3:22 PM
- Michelle said...
Every time I see or hear this poem, I think of Anne of Green Gables. The two just go hand-in-hand for me. Thanks for sharing a great poem!
- March 24, 2011 at 8:42 PM
reading this poem always makes me shiver...
- March 24, 2011 at 11:59 PM
- Chris said...
I'm glad you enjoyed it :) I love poetry so much...but I just have to read the RIGHT poetry otherwise I'm all confused too :p May I suggest Katrina Vandenberg's book Atlas? It's one of my favorite books ever...amazing poetry!
- March 25, 2011 at 1:57 PM
- Caroline said...
What a lovely post. I love this poem and the paintings and Loreena McKennitt's music. I think I got all of her CDs. I will need to check out Chris' book suggestion.
- March 26, 2011 at 6:41 AM
- Vasilly said...
I read this poem a few years ago and I really loved it. Thanks for reminding me of it.
- March 26, 2011 at 8:34 AM
- Rebecca Reid said...
I cannot think of LADY OF SHALLOT without thinking of Anne of Green Gables. Except I've never read the poem! I really need to, especially since Natl poetry month is in April...Thanks for the reminder
- March 29, 2011 at 5:56 AM
- joanna said...
I've never read the full poem, but love what I know because Anne of Green Gables loves it so much, I especially remember her reciting it at the beginning of the film version. Thanks for sharing the song, it's beautiful!
- April 5, 2011 at 6:45 AM
Such a beautiful poem. Like a few of the previous commenters, I also think of Anne of Green Gables when I hear it.
- May 20, 2011 at 1:34 PM
- buy wow account said...
WoW! cool post. .love this poem.. =0
- May 26, 2011 at 2:35 AM
- Carl V. said...
If asked I would probably say that I do have a love of poetry, but that would be somewhat incorrect. After all, if you love something you should spend more time with it, eh? So to be more accurate, I have an affection for poetry, and that affection was born largely out of two poems: The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, and The Lady of Shalott by Tennyson. I first fell in love with this poem (and I do LOVE this poem) because of Megan Follows playing Anne of Green Gables. For so many reasons I was smitten by this character, not the least of which was this poem. I've been fascinated with the imagery and the mystery of it ever since (and that has been over 20 years ago).
One of my favorite antique books is a beautiful (though worn) copy of Tennyson's poetry that includes this poem. And I just love the Lorenna McKinnet song.
I hadn't seen that steampunk image. Another cool version of this (with other fantastical elements) is Kinuko Y. Craft's cover illustration for Patricia A. McKillip's novel The Tower at Stoney Wood. I have the puzzle version of it as well. It is a beautiful image.
Since you liked this one, you may also enjoy Keats' La Belle Dam Sans Merci. Keats is a poet I've really grown to enjoy since the Bright Star movie. I'm also really liking the work of Edna St. Vincent Millay.
- May 30, 2011 at 11:37 PM
- Vamchoir said...
Oober awesome. Love the fun that your poetic quotation brought with such vivid details of Camelot.
- May 31, 2011 at 4:26 PM
Thanks for posting this! I read this when I was very young (10 or under) and lost the book it was in and I haven't ever been able to find it since, but it made an impression because I have always remembered it!
Thanks :)
- June 13, 2011 at 10:21 AM
- Kristina Mercier said...
I ran across you bog about poetry and I'm interested in sending you my book. I would love to hear your thoughts on it. I've tried to locate an email for you but haven't found one. If you want to visit my site www.kristinamercier.com and let me know if you are intersted:-)
Best, K
- July 3, 2011 at 11:19 AM
- shahanara said...
Really a beautiful poem. I love your poem1
- August 7, 2011 at 5:43 AM
- Plumbing Fittings said...
I thought I could try reading one and picked up a book on vampires written by a quite famous author. This book has changed my reading habits since then. My journey as a real bookaholic has begun.
- August 9, 2011 at 10:46 AM
- Sarah Hintch said...
wonderful poem! sometimes I think that poetry is the best and most difficult form of writing and should be commended greatly, for it is within just a few short stanzas, that a whole story or message is told. Some novel's can't even accomplish that!
- August 28, 2011 at 9:12 PM
- Erin said...
Wow that picture is so beautiful. Saved it as desktop background.
- September 17, 2011 at 5:46 PM
- lady shallot painting fan said...
Such a beautifully haunting painting. The story behind the painting by Waterhouse is tragic also.
- October 15, 2013 at 6:08 PM


text:
This weekend I went to Target to look for a birthday gift for my niece. I was astounded by the entire aisle and a half of Barbies! Not only did they have more "I Can Be..." than I could have dreamed of, they also had Fashionistas, Barbie Basics, The Tim Gunn doll and fashions and twice as many "The Princess and the Pop Star" dolls. Even The Princess and the Pop Star fashions! They also had a very cute halloween doll (Target Exclusive) and and this Barbie.
Enough rambling and making my wish list. :) This post is one big help! topic! Just clothing ID. As some of you may know, I love dolls in their original clothing. My mom bought me some clothes so I'm wondering if some are actually for a Barbie doll. If they are Genuine Barbie I will specify in the post. Here goes!
First I will need three members from the audience. Since I don't know which body mold these clothes will fit I will need one old, one new, and one Ken. These ones volunteered first.
My First Ken, Wet 'n Wild Teresa, and Really Rosy Kayla. These are the clothes that my mom bought for me at a garage sale. Look how neatly they are packaged.
The first we will try is a little skirt and sheer top ensemble. No tags.
This outfit fit Teresa better because she fills out the top more than Kayla. I did try it on Kayla and it fit too but looked better on Teresa.
If you feel the pants they are flocked and it was really hard to get them on either of the dolls. The shirt fits better on a smaller chested doll like Kayla. However, the pants are not fastened. I couldn't even get them fastened on the Teresa. I had such a hard time getting them on her but they are super cute, no? I ran a google search for Fashion Avenue and could not find this particular outfit.
A little striped top and arabian pant combo. No tags.
I chose Kayla for this outfit because her hips filled out the pants better. On Teresa they looked somewhat sloppy. The top looks fine on either.
It fits Teresa good but the top is off.
The pants fit like a dream but the coat seems a little large. Not sure if it's for a Ken or not.
Two skirts and a pair of shorts. The red floral one is actually has built in underwear. All have no tags.
An adorable hat with cherries on the lining.
A pair of shorts and a skirt. No tags on the shorts, the skirt is Genuine Barbie.
Genuine Barbie PJ's. I wonder if the teddy bear goes with?
Any help, as always, is very much appreciated. I love trying to figure out what dolls these clothes are from but my google searches for these items are coming up empty. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!
~Let's put together some outfits!~

subset: commoncrawl


text: I would love some information/research links regarding stuffing my own hot dogs for service. For instance, what equipment do I need? I read somewhere that hot dogs don't have hog casings but rather casing from another animal, sheep I think? What ingredients make a hot dog rather than a frankfurter rather than a bratwurst? How would I cook, hold, and store for service? Prepare in morning or night before? I live very near a meat market so ingredients won't be an issue, just need to know what a hot dog really is. A link to an entire history of hot dogs and it's related sausage friends would be great for this. If you have knowledge, please post it. If you don't have specific knowledge but know where I might find some, a link is just as helpful. Thank you so much.


text:
We end with the 3rd recipe used from this HUGE zucchini! I was able to shred 7 cups from this one zucchini! Enough for all three recipes, today is our last recipe to be featured!
So I wanted to do a cookie and I had a bag of white chocolate chips and thought I'd do a google search and bam ... I came across a recipe for White Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cookies on Serious Eats.
- 1 cup butter, softened and divided into 3/4 cup
- 1/4 cup 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 cup diced zucchini
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a medium saucepan, melt 1/4 cup butter and the brown sugar. Over medium heat, sauté the diced zucchini until it has lightly browned and absorbed the butter and sugar mixture. Set on paper towels to blot the excess moisture; leave to the side for the moment.
3. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream 3/4 cup butter and granulated sugar; beat in egg and lemon peel. Stir in sifted dry ingredients,then mix in the zucchini;once mixed, gently fold in the white chocolate chips.
4. Drop by teaspoonfuls on the prepared baking sheets, leaving an inch and a half around each cookie to allow for spreading.
5. Bake until golden around the edges, 15-20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before serving.
Now I found these cookies to be a bit goopey so I added some quick cooking oats to make it easier to make cookies.
Thanks for Stopping by!


text:
American screenwriter Bernard L. Schubert was one of several bright young men brought into the RKO Radio writing stable in 1931. After his tenure at RKO, Schubert worked for Sol Lesser, MGM, and Republic. He spent several years in the 1940s at Universal, co-writing such melodramas as Jungle Woman (1944) and Frozen Ghost (1947). An occasional playwright, Schubert's theatrical piece Song of Love, based on the lives of musicians Robert and Clara Schumann, was filmed by MGM in 1947. Moving into television in the early '50s, Bernard L. Schubert was executive producer of the popular TV weeklies Topper (1953-1955) and Crossroads (1955-1957).
Bernard SchubertActive - 1931 - 1952 | Genres - Drama, Musical, Horror, Romance, Western
Share on


text:
When we had sidewalks poured in the backyard about two years ago, the stepping stones they replaced were picked up and stacked in front of the garden shed to wait for me to decide where I wanted to use them.
They're still there. Unless I'm actively thinking about what to do with them, I don't even notice them anymore. Apparently, someone does.
The other day I saw Levi pull up short as he was trotting past them. He stopped, sniffed, then stood on his hind legs and stretched to sniff the top of the stack. When I walked out to see what had captured his interest, I found this little mess:
While I've been looking for squirrels to photograph in the treetops, it seems at least one of them has come down from the trees and enjoyed a pecan picnic lunch atop my stepping-stone version of Lookout Mountain.
I wish I hadn't missed that shot.


text:
Use Open Source with Confidence
You rely on open source to build your applications quickly and cost effectively. But with these benefits come risks from hidden security vulnerabilities, license violations, and out-of-date components.
Black Duck gives security, legal, and development teams the tools they need to automate open source risk management.
View this on-demand video demonstration to see how you can:
- Inventory open source throughout your code base
- Identify security, compliance, and quality risks
- Automate open source policy and risk management
- Monitor for new threats affecting production apps


text:
Not compatible to U.S.A outlets.
To order the 110v model, click here.
The JUGS Soccer Machine can duplicate any type of pass or shot. With JUGS, you can "kick" left or right-footed, and hook a ball at any arc, speed, or distance up to 80 yards. JUGS helps us really maximize your team's practice time. "This is one terrific machine! At Navy, we have two JUGS Soccer Machines and they are in constant use. These machines deliver incredible accuracy, which permits our players constant repetitive skill work. Largely because we have JUGS, our players have quickly and dramatically improved their skills. This machine can be used as any part of practice where a flighted ball is needed. Having JUGS is like having an extra full-time coach. If your teams needs repetition training, the JUGS Soccer Machine is invaluable." Greg Myers Head Soccer Coach U.S. Naval Academy. Balls can be perfectly fed to your players using JUGS. Because you can easily vary the height, speed, distance, and spin of the balls thrown by JUGS, your players quickly learn how to control the ball with their feet, thighs or chest. Players can also greatly improve their one-touch passing techniques with JUGS because of the different types of passes the JUGS machine will make. "Our goalkeepers see more shots in a twenty minute drill session with JUGS than they see in ten games." Coach Greg Myers U.S. Naval Academy. With JUGS, your goalkeepers can improve skills like: taking high crosses, punching difficult crosses, narrowing the angle, increasing reaction time, and improving diving technique. JUGS' consistent and realistic shots at the goalkeeper helps him/her prepare for games and gives you the time to coach. Strikers always get a good selection of balls to deal with. First time volleys, headers, and ground shots can be practiced with or without opposition present. Your team's free kick defense will quickly improve with JUGS, because its remarkable accuracy makes it an invaluable tool for setting up set play situations. With JUGS, you can select any area into which the ball can be played. You can vary the height, speed, and amount of spin impacted to the ball, creating both in-swinging and out-swinging crosses. All types of high lofting shots can be thrown with JUGS Soccer Machine. Your defenders learn how to aggressively intercept high crosses, and clear them away from dangerous positions around the goal. "Our men's soccer program has used the JUGS Soccer Machine for the past two seasons. Our players have benefitted tremendously by the many uses of the JUGS Machine. Our goalkeepers have improved at a much faster rate because of the accurate repetition drills the JUGS Machine can provide on a consistent basis. It also savedour coaching staff time and energy because the JUGS Machine simulated designated shots and passing situations. If you're going to have a quality soccer program, you need a quality machine like 'The JUGS.'" Claude Bonfiglio Head Coach Cleveland High School Portland, Oregon. The JUGS Soccer Machine can be easily moved and set up by one person - indoors or outdoors. Just tip the machine and roll it away. Here is what one of themost respected soccer coaches in the U.S.A. has to say about the JUGS Soccer Machine: "The JUGS Soccer Machine is used at each session of the No. 1 Goalkeeper's Camp. I believe it to be the finest goalkeeping training device yet. Its multivarious uses provide hours of enjoyable training for the goalkeeper. JUGS ability to accurately serve the soccer ball at various speeds and spins cannot be duplicated. Using JUGS, there is no unnecessary strain or risk to outfield players, and importantly, JUGS is great fun, too." Dr. Joseph Machnik Director No. 1 Goalkeepers Camp.
The first JUGS product, a curveball pitching machine, has developed into one of the most revolutionary training aids for all phases of the game of baseball. Other JUGS products which have spun off of this original concept are causing just as much excitement in their respective areas. Throughout the research and development of every JUGS product, John Paulson's methodology remained consistent - observe how athletes practice their respective sport, then develop machinery that would help these athletes improve to their highest possible level. Now, teams in seven other sports are enjoying better practices because of JUGS products. Besides baseball, there are now JUGS machines for softball, football, soccer, field hockey, lacrosse, tennis, and even the British Commonwealth's national sport - cricket!
Today, over 85,000 teams use a JUGS machine at their practices. In fact, the most widely used pitching machines in the world are made by JUGS.
You can find other products like this 'Soccer Passing Machine (220v Model)™', by clicking on the following links:
Departments, Sports, Equipment, Soccer, Team Sports, Passing Machines, Brands, JUGS, Field & Court Equipment, Soccer
Whether you are a professional, amateur or a fan, OnlineSports.com has one of the largest collections of sporting goods, sports equipment, accessories for various sports and outdoor activities and all that you require to pursue your passion for your particular sport. Check out some of the other great products similar to 'Soccer Passing Machine (220v Model)™' at the following related categories:
Departments, Sports, Equipment, Soccer, Team Sports
|Can NOT be expedited. Freight Only.
|Lead Time Text
|Leaves the warehouse within 2 - 3 business days. NOTE: This item is shipped via Freight Delivery. It is NOT available for Expedite shipping.


text:
Don't you think the Cake Pop is something that seems a bit Willy Wonka inspired ? The thought of eating cake... on a stick! OK - I'll be honest here I am approaching the much lauded Cake Pop with as much trepidation as the Whoopie Pie (and remember how much I loved those...NOT).
I have only been prompted to finally make them as I received a baking pan set designed for Cake Pops for Mothers Day. In addition, I had asked my Son to try one of these recently at a cafe to see what he thought. I didn't have one as it wasn't gluten free. Imagine what a difficult request that was for him to fulfil. One of the very few times I didn't need to ask him three times to do something...hahaha. Well he LOVED it and has been begging me to make them ever since.
I have whipped a really basic chocolate cake recipe together and thrown these little gems into the oven. Now theres a couple of different ways to bake these little babies. You can bake them in moulds as I am doing today or you can make your cake then crumble t up once baked and cooled mix with some buttercream frosting then hand roll them into balls. Either way we ultimately arrive at a ball shaped piece of cake. The latter method however will result in a sweeter Pop as you're getting a mouthful of cake and frosting altogether then coated in chocolate.
My Pops will be cake only coated in chocolate so a little lighter. I am also making mine Gluten Free. See - anything can be made GF - no need to miss out on anything. Thank goodness I have made them chocolate so I shan't be tempted to polish them all off.
Basic Chocolate Cake recipe
1 Cup Self Raising GF Flour
1 tsp GF Baking Powder
1 Cup Caster or White Sugar
2 Eggs
3 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
3 Tbsp or 60g Unsalted Butter
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
1/3 Cup Milk
- Preheat oven to 160 Celsius and lightly grease and line your cake tin or spray your CakePop molds.
- In a large bowl place all ingredients together making sure butter is slightly softened.
- Using an electric mixer use it to combine all ingredients together until well mixed.
- Pour into your cake tin or into your CakePop molds.
- Bake for approx 30 minutes - check for done'ness by inserting a wooden skewer. If it comes out clean you're good to go.
I used this recipe to make the cake pops pictured. VERDICT : Can't lie - they look really pretty. Impressive even for what they are. Fiddly ? Without a doubt. Able to make money from them ? Weeeeeeelllll....possibly depends on how they want them decorated. They are deceptively time consuming - I think I made Spongebob in the same amount of time it took me to make 15 cake pops so go figure. They are however nice to be able to offer something a little bit different and I think u could have real fun with them for parties or christmas etc.
If you give them a go - good on you.


text:
Here are some news stories from this week that I think the mainstream media completely missed out on. All links are from legitimate news sources and not the fringe / wacko sites.
* "A prominent UN agency has issued a warning that the globe is hurtling toward a long recession, a 40 million worldwide job shortage and an increase in large scale social unrest." HA! Put that in your sandbox and dig it, you positive, good for nothing optimists!! Now excuse me while I go start to dig a large hole for myself in my backyard and fill it with canned beans and… whatever other stuff I might need to survive the apocalypse! I do own a shovel, right? Major freakout story at [PRISON PLANET] and a more socially acceptable freakout at [BLOOMBERG]
* There's some great news for future horror movie plots this week! Scientific geniuses have figured out how to rejuvenate itty bitty mice cells and make them younger!! This is fantastic news… but, of course, there's a catch. From what I understand, human cells can only divide so many times before they start to nosedive. This nosedive either means other nearby healthy cells get all funkified, or even worse, the CANCER part of CANCER SUCKS shows up. The "rejuvenation" these scientists have found is to kill cells before they reach the "use by" date. Wasn't that "I Am Legend" movie based on a cancer cure gone bonkers wrong? Story at the [ECONOMIST] and again at [BBC] and a more "fweeeeeeee…. over my head" explanation at [DUR.AC.UK]
* Apparently that little discovery wasn't major enough, as some other scientists went and made photons into paranoid schizophrenics! (Because we need to support the therapy industry with thousands of chargeless particles, dammit!) Long story short, it's now possible to make a photon think it's actually a crowd of photons! Oh, and it's all about Quantum Mechanics, so leave your reality at the door, please. Story at [ARS TECHNIA]
* This just in! Black holes in outer space look nothing like whirlpools in a dirty-water sink! The Hubble Telecsope grabbed a pic of a black hole a long time ago in the center of another galaxy far far away. Pew-pew lasers and whoosh-by sound effects not included. Story at [PHYSORG]
* The saying "stop and smell the roses" leaves out those damn, dirty trees for a reason! Apparently there's a tree out there that can cause instant migraines if you sniff it! OK, who was so damn bored they went from tree to tree to tree and sniffed every one for an effect? Geez! Anyhow, I betcha every blade of un-mowed grass in my yard that the military is going to weaponize this shrubbery by the end of the year. News at [SCIENCE NEWS]
* On a semi-serious note, the geniuses at FEMA are going to sound the AHHHHHH-OOOOOOO-GAHHHHHHH red alert nationwide test of the Emergency Broadcast System on November 9th at 2 PM Eastern Time. Yeah. Nationwide. Some people are gonna' be freaked-the-nutty-fudge out when every TV channel and every radio station in the country is going AHHHHHH-OOOOOOO-GAHHHHHHH for 30+ seconds. Sooooo for the grand prize and a copy of the home game, the big final question is… why the test? Details at [FEMA].
* The CIA is watching everything we Tweet and Facebook? Not surprising. That they have agents called "ninja librarians" to do this? "Ninja Librarians"?! That's! Freaking! Hilarious! What, do they say SHHHH before they fling a throwing-star at you? I have a feeling these "ninja librarians" got about 200 pounds more "doughnut-muscle" than the 6′ 11″ field agents who do the daily "excuse me, but does this rag smell like chloroform to you?" kind of work at the agency. And with that little snap, I bet I'm on their list. HI GUYS!!! YOU HIRING?! CALL ME!! SHHHH!! Story at [AP]
That's all I got this week! Now I'm off to watch me some TIVO-ed Walking Dead and grab a cigar!
** Actually posted on 11/06 because doin' nuthin' on Saturday felt goooooood.


text:
Online tool that helps how the insurance rules
and limits apply to a depositor's specific group
of deposit accounts—what's insured and what
portion (if any) exceeds coverage limits at that
Learn if your bank is insured, view locations, track history, and more.
The secure Internet channel for FDIC-insured institutions to conduct business and exchange information with the FDIC.
The inventory of other assets for sale -- including office furniture, fixtures, and equipment.
Mr. Eakes
holds a law degree from Yale, a Master's from the Woodrow Wilson School
of Public Affairs at Princeton, and a B.A. from Davidson College.


text:
Published by Iamyoungmark 3 years ago
checkout my instrumental mixtape, please let me know what you think.... (PLEASE EMAIL ALL TRACKS TO https://www.twine.fm/signin
This is the latest instrumental mixtape from Chester, Pennsylvania's own Young Mark (@iamYoungMark) who produced Chevy Woods "Spectator" & "Bad Bitch" tracks. Graphic artwork done by @NiallGFX. Exclusively presented to you by TriStateMusik.com. Make sure you turn your volume up and get some weed in the air in celebration of 420!! Download the tape, give it a 5 star rating and add it to your favorites. Enjoy!
#audio #instrumentals #mixtape
1 credit


text:
WWE's Special MC Report: Life After Attitude Era- the IntroductionNovember 28, 2011
Good evening fellow Bleacher Reporter columnists and spectators.
When highly popular periods of wrestling are discussed, the Attitude Era is the core era that the discussion cannot live without. It is the era that bore us the legendary stars such as:Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H, Kane, and many others. The period of wrestling that re-defined the words hero and villain. An era that often intertwined the fake and the real.
In addition, it is also the era that witnessed the rise, downfall and rebirths of legends and icons. Names such as Undertaker, Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, and Shawn Michaels come to mind.
Numerous documentaries and written pieces have already taken the task of analyzing the long lasting effect of that era and generation. Famous DVDs such as The Monday Night Wars and The Rise and Fall of WCW recounts, albeit with bias, the twist and turns of a period that gave us fans the battle of the companies, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and World Wrestling Federation (WWF).
Due to the high amount of sources that have narrated one of the most decorated eras in wrestling, I have decided to drive in a different route. The life of the World Wrestling Entertainment (formerly known as the WWF) after the Attitude Era.
Some have dubbed this period "The Ruthless Aggression Era". For others though, it remains uncertain in both it's name and it's place in wrestling history.
Life after the Attitude Era began full of promises and hope. New stars and new chances graced the ring destined to provide the fans with a future that was meant to be even brighter than its past. Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Randy Orton, Batista, and others arrived on the scene determined to take WWE to an even higher level.
The buyout of World Championship Wrestling in 2001 raised the bar even more. Its stars, including Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Booker T, Goldberg, and the New World Order (NWO), crossed over into the the world of Vincent Kennedy McMahon Jr. It sought to breathe new life into the now named World Wrestling Entertainment.
However, things went wrong and over the next 10 years WWE lost numerous big names and suffered from damaging scandals. Death and drugs brought a dark cloud to a business that has entertained us for generations. Childhood idols either retired or left for greener pastures. Chris Jericho and The Rock are the two most well known examples of Attitude Era stars who left to expand their careers in new arenas.
All of a sudden, an era went from promise to uncertainty and then chaos. Wrestling went from being largely adored by the mainstream to being shunned and ridiculed by the mass media.
Changing with the media and the mainstream were the fans themselves. In the next decade, a huge divide occurred between wrestling fans of all types. The terms "mark" and "smark", "casual fans" and "Internet Wrestling Community" were introduced, whether it was for better or for worse.
New goals and rules were endorsed in response to the change of the climate. These ideas often were met with mixed reactions and responses from the newly divided fan base.
All of the ups and downs, twists and turns, rights and wrongs, have led us to the standstill we are at today. A standstill that leaves many asking whether a new era of prosperity and certainty is on the horizon.
After taking all of this in while being a wrestling fan for 13 years, I have decided to attempt to analyze some of the aspects of the life of the WWE after the Attitude Era in a series of articles.
Originally, I had planned for the series to be divided into three parts, and lead up to the present day situation of the WWE. But based on reader feedback, and the need to expand more on the analysis, I may write more parts to the series.
The ultimate goal is to define and analyze a period in wrestling, that is often times met with mixed thoughts and opinions from numerous types of fans.
In analyzing the last 10 years of the WWE, I hope to address and even answer the burning issues and the overall state of the WWE as it stands today.
It would be impossible, for me to divulge all of the aspects of what has gotten the WWE to this point today. Nevertheless, I will touch on key topics and themes that are popularly discussed and talked about. Including ones that I have mentioned in this introduction.
Overall, as a wrestling fan, I plan to bring attention to a generation of wrestling that is often times overshadowed, and to some, under appreciated in comparison to its former. A time, in which numerous fans believe is one of the down periods of this business.
In conclusion fellow Bleacher Reporters, join me this month in shedding light on this interesting topic. I plan on publishing the first part by the end of this week.
I hope you enjoy and find interest in this project as a whole. If not, I welcome any questions and critique along the way. I hope you enjoy an analysis on an era that has attempted to reconcile the old and the new, while gaining and losing wrestlers and fans in the process.
You can now check out Part I here.
Thank you for reading! Comment, like, retweet. Anything would be appreciated in order to spread the word on this article! Follow me @ http://twitter.com/itssocrates.
You can also check out my new WWE MC Report for November analyzing John Cena and The Rock's showdown at Wrestlemania as well as my other articles http://bleacherreport.com/users/310183-maria-cane.


text:
Clit and vaginal masturbation is a type of female masturbation: performed by simultaneously selfteasing her clitoris and penetrating the vagina, which means combining clit masturbation and vaginal masturbation. Recent studies as well as RC experience shows, that women who are very not very nipple-sensitive favor this type of masturbation. The Roger Rabbit is a sex toy especially designed for this type of excitement. Otherwise the woman might use a dildo or vibrator to insert into her pussy, while stimulating her clit with her other hand or with another vibrator or massager.
- Vaginal masturbation: To stimulate the inside of her pussy only


text:
|Invitation Flyer to the Unveiling
|Dr. Walter J. Porter
|Walter Porter with his dummy "Jody"
Ventriloquist in the 50's & 60's in Los Angeles
The Portraits above were revealed on Friday, December 9, 2011. The Porter family and community had two Masterpiece Pencil Portraits that were made by Clarence "Pencilman" Pointer.
Clarence captured the spirit of my father through his eyes in the solo photo.The North Campus auditorium was filled with at least 100 students, many parents, and community members to see the unveiling. The students were receiving awards for their outstanding academic achievements.
During the unveiling, Dr. Shirley Weber, an educator at San Diego State University, former board member of the San Diego Unified School District, spoke about the life of Walter Porter. She spoke to the children letting them know that even though Wally had not been a President of the U.S., a Senator, or someone that had a big National position, he did have big dreams, and he advocated so that these students would have a future. Wally's spirit can be felt today by all the things Wally cared about.
|Holding two of the Portraits that were unveiled
After the ceremony, a reception followed: More pictures to come of the unveiling and the children receiving awards.


text:
PSE&G Readies for New Year's First Snowstorm
Additional crews and equipment on hand to restore service
Jan 01, 2014, 12:56 ET
NEWARK, N.J., Jan. 1, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G), New Jersey's largest electric and gas utility, is closely monitoring the track of the first snowstorm of the new year and is making emergency preparations should the storm bring heavy snow and gusty winds to our service territory. At this time, the storm is expected to begin impacting New Jersey late Thursday and continue into Friday before clearing.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120830/MM62627LOGO)
In anticipation of the storm, PSE&G is taking the following steps to ensure that the utility is ready to respond to resulting power outages:
- Ensuring that all available personnel are ready to respond beginning Thursday.
- Arranging for contractors, including tree crews, to assist the utility's own skilled workforce.
- Ensuring that additional supplies, such as poles, transformers and other pole-top equipment, are on hand.
- Ensuring that all vehicles are fueled and ready to go.
- Testing generators at utility locations.
- Coordinating with county and municipal emergency management personnel to inform them of outages and expedite restoration efforts.
Snow, by itself, does not pose a serious problem for utilities, but heavy snow, icing and strong winds can increase the possibility of downed wires and associated power outages. Cars striking utility poles can also cause wires to come down. The expected frigid temperatures can affect the number of calls we receive from customers with insufficient or no heat.
Depending on the severity of the storm, response times for both electric and gas emergency services may be longer than usual. PSE&G asks for our customers' patience and cooperation as we work to safely restore service as quickly as possible. As the storm gets closer, the utility will provide information about estimated restoration times.
To report downed wires or power outages, customers should call PSE&G's Customer Service line at 1-800-436-PSEG. PSE&G uses an automated system to handle customer calls as efficiently as possible. Customers who get an automated response when calling PSE&G are encouraged to use it, as it is designed to route their calls to the right destination quickly. The system also provides the option to speak directly to a customer service representative. If you have specific information regarding damage to wires, transformers or poles, we ask that you speak with a representative to provide that information.
Customers with a handheld device, or who are at an alternate location with power, can also report power outages and view the status of their outage by logging in to My Account at pseg.com.
General outage activity throughout our service territory is available online at www.pseg.com/outagecenter and updates are posted on pseg.com during severe weather.
The utility's Twitter page also keeps the public informed about our restoration progress. Sign up as a follower at http://twitter.com/psegdelivers to monitor restoration progress. Customers also can register for text and email alerts at pseg.com/myaccount
PSE&G offers the following tips should the storm result in outages:
Accumulation of ice and heavy snow may weigh down power lines and as a result cause power lines to come down. Downed wires may appear dead but should always be considered "live." STAY AWAY FROM ALL DOWNED LINES. Do not approach or drive over a downed line and do not touch anything that it might be in contact with. Parents are urged to check for downed wires in areas where their children might play and to remind the children to stay far away from any wires. If a wire falls on a vehicle, passengers should stay in the vehicle until help arrives. To report a downed wire, call 1-800-436-PSEG and tell PSE&G the nearest cross street.
Individuals who rely on electricity to operate life-sustaining electronic equipment, such as a respirator or dialysis machine, should pre-register with PSE&G to receive priority attention in the event of an outage. To request the service, call PSE&G at 1-800-436-PSEG. They should also inform their rescue squads and fire departments of their needs, in case of emergency. Even though customers with life-sustaining equipment who have registered with PSE&G will receive priority attention during outages, they should also have emergency back-up equipment on hand, since immediate restoration cannot be guaranteed.
First check your neighborhood. If you are the only one without power, check your fuse box for tripped circuit breakers or blown fuses. If that's not the problem, look outside at the wire between your house and the utility pole. If it is down, report it immediately to PSE&G.
Mother Nature can be unpredictable. It's wise to have an emergency kit on hand year round. Here are some things to include:
- A battery powered radio.
- A corded telephone. (Cordless phones will not work if the power is out.)
- Flashlights and extra fresh batteries.
- A first-aid kit.
- Bottled water and an adequate supply of non-perishable food.
- A non-electric can opener.
- Matches and candles with holders.
- Extra blankets and sleeping bags.
- A list of emergency phone numbers, including PSE&G's Customer Service line: 1-800-436-PSEG. Call this number to report power outages or downed wires.
Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) is New Jersey's oldest and largest regulated gas and electric delivery utility, serving nearly three-quarters of the state's population. PSE&G is the winner of the ReliabilityOne Award for superior electric system reliability. PSE&G is a subsidiary of Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (PSEG) (NYSE: PEG), a diversified energy company (www.pseg.com).
Want to know what's new at PSEG? Go to www.pseg.com/getnews and sign up to have our press releases sent right to your inbox.
SOURCE Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G)


text:
Started Jul 15, 2016 0 Replies 5 Likes
Our series continues...Thoughts from Grand Knight, Kendall Geneser, from Granger on Why he is a Knight...Enjoy!…Continue
Started May 25, 2016 0 Replies 1 Like
Atlantic's Grand Knight tells us why he is a Knight...Thank you, Brother Phillip, for your contribution!Click below to read his blog...…Continue
Started May 4, 2016 0 Replies 2 Likes
Dave Waldschmidt from Emmetsburg tells us why he is a proud member of the Knights of Columbus...Thank you for sharing, Sir Knight Waldschmidt!…Continue
Posted on January 7, 2016 at 8:40am 1 Comment 18 Likes
Posted on December 30, 2015 at 1:31pm 1 Comment 19 Likes
Brother Knights,
We wish you and your families a safe and Happy New Year from the Harlan Knights of Columbus! - http://eepurl.com/bLqgWv
Posted on December 23, 2015 at 1:31pm 5 Comments 18 Likes
Council 3900 from Harlan, wishes all of our Brother Knights and their families a Blessed Christmas!
Great Ed Pancrazio "autobiography": http://www.harlankofc.org/why-am-i-a-knight-ed-pancrazio-state-administrative-assistant/
All individual members of the Knights of Columbus should have profile pages; that would enhance, enable, and simplify communications.
Nice, active website you've got.
Keep posting stuff; it's great! :-)
Which Assembly serves your Council? Just wondering.
Please add us as a friend on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/decorahknights4208/
Your agenda & minutes page (http://www.harlankofc.org/harlan-agenda-minutes/) is a very good idea. We need to do a better job of posting those things on our website (DecorahKnights.tk).
We also hope you'll post your agenda, minutes, and everything here on your new profile page. Each time you post here, the Decorah Knights will see it, and we can get ideas for service to Christ.
Nice Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/HarlanKofC/). :-)
Nice website: http://www.harlankofc.org/
The above being said, it is critically important that you post information here on IowaKofC.org. Go ahead, post on facebook and your website, but also post the information here, where it is instantly shared with IowaKofC.org members across Iowa.
Like I said above, I've checked out your website (http://www.harlankofc.org/), and it's nice but, to be honest with you, I probably will not regularly visit it. Thus, if you post information only there, the number of viewers will be limited, and the cross-fertilization of ideas between Councils across the State will be less dynamic.
Welcome to the IowaKofC.org website.
I hope you'll take a look at the Council 4208 website; all you need to do is go to DecorahKnights.tk or http://iowakofc.org/profile/decorahknights and just scroll up and down to see all the information about the Decorah Knights of Columbus; it's that simple.
Click here for Council 4208 contact information.
Please add us as a "Friend" if we're not already friends on the IowaKofC.org website. :-)
It's great to have you aboard the IowaKofC.org web platform. Click on the Activity tab in the "Update Central" box in the middle column on the main (home) IowaKofC.org webpage to see all of the activity going on across the State on IowaKofC.org.
Click here and then scroll down to see the comments about the importance of having Knights take the second and third degrees asap after having been introduced to the Order via the first degree.
And, finally, why "waste" your time asking another man to join the Knights of Columbus? Here's why:
--The Council 4208 webmaster
DecorahKnights.tk = http://iowakofc.org/profile/DecorahKnights
Why join the Knights of Columbus: http://iowakofc.org/page/membership
Q & A for prospective members: https://www.kofc.org/un/en/membership/join/prospective.html
TANGIBLE REWARDS ($$$, insurance, and other benefits) for you and your family through membership in the Knights of Columbus: http://1drv.ms/1MsIYmR
FREE member/family insurance benefits simply by virtue of membership in the Knights of Columbus: http://1drv.ms/1IE5Znc
As Harlan Knights know, if you want to get a website/profile operating for your Council, Assembly, and/or District, go to http://iowakofc.org/video/iowa-kc-council-profile-set-up for an instructional video. For more information and discussion on this issue, go to http://iowakofc.org/forum/topics/set-up-council-profile-page
Catholic gentlemen these days EXPECT to see a council website AND facebook page, and they're not difficult to set up.
IowaKofC.org is *THE* place for a council, assembly, and/or district website because it is easy to use, interactive, and FREE!
Welcome to
Iowa Knights of Columbus


text:
Bushnell ImageView 8x30 Digital 1.3MP Camera Binocular
Availability: In Stock
- Binocular and digicam conjunction with 8x magnification
- 1.3 mega-pixel nevertheless impression top quality
- 16 MB of inner storage with Sdcard port
- 32-ft . discipline of perspective at 1000 back yards
- Operated by 2 AAA electric batteries, Universal serial bus connection
Bushnell Picture Record 8x30 1.3 Super Pixels Appearance Perspective As well as Binocularsoffers a 1.3MP digitial video camera with 8x magnification for very-hello there-res graphics. Great for Pet bird Observing, Backyard/The outdoors, Common Use/Getaway, Arena Sporting activities, Camping.
Capture and Magnify Pictures. Quick Recurring 3 Photographs For Stills.Options that come with 11-8313 Bushnell Picture Seize 8x30 1.3 Super Pixels ImageView Additionally Binoculars:
- 8x binocular and video camera magnification
- Heart concentrating process for swift, straightforward centering
- Textured and Rubberized Area for added Hold
- Entirely covered Optics for Ideal Lighting Transmitting
- 30mm Purpose Lens to get a Crystal clear, Vibrant Appearance
- Interior storage for retaining 30 Photos at Great-Res
- Observe about Bushnell ImageView Record 8x30 1.3 Super Pixels Impression Look at Additionally Binoculars 11-8313:
- Demands 2 AA Battery pack (Electric battery not provided)
The Bushnell ImageView Video camera application is Laptop or computer-only, together with the pursuing needs: - Pentium 166MMX lowest (Pentium II 266 encouraged) or equal AMD central processing unit - House windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000 or XP - Lowest 32 MB of Memory - 200 megabytes totally free hard disk drive place - Usb 2 . 0 dock (competent at delivering capability to linked products)
Deal Elements:
- Bushnell Appearance Record 8x30 1.3 Super Pixels Impression See In addition Binoculars
- Safety Hauling situation
- PhotoSuite Driver and Software Disc
From Maker
Seeking using a binocular may be mystical. Ingesting the specifics. Receiving a good look. Discovering mother nature. With Impression See Binoculars from Bushnell you save those fantastic photos. How? We've merged an effective, very long-collection binocular using a lightweight, camera and designed a arena of limitless opportunities.
Our most favored types, the photo Look at is fantastic for sporting activities followers, exterior adventure and enthusiasts travellers that are looking to all at once record and view almost everything. Readily available in many different types, portable adequate to fall in a wallet and loaded with highly effective overall performance characteristics, the photo See will make a ideal present.
Practical Information
- Piece Proportions 4.2 by 8.7 by 11.3 ins
- Object Body weight 1 lb
- Magnification Optimum 8
- Goal Lens Size 30
- Delivery Bodyweight 1.75 kilos
- UNSPSC Rule 41111717
Write a review
Bushnell Waterproof - Fog proof Binoculars are best choice for marine, ocean exploration and you won't have to worry about getting wet with your favorite Binoculars because Bushnell Waterproof / Fog proof Binoculars are completely water / fog resistant. Have fun and enjoy exploring the sea ! ! !
Bushnell Binoculars are reputed as worlds' number one premium Binoculars from last 65+ years. Bushnell Binoculars are best choice for outdoor enthusiast all the time. Unmistakably Bushnell technology gives the Bushnell Binoculars unbelievable view through the Bushnell Binocular's scopes.


text:
Pacific Games Council (PGC) Executive Board Meeting in Nuku'alofa 9th – 13th February
The PGC Executive Director has confirmed that the delegation will be made up of six of the members, with David Boyd, Secretary General unable to attend due to family reason. The members of the delegation are as follows:
Mr Vidhya Lakhan, President; Hon. Marcus Stephen, M.P,Vice President; Mr John Tierney, Treasurer; Mr Carl Probert, Athletes Commission; Mr Andrew Minogue, Executive Director.
According to Takitoa Taumoepeau, Secretary General of TASANOC, that apart from the Council holding its Executive Board meeting in Nuku'alofa, it is also an opportunity to meet with the Host Pacific Games Association (PGA) /TASANOC who won the right to host the Games in 2019, as well as the Host Government. Takitoa added that, "Tonga won the bid in October 2012 and the Host PGA (TASANOC) and Host Government as well as PGC had endorsed the establishment an Organizing Committee in April last year, which in a way we had lost 1and ½ year of ground work. And because we have just elected a new Government, it is also important for the PGC councillors to meet with the Hon. Prime Minister and members of the new Government".
The PGC delegation will also meet the President and Executive Committee of TASANOC as well as Chairman/CEO and members of the Tonga 2019 Organizing Committee. They will visit propose sites and venues for the Games in 2019 as part of their visit before departing a week on Friday.
Comment Guidelines: The SportsTG Network is made up of players, families and passionate sports followers like you who have a strong opinion about sport. That's great - we want you to have your say and share your thoughts with the world. However, we have a few rules that you must follow to keep it fun for all. Please don't be rude, abusive, swear or vilify others. Apart from some pretty serious sport sanctions, we also can ban you and report you if things get out of hand. So play fair and have fun, and thanks for your contribution.


text:
Tuesday, 11 December 2012 08:15 AM
The discount chain said customer confidence and spending was still under pressure and it faced challenges from competing chains.
While Dollar General's latest quarter only ran through Nov. 2, the chain said it was encouraged by results from the Thanksgiving weekend that came later in the month and the start of the holiday season.
The discount chain raised the lower end of its 2012 adjusted earnings forecast and slightly trimmed its sales view.
Profit rose to $207.7 million, or 62 cents per share, in the fiscal third quarter, from $171.2 million, or 50 cents, a year earlier.
Earnings rose to 63 cents per share, after adjusting for items such as expenses from a secondary offering and debt amendment fees, topping the analysts' average target of 60 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Shares of Dollar General rose 33 cents to $46.90 in premarket trading.
Sales jumped 10.3 percent to $3.96 billion, in line with analysts' expectations. Sales at stores open at least a year, or same-store sales, rose 4 percent.
Same-store sales gains outpaced recent growth at some competitors. Quarterly same-store sales rose 1.5 percent at Wal-Mart Stores Inc's Walmart U.S. chain and 1.6 percent at Dollar Tree Inc.
However, the results were not as strong as the 5.4 percent same-store sales increase at rival Family Dollar Stores Inc .
Dollar General, which prices most of its merchandise below $10, generally does well when economic concerns such as high unemployment and rising food prices push those on limited budgets to cut spending.
More shoppers visited Dollar General's stores during the quarter and spent more, on average, than a year ago, it said. Sales of items such as candy, snacks and perishables grew at a faster clip than sales of other merchandise.
Sales of certain basic apparel were strong and but higher-priced clothing sales were weak.
Dollar General is now calling for a fiscal-year profit of about $2.82 to $2.85 per share, versus a September forecast of about $2.77 to $2.85 per share. Both outlooks included about 4 cents per share from the favorable resolution of tax audits in the second quarter.
Analysts' average estimate is $2.86.
Dollar General expects sales to rise by 8 percent to 8.5 percent this fiscal year, after sticking to a forecast of 8 percent to 9 percent growth in September. It expects same-store sales to rise 4.5 percent to 5 percent, versus a September forecast of 4 percent to 5 percent.
For the current fourth quarter, it expects same-store sales to rise 3 percent to 4 percent.
© 2019 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved.
Newsmax Comment Policy
Keep discussions on topic, avoid personal attacks and threats of any kind. Links will not be permitted.
Newsmax, Moneynews, Newsmax Health, and Independent. American. are registered trademarks of Newsmax Media, Inc. Newsmax TV, and Newsmax World are trademarks of Newsmax Media, Inc.


text:
What Does it Cost to Change the World? from WikiLeaks on Vimeo.
What Does it Cost to Change the World? from WikiLeaks on Vimeo.Via Postal Mail - You can post a donation via good old fashion postal mail to: WikiLeaks (or any suitable name likely to avoid interception in your country), BOX 4080, Australia Post Office - University of Melbourne Branch, Victoria 3052, Australia
Monday, June 16, 2008
We Win!
US Constitution declaired MORE than 'just a piece of paper'.
In a surprising turn of events Habeas Corpus and the Constitution are upheld! The USA to be the example for justice in this world again. After more than SIX YEARS rotting in a cell at Guantanimo Bay Prison Camp, the 280+ men still left in limbo have been given back their right to to trial.
As many as 500 of the "worst of the worst" have previously been released back to their home countries, most have been released without ever being charged, tried, or punished (because they were innocent). Now, those who are still held, from places like Bosnia, China, and the USA, are to be charged and tried with the same human and civil rights as all U.S. Citizens.
To make this Supreme Court ruling stick will be take a courageous move by the American people, as the Bush Administration has raped the US Constitution again and again over the past seven years.
The torture survivor, John McCain, is afraid that these trials will expose the abuses of the Republican administration.
This is a historic event. The fact that after Bush's Supreme Court Appointees decent to the majority opinion the High Court still did the right thing is astounding! Now, what are they going to do next? Perhaps they will make torture illegal again?
Dennis VS Goliath
"We've waited seven years to find one Member of Congress brave enough to stand up for our Constitution, for which generations of Americans have fought and died. We are thrilled and honored that Dennis Kucinich has chosen to be that one genuine patriot. We congratulate him on his historic leadership, and pledge to do everything in our power to persuade Congress to adopt all 35 Articles and put George W. Bush on trial before the Senate of the United States, exactly as the Founding Fathers wanted."
Take A MOMENT OF TRUTH
Fertik continued,
"Some might question why Congressman Kucinich has done this now. My question is why 434 other Congress Members have not done it before. Despite the uncountable and unspeakable crimes this administration has committed, George Bush and Dick Cheney remain in power and immune from prosecution. Congress must impeach Bush and Cheney now - before they further abuse their power by pardoning for all of their crimes."
David Swanson, creator of ImpeachCheney.org, Washington Director of Democrats.com and co-founder of the AfterDowningStreet.org coalition, said: "Congressman Kucinich is the first, but we will be pressuring 434 other Representatives to join him. We must act to prevent an attack on Iran and to reestablish the rule of law for future administrations.
"Bush has had many accomplices, first and foremost Vice President Cheney. But our Founders created a single executive precisely so that we could hold that one person accountable for the actions of the Executive Branch. It is high time we did so, and millions of Americans will be urging their representatives to support the effort being led by Congressman Kucinich.
"Bush's public comments have time and again advertised his indifference to the laws he is violating. Not only does overwhelming evidence show us that Bush knew his claims about WMDs to be false, but the president has shown us that he considers the question of truth or falsehood to be laughably irrelevant. When Diane Sawyer asked Bush during a televised interview after the war was underway why he had claimed with such certainty that there were so many weapons in Iraq, he replied: 'What's the difference? The possibility that [Saddam] could acquire weapons, if he were to acquire weapons, he would be the danger.'"
Swanson continued, "What's the difference? Hundreds of thousands of corpses and a fatal blow to the rule of law among nations. That's the difference - unless we remove impeachment from the Constitution by failing to exercise it, in which case truth will no longer matter any more than justice or peace."
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Collateral Damage
America's War Against Iraqi Civilians
by Chris Hedges (Author), Laila Al-Arian (Author)
Best-selling author and Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges and journalist Laila al-Arian spent several months interviewing Iraqi war veterans to expose the patterns of the occupation and how it affects Iraqi civilians. The testimonies of these soldiers and Marines provide a disturbing window into the indiscriminate killing of unarmed and innocent Iraqis that is carried out daily by the occupation forces.
Collateral Damage is organized around key military operations on the battlefield — Convoys, Checkpoints, Detentions, Raids, Suppressive Fire, and "Hearts and Minds." Hedges and Al-Arian uncover how the very conduct of the war and occupation have turned the American forces into agents of terror for most Iraqis. The military convoys that speed through the centers of towns, often driving on the wrong side of the street or on sidewalks, have become trains of death. Soldiers fire upon Iraqi vehicles with impunity at checkpoints; pregnant women being rushed to hospital have been killed at roadblocks when their husbands failed to slow down and children have watched in horror as their parents have been killed.
Hedges and Al-Arian show how this widespread pattern of civilian killing has fueled the insurgency in Iraq, giving rise to instability, sectarian violence, and total chaos.Best-selling author and Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges and journalist Laila al-Arian spent several months interviewing Iraqi war veterans to expose the patterns of the occupation and how it affects Iraqi civilians. The testimonies of these soldiers and Marines provide a disturbing window into the indiscriminate killing of unarmed and innocent Iraqis that is carried out daily by the occupation forces.
Collateral Damage is organized around key military operations on the battlefield — Convoys, Checkpoints, Detentions, Raids, Suppressive Fire, and "Hearts and Minds." Hedges and Al-Arian uncover how the very conduct of the war and occupation have turned the American forces into agents of terror for most Iraqis. The military convoys that speed through the centers of towns, often driving on the wrong side of the street or on sidewalks, have become trains of death. Soldiers fire upon Iraqi vehicles with impunity at checkpoints; pregnant women being rushed to hospital have been killed at roadblocks when their husbands failed to slow down and children have watched in horror as their parents have been killed.
Hedges and Al-Arian show how this widespread pattern of civilian killing has fueled the insurgency in Iraq, giving rise to instability, sectarian violence, and total chaos.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Research confirms what we already knew
From lambert at Correntewire, I find out that I've been self-medicating all these years:
Self-medication may be the reason the blogosphere has taken off. Scientists (and writers) have long known about the therapeutic benefits of writing about personal experiences, thoughts and feelings. But besides serving as a stress-coping mechanism, expressive writing produces many physiological benefits. Research shows that it improves memory and sleep, boosts immune cell activity and reduces viral load in AIDS patients, and even speeds healing after surgery. A study in the February issue of the Oncologist reports that cancer patients who engaged in expressive writing just before treatment felt markedly better, mentally and physically, as compared with patients who did not.
Scientists now hope to explore the neurological underpinnings at play, especially considering the explosion of blogs. According to Alice Flaherty, a neuroscientist at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital, the placebo theory of suffering is one window through which to view blogging. As social creatures, humans have a range of pain-related behaviors, such as complaining, which acts as a "placebo for getting satisfied," Flaherty says. Blogging about stressful experiences might work similarly.
Considering the cost of prescription drugs, this is a relatively cheap way to keep healthy. (It's actually less satisfying and cathartic than throwing my Le Creuset dutch oven lids at Tim Russert's face on TV, but considerably less alarming to friends and family.)
I'm not sure whether all this kvetching actually helps the body politic, but perhaps it has the same effect.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Scott McClellan: What Happened
His job was to "hoodwink and bamboozle the public", McClellan attaches words and phrases such as 'propaganda' and 'manipulate' and 'cycle of deception' to describe the public relations campaign of which he was a part. He was an apologist and stonewaller for the Bush Administration, and he knew it at the time. There is now no contrition in his voice, he is still selling a story, that is his job. This man is a traitor to his own conscience, to his country, and now to his own masters, he has no values, the irony is that now that he speaks the truth his words are worthless, the damage is done.
"To me he is one of those minor men who has become a hero because he was disturbed by what he saw and his own involvement in actions and deceptions that reduced the honor of our country. Any revelations about the abuse of power should always be welcomed. They help us know where we are and what has been done to us. For that, if no more, Scott McClellan should be saluted on both sides of the aisle." - Stanley Crouch
"The hyenas Bush still has in the media will make this all about disloyalty. They won't just try to shoot the messenger - McClellan - they will try to shoot him out of a cannon. They will make him the issue. And when they are through with him, he won't just be a disgruntled former employee, he will be some kind of threat to national security and if you believe him, the terrorists win. . . .
"McClellan is no hero here, or even close. If he believed all these things when he stepped down as Bush's press secretary, nobody was stopping him from saying something as soon as he was out on Pennsylvania Ave. He said nothing at the time. No money there.
"So he is late in the church service finding religion, late having the stomach to tell the truth about the people that he worked with, looks as if he is only doing it to sell a book.
"But take a look at the ones coming after him hardest for the story he is selling this time around. It is those for whom he sold the war, and the ones who helped him do it." -Mike Lupica
Press blogger Jay Rosen reminds us of the key role -- stooge -- that McClellan played in the White House's attack on the press: "It denied the whole theory of the 'fourth estate,' ridiculed the idea that the press is part of the system of checks and balances, told reporters they were a special interest group rather than a conduit to the public-at-large, wiped out all remaining distinctions between propaganda and public information, and welcomed the de-legitimizing of the news media by allies in the culture war.
"'Back 'em up, starve 'em down and drive up their negatives' is the way I summarized this approach. In July 2003 Bush took it further when he installed in the White House briefing room a stooge figure, a pathetic character who had no power, no in-in-the-loop knowledge, no respect from key players in the Administration, no talent for improvised explanation under the lights, and no problem being made to look like an ass in front of the country, the cameras and the rest of the world."
David Corn blogs for CQ: "Where's the apology? . . .
"[W]hen it counted there were a few of us in the media who were indeed arguing that the Bush White House was setting new records in presidential deception--especially when it came to Iraq. McClellan, though, was part of the White House's defense team, pushing back against media coverage that questioned Bush's rationale for the war and Bush's serial abuse of facts. Apparently McClellan has seen the light. Well, where's his plea for forgiveness? If he were truly contrite about his involvement in a deceptive, propaganda-wielding administration, McClellan could demonstrate his sincerity by pledging that all profits from his belated truth-telling will go to charities supporting the families of American soldiers killed or injured in Iraq. For history's sake, it is good that McClellan is confirming what most Americans (according to polls) have long known: the Bush administration trampled the truth to win public backing for the Iraq war. But as an enabler (witting or not) of that process, McClellan owes the public more than a for-sale account. He should not profit from this book, making bucks for correcting war-supporting falsehoods that he defended. He ought to be doing penance. True heart-felt confessions come free."
I WOULD NEVER REWARD SCOTT MCCLELLAN for his treasonous actions, he should donate all the money from his speaking and book engagements to Iraqi orphans.
Announcing a new meeting for The San Diego County Community Coalition!
What: Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClelland in San Diego
When: Tuesday, June 17, 6:30 PM
Meeting fee: USD60.00 per person
Holiday Inn on the Bay
1355 N. Harbor Dr.
San Diego , CA 92101
Meeting Description: Tuesday, June 17th, 6:30 pm dinner. SCOTT McCLELLAN, presented by The City Club of San Diego.
Scott McClellan ? Former White House Press Secretary to President George W. Bush Speaking on ?What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington?s Culture of Deception.?
In the Harborside Room ? Holiday Inn on the Bay, Harbor Drive at Ash Street. City Club Members: $40, Non-Members, $60 (copies of Mr. McClellan`s book will be available)
Phone Reservations: 619-687-3580
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Matters of Controversy Series
"Blackwater Mercenaries on our Border?"
Guest Speaker: Jeremy Scahill, author of the ground breaking book "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army "
Book signing with new updated edition
Jeremy Scahill is an award winning American Investigative Journalist. He is an expert on a number of global issues, including the rise of Private Military Companies. He serves as a correspondent for the U.S. radio and TV program Democracy Now!. He is a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute. Scahill and colleague Any Goodman were co-recipients of the 1998 George Polk Award for their radio documentary, "Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship".
Lecture and Book Signing: Initially released on March, 2007, a fully revised and updated paperback edition of Blackwater will be released June 1st. The new edition will feature an expose on " Baghdad 's Bloody Sunday," a shooting spree carried out by Blackwater in Baghdad 's Nisour Square on September 16, 2007 that launched the company, and questions of its lack of accountability, into mainstream discourse.
Based in the wilderness of North Carolina , Blackwater Worldwide is the fastest-growing private army on the planet, with forces capable of carrying out regime change throughout the world. Blackwater protects top US officials in Iraq and yet we know almost nothing about the firm's military operations in Iraq , Afghanistan and inside the US . Founded by the son of a wealthy conservative family known for funding far-right-wing causes—Christian mega-millionaire and ex- Navy Seal Erik Prince—the company is intimately connected to the Bush administration, and as a privatized army, accountable to no one.
Citizens in Potrero and San Diego were successful blocking Blackwater's attempt to build a training facility in Potrero! Now Blackwater is trying to open an indoor training and shooting facility on Otay Mesa!
A training facility along the US-Mexico border, as proposed by Blackwater USA, would exacerbate the potential for increased human and civil rights violations to both migrants and members of border communities. The proposed training site is located with 500 yards of the international border, with a clear unobstructed view of the Tijuana International Airport .
Blackwater USA has been surreptitious in planning its "vocational school" in the Otay Mesa border area by not being transparent about its planned facility, by hiding behind shadow companies, and by lying about its future operational plans in San Diego County . It is precisely this sort of dealing that will pose a serious risk to the greater San Diego community, especially because the borderlands have already been militarized by government enforcement measures. There would be no way to account for potential interactions between Blackwater USA operatives and the general public.
"Mercenary groups along the US-Mexico border would seek to profit from the instability caused by current tensions in the borderlands. Instead of moving towards mutual support and collaboration between the US and Mexico in dealing with border issues, Blackwater USA would represent a regressive step that could endanger diplomatic relations, place people at risk of harm, and offer no accountability for deadly actions caused by its agents." Pedro Rios, U.S.-Mexico Border Project, American Friends Service Committee.
Meeting Hall, First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego
4190 Front St, Hillcrest, San Diego 92103
$ 5 - $10 Donation requested / no one will be turned away
opposite UCSD Medical Center
Sponsored by The Peace Resource Center (www.prcsd.org), Peace & Democracy Action Group of the First Unitarian Universalist Church , Activist San Diego (www.ActivistSanDiego) and Citizens' Oversight Projects (www.StopBlackwater.net)
For info: Peace & Democracy Action Group - 858-459-4650


text:
According to visiting tourists from Germany, Katja Klaiber and Tanja Buhle the show added to the mesmerizing sight of Dubai. The view of Dubai's skyline becomes more beautiful because of the bright and colorful lights that they were able to see throughout the show. "Watching this makes our trip to Dubai more memorable", they said.
The Dubai Festival City Mall Light and Water Show is an attraction that allows mall goers to experience the best of Dubai Festival City Mall as well as individuals dining at the extensive number of restaurants located at the Festival Promenade.
Enjoy, and please SHARE! Sound off below on what you think!


text:
From Nicaragua and Costa Rica comes this delightful and rare dwarf species
with undivided or sparsely pinnate leaves.
...very easy to germinate and need up to 3 months to
I bought 10 of these tiny seeds. Soaked in room temp tap water for 3 days. I half-filled a smallish ziploc bag
with moist coco-peat and placed the bag behind my freezer. The first seed germinated after only 3 weeks and
all nine ( I lost one somewhere ) had germinated within 2.5 months. 100% germination!
Submitted on 22/06/2005 by Dennis Lutge email@example.com
...easy to germinate and need up to 1 month to sprout.
Sprouts in just 2 weeks, in a plastic bag 50% peat 50% sand temperature : 25° C. October 2005
Submitted on 27/10/2005 by jp firstname.lastname@example.com
...difficult to germinate and need up to 3 months to
These seeds are very tough to germinate. Soak in water for at least 48 hour then refrigerate of 72 hours. Sow,
and keep dry. Do not let it completly dry out. It requires very little water to germinate. Very touchy. Requires
alot of patience.
Submitted on 22/02/2004 by Windy Crissinger firstname.lastname@example.com
plant cultivation comments by our visitors
Also see germination commnets above.
Plants from this species ...
... have not yet been commented on. Be the first to write a comment:
If you wish to read more on palm cultivation, we highly recommend Ornamental Palm Horticulture
by Timothy K. Broschat and Alan W. Meerow, available in our bookshop.
Ratings and comments reflect individual experiences and the views of our visitors. They do not necessarily describe the most
appropriate methods, nor are they necessarily valid for all seeds or plants of this species. Germination and plant cultivation
success depends on many different factors; nevertheless, these experiences will hopefully aid you in your effort to get the
best germination results from our seeds and the best growth results from your plants.


text:
When the Lens No Longer Exists
Tuesday, October 16th, 2012
Photos by Carasco Photography
Chicago's Carasco Photography takes a documentary approach to capturing dramatic moments at special occasions. The team of Cara and Scott Nava's work in editorial and wedding photography is always imbued with a natural, organic and unforced feel. Today, we're chatting with the duo about their work and influences.
You shoot everything from weddings to fashion/commercial, corporate events and society launch parties. How do you approach these projects differently? Which are your favorites?
We like them all for different reasons. Social events and commercial shoots tend to be relatively loose handed and the timing is typically less constrained. Weddings definitely require more preparation and coordination, but in terms of our overall approach, we try to incorporate our editorial flair to all of our work whether it's a fashion shoot, corporate event or wedding. It's nice to have a mix of different types of work to keep us fresh. Our job never gets old!
The images I've seen have almost a documentary, even journalistic quality to them. Is that naturalism what you are going for?
We place the subject into the landscape and allow their behavior to unfold. Once you gain the subject's trust and they are comfortable, the lens no longer exists.
Who are your favorite photographers? Which publications do you admire?
Top favorite photographers…Irving Penn, we love his minimalist imagery and the fact that he strived to reduce the elements of portraiture. We also admire Mario Testino and Steven Meisel; they create such beautiful editorial imagery in the fashion world.
Additionally, we love Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, Architectural Digest (and Design Bureau, of course)
How do you achieve that spontaneous feel? Does it require tons of shooting and editing? Do you do a lot of cropping in the editorial processor are you using complete images usually?
We do put a lot of work into the editing process to find those photo(s) that sing and usually use complete images.
Depending on whether it is an editorial shoot or event, we are not always afforded a great deal of time to construct all of the portraits. So in order to get the photos we want, we have to hone in our ability to make the subject comfortable (quickly) and trust us. Once we have that trust, the possibilities are endless.
What have been your favorite events to shoot? Any particular images you're especially proud of?
So far our favorite event was the Rickett's Chinese New Year party [pictured at left]. The front of the family's home was completely transformed with an Asian architectural façade and every square inch of the space was covered in custom décor with Kung Fu films playing on screens. Bill Murray was there, too. Very cool!
Tagged with: Carasco • Carasco Photography • Chicago • event photography • Weddings


text:
NEW YORK — No sport has produced as much humor as baseball.
From the farm-breds of the 1920s and 1930s who traveled the trains to the modern Wall Street brokers who flit around the country in jets, baseball people have always viewed their sport with a special charm.
Some experts theorize that it is a device to relieve the tension of the long season and others suggest different reasons. No matter. Such as follows has served to brighten sports pages for as long as the game has been played.
The young pitcher was about to make his first start for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1950s. For a while he paced up and down the dugout. Then he sat alone with his thoughts. This was a big chance and he was nervous.


text:
Faith In The Underworld
By Douglas Bernon
June 15, 2001
Southwest Cay, Glover Reef, Belize
I've been scuba diving for 40 years, and the underwater world at Glover Reef is the best I've ever seen. Bernadette and I have looked forward to getting out here since we arrived in Belize, so when an ideal weather window opened, we skedaddled. This was doubly good fortune because we sailed out in tandem with our friends on Sea Camp, Diane and Harold, who were fresh from an unexpected rudder rebuild in Isla Mujeres that nearly had cost them their whole sailing season. We'd been staying in touch over the SSB and our two boats had a sweet reunion. Within an hour of setting our anchors at Glovers, Harold and I were armed and hunting. Dinner that night was triggerfish ceviche, hogfish fillets, and conch fried rice.
My scuba life started at Camp Conestoga in Minerva, Ohio, when I was 12. The lake there was only eight feet deep, and the bottom — dark and mucky — was, we campers were told, dinosaur dung. Despite this, I became hooked and dived whenever anyone would issue me a tank. Twenty years later, when I finally took an official PADI course, my open-water qualifying dives were in a Pennsylvania rock quarry on a snowy day in March. When I compare Glovers with the better places I've dived since those ignominious beginnings — the reefs of Fiji (till now my favorite); the hongs in Thailand; the atolls of the Maldives and French Polynesia; the caves of Tonga; and the reefs of the Bahamas, Eastern Caribbean and Cuba — none holds a candle to Glovers.
There are four atolls in the Atlantic. Mexico has Banco Chinchorro, and Belize has, from north to south, Turneffe Island, Lighthouse Reef and Glover Reef. Chinchorro was beautiful, and great fun, but for snorkeling and scuba diving, nothing to write home about. Turneffe and Lighthouse are easy jaunts for the day-tripper dive boats that come out of and return to Belize City and San Pedro, carrying 20 to 60 divers per boat, so we skipped both places for this season and chose to spend our time in Glovers, which is less convenient and less crowded. Earlier this year we'd met cruisers who dropped a hook at Glovers and hauled it up six weeks later.
To get here, most cruisers, stopping on their way north from Honduras, Guatemala or Panama, catch both the Gulf Stream and the prevailing easterly trades, rather than sail down against the current from the north. For boats already in Belize, it's a simple trip out to the barrier reef, then out through the cut at Tobacco Cay, for the 17-mile, deep-ocean sail to the shallow southern pass into Glovers, which is definitely a keep-the-sun-behind-you kind of entrance. But once inside the atoll, the coral heads are clearly visible in the bright turquoise water, and we weaved between them, finally anchoring in 30 feet of good sand, about a third of a mile from shore. We could've gotten closer, but we wanted to make the bugs work for our blood. In more than two weeks here we've seen no commercial, live-aboard dive boats, only four other sailboats and two motor yachts in a lagoon that covers 80 square miles with more than 600 coral patches. The water is so clear that just sitting on the boat we've watched sting rays pick their way across the sandy bottom.
Glover atoll, which is shaped something like the profile of a horse's head, runs roughly from north to south, the longest segment being about 15 miles and the widest about six. Depths inside the lagoon drop to 75 feet, and outside the wall, to which it's easy to get by dinghy, there's a sheer drop to 800 feet, and beyond that into the thousands. There are a couple of low-key resorts here. Manta Ray Resort offers PADI-certification courses to an endless list of dive sites that are justifiably named Shark Point, Octopus Alley, Grouper Flats, and Turtle Tavern. I signed up for their advanced dive course, which set me back $200, including gear rental, dive boat, and dive card. Harold decided to take the initial open-water-class certification, which thrilled me because it meant I'd have a dive buddy, and since finishing we've had two great dives together; in one, we spotted a whale shark.
There's always been something magical to me about being underwater. As a kid, my family had an above-ground pool in the back yard, three feet high and 18 feet across. I'd spend long afternoons alone, swimming back and forth underwater. Maybe it was the silence and freedom for reverie, or the untouchability of being there. Whatever it was, I developed an affection for being under the surface, which I suspect influenced my career choice as well.
Bernadette maintains that this proclivity of mine for being underwater is an outward display of the instinct psychoanalysts have to crawl back into the womb and start over. As usual, she probably knows more about this than I like to admit.
Once I discovered scuba diving, I was at home in a voyeur's paradise. Without smell or taste, or very much sound or touch, vision and movement predominate consciousness. With the luxury of time and tanks, you get to dally in a normally forbidden world where, as an alien creature, you're not always at the top of the food chain. Some combination of fright, novelty, and a return to where we all started is mysteriously thrilling, and still gives me an adrenalin rush every time I enter the water suited up.
At Manta, when someone wants a course, a PADI instructor is ferried out from the mainland. Because I was the only one taking the advanced open-water class, I had Charles as a personal tutor, and we did six dives in three days, each one tantalizing. Charles is a native Belizean, movie-star handsome, a lean, black, 35-year-old Rasta whose dreadlocks, down to his shoulders, were woven with silver fish, silver rings, silver cannabis leaves, silver lions, and silver shells. Underwater, in his black wetsuit, red-colored mask and sparkling decorations, he resembled the world's largest Rapalla fish lure. We hit it off from the start. He knew his coral, his fish, and his job. He was a no-nonsense taskmaster who just plain loved to dive and pushed me hard to hone my skills.
For our navigating dive, which involves finding your way from point to point with an underwater compass, we swam down to about 65 feet, weaving through canyons with walls of knobby star coral, boulder brain coral, staghorns as big as cars; green-, brown- and, red-branching elkhorn coral; layers of circular scroll and sheet coral; ivory tree coral and pink pillar coral that was sometimes 10 feet tall. There was also delicate rose-lace coral in white, red, and purple; warty and doughnut sea rod in shades of green; and swollen-knob candelabrum that would've been at home sashaying on Liberace's baby grand.
The soft coral captured me: four-foot-high white and fusia sea plumes clustered as great feathers and rolling with the undersea currents; yellow and purple sea whips sometimes only inches tall, Lilliputian and elegant; red sea fans with lacey, intricate designs branching like Moroccan geometry.
Throughout every dive we were accompanied by fish who taunted us with their proximity, knowing in their gill of gills that we were unarmed: black groupers, some longer than my leg; and snub-headed permit, always a little dull-witted looking as if they're the seagoing missing link; indigo hamlets, with their slanting blue and white stripes; massive schools of blue tang swirling round us; queen triggerfish whose yellow bottoms, blue tails, and striped upper bodies make them dandies in the deep; and spotted trunkfish — tasty, box-shaped, brown-and-black-spotted critters known here as "chicken of the sea." Sometimes there'd be schools of iridescent, almost transparent squid no bigger than my thumb. At every turn there were hogfish, rainbow runners, and lots and lots of lobster. (God, how I longed for my pole spear.) Everywhere, conch had convened by the zillions for some intergalactic conference. At the end of each dive, it was fun to listen to Harold, who was discovering for the first time what I now take for granted, that diving is peaceful, quiet, and slow. "When I snorkel and free dive," he said excitedly, "everything happens so fast and the fish all scatter. But scuba diving is totally different. You just linger down there close to the fish, and they aren't afraid. You see the detail. I love it!"
The snorkeling here is also excellent, because so many of the reefs rise to the surface. Just a short swim from the boat, in 12 feet of water, we've watched nurse sharks and turtles, schools of the always bug-eyed gobies and a collection of the largest angelfish I've ever seen. One day we saw a squadron of jackknife fish, a foot long or so, with diagonal black-and-white stripes at their head that curve into horizontal stripes on the body, then meld into a black tail with white spots. Rather than stilettos, their black dorsal fins, sticking up like cowlicks atop their heads, reminded me of Alfalfa in the Little Rascals. Yesterday, on another shallow reef, Bernadette and I swam within a few feet of a spotted eagle ray, its brown topsides covered with silver blue spots, lazily plumbing the sand for lunch. There were two remora attached to his back, and none of the three were fazed by a gallery swimming close beside them.
Charles and I did several deep dives as part of the class, and these outside-the-wall dives were my favorite. Imagine descending to 100 feet, dropping as quickly as you can equalize your ears, so you can enjoy more bottom time and a leisurely ascent. Underneath you, it's the darkest blue. Behind you, visibility is a hundred feet or more, and then it's the same blue there. But in front of you, facing the wall, every millimeter is alive, a collage of overlapping life forms: azure vase sponges set among branching fire coral, next to brown-bowl sponges like intricate Navaho baskets with inch-long peppermint shrimp loitering inside; orange ball sponges; pink lumpy sponges; rope sponges in yellow, red and green; and branching sponges in colors loud enough to get arrested.
Peering out of their protective daytime homes were the usual scrumptious Caribbean spiny lobsters, but at just under 75 feet I saw my first red-banded lobster, his distinctive antenna giving away his hiding place. There were fragile branching hydroids dwarfed by the giant blue-barrel sponges I could have crawled inside, and always there were fish — not just a few, but hundreds, sometimes it seemed like thousands: groupers and snappers and sharks. I think they were admiring the wall, too. After every dive, and every snorkel, I rushed back to Ithaka, jazzed to comb our fish and coral books, to read about what I'd just seen.
The most dramatic sight on all the dives, however, wasn't one of size or depth or danger, but of breathtaking courage. At no more than 25 feet, I lay for some minutes on a white sand bottom watching several inch-long, striped scarlet cleaning shrimp swimming in and out of the mouth of a great barracuda, cleaning its teeth.
In a world where all too often no good deed goes unpunished, I had witnessed faith.


text:
We've all been in meetings where presentations were drier than your morning toast. Why not step up your presentations with PowToon, a presentation tool that allows you to create animated presentations simply by dragging and dropping elements to your slides.
Present.me Lets You Offer Information with Engagement
Have you ever wondered what happens when a Powerpoint presentation gets clubbed together with a video that narrates the facts in the presentation? Present.me does just that. It offers you with a nice medium for communicating and sharing information at the same time.
Oomfo: Create Stunning Charts for PowerPoint Presentations
The PowerPoint today is more than just a simple slideshow. A great presentation involves more than just presenting facts and figures, but also to impress your audience with fanciful animations and effects. Although PowerPoint offers an impressive array of chart types and options, almost all of them have been used exhaustively in presentations. Therefore when […]
3 Sites to Easily Share Your Documents With Others
With all of the different ways to be social on the web, one of the things you may not think of sharing is your documents and presentations. I was surprised there are as many sites out there offering just such a service. When I really thought about it, it makes a lot of sense. These […]


text:
My latest iOS app, Shape Matcher, was recently released into the wild. It's an iOS (available on iPad and iPhone) shape matching game for young kids' – about all the gaming logic I can handle as a night-time Obj-c novice. Anyway, I figured it might be useful to others if I documented what software, frameworks and tutorials I used to develop it.
Inkscape is an awesome open source vector graphics editor. One of the things about writing a game is that you'll probably need to draw some cute backgrounds or characters. Unless you're a designer who already owns a copy of and knows how to use something like Illustrator or Photoshop, you're going to want this software.
Drawing itself is a skill I don't really have, and that really sucks. These days, apps have to look as good as they work. I might be good at writing software but I'm really not very good at drawing stuff – or at least that is what I was convinced of until Jas and I finally sat down and tried to learn how to draw digitally. We followed a fantastic tutorial called 2D Game Art For Programmers – Part 1 and by the end of it, we weren't too bad at drawing some nice scenes and basic characters. All it took was for us to sit down and actually put our minds to it and it turns out that we're not that bad at drawing after all!
If you plan on including lots of images in your iOS game, you might find it easier to use sprite sheets instead of lots of individual images. This is especially true if you plan on supporting different devices with different resolutions (because you need to supply resized images for each differently sized device). Zwoptex is a tool that allows you to create sprite sheets from your original images. You can then use Cocos2D's built-in support to load the sprite sheets in your game. You can download Zwoptex for free, and if you don't purchase it, it will take a couple of seconds longer to export the sprite sheets but it will still work properly otherwise. Much recommended!!
Sublime Text
There seems to almost be a little bit of a cult following around Sublime Text. I've heard lots of well-known developers say that they use it as their primary code editor. It does seem to be nice and fluent. There are a few things about the UI that make it stand out. I use it when needing to copy plist values from the temporary files that Zwoptex outputs to my app ones. It certainly does the trick.
Most games have some sort of sound effects or soundtrack. Luckily cocos2d, the gaming framework I use, allows you to include sounds in your game really easily. But you still need to make your sounds or edit open source ones you find online. GarageBand provides a nice interface to do just this. You can then export them as .mp3 files and include them in your Xcode project. Simple!
cocos2d for iPhone
cocos2d for iPhone is a framework for building 2D games. It adds support for important gaming functionality like transitions between scenes, sprites and sprite sheets, effects and actions, menus and sound… just to name a few. Shape Matcher is the second iOS game using cocos2d that I've worked on. Earlier this year, Jas and I wrote and released Easter Egg Hunt, also using cocos2d. So far we are both very happy with the framework as it provides a lot of functionality that I wouldn't want to try and write from scratch. The only criticism I have right now is that the latest stable version, cocos2d-iphone-2.0, does not have support for the new iPhone 5 Retina Display screen resolution. Version cocos2d-iphone-2.1 beta3 does, but it's still in beta. Either way, you can get around it in code if you need to.
Localytics offers integrated app analytics for your apps. They have an iOS library that you download and link to in your app. You can then track certain events in your app, such as when a user clicks a particular button or when they've spent a particular amount of time on any one scene. This information can be truly invaluable and the Localytics library makes it super easy to use. Their website, where you can view graphs about your app's usage, is easy to navigate and nicely responsive. They aren't free but they offer a free trial that doesn't end, as far as I know. You have to pay to access some of the more interesting reports.
In-App Purchases
Although it can take months to write even a semi-decent iOS game, most people aren't prepared to part with even $0.99 USD for it. I'm not quite sure I'm prepared to spend hours upon hours writing games that don't make me a cent in return, but I would like people to actually play my games! In terms of games, this is where In-App Purchases come in very handy. You can put your game on the App Store for free, but sell extra scenes or options from within the game itself.
Luckily, Apple has made it pretty easy to integrate In-App Purchases in your application and theres a ton of help on the internet on how to use it. I used one of Ray Wenderlich's awesome tutorials, Introduction to In-App Purchases, to learn how to include some in-app purchases in my game.
Tips and tricks
Below are a few more little tips and tricks to help you get going.
It's a good idea to create both 'test' and 'live' versions of your app on Localytics so you can test your integration with them and not pollute your 'live' analytics. Just before you archive and submit your app to be reviewed, change the Localytics app ID in your code to the 'live' one. Don't forget to do this!!
In-App Purchases
Although I totally missed it in the Apple documentation, apparently if you have any In-App Purchases in your app, you must provide a 'Restore Purchases' button in case the user installs your app on a new phone and has already made purchases. This button seems somewhat overkill since clicking on the buy button again will allow the user access to the purchase without charging them again but I guess it's nicer for the user to click on a 'restore' button than a 'purchase' button. Apple app review staff will reject your app if you don't provide this button. Ask me how I know this…
When creating the individual images that you'll use in your game, export them in the largest size you'll need them from Inkscape. Import them into Zwoptex to create a sprite sheet and save this workspace. You can then set up the publish settings to export one sprite sheet for each device resolution you want to support (except for the iPhone 5 that actually has a different ratio). When you press the 'publish' button, Zwoptex will create a spreadsheet per setting. This saves a lot of time when you're writing a universal iOS game and keep making subtle changes to your drawings.
Below is a handy table of iOS device sizes that you'll want to use in your publish settings for each iOS device:
|iPad Retina
|iPhone Retina
So what are you waiting for? Go download these tools and get started on your first iOS game! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask :)