← Red Fish Trio from Lafayette!
The Assorted Nuts Crack Up the Bayou!
They call themselves The Assorted Nuts, and they hail from Pineville, Louisiana. From the Amazing Almond to the Wonder Woman Walnut, (WWW), and four nuts in between, they were a bowlful of fun and more during their Bayou Woman Adventure (BWA).
Wonder Woman Walnut, the "head nut", contacted me via this blog months ago wanting to plan a new and different adventure for her and her nutty friends, all of whom share a love of the same sport–golf. She wanted a fishing trip, and I sold her on a BWA, complete with a ride down the now-acclaimed "haunted road" between Dulac and Cocodrie, made famous by the A & E reality series "Cajun Justice". We didn't see anything scary in the daylight, but we engaged in hilarious story-telling. We topped things off with a trip to a very special place (which shall remain secret for now), dinner at Schmoopy's, and their award T-shirts and momento bookmarks (designed and made by reader, Steffi).
The highlight of their BWA was an inland fishing trip for the coveted red drum, famous not only for the fight during the catch but also for their versatility as table fare. They are delicious left on the skin and grilled to flaky tenderness, filleted, sliced thin, and fried crispy, or cut into chunks for a hardy court bouillon. Let's just say they each took enough fish home to cook all three ways!
The day they were due to arrive, it was touch and go as to whether or not I would even be able to take them fishing that next morning. Why? Well, I feel a story coming on.
I've been working on a little job I recently snagged taking a cameraman and all his gear around to do some filming. The day the Nuts were to arrive, we were somewhere southeast of here in waters I had never navigated before, when the cameraman hopped in another boat and left me drifting in a small bay while they went off into waters too shallow for BAB (my boat) and me. When they finally rejoined me and said it was time to head back in, my engine would not start. After checking and doing everything we could to get her started, we finally gave up, and my friend, Bayou Fabio, had to tow us in. Yes, once again, I had to take the ride of shame behind his old, broken-down boat, which is obviously none the worse for the wear.
It was a very long haul back, and maybe the ride would not have taken all of an hour and a half if Bayou Fabio had stayed in the middle of every canal and bayou; but for some strange reason, known only to him, he stayed close to the banks, kicking up mud as we went. Despite the shallows, things were going fine until we entered the main Bayou DuLarge where he ran over something that stopped him dead in the water, and my boat almost ran over the back end of his.
He raised his engine, and his propeller wasn't even visible, totally wrapped up in a derelict crab trap that had been burrowed below the surface, with no buoy to mark it. Good thing one of us was equipped with cutting pliers (wonder who?). He had his garfish helper with him, who hopped over into my boat and cut as many wires as he could, clearing the way for the crescent wrench needed to remove the prop. Good thing one of us reached down and caught the bushing that fell off the back of the propeller before it fell into the bayou (wonder who?). With the prop removed, he then pulled the rest of the wiry mess off, and off we went again, like turtles.
On the way in, I telephoned my guy at Southern Outdoors and let him know the situation. Since he knows how important a BWA is to six excited fisherwomen, he took my boat right away and had it ready before closing time. Thank goodness it was not the fuel pump but only a cracked fuel filter and a leak in the rail valve–parts easily replaced to the tune of only $100. As I backed the now-repaired BAB into the driveway of Camp Dularge, The Assorted Nuts were ready and waiting to greet me.
What great gals they are! Since I was under so much pressure, they cooked dinner and invited me to eat. Wonder Woman Walnut grilled some tenderloin steak that we could cut with our forks. We had a beautiful green salad with avocado and cherry tomatoes, with a side of WWW's three cheese potatoes. After a great dinner and conversation of equal caliber, we turned in early to get an early start next morning.
Our fishing adventure started where the Trio from Lafayette left off last week. Since this was a larger group, my friend, Capt. Mark (aka Choupiquer) assisted me by taking two of the ladies in my smaller Carolina Skiff. We anchored together in the pass, threw out the first cracked blue crabs, and the bite was ON! After a couple of reds, blackdrum, and sheepshead, the bite shut down, so we drifted a couple of spots in the lake scouting for speckled trout, without luck. The recent cold front, wind, and rain had the water churned up a little too much for trout. Besides, it's still a little early for trout in this lake. Give it another couple of weeks.
Next, we moved along to some other washouts around the lake, anchoring and changing our tactic from fishing on the bottom with Carolina Rigs to fishing cracked crab under a popping cork. Now, THAT was the ticket. Both boats continued catching reds until The Assorted Nuts were all just about toasted from the sun!
All told, they caught twelve reds, three black drum (the 15-pounder went back in), and a nice sheepshead. Come to think of it, this is almost identical to last week's fishing report, but the difference is four of these ladies had never fished with anything other than a cane pole! So, not only did they learn how to cast a spinning reel, they learned how to set the hook on some big saltwater species, reel them in, and land them.
These ladies have played countless hours of golf together, gone on numerous trips planned by WWW, and have shared some hilariously memorable adventures. Even so, they all claimed that this adventure was the best one yet planned by their fearless, and nutty leader, Wonder Woman Walnut. And by the way, I heard to be one of the Assorted Nuts is quite a coveted invitation, and I'm proud to say they gave me a name . . .
First, the ride of shame . . .
Then, the derelict crab trap . . .
and its removal . . .
Now, meet The Assorted Nuts . . .
And there they are, ladies and gents! The newest members of the Bayou Woman Adventure Club, and they earned their T-shirts to prove it!
Ready for a BWA? I hope so!
Glad the "Nuts" had a productive trip. Just seeing the last photo, one gets the impression that they had a great time. In fact, I'll bet they have a great time any place they go. Too bad y'all didn't see "something" on the haunted road. That would have kept them in "remember when" stories for a while. If they'd ride that road with Hubby driving, they would have at least been scared. I've been in the passenger seat, in the daytime and he scared the ca-ca out of me!
BW, thanks for the bookmark plug. I hope they enjoy them.
I intended to email you but I will tell you here. They LOVED the bookmarks, and one of them was really impressed with your handiwork saying that no one tats any more. So, I guess it must be a very old lost art, and I'm glad you are keeping it alive. You'd have thought I gave them a chain of gold when I handed them their bookmarks!!!!
Tatting? I haven't seen anyone tatting since my great aunt passed. That woman could sit in a rocker on my Granny's front porch, visiting and talking with whoever was out there and that shuttle would be just a-going. I found it fascinating to watch, esp since she never seemed to look at what she was doing.
Way to go, Steffi. Keep that art alive. Are you passing it down to anyone?
Gue` – I've updated this post with a photo of the bookmark at the bottom. Please be sure and see it!
Actually the bookmarks are a simple crochet pattern I made up using 4 different stitches. I have passed it on to my daughter (although she hasn't made anything in about 10 years), and 3 of my granddaughters have shown an interest, but they want to learn in 30 minutes or less. Not gonna happe!
Maybe one day I'll sell them on Etsy or Ebay like my family has suggested. I must have 300 made with all different kinds of charms on them.
See how ignorant I am?
Wonderful story. Glad your boat wasn't down for the count so to speak. Those ladies look like they enjoy life to the fullest. It is great to have friends like that to share adventures with.
Yep, I think they have a blast wherever they go. I learned a lot from being with them over those couple of days just about being friends in good times and bad. The dynamics of those relationships were really fun to watch.
As Head Nut…..WWW…Wonder Woman Walnut….we loved our adventure & our great host , Capt. CoCoNut. We are already planning our next trip to Bayou DeLarge. PPP (Pick-a-Party Peanut) did NOT leave peacefully. AND……..PPP (Plum Precious Pinenut) tried to steal all CoCo's rods & reels as souveniers!!!!. I would say those 2 are hooked for life. After we left, on our many stops toward home, ….we were quite the hit in our matching shirts. Thanks so much for our shirts & everything you treated us to.
My only regret is that I was too busy removing fish and baiting hooks that I didn't get any photos of you all holding your beautiful fish with my own camera. So, if someone has the gumption to email me photos of y'all holding fish, then I will add them to this post! This was a BWA I will never forget, and I truly hope y'all do come back again!
I had a great time, too! Wait, wait, wait! What kind of gear are you buying? I don't think they make rods with bling on them!!! When you come with me, you don't need any gear! Maybe buy you some fashionable fishing clothes, LOL!!! So great hanging out with you and the other Nuts! Hope to see y'all before a year has passed!
Very nice. how come you got no beer nuts?
Congrats where needed. I watched a little kid maneuver a batteau (sp?) with a 25 yammie like a pro this week. His Dad said he didn't like how he did it and said he could do better. Rest is history.
Hilarious reporting! If anyone can show you a good time and educate you, too, it's you Coco!
It looks and sounds like a good time was had by all. The Assorted Nuts? I'll bet they were a hoot! I love folks that can poke fun at themselves like that.
Wish Dad was still up to traveling. A trip to Camp Dularge would have been right up his alley.
They absolutely were a tree full of hoots!!!!
NOTE to everyone above this comment: I updated this post with photos of the crab trap and its removal and the bookmark that Steffi made!!!
Doubly nice. blu bought the skunk today. home pouting.
Oh, so sorry. That stinks.
BW has been vewy, vewy quiet.
Steffi – I sent you an email from Capt. Wendy to give you my new email address. Check and see if you got it, please.
Got it. Sent my 2 cents worth back to ya.


text:
Амри́ш Лал Пу́ри (, ; , Джаландхар, Британская Индия — , Мумбаи, Индия) — индийский  театра и кино. Один из самых известных актёров индийского кино в амплуа злодеев. Снимался более 30 лет (дебютировал в 1970 году, а последний фильм с его участием вышел в 2006 году), фильмография артиста насчитывает в разных источниках от 275 до 400 фильмов. Снимался в Болливуде, Толливуде, Колливуде, в фильмах на языках каннада, маратхи, панджаби, малаялам, а также в Голливуде. Трёхкратный лауреат премии Filmfare Award за лучшую мужскую роль второго плана (1986, 1997, 1998).

Биография

Ранние годы
Амриш Пури родился в небольшом пенджабском городке недалеко от города Джаландхар в семье со средним достатком, в которой, кроме него, было ещё четверо детей.  Окончил гуманитарный  колледж в Шимле, в индийском штате Химачал-Прадеш, потом политико-экономический факультет университета и 20 лет проработал в Бомбее в Министерстве труда и в правительстве Индиры Ганди.

Ещё в школьные годы увлекался физикой, химией, а также игрой на флейте и фотографией и всегда мечтал играть в театре и кино.

Карьера в театре

Сначала прошёл обучение в театральной труппе Абрахима Алкази, Председателя Национальной Школы Драмы, после чего режиссёр, драматург и сценарист Сатиядев Дюбей принял его в свой театр Притхви, в котором, а также в театре «Тхистар Юнит»,  Амриш Пури играл много лет, в том числе в пьесах С. Дюбея, в спектаклях «Вид с моста» по пьесе Артура Миллера, «Проделки Скапена» Мольера, и др.,  работал с такими выдающимися сценаристами и директорами, как Виджай Тендулкар и Бадал Саркар. Также Амриш Пури учился в Академии музыки, танца и драмы. В 1968 году получил свою первую театральную награду. В 60-е годы XX века Амриш Пури приобрёл известность в качестве театрального драматического актёра и был одной из ключевых фигур индийского театра, а также являлся постоянным членом компании «Театры Бомбея». Также благодаря своему характерному и легкоузнаваемому голосу много лет проработал на радио и в рекламе.

Карьера в кино
По канонам индийской коммерческой киноиндустрии, в кино стал сниматься поздно, впервые снявшись в 38-летнем возрасте, когда многие актёры того времени уже заканчивали свои кинокарьеры. Дебютировав в кино в 1970 году, свою первую заметную роль сыграл в 1971 году в фильме .

В коммерческом индийском кинематографе в основном прославился ролями умных, хитрых и бесстрашных злодеев. Первый большой успех в кино пришёл к артисту с ролью заминдара Вир Пратап Сингха в фильме  (1980) режиссёра Бапу. В 1986 году за роль в фильме  режиссёра Субхаша Гхаи получил свою первую премию Filmfare Award за лучшую мужскую роль второго плана, после чего неоднократно награждался этой и другими престижными национальными и зарубежными кинопремиями. Также большой популярностью пользовался фильм «Мистер Индия» (1987), а роль Могамбо на долгие годы стала своеобразной визитной карточкой артиста.

Также сыграл заметные отрицательные роли в ставших популярными индийских фильмах: «Шакти» (1982),  (1982), «Герой» (1983), «Как три мушкетёра» (1984),  (1986), «Волшебный бриллиант» (1986), «Танцуй, танцуй» (1987), «Трое разгневанных мужчин» (1989),  (1989), «Кишан и Канхайя» (1990), «Каран и Арджун» (1995), «Любовь без слов» (1997), и др. В конце кинокарьеры играл роли положительных, но строгих и придерживающихся консервативных традиций отцов семейств, в таких популярных индийских кинофильмах, как «Непохищенная невеста» (1995), «Обманутые надежды» («На чужбине», 1997), «Зубейда» («Роковая любовь») (2001),  (2001) и др.

Снимался также и в «параллельном кино» (серьёзный реалистический кинематограф, артхаус). Наряду с такими знаменитыми индийскими драматическими актёрами, как Ом Пури, Насируддин Шах, Смита Патиль, Шабана Азми, , снимался во многих фильмах таких знаменитых индийских кинорежиссёров параллельного кино, как Шьям Бенегал, , Гириш Карнад. У режиссёра Шьяма Бенегала Амриш Пури сыграл почти во всех фильмах, среди которых особенно заметными стали роли в фильмах  (1975),  (1976),  (1977).

Его колоритный типаж «злодея» не остался без внимания и голливудских продюсеров: в 1984 году на экраны вышел фильм Стивена Спилберга «Индиана Джонс и храм судьбы», где Амриш Пури блестяще сыграл главную отрицательную роль — жреца богини Кали Мола Рама.

Смерть

Скончался 12 января 2005 года. Причиной смерти стало кровоизлияние в мозг, возникшее после перенесённой операции.

За два года до смерти начал писать автобиографию, но закончить не успел. Книга была закончена и подготовлена к печати журналисткой Джоти Сабхарвал и сыном актёра Радживом на основе прижизненных материалов Амриша Пури и была опубликована уже после смерти актёра в 2006 году под названием «Закон жизни» ().

Семья
 Амриш был четвёртым ребёнком в семье, у него было два старших брата Чаман и Мадан, старшая сестра Чандраканта и младший брат Хариш.
 Старшие братья Амриша — Чаман и Мадан — тоже профессионально связаны с кинематографом, а  тоже был популярным актёром кино.
 5 января 1957 года Амриш Пури женился на Урмиле Дивекар (1957—2005). Его жена не была связана ни с театром, ни с кинематографом. Они были из разных каст, поэтому родители с обеих сторон долго были против их брака. У Амриша и Урмилы двое детей: сын Раджив (женат, по профессии моряк и бизнесмен), дочь Намрата (замужем, по профессии врач), а также четверо внуков: три мальчика и одна девочка (двое детей у Раджива и двое детей у Намраты).

Фильмография

Избранная фильмография

Награды и номинации
(неполный перечень)

Награды
Filmfare Award за лучшую мужскую роль второго плана
 1986 — «Невинная жертва»
 1997 — «Разочарование»
 1997 — «Зов земли»

Другие
 1968 — Maharashtra State Drama Competition
 1979 — Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Theatre
 1991 — Maharashtra State Gaurav Puraskar
 1994 — Sydney Film Festival, Best Actor Award (Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda)
 1994 — Singapore International Film Festival, Best Actor Award (Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda)
 1997 — Star Screen Award за лучшую мужскую роль второго плана («Разочарование»)
 1998 — Star Screen Award за лучшую мужскую роль второго плана («Зов земли»)

Номинации
 1990 — Filmfare Award за лучшую мужскую роль второго плана («Трое разгневанных мужчин»)
 1993 — Filmfare Award за лучшую мужскую роль второго плана (Muskurahat)
 1994 — Filmfare Award за лучшую мужскую роль второго плана (Gardish)
 1996 — Filmfare Award за лучшее исполнение отрицательной роли («Каран и Арджун»)
 1996 — Filmfare Award за лучшую мужскую роль второго плана («Непохищенная невеста»)
 1999 — Filmfare Award за лучшее исполнение отрицательной роли («Любовь без слов»)
 2000 — Filmfare Award за лучшее исполнение отрицательной роли («Бадшах»)
 2002 — Filmfare Award за лучшее исполнение отрицательной роли («Беглецы»)

Примечания

Ссылки
 Биография кумиров № 128 «Амриш Пури». Телеканал «Индия ТВ»
 Амриш Пури // NEWSru.com (Культура)
 Амриш Пури // Афиша.ру

Лауреаты Filmfare Awards
Умершие от внутримозгового кровоизлияния
Актёры кино на маратхи

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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text:
Suspected drink driver arrested after police chase
Police chased a driver who tried to run after neing stopped on suspicion of drink driving. Photo: James Bass.
Archant Norfolk Photographic © 2014
A suspected drink driver who tried to run off after he was stopped by police found himself spending the night in the cells - after officers chased him and arrested him.
Great Yarmouth police said the driver had attempted to flee after they stopped his vehicle in the town during the early hours.
They tweeted that officers were quicker and the man had been detained.
They said he smelt of alcohol and failed to take a breath test, so police arrested him for that - and for driving while disqualified.
"A night in our cells for him," they added.
The vehicle, a Kia Rio, was stopped in Middlegate at 1am on Saturday, January 26.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This episode is a fun one! This week I talk with Kaitlyn from The Crown Fox. I've followed Kaitlyn online for a while now and I think you are going to love this episode. We dive into how she looked around one day and realized she wanted something different in her life. We also talk about how millennials are changing the way the people plan their careers. Kaitlyn is a creative entrepreneur and design assistant. She helps other entrepreneurs with the visuals and design aspects of her business so they can focus on growing their business and their zone of genius. Like many of us, Kaitlyn took the traditional path and realized that it wasn't for her.
How she got off the path she wasn't enjoying.
What she does when she has the entrepreneur isolation feels.
How she checks shiny object syndrome.
The real way she figures out what actions are getting her results and the book that helped.
Why the one size fits all model isn't realistic.
The fun way she builds connections online and connects with new clients and business friends.
What made you want to start an online business?
What book has changed your life recently?
What is something you've been doing that you could cut out of your life or business?


You've seen it everywhere, or maybe you haven't (lol). Camo is coming back!
What a great time for fashion; so many cute prints are in style!
Camouflage print has traditionally been used to blend in or to make yourself difficult to see. But, that doesn't apply when it comes to fashion.
Camo print is bold, edgy, and SO fun! It is definitely making a comeback as it is seen more and more in stores right now. Let's figure out the best ways to wear it this season!
Can you see them? If you look closely you'll see Bella Hadid and the Weekend in head to toe camouflage. It looks like they're pretty fond of this trend.
Kylie Jenner, killing it as always, in a reversible camo puffer jacket. That's camo x 2!!!
Here's Madison Beer sporting a pair of tan camouflage cargo pants.
What's really cool about camouflage is that unless it's made into a different color, basic camo is composed of neutrals. That means that it can go with anything!
Camo's versatility makes it easy to dress up, dress down, and pair with a wide variety of outfits!
Here are some ideas for camouflage bottoms that you can use for a camo look!
As you can see, there are many options. The spandex and biker shorts could be worn to the gym and the pants could be dressed up for a night out with the girls or worn casually.
Try mixing up some tops with your favorite pair of camo bottoms like Madison Beer did above. Anything from a bright basic to a nice neutral color will look great!
Here are some fun camo tops and dresses to try! These looks show a better range of colors that camo can come in.
The camouflage print automatically makes you look fierce, so pairing it with a color gives your look some dimension. You can go girly with a pink or trendy with an orange camo piece. Give one of these a try!
If you're still not ready to fully commit and need to ease into the camo trend, look no further. There are so many great camouflage print accessories out there!
Adding a pop of camo print to any casual outfit will only make it cuter. Chances are, next time you'll want to wear even more camo!
Are you on board with this trend? What is your favorite camo print item that you own? Let me know below in the comments!


Spotify and Facebook are pretty close these days, with Facebook log in relatively the recommended technique of establishing an account. Spotify without Facebook - However, some of us do not have a Facebook account, or just plain don't wish to make use of anything that makes us log into it by doing this. Anxiety not though, due to the fact that with Spotify there is another way. You just have to look beyond the iOS app to find it.
Opening Spotify on your iPhone or iPad brings up the welcome screen we see up top. Login with Facebook, or login with your Spotify details. Definitely no options for subscribing to a Spotify account below other than Facebook. To obtain around this, put down your iphone tool, and head on over to the Spotify homepage in your desktop computer internet internet browser.
Right here, when you hit the log in alternative on top, you'll exist with a box that asks you for your Facebook information, or your Spotify information, as well as in this case, supplies you a "Sign Up" alternative must you not have an account. Go on and click here.
As if by magic, it gives you the choice to subscribe to a Spotify account in the good, old-fashioned method; with your Email address. Enter your information, hit register, and you must be good to go. As soon as you have actually finished any kind of necessary verifications, head back to your iphone tool, enter your credentials, and also you're away. Completely Facebook complimentary!


text:
Baalbaki, OussamaLebanon, 1978
There is one fundamental question which pervades the entirety of Oussama Baalbaki's work to date: what is the place of painting after photography? Baalbaki's paintings are expressionistic in tone, but they tend toward the mimetic. To represent reality today, he paints with the recognition of the technologically reproducible, mediated image. If photography attempts to capture the perpetually fleeting present – to embalm reality – painting stretches its duration so as to free it from the constraints of historical time.
Baalbaki revisits the classical genres of landscapes and portraits. His modern predecessors painted portraits of the members of the elite, and, though varying in style and approach, they produced landscapes which were largely topographical. Baalbaki inscribes his encounters of the contemporary world into the traditional form of painting, but playfully
shifts the genres' conventions. In his oval-shaped paintings, he self-reflexively reconfigures the flat, rectangular canvas to shed light on the photographic device of the frame. The view that is being framed is only a partial one; the frame is a window onto a small and fragmentary world.
Baalbaki represents only fragments of a social reality. The largest of his landscapes, The Light Parade, is made up of two smaller canvases. Each can be read as a single and complete work, but together they form a panorama. The break between the two canvases emphasizes the slight discontinuity in the surface. Baalbaki distrusts the total image. Though his work tends toward a kind of realism, he is suspicious of a universalized truth.
Baalbaki is interested in the gaps between reality and truth. It is in that space that he arrests the contradictions of his own present. His dense and cluttered cityscapes gleam with a wistful silence. They evoke a longing for a moment which never was, and one which cannot be reproduced.
Born in Lebanon, 1978. He attended the Lebanese University School of fine art, and has held in Beirut, where he lives and work, several solo exhibitions: "Paintings in Black" in 2004 at Dar El Nadwa, "Scenes of Isolation" in 2007 at Safana Gallery, "Less smoke, and more…" in 2009 at Agial Art Gallery, "Rituals of Isolation" in 2011 at Agial Art Gallery and "Shadows of Gloominess" in 2014, hosted by Tanit Gallery, with the collaboration of Agial Art Gallery, followed in 2016 by the "Spectres of the Real" at Agial Gallery.
Spectres of the Real, 2016 View Catalogue
The Scared Scarecrow
Ref.#: ob17
The Field Whisperer
To Mayakovski: The Wound of a poet is a flower
The Wild South
Epical City
Against the Grain, 2018 View Catalogue
Fire, Works
The Witnessing Images
The Light Parade
Pleadings of the Light, 2017 View Catalogue
Ref.#: 0b08
Mystic Cliff
City Blossoms
A Celestial Waterfall
Good night Hamra!
"I see the night running in a tight brigade"
-Jean Tardieu
Watercolors, 2019 View Catalogue


The Blue Grouse was split into the Sooty Grouse and the Dusky Grouse in 2006. Before that, they were considered differently colored subspecies of the Blue Grouse. The Sooty Grouse lives on the Pacific Coast and has darker plumage and a yellow vocal sac. The Dusky Grouse lives in the Rocky Mountains and has a red vocal sack. You can clearly see the yellow vocal sack in some of these pictures.
The Sooty Grouse is frequently heard and rarely seen. The low "whomfing" of the grouse can be heard over fairly good distance, but it is extremely difficult to echolocate on this low sound. So finding the grouse can be very hard.
The pictures below are all of the same male grouse on the tail up to May Lake.


Whenever an opponent casts a non-creature spell, Cinder Lash deals 1 damage to that player.
1, Sacrifice Cinder Lash: Destroy target artifact or enchantment. Cinder Lash deals 2 damage to that permanent's controller.
A mini, non-legendary Kambal + artifact/enchantment removal against Vault, Oath or Shops. Also this is a proactive play against Shops since you can play it before spheres hit play and leave it there. Also immune to Flusterstorm may count to something.
It can be Revoked so it's a removal that Shops has outs to. But between other removal and Dack, maybe Revoker is not a big threat. The point is that this can hit 3 archetypes, so it could be a premium SB slot or even MD one.
Also important to note that the difference between 1 and 2 damage (Kambal) is huge, since with Kambal in play Tendrils is not a wincon anymore.
I don't think that's what's key. Kambal gains you life. Tendrils still kills you with Cinder Lash in play, they just about 9 or 10 damage (assuming they don't have to take a line of casting their whole deck with paradoxical just to fine tendrils).
This is far less like Kambal than it is Pyrostatic Pillar/ScabClan/Eidolon (but does hit any cmc non-creature spell).
Maybe a MD singleton if your manabase can support it. Not sure its much more than that, but does feel targeted at Vintage.
@vaughnbros I think so too. But it's a card that directly hits 3 main archetypes and has splash damage to a whole bunch of decks. That's rare.
@ChubbyRain Mentioned on stream today that it might fit in some sort of RUG Delver shell.
What about Christmas Beatings? ESG and SSG seem nucking futs with this card.
The card seems decent, but the mana is rough.
@juice-mane I disagree. Ancient Grudge sees a lot of play.
This needs r/g at the same time. Grudge sees play because its R now and G later and its card efficient as well.
Still, with as prominent as shops is, RUG could certainly make use of this enchantment. Certainly seems worthy of testing out.
@khahan We don't play Taigas, so the "R now G later" must come from two different sources anyway. I guess the only currently played cards that do both are Mox Opal and Orchard.
Dumb question. Is one damage per non creature spell enough to stop the decks this wants to stop? It feels like it would be but there are certainly some decks that can storm down to 1 life and win with this in play.
@protoaddct it sure isn't. That's the whole Kambal vs this debate. But against PO for example, it makes them more aware of their plays AND you can also sacrifice this to destroy one of their artifacts if you think it's the best approach.
I guess my point is making them think about their plays with damage is not relevant if your not planning to back it up with finishers and putting them to 0. This card seems to me like it would be far better in a deck with lightning bolts than one that plans on winning with key/vault or off a walker is all.
Echoing the sentiment on Lavinia is WotC just done with symmetric hate effects? Not that it's likely with this card but the Blue Stew (tm) just co-opts the cards into their sideboards. Like Kambahl which would be a great core creature in a "new" deck it just becomes a boring hoser in a PO mirror.
Echoing the sentiment on Lavinia is WotC just done with symmetric hate effects?
Getting rid of Shroud for Hexproof was pretty much proof of that in my eyes.
I wouldn't be surprised if WotC wants players to dump their entire hand and just play with permanents and their activated abilities. I guess they think stack interactions and complicated board states (that symmetrical effects contribute to) don't look good for potential casual players.
@chubbyrain Obviously there was some exaggeration in my last post. However, I don't think you can in good faith argue that WotC hasn't been tending towards printing asymmetrical 'hate' cards. Mentioning just a few newer cards that incentivize the use of non-creature spells hardly undermines what people have been saying here at all, when a majority of the more powerful 'hate' cards printed recently have been asymmetrical. It's a little ironic that you mention selection bias in this context.
If players don't consistently discuss what they like and dislike about cards, how is WotC going to get meaningful feedback? The Vintage player base is marginal, but at least here the people involved in making cards can see a relatively more thoughtful discussion about their decisions than in other places of discussion.
Asymmetrical, aggressively costed graveyard hate cards have existed since the Dark.
@vaughnbros Nobody is denying that. People, including myself, are saying that they don't like WotC's increased tendency to print such cards in the past few years. I won't belabor my point further. We're just repeating the same pattern of miscommunication at this point.


Recently I wrote about the appeal of the physical aspect to board games compared to the equivalent game on the iPad.
Get back to real feelings, touch real objects and use them as the most natural interface with a system.
Instead of having 3D screens, have real objects on a screen: is there any better 3D than real 3D?
ePawn's tracking solution is fast.
ePawn is looking for a release in the second half of 2012 and until then all we can do is speculate. There are so many questions I have for ePawn, well I'll just have to wait. So it goes.
I was surprised to find out that they aren't using RFID and have created their own propriety system of unit detection and placement.


text:
"I'm finding sometimes poly really is best kept secret"
Sometimes, despite ludicrous and ill-omened beginnings, relationships somehow manage to take root and grow.
Exhibit A would be the series You Me Her, the first season of which I reviewed here.
The first episode of season one was flatly ridiculous, and almost convinced me to stop watching. If any couple has ever successfully opened their marriage in this way -- well, in light of what I'm arguing, it probably has happened, but it felt beyond improbable. How many couples both fall for the same person -- an escort, no less -- straight out of the gate in a formerly completely monogamous, heterosexual marriage?
I'm very glad I kept on, because after the beginning, the rest of that first season was the most believable and realistic portrayal of polyamory I've seen on a screen.
Disclaimer, and one that's going to be hard for you TV watching people to understand: I haven't seen seasons two and three. I binge-watched season one on my computer, streaming from one of those sites that felt a little shady before everyone and his pet dog had an Android box. I raved about that show to the very few people in my life at that time -- Eva and Mark -- who would listen...and then, gradually, forgot about it. HBO's the only way to see it in Canada now, so far as I know, and I think that requires cable, and no bloody way am I paying $120 a month for one TV series.
Exhibit B would be Jack and Lucy's Polyamory Diaries, an ongoing series in Cosmopolitan which I savaged here. The way they went into this, I was certain the marriage would go boom mighty quick, with lots and lots of collateral damage. To my utter shock, as this series has progressed, not only has that not happened, they've managed to make it more or less work. More or less. He's even starting to sound polyamorous, which is amazing because he was extremely reluctant to even try.
What do I mean by "starting to sound polyamorous?" Several things.
It's not that I don't feel jealous when my wife tells me she's going on a date – I do. But it's not quite the gnawing green-eyed monster of old. It's more of a fleeting feeling that is quite easy to dismiss as useless and destructive.
He's still prone to that gnawing green monster if things get too close -- if, for instance, his wife discusses the great sex she's having with her other partners. Which she initally did, quite insensitively, almost trying to coerce him into feeling compersion. (If your partner is happy because of someone else and you're angry, that's jealousy; if she's happy because of someone else and you're happy for her, that's compersion.) As he says, though, he's MARKEDLY better than he was.
Those little twinges of jealousy? Even seasoned polyamorists can feel them, sometimes for no discernible reason. And they really are, almost always, "quite easy to dismiss as useless and destructive" if you're secure in the relationship with your partner and you've worked through them before.
But Jack has actually met a metamour. It went a bit awkwardly but not at all badly, especially when he realized his wife's other partner was just as anxious as he was. You don't have to meet metas to be ethically polyamorous, but my god does it help with the yips in many cases. Once you discover your partner's other partner is human, not a god or goddess...some common bonds can be established. You may never be best of friends, but you will almost certainly get along. After all, your partner loves both of you for a reason.
Lucy does the compersion thing pretty well. When it came time for Jack to get intimate with his first serious partner (Nell, also polyamorous), Lucy suggested Jack use a gift they had received much earlier, a night for two in a hotel, on Nell, rather than her. That's some high level selflessness, right there...it feels kinda familiar.
...sometimes it just feels normal. Having spent a lifetime listening to pop songs that tell stories of monogamous love and heartbreak, now when one particularly lovelorn singer comes on the radio, I just can't relate to them any more.
No freaking kidding. I feel this every single day.
But the biggest thing that made everything in me actually wrench was Jack's growing realization that however normal he's beginning to feel, his friends don't think it's normal at all.
It happened when I attempted to introduce an old friend to my girlfriend, Nell, who I've been seeing for nearly eight months. He knows about mine and Lucy's set-up, and has previously been keen to meet Nell, but he lives out of town and, when the subject of sleeping arrangements comes up, he says he'll have to check with his wife. There's an ominous silence for a few days, before I'm told there is a complete ban on me bringing any of my girlfriends to stay the night at their place....Two weeks later, the same thing happens to Lucy. A different friend who lives in London and, over the years, has repeatedly offered his spare room to us flatly refuses to let Lucy stay with her new boyfriend, Max.* "I don't know if I'm ready for that," he tells her, ending the conversation.
I'm not completely insensitive to people's feelings, but I do like to know what I'm dealing with. Because I've seen this personally. This and worse. I mean, I can certainly understand why some people might feel uncomfortable with, say, Kathy and I staying over, because that might lead to (sssshhhh) s-e-x. Never mind that EVA and I have never been exactly comfortable with s-e-x in places not our own, and I'd sure refrain from that with another partner in someone else's home. But sometimes people aren't even comfortable meeting another partner, and that, let me tell you, wounds very deeply. I don't want to force discomfort...exactly the opposite. I want to alleviate it.
So if Lucy was me, above, that wouldn't....quite...end the conversation. "Ready for what, exactly?" I'd ask. Not in a confrontational way, just in a "I'm confused and seeking to understand here" kind of way. I'd let them answer without my prompt, but in the spirit of dialogue, here's what I'm wondering.
Do you think I'm cheating?
I hope not. This is the hardest thing for me to wrap my head around, because it's still quite common. I've lived with Mark for two and a half years now. If there was cheating anywhere in these relationships, I'm really quite curious to know how you think we're getting away with it. That'd be a neat trick, wouldn't it?
I think I've already addressed the sex issue--it just plain wouldn't happen. I'm just not that crass as to go out and seek new beds to colonize -- with anyone.
For some people, though, it goes beyond staying over to a point where a partner isn't even welcome in someone's home at all, and this is where I just want to cry. Or scream. Why?! Are we threatening you somehow?
Okay, so I've introduced two people to polyamory and they've both taken to it like fish to water. Maybe people think I AM recruiting.
I'm not. I'm certainly not out to 'steal' anyone. People can't be stolen the same way people can't be owned, because people are not things. Let's put it this way: if someone's considering another partner in a monogamous relationship, though...they are MUCH more likely NOT to tell you about it. Do you know how I know this? Because we polyamorous types ALWAYS run into people more than happy to cheat on their partners with us, and when we insist on everything being aboveboard and honest with their partners and ours, they scamper away as if they suddenly noticed we're radioactive.So if your partner's gonna cheat, they're gonna cheat. Most poly people won't touch cheaters with a ten foot pole.
Well, upon reflection, there's one very large difference between the kind of polyamory Jack and Lucy are practicing and the kind my polycule does.
Jack and Lucy are doing parallel poly right now. In parallel poly, you know about your metamours, you might even meet them and interact a little from time to time, but by and large you run in parallel. Which means Jack and Lucy's friends don't get to see Lucy and Nell, or Jack and Max, interacting, and so there's probably this perception that there IS some skullduggery of some sort going on there. Though I wonder what those friends would make of Lucy's compersive gesture to give Jack and Nell a night alone in a hotel. I bet there's some that imagine Jack made that part up.
It read true to me. Eva would do that. She's the most compersive person I have ever met in my life.
The other kind of poly, the kind I live, is called 'kitchen table' poly, and I think it's pretty self-explanatory. It's not that every partner has to share a roof, let alone a bed (ugh). Kathy doesn't live here, and should I gain another love, she won't live here either. No, kitchen table poly just means that there's considerably more interaction. We've all gone out together. Dinners have been made and eaten. Eva and Kathy have jointly given me a gift; Eva's helped me make a gift for Kathy. And Kathy's daughter Jade--well, I love Jade and wish I could have been in her life much earlier.
One thing I would say to Jack and Lucy: it's important to find a poly community. I'm amazingly lucky in that I have monogamous friends (not partners, friends) who accept us without reservation. Many aren't so lucky, and so they need to find people who know what it is to be poly because they live it themselves. Maybe your old mono friends will never get it. You really kind of hope they will, though. Take some of that communication you need to function in a poly relationship and apply it to your friends.
This way of life is only becoming more and more common. I guarantee you know someone besides myself who is practicing consensual non-monogamy. Please, for our sake and the sake of our partners...try to accept us.


Bounty Killer scores the 2017 World Clash Award for Best 90's Dubplate Artist of the Year.
From the dulcimina to the Apple MacBook, the sound system industry continues to evolve since its development in Jamaica in the 1940s after World War II. A plethora of sounds have come and gone, disseminating the culture abroad while providing opportunities for others. Today, The Gleaner presents the second in the seven-part series, Chune Een, which explores the evolution of the sound-system culture in Jamaica and important aspects therein.
Tenor Saw's legendary 1985 hit Ring the Alarm has embodied the consummate sound clash record in the dancehall arena for decades. Just 19 years old at the time, the west Kingston singer partnered with Techniques producer Winston Riley for the Stalag rhythm creation, which would become one of the most popular 'specials' used by sound systems.
A special, now known as a dubplate, was a re-recorded song played in a sound clash battle, which mentioned the name of the home sound and often criticised opposing sounds. A sound clash is an organised battle between sounds to see which has the newest and best music while taking jabs at the other through the use of specials that aim to annihilate the credibility of another sound system.
James recalled first hearing anything close to a special courtesy of his mentor, Osbourne 'King Tubby' Ruddock, who operated the Hometown Hi-Fi sound system in the late '50s into the '70s.
Ruddock owned a recording studio at his home in Waterhouse, Kingston, which was primarily known for dub-cutting. According to James, Ruddock had the advantage of getting new music as "most artistes used to pass through there, so he could say 'Johnny Clarke do this chune for this sound alone', him could do it with other artistes, too. You couldn't hear those songs anywhere else. Yuh haffi go Tubby fi hear it".
James said that he adopted this technique for his own sound system (King Jammy's Super Power) to distinguish himself from his competitors.
Among the dubplates Holt recorded for Johnson's sound were Stealing, Pick Up the Pieces, and Up Park Camp. For Johnson, it came at no charge.
According to a 2016 Red Bull article, prices vary based on the class of the celebrity (A-list, B-list, etc). It quoted prices of £500 for entertainers like Capleton and Sizzla and £200/£250 for acts like Burro Banton and Johnny Osbourne.
Last year, reggae singer Jah Cure took to social media, asking sound system operators to only bring "good figures" for dubplate requests. His basic fee as stated in the video was at the time US$1,000.
The duplate phenomenon has reached higher heights, with ceremonies being held to acknowledge thecrème de la crème. Garfield 'Chin' Bourne of the renowned Irish and Chin duo is the principal of the virtual World Clash Dubplate Awards first held three years ago. The event recognises artistes for their annual dubplate contributions across eight categories, including Male Dubplate Vocalist of the Year, International Dubplate Artiste of the Year, Female Dubplate Artiste of the Year, and Best 90s Dubplate Artiste of the Year. This year's nominees include Josey Wales, Koffee, Rygin King, and Dovey Magnum.


text:
Q: How to I run extent report in parallel suit in selenium webdriver I have created a Parallel suit and added parameters such as firefox, chrome etc. My issue is that when i run the suit, it logs results for the very first run. For example, if i am doing cross browser, so my test will run in firefox, and chrome so firefox triggers first. The issue is that the result logs are displayed only for fire fox driver. Below is my code. Please someone advice.
<!DOCTYPE suite SYSTEM "http://testng.org/testng-1.0.dtd" >
<suite name="Cross Browser Testing" parallel="tests" thread-count="2">
<test name="Firefox Test">
<parameter name="browser" value="firefox"></parameter>
    <classes>
        <class name="mwgToQuotients.ResponsiveHeaderFooter1"></class>
    </classes>
</test>
<test name="Chrome Test">
<parameter name="browser" value="chrome"></parameter>
    <classes>
        <class name="mwgToQuotients.ResponsiveHeaderFooter1"></class>
    </classes>
</test>

</suite>

@BeforeClass
    @Parameters({ "browser" })
    public void setUp(String browser) {
        report = new ExtentReports("C:\\Users\\aaarb00\\Desktop\\Quotients\\MWG Reports\\QuotientCrossBrowser.html");
        test = report.startTest("Functional Test");
        baseURL = "http://ngcp-qi.safeway.com/";

        if (browser.equalsIgnoreCase("firefox")) {
            System.setProperty("webdriver.gecko.driver",
                    "C:\\Users\\aaarb00\\Desktop\\Quotients\\lib\\geckodriver.exe");
            driver = new FirefoxDriver();
            hp = new HomePage(driver, test);
            lp = new SignInPage(driver, test);
            sl = new StoreLocatorPage(driver);
            wa = new WeeklyAdPage(driver, test);
        } else if (browser.equalsIgnoreCase("chrome")) {
            System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver",
                    "C:\\Users\\aaarb00\\Desktop\\Quotients\\lib\\chromedriver.exe");
            driver = new ChromeDriver();
            hp = new HomePage(driver, test);
            lp = new SignInPage(driver, test);
            sl = new StoreLocatorPage(driver);
            wa = new WeeklyAdPage(driver, test);
        }
        driver.manage().window().maximize();
        driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
        driver.get(baseURL);

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


How do I participate in raffles?
To participate in raffles, you can purchase raffle tickets for each specific raffle using your points. Once you have purchased a raffle ticket, you are automatically entered into that raffle drawing.


Rebecca Ehlinger joined us earlier this year from SMG, and has done a fabulous job for us with clients and our services work. She will be moving into sales and returning to the wild and fun world of goals and bookings, and working conversions!
Please join us in congratulating Rebecca Ehlinger on her move from our services team to replace Colleen Schaefer who has left for Bank of America in New York City.
We know you will all support Rebecca in the transition and in making her goals for our team and our membership.
Rebecca Lovelace has accepted a new position on our team. As part of our work in building new streams of business, we identified that our team needed more resources to support the growth of these accounts and segments.
Rebecca has been engaged in this work now for several months and reports directly to Robert Reso.
We appreciate the great results that Rebecca contributed to our sales team as a seller, and her knowledge and capable approach will now be helpful to everyone on our team and to our entire organization as we enhance our value to the membership via that big huge group rooms goal!
Rebecca Jostes has been promoted to the position of Marketing Manager for the Tourism department. Rebecca first joined the NOCVB in 2011 as a Communications and Public Relations intern and rejoined the organization in early 2014 as the Advertising & Administrative Coordinator in Tourism. Prior to her rejoining the NOCVB, she served as a Marketing and Communications Specialist for Keating Magee Marketing. As a result of Rebecca's exceptional performance since her rehire, she has been offered and accepted the elevated role of managing the day-to-day advertising and marketing efforts for the emergent Tourism segment of our business and will also serve as a liaison to other NOCVB departments when called upon to support their respective advertising/trafficking requests.
We are excited about the experience, precision and creativity that Rebecca will bring to this position. Please join us in commending Rebecca her in new role.


text:
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    $('#events').append($('<button></button>').
      prop('id', data[i].attributes.slug).
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          );
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            $('#' + data[i].attributes.slug).addClass('inactive').attr('disabled', 'disabled');
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').attr({class: 'inactive'}).text('ended at ' + new Date(data[i].attributes["end-at"]).toLocaleTimeString().replace(/:\d+$/, ' ')));

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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Unionization and An End to Corporate Welfare: Two Great Tastes That Go Great Together
The UAW is attempting to unionize a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Republican elected officials are threatening to stop giving out "incentives" in the form of mammoth tax breaks if the union vote succeeds. I don't know about you, dear reader, but to me this sounds like having your cake and eating it too.
There are good reasons to recruit large manufacturers to your municipality. The jobs they create pay good wages; the plants are very "sticky" so the jobs will last a decade if not much much longer; and you can use it to boost an ecosystem of manufacturing employment. But the tax breaks and free land that are the large attractions in these deals are a little unseemly. We'd be much better off if governments focused on providing quality public services that these manufacturers need--education, transportation, management of health care costs--rather than just tossing money from the "Economic Development" slush fund at large corporations.
Nicholas Beaudrot:
niq at electoral-math.com
twitter.com/nbeaudrot
last.fm: niq77174
Neil Sinhababu:
neiladri at gmail.com
philosophy blog: The Ethical Werewolf
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Unionization and An End to Corporate Welfare: Two ...
Racist, But...
Nicholas Beaudrot is an accidental political observer living in Seattle, Washington. By day he writes software for Amazon.com, snowboards, and plays ultimate frisbee. By night [and morn] he posts to this blog, runs the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally, and tries to cook decent Italian cuisine. A graduate of Brown University with a joint degree in Mathematics-Computer Science, in late 2003 Nicholas felt the urge to put his knack with numbers towards a greater social purpose than winning his fantasy baseball league or taking up poker, perhaps in an act of penance for not voting in 2000. He has been spotted standing in line for Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, on the Atlanta area quiz bowl program "Hi-Q", and as a young boy in national broadcasts of the Christmas Eve service at the Cathedral of Saint Philip. If you play Halo 3, Team Fortress II, Rock Band 2, Catan, or a number of other games, he's on Xbox live as niq24601.
Neil Sinhababu is a philosophy professor at the National University of Singapore. It's a tropical island with good public transit and they're very nice about not caning him. He's fond of red-state college towns like Austin, where he got his PhD. Much of his research is in ethics — hence his alias "Neil the Ethical Werewolf," which contains the name of his philosophy blog. He has also published on Nietzsche and on how to have a girlfriend in another universe. His utilitarianism shapes his goals and tactical views, and makes it impossible for him to stay away from politics. At Harvard, he won a student government election by eating fire in each dorm room in his district. He'd be happy to use this skill to help Democrats in tough races. He likes drinking with smart people and dancing in altogether ridiculous ways. At his last project, War or Car, he showed that you could buy each US household a Prius or each panda a stealth bomber for the price of the Iraq War.


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Can a cake be gay ? Northern Ireland Equalities Act ruling
This topic has 125 replies, 43 voices, and was last updated 3 years ago by jonm81.
Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 126 total)
hels
I was kind of half listening to this on the radio last night – interesting debate.
A chap ordered a cake from a baker that he wanted decorated with a message celebrating same-sex marriage (or civil partnership). Baker refunds money and refuses order as he is a "Christian Baker" and the cake is an abomination.
Chap say that he is being discriminated against for being gay by the baker. Baker says he has the right to express his religious beliefs. And this is all in Northern Ireland, the world home of balanced and considered views when it comes to such matters.
Who is right ?? Are they both right ?? (Have we done this already ?) Cake off !!
Rob Hilton
I bet 10p there's businesses in Brighton that compromise their beliefs to maintain a customer base
Was it a rainbow cake?
bencooper
Would you want to eat a cake made by someone who was forced to make it by a lawsuit?
allan23
Personal opinion only, the bakers are **** and deserve to lose customers. You open a public business as a baker and take the consequences.
They're using the excuse that a vegetarian café could refuse to serve meat, the fundamental difference is the vegetarian café would be opened and advertised as vegetarian.
What the bakers want is similar to me opening a bike shop and refusing service to Audi Drivers because I believe that Audi's are the car of the devil.
I suspect the case is getting so much publicity because it crosses over into devolved laws and the various legal entities want to make sure that any legal precedents set aren't going to stitch anyone up later.
cynic-al
Has this not been decided (in the courts) already, it's quite an old case?
Parts of Scotland (among others) come a close second BTW 🙁 – where was the gay B&B case?
perchypanther
Can a cake be gay ?
A big lavender cream puff?
deadlydarcy
Have we done this already ?
While I think everyone's views should be respected. iIf you want to run a business, then it can't be above the law. The Bakers aren't a charity or religious organisation.
It was on the radio last night – must be an appeal going through or something – first I had heard about it, and I have a google alert set up for gay Christian cakes in Ulster.
ransos
The difference is that a vegetarian café doesn't use certain ingredients. You might find other restaurants which serve meat, but not foie gras, for example.
I'm pretty sure that you can't buy gay flour and eggs…
BoardinBob
The UK's discrimination laws protect people from discriminate against because of:
being or becoming a transsexual person
being married or in a civil partnership
being pregnant or having a child
race including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin
religion, belief or lack of religion/belief
Having a "religious belief" doesn't exclude you from the law
The vegetarian restaurant argument is poor.
craigxxl
Complicated issue but I don't think it should have ended up being a legal matter. The customer may feel wronged under equality legislation but on the other hand the business owner have their human rights that protects the religious beliefs and one should not trump the other.
If one is allowed to be victorious over the other it will lead to abuse of the system.
BigDummy
I think the right way around this is to insist that shops which wish to make a massive silly fuss about serving gay people be required to display a prominent sign reading:
"No Gayness Tolerated Here Because We Are Good Christian Folk".
gonefishin
but on the other hand the business owner have their human rights that protects the religious beliefs and one should not trump the other.
Homophobia, Racism and Misogyny are examples of beliefs that don't need protecting not matter what excuse is used.
mrhoppy
Stupid bakers are entirely able to reject custom. If they'd said they were too busy or didn't have pink icing or whatever other entirely fabricated but not blatently homophobic reason it'd be fine. But dumbasses rejected it because it might be seen to make them approve of gay. And for that level of stupidity and willingness to argue alone they deserved to lose their legal case.
If there religion specifically said they couldn't bake gay cakes I'd be more tolerant tbh but this isn't "my religion doesn't let me do this", it's "I don't want to do this, because I'm a ****, also religion blah blah"
the business owner have their human rights that protects the religious belief
That protects them from not being discriminated against, ie a gay bakers wouldn't be allowed to refuse them on grounds of their beliefs. It doesn't protect their right to be discriminatory bellends.
Religions crow about how they have shaped morals in modern society, but I can only see evidence of how they have held them back.
It's still their religious belief, like it or not. Just the same as you can't force the church to allow a same sex marriage.
If you go down this road of forcing others to bend to your will regardless of their own human rights what is stop people being forced to do things that offends their beliefs in fear of being prosecuted under another law.
Just the same as you can't force the church to allow a same sex marriage.
They should. If they want to keep the same tax breaks etc that they currently have, they should have to abide by all the laws, not pick and choose.
I suppose a different analogy would be if the bakers were asked to make a cake with a swastika on it. To which the answer is that neo-Nazis aren't a persecuted group.
Which was a mistake, if churches are to be part of the legal process of marriage then they should not be allowed to discriminate. No good having laws against discrimination and then saying actually it doesn't apply to everyone. It is an insanely stupid and ironic interpretation of discrimination that the law actually excludes elements of society in such a manner.
swavis
Would it not have just been simpler to call the baker a prat, give him a good slagging via twitter/facebook and find another more sensible baker?
Should we treat all crimes that way?
nickjb
IIRC the point of the cake was to make a point rather than get a cake.
No, but in this case maybe.
His views are stupid but he's entitled to them.
Which is why we shouldn't have a state church and why they shouldn't be performing the legal part of wedding ceremonies.
It's still their religious belief, like it or not.
They are free to hold whatever view they want, no matter how bigoted. Doesn't mean it can't be criticised.
Well actually we (society) could if we (society) wanted to.
A deeply held racist belief wouldn't be tolerated even were it based on a religious belief.
I'm not agreeing that it is right but I don't agree with ignoring the other parties religious beliefs. If they argued that they aren't doing the cake because they hate gays and were atheist then prosecute them but they had beliefs regardless of how out of touch with society they may be.
If they argued that they aren't doing the cake because they hate gays and were atheist then prosecute them but they had beliefs regardless of how out of touch with society they may be.
You don't get a free pass to break the law just because or your religion.
So it's ok for Christians to hate gays, but not atheists? Why should one particular belief trump another?
Garry_Lager
swavis – Member
Would it not have just been simpler to call the baker a prat, give him a good slagging via twitter/facebook and find another more sensible baker? Don't think it's really about a cake, tbh. It's a gay activist playing 'Gotcha!' with a couple of backward Christians, thus infantilising a major issue for NI society. A plague on both their houses.
So it's wrong to highlight criminality?
Seems quite a different viewpoint to the one expressed on this thread
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/anybody-know-a-les-boxall-or-similar
Boycott the cake maker?
What if was sexist or racist?
gobuchul
So it's ok for Christians to hate gays, but not atheists?
I don't think the baker ever said they hated gay people.
The issue they had was the slogan was along the lines of "Support Gay Marriage".
There are lots of religious groups that don't have a problem with gay relationships or civil partnerships but don't agree with gay marriage. The argument being that it is a religious ceremony.
I heard some gay guy on the radio arguing that he didn't want gay "marriage" and that there should only be civil partnerships.
It's a tricky situation and seems to have been more complicated be some of the devolved laws brought in by NI to protect religious beliefs.
For context Ashers is not a quaint local bakery. They supply various baked goods to most shops in Northern Ireland including Tescos. They're a million pound if not multi million pound business, and despite this the "family" had their legal fees paid by the Christian Institute.
The family have ties to, and move in the same political/religious circles as the DUP. The ruling party in Northern Ireland and the party who have consistently blocked, veto'd and obstructed any and all bills for gay rights and equality in Northern Ireland.
There was obviously some prior comment or action which led to this cake fiasco, and Ashers had originally agreed to bake the cake knowing it was just a cake but they changed their minds no doubt after consulting with their friends in the DUP, the Free Presbyterian Church and the Christian Institute.
sweepy
I think you should be able to choose a civil partnership or marriage regardless of sexuality, and I don't think the church should be involved with either, if you want a religious ceremony or blessing fine but it should not be legally recognised.
I used to be fine with church weddings having legal recognition, but then they started picking on the gays so in my mind they lost that right.
Oh and I checked, Ashers bakery in Scotland are not connected to the NI one so supplies of dreamrings are uninterrupted.
jonm81
From what I remember from when this was originally reported it was not the fact the chap was gay, it was the slogan he wanted on the cake that they refused.
If he had gone in and asked for a standard wedding cake I don't imagine it would have been an issue but to knowingly ask a religious baker to put a slogan on a cake you know they disagree with is a bit of a childish thing to do.
Do you think they should put anything on a cake that the public ask for? What about going in to Millies Cookies and asking for a birthday cookie with "Millies cookies are S"£te" on it. Do you think they would refuse to do that knowing full well it would offend them?
Whilst the guy should not be refused service for his orientation he comes across as being an monumentally antagonistic tool.
I was responding to a quote.
The argument being that it is a religious ceremony.
Marriage is not a religious ceremony.
Correct but getting married in church is a religious ceremony. Same sex marriages aren't conducting in churches or mosques and Christian ceremonies are not performed in mosques and visa versa as it offends their beliefs
I don't have any belief any religion but nor do I get people to act against their faith.
martinhutch
Tatchell covers the difference between discriminating between an individual and against an idea quite well here. I'm sure there is an overlap between the two, so it's good that it's all getting an airing in the Appeal Court.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/01/gay-cake-row-i-changed-my-mind-ashers-bakery-freedom-of-conscience-religion
Doesn't make the owners right to be anti gay marriage, but it doesn't necessarily mean they're breaking the law.
A good contrast is the Christian B&B owners who chucked out a couple of gay blokes – that's direct discrimination.
knowingly ask a religious baker to put a slogan on a cake you know they disagree with is a bit of a childish thing to do.
They don't advertise themselves as a Christian only Bakery.
The counter argument is always this, but you are equating LGBT equality with something offensive.
"Oh now a racist can ask for a cake that says death to all Muslims or blacks or Pakis"
No, because that's offensive. Saying gay people should have equal rights is not offensive.
However, if it passes that a Christian baker can refuse to bake a cake because someone's lifestyle choice disagrees with their iron age superstition you now have a legal precedent that a Jewish baker can refuse to bake Christmas cake, or a muslim baker can refuse to bake a cake for a soldier or a neo-nazi baker can refuse to bake a cake for black people because it goes against their deeply held belief.
You might feel like a massively antagonistic tool if people used iron age superstition to determine your freedom to live your life as an equal member of society.
The topic 'Can a cake be gay ? Northern Ireland Equalities Act ruling' is closed to new replies.


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Thinking Beyond Borders for Hungary
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An individual's Hungarian income tax liability is determined by residence status and by the source of the income. The taxes are levied using a flat rate. Residents are liable for tax on worldwide income, while non-residents are taxed on income from Hungarian sources. Tax credits are available on long-term savings (such as pre-pension investments, long-term savings accounts, and payments to voluntary mutual funds) and in relation to children and for couples getting married for the first time. No special expatriate tax regime exists.
Extended business travelers are likely to be taxed on employment income relating to their Hungarian work, but treaty rules are examined closely.
Liability for income tax
An individual's tax liability in Hungary depends on residence status. If an individual is a resident, worldwide income must be declared in the annual tax return.
Non-resident individuals are taxed on their income from Hungarian sources. Residence rules are determined very similarly to income tax treaty rules.
Most categories of income are aggregated, but certain categories are taxed separately (such as dividends and capital gains).
Extended business travelers are likely to be considered resident if they spend more than 183 days in Hungary. If they spend less than 6 months, then the treaty rules are used to determine tax liability.
Employment income is derived from Hungarian sources if it is paid by a Hungarian entity or, the work is performed for a Hungarian entity.
Tax trigger points
There is no minimum number of days when determining tax liability. If an individual is non-resident in Hungary but the Hungarian entity is considered to be the economic employer, then even 1 day of work is taxable in Hungary.
Hungary has adopted the economic employer approach introduced by the Commentary of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Model Convention for each assignment/business travel starting from 1 November 2012. The Hungarian Tax Authority issued guidelines in order to determine the economic employer.
Types of taxable income
For extended business travelers who are resident in Hungary, worldwide income is subject to tax in Hungary, but foreign-sourced income that has been subject to tax in a foreign country/jurisdiction is exempted. If they are non-resident in Hungary, the types of income that are generally taxed are employment income, income from Hungarian sources, and gains from Hungarian assets (such as real estate). Fringe benefits provided by a Hungarian entity are taxed at the entity level unless they are subject to tax as income from employment.
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Tax returns are due by 20 May in the year following the tax year. Individuals who are not able to prepare their tax returns by this deadline (especially when they have income from foreign sources) could file a declaration by the original deadline indicating the reason for the late filing. Based on this declaration they could file their tax return by 20 November, together with an excuse letter to avoid penalty on late filing.
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A permanent establishment (PE) could be created as a result of extended business travel, but this would be dependent on the type of services performed and the level of authority the employee has.
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Could Rolling Jubilee "Disappear" Your Student Debt?
HomeBlog Student LoansCould Rolling Jubilee "Disappear" Your Student Debt?
Could Rolling Jubilee "Disappear" Your Student Debt?
You might remember that about three years ago there was a whole bunch of people in New York City protesting income disparity. The movement came to be known as Occupy Wall Street. What, you might ask, ever happened to that movement? Well, it's morphed into an organization called Strike Debt that has a program titled Rolling Jubilee that might be able to erase your student loan debt.
One lucky debtor in Kalamazoo Michigan woke up one day and found an odd letter in the mail. What it basically said is that, "we have good news. We got rid of some of your Everest College debt." It went on to say that her private student loan in the amount of $790.05 had been forgiven outright by an organization called Rolling Jubilee.
Since November 2012, Rolling Jubilee has purchased and eliminated around $15 million of debt in the form of unpaid medical bills. It recently announced that it had also eradicated $3.8 million in private student loans for almost 3000 students.
While Rolling Jubilee can't do much about federal student debt, it is able to help with private loans due to a quirk in the way debt works these days. When people stop paying on a debt it becomes delinquent. The lender usually writes off the debt after about six months and sells it off at a cheap price to a third-party debt collector. What Rolling Jubilee is now doing is buying some of this debt using donations it raises online. In most cases it' s able to buy student loan debt for three cents on the dollar or less. Then, instead of trying to collect on the debt, Rolling Jubilee just makes it disappear.
Student loan debt is now estimated to be about $1.2 trillion and more than 40 million Americans have some form of it. Rolling Jubilee understands that the number of people it has been able to help is only a drop in the bucket and doesn't solve the actual problem. The group's goal is to draw attention to the predicament of those millions of people that have unpaid student loans – especially loans with high interest from expensive for-profit colleges. It's next step is to get a large number of people organized to push for policy changes that would allow debtors to get release from obligations such as student debt that they are unable to meet.
For-profit colleges have come under fire recently due to their disproportionate contribution to the $1.2 trillion in student loan debt. They've enrolled about 13% of all students but have been responsible for 50% of the students that defaulted on their loans. Strike Debt has deliberately targeted one of the largest, Corinthian Colleges, the company that owns Everest College and several other for-profit school chains. It was already having serious financial problems when the Department of Education put a hold on financial aid payments to the company – due to its failure to satisfy requests for information made by the Department. In fact, Corinthian Colleges currently has some 200 lawsuits pending for fraudulent practices. The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau announced recently yet another lawsuit against the company for alleged predatory lending. The Bureau's goal in this lawsuit is obtain relief for borrowers because it believes the company misled students about job prospects, pressured them to take out private high-interest loans and then used high-pressure debt collection tactics.
One of the main reasons that Rolling Jubilee turned its attention to helping people with student debt is because these loans usually can't be dismissed by a chapter 7 bankruptcy – whether it's a private or federal student loan. Before 2005 it was possible to get private student loans dismissed through a chapter 7 bankruptcy just like any other kind of unsecured debt (think credit card debt). However, our Congress passed a law that year that changed the status of private student loans in a bankruptcy to be the same as that of federal loans. What this means is that if you want to have any kind of student loan discharged you must show that repaying it would cause you to experience an undue hardship.
Most bankruptcy courts throughout the US use what's called the Bruner test to determine undue hardship. This consists of three conditions you would need to meet in order to get your student loans discharged.
Poverty – The first is that you must able to show you cannot maintain a minimal standard of living for yourself and your dependents based on your current income while repaying your loans. In this case, minimal standard of living is not the same as a middle-class standard of living and is a much lower standard.
Good faith – – And third, you must show you've made a good-faith effort to pay off your student loans.
As of 2012, 9.1% of student loan borrowers had defaulted on their loans within two years of graduating. This is up from 8.8% the previous year. And while 9.1% doesn't seem like a significant number that translates into 375,000 borrowers. Even worse, 13.4% of borrowers defaulted within three years after they made their first payments.
Trust us when we say these people made a big mistake – especially in the case of federally backed loans.
It's not a good idea to default on any loan. But it's especially bad to default on a federally backed student loan. Technically, you are in default on a student loan the day after you miss a payment. In reality, your debt won't be reported to the three credit bureaus until you have missed your payments for 90 days or three months. If you have still failed to make a payment after nine months, the odds are that your debt will be turned over to a student debt collection agency. These collectors have powers that regular collection agencies would kill for. They can garnish your wages as well as your Social Security benefits without going to court. They can take part of your income tax refunds and even block the renewal of any professional licenses you hold.
There are ways to get a student debt out of default. The first of these is probably the simplest answer and that's to just repay the loan. There are several different ways to repay defaulted loans depending on the type of loan you have. You can learn more about repaying your loans by clicking on this link.
If the Internal Revenue Service is withholding any of your income tax refund, this will also stop.
Issues to be aware of if you are able to rehabilitate your loan successfully include the fact that your new payment may be more than what you are paying when you were rehabilitating the loan. Second, the total amount you owe may increase because collection costs may have been added to your principal balance. And finally, if your late payments (delinquencies) were reported to the credit bureaus before your loan defaulted, they will not be removed from your credit report.
The third alternative for getting student loans out of default is to get a Direct Consolidation Loan. This would allow you to pay off the balances on multiple student loans and end up with just one loan and one monthly payment. You will have a new interest rate that will be fixed for the life of the loan. And you will be eligible to choose a new repayment program such as Pay As You Earn, which would cap your monthly payment at 10% of your disposable income.


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Turkey anxiously waiting for Trump's call on Syria and Israel
By MURAT YETKİN murat.yetkin@hurriyet.com.tr
Murat Yetkin
REUTERS photo
The uncertainties about the U.S.'s new Middle East policy under Donald Trump have been straining nerves in Ankara, as Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan made public on Jan. 22 before heading his visit to three Africa countries.
When asked about Turkey's relations with the U.S. in the Trump era, a general question without any specific subject, Erdoğan directly went into Turkey's Middle East concerns.
"What will Trump's position be on the Middle East? Because the region is boiling up. We keep hearing words [from him] about the Middle East that are actually disturbing," he said, without elaborating.
"We are in favor of a Middle East where territorial integrity is respected. We are not in favor of a fragmented Middle East, which would not be right … As Turkey we cannot say 'yes' to such a thought," he added.
High-level Turkish sources say Erdoğan could be referring to Trump's potential Syria policy and the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Former U.S. President Barack Obama's choice to support the Democratic Union Party (PYD) militia as a ground force against ISIL has brought two NATO allies, Turkey and the U.S., into confrontation, as the PYD is the Syrian extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is fighting against Turkey and which is also designated as a terrorist group by the U.S.
Turkish sources say Trump's defense and diplomacy teams are not in favor of working with non-state actors, like the PKK-affiliated PYD, and could prefer working with state actors like Turkey, Iraq and even Russia and the Syrian regime, in order to contain and defeat ISIL as soon as possible. But at the end of the day it will be Trump's call. Erdoğan had suggested to Obama collaborating against ISIL, if the U.S. drops the PYD as a partner, before ordering the Turkish military to move into Syria in August 2016 together with Free Syria Army (FSA) forces to push ISIL away from the Turkish border and to prevent the PYD from occupying those areas.
Turkey has justified its recent cooperation with the Russian military in its operations in Syria by referring to the lack of support received from the U.S.-led anti-ISIL coalition, which is operating from Turkey's strategic Incirlik air base. Defense Minister Fikri Işık said Ankara had postponed its call to cancel its permit to use İncirlik after Trump entered office.
But sources say Ankara is confused by various statements from Trump and his team about continuing to support "Kurdish fighters" against ISIL, without elaborating on whether they mean the PYD or other Kurdish groups in the Syria-Iraq theater, such as the Peshmerga forces of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) led by Masoud Barzani, which is currently on good terms with Ankara.
Another issue of concern for Ankara regarding the Middle East is Trump's vow during his campaign to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital instead of Tel Aviv, which could radically destabilize the region. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Jan. 15, following a conference on the Israel-Palestine issue in Paris, that moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem would be a "provocation." Turkey is one of a majority of countries that keeps its embassy in Tel Aviv and is sensitive about not recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
If Trump insists on moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, that could add another problem to the existing ones between Ankara and Washington.
Meanwhile, Turkey also expects Trump to extradite or at least take legal action against Fethullah Gülen, the Islamist preacher who is living in the U.S. and who is accused of masterminding the July 2016 coup attempt. Erdoğan did not mention that issue in his Jan. 22 press conference.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, who represented Ankara at Trump's inauguration ceremony on Jan. 20, had unofficial contacts earlier in the week with Trump's pick for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, and Secretary of Defense James Mattis. Çavuşoğlu is also accompanying Erdoğan on his trip to Tanzania, Mozambique and Madagascar.
One high-ranking source who asked not to be named told the Hürriyet Daily News on Jan. 22 that Erdoğan's remarks could be read as a preemptive move to raise concerns before his first encounter with Trump.
Erdoğan said he was looking forward to that first meeting, where he wanted to talk on matters "from A to Z." Ankara thinks the perfect timing for a meeting could be during or after a NATO "mini-summit," planned for late February or early March, during which U.S.-NATO relations are expected to be updated.
Another important subject concerning Turkey's position on the Middle East and the U.S. is the Syria meeting due on Jan. 23 in the Kazakh capital Astana. That will be the second stage to consolidating the ceasefire between the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria and the rebel forces brokered by Turkey and Russia on Dec. 29, 2016 with the assistance of Iran. The U.S. is invited to the Astana talks and will be represented there, despite objections from Iran.
Turkish sources say the importance of the Astana meeting is that it will bring representatives of the regime and rebel forces together for the first time since the start of the six-year civil war in Syria, under the auspices of the United Nations, which will be represented by Staffan di Mistura, the U.N.'s envoy on the Syrian crisis.
If further steps can be taken in Astana to consolidate the ceasefire, excluding attacks on ISIL and al-Qaeda- affiliated groups, one ranking source told HDN, "that would be an important contribution the Geneva talks on the political future of Syria on Feb. 8, and also contribute to de-escalating tension in the Middle East."
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