text:
Hawkins calls out Cuomo & Silver
www.howiehawkins.org
Howie Hawkins, 315 200-6046 (c), 315 425-1019 (h), hhawkins@igc.org
Hawkins says Cuomo Is Wrong on Education and Falls Short on Ethics, Energy, Jobs, Anti-Poverty, Tax Relief
Calls on Silver to Resign
Howie Hawkins, the recent Green Party candidate for New York Governor, said today that Cuomo's proposed state budget will do little to improve the quality of life for the average New Yorker.
Hawkins was especially critical of Cuomo's education proposals, saying that they reflect the privatization program of hedge fund campaign donors, not a program to improve poorly performing public schools.
Hawkins also said that the corruption charges against Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was just the most recent evidence of the cesspool of greed that dominates Albany. He called on the Assembly to strip him of his leadership if he fails to resign.
Hawkins also said that Cuomo should be investigated by the US Attorney for similar crimes. The real estate mogul apparently at the center of the Silver case, Leonard Litwin, gave over $1 million to Cuomo's campaign fund. Hawkins said the investigation should look into the contributions of hedge fund managers who would benefit from Cuomo's education privatization agenda. Silver fought subpoenas from Cuomo's Cuomo Moreland Commission on Public Corruption. Cuomo shut the Commission down once it began asking questions about his own campaign contributors.
Cuomo Escalates His War on Students and Teachers
"Cuomo declared war on public schools and teachers in his State of the State address. His proposals to determine the fate of teachers' pay and jobs and schools' funding and survival based on students' standardized test scores look like more pay-to-play politics in Albany. Cuomo's policies will punish teachers, students, and schools in communities disadvantaged by poverty, segregation, and under-funding, while they will reward the hedge fund managers who invested more than $10 million in last year's election and stand to profit from their charter school investments," Hawkins said.
"Cuomo said he based his decision to ban fracking on science. He should do the same with education. Most academic studies find that teachers account for between 1 percent and 14 percent of variability in student test scores, while Cuomo wants to base 50 percent of teacher evaluations on test scores. A half century of research shows conclusively that student's socioeconomic status accounts for the majority of the variation in test scores. The way to improve student performance in New York is to fully fund schools in disadvantaged communities, attack poverty these communities, and desegregate New York's schools, which are the most segregated schools in the nation," said Brian Jones, the recent Green Party candidate for Lieutenant Governor who taught in New York City schools for nine years.
The Greens have called for Foundation Aid to be fully funded immediately, for the school aid formula to be reformed so it is more need-based, and for the state to support school desegregation programs such as intra- and inter-district public school choice, consolidation, and incentives (such as magnet schools).
Hawkins criticized a power point bar graph in Cuomo's presentation Wednesday as "deliberately misleading." The bar graph that purported to show that poorly performing schools receive more funding that other schools and therefore that more funding will not help. Hawkins noted that the graph just showed state aid and did not include local funding. "When all funding for schools is considered, that bar graph would slope the opposite way," Hawkins said. "The gap in per student funding between the poorest 20 percent and richest 20 percent of school districts is $8,733 and has grown over the course of Cuomo's tenure."
Cuomo's Energy Proposals Fall Far Short of Actions Needed on Climate Change
"Cuomo ridicules increased spending on public education as 'throwing money at a problem.' But that is exactly what he is doing with respect to energy, where we need objective numerical goals for renewable energy, energy efficiency, and greenhouse gas reductions. The energy policies he presented focused on spending, not measureable results. They fall far short of what we need to address climate change and use the building of a green energy system to create jobs, reduce poverty, and improve the economy," Hawkins said.
"New York should set a goal of 100 percent green energy by 2030 and then scale up its policies and investments to meet that goal," he said. Such an investment would create 4.5 million jobs created while cutting energy costs in half by the 2020s, according to the Solutions Project study by Stanford and Cornell researchers. Hawkins said that would be a far stronger economic stimulus that Cuomo's competitive grants program.
Hawkins said Cuomo should have improved upon California Governor Jerry Brown's recent State of the State address that set three 50 percent by 2030 green energy goals: 50 percent renewable electricity (Renewable Portfolio Standard), 50 percent electric vehicles (halve oil consumption for motor vehicles), 50 percent more efficient buildings (double building energy efficiency). "Cuomo says he likes competition and New York should lead. Here is his opportunity," Hawkins said.
Hawkins said Cuomo's renewable energy proposals to increase the cap in net metering to six percent, to promote shared renewable energy microgrids, invest in renewable energy in the Southern Tier and upstate cities, invest in research on battery storage for renewable energy, and others are good but only baby steps in the right direction.
Poverty Is a Statewide Problem Demanding Statewide Action
"The problem with competitive grants for $1.5 billion of the bank settlement money is that four of the seven regions will get nothing. A better approach would be to make such funding available to every region that meets reasonable standards in their proposal. Then every region with a good approach can get some help," Hawkins said.
Hawkins said that Cuomo's anti-poverty initiatives were similarly small steps in the right direction but insufficient.
"Let's end poverty, not make it slightly less onerous. $10.50 is still a poverty wage. It should be at least $15 and indexed, with local governments having the right to raise it higher in their jurisdictions. A useful job should be a right. We should have public jobs in public works and services meeting unmet community need that pay a living wage for every person who is willing and able to work. For those who cannot or should not work, we should have a guaranteed income above poverty," Hawkins said.
Hawkins said that he supported a hike in the welfare grant, as well as a public jobs program funded by the Stock Transfer Tax. The Stock Transfer Tax has raised between $12 billion and $16 billion in recent years, but has been rebated in full to Wall Street speculators. Hawkins said that Senator Klein's proposal to spend $1.5 billion of the bank settlement money on a community jobs program is flawed because it is a one-time program funded by one-time revenues. He said a public jobs program needs a recurring and larger revenue source like the Stock Transfer Tax in order to achieve full employment.
Cuomo's Fifth Austerity Budget
"Cuomo's fifth austerity budget will make poverty worse. He wants another $350 million in cuts to human services on top of the over $1 billion in cuts since 2009. He is imposing more cuts in local government services by tying the state tax relief programs to municipal compliance with the 2 percent property tax cap while simultaneously freezing revenue-sharing aid to municipalities at 75 percent below its 1980s level," Hawkins said.
Hawkins called for a restoration of the progressive tax structure and revenue sharing that New York had in the 1970s. He noted that Democratic governors in Maryland, Minnesota, and California have won progressive tax reforms in recent years. "Where are their counterparts among the Democratic leaders in Albany? Where are their prominent legislative advocates for progressive tax reforms to fund a progressive budget?" Hawkins asked.
Hawkins would increase state revenue sharing to local governments to 8% of state revenues. Hawkins recently testified in support of a state single payer program that would make health care a right for all residents while eliminating the county and New York City contribution to Medicaid, a major driver of high property taxes.
End the New Jim Crow
Hawkins said he agreed with many of Cuomo's proposals regarding the justice system, but that they were still far short of what was needed. Hawkins participated in the Black Lives Matter protest organized by Capital Area Against Mass Incarceration outside the State of the State address on Wednesday.
"Cuomo's initiatives do nothing to reduce the mass incarceration of poor people of color," Hawkins said. "Over-policing poor communities of color under the war on drugs and broken windows must stop. We need a statewide public defender's office to ensure the right to effective counsel. We need to reverse the flow of military weapons to police departments. Our communities need peace officers, not an occupying army
"The destruction of lives of the incarcerated, their families, and their communities must be redressed. Cuomo's proposed reconciliation commission sounds limited to improving community-police relations, not the investigations, accountability, and reparations we have called for in a Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission," Hawkins said.


This week, we're going to jam to songs about all kinds of careers, from the jobs you're glad you don't have to the ones we all wish we could have!
The tunes we'll be jammin' to this week come courtesy of artists such as Svengoolie, Dolly Parton, The Muppets, Danny Kaye, and more! Certain selections come from films such as Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Muppet Treasure Island (1996), and Ghostbusters (1984), and TV shows such as Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Futurama, and Galavant! See the categories and tags below for more!


The resumption of license issuing does not mean a quick pick-up for the industry. To start with, there is a lot of backlog to clear.
The Chinese video game industry breathed a sigh of relief after nine dormant months. Feng Shixin, deputy director of the Chinese Communist Party's propaganda department, on Friday said the process to issue new licenses has restarted.
Gaming stocks saw resurgence after the news broke out. Tencent saw a 4.51% rise till the end day of 21 December as CEO Pony Ma was reinstated as the richest man in China. Other gaming companies such as iDreamsky, Gamehollywood and FingerTango also witnessed an increase in value in the range of 1.17% to 9.88%.
Since Tencent got the exclusive publishing right of PUBG in December last year, gamers have been waiting with baited breath for the Chinese version.
In March, Tencent's blockbuster game Kings of Glory came under fire after the Communist Party's mouthpiece accused the game of twisting history. In August, Tencent pulled "Monster Hunter: World" just days after the launch. In September, gaming stocks plunged as government instituted play time regulations over health concerns. In October, Beijing halted the approval process for new games. The crackdown also impacted the game live streaming firms leading to downsizing in Douyu and smaller players going belly up.
Santa came early for the gaming companies with the Central Propaganda Department's establishment of a body to review ethical issues in gaming – Network Game Ethics Committee. The panel appraised 20 controversial online games. The first good tidings came in late December after the propaganda ministry announced the recommencement of approval process.
The China Game Industry Report from January to June 2018, showed the overall revenue of the game market stood at 105 billion yuan, up only 5.2% year-on-year, compared with the growth rate of 21.9%, 30.1% and 26.7% in the past three years. As of September 5, among the 52 listed, stock prices of 45 game companies fell with 38 companies losing 20% of valuation, according to Wind data.
Tencent's third-quarter earnings report showed the game revenue was down 4% year-on-year at CNY 25.81 billion (USD 3.75 billion). PC games fell 15%. Tencent's value-added services accounted for only 55% of total revenue, the lowest since 2015. KingNet's revenue went down 14.91% year-on-year to CNY 1.11 billion (USD 160.79 million) and the net profit dropped 10.36% to CNY 371 million (USD 54 million). Giant Interactive Group's revenue from games slid to 67.9% from 99.72%.
Netease's "Knives Out" tops the overseas game revenue list for five months with USD 370 million and overseas profits accounting for 10% for the first time in total profits in Q3. Besides, Netease has invested USD 100 million in American game studio Bungie and USD 50 million in British game engine architecture company Improbable.
Tencent announced a strategic cooperation with Japanese publisher DeNA to introduce "AOV", the overseas version of "Kings of Glory", in the Japanese market. Tencent also signed an intentional cooperation agreement with Southeast Asian game company Garena. Tencent's PUBG has topped the most downloaded list in more than 100 countries. As of October, PUBG recorded overseas revenue of USD 113 million.
In the first half of 2018, China's online game industry saw 5.2% year-on-year increase of revenue at USD 15.3 billion as opposed to a 15.8% year-on-year increase of overseas market revenue at USD 9.59 billion. As many as 243 overseas Chinese games have clocked a yearly income of more than 1 million US dollars, according to the China Game Industry Report.
The resumption of license issuing does not mean a quick pick-up for the industry. To start with, there is a lot of backlog to clear. According to Financial Times's report, now the games waiting for license in China have exceeded 6000. Around 9800 games got approval in 2017. The waiting time is especially tougher on minor players without much runway.
Next issue is the tighter regulation and social responsibility. Among the 20 games being reviewed in early December, 11 games were required to modify elements, and 9 were disqualified for release. Zhang Yi, CEO of iiMedia Consulting Group, told the 21st CBH that the future direction for the secondary market is not clear.
However, big players are keeping their fingers crossed. "It is definitely exhilarating news for Chinese gaming industry," Tencent games remarked immediately after Feng's announcement. Also, more regulations could mean better quality games: Lot more effort would go into the production of games, and the copycat games would no longer fly.


A Brisbane professor conducting the world's first study into meat-eating rainbow lorikeets says he is shocked to discover more species of herbivorous birds are also changing their diets.
ABC revealed a population of rainbow lorikeets were eating meat from a backyard feeding station on a property at Elimbah, north of Brisbane. Griffith University's Professor Darryl Jones is shocked. He said lorikeets usually eat nectar and pollen which they obtain from native plants and shrubs.
Lorikeets typically feed on nectar and pollen and only require a small amount of protein from an occasional insect.
At this stage, no ill-effects have been documented. Along with rainbow lorikeets, eastern and crimson galahs and cockatoos have also been spotted eating meat.
Bill, who owns the Elimbah property, has put out pets mince for magpies, currawongs and kookaburras. He also puts out seed for vegetarian birds like galahs, king parrots and the lorikeets. The birds are spoilt for choice when it comes to food! "At first they went for the seed but then they started chasing the other birds away from the meat, which surprised me," he said.
"It makes no sense at all" said Professor Jones. "The Lorikeets are chasing magpies and kookaburras away from the meat". He said the lorikeet population had increased dramatically in south-east Queensland in the past decade. Lorikeets are also being fed by thousands of Queenslanders in backyard feeders. So, they are not adapting to deprivation, or survival!
Professor Darryl Jones would like to hear from anyone who has observed lorikeets eating meat. "We also really want to find out whether it's a harmful practice because it's (backyard feeding) very widespread".
We also have meat-eating lorikeets on NSW Central Coast near Ettalong Beach. We have feeders of seed which attract lorikeets, King parrots, eastern rosellas, galahs and corellas (also cockatoos when we're not watching). We put out mince for a group of about eight kookaburras but lately the lorikeets have taken over not allowing the kookaburras near the meat. They love it, but should they be eating it?


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The greatest miracle of the New Testament (and of our day!) is the miracle of a changed life. There's simply nothing else that even comes close.
What is a miracle? If someone had told Columbus in 1492 that he could view the new world simply by touching a screen in Madrid, he would have probably exclaimed, "It's a miracle!" Lawrence of Arabia brought some Arab chieftans to the West after World War II, and they were astounded by western culture. But what really stopped these desert-dwellers cold was not an automobile, or a rail car, or a telephone. It was the "miracle" of a waterfall. You see, it is the state of our knowledge and the extent of our experience that condition our idea of a miracle.
The word "miracle" is derived from the Latin verb which means "to wonder." First and foremost, a miracle is something that moves us to wonder. And we wonder at that which we can neither understand, nor do ourselves. But that is not the full meaning of a miracle. For example, I do not understand electricity, but I do not consider it a miracle. Some do understand how electricity works, and are able to explain it to others. My television set is not a miracle, either. Although I can operate it, I could not take it apart and put it together again...but a television repairman could. A miracle then, is something that defies human skills to perform, and baffles human wisdom to explain.
The disciples worked many miracles as the New Testament Church was born and built. They healed sickness. Escaped from prison. Even brought the dead back to life. But the greatest miracle of the New Testament (and of our day!) is the miracle of a changed life. There's simply nothing else that even comes close.


What Are Active-Shooter Drills Doing to Kids?
The psychological effects of realistic simulations could be dangerous.
There's always at least one kid in tears, as they huddle under their desks in the dark. Still Beth Manias, an early-elementary literacy teacher outside of Seattle, tries to act upbeat and relaxed.
At schools across the country, more children are taking part in mandatory "active-shooter drills." Forgoing any pretense of a bear, sometimes a faculty member plays the role of a shooter, jiggling doorknobs as children practice keeping perfectly silent. Many parents, teachers, and students say that the experience is somewhere between upsetting and traumatizing.
Which may be worthwhile, if it were clear that the drills saved lives.
Active-shooter drills came into existence after the Columbine massacre in 1999. What is known of their long-term psychological effects comes from the reports of people now in early adulthood.
In the two weeks since the shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, new and renewed calls for such drills raise the question of whether they do any good—and if they might be doing harm.
Of course, general lockdown and disaster drills have a long history; a generation of Americans came of age hiding under desks from nuclear bombs. While the idea of such a maneuver protecting a person from a bomb blast or nuclear fallout became fodder for jokes, the drills themselves had insidious effects on kids' senses of safety. Some teachers reported that students' artwork changed to feature mushroom clouds and sometimes the child's own death, bringing a pervasive sense of danger into the places where kids most need to feel safe.
Despite some similarities to natural-disaster and Cold War drills, active-shooter drills also mean exposing kids to the idea that at any point, someone they know may try to kill them.
Zachary Levinsky, a lecturer in the department of sociology at the University of Toronto at Mississauga, is one of few academics who has studied active-shooter drills. He argues that though some school violence always existed, Columbine marked a shift of the burden of prevention: "Schools were somehow positioned as blamable—as responsible for these massacres." This created an institutional concern for reputational risk management. To implement something like an active-shooter drill was to signal to parents and the community that the school is being proactive—it was doing something.
Of course, a demand for action does not often make for prudent decisions when it comes to harm reduction. Drills cover administrator and school-district liability, and they may make parents feel better knowing that their kids are in a school that's taking decisive action. But what are the longer-term effects on the children's health and development?
Studies of whether active-shooter drills actually prevent harm are all but impossible. Case studies are difficult to parse. In Parkland, for example, the site of the recent shooting, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, had an active-shooter drill just last month. The shooter had been through such drills. Purposely countering them may have been a reason that, as he was beginning his rampage, the shooter pulled a fire alarm.
In any case, preparedness drills always change the baseline level of risk that people perceive. This heightening can manifest as stress and anxiety, not to mention changing the way kids understand how people treat one another—to even consider violence an option, not in some abstract way.
The idea extends to the fact that a child is much more likely to be abused by a parent than shot in school; but there would be obvious limits to the value of putting kids through realistic simulations in which a parent turns on them.
Derkatch has an 11-year-old daughter who is in the sixth grade. In her school, they've done lockdown drills, but the drills are the sort that are generalizable to any emergency. The teachers are very clear that it's just a drill, and they lock the doors, and kids stay in their seats. There's no hiding or barricading, as many schools in the United States now require.
If you were to move to the United States, I asked Derkatch, would you want your daughter going through these sorts of drills?
The two are, of course, now intertwined. President Trump and many other Republicans have a penchant for blaming "mental illness" for mass shootings—even though most shooters have no known or diagnosable mental illness. People who are mentally ill are much more likely to be victims than murderers. Most are rather, like the shooter in Parkland, described as isolated, troubled, angry, resentful men and boys. Many have a history of childhood trauma, like being abused or neglected. It is rare that a shooter has come up in an environment with multiple adults on whom they could rely—where they felt safe and secure.
A sense of safety and security in childhood is integrally tied to mental and physical health later in life—as well as emotional wellbeing, and the formation of the coping mechanisms that allow a person to deal with later adversity in ways that do not involve killing. It is this sense that can be undermined sometimes even by the best of intentions.


Obesity prevention among Black women is a major public health priority;presently, nearly 54% of the adult Black female population is obese. To date, most intervention attention has been focused on weight reduction among the overweight and obese. However, both conditions are notoriously recalcitrant to treatment, particularly among Blacks. We posit that obesity prevention might represent a particularly effective intervention strategy for overweight Black women. Most studies have shown that Black women have a greater social acceptance of overweight, less body weight dissatisfaction, and higher ideal body weights, compared to Whites. Furthermore, numerous studies have shown that obesity is less lethal and causes fewer co-morbidities among Black vs. White women, suggesting that maintaining overweight may be an appropriate public health goal for Black women. We posit that an intervention approach that emphasizes maintaining overweight, while preventing the transition to obesity will resonate among the target population. Very few obesity prevention RCTs appear in the published literature and, to our knowledge, none have been conducted solely among Black women. We propose to randomize overweight, Black women (n=184) to either usual care (UC) or an obesity prevention (OP) intervention condition. The OP condition is comprised of several intervention components that will be delivered over 12 months;each participant will receive a tailored action plan, tailored print materials, monthly coaching calls, and weekly self-monitoring via an interactive voice response system. Assessments will be taken at baseline, 12, and 18-months post baseline. The primary outcome is change in BMI at 18-months. Secondary outcomes include 18-month change in obesity risk behaviors, measures of body composition, psychosocial mediators, and obesity related biomarkers. We have set a target of BMI maintenance among those randomized to the OP condition.
At present, nearly 54% of Black women are obese, but existing weight loss interventions are not very successful for this population. We think that preventing obesity among healthy overweight women might help to prevent obesity and its associated health consequences. We propose to conduct an intervention in the primary care setting that uses an innovative approach to prevent obesity among Black women in middle age.


text:
Barletta (L) appeared with Pence (R) in Philadelphia. Image courtesy of Twitter.
Vice President Pence campaigns for anti-LGBTQ candidate Lou Barletta
National, Politics
On Tuesday, Vice President Michael Pence made a surprising stop in Pennsylvania.
It seems the VP is campaigning hard for Congressman Lou Barletta, who is running for the Senate of that state. Pence took a trip to Philadelphia, and hosted a fundraiser for Barletta, the GOP candidate.
Pence spoke before an estimated audience of three hundred people in the Sheraton Hotel. He called Barletta "a friend."
According to Delaware Online, "Barletta faces an uphill battle against Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, who's better known and has nearly $10 million in his war chest, more than seven times Barletta's tally of $1.3 million, according to the most recent campaign finance reports."
Among Republican voters, analyst Terry Madonna said, Barletta's "long allegiance" to President Trump won't be a negative.
Barletta will likely face off against LGBTQ-friendly Bob Casey, a Democrat and the current senior senator from the Keystone State.
But Barletta isn't any old representative. In community circles, Barletta is known for being anti-LGBTQ; it makes sense that he'd get along together well with Pence.
Both men have a long history opposing equal rights for marginalized Americans.
After Obergefell, Barletta made several public statements asserting that the Court had no business defining what a marriage was or wasn't.
In this regard, he agreed with Pence; Barletta also had made comparable comments when equal marriage was made legal in Pennsylvania, back in 2014.
Barletta has dismissed the concerns of trans troops serving in the armed forces. He backed the Administration's policies, stating that the system should make the decision.
A 2016 amendment was proposed which would have banned federal contractors from policies of employment discrimination with regards to gender identity or sexual orientation. Barletta opposed it.
The Pence-Barletta fundraiser was met outside by hundreds of protesters.
electiongopmike pencepencepennsylvaniaphiladelphiatrump
Delaware becomes fifteenth state to ban youth conversion "therapy."
Georgia Lawmaker Exposes Himself During Homophobic Rant, Resigns
House party for Joan Garner
Lost-N-Found Youth marks one year of helping LGBT homeless
Senate vote expected on repeal of military gay ban
Another GOP senator endorses same-sex marriage

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
#64 Mixer Unveils Season 2
Taylor Marek
This episode was recorded LIVE on Mixer! If you want to be part of the live show along with the chance to win some free stuff, you should join us!
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!Shownotes:
Welcome to Mixer Season 2
Today, we embark upon the next major evolution of Mixer…. a journey we're calling "Season 2." We're specifically calling it a Season because it's not just a one-day thing. Season 2 reflects the living, breathing nature of Mixer with new experiences and new things to try all the time. As part of Season 2, we're continuing to grow and refine our existing experiences with new video capabilities for streaming and viewing. And then we're also investing in three big new areas: expression, supporting creators through new monetization opportunities, and strengthening streamer communities. Excited? Us too! Let's take a deeper look at what's coming today and on the horizon for Season 2…
Internet divided over iPhone 'clue'
Apple unveiled the biggest revamp to the iPad since its launch – with the screen covering the whole front of the gadget. The iPad Pro also now has Face ID, so users can unlock it and approve purchases just by looking at it, instead of the fingerprint scanner. Apple said new, bigger "brains" mean it is more powerful than nine in ten PCs – despite being in a super-slim case just 5.9mm thick.
WhatsApp ads are coming to its 'Status' stories
WhatsApp ads are coming. After being free to use for years, details are starting to come out about just how Facebook will monetize WhatsApp, the popular mobile messaging app it purchased for $19 billion in 2014. According to India's The Economic Times, WhatsApp vice president Chris Daniels revealed that the company is going to start putting ads in the "Status" feature of the app.
The internet is going wild over this new emoji: What does it mean?
Is it scratching an itch? Does it represent bad Botox? Perhaps it's your reaction to an awful pickup line. A new emoji with an uneven face and rosy cheeks is driving the internet wild. One eye is open, one eyebrow is slightly furrowed, and the mouth is doing something pretty inexplicable. According to the Emojipdia, the go-to blog about emoji, this Woozy Face digital expression represents the state of being tired and emotional (aka drunk), but people on the internet seem to think it represents a wide range of other occurrences…
Flickr revamps under SmugMug with new limits on free accounts, unlimited storage for Pros
Flickr is making some big changes, following its acquisition by SmugMug earlier this year. The company announced this week it's addressing a series of issues on the site, including spam, customer support and use of the Yahoo login, for example. But more notably, it's also revamping its account structure to impose increased limits for free users, while rolling out unlimited storage for Pro subscribers.
Shroud completely breaks Blackout while trying to catch a supply drop with a helicopter
The streamer was trying to catch a supply drop in midair using a helicopter he was piloting, with Skadoodle, just9n and anythING directing him on how to steer the helicopter so it would be directly underneath the falling package. Shroud was able to position the helicopter perfectly, with the supply drop landing neatly on top of the helicopter. Unfortunately, instead of sitting on top of the vehicle, it began to drag the helicopter down to the ground, and Grzesiek could only watch in horror as he was pushed through the map and into an abyss below.
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Woozy Face
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From a young age, Taylor has been fascinated with technology and gadgets. Not only does he enjoy the latest video games, he also shares many other thoughts on his own website. Taylor is also the Editor in Chief.


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Encountering Silence
Paula Pryce: Silence, Bodily Knowing and Ritual (Episode 28)
Anthropologist Paula Pryce describes her ethnographic research into the Christian contemplative community.
What happens when a friendly anthropologist conducts an ethnographic study of contemporary contemplative Christianity in America, looking at subjects both in monasteries and in secular life? Paula Pryce does just this kind of work in her insightful book The Monk's Cell: Ritual and Knowledge in American Contemplative Christianity. Spending several years of research with teachers like Cynthia Bourgeault and Thomas Keating, along with monasteries like the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Massachusetts, Pryce offers a detailed exploration of how contemplative spirituality is making a profound transformation in our time. From previous days when such practice was almost exclusively found within cloistered walls, to the increasing (if still marginal) presence of contemplation in churches, centering prayer groups, online forums, and educational offerings such as the Center for Action & Contemplation's Living School or Bourgeault's own Wisdom School, contemplative practice is a vibrant subculture within Christianity — and Pryce, to our knowledge, is the first ethnographer to write about contemplative Christianity in a scholarly, yet accessible, fashion. I always meditated before I wrote... I go back in my mind, meditate, and then enter in through memory to those places where I was doing research, and that allowed me to give language to these non-verbal situations. — Paula Pryce What emerges from her research is a recognition that contemplation (and, by implication, the practice of silence) invites the practitioner into a new way of knowing, that is marked by qualities such as embodiment, community, humility, and ritual. I'm always after trying to understand the beauty of humankind. We have lots of messages about how awful we are! And we can't ignore that and I wouldn't want to. But I honestly think we need to embrace how wonderful humans are. — Paula Pryce In this conversation, Paula joins the Encountering Silence team to explore not only her own relationship with silence, but also how her research deepened her knowledge of contemplation as a transformational practice. She movingly speaks of her Anglo-Indian father as her silence hero, and draw connections between his lifelong meditation practice and his commitment to social action. She reflects on the paradox of writing about silence (expressing a non-verbal phenomena through the verbal medium of language), and on how ethnography, as a discipline, can help us to understand silence better. One can use anything as a contemplative practice. That's the main point of this book: people are trying to train themselves in everyday life as contemplatives, in every action and every way of being. — Paula Pryce Some of the resources and authors we mention in this episode: Paula S. Pryce, The Monk's Cell: Ritual and Knowledge in American Contemplative Christianity Eleanor H. Porter, Pollyanna Mahatma Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments With Truth Leo Tolstoy, A Confession and Other Religious Writings The Beatles, Abbey Road Victor Turner, From Ritual to Theatre: The Human Seriousness of Play Arnold van Gennep, The Rites of Passage Cynthia Bourgeault, The Heart of Centering Prayer: Nondual Christianity in Theory and Practice David Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World Seneca, The Stoic Philosophy Joseph Cassant, L'Attente Dans Le Silence Robert Alter, The Book of Psalms: Translation with Commentary Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain Hadewijch, The Complete Works Mary Oliver, Devotions: The Selected Poems Episode 27: Silence, Bodily Knowing, and Ritual: A Conversation with Paula Pryce Hosted by: Kevin Johnson With: Cassidy Hall, Carl McColman Guest: Paula Pryce Date Recorded: May 29, 2018


All Sandy homes currently listed for sale in Sandy as of 04/19/2019 are shown below. You can change the search criteria at any time by pressing the 'Change Search' button below.
"Enjoy coming home to this beautiful custom 7 bedroom/5 bathroom home located just minutes from the Willow Creek Country Club. Located in a quiet cul-de-sac, this wonderful home offers wood floors, spacious kitchen, solid surface counters, maple cabinets, stunning open great room with vaulted ceilings, neutral tones throughout, new carpet & paint is some areas, large bedrooms, floor-to-ceiling windows with incredible mountain and valley views, formal dining room, main floor laundry, central vac, new triple pane Apex windows on front side of home, and executive office with built in cabinets and matching desk. Comfortable master suite with walk-in closet, jetted tub, separate tub/shower, and your own private deck. Full walkout basement with second kitchen, large family room, changing room, gaming area, lots of great storage, and radiant heat in the floor. The lovely .44 acre backyard is a playground paradise with a covered back patio, in-ground heated swimming pool with slide, hot tub, new vinyl fencing around home, and two private decks with unobstructed mountain and valley views. Centrally located to schools, shopping and minutes from Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons. A must see!"


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by Katherine Dunn
A previously unpublished novel of the reflections of a deeply scarred and reclusive woman, from cult icon Katherine Dunn, the author of GEEK LOVE.
Sally Gunnar has withdrawn from the world.
She spends her days alone at home, reading drugstore mysteries, polishing the doorknobs and waxing the floors. Her only companions are a vase of goldfish, a garden toad, and the door-to-door salesman who sells her cleaning supplies once a month. She broods over her deepest regrets: her blighted romances with self-important men, her lifelong struggle to feel at home in her own body, and her wayward early twenties, when she was a fish out of water among a group of eccentric, privileged young people at a liberal arts college. There was Sam, an unabashed collector of other people's stories; Carlotta, a troubled free spirit; and Rennel, a self-obsessed philosophy student. Self-deprecating and sardonic, Sally recounts their misadventures, up to the tragedy that tore them apart.
Colorful, crass and profound, TOAD is Katherine Dunn's ode to her time as a student at Reed College in the late 1960s. It is filled with the same mordant observations about the darkest aspects of human nature that made GEEK LOVE a cult classic and Dunn a misfit hero. Daring and bizarre, TOAD demonstrates her genius for black humor and her ecstatic celebration of the grotesque. Fifty-some years after it was written, TOAD is a timely story about the ravages of womanhood and a powerful addition to the canon of feminist fiction.
Audiobook available, read by Christina Delaine
Genres: Fiction, Humor
Publisher: MCD
Katherine Dunn


As I was sorting through my coat closet this month, I came across my old wool pea coat. I've had it for over ten years, and it has been well-loved. It was pilling, the wood buttons had chipped, and the interior lining was ripped in several places. And yet I'd still been hanging on to it for so long! It's such a classic piece that will never go out of style, and it's one of the first high-quality investment purchases I made.
I decided I would finally donate it, but I wanted to fix it up a little first. I used my trusty fabric defuzzer to remove any pilling and painted over the chips in the buttons with black acrylic paint. I sewed up the tears in the lining, gave it a pass over with my lint roller, and voila! It was like my old coat had been fully restored, and it looked brand new. I fell in love with it again and have been wearing it almost ever day after years of passing it over in my closet.
Here's one of my favourite looks for this winter featuring my 'new' pea coat!
In case you're wondering about this coat, I purchased it all those years ago from Aritzia. While they don't have the exact same style now, they do have a few similar ones here and here.
Have you ever restored an old favourite in your closet? I'd love to hear about it in the comments below. Thank you so much for reading!


To add your contribution to this page, cut and paste the following tag to the end of your article/page/category: [[Category:MI Procedure]]. DO NOT edit this page to add your article. Just add the category tag to your article.
The MI procedure performs multiple imputations of missing values see also the MIANALYZE procedure.
Pages in category "MI Procedure"
This page was last modified on 21 December 2015, at 13:11.


By Andrii Degeler , September 25th, 2018.
London-headquartered startup Snyk has raised a $22 million Series B round of funding led by Accel, with participation from GV and existing investors Boldstart Ventures, Heavybit, and others. The startup claims to have reached a fivefold revenue growth over the past nine months with over 200 paying customers, including ASOS, Digital Ocean, and Skyscanner.
The main mission of Snyk is to protect software systems from vulnerabilities and malicious code that are often found in open-source components. According to the company's research, 77 percent of software applications carry such vulnerabilities, while only one in four open-source software (OSS) project maintainers regularly perform security audits of their code.
Snyk's security team maintains a database of vulnerable OSS components, which it uses not only to find and block them in the code base, but also to automatically patch 580,000 vulnerabilities each month. The startup says it's currently protecting over 140,000 software projects.
Snyk is planning to use the fresh funding to expand from finding and patching vulnerabilities to protecting the software systems in real time, giving its customers an insight into the security of the code that's being run.


1999 very Clean 210 Sundeck Sea Ray 21', With 5.0 HP MerCruiser motor, 2 Batteries with on/off switch, bimini, walk-through transom, cockpit sink, cockpit table, snap-in carpet, Fresh water wash down, L-shaped / U-shaped seating, captain's chair w/ cushions & bolsters, captain's chair w/ cushions, Porti-Potty head, compass, Jensen AM/FM w/ CD, aux In, Front/Rear Swim Ladder with a large swim platform, comes with Continental tandem trailer and much more... Located in Nokomis, FL. Call Coastal Marine at 888-256-0339 or email sales@cmcboats.com for more information.


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Mac Musings
Will Macs Switch to an Apple Branded CPU?
Daniel Knight - 2018.04.03
After years of barely growing the number of Macs sold, in 2006 Apple moved to Intel CPUs – and sales took off immediately. Prior to 2005, Macs had peaked at 4.5 million units in 1995, dropped to 2.7 million in 1998, and hit a new high of 4.7 million in 2005.
That was a 35% jump in one year, and in 2006, Apple sold over 5.6 million Macs in a calendar year for the first time ever – another 19% growth in the number of Macs sold. Apple has had a lot more ups than downs since 2006 – 25% growth in Mac units sold in both 2010 and 2011, a 4.4% decline in 2012, lower growth rates since then, and a 9% hit in 2016.
In 2015, Apple sold over 20 million Macs – as many as it had sold from 1984 through the June 2005 announcement that it was switching to Intel. We may have loved our 680×0 Macs and our PowerPC Macs, but their numbers pale in the face of Intel Macs.
The Intel Era
Through 2017, Apple sold over 234 million Macs. Of those, 178 million were in the Intel era – that's 76% of all Macs ever built being sold over a 12 year period, while it took Apple 22 years to sell the other 24% of Macs.
Annual Mac Sales in Thousands, 1984 through 2017
In my mind, there is only one reason that Mac sales absolutely took off after the June 2005 announcement that Apple would migrate to Intel in 2006 – Intel. By using the same CPUs as the PC world, Apple no longer had to fight the GHz War, trying to explain why the PowerPC G3, G4, and G5 were really superior to Intel chips despite differences in clock speed.
The Real Reason
The real reason that Apple has sold so many Macs is that Macs can now run Windows out of the box. No more software emulators. No more DOS cards. All of the Intel-based Macs can natively boot Windows.
Not only that, but virtualization software made it possible for Macs to run Windows alongside Mac OS X, so Mac users would only have to use Windows when there was no equivalent Mac software and they wouldn't have to reboot their Macs to use Windows.
Switching to ARM Is Not an Option
Rumor has it that Apple will transition the entire Mac line from Intel processors to its own ARM CPUs by the end of 2020. These are the CPUs that power iPhones and iPads, and they have plenty of power for those environments, but they don't have one thing that Macs need.
Apple's ARM CPUs simply can't run Windows the same way an Intel processor can. They would have to use emulation, which is a big reason Windows was not very popular on Macs until the Intel era. Apple would be shooting itself in the foot by switching to ARM.
Another Path?
We live in an entirely different world than we did in 2005. Back then ARM chips were used in Palm PDAs and smartphones. The iPhone didn't exist yet. The only real powerhouse chips were PowerPC, which seemed to have run out of steam, and the x86 architecture used by Intel, AMD, and some smaller companies. There was no way that an ARM processor could hold its own against PowerPC and x86.
That has definitely changed. We now have 64-bit ARM processors, ARM chips with up to 8 cores, ARM CPUs that go well past 2 GHz. They may not have the power to replace a Mac Pro, iMac Pro, or MacBook Pro, but they have the potential to be a new low-end solution, similar to Chromebooks perhaps.
Apple CPUs Everywhere
My guess is that Apple is going to put its ARM CPUs in every Mac made in 2020, but more as an auxiliary processor, leaving Intel chips to do the heavy lifting. Not only could ARM chips take some of the burdens from the primary CPU, they would also allow Macs to flawlessly emulate iOS devices and run the iOS software. Without on-screen input, iOS emulation would be a joke. (Anyone who has ever played with an Android emulator quickly discovers that a mouse or trackpad is a poor input substitute.)
Imagine a MacBook with an ARM chip that manages touch input using the computer's display, handles input on the trackpad, oversees power management for the entire computer, and is always idling in the background waiting to hear, "Hey, Siri!"
That's my guess. This would leave Macs with the distinct advantage of being able to run Windows natively for those few apps not available in Mac OS X, but it would also give Apple an edge that Windows PCs don't have – a powerful ARM auxiliary brain that can run on the tiniest bit of electricity when the computer is sleeping.
Will It Boost Sales?
I suspect that Apple's biggest problem when it comes to selling more Macs is Mac longevity. I use Macs ranging from 8 to 11 years old, and they serve my needs. By replacing hard drives with SSDs and putting in more memory, these Macs are far more than they were when they left the factory. I would really love an SSD in my iMacs and will do that eventually, and that will cost a whole lot less than a used Mac, let alone a current model.
To boost sales, Apple needs to offer users a reason to upgrade, a benefit that no existing Mac has. Intel plus ARM could do that. Your iMac, Mac Pro, Mac mini, or MacBook would always be listening for "Hey, Siri!" And when you need to run Windows apps, you'd have that option as well.
If Apple were to go this route, and this is purely my own speculation, I think it would make 20 million Macs in 2015 seem like a blip. The PC world would take years to catch up.
short link: https://goo.gl/FSrir6


Facebook has released its top moments of 2016 in its Year in Review list, which highlights the most talked about stories, events, and trends by people on Facebook from around the world.
Facebook users will also see a personalized video of meaningful moments from their own year at the top of the News Feed, that they can edit and share with family and friends. This can be easily accessed by visiting facebook.com/yearinreview2016.
It's no surprise that for the second time in a row the US Presidential Election was the number one topic discussed on Facebook – as it has been in past presidential election years. For the first time ever, Facebook streamed the presidential debates using Live video. This gave people around the world easy access to the debates and created real-time discussion on Facebook. 30 million people viewed election results via NBC News' Facebook Live broadcast.
On March 16, hundreds of people went to the presidential palace to protest Lula's appointment as Chief of Staff of the Presidency, and also turned to Facebook to share their views, generating over 4M conversations. Then next day when Lula was sworn in, another 4M people turned to FB to share their views.
People created groups and real-world events tied to the game, bringing players together to search for Pokemon. Over 7,000 groups were created, serving as communities for players – for people to learn how to play, get latest updates on servers and the game. The Pokemon Go Global page attracted over 200,000 active members, mostly from US, PH and IN.
Live proved a powerful tool for bearing witness and making more people feel connected through firsthand accounts.
On May 9, the Philippines elected their 16th president, Rodrigo Duterte. In the days before and after his election, over 10M people went to Facebook to discuss his election.
Facebook was a destination where people could follow athletes, updates on events, and root for their country's team with filters and profile picture frames. Gold medalist swimmer Michael Phelps used Facebook Live to announce his retirement. Teams, athletes and sports media used Facebook to connect directly with fans and bring them behind the scenes during the games.
People turned to Facebook to express both excitement and dismay at the news. The conversation erupted after the vote, with over 16M conversations taking place after the Referendum on June 23.
In the first 24 hours after Ali's death, there were 110 million interactions on Facebook.
Tears for Fears – "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" on hammered dulcimer.
We're less than 4 years away!!
A crazy cool #Ford all #woodtruck. Now this is what a real woodie is. Not just a little on the side. Please like Under the Hood Show Facebook page while you're here. Thanks! Listen to the Under The Hood Show on podcast or a station near you!
Join us LIVE as the polls close and results roll in!
The top 10 moments of this year's Year in Review were measured by how frequently a topic was mentioned in Facebook posts made between January 1 and November 27, 2016.
To put this list together, mentions were analyzed in an aggregated, anonymized way, and then ranked to create a snapshot of the year on Facebook.
The top 10 Live videos were measured by total cumulative views.


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Something Like Summer
NewFest Announces Lineup + Spotlight Screening of PROFESSOR MARSTON & THE WONDER WOMEN
NewFest, announced the full 2017 lineup featuring more than 140 LGBT narrative features, documentaries, episodic series and shorts.
2017 Reeling LGBTQ Film Festival Unveils Lineup, Opens with HELLO AGAIN, Closes with SATURDAY CHURCH
Reeling, the second-oldest LGBTQ film festival in the world, celebrates its 35th anniversary edition from September 21 to 28 at Landmark Theatres' Century Centre Cinema in Chicago.
'The Silent Child' 'Restraint' 'Circle Up' Among Winners of Rhode Island International Film Festival Awards
Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF) announced the Award Winners for its 35th Anniversary Celebration of Flickers, on Sunday, August 13th.


Is it difficult to change out ball joints on a Ranger, and are any special tools required?
There is an upper and lower ball joint the time to replace the lower ball joint is about an hour to 1.2 hours. On the image I see in the repair manual it looks like the upper ball joints are part of the control arm.
These ball joints are a tapered fit in the steering knuckle. to separate them from the steering knuckle you have to shock the joint or take them a part with a "pickle fork" but it not a job you probably want to do at home yourself unless you have done a lot of work on your own cars in the past. Look up an image of the parts perhaps on Rock Auto or Partstrain.com both sites hava a lot of good parts images.


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THE SPANISH TILE INDUSTRY SURVIVES THE YEAR OF THE PANDEMIC
The ceramic tile industry in Spain had predicted a 6 percent growth for 2020 at the beginning of last year. Even though they could not reach this number, they passed through difficult days. We are publishing the full text of the article titled "Spanish Tile Industry Overcomes Its Pandemic Year" in the 140/2021 issue of Ceramic World Review magazine on the subject.
DANIEL LLORENS
The Spanish ceramic tile industry has overcome the year of the Covid-19 pandemic with good results. According to the national trade association Ascer, the preliminary 2020 figures suggest that the sector's total turnover will not differ greatly from the 3,757 million euros of 2019, with a projected year-on-year variation of between -1% and at best +2%. Even a 1% downturn would be a very positive result given the huge hurdles that businesses have had to overcome, especially during the early months of the pandemic.
Of course, this result is far short of the 6% growth that the Spanish ceramic tile industry had set itself as an achievable target for 2020 at the beginning of last year, but no one could have imagined what would happen during the year!
Ascer's chairman Vicente Nomdedeu described 2020 as "the year of uncertainty", while pointing out that after the toughest months (March and April saw a decline in turnover of almost 50%), the Spanish ceramic tile industry has made a steady recovery, especially in international markets. By contrast, the domestic market experienced a more negative trend and has been unable to return to its normal sales levels.
Exports make up 75% of the sector's turnover and are expected to see between 1% and 4% revenue growth in 2020 compared to the 2,818 million euros of 2019. Domestic sales on the other hand are expected to close the year with a decline of between -7% and -4%. The Spanish industry also lowered by 3-4% its production volumes (compared to the 510 million sqm of 2019), a move that has enabled companies in the Castellón district to balance out supply and demand and significantly reduce their inventories.
Nomdedeu himself acknowledges that the tile industry's results "are apparently positive, especially when compared to those of other sectors that are going through very challenging times". However, as Ascer's chairman points out, because of Covid-19 "the sector has suffered a 5-6 percentage point fall in revenues and the recovery in sales has not been uniform across the sector, with some companies enjoying growth while others experience serious difficulties". The figures for Spanish tile exports in the first 11 months of 2020 show a sharp rise in sales to the United States (+16.2%), which has shortened the distances to the largest export market, France, which still recorded a positive +4.9%. Spain also registered strong export growth in Saudi Arabia (+68.6%) and Germany (+25.3%), as well as in the United Arab Emirates (+42.1%). Regarding Saudi Arabia and the UAE, one of the most important results achieved by Ascer in 2020 was the outcome of the anti-dumping investigations in the Gulf countries, which led to measures being imposed against tile imports from India and China but not from Spain. As evidenced by the figures, this has enabled Spanish companies to occupy certain market segments in this region. By contrast, the UK was one of the largest foreign markets where Spanish exports saw a decline, largely due to the pandemic. Sales were down 2.8% to the end of November. Adecrease was registered also in Morocco, Israel, Italy and Jordan.
"The Spanish ceramic tile industry is a net exporter," explains Nomdedeu. "It is the fourth largest sector in Spain's economy in terms of trade surplus, with a surplus of €2,700 million in 2019 that has helped reduce Spain's trade deficit by 8%. Moreover, the Castellón ceramic tile district accounts for 14.4% of the industrial GDP of the Valencian Community and over 20% of that of the province of Castelló alone. We generate a significant knock-on and multiplier effect, as every euro of direct GDP in the sector produces 2.1 euros of additional GDP for the national economy and for every direct employee there are 2.8 indirect employees." Based on these figures, the Chairman of Ascer and the sector in general are calling for greater attention from the central government and the Valencian Community, for example through the development of an integrated plan to boost demand with projects and incentives for the renovation and renewal of the building stock. Further measures sought by the sector include reducing the tax burden to allow companies greater liquidity, training of tile layers to remedy the still low levels of specialisation, supporting research into technologies that help companies adapt to the European Union's decarbonisation objectives, and digital transformation of the district and the distribution channel.


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The Tycoon Herald
For those who never settle!
Crypto | NFT
Mariska Hargitay And S.V.U. Rank #1 In Season 23 Premiere – Dick Wolf Remains King Of Prime Time Drama
By Tycoon Herald 1 year ago
Mariska Hargitay – – star of the longest-running drama on TV (Photo by Bauzen/GC Images)
GC Images
Long before streaming, there was premium (subscription-based) and basic (ad-supported) cable.
And before cable, broadcast TV stood alone as the American audience's only choice for "prime-time" series television.
When basic cable arrived, many older network shows began a "second life" – – with reruns turning up on cable channels such as A&E, USA, TNT, LIFETIME LCUT and many others.
Critics assumed that such ubiquity and availability would diminish the value of any show still running with original episodes on the major networks.
In many cases, the exact opposite turned out to be true.
The cable channels and their reruns acted in an unexpected and unpredictable manner for the Hollywood suits: cable's hyper-familiarity actually worked to refresh the memories of long-time viewers who had drifted away from warhorses such as Law & Order: S.V.U.
Dick Wolf, creator of the original Law & Order and its many spin-offs, pushed hard for his parent company, NBC, to further exploit his dramas on NBC's sister cable channels, correctly assessing that the more places one can see his dramas, the more chances a show will have a longer-life.
Any casual observer would agree that at this stage, the USA cable channel (owned by NBC) might as well change its name to S.V.U., as the service dedicates the majority of its re-run programming to the series, and often runs the show in "marathon-fashion" over entire weekends.
Two seasons ago, S.V.U. shattered the record books and became the longest-running drama in history, outperforming the legendary western series, Gunsmoke.
For a drama to outperform its competition in its 23rd season, even with the support of the USA network and other cable channels eagerly running old episodes, as Arthur Miller once famously wrote, "attention must be paid."
What keeps the show so popular, so attention-getting, in its third decade on the air?
Two words come to mind: Mariska Hargitay.
No other procedural drama has kept its original star over the course of its run.
Hargitay has remained loyal to her fans and to the series, and her work on the show has not only been rewarded by consistently strong ratings, but unheard of love by the critics, earning her an Emmy and a Golden Globe (and countless nominations) – – a feat rarely accomplished for any actor working in what's often called "meat and potatoes" TV. (Full disclosure: I volunteer and serve on the board of Hargitay's non-profit, The Joyful Heart Foundation.)
To the show's further credit, and Dick Wolf's showmanship, NBC et al lured Chris Meloni (who set the screen on fire opposite Hargitay for the first 12 seasons on S.V.U.) back to the Law & Order family, with his own series, Law & Order: Organized Crime.
Thursday nights now belong not only to Hargitay and Dick Wolf, but to Meloni as well, who often crosses-over with Hargitay in S.V.U., while anchoring his own spin-off.
Virtually any Hollywood producer would be thrilled and satisfied with having one stalwart series to oversee.
Not Wolf.
The human producing machine has a record eight series in prime-time this season – – three "FBI" based shows on CBS Tuesday nights; three "Chicago" based series on NBC Wednesday nights and two "Law & Order" based shows on Thursday nights.
Many have proclaimed, myself included, that streaming and premium cable have permanently replaced "quality, episodic television" that was once the exclusive province of broadcast TV.
Wolf proves that network television can still perform mightily with satisfying mysteries, excellent performers tailor-made for his classic content and networks willing to support his consistent, successful instincts.
Some may argue that Wolf's hyper-dominance over TV's drama landscape "dulls down" network television.
The network audience disagrees, in mighty numbers.
Legacy matters in broadcasting and the public embraces the tried and true, particularly when it comes to free, over-the-air series TV, versus new and different.
What other long-running series will dominate, spin-off and multiply – – and is there room for the expansion of other series' brands, when Wolf is prime-time's reigning King?
Tags: Entertainment, The Forbes Journal
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The Tycoon Herald is an American business magazine. It features original articles on world politics, finance, industry, investing, entertainment and marketing.


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Colorado Planned Parenthood shooter mentally incompetent
FILE - In this Dec. 9, 2015 file photo, Robert Lewis Dear, middle, talks during a court appearance in Colorado Springs, Colo. The man who acknowledges killing three people at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic will return to court for a discussion of his mental health. The Thursday, April 28, 2016 hearing will focus on whether 57-year-old Dear is competent to continue with his criminal case. (Andy Cross/The Denver Post via AP, Pool, File) (The Associated Press)
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – A man who acknowledged killing three people at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic is mentally incompetent to continue with his criminal case, a judge ruled Wednesday, stalling the proceedings and potentially setting the stage for a mental health defense.
The decision by Judge Gilbert Martinez puts the case against Robert Dear, 57, on hold until treatment restores his ability to understand the proceedings and assist in his defense. He will be sent to the state psychiatric hospital, and his mental health will be reviewed in August.
Two psychologists have found he has a delusion disorder, which they said keeps him from trusting almost anyone, including his lawyers. As he was led out of the courtroom, Dear yelled at the judge: "That's called prejudiced! Prejudiced! Filthy animal!"
Dear is charged with 179 counts, including murder and attempted murder, stemming from the Nov. 27 shooting at the Colorado Springs clinic that also left nine injured.
During previous courtroom outbursts, he has declared himself a "warrior for the babies" and said he was guilty. He told investigators he attacked the clinic because he was upset with the reproductive health organization for "the selling of baby parts."
Martinez ordered the competency exam in December after Dear announced that he wanted to fire his public defenders and represent himself. Two psychologists who interviewed Dear testified that they agreed he is not competent and that his delusion disorder makes him believe the FBI is persecuting him.
Dear told people in phone calls from jail that he believes his attorneys' attempt to have him declared incompetent is part of a plot to diminish his message opposing abortion. He claims they want him committed to a psychiatric hospital so they can "silence him forever."
He told the psychologists he did not want to be declared incompetent because it would mean "forced medication."
The Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo, where Dear will be sent, can force people to take medication over their objections. His treatment will likely include a mix of psychotropic drugs and therapy to treat his disorder, as well as education about the proceedings against him.
Fatalities and Injuries from Abortion Related Attacks | FindTheData
Restoring Dear to competency could take months or longer. But the overwhelming majority of defendants initially determined to be incompetent are eventually able to understand the proceedings and stand trial, said Steven Pitt, a forensic psychiatrist who has conducted competency exams but is not involved in Dear's case.
Prosecutors argued that Dear's courtroom disruptions showed he understood the case against him. They have not decided whether to seek the death penalty against the man described by family and acquaintances as a man with a violent temper, anti-government sentiments and longstanding disdain for abortion providers.
Dear has not entered a plea. If and when his court case resumes, the incompetency finding could help the defense during the trial and a potential sentencing phase.
"In a case of this magnitude when a defendant is initially found incompetent to stand trial and is then restored to competency, there is a strong possibility that there will be a mental health defense," Pitt said. "It is an absolute certainty that the defendant's mental health history will be front and center during the penalty phase."
The psychologists who interviewed Dear recently released court documents showing Dear idolized Paul Hill, an abortion foe who killed a Florida doctor more than two decades ago. Dear also told investigators he put glue in the locks at an abortion clinic when he lived in South Carolina, a common protest technique among activists trying to shut down such facilities.
He spent most of his life in North and South Carolina before moving recently to an isolated community in Colorado's mountains, where he lived in a trailer with no electricity.
He held police at bay for more than five hours during the attack, scattering hundreds of post-Thanksgiving shoppers who scrambled to hide inside surrounding buildings until the standoff ended.


2km/R75, 5km/R75, 10km/R75, 15km/R95 (Dogs are free). Enjoy a lovely morning on the Big Red Barn Trails in Midrand and earn your Vitality Points as well. All the trails are pet friendly except for the 15km trail. Registration start at 06h00, race start at 07h00. On the day entreis carries a R25 surcharge.


Lourdes is our wide brim knotted straw Fedora. This hat features a wide crinkled cotton band with a wool pom pom on each side found in Marrakesh. One black one pink. Pom-pom's can also be the same colour. You can tie the ties in the back or front or just let them hang.


text:
11:35 PMThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert
'We Are Alive, Everyone Is Okay': Vacaville Evacuees Happy To Get Out Of Homes In Time
By Velena Jones August 19, 2020 at 11:17 pm
Filed Under:LNU Lightning Complex Fire, Solano County News, Vacaville News
VACAVILLE (CBS13) — Thousands of Solano County residents were forced to leave with only the bare necessities as the LNU Lightning Complex Fires grew out of control. Many people are still waiting to find out if they'll have a home to come back to.
Bright flames and smoke brought an early morning wake-up call for John Moya who said he only had minutes to escape.
"We are alive, we are alive, everyone is okay," he said. "You could feel the heat and the wind blowing from the fire and the ash, it was too hot, I said, 'We don't have time, let's just get out of here.'"
Moya's home is one of the few still standing in his neighborhood on English Hills Road.
READ: LNU Lightning Complex Fire Explodes In Size; Evacuations Ordered In Vacaville, Fairfield Outskirts
"Seeing videos of the houses next to us burning down, I knew ours was going to be gone," Moya said. "What are they going to do? That's a terrible feeling. I'm very thankful."
Just 10 miles away, Karen Stickler wasn't as lucky.
"I thought, no we are going to be right back; I don't think we are going to be evacuated for long. Well guess what, this is the one that got us," Stickler said.
Her neighbor, a first responder, went back to the area and the home she's lived in for 30 years is gone.
"One of the other gentlemen who is also a law enforcement officer said, I was up there, there is nothing left of our homes, nothing," she said.
ALSO: Vacaville Man Says Neighbor Helped Save His Home As Fire Torched Property
Shawnee Whaley had to grab her mother and leave without their six cats.
"It's sad, you want to take them but you're not prepared. Where is the carrier, where is the food? No! Where is your mother, get your mother and let's go and so that is what I was concerned with," Whaley said.
Whaley is one of the thousands of people still waiting to see if they still have a home.
"It's sad; we were really worried earlier, really worried," she said.
Get the app: Download the CBS Sacramento News app for iOS and Android
There are currently more than 200 people in eight evacuation sites in Solano County. Those numbers do not include the parking lot at those locations which are also full of cars. A timeline has not been announced on when people will be let back into the area.
Velena Jones
Velena Jones joined CBS13 as a reporter in April of 2020. Velena grew up in the Bay Area and is thrilled to be back in Northern California and the...More from Velena Jones


The pictures and captions that follow are silly, senseless, and will probably be considered a ROYAL waste of your time when (and if) you finish checking them all out.
I can't explain the "brain-wiring misfires" that take place every time I'm presented with a challenge, or an opportunity to exploit a theme or concept. I've been blessed with this torturous character trait that requires me to exhibit odd behavior or an exaggerated (over the top) response to very simple requests.
Last week the foundation race directors determined that we would have some fun mixed into the eight mile run on our Saturday schedule.
A scavenger hunt was designed into the route and we were asked to dress in fun outfits so that we could capture unique pictures of our group as we traversed the city looking for locations presented in the list of clues.
Each group was given a "disposable" camera and a sheet of paper with the list of clues.
Our/my group was whittled down to Jonathan and me after Tim pulled himself and four others out to run another race. Once it was determined that it would be just the two of us — we decided to blaze through the run and get as many worthless pictures as possible. The pirate concept with swords and Deeganbandana's were provided by yours truly. Many of the people we saw that were out and about (that were not part of the foundation group) gave us the quick "double take" and a few seemed a bit uncomfortable as we ran past with swords drawn high.
It was a sophomorically fun morning.
Ok, I can't take the torture any more. I'm splitting at the seams. I'll send my check, you so need help..........if there is enough help out there.


I still haven't tried REN but all of your reviews have me convinced that they really know what they're doing when it comes to skincare, Kim! Although I have combination skin, I would still be wary of using clay on a daily basis, since it can be so drying, but a gentle once a week mask would be wonderful.
REN is a brand I really enjoy a lot as well, but I haven't tried this mask yet. My skin is not sensitive and combination, so I don't have to be as careful as you do.
It sounds like a really good mask! I have a clay mask but like you said I can't use it more than once a week as it's so drying, this seems like a gentler alternative.
Kim, I have yet to try Ren but I have added the brand to my to-try list since your reviews.:D I love the sound of this purifying mask. Anything that detoxes is awesome in my book:) And I can only use clay masks once a week as well...I think more than that would be overkill!
I still haven't tried ren out but I really want to! This sounds amazing so it might be the first product!
I'm glad this one removed black heads better than the Fresh mud mask!
This mask sounds like it has been working very well for you Kim! Even dry skin types need a deep cleansing mask and this one sounds like it gets the job done without any dryness or irritation. I'm using an organic lay based mask right now that i really like but I definitely want to try this one when I'm finished with it.
This sounds like such a great mask, beauty! I've never tried any of REN's products, but I know you love the brand, so I'll have to keep an eye out. I've tried clay masks in the past and I felt like they didn't work for me in treating my acne. But I also don't think I was being consistent with it either, which I'm sure has a lot, if not everything, to do with it. I love that this one is kept in a bag inside of the dispenser, I've never heard of that before, they really seem to consider all possibilities when it comes to contamination, which of course would effect the product's performance. Thanks for sharing, beautiful, and I hope you have the best weekend ahead!
This sounds nice Kim! I'm glad you liked this one and it worked well for you. I bet my skin would like this one too, I need to check our Ren!
Phew! You just save me from adding a face mask into my list to try so no thanks to the one from Fresh but I will give this REN one a try. I'm already a fan of REN so I am positive that I will love this too. Thank you for the review, Kim!
These seem rather nice. Glad to hear you had a good experience with these masques and that they worked well for you.
I love that this mask is paraben and mineral oil free. Clay masks are the best to deep cleanse pores.
I used some REN products a few years ago and really loved them. The only thing that kept me from repurchasing was the price, but I want to go back to using the brand. This also sounds like an effective mask. The packaging of this is so much nicer than the usual big jar of mud. lol I'm so glad you mentioned the mask applicator because I could really use that!
I did not know REN existed, but it sounds like it gets the job done.
Oh and I use my foundation brush for putting on face masks... to spread product evenly and without it getting under my nails.


text:
Handicapping This Year's James Beard Awards
By John Mariani
Do bookies handicap the James Beard Restaurant Awards? If they do, here's my two cents as to which ones — in the categories whose restaurants and chefs I'm familiar with — are likely to get the prize on May 3. The list this year is strong in several categories, though in many others it's difficult to imagine that some of the contenders — as the voting guidelines require — "will have a significant impact" on American cuisine in the years to come. Simply put, many are pretty much unknown outside of their locales and have not yet shown that they will have any impact at all. Plus, who wins each award often has as much to do with geography — that is, where the voters may or may not have traveled recently — than with talent or potential impact. As always, the contenders in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco have an enormous advantage because the voters have to swear they have actually eaten at the restaurants they vote for, and those are far more likely to be in those cities than in Birmingham or Phoenix. That said, I'd put my money on these:
With raves from New York magazine, three stars from the Times, and two Michelin stars, Michael White's stylish Italian seafood restaurant is going to be tough to beat.
This is a very tough category, with an equal number of strong contenders on the west coast, including Gary Danko, Suzanne Goin, and Charles Phan — who will split the west coast voters. Jose Andres not only has the TV media clout and the respect of everyone in the print media, but he is also one of the most well-liked chefs, with a base in D.C. and the most exciting Spanish restaurant in the United States, the Bazaar in Los Angeles.
Outstanding Pastry Chef
Mindy Segal, Mindy's Hot Chocolate, Chicago
Not a shoe-in, but Segal has the most recognizable name on the list, and that counts.
Outstanding Restaurant
Daniel Boulud is always the front-runner in the top categories and still represents the haute cuisine tradition. Nancy Oakes of Boulevard is possibly a sentimental favorite.
Outstanding Restaurateur
Keith McNally
Balthazar, Lucky Strike, Minetta Tavern, Morandi, Pastis, Pravda, and Schiller's Liquor Bar
Everyone wants to say they've eaten at McNally's places and wants to be able to get in again, and there's no question McNally has been a major force in modern American restaurants, from Balthazar to Minetta Tavern. The Condé Nast voters alone would put him over the top.
This is a category that really is difficult for anyone to judge because good service does not manifest itself in obvious ways. The contenders include Alinea in Chicago, where waiters tell guests how to eat their food; Joel Robuchon in Vegas, where the service is ultra-French fancy; and La Grenouille in New York, once the snootiest of the snooty but far more egalitarian these days and the nostalgia favorite.
Outstanding Wine and Spirits Professional
Merry Edwards
Another tough category, filled with winemakers like Merry Edwards and distillers like Julian P. Van Winkle III, along with beverage directors/restaurateurs like Paul Grieco of Heart in New York. I suspect it will go to Edwards.
Outstanding Wine Service
As in the Restaurant Service award, this has so much subjectivity in it that it's impossible to distinguish between, say, an intensely casual, frantic place like A16 in San Francisco and the extraordinary commitment to wine service at Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee — which should get it but probably won't because few voters have been there. Frasca is a superb restaurant for wine service but it's in . . . Boulder. My best guess is that Jason Alexander of Gary Danko will take this one.
Rising Star Chef of the Year
Timothy Hollingsworth
Now here's a category that is truly baffling because a) there is little to indicate any of the nominees will have a "significant impact" and b) because so few voters could possibly have eaten at places like Komi in D.C. or Gautreau's in New Orleans since their chefs, Johnny Monis and Sue Zemanic, respectively, took over. Probably Timothy Hollingsworth of the French Laundry will take it, simply because of voters' familiarity with Thomas Keller.
Best Chefs in America
Best Chef: Great Lakes (IL, IN, MI, OH)
Let's face it: outside of Chicago there are very, very few cities a decent number of voters could possibly have gotten to in the last year, like Ann Arbor, which is why 4 out of the 5 nominees are in Chicago. Koren Grieveson, of Avec, is well known and liked both in and out of Chi-town and should get the nod.
Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic (D.C., DE, MD, NJ, PA, VA)
Philly seems to have the edge this year with two nominees, Jeff Michaud of Osteria (whom few people would know) and Michael Solomonov of Zahav, who's had tremendously good press over the past two years. Go with Zahav.
Best chef: Midwest (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD, WI)
As someone who travels through the Midwest on a regular basis but hasn't been to Minneapolis or St. Louis in a long time, I suspect most voters haven't either. So only the slight press attention might lean towards either Colby Garrelts of Bluestem in Kansas City, Missouri, or Alexander Roberts of Alma in Minneapolis.
Best Chef: New York City
This is a real toss-up between Michael White of Marea and Wylie Defresne of wd-50. The former is more likely because of so much media attention in the past year and because just about everyone loves his cooking; Dufresne's avant-garde cuisine, meanwhile, had its wildest applause years ago and many foodies just don't get that kind of cooking.
Best Chef: Northeast (CT, MA, ME, NH, NY STATE, RI, VT)
The chefs in this category repeat every year, yet again dominated by the Boston area, though media favorites Clark Frasier and Mark Gaier of Arrows in Ogunquit, Maine, will probably take this one. It's their year.
Best Chef: Northwest (AK, ID, MT, OR, WA, WY)
The only one of the nominees with any real name recognition in this category is Ethan Stowell of Union in Seattle.
Best Chef: Pacific (CA, HI)
An odd lumping of regions thousands of miles away from one another (no nominees from Hawaii at all this year), this category tends to favor San Francisco over L.A. Still, this is a very tough choice: Michael Cimarusti of Providence in L.A. is widely respected; David Kinch of Manresa in Los Gatos has a idolatrous following; Matt Molina is chef at Osteria Mozza in L.A. but everyone thinks of this as Nancy Silverton and Mario Batali's restaurant. So I'll go with Michael Tusk of Quince in San Francisco, enlarged last year and considered the city's best Italian restaurant.
Best Chef: South (AL, AR, FL, LA, MS)
This is a toss-up between Christopher Hastings of the Hot and Hot Fish Club in Birmingham, AL, and Michael Schwartz of Michael's Genuine Food & Drink in Miami, but the former is known more for his cookbook and magazine articles than for a restaurant in a city few visit. Schwartz has never had anything but good press and Miami is an easier place to get to and cover, especially since it has its Food & Wine Festival each year that draws thousands — including plenty of voters.
Best Chef: Southeast (GA, KY, NC, SC, TN, WV)
Why is Florida in the South category but not in the Southeast? Whatever, the voters love Charleston (which has its own Food & Wine Festival), so Sean Brock of McCrady's seems a safe bet. Voters have, erroneously, never regarded Atlanta as much of a food city, but Linton Hopkins of Eugene is a dark horse.
Best Chef: Southwest (AZ, CO, NM, NV, OK, TX, UT)
There are only two nominees in this category with any national attention — Ryan Hardy of Montagna at the Little Nell in Aspen (big presence and a Food & Wine Festival, with all the food celebs) and Rick Moonen of RM Seafood in Vegas, who has been a longtime favorite among the media. Toss-up.
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Mafia member Don Garcia has kidnapped Melody, the daughter of the owner of the Rose Restaurant. Rocky Rodent agrees to rescue her in exchange for an all-you-can-eat meal. In order to find Melody, Rocky Rodent has to complete a number of fast-paced, side-scrolling platformer levels. While he can also defeat enemies by jumping on them, his most important weapons are four different hairstyles: His first hairstyle allows him to skewer and throw his enemies, destroy porous blocks as well as cling to and jump up certain ledges. A mohawk can be thrown at enemies like a boomerang or thrown into certain walls, from where it serves as a trampoline. Braids can be used as a grappling hook and a corkscrew-like haircut lets him bounce on his head to jump higher than normal. When Rocky is attacked by an enemy, he looses his current haircut. If he is attacked while not wearing any special haircut, he looses a live.


As you all are probably aware by now, I am obsessed with Italy and there is just so much of the country that I want to see. So. For our 1-year wedding anniversary, my husband and I decided to go back to where we got married in Tuscany. We have collectively spent a bit of time in this popular Italian destination and we admit we've neglected other regions of the boot so while we love Tuscany and felt the need to visit our wedding venue, we also wanted to take the opportunity to see other parts of Italy as well including the delicious region of Emilia Romagna.
Emilia Romagna is located just north of Tuscany and while the region may not sound familiar to you, I'm sure you've heard of Bologna, which is its capital city. This region is known for its filled pastas, meat sauces, Ferrari's and lambrusco. This is Italy off the beaten path for those who love to eat and take it easy. It has arguably some of the best food in Italy (the world's best restaurant is located in Modena) and being the foodies we are, it was the perfect place to indulge in some local specialties. We only spent a few days in this area before continuing south to Tuscany so we only got to experience a little but what we did experience was fantastic. Here's just a sample of the goodness to be had in Emilia Romagna.
Modena - If there's only one city you see in Emilia Romagna, make it this one. Located about 30 minutes from Bologna, this is where balsamic vinegar originates from. There are several acetaie to tour if you prefer or you can find the liquid gold sold in specialty stores throughout the city. Regardless you must try it because what we have in the States is not anything like the real thing which is thick and syrupy and amazing. Aside from the vinegar, Modena is a lovely place to experience with quaint piazze that come alive during aperitivo, delicious cafes, and of course the best restaurant in the world. More on that in my next post!
I would recommend hiring a car so you can drive out to the many wineries, dairies, ham cellars, etc. but if driving is just not your thing, the regional train does run between the major cities. You just won't have as much freedom.
While Bologna might seem like the obvious place to stay, opt for one of the smaller cities or towns instead. Bologna is worth seeing but the ambiance does not compare.


For the past 7 years, I have been deeply immersed in gaining understanding of the realms of consciousness, enlightenment, source energy, human energy, and knowledge about my contract in this lifetime. After reading Mada's book and listening to her at a bookstore, my intuition said she was a true mystic and that I could learn from her. As a result, I participated in a 3 day retreat with Mada and observed her helping about 20 participants discover much about themselves and enhanced their level of healing into consciousness. Her abilities to reach at the core of people's problems were astounding. This was also the first time I was exposed to the active meditation of Osho, which I felt was a great tool. My own understanding reached a culmination when I had a private session with Mada where I was able, with Mada's help and mystical abilities, heal generations of fears that were embedded in the mass consciousness of my ancestors and in my being. Simultaneously, the energies in my healing work resulted in a tremendous increase flow of energy in my body (Kundalini experience) and likely helped me fulfill one of my life contracts by releasing the fears that I tapped into. I am now living more in a heightened state of joy and consciousness as a result of my connection with Mada.