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Anthony LaPaglia
LaPaglia is an acclaimed actor for his outstanding performance as "Jack Malone" on CBS's series "Without A Trace", for which he won a Golden Globe Award and earned a SAG nomination. He won a Tony Award, Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for his performance in the Arthur Miller classic "A View From the Bridge," a play that he is producing as a feature film. LaPaglia's other stage credits include the Off Off Broadway production of "The Guys," the story of a fire captain and an editor who discuss the men lost in the World Trade Center attack on September 11. Sigourney Weaver and LaPaglia starred in the subsequent feature film version. He has also appeared Off Broadway in "Bouncers," "Northeast Local," "On the Open Road" and "The Rose Tattoo," which earned him a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play. His television credits include a recurring role in "Frasier," for which he earned an Emmy Award for his portrayal of Daphne's brother, Simon Moon. Other television credits include the series "Murder One" and the movies "Never Give Up: The Jimmy V Story," on CBS, "Criminal Justice," for which he received a CableACE nomination, and "Garden of Redemption." His numerous feature film credits include the critically acclaimed "Lantana," "Betsy's Wedding," "The House of Mirth," "Sweet and Lowdown," "The Client," "Company Man," "Summer of Sam," "Autumn in New York," "Lansky," "Phoenix," "Commandments" and "Brilliant Lies." He will next star in "Winter Solstice."
LaPaglia was born on January 31,1959, in Adelaide, Australia, and lives in New York City with his wife, actress Gia Carides, and daughter.
LaPaglia & Levinson Cross The "Bridge"
Barry Levinson is attached to direct Anthony LaPaglia, Scarlett Johansson and Frances McDormand in a bigscreen adaptation of Arthur Miller's play "A View From the Bridge" reports Variety.
LaPaglia, who won a Tony for his run in a Broadway revival of the play, has been the catalyst behind the film, obtaining permission from Miller, who died last week, to license the play for the screen and enlisting Fried. LaPaglia also brought in screenwriter Andrew Bovell. Fried hopes to shoot the film this year.
LaPaglia will reprise his role as Brooklyn longshoreman Eddie, whose infatuation with his niece strains his relationship with his wife and ultimately creates a scandal when the teenager falls for a cousin from Sicily. A version of the play was filmed once before by director Sidney Lumet in 196
Anthony LaPaglia stars in "The Guys"
Anthony LaPaglia is fittingly reserved when we meet in a Los Angeles hotel room. Never one to court media attention, the Australian-born actor took some time off between both fatherhood and a hectic TV schedule, to talk about The Guys, a moving, eloquent film based on the play in which LaPaglia had also previously appeared. The first film to address the immediate after-effects of 9/11, LaPaglia delivers his finest performance to date as a fire chief who has to deliver a eulogy for his fallen comrades. Dressed in an elegant, dark blue suit and tie, the Tony and Emmy Award-winning actor disagrees that mag The Guys was somehow cathartic following 9/11. "Because that implies that you were able to kind of process the event and somehow exorcise it from your psyche, so on that level I would say that it was not cathartic because I did not exorcise it from my psyche and it didn't really help me to particularly work through the enormity of that event," the actor explains. Yet shooting the film version of the acclaimed play had its emotional challenges, LaPaglia insists. "The biggest thing was the sense of obligation that I felt to get it right for the families of the fire fighters and the fire fighters themselves", LaPaglia explains when discussing the eulogy scene which was shot in a church in front of families of those fire-fighters who perished. You really felt an acute sense of responsibility there." Making a film dealing with 9/11 could easily danger of exploiting the tragedy. That was clearly not the case with either the stage play or film. "What I loved about it was the fact that it was imagined, not exploited; that it was trying to take a small experience that happened between two people in New York - a very large experience, in a way that I think every body could relate to and put it on film; in a way that did not exploit the moment."
In this Hollywood age of special effects and cinematic scope, The Guys, directed with an artful simplicity by Jim Simpson, is something of an anomaly, an essential two-hander shot primarily in the confines of a magazine editor's apartment. LaPaglia is unconcerned. "People have a certain expectation of what films are supposed to be now and I always question that; like who wrote the rule book for these cinematic experiences. To me, part of what I love doing is story telling which is why I like being an actor, the ability to get out there, become a character and then tell a story. And I think that somewhere along the line in our culture, we lost that and we are not that interested in story telling anymore."
LaPaglia has no doubt that despite these troubled times of war and international upheaval, the time is ripe for a film such as The Guys. "I think the movie is incredibly timely. The difficulty with all small independent films is that you're dealing in basically an entertainment market and therefore in the entertainment market what gets a movie seen is how much money you spend on prints and advertising and there is a whole political agenda in getting the film out there and getting it seen.' But as to the current war itself, the actor is one of many celebrities who have very strong opinions as to the war itself. "I think something strange has been happening in this country since September 11. I think it was a truly stunning event that actually shocked people into inertia, to the point where we have an entire country which is basically letting the government dictate a policy that will turn out, I think in history, to be a very unpopular one; and in some ways damaging, if we have reached the point where we are going it alone if necessary so you suddenly go from being a coalition into an aggressive force. I am not saying that Saddam Hussein is an innocent party that doesn't deserve some scrutiny, but rather, our foreign policy is really questionable right now and our decision-making policy seems to be completely irrational," says an angry LaPaglia. "I would like people to see this film, just to realize how they felt in the first week after 9/11 happened in order to bring some humanity back into it and still, maybe, wake people up a little bit."
The actor is also angry about his native Australia's position in the conflict, accusing its Prime Minister of being "up to his neck in this as well" and being in ["Bush's back pocket which is very, very depressing, but it's also a very complex issue that I am not qualified to really speak comprehensively about because I am, after all an actor." And it's an actor that LaPaglia has changed his priorities. Happily married to fellow Aussie Gia Carides [currently co-starring in TV's My Big Fat Greek Life], the pair recently welcomed their first child, Bridget. It was the prospect of impending fatherhood that led LaPaglia back to the regular grind of series television in the hit drama Without a Trace.
"At the time that I made the decision to go back do a series, Gia was probably about three months pregnant, and we had a long conversation about me and my inability to deal with authority," the actor says smilingly. "And with television to a certain degree, you have to capitulate on a certain level and a certain place, so her advice to me was, you don't have to do this. And, I said, that the alternative is that I do films and very few of them shoot in L.A. or New York. So the prospect of me running away to Toronto or Vancouver for two months at a time and missing that much time with my daughter was just not appealing. So I made a choice that if I could find the right television project, that I would much rather spend the first five years of my daughter's life with her. I have been very lucky in my career so far, in that I have had like a really good one. I have done lots of interesting stuff on stage, on films, on television and I have pretty much covered the gamut and enjoyed all mediums so I don't feel as if I'm missing out of anything."
LaPaglia decided on Without a Trace, in which he stars as the leader of an elite FBI Missing Persons unit, because "I looked at several scripts and some of them were just me starring, some of them were ensemble, but still me starring and then, I read this script which was truly ensemble. I kind of anchor this show, but I don't by any means carry it. Not only that, half of the show is done in flashback, because you are talking about the victim's life which I have nothing to do with, so, it meant that I had a really good working schedule and that I was not working 18 hours a day; so I get to see my daughter in the morning and at night."
LaPaglia, who remains impassioned with the stage, is still trying to fulfil his one ambition, to bring Arthur Miller's A View From The Bridge to the screen. His Broadway performance garnered him both a Drama Desk and Tony Award. "Yes it is still happening; but it's a long process." In the meantime, he is happy to savour fatherhood and the fruits of a distinguished career that shows no sign of waning
LaPaglia Returns To His Acting Roots In Lantana
After 20 years of appearing in some of Hollywood's most interesting projects, including TV stints in Murder One and Frasier - Aussie-born Anthony LaPaglia had to return to his native Australia to re-discover his love of acting. The film is Lantana, the first Australian film to close Toronto this year and set for a US release in time for Oscar season. Paul Fischer caught up with LaPaglia in a Los Angeles hotel room.
There was a time when Australian-born Anthony LaPaglia shied away from publicising his work. He was uncomfortable dealing with the spotlight, and mostly, he confesses, was not necessarily worth promoting. These days, the 42-year old star of over 50 film and TV ventures, is prouder than he has been in years. The reason? A little known Aussie thriller called Lantana, a multi-layered gem of a film that explores many facets of betrayal and love. The first film to be directed by Ray Lawrence since Bliss, LaPaglia says that the venerable Australian director enabled him to go places where he hasn't delved in years. He was reminded why he was an actor. "What Ray required was absolute truth and honesty", he slowly explains. "I think what happens to a lot of actors as time goes by is that less and less is required of you and as you get more status as an actor, fewer people are apt to challenge you and your choices. So I think you gain success based on a certain bag of tricks. A certain persona or performance will get you attention and will make you a viable entity as an actor. Then if you're not careful, you can rely on that bag of tricks and so you stop exploring as an actor, something you see time and time again." LaPaglia adds that the more he has worked over the years, "the less I've had directors willing to challenge me." That is, until he met Ray Lawrence. "Suddenly I've got a guy saying to me: Do less. All I ever hear is do more. Suddenly I've got a guy who wants me to do less acting and tell more truth. Slowly, as we're doing it, he's stripping away more and more".
It is LaPaglia who is at the centre of Lantana's complex narrative through his police officer Leon Zat a man desperately afraid of his own mortality, married with two sons, who seeks something new in an affair with the desperately lonely Jane (Rachael Blake). Leon's wife Sonja (Kerry Armstrong) feels the dissatisfaction in Leon, and seeks assurance through a therapist, Valerie (Barbara Hershey), who is struggling with her own problems, such as the murder of her child and her marriage to the dour law professor John (Geoffrey Rush). From here we delve deeper into the web of characters that includes Jane's neighbours Nik (Vince Colosimo) and Paula (Daniela Farinacci), her estranged husband Pete (Glenn Robbins), another of Valerie's patients Patrick (Peter Phelps) and Leon's police partner Claudia (Leah Purcell). This slew of characters, each with their own stories to tell come into sharper (and more successful) focus once one of them disappears, and Leon and Claudia become involved in the subsequent investigation.
Though in genre terms, Lantana is a psychological thriller, it is a far more textured and complex work than first appears as its narrative unfolds. LaPaglia is the centrepiece of the film, and in this often mirrored look at society's fragmentation, LaPaglia had to dig deep to find this truth about which he speaks. "It was all about trust; I had to completely trust Ray and he's a big part of it, as well the material. I get to know Ray over a two-week rehearsal period and I realise he's a smart, sensitive and thoughtful guy, who really has the same ideas as I have about making a film, which is to convey the absolute truth of a situation".
There is a certain irony that for a man who has spent most of his professional career in the US, that he is doing his best work these days back in Australia. "That irony has not been lost on me", the actor says smilingly. Perhaps because he became like those complacent actors to which he referred earlier, a little bit lazy often working on mainstream projects in order to fuel his love of theatre or the odd, small Indie film. "I don't think it was a conscious thing, but a gradual thing, that if you work in a particular system long enough, you can be seduced by it and you can allow yourself to become more cynical about it, all of which have happened to me in the 17 years that I've been here." It's more ironic than Anthony, who was born in Adelaide, came to the US to build a career, "and how ironic that the best part of my career is happening there." Married to Aussie actress Gia Carides, the couple spends equal time in Los Angeles, New York and Sydney, but LaPaglia is unwilling to move permanently back to Australia, even after recent events that shook this country. "I certainly think about it and after what happened in New York, I think Gia thinks about it more so. I personally don't feel that way. I feel that was a good enough place for me to be for a good chunk of my life and suddenly things go bad I don't think it's good for me to run away.
LaPaglia is content to return to Australia to work. Apart from Lantana, he is also the villain of the local hit The Bank, which was also screened in Toronto, "and is an entirely different kind of film, and was a lot of fun to do." Meanwhile, Anthony will be returning to Broadway next year for another Arthur Miller revival, After the Fall, following his Tony-award winning performance in A View from the Bridge, which the actor is about to bring to the screen. Once a cynic, perhaps, Aussie Anthony has rediscovered why he is an actor.
Anthony LaPaglia plays dedicated FBI agent
Every day in New York, people vanish inexplicably. Some disappear by choice, a few by accident and, sadly, others are abducted or murdered. When the victim vanishes, detectives must delve into the missing person's mind to reconstruct their last known moments. That's where the work of the New York-based FBI Missing Persons Squad begins, as seen in Without A Trace.
The special task force, headed by dedicated senior agent Jack Malone (played by Anthony LaPaglia), hunts for missing persons by applying advanced psychological profiling. Malone's team peels back the layers of the victims' lives to trace their whereabouts and discover the truth behind their disappearance.
The task force then reconstruct a DOD (day of disappearance) timeline that details every minute of the 24 hours prior to the victim's disappearance, following one simple rule: learn who the victim is in order to learn where the victim is.
Jack's squad includes Samantha Spade (Poppy Montgomery), an agent whose good looks complement a tough, complex approach to work; Vivian Johnson (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a driven investigator with a special insight into victims' families; Danny Taylor (Enrique Muricano), an intense and private agent whose sensitivity is often covered up by his street smarts; and Martin Fitzgerald (Eric Close), who earned some respect last year as the newest member of the team but still has a lot to prove.
Eric Close has enjoyed working on Without A Trace, though the experience has made him more cautious. "I think because I work on the show, I've become much more aware of my surroundings. I keep a closer eye on my kids."
He's not alone in his observations, as Anthony LaPaglia has noted, "You deal with this stuff every day on the show. I mean, you're not any more of an expert, but your awareness level is very up, whenever you hear about someone gone missing."
"Without a Trace" starring Anthony LaPaglia finds success
"Without A Trace" follows the missing persons squad of the Federal Bureau Of Investigation. After a solid first-season performance, this fast-paced procedural drama was consistently in the top ten during the summer repeat season, with millions of viewers finding it for the first time.
Heading up the team of investigators is Anthony LaPaglia, who plays senior agent Jack Mallone.
"We've had the luxury of being able to evolve without too much pressure," he says. "We weren't expected, necessarily, to succeed. So we didn't have that much pressure put on us. Which kind of allowed us, I think, to grow during the year."
"In some ways, it's great to know that the show is being discovered and that people are very interested in it and starting to watch it more. On the other hand, you feel a greater obligation to keep the standard high," LaPaglia adds.
And those high standards include trying to stay close to FBI procedure within the confines of a one-hour drama. LaPaglia explains, "In the scene that we just did, something felt off. And so the technical advisor was there. That constantly goes on. We constantly are trying to make it as accurate as possible." At the same time, he notes, "Sometimes accurate is not interesting."
While the focus of "Without A Trace" will always be finding those who are missing, viewers are about to learn more about the personal lives of the show's FBI agents, much to the delight of Poppy Montgomery, who plays Samantha Spade.
Montgomery says, "You know, it's always going to be a procedural show, which is what's interesting about it. But it's cool to have those little glimpses of their personal lives."
Spade seems to be torn between her boss, Jack Malone, and the newest member of the team, Martin Fitgerald, played by Eric Close. So you can expect to see a love triangle this season, says Montgomery, "But I'm not sure how it's developing really. I know as much as the audience knows."
So what does she really know?
Montgomery says, "I know that Samantha's still got feelings for Jack, and he's trying to work it out with his wife." The question then is, does Jack still have feelings for Samantha?
"I hope so," Montgomery says with laughter, "I think so. I think they're sort of torn, you know, and they really have this genuine affection, and attraction, and everything, for each other. But he is trying to give it a shot with his wife. And I know that there's chemistry developing between Samantha and Martin. But what's going to happen, I don't know."
Perhaps Martin is going to be the rebound guy for Samantha. And Montgomery agrees, "I think so. That's how I would play it. He really likes her. She loves Jack. That's my theory," she says.
But costar Close has his own theory: "We may really see that start to happen even more in the third season. Right now, I think what we're really trying to focus on, is them building a friendship. So, it's fun, because you see these two people working together. And you see that they like working together, and they're building a relationship, and a friendship so that hopefully, there may come that moment where they're in the middle of something, and then all of a sudden, they look at each other, and it's kind of like, 'Oh, hey, maybe there's something more than just a friendship,'" Close says.
Asked if she looks at milk cartons and posters of missing people differently since she started working on the show, Montgomery says, "I do. I'm more aware of it. I also follow the cases a lot more. Laci Peterson, I've been really following that avidly. And theorizing. I've always been kind of fascinated. You know, Chandra Levy. I followed that case. But now, I find myself kind of trying to think from the perspective of the profiler: How did it happen? What would be the alternatives?"
You can see "Without A Trace" Thursday night at 10 p.m. ET/9 p.m. CT on CBS.


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Naturally, with a similar line-up of At The Drive-In, Sparta definitely shares quite a bit in common with them. Though much more melodic, the dynamics, odd rhythms, and pulsating energy are all present here. Jim Ward's vocals take the forefront, which strike the exact balance between gruff delivery and catchy melody. Really the best thing to do is just listen to them, the songwriting is solid, and fans of good alternative rock will definitely dig it. Plus it does sound like a natural continuation to At The Drive-In, so they're a good fix until the new AtTDI album drops this year. Enjoy.
1. Mye
2. Cataract
3. Vacant Skies
4. Echodyne Harmonic (de-mix)
1. Cut Your Ribbon
2. Air
3. Mye
4. Collapse
5. Sans Cosm
6. Light Burns Clear
7. Cataract
8. Red Alibi
9. Rx Coup
10. Glasshouse Tarot
11. Echodyne Harmonic
12. Assemble The Empire
1. Guns Of Memorial Park
2. Hiss The Villain
3. While Oceana Sleeps
4. La Cerca
5. Breaking The Broken
6. Lines In Sand
7. End Moraine
8. Death In The Family
9. Syncope
10. Tensioning
11. Travel By Bloodline
13. From Now To Never
14. Splinters
15. Farewell Ruins (Bonus Track)
1. Untreatable Disease
2. Crawl
3. Unstitch Your Mouth
4. Taking Back Control
5. Erase It Again
6. Atlas
7. The Most Vicious Crime
8. False Start
9. Weather The Storm
10. Red.Right.Return. (Straight In Our Hands)
11. Without A Sound
12. Translations

subset: commoncrawl


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Civil War: Photographs, Manuscripts, and Imprints
DeGolyer Library
About the Collection
Civil War: Photographs, Manuscripts, and Imprints provides a sample of the photographs, images, albums, and more, relating to the Civil War held by SMU's DeGolyer Library. These items illustrate both the Confederate and Union sides of the war.
DeGolyer Library digital collections are part of CUL Digital Collections, which contain thousands of digitized photographs, manuscripts, imprints, and works of art held by SMU's Central University Libraries special collections.
Collection Materials
The Civil War digital collection contains unique items pertaining to the war between the states and its aftermath. There are many portrait cartes de visite of Union and Confederate generals, officers, and soldiers, military men so influential during the course of the War.
The DeGolyer Library also has a particularly strong set of holdings of Texas-related Civil War images, which are found in the Lawrence T. Jones III Texas Photographs collection.
Throughout both collections, there are startling images of slave children, the destruction of war, and women left at home while their relatives were off fighting.
Holdings and Highlights
Included in this collection are:
- plates, some with related text, from two editions of Alexander Gardner's seminal 1866 work: Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War
- Alexander Gardner cartes de visite and portraits: Photographs by Gardner, including his portraits of Abraham Lincoln, are some of the most iconic of the conflict.
- Andrew J. Russell Civil War photographs
- Photographic views of Sherman's campaign, from negatives taken in the field, ca. 1864-1866, by George Barnard, containing 61 prints and an accompanying booklet
- Collection of Civil War and military cartes de visite and portraits
- engraved cartes-de-visite of Confederate generals and politicians from the Cartes de visite albums accession
- prints, including many photographs by Mathew Brady, from Civil War images
- stereoviews from the Collection of Civil War era stereographs
- Trip through Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania: an interesting Civil War album containing 129 photographs made by brothers T. Dwight Biscoe (1840-1930) and Walter S. Biscoe (1853-1933) on a post-Civil War trip through Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania primarily of Civil War battlefields and cemeteries. Mounts include detailed descriptions about the battles: the battlefields of Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek near Winchester, Virginia, Harper's Ferry, Antietam and Hagerstown, Maryland.
Digital Collections Guidelines and Procedures
Items in Central University Library Digital Collections are digitized following the SMU Central University Libraries Digitization Guidelines and Procedures. Digital collections are created under the guidelines of the nCDS Digital Collections: Filenaming, Workflow, and Metadata Guidelines, or through specialized metadata profiles tailored for the collection.
Copyright usage terms vary throughout the collection. Each item contains information about usage terms. If SMU does not have the right to publish the item on the Internet, only the item's metadata will be available and the digitized object will be available on a restricted access basis. Such items may only be viewed on campus. When items are available for use, please cite DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University. A high-quality version of these files may be obtained for a fee by contacting firstname.lastname@example.com.
Contact Info
For more information about the collection, please contact firstname.lastname@example.com.


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By John Dodge
CHICAGO (CBS) — An NBA owner is caught on audio tape spewing racist commentary, including, among other things, telling his mistress that she shouldn't associate with black men in public.
The outrage was justifiably swift, and the punishment by the NBA against the L.A. Clippers Donald Sterling–a lifetime ban from the league, a $2.5 million fine and a move to force the sale of the team–were widely praised.
However, for ESPN commentator Bomani Jones, the real outrage lies in Sterling's past practices of housing discrimination and the fact that it was largely ignored by the league. Indeed, Jones wrote a piece about that issue way back in 2006.
It's the exact type of racism, he said on ESPN's Dan Le Batard show, that has led to the decades-long cycle of violence in Chicago.
For example, in Chicago, he said, city planners even went so far as to build an expressway (he's likely referring to the Dan Ryan, but doesn't say it specifically) to divide the black projects from the white Bridgeport neighborhood to the west and get suburbanites safely to the city.
"We hear all this stuff that goes on in Chicago and all these people who die, who lose their lives," he said. "All that stuff that's happening in Chicago is a byproduct of housing discrimination.
"Housing discrimination is the biggest reason that we can point to historically for why we've got all these dead kids in Chicago fighting for turf, fighting for real estate with poor accommodations and facilities and everything that you're supposed to have within a city, poor education, all of this because the tax dollars and everything else decided to move away."
"These neighborhoods are created by apartheid and they are desolate and they are dangerous, and they are frightening. We have whole generations of people that we have given up on."
In 2006, Sterling was taken to court by the feds, accused of refusing to rent to minorities and families with children. In a separate case in 2003, he was ordered to pay $5 million in attorney's fees as part of a settlement in a lawsuit that accused him discriminating against blacks and Hispanics. The case included an undisclosed financial settlement for the plaintiffs.
"The biggest reason this sort of thing has happened is because of jack-wagons like Donald Sterling make this decision that they to don't want black people or Mexicans or anybody else living near these pristine white people."
"That's the stuff that Donald Sterling has been doing forever."
Chicago's gang violence, of course, is more complex. Currently, Chicago is basically experiencing gang anarchy after the feds destroyed the gang structure years ago and sent the leaders to prison. That created an unintended consequence in which smaller gangs began to form and are fighting small-scale turf wars with no regard to human life. The school system was corrupt in the 1980s and 1990s (at one point considered the worst in the country). Illegal guns and drugs flow freely.
Jones also brought up the death of 32-year-old Leonore Draper, an anti-violence activist who was fatally shot outside her Chicago home on Friday, the same night she attended an anti-violence event.
Jones said he was a friend of Draper's and will be attending the funeral.
"You are going to come to me and talk about what is going on with Donald Sterling and his mistress? Are you kidding me? That stuff [discrimination] is real, that stuff matters, that stuff kills people," Jones said.
"Everybody and their mom is so charged up about Donald Sterling. I am going to go to a funeral next week for somebody who took somebody else's bullet because that city [Chicago] has become a war zone."
"But I am supposed to get charged up because Donald Sterling said his rich friends don't want his black mistress to be around black people."
"This here is fun to talk about, but this is nothing."
"When Donald Sterling was out here toying with people's lives on things that really matter, matters of life and death, the media, the NBA, and all these sponsors … didn't say a mumbling word."
"They can kiss my behind."


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lunedì 27 agosto 2012
Pals Stitching Retreat in Myrtle Beach
18 commenti:
- Hilda ha detto...
Welcome back, dear friend!
I hope you had enjoyable and relaxable holidays!
I am very curious about what you will show us tomorrow!
Your journey to South Carolina to the Pals Stitching Reatreat sounds pretty great! Do not forget to take many photos for us who cannot visit you there ;-)
- 27 agosto 2012 12:13
- robindefender ha detto...
I hope you had a good holiday. How exciting that you will be coming to Pals next year! I am not going this year, but I've been in the past. Maybe I'll be able to make it in 2013 too and meet you.
- 27 agosto 2012 12:22
- myrica ha detto...
O i will go to South Carolina, but that are so long way from me in Sweden, but i will.
I am very curious about what you will show us tomorrow.
Have i nice day
- 27 agosto 2012 12:45
- Megan Chamberlain ha detto...
Sounds so exciting, I would love to go to a retreat like this. Can't wait to see what new designs you will have.
- 27 agosto 2012 15:10
- Nicole ha detto...
That's great!! I'll be looking forward to meeting you there!
- 27 agosto 2012 15:28
- Shirlee ha detto...
Oh how exciting! I never knew anything about this retreat! It looks like so much fun & I'd get to meet you as well instead of waiting until our next trip to Italy : ) I am going to see if I can maybe attend the retreat. I hope so!
- 27 agosto 2012 15:39
- Fiona ha detto...
It will be great to meet you and it is a long time since there was more than me representing European stitchers. See you in a few weeks.
- 27 agosto 2012 16:14
- Michele ha detto...
Isabella, I'm so excited that you are coming to the Pals Retreat! It will be wonderful to meet you :)
- 27 agosto 2012 20:48
OMG!!! When in October will you be in Myrtle Beach? I will be there in October also. That would be sooo Great if I could meet you.
- 27 agosto 2012 21:59
- La Comtesse ha detto...
....e ce lo dici così?
Buon viaggio!
- 27 agosto 2012 23:07
- Faye ha detto...
I really really look forward to meeting you in person at the pals retreat!!! I hope you have lots of supplies for all of us to buy.... Have a wonderful trip, and I look forward to seeing you in about 2 months....Have a safe trip~~
Faye carolinastitcher
- 28 agosto 2012 04:28
- Raffaella ha detto...
... Deve essere meraviglioso!!
Fai buon viaggio!
- 28 agosto 2012 08:22
- morena ha detto...
Saranno sicuramente Emozioni Stupende, assaporale tutte in ogni istante!!!!!!!!
- 28 agosto 2012 08:55
- pj ha detto...
What a joy to hear you will be at PALS! I can't wait to see you and all you bring for us to see....your patterns, linen, floss keepers, etc. It will be FUN!
100 stitchers in one place will be great! And the ocean!
See you soon, Pam in Iowa
- 28 agosto 2012 14:53
- Robin at The Primitive Hutch ha detto...
Sounds like it will be a lot of fun!!! Wish I could be there ~ don't forget your camera and do share with us all!
Looking forward to seeing what wonderful goodies you're going to share!
Prim Blessings
- 28 agosto 2012 19:27
- Lili ha detto...
Cocou!! Welcome back!! :)
- 28 agosto 2012 23:21
- Janice ha detto...
Hope you got a chance to relax. I can't wait to see what your new patterns are! I just finished "Ichabod Crane Inn" today, but I'm going to add "Wicked Night" to the bottom of the same fabric so I'm really just half done!
- 29 agosto 2012 00:22
- Robin Hager ha detto...
I'm so excited about you attending the PALS retreat! This will be my first time there as well. I know it will be so much fun, and I so look forward to meeting you!
- 3 settembre 2012 01:42


text:
She wants to go backwards.
To the time everything seemed easier.
Laying in the field of dandelions.
Everything would disappear.
Sadness would no longer exist in that place.
Now, in the future. She had no place.
No place where sadness could no longer exist.
All she wanted was happiness & her dandelions.
"I think she was afraid of love sometimes. I think it scared her. She was the type to like things that are concrete, like the ocean. Something you could point to and know what it was and i think that's why she struggled with love and god. She couldn't touch it. She couldn't hold on to it and make sure it never changed."


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Saturday, June 25th 2016
I need to pull myself away.
All I have been doing lately is playing This War of Mine. In the game, I can have all the food in the world, but die of no defense against raids at night, or I can have all the defense in the world, but die of starvation. Or I can have both, and the team will leave out of brokenness and disagreement agaisnt each other. This game difficult.
I tried playing another set of characters (the one good at bargaining, the handyman and Arica), which is much harder than the other set, because you have to make sure you don't die of cold, plus I thought the winter was going to last all game, so I didn't get ready for the no snow supply preventing you from getting water until you build something with the little resources you have. I need to formulate myself a game plan. I could look online, but I always do that. I want to try this on my own.
I need to start practicing drawing and continue learning Japanese (I only know the "a"s in hiragana). I made myself a schedule until I start working (if I start working). It consists of 2 hours per day of art practice and 1.5 hour of Japanese practice. The rest will go to any gaming or whatever I'd like to do; speaking of which, I should start practicing painting soon. I forgot about that, but I want to practice art first and then once I found my style on paper, bring that to the computer (it's so hard to draw with a tablet, I think I need one where you draw on the screen and not on the tablet and having to look up at your monitor, cause I have NO control over my pen when it comes to digital art) and finally start that YouTube I dreamed of for so long.
If you're wondering, I didn't forget to write my entry yesterday, we lost power (someone broke something trying to repair it, making me re-do parts of This War of Mine, cause you can't save—it automatically saves once a new day starts), and it only came back in the middle of the night, so I couldn't write my entry.
My mom told me my grandmother is now part of the church's staff and desires for the younger people there to give their suggestions of how to attract youth at our church through social media. First thing I thought : YouTube. Most people's TV now (including me) is YouTube, so we should have videos of a few of the services or short videos showing what activities we do at the church. It's definitely a way to grab attention and update on what's going on at the church. Apparently the website and Facebook has been static for years and they're not doing anything with it, cause the person in charge refuses to give the password to anyone (why?!?!), so YouTube is definitely an idea, and because I plan on starting a channel, I can give tips on making a good video out of everything I gathered.
That's all for today.


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Expected Release: June 24, 2014Private investigator Cormoran Strike returns in a new mystery from Robert Galbraith, author of the #1 international bestseller The Cuckoo's Calling.
When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, Mrs. Quine just thinks her husband has gone off by himself for a few days--as he has done before--and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home.
But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine's disappearance than his wife realizes. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were to be published, it would ruin lives--meaning that there are a lot of people who might want him silenced.
When Quine is found brutally murdered under bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any Strike has encountered before...
A compulsively readable crime novel with twists at every turn, THE SILKWORM is the second in the highly acclaimed series featuring Cormoran Strike and his determined young assistant, Robin Ellacott.
"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.


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ABSA's eLearning courses are currently under construction. Please check back for updates.
The 2 day public Design Registration seminar is now available for registration:
DESIGN REGISTRATION Public Seminar – 2 Day Public Seminar
Did you know that nearly half of all design registration applications received by ABSA are sent back because they lack the proper documentation?
This seminar will support individuals who wish to boost their knowledge and understanding of the design registration process in the pressure equipment discipline. The course will use presentations, examples and workshops to clarify the design submission requirements for different types of pressure equipment.
Attendees of this seminar will be provided with helpful reference and study materials and benefit from many real-world exercises linked directly to the submission of designs.
Who Should Attend?
The course is intended for pressure equipment designers in manufacturing, EPC companies, pressure equipment specialists, those who organize and submit designs to ABSA for review and registration, owners or end-users of pressure equipment and those who want to learn more about the design registration process in Alberta.
Reduce the aggravations, delays and costs of resubmission.
Register now for the Design Registration seminar : ABSA Online Seminar Registration
Please visit our training schedule for more seminar details.


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Arrow Pendant in Sterling Silver
DescriptionA modern fashion choice, this sterling silver pendant features an arrow design. Comes with a sterling silver chain.
Product Details
- Metal content Sterling Silver
- Metal colour Silver
Delivery & Returns
FREE delivery for all orders over $100. Orders under $100 will be charged a flat fee of $9.90.
Once your order has shipped, please allow 2-7 business days for delivery depending on your location. Orders requiring ring sizing take up to three (3) additional business days to complete.
If for any reason you are not 100% satisfied with your purchase, you may return it online or in-store within 30 days of delivery for an exchange or full refund. Subject to meeting the requirements of our refund policy.
For more information, visit our FAQ page.
Customer Reviews
4 Reviews
05 Oct 2017 Courson Sydney NSW, Australia
I just love it.
I love everything about it. It's simple and elegant for everyday wear.
21 Feb 2017 Devonacamp Chicago, IL, USA
I ordered this necklace for my daughter who is a lover of archery and she was very satisfied with it. Very good quality.
26 Dec 2016 LillyW New Zealand
This is a beautiful piece. I did find that the point of the arrow was a little sharp!!! It needs a little smoothing, it would be even more perfect with a Bow to go with the arrow :)
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Those Days are Gone
- Artist Name : Rachana Badrakia
- Medium : Etching And Aquatint
- Size: 19.0 Inch x 13.0 Inch
- Year : 2010
Tags: Balloon, Black and White, Childhood, Colours, Contrast
Ships in 10 to 14 business days.
This work is final sale and Not Eligible for return.
Includes a Certificate of Authenticity
Rachana Badrakia Works with Mixed Media in printmaking. She completed her BA in English Literature from Gujarat University and then did her Post diploma in print making from MSU Baroda.She has won the Gujarat State Lalitkala Award for Graphics in Artist Category in July, 2010.She attended quite a lot of workshops over the years like Tie & Die, Paper Sculpture-Workshop organized by Kanoria Centre for Arts, Ahmedabad, (Nov 2004.) , Printmaking Workshop with International Creative Art Centre, Mumbai at Kanoria Art Centre etc. She loves to experiment with traditional Print and Drawing or digital. Her work is inspired by the day to day fast life of people where people are living and suffering. She depicts the fast moving life of people now a days where they donít even have a second for themselves.
Send Me the Updates of Rachana Badrakia Work
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Episode 16: I'm On The Betamax
This week on the show the gang try to find their favourite Ted Cruz domain name to buy, descend into no topic in particular, and talk about their upcoming trip to the Úll Conference in Ireland.
This week resulted in some issues with Mark's audio, we apologise for his robotic voice and assure you neither Simon, nor Richard have murdered him and replaced him with a Android. Although come to think of it, a robot would be cheaper and less annoying.
The Technically Correct Podcast is supported by Hover. Hover provide simplified domain management — check them out today!
Listen & Download
Listen: Direct Download


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Happisburgh's delivery of seaside rock
In the height of summer it is filled with tourist cars - but for the next few weeks it will be filled with massive lumps of rock.
The council car park on the clifftop at Happisburgh has been turned overnight into the holding area for hundreds of tonnes of rock, which will be used to create a new sea defence scheme for the village.
Deliveries started today for the project, which will take several weeks and is being led by North Norfolk District Council. The main £200,000 funding for the scheme has been provided by the council, with the village and its supporters making their own donation. That donation already stands at about £50,000 once the gift aid tax forms have been processed, but fundraising is continuing.
For the villagers it is much more than a simple sea defence scheme - for those on the very front line it means saving their houses from the encroaching sea.
"We have been redrawing our plans for the next few years because of this," said Di Wrightson, who lives in Cliff House on Beach Road, where her clifftop back garden has gradually been disappearing into the sea.
"Instead of thinking about moving out in the next few months, we are looking at a possible extension of three to five years, although it is very hard to be exact.
"The fact is that without the last set of rock defences put in back in the winter of 2002, we would not be here now, so it clearly makes a difference."
Miss Wrightson said the generosity of those who had given their own cash to top up the council pot had been "staggering".
And she added: "You can't help feeling people have almost been waiting to give money, but wanted to wait until they knew it would be useful.
"There is now a clear end use for it and we are hugely grateful to people who have given."
Malcolm Kerby, coordinator of the Coastal Concern Action Group, said the number of deliveries had dropped from an expected 12 flatbed lorries per day to about eight because the quarry supplying the material was also sending rock to a similar project in Felixstowe.
But instead of being disappointed at the news, he was delighted.
"It demonstrates what I have been saying for a long time, there are many other communities around the coast which are in the same position as us.
"This is a clear example of the fact we have brother communities around the country who are going through the same process as we are."
The first phase of the project will see rock stockpiled on the car park and on the field at the end of Beach Road. At some stage the rock will start being dropped onto the beach, after which it will be engineered into a two-metre high sill. Tides and the weather will be a significant factor in how long the work takes to complete.
To make a donation, call in to the village post office or log on to www.buyarockforhappisburgh.com where details of several payment methods are given.


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Survey Programming & Hosting
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For every survey we program, we run extensive survey testing and data verification as part of the SSI quality control process. Survey Score, our proprietary automated diagnostic tool, further checks for issues like mobile-friendly design and compatibility across multiple technology platforms and displays to ensure respondent engagement and optimal in-field performance.


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The Gruffalo – every parent (nursery worker and reception class teacher) knows all the words by heart – I promise you that. If you are one of the above and you don't then how have you got away with that?! I'd like to know your secret. We have read the book, along with the Gruffalos Child, more times than I would like to remember, seen the films, have the Gruffalo soft toy and the Gruffalo Childs fancy dress. And now we have been to see the theater production!
A lovely end to Kids Week (if you don't know about Kids week in London check it out here and get ready for next year). A fantastic production with 3 fantastic actors, a great set that moved adding an extra element to the scene, perfectly used ambient lighting and wonderful costumes. The production was an hour long but it whizzed by as although it used the wording from the book and the story line it was intermingled with the odd catchy song and some silly messing about which was actually funny, mainly as it wasn't too childish or over the top. (No inappropriate adult humor which we have found in some productions) Our 4 year old found it hilarious and even got the giggles at one point.
As always with a children's production there is some interaction with audience and some children and parents found themselves sitting next to the Gruffalo for a short time. This wasn't over the top in length which meant it was fun for the children not directly involved to watch too.
An awesome production, as we have found with other Julia Donaldson's books which have been turned into theater productions – all created by Tall Stories. A definite must see! It's on at London's Lyric Theater until 6th September and then takes a tour round the country. Check out where here.
And our 4 years olds favourite bit – "the funny big Gruffalo" (of course it was!)


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Increased Marketability through Caring for Pets
With rising competition and the proven increase in demand for health care, every residential health care developer, designer, commissioner or director should be considering means to make their home more attractive for the potential resident. Much research has recently taken place regarding the actual benefits of residents being allowed or even encouraged to take their pets into their homes. A recent article on 'Genealogy Information' by Raymond Nwambuonwo stated that 40,000 pets a year are put to sleep as their owners are having to go into care homes. Just imagine suddenly losing your freedom and independence and then your beloved family pet. Consider at this stage the elderly person and their family would be looking for the most appropriate home…
However, the health benefits of owning a dog are known and for older people it is especially true. As well as lowering blood pressure and promoting exercise they also promote a feeling of well being that comes from loving and being loved in return. Therefore if the health benefits are proven why do residential homes not allow the pets? The main concerns are:-
- Disease or illness through animal contact or poor hygiene
- Legalities related to the above
- The danger of accidents with the ever increasing personal injury claims
- Design of the homes to cater for the animals in relation to all of the above, plus ensuring the safety and satisfaction of the other residents and staff
Building Construction Partnership as experts in design, development and build of residential care homes, prides itself on always being ahead of the market place and noted that in many other European Countries such as France, Spain, Greece and even the USA homes have been created to cater for pet ownership. With reflection upon the health benefits to the prospective resident and the raised attractiveness of their care home to the owners, they have researched into what changes or considerations should be taken when 'opening the doors' to pet care. However, the answers turned out to be simple commen sense and many care homes are already running securely, hygienically and safely homing a variety of pets.
Investigating further we discovered 'The Cinnamon Trust', the only specialist national charity for elderly and terminally ill people and their pets, offer a fantastic support system to Care Homes and Retirement Housing. Speaking to the Chief Executive; Mrs Averil Jarvis MBE, she stated that they have a list of almost a thousand care homes that cater for pets on their register, and this is rapidly increasing due to demand.
"Once a care home registers with us this information is available, free, to potential clients via telephone, email or postal service. Once registered with us we send a welcome pack to the owners/managers with lots of information, plus we are at the end of phone for them should they require any assistance with pet care or advice. Our aims are achieved by tasking a national network of over 14,000 volunteers to provide any assistance required including walking dogs and pet fostering".
"Our 'Pet Profiling' is another important aspect for owners/managers to be aware of. People of any age may profile their pets with The Trust, ensuring that should they predecease their pet we would take their pet into our care. This is particularly reassuring for elderly and infirm people with pets, but of course none of us ever knows what is going to happen. Once a pet is in our care he/she becomes a Cinnamon Trust Pet and we will be responsible for their welfare and happiness for the rest of their lives".
"We at the Cinnamon Trust recognise hygiene and security can be a concern with exceedingly high standards but the majority is pure common sense and part of the standard procedures that take place in any care home. We have a Care Home on our register, that has recently been awarded 5 stars with ourselves and 5 stars with the Environmental Health society. This home has several dogs in residence".
The Cinnamon Trust would be very happy to hear from potential care homes/retirement homes and discuss any pet issues with them.
Regarding the design and build of the building, if you are wishing to encourage pets such as dogs, then it is preferable to have ground floor rooms with access to secure outside areas. If you are planning a new build, refurbishment or extension this could be part of the initial consideration for increased marketability. Another concern could be catering for pets in homes where people have dementia. Simple solutions such as alarms or even bells on external doors can be implemented for added security.
If you would like more information related to Caring for Pets in your residence whether a new build, extension or refurbishment contact Building Construction Partnership on their FREE support service on: 0800 019 9750
or email: firstname.lastname@example.com in full confidentiality


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Effervescent NFL quarterback Brett Favre has done it all and now looks to cap a fine career, writes Ryan Mackenzie
Brett Favre possesses some of the most coveted quarterback achievements in American Football, holding records for most passing yards, passing touchdowns, wins, season MVP (Most Valuable Player) awards, consecutive starts and the highest career quarterback rating ever – not to mention the all-important Super Bowl ring, won in 1997 with the Green Bay Packers, needed by any great quarterback to lay his claim to the title of greatest ever triggerman.
While these achievements demonstrate Favre's outstanding talent, it's his ability to continue to perform at the top level after almost twenty years that makes him such a legend of the game.
Favre made his NFL debut in 1991 with the Atlanta Falcons, before making the historic move to Green Bay the next season where he became a legend at the helm of the Packers' offense. It was here that the Mississippi native immortalised his famous number four jersey and emerged as a surefire candidate for the NFL Hall Of Fame.
He plied his trade in Green Bay's Lambeau Field for 15 monumental years, ending in 2007, after the Packers' management decided to replace the veteran with a younger model. Favre controversially moved to the New York Jets to continue his NFL career, despite widespread opinion that he should retire after a terrific 2007 season, which would have provided the perfect climax to his legendary career.
Favre's time in the Big Apple was a roller-coaster ride. While showing moments of brilliance, his season was overshadowed by uncharacteristic mistakes and overall poor play by his own high standards. Unsurprisingly, most critics attributed this dramatic drop in form to his age, as the autumn of his career appeared to be approaching at an alarming rate.
This undoubtedly played a vital role in Favre's decision to retire during the 2009 off-season but would also prompt the move that, above all else, demonstrates his astounding passion for the game.
After a brief retirement that lasted all of six months, from February to August 2009, Favre signed with the Minnesota Vikings, bitter rivals of the Green Bay Packers. Now the gunslinger finds himself rapidly approaching the wrong side of 40, but – in a curious parallel to Ryan Giggs – surprisingly in the best form he has displayed in some time.
Following the first four games of the season, Favre is the third highest ranked quarterback in the entire NFL, and has led his team to a flawless 4-0 start. What's more, Favre's Vikings side beat the Green Bay Packers last Monday night, in a game that saw the veteran shine, with three touchdown passes demonstrating to his old club just what they're missing. The win also enabled Favre to become the first quarterback in history to beat all 32 NFL teams.
The Vikings look to be major contenders to hoist the Vince Lombardi trophy this season – the first title in the franchise's history – and should Favre win his second Super Bowl ring, 13 years after his first, it will not only cap off a Hollywood-style career but would also make him a real contender for the title of the greatest player ever.


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Once you start using the available balance we have a product or service that we supply to you and are able to send you an invoice for this.


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Product Highlights
Combining two of the most useful filters available, Luminesque's 67mm Circular Polarizer and UV Slim PRO Filter Kit is well-suited to all forms of photography. Both filters are constructed from Schott optical glass and feature a 12-layer multi-coating for maintained clarity and image quality. Each filter is also set in an anodized aluminum filter ring, with the UV filter featuring a slim 3.4mm-thick profile to lessen the likelihood of vignetting with wide-angle lenses.
The UV filter is a general use, clear filter that helps to absorb ultraviolet light and reduce the bluish cast of daylight. It is also useful as a general protective filter to leave on lenses at all times in order to reduce dust and moisture from reaching the front lens element and to provide additional protection in case of accidental impacts. Its 12-layer multi-coating also helps to achieve 98.2% light transmission for faithful color reproduction and contrast.
The circular polarizer filter helps to reduce reflections and glare by filtering out light that has become polarized due to reflection from a non-metallic surface. This results in a noticeable increase in the saturation of skies and foliage, as well as clearer imagery when photographing in hazy conditions. A circular polarizer differs from a linear polarizer in that it supports full use of a camera's autofocus and auto exposure functions.
Circular Polarizer
67 mm
UV: 3.4 mm-thick
Circular polarizer: 6.2 mm-thick
|Filter Factor
UV: 1 (0 stop)
Circular polarizer: About 2.5 (1.3 stops)
|Yes; 12-layer multi-coating
UV: No
Circular polarizer: Yes
UV: Absorbs UV light and reduces bluish cast from daylight
Circular polarizer: Reduce/eliminate reflections and haze and improve color and tonal saturation
Schott glass
Anodized aluminum filter ring with top knurling
|Front Filter Thread Size
|67 mm
|Front Lens Cap Size
|67 mm
|Packaging Info
|Package Weight
|0.2 lb
|Box Dimensions (LxWxH)
|4.3 x 4.3 x 1.0"


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Lake Worth attracts new homeowners and tourists from around the world who flock to this popular area, only minutes from the beach at any turn. Located just south of West Palm Beach, Lake Worth is a retail, cultural, and residential hub. Lake Worth has an up-and-coming downtown area on Lake Ave which is home to a number of cafes and restaurants, monthly festivals, art galleries, and shops.
BPO Realty specializes in Lake Worth Homes, Condos, and Town Homes for Sale or for Rent. We have an outstanding team that has closed on numerous Lake Worth Foreclosures and Lake Worth Short Sales. We also have our own direct, bank owned listings if you are looking for Lake Worth investment properties or other income property in the area. Feel free to browse our bank owned or Multiple Listing Service listings or contact us today if you are ready to speak with a Lake Worth Realtor.
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Lake Worth Featured Communities
Homes Of Lees Crossing
Andover At Wycliffe
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Woods Walk
Worthmore Park
Wycliffe Kensington


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You've heard it all by now. Trump has just signed the earth's death warrant. In withdrawing from the Paris Accord he's worse than Hitler. The attacks go on and on and on. But then, these folks have been trashing Trump even before he got elected with the same over the top idiocy.
House Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi went so far as to say Trump is "dishonoring" God and kept the hysteria train moving right along by suggesting "how is he ever going to explain to his grandchildren what he did to the air they breathe — assuming they breathe air?"
Perhaps Pelosi should spend more time reading government reports on air quality and less time raving about topics she clearly is uninformed about. From the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this report on pollution:
|Since the Bush years, yes BUSH, a dramatic decline in air pollution in the United States!
|Paris Accord another empty symbolic feel good moment for the world socialist movement!
Paris Accord, if FULLY IMPLEMENTED, won't alter climate!
In 2015 Even Obama's Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency admitted that the clean power initiative which was part of the Administration's adherence to the Paris Accords was just for show, despite the cost:
0.01C degree gain all to "show strong domestic action." In other words, it's all for show. But watch out for the price of that ticket if you are poor!
And it's not just the U.S. that's making a hugely expensive show. A peer-reviewed paper by Dr. Bjorn Lomborg published in the Global Policy journal analyzes the promises and the performance of the Paris Accord where it counts, temperature change:
No limitations on China and India
To actually achieve what the Paris Accord signers declare as their intent to control or lower temperature here's what the world would need to do (chart right).
But since targets for CO2 reduction are voluntary for all signers and there is no enforcement mechanism and since developing countries like India and China continue to enjoy a long period of complete exemption the idea that somehow we could meet these CO2 targets if we all "show strong domestic action" like Obama's EPA Administrator is laughable.
Western governments which have already cut CO2 emissions might continue to cut them but China and India are building coal fired power plants as fast as they can. Any gains the West makes literally go up in smoke.
Huge Cost to Poorest Americans
Rep. Nancy Pelosi also made it clear she sees the Paris Accord as a civil rights issue as if CO2 discriminated on the basis of skin color. As usual, she got it directly backwards when she claimed that "lower income minority families are disproportionately vulnerable to the ravages of the climate crisis." Rising electricity and energy rates hurt the poor most directly as this study from the Heritage Foundation shows:
But most Americans don't need a think tank study to tell them what they already understand to be common sense. If energy is more expensive the poor and the Middle Class will feel the pinch most acutely. All the Democrat's billionaires who are whining about Trump but who profited from green cronyism like Elon Musk who is worth over $14 billion but still gets nearly $5 billion in government subsidies don't get it but that's the point. Follow the money!
- An overall annual average shortfall of nearly 400,000 jobs;
- An average annual manufacturing shortfall of over 200,000 jobs;
- A total income loss of more than $20,000 for a family of four;
- An aggregate gross domestic product (GDP) loss of over $2.5 trillion; and
- Increases in household electricity expenditures of between 13 percent and 20 percent.4Ibid.
Trillions NOT spent on real human needs!
All the climate hysteria over the past thirty years has been debunked by much more talented people than myself. But you don't need a PhD in environmental science to grasp the common sense point that spending trillions on a largely manufactured crisis that benefits the uber rich at the expense of everyone else also takes away resources from real human problems like safe drinking water, addressing hunger, disease and literacy. Or doesn't the left care about that anymore?
|After 30 years ALL the computer models predicting doom and gloom have been proven FALSE as
compared to actual temperature results from advanced tech sensors that were intended to prove the theory!
There is no reason to panic. REAL SCIENCE shows the theory to be false. But the hysterics still scream. We should just laugh at them!


text:
Random Page
Danielle Steel
Matters Of The Heart
© 2009
This book is a very special book, and it is dedicated to my very, very, very wonderful children: Beatrix, Trevor, Todd, Nick, Sam, Victoria, Vanessa, Maxx, and Zara, who have seen me through just about every minute of my adult life, and all of my writing career, and are the greatest joy of my existence.
This book is special because, counting my published novels, my unpublished novels from my early days, my works of nonfiction (also published and unpublished), my book of poetry, the children's books I wrote for my children-the whole shebang, this is my one-hundredth book. It is an awesome moment in my writing life, and is in great part thanks to the endless, never ceasing, ever faithful and patient, endlessly loving support of my children. I could never have accomplished this without their love and support. So this book is dedicated with all my heart and soul, love and thanks to them.
In addition, I can't reach this landmark event without thanking very special people in my life, who have contributed to this, my amazing agent and friend Mort Janklow, my beloved editor of many years and friend Carole Baron, my also beloved and incredible researcher Nancy Eisenbarth, who provides all the material that makes the books work and has been my friend since we were children. Also my publishers, my editors, and you, my loyal readers, without whom this couldn't have happened.
To all of you, my heart, my deepest thanks, and my love for this very special moment in my life. And always and above all to my children, for whom I write the books, for whom I live and breathe, and who make every moment of my life with them a precious gift.
With all my love,
Some of the greatest crimes against humanity have been committed in the name of love.
A sociopath is a person who will destroy you, without a heart, without a conscience, without even a second glance. At first they are too perfect and too good to be true. Then, they remove your heart, and whatever else they want, with a scalpel. The operation they perform is brilliant, often but not always flawless. And when they've gotten whatever they came for in the first place, they leave you traumatized, stunned, and bleeding by the roadside, and silently move on, to do it again to someone else.
Chapter 1
Hope Dunne made her way through the silently falling snow on Prince Street in SoHo in New York. It was seven o'clock, the shops had just closed, and the usual bustle of commerce was shutting down for the night. She had lived there for two years and she liked it. It was the trendy part of New York, and she found it friendlier than living uptown. SoHo was full of young people, there was always something to see, someone to talk to, a bustle of activity whenever she left her loft, which was her refuge. There were bright lights in all the shops.
It was her least favorite time of year, December, the week before Christmas. As she had for the past several years, she ignored it, and waited for it to pass. For the past two Christmases, she had worked at a homeless shelter. The year before that she had been in India, where the holiday didn't matter. It had been a hard jolt coming back to the States after her time there. Everything seemed so commercial and superficial in comparison.
The time she had spent in India had changed her life, and probably saved it. She had left on the spur of the moment, and been gone for over six months. Reentry into American life had been incredibly hard. Everything she owned was in storage and she had moved from Boston to New York. It didn't really matter to her where she lived, she was a photographer and took her work with her. The photographs she had taken in India and Tibet were currently being shown in a prestigious gallery uptown. Some of her other work was in museums. People compared her work to that of Diane Arbus. She had a fascination with the destitute and devastated. The agony in the eyes of some of her subjects ripped out your soul, just as it had affected hers when she photographed them. Hope's work was greatly respected, but to look at her, nothing about her demeanor suggested that she was famous or important.
Hope had spent her entire life as an observer, a chronicler of the human condition. And in order to do that, she had always said, one had to be able to disappear, to become invisible, so as not to interfere with the mood of the subject. The studies she had done in India and Tibet for the magical time she was there had confirmed it. In many ways, Hope Dunne was an almost invisible person, in other ways, she was enormous, with an inner light and strength that seemed to fill a room.
She smiled at a woman passing by, as she walked through the snow on Prince Street. She was tempted to go for a long walk in the snow, and promised herself she might do that later that evening. She lived on no particular schedule, answered to no one. One of the blessings of her solitary life was that she was entirely at liberty to do whatever she wished. She was the consummate independent woman, she was enormously disciplined about her work, and in dealing with her subjects. Sometimes she got on the subway, and rode uptown to Harlem, wandering through the streets in T-shirt and jeans, taking photographs of children. She had spent time in South America, photographing children and old people there too. She went wherever the spirit moved her, and did very little commercial work now. She still did the occasional fashion shoot for Vogue if the layout was unusual. But most of the magazine work she did was portraits of important people who she thought were worthwhile and interesting. She had published a remarkable book of portraits, another of children, and was going to publish a book of her photographs from India soon.
She was fortunate to be able to do whatever she wanted. She could pick and choose among the many requests she got. Although she loved doing them, she only did formal portraits now once or twice a year. More often now, she concentrated on the photographs she took in the course of her travels or on the street.
Hope was a tiny woman with porcelain white skin, and jet-black hair. Her mother had teased her when she was a child and said she looked like Snow White, which in a way, she did. And there was a fairy-tale feeling about her too. She was almost elfin in size, and unusually lithe; she was able to fit herself into the smallest, most invisible spaces and go unnoticed. The only startling thing about her was her deep violet eyes. They were a deep, deep blue, with the slightly purple color of very fine sapphires from Burma or Ceylon, and were filled with compassion that had seen the sorrows of the world. Those who had seen eyes like hers before understood instantly that she was a woman who had suffered, but wore it well, with dignity and grace. Rather than dragging her down into depression, her pain had lifted her into a peaceful place. She was not a Buddhist, but shared philosophies with them, in that she didn't fight what happened to her, but instead drifted with it, allowing life to carry her from one experience to the next. It was that depth and wisdom that shone through her work. An acceptance of life as it really was, rather than trying to force it to be what one wanted, and it never could be. She was willing to let go of what she loved, which was the hardest task of all. And the more she lived and learned and studied, the humbler she was. A monk she had met in Tibet called her a holy woman, which in fact she was, although she had no particular affinity for any formal church. If she believed in anything, she believed in life, and embraced it with a gentle touch. She was a strong reed bending in the wind, beautiful and resilient.
It was snowing harder by the time she got to the front door of her building. She was carrying a camera case over her shoulder, and her keys and wallet were in it. She carried nothing else, and she wore no makeup, except very occasionally bright red lipstick when she went out, which made her look more than ever like Snow White. And she wore her almost blue-black hair pulled straight back, either in a ponytail, a braid, or a chignon, and when she loosened it, it hung to her waist. Her graceful movements made her look like a young girl, and she had almost no lines on her face. Her biography as a photographer said that she was forty-four years old, but it was difficult to assess her age and it would have been easy to believe she was far younger. Like the photographs she took, and her subjects, she was timeless. Looking at her, one wanted to stop and watch her for a long time. She rarely wore color, and dressed almost always in black, so as not to distract her subjects, or in white in hot climates.
Once she unlocked the front door to her building, she bounded up to the third floor with a quick step. She was cold, and happy to walk into her apartment, which was considerably warmer than it had been outdoors, although the ceilings were high and sometimes the wind crept through the tall windows.
She turned on the lights, and took pleasure, as she always did, in the spartan decor. The cement floor was painted black, the white couches and inviting chairs were a soft ivory wool, and nothing about the decor was intrusive. It was so simple it was almost Zen. And the walls were covered with enormous framed black and white photographs that were her favorites among her work. The longest wall was covered with a spectacular series of a young ballerina in motion. The girl in the photographs was exceptionally beautiful, a graceful young blond dancer in her teens. It was a remarkable series, and part of Hope's personal collection. On the other walls were many photographs of children, several of monks in India at the ashram where she had lived, and two enormous ones of heads of state.
Her loft was like a gallery of her work, and on one long white lacquer table, set on sponge-covered trays, all of her cameras were lined up in almost surgical order. She hired freelance assistants when she did assignments, but most of the time she preferred to do all her own work. She found assistants helpful, but too distracting. Her favorite camera was an old Leica she had had for years. She used a Hasselblad and Mamiya in the studio as well, but she still loved her oldest camera best. She had started taking photographs when she was nine. She had attended a specially de signed photography program at Brown at seventeen, and graduated at twenty-one with honors, after doing a spectacular senior project in the Middle East. She had married shortly after graduating from Brown, worked for a year as a commercial photographer, and then retired for a dozen years, with only the occasional very rare assignment. She had been back at work for the last ten years, and it was in the past decade that she had made her mark in the world and become increasingly well known. She had been famous by the time she was thirty-eight, when MOMA in New York showed an exhibit of her work. It had been one of the high points of her life.
Hope lit candles around the room and left the lights in the loft dim. Coming home to this room always soothed her. She slept on a little platform, up a ladder, on a spare narrow bed, and loved looking down at the room and the feeling of flying as she fell asleep. The loft was completely different from anywhere she had ever lived, and she loved that about it too. Because she had always feared it so much, this time she had embraced change. There was something powerful about accepting what frightened her most. Her private nemeses were loss and change, and rather than running from them, she had learned to face them with dignity and strength.
There was a small black granite kitchen at the back of the loft. She knew she had to eat, so eventually she wound up there, and heated up a can of soup. Most of the time, she was too lazy to make much of a meal. She lived on soups and salads and eggs. On the rare occasions when she wanted a real meal, she went to some simple restaurant alone and ate quickly, to get it over with. She had never been much of a cook, and made no pretense of it. It had always seemed like a waste of time to her, there were so many other things that interested her more-previously, her family, and now, her work. In the past three years, her work had become her life. She put her whole soul into it and it showed.
Hope was eating her soup, watching the snow fall outside, when her cell phone rang, and she set the soup down, and dug the phone out of her camera bag. She wasn't expecting any calls, and smiled when she heard the familiar voice of her agent, Mark Webber. She hadn't heard from him in a while.
"Okay, so where are you now? And what time zone are you in? Am I waking you up?" She laughed in response, and sat back against the couch with a smile. He had represented her for the last ten years, when she went back to work. He usually tried to push her to do commercial jobs, but he also had a deep respect for her more serious artistic endeavors. He always said that one day she would be one of the most important American photographers of her generation, and in many ways she already was, and was deeply respected by both curators and her peers.
"I'm in New York," she said, smiling. "And you're not waking me up."
"I'm disappointed. I figured you were in Nepal, or Vietnam, or someplace scary and disgusting. I'm surprised you're here." He knew how much she hated holidays, and all the reasons why. She had good reason. But she was a remarkable woman-a survivor-and a dear friend. He liked and admired her enormously.
"I figured I'd stick around for a while. I was sitting here watching the snow. It's pretty. I might go out and shoot for a bit later. Some nice old-fashioned stuff."
"It's freezing out," he warned her. "Don't catch cold." He was one of the few people who worried about her, and she was touched by his concern. She had moved around too much in recent years to stay in contact with her old friends. She had lived in Boston since college, but when she got back from India, she decided to move to New York. Hope had always been a solitary person, and was even more so now. It concerned him, but she seemed content with her life as it was.
"I just got in," she reassured him, "and I was having some chicken soup."
"My grandmother would approve," he said, smiling again. "So what do you have planned at the moment?" He knew she hadn't taken any assignments, since nothing had come through him.
"Nothing much. I was thinking about going up to the house in Cape Cod over the holiday. It's pretty there this time of year."
"How cheerful. Only you would think it's pretty. Everyone else would get suicidal there this time of year. I have a better idea." He had on his "have I got a deal for you" voice, and she laughed. She knew him well and liked him too.
"Like what? What crazy assignment are you going to try and talk me into now, Mark? Las Vegas on Christmas Eve?" They both laughed at the prospect of it. Occasionally he came up with some wild ideas, which she almost always turned down. But at least he had to try. He always promised the potential clients he would.
"No, although Vegas for the holidays sounds like fun to me." They both knew he loved to gamble and took occasional trips to Las Vegas and Atlantic City. "This is actually respectable and quite dignified. We got a call from a major publishing house today. Their star author wants a portrait sitting for his latest book cover. He hasn't delivered the book yet, but he will any minute, and the publisher needs the shot done now for their catalog and layouts for advance publicity in the trades. It's all very proper and on the up-and-up. The only problem is that they have a tight deadline. They should have thought of it before."
"How tight?" Hope asked, sounding noncommittal, and stretching out on the white wool couch as she listened.
"They need to do the shoot by next week, for their production schedule. That means you'd be shooting around Christmas, but he requested you, and said he won't do it with anyone else. At least the guy's got good taste. And the fee is pretty hefty. He's a big deal."
"Who's the author?" That would have an impact on her decision, and her agent hesitated before he said the name. He was an important author, had won the National Book Award, and was always at the top of the best-seller lists, but he was a bit of a wild card, and had appeared in the press frequently with assorted women. Mark didn't know how Hope would feel about shooting him, particularly if he misbehaved, and he could. There were no guarantees that he wouldn't. She usually preferred to work with serious subjects.
"Finn O'Neill," he said, without further comment, waiting to see what she'd say. He didn't want to influence her or discourage her. It was entirely up to her, and it would be perfectly reasonable if they declined since it was on short notice, and Christmas week.
"I read his last book," she said with interest. "Very scary, but an amazing piece of work." She was intrigued. "He's a smart guy. Have you ever met him?"
"Honestly, no, I don't know him. I've seen him at a couple of parties, here and in London. He seems like a pretty charming guy, with a penchant for beautiful women and young girls."
"I've got nothing to fear from him in that case," she said, laughing. She was trying to remember what he looked like from the back of the book she'd read, but couldn't.
"Don't be so sure. You look half your age. But you can handle him. I'm not worried about that. I just didn't know if you'd want to go to London this time of year. On the other hand, it sounds less depressing than the Cape, so maybe that would be a blessing. They'll fly you first class, all expenses paid, and put you up at Claridge's. He lives in Ireland, but he has a flat in London and he's there right now."
"That's too bad," she said, sounding disappointed. "I'd rather shoot him in Ireland. That would be more unusual than London."
"I don't think that's an option. He wants to meet in London. It shouldn't take you more than a day. You can be back in time to get really depressed at the Cape. Maybe for New Year's." She laughed at what he said, and thought about it. The idea had some appeal. Finn O'Neill was an important writer, and would surely make an interesting subject. She was annoyed that she had no recollection of his face. "How do you feel about it?"
At least she hadn't turned him down flat, and Mark thought it would be good for her, particularly if the other option was going to Cape Cod by herself. She had a house there, and had spent summers there for years. She loved it.
"What do you think?" She always asked his advice-although she sometimes didn't take it. But at least she asked. Some of his clients never did.
"I think you should do it. He's interesting and important, it's respectable, and you haven't done a portrait for a while. You can't spend all your time taking shots of monks and beggars," Mark said in a light tone.
"Yeah, maybe you're right." She sounded pensive. She still loved the portrait work if the subject was intriguing, and Finn O'Neill certainly was. "Can you get me an assistant over there? I don't need to take one with me." Hope was not a demanding person.
"I'll line someone up, don't worry about it." He held his breath, waiting to hear if she'd do it. He thought she should, and in a funny way, so did she. She was dreading the holidays, as she always did, and a trip to London might be a perfect distraction for her, particularly right now.
"Okay. I'll do it. When do you think I should go?"
"I'd say pretty quickly, so you can be in and out by Christmas." And then he realized again that it didn't matter to her.
"I could go tomorrow night. I have a few loose ends to take care of here, and I promised to call the curator at MOMA. I could take a night flight tomorrow and sleep on the plane."
"Perfect. I'll tell them. They said they'd take care of all the arrangements, and I'll find you an assistant." It was never a problem finding people to assist her. Young photographers were always dying to work for Hope Dunne, and she had a reputation for being easy to get along with, which was well deserved. Hope was pleasant, professional, and undemanding, and what students or assistants learned from her was invaluable to them. Having freelanced for her as an assistant, even for a day, looked good on their résumés. "How long do you want to stay?"
"I don't know," she said, thinking about it. "A few days. I don't want to rush. I don't know what kind of subject he is. It could take him a day or two to loosen up. Maybe book me for four days. We'll see how it goes. That gives us time if we need it. I'll leave as soon as we finish."
"Done. I'm glad you're doing it," he told her warmly. "And London is fun this time of year. Everything is all decorated and lit up, they're not as PC as here. The Brits still believe in Christmas." In the States, it was becoming a taboo word.
"I like Claridge's," she said happily, and then she sounded more serious. "I might try to see Paul, if he's there. I'm not sure where he is. I haven't talked to him in a while." It was odd to think that they had been married for twenty-one years, and now she didn't know where he was. Her life these days always reminded her of the Chinese saying, "That was then, this is now." It certainly was. And what a difference.
"How's he doing?" Mark asked gently. He knew it was a sensitive subject for her, but given everything that had happened, she had adjusted remarkably well. As far as Mark was concerned, she defined the terms "good sport" and "incredible human being." Few people survived what she did as well as she had.
"Paul's about the same, I think." She answered Mark's question about her ex-husband. "He's on some experimental medication from Harvard. He seems to be doing pretty well."
"I'll call the publisher, and tell them you're taking the assignment," Mark said, changing the subject. He never knew what to say about Paul. Hope was always gracious about it, he knew she still loved her ex-husband, and had accepted the hand Fate had dealt her. She was never bitter or angry. Mark didn't know how she did it. "I'll call you tomorrow with more details," he promised her, and a minute later they hung up.
Hope put her soup mug in the dishwasher after that, and went to stare out the window, at the steadily falling snow. There were already several inches on the ground, and it made her think of London. The last time she had been there, it had been snowing too and looked like a Christmas card. She wondered if Paul was in London now, but decided not to call him until she arrived, in case plans changed, and she had to see what kind of spare time she had. She didn't want to see him on Christmas, and risk either of them getting maudlin. She wanted to avoid that at all costs. They were best friends now. He knew that she would be there for him if he needed her, and she also knew that he was too proud to call. If she saw him, they would both be careful to keep it light, which was what worked best for them these days. The rest was too hard to talk about, and served no purpose.
Hope stood at the window and watched a man leave footprints in the snow, followed by an old woman slipping and sliding as she walked her dog. Watching them, she couldn't resist. She put her coat and boots on, and went back out, with her Leica in her pocket, not the fancy new one that everyone coveted, which she had too, but the old one she loved best. It was a faithful friend and had served her well.
Ten minutes later, she was walking down the street with the snow falling all around her as she prowled along, looking for the right shots. Without planning it, she arrived at the entrance to the subway, and hurried down the stairs. She'd just had an idea. She wanted to get some shots in Central Park at night, and after that, she was going to head for some of the rougher neighborhoods on the West Side. Snow had a way of softening people's hearts and faces. For Hope, the night was young, and if she felt like it, she could stay out all night. It was one of the advantages she had discovered of being alone. She could work whenever she wanted, for however long she cared to, and she never had to feel guilty. There was no one waiting for her at home.
Later that night she walked back down Prince Street at three A.M., smiling to herself and content with her night's work. The snow had just stopped as Hope let herself into her building, and walked up the stairs to her loft. She took her damp coat off and left it in the kitchen, and reminded herself that she had to pack for London in the morning. Five minutes later, she was in her cozy nightgown and tucked into her narrow bed on the sleeping balcony, and she was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. It had been a very enjoyable, productive night.
Chapter 2
When Hope got to the airport, the flight to London was two hours late. She had her cameras in her hand luggage, and sat reading in the first-class lounge until they called the flight. She had picked up another book of Finn O'Neill's and wanted to read it on the trip. It had started snowing again, and after they left the gate, they had to de-ice the plane. In all, they were nearly four hours late taking off, after waiting on the runway for two hours. Hope didn't really care, she always slept on long flights. She let the flight attendant know that she wouldn't be eating the meal, and told her what time she wanted to be woken up, exactly forty minutes before they landed at Heathrow. That would give her time for a cup of coffee and a croissant before they began their descent, and also time to brush her teeth and hair. It was all she needed in order to look respectable enough to go through immigration and go to the hotel.
As she always did, Hope slept soundly on the plane, and was happy to see that they landed without difficulty despite the morning fog. As it turned out, the delay had served them well and had given the winter weather time to clear. And as promised, the car from Claridge's was waiting for her as soon as she cleared customs carrying her camera bag. She had already ordered the rental of all the equipment she needed, and it was being delivered to the hotel that afternoon. She was meeting her subject at his home the following morning. She wanted some time to get to know him and they were going to shoot in the afternoon.
So far, everything seemed easy and was on track, and since she had gotten enough sleep on the plane, she was wide awake as they drove into town, and happy when she saw her room at the hotel. It was one of Claridge's prettier suites, with walls painted a deep coral, floral fabrics, English antiques, and framed prints on the walls. It was warm and cozy, and she ran a bath as soon as she arrived. She thought about calling Paul, but she wanted to wait until she saw Finn, so she could determine what kind of free time she had. If need be, if he was in town, she could see Paul on the last day. She shut her mind to all thoughts of their earlier days, she didn't allow herself to think about it, and slipped into the bath and closed her eyes. She wanted to go for a walk as soon as she dressed and had something to eat. It was two o'clock in the afternoon in London by then. And as soon as she called room service to order an omelette and a cup of soup, her rented equipment arrived, the assistant they had hired for her called, and it was four o'clock before she was able to leave the hotel.
She went for a long brisk walk to New Bond Street, and looked at all the shops. They were brightly decorated for Christmas, and every store she glanced into was full of shoppers. Their holiday shopping was in full swing. She had no one to buy a gift for-she had already sent Paul a framed photograph from New York, and a case of good French wine to Mark. She walked back to the hotel around six o'clock, and as soon as she walked into her room, Finn O'Neill called. He had a deep masculine voice that sounded a little hoarse. He asked for her by name and then exploded in a fit of coughing. He sounded very sick.
"I'm dying," he announced, when he stopped coughing. "I can't see you tomorrow morning. Besides, I don't want to get you sick." It was nice of him to think of and be concerned, and she didn't want to get sick either, but she hated to lose a day. She had nothing else to do in London, unless she saw Paul.
"You sound awful," she said sympathetically. "Have you seen a doctor?"
"He said he'd come over later, but he hasn't shown up yet. I'm really sorry. You were nice to come all the way to London. Maybe if I stay in bed tomorrow, I'll be okay by the next day. Are you in a hurry to get back?" He sounded worried, and she smiled.
"I'm fine," she said calmly. "I can stay as long as I have to, till we get the job done."
"I hope you have a good retoucher. I look like shit," he said, sounding like a little kid, and very sorry for himself.
"You'll look fine, I promise. It's all in the lighting," she reassured him, "and we can airbrush. Just get better. Chicken soup," she recommended, and he laughed.
Date: 2016-04-22; view: 627