text:
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
PRICING: Spitzer looking at wholesale price collusion in music industry
resolving into a wholesale-retail pricing relationship with the online music
services -- but with a twist -- they are negotiating in agreements which say
that if any music service pays one of them more for a song, they have to pay
more to the others, too. Eliot Spitzer apparently thinks that's violates
antitrust laws. What do you think?
Also, it appears that they transfer the digital objects to the music services,
who then sell them. If they just saved all the digital objects on their own
servers and sold them in real time, they wouldn't have to have these one-off
contracts. They could just set their wholesale price -- using Clickshare, and
that would be it. Simple.
-- bill densmore
SUMMARY AT PAIDCONTENT.ORG posted Jan. 12, 2006:
Subscription Service Pricing Under Scrutiny [by staci] : The Journal has a
slightly odd story about "most-favored nation" status and pricing. Maybe it
just reads odd to me because I've dealt with MFNs for years in cable
programming so I'm not surprised to see it at work in music. For purposes of
this discussion, MFN -- and please send me a better explanation if you have one --
is a clause in a contract that usually means no one else can have a better deal
than that content provider. For instance, if you agree to pay me 50 cents a
song wholesale and then agree to pay someone else 51 cents a song, you have to
up my price to 51 cents. On the other hand, if I don't have an MFN, you could
pay someone else $1 a song and I'd be stuck at 50 cents -- until it's time to
renegotiate.As longtime readers know, I'm very interested in variable pricing
and how prices are set. I've spent a lot of time in the last few days looking
at video pricing issues and will be writing more about it soon. In the interim,
the clearest aspect of all of this is that NY state attorney general Eliot
Spitzer sees a good opportunity here and he isn't going away anytime soon.
Digital-Music Officials
Criticize Subscription Prices
By ETHAN SMITH
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
January 12, 2006; Page B2
While New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer investigates possible price
collusion in the music-download business, some in the industry are complaining
about pricing tactics used by the major record labels in another corner of the
digital-music world: subscription services.
Mr. Spitzer's preliminary investigation appears to focus on wholesaling music
to a la carte services that sell individual songs for 99 cents apiece, such as
Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes Music Store. To collect information, Mr. Spitzer
has issued subpoenas to the four major music companies: Vivendi Universal SA's
Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group Corp., EMI Group PLC and the Sony BMG
venture between Japan's Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG, of Germany.
Several current and former executives of digital-music companies believe that
significant anticompetitive pricing practices by the major music companies take
place in the subscription arena, where listeners get access to an unlimited
amount of music for a flat monthly fee. Yahoo Inc., RealNetworks Inc. and
Napster are among the biggest operators in the music-subscription field.
The concern is that, when selling their music to subscription services, music
labels engage in what may amount to a passive form of collusion, resulting from
their use of "most favored nation status" clauses, as they are known in the
trade. Unlike downloading services -- in which labels sell songs to retailers
for a set wholesale price -- the prices charged to subscription services are
derived from complex licensing agreements. The most-favored-nation clauses, or
MFNs, seek to ensure that if a rival label negotiates better deal terms, the
label with most-favored-nation status gets the same terms. Critics say that,
because all of the major labels have sought or secured such clauses from
subscription-music services, the result is anticompetitive.
Most-favored-nation clauses are often used by retailers to secure lower
wholesale prices for products. For some, the concept causes greater concern
when it is deployed on behalf of suppliers. "Seller-side MFNs are inherently
price-increasing and anticompetitive," says Jonathan Potter, executive director
of the Digital Media Association, a trade organization whose members include
Apple, Yahoo, Time Warner Inc.'s AOL, Microsoft Corp.'s MSN, RealNetworks,
Napster, Viacom Inc.'s MTV, and MusicNet Inc.
Executives of the subscription services are barred by confidentiality
agreements from discussing terms of their agreements with the music companies.
Most said they hadn't been contacted by Mr. Spitzer's office. A representative
for Mr. Spitzer didn't respond to a request for comment.
The extent to which the music companies seek MFNs appears to vary, people
familiar with the industry say, with the biggest companies -- Universal Music
Group and Sony BMG -- acting more aggressively than their smaller counterparts.
A prime example of an MFN can be found in a term sheet circulated by Universal
Music Group. The document covers a number of licensing terms, including
pricing, digital-rights management and accounting. Its final line effectively
undermines the need for Universal to negotiate any of these points
aggressively: "UMG will receive an MFN for all material terms."
In a statement, a Universal spokesman said: "Universal is committed to
providing our artists with the best possible service and this includes
protecting them as their music is used and exploited in new and different
Many music-service executives have questioned the legality of such contractual
provisions and generally fight to keep it out of final agreements. "Antitrust
enforcers seem to recognize most-favored nation as a red flag," says Albert
Foer, president of the American Antitrust Institute, an independent think tank.
"Not to say it's inherently illegal, but you'd want to take a closer look at
how it works and what the effects are."
Some music-company executives defend the use of MFNs, calling them legitimate
tools for delivering their offerings quickly to consumers in the rapidly
shifting and unpredictable world of technologies, without getting bogged down
in lengthy, nitpicking negotiations. Others say their companies seek the
clauses only occasionally, and rarely, if ever, enforce them.
In 2003, the Department of Justice closed without action an investigation into
whether the labels stifled competition in online music in part through the use
of MFNs. Online-music-service executives say that, despite their best efforts
to rebuff MFNs, some labels are pushing the clauses harder and trying to make
them more restrictive.
"The MFNs of a few years ago were not as aggressive," says Mr. Potter. At least
one global music company has begun trying to ensure in its contracts that it
can examine the terms of its competitors' agreements.
Write to Ethan Smith at firstname.lastname@example.com
This article above is copyrighted material, the use of which may not have
specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The material is made available
in an effort to advance understanding of political, economic, democracy, First
Amendment, technology, journalism, community and justice issues, etc. We
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for purposes beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright
Outsourcing the news: Coverage via India or no coverage at all?
and his Q&A with James Macpherson, owner of PasadenaNow.com:
"But on the other hand, I know what is being lost by the local newspapers
cutting back on their coverage and telling reporters they don.t have to go
to the city hall meetings any longer. That.s even worse."
California: Covering Local News From Where?
A small California publication is outsourcing its local news coverage.to India.
How it plans to cover city-council meetings from afar, and why local
journalists are unimpressed.
By Andrew Murr
Updated: 7:25 p.m. ET May 11, 2007
May 11, 2007 - Offshoring work to India is hardly new. But PasadenaNow.com,
until this week an obscure California online community magazine, has made news
by taking the concept a step further. Editor and publisher James Macpherson has
announced that he.d hired two reporters to cover Pasadena city government.from
Mumbai and Bangalore. Starting Tuesday, the pair, including a University of
California, Berkeley, journalism grad, will begin cranking out more than 28
stories a week between them. In exchange, one reporter will make $12,000 a
year, the other $7,200, for covering budget battles and zoning meetings in a
city of 146,000 best known for the Rose Bowl and Caltech.
Hiring foreign correspondents in reverse makes good sense to Macpherson, 51, a
longtime Pasadena resident. His two-year-old site, which gets 45,000 unique
visitors a month, has yet to turn a profit, and until now his news coverage has
consisted largely of press releases. But noting the wealth of material
available online.city council meetings are televised on the Internet and most
documents are posted.Macpherson borrowed the offshoring idea from his years in
the clothing business, where overseas manufacturing long ago became the norm.
In the first known instance of the offshoring of local news coverage,
Macpherson hired two of the reporters who responded to his ad on Indian
versions of craigslist.org. Now, a male staffer in Mumbai will cover city
politics over the Internet, while a woman in Bangalore will write features
about business and government based on interviews done by staffers in Pasadena,
which will be transcribed (in India) and e-mailed to the reporter.
Macpherson says the news has already netted him angry e-mails, mostly from
journalists. Area bloggers also seem wary. .The type of journalistic coverage
Macpherson is talking about really could be done by someone in another country,
largely because their "coverage" often consists of little more than glorified
press releases and parroting of the local media,. writes an anonymous blogger
called Centinel on Foothillcities.blogspot.com. Macpherson admits that the
long-range coverage may lose immediacy, but in a telephone interview with
NEWSWEEK.s Andrew Murr, he says that when local news organizations don.t
exhaustively cover city hall, there.s a role for his economical and
unconventional idea. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: How did you decide to cover city hall from India?
James Macpherson: Actually, it was the result of a number of observations. I.ve
been in the clothing business, and I.d manufactured overseas for many years, so
I understand how many talented people there are abroad. I also understand how
efficient it is, costwise. In Pasadena, our city council meetings are televised
on the Internet. They can be seen anywhere. Our mayor [Bill Bogaard] actually
watched a city council meeting when he was traveling in China, so I saw that
precedent. And also our city council meetings go until the wee hours of the
morning. Few reporters actually stay to the end of those meetings in person.
Put it all together, and I think we have a chance for somebody who is fresh. In
India, it is 7 in the morning, and from 7 until lunchtime they can watch,
analyze and transcribe exactly what happened. So I.m hoping it.s a much better
service for the citizens of this city than perhaps they.ve been getting.
So are the Indians just transcribing the meeting or writing stories?
They will write news stories, but the transcription element is important
because local journalists have been known to misquote, and I don.t want any of
Most city council coverage involves more than just filing reports on the
[weekly] meeting. How can a reporter in India do interviews?
Actually, they won.t. The interviews behind the scenes will be conducted by our
reporters here. Obviously, I have a great relationship with many of these [city
officials]. We will have interviews digitally taped and transcribed, and
they.ll be available for the individuals who report on the council meetings.
Also the council meetings' agendas are published online on Thursday along with
PDF attachments that give background. So by the time of the council meeting, I
will have had editorial meetings with these staffers so we will know exactly
what.s up for consideration.
Who are your new Indian freelancers, and how did you find them?
Right now we have two reporters, and I found them through Craigslist, using the
ones in Mumbai and Bangalore. We also have five transcriptionists [to make a
print record of the council meetings and transcribe interviews].
So how will it work in practice? They.ll be writing profiles without having met
or talked to the person or doing any interviewing themselves?
That.s right. I.ll be sending them information packets on the subject, JPEG
photographs and, as we go along, probably video, as well as transcripts of the
interviews themselves.
All together, what were their duties, and what are you paying them?
Well, both writers are responsible for producing two 500-word [news] articles a
day, six days a week, plus two feature stories each week, which will be a
little bit longer, probably 700 words. The most expensive reporter is getting
$1,000 a month, in U.S. dollars.
And the less expensive reporter?
That individual is getting around $600 a month, a little bit over.
Are their duties quite different?
No, the duties are pretty much the same. The difference is that the more
expensive reporter is covering the council. It.s harder news, and a lot more
factual research has to be done. In fact that individual is reading about 50
different newspapers and Web sites for Pasadena every single day even though
he.s in Mumbai. The other reporter is doing softer stories, more lifestyles.
And others are doing the transcriptions?
Yes. They are mostly medical transcriptionists. There.s a huge business in that
from the United States. So these people are very, very accurate. It sounds a
little bit like the Nixon tapes, in that you get every hum, er and hiccough.
But at least it.s really accurate. I.ve been using the transcriptionists for
months, off and on, because I.ve been overwhelmed by the amount of raw data we
have. And I.ve used data-entry [services] for our events calendar as long as a
year and a half ago. But it.s the advent of the reporters, which is just in the
last two and a half weeks, that has caught some attention.
Have their stories run yet?
No. They.ve been doing trial stories, but they haven.t run yet. I.ve been
editing and critiquing them. We are launching next week, on Tuesday.
Have you heard of anything similar in other news or community-news
No. I.ve heard of nothing like this . I have a lot of confidence I can control
these people properly and get good results.
Control them in a way you couldn.t control American reporters?
No. I mean control them as well as I can control a reporter that I.m paying
four times as much to write here.
That raises another question. How much are you saving?
I think it.s between three and four times depending on the reporter. Coming out
of the University of Southern California, many reporters want $3,000 a month
and they.ve never covered a real story for a local publication. And local
reporters are getting between $3,500 and $4,500, plus benefits. We.re online.
We have to be very lean and mean.
Are you paying the Indian reporters benefits?
Do you think the offshoring of news is going to catch on?
Good question. I can.t say. I know that to me it makes good sense when you.ve
got the kinds of dynamics we have in the city of Pasadena, where there is not
real in-depth local coverage to the degree there should be and where the city
makes all this information available over the Internet. I think we can do a
real community service here.
What kind of reception is your plan receiving? What are you hearing?
I.m hearing a lot from other journalists. They seem to be less than
Can you elaborate?
Any industry in which one introduces the topic of outsourcing, one becomes
perhaps the person not welcome in the room at the party. But for small
organizations, especially community organizations, it.s easy to collect the raw
information of interviews and pictures and video. It.s really hard to
professionally edit and manage that information. And that.s what I am
attempting to do in a low-cost way. I think I.ll serve my readers better in the
long run.
How are your staffers in Pasadena taking it?
We.re a really small staff, and none of them is in any danger of losing their
job. That being the case, they are a little more open-minded, and they are
willing to give it a go.
I see myself as a producer, and these people as the actors in the sense that I
am going to carefully manage what they produce. I have lived here all of my
life. I know many of these officials personally. This is not handing the
analysis function off to someone who isn.t an American. This is handing off
just the vast bulk of a seven-hour meeting and having enough experience to
know, "Hey, we.re onto a prime topic. I was briefed. This is a big thing. Now
let.s sit up and listen and watch carefully." I believe it can be done
efficiently this way.
Do you feel something.s lost in the fact that your reporters have never been to
Pasadena and don.t know what the local issues are beyond what you tell them?
The answer is yes. But on the other hand, I know what is being lost by the
local newspapers cutting back on their coverage and telling reporters they
don.t have to go to the city hall meetings any longer. That.s even worse.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18619929/site/newsweek/
MSN Privacy . Legal
© 2007 MSNBC.com


text:
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Amazon may have flopped with the Fire Phone, but don't count it out of the telephony game just yet. Alongside Amazon unveiling its newest Echo device earlier today (the Echo Show), the company also announced Alexa Calling, free voice calls and messaging services that you use through all Echo devices (not just the Show), as well as for users of the Alexa app for smartphones. Read More
Original URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/ALYbnubZurI/


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text:
The lines just after those are a riff off the saying by Mark Twain, "It's not the size of the dog in the fight; it's the size of the fight in the dog."
The "naked man in Denver" line is a mystery to me.
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Worst Things About American Idollukestheman4 It has to be said. American Idol is doing a lot of things wrong and they need to be addressed.
The Top Ten
I want to hear my favorite songs the way it was made, not your stupid original bullcrap. - lukestheman4
It's terrible
You know the "rock"-style covers were not original ("make it your own") but rather past rock covers of songs in the past, right? (e.G. Higher Ground, Billie Jean)
The hottest guy from Season 8 was Adam Lambert. He didn't win (lost out to boring Kris Allen who sounds like so many others) Where is Adam now? Touring the world with his own music and fronting for legendary Queen, making millions of dollars in the process. Where is Kris Allen? At the local pub strumming a few uninteresting chords on the guitar.
Its incredibly unfair! Gosh, the whole point of American idol is to find the person with the best voice. Now we can't have that with girls like this. - boeingrules
Couldn't agree more nothing tics me of more than to see a good singer go home and a boy with long hair and an ok voice go through. IT SUCKS! - the-rate-it-guy
Prime Examples: Kris Allen & Scotty McCreary. Neither of them were stand-out singers, but they managed to win because the girl viewers liked a little eye candy every week and wanted a boy who they think is cute to win, even though they will never meet this boy for him to appreciate it.V 1 Comment
Colton Dixon (Season 11), Haley Reinhart (Season 10), Adam Lambert (Season 8), Laksiha Jones (Season 6), Melinda Doolittle (Season 6), Tamyra Gray (Season 1), Kimberley Locke (Season 2), Jennifer Hudson (Season 3) and many more. It's very unfair, they are some of the best voices on IDOL and they didn't even won! Shame on you, IDOL voters.
Colton Dixon was the most amazing and talented contestant in American Idol history and he only got seventh place. -_- - TheStupidHobo
Chris Daughtry should've won instead of Taylor Hicks!
For some odd reason in Season 10, Haley Reinhart placed 3rd when she was better than both Lauren Alaina AND Scotty McCreary, but even further back, Pia Toscano placed 9th (even the judges were angry with that low of a finish) when she was probably the best singer of the group. And for what? For Paul McDonald and Stefano Langone to go up on stage and suck for a few more weeks? Come on, this just doesn't seem right to me.V 3 Comments
J-Lo and Steven Tyler will probably be good judges, but Paula and Simon were epic. - lukestheman4
Seriously, he is annoying and creates unnecessary drama/nonsense in this godforsaken show.
Doesn't seem fair for the contestents from seasons 1-7 who got voted off for good and contestants from seasons 8-future had a chance. - lukestheman4
They choose the worst people to win because you never hear from them after their season on American idol. There is only three people that made it big time. They are Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and Chris Daughtry.
They do have careers but they all suck. What does that say about the rejects?
Sorta Sucks! Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Kris Allen - lassidoggy
I hate your Music, I'm Gonna ignore You thanks A lot! You're not Incredible, you're Not cool adios.
That's stupid!
The Newcomers
Then again, Southerners love reality T.V., so...
The Contenders
Only a few contestants can sing very well.
Stop being such crybabies
Just stop crying people!
I would like bottom 6 3 peole going home
I would like 4 peolpe going home
In the first six seasons, we had a lot of diverse winners, like Taylor Hicks, Kelly Clarkson, and Carrie Underwood. Now that they started allowing instruments, the winner has since been a while guy with a guitar.
This is where the show finally jumped the shark.
Millions of Americans supporting mediocrity by buying their albums en masse...
All the contestants, during and after the show, sing songs with nothing hardcore in the lyrics or tone of music, its all boring classical pop junk about relationships. - lukestheman4
As long as this stream of manufactured music from this insipid show continues, we will never have a daring/remarkable music artist on our hands again.
American Idol ruined music, how's that?
We're not saying we hate the show. The show just has flaws.
The heck is this?
The show has always been full of talented people and a lot of replay value, so just be satisfied instead of complaining about bs that's either minuscule or not true.
That's the point. The bad auditions are suppose to be funny! They aren't very often so it wouldn't kill you to not take it so seriously!
Imagine how awesome it would be if someone drove into the American Idol studios in a Hyundai while having an ice-cold Pepsi
True, plus Kelly Clarkson and the lot are already has-beens that no one cares about anymore.
Related ListsTop 10 Most Strangest Things to Do On American Idol Best American Idol Contestants Most Robbed American Idol Contestants Best American Idol Judges Best American Idol Winners
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After getting engaged, one of the first steps in planning a wedding is to select the right venue. Weddings are a big deal, so you're going to want to spend some time choosing the right location. But apart from picking one that matches your own personal style, what other details would you need to look out for when scouting a venue? Keep the following helpful tips in mind while you're planning your wedding, and you shouldn't have any problem selecting the right venue.
Make sure there's enough room for everyone
This is a consideration you'll have to make with respect to your guest list. Make sure the venue you select has enough room for everyone, and consider upgrading the venue or downgrading your guest list. Even if a venue looks huge when its empty, keep in mind that furniture like tables, chairs, lights, and equipment from vendors, like your caterer, take up precious space that could be used for other things.
Remember that your guests will need a little "elbow room" to move around in; nobody likes being packed like sardines in a can. The best way to avoid this is to visit venues that already have tables and chairs laid out so that you can get an idea of how much room there really is.
Are there separate areas for eating, drinking, partying, etc?
The ideal venue would have different areas for certain activities, like one for eating, and another for dancing. This is especially important if you're going to be holding the ceremony in the same location as the reception – make sure they can accommodate everything. Take note of how the venue is laid out, as its shape will affect the flow of your party and dictate any divisions you'll have to make yourself.
Does the venue offer in-house services you can take advantage of?
You can often save a lot of time and money by choosing a venue that offers its own in-house services. Many dedicated wedding venues are 'full service', and offer their own catering, entertainment, even floral services for the benefit of their customers. Some venues outsource these services to local vendors, but offer reduced rates if you go through them. Take advantage of these offers to save on wedding costs while maintaining quality.
Does the venue restrict or limit who you can and can't work with?
Certain venues, often in the interests of business, will ask that you only work with their "recommended" suppliers, while others won't place any restrictions on who you work with at all. It's important to ask this as early as possible as it may impact your budget positively or negatively depending on what kinds of restrictions you face.
What kind of facilities does the venue offer?
In this case, facilities refers to things like running water taps, both hot and cold, bathrooms or portable toilets, electrical outlets, and parking spaces.
This is important especially if you've hired outside vendors to provide services for your party. Caterers often need access to a dedicated 'staging area' with running water and space to prepare food, while the entertainment crew will need access to outlets, speakers, and a stable power supply. Guests, for obvious reasons of course, need access to restroom facilities and parking for the duration of the ceremony.
If the venue does not provide some or all of these things, you may need to source them from other suppliers, potentially adding to the total cost of your wedding.
Can the venue be personalized?
Even though most wedding planners advise against completely changing a venue to fit your preferred style, it still helps to be able to add a small personal touch to the location. A few choice pictures of the bride and groom, or maybe something that represents your shared interests. Check with the venue owner to see what changes and customization they'll allow you to make to the site before the day of the party.


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A week or so ago, I picked up a few books in the Oxfam charity shop in the Ferry. A hopeless romantic I can't return a book to the shelf once it's picked me, hence I ended up with a stack of them! My favourite (and doubtlessly the most beautiful of the bunch) is this stunning edition.
This gorgeous Fourth Estate edition of BACKWARDS IN HIGH HEELS THE IMPOSSIBLE ART OF BEING FEMALE by Tania Kindersley & Sarah Vine retails at £14.99 however I snagged this copy for just £2.99.
It's a beautiful volume: printed on crisp matt white paper of a satisfying weight (don't tell me how many trees I've been complicit in the murder of); sports GillSans typeface (pleasingly unfussy and quintessentially British); and there are wonderfully quaint illustrations by Marta Munoz, laced throughout. This is a positively dangerous combination: this is book porn. Catnip. [If you, like me, cannot control yourself in the presence of a beautiful book visit this site.]
Here's the (abbreviated) blurb: 'As someone once said, Ginger Rodgers did everything that Fred Astaire did- only she did it backwards and in high heels.
Sixty years on and not all that much has changed. There's been a lot of talk, plenty of shouting and a frankly exhausting number of wardrobe changes, but the world remains a fraught place for the contemporary female.
Backwards in High Heels is a book for every woman struggling to make sense of the contradictory demands of the 21st century. It roves across everything from feminism to face cream, motherhood to money, politics to pulchritude. It is profound, frivolous, questioning, prone to the odd massive generalisation, hopeful, sympathetic, suddenly philosophical, and occasionally mad as hell: very much like women themselves.'
If you need a fail-safe yet indulgent recipe, you want to know how to carry on a conversation, you need reminding that Aristotle could in fact be a bit of a prick- then you're in the right place. The authors describe this book as the 'literary equivalent of the conversations that women have every day of the week.'
So if your preferred confidante is on holiday, as Mish will be in a matter of days, and you need a good blether, not just a gossip (the conversational equivalent of a sugar-high), then sit back and bask in the glow of intelligent sisterhood.
On the subject of sisterhood...
I met Mish when I was eleven and she was twelve. We were in our first year of senior school and both a little lost. I could take a great many words to try to convey the depth of my feelings for her but I'd rather say that I love her. I've ended our phone calls or letters with the words 'love you' for years and I've meant it. It seems I'm not alone: '[w]e would like to come out of the closet and declare that a true friendship with another woman is possibly the greatest love of all... So when you form a till death do us part friendship, don't just call it 'like'. Don't take it as read and think that all relationships go in this profound and seamless way. Treasure it, and celebrate it, and call it by its name, which is Love.'
See, that's what I'm talking about.
To me the book served as a reminder to practice empowerment, yet it was comforting and centring. Backwards in High Heels comes highly recommended.
-Check out Tania Kindersley's blog 'Backwards in High Heels' which started as an extension of the book.
-Amazon link to this edition.
-You can find different editions on amazon starting at £6.99 for a new copy!
no copyright infringement intended


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Olney-Bissell School will move to a four-day week beginning this fall.
Olney-Bissell will be in session Monday through Thursday starting in the 2018-19 school year. The school day will start 30 minutes earlier at 7:55 a.m. and release 15 minutes later at 3:45 p.m.
For the middle school grades, the school is looking at a hybrid block system of core subjects ��� math, English and social studies � to 90 minutes with electives remaining at 60 minutes.
There is one exception to the Monday through Thursday schedule. Students will attend school on Fridays on weeks when there is no school on Mondays due to national holidays.
In Montana, schools must provide a minimum of 1,080 hours of instruction for grades fourth through 12th. For first through third grade, 720 hours of instruction is required. Kindergarten requires either 360 or 720 hours, depending on if a program is part-time or full-time.
Olney-Bissell Principal Trevor Dahlman said the move to a four-day school week isn�t for budgetary reasons, although that will be impacted. A goal of the change is improve student attendance. It�s often the case that many extracurricular activities and appointments are made on Fridays, according Dahlman. Another aim is to enhance professional development and teacher planning by dedicating a Friday each month to those efforts. In addition, the school district hopes the change will serve as an incentive to recruit and retain teachers while drawing more students to enroll in the district.
One concern from a parent and teacher perspective was if all the academic material to meet state standards could be covered.
�Planning time will have to be used wisely,� Dahlman said, adding, �Cross-curricular activities will help us to cover standards.�
Some additional assessments may be given to ensure students are progressing academically, Dahlman said.
�We want to make sure kids are excelling and not flatlining,� he said. �For the most part, our teachers are on board.�
Olney-Bissell created an online survey and held a community forum to gather input. The results were positive with 37 responses, according to Dahlman who noted that 46 families have children enrolled in the school. Of the responses, 86 percent said they would be interested in a four-day week next school year.
One of the questions typically raised by school districts looking to move to a four-day week is how many families will need to find and pay for daycare or other supervision. One of the survey questions asked if parents would have their children attend a day camp if offered at the school. About 83 percent responded �no� according to Dahlman.
�A lot of parents are really excited to spend that extra time with their kids, go up to the mountain to ski on Fridays, go hunting or camping,� he said.
Dahlman said the school began looking at the possibility of a four-day week this winter. He said an Office of Public Instruction training for administrators and school board members �challenged us to think about taking a fresh look at things, and one of them was the standard school day, school week and school year.�


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Manufacturer: Delaney
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Delaney Designer Series Italian Briona Handlesets
Backset: Fits 2 3/8" and 2 3/4"
Door Thickness: 1 3/4" - 2 1/4" door standard (Santo Knobs require extension kit)
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Features: Protective collar, interlocking installation guides, reinforced spring assembly, and high security strike plate
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KOTA KINABALU: SABAH is moving towards becoming an eco-friendly state that emphasises the "Green Cities" development concept.
This is in line with the government's effort in implementing the use of green technology, said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman.
However, development must not be done indiscriminately but take into account the effects on the environment, he said in his speech at the launch of Sabah State Planning Conference in conjunction with World Cities Planning Day 2012 here yesterday.
The speech was read by state Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Hajiji Mohd Noor.
"While we are in the process of developing, it is vital to maintain our nature and I urge everyone to work together to achieve a sustainable development for future benefits.
"It is important to ensure structured and planned development as well as appropriate provision of open space for recreation by integrating green technology features," said Musa.
He added that this was vital in order to create a living environment that was conducive, peaceful and healthy.
He said green technology has a large potential in driving the national development and the industry that uses or develops products relating to green technology would provide job opportunities for the local community.
"The market for green products and technologies are huge, particularly in the renewable energy sector. Therefore, the state government is committed to implementing the application of such technology in Sabah."
On the theme for the event, "Planning Green Cities For Sustainable Future", he said it was timely and relevant to the realisation of the government's desire to achieve a development that preserves the environment.
Source: NST


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Table Centre Hire
Eventologists provide table centres and table decorations for a host of corporate events from gala dinners to themed events. We have a range of specially designed table centrepieces for large and small corporate events and can guide you on the most impactful corporate table centrepieces for your event. From simple and classical table for corporate dinners centres to glamorous centrepieces for gala dinners, the selections and possibilities are limitless. Our Events Specialists are available to assist with creative ideas for your centrepiece for the annual corporate gala dinner or awards ceremony. For themed events such as Christmas parties or themed events, we have a range of Christmas table centres and themed table centres available to select from.
If you want something different, and unusual or branded, call us today and we will be able to work on designs to incorporate your brand identity or the overall theme of your event. Our range of table centrepieces ooze with creativity, colour, size, style, illumination and choreography showing no bounds. Eventologists table centres turn a party into an event, a dance into a ball, a dinner into a destination.
Whether your Corporate event table centre is based calendar dates, music themes, sports themed table centres, a movie or book themed table centre, world themes or just a simple floral table centre or glitzy gala awards dinner we have every table centre conceivable to surpass your imagination.


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Golden Ripples Ring
Style No. 41952441
Hand-sculpted and cast, this textured golden ring makes an eye-catching statement piece. Each ring is handmade in Inverness, CA by artist Jen Goff of Takara. Inspired by sculptural design and primitive form, each Takara piece is intended to capture narrative within its shape.
- 14k heavy gold plated metal
- Nickel and lead free
- Remove before showering
- Band: 0.5"W
- Handmade in the USA
Sizes 6, 7 & 8


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A Christmas Spectacular
8:00 pm - 11:00 pm
1012 Nelson Street
Vancouver, British Columbia
Roy & Rosemary, with Special Guests: legendary blues musician and multi-Juno award winner Jim Byrnes, vocalist Mary Zilba and Grammy performer, multi-international award winner saxophonist Eli Bennett, and TOP 10 R&B recording artist, performer Warren Dean Flandez, and Top Line Vocal Collective.
Vancouver performing and recording artists Roy and Rosemary have once again collaborated on an annual Christmas Spectacular, featuring a number of acclaimed musical artists, and The Sparkling Symphony, conducted by Robert Rozek, for a wonderful night of music and entertainment, benefiting the Canadian Mental Health Association. This evening will definitely warms the hearts of Vancouverites in preparation for the Christmas season. The evening's performance includes Traditional Christmas music, dancers and a special appearance from Santa and Mrs. Claus.
The last two Christmas Spectaculars in Vancouver have Sold Out.
Tickets are only $40 and can be purchased online at www.royandrosemarychristmas.eventbrite.ca
General Admission Seating.


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Amid the 1983 New Delhi NAM summit, Palestinian pioneer Yasser Arafat was irritated on finding that he was to talk in the wake of King Hussein of Jordan. Arafat and the Jordanian ruler were not on great terms by then. Arafat chose to leave the summit. A conflict among two Arab pioneers would have made another emergency particularly since the Iran-Iraq war had vitiated the district as of now.
Seeing an emergency creating, Natwar Singh, the Secretary General of the summit, begged Cuban president Fidel Castro to keep Arafat from clearing out. By then, Mr. Arafat had requested his air ship to be kept prepared for takeoff. Be that as it may, regardless of Castro's requests, Arafat was unwilling to yield. At long last, the Cuban pioneer solicited, "Would you say you are a companion from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi or not?"
Accordingly, Mr. Arafat said, "Companion? I consider Indira Gandhi my sister and I am her sibling." Sensing opportunity, Mr. Castro said, "all things considered, you ought to act like her sibling and remain for the summit." The NAM summit in New Delhi was consequently spared from a noteworthy universal shame. Recalling Fidel Castro on Saturday, Mr. Singh said that he was an "awesome companion of India" who associated well with Indian pioneers.
"He comprehended the Indian perspective vulnerable War and helped us manage superpower weight. He wanted to remember that Jawaharlal Nehru dropped into see him in Harlem in 1960. He was only 34 years of age and unpracticed however Nehru made it an indicate meet him first in the wake of arriving in New York for the UN General Assembly," said Mr Singh relating that inns in New York had denied settlement to Mr. Castro and along these lines he needed to remain at the African-American overwhelmed Harlem neighborhood of the city.
Fidel Castro assumed control as Prime Minister of Cuba in 1959 after the main post-World War II socialist insurgency in the western side of the equator. He propelled a radical social and monetary program which made one of the best human advancement lists in the creating scene. Previous envoy of India, Chinmaya Gharekhan who joined Indian Foreign Service a year prior to the upheaval met Mr Castro on a few events.
"Fidel discovered Indira Gandhi's radical political introduction accommodating for respective participation. This was obvious when Cuba was aiding the prominent MPLA (Popular Movement for Liberation of Angola) agitators amid the Angolan common war when the Non-adjusted development stretched out support to the reason for freedom," Mr Gharekhan said relating that Fidel Castro was a charming pioneer who was a progressive as well as a commonsense and realist.
Despite the fact that a non-English speaker, the Cuban pioneer's correspondence with Indian pioneers was smooth because of basic view focuses on world undertakings. "He had a mediator however comprehended English well, and wanted to discuss the Spanish scholarly accomplishments," said Mr Singh who had facilitated him alongside the Nobel laureate creator Gabriel Garcia Marqez in 1983 NAM summit.
His more youthful sibling and successor as president Raul Castro reported the news on state TV.
Castro toppled the administration in 1959, presenting a Communist insurgency. He challenged the US for quite a long time, surviving numerous death plots.
His supporters said he had given Cuba back to the general population. Faultfinders considered him to be a despot.


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One of the best gadgets to enjoy mobile games is iPhone. Hello Kitty: Kruisers is one of the top games for iOS and we can help you to play it without any payments! To download Hello Kitty: Kruisers for iPhone, we recommend you to select the model of your device, and then our system will choose the most suitable game apps. Downloading is very simple: select the desired ipa file and click "download free Hello Kitty: Kruisers", then select one of the ways you want to get the game. Just a few easy steps and you are enjoying Hello Kitty: Kruisers for iPad or iPod. And remember! We update our collection of free ipa games daily, so stay tuned!
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Game description: Hello Kitty: Kruisers:
Participate in races with Kitty and her friends in the sky, on land or on water in an amusing game Hello Kitty: Kruisers .
- Variety of colourful locations
- Bonuses
- Great number of characters
- Wide choice of vehicles
Download game Hello Kitty: Kruisers for free
Please, specify your device, and we will select compatible games.
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Twitter now has come up with an updated version of the timeline. Though you are regular Twitter user, you will not be familiar with this new update. Even the official Twitter blog doesn't seem to have any post related to this new change. Till now, it is known that only Patrick Bisch, the founder of Pinglio, got this new timeline.
Earlier the Twitter timeline had all the four buttons : Timestamp, Favorite, Retweet, Reply, at the bottom of each tweet. When you click on a particular tweet, a slider appears on the right side of the screen showing the tweet with the source from which it came and also the media if it has.
But in this new updated version, it seems that the four buttons are pushed to the top right of each tweet. Hovering over the tweet will replace the timestamp with a button named "Open". When you click on "Open", the tweet gets isolated from others and opens up right in the timeline and does not appear separately on the right side. If the tweet has any replies or media associated with it, they too will appear below the tweet. Also when you open a tweet, it will show the list of Twitter users who retweeted the tweet in a horizontal line.
And also in this new update, when you click on any user's Twitter handle, his profile appears in a box that pops up over the main Twitter timeline. It does not appear on the right side slider. And what remains on the right side? Your Twitter info. Your tweets number, your followers and following count and your recent images remain there.
Have you got this new Twitter timeline update? If yes, share your thoughts with us below in the comments section. Make sure to check out Axleration for more.


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I DIDN'T know we had a thriving fox-hunting culture here ("the pursuit by the unspeakable of the uneatable"), but more than 400 Masters of the Foxhunt had their annual dinner at The Pierre the other night. The hot topic was the prospect of their "sport" being banned in Britain, and they agreed to organize a protest march over there in the spring. Need I say that society bandleader Bob Hardwick played fox trots for them all evening?
By PageSix.com Staff
January 30, 2001 | 5:00am


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With the passing of years, six generations of Bouchet children succeed one another to take over command of this establishment of charm, the oldest hotel of Soule. Art to receive in heritage, it is a little the creed of Bouchet. In front of the stove, the recipes from the country are handed down from father to son, while mothers and daughter undertake to accomodate the visitors.
The recipes of the house are on sale on the spot and by phone too.
The house is surrounded of parks, equipped with a swimming pool, a natural surface of camp-site, a small private « fronton » (for the game of Pelote Basque) and a French billiard room. A private carpark and a garage are reserved to the residents.
The hotel Bouchet, last hotel before the gorges of kakueta, is the starting point of many strolls towards the caves and the gorges, ideally placed for fishing, and proposes a all inclusive service for the hunters of wood pigeons.
Hôtel Restaurant des Touristes - 64560 LICQ ATHEREY - Tél: 05 59 28 61 01 - Fax: 05 59 28 63 85


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Don Cruickshank is to become the next chairman of the London Stock Exchange.
He will join the LSE board immediately and will take over from chairman Sir John Kemp-Welch on May 25.
Cruickshank has recently been in the spotlight for his investigation and subsequent damning report of the retail banking industry in the UK.
He was also the director general of OFTEL, the telecoms regulator from 1993-1998.


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Tuyển Windows/Linux Server Administrator làm việc on-site tại Australia, UK, US, JPadmin
Trung tâm ATHENA cần tuyển Windows/Linux Server Administrator
(đi làm việc on-site tại Australia, UK, US, JP )
Job Description :
– Performing administration tasks for Linux and/or Windows servers such as account management, data backup, software patches upgrade, performance tuning, storage allocation, system maintenance
– Setup & maintenance email system, web server, DNS server and other corporate services for a company
– Manage Windows and/or Linux servers
– Proactive maintenance and monitoring system for high availability, reliability
– Provide technical support, troubleshooting and solving user's problems
– Document about working environment, managed systems
– Setup and operate Windows and/or Linux based server systems
– Manage end user accounts, permissions, access rights, and also storage allocations in accordance with best-practices regarding privacy, security, and also regulatory compliance
– Analyze system, server, application, network, and also input/output device performance
– Recommend, schedule, and also perform software hardware improvements, upgrades, patches, re-configurations, and/or purchases
Opportunities :
– Work in a professional environment with technical experts and friendly colleagues
– Work directly with foreign customers around the world
– Go on-site Australia, UK, US, JP for training and working
Required skills/Experience :
– Ability to learn new things fast
– Be able to work independently and under high pressure
– Strong administration skills of Windows servers 2008/2012 and/or Linux servers (RedHat, CentOS, Ubuntu)
– Good in problem-solving and troubleshooting
– Good networking background
– Good English communication skills, TOEIC 500
– Familiar with scripting languages (Perl, Bash, Batch, PowerShell, etc.)
– Familiar with virtualization technologies (KVM, Xen, VMWare), cloud computing (AWS, Windows Azure)
– Having certificates (e.g. MCSA, MCSE, MCITP, LPI, CCNA, CCNP) is a plus
Years of experiences : 2-5 years
Number of resources : 05 Windows, 02 Linux
Contact : Trung Tâm ATHENA – 92 Nguyễn Đình CHiểu,dakao, quận 1, tp HCM
Tel : 094 320 00 88 – 094 323 00 99 ( ưu tiên cho các ứng viên đã từng học tập hoặc thực tập tại trung tâm ATHENA)
E-mail : firstname.lastname@example.com


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Los Angeles: Hollywood superstar Richard Gere has paid a touching tribute to late photographer Herb Ritts who died from pneumonia in 2002. Gere shared his memories before the launch of 'Herb Ritts: LA Style', a collection of his work in Los Angeles.
He called the artist "one of the warmest human beings" he had ever met, and admitted he still cries when chatting about Ritts, who captured iconic images of stars like Madonna, Mel Gibson and Cindy Crawford, reports a website.
"I was 26 or so when I met Herb Ritts. Somehow he was in this group of actors. He was the one who was really nice to be around, unlike a lot of people in that group who weren`t, including me," he told a website.
"There`s a very real reason why Herb was on top of everyone`s list of still photographers. He captured something in his subjects - an essential quality. We recognise ourselves. He had a warmth in his photographs that everyone liked," he said.
"He`s one of the warmest human beings I`ve ever known. Something that I don`t think everyone realises about Herb is that he was an artist. He did fashion photography as a job but had the soul of an artist, and he wanted that shot. He was the kind of guy that whenever I see mutual friends who loved Herb, we start crying," he added.


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Minecraft is truly a widely played and liked game on the internet where one can make buildings while using blocks.
Charlottesville, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/22/2014 -- Enjoying Minecraft for some time, one may want to modify, alter or add some new factors for their match. To finish the career, minecraft mods are the thing one have to own. Mods are very preferred now a days as they are really adept to completely transform their Minecraft.
These mods are mainly divided into three types. Firstly, there are illegal patches that are mods which are used to fix bugs. Secondly, the one that make an entire new game, called as total conversion, and lastly, are the mods which give new content to the entire game itself, known as partial conversions. These three types of mods are then changed into the types which are more precise.
There are mods for minescraft that works to bring more explicit content to the game, there are some that maximize the speed or the graphics of the game, mods which provide new content was taken from other game, mods which delete the present content, mods which provide a different feel to the game, mod for minecraft which allow one to connect with the world of Minecraft in several ways, and many more.
Mainly, each of these works differently. If one is interested in mods, they can simply set up them. However, bear in mind that one should really know that what they are doing, otherwise one might finish corrupting their important game data like the worlds or the copy of the game.
About minecraftdls.com
Minecraftdls.com provides information or details about minecraft. It provides the information about the suitable themes related to this game.
Contact Information:
For more information and other media related inquiries, please contact:
City: Charlottesville
State: New York
Country: USA
Contact Name: Byron Kerr
Contact Email: email@example.com
Complete Address: 215 reserve blvd, Charlottesville, va
Zip Code: 22901
Contact Phone: 678-232-5262
Website: http://www.minecraftdls.com/


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See this post as a quick snack idea rather than a life changing recipe…I do realise how easy it is to cover rice cakes with chocolate! I have been a little bit obsessed with chocolate covered rice cakes since I first spotted them in a supermarket around Christmas time but after a few months of buying them at a rather pricey £1.50 ish per pack of 6, I finally stopped being lazy and took the time to make some for myself.
It's the Kallo dark chocolate ones that are my favourite (itsu and Nature's Source are the other brands I've seen), probably because the rice cakes are super thin so when making them myself I also opted for the thin rice cakes. Mine were topped with Green & Black's 70% dark chocolate and I used approximately 1 small square for each rice cake. For an extra kick I topped them with some jalepeño chilli flakes and a tiny pinch of salt before putting them in the fridge for about 10 minutes to set.
I'd consider these a guilt-free snack as the rice cakes themselves are only 18 calories each and dark chocolate is always a better option for satisfying sugar cravings. They are also gluten free and can easily be made vegan by using dairy-free chocolate.
I just made a small batch to start but I've still got plenty of rice cakes and chocolate left to try a different variation next time. I'm thinking maybe seeds, dried fruit and almond flakes mmm…


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I wrote about Wallenstein's Camp back in the day, and I presumably stand by everything I said then: this is way too much fun and it should be infinitely more popular than it is on sheer enjoyability. This performance is led by Theodore Kuchar, who is in danger of shedding his underrated status by becoming properly rated as "pretty awesome" with each new recording under his baton. The odds on me getting this complete set of Smetana orchestral works for a mere $13.99 on ArkivMusic is 1-to-1. Take that shit to the bank, and by bank I mean the (hopefully) secure servers at ArkivMusic. Enjoy.
Something to listen to: Wallenstein's Camp


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THEY are all older and we are all wiser but there was a time when action movies were an endless parade of bulging biceps, thundering guns and the hero walking away over a pile of baddies.
But who was the greatest action hero? Who deserves to walk off into the credits triumphant?
Arnie was about as lifelike as a wooden plank in his early movies like Commando but a turn as an emotionless cyborg in Terminator seemed to unlock something within him. A string of bigger and bigger hits followed and he was even accused of acting in some of them. It was a simple formula: show off his biceps, pull out a machinegun and take on a horde of baddies who couldnt hit a barn door with their guns. And it worked. A spell as the Governator of California stopped the endless hits, however, with his return in Terminator Genisys and Killing Gunther leaving viewers unimpressed. His next roles are rumoured to be reboots of both Conan and Terminator.
He might be a couch-jumping, Scientology-obsessed nutbag who changes wives about as often as most men change underpants but hes a bloody fantastic actor. He wasnt always about action, however, with Top Gun shining out amid a stack of dramas and comedies. Recently, however, he has found his action groove as Jack Reacher, Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible and in sci-fi romps like Edge Of Tomorrow. And theres more to come.
Arnies biggest rival from actions golden years in the 1980s and 1990s. Hes responsible for two of the greatest action heroes ever in Rocky and Rambo. Hes even found a niche sending up the 1980s in his action series The Expendables. Sure, some of his movies were absolute rubbish and we were never sure if he was speaking lines or simply mumbling gibberish. Still, when hes flexing those arms while brandishing a machinegun, you have to enjoy them.
He was a wisecracking television series smart-arse until he turned into John McClane, one of the greatest action heroes of all time. Hes been Retired, Extremely Dangerous as well as a sci-fi hero in the likes of Looper and The Fifth Element and is currently working on the reboot of 1970s vengeance classic Death Wish. His movies almost always have a fair chunk of humour but they are certainly all action.
Before he became a bloated joke who hung around with Russian dictator, sorry, President Putin, Seagal was a huge action hero. His stuff in the early 1990s such as Hard To Kill and Marked For Death made a feature of his aikido skills a martial art much less flashy than karate or kung-fu but spectacularly effective. His high point was the action hit Under Siege. Sadly, it was all downhill after that.
Yes, hes known for goofy roles. But the drugged-out dude from Bill And Teds Excellent Adventure beefed up in action classics like Point Break and Speed. Then came the Matrix trilogy, which added in even more punch. Unlike most of the others on this list, his action career is actually on the rise with his conflicted hitman character John Wick arguably the best action hero of the last decade, with a third movie out in 2019.
If you want action then Vin Diesel is your man. Hes more of an antihero than a conventional hero, with his best-known characters Riddick, Xander Cage and Dominic Toretto all not exactly on the side of the angels. Still, with bulging biceps, a gruff voice and a shaven head, hes definitely a modern incarnation of an action hero.
Another brilliant exponent of the art of being able to shoot dozens of terrorists/bad guys/drug dealers while standing in the open and not being hit by a single bullet. In the 1980s he was the man Americans liked to watch because hed go into strange countries and punch swarthy bad guys in the fez. In movies such as Missing In Action and Delta Force, he gave future Donald Trump supporters plenty to cheer about as he cheerfully rewrote history to win the Vietnam War and solve the Middle East crisis.
Forget the child-focused comedies of the last 10 years. If you go back to the late 1970s, 1980s and even the early 1990s, you see the most insane martial arts action. Films such as Police Story, Legend Of Drunken Master and Dragons Forever showcase absolutely stunning kung-fu action. Anything after Rumble In The Bronx becomes a poor shadow of these early movies. Whats more, he does all his own stunts and was frequently hurt in them, as well.
Yes, he has had too much plastic surgery and recently appeared in an advertisement for Ultra Tune. But jump back to 1989 and he was the Muscles From Brussels, with a magnificent mullet and a stack of hit movies.
Kickboxer was his career highlight, a mixture of Rocky and the Karate Kid, with all sorts of punching and kicking. Everything else was a slow decline after that but he was still a big draw if you wanted to see someone doing the splits and punching people in slow motion.


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Four packs of powerful wolves come together to form an unlikely union, but one of their number has other ideas. What follows is a complicated and at times somewhat convoluted tale of rivalries and friendships, as the different wolf factions fight to maintain their position in the wolf world. In particular, a witch must be defeated in order to ensure that the wolves can prosper.
Out of the Dark (The Grey Wolves Series) proves that while it's difficult to come up with a new werewolf mythology, it can be done. The series has a very complex version of wolf society, almost too complex at times. In fact, there are moments when characterisation seems to have been sidelined in favour of world-building. But thankfully, the book overall remains fascinating and very inventive.
Quinn Loftis is a very capable writer who manages to force the material to conform to a particular narrative. The wolf world described in this novel is both convincing and interesting, and overall this is a valuable and interesting addition to the world of werewolf mythologies. This could definitely be a series to watch.
Star rating for Out of the Dark (The Grey Wolves Series): 3 stars.
> Available from Amazon.
> Rating system: 5 stars (excellent); 4 stars (very good); 3 stars (good); 2 stars (fairly good); 1 star (bad); 0 stars (awful).


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Sorry I am late !
This must be the most used or abused line in India. Being punctual hurts here. I have encountered innumerable occasions when I had to sit twiddling the thumbs while waiting for important people to arrive. We don't have value for time in this country, especially when it is other peoples' time!
Why, even our Rulers and Police want us to be late! The other day I saw an interesting board displayed by the Traffic Police, "It is better to be Mr. Late than Late Mr. - Drive safe!".
I get a phone call at 6:30 one morning, "Doctor, it is urgent. My son has fever. We will be there in five minutes". I said, "Okay, come right now. I have to go to hospital by 7:15". I went ahead and finished my morning chores and finished breakfast. No sign of the 'urgent' guy.
My car was halfway out of my gate at almost 7:25 AM. A bike blocked my way out and the father was screaming at me to halt. He parked his bike right across the gate and was demanding me to see his son. I told him, "See, I told you to come straight away. I waited for you all this while. I have to be in hospital by 7:30. So I can't see the boy now. I am already running late"
And he went, "Sorry I am late. I met my friend on the way and was talking to him. Just forgot the time and so we are a little late. But you have to show some humanitarian consideration!". I told, "It is beyond me now. The hospital pays me to work there and I can't be late. As of now, you give him Paracetamol syrup 5ml every 6 hours. You have to come later in the evening or show some other Doctor".
He retorted, "I don't need your certificate to see other Doctors. There are thousands of Doctors around". I couldn't be wasting any more time and told, "Very well, you better clear off my way and do as you wish". He withdrew his bike and I could hear him utter loudly in Malayalam, "Enthu Doctor aanu eeyaal, Kannil chora illatha oru janmam" that is loosely translated as "What a Doctor is this? A birth without blood in eyes" !
For someone who arrives 45 minutes late for an appointment, he expects the Doctor to show humanitarian consideration. When it comes to considerations, people conveniently forget that Doctors are human too. The same people will create a ruckus if the Duty Doctor is late by even 5 minutes to see a case of Viral Fever in the Casualty of a hospital. We have witnessed this too often.
We always see people complaining of Ministers, VIPs, Actors and Government Officials coming late as a habit. There are so many satires and jokes on this subject. But how punctual are we? The common man in our land is the most unpunctual of all the people. In fact anyone who is a stickler for time often becomes a butt of ridicule.
I had two friends who always reported late to duty; very often late by more than an hour. They regularly reported with "Sorry I am late". I had to suffer these guys in the name of the sanctity of the job and in the name of friendship. Whenever I countered them about the delay; they would say, "Common Shenoy, we are Indians and we are like this only!"
One day, I came to know these guys had planned for a 6:00 PM Cinema show. I was the one on night shift and had to relieve them from day duty at 6:00 PM. They were pretty sure of me reporting at 5:45 PM because Shenoy is never late!
Well, I chose to be late on that day. I went on to take an elaborate shower at 5:45 PM and then took my own sweet time to get ready. I never bothered to answer the frantic ringing of the phone. I even heard the knock on the door of our bachelor quarters, but didn't respond. And finally I reported to duty at 6:15 PM!
Both these guys were hopping mad. "What is this Shenoy? You always talk about time and punctuality and all that nonsense. Where has your sense gone today? We had booked for a movie today and you have robbed us almost half an hour. So bad!".
I just told casually, "Oh I am sorry, I am late". One guy was furious and shouted, "What sorry, you don't know how it hurts. We have waited for this movie since long. And now we will miss first half an hour. What is the use?".
Now it was pay back time. I said, "Well, my dear friends. It always hurts when someone else is late. I have seen my plans go kaput several times just because you people came late. Today, the roles have been reversed. Next time when you are late; remember other people too have their life, their plans, their homes and their aspirations. This is the first time I have reported late to duty and this will be the last time it will happen".
I have remained true to my words. It is true that punctuality often hurts. It is frustrating to wait for people and then hear them say, "Sorry, I am late. Really sorry Okay?". I know a senior Doctor who is chronically late. He always arrives in a hurry flashing his 5 fingers and saying, "5 minutes, 5 minutes, 5 minutes, 5 minutes, 5 minutes, 5 minutes".
By repeating the '5 minutes' six times, he tells us to ignore those 5 minutes. In reality he is late by thirty minutes that is the product of 5 X 6! He is never bothered by any conscience! But for me, it is neigh say impossible to arrive late anywhere any day and any time. I am not blowing my own trumpet here. I am just telling my weakness for this trait called punctuality.
After so many bitter experiences and endless waits, am I ready to change? Will I make others wait? Is it necessary for someone to be late to be important? No!!! I will choose to wait rather than be late and feel like 'Dirt' from within!
Thanks to mobile telephony, short messages and internet access on the telephone; you can always express yourself on the 'Orkut' or the 'Facebook' or go 'Tweet Tweet'! You can retain your sanity and your health! You can't change the world, change the way you approach the world! Better Late than Never !
I have always been passionate about Life, Love and Laughter! I would like to see a world full of Laughter and Happiness. However Utopian the idea may sound, what is wrong in trying to be happy and spread happiness?
Sab Theek Ho Jayega !
- Govind Raj
- Kochi / Ernakulam, Kerala, India
- A Doctor who loves to Live, Love and Laugh with the World! Absolutely crazy about Cricket ! Other Qualifications: A Tired Bathroom Singer, Retired Gully Cricketer and Satire Writer !
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Sorry I am late !
Posted by Govind Raj at Tuesday, June 22, 2010
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Tournament Format
◦ Teams are welcome to enter either division. Individuals who do not belong to a specific team are also welcome to join either division. A team must have a minimum of 10 players and 1 goalie. If a team does not meet this requirement, the tournament committee, at its discretion, will add players to team rosters as is necessary to accommodate all registered players.
◦ All players will be asked to complete a hockey skills self-assessment during registration. The tournament committee will use this information to place individual players in divisions and teams as appropriate to accommodate all registered players.
All games will be played officiated according to rules set forth by Hockey Canada. Deliberate body contact is not permitted anywhere on the ice! Slapshots will be allowed.
Note: Players must wear approved equipment. Facemasks are strongly encouraged.
The decisions of the on-ice officials are final.
All other matters relating to the conduct of games will be decided by the Tournament Directors.
Player conduct:
Players should conduct themselves with good sportsmanship on and off the ice both with other players and the officials.
Fighting will result in immediate ejection from the tournament with no refund of monies paid.
For the safety and enjoyment of all participants any player who is observed as being under the influence of alcohol or other substances will not be allowed to participate in play.
Game Times: Teams must be ready to play 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start time for all games.
Tournament Scoring (non-playoff games only):
A total of eight (8) points will be awarded for each game:
In the event of a tie in points at the end of the non-playoff games, the following tie breakers will be used to determine final rankings:
Head-to-head record, if the head-to-head record is tied then
Highest goals for, if goals for are tied then
Lowest goals against
Period and penalty times The following game and penalty times will be used for all non-playoff games:
Pre-game warmup: 2 minutes
Periods: 15 minute running time
Period intermission: 1 minute
Minor penalties: 2:00
Major penalties: 5:00
Misconduct penalties: 8:00
Team Time out: None – Not Permitted
Time for periods for all non-playoff tournament games will be RUNNING time.
Teams will take the ice immediately following the ice resurfacing. The clock will be set at 17:00 minutes and will start. Teams will have 2 minutes for warmups. At 15:30 the clock buzzer will sound indicating there is 30 seconds remaining in the warmup period and teams should prepare for start of play. Referees will ready players for the faceoff. The game will commence when the referee drops the puck with the clock running. It is the responsibility of the teams/captains to appropriately manage their 2 minute warmup time as the clock will run regardless if teams are ready for play or not.
At the discretion of the on-ice officials, the clock may be stopped for any extraordinary circumstances, for example - a player injury. Running time continues during the serving of all penalties. If a penalty expires during a stoppage of play, the penalized player must remain in the penalty box until the puck is dropped to start play.
Stop time will be used in the last 2 minutes of the game if the score is within 2 goals.
The following game and penalty times will be used for all playoff/championship games:
Tie games


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The ID4Africa, National Identity Management Commission ( NIMC ) and other international organisations have decided to petition the United Nations ( UN ) to declare September 16 of every year as International Identity Day celebration.
Dr Joseph Atick, the Executive Chairman, ID4Africa Movement, made the disclosure on Monday at a news briefing to commence the 4th annual meeting of the organisation in Abuja.
The ID4Africa is a multi-stakeholder movement that promotes the transparent and responsible adoption of digital identity in the service of development in Africa.
The 2018 ID4Africa Conference is scheduled from April 24 to April 26 at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.
Atick, who said that the petition would be launched on April 24 at the opening session of the conference, added that the campaign would be taken to New York until the success would be achieved.
According to him, the petition is calling on the United Nations to recognise September 16 of every year as International Identity Day.
"I want to make an announcement that it is going to be launched; another first African announcement which we will start here in Africa on April 24.
"We will continue all the way to New York until we reach a successful end. The announcement is that we will be launching a petition tomorrow; a petition to the United Nations.
"This petition is supported by the General Secretariat of the ID4Africa, the board of advisers of ID4Africa which has membership or representatives of the World Bank, UNDP, Centre for Growth and Development and of course NIMC, among others.
"Together, we are launching a petition and the petition is that we are calling on the United Nations to recognise September 16 as International Identity Day," he said.
Explaining why September 16 should be declared as the day, Atick said the organisation adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals and that number 16.9 of the SDGs pushed for legal identity for all by 2030.
"We have worked for many years together to establish what I called the Sustainable Development Goals. So government has responsibility by the year 2030 to give everybody in the country legal identity.
"We want a day because identity is one of the most important aspects of human experience in a modern society.
"We want to celebrate it, we want to create awareness for it, we also want to measure our progress towards the ultimate goal.
"Once we get the United Nations declaring that as international day, different countries diversify it and observe it with different activities. So April 24, it is going to start in Abuja," he said.
Atick, who expressed optimism that 193 nations of the UN would vote in its support, said about 47 African nations would be attending the conference.
The Director-General of NIMC, Mr Aliyu Aziz, however, said this year's conference is tagged: "Harmonisation," adding that it aimed at addressing issues of duplication of data by different agencies of government.
He said the conference would be dealing on how to develop artificial intelligence, how to utilise it and how to get market intelligence in improving, especially agriculture.
The Chairman Board of Director of NIMC, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, said the news briefing was to acquaint everyone with the conduct of the conference on ID4Africa.
He described the organisation as a movement of countries within the continent that have come to the understanding of leveraging ID ecosystem on digital system.


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Guerrieri: Christ for the World We Sing (COELSIGE 22.214.171.124.6.6.4) (PDF, 154 Kb)
A congregational hymn (with keyboard decoration, an SATB verse, and a descant) to add to this ongoing collection. We will miss your guidance, Kelsey Woodruff.
Guerrieri: Christ for the World We Sing (COELSIGE 18.104.22.168.6.6.4) (PDF, 154 Kb)
A congregational hymn (with keyboard decoration, an SATB verse, and a descant) to add to this ongoing collection. We will miss your guidance, Kelsey Woodruff.
Score: Bernard Herrmann, Moby Dick, and the movies.
Boston Globe, August 2, 2018.
A couple of piano-recital reviews from the Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts' summer festival at the Walnut Hill School:
Reviewing Hung-Kuan Chen.
The Boston Musical Intelligencer, July 25, 2018.
Reviewing SangYoung Kim.
The Boston Musical Intelligencer, August 3, 2018.
Score: K. 595 and the Neapolitan monarchs.
Boston Globe, June 28, 2018.
Score: "I Get Around" and the car as muse and malady.
Boston Globe, May 31, 2018.
Catching up on recent scribbling:
How classical took control of the jazz in Rhapsody in Blue.
San Francisco Chronicle, February 28, 2018.
(Special thanks to Joshua Kosman for the request.)
The image at the top is my favorite slide from a talk I gave at the Radcliffe Institute last month. Here's my second favorite:
I know it's supposed to be a stereo-equipment showroom, but I think it's more fun to imagine that it's actually the guy's apartment, and his date is slowly backing toward the door, having realized the depth of his addiction.
Also from the talk—an earworm of unusual ruthlessness. You've been warned.
This space has been quiet for four months, but, for once, I have a decent excuse, as I have doing my utmost to take advantage of the flatteringly good fortune of a fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard. The full, worldwide panorama of post-World War II music requires diligent pursuit! Nevertheless, I am giving it a shot. If you're in Cambridge, feel free to drop by.
Still, it's a good time to catch up on collating some other work. I am very happy once again to be mingling with the fine souls at NewMusicBox, this time with some ruminations on music's ability (or lack thereof) to connect:
Courtesy of the implacable nature of the church calendar, there's also two more choral introits to add to the ever-expanding list:
And the Globe column has been scaled back to a monthly affair, but continues to lurk around the edges of the newspaper industry:
Put it all in one place like that, and I seem really productive. Negligence has its advantages.
Score: Lutosławski's 3rd and Solti's pencil.
Boston Globe, October 20, 2017.
Special thanks to Christina Linklater and the staff at the Merritt Room at Harvard's Loeb Music Library for giving me a look at the relics.
Score: On Goblin and Suspiria.
Boston Globe, October 13, 2017.
Robert Honeysucker died, suddenly, last week. If you passed through Boston at some point in the past 40 years with even a passing interest in classical music and opera, you probably heard Robert Honeysucker sing. He did it all: art song, oratorio, pops concerts, church music. Amidst the tidal crests and troughs of opera in the city, he was a constant, ballasting presence. In big concerts and small, in big parts and small, if you saw his name in the program, you knew that portion of the show, at least, was going to be excellent.
I played piano for Bob's voice studio at Boston Conservatory from 2002 to 2008. My God, it was fun. There was a ton of sight-reading: Bob was forever having his students try out repertoire, and some of it was pretty esoteric, songs, arias, oratorio excerpts that he had encountered in his singing career and filed away, waiting for the ideal opportunity. Late Amy Beach songs, the likes of Celius Dougherty, the parts of the Henry Purcell book that usually got skipped over in favor of "Music For a While"—he was always hoping to find them a home in some student's consciousness. If a student had even a hint of a chance of handling Charles Ives, out came the 114 Songs. Willis Patterson's Anthology of Art Songs by Black American Composers—populated by composers who, for the most part, Bob knew personally—was a world unto itself in this regard: few of them ever made it as far as juries and recitals, but not for lack of trying. (That book and those lessons got me interested in a lot of those composers. My fascination with Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, for instance, sprang from the occasional airing of Perkinson's "Melancholy," a twisty, tricky John Fletcher setting from the Patterson anthology—tryouts that invariably ended with Bob's sonorous verdict: "No, you're not ready for Perk.")
It was indicative of his idea of what singing ought to be. I never really thought of him as a new-music singer, but, on the other hand, he sang plenty of premieres, and was always learning some new piece of rep. The only thing that got him noticeably angry in lessons was if students hadn't learned their music. Technique was a lifelong project; the voice was a protean thing. But preparation—that was on you. If the music was there to be sung, you learned it and sang it. That's the job. Still, even his disapproval was, more often than not, avuncular. (He was an imposing guy with a big voice—he probably figured that was intimidation enough for undergrads.) His quintessential operatic-baritone bearing—serious, dignified, composed—was softened by how obvious it was that, most of the time, he really enjoyed what he did.
By the time I knew him, he was a Boston institution. More than once, I found myself running through some inspirational number with him, in preparation for some civic commemoration or other that required his presence. He still sang opera, but usually either smaller parts or in concert settings. (The only major role I ever heard him do on stage was Zurga in Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles in 2007; the production was of variable, but Bob sounded great, as he always did.) He could summon oratorio gravity at will; hearing him sing Verdi was like seeing planets align.
Because of parenting, and moving, and life, I hadn't seen him for a couple of years. I had been meaning to send him a note thanking him for planting the Perkinson seed I was able to harvest a couple weeks ago, and then the news spread through the Boston-singer grapevine over the weekend, and I profoundly regretted my procrastination. He was gracious and generous, sharp and affable. And he made the hair on the back of my neck stand up every time he sang. Rise and fly, sir.


text: I like drinking coffee in the morning and expecially I like drinking it in company. My favourite company is my fiend, artist and neighbour Zsuzsanna (La Veranda - decor). Yesterday she invited me for a coffee and she had a beautiful bunch of Ranunculus flowers on the kitchen table! Those beautiful flowers got me really inspired. Here is my miniature version of those little treasures. Thanx Zsuzsanna for the inspiration ^_^


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