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President Obama's intervention in Libya—pardon me, "NATO's" intervention in Libya—has become a moment of reflection for conservatives. Whereas the Right gave the last Republican president carte blanche on foreign policy despite cries from the Left about abuse of power, many conservatives now mimic those complaints by demanding that our current Democratic president follow the rule of law.
The Libyan intervention Obama promised would last only "days, not weeks" has now lasted over two months—a direct violation of the War Powers Resolution which requires the President to get Congressional authority for such action after 60 days. Writes conservative columnist George Will: "The U.S. intervention in Libya's civil war, intervention that began with a surplus of confusion about capabilities and a shortage of candor about objectives, is now taking a toll on the rule of law."
Will isn't alone in his concern. While the establishment centrists of both the Democratic and Republican leadership continue to shield Obama from the rule of law, some of the loudest demands that this war president be held accountable continue to come from the Right.
In the Senate, some of that body's most conservative members—Rand Paul, Jim DeMint, Mike Lee, Ron Johnson, Tom Coburn and John Cornyn—were co-signers of a May 18 letter to Obama insisting that the President respect the War Powers Resolution and rule of law. Needless to say, Democratic Senate Majority leader Harry Reid and "maverick" Republican John McCain vocally disagree with these conservative senators.
In the Republican-controlled House, Speaker John Boehner and the rest of the moderate GOP establishment predictably had the President's back. Likewise, Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich—one of the few antiwar liberals who did not sell out with the election of Obama—predictably launched a full-frontal assault on this war president. Kucinich introduced what the Washington Post called a "drastic" proposal that demands Obama withdraw forces from Libya within 15 days. Kucinich's co-sponsor was Republican Rep. Dan Burton of Indiana. Indeed, some of Kucinich's loudest champions concerning this legislation were conservative Republicans. Reports the Post: "Now, a Democratic president has asked the country to support a new military action and missed a legal deadline that required him to get Congress's authorization. In response, an antiwar movement has appeared in an unlikely place: a House dominated by the Republican right."
Co-sponsor Burton noted "I think, in the House, there's probably enough votes to pass this," and he must've been right—after closed door meetings with fellow Republicans the GOP leadership tabled the measure. Said Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith, "His intention is not to undermine the commander in chief, at a time when we have troops in harm's way."
Never mind that the Founding Fathers' intended for Congress—especially the "people's house" in the House of Representatives—to be the governing body that determines what justified putting "troops in harm's way." True to his characteristic Bush Republican form, Speaker Boehner obviously believes this important decision should lie entirely with the President in defiance of the Constitution's explicit instructions that Congress must declare war.
Make no mistake—a majority of Republicans in both the Senate and House still retain the same doltish mindset as Boehner. But then again, a majority of Republicans have never been conservative. This is nothing new. What is new is that the minority of Republicans who are beginning to rethink American foreign policy are almost exclusively conservatives. Kucinich bill supporter, Republican Rep. Jeff Flake perhaps had the greatest insight this week: "There's been disquiet for a long time. Republicans have been too eager to support some military ventures abroad. And this, (getting out of Libya) I think, is perhaps a little more consistent with traditional conservatism."
Flake is right. Perhaps more than he realizes.
Known as "Mr. Republican," in the mid-twentieth century, Sen. Robert Taft led the conservative charge against the prevailing Democratic belief that it was America's mission to "make the world safe for democracy," as defined by Woodrow Wilson and promoted by Franklin Roosevelt. In 1946, Taft said that the US went to war to "maintain the freedom of our own people… Certainly, we did not go to war to reform the world." In 1957, author Russell Kirk would write in his "Ten Canons of Conservative Thought:" "In the affairs of nations, the American conservative feels that his country ought to set an example to the world, but ought not to try to remake the world in its image." Despite neoconservative assertions to the contrary, many historians have noted Ronald Reagan's distaste for prolonged military conflict and that he had the least interventionist policy of any president in the last 50 years. Wrote Pat Buchanan of his former boss: "Reagan did not harbor some Wilsonian compulsion to remake the world in the image of Vermont." At the end of his life, National Review founder William F. Buckley called the Iraq War a mistake and suggested that Bush should be impeached. So did Dennis Kucinich.
It is no mistake that many of the GOP's most conservative members now more closely align themselves with what some might consider liberal antiwar positions, precisely because prudence in foreign affairs has always been the traditionally conservative position. This might become easier to see the more conservatives realize that Bush was this generation's Wilson and Obama is now the new FDR—promoting big government at home and abroad with utopian rhetoric and reckless abandon.
Concerning foreign policy, traditional conservatives have always been concerned first with America's interest, caution and restraint, and the rule of law—something Taft and Kirk always knew, Reagan and Buckley were old enough to remember and too many conservatives today have all but forgotten.
This week, more than a few Republicans proved that genuine American conservatism isn't entirely dead yet—as a Democratic war president unintentionally jogs the Right's historical memory and helps to revive conservatism's traditionalist heart.


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At least some content in this article is derived from information featured in Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery. Spoilers will be present within the article.
- "My subject is History of Magic. I deal with facts, not myths and legends."
- —Professor Binns to his class[src]
Professor Cuthbert Binns was a wizard and History of Magic professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He owned an office in the main castle and Classroom 4F on the first floor to teach in. He taught until a very old age, when he fell asleep in the staff room and died in slumber. Now, he is a ghost who continued to teach, droning on about various Goblin Rebellions and Giant Wars to bored, sleeping students.
Professor Binns's lessons were regarded as some of the most boring at Hogwarts, and only once in known history did he talk about something not strictly factual. During the 1991–1992 school year, he taught his first year students about numerous historical personalities such as Uric the Oddball and Emeric the Evil, whom the class always got confused with. The following academic year, he relayed the legend of the Chamber of Secrets to his second year class, but only after every student in the class showed complete and utter interest, despite initially stating the legend of the Chamber to be unimportant. He continued to teach Harry Potter and his class for three further years, until most, if not every one of his students dropped History of Magic.
Early life
- "You're welcome. As my father always used to say, zzzzzz..."
- —Cuthbert Binns to Harry Potter[src]
Career at Hogwarts
Earlier years
- "Professor Binns opened his notes and began to read in a flat drone like an old vacuum cleaner until nearly everyone in the class was in a deep stupor, occasionally coming round long enough to copy down a name or date, then falling asleep again."
- —Description.[src]
His lessons were known to be the most boring in all of Hogwarts; he read from his never-ending collection of notes. His students, whom he never payed any attention to, would fall asleep listening to his droning, reedy voice, eventually waking up to copy down a name or date, but falling asleep again.
Later years and death
- "Professor Binns had been very old indeed when he had fallen asleep in front of the staff-room fire and got up next morning to teach, leaving his body behind him."
- —The story of Professor Binns's death[src]
During the 1970s, Professor Binns taught James Potter, Lily Evans, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. For unknown reasons, Binns gave one of his Chocolate Frog Cards, that of Circe, to James Potter, which later fell into the hands of Quirinus Quirrell who put it into his vault, number 998.
1991-1992 school year
- "Easily the most boring lesson was History of Magic..."
- —Harry Potter evaluating over his first week at Hogwarts[src]
1992-1993 school year
- Hermione Granger: "I was wondering if you could tell us anything about the Chamber of Secrets?"
- Binns: "The story goes that Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in the castle, of which the other founders knew nothing. Slytherin, according to the legend, sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that none would be able to open it until his own true heir arrived at the school. The heir alone would be able to unseal the Chamber of Secrets, unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic."
- — The legend of the Chamber of Secrets[src]
The following year, the Chamber of Secrets was reopened and Mrs Norris, Argus Filch (the Caretaker's) cat, was petrified by Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk. Regardless, the school ran as normal and one of Professor Binns's homework he gave out just after the attack was a three-foot essay on The Medieval Assembly of European Wizards. While lecturing his second years on the International Warlocks' Convention of 1289, Hermione Granger raised her hand and asked about the legend of the Chamber. Despite initially refusing to grant her wish, he relayed the legend after seeing the unusual amount of interest and attention his class were giving him. After reciting the story, each of his pupils argued against his belief that there was no Chamber, but he put a stop to them and their theories and, within five minutes, had bored them to sleep with his lecture. Later on in the year, he was visited by the Deputy Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall, who told him that Harry Potter and Ron Weasley would be absent from his History of Magic class due to their visit to the petrified Hermione Granger.
1993-1994 school year
During the 1993–1994 school year, Professor Binns continued to teach Harry Potter and his classmates. One night in the winter term, Binns allowed Professor Remus Lupin, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, to teach Harry how to cast the Patronus Charm in Classroom 4F, the room where History of Magic lessons were held.
1994-1995 school year
- "Meanwhile Professor Binns, the ghost who taught History of Magic, had them writing weekly essays on the goblin rebellions of the eighteenth century."
- —Binns in preparation for his fourth years' O.W.L.s[src]
1995-1996 school year
- "Today, they suffered three quarters of an hour's droning on the subject of giant wars. Harry heard just enough within the first ten minutes to appreciate dimly that in another teacher's hands this subject might have been mildly interesting, but then his brain disengaged, and he spent the remaining thirty-five minutes playing hangman on a corner of his parchment with Ron, while Hermione shot them filthy looks out of the corner of her eye."
- —Professor Binns's first class of the new term[src]
For one of his first classes of the 1995–1996 school year, known to be a Monday, Professor Binns lectured his fifth year students on wars caused and participated in by Giants, which would have been interesting had it been taught by a more engaging teacher. After an hour of lecturing, Binns left the classroom through the blackboard. He had another History of Magic class the following Monday, just after Dolores Umbridge's appointment as the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts, which was noted to be just as boring, drowsy and depressing as the last. That year was the year of his students' Ordinary Wizarding Level examinations, and he made his students write down notes for them to revise from for their exams. It is possible that Umbridge inspected Binns's classes that year, but unlikely, since he taught a theoretical subject that would not help Professor Dumbledore form an army, which was the Ministry of Magic's idea of what was going on in the school; at any rate, she was not present during Harry's lectures.
1997-1998 school year
During this year, Voldemort had seized control over Hogwarts, it is likely that he may have attempted to and possibly successfully implement a new History of Magic curriculum to include anti-muggle propaganda, similarly to how he had implemented mandatory Dark Arts lessons. Though since Binns was a ghost and unable to be threatened by force, it's quite possible that if this were the case, Binns was not teaching History of Magic.
It is possible that Professor Binns took part in the Battle of Hogwarts against the Death Eaters during the 1997–1998 school year.
After the War (1998-)
It is likely that Professor Binns continued his long tenure as Professor of History of Magic after the war.
Physical description
- "Professor Binns paused again, pursing his lips, looking like a wrinkled old tortoise."
- —A brief description of Professor Binns[src]
Professor Binns, as being a ghost, was described as looking ancient and shrivelled, and looked a little like an old tortoise when he pursed his lips. He wore glasses, which were small and thick, and had a dry, reedy voice that sounded a lot like an old vacuum cleaner, droning on and on.
Personality and traits
Professor Binns did not display much of a personality, as all he did was read his notes in a droning voice to his students, while oblivious or uncaring about how everyone simply dozes off from boredom. However, it can be seen that he was very impatient and did not take the liberty of learning his students' names, calling Hermione Granger "Miss Grant", Parvati Patil "Miss Pennyfeather", Seamus Finnigan "O'Flaherty" and even the famous Harry Potter "Perkins". It's possible he was actually calling them by the names of previous students from years ago, possibly due to senility as he was very old at the time of death. Binns was also shown to be a firm disbeliever in legends and mythology, dedicating his studies and lectures on "solid, believable fact". He is said to have a drawling monotonous voice, which most of his students had become bored with.
Magical abilities and skills
- History of Magic: Cuthbert was very knowledgeable of magical history, teaching the subject for several decades at Hogwarts School, with his historical knowledge spanning much of wizarding history.
- Teaching skills: Binns must have proven himself to be an adequate teacher to have acquired his position in Hogwarts. However, his current performance has proven to be ineffective, as he simply read notes in a droning manner that lulled many students to fall asleep. His unenthusiastic manner of communications, lack of interest in his students' attention, and his refusal to delve into what he considers to be myth, has greatly hampered his skills in delivering information to his class.
- Office: While teaching at Hogwarts, Binns had an office on the fifth floor.
- Books: Binns owned several books, including a Draconifors spellbook, Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century, and several other books.
- "Binns" is from "binoculars", a slang term for spectacles. Notice that Professor Binns wore very thick glasses.
- A bin is a large storage container. A dustbin is British English for a garbage can. This boring professor could be described as a ghostly storage for information that many Hogwarts students view as rubbish.
Behind the scenes
- Professor Binns does assign homework and essays, though as he is a ghost it's unknown how he is able to grade them. Given this, it is possible he has a student assistant, like the ones in Music and Muggle Studies. Alternatively, he might be in possession of a quill that he can tell what to write and therefore does not need to actually touch it to grade papers.
- Binns has not appeared in any of the films nor the PC games. His explanation in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets of the legend of the Chamber of Secrets is instead given by Professor McGonagall in the film and in the PC game it is Professor Flitwick who tells the legend.
- In the videogame Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, there is one History of Magic classroom featured on the Fourth Floor corridor. Professor Binns, however, is never seen in the game.
- The only video games Professor Binns has made an appearance (so far) are the Game Boy Color adaptations and LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, although he was mentioned in the Order of the Phoenix video game. On the Game Boy Color versions Binns has a tendency to fall asleep during lectures and to forget about things.
- Professor Binns' first name only appeared on a list of the Hogwarts professors which was released on J. K. Rowling's website.
- Professor Binns is seen in the book series as a stereotyped old man; he forgets things seconds after hearing them, has a slow droning voice, and gets irritable at times.
- As Binns became a ghost, he can no longer move beyond the veil, and will remain earthbound for all eternity.[citation needed] This means that unless he resigns or is sacked, he would be the History of Magic teacher forever.
- Since Binns died in the staffroom, and continued on as if nothing happened, it can be assumed that he feared death (or what lies beyond the veil). Perhaps teaching was what Binns wanted to do, for literally all eternity.
- In "Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey" ride in Orlando Florida, Dumbledore mentions that Professor Binns will be giving the audience a lecture entitled Hogwarts Through the Centuries and that it will be "...long". Harry, Ron and Hermione sneak the audience out of the Defence Against the Dark Arts Classroom before Professor Binns shows up.
- In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Binns states, "There is not a shred of evidence that Slytherin ever built so much as a secret broom cupboard!" Ironically enough, there is a secret broom cupboard in Hogwarts: the Weasley twins told Harry that when they were running away from Filch once, they took refuge in a broom cupboard, which was later revealed to be the Room of Requirement.
- According to the Prisoner of Azkaban transcript on thepensieve.org, Professor Binns makes an appearance in the film, as a ghost who reports to Dumbledore shortly after "The Flight of the Fat Lady." However, if this is true, none of Binns' more memorable traits are portrayed in the films.
Author's comments
"The most productive ghost at Hogwarts is, of course, Professor Binns, the old History of Magic teacher who fell asleep in front of the staff-room fire one day and simply got up to give his next class, leaving his body behind. There is some debate as to whether or not Professor Binns realises he is dead. While his entrance to lessons through the blackboard is vaguely amusing the first time students see it, he is not the most stimulating teacher.
The inspiration for Professor Binns was an old professor at my university, who gave every lecture with his eyes closed, rocking backwards and forwards slightly on his toes. While he was a brilliant man, who disgorged an immense amount of valuable information at every lecture, his disconnect with his students was total. Professor Binns is only dimly aware of his living students, and is astonished when they begin asking him questions."
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (First appearance) (Appears as a ghost or a spirit)
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game) (Appears as a ghost or a spirit) (GBC version only)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Appears as a ghost or a spirit)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game) (Appears as a ghost or a spirit) (GBC version only)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Mentioned only)
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Mentioned only)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Appears as a ghost or a spirit)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game) (Mentioned only)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Mentioned only)
- What was the Name of that Nymph Again? or Greek and Roman Studies Recalled (Mentioned only)
- The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Mentioned only)
- LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (Appears as a ghost or a spirit)
- LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 (Appears as a ghost or a spirit)
- Pottermore (Appears as a ghost or a spirit)
- Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (Appears as a ghost or a spirit)
Notes and references
- ↑ Professor Cuthbert Binns was already dead when he taught to the Marauders.
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game) - GBC version

subset: commoncrawl


text: WAYNESBORO — A woman told Waynesboro police a man knocked on her South Church Street door and asked to use her bathroom at 8:55 a.m. Feb. 26. After he used her bathroom, the man started asking her personal questions. He fled the area when workers arrived at the home. Police did not locate him.


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SCons / SconsTutorial2
The SCons wiki has moved to https://github.com/SCons/scons/wiki/SconsTutorial2
Programming with Scons
Tutorial 2 - More Syntax, Shared Libraries, Install Targets
So now you have created your first program using scons. This is all well and good, but there are several aspects that we are currently missing. The biggest of these is creating an installation target. After all, what good would a replacement to configure; make; make install be without install? (We'll get to setting up a configuration target in coming tutorials.) This tutorial will cover install targets, and as an added bonus, we'll take a short look at shared libraries. If you don't care about shared libraries, that section still has several hints helpful for different types of scons development.
Keyword Arguments
You may have noticed the use of keyword arguments in the last tutorial. Bellow, we see an example of keyword arguments:
env.Program(target = "hello", source = ["helloworld.c"])
Here, the keyword arguments specify the "target", and the "source". The keywords are "target" and "source". The use of keyword arguments allows the arguments to be specified in the order that you desire. For example, the above example might also be:
env.Program(source = ["helloworld.c"], target = "hello")
Keyword arguments also allow you to only enter a minimum of parameters. Unneeded parameters simply stay at their default values.
Creating a Shared Library
Shared libraries are the life blood of modern operating systems. SCons makes creating shared libraries as easy as creating programs. Instead of using the env.Program() construct, we'll use env.SharedLibrary(). Seems logical doesn't it? Here is the syntax:
lib_target = "hello" lib_sources = ["libhello.c"] env.SharedLibrary(target = lib_target, source = lib_sources)
Note that in this example I use variables to determine the source list and target. Variables can be used in place of any string and such in Scons. (It must be of the same type though.) There are a few important things to note about this code.
First, the library prefix and suffix are determined automatically by SCons. In MacOS X, the extension will be correct. In Linux, the extension will be correct. In addition, under Unix systems, "lib" will be automatically prepended to the target filename. It is possible to change the prefix however. Recall that SCons uses keyword arguments. To specify another shared library prefix, we can use the keyword argument SHLIBPREFIX:
env.SharedLibrary(target = lib_target, source = lib_sources, SHLIBPREFIX='')
In the example above, the shared library prefix is set to an empty string. The shared library created then will have only the suffix. For more on things like this, read the SCons manpage.
Advanced Topics
In this tutorial series several of the more advanced topics will be skipped over. These are far too many and too numerous to mention in a simple tutorial series. If you are interested in these advanced topics, the documentation for SCons is very complete and should help in the creation of any more advanced SConstruct.
Creating Installation Targets
Now that we've got our program and shared library, it's time to install them. This part is fairly Unix specific. (We'll get into how to make this more general later.) The first thing to realize, is that whenever we use env.Program, env.SharedLibrary, or similar they have a return value that can be used to create install targets. This return value might be thought of as a string containing the full name of the newly created object. To use this name, all we must do is assign the return value to a variable.
hello = env.Program(source = ["helloworld.c"], target = "helloworld")
Now, we have an object representing the newly created program. This object can then be used as an installation source. To do this, we will use the env.Install() function. Using the install function, it isn't neccessary to use keyword arguments as it only takes two arguments: the directory(keyword: dir), and the source(keyword: source).
env.Install("/usr/local/bin", hello)
This is the same as:
env.Install(dir = "/usr/local/bin", source = hello)
Now, at this time, we can install the program by running "scons /usr/local/bin". To create the /usr/local/bin target. Recall from the previous tutorial how the scons syntax works for directories. Now, this isn't easy on users so we must do something to create an actual install target.
Target Aliases
or, How to Make "scons install" Work
Sometimes it might be nice to have "scons" followed by a function name or target work. But, at the same time, you don't want to require the user to enter multiple filenames, directories, or paths. To get around this, scons has something called target aliases. The alias function accepts two arguments: the alias name(keyword: alias), and a list of targets(keyword: targets). Now, recall that installation targets just happen to be the directory we are installing to. So, to create an install target, we simply create an alias for the target install, that maps to ALL the directories we are installing to:
env.Alias('install', ['/usr/local/bin'])
And we're done!
Finishing Up
You should now be able to create shared libraries, use keyword arguments, and specify installation targets.
Functions Covered in this Tutorial: Environment(), env.SharedLibrary(), env.Install(), env.Alias()
Code: sconstutorial2.tar.gz


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Lady Gaga sends an important message to her fans + talks about ARTPOP, Michael Jackson, Madonna
Last week, Lady Gaga herself met with four Gaga Daily moderators to receive a fan book from our site's members, talk about her upcoming album and more. She also asked the fans to send a very important message to her fanbase:
"A message Gaga wants us to spread to the fans: Please do not be upset when you hear someone say they do not like Lady Gaga. Gaga does not want such a thing to bother you. She said she likes to be hated, because it means she is controversial and all legends were controversial figures. She likes how GagaDaily doesn't allow disrespect of other artists because she wants her fans to appreciate all kinds of music."
Kayla's story:
As many of you know, we started collecting entries for the Fanbook in September of 2012 and were gathering content to use in the Scrapbook in December. This came after spending months brainstorming, creating whole ideas and then scrapping them entirely before settling on a Fanbook/Scrapbook combination with guidelines that were easy to understand.
Zilla and I spent hours working on the Scrapbook pages and maintaining the e-mails received for the Fanbooks. I must give Zilla all credit for the Fanbook, though- that was all her! She also did majority of the pages in the Scrapbook. I remember the night before the due date, I was up until 5 a.m. working on pages, after spending days and hours working already on my pages.
I also must thank a very special team of members who donated money to this project. I will not say who they are or how much they gave, as they wish to remain anonymous, but without them this project would not have been able to be completed, so I thank them with all my heart and cannot accurately express my gratitude with words.
It was decided we would meet up with Gaga at the Born Brave Bus to give her the books, allowing them to stay safe and in good condition during the show. (It was made very clear that Gaga would not see them until we were there with her!) We found her, in a leopard print coat, at the DJ booth talking to DJ White Shadow. After handing over the books, we chatted about how we knew Emma and were hoping to find a way to deliver a care package that a few of our wonderful Moderators put together for her.
The show was amazing, camping out was amazing, the people we met were amazing, and I could write a whole book on those things alone, but I'll focus on the experience of making the books and being backstage. At the end of the show, we made our way to our meeting place, where all the other people who'd been given access backstage were waiting, and moved to the back of the General Admission Area to watch "Marry the Night" and give them our names and e-mail addresses.
After being escorted backstage, we were each given a bottle of water. Us Gaga Daily folk (Myself, Zilla, and Nick) were given the books and took back to a room where Emma and her family and friends were located. Walking down the hall, I spotted Madeon [Gaga's producer] and Gaga's manager was holding Fozzi as we walked into the room.
We chatted with Emma and her family for a while, and at one point called ChicaSkas so she could speak to Emma too. (Technically, at that time we had five moderators backstage – gotta be a record!). One other neat thing that happened was Asiel [Gaga's dancer] came into the room to talk to us for a bit! He was super nice.
At last, we got word Gaga was on her way. Emma's friend by the door said he could hear her, that she was talking and laughing. I remember my heart was pounding and I was worried about what my reaction would be. She entered the room and I was speechless. As she was going around getting our names, she reached me and I got all choked up and said "I'm sorry, I'm just really happy right now!" She laughed and walked over to give me a hug, I told her she was beautiful.
She gave me so many hugs that night, mainly because I had so many moments where I got starstruck and just amazed that she was standing right there. Seriously, the feeling of standing next to her while she is talking to you, sharing stories, laughing, crying, and more is so surreal. She went from being this unattainable entity to a person who I could actually touch and start a conversation with. And she was the one who initiated all those hugs!
And despite the moments of speechlessness and amazedness, it was surprisingly easy to talk to Gaga. She has a way of making you feel comfortable, even though she's the biggest superstar in the world. She is easily the nicest, most humble, down to earth person I've ever met in my life. Hands down. I expected her to be all those things, but she completely blew all my expectations out of the water and was even more amazing than I ever could have imagined her to be.
When Gaga was signing things for us and one of Emma's friends gave her a copy o The Fame o sign. They started talking about how Gaga used to sign those albums when they first came out, and she said she used to sign them differently because she was just excited people wanted to get her autograph. She then proceeded to sign his album the same way she used to back in the day, even adding "Enjoy The Fame!" In addition to that, I noticed the other little messages she wrote in her autographs seemed tailored to the person who was getting it from her.
Now I'd like to go back to when I was speechless right after she walked in the room and she hugged me. Gaga then said, "Do you have anything you want to ask me about?" Nearly sobbing, I blurted out: "Everything!" A little later, I said: "Okay, I know what I want to ask you about… I'm kind of a bird nerd," at this point she laughed and said she never heard someone say something like that before, and I had to laugh too and said "I really love birds! So I was wondering what your favorite bird is?" Gaga laughed again and said something along the lines of her never being asked a question like that before before starting to pace, deep in thought with her hand on her chin.
When she knew she had it, she said, "Well, I really like Flamingos. The way they walk and bend their knees like…" Gaga then proceeded to imitate a flamingo. "I like how they're so noisy, and they just seem so shady." She also said she was fond of Ostriches, but then said her favorite bird was a mythical bird, the Phoenix.
After saying that, she confesse ARTPOP as actually very much inspired by the Phoenix and its ability to rise from the ashes. When I heard her say that, I told her about how so many people in the fan base think the album's concept is about the decay of the superstar, and upon hearing me say that she was very quick to shut that down. "No!" she said. "It's not about that at all. At. All." This sparked some more discussion abou ARTPOP, and based on what we heard you guys will love the album so much! For the purpose of not letting information leak, out of respect to Gaga and so no leeches can take her ideas before they're even released, instead of giving out the details and information she gave us we'll just agree to say "That's something Gaga told us about!" after it's officially released to the public, okay?
However, two things we have been somewhat convinced that would be okay to share is that when people hear Gaga on the radio again, they're going to think to themselves, "Wow, is this really Lady Gaga?" She also said the song is like a really good night at a club (and you know how she does that thing where she lifts up her hand and clicks her fingers when she says "really good"? Yeah, she did that!). She said it's like when you're out dancing and the DJ just keeps playing one awesome song after another. So, according to her, you could play the album straight through at a club and it'd be amazing!
About Gaga Daily, she said we are her favorite website for a few reasons, one of them being the Flamebait rule, stating she likes how we don't allow disrespect of other artists because she wants her fans to appreciate all kinds of music. She also really loves how kind the members seem to be towards each other, mentioning that she notices other forums "can get very shady" and be very rude towards one-another, which is something that she does not like at all. She also thinks we do a good job of keeping the place clean! (Not kidding you, she said all of those things. I didn't know she had such a big opinion of us!)
Now on to the books. Gaga was indeed very excited about the Scrapbook, and started flipping through as Zilla explained which parts of the book she created and which parts I did. I was standing behind her so I didn't get a good chance to notice which pages she was spending the most time on, but I did notice she pointed out the Rolling Stones spread (at one point in the Meet and Greet, I told her that she embodied that era perfectly with the way she danced, her outfit, the way she moved on stage with the Rolling Stones, and she said she knew that if she was born in that era she wouldn't have been successful because she would have been running around dating rock stars. She said she often jokes with Yoko and tells her that if she was born during that time, Yoko would have had to have hidden John Lennon from her!).
After she was finished flipping through the Scrapbook, we handed her the Fanbook and she got so excited! She said, "Are these the fans?!" and snatched it out of Zilla's hands, immediately opening it to look at the pages. Gaga said she keeps all of the fanbooks she receives and when she feels down, just pulls one out and flips through it for inspiration and happiness.
Lastly, and I saved this for last because it's most important and needs to be something that sticks with you, is a message Gaga wants us to spread to the fans: Please do not be upset when you hear someone say they do not like Lady Gaga. Gaga does not want such a thing to bother you. She said she likes to be hated, because it means she is controversial and all legends were controversial figures.
Emma's story:
Here's how this whole thing came about specifically for me. Back in December, I wrote an e-mail off to Gaga's team about a possible Meet and Greet with Gaga (anyone who knows me also knows I have absolutely no access to the pit). After nearly two months, I got a reply from a very sweet guy named Trevor and he had stated that a documentary is being filmed about the Born This Way Foundation.
The morning of the show, there was literally a camera crew inside my house. They wanted to know my life story, why I love Gaga, etc. My three friends were there also, who had stories of their own. The whole interview lasted about two hours, at which point I had to hurry up and get ready to head out to the venue, where they would continue filming.
We arrived at the Xcel Energy Center shortly before 3:30. After waiting around for a bit, I met Trevor and the rest of the crew, who wanted to get footage at the Born Brave Bus and tailgate. Surprisingly, the whole thing was very casual – after awhile, you pretty much forget there's cameras following you everywhere. They said we could do whatever we wanted. As we were eating, Trevor told us that they would like us to head over to the inside of the bus for yet another round of filming.
Now inside, we were seated on the couch and a screen with other stories of bravery featured were directly in front of us. We watched a few of the clips (they were great), and then it was action. It was more or less the same questions – maybe varying a little, but not too much – as before. Then came the point when the cameras, for a brief period, came to a halt.
That's when the Lady herself walked in to greet us, rocking the awesome lime-green wig that's gotten an insane amount of hits on Gaga Daily. She was just as sweet as she seems, and at this point, she sat on my left. "How are you guys? It's so good to meet you!" she then hugged me and my friend Brandon, and I'll be honest, she gives the most amazing hugs ever. At this point, she wanted to know our stories.
I literally could write a novel on this subject, but in short, I was born with a birth defect. I've basically been wheelchair bound my entire life. A lot of my childhood memories consist of more than the two dozen surgeries I've had to endure (not to mention a few encounters with death on the way). Fast forward to the present, and I'm now faced with a double hip replacement at age 18. On top of it all, depression grabbed hold of me at a very young age – seven. What kind of first grader hates their body? I did, and as a matter of fact I still do. It's a daily battle; at my lowest point, I would cry myself to sleep at night. My faith and Gaga's music got me through it. It might sound strange, but I really do consider myself to be very blessed. I have the most amazing friends, doctors, caregivers, and family anyone could ever ask for. Honestly, if I could take a magic pill right now and be cured, I'd turn you away. Words cannot even begin to sum up the incredible relationships I have formed, out of all places, through the hospital. It's a specialty hospital located in St. Paul whose fortè is treating people just like myself, and the first one ever established in the United States. We've laughed together, cried together, joked together. I know it sounds like I'm going off on a tangent here, but that's where Gaga comes in.
The hospital started a campaign called "CurePity." Self explanatory. I thought if by some crazy chance I could meet Gaga, I would have her sign the pledge. They've gotten other celebrities from the area to sign (Twins and Vikings players etc), but I wanted to take it to a whole new level.
One of the first things I asked Gaga was to sign. She simply said that she promised she would, and that it's something she totally supports. She then proceeded to tell me, "you know, my fans always come to me and ask me about me and my music, but you came to me and all you want me to do is sign this. That is so fucking inspiring. When people see this, I think you're going to inspire people and change a lot of people's lives."
I won't speak too much about the details of my personal life, but we did go into deep detail about how hard it was to be "different" and being the "outcast" if you will. When I got to the topic of the hip replacement surgeries and experimental therapies, she told me something very personal, which was, "when you wake up tomorrow, Emma, I want you to look in the mirror and say 'I'm not going to be in pain today.' Keep telling it to yourself until it becomes true. And by the way, I have a feeling the (therapy) will take this time." She mentioned a LOT of the details about what being bullied in school was like with her, and how she got through it. To lighten the mood a bit, I started talking about how we make jokes about myself and how I genuinely find it hilarious. At this point, I couldn't resist – I opened up my Siri and said "Siri, what is my name?" to which she responded, "You're Emma, but since we're friends, I get to call you 'Cripple Bitch.' and Gaga literally laughed out loud. She thought that was great and she said, "I think it's really cool that you can joke like that with your friends."
We then changed up the subject a bit – you'll get a kick out of this one! At the bus, Gaga Daily somehow got into the conversation (I think it was they had brought the carepackage onto the bus and she was like "Oh, they gave this to you?"). She again said that it was her favorite fan site, but she also said something really interesting, which was, "I'm especially on there if big news happens. If there's something big going on, I will literally sit there and refresh the page countless times, and laugh about it, too. When we did 'Cake,' we literally cut that in five minutes – pretty much in one take – with Paul [DJ White Shadow] and you guys literally figured it out within 10 minutes. It was insane!"
Speaking of things you guys will get a kick out of… Brandon was talking about the tour and the setlist: "I was watching videos…" and Gaga cut him off very abruptly and responded with "Don't watch videos of the show, it looks like shit!"
She also kissed me on both cheeks, hugged me about a dozen times and wouldn't stop playing with my hair. She asked me where I got it cut and I said, "I know this sounds weird, but Wal-Mart!" She was really surprised by that answer and was like "Wow, I had no idea you could get a haircut at Wal-Mart. Must be a midwestern thing, but she did a great job."
After the first hour, my friend Allie texted me and asked me to tell Gaga I love her. I had my phone on me at the time, and she saw it, to which she literally sat there with her long ass fingernails and wrote "i love you 2." I then asked if they could come in, which of course she said yes. They were super starstruck at first, but just like she did with us, she asked them their names and hugged them.
Right before the two hours was up and her assistant was literally pulling her away, Gaga asked us where we were sitting and gave us upgraded seats – she also asked us if we would be interested in coming backstage after the show, to which we gave a resounding yes.
Now onto the concert, which was amazing, but there was one particular moment that had us all in awe. Right before "Born This Way" (acoustic), we were told that the winner for Virgin Mobile was being moved to our section – specifically on the balcony, which is the wheelchair accessible area. I thought, "That's a little odd, but okay. We'll roll with it." Before the phone call, they gave each of us a free T-Shirt, which was totally awesome.
After talking with Chelsea (the winner), she began to sing, and then right before the bridge, she stopped to say the following: "I was at the Born Brave Bus for awhile and I met Emma and I met her friend Brandon. Are you there? Can you scream? Where are you? I proceeded to wave, and she said "Hey guys! I had so much fun with you today, and I just feel like, sometimes, my fans are so much braver than I am." The spotlight then panned on me and all I could do was put my hands over my face. I was in shock – but it wasn't over yet.
During the bridge, right before the line "whether life's disabilities left you outcast, bullied or teased, baby you were born this way," she again stopped and said "This one's for you Emma. Because she told me that this one's her favorite." After singing that line, she said, "That's why I wrote about her in this song, because my mom taught me to be brave. But not everybody, like, can rely on their parents, you know, so we have to rely on each other."
Since you all know the rest of the show, I'll move right onto backstage. When "Scheiße" started, security came up to us and said, "It's time to go," at which point we were escorted backstage. We hung out with Gaga's assistant, Nick, Kayla, and Zilla for about an hour, munching on the food that they offered us.
Shortly before she came in, I told everyone to remain as calm as possible – and if you do get emotional, it's okay, because she calms you down right away. Then she walked in and said hi to everyone. It seemed that everyone was starstruck but my group, being that we hung out with her before the show.
I'm going to jump around a bit and talk about the things that specifically pertain to me.
At the bus, she talked about how she's always in pain from "dancing her ass off hard for two hours and 15 minutes every night." That somehow got brought up again backstage and she was like "doesn't your mom have pain issues too?" at which point she proceeded to jump in and say "personally, I think it's all about diet. I eat no grains, no soy, nothing, I use almond flour instead and I feel so much better," She seemed surprised and said "everything I eat has soy in it! Wow." My mom kind of gave her the side-eye, and she then said "I'll have to try almond flour." Lane wrote it down on her notebook for her.
She then started talking about how when she was 19 trying to make it in the business with Starlight, they would go into clubs and light cans of aquanet on fire – and the club wasn't so much worried for the safety of the people as they were burning the place down. My mom said, "good thing they're only a dollar a can!" she laughed and high-fived her. She then told my mom "Mama, pour me some of that wine!" to which she obviously did.
Then, it was time for a group photo with Zilla, Kayla, Nick, and I. Gaga was sitting on the couch, and everyone (besides me) was kneeling on the floor for the photo. She then asked if we wanted individual ones too, and I got a picture with just Gaga and myself along with me, Gaga, and my group of friends.
After that was done, it was time to go. She hugged me one last time and said, "Bye Emma! Next time you're here, make sure to let me know. I want to see you again." As we were going down the hallway, I came super close to accidentally running her over and I kind of got freaked out. She acted like nothing happened and said "Roll on! Bye Emma!"
Hands down the nicest person I have ever met, in addition to one of the coolest experiences of my life. I will never forget this experience, and a huge thank you to Gaga and Gaga's team for making this possible!
Nick's Story
"I don't speak American, but I can if you like!" Gaga performed "Scheiße," and the monster pit was going absolutely insane. This is the biggest fan favorite from the album, and Gaga saved it for the second to last song. Once she was done, we left the pit and found some guards to talk with. There were several of them, and every one of them checked our backstage wristbands with their flashlights.
Once we were approved, we headed to the back of the arena and met with the other fans that were going backstage with us. In total, there were nine of us. A woman passed along an iPad and required us to enter our full names and email addresses. This would be used for sending the backstage photos since fans aren't allowed to take the photos themselves. While we waited for each other to complete this process, we watched Gaga perform the closing number, "Marry the Night." She did an acoustic version of the song and picked about 10 fans from the pit to bring on stage with her.
We were then escorted backstage with some of Gaga's security staff. We probably passed by five guards before getting back there – the place was extremely secured. Once we got back there, we briefly chatted with the other fans who were meeting her. After finishing our water bottles provided by Gaga's staff, we were escorted to a room. Emma and her family were already in a room back there, and since she's also on the Gaga Daily team, we asked to be in the same room as Emma.
Emma's family and the friends who were with her are honestly some of the nicest people I've ever met. We spent about 30 minutes with them before Gaga walked in. There was a ton of food in our room. It had a fridge filled with sparkling water and iced tea, fresh fruit and veggies with hummus, doritos, and a big container of assorted candy. We all snacked on the food while waiting for her to walk in.
Then it happened. She just walked in the room and said, "Okay, where are my Gaga Daily people?" We all sort of froze there as she walked up to give us all a hug. There was our idol standing there in the flesh. I stuttered when saying hi to her. After she said hello to us, she shut the door.
The first thing she talked about was her appreciation for Gaga Daily. She said, "I think Gaga Daily is my favorite fan site. The main reason for this is because it's kept so clean. You guys do a really good job to make sure the website is professional for its viewers." It was unreal to be thanked by Gaga for moderating the site, and we were flattered that she loves visiting it so much. We spend a lot more time working behind the scenes than most think, so to be thanked for all of that hard work meant the world to us.
Gaga also talked about one of the rules on the site called Flamebait. She actually referred to it as "the Flamebait rule" and said she likes how fans aren't allowed to disrespect other artists. She wants to foster a fan base that appreciates all types of music and artists, so Gaga was very appreciative about how we have actually integrated a rule that supports mutual respect of other artists.
Gaga then wanted us to give some messages to the members on the site. She told us to tell all the fans not to be upset when someone doesn't like her. "All legends were controversial" she said.
She also talked about how she still doesn't own a house. She was telling us how her dad has been showing her some quotes for houses and how she could never commit money like that for a down payment. "I started freaking out when I realized how much the down payment would cost! I've never had to fork out a down payment, and I'm still not used to dealing with that much money!" Gaga said that she'll only get a house if Taylor asks her to marry him, and said that she'd live in her house and just "be a badass."
She did, however, call her dad on the day of the auction for Michael Jackson's clothes. "Dad, I'm about to spend a lot of money…" – "On what…?" – "Clothes…" – "Oh, Gaga…" – "Michael Jackson's clothes!" – "Oh, okay!"
She talked to us a lot about Michael Jackson. He's definitely her biggest idol. Gaga said that, "He's all I ever wanted to be." She told us that's why she spent all that money on his clothes at the auction. She said she'd much rather have Michael Jackson's jacket hanging up in her hotel room while she dances around like a sixteen year old girl than own a house."
Gaga also talked to us abou ARTPOP. We aren't going to give too much away, but she said that when her songs are on the radio again, people will think, "Wow, is this really Lady Gaga? She's really matured." From what we were told, you guys are in for quite the experience wit ARTPOP.
Gaga also told us to tell Gaga Daily that she's sorry for making the fans wait for so long. However, she also told us that some fans don't realize how much work she's doing on this album, and she assured us that great works take time. She wasn't necessary irritated with the fans' impatience, but she definitely wanted to communicate how much work she's putting into the creation o ARTPOP.
I proceeded to tell Gaga that it's incredible how all of us know each other through her. I told her how all of us have become amazing friends, and we wouldn't have known each other if it weren't for her. She seemed really touched.
She was such an easy person to talk to. While we were sitting, Gaga was standing in the middle of the room, making eye contact whenever someone spoke to her. Whenever she thought something was funny, she would laugh and walk over and give you a hug, or sit in your lap. She kept giving Emma noogies and was playing with her hair off and on throughout the night.
I was truthfully impressed with how genuine Gaga is with her fans. While most of our encounter was upbeat and joyful, there were times when things got pretty emotional. There was a time when Gaga started crying, wiping the tears from her eyes she said, "I just love my fans so much." It was one of the most touching moments of my entire life. I'll remember it forever.
After talking about ARTPOP, we were discussing how music is kind of boring right now. Gaga thinks the problem with modern artists is that they're "afraid to get their hands dirty."
We talked about a lot of stuff during our time with Gaga. None of us bothered checking the time (because obviously we were having the moment of our lives) but apparently we had taken up longer than what was scheduled. Most meet and greets last ten or twenty minutes tops. We had already been with Gaga for over an hour. She really is a chatterbox. If it hadn't been for the meet and greet coordinator cutting us off, Gaga probably would have spent another hour or two with us. She said she was tired, but she was having such a good time that nothing else seemed to matter.
In reflection, I think the most surprising thing about the meetup was how little starstruck I felt. I talked about the initial shock when she first walked in, but after that it faded very quickly. I genuinely felt like when she walked in the room, we already knew her, and she already knew us. It was like a reunion of friends who hadn't seen each other in a long time. The fact that she was standing by me for most of the night didn't even faze me. I'm guessing this is because she's so natural and down to earth. She doesn't act like most celebrities- she acts like she's your friend. She even told us, "Whenever I get to meet fans, I almost feel like I'm meeting a celebrity!"
As we said our final goodbyes, we thanked her one last time as we watched her leave the room and go away. The entire experience was so surreal. When we were walking out of the venue, we felt like the whole thing was a dream. "Did that really happen?" I asked Kayla.
From what I've heard, fans always say to start writing things down the second you leave your backstage meetup otherwise you'll start forgetting things fst. I told this to Steph and Kayla, and we immediately began drafting voice notes on our cell phones. We wanted to recover every single last memory from the experience, since we realized that it was the best moment of our lives.
Jenna's story:
After Marry the Night ended the security guards let us down the hallway where we walked a little bit through the garage where I knew the trucks were, then we were brought down the hallway of the backstage and stopped in an area before a black curtain. We could see behind the black curtain where the dancers dressing room was. We waited in this area for about an hour and a half- where some guards brought us water and we talked to the guards for while too, they were really funny and the two guards kept making jokes to each other. Christine and I were so exhausted we ended up falling asleep for a little bit on the floor. Christine even charged her iphone in the backstage hallway. So you know how long we actually had to wait there.. Christine's phone was at 0% and she unplugged it eventually and it was at 78%. Soon we were led further down the hallways where there was another black curtain that Pete (I think) sat next to- to make sure it was always closed. We were then sat down again on the floor on the opposite side of the black curtain. While we sat there we watched a girl carry out Gaga's pictures from her dressing room (the ones of Taylor and her). And they brought us beverages we could chose from- (vitamin water, figi water, yellow Gatorade or coca cola zero) Christine and I both chose Coke.
After waiting in that area for an hour we were told to stand up because Gaga was coming. We didn't really have time to think until the black curtain parted and there was little Gaga. She was wearing her brown detective hat, longgg red nails, a black blazer, black matching pants, and some shiny black flat loafer things that had little tassels on them. She came in and gave us all a hug, and she took a picture with all of us, and told Christine that she missed her. Then she came and gave me the key holder necklace- it was so surreal. Then she said, "since you're my key holder you get to ask me a question.&rdquo And I asked her how she chose the Limelite UVglo hair. And she told us that she chose it because she wants to make the last part of the tour very filthy and basically make it stand out.. like she did a lot of new things at the show that we just saw.. and that she had a meat bikini, and maybe a new song to play soon (I think)
Then she sat down in a chair in front of us and I sat on her right and Christine sat on her left, the others sat in front of her. I don't even know the order of the things we talked about but I think we began with asking how she was and what the emotion during the edge of glory was about She just said she missed her family and that Tara was very sick (she almost broke down saying this) Christine and I put our hands on her back to comfort her. And she said that Tara was there but she wasn't doing good. t some point we took out the book and gave it to her.. and she said wow it was really good and that it came at just the right time in her life because right now the tour is really making her bones hurt so the book will give her the encouragement to finish the tour strong.
She also said that while writing Born This Way she was very sad because of drinking problems, and she wrote Born This Way to help her and make herself feel better, but now as she's making ARTPOP she is much happier. She said that ARTPOP will sound more pop-like with dirty dance type music. She said she knew we went through so much with Born This Way because of the controversy- and she went on to say that there will probably be a lot of hate towards ARTPOP because it's going to be so good. She said ARTPOP will be her best album ever and she will probably never make anything better than ARTPOP. We asked her if the pressure for ARTPOP is too much for her, and she said it was a good thing because it makes her work harder. And Gaga described it as a "phoenix rising from the ashes." Oh and one last thing about ARTPOP- she's been making it since Born This Way was released- and that many new fans will be created because ARTPOP will be so good (me thinking: NOOOOOO there's already enough of us).
Then somehow we got to talking about betrayal.. like P.erez and her friend who is suing her for $400,000 dollars. She said she doesn't feel sad about who saying things about her.. she thinks it's funny- then she did a really funny & deep fake laugh(like HUAH HAUH HAUHH HAH). Then Lane was like "Yea who's so childish don't pay attention to him." Or something like that And Gaga wanted us to tell the monsters that she doesn't want us to pay any attention or get mad at Perez Hilton for what he's doing- we should just laugh at him- as she does. She told us that the whole thing with him started after they were in Australia together- doing some kind of documentary thing? And she said they were doing an interview thing and he started asking her a bunch of personal questions while the camera was rolling.. and Gaga didn't want to answer them.. but he wouldn't turn the camera off.. and it got to the point where Tara had to come in and physically pull the plug on the camera, that's when he changed and got thirsty for the Fame. And Gaga said at one point he even texted her some mean thing (it was something like "How do you like that.. blah blah blah some article about her). And she said when he went on Ellen or something he talked about how he really loved Born This Way and then Gaga was actually proud of him and she thought he was changed... but then he just went back to saying things about her.
Then she went on to say that she was really hurt by her friend who was suing her.. because they used to be best friends who hung out on Stanton street together- like super close, you know? And that she used to take Gaga's store discounts and buy stuff And Gaga said something about how that bitch is gonna get totally beat in court, and how she'd rather be spending that 400,000 that she wants on her friends medical bills (Tara).
We then went on to talk about Madonna and Gaga said "I know she hates me but I don't give a ****!" And gaga was like "She's just waiting for me to strike another pose." Then she moved her arms and held them to make different positions. I really don't remember everything we talked about concerning Madonna. It was basically like "I don't give a **** what she thinks about me" sort of thing
Then Christine showed and told Gaga some things about other fans. And Gaga told us that she was very proud of all the monsters. Then Christine told her about how she should do something special at the Montreal show because it will be the 2 year anniversary since Born This Way the single, 3 year anniversary since McQueen passed, and 1 year anniversary since Whitney passed. And Gaga said "Oh Shit! I didn't even realize!" Then she thought that at the Grammys last year they shouldn't have done the red carpet because they should have been mourning for Whitney- she thought it was disrespectful that they still did the red carpet. Then Christine told her that she should bring back princess die, or do an acoustic of Dance in the Dark. And she said, "you know Asiel(I think) mentioned that to me not that long ago) about doing an acoustic of Dance in the Dark. That's crazy!" (or something like that because Christine thought of the same thing).
Then Christine told her about the girl (Jamie) who was first in line for Toronto and that she'd been camping out since Saturday. And Gaga said "Tell her to be careful." I think she said this because of the 8am rule and disqualification or the cold. Then we said goodbye to her and I gave her one last hug. During the time we were talking to her Lane was like "Gaga we need to go," like 3 different times.. but Gaga just kept talking. I felt that Gaga needed to vent out to us and that she truly didn't want to go. Things I noticed about Gaga: she was wearing that hat.. AGAIN, she had a fake mole on the right side of her cheek, she had little makeup on (just a little line of eyeliner below her eyes), she was wearing deep red/maroon lipstick and her lips looked very very dry. It looked like she had a light spray tan (she looks lighter onstage because of the lights), she's actually quite tan. She was so tiny and shorter than me- I'm 5'3". Her smile was so beautiful.


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In this final step you're going to receive the FBinfluence Blueprint that will reveal the secret strategy Andrea uses with her high-dollar clients to turn their Facebook Fan Pages into perpetual lead-generation machines.
This blueprint includes specific details on the most successful strategies used to turn fans into customers, along with three little-known techniques that will drive your fans to want to buy!
What do you want from Facebook? Why are you marketing on Facebook? To help you sort through the many layers of Facebook marketing, there are 7 core rules to consider as you create your Facebook Page.
The 7 Core Rules of Facebook Marketing - Just #2 can mean the difference between success and failure.
How to Strategically Brand Your Facebook Timeline Page - 90% or more do this one wrong!
Top 10 Most Frequently Asked Questions About Facebook Pages - Finally get the answers yo've been looking for all along!
An Insider's View of Your Facebook Page Dashboard - Do you know what the most important part of your dashboard is? It's not what you think.
Monitoring and Measuring Tools To Track Your Facebook Success - The simple, powerful tools for success.
With more than a billion active users, more likely than not, your brand will find an audience on Facebook.
How to use the BEST EVER search tool inside of Facebook - you will be amazed what you can find out about your ideal audience with this simple tool.
5 Proven Strategies To Grow Your Fan Base - Why reinvent the wheel? These are proven to work.
Creating Custom Applications That Convert - These apps will get your fans to take real action!
How to Create an Inexpensive Ad Campaign to Grow Your Fan Base - this is the one Facebook ad that will skyrocket your Fan base!
Quick Tips to Make Your Facebook Page Mobile-Ready - With over 70% of Facebook users logging in daily via their smart devices, you can't ignore mobile marketing on Facebook!
Learn how to develop a relationship with your audience
Facebook Content: What To Post & When To Post - Almost everyone gets this wrong.
Surefire Strategies to Create Engagement - You've got to get your Fans talking and I will show you how to make it happen.
Tips to Build Your Authority on Facebook - Find out which Facebook super features can do for your Facebook engagement success.
Tips and Strategies for Facebook Contests and Giveaways - These tips can boost your likes, comments and shares and build your email list instantly!
How to Delegate the Management of Your Facebook Page - The right choice can make you a hero–the wrong one can make you a zero.
Find your fans, keep your fans, and turn them into PAYING CUSTOMERS with Module 4 of FBinfluence.
How To Collect Quality Leads on Facebook - Leads are the fuel of your business-here's where to get them.
Tips and Strategies to Supercharge Your Facebook Ads - It's easier than you think!
How to Sell on Facebook - There's a right way and a wrong way to do it and I will make sure you are doing it right!
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You've recently created your own business, or you've been at it for awhile, and are looking to increase your exposure, leads and sales. You want to know more about Facebook marketing so you can do it yourself, or at least know how to do it so you can then hand it over to someone on your team to execute.
You work for a business and are responsible for or involved with your company's social media presence. You want to know what to do, how to do it and how to get results so you can increase your company's bottom line (and show upper management that social media marketing is working for your programs and services).
You own a business, you have some Facebook knowledge, but you know there is a bigger opportunity waiting for you on Facebook once you fully understand how your business can claim it's place there. You might not do it all yourself, but you know you need to understand it first before you hand it off to someone else to manage.
You know Facebook is important, but you have no clue where to start or what to do. This program works for beginners and also works for those who have been using Facebook for awhile. Our baby-step instructions make it easy for anyone to succeed. You will instantly know what strategies to implement to get real results quickly!
If you've ever wondered what REALLY WORKS on Facebook, look no further. Here are 50 great examples of posts from various niches and brands that are really getting it right.
If you are looking for more engagement, these 50 posts will help you increase your Fan base, likes, comments, and shares. (Plus, they will spark some serious creativity!)
Use these examples to increase quality leads and boost your sales. With this guide, you won't ever have a loss of Facebook content ideas again!
One necessary component of a thriving business is a strong list of qualified leads. Collecting names and emails is essential so you can communicate with your ideal audience on a regular basis. Some business experts say that without a list, you don't really have a business!
Many business owners think about Facebook in a one-dimensional way: Create a Page of your own where you can promote your brand and products or services.
But there's potentially a lot more to it than that! One underutilized strategy is creating Facebook groups, which provide an easy way to segment customers. With groups, you can create communities around particular products, improve customer service, provide a networking forum for customers and even drive new sales. This bonus training will show you how to do just that!
Did you know that images are the #1 media that Facebook fans engage with the most? Fans love liking, sharing and commenting on great images.
We have made engagement building simple as 1-2-3! As a FBinfluence member, you will have instant access to 50 different stunning images with inspiring quotes that will grab the attention of your ideal fans on Facebook.
The best part of this bonus is that we have done all the work for you! Get ready to spark engagement with these easy to implement, attention grabbing images!
One necessary component of a thriving business is a strong list of qualified leads. Collecting names and emails is essential so you can communicate with your ideal audience on a regular basis. Some business experts say that without a list, you don't really have a business!
There are many ways to grow your list, and one of the smartest marketing moves is to create an opt-in strategy on your Facebook Page. This blueprint will show you how to create your own traffic-generating-machine on your own Facebook Page.
One of the most important pieces of a list building strategy is to understand how to create Facebook ads that convert to leads. In this Blueprint, you will also find out which Facebook Ads work best when focusing on list building and tips and strategies to streamline your ad campaigns.
You've heard all the hype about the recent Facebook changes, right? This training will teach you:
You know that Facebook LOVES to change things up, right? It can be frustrating at times, but don't worry. We've got you covered! As a FBinfluence member, you will get access to special real-time trainings related to any big changes that may occur. When Facebook makes big changes to their platform, Andrea will create a specific training for FBinfluence members to help you understand the changes and show you how to take advantage of the changes to turn fans into buyers. Some Facebook changes are not important to pay attention to while other changes are CRUCIAL to your business. You no longer need to worry that you are not keeping up with what really matters on Facebook. Andrea will keep you in the know when it matters most!
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Any feelings of skepticism you may have about investing in a new product is completely normal. This is why we've decided to put all the risk on us! You have 60 full days to test drive the entire course and put it into full action.
If you do not get the results you expected, or you feel this course was simply not for you-there's no hard feelings! Simply send us an email and we will immediately refund your money-and you can keep the entire course along with all of your special bonuses absolutely free! No! Questions! Asked!
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Module 1: The Foundation for Facebook Success ($197)
Module 2: Growing a Lucrative Fan Base ($197)
Module 3: Building your Authority and Becoming the Go-To Source ($197)
Module 4: Turning Fans into Loyal Customers ($197)
Bonus #1: Content Marketing Power Plays: 50 Strategic Facebook Posts You Can Model to Boost Your Overall Engagement ($47)
Bonus #2: 3 Ways to Use Facebook Groups to Attract and Keep Customers ($197)
Bonus #3: 50 Stunning, Ready-Made Image Quotes To Increase Your Engagement ($197)
Bonus #4: The 3-Step Lead Generating Facebook Blueprint ($47)
Bonus #5: New "Members-Only" Training Workshops Each Time Facebook Makes a Major Change or Update ($97)
Bonus #6: Full Access Member Support with our Private FBinfluence Facebook Group ($397)


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SPRINGFIELD (AP) – When Gov. Pat Quinn tried to impose his last-minute restrictions on Illinois' new concealed-carry gun law, he spent days rallying support in Chicago neighborhoods with stops at a West Side church, a community center and even historic Wrigley Field.
But that conspicuous, nearly sole focus on Chicago – highlighting the city's gun violence problem – added to long-standing grievances across the rest of Illinois about living under Chicago governors whose interests and attention don't always reach statewide. While the divide isn't new, the gun debate has triggered buzz among downstate Democrats about finding their own candidate to compete against Quinn and other Chicago Democrats already lining up for governor in 2014.
Preliminary talks have taken place about who might be interested or a good candidate, even as non-Chicago Democrats acknowledge they would face a disadvantage in fundraising, media exposure and possibly name recognition.
"I just want someone who does not forget about southern Illinois," said Alice Harris, the Democratic Party chairman in Jefferson County, east of St. Louis. She said the concealed carry debate, in which Chicago's gun-control advocates faced off with gun rights supporters elsewhere, likely widened the divide. "Seems like all the governors forget about southern Illinois."
Harris said she hadn't seen Quinn in her territory in months, a complaint often lodged against his predecessor, former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, also from Chicago.
Gun control is just one of the issues dividing the state's metropolis and more conservative urban and rural areas. Others include support for gay marriage, school funding – with downstate residents claiming Chicago gets an unfair advantage – and prison closures.
Chicago Democrats now control the governor's office, both chambers of the Legislature, and the attorney general and secretary of state offices. The metropolitan area – including fast-growing surrounding counties – is not only the state's economic engine but a critical source of votes. Quinn narrowly won office over Republican state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington in 2010 while carrying majorities only in Cook County and three of Illinois' 102 counties.
Still, Chicago candidates frequently appeal to downstate audiences. One potential Quinn challenger, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, from Chicago, deals with downstate issues in her job. Former White House chief of staff Bill Daley, the brother and son of two longtime Chicago mayors, has made two trips through central and southern Illinois, and last week posted a Twitter picture of his stop at a Belleville pie shop where he sampled peach.
Quinn rejects the idea that he's ignored the rest of the state. His spokeswoman, Brooke Anderson, said he's been tied up in Springfield but plans a downstate trip soon and is always working on job creation and other projects that benefit all of Illinois.
"He's fighting every bit as hard for southern Illinois as he is the rest of the state," she said, contending his gun-control stance isn't just about Chicago. "Keeping the people of Illinois safe is not a regional issue."
But the concerns ramped up when backers of the state's new gun legislation accused him of pandering to Chicago voters in promoting his gun-control agenda in the city. He didn't touch on the strong gun-rights sentiment across the rest of the state.
Lawmakers overrode Quinn's proposed changes to the new gun law to meet a July 9 deadline from a federal appeals court for Illinois to drop a last-in-the-nation ban on concealed carry. It came on the same day that legislators missed the latest of Quinn's many deadlines for fixing Illinois' pension crisis.
"He's looking really weak right now," said state Rep. Brandon Phelps, a Harrisburg Democrat, sponsor of the gun legislation and among those promoting the idea of a Democratic challenger from outside Chicago. "There's going to be a lot of people trying to jump in to the governor's race."
One thought is that a downstate candidate could have a chance if two or three Chicago Democrats split the primary vote in the Chicago area.
However, any downstate candidate faces immense challenges. With less than a year before the March primary, time is running out to fundraise and organize. The first day to circulate petitions to gather required signatures of support is Sept. 3.
"I don't envision that a downstate candidate is going to crack the monolithic wall of Cook County, and that's where the votes are," said Paul Wieck, chairman of the Coles County Democratic Party. "Not a ton of downstate industry and millionaires are supporting downstate Democrats."
No one knows that better than Glenn Poshard, president of Southern Illinois University and a former congressman and state senator who put up a strong challenge but lost the governor's race to Republican George Ryan of Kankakee in 1998. Poshard, who says he wouldn't be interested in another run, maintains that the biggest challenge is raising money.
"I tried it once and I spent all my time trying to raise money and go to one financial thing after another," he said.
Poshard added that a serious candidate would have to be pro-abortion rights and anti-gun to get necessary Chicago area votes, and such a person, with sufficient statewide name recognition, isn't easy to find.
In preliminary discussions, among the potential names mentioned as a 2014 candidate is state Sen. Michael Frerichs, a Champaign Democrat, who's preparing a bid for state treasurer. Phelps, who raised his profile during the guns debate, said he isn't interested in higher office right now but didn't fully rule out the possibility.
Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon, a Carbondale resident who showed she can win statewide support, says she's seeking higher office, but most likely comptroller or attorney general. Her decision may rest on whether Madigan ultimately decides to run for governor.
State Sen. John Sullivan of Rushville, the assistant Senate majority leader, says he's been asked about the possibility of a candidacy but wants to stay where he is.
"There's been a little bit of discussion on that subject," he said. "The gun issue has heightened that discussion."


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I really want to say thank you to the Bristol Fourth of July Committee for the awesome fireworks show on July 3. I moved to Bristol last fall, so this was my first Fourth of July to watch the town fireworks. The fireworks show and the festivities on the green were very fun and very patriotic.
Could you please have the "screamer" fireworks next year (the ones that make a high-pitched noise after exploding)? Those are my favorites!
ADDISON COUNTY — For local residents staying close to home and out-of-towners visiting for the first big holiday weekend of the summer, Addison County and Brandon will offer lots of Fourth of July fun and great family activities, ranging from live music and fireworks to living history events and town parades.
There is so much happening this year that one day cannot contain all the events. Activities run from Thursday through Saturday evening.
MIDDLEBURY — The annual Shoreham Festival will be a little leaner this year but still a blast when it is staged in the village all day this Saturday, Sept. 1.
A recent water main project on the town commons and other factors have forced organizers to pare a few past features of the event, such as the garden tractor pull, tag sale and carnival rides. But this year's Shoreham Festival will still include such mainstays as a chicken barbecue, parade and street dance.
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Package: menu-l10n (0.20120730)
Links for menu-l10n
Debian Resources:
Download Source Package menu-l10n:
Similar packages:
localized menu entries for Debian menu.
Debian menu keeps transparently the menus in the different window-managers in sync with the list of installed programs.
Debian menu relies on a list of menu entries provided by programs and a list of menu-methods provided by window-managers and other menu-aware applications.
This package provides localized menu entries.
Download menu-l10n
|Package Size
|Installed Size
|201.0 kB
|515.0 kB
|[list of files]


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Let me begin by stating that the intelfb driver is very old already. And there are issues. Mode setting with "non-CRT" devices usually fails:
intelfb: Non-CRT device is enabled ( LVDS port ). Disabling mode switching.
intelfb: Video mode must be programmed at boot time.
So you need to set the mode very counter-intuitively via the vga kernel commandline. To do that, you need to know the mode. Especially on 64-bit systems the only way to find it out is sudo hwinfo --vbe.
Now you can use a kernel command line like video=intelfb:mode=1280x800 vga=0x0362 and the system should boot with the chosen resolution. Even if you're using a laptop like I am.
This will not work with a kernel earlier than 2.6.28-rc1 from my experience, but maybe you're lucky. If nothing happens, try the newest kernel. And of course feel free to comment in any case. And I think this works only if the intelfb module is compiled-in, not if it's compiled as a module, as it usually is in distribution kernels.


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adjective; satisfied, contented, happy, pleased.
Due to a family emergency we will not be able to process your orders from our site for the foreseeable future. We sincerely apologise for this inconvenience.
New item
Sleek wooden washing up brush with strong nylon bristles in grey. Length 23cm
This mango wood chopping board is the perfect size for moving around the kitchen. It comes with a le...
Decorative glossy white cog bowl made from high fired earthenware. The cog bowls interconnect enabli...
All website content & copy: Bodlon 2012. Copying any part of the site or its content is strictly prohibited.
Contact us Bodlon Shop & Coffee Shop, 12 Park Road, Whitchurch, Cardiff CF14 7BQ Email: firstname.lastname@example.com | Telephone: 02920 650 564 | 07825 444 233


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Nowadays cameras have become a part of people'¯s lives. Most of families own at least one camera. Wherever there is a party, a picnic, a wedding or something else, we use a camera to save the memories. With the development of technology, there is a new kind of camera which becomes a fashion all over the wordDigital cameras allow computer users to take pictures and store the photographed images digitally instead of on traditional film. With some digital cameras, a userdownloads the stored pictures from the digital camera to a computer using specialsoftware included with the camera. A digital camera is very similar to a traditional 35mm camera in the way that it takes.People always want to keep the prefect moments in their lives. So they invented cameras that the earliest invention which can help people to do that.
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For more results of Cameras In Los Angeles,California click here:
Picture Perfect Pictures help revisit memories. Today, these images are retaken until the picture looks just right. This type of camera is called a digital camera, a device that records a picture in an image sensor to process the photo. This mechanism displays the pictures on the camera screen, and all the pictures are saved on a memory card. If desired, unwanted pictures are deleted off the camera. Many different models, in all sizes and prices, are available for all photographers. A digital camera, although complex to some, is a great investment in a world with constant change in technology....The following list of businesses here can help you in searching cameras that affordable in your pocket.


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About this font family
The Octa fonts are primarily intended for heading, display and decorative use. A close relative to Alert, Octa is angular by its structure but soft-outlined typeface with modern industrial strength expression. The Octa group fonts consist of five families - Octa, Octa Stencil, Octa Mono, Octa UniMono and Octa Tile:
Octa and Octa Stencil - each family carry two weights of complete characters. Kerning pairs feature is included in both fonts.
Octa Mono - two weights font of upper and lower case monospaced characters. More…
Octa UniMono - two weights font of unicase (caps) monospaced characters.
Octa Tile - single weight of capital letters, numbers and ornamental dingbats placed on tile squares with white and black backgrounds.
- Basic text strings
- Random text strings
- News feeds
- Pangrams
Octa Bold
Octa Stencil
Octa Stencil Bold
Octa Mono
Octa Mono Bold
Octa Uni Mono
Octa Uni Mono Bold
Octa Tile
Available formats
available in all of the styles:


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Ok, the battle finally begins! Here is a quick field over-view. (also, signup thread with unit stats: http://www.brikwars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=10780)
over view by samuelzz101, on Flickr
Here's Samus's starting point.
Samus's starting point by samuelzz101, on Flickr
She is next to Deadpool. (but not in his line of sight) Her arm cannon is 1d6, but with an action she can make it 2d6. (all units have 2d6, remember!)
Samuelzz10's sigfig by samuelzz101, on Flickr
Samuelzz10 is in the meth lab. His chain-saw arm is 3d6, but he can't use it 2 turns in a row. He has a 1d6 pistol with a 1d6+1 bayonet
The law's starting point by samuelzz101, on Flickr
THE LAW has a 2d8+1 single use grenade gun with 20" range and a pistol with 2d6 damage.
Deadpool's starting point by samuelzz101, on Flickr
Deadpool has a 3d6 shot gun with 6" range. He also has a 1d8-1 pistol.
Send in your orders by Friday. all guns have 15" range unless otherwise stated.


text: Hold on Wheat, Move on Cotton January 29, 2013 06:36 PM Tweet TAGS: Marketing, Overseas December 18, 2014 By Ed Clark Top Producer Business and Issues Editor Email Economists share their strategies Wheat markets have taken a pounding since fall, but experts say to be patient. Both old-crop and new-crop prices will likely move higher between now and spring. "U.S. wheat exports are starting to pick up," says Mike Krueger, president of The Money Farm, a commodity advisory and brokerage firm. "The U.S. and Canada are the only major supply sources left." Particularly encouraging, he says, is that Egypt, the single largest wheat importer in the world, has returned to the U.S. for its supplies. "It's possible the market could regain much of the $1 [per bushel] it lost." This could push old-crop prices higher in the next three to five months, with the possibility of a 50¢ rally on Chicago March futures contracts and a 70¢ rally on the Minneapolis March contract, Krueger says. "Don't be an anxious old-crop seller," he advises. The export market is not the only bright spot. In Krueger's view, the market has underplayed the winter wheat crop damage. As a result, new-crop prices could see a boost this spring. For producers who must sell either old or new crop, Krueger recommends protecting the upside with a call option. Frayne Olson, ag economist at North Dakota State University, notes that the winter wheat crop is in poor shape, possibly the worst since 1981. This has yet to be factored into the new-crop wheat market. It's possible the market could regain much of the $1 it lost, Olson says. "I don't think we're out of the woods yet on the drought," says Dan O'Brien, ag economist at Kansas State University. He thinks the July 2013 Kansas City Board of Trade contract is likely to trade in the $7.50 to $8.75 per bushel range during the next few months until there is more concrete information on winter wheat crop conditions and progress in early spring. Cotton Conundrum. Long gone is the $2 per pound cotton prices of two years ago, and even the 90¢ offered in 2012. Still, marketing opportunities might present themselves in the months ahead, so producers need to be on their toes to sell at the upper end of expected ranges, analysts say. "For any remaining old [2012] crop, sell on rallies of 75¢ or better," says Don Shurley, cotton economist at the University of Georgia. "For the 2013 crop, contract a portion [20%] of the crop at 79¢ to 80¢ futures." Texas A&M University cotton economist John Robinson says that if you haven't made any sales, get in on the action when December 2013 futures rally above 80¢. Producers can take advantage of price rallies with a put option, he says. December 2013 futures will likely trade in the 65¢ to 85¢ per pound range between now and summer, and mostly be around 75¢, Robinson forecasts. World stocks have gone from 45 to 50 million bales to 75 to 80 million during the past year, and are now at record levels. In 2011, U.S. stocks-to-use was 22% compared to just 14% a year earlier. China is "the 800-lb. gorilla in the room," according to Robinson. The price outlook would be even more bearish, he says, were it not for China, the world's No. 1 cotton producer, stockpiling supplies. "The only reason why prices are not 30¢ lower is that the world's surplus is in the hands of China," he adds. China produces about one-third of the world's cotton and holds about half of the world's cotton stocks. China is building stocks so it can support prices for domestic cotton producers at $1.30 to $1.35 per pound, says Gary Adams, chief economist for the National Cotton Council. As a result, China has tripled its stocks. "It's possible that China has overbought on imports," Shurley says. "China now has more cotton in reserve than it uses in an entire year. Those stocks will eventually enter the supply pipeline. The uncertainty of when and how hangs over the market like a dark cloud." Back to news


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Grow your career in one of the world's fastest growing economies.
China is an important epicenter as we grow our customer base and develop new solutions to redefine money in the most populous country on the planet. As part of our team, you'll help our customers across China to connect and transact with people and businesses around the world.
Our office culture values a healthy work/life balance for all employees. As we continue to build our team at PayPal Shanghai, we have a variety of career growth opportunities in departments like Customer Solutions, Merchant Fraud, Sales and Risk Management.View all jobs in Shanghai
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