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Penn State investing to compete in the Big Ten
By Mark Wogenrich
When the Penn State Board of Trustees meets Thursday, it will consider funding renovations to the Lasch Building desired by current head football coach James Franklin, pictured here. (CHRIS KNIGHT)
"Make this awesome," James Franklin said of a proposed upgrade to the hydrotherapy room in Penn State's football building. How about "controlled lighting" and "inspirational branding" to set the mood for cold-tub soaks?
The Penn State Board of Trustees' committee on finance, business and capital planning is scheduled to help "make this awesome" when it meets today in State College. The committee will consider appointing an architect for a Lasch Building renovation budgeted at more than $20 million.
The multi-phased project is designed to increase the "WOW Factor," according to an architectural feasibility study, of Penn State's football home. Why is "WOW" necessary for hydrotherapy?
Because that's how you compete with a program whose winning percentage is .926 over the past three seasons. Or a program that has won consecutive big-ticket bowls. Or another that made college football's splashiest offseason hire.
With due respect to Urban Meyer, Mark Dantonio and Jim Harbaugh, Penn State is on the way to creating its own brand of "WOW Factor" in the Big Ten East. In doing so, Franklin is poised to compete in college football's hottest new subdivision.
"We have a plan," Franklin said in November, after concluding his first regular season at Penn State. "We're going to tweak the plan when we need to, but we're going to stick to our plan. The biggest part of the plan is believing in our people and believing in ourselves and what we're doing."
Penn State made significant strides last season, going 7-6 in Franklin's first season despite the residue of NCAA scholarship reductions. The Lions qualified for a bowl game (after being declared eligible in September), then won it in overtime to finish above .500 for the third consecutive season.
That was important psychologically. In its three years under sanctions, Penn State produced a winning percentage (.594) that ranked third among teams in the current Big Ten East. Only Ohio State (38-3) and Michigan State (31-9) had better winning percentages.
With the competitive sanctions gone, and no losing seasons to show for it, Penn State and Franklin can sell recruits on a restored foundation and a future filled with big games. It's a great pitch: Who wouldn't want to play against Ohio State and Meyer, Michigan State and Dantonio, Michigan and Harbaugh?
(Not to mention Rutgers and Maryland, both of which revived rivalries with Penn State by issuing public apologies to the school, for different reasons, after their games?)
This rejuvenated Big Ten East went 5-1 in postseason games, including Ohio State's run to the national championship, and placed two teams among the final top 5. Meanwhile, the SEC West, which at one point had three of the country's top 5 teams, finished with just one after going 2-5 in the postseason.
Clearly the forecast is fluid, but Penn State's division — at least from a personnel and administrative standpoint — looks to be among the most competitive in college football. And off the field, Penn State has invested in being competitive.
It began with the six-year, $27.75 million contract the university awarded Franklin in January. It continued with the creation of the Penn State Football Excellence Fund, designed to help bring big-money donors to the program in the post-Paterno era.
It further continued with the reported raise coordinator Bob Shoop received (nearly $1 million per year, according to Fox Sports to oversee the nation's second-ranked defense. And it will move on with the proposed football-building renovations.
According to a feasibility study Penn State commissioned, Franklin envisions a facility with "WOW Factor" (a phrase that appears multiple times) everywhere. In the hydrotherapy room, the weight room, the players' lounge, the coach's office, even the staff meeting room.
The proposal lists plenty of necessary hard-goods upgrades but, more important, seeks to repurpose Lasch around technology and branding. It envisions an "experience room," in which digital programming "engulfs" recruits in the gameday experience.
The proposal also calls for "media-rich experiences" that "amplify the culture" and "reinforce coach's message." It's meant to compete with other programs for recruits.
Though Penn State continues to invest in football, it still needs to budget carefully because of the program's remaining financial sanctions. They will make things more difficult in the short term.
Penn State's athletics department began borrowing on a proposed $30 million loan last spring to help fund sports and capital projects. In addition, the $60 million NCAA fine remains in place for two more years, as does the Big Ten's withholding of bowl money. That grew more significant with the College Football Playoff.
In 2012, the Big Ten estimated Penn State's share of bowl revenue at $3.25 million annually. That jumped to about $6 million this year because of the playoff.
Sandy Barbour, Penn State's athletics director, called that revenue critical to the program's future.
"We have one more year of the financial sanctions from the Big Ten, though those could be lifted at some point," Barbour said before the Pinstripe Bowl last month. "Having access to those revenues has always been significant. It becomes even more significant in terms of lost opportunity cost as that bowl portion becomes bigger and bigger.
"… But the bottom line is, when have access to our full resources again, we'll be able to start our fully loaded financial plan. The only impediment there is that we will be refueling our reserves and paying off the loan."
Once that happens, Franklin will be free to unleash the "WOW Factor" he feels is necessary to compete for a national championship.


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Archive for the 'Letters' Category
SINCERELY, CEE • A letter from yours truly to Space Opera & Catherynne M. Valente
December 15, 2017 • Cee • Letters
Dear Catherynne M. Valente & Space Opera,
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy meets Eurovision in an over-the-top science fiction spectacle from bestselling author Catherynne Valente has galaxies competing for glory in a universe-wide musical contest—where the stakes are as high as the fate of planet Earth.
A century ago, the Sentience Wars tore the galaxy apart and nearly ended the entire concept of intelligent space-faring life. In the aftermath, a curious tradition was invented—something to cheer up everyone who was left and bring the shattered worlds together in the spirit of peace, unity, and understanding.
Once every cycle, the civilizations gather for Galactivision—part gladiatorial contest, part beauty pageant, part concert extravaganza, and part continuation of the wars of the past. Instead of competing in orbital combat, the powerful species that survived face off in a competition of song, dance, or whatever can be physically performed in an intergalactic talent show. The stakes are high for this new game, and everyone is forced to compete.
This year, though, humankind has discovered the enormous universe. And while they expected to discover a grand drama of diplomacy, gunships, wormholes, and stoic councils of aliens, they have instead found glitter, lipstick, and electric guitars. Mankind will not get to fight for its destiny—they must sing.
A band of human musicians, dancers, and roadies have been chosen to represent Earth on the greatest stage in the galaxy. And the fate of their species lies in their ability to rock. [/quote]
Tags:catherynne m. valente • sincerely cee: a letter from yours truly
SINCERELY, CEE • A letter from yours truly to Creatures of Will & Temper & Molly Tanzer
November 7, 2017 • Cee • Letters
Dear Molly Tanzer & Creatures of Will & Temper,
Victorian London is a place of fluid social roles, vibrant arts culture, fin-de-siècle wonders . . . and dangerous underground diabolic cults. Fencer Evadne Gray cares for none of the former and knows nothing of the latter when she's sent to London to chaperone her younger sister, aspiring art critic Dorina.
At loose ends after Dorina becomes enamored with their uncle's friend, Lady Henrietta "Henry" Wotton, a local aristocrat and aesthete, Evadne enrolls in a fencing school. There, she meets George Cantrell, an experienced fencing master like she's always dreamed of studying under. But soon, George shows her something more than fancy footwork—he reveals to Evadne a secret, hidden world of devilish demons and their obedient servants. George has dedicated himself to eradicating demons and diabolists alike, and now he needs Evadne's help. But as she learns more, Evadne begins to believe that Lady Henry might actually be a diabolist . . . and even worse, she suspects Dorina might have become one too.Goodreads
Tags:molly tanzer • sincerely cee: a letter from yours truly
SINCERELY, CEE • A letter from yours truly to Speak Easy, Speak Love & McKelle George
August 17, 2017 • Cee • Letters
Dear McKelle George & Speak Easy, Speak Love,
Six teenagers' lives intertwine during one thrilling summer full of romantic misunderstandings and dangerous deals in this sparkling retelling of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.
After she gets kicked out of boarding school, seventeen-year-old Beatrice goes to her uncle's estate on Long Island. But Hey Nonny Nonny is more than just a rundown old mansion. Beatrice's cousin, Hero, runs a struggling speakeasy out of the basement—one that might not survive the summer.
Along with Prince, a poor young man determined to prove his worth; his brother, John, a dark and dangerous agent of the local mob; Benedick, a handsome trust-fund kid trying to become a writer; and Maggie, a beautiful and talented singer; Beatrice and Hero throw all their efforts into planning a massive party to save the speakeasy. Despite all their worries, the summer is beautiful, love is in the air, and Beatrice and Benedick are caught up in a romantic battle of wits that their friends might be quietly orchestrating in the background.
Hilariously clever and utterly charming, McKelle George's debut novel is full of intrigue and 1920s charm. For fans of Jenny Han, Stephanie Perkins, and Anna Godbersen.Goodreads
Tags:mckelle george • sincerely cee: a letter from yours truly
SINCERELY, CEE • A letter from yours truly to Edgar Canteron & Meddling Kids
July 8, 2017 • Cee • Letters
Dear Edgar Cantero & Meddling Kids,
For fans of John Dies at the End and Welcome to Night Vale comes a tour de force of horror, humor, and H.P. Lovecraft. The surviving members of a forgotten teenage detective club (and their dog) must reunite as broken adults to finally solve the terrifying case that ruined them all and sent the wrong man to prison. Scooby Doo and the gang never had to do this!
1990. The teen detectives once known as the Blyton Summer Detective Club (of Blyton Hills, a small mining town in the Zoinx River Valley in Oregon) are all grown up and haven't seen each other since their fateful, final case in 1977. Andy, the tomboy, is twenty-five and on the run, wanted in at least two states. Kerri, one-time kid genius and budding biologist, is bartending in New York, working on a serious drinking problem. At least she's got Tim, an excitable Weimaraner descended from the original canine member of the team. Nate, the horror nerd, has spent the last thirteen years in and out of mental health institutions, and currently resides in an asylum in Arhkam, Massachusetts. The only friend he still sees is Peter, the handsome jock turned movie star. The problem is, Peter's been dead for years.
The time has come to uncover the source of their nightmares and return to where it all began in 1977. This time, it better not be a man in a mask. The real monsters are waiting.
With raucous humor and brilliantly orchestrated mayhem, Edgar Cantero's Meddling Kids taps into our shared nostalgia for the books and cartoons we grew up with, and delivers an exuberant, eclectic, and highly entertaining celebration of horror, life, friendship, and many-tentacled, interdimensional demon spawn.Goodreads
Tags:edgar cantero • sincerely cee: a letter from yours truly
SINCERELY, CEE • A letter from yours truly to F.C. Yee & The Epic Crush of Genie Lo
June 24, 2017 • Cee • Letters
Dear F.C. Yee & The Epic Crush of Genie Lo,
The struggle to get into a top-tier college consumes sixteen-year-old Genie Lo's every waking thought. But when her sleepy Bay Area town comes under siege from hell-spawn straight out of Chinese folklore, her priorities are suddenly and forcefully rearranged.
Her only guide to the demonic chaos breaking out around her is Quentin Sun, a beguiling, maddening new transfer student from overseas. Quentin assures Genie she is strong enough to fight these monsters, for she unknowingly harbors an inner power that can level the very gates of Heaven.
Genie will have to dig deep within herself to summon the otherworldly strength that Quentin keeps talking about. But as she does, she finds the secret of her true nature is entwined with his, in a way she could never have imagined…Goodreads
Tags:f.c. yee • sincerely cee: a letter from yours truly
SINCERELY, CEE • A letter from yours truly to Katrina Leno & Everything All At Once
May 10, 2017 • Cee • Letters
Dear Katrina Leno & Everything All At Once,
From the author of The Half Life of Molly Pierce and The Lost & Found comes a magical new YA novel about 24 dares, 3 weeks, and taking a leap into the unknown.
Lottie Reeves has always struggled with anxiety, and when her beloved Aunt Helen dies, Lottie begins to fear that her own unexpected death might be waiting around every corner.
Aunt Helen wasn't a typical aunt. She was the author of the best–selling Alvin Hatter series, about siblings who discover the elixir of immortality. Her writing inspired a generation of readers.
In her will, she leaves one last writing project—just for Lottie. It's a series of letters, each containing mysterious instructions designed to push Lottie out of her comfort zone. Soon, Lottie's trying some writing of her own, leaping off cliffs, and even falling for a boy she's only just met. Then the letters reveal an extraordinary secret about the inspiration for the Alvin Hatter series. Lottie finds herself faced with an impossible choice, one that will force her to confront her greatest fear once and for all..Goodreads
Tags:katrina leno • sincerely cee: a letter from yours truly
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


May 17, it became known that Chrissie Tagen (32) and John Legend (39) became parents for the second time – the stars Miles's son Theodore Stevens was born.
And now the model constantly pleases subscribers with "home" photos. The other day Teygen showed how she feeds the baby (Teigen in her repertoire – nothing shy), and now she published the first joint picture of the children. On it, the Moon (2) stands at the cot of the younger brother.
Recall, Chrissie and John met at the shooting of the Stereo clip in 2006, but officially married only after 7 years. In 2016, they were born the Moon, and now (also with the help of IVF) son Miles.


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Occupational Health Wales Conference
Occupational Health Wales has three key aims which are to:
Represent the views of occupational health nurses and technicians practicing in Wales.
Influence Occupational Health Policy at Government and Corporate level.
Promote excellence in occupational health practice.
Occupational Health Wales Conference 2020 - Postponed
The group intends to work in close collaboration with the RCN Public Health Forum, Welsh Assembly Government and other pertinent organisations both in and out of Wales.
Occupational Health Wales incorporates Occupational Health Practitioners and other interested health professionals who work across a diverse range of industries. The committee members are all elected volunteers with a variety of experience within occupational health.
Copyright © 2022 Occupational Health Wales


What type of tile was used for the pool deck and steps?
Which style of bath tub do you prefer? Free standing or in a deck?
How can I tile curved concrete steps and risers using Porcelain tile?
Are you ready to rip up your decking?


Fed up with sleek graphics and flashy effects? Do you yearn for a retro gaming experience? Then you may have found the game for you. Hot Chance is an old-style video slot, that features a simple 3 by 3 reel with 5 paylines. It's bright, colourful, and does everything it says on the tin. You know what they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. It adds just a splash of spice to heat things up, giving you the unique Hot Chance bonus round that allows you to double, triple, and even quadruple your winnings! So what are you waiting for, start spinning those reels!
Upon entering the game, you will be prompted to determine how much money you would like to take with you to the machine. You can then determine your stake per payline with the "+ / -" symbols in-game. Click on the "Start" button to get the reels spinning. Clicking on the "Autostart" button activates automatic play. Click on the "Autostart" button a second time to end automatic play.
Any combination of 9 plums, oranges, lemons or cherries will unlock the Hot Chance™ bonus feature. You can double, triple or even quadruple your winnings in the bonus game. Your stake in the normal game will also be used in the bonus rounds.
The "Gamble" button appears as soon as you have a winning combination of at least 3 consecutive symbols. Gambling means that you are using your current win to play a "double or nothing" game. If you would like to gamble, simply press the "Gamble" button. If you do not wish to gamble, simply press the "Take" button to take your winnings.
Click on the "Paytable" button at the bottom of the playing field to view the winnings summary table. Winnings are a multiplication of your stake. Refer to the table to learn which multiplication factor each winning combination brings.


Robert Arryn is the only son of Jon Arryn and his wife, Lysa Tully. He is a sickly, whiny child of six, now Lord of the Eyrie and Defender of the Vale. He was named after Robert Baratheon.
In the television series Robert Arryn was named Robin Arryn. The character's name has been changed to Robin so as to prevent confusion with Robert Baratheon. He is played by Lino Facioli.
Robert is afflicted with a disease that causes frequent seizures. His maester bleeds him frequently and often administers a painkiller during his fits that, if used continuously, has an increasing level of toxicity. Robert is intellectually and physically stunted, and is not even weaned from his mother's breast. He is called "Sweetrobin". Jon Arryn planned on fostering Robert with Stannis Baratheon at Dragonstone, but was poisoned before it could happen.
Robert became Lord of the Vale upon the death of his father, Jon Arryn. Before his ascension, Lord Tywin Lannister offered to take him as his ward, something he had never offered to anyone else (many suspect Tywin made this offer in order to seize Robert Arryn as a hostage), Robert Baratheon planned on accepting the offer but Lysa fled to The Vale with her son to avoid this.
His mother, Lady Lysa, rules the Vale as regent in his name, but makes no effort to school him in the governance of his realm. He presided over the trial of Tyrion Lannister for the attempted murder of Bran Stark. He was upset when Bronn defeated the opposing champion in Tyrion's trial-by-combat as he wanted to "make him fly."


OIMP 39. Book of the Dead: Becoming God in Ancient Egypt. Edited by Foy Scalf. 2017.
OIS 11. The Late Third Millennium in the Ancient Near East: Chronology, C14, and Climate Change. Edited by Felix Höflmayer. 2017.


gibson sg standard 2016 high performance Archives - Fret nut... Have Guitar!
Free stuff is nice but sometimes it can be really hard to dig out the good stuff, especially in a place like Rig Exchange – spend 5 seconds with each profile there and you have 992 hours in front of you!
Yeah, well – that ain't realistic and that's how I came up with idea so showcase some of the free Kemper profiles that I like – maybe you will too! When I find one I'll make a video on it if I like it. This time it's another Marshall JTM50 from 1966 and this is the second time I feature that model on this feature. However, there's a big difference between these profiles even if they come from the same amp model and that is what make's them interesting to me!
There are eight of these nice profiles available and in this video I'll demo four them – leaving something for you to discover for yourself… So, again – a big thanks to David for sharing these fine profiles with us! And hey. if you like this video, why not subscribe to Have Guitar! Your support is more important than you might think and every sub counts. To all of you already subscribing – Thank You!!!
To find these Kemper profiles; start up your Rig Manager, go to Rig Exchange and search for "Burns" and you will get all the profiles listed and ready to play! Have fun!


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Michal presents 4Occupy, an online art gallery and culture blog
Learn about my simple protest and how a calendar can help bring peace
Bridging the 7 Pillars of Culture for All Mankind...click & drag the logo to share this page
The answer to your needs...
If you like to help...
Michal Recommends:
Occupy Sandy
from the InterOccupy Hub page
Distribution centers in Brooklyn & Staten Island
This site is self-censored for nudity in a way that preserves the integrity of the human body. It may remain censored for as long as it is accessible to the public and public obscenity laws persist which stigmatize the human body and fetishize its sexual elements.
The human body is not dirty, but as long as there are people who deep down continue to think it is, I will make a point of obliging them by covering it all up whenever I please.
- Michal
A DICTIONARY OF CULTURE
(based on what I've heard)
by Michal Slaby
Give Me Hope
4Occupy
To Occupy is to be heard and respected.
Case in point: Original Love
Plus: A History of the Dictionary
the foot of the page
Hope Springs Eternal, a cultural reference
Understanding the world from all angles...
What does Michal's calendar have to do with body acceptance - what is he thinking?
Posted: ⚖ 15༛♐26/24♀
The Earth revolves around the sun. What's less well known is the fact that sometimes it speeds up and sometimes it slows down. Counting the year from one solstice to the next isn't the same as counting it from one equinox to another. The Gregorian calendar year is poorly synchronized to these events - the equinox can fall on one of three different calendar dates - but the lack of accuracy has little to do with the Earth speeding up and everything to do with Pope Gregory slowing us down in the interests of religion.
A calendar is a unique form of art. How we measure and organize time guides our society.
Consider the fact that, in another 2000 years, the Gregorian calendar will be off by 1 day. We'll know that because the vernal equinox will on average fall one more day away from the day it's supposed to be falling on, March 21. It's supposed to fall on that day because that was the day of the vernal equinox in the year of the Council of Nicaea.
The council that met at Nicaea was the first great ecumenical council of the Christian community and it was supposed to settle the date of Easter for all Christians twelve and a half centuries before the Gregorian calendar was proposed. The Pope was so keen on keeping the equinox close to March 21, he chopped 10 days of his new calendar. Presumably this was supposed to help Christians unite. Unfortunately, the attempt failed. However, it exemplifies the importance of a calendar in uniting a community.
I choose to use a calendar that starts the new year on the vernal equinox. It makes sense to me that a solar calendar should align its sequence of months in deference to an important solar phenomenon, rather than to the calendar date on which that phenomenon occurred seventeen centuries ago when people were using a completely different calendar.
You may not be prepared to adopt a different calendar as long as everybody around you is still using the one Pope Gregory reformed back in the 16th century. That's okay.
I'm offering you free calendar wallpaper so you can think about how important the calendar is as an art-form, not just as a way of counting the days but as a way of organizing our culture and giving our society a direction.
If you think society is heading in the wrong direction and needs a little help, you can try to celebrate Love Your Neighbor Day as I have done - by placing it between Saturday and Sunday - and seeing how you feel. You might feel power and freedom from having broken the cycle of Monday to Friday, Saturday, Sunday. I did. It empowered me and gave me a sense of peace that continues to fuel me to this day. Maybe it can fuel you too.
2014Margo's HD Monthly Desktop Calendar, A.D. 2014 (high-definition digital wallpaper)
2014The HD Body Acceptance Monthly Poster Calendar, A.D. 2014 (high-definition digital wallpaper featuring the intelligent and graceful Margo Rijnvis)
2014Michal's Monthly Calendar Templates, A.D. 2014 (Calendar templates for web and print)
2012/2013The Body Acceptance Monthly Calendar, Transition Edition #1, a Perpetual Solar Calendar with Gregorian dates for A.D. 2012 & 2013 (featuring lunations for those years and the principal holidays and feasts of ten of the world's major religious traditions)
The HD Body Acceptance Monthly Poster Calendar, A.D. 2013
high-definition digital wallpaper featuring the intelligent and graceful Margo Rijnvis
Margo and I hope that this calendar will brighten your day and lift your spirits high every time you visit your desktop.
Download this monthly poster calendar for October 2013 with a yellow background
Help End Negligence With Art
Strength and dignity are her clothing...
Author's Note: I have been enjoined from sharing the details of my true romance adventure until such time that the other party is prepared to present her perspective on the affair arrangement...
On the second to last weekend of June, 2011, I had joined my fellow naturists at a gathering of the Naturist Society in rural Pennsylvania. The next day I left on a flight for Europe. By the end of the week I had unexpectedly met another naturist, a woman, who was destined to accompany me on a tour of Europe's great naturist resorts.
As an artist inspired by a young woman's struggle with self-esteem and bulimia, body acceptance had always featured prominently in my aesthetic. Having recently discovered naturism and its mantra of body acceptance in the United States, I was eager to explore the style and philosophy of naturist clubs and the beauty of naturist campsites in Europe. By a trick of fate, I found myself first in Bielsko-Biała, Poland. Margo's home.
I was American. Freshly arrived in Europe and the new owner of a '97 Ford Escort made in Germany. The only thing I had to complain about was the fact that the owner's manual was in German. She was from Poland, and a German-language owner's manual for a car bought in Poland wasn't the only thing she had to complain about. Something as small as that didn't even register.
6,000 miles. One car. One tent. We started learning how to listen. We started learning how to open up. We started cooperating. Even when we were angry, even when it was so difficult that it didn't seem like it would turn out well, we stuck it out. We completed the trip and we came back happy. We had beaten the devil on the road. Back home more devils were waiting to abuse us. More anger. More fear. More sadness. This time we were prepared. This time we had each other and we could harken back to the joy and the trust and the suprise that 6,000 miles had created. We could remember what it was like to live in one tent.
6,000 miles across Europe with a complete stranger
⚖ 15༛♊25/24♀
Camping Club Léman
Préverenges, Switzerland
THE DISAPPEARING WOMAN, THE DISAPPEARING MAN...
a collection of modern art prints and posters
During our trip across Europe, Margo very bravely opened up to me and to the camera. It was a difficult thing to do considering the scars that she carries. I wanted to share with the world her often joyful, often sad, often angry but always liberating experience except that the Internet is full of pictures of naked women and men and full of trolls who abuse them.
I realized that what I really need to point out is not the openness that Margo and I cultivated between ourselves, but the darkness that continues to surround us. When I censor nudity, I do so in a way that does not compromise the integrity of the human body. In censoring the photographs that Margo and I took during our trip, I was quick to notice that in those pictures where Margo was at her most open, at her most unguarded and most relaxed, in a word, when she was herself and basking in the sun I was forced to blacken her completely.
Why does our society drive people into darkness? Why can we not accept ourselves as we are? Why can we not accept our bodies? Have we truly become eunuchs? Or are we capable of defying the sickness that pits us against each other? Together we could conquer the devils that abuse us.
Whether you enjoy being nude or not, whether you've been photographed nude or not, but especially if, for you, like for Margo, it's something you never thought you would do, consider submitting your own photograph to be published in a censored manner as a form of protest against the ubiquitous presence of the human body on the internet, naked or not, that is published and duplicated ad infinitum without context and without regard for the identity or the needs of the individual being depicted.
If you would like to submit a comment or review of your own, fill out the comment form.
A little philosophy...
The three attributes of a word
Language is an assembly of words, therefore each individual word obeys the three rules of assembly: the rule of egalitarianism relates to a word's definition. It must be equal for all parties. The rule of association relates to the freedom of a word's connotation to drift. The rule of seniority applies to a word's identity, meaning that the people who have been responsible for using a word the longest have a conservative influence over its movement. The reach of a word along these three axes is described by the term cultural definition.
The three rules of assembly† were formulated as the product of personal observation while participating in the Occupy Movement's defense of Dilworth Plaza during the city government of Philadelphia's early morning ambush on the first of December, 2011. Rather than being a set of purely parliamentary rules, they are a description of the basic principles under which any assembly performs any kind of action as a group, whether it involves debate or not. They are the rules that distinguish such a group from a mob.
†As founding principles of a well-governed society, the three rules bear a relationship not only to the tripartite motto of Revolutionary France, Liberty, equality, fraternity, but to the evangelical counsels of the Christian New Testament on which Revolutionary ideals were based, namely poverty, chastity and obedience, whose definition during the past two millennia has been influenced to the detriment of mankind by the slave culture of Empire. A reassessment of the counsels under the guidance of Acceptance culture is the best way to push progressive religious and political reform further in the direction of ecumenism and internationalism.
Michal's Dictionary:
Click on jumping Margo to hide a section and get back to the top
Love and hope. I say the words and I still wonder what it means.
I think of all the images, the poems, the quotes, the songs, the stories. The symbols.
I think of my own work, the Fiction Corpus, which I tested and analyzed because I too wanted to know what it was about. Sure enough, the words love and hope were two of the most frequent words I had used.
Clearly love and hope are a potent fuel. They've driven many a work of art. The've helped create many beautiful things. Maybe that's it.
Pronunciation of Hope Springs Eternal
I have yet to publish a pronunciation for the words "hope springs eternal."
Video of me pronouncing "hope springs eternal."
Definition of Hope Springs Eternal
I have yet to publish the definition of Hope Springs Eternal.
I'm sure it won't take too long.
References for hope springs eternal
I have yet to find good references for Hope Springs Eternal
If you would like to add a link to the index, please fill out the form for listings.
Use of Hope in Michal's FictionCorpus
Michal's Fiction Corpus of Acceptance Literature (FiCAL) is presented under the Bare Bottom imprint. It is currently comprised of six bodies of work, each representing a different pillar of culture and incorporating a wide variety of writhing styles.
Use of Hope: Table of Contents
Death to McDonalds
The Gospel of Jesus H.
Sex For Children
Tsiga Tsiga Tsiga
Sorry Ms. Jackson
Miscellaneous Dingbats
If you're wondering...
Just click on a title to see examples of "Hope" from a particular work. You'll stay on the same spot on the page, only the Table of Contents will disappear. To get back to the Table of Contents just click next to the image of the Bare Bottom imprint where it says "Back to Use of Hope: Table of Contents.""And...?"
In the case of common words, a Table of Frequency and a Table of Collocation provide numerical information about how many times a word appears in its original or modified form and with which words. It can help to give you an idea of how common words are used and in what contexts. Find them in the "Common Words of English" part of the Education section."Ok."
Why a Fiction Corpus?
The popular understanding of the word "fiction" and its complement "non-fiction" is a reflection of the cultural influence of a classification system. The Dewey Decimal System is responsible for separating "fiction" from all other work and categorizing it by author's name. This has influenced the popular idea of fiction as a narrative that tends to be "untrue" and the product of an individual's fantasy, a bias compounded by modern art's century-long obsession with abstraction, surrealism and self-expression."So...?"
My idea of fiction rests on the idea that art doesn't have to be factual to be a true reflection of our existence. Adam and Eve didn't have to exist as two individuals 700 generations ago for them to be true portraits of two human beings trying to work together."And...?"
The Bible is a Fiction Corpus. It is a body of writing that isn't overly concerned with facts and yet its words carry weight. It was written by many different authors living in different places with different audiences in mind, yet everyone gleans something from it."Right..."
In preparing my fiction corpus, I have striven to see the world through the eyes of others. Through the eyes of my Adams and Eves I hope that you too will glean some truth about our existence. At the very least you will learn some more about how one man can use the English language."Ok."
Who are you, Michal?
I'm just a guy who makes art. And if you're interested in making a solid investment in an aesthetic that supports our present and future welfare, then I will help you look for something that you can buy."How...?"
Everybody makes. Everybody sells. Some people know how to protect their interests. Some better than others. Few people know how to listen. Listening to somebody means considering their interests as if they were your own. Going out and doing something to satisfy another person's interest is how we build a strong economy. Without a strong economy, democracy collapses."And...?"
Buying 4Occupy is buying for democracy. Don't give your money to somebody who's ruining it. There's no such thing as cheap democracy, quick democracy, or easy democracy. There's good, solid, complete democracy and the tyranny of feudalism. Let's not mix the two. Let's not buy everything on the cheap. Let's not create another tyrant and enslave ourselves because it was easier not to think about what we were doing. Let's protect our interests. Let's listen."Ok."
Who's really behind this site?
Have you ever been to one of those post-it-yourself retail websites where there's a really attractive top-seller ready to give you tips on how you can be a top-seller too?"Uh..."
Have you ever been to a "job" interview where you sit in a line, walk through one door, get hired as a contractor and walk out another door, so that the other applicants don't realize that everyone's getting "hired" to work in the same market?"Maybe..."
The internet is full of people who are ready to exploit your ignorance. They are people who want to make money at the expense of our economy. They are cheats."And...?"
I, Michal, am behind this site. Not some fat plutocrat exploiting my image. I like to do things the right way. I like to work with people who take the time to do things right."Why...?"
I used to work for a company that didn't do things the right way. My labor was exploited because of mismanagement. That company was the United States Postal Service, an independent agency of the United States Government that is ultimately controlled by Congress. I'm mad because if the Federal Government can exploit labor, who is going to stop every other cheat from doing it?"Labor Unions...?"
Don't say labor unions. I went to my labor union and they did nothing. They ignored me because labor unions aren't democracies. Holding a free and fair election for a "representative" once in a blue moon does not equal people ruling. Democracy means open government. It means we the public need to accept the hard work. It's the only way to secure liberty and equality."Ok."
What's the difference between use and usage?
Definition-wise, not much. But the -age suffix is ultimately French in origin and with most things French, at least in American eyes, the immediate thought is that of something precious and arcane whose value should be judged very carefully. This is in contrast to the word France, which is associated with a beautiful place. Thus people in France or from France are beautiful, warm, kind people. Generous even. Unlike French people who suck. Unless you're frenching, in which case you're only sometimes sucking."And...?"
Along those lines, usage means you're in bed. Use means you're just heavy petting. Also notice that common people, like common words, get used...whereas "proper" things make "appearances." Whether or not you are being exploited is a different story. Exploitation is what happens when somebody uses you or your property without listening to you. Listening is what happens when you consider another person's needs as if they were your own. You don't have to satisfy those needs. All you need to do is consider them. So many of us can't even do that."So...?"
Help stop exploitation. Buy 4occupy. Buy a better world. Whether or not you feel you can afford to buy art, consider joining my protest. I want to guarantee every working man and every working mother on this planet a 15-day universal holiday. But I can't. Only we can do that. We have to work together. We have to accept the idea that everyone deserves time for himself and we need to build that time into a new kind of calendar. We have to give peace it's own day. We have to make love something you can't avoid. We have to make even the most miserly cold-hearted capitalist among us say that he cashed his check on Love Your Neighbor Day. There won't be any other way to say it once the Acceptance Calendar is widely adopted."Ok."
Back to Use of Hope: Table of Contents
Use of Hope in Death to McDonalds
A story bible for a comic book series set in a post climate-change California narrated by eight characters who live through a natural disaster that sinks Los Angeles and triggers a war with an expansionist Mexican government covertly supported by China.
Frame #4824
harley asked me why im going. i told her for the hope of justice. for my peace of mind. she asked if thats all. i said probably not.
Sprint "Iphone" Case
17 October, 8:57 AM
im putting water into the fuel tank. i hope this works.
8 November, 5:58 AM
Use of Hope in The Gospel of Jesus H.
An experimental science fiction Christology that makes Jesus the hard boiled narrator of his own early years on a bizarro earth made dark by volcanic ash and informally ruled by a man from Mars who sells bottled air.
Oh Bartolomeo! Maestro da canne! For whom the Republic of Venice gave thanks! You gave hope to the weak and weary! More strength to the strong! A lifeline for Freedom! A slicker noose for the wrong! You gave both cold and hot, forward and back; a wife to the tyrant, and life to the revolutionary son; fear to the many, and rule to the one. You were indifferent. As long as people paid, you made guns. If not for you, what would've happened? Somebody else would've taken your smoky rank in the annals of industry: grandfather of arms! You gave your descendents an unparalleled legacy: your long and hard barrels, shooting with unflinching consistency, ensured over the centuries that your plant would not be torn from your family's hands. Berettas live on! They still make their weapons! They sell them! So don't be surprised that Jesus tried the same.
– Verse 15 from the chapter called Arms
Your grandfather's greatest life moment was a grand farewell to litigation. When his beautiful, peasant wife was diagnosed with pulmonary emphysema, your father's father invested everything his family had into one grand suit: the culmination of his greatest hopes and dreams. On behalf of his sickly wife, he accused the governments of the world of negligence. He claimed that they were all guilty of doing nothing to prevent your grandmother from developing a serious and severely debilitating disease, one which was irreversible - one which was caused by the presence of toxic agents in the air!
– Verse 59 from the chapter called Adolescence
"Professionals." Your father smiled.
"I hope you don't mind," said Columbus.
"No, of course not."
– Verses 553-555 from the chapter called Adolescence
"She's got the blues," your father would have to say, and it was true: every time she began to feel better, there was less and less hope that it would last; sooner or later, she would have to be attacked by status asthmaticus; there was no escaping its mercilessly tightening grasp, no way of preventing her bronchial tubes with their mucus-forming glands from swelling - what specific allergen could possibly have caused her pain? - when a breeze, a bad smell, or a change in temperature would send her coughing, and make her throat secrete its mucinous poisons, drowning her in her own mucus and consigning her to long hours of hacking, wheezing, and gasping for air - long, tiresome hours, which inevitably sent your grandmother back to bed for months - how depressing it was.
"Hey, Jesus: where's your mother at?"
– Verses 47-48 from the chapter called Adolescence
"I would offer to sleep on the floor," he said, "but there isn't one - just cold ground. I hope you don't mind."
– Verse 621 from the chapter called Security
Use of Hope in Sex for Children
A literature book narrated by a pair of siblings on either side of the Atlantic whose profoundly weird sexual experiences pose a serious challenge to their traditional understanding of mathematicians, marriage, gay young men and God.
Nike did not die, by the way, in case you're worried. They put him in a taxicab, but: Nike was not able to speak (for reasons which I dare not reveal), and: nobody told the driver where to go, so: I can only hope that he was being taken to the hospital. But, of course, I woke up en route, before he was able to reach anyplace.
– Title 3, Regarding a Dream, Chapter 4, The Fourth Day, Part 1, Our Constitution & Constitutional Reform, Section 4, Avoiding Emasculation, Paragraph 29
MACY: Well, she's right, but: I didn't have to tell her.
ANDY: I suppose Christie read your mind.
MACY: ...
ANDY: What: were you remembering fond memories of me? 'Oh, I remember when Andre and I -'
MACY: Why is that a problem?
ANDY: I don't like to be pressured.
MACY: So it's my fault?
ANDY: I find it very suspicious.
MACY: You didn't have to call me.
– Title 3, Regarding a Dream, Chapter 5, The Fifth Day, Part 1, Greenery & Land Reform, Section 1, Love, Hope, Desire and Suspicion, Paragraphs 14-22
ANDY: Oh, of course not: I can always lie to Christie. Come on: give me a break: she hammered me into calling you.
MACY: Do you want me to leave?
ANDY: Of course not: do you think I want to eat here alone? Now that we sat down, we might as well eat.
MACY: I'm not that hungry.
Use of Hope in Tsiga Tsiga Tsiga
A collection of stories featuring a sexy Parisian ghost, a spooky Moon base full of vagina-faced aliens, a policeman with an Irish name, a truck full of watermelons, a flautist, and a man who has to see another man about a diseased horse.
Bo closed her eyes. Those men were gone. The joy, the anguish, the hope and the sorrow they inspired had followed her through the cold dimensions of space. She had once thought she had no choice but to cling to them. Now she could sense them fading away.
Kwon arrived with happy news. Do was delivered of a baby boy. "Congratulations," said Bo. She smiled. There were now twelve again.
– from "How Tae & Bo Took Over the World and Kung & Fu Didn't," an apocryphal bible story featuring a frank discussion of what government really is
To the west, the forest was not half as thick. Within minutes, Barbara was on the edge of a long stretch of lawn. Moonlight colored everything an eerie shade of grey. In the distance, the pastel walls of the Château de Bagatelle gleamed. It was hopelessly far away. It didn't matter. Barbara ran.
Luka reached the edge. He was not a slim man. It took him a few moments to catch up. He grabbed Barbara's cloak. He pulled her back. He wrapped himself around her. He clamped her mouth shut.
– from "Paris Is For Rapists, Too," a ghost story featuring a cloak
Shephard begged. "At least cut the trip in two. You don't want to sleep on the road. You want to sleep in a bed." The thought appealed to Clark's sense of hygiene. He was willing to consider it.
– from "Two Dudes and a Chinese Desert," a friendship story featuring hopeless people
"There is no doubt," they said. "The autumnal equal-night passes from the Scorpion's claws to Heavens' mistress [e.g. Virgo]. Southern peoples worship the claws as scales of justice. If Indra has ordered Asvin to abandon justice, there is no hope. Wealth will continue to erode at the hands of the Paralatai. Southern peoples will be tempted to invade. Many of them worship the woman. The highlands call her Ishtar; the lowlands, Inanna."
– from "In the Beginning, There was Gog," a fantasy story featuring a strong woman
"Thank God," she cried. "What's going on?"
"Armed police. They have Clark." Shephard went inside.
"What's he doing here?"
Use of Hope in Sorry Ms. Jackson
A real play. With drama in it. Talk fast. It takes two hours. Set in a guest house. In a small community. After a murder. Lots of suspicion. The characters learn to listen to each other. It's funny.
KOKOMO: (off) I'm a big girl: I can handle it. Just push it in.
GREY GOOSE: (off) The hole's not big enough.
KOKOMO: (off) I'm pulling it apart. Just stick it in.
MS. JACKSON: My God. They're having sex in my kitchen.
LESBIAN: You don't know that.
MS. JACKSON: What else could it be? My husband's been trying to get into my cook's panties since the day I hired her: the lecherous old goat. Homo!
LESBIAN: What?
MS. JACKSON: Go in there.
LESBIAN: Me?
MS. JACKSON: Yes.
– ACT I, lines 937-946
(There is a large gush of water from the kitchen.)
MS. JACKSON: Ah!
LESBIAN: Ooh!
KOKOMO: Oh!
ALICE: I'm lucky I'm still wearing my swimsuit.
GREY GOOSE: Shut it off!
FLETCHER: (off) What?
GREY GOOSE: Shut it off! Quickly!
– ACT I, lines 1185-1191
(ALICE and FLETCHER exit. LESBIAN and MS. JACKSON enter with their tea.)
MS. JACKSON: Tell me more about Egypt. You were saying something about locusts.
LESBIAN: When I arrived in November the country was under attack. Locusts were everywhere: in the north, in the south, in the east, in the west. Farmers who couldn't afford pesticides were burning tires to survive. It just so happened I arrived in Cairo at the exact moment that the swarm was passing through on its way to the Red Sea.
MS. JACKSON: Where did they come from?
LESBIAN: West Africa. They crossed the Sahara to get there. They were very hungry. They would fall onto your plate and get stuck in your glass. By the time I got to Aswan, the regional governor offered a two hundred Egyptian pound reward for any information leading to the destruction of a swarm.
MS. JACKSON: Did you find one?
LESBIAN: No.
MS. JACKSON: Does that sort of thing happen often? A swarm of locusts sounds so biblical.
LESBIAN: The very next year I took a trip to Hawai'i. They were suffering from a gall wasp invasion.
MS. JACKSON: What's a gall wasp?
LESBIAN: How would he feel if he saw us?
MS. JACKSON: What does it matter?
LESBIAN: It does.
MS. JACKSON: Why?
LESBIAN: I don't want hurt him either.
MS. JACKSON: Is that what you're afraid of? Are you afraid of what people might say?
LESBIAN: That's ridiculous.
MS. JACKSON: Are you afraid of having to stay here on Norfolk?
LESBIAN: I'm not afraid of anything.
MS. JACKSON: Neither am I. I'm not afraid anymore. I'm not afraid of arson or gossip or what people might say if they knew about us. I've been set free from all of those things. I'm no longer afraid of being hurt. Oh, Homo! Do you know what I suffered? It was worse than any prison. The walls were all around my heart. It was like being perpetually pinched. I am grateful to you for saving me from all of that pain. You showed me freedom.
Use of Hope in Miscellaneous Dingbats
A story book full of short fiction stories. An interesting bedtime mystery. A fairy tale. Science fiction romance. Adult life. Uninspiring gay fiction. Horror.
Something glimmered through the haze above the clouds. It was the sails of Captain Orbitz's ship. Hundreds of thousands of miles long. Pfizer paused. He wanted to see if he could spot lensing from the gravitational pull of the tesseract. After a moment he shut his eyes. He was succumbing to the glamour of the dark side. It was unacceptable to glorify such hideous machines of war.
– from "Titan's Reign," a science fiction story from which hope cannot emerge even when it's traveling at light speed
I got off the bus at a small town. It was a two hour wait for the minibus to the village. People in the square stared at me. I kept hearing the words, "Dirty chocolate. Wipe your face." Something possessed me to buy a towel and a box of chocolates. I walked around with them. It made me feel like I was in on a joke.
– from "A Black Man in Moscow," an inspirational story that describes life as we have been given it, though hopefully we can change it
Orbitz typed agan. "Why is the life support system on?"
A moment passed before the response appeared. Marriott wrote, "You turned it on yourself, Rishi."
"No, I didn't," said Orbitz out loud.
A response appeared. "I do not wish to argue"
– from "The Death and Life of Captain Orbitz," a science fiction romance which hopefully would make Lem proud, if you know who that is
My friends kept telling me I was crazy. They said no matter how bad it is in the city at least I have friends. In the village I would have nobody. It was true. I didn't argue. I didn't want them to know what was on my mind. I was thinking what good are friends if they can't protect you. I knew it wasn't their fault.
– from "A Black Man in Moscow," an inspirational story that describes life on this planet, though hopefully we can change
The bank on the corner of Lima and Rebelo streets was a big bank. It had a glass tower reaching up into the heavens like every other building in the area. It was an old bank. Its first two floors were refreshingly free of the massive luxury watch billboards and perfume ads that littered the eye in every direction. The walls were made of stone. Walking further I realized it was just a facade. But the wall that ran perpendicular to Lima and Rebelo streets had a gallery on the second floor. It was the one old thing of substance I could see. The one part of the old building you could actually stand on. For a second I imagined myself in 19th century China as if I were a young Rebelo in love with a young Lima whose father owned the bank and whom I was dangerously wooing from the street with a bouquet of flowers. The world was beautiful and full of hope. Until the garbage truck honked for me to get out of the way.
– from "Beautiful Branca," a true story that includes fiction as far as I can tell
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Love is the answer...
What are we waiting for? Let's accept it!
Are you a eunuch?
The art show that defies abuse
The Body Acceptance Calendar
A really good idea for a monthly calendar
If a 45-year-old businesswoman and hard working mother of three kids is going to pose nude for a calendar, it's gonna have to be a good one. Margo didn't start a coffee shop called the Vagina Cafe to win her favors from the establishment. Even as she dishes out prizes to the 20 women who placed last in the twentienth anniversary run of her town's biggest road race, her business, unlike everyone else, doesn't get mentioned. She was an official sponsor for Christ's sake! But the announcer just couldn't swallow his patriarchy and get the words "Vagina Cafe" out of his mouth. That's not something a proper gentleman would say in front of a crowd of humble God-fearing "ladies" who cherish their modesty! And a Body Acceptance Calendar is certainly not what a humble God-fearing book-seller like a Barnes and Noble would put on their shelves! So how do I expect to sell this in the mainstream? Maybe if you download the free versions a thousand billion times it might help. Start downloading.
If you would like to enquire about a product you've seen on this page, fill out the enquiry form.
Our aesthetic...
What is Acceptance Art?
Acceptance means tolerating idiots. Acceptance means promoting democracy and the strength of the assembly. It means making sure that everybody is given a voice, even those among us who have been turned into eunuchs. The art of Acceptance is learning how to listen. Acceptance means opening your heart.
Acceptance will help us to ignore the Popes and Emperors and Presidents of our time who try to convince us that we are or should be eunuchs.
A Short History of Dictionaries
The word dictionary seems to have come into use in Europe first as the presumably made-up Latin term dictionarium meaning literally speak-chest, or place where you keep stuff that's spoken, the way a solarium means a place where you keep little bits of the sun. Now whether a solarium in practice means a room full of windows or a place where you keep an artifical tanning bed is a cultural matter. Similarly, what might be contained in any specific book calling itself a dictionary is a matter of priority based on a publisher's cultural goals, of which there could be many that despite an author's best intentions may conflict with each other. Deciding which dictionary supports which pillars of culture and how they do it and how well they do it is a process that every dictionary user can benefit from. It's a matter of getting to the bottom of things.
An alphabetical index of dictionaries with links to their chronological entries.
American Heritage Dict. of American English
The Heritage strives to polish up the giant block that Webster left in the pillar of education.1969
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
The Cambridge Learner's Dictionary builds the pillar of education.2003
Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English
The Concise Oxford steered the Oxford brand away from science and towards the pillar of education.1911
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Longman builds the pillar of education.1978
Macmillan English Dict. for Advanced Learners
The Macmillan Dictionary builds the pillar of education.2002
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary
The Collegiate dictionary was built on the pillar of education left behind by Webster.1898
American Dictionary of the English Language
Webster's dictionary helped establish the pillar of education in America and around the English-speaking world.1828
OneLook Dictionary Search
OneLook is a way to search many dictionaries at once, building the pillar of science.1996
Oxford Adv. Amer. Dict. for Learners of English
The latest block in the pillar of education from Oxford University Press.2011
Oxford Adv. Learner's Dict. of Current English
The Oxford Learner's Dictionary was and remains a seminal block in the pillar of education.1948
A pair of British and American dictionaries lifting up the pillar of education.2010
Reference.com features a dictionary that helps build the pillar of capitalism.1997
Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language
Johnson's dictionary laid the ground for the pillars of science and art that Oxford University Press would later come to build.1755
Sketch Engine
Sketch Engine is a commercial tool that helps form part of the scientific basis of the modern dictionary.2003
The Online Slang Dictionary builds the pillars of science and assembly.1996
TheFreeDictionary by Farlex, Inc
TheFreeDictionary by Farlex builds the pillar of capitalism.2003
The Urban Dictionary builds the pillar of assembly as well as the pillar of art, sometimes in a way that would presumably make Samuel Johnson proud - oftentimes not.1999
Wikipedia builds the pillar of education in the tradition of Webster.2001
Wiktionary strives to build both the pillar of education and the pillar of science.2002
Wordnik is a website building the pillars of science, art and assembly.2009
A chronological account of dictionaries starting from the present-day
2011 – Oxford Advanced American Dictionary for Learners of English
Unfortunately, as much as the computer and the digitized corpus have improved our understanding of how words are used in print, it hasn't helped us much with pronunciation. Though based on the same solid corpora analysis as the grandiose Oxford English Dictionary and the same educational orientation as Hornby's original Learner's Dictionary, The Oxford Advanced American Dictionary has been criticized for fumbling on phonetics, leaving many students scratching their heads as to how Americans actual pronounce English.
2010 – Oxford Dictionaries Online
Together with its American version, the New Oxford American Dictionary, the Oxford Dictionary of English forms the basis for the Oxford Dictionaries Online.
2009 – Wordnik
The idea behind Wordnik was to create a place on the web where you could go to find out everything you might expect from a dictionary for every word that you might expect to exist. The result is that Wordnik has compiled a corpus of billions of words and uses that data to show you a lot of sentences for every word whose usage you request to have illustrated.
2003 – Sketch Engine
Thanks to the computer, what took Samuel Johnson nine years to accomplish, Sketch Engine can do in nine seconds. Subscribing to a Sketch Engine account gives you access to corpora for 42 languages - you can even upload your own. Sketch Engine has been brought to us by Lexical Computing Ltd since 2003 and is a great way to study collocation, or the pattern of one word occurring in close proximity to another.
2003 – TheFreeDictionary by Farlex, Inc
TheFreeDictionary.com is best understood as being a search engine provider, seeing as how you can also use Google and Bing directly from TheFreeDictionary.com's customizable home-page.
2003 – Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
Cambridge had the innovation of actually making the Advanced part of the title mean something by subsequently publishing a Cambridge Learner's Dictionary geared toward intermediate to upper-intermediate students.
2002 – Wiktionary
As an open online dictionary, Wiktionary has a simpler and somewhat better defined acceptance policy than similar projects, for example if usage of a word is not clearly widespread or at least featured in a well-known work, its usage must be attested in a permanent medium in at least three independent instances spanning at least a year.
2002 – Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners
The online edition features an "open dictionary" for which users can submit entries, although it is unclear what percentage of those users are studying English as a foreign language. The most recent entry that caught my eye was a definition for the term "the ladeez," which was then subsequently spelled "laydeez" in the example sentence.
2001 – Wikipedia
The attempts of volunteer editors to reach consensus over issues such as article deletion would indicate that an encyclopedia, rather than being a comprehensive summation of human knowledge should more appropriately be understood as a cultural dictionary that is subject to the same often contradictory cultural purposes that Webster and other creators of linguistic dictionaries were incapable of avoiding.
1999 – Urban Dictionary
The Urban Dictionary is a good example of how digital technology can increase the ability of a dictionary to record language usage while at the same time decreasing its ability to systematically influence the use of a common language through education. Unlike Webster's Dictionary, which sought to simplify language in order to make a common tongue more accessible, the Urban Dictionary encourages language-users to increase the complexity of a language for aesthetic purposes, necessarily decreasing its utilitarian value.
1997 – Reference.com
Reference.com generally reproduces its content from other sources, in what is most certainly a long tradition in publishing, or at least dictionary publishing, as evidenced by the example of Random House, which acquired the rights to the Century Dictionary and the Dictionary of American English and reworked it into something called the American College Dictionary, which they eventually augmented into the Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, the first dictionary compiled with the help of computers, which they eventually renamed the Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, for no other reason except that they could and because the resulting confusion it was no doubt believed would help more than it would hurt them.
1996 – OneLook Dictionary Search
In a great example of OneLook's usefulness, the search string "wh???ver" will find words that start with wh, end with ver, and have 3 letters in between.
1996 – The Online Slang Dictionary
The democratic nature of its compilation and features such as vulgarity voting would probably please Webster if he were around to see it, although he might be worried that the very idea of a slang dictionary is leading people astray from the self-improvement and common "federal tongue" he worked so hard to foster.
1978 – Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Hopefully the fact that all the definitions are written using only 2000 words should help. 2000 is still a lot of words and I wonder how many of them are part of the 3000 most frequent words in spoken and written English that Longman highlights. Hopefully nobody from the American Heritage Dictionary is angered by my use of the word hopefully.
1969 – American Heritage Dictionary of American English
The American Heritage Dictionary was published to remind people that schoolmarms who grew up using Webster's 1841 edition don't like it when you use the contraction "ain't."
1948 – Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English
The source material for the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary was prepared for non-native English speakers by Albert Sydney Hornby over the course of many years while he was both in the West and in the East. Albert Sydney Hornby went to Japan in 1923 to teach literature but ended up realizing that nobody there knew English well enough to make it worthwhile, so he set about creating what would eventually become the Advanced Learner's Dictionary after a long saga that involved World War II and paper rationing. The Advanced Learner's Dictionary was original published as the Idiomatic and Syntactic Dictionary in Japan on April 20, 1942 and is still in print there. Everywhere else (except China, which in those days was under the brutal occupation of Japan) it became the Oxford Dictionary of choice for students of English who aren't ready for the big time.
1911 – Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English
Its most recent edition contains around 240,000 entries and is used by the United Nations as a spelling authority for international English-language documents.
The Concise Oxford has a popular claim to fame as the dictionary originally used on the British game show Countdown, the Tenth Edition being involved in a controversy on the show due to its lack of compound words.
1898 – Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary
Webster's dictionary was completely revised in 1909 and subsequently styled Webster's New International Dictionary, the third edition of which, published in 1961, remains the definitive American dictionary against which all others are measured.
1828 – Noah Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language
Noah Webster was born in West Hartford, Connecticut and went on to become a pioneering writer and reformer. He didn't always have it easy. He studied law while simultaneously holding down a full-time teaching job. He quit law for a year because he was so burned out until he finally found a lawyer who actually had the time to care about a fellow human being. Thanks to his mentor, he was able to pass the bar in 1781. The Revolutionary War was still raging and he couldn't get a job.
Noah eventually got smart and founded a private school for the wealthy in Goshen, New York. He still harbored revolutionary sentiments as far as culture was concerned. For him America represented a triumph over the idiotic traditions of feudal Europe. He believed American tolerance and respect for individual rights were good things. His work in creating a better and bigger dictionary was meant to provide a strong intellectual guide for honest Americans.
Wrapped up into Webster's revolutionary zeal was the goal of secularizing American culture. His spelling book never mentioned God or the Bible not because Webster didn't appreciate them but because he wanted to keep them separate. In Webster's practice of it, education was a civilizing force in its own right. He was aware that the way people acquire and use a shared language reflects and informs their common values. Republicanism and liberty had to be among them. By 1837, his well-ordered spelling book had sold 15 million copies. By 1890, 60 million.
In contrast, Webster's first dictionary only sold 2,500 copies. Despite the lack of recognition, and the denunciations of cultural snobs, he immediately began expanding it. To ensure the authenticity of his etymologies, he studied twenty-six languages and traveled abroad. After 18 years, Webster had compiled a dictionary of 70,000 words, a large portion of which had never before been indexed. He introduced many modern spellings of words that have lasted to this day, such as wagon instead of waggon. Despite being criticized by some as vulgar, Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language went on to dominate the English-speaking world. Poets such as Emily Dickinson swore by it.
To learn more about Webster's life and influence, consider a great book by Joshua Kendall that doesn't shirk from giving a complete picture of the man, obsessions and all.
1755 – Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language
Samuel Johnson's Dictionary was a very interesting and influential work of scholarship. More than 20 dictionaries had already been published in England but none of them matched the breadth and scope of what Johnson accomplished.
The work came at an important time in the history of England because books were no longer the sole domain of chaste monks who did nothing but transcribe old papyrus. Regular people were actually starting to read. They preferred it when a certain word was always spelled the same way and not in ten different ways. Johnson's in that sense was the W3C Standard of its day.
Purchase a digital copy of Johnson's work for your Kindle from Amazon.
There are a lot more dictionaries out there to be explored. To get a clear look at how much of a cultural window a dictionary can be, consider browsing entries catalogued by fat Captain Grose back in 1785 under the title Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue , a dictionary OF BUCKISH SLANG, UNIVERSITY WIT, AND PICKPOCKET ELOQUENCE.
To get some insight into what kind of a person does a thing like write a dictionary (besides me), I recommend reading some of Douglas Harper's articles on culture. He's a historian whose entry for the word dictionary in his Online Etymology Dictionary I hyperlink to in the introduction to this section. His thoughtful and honest writing on topics such as the promotion of physical desire or the study of sexuality contrast well with more impassioned articles in defense of the under-appreciated American "middle-man" or the connotative strength of a comparison of historic French slavery in the New World with the record of slavery in what is now the United States, a topic of particular interest for Mr. Harper and one which is at the top of no doubt many an American's cultural agenda.
Help me keep the "Hope Springs Eternal" page alive...
If you love women and art...
Margo Presents
Vagina Night
What was once a coffee shop is now one of the best "noclegi" in Bielsko Biała - that is, a beautiful room for rent!
The Vagina Cafe was a living example of Acceptance art that bridged the gap between the seven pillars of culture...
Situated inside the courtyard of a beautiful pre-war building in the town of Bielsko-Biała, there once was a cafe dedicated not only to a decent cup of coffee, not just to an excellent vegetarian meal, not even to the special ambience created by the expert hand of its one-of-a-kind hostess...
Above all "Vagina," as it was called in its native Poland, was dedicated to improving the life of the average Polish woman, through workshops and monthly get-togethers, through sponsorship of local sporting and social events, through its constant presence during the many crisis-filled years of our world's recent past...
The Vagina Cafe strove to remind people that "Vagina" is not a dirty word and that every woman deserves a place that isn't defined by four walls and a ceiling but by the people who welcome her in it, by the people, both male and female, who accept her presence as an equal.
The Vagina Cafe isn't now just a memory; it lives on in my heart and in my dedication to improving the lives of women and thereby the quality of civilization of the world at large. I am proud to say that far from being cold and shuttered, the Vagina Cafe lives on as "Vagina Night," an apartment for rent like no other that keeps the adventurous traveler to Bielsko-Biala warm and cozy - thanks largely to the enormous chimney whose installation I helped to finance.
It is my humble honor to represent the art of the fine ladies of the Silesian region, which cradled me in birth, to my fine and fellow citizens of the United States, who nurtured me into adulthood. Please share with me this noble initiative!"
Margo went the distance to entertain, enliven, and enrich her community...
Drawings from the Vagina Cafe menu by Michal Slaby
The hard work helped give a lot of women a sense of confidence and strength...
The Vagina Cafe may be gone, but the spirit of Vagina continues. Long live Vagina Night!
www.thevaginacafe.com hostsMajkel's Polsko-Angielski Słownika Polish-English version of Michal's dictionary
If you know a Polish speaker or two trying to learn English, tell them to try it out!
Are you buying this?
What?I import contemporary art to the United States from Europe... That includes icons, drafts, models, cultivars, hand-crafted merchandise and tools, documents and records. It's not so much the shape of the art that's important. It's the aesthetic that counts.
Embedded in every true art piece is a philosophical message... - an idea, whose expression determines the work's ultimate value. Before you invest in a piece of art you need to consult a person who knows what he's talking about.
Who?The vast majority of artists have gone to an academy to try to master a particular technique... Before I became a practicing artist, I earned a degree in Art History from Georgetown University. I wanted to know where art had come from and what people of succeeding generations had valued in that work.
Understanding the history of art and the history of civilization in general is crucial... to knowing where the practice of art is truly heading. It's one thing to paint in a striking manner or to decorate a piece of pottery in a beautiful way. It's quite another to create paintings or pottery that represent the ideas that succeeding generations will come to embrace rather than abandon.
I can't predict the future... I don't know with certainty how the value of the art that I represent will grow or what the reputations of my fellow artists will be in the years to come. I can claim that my work and the work that I put forward represents a desire to create a new and better world through hard work and innovation rather than reacting to corruption and vice with self-satisfied irony and cleverness.
The art that represents the values of a better tommorow will bring the best return on your investment.
Whose? Which?There are historic and demographic reasons why the artists of Silesia are best positioned to create the art of tomorrow... The pre-war German population of Silesia was expelled by Soviet military and political forces not long after the capitulation of the Nazi regime. This was accompanied by territorial expansion at the expense of the German state by its neighbors to the east.
People from diverse communities came from all across Eastern Europe to settle in Silesia... - people of different faiths, different dialects, and different histories found themselves next door to each other in a place whose traditions they didn't know. They were compelled to learn how to listen.
Two generations have passed since those terrible days of exile and resettlement... Institutions have grown. Prosperity continues to be nurtured. With prosperity has come the opportunity to express the unique tradition of Silesia through the many voices of the artists whose work I have described for you here.
Where?I find the work in Silesia - in Poland - in Europe... I purchase it and at my own risk and cost I export it to the United States, where my family has a home at 201 Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, New Jersey.
When?I am a self-financed independent artist... I don't have a trust fund or wealthy relatives. I worked as a rural letter carrier at the post office in West Milford and I still use the money I earned delivering mail to finance everything from my personal expenses to the Vagina Cafe's new chimney to the art collections you see described here.
I am not an international corporation... I am a hard-working American who was born in Silesia in Poland and who wants the best for both of his countries. I am a citizen diplomat. I continuously export this art as my resources allow because I think it's a good investment. Please consider purchasing something you like even if it's not yet available stateside. Your purchase gives me the confidence I need to keep going.
How?All purchases must be paid by USPS Money Order... This is a safe and cost-effective financial instrument. Each USPS Money Order up to $500.00 costs $1.20 and each order from $500.01 up to $1,000.00 costs only $1.60.
Make each money order payable to M. Slaby at 201 Ridge Road in West Milford, New Jersey... and have it sent to the same address. The postal code is 07480-3112. Be sure to at least mark the envelope with the lot and item number you wish to purchase - that way, if the item becomes unavailable I can simply have the envelope returned to you without even opening it. Be sure to save your receipt for the money order from the post office in order to reclaim your money.
If you want your money credited automatically to a similar item... once it becomes available or to a different item entirely just let me know by at least marking the envelope with the word "credit." It doesn't hurt to put your calling card in the envelope so I know how to contact you should the need arise.
I don't cash your money orders until your purchase is safely in the United States... and I'm in the process of sending you a receipt. However, it would greatly please me if you would like to make the sum of your money order available to me as a loan at no interest, which might be needed to expediate the export of a given lot. If that would please you then by all means please let me know by at least marking the envelope with the word "loan." I would sincerely appreciate it as one small businessman to another.
Why?Money orders are safe and cheap... It's one of the many services provided by the United States Postal Service that I believe in - despite having personally resigned from the Service because of its exploitation of labor. Unfortunately, the banks that issue credit cards exploit people even more and I don't relish the idea of giving away two percent of the value of every transaction in exchange for the convenience of using credit information to facilitate trade. It's a racket that traps consumers and cripples merchants while benefiting primarily the monied interest that rules our somewhat democratic Republic.
Art shouldn't be bought on credit... A wise man invests his savings into fine art to avoid inflation and to potentially profit from the support given to a contemporary artist whose skill is readily perceived. There is also the joy to be felt from possessing a unique artifact of human ingenuity and the pride that comes from participating in its maintenance. This feeling is priceless.
Michal is importing art...is he bats?
Michal's Sales Pitch
Lot 1: Silesian Handicrafts
T-shirt fundraiser for sale
Last T-Shirt with the logo that I designed.
From a set of, I believe, twenty produced by Margo and given out to a portion of the last 20 women to finish the 20th anniversary Fiat Road Race in Bielsko-Biała, cf. the movie. This is the last one left in it's original packaging and my supporters - like the poor women of Bielsko - are going to have to fight for it. Whoever invests the most money with me, and who lets me borrow it to invest in the next lot, will not only be rewarded with some beautiful piece of art, but will get this priceless t-shirt as a reward for being my top supporter. $1000.00 or best offer. Remember to authorize me to hold the sum as credit against a future purchase and to authorize me to borrow against it.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #1 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Felt handbag for sale
Felt bag by Dorota.
Entirely hand-sewn. Base: polyester felt, 100% PE. Motif: South American woolen yarn, dyed, 100% wool. Hand-worked with a needle. Unique and inimitable design. Inside: cotton fabric, closes with zipper, inside pocket. Available now for $220.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
Decorative collar for sale
Decorative collar by Zuzanna.
Ethnic layered cloth jewelry constructed on a cotton base and adorned with ribbons, tassels, and a yellow fringe. Fastened on the side with 11 buttons, fitted entirely with a pleasant lining. The style is an Indo-Asian-African multinational color combination. The collar is very extravagant and an extraordinary addition to any clothing, guaranteed to attract attention. Just a simple dress and a unique image is ready. Dry-cleaning recommended. Available now for $200.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
Seamless handbag for sale
Handbag by Sylwia.
Handmade from felted all-natural Australian and South American wool. Entirely felted, seamless. Finished with a white lining, inside is a small pocket. Lining is sewn and stitched in by hand. Available now for $180.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
Patchwork quilt for sale
Patchwork quilt by Alicja.
Bedspread made of cotton and polyester material. Inserted with polyester lining. 90 by 70 cm. Available now for $120.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
Nuno-felt shawl for sale
Shawl by Sylwia.
Scarf made with the nuno felting technique (wet felting fibre into a silk gauze) using South American wool. Two-sided scarf with latticework at the ends. Wholly in the colors red, black, green in an abstract pattern. Available now for $100.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
Clara the doll for sale
Clara by Alicja.
Clara loves roses and greenery, adores tormenting spiders with long legs and sleeping soundly in the afternoon. Cuddly toy made of cotton and polyester, stuffed with polyester lining. Available now for $70.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
Noah the doll for sale
Noah by Alicja.
Noah doesn't know what to like and what not to like but keeps wondering and thinking about it. Cuddly toy made of cotton and polyester, stuffed with polyester lining. Available now for $70.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
Black suspenders for sale
Black suspenders by Zuzanna.
Two-sided suspenders from black material with a rose motif on one side and striped cotton on the other. Connected by a leather triangle. Adjustable length. Hand washing in cold water recommended. Available now for $50.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
Orange suspenders for sale
Orange suspenders by Zuzanna.
Two-sided suspenders made of denim and orange material with a Polish floral folk design. Connected by a leather triangle. Adjustable length. Hand washing in cold water recommended. Available now for $50.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #10 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Green suspenders for sale
Green suspenders by Zuzanna.
Two-sided suspenders made of denim and green material with a mountain folk design. Connected by a leather triangle. Adjustable length. Hand washing in cold water recommended. Available now for $50.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
Felt earrings for sale
Felt earrings by Dorota.
Material: South American woolen yarn, dyed, 100% wool. Hand-worked with a needle. Pendant of anti-allergenic metal. Available now for $40.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
Round ceramic earrings for sale
Round ceramic earrings by Dorota.
Material: Glazed ceramics, hand-molded. Available now for $40.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
Oblong ceramic earrings for sale
Oblong ceramic earrings by Dorota.
'Coral' necklace for sale
Corals by Sylwia.
Necklace made of cotton pieces with organdy and decorated with beads, suspended on cotton strings. Can be worn as a necklace, as a brooch or as a belt tied at the side. Available now for $40.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
About the site...
About the name...
My personal policy...
My privacy policy...
Copyright information...
Photo montage by Michal Slaby
Do not abuse another's work
The internet is a medium that seriously challenges society's understanding of copyright. In order to view a web page, an internet user makes a copy of it. So anyone writing "All rights reserved" at the bottom of their page is writing nonsense. By publishing on the web they've implicitly waived the right to control how many digital copies are made. That said, if you want to quote me, quote me. Tell your audience where you got the content from. Never try to pass yourself off as me. You will embarrass yourself. Do not scrape content from this site. You're going to hurt yourself. Do not plagiarize me. You will look like a fool. Find your own voice. People want to hear it - even if your boss tells you otherwise. If your words are important, they will be shared. If you gorge yourself on another's man's corn, start tilling his field.
I have faith
I pursue commercial transactions in good faith. I follow up on enquiries in good faith. I listen to propositions in good faith. I consider submissions for listings and comments in good faith. I don't like ninjas who lure me into traps. If you are a ninja who does something like that, you will make me think twice about respecting your privacy. Otherwise, why would you worry about it? This site is hand-coded. If a mistake has been made it's not because I'm incompetent. More than likely it's because I've been distracted by somebody else's mistakes and I can't tell you about them because respecting people's privacy is considered such a great thing. I like it too, but I don't fetishize it. Sometimes a little public air is what the issue needs, even if it means feeling a little humiliated.
My name is on the line
I choose not sell or promote a piece of art unless I'm confident it will appreciate in value. That is a fiduciary duty. Nor will I hide an artist who may still be in the process of formation and who needs to be trusted. That is an aesthetic duty. I won't act like you're wasting my time just because you're an idiot. I won't roll my eyes because for some reason you're not ready for the high-end. That is a democratic duty.
I want better art in my hands and in your hands. I want something we can both be proud of. I won't waste your time or my time trying to talk you into something you don't need. If you don't need art, close the page and don't come back. Otherwise don't be intimidated. Be prepared to face my judgment. Be prepared to protect your own interest. I can't do it for you. I'm an artist doubling as an art dealer. I'm not your lawyer. I have to protect the art first. Then I have to protect the artists I work with. If you're in the process of becoming a true art collector, that's your policy too.
Why 4Occupy?
It doesn't matter what your opinion is of the Occupy movement. At best a bunch of loony freedom fighters or at worst a terrorist mess. You may not even realize that it still exists and that it's still maturing or that it's done a lot of great work providing disaster relief.
What's important is that you know what my opinion is. Yes, it's important that you listen to me: Michal. That's what Occupying teaches me to do. I'm constantly learning how to listen to myself and to others especially when I'm pushing myself to listen to a bunch of loons. You can't govern well unless you know how to listen and democracy will never succeed until we all know how to consider another person's needs as if they were our own. Give yourself the power to accept a prayer. Be 4Occupy.
Whose art? What kind of art?
This is a curated hand-coded online art gallery. It has standards. Those standards are dictated by the aesthetic principles of its owner.
I, Michal Slaby, commit myself to practicing a culture of Acceptance. I have little patience for feudalism. I'm talking about the Lords and Ladies who seat themselves atop a pillar of culture and look down upon the world. I favor people of the world. I favor outsiders. I favor artists who are cultivating their ability to listen.
I have no time for the art of yesterday. I have no time for the cesspool of abstraction. I have no time for people who are trying to be clever. This is a site for honest, hard-working artists no matter what their training.
"Hope Springs Eternal" Page Author:
BDay 1982-05-23
ADay 2012-06-01
Michal Slaby
"Slabs"
(Mr. Michał Marek Słaby,B.A.)
4Occupybio,e-mail
Rynek 18/5
55-100Trzebnica
Dolny Sląsk, Poland


Not only that, but while you're jetting around in Freemode, you can earn double RP for flying under bridges and for completing lessons at the San Andreas Flight School.
Launch yourself directly into the double GTA$ & RP Versus Missions when starting up GTAV, by pressing a single button when prompted on the GTAV loading screens. Since there are so many modes to get through, Rockstar are switching up the Playlist every couple of days.
Don't forget to check out our Facebook Page, our Facebook Group and Twitter and follow for all the latest Xbox One news, reviews and competitions.
Aussies: Win Tickets to Our Rainbow Six Siege Burnt Horizon Launch Party!
21/02/2019 Jon Comments Off on Aussies: Win Tickets to Our Rainbow Six Siege Burnt Horizon Launch Party!


Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA), The Sportsmen's Voice for Our Wild Public Lands, Waters and Wildlife, is pleased to announce our 3rd Annual North American Rendezvous, to be held March 21 – 23, 2014, in Southeast Denver, Colorado at the Red Lion Hotel.
We wanted to take a minute to share with you an organization that fights on behalf of issues that mean a lot to us. Mainly public lands. Go to either the BHA website or their Facebook page and see what they are all about. First Lite will be joining the national rendezvous for the first time March 21-23 in Denver CO, and we hope to see you there.


Miami, Florida (November 5, 2018) – Cinépolis, the fourth largest movie theater circuit in the world, and #1 in Mexico and Latin America, has selected CIELO as its provider of choice for digital management, monitoring and support of the entire Cinépolis circuit across the world. CIELO is joining forces with CES+, who has a longstanding business alliance with Cinépolis, and will act as the integrator channel partner and primary manager of the account.
CIELO's cutting-edge technology will be deployed throughout Cinépolis' global circuit of 691 locations and 5,609 screens worldwide, as well as any new screens or upcoming locations that Cinépolis opens or acquires in the coming years. This partnership marks a milestone in CIELO's history as it is the largest implementation for the company to date and the first to span across all continents.
After months of trials and testing, Cinépolis chose CIELO not only for its seamless digital experience but also for its ability to deliver high-efficiency and greater cost-savings, resulting in substantial operational costs in saved shows, on-site tech times and resource optimization with an estimated ROI for Cinépolis of 11 times the cost of employing CIELO.
CIELO revolutionized the movie industry when it launched in 2015, marking a turning point in theater operations as exhibitors joined the Internet of Things (IoT) era.
Cinépolis was founded in Mexico in 1971. Today it has positioned itself as the world's 2nd largest movie theater circuit in terms of moviegoers, operating 691 cinema complexes, 5,609 screens and entertaining over 338 million moviegoers annually with presence in 17 countries worldwide.
It was the first cinema exhibitor in the world to pioneer the concept of luxury movie theaters, establishing the first luxury theater experience in 1999 in Mexico City. Cinépolis aspires to provide its guests with the best overall experience in film entertainment and employs a global workforce of more than 39,185 people to support its mission.


Beaches are with no doubt the most well known and popular diversity of Brazil. Some say that the most beautiful beaches are located in the northeastern part of Brazil, other prefer the waters of Southern coast. After all, the basic rule is that the whole eastern coastline is full of beautiful beaches and and finding a favourite depends on your personal preferences. Therefore we are not going to tell you where to find the most beautiful beaches, just sharing our experiences with you.
In the northest part of Brazilian coast, in such states as Amapa, Pará and Maranhão, you will find many areas where the waters of the rivers meet the sea. Due to this mixture the color of the sea in these areas is not as blue as in another areas. However paradise destination such as Ilha do Algodoal and Ilha do Marajó, both in the state of Pará, can be found in these parts of the country. A number of river beaches can also be found in the states with rainforest areas, probably the most well known of them is the beach of Alter do Chão (Pará), which was recently chosen among the most beautiful beaches of the word by La Guardian.
June and July will have heavy rain showers in the northeastern coast, though there are some raither drier states like Ceará and Rio Grande do Norte, dominated by the dunes. In Ceára and Maranhão you will be able to enjoy heavy winds as well, making these destinations ideal for watersports, such as surfing, wind surf and kite surf. Just to name few of them you will find for example Jericoacoara and Canoa Quebrada in Ceará. From the states of Rio Grande do Norte, Pernambuco and Alagoas you will find a number of beaches dominated by the coral reefs. In these areas the waters are calm and clear making it easy to snorkel around and observe the richness of the sea life. Some of the most popular of them are Porto de Galinhas in Pernambuco and Pipa in Rio Grande de Norte. The most famous snorkeling and diving destination in Brazil is with no doubt the island of Fernando de Noronha (Pernambuco), located in the Atlantic Ocean, about 500 km from the continent at the level of Rio Grande do Norte.
The coast of Bahia is full of breathtaking beaches, such as Mangue Seco, Praia do Forte, Morro de São Paulo (island), Boipeba (island), Caraiva, Arraial d'Ajuda, Trancoso, Maraú, Barra Grande, Ilheus, Itacare, just to mention few of them. After having visited the endless number of beautiful bahian beaches, it's easy to understand why is Brazilian state is one of the leading tourism destinations of the country. When travelling to north or northeastern Brazil, it's good to remember that the rainy season is from January till March/April (north) or from the end of April till August (northeast) depending on the destination.
The southeastern part of the country enjoys also a number of beautiful beaches. There is no need to mention the world famous urban beaches of Rio de Janeiro, but surely it's important to remember that there are much to be found in the southern states as well. An escape from the urban life can be done by visiting the popular beaches of picturesque Búzios or hideaway paradise Ilha Grande in Rio de Janeiro. The state of São Paulo offers hidden treasures such as the beaches of Ubatuba in the northern part of the state. The southest part of Brazil has a limited climate, but during the summer time the real pearl of southern Brazil, Florianopolis and surrounding beaches such as Barra da Lagoa and Praia do Campeche can be discovered.


text:
10 Amazing Places in Northern Ireland
We've packed a lot into this 60 second video to show you just how amazing Northern Ireland is. Want to know more?
How about tracing the footsteps of giants at a UNESCO World Heritage Site? Following the International Appalachian Trail in the Sperrins, or exploring the untamed landscapes of the Mourne Mountains sweeping down to the sea – the place where Clive Staples Lewis found his fantastical winterland of Narnia come to shape in his mind's eye.
"I have seen landscapes, notably in the Mourne Mountains and southwards which under a particular light made me feel that at any moment a giant might raise his head over the next ridge"
CS LEWIS, BELFAST-BORN AUTHOR OF THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA
You can sharpen a broadsword on location where the minds behind HBO's Game of Thrones created the expansive world we now know as Westeros. Explore a crumbling cliff-top castle at Dunluce, cross the same 100-foot high Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge that daring salmon fishermen traversed in centuries past, or slow it down on tranquil Lough Erne. There's walking on water at the Gobbins Cliff Path, embracing your romantic side at Mussenden Temple, or teeing off on a glorious Championship links course. That's a lot to get into a 60 second video, right?
Explore more around Northern Ireland
Titanic: Designed, Built and Launched from Belfast
Welcome to the hometown of the Ship of Dreams and the legacy it left behind.
Welcome to Game of Thrones Territory
Want to wield a sword like a Stark and come face to face with a direwolf? Follow us…
Enter destination delicious
Tuck into the fruits of fresh green fields, pure lakes and crystal clear seas during Northern Ireland's Year of Food and Drink!
dublin-breath-of-fresh-air-hub
Traditional music and dance
Historic Ireland
Watt by Samuel Beckett
Castletroy, Limerick
Irish Vegan Festival