text: █████████████████████████████████████████████ ███████ █████████ Art: redjuice Hey! With the overall success of KHV Chorus, I've been thinking about creating something like this for a while. I was originally going to create a KHV Chorus family, but I think something like this is much more open-ended. This family welcomes all who love to sing. Whether it's digitally, in a choir or band, professionally, or just in the shower for fun, we look forward to having you! This family will be used for typical family things, but we can also share our covers here or any musical experiences. We can also rave about singers that we enjoy listening to, and even come together for some duets and/or collaborations. You do not have to be a good singer, or pursuing a singing career. All that matters is that you have a song in your heart, and you aren't afraid to sing it! While the emphasis is on singing, we also welcome songwriters, music composers/producers, and music enthusiasts (Like music? Want to share? Hello.) so don't be afraid to join if you fall into that category. ~ I will do my best to maintain a positive, encouraging atmosphere, so even if you're not the most confident in your abilities, we will love and support you all the way. I've decided to also include voice-actors/voice-actresses, considering that can be apart of the performance and has a bit of the same qualities ... voice & passion. c': I hope that you will consider joining, and thank you for browsing nonetheless. People always associate me with it, so no, this is not a RP. It is just a normal family with pictures and colors. 【♫】Be nice, okay? Please come and talk to me if someone says something offensive or if you feel uncomfortable with another member. I will do my best to help rectify the situation! /superJayn 【♫】Everyone is welcomed! Please don't tell members that they have to be this or have to be that to participate, because it's most likely not true. 【♫】Activity is never required, but always appreciated. ❤ 【♫】Tastes in music vary. I would like to ask that if someone shares a song that either they produced/sang, or are just sharing for the fun of it, please do not judge based off of musical genre. That being said, I would also like to ask that if someone indirectly expresses distaste for a certain musical genre, you do not bombard them with how amazing you think that genre is. 【♫】We may be playing some games! We can set up some family playdates and vote on what we want to play. If we do this, please be respectful and behave accordingly, even if the game is offsite. 【♫】Have fun! Unlike Heart's Content, there's nothing really strict about this. It's just the average forum family, so please try not to feel intimidated or pressured into anything. They're just colors and pictures. 【♫】If you decide to sign up as the father, you're also signing up to be my musical hubby and help me with this family. No sweat, though. I'm used to being a single forum mom. I'M AN INDEPENDENT WOMANZ WHO DON'T NEED NOBODY SOB. * = Required. Spoiler: Notes An alias is what you would like to be known by, forever, regardless of name changes. You may change your alias. The picture is just for fun. It'll be used the way you see mine being used below. If you leave it blank, I will find a picture I think suits your personality around the forum. If you're really opposed to a picture, then we'll avoid. ~ It will be based off of your favorite color, if you let me pick. If you're going to choose your picture later, state so. c; Code: [COLOR=red]*[/COLOR]Alias: Family Member/Title: Musical Talents/Interests: Gender: Theme Song: Personality: [COLOR=red]*[/COLOR]Contact: Picture?: [COLOR=red]*[/COLOR]Favorite Color: Favorite Genre of Music: [COLOR=red]*[/COLOR]Do you have a microphone?: Anything else you'd like to share?: Alias: Jayn Family Member/Title: Mommy Dearest--*Shot* Nah, the melodic mommy is kawaii desu. Musical Talents/Interests: I like to sing, write lyrics, compose music and put together choruses! I love singing duets, and joining other people's singing projects. Gender: On KHV, I go by female, mostly. Occasionally (musically) I'll gender-bend, and the Jayn turns to Blayn. Theme Song: This suits me perfectly. Without question. Personality: Varies. When I'm in a good mood, I'm creative, easily excitable and engaged. When I'm sad, I'm just a giant ball of angst, though I keep it to myself unless someone harasses me about it. When I'm angry I'm kind of a really big jerk, which is also kept to myself unless someone harasses me. *Contact: You may contact me here on KHV, and also on Youtube, LiveJournal, Tumblr, Twitter, MSN (email@example.com) and Skype (LittleJayneyCakes). If it's an emergency or you really need someone to talk to, I also have a Facebook and a phone number you can text me at. *Favorite Color: Purple. Favorite Genre of Music: If Vocaloid is a genre, I really love that. Other then that, though, I listen to everything. Everything. ...Except Country. *Do you have a microphone?: Yep. Anything else: Credit for the art goes to KKUEM. Alias: Krowley. Family Member/Title: Mr. Krowley. Musical Talents/Interests: I enjoy composing music and on occasion, sing. Gender: Male. Theme Song: Subject to Change. Personality: Fairly straight forward. Fun when I have to be, Strict when I need to be. Hotmail: firstname.lastname@example.com Skype: VA_Krowley *Favorite Color: Blue (Any shade, really) Favorite Genre of Music: Often changes. Mostly Rock, Techno and Classical. *Do you have a microphone?: Yes. *Alias: Finny Family Member/Title: Fugal Fish/Family Fish Musical Talents/Interests: I enjoy singing, collaborations and duets alike, listening to fan made music and whatnot. I can also play the keyboard/piano to a certain extent. Gender: Male. Theme Song: Perhaps a strange choice, but... Personality: Hm. Usually you never see me in a bad mood on here, I'm always happy. When I'm happy, I'm usually quite polite and 'nice', but I get a bit cheeky sometimes. When I'm sad or angry, you'll never see it. The only thing that'll even point towards me being like that is if you see me being ridiculously polite, or maybe even a tiny bit cynical. And just letting you know, I suspect I'm Bipolar. *Contact: I can be contacted on this here site, youtube (hercules1100), MSN (firstname.lastname@example.com) and that's more or less it, other than my tumblr, the link for which is in my sig. *Favorite Color: Light Green. Favorite Genre of Music: Erm. Not really sure. I don't really listen to 'normal' music too much, but if I had to pick it would be pop. *Do you have a microphone?: I do, it is built in though, so the quality isn't amazing. Though if need be I might be able to use my PS3 headset, assuming that would work. Alias: Kelly Family Member/Title: The Consulting detective//the middle child. Musical Talents/Interests: Well, I'm not exactly musical.I can't sing to save my life, I can't play any musical instruments. Is mayonnaise an instrument? /hehe. I do adore music though. Most nights I can be found cuddling my iPod. I've been helping my best friend write lyrics lately, though. I want to learn to play the Violin, but feel as if I've left it too late. Gender: On KHV, I go by female. In real life//afk, I plan to cosplay Ciel Phantomhive, my best friend said if I had a male persona, it'd be him, haha. Theme Song: I don't really think I have a theme. But I guess if I had to choose it'd be either this or this. Personality: Varies. When I'm in a good mood, I can be creative, excitable and easily motivated. When I'm in a sad//bad mood, I tend to curl up in a ball and sleep//cry, a suicidal girl. I don't tend to tell anyone, in fear I'd be bothering them. When I'm angry, I tend to take it out on those around me. Guilt then oozes out of me and I apologise like crazy while sobbing hysterically. I'm very protective of friends and family. Contact: I can be found on KHV, most of the time! I can also be found on tumblr. If it's really urgent //important, you can be contact me via Facebook –which I rarely use- or MSN//Skype. Just tell me if you'd like to have me on there and I'll add you! Favorite Color: Red, or dark navy blue. Favorite Genre of Music: I listen to everything, really. My favorite artist is Emilie Autumn, if that counts for anything... Do you have a microphone?: Yes. I plan to buy a new one, if I ever get a job. Anything else?: " I'm a consulting detective. Only one in the world. I invented the job." "What does that mean?" "It means when the police are out of their depth, which is always, they consult me." "The police don't consult amateurs." /Sherlock quote. Ignore me, I'm spazzing about my fandom. *Alias: Wigglz/ Gexln Family Member/Title: "Special" immature kid. Musical Talents/Interests: Eminem, Rock, Simple Plan, and i enjoy Voice Acting and singing to mostly any song ^_^ Gender: Male Theme Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWERYqWs5xY Personality: Naturally depressed, tries to keep an upbeat attitude. *Contact: glen.humphrys is my skype name, also you can contact me at email@example.com, or on here! *Favorite Color: Blue, though i've taken a liking to gray. Favorite Genre of Music: Rock *Do you have a microphone?: Built in one on my laptop! Anything else you'd like to share?: Er....HAI! *Alias: Cookiie Family Member/Title: The uber-kawaii youngest daughter Musical Talents/Interests: I like singing, dancing and playing instruments (alto sax, piano, flute, bass clarinet, cello). I enjoy learning dances, especially vocaloid dances,<33. When I have time, or when I really like a song, I find myself trying to transpose music into instruments I can play. I also find myself trying to make Japanese songs more singable in English. Gender: Female Theme Song: The obvious one and the other one Personality: Generally, I try to be as happy and energetic as possible, but I cannot tell jokes for my life. I'm somewhat shy and I'm actually scared of several people. According to some people I'm really tsundere, but it's really hard to make me angry. I don't like to talk to people, especially my friends, about my feelings because I know I'll end up crying (and I'd rather cry alone) and because I feel like I'm bothering them. Oh, and I love food. *Contact: I'm almost always on msn (firstname.lastname@example.com) and skype, unless something urgent comes up. I'm on KHV most of the time too. If I'm not on any of these and something is really important I have a tumblr, a twitter and facebook, which I also check on a regular basis. *Favorite Color: Blue Favorite Genre of Music: A tie between vocaloid music and kpop. *Do you have a microphone?: Yes, and I plan on saving up some money to get a new mic. Hopefully an AT2020 or Blue Yeti. Alias: Dinny Family Member/Title: The Inspired Child Musical Talents/Interests: I enjoy singing but mostly in the shower, I wish I could sing more openly and with confidence but it's difficult and incredibly embarrassing. I also wish I could play an instrument but this is difficult as well. Oh, but aside that, I like to draw and cuddle with my Pikachus and other random things. Gender: Female Theme Song: I love spending my life trying new things and trying to be deserving of others' time. I also love Jesse McCartney. Dinny's Theme. Personality: Weird. I am a weird but happy child - usually in a pleasant mood but there are tendencies. Contact: You may contact me on Twitter or Tumblr. For emergencies, I am online most on skype (dinamplified) and I also have an e-mail (yahoo, please PM me about this / I don't check regularly). Other places where you can contact me is Facebook (search Din Ampil) and DeviantArt. Favorite Color: All shades of blue. Especially light teal <3 Favorite Genre of Music: Oh, I adore music and I'm open to most things. I'm not too into rap or hip-hop. I never fail to love music from Disney, Alternative, Acoustics, Indie, bands, and songs with an eerie feel. Do you have a microphone?: Yes Anything else you'd like to share?: I hope to be moved so greatly by you guys and try to sing more openly and maybe get into trying an instrument and also try not to be too embarrassing (I apologize in advance). I probably will because you guys are amazing. <3 Alias: What? Family Member/Title: Old Grandfather Musical Talents/Interests: I enjoy singing quite a bit, and have dabbled in a range of musical instruments, namely the trombone, trumpet, piano, tenor saxophone, guitar, and cello. I can safely say I am absolutely horrible at these things however. Sometimes and secretly I attempt to write things that vaguely appear to be some manifestation of music. Gender: Male. Theme Song: x Personality: Typically it appears that people consider myself a bastion of serious attitude and some sort of intellect. In reality I am extremely silly with a horribly unfunny sense of humour. I am usually upbeat and chipper and attempt to stay optimistic but at the same time I am also usually under some sort of stress which ebbs and flows in intensity like the tide. One does not often see that side however. *Contact: Skype (microstrigidae), Tumblr (in my signature), MSN (firstname.lastname@example.com), Facebook. *Favorite Color: Green. Favorite Genre of Music: Everything to an extent, but I am particularly privy to jazz. *Do you have a microphone?: Yes, horrible quality. Anything else you'd like to share?: The pizza. *Alias: Heart Family Member/Title: The Little Sister Musical Talents/Interests: I love singing and I sing in the Chrous at my school, in the KHV Chrous, and I used to sing for the Voxli people Gender: Female *Contact: KHV, Youtube (Digimongirl530) *Favorite Color: Blues and Reds Favorite Genre of Music: Rock, Country, some Pop *Do you have a microphone?: Yes *Alias: Daxa Family Member/Title: The Creepy Aunt~ Musical Talents/Interests: I enjoy singing,but am not sure if I am any good at it. But meh. I sing everywhere,without realising. And I dance most of the time,instead of walking. Yesh yesh. Gender: I'm just a sweet transvestite~ I am female. Yesh. Most definitley so. Theme Song: :3 Personality: I stalk you all,out of love. Normally happyish,or I shall at least try to be for everyones sake. Very mentally...different. Yes. But I mean no harm,and I adore everyone. <3~ *Contact: On MSN I am email@example.com (no idea why it registered me as a UK resident,but meh), but I use my yahoo email as my email thingy. Oh goodness,this email address is from when I first joined the world of the internet. Yesh, but anyways, it is firstname.lastname@example.com. On Skype I think I am DaxaC.F. But yesh. Don't be strangers my darlings~ *Favorite Color: At the moment,I shall go with red. Bright,blood red. Oh yes. Favorite Genre of Music: I adore all types of music it must be said,but old rock music and cheesy pop holds a place in my heart. And songs from musicals. *Do you have a microphone?: I do,I do. Anything else you'd like to share?: I am ever so excited for this I must say. Wonderful idea it is my dear,just wonderful. *Alias: Blood/Rose Family Member/Title: The Cheerful Cousin Musical Talents/Interests: Singing. I can't play a musical instrument to save my life. Gender: Male Theme Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxBvp7AkTdo Personality: Cheerful, Outgoing, and slightly gothic *Contact: firstname.lastname@example.com *Favorite Color: Black, Red, Dark Blue Favorite Genre of Music: Rock, Pop, Pop Rock *Do you have a microphone?: Saving up for one *Alias: Lilith Family Member/Title: The She-Wolf Musical Talents/Interests: Played the piano for three years some years back, any knowledge had prior has fled my head; I remember none of it. I take singing lessons but it is informal, infrequent, and (admittedly) I don't much practice. I sing in my lone time. I can't guarantee a contribution from me. I don't like to feel obligated but, we'll see where this goes. Gender: Androgynous. Theme Song: o Personality: Nondescript. *Contact: email@example.com Picture?: I leave this to Jay-onee-chan. *Favorite Color: an earthly Olive Green Favorite Genre of Music: Anything listenable. *Do you have a microphone?: Yes. Anything else you'd like to share?: Sharing is not caring, hands off. Alias: Saxima Family Member/Title: The mischievous seven-year-old Musical Talents/Interests: I love music, and also play the violin. I wish I were more passionate about playing, but when I do I love it. I guess I'm not half-bad at singing, I really do enjoy it - my shower has really nice acoustics. Gender: Female, though I often reply with androgynous. Theme Song: Can't Complain by Nickel Creek Personality: I'm a generally nice person, I guess. A lot of people hate me and say I'm not nice, but . . . I just have high standards for how people should behave. I get jealous easily and I get angry in the wink of an eye, but don't let it scare you away. I'm pretty boyish and gentleman-like, if I do say so myself - which I do. Contact: All of my contact information is in my profile. Favorite Color: All of the colors of the rainbow. Favorite Genre of Music: I'll listen to literally everything if it sounds good - this ranges from screamo to classical, from indie to pop, from Russian to Italian, etc . . . Do you have a microphone?: Indeed I do. *Alias: Krown Family Member/Title: The Young, Indecisive Onii-chan Musical Talents/Interests: I don't believe that I am a good singer, but I sing to myself all of the time, only when I am alone, though. I used to play the piano and the recorder. I am interested in learning to play the drums. Every night I fall asleep, listening to my iPod. Gender: Male Theme Song: This song, perhaps. Personality: I tend to keep a lot of things to myself. I get kind of paranoid a lot and there's a chance that I have depression. But if you get to know me, I can be energetic and talkative. But that usually depends on my mood, which tends to vary a lot. Also, I am really indecisive. (hence my title) *Contact: My MSN/Email: email@example.com Skype, but I rarely use it, cause I am shy and my mic broke. Also, on KHV a lot. *Favorite Color: Pink, blue or purple. I'll go with pink, though. (the color I am using now) Favorite Genre of Music: J-pop, alternative-rock and K-pop. *Do you have a microphone?: No, but the laptop I am getting for my birthday may have one built into it. *Alias: Scruffy Family Member/Title: The Ambitious Adolescent Musical Talents/Interests: I occasionally play guitar, both acoustic and electric. I also sing sometimes. Hopefully KHV Chorus will provide me an opportunity to sing more. ^.^ Gender: Male Theme Song: A Better Place, A Better Time by Streetlight Manifesto Personality: I love talking with people, especially making new friends. I try to be a very compassionate, understanding and friendly individual. I am also very mature. :) *Contact: MSN (email@example.com), Skype (drop me a message for it) *Favorite Color: Probably Green or Blue. They're just very relaxing colors to me. I've also grown to like purple purely because of Caius Ballad. Favorite Genre of Music: I have no favorite genre of music. I will listen to just about anything. Video Game Music, Metal, Hip-Hop, Jazz, it doesn't matter to me. :P *Do you have a microphone?: Yes, I do. Anything else you'd like to share?: I'm glad to be a part of this family. I always try my best to reach out to those who reach out to me. Thanks for giving me this opportunity. :) *Alias: Andrew Family Member/Title: The Sweetheart Serenade Musical Talents/Interests: People tell me I am a talented singer and I feel that I can sing in high tones very well, and I'm interested in all types of music. Gender: Male Theme Song: Sweet Magic Personality: People call me kind and sweet, which flatters me to no extent. I like to have fun and be silly, and I don't like mean things. >: *Contact: I have deviantART (Tesori) and Tumblr (invisibleemotions) accounts; for fast messaging, MSN (email@example.com) and Skype (TesoriTheArtist); for really personal/important things, a Facebook and a cell phone number. *Favorite Color: Lavender Favorite Genre of Music: I really like all music genres. *Do you have a microphone?: Yes Anything else you'd like to share?: Glad to be a part of the family. <3 *Alias: Midnight Family Member/Title: The little big sister Musical Talents/Interests: I'm not a good singer, I'm under no illusions about that. However, I'll find myslef singing all the time and there's something about it that simply can't keep a smile off my face. I would love to learn to play a musical instrument but unless you count 2 songs on the piano, as of yet, I can't. Gender: Female~ Theme Song: Maybe this Personality: I'm quite happy, and am usually smiling. I'm hard working, enthusiastic and willing to give anything a go. I love to have fun and I'm pretty sure everyone knows I'm insane anyway. *Contact: Pm me if you want my msn/email which I'm always on, and I'm usually in the khv skype room. My skype is midnight.archer and this is my tumbr. *Favorite Color: Hmm, purple? Favorite Genre of Music: Ooh, that's hard, anything really except rap, screamo and opera. I quite like old music like 80s stuff but I'm pretty open to anything. *Do you have a microphone?: Yes *Alias: Vexen Family Member/Title: The Chilly Academic Musical Talents/Interests: Singing, UTAU, Mixing, Composition, Lyric Writing Gender: Female Theme Song: Illusion Made Personality: Happy, bouncy, bubbly, carefree, with a heart for everyone. <3 *Contact: MSN - email@example.com *Favorite Color: Eggplant Purple and Black Favorite Genre of Music: Any *Do you have a microphone?: Yeti USB Condenser Mic Anything else you'd like to share?: I am game designer~ x3 Alias: Teddy. Family Member/Title: The cuddly big bro. Musical Talents/Interests: A master at drums (or so I think). Gender: Male Theme Song: Good Life - One Republic Personality: Very quirky and a bit pervish. I can cheer anybody up, and I serve as a great consoling bear. Contact: MSN. The icon is under my avvy, lol. Picture?: I am indecisive. Please choose one for me. :) Favorite Color: Silver. Favorite Genre of Music: Indie/Dubstep/House Do you have a microphone?: Nope. Anything else you'd like to share?: I hope I didn't join too late. *Alias: Mochi Kawaii~ Family Member/Title: The hyper and fun-searching second cousin Musical Talents/Interests: I don't have musical talents which sucks but I love music nonetheless! It's so lovely. Gender: Female Personality: Happy in order to make others happy. Sometimes annoying but always means the best. Hyper at times. Love talking to as many people as I can. *Contact: KHV, MSN, Skype, Facebook upon request. *Favorite Color: Green! =D Favorite Genre of Music: 80s, 90s, rocks, classical, etc.. *Do you have a microphone?: Yes but it's terrible. I will get a new one when I can. Anything else you'd like to share?: I love you all <3


text:
The first AAAHK Council Meeting in 2018 was held on 12 Jan. Coming event will include lunar new year gathering and #AIESEC_Friday! Special thanks our Council Committee member Horris to offer a meeting room in his company – WeMine 微礦.
Tag: Council Committee
Permanent link to this article: http://www.aaahk.com/aaahk-council-meeting-on-12-jan-2018/
Dec 16
Thanks for your support in AAAHK Xmas Party 2017
Permanent link to this article: http://www.aaahk.com/xmasparty2017/
Nov 15
Let's celebrate in AAAHK Christmas Party 2017
Hey AIESEC! Want to have a fun X'mas party? Here is one for you! AAAHK Christmas Party will be held on 15 Dec 2017 (Fri). Party buffet food & drinks, booze and festive games are all prepared for you! Friends & family are welcomed:) Date: 15 Dec 2017 (Friday) Time: 7 – 10:30pm Venue: Peace …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.aaahk.com/lets-celebrate-in-aaahk-christmas-party-2017/
Sep 30
AIESEC Friday x Mid-autumn Festival on Sept 29
Permanent link to this article: http://www.aaahk.com/aiesec-friday-x-mid-autumn-festival-on-sept-29-2/
Sep 17
AAAHK AGM 2017 was successfully held on 17 September
The AAAHK AGM 2016-017 was successfully held last Sunday. We reviewed the fruitful activities in session 2016-2017. We passed the surplus financial statement for 2016. We elected the key positions of AAAHK session 2018-2019 unanimously. More importantly, we took the chance to lay down the framework: "AIESEC solves it" by "Enabling all members" to tackle …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.aaahk.com/aaahk-agm-2017-was-successfully-held-on-17-september/
Aug 05
AAAPC 2017 evaluation meeting and celebration party on 5 Aug
Permanent link to this article: http://www.aaahk.com/aaapc-2017-evaluation-meeting-and-celebration-party-on-5-aug/
Feb 24
AIESEC-LC-Lingnan 20th anniversary dinner
Permanent link to this article: http://www.aaahk.com/aiesec-lc-lingnan-20th-anniversary-dinner/
Feb 21
AAAPC2017 conference website has been launched!
[We are moving forward!!!] We are excited to announce that our AAAPC2017 conference website has been launched! The registration details will be announced soon. Fill in your information and we will notify you once the online registration for the conference & hotel accommodation begin in March. Share with your alumni friends and start planning for …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.aaahk.com/1229/
Feb 13
The 8th Council Meeting and New Year Mass Greetings
Permanent link to this article: http://www.aaahk.com/the-8th-council-meeting-and-new-year-mass-greetings/
Feb 04
AIESEC in HKU 50th anniversary Dinner
Congratulation to AIESEC-LC-HKU for the successful 50th anniversary dinner with the wonderful theme – 燃薪. 燃薪 which has the meaning of extension for over 50 years and lighting for inspiration. Over 90 alumni including HKU and other universities joined for the great event on 4 Feb 2017 in Loke Yew Hall, HKU. There were alumni from 1960s …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.aaahk.com/aiesec-in-hku-50th-anniversary-dinner/

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Google is bolstering its Enhanced Safe Browsing feature with new protection capabilities in Chrome (opens in new tab) which will help protect users when they try and download untrusted extensions.
The search giant first launched its Safe Browsing (opens in new tab) feature back in 2007 to warn users if they tried to visit a malicious website by checking URLs against a list of unsafe sites stored in its browser (opens in new tab).
Last year though, Google made Enhanced Safe Browsing (opens in new tab) available to Chrome users and this feature takes things a step further by protecting users from malicious downloads and extensions in addition to dangerous sites with new proactive safeguards and password breach warnings.
- We've put together a list of the best browsers (opens in new tab) available
- Keep your devices virus free with the best malware removal software (opens in new tab)
- Also check out our roundup of the best identity theft protection (opens in new tab)
With the release of Chrome 91 (opens in new tab) last month, the company began rolling out a new feature to Enhanced Safe Browsing that warns users via a prompt if they try to install a Chrome extension (opens in new tab) from an untrusted developer.
Developers that follow the Chrome Web Store Developer Program Policies are considered trusted by Enhanced Safe Browsing according to a new Google Security blog post (opens in new tab) while new developers will need to build up trust over a few months to be added to the list.
Download protection
In addition to protecting users from untrusted extensions, Chrome's Enhanced Safe Browsing feature will also provide them with better protection against risky files.
When a user downloads a file, Chrome will perform a first level check using metadata about the downloaded file including information on its contents and the source of the file to determine whether it is suspicious. For downloads that have been deemed risky but are not unsafe, Enhanced Safe Browsing users will now see a warning and will also be able to send the file to Google (opens in new tab) for additional scanning.
Google Safe Browsing will then scan the file using static and dynamic analysis classifiers in real time and after a short wait, Chrome will display another warning if Safe Browsing determines the file to be unsafe.
If you're concerned about your security online while working from home (opens in new tab), enabling Safe Browsing or Enhanced Safe Browsing is quite simple and can be done by opening Chrome's settings and heading to the Security menu.
- We've also featured the best antivirus (opens in new tab)
Via BleepingComputer (opens in new tab)


text:
Aman's dad is gone. Mum won't say it and she's struggling to talk about it, but it's a fact and he isn't coming back. Aman has been feeling more than lost and alone since he died. It just seems to be her and mum against the world, even against their family. When a lovely man called Gurnam moves in next door, it looks like he might fill a little gap in her life. But Gurnam has his own sadness. One that's far bigger than Aman can understand and it's tearing his life apart…
A touching and evocative tale of unlikely friendships and finding happiness in the hardest of times.
What would you like readers to take away from Stay A Little Longer?
The story is about sadness and depression. About two people, one young, one much older trying to get on with life as they face their demons. They find solace by talking to the people around them – friends and family – and mostly by spending time with each other and learning that they aren't as alone as they feel. If I want readers to take anything, it's the old adage that a problem shared is often a problem halved. That's not always the case with depression, of course, but it can help. The story is about finding hope in the darkest of times. It's also about the value and power of inter-generational friendships, and how young and old each have something to teach the other.
Do you have a character or moment in Stay A Little Longer that has special meaning to you?
Although not necessarily a special meaning, the moment at which Aman calls Gurnam "granddad" really cements the emotional arc for me. It was one of those unforced incidents that writers can often create. I didn't plan it that way, it just made sense in that context, and it brought a lump to my throat.
The most special thing for me is the letter Aman writes to her father. My emotional relationship with my own father ended when I was around ten years old and he fell seriously ill. He didn't pass away until I was fourteen, but in that time, he couldn't engage emotionally or physically, or remember anything, and we didn't get to form a bond beyond my childhood. That still hurts to this day, and I often wrote letters to him. Letters that he never got to see. In that sense, this is a very personal story for me.
Since we last spoke, do you feel anything has changed when it comes to "diversity in publishing" and "gatekeepers"?
Luna: to read the previous interview, which I HIGHLY recommend click on this link HERE.
Haha – that interview was very widely read! I haven't seen much change. There's greater awareness and acceptance, perhaps, and there are a few more diverse authors being published. Mostly, it's the same old, same old. Lots of handwringing and very little else. And, where there are more diverse voices appearing, are those writers being afforded the same promotional and marketing spend?
You can publish as many "diverse" voices as you like. If you don't promote those voices, or spend some money marketing them, what then is the net result? It just leads to more voices being left to find their own place in an already over-saturated market. Diversity of opportunity must go hand in hand with promotional and marketing equality. How many diverse voices were on at Edinburgh this year, or Hay? How many are being reviewed on the biggest platforms? How many see their faces and/or book jackets staring back at them on the tube or bus, or at a railway station? I still see the same handful of white authors being promoted, and when a new name breaks into that club, they tend to be white too. Kit De Waal wrote an excellent piece about working class writers, and that's a point worth making too. Where are the poor writers, combatting the lazy and prejudicial stereotypes about working class people? There is much work to do.
I'm more hopeful at the moment than convinced. But there are some great people in publishing who are trying to do things better – and those more aware gatekeepers are very welcome. That's why I love working with Barrington Stoke.
I'm giving you a free platform to talk about anything – GO:
Oh wow – where do I begin? It has to be libraries. We need to fight for them, defend them, promote them, and stop them being shut down. We need to stop the nonsense about "volunteer" run libraries being adequate replacements for those run by actual, trained librarians. No disrespect to the actual volunteers – I'm sure they're lovely – but they are NOT librarians. We also need a government that truly understands the link between children, reading, and school libraries and librarians. Truly understands that you can't have high standards in literacy without a library and librarian in every single school – properly funded, properly paid.
Just look at where the reliance on "fast-food" information (Wiki, youtube etc…) has got us. I know that some aspects of online information are great and often very welcome, but I also meet school pupils who know more about the Illuminati, "lizard people" and Love Island than they do about The Holocaust, colonialism or basic politics. Young people who know all about some celebrity's latest banal utterances, but can't name a female scientist, even when prompted by me. And, the big one, of course, faked information. Whether on websites run by uncaring mega-corporations, or those by groups and individuals with prejudiced ideas and vested interests, lies are rife across the Net. How the hell are our young people supposed to ascertain fact from fiction, truth from deceits etc? Librarians show us how to appreciate, understand and utilise information. For that alone, each is worth a thousand bloody bankers. And that is just one vital aspect of what they do. There is a fight to be had, over fake news and those who disseminate it. Librarians are our secret weapon, our ace in the hole. We should be lauding them. Instead, we are ruled by a bunch of political pygmies, destroying librarians' very worth and dismissing their value to society. It makes my blood boil!
Can you tell us something about yourself that not many people know:
I can't ride a bike, and I don't swim very well – both things that I missed out on learning because of my father's illness and my mother's subsequent lack of energy through working and looking after my father and rearing my sister and me. My father's illness and mother's low wage meant that we struggled for money, so we never went on holidays, never went to the sea side, adventure parks, cinema etc… I didn't even own my own book until I was in my late teens, hence my adoration for libraries. I was ashamed of this for years and rarely told people – silly, isn't it? I still can't ride bikes now, but I'm not overly concerned about that anymore. I am going to learn to swim properly though. That's a promise I made to my little girl and I intend on honouring it.
Other than that, I'm a very open book (pun intended).
Have you thought of a question you wish people would ask and never do? If not, is there a question you want to ask your readers?
People never ask what your least favourite book is – so that would be interesting. I've been asked so many questions since 2001 that I've probably heard them all.
A question for my readers? That's much easier. If there's one thing you'd love me to write about, what wold that be and why?
Bali Rai is the multi-award winning author of over 30 young adult, teen and children's books. His writing pushes boundaries and has made him extremely popular on the school visit circuit across the world. Two of his books are recommended reads for KS3 and GCSE. He lives in Leicester, and wrote his first novel, (un)arranged marriage, whilst managing a city centre bar. Bali spends his spare time cooking, reading, listening to reggae music and following Liverpool FC.
Website: www.balirai.co.uk
Twitter: @balirai


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In a recent news release, Dynatronics Corporation, Salt Lake City, announced that it has received CE Mark approval for its Solaris therapeutic modality products. The release notes that approval allows the company to sell these products in Europe and many other countries around the world.
Kelvyn H. Cullimore, Jr, president and CEO, Dynatronics, states in the release that receiving the CE Mark "represents the achievement of an important milestone for our international sales efforts."
"Our core therapeutic modality products offer a number of technological advantages already popular among physical therapists and athletic trainers practicing in the United States. The CE Mark approval will allow us to extend our geographical reach and become a provider of these products on a global basis," Cullimore adds in the release.
The release notes that Dynatronics manufactures, markets, and distributes advanced-technology medical devices, orthopedic soft goods and supplies, treatment tables, and rehabilitation equipment for the physical therapy, sports medicine, chiropractic, podiatry, plastic surgery, dermatology, and other related medical markets.
[Source: Dynatronics Corporation]


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How about a contest to start your Friday off with? Digital Storm is giving away a nice gaming laptop valued at about $1500… Details below for you
If you've got an old gaming PC that moves slower than Grandma and has more scratches than a DJ's record collection, Digital Storm is offering PC gamers a chance to throw out their throwback laptop and win a brand new Digital Storm Krypton gaming laptop (valued at $1,478), with its Retro Gaming Laptop contest.
To enter, simply take a photo of your old clunker and post it to Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #DSThrowbackContest. Then, fill out the form here and let us know where you've posted your photo. All photos must be received by April 30, 2014.
The contest coincides with Digital Storm's refresh of its gaming laptops line, featuring the new NVIDIA GTX 800M series of graphics cards.
Your old gaming laptop: it's got more scratches than an antique vinyl record collection and has seen more duct tape than Reservoir Dogs. You affectionately refer to it as "Old Yeller" for both the way its fan makes loud noises when you try to play a game and the fact that it needs to be put out of its misery.
Digital Storm is here to offer PC gamers a chance to toss out their throwback laptop and win a brand new Digital Storm Krypton gaming laptop (valued at $1,478). From those photos submitted, we'll choose the best (read: worst) photo of the most broke-down, dilapidated, decrepit, no-account (you get the picture) laptop to determine a winner. We'll announce the winner on May 1, 2014 on this page.


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How to Avoid a Scandal: Purposeful Cultures
The financial services (FS) industry has faced scandal after scandal, particularly since the global financial crisis. These have had costly consequences in more ways than one. Many FS firms have paid multimillion-pound fines or reached significant settlements with regulators over the shortcomings in their financial crime risk management1. Between January 2011 and December 2019, £38.3bn was paid to customers who complained about the way in which they were mis-sold PPI.2 Some individuals have even faced criminal charges for their part in the manipulation of interest rate benchmarks.3 Such events all result in reputational damage for the institutions involved.
In recent years, the industry has made significant efforts to reform and improve conduct in line with both specific regulations (e.g. the Senior Managers and Certification Regime) and principles from regulators (e.g. for conduct risk management). However, we have still seen scandals occur ‒ and compliance costs continue to increase. Indeed, by early 2020, two thirds of FS firms in the UK still expected the time and resources devoted to improving their conduct to increase over the coming year.4
Why does this challenge persist?
The approach that many organisations take in trying to avoid a scandal is flawed from the outset. Harms to others are often seen as an unfortunate by-product of the pursuit of profit. This shapes a response which seeks to contain, manage, mitigate, and, where possible, prevent negative impacts on the organisation. Instead, firms need to start with a broader purpose and use this to inform their wider culture and controls.
Mindsets and ideas shape how individuals and organisations influence, prepare for, and respond to events. Firms that seek to avoid events where risks crystallise are likely to consider conduct management as a mechanism for defending themselves from damage (i.e. they seek to avoid a scandal), and they thereby underappreciate the importance of serving customer needs and upholding the integrity of markets. Such a mindset focuses efforts on handling the immediate crisis and external perceptions relating to the scandal, rather than fixing its underlying cause(s).
Furthermore, when firms do begin to consider the causes, they risk only looking at the causes of a particular event, rather than identifying broader themes that could result in other harms occurring. It can take time for the cracks in a company's controls or culture to show; by waiting for events to occur in order to identify problems, firms leave themselves open to other issues developing from the same underlying root cause in the meantime. Moreover, organisations are more likely to downplay the need for change if they see a particular event as being the result of 'legacy' conduct or culture issues. This risks firms seeing events as being the result of the same few 'bad' actors rather than wider cultural or control issues.
How can clear purpose support good conduct?
Joe Garner outlined a pyramid of business purpose in his contribution to the FCA's 2020 discussion paper on purposeful cultures.5 This pyramid asserts that, while it is necessary for organisations to make sufficient profit, they must also seek higher purposes such as serving customers and improving society.
FS firms should start by defining a clear purpose. This requires them to understand the needs of their customers, employees and communities, and invest in business areas in order to best meet these needs. Once firms have structured their activities in this way, culture and controls should be developed to support them in managing distractions from this purpose.
To give a few examples:
- Organisations should have effective processes through which they are able to understand the problems that their actual and potential customers face, as well as any barriers to accessing their products and services. Outcomes should inform product and service development so that the firm can best meet the needs of its broadening customer base.
- Company culture should be led and nurtured to be inclusive in order to foster an environment in which all employees feel comfortable informing product design and service with insights derived from their own experiences and perspectives.
- Incentives should be designed to direct efforts in line with the firm's purpose, and to discourage short-term tactics which improve profitability but harm customers and society in the long run. This does not mean that efficiency does not matter; improvements can offer opportunities to invest in innovation or better pricing. However, financial objectives should be set in service to customers, and not the other way around.
- Senior Managers should receive information which helps them to assess and challenge whether business activities are contributing towards the firm's purpose. Management Information should support them in answering questions about whether the design and operation of the organisation could be amended to better serve customer needs and support the functioning of financial markets.
If and when a scandal does occur, it should be seen as an opportunity to ask questions and understand how the organisation can improve its culture and controls to better manage distractions from its purpose. In this way, firms can focus on having a healthy impact, rather than managing the impacts of an unhealthy focus.
Please follow BCS Consulting on LinkedIn if you would like to read further blogs in this series.


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American author and journalist Mignon McLaughlin once said:
"A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person."
If that's the case, Allen and Christine McKean who live at The Continental in Austin, Texas may be close to breaking an all-time record for falling in love.
Last Saturday, February 2, the McKeans celebrated their 72nd anniversary with a family get-together at Crepe Crazy in South Austin, which is appropriate, because after nearly three-quarters of a century together, the couple is obviously still crazy in love.
"It's been seven decades of true love, admiration and respect for one another," says daughter Karen Rotzler of San Antonio. "Theirs is a timeless marriage made in heaven."
The love affair started back in 1946 when Allen met Christine Boyce at a 4th of July parade in San Marcos, Texas. Allen was born and raised in his parents' one-room farm house on the banks of the San Marcos River in Staples, Texas. Chris was born in Dallas. On that fateful Independence Day shortly after WWII, she was a college student and Allen had just been discharged from the Navy.
"He had brought several watermelons from his family's farm to share with everyone," said Karen. "Things blossomed from there and they were married on Ground Hog Day, February 2, 1947."
Their first home was a four-room house on Allen's family farm, which had no running water, electricity or gas. After a year of basically camping out, they decided to go back to school in order to find jobs with more income. With the help of the G.I. Bill, they both earned their degrees. But by that time, they had two children underfoot, and Allen was called back for a second tour of duty in Korea.
After that conflict was over, Allen returned and taught school for five years as their family increased to four children. He then got hired by the Internal Revenue Service and began a 25-year career with the government, which took the family to Washington D.C., Houston, San Antonio and later to the new IRS center in Austin. During that time, they added a fifth child and Chris taught school and swimming lessons when she wasn't raising the children.
Since Allen was still a country boy at heart, they built their home in nearby rural Manchaca and lived there for 42 years, becoming heavily involved in high school, college and church groups — most centering around swimming and volleyball activities. Every year, Allen went deer hunting, which made venison a staple of family meals.
Together, Allen and Chris were members in both the chorale and hand bell choirs at the Manchaca United Methodist Church. They volunteered with school PTAs, and kept busy serving on many church groups and committees. For years, they never missed a game as their boys played football and the girls were cheerleaders and drill team members.
In addition, Allen coached Little League baseball while Chris was Girl Scout troop leader. Vacations were spent traveling and camping with the kids as they added state car stickers to their window collection. When the children moved out and began having their own families, they became avid Texas Longhorn fans and faithfully attended Lady Longhorn basketball games with friends.
Today, Chris and Allen's relationship continues to grow around their family that has added ten grandchildren and five great grandchildren. Their move to the Continental Retirement Community in Austin has enriched their lives further with staff who serve many of their daily needs and provide activities for them to create new friendships with fellow residents. To this day, the two of them have managed to strike the perfect balance of pursuing their own passions and interests, yet still focusing their lives around each other, as well as their family and friends.
"At Crepe Crazy, we toasted their love, their laughter, and their happily ever after," said Karen. "We love them so much and the pillars of support they are to our family."
Far away from The Continental in Austin, there are a few couples at Quail Lodge in Antioch, California who aren't far behind in their years of wedded bliss.
"We have eight married couples here at Quail Lodge," says Life Enhancement Director Sara Hallam. "Three of them have been married over 50 years and have their own secrets to a long happy marriage."
Vern and Shirley Hess will celebrate 68 years together this year, hot on the heels of Allen and Chris.
"We are just best friends, always have been," says Shirley. "Since we were kids running around with each other, we were just always Vern & Shirley."
"It's important to always have good communication," says Vern.
"As long as he remembers, what's mine is mine and what's his is mine too." jokes Shirley.
Jerry and Carol Schmalenberge's 63rd anniversary is just four months from now. Jerry claims that being faithful Christians and going to regular worship is a bond that has held them together over the years.
"My life's slogan has been, 'not perfect, but forgiven,'" says Jerry. "Adhering to this motto as the way to treat each other still holds us together."
For Larry & Lily Stangl, who have been married 51 years, it comes down to remembering the three magic words. And not the ones you might think.
"I was wrong," says Larry.
Lily concurs: "It helps to say, 'I'm sorry' a lot."
It just goes to show, couples have been giving each other cards, candy and flowers for Valentine's Day for almost two centuries, and more than 190 million cards are sent in the United States alone each year. But clearly what makes an enduring love story is what two people give each other every other day of the year.
*This blog was first published here: Sunshine Retirement Living, February, 2019.
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I was in Ylläsjärvi for the ski holiday and yesterday I noticed good aurora borealis forecast and less than -30 C forecast in Kilpisjärvi and decided to head do a road trip around Nordics and spend the night in Kilpisjärvi.
Here are some photos from the trip.
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Jamie Rae Hammond Horan Vacknitz Willey
Our uncle called her Peanut. I called her Mame.
Her children called her Mom, and her grandchildren called her Nana.
Jamie Rae Hammond Horan Vacknitz Willey was found deceased of natural causes on Good Friday, April 2, 2021.
She is survived by her three daughters, Toshca Horan, Tomeeka Rus and Tolisha Horan; mother, Janet Leigh; sister, Donna O'Keefe; brother, Dennis Hammond; and grandchildren. She was predeceased by brother, Mitchell Lee Hammond.
If Jamie were writing this, it would end with the words: Take care, love forever and a day, love you more, miss you much!


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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 54
The Absence of Design in Nature
The Absence of Design in Nature,
It is Claimed by theologians that the order of Nature, when rightly interpreted, proves the existence of a great contriver or designer; and, it is further maintained, by many, that the chief, if not the sole object in view by that great designer is, and always has been, the welfare of the human race.
Assuming the existence of a Deity, endowed with the attributes of infinite wisdom and power, it follows as a logical necessity, that whatever he designs and executes must be faultless in plan and perfect in workmanship. In other words, a perfect God can make no mistakes. If we find what we believe to be mistakes in nature, we may explain their existence in one only of two ways. First, we may assume that we ourselves are mistaken; or, if this is not possible, then we must conclude that the imperfections observed are not the product of divine wisdom and workmanship.
The first explanation, which simply assumes that in all such cases we ourselves are in error, has proven so convenient to theologians and so anodyne to the human intellect that it is usually adopted, without question or remonstrance. We assume that what appears to be useless and purposeless in nature will present a different aspect when we come to more fully understand the matter; and if, after prolonged and thorough investigation, the difficulty still persists, we page 4 hush the voice of reason by still assuming that we have not yet gone deeply enough into the matter. We are invited into the field of nature to observe the evidences of design which are to prove the existence of a Great Designer, but at the very threshold of our inquiry are warned that we must only heed evidence in favor of the proposition in question. When difficulties appear and doubts arise, we are admonished that in times past it has often happened that what men have thought useless or even injurious has been found, on further inquiry, to be useful or even essential, and that, therefore, a like solution of every problem is certain to result from adequate investigation. We appeal to reason to prove a proposition, and then deliberately reject all the adverse evidence, assuming that it must be imperfect, misleading and false, or it would not be adverse. It is as if the State, which assumes all prisoners before trial to be innocent, should refuse to receive or credit the evidence of the prosecution, because it has often happened in times past that men, esteemed guilty beyond doubt, by the bench, the bar and the people have been shown by the developments of time to be absolutely innocent.
The alternative of this mode of disposing of the subject on ex parte evidence is, if imperfections and purposeless parts are found in nature, to deny that nature furnishes any proof of design. The existence of such harmony and adaptation of means to ends as we perceive about us, cannot be accepted as proofs of design, while there remains even one imperfect or purposeless structure in nature; for we cannot conceive that a perfect God made a single mistake, or left any work in an imperfect or unfinished condition. Nor can we conceive that God designed some parts of nature and neglected other parts. All is, therefore, the product of divine plan and workmanship, or none.
There is, however, a third method of solving this problem, which, at first glance is apparently very profound, but which, on investigation, proves to be a transparent sophistry. Thus, it is said that behind all matter and force page 5 there may exist an agency or being, who created the universe, with all its materials and forces, and who, having created matter and the laws to which it is subject, is content to allow nature to proceed in obedience to the original, divine plan. This is simply foreordination and predestination applied to the universe. But it will be noticed that in stating this proposition, we are obliged to refer to an agency or force behind all force," which involves a contradiction of terms. In other words, we must assume that, somewhere behind all matter and force, there is yet another force, which is an absurd proposition.
Paley and others have written many volumes with a view of proving the existence of this hypothetical being behind nature, using arguments which, in the main, are analogous to the celebrated watch argument, which may be thus briefly stated: A traveler finds a watch, and, on examination of its mechanism, notes abundant evidence of design, which induces him to believe that the watch did not come by chance, but had a designer and maker. Next, the anatomist and physiologist examine the body of the watchmaker, and, on careful inspection, find it to be more wonderful in many respects than the watch, wherefore, they conclude that it must have been designed and manufactured by an artificer possessed of superhuman knowledge and power. The theologian now takes up the clue and finds that this Great Designer lives somewhere in the sky, or behind nature; and, although he does not frankly say as much, evidently concludes that this mighty being is so very wonderful that he did not require either a designer or maker at all! For the sake of argument, however, we may neglect the absurdity involved in the doctrine of design, that God himself must have been designed by a greater god, and him by another, and so on, ad infinitum, and address ourselves at once to the facts of nature.
That there is a remarkable adaptation of living beings to their environment, is apparent to all, and has in all ages and among all peoples, originated and maintained the the- page 6 ory of an intelligent, designing Deity. Can this wonderful adaptation of living beings to their environment be otherwise explained? The doctrine of evolution—natural selection—the survival of the fittest, explains all in a most satisfactory manner. Evolution is, therefore, the designing hand. True, steps in the development of beings of every kind are not yet, and perhaps never will be made out with certainty. It may never be known, for example, what combination of circumstances drove the whale—originally a land animal—into the sea; but conditions having that tendency are readily conceivable. Those who refuse to accept the doctrine of evolution, because all the steps and stages in the evolution of animals and plants have pot been observed, and cannot be reproduced experimentally, occupy the illogical position of rejecting the evidence of an army of witnesses simply because of the absence of one or a few, the testimony of whom they hope, almost against hope, would be contradictory to those at hand. For the same reason we might refuse to accept all the sciences, and indeed all knowledge, not excepting theology, which, indeed, would be the first to fail by this test.
Since all the adaptation observed in nature is fully and rationally accounted for by the theory of evolution—indeed, we might say, is required by that theory—it is plainly a violation of the fundamental laws of human reason to attempt to explain these relations by invoking miraculous agency—a cause unknown to science, and of the existence of which no proof can be given in this age.
Pushing aside for the time, however, all of these grave objections, which in themselves are fatal to the doctrine of design, let us see if the facts so much relied upon by Paley, Lord Brougham and others warrant, in any degree, the inferences drawn from them. As before remarked, any creature or organ designed and made by an omniscient and omnipotent creator should be absolutely perfect in every respect. What creature is perfectly adapted to its environment, or what organ performs its functions perfectly? The page 7 eye, on which teleologists place so much stress, is very far from perfection. The number of persons seen with eyeglasses and other devices to aid ordinary vision, shows that this organ is, to say the least, very easily disordered in many different ways. Optically, the eye is not perfectly planned to guard against spherical or chromatic aberration, while, in mechanical construction, it is inferior to the cheapest optical instrument in the market. Astigmatism, or want of sphericity of the cornea, is present in a greater or less degree in the case of every human eye, while the crystalline lens seems to be even more imperfect than the cornea in this respect. Moreover, these refracting media, the cornea and crystalline lens, are not truly centered, as Helmholtz has shown, on the optical axis of the eye. The refracting media of the eye, as the aqueous humor, the crystalline lens and vitreous humor, are not uniformly transparent, and hence, rays of light during transmission, undergo absorption and refraction, giving rise to various shadows, halos and fringes which fall upon the retina to the great impairment of vision. Even in the best of eyes there are numerous opaque, granules or floating patches in the humors, giving rise to moving spots or spectres so well observed and yet so annoying while using the microscope, especially if the field is well illuminated. Long-sightedness and short-sightedness are common difficulties arising from want of proper relation between the refracting power of the eye and its depth, or the antero-posterior diameter. All of these difficulties are practically overcome or avoided in even the cheapest photographic cameras in the market, and yet no one has ever claimed that the camera had a miraculous origin or that the wonderful design manifest in its mechanism proves its designer to have been a god. In the inner corner of every human eye is seen a little mass of flesh containing a little plate of cartilage. It is the vestige of the membrana nictitans or third eye-lid of birds and reptiles, and is not of the slightest use to man. Why is it there? Its existence, which is inexplicable on the theory page 8 of design, is not only consistent with the theory of evolution, but is one among the thousands of unanswerable arguments in favor of that theory.
The ear is, in many respects, as imperfect as the eye. There are in the structure of the external ear, and attached to it, ten muscles—all in a rudimentary condition, and all absolutely useless. Indeed, all of the ear visible to the eye, except a small shell shaped depression immediately around the opening, and not so large as an ordinary teaspoon, is completely useless, and, in consequence of its liability to freeze, is to some extent, injurious. For what purpose, then, was this mass of useless material formed? Does its beauty or its utility as an additional member on which jewelry can be worn justify its existence? The internal construction of the ear is quite as faulty as that of the eye; but, for the present, we must content ourselves with only the observations that we cannot hear either very high or very low tones, and that we judge but very imperfectly of either the direction or distance of sounds.
Turning our attention now to other structures, we find, for example, on looking into the mouth of a child, a set of teeth beginning to appear soon after birth, and which continue to cut their way through swollen and tender gums from time to time, during two or three years, Hardly is the last one of these milk-teeth visible, before the whole set begins to vanish, before the incoming, so-called "permanent set." If the child is able to survive the toothaches and teething-syrups and diseases of a dangerous character incident to this period, and largely caused by the cutting and shedding of one set of teeth and the appearance of another set, it may hope, by the time it is able to vote, to have cut the last wisdom tooth. But, as a rule, long before this time the service of the dentist is needed on the new crop of teeth. Asa matter of fact, the dentist furnishes us the only strictly reliable and permanent teeth we ever have. No one can doubt that the process of teething, and the teeth page 9 produced, are far from bearing the impress of perfection. Indeed, few animals, having any teeth at all, are not better off in this respect than the human race.
Looking a little further down the throat, we observe a pair of tonsils, of no earthly use except as filling for a small amount of space which certainly might have been filled with some tissue not so liable to become inflamed and swollen, as in tonsilitis or quinsy. In surveying this region of the body we notice that the opening into the trachea, or windpipe, lies just below the opening into the oesophagus or gullet, so that every breath of air through the nostrils must cross the path of food to the stomach, and, what is worse, every grain of food and every drop of liquid, on its way to the stomach, must pass over the opening into the trachea, thus endangering the life of man every time a mouthful of food is swallowed. That the danger is real, and not simply imaginary, is abundantly proven by the large number of deaths due to choking caused by the impaction of pieces of food, often relatively small, in the glottis during meals. Even when death does not result, the evil of the arrangement is apparent in the spasmodic coughing caused by the entrance of small crumbs or drops of liquid during meals.
The arrangement of the various digestive fluids in the alimentary canal is far from being the best one possible. In the mouth, food meets saliva, an alkaline liquid having a tendency to convert starch into sugar, but this process is hardly begun before the food reaches the stomach, where it meets an acid liquid—the gastric juice—which effectually destroys the alkalinity of the saliva which had been swallowed, and thus at once and forever prevents its action. Even the ptyaline, the ferment principle of the saliva, is destroyed by the action of the gastric juice. After leaving the stomach food encounters two alkaline liquids—the bile and pancreatic juice, the latter secretion being simply saliva again. Here, digestion begun but not completed in the stomach, is arrested, and the kind which began in the page 10 mouth is again set up! Such an arrangement is not justified by any principles of chemistry or of economy with which we are acquainted.
These, and hundreds of similar defects, are wholly unaccountable by, and incompatible with any theory of theistic design, but they are in perfect harmony with the theory of evolution, which assumes that man has attained his present degree of perfection by the gradual modification and improvement of inferior organisms. His organization has been built up on the piece-upon-piece and patch upon-patch plan, and hence is far more complex, in many respects, than it might have been had it been directly planned by an all-wise architect, or even by a good physiologist.
Design implies purpose, as much as it does the existence of a designer. With this principle in view, let us glance at one or two sample facts in nature. For what purpose was such an animal as the tiger designed? This animal has been endowed with great strength, sharp teeth and claws, acuteness of sight and hearing, a favorable color, and remarkable cunning—all for what purpose? The only possible answer is, "to enable him to capture and kill other animals as food." But we find that the tiger's food has not been neglected. The antelope exhibits as much evidence of design as the tiger, but the purpose is evidently different. His acuteness of sight and hearing, and especially his fleetness, are designed to enable him to run away from the tiger! Here, then, is design working against design, and we are assured that "a house divided against itself cannot stand." If the antelope was designed as food for the tiger, why was he given such desire and capacity to run away and neglect his duty to the latter? Less design bestowed upon the antelope would have necessitated less elaboration of the tiger! It is worthy of note, however, that of all animals on which tigers love to dine, man was most easily captured and slain, until his own ingenuity gave him weapons for defense. Does this feet indicate that man was specially designed as food for tigers and lions? But, page 11 seriously, why should one animal have been designed to eat up another? What possible profit or pleasure can the Deity derive from this world-wide and incessant slaughter? Every second of time records the dying agonies of thousands of animals to whom life was, apparently, as sweet as it is to us. Indeed, this universal butchery and murder seen on every hand throughout the animal kingdom is one of the chief hindrances to the refinement of men. It is impossible to learn mercy from nature, and yet, without mercy, man is a brutal savage.
We are aware of the fact that, but for the existence of carnivorous animals, there would have been far less variety in the animal kingdom; but it is also evident that, with less variety, there might have been even a greater number of individuals in existence. If it is said that, but for carniverous animals—including man for this argument—herbivorous animals would soon possess the earth and crowd out the human race, we answer, that a little design, causing them to multiply less rapidly, would have obviated that danger. If man was the chief object of the solicitude of the Great Designer, those troublesome animals might have been omitted altogether.
We have heard the explanation that God made all the animals, as well as everything else, "for his own glory," which implies that he is exceedingly fond of blood and carnage, and further, that, before he created them, he was not quite as glorious as he wished to be.
The old race of theologians—unfortunately not yet quite extinct—claimed boldly that everything in existence was made for the use and benefit of man, directly or indirectly. When Galileo announced the discovery of the moons of Jupiter, the clergy asked him if they were visible to the unaided eye I On his replying that they were not, he was told that, since everything was made for the use of man, and since these alleged moons were not visible, and, therefore, were of no use to him, it followed, as a logical consequence, that they did not exist at all!page 12
With the view of testing this theory, let us cull a few sample facts bearing upon this question from nature. There are at least half a million species of plants in existence, of which man uses, directly or indirectly, about one in every three hundred. Are the remaining two hundred and ninety-nine simply passive and neutral? By no means. They drain the earth and air of the nutriment which would otherwise go to the support of the useful plants. There can be no neutrality in this matter. "He that is not for us is against us." What shall we do with such facts as these Shall we admit their logic and say that the Great Designer fails three hundred times as often as he succeeds? But the whole truth is not yet told. Even in those cases in which plants evince the most evidence of design, the degree of success attained is only partial. As articles of food, such fruits as crabapples, wild cherries, May-apples, pawpaws, persimmons, etc., are very defective, both in taste and nutritive constituents; while, as remedies, the entire vegetable kingdom fails to present a single perfect specimen. If medicinal plants had been designed by the Great Designer, who also designed the diseases they were intended to cure, we should have found them to be perfectly adapted to that end. With perfect remedies, the practice of medicine would, long since, have been a very simple and certain operation. Having diagnosed the case, the doctor might dismiss it, leaving the labor of looking up the right remedy in the catalogue and its administration to the patient or to his friends.
But even in the case of those plants found to be most useful as remedies, there is no relation between their place of growth and the use which is made of them. Thus, the cinchona tree, the most serviceable of all medicinal plants, is not found in low, marshy, malarious regions, where, as a remedy, it is most needed. On the contrary, it is found perched upon the top of a small area of the Andes mountains, a locality for a long time unknown, and now almost inaccessible to human beings. If we are told that the Cre- page 13 ator put the cinchona in the best place for the welfare of the plant, we reply that man has since found a score of other localities in which it flourishes as well, and, in some cases, better, than in its original home; and, secondly, that a little touch of Infinite design might have made it grow about Peru, Illinois, as well as in Peru, South America. But who designed the palmella or ague-plant, but for which cinchona would have been far less necessary? Here we see an organism, and there are hundreds of similar instances, exquisitely designed to cause disease, and, on the other hand, we find a remedy imperfectly designed to cure it. Here is another case of design warring against design. Nature teems with similar instances. Evidently, less design bestowed on actinomyces, trechina spiralis, the itch animalcule, tapeworms, etc., would have obviated the necessity of designing an elaborate materia medica.
Turning our attention for a moment to the animal kingdom, we find that we use a score or two of animals largely and in various ways, and that we use the skins or other parts, and sometimes the flesh of a few hundred more; but naturalists believe there are fully a million species of animals, great and small, in existence. Therefore more than ninety-nine per cent, of the species of animals in existence are not only of no service to man, but are absolutely injurious. Here, as in the case of plants, neutrality is an impossibility.
Hundreds of carnivorous animals infest our forests and streams, while over three thousand kinds of snakes hiss and snap at us as we trudge along the path of life, including the copperheads and fifteen kinds of rattlesnakes, specially designed for and donated to us Americans. Oh, for a full appreciation of the length and breadth and depth of the beneficence manifested in the design of a rattlesnake! To make our earthly habitation a more perfect elysium, it has pleased the Great Designer to make the air almost hazy with hornets, wasps, flies, fleas and musquitoes, giving us page 14 Americans several new kinds, as if the hornets which stung the Moabites, the Jebusites, the Amorites, and the Hittites were not good enough or bad enough for us.
The truth is, just as it should be, according to the doctrine of evolution, that man is simply a member of the animal kingdom, and that, like all other subjects of that great realm, he must struggle for his life from birth to death. He must contend with climate, disease, and enemies of all kinds. In this unceasing battle, he avails himself of every help and means within his reach. He uses such animals and plants as he can for food and clothing and as servants, and fights, with all his power, against the remainder. His ingenuity enables him to turn so many things to good account, in this contest, that his egotism prompts him to the beliet that all things wore made for him. But, as a matter of fact, every other living organism struggles for continued existence in substantially the same manner, and might with as much propriety set up the same claims.
There are those in every community who affect to believe that everything that occurs is specially designed and directed by an overruling Providence, and hence, on almost every coin we see the motto, "In God we trust," and almost every obituary notice begins, "Whereas, it has pleased an overruling Providence to remove Mr. Blank," &c., and yet, as everyone knows, the pius and orthodox are not more exempt from accidents, disease and death than are heretics. If an overruling Providence is managing these matters he ought to, and certainly would, make some plain distinctions in the distribution of his gifts and punishments. There are, throughout the country, probably ten saloons and other infamous houses for every church, and yet it is no exaggeration to state that lightning strikes ten times as many churches as it does saloons. Of course, the steeples and spires of churches are very tempting to electricity, but lightning, directed by Omnipotence, should be able to strike a basement saloon as readily as a church-steeple. Not long since, we read of a minister who was struck by page 15 lightning and instantly killed while praying during the regular Sunday services, also of a pius man who was struck and killed while reading his bible. What shall we do with these and millions of similar facts? No one can harmonize them with the theory of design and an overruling Providence, except by assuming that, in some mysterious way, unknown to men, they are beneficial to our race. But the propriety and reasonableness of such an assumption are the very questions in dispute. Recognizing the fact that the good are as frequently stricken with the "visitations of Divine Providence" as the bad, theologians have evolved two explanations by which to pacify their flocks. The first is that all of these calamities—and, indeed, all the evil in the world—are the works of the Devil. But who is the Devil, on whom the onus of blame is thus shifted? Did he, like God, create himself, or is he the creature, the agent, the employee of God? In the affairs of this world we hold the proprietor responsible for the acts of the employee. Indeed, God himself, if correctly reported, gave us the correct principle of action governing this matter, when he said, "But if the ox (which had gored some one) were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or woman: the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death." Why has not this terribly vicious ox, the Devil, been "kept in" or "stoned" to death long ago?
The other explanation is by means of the argument of ignorance, which is usually sanctified and sugar-coated by the quotation, "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth," implying that the evil or calamity is, after all, but a blessing in disguise. The argument in full may be thus summarized: Many things and events are plainly beneficial; others, apparently pernicious, finally prove to be advantageous; therefore, all things and events are blessings, either openly or in disguise. If, however, we invert this argument it will look as well, logically, and prove as much. page 16 "Many things and events are undoubtedly injurious; other things and events which at first seem to be advantageous, finally prove to be inimical; therefore, all things and occurences are either openly or covertly hostile to mankind, and, therefore, essentially bad." The argument is as cogent in one form as in the other, and is but sophistry at best.
If God really wishes to prove to us his existence, can he not devise some proof not susceptible of any other interpretation? Can he not write? He is credited with painting all the exquisite colors and hues in nature. If so, can not he write a single sentence somewhere, and in some manner, which could not be counterfeited or explained away by men? If he controls the winds and clouds why does he not sometimes arrange the latter into significant forms, or paint on them some words giving us some reliable information? We do not ask for much. Let him simply say, "The bible is inspired," or, "Obey the pope," or, Follow Talmadge," or, "Believe in Joseph Cook." Any little hint will suffice to eradicate infidelity from the world, when we are certain that its origin is divine. The matter in the tail of a comet might easily be arranged into a few words which all men could see. No matter in what language the information came, its translation would offer no difficulties. The surface of the moon might have been variegated with a few texts instead of with volcanic craters. We are aware that God is reported to have written two editions of the decalogue on stone tablets, but, unfortunately for the credibility of the account, Moses had to wait, in each case, forty days for the completion of the work; and now, there are those so depraved as to suggest that in that length of time, Moses might have done the work himself.
If God is really so solicitous in regard to the welfare of men, why does he not, at least sometimes, speak? He is said to have been very familiar and communicative two or three thousand years ago. Can he not talk now? The clergy will, of course, call these queries blasphemous, as they do everything which cannot be otherwise disposed of, page 17 but they are candid, and are the serious thoughts of every one who permits himself to think upon this subject. A little four-year-old girl, belonging to an acquaintance in Ohio, was, some time since, heard to soliloquize thus, when saying her evening prayer: "Now, God, I have talked to you often enough. If you hear me, why don't you talk back?" Sure enough! Why don't God talk, or act in response to prayer? It is the disgrace of wood and stone idols that, however much they are appealed to, to speak or act, they maintain a stolid indifference; but, in truth, does our God behave differently? Hundreds of millions of prayers, in the case of President Garfield, failed to evoke the slightest sign of even the existence of a God. Had these prayers been addressed to Bael or Joss, the result could not have been more disastrous. Billions of billions of prayers for the conversion of the wicked and the heathen have been presented, and yet—although this is evidently the proper thing to do—the work is scarcely farther advanced than it was a thousand years ago. Indeed, no one in this age, not even the preacher, expects a prayer to be answered.
Those who have abandoned all the usual arguments in favor of a Supreme being, based on the evidence of design, as intrinsically bad, but who still wish to fortify their belief in the existence of such a Being, often assert that the mere order of harmony observable in nature, offers them sufficient evidence. It is plain, however, that if nature exists at all, some kind of order must exist, and that, whatever may be the course of events, some sort of harmony is a necessary consequence. If matter exists, it must assume some shape and occupy some position. If, however, the matter of the universe could be shown to be in the best possible forms, an argument for a supreme intelligence might rest on that basis, but he would possess a dull imagination indeed, who could not suggest numerous improvements in this respect, both in the form and qualities of matter, as we find it on our planet. The climate, for ex ample, might have been made more genial and uniform, page 18 and the soil, in many districts, richer. Fewer mountains and deserts would have sufficed, and with less water better distributed, our world would have been better arranged. Indeed, a small amount of matter might have taken the form of homes, food and clothing, with evident advantage to mankind. The labor of the human race is chiefly expended in rearranging nature. The convenience of photographers, for example, would have been greatly enhanced if light had been endowed with such properties that it would not affect a sensitive plate before its passage through a lens. If we are told that such a modification of light would unfit it for use as a chemical agency in many other respects, we can only reply that, while we cannot so load a gun as that it shall hit a bear but miss a calf, this is just what is to be expected from one with whom "all things are possible."
I freely admit that the arrangement of matter and its qualities might have been much worse, but if they had been we should not have existed at all. In the case of our moon a worse arrangement is actually seen, and, as a conseqence, life is believed to be absent from that body. Water might have been made to freeze at forty degrees above, or forty degrees below zero, with some advantages in both cases. Alcohol might have been made with a repulsive taste, or without its intoxicating properties, with evident advantage to mankind. Thus, we might proceed to point out changes and possible improvements in the form and properties of matter ad infinitum. Since it is possible therefore, to suggest improvements in the properties and state of aggregation in which we find matter, perfection in the order of nature cannot be claimed, unless it is assumed that in some way or other, not always manifest, every thing must be for the best, as we find it, which is simply the old argument of ignorance.
But if perfection in the order of nature is not made a part of the argument, then the simple proposition remains, that the existence of matter in any state of aggregation, page 19 and with any kind of properties, is sufficient to prove the existence of an intelligent designing Creator, who himself came into existence without any assistance or cause whatever, and then proceeded to create everything out of nothing! In the apt phraseology sometimes employed by gentlemen of the bar, those who use this argument go into and come out of the same hole.
So far as the doctrine of design implies the process of reasoning on the part of God, it is plainly absurd, because the divine mind can neither reason, nor learn, nor forget. Reasoning is that process by which finite minds glide by easy or difficult steps from the known to the unknown; but, since all possible knowledge is supposed to be ever-present in the Infinite mind, this process is both unnecessary and impossible. Therefore, while an unreasoning God may appear to be a kind of theological monstrosity, it is clear that a God who reasons is no God at all, but worse still is a God who reasons badly.
Finally, we may be asked if we deny the existence of God? Our reply is, "By no means." To do so, would imply that we have positive knowledge on this point. We neither affirm nor deny the existence of a Supreme Being, because we have no definite and conclusive information on that subject. We simply maintain that the evidence which has thus far been relied upon to prove the existence of such a Being, is insufficient and fallacious, if new evidence can be advanced, or if the old can be made more cogent, we shall be among the first to give the matter a full and fair reconsideration.


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Comic Book Review: 'Batman: Gates of Gotham' 1
Batman: Gates of Gotham hit the shelves of comic stores everywhere today, delivering the first of five issues to make up the miniseries. Gates of Gotham brings together writers Scott Snyder and Kyle Higgins and features the artwork of Trevor McCarthy. This impressive team brings us a storyline that has its roots coming out of Grant Morrison's Batman Incorporated, particularly issue #6 where Cassandra Cain began tracking explosives that eventually found their way to Gotham in the first issue of this series.
The story begins with the bombing and subsequent destruction of three bridges in Gotham City that follow with a cryptic warning to the press that "the families will fall by the Gates of Gotham." The fact that each one of these bridges was named after a prominent family (the Cobblepots, the Elliots, and the Waynes) leads us to believe that some deep dark secrets of said families are about to come out of the closet. The first couple of pages set that idea up nicely as we're treated to a meeting held in 1881with Bruce Wayne's great-great-grandfather to discuss the construction of these bridges. Personally, I loved this intro because of the time period being illustrated and it brought back that nostalgic vibe I felt when I read Gotham by Gaslight for the first time.
The first issue is clearly setting up the questions for the next four books to answer so the pace is relatively slow. That shouldn't come as a big surprise for anyone starting a new series that has a well-developed storyline. I feel that pacing here is key. There is, however, a great action sequence that's wonderfully illustrated by McCarthy of Batman's response to the bridge explosions and the rescue attempts made. After being treated to a few pages of this type of action, I was fine having a slower pace for the rest of the issue.
McCarthy's artwork has grown on me a little bit more with this book. His character work stands out in this issue and he manages to effectively energize the panels, regardless of the action taking place. I particularly enjoyed the work he did to illustrate a meeting between Batman and the Penguin. His drawings of Gotham City are very well done in the few panels in which it's visible. The buildings come off as dark and rustic and lend to the mood as the backdrop for the story. These illustrations are even more important to pay attention to as the city itself can be seen as a prominent character in Gates of Gotham.
What excites me about his storyline is that we're going to get new insights and backstory on the history of Gotham City. Snyder and Higgins both have a liberty here to create a new way for us to view how Gotham came to be and how it may have shaped the destinies of the characters in the Bat-universe. I hope they wield this liberty wisely because knowing that there are only 4 more issues to tell this story, I'm anxiously awaiting to see where it goes.


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Few political allegiances are more inexplicable than the love affair between Bill Clinton and America's LGBT community.
During his eight years in office, our 42nd president not only introduced the military's disastrous Don't Ask/Don't Tell policy in 1993, he also furthered the ban prohibiting HIV-positive travelers from entering the US, failed to pass the Employee Non-Discrimination Act and showed questionable leadership in easing approval for crucial HIV medications.
If that weren't enough, Clinton signed into law the Defense of Marriage Act, which prevented same-sex married couples from receiving federal benefits and recognition.
As author and academic Nathaniel Frank explains, "Clinton will go down in history as the only president who signed … federal laws mandating discrimination against gay and lesbian Americans."
Yet this Saturday in Washington, DC, the same Bill Clinton will be welcomed as keynote speaker at the 18th annual national dinner of the Human Rights Campaign — America's largest LGBT rights group.
Calling him a "transformational leader for our nation and the world," HRC president Chad Griffin has said he's "thrilled" Clinton will once again appear at the sold-out black-tie event.
The choice of Clinton to address American LGBT leaders is a farce of Faustian proportions — as if the NAACP had invited George Wallace as headliner.
HRC says Clinton's Washington-era transgressions are now history — rendered moot by his myriad mea culpas and the numerous LGBT-rights achievements of the Obama administration.
Sure, DOMA might have been state-sanctioned discrimination not seen since the time of Jim Crow, but Clinton's past sins are now "old news," said HRC VP for communications and marketing Fred Sainz, who in an act of revisionism bordering on the sycophantic, added, "President Clinton has consistently been a supporter of LGBT people and issues important to us."
Of course, it would have taken courage to stand up for gay rights when it was the unpopular thing to do. Now it's just pandering.
Phrases like "old news" reveal just how out of touch "mainstream" progressive groups like HRC have become with actual progressives.
Cosseted by big egos and even bigger salaries — in Griffin's case, over $360,000 annually — folks like Griffin and Sainz may indeed view Clinton's past as irrelevant.
But for many of the thousands of lives it destroyed, the consequences of Clinton's presidency still reverberate as strongly as ever.
More than 25,000 bi-national LGBT couples, for example, lived with the cost and terror of potential deportation prior to the Supreme Court's overturning of DOMA last year.
And as a result of DADT, some 14,000-plus soldiers were booted from the military between 1994 and 2011 — including hundreds of highly specialized linguistic and security experts who could have come in handy after 9/11.
"Clinton may have expended real political capital to end the ban on gays in the military, but he botched the effort and ultimately failed," says Frank, whose 2009 book "Unfriendly Fire" is considered the definitive analysis of DADT.
That failure — along with DOMA's onerous effects — will forever remain "an indelible part of the Clinton legacy."
With Hillary Clinton likely running for the White House, it's easy to understand Clinton's attraction to HRC. An HRC stamp of approval helps rehabilitate Bill's dubious LGBT record while appealing to a key constituency Hillary needs to secure the presidency.
But like her husband, Hillary has also flip-flopped on LGBT rights — so much so that the Economist described her "belated conversion" to supporting marriage equality as "cautious to the point of cowardice" back in March 2013.
The choice of Clinton to address American LGBT leaders is a farce of Faustian proportions — as if the NAACP had invited George Wallace as headliner.
In embracing Bill and Hillary, no minority group has so thoroughly sold out its base like HRC and its ilk as they scrounge for status in Washington.
The Clintons, meanwhile, relearn the lesson that no matter how poorly they treat their constituents, they'll come back.
I tried to ask Griffin about HRC's invitation to Clinton, but he refused to comment.
Instead, an HRC flak cited Clinton's regret over DADT and DOMA along with a list of Hillary and Chelsea Clinton's pro-LGBT achievements.
Arrogant and incredulous, HRC's response betrayed a strain of left-wing impunity which masquerades as progressivism but is actually steeped in elitism.
Others, however, are far less forgiving — of Clinton's misdeeds and HRC for absolving them.
"Clinton has sort of washed his slate clean, and now everybody seems to love him, but both he or the HRC provide little of permanent value to us," says long-time author and activist Larry Kramer, whose semi-autobiographical play "The Normal Heart" was recently adapted for television by HBO. "To be frank, Clinton isn't entitled to support from gay people. So HRC is welcome to Clinton, because neither has delivered, as far as I'm concerned."
David Kaufman is the real estate and travel editor of The Post.


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StoneTech Impregnator Pro Sealer
Heavy Duty Impregnating Sealer for natural stone such as marble, granite, limestone, slate, terrazzo, travertine and sandstone
STONETECH® Impregnator Pro® is a solvent based sealer which preserves the natural look of stone surfaces.
For Professional Use Only
WARNING: Avoid exposure to vapors. Use in a well-ventilated area with an approved respirator device.
For an easier-to-use product with new advanced technology that produces the same results, we recommend Bulletproof Sealer or Heavy Duty Sealer.
Features & Benefits
- Heavy duty protection against most stains
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- Solvent-based formula
- Interior and exterior use
Where to Use
Natural stone such as marble, granite, limestone, slate, terrazzo, travertine & sandstone. Best suited for the most porous stone surfaces.
Product Information
- Product #: D149241XX
- Packaging Sizes: Pint, Quart, Gallon, 5 Gallon, 55 Gallon
- Part of System: StoneTech®
Available Sizes (and Coverage)
- Pint: 25-200 sq. ft.
- Quart: 50-400 sq. ft.
- Gallon: 200-1,500 sq. ft.
- Expected Wear: 3-5 years on interior surfaces & 1-3 years on exterior surfaces.
Always test in a small, inconspicuous area with 24-hour cure time to determine ease of application and desired results. Allow new grout installations to cure for a minimum of 72 hours prior to applying sealer. Make sure surface is clean, dry and free of waxes and coatings. Surface temperature should be between 50°F and 80°F.
1. Ensure area is well-ventilated. Use a respirator if unsure that work area is well-ventilated. A NIOSH approved respirator with a combination HEPA/organic vapor cartridge is recommended. Follow respirator manufacturer's instructions for use.
2. Mask off baseboards and adjacent areas to avoid overspray onto surfaces not intended to be treated.
3. Liberally apply an even coat using a paint pad, roller, brush or pump-up garden sprayer. DO NOT USE A POWER SPRAYER.
4. Allow sealer to penetrate surface for 15-30 minutes; denser stone may require more time for sealer to penetrate. During this time, distribute excess over entire area to ensure even penetration.
5. Thoroughly wipe entire surface with dry cloth to remove excess Impregnator Pro™ from surface. DO NOT ALLOW EXCESS IMPREGNATOR PRO™ TO DRY ON SURFACE.
6. A second coat may be needed for more porous surfaces and should be applied one hour after initial application, as directed in steps 3-5.
7. If excess sealer was not completely wiped off and a residue appears, wipe entire surface with a towel dampened with sealer. Use a white nylon scrubbing pad to loosen residue and follow with white absorbent towel to remove.
8. Full cure is achieved after 24-72 hours; foot traffic may begin in 6-8 hours. Cover with red rosin paper, if foot traffic must resume before the recommended time periods have passed.
9. Rags and equipment that are wet with product may be combustible. Clean up promptly after job is complete. Clean equipment with mineral spirits and allow to dry in a well-ventilated area. Allow rags to dry in a well-ventilated area out of the reach of children and pets. When dry, dispose of in accordance with local waste disposal regulations.
Method of Application
DO NOT USE A POWER SPRAYER. Power sprayers increase exposure hazard. Power sprayers also create a significant amount of overspray resulting in wasted product and the need for additional clean-up. A pump-up garden sprayer will reduce the potential for over-exposure to vapors and produce better results.
For small jobs, use a paint pad, roller or brush. Trigger spray bottles are not recommended. Trigger sprayers create overspray and may not give a uniform application. Better results will be obtained using a pad, roller or brush.
For larger jobs, use a pump-up garden sprayer available at your local garden center, hardware store, or home improvement center.
Ensure that the area is well-ventilated during application and until the surface is dry to the touch. Keep children and pets out of the area until foot traffic resumes.
**Please note that Air shipping will not be available with this item.