"Today would have been my mum's birthday. She died when she was barely 64 years old. She was perhaps the best story teller I ever knew and loved life to the full with a wicked side to her that was forgivable. I feel sure that it was her influence over my growing imagination as a child when she spoke about the nuns that taught her that confirmed me in the role of author and not that of priest." William Forde: January 24th, 2012.


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Posts Tagged 'HBO'
The Special Relationship – Dennis Quaid as Bill Clinton
The Special Relationship is an American/British political film directed by Richard Loncraine from a screenplay by Peter Morgan. It stars Michael Sheen as Tony Blair and Dennis Quaid and Bill Clinton.
It's the third film in Morgan's informal Blair trilogy, which dramatizes the political career of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair (1997-2007), following The Deal (2003) and The Queen (2006), both directed by Stephen Frears.
The first drafts of The Special Relationship dealt with Blair's working relationships with Presidents of the United States Bill Clinton (1993-2001) and George W. Bush (2001-2009). But Morgan excised the Bush scenes from subsequent drafts because he found the Blair/Clinton dynamic more interesting. He intended to make his directorial debut with the film but backed out a month before filming began and was replaced by Loncraine. The film is produced by Rainmark Films and backed by HBO Films and BBC Films.
The film also stars Hope Davis as Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Helen McCrory as Cherie Blair. Principal photography on locations in and around London, England ran from July 20 to September 4, 2009. The film will be broadcast on HBO in the United States on May 29, 2010. Optimum Releasing will distribute it in cinemas in the United Kingdom on May 7, 2010.
more about "The Special Relationship – Dennis Qua…", posted with vodpod
Source: Hollywood Elsewhere
Posted in Film, news, Trailer | Tagged: Dennis Quaid, HBO, Helen McCrory, Hope Davis, Michael Sheen, news, Peter Morgan, Richard Loncraine, Stephen Frears, The Special Relationship, Trailer | Leave a Comment »
HBO / Marvel 1910 TV Series Opening
Posted by LiveFor on April 27, 2010
What if… HBO created a TV show with the Marvel characters (cast as we know them) set 100 years ago? Using footage of actors such as Hugh Jackman, Tobey Maguire, Robert Downey Jr and many more from period piece movies, this video is an LXG-style mock-up of a concept I've had for a while. I've even included an opening scene for added effect.
Footage from: Ghost Rider, Daredevil, Elektra, Seabiscuit Marie Antoinette, Shakespeare In Love, Iron Man, The Illusionist, The Incredible Hulk, Australia, HBO Rome and the trailers for Sherlock Holmes, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Sorcercer's Apprentice.
*Music by Immediiate Music – 'Slay The Dragon'
*Notes: Everytime I see a CBM actor in a turn-of-the-century; Victorian Era; Period piece movie, I think 'wouldn't it be cool to put them into a trailer or TV show where they're all humble heroes back then?' Well, this vid is designed to do just that. Being thoughtful to the background of each shot, I used another smorgasbord of resources to offer another 'alternative vision' to this fun genre.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I did making it!
Posted in Action, Comic, Film, Mashup | Tagged: Cool, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, HBO, Iron Man, Mashup | Leave a Comment »
Game of Thrones – The TV adaption of George R R Martin's fantasy has it's own language
David J. Peterson, an expert language creator from the Language Creation Society (LCS), has been chosen to create the Dothraki language for HBO's upcoming fantasy series GAME OF THRONES, based on the book series "A Song of Ice and Fire," by George R.R. Martin.
When GAME OF THRONES executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss needed a language for the Dothraki, Martin's race of nomadic warriors, they turned to the Language Creation Society. The LCS solicited and vetted a number of proposals for the Dothraki language from its pool of experts, with Peterson's proposal ultimately being selected by the GAME OF THRONES production team.
Peterson drew inspiration from George R.R. Martin's description of the language, as well as from such languages as Russian, Turkish, Estonian, Inuktitut and Swahili. However, the Dothraki language is no mere hodgepodge, babble or pidgin. It has its own unique sound, extensive vocabulary of more than 1,800 words and complex grammatical structure.
"In designing Dothraki, I wanted to remain as faithful as possible to the extant material in George R.R. Martin's series," says Peterson. "Though there isn't a lot of data, there is evidence of a dominant word order [subject-verb-object], of adjectives appearing after nouns, and of the lack of a copula ['to be']. I've remained faithful to these elements, creating a sound aesthetic that will be familiar to readers, while giving the language depth and authenticity. My fondest desire is for fans of the series to look at a word from the Dothraki language and be unable to tell if it came from the books or from me — and for viewers not even to realize it's a constructed language."
"We're tremendously excited to be working with David and the LCS," says producer D.B. Weiss. "The language he's devised is phenomenal. It captures the essence of the Dothraki, and brings another level of richness to their world. We look forward to his first collection of Dothraki love sonnets."
Did you know? (Hash yer ray nesi?)
The name for the Dothraki people — and their language — derives from the verb "dothralat" ("to ride").
The Dothraki have four different words for "carry," three for "push," three for "pull" and at least eight for "horse," but no word that means "please" or "follow."
The longest word in Dothraki is "athastokhdeveshizaroon," which means "from nonsense."
The words for "related," "weighted net," "eclipse," "dispute," "redhead," "oath," "funeral pyre," "evidence," "omen," "fang" and "harvest moon" all have one element in common: "qoy," the Dothraki word for "blood."
Dothraki for "to dream" – "thirat atthiraride" – literally means "to live a wooden life"; in Dothraki, "wooden" ("ido") is synonymous with "fake."
The word for "pride" – "athjahakar" – is derived from "jahak," the traditional long braid worn by Dothraki warriors ("lajaki").
More information about the Dothraki language (and their love poems) will be released over the course of the series.
Posted in Book, Fantasy, news, TV | Tagged: A Game of Thrones, Book, fantasy, George R R Martin, HBO, news | Leave a Comment »
Peachy Keen! Sandman – Matthew Vaughn has an idea for Neil Gaiman's classic comic
Neil Gaiman is a great comic book writer and novelist. One of his greatest achievements is the DV Vertigo comic, Sandman. It mainly follows the character of Dream or Morpheus of the Endless who is the anthropomorphic representation of dreams. He is Lord of the Dreaming and the Endless is also composed of Death, Desire, Destruction, Destiny, Despair, and Delirium.
The comic had a run of 75 issues with many specials dotted around and featured Lucifer, Merv Pumpkinhead, and numerous other characters. It covered different pieces of folklore and legend and was just bloody brilliant.
The look of Dream was also based on Mr Gaiman and the pic I've used on the post was one I used to paint a huge Sandman on a wall in a flat I used to live in. Plus I drew something similar for the wedding of my good friend Neil C.
Needless to say I would love to see Sandman on the big screen. However, due to the huge scope of the tales involved a movie wouldn't do it justice. It has been mentioned many times over the years as a possible film, as has one about the character of Death (I mentioned that way back in November 2008 and Gaiman has recently mentioned how Guillermo del Toro may be involved). That's where Matthew Vaughn comes in.
The director of Kick-Ass, Layer Cake and Stardust (another Gaiman tale) has been talking at the SXSW Festival to MTV news about how he'd like to adapt the Sandman to a TV show.
"I think it would make an amazing HBO series, you know, where you can just really create that world," Vaughn said. "There's too much to get into an hour and a half, two hours."
"[Neil and I] talked about it," he continued. "I think as a movie it's virtually impossible to make properly."
Not much yet, but the fact he has been chatting to Gaiman about it sounds promising. However, they would need an awful lot of money to make it, but if they did I feel it would be huge.
Would you like to see a Sandman TV series? If it did come to pass who would you like to see play Dream and the rest of the Endless? What stories from the comic series would have to be included in the TV show?
Absolute Sandman – Volume 1. Amazon.co.uk
The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 1. Amazon.com
Posted in Comic, Fantasy, Film, news, TV | Tagged: Comic, Death The High Cost of Living, Dream, HBO, Kick-Ass, Matthew Vaughn, Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, TV, Vertigo | Leave a Comment »
Game of Thrones – First photo from the George R R Martin Adaption
Posted by LiveFor on March 2, 2010
I had been following production of the HBO adaption for George R.R. Martin's fantasy series Game of Thrones and now Sci-Fi Wire have the news that they have given the go ahead for a full 10 episodes which is very cool for fantasy fans. They also have the first photo from the pilot and the full series begins shooting in June.
What do you think about the pic?
Based on the series of books by George R.R. Martin, Game of Thrones is an epic struggle for power set in a vast and violent fantasy kingdom.
PILOT CREDITS:
David Benioff Executive Producer
D.B. Weiss Executive Producer
Tom McCarthy Director
PILOT SCRIPT:
Written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER PILOT CAST SERIES REGULARS:
Mark Addy as Robert Baratheon
Alfie Allen as Theon Greyjoy
Sean Bean as Eddard Stark
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jamie Lannister
Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister
Jennifer Ehle as Catelyn Stark
Jack Gleeson as Joffrey Baratheon
Iain Glen as Ser Jorah Mormont
Kit Harrington as Jon Snow
Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister
Harry Lloyd as Viserys Targaryen
Richard Madden as Rob Stark
Rory McCann as Sandor Clegane
Tamzin Merchant as Daenerys Targaryen
Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark
Maisie Williams as Arya Stark
Isaac Hempstead Wright as Bran Stark
ALSO FEATURING:
Ron Donachie as Ser Rodrik Cassel
Jason Momoa as Khal Drogo
Donald Sumpter as Maester Luwin
Posted in Book, Fantasy, news, Photos, TV | Tagged: A Game of Thrones, Book, D B Weiss, fantasy, George R R Martin, HBO, Iain Glen, Jennifer Ehle, Kit Harrington, Lena Headey, Mark Addy, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Peter Dinklage, Photo, Sean Bean, Tom McCarthy, TV | Leave a Comment »
Stephen King's Under the Dome to be HBO miniseries and a new Dark Tower book
Don't believe me? Well believe the King.
He says that he has one more book to write in the Dark Tower series and it will come between Wizard and Glass and Wolves of the Calla.
Posted in Book, TV | Tagged: Book, Dark Tower, HBO, news, stephen king, Under the Dome | Leave a Comment »
Preacher – Could John Cusack be Jesse Custer?
Posted by LiveFor on November 6, 2009
In a recent interview with io9 John Cusack got chatting about a film based on a comic that he wanted to be involved with.
"It's a vampire and a killer, and they're on the road, and it's this really strange story," said Cusack.
Now Preacher by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon features Jesse Custer (who would be the priest) and Cassidy (an Irish Vampire) along with Tulip, Arse-Face, John Wayne (Bruce Campbell should play him in the film), Herr Starr and too many other twisted characters to mention.
If you've read the comics you will know how good they are. However, I never really picture Cusack as either JC or Cassidy.
Asked whether it Preacher he was thinking of, Cusack said, "I think it might have been 'Preacher,'" and added that he was "trying to" get involved with the long-in-development project.
The actor, who's appearing in theaters next weekend in the disaster flick "2012," said he's most interested one of the two leads, "either the vampire or the priest."
"One of those two guys," he said.
Last I heard about the Preacher film was that Sam Mendes was down to direct it but they were waiting for a workable script – like many others I wish it would be a series on HBO to get the full story.
Mind you maybe he is thinking of Priest which also involves priests and vampires, but that's already started filming with Paul Bettany in the lead.
Do you think John Cusack was talking about Preacher? Would he be good in either of the roles? If not him then who would?
Now if they could get Clint Eastwood involved as the Saint of Killers.
Posted in Action, Comic, Film, Horror, news, Thriller | Tagged: 2012, Bruce Campbell, Comic, garth ennis, HBO, John Cusak, Paul Bettany, Preacher, Priest, Sam Mendes, steve dillon | Leave a Comment »
A Game of Thrones – You could be in the HBO series
Posted by LiveFor on October 1, 2009
I have been following the development of the TV show based on George R R Martin's A Game of Thrones for quite a while now – since last November.
All the main roles have been cast – more on that here, here and here
Mr Martin himself posted the following on his blog.
Ever since HBO first took out an option on A GAME OF THRONES — even before we got an actual production order — I've been getting emails from readers who desperately wanted to be a part of the production. "I'll do anything!" some of you have written. ((Really, don't say stuff like that. Really. Don't.))
Well, now's your chance. The call has gone out for extras. Details here:
http://www.extrasni.com/news
Of course, you need to be in Northern Ireland, or get yourself to Northern Ireland. They're shooting this mostly in Belfast and environs.
And it would help to know horses. As you can see, their biggest need right now is for experienced male riders. (I imagine they could use some female riders too, though maybe not as many. And if not, hey, that's why they invented false beards.)
What a shame I can't ride a horse. If you apply let me know how you get on.
Posted in Book, Fantasy, news, TV | Tagged: A Game of Thrones, Book, fantasy, George R R Martin, HBO, news, TV | Leave a Comment »
Lena Headey rounds out the Game of Thrones
Posted by LiveFor on September 2, 2009
Lena Headey (300, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) has been cast in the last major part in HBO's Game of Thrones pilot, according to Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune.
Headey will portray the blonde Cersei Lannister, a woman of royal blood who is every bit as smart, cunning and devious as the powerful men around her. She also gets up to certain shenanigans that are a bit wrong.
Other cast members include Peter Dinklage as Cersei's brother Tyrion, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (New Amsterdam) as Cersei's twin, Jaime, Sean Bean as aristocrat Ned Stark, Jennifer Ehle as his wife Catelyn Stark and Mark Addy as King Robert. HBO confirmed the casting of Headey on Tuesday.
The Game of Thrones pilot, an adaptation of the fantasy novel by George R.R. Martin, starts shooting in late October in Northern Ireland.
Do you think Lena will make a good Cersei? is A Game of Thrones going to work as a TV show?
Source: Sci-Fi Wire
Posted in Book, Fantasy, news, TV | Tagged: A Game of Thrones, Book Peter Dinklage, George R R Martin, HBO, Jennifer Ehle, Lena Headey, Mark Addy, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Sean Bean, TV | Leave a Comment »
The Pacific – Sort of a sequel to Band of Brothers
Executively produced by Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Gary Goetzman, the team behind the Emmy-winning 2001 HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers," this epic ten-hour miniseries tracks the intertwined odysseys of three U.S. Marines – Robert Leckie (James Badge Dale), Eugene Sledge (Joe Mazzello) and John Basilone (Jon Seda) – across the vast canvas of the Pacific. The extraordinary experiences of these men and their fellow Marines take them from the first clash with the Japanese in the haunted jungles of Guadalcanal, through the impenetrable rain forests of Cape Gloucester, across the blasted coral strongholds of Peleliu, up the black sand terraces of Iwo Jima, through the killing fields of Okinawa, to the triumphant, yet uneasy, return home after V-J Day. Produced by HBO Miniseries in association with Playtone and DreamWorks Television, and scheduled to debut on HBO in early 2010.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Band of Brothers, HBO, James Badge Dale, Joe Mazzelo, Jon Seda, Steven Spielberg, The Pacific, Tom Hanks, Trailer, TV | Leave a Comment »

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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No to segregation of Muslims, yes to a diverse and plural India that empowers to articulate dissent
Wed, Jan 01 2020 Wed, Jan 01 2020 Swapna Gopinath Opinion
As India resists the divisive forces, protests across the country gaining momentum despite the widespread brutality unleashed on the citizens by the government, we see the dangerous trend of segregation and victimization of the minorities already underway. A distinct trend is clearly visible and it portends the future of this country and the dangerous possibility of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government using power to divide the nation as Muslims and non-Muslims. While an enlightened community puts up a stiff resistance, one the other side of this protest is the rapid Othering process beginning with the prime minister violating every rule in the book of secularism and announces publicly that protesters can be identified by the clothes they wear. The use of religious slur by several BJP leaders and the targeted attack on two institutions, Jamia Milia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University are also part of this agenda.
Secularism was always a shroud, often a thin one, pulled over the divisive forces that remained like a silent sleeping monster. The mistrust and the hatred were, perhaps, etched deep, evolving out of the myths of national identities, later reinforced by the trauma of partition. The BJP leaders always used these latent feelings of the Hindus, as a collective, to their advantage and their second term in power sees the most toxic form of manipulation of power in the largest and perhaps the most unwieldy democracy of the world.
Has the government already achieved the devious plan of dividing the nation into Muslims and non-Muslims? Even as the nation is fighting a desperate battle to protect the values enshrined in the constitution, the polarization is happening at a deeper level, where conversations around the hatred against Muslims are a reality. Muslims are targeted in the protest marches, in the looting by the police officers of the homes of Muslims, and in the number of deaths in police violence. The communal division is the agenda that the BJP has successfully carried on, even while the protest is going strong.
How has this agenda of polarisation and segregation successfully entered into our conversations? Is it limited only to the Muslim/non-Muslim binary?
1. A very basic premise on which nationhood is imagined has been compromised. Government has been employing legislative power to successfully differentiate between the land and its people, as in the case of Kashmir, where the people's will is blatantly challenged by an arrogant display of power through the abrogation of Article 370.
2. The BJP government has split the nation, wide open, using the tool of citizenship, with the majority Hindus on one side and the majority among the minorities, the Muslims, on the other side. Even as a substantial section of the Hindu population has decided to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, or the CAA and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the government has succeeded in laying bare the threads of hatred and distrust between these communities and made it possible to converse in the language of religious identities.
Despite the hundreds of peaceful protests held across the country, the government refuses to acknowledge them and of course, violence and police intervention happens mostly in the BJP-ruled states. In a report by The Wire.in, the massive presence of people in peaceful protests held everywhere in India is listed out, attempting to shatter the biased opinions and representations in the media and among people of Muslims being violent and ruthless.
3. Another category of victims is the poor who will get segregated from the rest, through the new legislation. A process of sifting and eliminating the poor out of the country, stripping them of citizenship, when the internal migrant population, majority of them being the rural peasant class, was 19% of the population in 2001, is already set in motion. This data, of course, is not accurate, as it is not possible to track these patterns in a country where the rural poor and often the urban poor remain outside the structures of legal documentation processes.
One needs to mention here the fact that migrant population from other countries is barely a concern that is burdening this country, with hardly 2% of the population being migrants, while more pressing concerns are cleanly swept under the carpet.
While the BJP government seeks desperately to redefine notions of nationhood on the foundations of an imagined past, an ethnic nationalist ethos which is regressive and dangerous and attempts at homogenisation, there is another India, protesting against this trend. With nationalism being a construct with no identifiable framework of ideology, the danger of defining it in regressive and exclusionary ways is always a possibility. Contemporary India has been witnessing this process in action and the CAA is merely another significant step in this direction. Into this politics of hatred and polarisation advocated by the BJP, we need more people who love their nation for the values it upholds, like the people who have been on the streets, on virtual spaces, fighting it out for the nation, for the values of liberty and freedom and the values enshrined in our constitution. They struggle to keep the ethos of a multicultural India, focusing on the individuals, as citizens, whose freedom and independence this nation will cherish and protect through the Constitution and similar provisions.
We require more secular spaces, to spread the awareness that this is not a cause to be fought by the Muslims alone, or for the underprivileged sections of our society. This is a cause we are compelled to fight for, for the India that empowers us to articulate our dissent, for the country that was held together despite its diversity and plurality. Destroying its identity as a multicultural entity will lead to the destruction of the nation, territories won will be a futile exercise if people of the land lose their identity and integrity as Indians. We need more conversations, more spaces, more people on the streets, to chant 'Azaadi' and to fight for upholding the principles carefully incorporated in our Constitution.
Swapna Gopinath
Swapna Gopinath is a Fulbright fellow at the Department of Art and Art History, University of Rochester, NY. She is an Associate Professor of English Literature from Kerala, India. She writes about India, its visual cultural practices and the politics of urban spaces.
Tagged anti-Muslim propaganda BJP Citizenship Act Hindutva fascism Muslims NRC
Muslims asserting their identity in Modi-fied India is in itself an act of defiance
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2022 Uttar Pradesh elections: can the BJP's crisis help the Opposition?


The Carter Center commends the parties, candidates, and National Elections Commission (KPU) of Indonesia for the important progress made in campaign finance laws and practices since the 2004 elections. However, there remain critical steps that must be taken to ensure robust and meaningful campaign finance reporting and disclosure mechanisms that are more than a formality for political parties. The Carter Center encourages the KPU, political parties, and candidates to continue to monitor campaign income and expenditure, as well as the use of public resources, throughout the 2009 electoral process and to consider additional reforms to strengthen campaign finance regulations for future elections.
Campaign finance reporting requirements for political parties and Regional Representative Council (DPD) candidates have become more stringent since the 2004 elections. However, compliance with the law requires only that reports be submitted before legal deadlines. The law does not foresee a discretionary or investigative audit role for the KPU beyond analysis of the information that is provided solely by the parties and candidates. The electoral law does not make available to the KPU legal sanctions should campaign finance reports contain false, inaccurate or incomplete information.
Recent changes in the methods of seat allocation (based on a December 2008 Constitutional Court judgment) are not sufficiently reflected in those articles of the General Elections Law related to campaign finance reporting. Unlike political parties, individual candidates running for seats in the People's Representative Council (DPR) and Regional People's Representative Council (DPRD) are not currently required to submit financial reports regarding their campaign income and expenditure.
Many political parties, NGOs, and other stakeholders believe that the bulk of income and expenditures related to campaign finance goes unreported. This is in part due to the exclusion of candidates from reporting requirements outlined above, but also because non-formal campaign teams fall outside of the campaign finance regulatory framework.
Based on these preliminary findings, The Carter Center offers a number of recommendations for the continued consolidation of campaign finance in the Indonesian electoral process. These include amendments to the Elections Law that would provide greater clarity regarding the reporting requirements for individual candidates and non-formal campaign teams as well as formal campaign teams and political parties; and granting the KPU additional powers to conduct investigative audits and request additional information from contestants. In addition, the Center encourages the KPU to make public the full financial reports of the political parties.
The following full report, 'Carter Center Assessment of Current Campaign Finance Requirements and Recommendations for Future Improvement,' includes a more detailed discussion of the issues summarized above.
As part of its limited observation mission for the April 2009 legislative elections in Indonesia, The Carter Center has focused on key campaign finance issues. This report provides the Center's main findings and recommendations. In a spirit of cooperation with the people of Indonesia, the report focuses on an assessment of the regulatory framework currently in place, as well as recommendations for its improvement in advance of the next legislative elections.
In many ways, the campaign finance reporting regulations for the 2009 legislative elections improve those that governed the 2004 elections. The 2003 General Elections Law[i] contained less stringent financial reporting requirements than those included in the 2008 General Elections Law[ii]. For example, during the 2004 legislative elections an initial campaign finance report was not required and the 2003 law did not specify sanctions for noncompliance with reporting requirements.
The 2008 General Elections Law, on the other hand, requires that political parties and candidates for the DPD must provide financial information in both the pre- and post-election periods. Seven days before the initiation of the campaign (the first campaign rally) parties and Regional Representative Council (DPD) contestants were required to provide an initial financial report consisting of a bank account number and the opening balance[iii]. On the national level, all parties submitted their reports, but at the provincial level three parties failed to do so[iv]. According to the KPU, these were small and new parties, which were not yet sufficiently organized to meet the reporting deadline. As a consequence, some of their candidates were disqualified based on Article 138 of the 2008 law which allows the KPU to prevent the participation of parties in the election if they do not submit the pre-campaign financial information.
In addition to pre-election reports, parties are also required to submit an income and expenditure report within 15 days of election day - a marked change from the 60 day window scheduled for preparation of reports by parties in 2004 which raises questions about the ability of the parties to complete and submit their reports on time. Article 138 of the 2008 law states that parties and DPD candidates will not be seated in national, provincial and district legislatures if these reports are not submitted to KPU appointed auditors by the April 24, 2009 deadline[v].
As of April 27, the KPU reported that 30 of the 38 national parties had submitted their reports on time. The number of candidates for the DPD who submitted their reports on time is not clear as this information is still be gathered by the KPU. Several regional KPU offices and public accountants have noted to the Center that parties and DPD candidates who believe they have won seats have largely submitted financial reports but that often those contestants who did not win seats did not submit reports. Though no official announcement has been made by the KPU, the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) has called for the disqualification of 27 parties at the provincial level for not submitting their reports on time.
While campaign finance reports which are submitted to public accountants provide details on the income and expenditures controlled by formal party campaign teams, many political party representatives and other stakeholders have told the Center that much campaign income and spending is done through "non-formal" campaign teams. These "non-formal" teams are not required to provide campaign income and expenditure reports as part of the financial reporting process.
Campaign finance reporting regulations for the general elections were also impacted by recent changes in the method of seat allocation for the DPR, and DPRD. In December 2008, the Constitutional Court found Article 214 of the 2008 General Elections Law unconstitutional[vi]. Based on this ruling, seats won by a party are now allocated to those of its candidates who win the most votes. Though this new system has resulted in a substantial change in the nature of the campaign from being party oriented to candidate oriented, the law does not yet sufficiently reflect this development because it does not require individual DPR and DPRD candidates to submit their own campaign reports. With the exception of candidates for the DPD, there is currently no legal requirement for individual legislative candidates to report their campaign funds.
The KPU at central and provincial levels selected public accounting firms to receive and audit the income and expenditure reports of political parties and candidates for the regional representative councils. The firms are required to state in writing that they are not affiliated directly or indirectly with any of the contesting political parties or DPD candidates and that they are not members or officers of a political party. The public accountants have 30 days from receipt of the financial reports (until May 23) to examine the reports and submit the results of their audits to the KPU. [vii]The KPU then has seven days (until May 30) to notify the contesting parties of the audit results[viii] and 10 days (until June 2) to announce the auditing results to the public[ix].
According to the Elections law, the role of the KPU with regard to the audit procedures is limited as it has no legal basis to do more than appoint public auditors based on a competitive bidding process, collect audit reports prepared by these firms, and then make the results of the audits public. Criminal penalties including imprisonment and fines are to be laid against parties or candidates who intentionally provide false information as part of financial reports. However, as it is written now, the General Elections Law does not provide, in cases of false reporting, for the necessary range of administrative and electoral sanctions (such as the loss of seats) to be levied[x]. Such variety of sanctions must be available to ensure the proportionality of a remedy to its particular violation. Additionally, in cases where financial reports are incomplete, late, or inaccurately filed, electoral sanctions may be overly burdensome (dependent on the severity of the violation) and appropriate administrative measures are absent from the law[xi].
On April 15, the KPU Web site listed the public accountant firms which had been selected through a competitive bidding process to conduct audits of political party finances at the central level. However, many memoranda of understanding were not signed with these firms until April 24 – the deadline for the submission of reports by parties. During the week prior to the reporting deadline, The Carter Center contacted several of the firms listed on the Commission's website but the accounting firms could not confirm whether they had been selected by the KPU to fulfill the auditing function, leading to questions about their capacity to complete the audits in a timely manner. The Carter Center will continue to monitor the implementation of campaign finance reporting regulations.
Both the 2004 and 2008 electoral laws contain provisions regarding the use of money and material goods to influence voters. While the 2004 General Elections Law stipulated that the punishment for improper allocation of money to potential voters during the campaign would lead to 'disqualification' of candidates, Articles 87 and 88 of the 2008 law further elaborate this point, stating that, if found guilty ahead of the election, candidates will be removed from the candidates' list or, if already elected, will not be permitted to take office.
In practice, The Carter Center received numerous reports of the use of money to influence voters in areas observed, including in Aceh. Media reports and reports from Carter Center observers include stories of so-called 'dawn attacks' in Aceh and elsewhere where candidates or their campaign teams allegedly distributed envelopes containing sums of cash between Rp. 5,000 and 500,000 (between USD $0.46 and USD $47) along with the name card of the legislative candidate. Carter Center observers also noted cases in which gifts were promised should a certain number of votes be obtained for a party in a particular location and others in which non-cash items such as rice, women's headscarves, or staple goods were distributed at village level.
In the lead-up to the election, a number of party representatives at district level complained to Center observers that voters were expecting payment when approached by candidates as part of their campaigning. Some parties interviewed reported that money politics increased during the three-day "cooling off period" before the election. The extent to which such attempts to influence voters are successful is difficult to verify.
By April 22, Bawaslu had officially recorded 36 cases of "politik uang" (money politics) in their register of criminal cases. In Aceh, many of those interviewed suggested that cases of money politics went unreported because the provincial electoral supervisory body, or Panwaslu, only opened in February 2009[xii].
Prosecution of these cases is difficult because witnesses are said to be reluctant to testify, fearing the loss of the money or items received. Carter Center observers will continue to track a number of cases in which money has allegedly been used to influence voters in observation areas.
The 2003 elections law established limits on contributions to political parties by individuals of Rp. 100 million (USD $9,350) and Rp. 750 million (USD $70,125) for contributions from groups or companies. The 2008 law significantly increases allowable contributions from individuals (Rp. 1 billion or approximately USD $93,000) and groups or companies (Rp. 5 billion or approximately USD $467,000)[xiii]. On March 25 and 27, ten days after the beginning of the official campaign period, the KPU released campaign finance audit guidelines that stipulated that the new limits on contributions from individuals and companies to both political parties and DPD candidates were to apply to the amount of a single transaction and not the total from an individual or company. This interpretation did not appear consistent with the law and several civil society groups protested. Close to one month later the KPU officially reversed this interpretation of the law with a regulation stating that individual and corporate contributions could not exceed the amounts listed in the elections law. [xiv]The effectiveness of campaign finance regulations and instructions is often dependent on their predictability; late changes and mixed messages can cause confusion and in this case may have had an effect on how contestants reported income received between the initial release of the guidelines and their subsequent amendment.
In general, Carter Center observers note that the parties felt a level of comfort with the campaign finance reporting format and were generally confident that they would be able to submit their reports on time. However, several party representatives said that KPU representatives in areas of Carter Center observation were not able to provide additional guidance on the reporting formats as the KPU representatives did not seem to understand the procedures very well.
As noted, public accountants are required to submit audit reports to the KPU by May 23. The KPU is then required to notify political parties and DPD candidates within seven days of the audit results. According to the law, the KPU must announce the results of the audits to the public within ten days of the audit results (June 2). The Carter Center will continue to monitor the progress of the campaign finance disclosure process over the coming weeks.
The Constitutional Court's decision regarding Article 214 of the 2008 General Elections Law has extended those contesting the elections beyond the 'election contestants' currently recognized by the Elections law and because of this a careful revision of electoral legislation before the next legislative elections is required.[xv]. As part of this review, limits on campaign contributions, campaign finance reporting requirements, and related sanctions, need to be defined in the law in relation to individual candidates for the DPR and DPRDs, as does the relationship between DPR or DPRD candidate campaign finances, and party campaign finances.
The current elections law only requires that the financial reports of the formal campaign teams of political parties be submitted for audit, despite the role of informal campaign teams that also raise and spend funds for candidates and parties. The law should be amended to require that "non-formal" campaign teams report their income and expenditure, or, alternatively, be amended so that the finances of "non-formal" teams fall within the reporting framework that regulates formal campaign finance. This would potentially decrease the amount of campaign spending that goes unreported.
The KPU should have a more robust legal mandate, as well as human and budgetary resources, to conduct discretionary or investigative audits of financial reports submitted by parties through public accountants. The power to request additional information based on the financial reports provided by the contestants would improve the KPUs ability to have a meaningful role in monitoring campaign fund use and sanctioning parties who do not comply with rules as provided for in the Elections law.
In order to ensure that all campaign funds raised and spent by political parties and candidates are accurately and completely recorded in their campaign finance reports, the electoral law should include consequences for inaccurate, false or incomplete reporting of campaign contributions and expenditure. In addition to the current criminal penalty for intentionally giving false information, a range of electoral and administrative penalties should be available as sanctions for improper filing of reports. Such a variety of sanctions can ensure remedies are appropriate and proportionate to the severity of the violation. For sufficiently serious offences these penalties could include exclusion from participating in the election or prevention from taking up office similar to the penalties for failing to lodge a campaign finance report.
Political parties with whom Carter Center observers have spoken at central and provincial levels said that the financial reporting guidelines provided by the KPU are simple enough to allow parties and candidates to complete them with little difficulty[xvi]. However, some parties noted that the KPU should have requested that more detailed information and supporting documentation be provided to the appointed public accountants so that they could conduct more in-depth audits. The Carter Center encourages the KPU to consider these suggestions and also urges the Commission to make public not only the results of the audits as they plan to do, but also the content of the income and expenditure reports themselves.
Although the 2008 General Elections Law provided greater clarity than the 2003 law about the period that is to be the subject of income and expenditure reports, confusion remains about whether the three day "cooling off period" ahead of election day should be included in the parties' reports. Carter Center observers were told by parties that, because campaigning is prohibited during this time, they are not expected to include income and expenditures incurred during these days in their financial reports. The law should be made clearer in this regard in advance of future elections.
The practice of donating money, rice, and other gifts to potential voters during campaigns has highlighted the need for further discussion in Indonesia about how these practices can be regulated. The practice of candidates and parties providing food for attendees at political rallies is very common and is not prohibited by the Elections law. While Indonesians vote by secret ballot, concerns remain that recipients of campaign gifts may feel obliged to vote for the candidates and parties supplying the gifts.
In advance of the next legislative elections, the government of Indonesia could consider amending the elections law to include provision of public funding to candidates. Not only could public funding help to level the playing field among candidates, but it could also increase compliance with reporting requirements if the disbursement of public funds was reliant on timely submission of accurate and complete campaign finance reports.
The Center has deployed a limited observation mission to Indonesia since early-March 2009. Six Carter Center observers monitored the pre-election period in various parts of Indonesia, including Aceh, and were joined by nine additional observers on election day. The Center will remain in Indonesia for several weeks and will release periodic reports detailing its findings on dispute resolution processes and other key issues. Because of the small size and limited scope of its presence, The Carter Center will not draw conclusions about the overall electoral process. The Carter Center will issue a final report on the limited observation mission to the April 9, 2009, legislative elections in Indonesia in the coming months.
The Carter Center conducts election observation in accordance with the Declaration of Principles of International Election Observation and Code of Conduct for International Election Observation adopted at the United Nations in 2005.
The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide. A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, the Center has helped to improve life for people in more than 70 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; improving mental health care; and teaching farmers to increase crop production. Visit: www.cartercenter.org to learn more about The Carter Center.
[i] Indonesia ratified the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) on September 19, 2006. UNCAC entered into force on December 15, 2005. Art 7 (3) of UNCAC states that "Each State Party shall also consider taking appropriate legislative and administrative measures, consistent with the objectives of this Convention and in accordance with the fundamental principles in its domestic law, to enhance transparency in the funding of candidatures for elected public office and, where applicable, the funding of political parties."
[i] Law 12/2003 "Concerning General Elections for the Member's of the People's Representative Council, the Regional Representative Council, and the Regional People's Representative Council" February 18, 2003.
[ii] Law 10/2008 "Concerning General Election for Member's or People's Representative Council, Regional Representatives Council, and Regional People's Representative Council" March 3, 2008.
[iv] The three parties which were disqualified in this case were the Partai Persatuan Daerah (Regional Unity Party) in Riau, and two parties in East Kalimantan, Partai Indonesia Sejahtera (Prosperous Indonesia Party) and Partai Perjuangan Indonesia Baru (New Party of Struggle for Indonesia). According to Bawaslu data, 52 party chapters in 33 sub-districts across 9 were disqualified for not submitting early financial reports, including some of the larger national parties like PDI-P and PAN.
[v] Except in those cases where the polls were held later.
[xii] The provincial Panwaslu were opened in a phased manner with the first group of eight to be opened on 29 August 2008. Aceh, though meant to be part of this first phase, did not open until the end of December 2008. District level Panwaslus did not open until mid-February. Delays in the establishment of the Panwaslu in Aceh were due to a debate about who would select Panwaslu members.
[xiii]Contributions to DPD candidates can be made by individuals up to Rp. 250 million (approximately USD $23,350) and company contributions Rp. 500 million (USD $46,750).
[xv]However, in order for the KPU to be able to review the financial reports of all candidates a significant, and potentially unrealistic, increase in resources would be required and whether there would be sufficient numbers of public accountants across the country is questionable. Future legislation could consider giving the KPU authority to conduct random audits of candidate income and spending in cases where complaints arise or alternatively, political parties could be held accountable for the reports of their candidates.
[xvi] Parties and DPD candidates are required to provide the following as part of their campaign finances report: a list of sources of campaign contributions, a list of campaign fund expenditures, the closing balance of the campaign fund account, a declaration of responsibility, and evidence of all transactions.


Hello, Fellow Fireworks! It is time to get your firework on once again. Registration is open for our 5th Annual Be A Firework! Glow-in-the-Dark 5k. Mark your calendars now for Saturday, August 26, 2018. Registration and packet pick-up @8p. Race at sunset. Starting line in the Woodward High School parking lot.
Fireworks Show 45 minutes after start of race.
Early registration deadline is August 9 so don't delay! Get all the goods for $50!
Or by clicking on the Be A Firework Tab on this awesome site. From there you can pay via PayPal and add a note to the seller it is for the 5k.
Then get ready to rock-n-roll. AND glow.
We are still looking for sponsors so if you or your business is interested in sponsoring an incredibly worthy cause, contact us ASAP (there's a tab for that, too).
Well, it is officially November 1 and that means it is officially Christmas for Eden's Fireworks. We are gathering up stocking stuffers and good ol', cold, hard cash for stockings filled with all the cool stuff and Kindle Fire Tablets for children fighting cancer at OU Children's Hospital in OKC.
We are on the look out for small, but quality, toys, CDs, DVDs, hats, gloves, socks, pocket games, puzzles, coloring books, activity books, reading books, markers, crayons, balls, silly putty, chapstick, and the like…..
DEADLINE FOR ALL DONATIONS IS NOVEMBER 14.
Thanks in advance for being a FIREWORK! And spread the word!
Our annual glow-in-the-dark 5k is almost here!! Register now to get the early bird rate and reserve your glow-in-the-dark t-shirt and, NEW THIS YEAR, a firework runner's medal.
When: Saturday, August 27, 2016 8pm – registration/packet pick-up Sundown – 5k Where: Woodward High School parking lot/USDA Trails 2406 13th St in Woodward Why: Because you want to BE A FIREWORK, spread light by supporting families fighting childhood cancer, and HAVE FUN!!!
Or email it to the email address on the form.
REGISTRATIONS THROUGH ANY OTHER METHOD (ie, facebook or text) WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
Credit cards are accepted for your registration. Just click on the DONATION link on this site (under the Be A Firework tab) and make sure to put "5k" in the note to seller.
The next step is to wait patiently for August 27!!!
We are still looking for sponsors and volunteers. Please contact us to help!!
The time is here. The time is now. With such negativity going on in the world at the moment, think how positive an experience being a firework for childhood cancer will be! Register now!
Be A Firework! glow-in-the-dark 5k is Saturday, August 29 at sunset.
Then get ready to have a blast! Fireworks show immediately following the 5k.
Much love and firework on!
Eden's Fireworks Annual Be A Firework! glow-in-the-dark 5k run is coming soon! Mark your calendars for Saturday, August 29. You won't want to miss it!
We are looking for sponsors for our race. Please contact us if you or your business would like to sponsor.
So, it is Christmas Eve. Hopefully, all of the gifts are wrapped and under the tree, Christmas cards are mailed, and the items on your Christmas to-do-list are neatly checked off. If not, well, Christmas will be here tomorrow whether we want it to or not, and, most likely, the incomplete tasks will go unnoticed. Over the past month or two, I have read a number of blogs and articles about quitting Christmas, reinventing Christmas, paring down Christmas…..the evils of commercialism, Santa, Elf on the Shelf, the Christmas tree itself, yadda, yadda, yadda…….
Maybe it's my eternal optimism, but I couldn't disagree more with most of what I have read lately. Yes, I have heard valid points. There are problems with the world and how they interpret the holiday. As long as there are humans on the planet, there will be problems. Good will be twisted and misrepresented. That means we should give up on the good all together? I think not.
The first complaint I hear the most is about commercialism, and Christmas being pushed down our throat right after Halloween. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His ONLY begotten son, so that we might not perish, but have everlasting life." I don't know, but that is something pretty big. Something that should be celebrated all year long, but why not make a big deal about it for about 6 weeks of the year? I know. I know. Wal-Mart is not advertising Jesus in the manger. They are after the almighty dollar, but, honestly, if I were the people behind Wal-Mart, I would take advantage of this time of gift-giving, too. That's how America works. And maybe the motives are all wrong, but maybe it's time to celebrate the good that comes with the arrival of Christmas so early in the year….the reminder that we did nothing to deserve His love, and, yet, He loved us anyway. I think that is worth pondering and just maybe that pondering will lead to a big dose of Christmas spirit instead of a case of the bah-humbugs.
Santa. That evil Santa. Stealing Jesus' spotlight. Last I checked, Jesus really doesn't need help in that department, but let's talk about Santa for a moment. Did you know that St. Nicholas was a wealthy man who gave up all he had to help those in need and be a protector of children? He saved daughters from being sold into slavery because of their lack of a dowry, he saved men from execution, and he lobbied for citizens to protect them from an overpowering government. He was imprisoned and persecuted for his unwavering belief in Christ. He spent his entire life showing others how to love God and care for each other. What if we concentrated more on who the real Santa was and why he was celebrated in the first place? A couple years ago, I started reading little stories about St. Nicholas to my kids right before Christmas and began a dialogue on his exemplary behavior. What is it that Christ called us to do? Wasn't it to love God and love each other? St. Nicholas was a perfect example of Christ's commandment. And Christmas is the perfect time to shine a light on real life Christ-like examples, so, in my opinion, there is room in our house for Santa Clause and the sacrifice, kindness, and love he represents. I will say that I do tame down the "he only brings toys to good boys and girls", because that is conditional love, which is, clearly, the opposite of God's love for us, and Santa only brings one or two things to each child at the Spaeth house. Mom and Dad get credit for the rest of the gifts.
The rat race. Pinterest. Gift lists. Parties. Obligations. Dirty Santa. Cookie Swaps. Pagan traditions. Again, I say, yadda, yadda, yadda. All of it does get overwhelming. Here's an idea? If you don't enjoy it, don't do it. Don't show goodwill out of obligation. It defeats the purpose. If celebrating Christ's birth by making homemade gifts and handmade gift tags excites you, do it!! If it doesn't, then you aren't doing anyone any favors. If you love buying gifts for almost everyone you know (which I do) and you have the money to do it, then bring on the gift list! If it feels daunting and you are going to go into major credit card debt doing it, I'd lay off of the online shopping. We all have choices in life. If you are making those choices out of obligation or out of feelings of insecurity because your neighbor makes all her own cards, puts up 10 Christmas trees, and has perfected the snowman cake complete with organic sugar and all natural color dyes, you aren't celebrating Christmas. You are digging yourself a hole of regret, guilt, and condemnation. The exact opposite of the idea behind it all. This year has been one of the craziest holiday seasons for me. I started a dance studio this year, so that meant extra time out of the house and ordering costumes before the end of the year. I also volunteered to get involved in our community theatre which meant sitting through 5 days worth of Grease auditions the week before Christmas. Eve and I decided to make handmade gifts for all of her cheer team, her teachers, and other family helpers, like Eve's piano teacher and Jasper's sitter. I, along with sanity-saving volunteers, filled 350 stockings to take to OU Children's for our project Stuff Eden's Stocking. We organized donations, bought stuffers, ordered Kindles, stuffed and labeled and loaded. All of this "stuff" I chose to do, and, yes, at one point, I was stressed. Heck, maybe I'm always a little stressed. But each task I chose to do was out of love for that task. I love to make presents. I love to show appreciation for those I love. I love the arts and dance and musical theatre, so I chose to do those things, even though they conflicted with this busy time of year. I chose to take on Eden's Fireworks out of love for those little ones sitting in the hospital fighting for their lives and a passion to be an example of God's agape love and grace to them. I also choose NOT to do Elf on the Shelf because I don't have time for it, and, frankly, I think it is kind of silly. I choose not to do Black Friday shopping or mall Santas or cookie swaps (for the most part) or handmade gift tags or a gingerbread house or a trip to the Polar Express. There is a new idea surfacing (or maybe it has always been there) that if you do a lot at Christmas, if you buy tons of gifts, if you have a long to-do list, then you should be guilted into simplifying. If what you are doing is taking the place of your relationship with Christ or is taking over the "Christ" in your "mas", then yes, you might want to simplify. But to people like me, I doubt we would do it any other way. Please, ask yourself…..Is what I am doing making me happy? Is what I'm doing an example of God's love and how to love others? If the answer is no to either of them, you might want to reevaluate. If the answer is yes, continue on. And ignore the nay-sayers that try to guilt you into doing less because it is the "right thing to do" or because doing more is somehow the opposite of what Christmas is. Each is free to celebrate this great love the individual way he wants. Guilt shouldn't be a part of the Christmas equation.
It boils down to the heart. Always. I often look at it this way. The same step ball change or pas de bouree that I use to glorify the Lord through dance is the same step ball change or pas de bourree that is used in the latest "booty" video. It's not the step's fault on how it is being used. If your heart is not in the right place while celebrating, it's not Christmas' fault. It's yours. If your kids are entitled, narcissistic jerks at Christmas, chances are they are that way year around and the least of your problems is putting less for them under the tree. If there's one thing I've learned over the past 4 years, it's that life is too short to be doing things for the wrong reasons or to be doing the right things half-heartedly because of wrong motivations. Ask the Lord to search your heart if you are feeling conflicted over the holidays. He will answer. Christmas is only an outward expression of the pure hope and love that was presented to the world over 2000 years ago. If Christ is in us, every day of the year should be an outward expression of that hope and love to the world. If you are not feeling hope this holiday, my prayer for you is that you encounter God before this season closes. He is where your hope lies. He alone is the true meaning of Christmas.
We are starting our Christmas project a little early this year! What better way to show how grateful you are this season of thanksgiving than to give your love, support, and stocking stuffers to little cancer warriors! Deadline this year for stocking stuffers is November 18. So get to shopping (I know you want to start your Christmas shopping early this year, anyway)!! Need some inspiration? Click on the link below. Giving is always better than receiving.
Look Alive! AND happy shopping!
I just finished reading the book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (not to be confused with another Unbroken book out there). I usually post these reviews on my FB page. A quick overview of the book and then the movie that follows sometime after that. I was on a mission this year to read every book that also had a movie being released this year. I have gotten through most of them, although there were a few that slipped through my fingers. I had friends ask me "Unbroken is on your list, right?" Yes. It was, but because the movie is not set to release until Christmas, it was almost at the end of my list. You know what they say…..last but not least.
Words really are failing me at the moment to describe this book. Life-changing. I don't want to give many spoilers but I felt it necessary to write a little bit more in detail about this book. For those that do not know, the book is the true account of Louie Zamperini, an Olympic runner who during World War II was a lieutenant in the Army Air Forces. In May of 1943, his bomber went down in the Atlantic. After surviving weeks at sea, he is then captured by Japanese military only to become a POW in the most horrifying of conditions that I can personally imagine.
As I read the story, I kept thinking what could possibly be inherent in a man to allow the strength and courage and sure-will to survive such an ordeal. I know that I am a survivor of losing a child and several have called me "strong", whatever that means. But let me tell you, my first few days at sea with no food, water, or shelter from the sun and with sharks circling, I'd be saying, "Take me home to see Eden, Jesus!" And that is the honest truth. So what is it? I do know that attitude and mind-over-matter do have something to do with it, but that can't be all. At least, not entirely. I know that people must be born with that attitude or inner strength. Some have it. Others do not. Just looking at my kids…..Eve is a born pessimist. Jude an optimist. That simple. Nothing that Justin and I had anything to do with. Does that mean that Jude would have a greater chance at surviving difficult circumstances than Eve? Maybe. Who is to know what a person is capable of until put to the task?
But I do know who is capable. And if there was ever a testimony to the fact that God never leaves us or forsakes us and that He can turn every situation to good for those who love Him, it is the testimony of Louie Zamperini. At the end of the book (I'm trying my best to avoid spoilers), Louie realizes that God was along with him through the starvation, dehydration, torture, pain, humiliation, degradation……the entire time. Yes, I believe he had the will to survive, but what if that will came from the only one who could supply it? Louie was not a believer during his time as a POW, but somehow through all the attempts to break him, he was unbreakable.
What we face in life aims to destroy us. Break us to the point of no repair. Two things stand in the way of that……the choice to survive and the One who comes to the end of where our strength disappears and takes over. It is something that I have witnessed, experienced, and now have read about in a way I never thought was possible. It truly has little to do with us, but everything to do with Him….the embodiment of hope, grace, love, strength. We don't even have to be aware of our faith to be touched and changed by the only one capable. I've said and have heard others say, "I could never survive that" or "I don't know how anyone could survive that". No, I can't, but, yes, I know how, because I know the One who can.
READ THIS BOOK……if it is the last book you ever read. The movie opens Christmas Day. It is directed by Angelina Jolie and has tons of Oscar buzz. I've seen the preview, and the film looks amazing. I just hope they do the story justice.
AND for your viewing pleasure……some pictures from the Be A Firework! glow-in-the-dark 5k. A huge success because of our supporters and the One who can…..
It is as if we mothers of lost children have a new understanding of death. We understand it more, while, at the same time, understand it less. We feel the loss again and again with every new news of someone passing, young or old, natural causes or accident, no matter. We easily empathize with all the victims and feel their pain deeply. Death is no longer something we view lightly. Yes, it is a part of life, but we have faced it head on. Face to face as it tried to claim us in its path to take our children. It is somehow personal. When our children died, so did part of us, but, miraculously, something else was born in its place. A strength. A softness. A grace. A passion. A wisdom.
Grief never truly disappears, but as time goes by a resolve covers it like a vine covers the rails of a fence. It is a strength that says "I survived this…..I can survive anything." It is a strength that proclaims that we will not be conquered……strength that gets us out of bed in the morning when we are heartbroken. A bravery arises to make those aware, to honor those lost, to reach goals, to make dreams become reality. Strength that dares others to look at their own lives…..to right the wrongs, live to the fullest, jump to new heights.
Beneath the strength is a new softness. A new appreciation for the little things cultivates an abundance of grace. We realize that under the smiles might be pain, under the bad days might be real struggles that need love and not irritation. We can go to the grocery store and deal with the rude cashier because once we needed grace, too, and there will be days we will need it once again. When sickness, tragedies, and funerals arise, we are the first to answer the call for food, flowers, comfort, listening-ears. We know not to say things like "God works in mysterious ways" or "God doesn't give us more than we can handle". We understand that a word not need be spoken, but support is all that is needed. A hug. A tear shared. A presence felt.
You might have met one of us and encountered a passion like no other. A fire to make a difference. A fire to change the world. A passion to let the enemy know that we will not be destroyed. That we will not succumb to death and its destruction. We buried a child so we can do anything. We seek a new order. An order for change, an awareness, a crusade, a cause is not looked upon as something unachievable, but an Everest that can and must be climbed. With each passing of a new soul, the drive to climb accumulates. Love must be shared. Grace must abound in this world, and we are just the ones to do the spreading.
Death kills us but somehow makes us wise. We have a discernment about what it must have been like for God to look upon His child as He lay dying, because we have done the same. Heartbreak. Devastation. We do not take for granted the sacrifices God and others have made for us. We choose to do the sacrificing in return. To be the miracles that we need in the world. To take up the cross. To change the status quo. We grasp the concept that life is, indeed, too short. If we know better, we should do better, and that's what we aim to do. We are not afraid…..of our peers, of opinions, of death. We are smarter than that. We are wiser.
All of this is our new reality. Birthdays missed. Graduations uncelebrated. Lives remembered instead of lived. This is who we are now. We did not choose it, but we seek to make good of it.
Because of loss we may be stronger, softer, more full of grace and wisdom now, but, oh, that we could make a trade…….
Glow in the Dark 5k is Here!!! Register Now!
It's that time again!!! Be a Firework! Glow in the Dark 5k fun run is Saturday, September 20, 2014!! We are ecstatic about this year's run and are adding even more glow and black-light elements to the course. You won't want to miss it! I know all of you are clamoring to know how you can participate in such a "glowing" good time. Here's how…..
*To insure you are properly registered, all registrations MUST go through this email or this PO Box, please.
Make all checks payable to Eden's Fireworks Foundation. You may pay via credit card by going to our Be A Firework tab and clicking on Donate. Please leave us a note with a reference to the 5k.
New this year!!! Families of 4 or more who register together will receive a discount of 20%.
Deadline for early bird registration and guarantee of your very own glow-in-the-dark t-shirt, plus glow-in-the-dark items and VIP pass is Friday, August 22. So don't delay!!!
We are still looking for run sponsors so if you are interested, please contact us. Sponsorship deadline is August 4, and all donations are 100% tax-deductible.
Thanks for being a Firework! Look Alive!


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Colour Your City is dedicated to transforming urban space with colour.
Colour Your City envisions a world where colour is used consciously and imaginatively to enrich the built environment and elevate wellbeing.
We see colour as a key element of urban design and placemaking, which can be utilised to help harmonise space, foster creative cities, and connect citizens, space and community.
Colour Your City believes in dynamic, playful, interactive and intriguing urban space.
Colour Your City works with city makers and shapers internationally, using the power of colour to improve urban spaces.
We are a specialist agency based in London, with a global network of catalysts. Our team helps provide strategic advice, consultancy and artistic production at each stage of the urban design and placemaking process.
We study the psychology of colour in urban spaces, and interpret how it can be used effectively in urban design and placemaking, to create cities that are better for us.
Colour Your City works with local authorities, placemaking agencies, architects, urban planners, developers, community groups and cultural institutions to provide colour consultancy, produce inspiring spatial solutions and site-specific transformations, deliver creative placemaking and research the impact of colour in the built environment.
With global populations increasingly concentrated in cities and urban areas, there is a real need to ensure that these urban environments are as conducive to life and well-being as possible. Cities are complex networks, 'multi-authored' habitats, in need of constant renewal and care. At regular intervals we need to re-evaluate how the built environment is serving the needs of its communities and enhancing vitality.
Colour impacts everything we do. It is a very powerful tool of language, expression, communication and connection. Everyone 'gets' colour on some level, making it an accessible and potent tool.
Colour's versatility in application and approach, also makes it an ideal vehicle for civic participation. This participative action can be used to support the long-term interests of human activity in an area. Through coming together to add colour – in a myriad of ways – we can spark and create new creative possibilities for the area, foster a sense of local pride, improve communication and social cohesion.
We believe in the power of colour, and deliver evidence-based insights to help our clients radically improve urban habitats.
We study colour culture and the psychology of colour in urban spaces, and interpret how it can be used effectively in urban design and placemaking to create cities with more enriching and healthy environments.
We use colour to explore culture, place, history and identity.
Our workshops are creative, playful and engaging, whilst seeking to understand real needs and create collaborative solutions.
Workshops can include multimedia storytelling and using technologies such as augmented reality to reimagine space.
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text:
Q: Getting error: ModelError: Received server error (500) error when hitting sage maker endpoint `const callSageMaker = async () => {

const client = new SageMakerRuntimeClient();
 let data = '0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0';
    const params = {
        EndpointName: process.env.SAGEMAKER_EP_NAME,
        ContentType: "text/plain",
        Body:'bytes',
        data,
    };
    const command = new InvokeEndpointCommand(params);
    try {
        const data = await client.send(command);
        return data;
    } catch (error) {
        // error handling.
        console.log('error catch',{ error });
        return error;
    }
}`

I am hitting this sageMaker endpoint but getting this error
` {
error: ModelError: Received server error (500) from primary with message "<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN">
500 Internal Server Error
Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error and was unable to complete your request. Either the server is overloaded or there is an error in the application.
    {
    '$fault': 'client',
    '$metadata': {
      httpStatusCode: 424,
      extendedRequestId: undefined,
      cfId: undefined,
      attempts: 1,
      totalRetryDelay: 0
    },
    OriginalStatusCode: 500,
    OriginalMessage: '\n' +
      '500 Internal Server Error\n' +
      'Internal Server Error\n' +
      'The server encountered an internal error and was unable to complete your request. Either the server is overloaded or there is an error in the application.\n',
    ErrorCode: 'INTERNAL_FAILURE_FROM_MODEL'
  }
}`

A: I was sending the data incorrectly correct format was
params{
Body:data
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
More Musical Deceptions Revealed - James Damiano Vs Bob Dylan
I know I should be tougher by now, but I read this with a badly-sinking heart, having only just discovered it. Although not new news, it is for me.
Having really enjoyed Bob Dylan's musical contributions in the past, it came as a greater shock to discover some of my much-loved tunes of his, were not his at all! Like A Rolling Stone, Blowing In The Wind and Knockin' On Heaven's Door, amongst many others constituted part of my personal identity, growing up in the 70's and 80's.
These and many, many others were and are purportedly the property of one writer and musician, James Damiano. Evidence in Damiano's favour is overwhelming. And for which Damiano has been fighting years for the public acknowledgement of, not to mention the $ billions in payment for out-and-out plagiarism of his work. And Joni Mitchell's public outing of Dylan in 2010 calling him a 'fake', 'plagiarist' and 'deceiver' only reinforced all of this.
So discovering and deciding that Bob Dylan must now be added to my boycott list of many past musical heroes/heroines that made their respective pacts with the corporate music devils in exchange for fame and fortune, was a major blow to the guts; I still feel physically ill about it.
While the story at the link below has been and continues to be completely censored by the mainstream media press-titutes, the irony that gives the story extra credibility (not that it needs it when you research all the evidence) is this on:
http://www.jamesdamiano.yolasite.com/
This website is hardcore proof that Mainstream Media has censored your news this website has been viewed by Reuters, Bloomberg Media, Spin Magazine, Georgia Board of Regents, The Center for Public Integrity, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The New York Daily News, The Washington Post, Disney Network, Fox Media, Turner Broadcasting Network, Yale, Harvard, Columbia and Columbia Law School, UCLA and UCLA Law School, Oxford University, Rutgers University, The New Jersey Law Journal, and The EOP.gov Executive Office of the President "The White House". It has also been viewed by over 750 thousand attorneys.
I'm still reeling a bit - like I did when I discovered others of my old faves - Led Zeppelin, The Eagles and The Doors amongst others - had also long since sold themselves out. And the fact that Joni Mitchell herself endorsed this deception in 2010 gives James Damiano's case extra weight.
But again, the overwhelming evidence that Damiano has produced alone doesn't need it. While Dylan has the collective power of lying lawyers, including Orin Snyder, behind him, the censoring mainstream media and the controlled and controlling global corporate music industry moguls all in support of his great deception and the continued coverup.
Well, no more...
And so it is in every area of humanity's endeavours that layer upon layer of deception must be revealed and accepted to make way for the Truth of things. Let it fall fast and thick for our accelerated awakening.
In the meanwhile, I'll be spreading the word as far as I possibly can where appropriate and relevant and never be knocking on this particular door for musical inspiration ever again!
In magic,madness and mystery
"Bob Dylan's Stealing of James Damiano's Songs"
In a Los Angeles Times Interview Bob Dylan admitted to plagiarizing a great percentage of his songs including "Blowin' In The Wind", "The Times They Are A Changin'" "Hard Rain's Gonna Fall" and more
"Well you have to understand that I'm not a melodist. My songs are either based on old Protestant hymns or Carter Family songs or variations of the blues form. What happens is, I'll take a song and simply start playing it in my head. That's the way I meditate". "I wrote 'Blowin' in the Wind' in 10 minutes, just put words to an old spiritual, probably something I learned from Carter Family records. That's the folk music tradition – you use what has been handed down. 'The Times They Are A-Changing' is probably from an old Scottish folk Song."...."I'll be playing Bob Nolan's 'Tumbling Tumbleweeds,' for instance, in my head constantly -- while I'm driving a car or talking to a person or sitting around or whatever. People will think they are talking to me and I'm talking back, but I'm not. I'm listening to the song in my head. At a certain point, some of the words will change and I'll start writing a song.".......Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan's Stealing of James Damiano's Songs
Image: James Damiano
No artist can lay claim to the controversy that has surrounded the career of songwriter James Damiano. Thirty two years ago James Damiano began an odyssey that led him into a legal maelstrom with Bob Dylan that, to this day, fascinates the greatest of intellectual minds.
Since auditioning for the legendary CBS Record producer John Hammond, Sr., who influenced the careers of music industry icons Charlie Christian, Billy Holiday, Bob Dylan, Pete Seger, Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Ray Vaughan , James has engaged in a half a billion dollar copyright infringement law suit with Bob Dylan.
As the curtain rises on the stage of deceit we learn that CBS / Sony international recording artist, Bob Dylan not only used songs and lyrics written by James Damiano but also solicited Mr. Damiano's materials for a period of over ten years and eleven months.
As per Judicial filings Bob Dylan's name is credited to the songs. One of those songs is nominated for a Grammy as the best rock song of the year. Ironically the title of that song is Dignity.
FOLK LIES: Joni Mitchell Outs Bob Dylan by Jonny Whiteside
"Bob [Dylan] is not authentic at all. He's a plagiarist, and his name and voice are fake. Everything about Bob is a deception. We are like night and day, he and I." — Joni Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, April 22, 2010
Caterwauling Canuck "folk singer" Joni Mitchell got just about everybody riled up with that sweet morsel of self-serving insight, but the real shock is not that Mitchell is absolutely correct but that someone finally came out and said it. After decades of carefully manicured deification by Columbia Records, brain-dead rock critics and the slimy elite institution that elevated such barely able snake-oil salesmen as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger to celestial heights, it's high time to flout indoctrination and examine Dylan's track record as a Grade-A phony.
Most Dylan fans would be stunned to realize that his vocal style (for lack of a better term) was high-jacked, in its entirety, from long-dead bluegrass-country singer Carter Stanley. We're not talking about an influence, like Lefty Frizzell for Merle Haggard, but a total appropriation of Stanley's highly idiosyncratic approach. A counterfeit from the get-go, once Dylan realized what an advantage his audience's innate ignorance was, he's exploited it ever since.
Just type "Bob Dylan plagiarism" into your friendly search engine, and a plethora of questionable circumstances pop up, enrobing the singer almost as completely as his years of reflexive media fawning have. Documented from his teenage start, when he submitted a hand written, thinly revised version of country star Hank Snow's "Little Buddy" for publication as an original poem, to his 1963 pilferage of Irish poet Dominic Behan's "Patriot Game"'s melody for the similarly slanted Dylan tune "With God on Our Side" to songwriter James Damiano's ongoing multimillion dollar copyright infringement suit (alleging Dylan's Grammy-nominated "Dignity" is nothing but an altered version of Damiano's "Steel Guitars") to the naked "Red Sails in the Sunset" melody heist for the song "Beyond The Horizon" on his Modern Times album, up through the recent Confessions of a Yakuza-Love & Theft plagiarism charges (Love & Theft? Calling Dr. Freud!), the Timrod controversy, even the numerous passages of Proust and Jack London that (re) appear in the text of Dylan's autobiography, it's a deep, dark thicket of thoroughly damning and apparently chronic bootlegging. Naturally, Dylan has said nothing publicly about any of these, but he already spent over three million dollars defending himself against one-time affiliate Damiano–the classic delay-to-destroy court room technique.
The following music score was prepared by Dr. Paul Greene who graduated Magna Cum Laude From Harvard. Dr. Greene in his audio version of the comparison states that James Damiano's Songs "Steel Guitars" which was copyrighted in 1982 share an "Exact Melodic Arc" of Bob Dylan's Grammy nominated "Dignity" which was copyrighted with the Library of Congress in December of 1994.
Defenders and apologist have an extraordinary array of excuses on Zim's behalf, from use of "literary allusion" to his building a "cultural collage," or that his "borrowing" is "homage," to the more deliciously desperate "he obviously doesn't NEED to do it" (strangely, though, he always has). This instamatic, Clinton-ian excuse making serves only to further polish up the shine on Dylan's teflon hubris and to underscore the blind, Pavlovian worship which he has long enjoyed. Let's face it: as a lyricist, Dylan is crap, inarguably unworthy beside, say, Hank Cochran, Chuck Berry, Mickey Newbury or Jimi Hendrix ("All Along the Watchtower" plays as a lead balloon even for Hendrix, nearly deflating his Electric Ladyland masterpiece).
While we're endlessly told that "The pump don't work / cause the vandals took the handle" is vintage Dylan worthy of class room study, in truth it's little more than the wordy spew of a peripatetic rhyming dictionary who'll hang any phrase together as long as it fits. Metaphor is convenience, not expression for Dylan. His songs have also treated women quite badly: the entire attitude of "It Ain't Me, Babe" is ugly; "Just Like a Woman" is nothing short of misogynistic, but, worst of all, Dylan's sheer verbosity has ineradicably stained American pop music, and we've all had to suffer through the post-Dylan legacy of long-winded nonsense ("American Pie," anyone?).
The real tragedy is that none of these very well-documented and nigh irrefutable plagiarism charges will ever emerge from the shadows, as the Cult of Zimmerman's hulking form casts a very, very long one. Even when the Hank Snow rip-off stared the world in its face, the strongest reaction was a nervous giggle and murmurs of youthful indiscretion. To capitulate the carefully constructed myth of folk music and Dylan's subsequent installation as rock & roll's poet laureate is unthinkable, a hot, hit-the-panic-button nightmare for generations of quiescent "hipsters" never weaned from the million-selling Dylan teat. His socio-cultural mystique is also an industry-manufactured sham, one that very handily diverted attention away from genuine political stink-stirrers like the MC5 or the lysergic guerilla warfare of the 13th Floor Elevators.
As a junta-backed counter-culture figurehead, Dylan is ideal: a harmless, unoriginal patsy, a cute insouciant whose relentlessly self-involved stance never threatened anyone, save for the hazard of the droning lip service endlessly paid him. We should all praise Joni Mitchell for this overdue call-out (just don't ask us to listen to her records), but it's unlikely that any in the Zim Cult will even consider the ramifications of her statement. But when you pile it up with all the rest, there's a single conclusion to be made: Bob Dylan is an artistic (and ethical) fraud, one whose own fear of creativity has long since given way to an apparently lifelong practice of emulating his superiors by vampirism, siphoning off their intellectual blood and using it to top off his own under-baked efforts. Weirdly, even then, the results have been scarcely palatable.
It is judiciall and publicly uncontested by Bob Dylan and Bob Dylan's law firms Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, Parcher Hayes & Snyder, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Hecker Brown & Sherry and a few other Dylan law Firm including Orin Snyder, Robert Church, Steven Kramer, Mary Jo White, Steven Hayes, Jonathan Liebman, and Sony House counsel that Bob Dylan and people in Bob Dylan's entourage have solicited James Damiano's songs and music for a period of over ten years and eleven months.
Bob Dylan Admits to Plagiarizing His Greatest Hits
The Stealing of James Damiano's Songs by Bob Dylan
The Missing link to all other Bob Dylan
Plagiarisms including
"Blowin In The Wind" "Shelter From The Storm" and "Knockin On Heavens Door"
Posted by Goldsalchemy at Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Labels: psy-ops, dimensions, dark coverups
Parasitic Entities That Feed Off Human Emotional E...
More Musical Deceptions Revealed - James Damiano V...


BURBANK HIGH — After watching the Crescenta Valley High boys' and girls' swimming teams perform Thursday afternoon in a Pacific League dual meet, Burbank first-year Coach Chris Goldberg figured out how he'd like to pattern his teams for the future.
"We want to be like they are, and a meet like this is a good motivational tool," Goldberg said after Crescenta Valley posted a 115-54 win in the boys' portion of the meet and a 124-46 win in the girls' meet at Burbank. "It's good to have a type of meet like this because it's a barometer to see where you are."
While the Bulldogs have an eye toward the future, the Falcons showed why they presently have two strong teams geared toward winning league championships.
Crescenta Valley's girls' team turned to its core of freshmen — Iva Icheva, Heather Abrams, Shannon Hovanesian and Katie Lamar Bruno — to improve to 6-2, 5-0 in league. Icheva won a pair of individual events, while Abrams, Hovanesian and Lamar Bruno each won one race.
Icheva took the 50-yard freestyle race in a CIF automatic qualifying time of 24.82 seconds. She then captured the 100 freestyle in a CIF-qualifying time of 53.96.
Icheva worked with Sabrina Hatzer, McKenzie Hobby and Adrienne Ingalla to take the 200-medley relay in a CIF-consideration time of 1 minute 59.14 seconds. She grouped with Ingalla, Hatzer and Abrams to take first in the 200-freestyle relay with a CIF-consideration time of 1:45.72.
"We came out here looking for a breakthrough meet with some strong, competitive greatness," Crescenta Valley girls' Coach Pete Loporchio said. "We were able to take it to the next level.
"Iva took it to the next level with those two marks. When she came to us, we knew that she was talented. The sky is the limit for her. With all four freshmen, we have some great youth and they just come to swim."
The Falcons received first-place finishes from Ingalla in the 200 freestyle (2:05.32) and the 500 freestyle (5:51.93). Abrams captured the 200-individual medley (2:28.42) for the Falcons, who saw Lamar Bruno take the 100 butterfly (1:06.04) and Hovanesian win the 100 breaststroke (1:18.69).
The Falcons closed out the meet with Hobby, Dakota Davy, Abrams and Nayiri Kechichian teaming up to win the 400-freestyle relay (4:03.65).
April Hishinuma won the lone event for Burbank (4-5, 2-3). Hishinuma took the 200 backstroke in 1:11.17.
"April does have her great swims," Goldberg said. "She's one of the best swimmers I've seen here, and she can swim well when needed to.
"We are in a rebuilding phase, but we have a lot of younger swimmers who are up and coming."
In the boys' competition, Crescenta Valley, which finished second in the CIF Southern Section Division II finals behind Oaks Christian last season, got some impressive results Thursday to improve to 9-0, 5-0.
Leading the way for Crescenta Valley, which competed without notables Harrison Thai, Young Tae Seo, Louis Wojciechowski and Josh Lo, was Josh Chi. Chi won the 50 freestyle with a CIF automatic qualifying time of 22.07. He then posted a CIF consideration time of 57.03 in taking the 100 backstroke.
Chi worked with Rusty Blakey, Antonio Camarillo and Andrew De Jong to take the 400-freestyle relay (3:23.95). Chi also worked with Camarillo, Blakey and Jake Ksendov to win the 200-freestyle relay (1:32.80).
"Josh has been chasing that CIF qualifying time in the 50 all year," Crescenta Valley boys' Coach Jan Sakonju said. "He's always working at getting better.
"It's always an exciting time of the year for us. [Thursday's meet] helped us because we knew Burbank would be tough. The league prelims and finals will be held at Burbank, so this was like a dress rehearsal. It's just good competition and a good pool."
Crescenta Valley saw Bassel Takidin, Ksendov, De Jong and Blakey work together to take the 200-medley relay in a CIF consideration mark of 1:45.10.
Also earning first-place finishes for Crescenta Valley were Jason Suh in the 200 individual medley (2:12.34), Shiraz Arslanian in the 500 freestyle (5:26.31) and Ksendov in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.15).
Burbank (6-3, 3-2) received a pair of first-place efforts from Alex Lambert. Lambert took the 200 freestyle in 1:49.52 and the 100 freestyle (48.69).
Kevin Miller finished first in the 100 butterfly (58.45) for the Bulldogs.
"Alex is really good and I expect him to grow," Goldberg said. "Next year, we expect him to be a force in league and he'll have even more club training to help him out."


With happy faces and bodies swaying to drum beats, rainbow revellers took over the heart of Delhi and celebrated 'pride' and their newfound independence, two months after the Supreme Court quashed a colonial-era law that criminalised homosexuality. At the 11th edition of Delhi Queer Pride Parade, thousands walked from Barakhamba Road to Tolstoy Marg on the warm Sunday afternoon, spreading cheer and colour. The pride parade was the first one after the Supreme Court decriminalised homosexuality by quashing the draconian Section 377 on September 6. The parade celebrated the identity and sexuality of the LGBTQ+ community and its allies as they walked with a renewed purpose to work towards the goals of a stronger community.


Do You Know Your Business USP?
You Unique Selling Proposition is your key to making your service or product stand out from your competitors. Although you probably have heard this before do you know how to find your USP?
You must look at everything about your product, service and business to figure out your USP. Go through the checklist below to figure out where your strength lies.
Service—Is your customer service first rate?
Price—Is your price lower than your competitors and has the same features and benefits?
Research—Is your research outstanding that goes into your product or service?
Speed of Delivery—Do your customers receive their product or service timely as expected?
Cutting Edge and New Discoveries—If you have some, are you showcasing them?
History—Has your company been around a long time, do you have a great track record?
Once you have answered all the above questions, you will begin to see your strong points and compare them to your competitors. Once you do this, you will be able to find your Unique Selling Proposition because something will stand out from others that make your product or service unique. You can then use your USP to enhance your copy.
Where are My Customers Who Purchased Before?


text:
Hieronder staat een chronologische lijst van presidenten van Azerbeidzjan.

Presidenten van Azerbeidzjan (1991-heden)

Zie ook
 Lijst van premiers van Azerbeidzjan
 Lijst van staatshoofden van Azerbeidzjan

Geschiedenis van Azerbeidzjan
Azerbeidzjan
Presidenten

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


I'd like to introduce Umran Naeem, Director of ICT at the RSA Academy, who has kindly written this thought provoking guest blog on a recent blue sky thinking session between the Academy and RM Education. Over to you, Umran!
Thursday 16th May 2011 saw the strengthening of the RSA Academy and RM Education strategic partnership. Staff and students from the Academy and the RM Product Managers led by Mike Beech (Head of Product Marketing, Classroom Technologies) were involved in a joint session exploring and discussing technology and the future.
An incredible school and learning environment where you can instantly see and "feel" the difference. The teaching philosophy, supported by the use of space (from roof-tops to expanding classrooms) and technology, clearly demonstrated a school with vision and a real passion for learning. We couldn't have asked for a more engaging partner.
The RSA Academy is an independent academy sponsored by the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce (RSA), a charitable organisation with a long history of involvement in education. The Academy opened in September 2008 in Willingsworth High School's old premises. The move to a brand new £35m build was completed in September 2010 with RM providing all the key technology. The curriculum for the Academy has been developed around the Opening Minds principles. Its aim is to develop students' skills, or 'competencies' to enable them to become effective citizens of the 21st century.
I thought it was very useful to listen to the students' ideas for innovation and the future classrooms. It was also useful to discuss the ideas with RM and to see the emerging technology that could be used in schools.
The six students involved in the afternoon were part of the Academy Lead Learners group. The first session, 'Classroom of the Future', was an opportunity for all involved to engage in some "Blue Sky" thinking and predict what a classroom of the future may look like. Amongst some of the great ideas from the students were to have a classroom with all walls being interactive and an 'intelligent' 3D projector which would research information for you and produce it in 3D holographic form.
It was an excellent opportunity to discuss problems and solutions with RM's Product Managers. One which I'm keen to see happen again. What a fantastic day!
The second session tackled the topic of 'The role of mobile devices in education'. This is a key area under consideration for the Academy as there is so much mobile technology available. As the Academy wishes to remain at the forefront of integrating new technology into the curriculum, it needed the answering of questions such as what is the best mobile hardware available, what is the best approach to harnessing this technology? This session provided the opportunity with the students again excelling at their responses and the RM Product Managers providing some excellent supporting guidance.
The final part of the afternoon involved the Product Managers demonstrating some of the latest RM products and getting feedback on likes/dislikes and 'would be nice if…' The students agreed that their favourite product was the 'Wild Charge' units.
I certainly learnt a lot from this meeting. I really enjoyed it.
At the end of the afternoon, a review of the day took place and everyone agreed what a success the whole experience had been. The Academy Lead Learners are often called upon to feedback within the Academy but they felt that this unique opportunity to talk directly to the Product Managers was beneficial both in terms of putting a 'face' to RM and engaging with the real business world.
It was a great session – the opportunity for our students to work with RM Education staff in this way and to influence how future technologies may develop is truly unique. The strength of our strategic partnership is that it is focused on shared learning, research and development. A fantastic melting pot of ideas!
Thank you to the staff and students of the RSA Academy for their warm welcome, and to Umran for a super reflection of the day. Find out more about the RSA Academy.


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