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According to the New Zealand Herald, Judge Liam O'Grady asked why the FBI hadn't served the Mega company with any criminal papers during a discussion on what to do with the legitimate (ie non-copyright infringing) data stored on the former Mega servers, which were rented from an American company, and which were taken offline by US authorities back in January.
It was because the bulk of the content made available via the various Mega websites was stored on servers housed in the US that the American authorities were able to swoop in such a dramatic fashion, taking the Mega enterprise offline without warning.
But the Mega company had no official base in America, making it hard to actually hand a representative of the business any formal criminal proceedings. And the failure to hand over any such papers to an official representative could, O'Grady said last week, prevent any criminal case against the company from going ahead.
So why doesn't the FBI just find a Mega office somewhere else in the world - company is incorporated in Hong Kong - fly out there and hand over the required paperwork? Well, according to Mega's attorney, Ira Rothken, that wouldn't work either, because the US authorities can't pursue corporate criminal proceedings outside the jurisdiction of the United States. Civil proceedings could be filed anywhere in the world, and individuals can be charged in any country where extradition agreements allow, but a company cannot be charged under the American criminal law abroad.
Or so reckons Rothken. There does seem to be some confusion as to exactly how things should work here, but Mega's attorney seems to think this is a big enough technicality to de-rail the American authorities' entire case. Which would, O'Grady noted, make the whole debate over the Mega data irrelevant, because the feds might be forced to had back the server keys (as it were) to the rogue file-transfer firm.
Of course the seven Mega executives can still be charged individually for their part in running the allegedly criminal enterprise, though Rothken has another technicality to throw into the mix there too. He says that without the criminal case against the company, the only charges the US can fire at the Mega directors individually is copyright infringement, which has a maximum four year jail term in the States. And under the US's extradition agreement with New Zealand only people accused of crimes that carry a five year jail term or more can be extradited.
American authorities are expected to say the Mega bosses, including founder Kim 'Dotcom' Schmitz, should be extradited as a member of an organised criminal group, a crime which carries the all important five year jail term. But it remains to be seen if that washes.
The legal wrangling continues.
YouTube and GEMA have been in dispute for some time over both the rates the Google-owned service offered the collecting society to licence the songs it represents for play on the video site, and the fact YouTube relies on rights owners to proactively remove their content from its platform if and when it's uploaded by private users, rather than blocking all content until a rights owner has given express permission for it to appear.
YouTube basically operates a system worldwide based on US copyright law. Under America's Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a technology firm is not liable for infringing content posted by its users providing it has a system in place via which rights owners can demand content they own be removed, if uploaded by others without permission. That this principle applied to services like YouTube under US law was confirmed in the Viacom v YouTube case (and even though elements of that case are heading for an appeal hearing, that basic point is not part of the appeal).
But outside the US, the principle that protects YouTube from infringement claims at home frequently doesn't exist under other copyright systems - though in most territories collecting societies and big rights owners have generally chosen to licence YouTube anyway, and to tolerate to an extent those unlicensed services that would enjoy protection under American law.
But not GEMA. And when its long running battle with Google reached the Hamburg State Court on Friday, the judge mainly sided with the collecting society, ruling that YouTube had an obligation to install filters that would stop its users from uploading recordings of songs owned by GEMA members.
Of course YouTube already has some pretty sophisticated filters in place for stopping the upload of content already logged on its system as 'not cleared by owner', and that filtering goes someway beyond the requirements of the DMCA regarding takedown systems.
Though in theory, under last week's ruling, rather than each GEMA member logging the songs they don't want to see uploaded to YouTube, Google would have to automatically block all GEMA represented songs unless told otherwise. And that's a significant, if subtle, difference, especially if a precedent is set and then expanded to any other content not covered by an existing YouTube content licence.
Of course if that rule is set, it would be much easier for YouTube to just agree licensing terms with GEMA, so nothing needed to be blocked or filtered, which would certainly strengthen the collecting society's hand at the negotiating table (it's always pushed for more in royalties from YouTube than other societies). Which, some might say, was the main aim of this entire legal squabble anyway.
YouTube is yet to respond to the ruling or comment on whether it plans to appeal, but GEMA Chairman Harald Heker told reporters: "We reached our primary goal one hundred percent, to have the court confirm that YouTube is fundamentally responsible for videos posted by users. YouTube must implement appropriate measures to protect our repertoire and cannot simply pass on this obligation to the copyright holders. This is an important victory for us".
As previously reported, the Bee Gee has been fighting liver cancer in recent months but has remained positive throughout and denied claims in the media that he was "at death's door". However, following surgery for peritonitis, Gibb contacted pneumonia and fell into a coma.
Confirming that Gibb was again awake, Dr Andrew Thillainayagam of Imperial College Healthcare said in a statement: "The prognosis was very grave, given that Robin had brain swelling from liver failure, a severe pneumonia and a weakened immune system from malnutrition ... It is testament to Robin's extraordinary courage, iron will and deep reserves of physical strength that he has overcome quite incredible odds to get where he is now".
Read the full statement here: www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10151539883785276&id=28951845275
Born in East London in 1920, Weedon began playing classical guitar aged twelve and formed his first band, Butch Townsend And The Cold Shoulders, two years later. His big break came when he was chosen to replace Django Reinhardt in Stephane Grapelli's band, which led on to further work with many big bands and orchestras, including the BBC Show Band, with whom he performed on over 5000 radio broadcasts.
He also worked prolifically as a session musician both on recordings and for live performances, meaning he appeared on many early British rock n roll records and performed with many touring American artists. Not only that, but he also released many solo singles in the late 50s and early 60s, as well as several albums in later years.
This prolific performance work means that many, if not most, people will have at some point heard Weedon playing, perhaps without realising it. Yet it is not as a performer that he is best remembered.
In 1957, Weedon published he first guitar tutorial book, 'Play In A Day'. Offering a simple way to get to grips with guitar, it quickly sold over a million copies to teenagers keen to learn to play rock n roll. Amongst the musicians who first learned to play with the book were Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, Brian May, Mark Knopfler, Mike Oldfield, Sting, Robert Smith and David Arnold.
Amongst the many artists paying tribute to Weedon last week, Brian May told the BBC: "He will be so sadly missed by all his friends because he is one of the most generous and giving people I have ever met in my life. He was always teaching people, privately and publicly. You know, he didn't have any secrets from anyone and he was so supportive to us all. There's not a guitarist in Britain from my generation who doesn't owe him a great debt of gratitude".
Weedon is survived by two sons from his first marriage and his second wife, Maggie.
Official Charts Company Managing Director, Martin Talbot told CMU: "The first Official Record Store Chart underlines exactly why this is going to be an important way of promoting new music, with Alabama Shakes leading the way in a top ten featuring Shins, Jim Lockey and Trembling Bells, among others. The fact that there are also places for established acts such as Adele, Lana Del Rey and Graham Coxon underlines the catholic tastes represented by independent stores".
1 Alabama Shakes - Boys & Girls
Serving as a tribute to previous Hall Of Fame inductees, it will include the Chilis' interpretations of the following:
Havana Affair (The Ramones)
Anyway. The "mega edition" version of the release, which is confined to just 400 copies, will come in bespoke metal film canisters containing two ten-inch vinyl LPs. Each will also include a 'bunker' deluxe edition CD and a 'drokk-card' granting online access to extra digital material. Oh, and a t-shirt.
This beast will be released alongside the standard digital edition on 7 May, and is available to pre-order here: www.invada.co.uk/drokk
The announcement comes in the wake of the band's booking at Sonisphere being withdrawn after the festival's previously reported cancellation.
'RIP', by the way, is out today via Honest Jon's Records. Further info on the album launch here. www.facebook.com/events/216033961837872/
Yes... sorry to all regional people; it's another London-only one.
The electronic artist, aka Pat Grossi, takes the topmost quarter of a billing also featuring The Invisible, Hospitality and NZCA/Lines.
After you've browsed the dates in question, why not see below for the eerie video for 'Third Mouth' component 'Andromedon', which co-stars a strange hooded character with what looks like two pen-torches for eyes.
20 Apr: Brighton, The Blind Tiger
Artists wanting to be considered for a slot at the New Zealand festival should send a web link, a brief biography, full contact details and a photo to City Showcase, PO Box 3217, Onekawa, Napier, or can apply via SonicBids at www.sonicbids.com/cityshowcasenapier.
Commenting on the competition, Spotlight New Zealand organiser Kevin Murphy told CMU: "This is a chance for talented Kiwis to perform for, not only the public, but also the leaders of the New Zealand music industry".
Meanwhile, City Showcase Director Nanette Rigg added: "This event presents a fantastic opportunity for the cream of New Zealand's emerging acts to gain exposure worldwide and become stars of the future".
LODESTAR, Lode, Cambridge, 31 Aug - 2 Sep: LodeStar accommodates a stellar line in just-announced performing artistes, its roster so far comprising - The Go! Team, Frankie Rose, Karima Francis, Michele Stodart, Animal Kingdom, Ryan Keen, Karima Francis, The Rocket Dolls, Inouwee, Glass Pear and Dead Wolf Club. www.lodestarfestival.com
MFEST, Harewood House, Leeds, 7-8 Jul: The first ever edition of this Morrisons supermarket-run food and music festival now stocks Sophie Ellis-Bextor, The Pigeon Detectives, Mike Peters, Lawson and Delilah amid its freshest wares, with the previously confirmed Texas, Matt Cardle, Beverley Knight, Bob Geldof and Cher Lloyd also shelved atop its live line-up. www.themfest.com
Øya, Middelalderparken, Oslo, Sweden, 7-11 Aug: Odd Future, Kindness, Cloud Nothings, Friends, Oberhofer and Haim form a hypeworthy selection of supplements to Middelalderparken Øya's existing bill, as also houses Björk, Azealia Banks, Pulp, The Stone Roses, Feist and Florence And The Machine. www.oyafestivalen.com
ROSKILDE, Denmark, 5-8 Jul: Announced last but not least, this Danish fest's seventh headliner, Jack White, is now set to rival the afore added Bruce Springsteen, Björk, The Cure, Mew, Bon Iver and The Roots. New amendments further down the bill include A$AP Rocky, The Shins, Janelle Monáe, Santigold, Alison Krauss, Big KRIT, Alabama Shakes and First Aid Kit, who bring the Roskilde count to 200. www.roskilde-festival.dk/uk/
WOMAD, Charlton Park, Malmesbury, Wiltshire, 27-29 Jul: Hugh Masekela, Jimmy Cliff, Ben l'Oncle Soul, Mama Rosin, Donegal's Balkan Alien Sound, Kimmo Pohjonen and Marewrew represent the latest international acts set to amass under WOMAD's vari-coloured banner this year, with Buena Vista Social Club, Robert Plant's Sensational Space Shifters, Dizraeli & The Small Gods, Peatbog Faeries and Raghu Dixit amongst those announced on previous occasions. www.womad.org
As much previously reported, Universal's bid to buy the EMI labels is being considered by competition regulators around the world, and in particular in the US and European Union. Two American unions representing artists last week said that Universal had a good record for complying with and respecting "collective bargaining agreements", and that providing US regulators were happy with the mega-major's commitment to start investing in the EMI record companies anew, "we respectfully request that it look favourably on Universal Music Group's stewardship over EMI".
But the FIM, which issued a statement on the proposed EMI deal in March, takes a very different view. It's statement noted: "As they are today, the four major record companies (Universal, Sony, EMI, Warner) already represent a high market concentration. For performers, this means weak bargaining power and hyper-standardised, disadvantageous contracts. The disappearance of EMI as an autonomous actor would entail an increased concentration of the market forces into a duopoly (Universal/Sony), which can only be expected to further deteriorate this already imbalanced situation".
It continued: "The problems that artists have been facing in the traditional market for many years are even worsening in the digital world, from which they usually receive insignificant incomes. Should the mergers be authorised by the EU Commission, artists would lose one of the remaining few alternative routes to access the mass market. The new duopoly would also mean less investment, lower quality, fewer jobs, narrowed consumer choice as well as reduced cultural diversity".
FIM is not alone is opposing Universal's EMI bid, with IMPALA leading the indie label community's very vocal opposition in Europe, and Warner Music - which will be dwarfed by its main competitors if Universal is allowed to buy the EMI labels and Sony the EMI publishing company - also lobbying against the deal. In Europe, Universal's bid has been pushed into a full three-month investigation by the European Commission, who will rule on the proposed deal in August.
Elsewhere, the New York Post has reported that Sony is already talking to possible buyers for the publishing assets it has pledged to sell on in order to gain approval for its purchase of EMI Music Publishing. As previously reported, the EC last week approved the Sony-led bid to buy EMI's publishing business after Sony committed to sell some key catalogues, including EMI's Virgin Publishing songs roster. Both BMG and Warner are expected to bid for those catalogues.
While the American content industries got all hot and bothered about MegaUpload, in Europe it was more often RapidShare being criticised by the content industries as they became concerned that the growth of file-transfer and cloud-storage services was providing a new digital framework for online-copyright infringement that the music and movie industries' piracy-trackers weren't equipped to monitor.
In the main RapidShare has used the same old defences as most of its competitors in such disputes ("we can't be liable for our customers' actions"), albeit with some success - it's probably won as many copyright actions as it's lost. But with the feeling that 2012 is the year of the copyright clamp down, with the Mega raids, the final Pirate Bay ruling in Sweden and the mounting legal challenge faced by Grooveshark (and despite the SOPA debacle in the US), Rapidshare seems keen to be seen as the cloud storage set up that doesn't just piss on copyright law.
In its 'Responsible Practices For Cloud Storage Services' document, RapidShare calls on its industry to go beyond the obligations set down in US copyright law (ie the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which offers tech companies more protection than in most other jurisdictions), including monitoring for repeat copyright infringers on their networks and taking action, and ensuring any bonuses offered to uploaders who generate lots of download traffic have done so without infringing any third party's rights.
Which is all lovely. Though some rights owners remain cautious of RapidShare's intent, while others have been openly critical, either accusing the file-transfer company of paying only lip service to copyright issues, or of explicitly not going far enough to tackle problems. The real issue remains that RapidShare - like MegaUpload - enables users to make their uploaded content accessible to the whole world, rather than just named friends and colleagues, which makes the tech firm's servers a destination point for those looking for free music and movie files.
The Recording Industry Association Of America responded thus: "Unfortunately the new measures announced fall short of the goal to meaningfully and effectively reduce the massive amount of copyright theft occurring on its service".
Confirming the stepping up of his company's relationship with the BBC, Audioboo CEO Mark Rock told reporters: "Music has been done, text has been done, but no one has yet captured the uniqueness of the spoken word on the internet. We've had some fantastic content uploaded by the BBC since AudioBoo's initial launch. It's great now to formalise this relationship in an official partnership and work closely with the broadcaster to enhance its presence on both AudioBoo and all the social platforms we distribute to".
She sued for paternity; he threatened to sue for defamation; she withdrew her paternity suit but said she stood by her allegations and would pursue child support from the teen star; and then all went quiet. Various lawyers came and went, the Biebster handed over some DNA, but nothing much else has happened over the allegations that always sounded highly dubious.
But this weekend the Beiber sent a little message to his accuser, Mariah Yeater. Via the tweets, the pop star wrote: "Dear Mariah Yeeter (sic)... we have never met... so from the heart I just wanted to say..." He then linked to a bit of audio of Sacha Baron Cohen's alter ego Borat taunting: "You will never get this, you will never get this, la la la la la!"
Perhaps that's five months of pent up frustration and anger released on Bieber's part, which is probably understandable. Though I think had he run his tweet through the probably-should-be-developed 'PR advice app' before pressing send, it might have flashed up "just let sleeping dogs lie".


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Thank you for visiting us!
The Southwestern Michigan Buttery is a family-owned artisan kitchen proudly producing a taste of Pure Michigan in the form of Michigan fruit butter. Our gourmet fruit butters are handcrafted with care in small batches with only the highest quality local ingredients available. All of our fruit butters are Kosher, Diabetic Friendly and extremely low sugar, 100% gluten and lactose free and contain no high fructose corn syrup or artificial colors or flavors. We offer uniquely made in Michigan products including our delectable apple, peach, plum, rhubarb, blueberry, apple cranberry and apple cherry butters.
We work to partner with the best companies in the Midwest who are similarly minded and believe that great products can and should be made both locally and sustainably. Everything that goes into our products from the fruits and cider to the jars and lids are made and/or sourced in Michigan which makes our fruit butters a uniquely Michigan product and gift.
We work to support the community not only through our partnerships with great local businesses but also by working with schools and civic organizations to raise funds for outstanding causes. We hope to see you at one of our upcoming events (details can be found on our "Events" page) or if you're in the area, give us a call and we'd love to have you come by for a visit (like ABC 57 did in the video below)! Hope to see you soon!
Proud to be featured on ABC 57's Made in Michiana Series!

subset: commoncrawl


text: A few months back I did an award-winning piece on things that make me go "hmm." I had a ton of fun writing the post, and I've been meaning to unleash another installment upon an unsuspecting populace for quite some time now. As luck would have it, today is the day. Let's get right to … Continue reading Number Thirty-Six: Do You Ever Wonder About…? (Part Two)


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National Science Foundation Funding for Education Projects
Wednesday, 3 - 3:30 pm
Room 502B
The National Science Foundation supports projects to improve education in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology through the Division of Undergraduate Education in EHR and programs in the research directorates such as CISE. This forum presents the requirements and guidelines for programs in these areas and includes a presentation of the characteristics of a competitive proposal, and the proposal and review processes. In the discussion forum, attendees are invited to explore project ideas with the presenter.
Steve Cunningham
Oregon State University
rsc (at) cs.csustan.edu


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When describing the distinct sound of Come Back Alice, vocalist & violist Dani Jaye says, "You just got to be rambunctious and put it all in there." Courageously combining southern rock guitar with funky drums and rounding it all out with quirky classical stylings has made this St. Petersburg band a standout in the Florida festival circuit. You won't hear anything like them anywhere else.
We spoke with Dani Jaye and Tony Tyler (vocals, guitar) at last weekend's Backwoods Fam Jam to gain some insight on their intriguing sound and artistic inspiration. We also chatted about the Florida festival scene and some of their favorite improv moments playing with their extended music family. The group is currently prepping their sophomore album for summer release, as well as recording a live project due out later this year – and of course we're anticipating many more live performances.
Read the interview below:
Your self-titled freshman album set the bar pretty high for us Come Back Alice fans. How do you plan to top it with this upcoming sophomore release? How has your sound grown since your debut?
Tony: You can never tell how the public perception is going to go. We just hope to keep true to the vibe of the first one while evolving into something a little bit different. The third one will be a little different, and the forth one will be a little different. It will still be comfortable for people who were fans of the first one and they'll hopefully stick with it.
Dani: I feel your musical style naturally evolves over time with whatever you're listening to at the moment. All the little tidbits and your roots morph into new things you like. You write what you feel and sometimes it comes out in different ways and styles. You just got to be rambunctious and put it all in there.
Explain your creative process. Do ideas just come to you and you write spur-of-the-moment, or do you like to set aside time to write? It seems like Come Back Alice would be spontaneous when creating music.
Tony: It's a little of both really. We're constantly singing melodies or humming tunes. I may be working on something that's almost all the way there but not quite there yet. I'll show it to Dani then we'll wrap it up and put a bow on it. Or she may have something almost finished for me to work on. We work on each other's tunes. We write a lot of tunes together. Then we have the other band members put their spin on it and it comes to life. It's a very spur-of-the-moment thing.
Dani: Sometimes they come all at once and you're just trying to get it out before you forget it. Like in the middle of the night you gotta get up and go grab a notepad.
That seems to be the case with most art – it just pops into your head and you have to create it when it comes to you.
Tony: I don't usually work well if I set hours to write songs.
Dani: You can't force inspiration. There's times where I'll be sitting on a song for about a year. I'll work on it but won't be married to it because it just isn't there yet. Then all of a sudden one day I'll be doing dishes and then it pops! And then I'm there.
Tony: It's like, there it is! I've been looking for you.
Are you playing any songs off the new album yet?
Tony: We've saved about eighty percent of the material from the second album. We haven't played any of it live yet. We have about eleven or twelve tracks.
Dani: A lot of it we didn't really know how it was going to sound until we tracked it.
Tony: Until yesterday [laughs]. We just finished it yesterday.
Dani: It's always a surreal feeling to listen back at the songs when they're done.
What is the timeline for the release?
Tony: I'd say about a month and a half. We want to get it out pretty quickly. We got all the tracks done – now it's just the editing.
What is the tour plan? Will you be hitting any new markets?
Tony: Currently we have our own production company and we basically do everything in-house. We're speaking to some different people who may be interested in the booking for us. We're looking to do Colorado in the next six months.
Dani: We definitely want to break the Colorado market.
Tony: We've been having a lot of fun in Asheville.
Dani: We love the southeast and the whole vibe of southern hospitality. We definitely want to get to the Midwest more and we plan on doing that this year with the release of this album.
Tell us about the emergence of your sound. It's obviously very unique. Where did the idea come from to combine fiddle with rock and all these different things you have going on?
Tony: Being from Georgia, I predominantly did southern rock. I kinda got burned out on it. For the longest time it was the Tony Tyler Band and I was the front guy. That kind of situation is a lot of pressure. I came down here from Georgia to play with Danny Toler from the Allman Brothers – Dangerous Dan Toler.
I was cutting a solo record in Bradenton. I didn't know anyone down here; I just packed up all my stuff in my car and went to Florida. I met Dani when she was playing in a band called One Night Rodeo. It was a really good country band, but it was strictly country. She was playing background fiddle, banjo, auxiliary instruments and things like that.
Dani: But I got rock-n-roll in my heart!
Tony: I said, 'Hey, why don't you come play fiddle on my record.' That was my pick up line.
Dani: Oh yeah. He got my number.
Tony: We hit it off and I said, 'Why don't you just join the band?' She joined up and it stayed the Tony Tyler band for a short period of time but we wanted it to be more than that.
Dani: When we started writing our own stuff together it formed its own vibe. So we wanted a band name that reflected our mutation. We started a new project and that's how Come Back Alice was formed.
Why the name Come Back Alice?
Tony: We both found out we are big fans of Danny Elfman and that sparked it. For those who don't know, he does all the composition for Tim Burton's movies.
Dani: A lot of people ask what are the weird, quirky sounds I'm rocking. I'm just such a fan of Danny Elfman. It's theatrical. It's a little avant-garde and gypsy style. It's almost like if The Allman Brothers and Danny Elfman had a musical love child.
That's a great description of your sound. Who are some other people you're a fan of musically? Is there anyone in particular you're listening to right now?
Dani: Oh my, we're a fan of so much. It's always hard for us to pick a favorite. There are obviously the bigger name influences, but I've become very inspired by what's happening musically within the community here. There's just so much talent here and they're personable. I've learned to play the guitar and so many things just watching the people around me.
Tony: Our drummer has a very eclectic music taste. He's turned us onto a lot of bands like Vulfpeck. I've been listening to a lot of Coltrane and Herbie Hancock lately. And like Dani was saying, this community is so rich with talent. Every festival you go to you find another favorite band…like, Dumpstaphunk!
Dani: I've always been a big fan of Led Zeppelin. When I was growing up, that was my go-to. It's avant garde, darker rock-n-roll. I'm just a fan.
I can definitely see you being a Zeppelin follower, Dani. It makes perfect sense with your style. You mentioned our local music community, which leads into my next question. We're at Fam Jam and the theme is a "family affair." Which acts in our Florida community do you consider to be members of your extended music family and why?
Tony: Heather Gillis is our little sister. We have a kindred connection with the Allman camp since I'm from Georgia and I used to run with those guys. She was playing with Butch for a little while.
Dani: She's awesome. Every time we get together we try to do an Allman Brothers song with her.
Tony: Also, Roosevelt is definitely a brother of ours.
Dani: And Isaac Corbitt, who is the artist-at-large.
Tony: I remember Applebutter Express from the first time we came up to this scene. It was our first Orange Blossom Jamboree experience and we were gathered around the campfire.
Dani: We ended up back at the Hometeam Camp and Kyle and Shannon walked up at the same time as us. I had the fiddle, he had his guitar. They had the ukulele and we started a little circle. Half an hour later it was an even bigger circle. Then the next thing you know, we were surrounded by people.
Tony: Ajeva are our St. Pete brothers. We actually share a studio building, and a few band members as well [laughs].
Dani: We're fans of The Heavy Pets too.
Tony: And Groove Orient. This whole lineup is good! It's such a privilege and blessing to be part of the team. It really is a family affair. We all jam together. We get off on each other's playing. That's the secret. If you go into a situation where everybody is closed off in their own universe it produces a certain type of vibe. But I truly am a fan personally. I go to their shows and buy their merch.
Dani: Florida is interesting because we're kind of tucked in down here. The next big scene is in Atlanta and that's a good amount of space to travel between here and there. Everyone down here gets to know each other well. We see each other a lot. We have a kindred thing going on.
Tony: I listen to Isaac Corbitt playing harmonica and I'm like, damn I need to work on some stuff. He actually gave me some Harp lessons. I'm not brave enough to whip it out yet. But yeah, it's inspiring and it drives us. We're all on the same team.
Come Back Alice will be closing out Thursday night at Orange Blossom Jamboree. They're also playing at Rok Barrok Bar in Daytona Beach on May 26th and at Surfer The Bar in Jacksonville Beach on May 27th.
Tickets: www.orangeblossomjamboree.com
(Photo by Christian Cashmir at Litewave Studios)
(Hair & Makeup by Cheyenne Mary Miller at Bella's beauty bar — with Tony Tyler and Dani Jaye.)


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This little number was a simple sew - done in about 1.5hours, from cutting to completion.. buttons and all.
It is loosely inspired by the back panels of the BHL - flora dress. I have made her before, see here.
I used the back panel piece to make the skirt, slimming the original pleats to fit into my 145cm wide fabric. I have said it before, but this skirt is huge. And I lengthened it by 5cm.
I can't say I am full happy with this hacked effort. I like the skirt, and will wear it, I think i need to nip it in at the waist a little bit. But I regret slimming down the pleat size, as in my mind I was imagining huge box pleats.... Ahhhh... sewing regrets.
|Wide skirt shot - I love a wide swishy skirt.
The wide skirt makes it a great for twirling. This is obviously an every day MUST for skirts.
|And... SWISHY....
The fabric is a really nice cotton sateen I picked up on a recent trip to Tasmania, however I have seen whispers on instgram that it is also available at the Cloth Shop, in Ivanhoe Melbourne.
Because I wanted to keep this as a fast 'n' dirty sew up, I just ran the edges through the overlocker and used my previously drafted waistband with overlap for button holes, then easing the skirt into the waistband piece.
The SPECS:
Pattern: Flora franken-pattern-hack with self drafted waist band.
Fabric: Cotton Sateen, sourced in Tasmania.
Size: 14
Time: 1.5 hours.
Satisfaction: Meh.
Shoes: Lotta from Stockholm, Glasses - Oscar Wylee, Cropped Tee - Zoe Mac.
The BHL obsession continues with these ladies calling my name in the night... Who else has met Anna, Kim and Sophia? Are you guys BFF's as well.!?


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I can't see my mails.
I get this message below my mail:
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What does it mean? Or am I just being dumb?
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Actually I see mail come and go too. Now some all threads have reappeared in my mailbox (they had vanished for some reason) but I can't seethe latest topic.
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Dave Scribner
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You're not being dumb. There are several boxes in the pm system. In, sent, saved, trash. when you send a PM, it can be seen in the sent box. If you receive a reply, it will be moved to the in box. If you don't want the pm any longer, just click the trash button. You can have a total of 60 messages in combination of all boxes and they are automatically deleted after 60 days. The flashing PM box will remain until you open the pm and if you don't open them and the 60 day time frame arrives, the pm will delete but the icon will remain flashing. Just click on it and it will go away.
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YANGON, Burma (AP) — Burma will hold by-elections later this year to fill 28 unoccupied parliamentary seats, giving contending parties a chance to test the political waters about a year ahead of the next general election.
The head of the state election body, Tin Aye, on Thursday announced the plans for the polls to be held after monsoon season, which ends in October.
The exact date will be set three months before the vote, which should indicate the strengths of the ruling army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party and the opposition National League for Democracy party led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Suu Kyi's party boycotted the 2010 general election as undemocratic but participated in April 2012 by-elections, winning 43 seats out of 45 seats at stake.


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Product Description
It signals battery discharged or fault status via an open collector output, which can be used by the EVD000E* driver (EVD evolution, not EVD evolution twin) or the pCO to generate an alarm message and notify the technical service for preventive maintenance.
Powered by a 12 V lead backup battery (EVBAT00500) supplies power supply to the driver for the time required to completely close the electronic valve being controlled, while during normal operation ensures the battery is correctly recharged.
Manuals & Datasheets
Manuals & Datasheets
|Manuals & Datasheets
|Technical Information


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Vesper V-Tower
Vesper V-Tower
V - Tower
A stunning piece of scratching furniture for cats, the V-TOWER provides an enticing multi-level world for curious cats. It has two cube caves and one tunnel cave for playing or resting. Large scratching mats ensure hours of scratching fun.
- Color/finish: black, MDF of the cube cave made from New Zealand pine
- Cushions/pads: white, faux fur
- Toy: bright rattan
- Scratching surfaces: sisal
- Two cube caves with one tunnel cave
- Water-based lacquer and MDF
- The "black" and "walnut" models feature soft memory foam cushions
- Ball toy made of rattan
- Base: 65 x 65 cm
- Height: 117,5 cm


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Ancient arts trump game-playing in virtual-reality documentaries
The Alternate Realities Summit, Sheffield Doc/Fest, UK, June 2016
YOU are in the bath and the soap slips out of your hand, leaving a smell on your skin that reminds you of your grandmother's bathroom. A mere 26 words have done what state-of-the-art virtual reality technology still can't: made you feel somewhere else, like you can touch and smell things that aren't there, triggered by real memories.
So what is VR good for? That was the question exercising some top practitioners recently at Sheffield Doc/Fest, a documentary film festival in the UK. They were mostly sceptical, but the work on offer demonstrated some effective ways to hook the technology to hearts and minds.
The production that had the biggest effect on me was also one of the simplest. Home: Aamir uses a sequence of 360-degree video scenes shown in a headset with a voice-over to describe the journey of a refugee from Sudan trying to get to the UK. Its creators used six small GoPro cameras to film at the unofficial Jungle migrant camp in Calais, France, and other stages of Aamir's terrifying odyssey. His words are spoken by an actor.
There was no way to interact directly, but the basic all-round video left me free to look about as I would in reality, lingering on things that caught my eye while listening to Aamir's words. A 2D documentary using similar images and text would have shown only what the film-makers presented through their unalterable choices of frame, composition and sequencing. The 360 video allowed freer, less aestheticised views.
For me, the two least successful productions were also the most ambitious. Both put you in a high-resolution animation, wearing a virtual spacesuit, with virtual hands to grip virtual objects when you press controls in your real hands. But the interaction is still frustratingly limited.
Mars 2030, a collaboration with NASA, lets you survey a Martian landscape. But to take even a small step in it, you use the controls rather than your legs. Realism took a further knock when I walked right through another astronaut, although I felt a lurch in my stomach as I did so. That happened again as I drove a rover recklessly down a slope, but later, driving off a cliff, my stomach was already getting less impressed.
"Can immersive media increase empathy as it lets us feel present with others in a virtual scene?"
The second epic was the BBC's Home – An Immersive Spacewalk Experience. This takes you to the International Space Station, where you move around by swinging gibbon-like between virtual handholds. Like the Mars simulator, it manages to gamify an experience, but reading astronauts' accounts gives me a much richer sense of life in microgravity – detailing the nausea, loss of taste and disorientation that current technology just can't replicate.
Such text-based "VR" goes back millennia, a fact acknowledged in a session called "VR: The Machine to Make Us More Human?" In other words, can immersive media increase empathy as it lets us feel individually present with others in a virtual scene?
The panel responded with refreshing quantities of cold water. Clint Beharry, who explores such phenomena at the Harmony Institute in New York, pointed out that radio also creates immersive experiences, while books are so immersive he frequently misses his subway stop while reading.
Tony Prescott, a psychologist and director of the research centre Sheffield Robotics, went further: life is immersive, yet we forget most of it. Why should immersive technology make a difference?
One way forward may lie in something common to the two Home pieces: theatre. Aamir was made by the UK's National Theatre, and Tom Burton, who co-directed the spacewalk experience, has worked in immersive theatre, which blurs distinctions between venue and set, actors and audience.
The speakers agreed that this type of expertise is needed to make VR work. For example, one big challenge in 360-degree video is to direct the viewer's attention. Burton's answer is to look to the devices of theatre and magic, and psychology's insights, to learn how to make us see what's not there, and not see what is.
This article appeared in print under the headline "So near, so far"


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One of the main ways we give back to our communities is by sitting on the boards of non-profit organizations. Often, as CPAs, we are called upon for our financial expertise.
It usually starts like this. You're at a BBQ with friends, and someone says, "You're a CPA, right? We've got an opening for a Treasurer on the board of our new non-profit organization. You're interested in (insert your favorite mission here), right? You'd be a perfect fit!!"
But is it really a match? While many decisions shouldn't be made emotionally and as CPA's we are trained to work analytically not psychologically – you do need to have a deep connection to the cause of the organization. It is important to ask yourself, does this cause move me so much that I want to be a catalyst for the change they aspire for?
Once you determine that this cause is one which you are passionate about there are some questions you should ask yourself honestly to ensure you can give the commitment necessary to fulfill your obligations:
· How formal or informal is the board?
· How long is my term?
· What is the style of this board?
a. Is it a "working" board where I am going to very hands-on; fulfilling a specific role? Is it an advisory board, where one gives input but not much else? Maybe it's a combination of the two.
· How often and where are meetings held? Do we meet in person or via teleconference? How is
business conducted between meetings?
· How much time will I be expected to devote to board business?
· Is there an expectation of a specific donation to the organization? Some boards require a financial
commitment in addition to your service.
· Will I be expected to be engaged directly in fundraising?
· Is the organization financially healthy? Is the organization willing to disclose all of its financial
· Is there adequate Directors and Officers (D&O) insurance to protect board members in case of a lawsuit or other disaster?
When you find a board that is a good fit with your personality and values, it will be easy to do everything you can to help the organization achieve success. I read this quote that summed it up: "Volunteers are not paid – not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless."
-Beth Vough, CPA, Manager


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Note: This article originally appeared in the Fall 2005 edition of MeadowLark, the magazine for alumni of The Meadows.
Some Thoughts on Rigorous Honesty
By John Bradshaw
Because lying to ourselves (denial) is the core of all addictions, the various 12-Step groups stress living in a rigorously honest way as the sine qua non of character rebuilding. Over the 40 years I've spent going to meetings, I've never heard anyone discuss what I've discovered in myself as "unconscious dishonesty."
Dealing with my unconscious dishonesty has been a critical part of my recovery. I've found two major areas of unconscious dishonesty. One stems from what the psychologist Carl Jung called "the shadow" of the psyche. The second stems from the contamination of my fundamental childhood wound. My shadow dishonesty manifested itself in gossiping, criticizing and being judgmental of others. My core childhood wound, engulfment, manifested itself in my closest relationships as the avoidance of intimacy, the need to control, and fantasies of being used by my partner. Let me briefly elaborate on both of these areas of unconscious dishonesty.
Shadow Issues
Jung's idea of the shadow includes what have been referred to as "shame binds," as well as one's past behaviors that one considers unacceptable and disgusting. Our shadow also contains unrealized positive parts of ourselves, which is why embracing our shadow (toxic shame) can lead us to the discovery of the many potential strengths we are capable of actualizing.
The parts of myself that I repress and the behaviors that I cannot accept are unconsciously projected onto others. Over many years, my repressed parts and my detestable behaviors become unconscious. I have engaged in gossip and criticism of others, especially of those in the recovery community. I also have been the object of the vicious jealousy of others.
Early on in the 12-Step groups I attended, I heard the old timers warn against taking other people's inventory. Yet I still find judgment, gossip and criticism of others widespread in the 12-Step groups I attend.
I have worked hard to uncover my shadow, and, while I slip occasionally, I have made great progress. I'm certain that my dishonesty in judging, criticizing and gossiping about others destroys the quality of my sobriety.
Our Primary Wound
Each of us carries some degree of "woundedness." The wounds we carry from our family of origin, especially if our family was severely dysfunctional, are the most damaging. All forms of abuse (including neglect, abandonment and enmeshment) set us up to miss meeting important developmental dependency needs. Our developmental deficits form the core symptoms of codependency.
My roles in my dysfunctional family of origin were "star" and "caretaker" of my mother's pain. I was enmeshed as her surrogate spouse and "carried" her rage, shame and unresolved sexuality. An unresolved wound pervades our consciousness and gnaws at us like a painful toothache. Over the years, we become so used to defending against our wound that we lose consciousness of what we're defending against. We can see or hear something dangerous and threatening in almost anything our spouse or an intimate friend says to us.
In my book, Creating Love, I describe the phenomena of defensive behaviors as trance states. Following Freud, I speak of ego defenses as auto-hypnotic traumas. We can engage in positive or negative visual fantasies about those closest to us. We can see something that isn't there or imaginatively contaminate something we do see. A smile can become a smirk; apathetic eyes can be seen as uncaring. People with unresolved wounds continually "make up" things about those with whom they interact. When we do this, we are in a delusional trance state: "Delusion is sincere denial." Our shadow and our primary wound keep us in a dishonest, defensive, delusional state.
Repair Work
Recovery calls us to continually work to be more rigorously honest. Rigorous honesty means confronting my shadow and giving up the defensive delusions that guard my wound. The mechanics of repair are too complicated to present in a short article. An example will have to suffice.
Embracing Your Shadow
A simple way to uncover unconscious shadow material is to ask yourself what the people closest to you habitually say about your behavior that causes you to energetically defend yourself. Your spouse, children, family and close friends know you better than anyone else. They experience firsthand the contradictions in your behavior. The intensity of one's defensive energy (especially rage) is key in making shadow material conscious.
Tracking Your Wound
I look at rigid family-of-origin roles, as well as what psychologist John Money describes as a "love map," in order to become aware of one's primary wound.
My dysfunctional alcoholic family pushed me into a "star," "caretaker" of my mother's pain, "surrogate spouse" role. These roles required me to have certain feelings, such as joy, courageous silence in the face of pain, and intense interest in selfless moral behaviors. These feelings and other concomitant behaviors are highly valued and were attractive to my love partners. But behind my rigid caretaker façade were other feelings, such as rage, fearful hyper-vigilance and shame.
When my love partner or good friend got too close, she experienced my dark side, my shame/rage/blame game, and my real dislike of taking care of others all the time. Rage particularly kept me guarded and non-intimate. My rage was almost always dishonest.
Our "love map" is formed during our early developmental stages ( ages 3 to 8 ) when our sexual identity is first being formed. Our "love map" is composed of the voices and behaviors of our most significant source figures. It also is shaped by our primary wound. If we liked our mother's or father's sense of humor or we admired their physical appearance, these images become a part of our "love map." Our "love map" also contains our source figures' negative character traits. My love map contains an image of a dark haired, seductive woman who is fearful, needy and depressed, as well as my father's frivolous irresponsibility. It contained (prior to recovery) my parents" intimacy dysfunction that each guarded dishonestly - my father with his sex and alcohol addictions, my mother with her codependency.
Until I did the grief work that involved family-of-origin issues, I could not be honest in my marriage or my post-divorce love relationships. It is imperative that abused and/or enmeshed people realize how difficult it is to be intimate, and therefore honest, without first doing the grief work that allows emotional separation from one's primary source figure(s).
I show people how their wounds and love maps contaminate their intimate communications. I use a tool called "the Awareness Wheel," developed by Sherod Miller, Elam Nunnally and Dan Wackman in their book Alive and Aware. The Awareness Wheel includes four areas of consciousness:
- Sensory facts (what you see and hear)
- Interpretations (your fantasy about what you've seen and heard)
- Feelings (the feelings that result from your fantasy)
- Desire or wants (what you want from the other person)
The place where our wound is most likely to distort our communication is on the second level of awareness. Our interpretations (unless we are in the realm of pure, formal logic) always involve some element of imagination. We cannot know for sure what is going on inside another person's skin.
Our interpretations are partly fantasies based on the sensory data we observe, which then trigger an emotion and some element of volition.
Let me conclude with an example. A few years ago, my fiancée (now my wife) and I were in Dublin. After finishing leading an inner-child workshop, we decided to take some time to explore. While visiting some historic sites in Dublin, my fiancée Karen saw an antique store she wanted to explore. I told her that I had all the antiques I ever wanted and I did not wish to buy any more. She had some lovely antiques herself and agreed. As we browsed, I saw Karen talking to the owner of the store. I heard her say, "I'll call you tomorrow." Immediately I felt my stomach muscles tense and my throat go dry, and I recognized these bodily signals as the first feeling of rage. I had done years of work learning to contain anger and to separate from the rage I carried from my enmeshment with my mother.
As we walked out of the store, I knew I had to express my anger before it became reactive rage. I used the Awareness Wheel as my guide. My disclosure was as follows: "Karen, I saw you talking to the antiques shop owner. I heard you say, "I'll call you tomorrow!" My fantasy is that you are going to buy an antique (with my money because I knew she didn't have the money to buy an antique). I feel angry because we agreed to not buy any antiques, and I want to know your intentions."
At that time, Karen and I were seriously working on tools for conflict resolution. Karen repeated to me what she heard me saying and waited for me to verify that what she repeated was what I said. When I verified her response, she said, "Yes, I am going to buy an antique. My mother gave me money to buy you a birthday present!" When I heard her reply, I realized that my fantasy interpretation was contaminated by my wound of being used by a woman. During our three-year engagement, Karen had never done anything to suggest that she was trying to use me for my money. My wound (which I thought I had under control) festered up and formed my judgment, which triggered my anger. I felt like a jerk and apologized profusely. I hope you can see how a wound (even after years of recovery work) can distort communication and make what seems like righteous anger an expression of dishonesty.
Recovery is an ongoing process, which requires the continual working of maintenance steps 10 and 11. These steps help make me willing to work at uncovering my unconscious dishonesty.


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I used to work for the marketing department of a large building products manufacturer, and the executive in charge had a saying that has always stuck with me. Whether we were preparing the marketing, packaging, messaging, or trade show presence for product rollouts, he'd say, over and over again, "Well-presented, half sold."
That's true for product launches, but it's also true when you are selling your company. The presentation of the company, typically in the form of a deal book (a.k.a. Informational Memorandum and accompanying financial statements and tax returns), is viewed as an indicator of the overall state of the company and its operations.
Just as you would no more respect a salesman who was sloppy in his communications, late to appointments, or who wasn't dressed properly for a meeting, so too you would hold in suspicion a company going to market with haphazard financial statements or that had paid no real attention to creating the deal book. They should have made it look like a professional brochure.
That said, on a recent call with a prospective client, a question was asked: "What's the one thing we should do to prepare for a sale of our company?"
"Is it boosting earnings?" Sure, that helps. But it's not the No. 1 item.
"Is it to ensure leadership continuity?" Essential to have, yes, but not at the top of the list.
"Is it paying off debts?" Debt-free companies are certainly attractive, but when going to market, there's something even more important. And that's to get your financial statements in order, so that your balance sheets and profit-and-loss statements are clean and presented in standard formats.
What's more, you will need these documents for three years, historically, as well as a set for your trailing twelve months (so you are sure to capture good performance even if you are in the middle of a fiscal year), and projections for the rest of the current year, and for the next twelve months.
By presenting these in GAAP accounting formats (general accepted accounting principles), these statements can be easily read, even by someone who is not familiar with the idiosyncrasies of your company. Any one year can be readily compared to other years, and information is readily available for your investment banker, who is brokering the sale of your company, to calculate year-over-year progress, compounded annual growth rates for revenues, EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization), and yearto- date performance, all in multiple categories, including gross profit margins, operating expenses, operating income and, the bottom line earnings. Clean statements also make it easier to argue for, and defend, adjustments to EBITDA for non-recurring expenses that won't be assumed by the new owner, and which boost the value of your company, sometimes dramatically.
(Additional items you will need to have in "pin clean" presentation mode are your inventory statements—knowing that this will be physically redone just before the deal closes—and a list of other assets, ideally accompanied by good photography of your equipment, and your recent tax returns.)
A "One-Page" Approach
We were recently working with a company we took to market, and the prospective buyer wanted to see a list of assets, to understand, as he put it, "everything that would be ours if we wrote you a check today."
Impressively, we had it at-the-ready, in a one-page format. And that's what elicited the following comment from the prospect: "Gosh, it's nice to see everything on one page."
Of course, you can't present every aspect of the company in one-page formats. But the point was well-taken that a distillation of data in a condensed presentation went a long way toward assuring this prospective buyer that A) we knew what the assets were and how much they were worth, and B) that the prospective buyer could trust us to produce, on-demand, summary data and documents that he needed to see when appraising the value of his potential purchase. Plainly stated, it built trust. How do you create these clean documents, in formats even strangers can readily understand?
Work with your accounting firm, and directly with a CPA. If you are doing the books yourself in a system like QuickBooks, you may find that the statements drawn from in-house use of QuickBooks is not going to be adequate. So, invest the money and the time to get an accounting firm to create the genuine articles. Because, "Well-presented, half sold."


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Sorry I have been gone for a while
How is life? I hope well.
There was something I wanted to ask you, but before I do, I thought I should catch you up on Dutch Life BUT that would be too long. So I have decided to give a few bullet points about what has happened in life as an American living in Holland since the last post.
I am fat.
I am a full time Baker.
I am a fat Baker that is a small Business Owner (I wish that was reversed)
NO... NO I STILL do not speak Dutch. Get off my ass! It is hard and there are 22 letter words!
I CAN name almost every baking product in Dutch though!
I love everything we bake. I mean I REALLY LOVE it.
I am on a diet.
I am surrounded by chocolate and sugar.
I do bad things alone in the bakery.
I still love Jur!
I am tying to represent America by selling American desserts which is why I am on a diet.
I am a cliche.
I have been told that American Apple Pie is substandard in comparison to the Dutch Apple Taart.... NO MATTER HOW FREAKING HARD I TRY! But I will keep trying.
If one more Dutch person tells me American Desserts are too sweet (and not in a good way which I do not see how anything sweet can be bad) I may jump in a canal. It is a freaking dessert. Is supposed to be sweet!
I am now a fast and fearless Bicycle rider!
I can now carry several bags of groceries while riding my bike .... even in the rain.
I can fall off my bike and get right back on.
I eat fish now (some) ... okay a little. Okay well not that much.
I still hate herring
I love mayonnaise on everything now... I am fat.
Cheese is equal to water. I am fat.
I have discovered that after a long day of work... Martini's are fun. And two are a blast but a bit sloppy. Three and work is awful the next day
I am now part of a traveling Dutch Food Circus Carnival.... I am known as the fat gay loud American selling Cupcakes
I have yelled at a few people... (there are stories here and apologies that may come in the form of later blogs)
I still love Queen Beatrix and Holland
I still miss America and so I eat to sooth myself while watching dutch subtitled episodes of Little House on the Prairie
I watch Modern Family and think the writers are secretly filming me to get stories for the character named Cam (Is this true? Please. Someone just be honest with me!) (It make me feel like I am on the Truman Show)(I am becoming paranoid)
I have traveled and eaten all over Europe. A Lot. (I am the gay Julia Child's)
I still love ice (lot's of ice) and free water. I DEMAND FREE WATER! IN BIG GLASSES!
I am forming a foundation to teach and encourage the Dutch to forms lines in public places
I am also on an anti-dog poo everywhere crusade. I am losing the battle but I lay awake at night plotting my crusade!
Oh....and Jur has recently received some very exciting news but I have to wait for him to let me announce it.... more on that in an upcoming post!
SO I AM BACK, not living a Fairytale but also not suffering from Dutch Depression either so I need a new blog name! Suggestions are welcome... I hope you are still there? I hope we can share and laugh.
So to end the beginning of the new old blog...... the biggest change in my life is that Jur and I have established the American Baking Company... Life handed us lemons (as many of you may know) and we gathered ourselves together made lemon bars... you can check us out on facebook https://www.facebook.com/AmericanBakingCompany or our website and read our story... www.americanbakingcompany.com The baking is exhausting but the pleased customers and the pride in our true American desserts are such a joy. Every day I hope that this will be the day that I will not want to eat our treats but damn they are good! Please feel free come try one. Show up at our door, mention the blog and get a free piece!
Maybe my next blog I will share with you the moment I found my self spread out on the floor in the bakery reaching underneath a counter desperately trying to get a Belgian chocolate chip I dropped. I was frantic in my determination to eat it (even though we have large containers full of them). I flopped around like a giant grub, grunting and stretching in pain until I became breathless and dizzy. I love chocolate..... oh it is shameful.
Anyway we have now scheduled in writing time for this blog each week and I am glad to be back. Hope you are still up for some Dutch, European, Fun, Food, Cultural Stories.
Go make it a good day ya'll!
Ken -aka The Fat Gay American Dutch Screaming Cupcake Pushing Baker in the Hague
Friday, October 19, 2012
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But he never lost touch with his Mother and Dad so, ultimately, he went home to Bucks County and found a job working as a glorified gopher for the Doylestown Intelligencer. He ran ads back and forth from the paper to its small, retail advertisers. He says, "I guess I was a junior account executive and didn't know it." He delivered ad proofs, started helping small stores with their ad copy and quickly learned how those small retailers did their newspaper advertising. During the year at the paper, he got to know and got to be friendly with many of his customers. He realized that most of them didn't have a lot of confidence in the help they were getting from the paper. He believed that he could help them do better advertising, advertising that actually worked and could be tracked. He doesn't know why he believed that but he believed it.
Who Made Mor?
Mar 16, 2016
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Hua*ra"cho (?), n.; pl. Huarachos (#). [Amer. Sp., also guaracha, guarache, huarache, prob. of Mexican origin.]
A kind of sandal worn by Indians and the lower classes generally; -- usually used in pl. [Southern U. S. & Mex.]
© Webster 1913
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Being misunderstood by my family is nothing new, considering they've never understood a god damned thing I've ever done.
"Why do you always want to talk about this? Why can't you just forget about it?" my sister would shout. "Can't we just pretend none of this SHIT happened and be sisters? Why do you want to bring up all of the past?"
I wanted to talk about our feelings, our childhoods of abuse and abandonment, and find some sort of kinship between us. Carrie didn't want to discuss it. She wanted to run from all of it, until the times it welled up inside her and she exploded in anger. Carrie goes off like an atom bomb, destroying everything for miles. The pain she holds inside becomes too much to cope with and finally the steam has to release. Innocent victims lie in tatters around her, broken, bleeding, crawling for safety.
"We don't want to talk about your feelings TINA," my mother would repeat time and again. "That's just you, because you're not normal. I don't know why you want to talk all the time. All you do is babble. No one wants to hear it."
After all of the years of physical, emotional, mental and sexual abuse at my mother's hands, I was still afraid of Suzi when I was an adult. I found myself still wanting her approval, still longing to find a place in my family structure, even though I was most clearly the black sheep.
My brothers are in and out of prison on a regular basis. In fact, each has spent approximately 2/3 of their adult lives in prison. Most of the initial crimes were for drugs, but over time their crimes became violent. Regardless of what initially sends a young man to prison it has a way of making any man a very violent, dangerous human being.
This is my family of origin. A dead father, an abusive mother, and a group of angry, violent siblings.
So what makes Kathy different?
Kathy understands why I need to ride. This is probably because Kathy rode her own Sporster for many, many years during a time when few women rode and with men who rarely let women ride. Rolling with 1%ers most of her younger years, my Dad being one of them, Kathy learned all she knows about life with people who understood a thing or two about freedom and could smell drama and bullshit a mile away.
Cagers don't get it. They can't feel any of this. Insulated, safe from the realities of the road, hiding in plain sight, pretending that they are going somewhere, only to find they are playing it safe, they choose to feel nothing. And they can't understand why anyone would want to feel this way. Perhaps this is the one distinct difference between Cagers and Riders: The desire to feel.
"I think it's good that they excluded you," Highway explained to me awhile ago. "They did you a favor. You were never going to be happy being 'one of them'. Now you can be honest and be yourself."
Those words released me from my own prison. For the first time I didn't need to belong, to anyone or anything. I gave myself permission to be different, to act on my own desires, to listen to that voice within me.
I finally found my place in the world. I can feel, really get down and feel what's inside of me. And if that's "not normal" then I don't care. And anyone who thinks there's something wrong with that can fuck off and stay the hell away from me, BECAUSE I INTEND TO FEEL MY WAY THROUGH LIFE! I'm not going to "pretend" this shit didn't happen. I'm not going to "pretend" just to make you fuckers feel better about things. This is how I deal with MY LIFE! This is MY FUCKING LIFE and I'm so exhausted with trying to be something and someone who makes all of you feel good about yourselves.
Do I make you uncomfortable? I don't fucking care. You can suck my dick if you don't like it. Deal with it or get the fuck out of my way.
For me, riding is feeling. Writing is telling. I have a life where I can freely feel my emotions and freely express them. I have finally found a place to be true to myself, my nirvana.
All this time I was a rider in a family of cagers. No wonder I never fit in.


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Overlea Window Replacement
Overlea window replacement companies offer excellent window and frame replacement products at affordable prices for residents of the Overlea region of Baltimore in Maryland. If it has been years since you have last replaced your home's windows and frames, or if you have never done so, the now is the time to take on this home renovation project. This Baltimore window replacement project is often preferred by homeowners since it is considered to be relatively easy, quick, and inexpensive. If you are looking to rejuvenate your Overlea home, then look no further than your local Overlea window replacement companies.
As you begin to shop for your new Overlea window replacement products, you will want to first consider the type of windows and frames you want for your respected home. There are a wide range of selections in regards to windows. You will need to consider how many panes you want for your windows. It is recommended to select triple pane windows, as it is the greatest barrier against unwanted outdoor air. You will also want to consider the type of frames you purchase. The most common types of purchased frames include vinyl, aluminum, and wood.
MD Window Installation Assistance
Once you have made your Overlea window replacement and frame selection and purchase, you will need to consider the installation process. Some homeowners in the Overlea region of Maryland choose to complete the installation on their own. If you plan to proceed in this manner, make sure that you are properly equipped with the appropriate materials needed for the installation. It is recommended that you use tarps or thick rugs to place on the door during the renovation process. Make sure you have all the necessary tools prior to beginning the installation of your new window replacement products.
If installing your own Overlea window replacement product is not appealing to you, take comfort in knowing that you have other options. Many Baltimore residents select to hire independent contractors to professionally complete the Maryland window replacement project. If you choose to proceed in this manner, make sure that the additional costs to hire an independent contractor is affordable for your financial budget. Most of your local window replacement companies in Overlea will be able to assist you in finding a qualified and respected independent contractor, as well as assist you in the process of hiring the independent contractor.
Preparing Your MD Home
Prior to beginning your Overlea window replacement home renovation project, you will want to make sure that you are properly preparing your home for the renovation. First, remove any and all items away from the renovation area in your Overlea home. This includes tables, lamps, chairs, sofas, vases, or any other decorative items in the area. It is very important that you remove any and all curtains for blinds from the area, or areas, as well. You will find this replacement renovation to be very difficult if you do not ensure a clean and clear working environment.
Once you have cleared the area, it is highly recommended that you place either a tarp or thick blanket on the surface of your floor. This helps to prevent any dents or damages that may occur to your floor in the working area. Tarps or heavy blankets also assist in the cleanup process. It is inevitable that debris will fall to the floor as a result of the window replacement renovation. When you begin the cleanup process, you will have the convenience of simply folding up the tarp or blanket to dispose of the debris in a proper and safe manner.
Caring for Your Windows
Even after the installation process is complete, you will still want to make sure that you continue to care for your new Overlea window replacement. Taking proper care of your windows and frames will help to ensure the longevity of the products. Most product packages will come with a set of directions, both for installation and after care for the Overlea windows and frames. It is highly recommended that you follow the after care directions set forth by the manufacturers to ensure that you are properly caring for your new home renovation products.
Overlea window replacement companies strongly urge residents and homeowners to properly care for their windows and frames. They understand that any home renovation project is a big decision, and can very often be a serious financial budget commitment. That is why they want to make sure that you get the most out of your Overlea window replacement products. Taking care of your windows and frames after installation is the best way to ensure that you are getting the most out of your renovation. Show off the newly rejuvenated appearance of your respected home to your family, friends, and neighbors. Take pride in your respected home.


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The Pittsburgh Penguins Battled Probability Before Advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals
It was over.
In a pivotal Game 6 against the Presidents' Trophy-winning Capitals, the Penguins had things locked up early. A goal in the first period by Phil Kessel gave the Pens a lead heading into the second period, and then the team was able to notch two goals off of a double minor in that second period to take a commanding 3-0 lead.
According to RinkStats.com, the Penguins' probability of winning the Game 6 contest -- a win would advance them to the Eastern Conference Finals -- was well over 90% after the second power play goal. And with a little under five minutes left in the contest, that number rose to almost 97%.
Then came the drama.
The Capitals did score before the end of the second period, but even then, RinkStats.com's algorithm gave the Penguins a 93.52% chance of winning the game entering the third. After all, Pittsburgh still had a commanding two-goal lead.
But the Penguins took a delay of game penalty. And another one. And another one. They all came in a row, within minutes of one another.
#Pens are the 2nd team in NHL history to receive 3 straight Delay of Game - Puck Over Glass penalties since the rule was modified in 2005
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) May 11, 2016
Those penalties resulted in multiple 5-on-3 chances for the Capitals, and when it was all said and done, Washington was able to tie the game at three with less than 10 minutes left in regulation.
Pittsburgh actually lost their edge in win probability towards the end of the third period, as they had to kill off yet another penalty, this time a simple 5-on-4. At the start of the penalty, Washington's probability to win was 56.72%.
Fortunately for Penguins' fans, the team killed it off.
But a 3-3 tie at the end of regulation wasn't expected. Not at all. Anyone watching the game assumed the Penguins would end up victorious, and so did every algorithm out there.
But despite losing the math battle, the Penguins still won.
Nick Bonino's overtime goal clinched the series for the Penguins -- a series they weren't supposed to win. Now, as they start the Eastern Conference Finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Penguins are heavy favorites to win the Stanley Cup according to our numbers, sitting with a 30.42% chance.
They just needed a little drama to get there.


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Feiss - F2935/4 - Allier - Four Light Large Pendan
Feiss - F2935/4 - Allier - Four Light Large Pendan
Named for a French forest from which wood is used for wine barrels, the Allier lighting collection by Feiss features orbs made of aged oak which is kiln-dried to prevent cracking. This modern take on a traditional material and silhouette makes an elegantly rustic statement.
Dimensions:D: 20 1/2'' H: 23 1/8''
Lamping: (4) Candelabra 60w Max.
Bulbs not included.
Total Height:89''
Supplied with 180'' of wire
Supplied with 60'' of chain
Canopy: H: 3/4'' Diameter: 6 1/2''


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Submitted by CdMScott on
This is the latest from Sofia Coppola, centered on the true story of a bunch of L.A. teens who used the Internet to determine when celebrities would be out of town, broke into their houses and stole expensive clothing and other items. As such it would seem like a ripe place for social satire, but the main criticism of this film is that it doesn't take much of a point of view on the proceedings or the characters. This turns out to be both true and not. There is plenty of material, but Coppola continues her tradition of staying at a distance and watching events unfold, which may either be brilliantly subtle or just plain timidity.
We open with some footage of the teens in a star's home, opening a closet and saying "Let's go shopping," then we see the, posing with their pilfered goods on Facebook. Then we have Nicki, played by Emma Watson, being interviewed after the case comes to trial, saying that she's "a big believer in karma" and feels like this whole thing happened to help her grow as a person, because she "would like to lead a big charity organization... or a country, for all I know." We then flash back a year prior to the beginning of their crime spree.
This fellow Marc joins a new school, where he soon meets Rebecca. We learn that this is "the dropout school" for kids who have been kicked out of more mainstream schools. Marc's gayness is signaled early, then just becomes another feature. Rebecca invites him to "check some cars," which means seeing if anyone has left their car doors unlocked and if they've left purses and cocaine and such inside, which many have. They soon break into the home of a student they know is away, stealing various things, including the car. Interspersed are interview segments, in one of which Marc says he has self-esteem issues because he's "not ugly... but not A-List."
Part of their circle is Nicki, who is home-schooled by her mother from "science-philosophy" texts such as The Secret, where they conduct such lessons as choosing a public figure they admire--like Angelina Jolie--and what attributes she has--like a hot boyfriend--they can emulate to make themselves a better person. The kids are routinely shown smoking grass. Marc sees that Paris Hilton is out of town, and Rebecca decides to see if they can break into her house. They do, and the movie gets some gentle comedy out of showing Hilton's house as plastered with her own image. Marc and Rebecca make off with some things, and their crime wave has begun.
They brag about their exploits and post photos online. Soon they're inviting the others of their circle to join them, and they revisit Hilton's house as well as those of Megan Fox and a Victoria's Secret model. You won't wonder long if Taissa Farmiga is Vera Farmiga's sister, because of the unmistakable family resemblance. She finds a gun and waves it around precariously during one of the break-ins. There is a nice lengthy long shot as we see a house from a distance as the kids break in and pilfer it. One thing we note is that the kids are very comfortable handling large wads of cash. We only really see Nicki's mother, played by Leslie Mann, but she is shown allowing her daughters to go out to clubs at night to meet "some producer guy... from 'something' International." There is more footage of them stealing from celebrity closets, then there is even more footage of them stealing from celebrity closets.
Security-cam footage from one robbery is posted online, but you can't make out who the criminals are, and the fact that nothing happened afterward only emboldens Rebecca. This occasions even more footage of them stealing from celebrity closets. Their raiding parties are getting larger, and they're becoming more careless about bragging to everyone they know. Soon the police come knocking. Nicki, who is not the biggest character, but gets the best lines throughout, says as she's being led away in handcuffs "You're really hurting me! Oww! I want to call my Mom!" Rebecca initially says that the police can search, but they won't find anything, and when they do, says "Okay, if I tell you where the things are, will you let me go?"
We then have them facing the case becoming public. We see Nicki being interviewed by Vanity Fair (she became the main source for the article that inspired the movie), and her mother constantly trying to horn in on her interview, dippy smile frozen on her face. We have Rebecca being deposed, and upon learning that the cop had spoken to all of the celebrity victims, asking "What did Lindsay say?" We see the accused strutting into court as though this is just another episode of their personal reality show, skip the court proceedings entirely, then learn about their sentences. The last thing is Nicki on a talk show, claiming to have had nothing to do with the robberies, and ending with "You can follow everything about me and my journey at...."
It wasn't awful. Unfortunately it is also far from great. Coppola continues her thing of just showing a bunch of events and leaving it to us to fill in the blanks. Thing is, there's just not that much here (and not a thing more than was in the original Vanity Fair article). We don't necessarily need another satire about obsession with celebrity culture (although I'm always game for one), but we could have gone into these kids' characters. We could have delved into what about their home lives made them this way. We could have learned what they think about the celebrities, and how they feel about their crimes, and whether having the high-priced items they wanted is as good as they'd hoped. We could have gone into the Marc/Rebecca dynamic much more deeply. But no, it all stays somewhat surface-level and I have captured pretty much every revealing moment in this review. The rest is fluff, or more rifling through celebrity closets.
I heard third-hand that Coppola says that she "wanted to tell it from the kids' point of view," which is exactly what she said about Marie Antoinette, and which, again, results in a bland movie. One can also observe that staying within the kids' point of view doesn't necessarily mean she can't give us information or depth on any of the topics listed above. You can stay within the kids' point of view and also shape your material into a statement (witness similar but relentlessly scathing King Kelly). And also: the kids' point of view, at least as expressed here, is simply not that interesting. My guess is that Coppola is simply too scared to take a point of view, or make a statement. Her films reek of timidity masquerading as artistic sensibility. This one is better because it at least has a story. It's clear that her visual style has evolved over the course of her films, now she just needs to understand that having a directorial viewpoint is not a bad thing, and doesn't mean that she's betraying her subjects or the verisimilitude of the story. While it's (maybe) admirable that Coppola strives for something close to lived truth, she needs to sort out the difference between being truthful and saying absolutely nothing.
Amusing enough, but will be more than fine on video.


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Justin Bieber sang in a video about killing a n*gger and joining the Ku Klux Klan in a 24 second video, reports The Sun. The clip shows Lil Biy changing the words of his 2009 song 'One Less Lonely Girl' to 'One Less Lonely N*gger'.' The videos showed him giggling away as he sang. A girl can be heard cackling in the background as Bieber mentions the KKK.
Are YOU still a Belieber?


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Best Strange Magic in HD FormatNow you can play full Strange Magic in HD quality with duration 90 Min and was released on 2015-01-23 with MPAA rating is 30.
- Original Title : Strange Magic
- Movie title in your country : Strange Magic
- Year of movie : 2015
- Genres of movie : Music, Animation, Family, Fantasy,
- Status of movie : Released
- Release date of movie : 2015-01-23
- Companies of movie : Lucasfilm, Touchstone Pictures,
- Countries of movie : United States of America,
- Language of movie : English,
- Durationof movie : 90 Min
- Average vote of movie : 6.3
- Youtube ID of movie : Xr9iLfD6xus
- Translation of movie : EN,FR,RU,NL,DE,ES,ZH,KO,PT,EL,SV,IT,CS,PL,
- Cast of movie :Alan Cumming (Bog King (voice)), Evan Rachel Wood (Marianne (voice)), Kristin Chenoweth (Sugar Plum Fairy (voice)), Maya Rudolph (Griselda (voice)), Sam Palladio (Roland (voice)), Alfred Molina (Fairy King (voice)), Elijah Kelley (Sunny (voice)), Bob Einstein (Stuff (voice)), Peter Stormare (Thang (voice)), Meredith Anne Bull (Dawn (voice)), Robbie Daymond (Fairy Cronies (voice)), Llou Johnson (Pare (voice))
Movie plot of Strange Magic :
Play full Strange Magic in High Definition Format with movie synopsis ""Strange Magic" is a madcap fairy tale musical inspired by "A Midsummer Night's Dream," with popular songs from the past six decades used to help tell the tale of a colorful cast of goblins, elves, fairies and imps, and their hilarious misadventures sparked by the battle over a powerful potion." in top quality. Download full Strange Magic in HD Video by push of the download link.
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Director : Gary Rydstrom, Writer : Gary Rydstrom, Writer : David Berenbaum, Writer : Irene Mecchi, Producer : Irene Mecchi, Executive Producer : George Lucas, Software Engineer : Yan Zou, Lighting Technician : Justin Hammond, Animation Manager : Adam Holmes
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Tags: elves, musical,


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Divorce Resources
Einhorn Harris Ascher Barbarito & Frost, PC believes that you should be knowledgeable when it comes to Divorce and Family Matters.
We have joined with Divorce Magazine to provide you with this monthly e-newsletter and hope that the information and articles contained within are helpful, and supportive.
As a service to our clients, the Matrimonial & Family Law Department of Einhorn Harris Ascher Barbarito & Frost, PC and Divorce Magazine are pleased to provide you with informative Divorce Guides.
Einhorn Harris has teamed up with Divorce Magazine to provide electronic versions of the magazine to its clients and friends.
Divorce Magazine is published twice per year.


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Feature & Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by
Happy Friday!
I love my paranormal genre too! I read it in both YA and adult! YA has changed greatly since I was actually in that age category! It would take me forever to find a paranormal read in YA. I was successful some of the time, but not always.
As long as there's something paranormal going on, I am open to trying it! Some books I read have had loose threads of paranormalness, like being a psychic, or having magic abilities. That kind of thing!
Here's my Follow Friday
Have a GREAT weekend!
Old Follower :)
I really like my supernatural/ speculative fiction books too - though I read both YA & adult titles. So for me, reading outside my comfort zone means literary, contemporary fiction & historical romance.
Tanya Patrice
Hopping through. I don't have a single genre that I read either. Although I mostly read YA.
My Hop
I love Zombie books I should check it out :)
I want to read Susan Dennard!!! Quite excited to read that book!
GFC follower
My post - F&F
Hopping through. Great choice for stepping out of your favorite genre!
I'm not a fan of zombies... I guess adult fiction would be where I got the most out of my usual genre...
Murphy's Library
Thank you for leaving a comment, you honestly just made my day ;)
I read each and every comment and I really appreciate sharing your thoughts with me guys! So it always makes me happy to hear from you ;) I will try my best to reply and comment back on your own blog so expect me to visit you soon ;)
*PS: This is now an award free blog and although I really apperciate it and I thank you for considering me but fulfilling these types of posts turns out to be really hard and time consuming :( *
But thank you for stopping by and welcome to Book-A-Holic!
xoxo, Mariam
NOTE: I haven't been commenting on other blogs lately because my laptop's charger is broke so until I get a new one I am using another computer but I guess there is something wrong with it because I can't leave comments on other blogs at all so sorry about that but I'll try and fix that asap. Thank you!


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A 5 megawatt Li-Ion battery storage facility has been opened in Oregon, U.S.A. It is only a demonstration project, as the cost of storing excess energy from renewable sources such as solar and wind generation is still not a practical solution. This demonstration is part of a micro-grid - a local grid that stores energy for the local community, and it can even provide power when the national grid is down, due to bad weather, industrial accidents, etc.
Renewable Energy


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I don't really know how to go about this rant, but I've got to start somewhere. I just had a strange encounter the other day and I want to comment on it.
Outside of Borders, where I was shopping avidly for books, a lady set up a station where people could make donations for children who are lost or who have been kidnapped. She asked every person as they went by (asking me as I entered), but I never carry cash on me so I can't normally donate unless the counter person asks me if I want to add it to my bill. In most cases, I will. It's only a dollar.
Anyway, as I left the store, she was kind of heckling me. She forced eye contact and conversation in a way that if you turned and walked away, it would be socially rude and immoral. I was with a friend, so we just kept walking, but this angered the lady. She must get this all the time. As we were walking away, I think she wanted us to feel the sting of rejecting her, so she yelled "Every 37 seconds, a child is lost!!!" Almost as if I was part of the problem now. Maybe take away another second because of my lack of donation.
Now, why even yell that at someone? I obviously wasn't going to contribute because I literally had nothing to give her, but does she think that yelling that will do either one of two things: I will turn around in embarassment and shame and give her money out of pity and sympathy; or two, I will now walk around my day and feel horrible because I didn't even empty my pockets for the cause.
I just thought it was tacky. I couldn't stop laughing, but a strange laugh, wondering why someone would yell something like that at someone (especially for a good cause). Aren't those kinds of people trying to help situations, not make them awkward or uncomfortable?
And even after she yelled that at me, as we were still walking to our cars, after a long pause she uttered, "Have a great day!"
Have a great day? She was just trying to solicit us using statistics. The whole thing is just bizarre.
And look, I know their job is hard. No one wants to give away spare cash, for any cause. People only really feel guilty when they know someone who has been inflicted bu whatever disease or tragedy. If you don't give money, it means you don't care. But is that true? It's hard to give away money in this economy, especially, when jobs are being lost left and right. This is a hard time for someone to sit on the street and ask for spare change.
This situation even reminds me of the Salvation Army santas that stand around stores on the holidays. When people hear that bell ringing, they go RUNNING. They avoid eye contact, shove their hands in their pockets, put their eyes down, and head straight for the car. And those people are the nicest. They open doors for you, they stand in the cold for HOURS, and they tolerate greedy people (like me the other day) who run away and don't want to acknowledge your presence. Those people truly have the kindest hearts.
So, I see the good cause, but is there a time when it crosses the line? People will donate, but do you need to give them the guilt trip? Do you need to get in their face? Some people will donate just for you to leave them alone, but is that worth it in the end?
What do you think of the solicitious nature of the donating booth crowd?
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Donation Rant
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Committee on Council and Finance/Executive Committee of the Atlanta City Council will hold a joint work session regarding proposed Ordinance 15-O-1585, public access to City financial expenditures and 15-R-4504, public access to City Council financial expenditures on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016 at 4:00 p.m. in Committee Room No. 1, Atlanta City Hall, 55 Trinity Avenue, S.W.
In an effort to ensure the transparency of all financial expenditures incurred by the City and the City Council, the Atlanta City Council is considering the aforementioned legislation which would allow the public to access the City and City Council's financial records and information.
Cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, Austin, and Denver have all made significant strides towards complete transparency with regard to city account payables and receivables. The Atlanta City Council has a fiduciary duty to act in a way that would benefit the city's residents and is working vigorously to ensure that they can have ready access to the city's financial information.
The meeting is open to the public and public comment is both welcomed and encouraged
Atlanta City Council seeks public comment on access to City financial transactions was originally published on atlantadailyworld.com


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Here's a hint: Did you catch the U.S. State Department's toll-free number for Haiti information?
Speaking of Haiti, Rod Roddenberry's Facebook auction of cool Gene and Majel stuff that benefits 100% plus his matching amount all ends TONIGHT at 11:59 p.m. PDT.
Oh, and I just realized the other day, re-watching The Day The Earth Stood Still (the REAL one):
RADIO ANNOUNCER: "The strange spaceraft landed on the Mall at 3:47 p.m. ..."There you are! No matter where you go.
Throw in your own 47s below...


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WOW! I did it!!! Yes, I managed to take off on Sat & Sun, both the days, something I wanted for a LONG time! Not that I don't like to work, but if you know you are working over weekend, it affects your effeciency. You tend to think, I'll carry over this to weekend, let me be a little relaxed.
At home, I did a lot of pending chores: Bank, lightbill, cleaning up, and many small-small things.
At home, I did a lot of pending chores: Bank, lightbill, cleaning up, and many small-small things.
Saturday: After doing all the pending chores, I lazed around for most of the day. Read through The Code Book. I have now upgraded from pesky GPRS internet connection to BSNL's DataOne Broadband service! It still is a little pain to get the connection from them, but I found them to be little more responsive and friendly than in earlier days when they were real PITA to deal with. I wouldn't say that broadband has become cheaper but it's definitely not very costly either. It's for my brother that I had to upgrade to a better service. GPRS was good only for checking mails and very casual browsing and chatting. But if you were to prepare for some seminar or doing something more serious, GPRS service isn't very reliable. At times it was pain connecting to net. Not to forget the pain it was for me to get it working. It's only 2 days and I have already started liking this speed. For heavy downloaders like me, it's like being in paradise!!!
Sunday: As a norm, went for football. Wasn't more fun than last weekend and that's mainly because people (including me) didn't turn up on time. Rest of the day, I spent lazing and reading The Code Book. Just a chapter left to finish. I would say it's an amazing book!
With a lot of people preparing for the BIG bash for our launch (Fashion Show, Dance, Drama, etc.) the environment is completely charged up here. I'll post a few snaps of the rehearsal soon.