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The Buddhist Teachings on Rebirth
by Lion's Roar Staff| May 12, 2018
Moment to moment, lifetime to lifetime — death and rebirth are happening all the time. Ten leading Buddhist teachers explain the concept of rebirth.
Photo © Mohamad Itani / Trevillion Images.
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Rebirth has always been a central teaching in the Buddhist tradition. The earliest records in the Pali Canon indicate that the Buddha, prior to his awakening, searched for a happiness not subject to the vagaries of repeated birth, aging, illness, and death. One of the reasons he left his early teachers was because he recognized that their teachings led, not to the goal he sought, but to rebirth on a refined level.
On the night of his awakening, two of the three knowledges leading to his release from suffering focused on the topic of rebirth. The first showed his own many previous lives; the second, depicting the general pattern of beings dying and being reborn throughout the cosmos, showed the connection between rebirth and karma, or action.
When he did finally attain release from suffering, he recognized that he had achieved his goal because he had touched a dimension that not only was free from birth, but also had freed him from ever being reborn again. After he had attained release, his new-found freedom from rebirth was the first realization that occurred spontaneously to his mind.
Zoketsu Norman Fischer
What is it that gets reborn? The classical metaphor is of an acorn. An acorn becomes an oak tree. When the oak tree is here, the acorn is not, and no part of the acorn can be found in the oak tree. One simply has succeeded the other, just as one moment and one life succeeds the previous moment or life.
For me, the most important thing about the teaching of rebirth—the part that seems true and that matters a great deal—is that life continues. That is, there is more to our lives than the little span of time between birth and death. The teaching of rebirth tells us that our life and death are significant beyond their appearances, more significant than we know. Being born is important. Dying is important. Death is definitely a hugely important transition, at least as huge as birth. Every moment of life is an important transition. For me, this is what the teaching of rebirth comes down to.
Narayan Helen Liebensen
The process of rebirth is conditioned by mental factors that have been cultivated, either consciously or unconsciously. These qualities of mind, such as desire, generosity, anger, and loving-kindness, then condition the energy and form of the next birth.
We can see this process of conditioning at work in this life without necessarily believing in rebirth. If we are mindful and pay careful attention to our lives in the here and now, we can see the power of past conditioning and how it shapes our experience in the present moment. Understanding the limits and burdens of conditioning can inspire us to practice toward realizing inner freedom and the unconditioned in this very lifetime.
From the point of view of anatman [non-self], nothing reincarnates. It is more of a rebirth process rather than reincarnation. The idea of reincarnation is that a solid, living quality is being passed on to the next being. It is the idea of some solid substance being passed on. But in this case, it's more of a rebirth.
You see, something continues, but at the same time, nothing continues. In a sense we're like a running stream. You could say, such and such a river, such and such a stream. It has a name, but if you examine it carefully, that river you named three hundred years ago isn't there at all; it is completely different, changing, passing all the time. It is transforming from one aspect to another.
That complete transformation makes it possible to take rebirth. If one thing continued all the time there would be no possibilities for taking rebirth and evolving into another situation. It is the change which is important in terms of rebirth, rather than one thing continuing. '
You see, the ultimate idea of rebirth is not purely the idea of physical birth and death. Physical birth and death are very crude examples of it. Actually, rebirth takes place every moment, every instant. Every instant is death; every instant is birth. It's a changing process: there's nothing you can grasp onto; everything is changing. But there is some continuity, of course—the change is the continuity.
Reincarnation means there is a soul that goes out of your body and enters another body. That is a very popular, very wrong notion of continuation in Buddhism. If you think that there is a soul, a self, that inhabits a body, and that goes out when the body disintegrates and takes another form, that is not Buddhism.
When you look into a person, you see five skandhas, or elements: form, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness. There is no soul, no self, outside of these five, so when the five elements go to dissolution, the karma, the actions, that you have performed in your lifetime is your continuation. What you have done and thought is still there as energy. You don't need a soul, or a self, in order to continue.
It's like a cloud. Even when the cloud is not there, it continues always as snow or rain. The cloud does not need to have a soul in order to continue. There's no beginning and no end. You don't need to wait until the total dissolution of this body to continue—you continue in every moment.
Shohaku Okumura
I don't believe in rebirth and yet, I don't negate it. There is no basis to believe or negate it. What I can say for sure is, "I don't know." The important thing for me is to practice in this lifetime as the Buddha instructed in the Dhammapada, "To refrain from anything bad and practice everything good. Purify your mind. This is the teaching of the seven Buddhas."
If there is rebirth, it is all right, I will try to practice in the same manner. If there is no-rebirth, I don't need to do anything after my death. So I don't need to think about it in that case. Even if I don't believe rebirth as a person, I don't negate the principle of cause and result. What I am doing now will have result even after my death.
Having looked at the traditional Buddhist account of rebirth and having reflected on some of the difficulties it presents, where does one stand? It is often felt that there are two options: one can either believe in rebirth or not believe in it. But there is a third alternative: that of agnosticism—to acknowledge in all honesty that one does not know. One does not have either to assert it or to deny it; one neither has to adopt the literal versions presented by tradition nor fall into the other extreme of believing that death is a final annihilation. This, I feel, could provide a good Buddhist middle way for approaching the issue today.
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
Simply stated, the Buddhist view is that—at the conventional level—we have all experienced thousands if not millions of rebirths in every possible realm we can imagine. Not just as humans but as animals, in the spirit realms, in higher realms and lower realms. We should remember that if we met ourselves in our last lifetime, we wouldn't know ourselves at all. It's not me that gets reborn.
If we could see ourselves in the next lifetime, who would that be? I will be a completely different being. But that being is also thinking "me." So we don't have to cling too tightly to our personal identity, there is just a stream of consciousness going forward which as long as we do believe in an "I," it will be endless.
Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche
The Buddhist view of rebirth refutes the notion of an immortal soul, because it denies that there is anything unchanging in either the physical or mental aspects of phenomena.
The Buddha categorized the prevalent theories of body and soul of his time into two distinct miscomprehensions. The first category comprised those that denied that the body and soul were separate—at death we become extinct, with no after or future life. The other group were those that thought body and soul were totally separate. The body is perishable, but the soul is immortal and continues to survive from one birth to another.
The first group he called "nihilists" and the second group "eternalists." Interestingly, it is a situation not dissimilar to the one we face today, with the humanist materialists, on the one hand, denying the existence of mind or consciousness and rejecting any notion of survival after individual death, and the religious traditions, on the other hand, positing a soul that survives death and continues to exist in one form or another.
The Buddhist position on rebirth, on the contrary, is based on the so-called middle view, which avoids these two extremes, namely, the denial of the continuation of consciousness or mind altogether, and the positing of an immutable psychic principle (atman or soul, or some other descriptor of a greater self). According to the Buddha, both body and mind are subject to continual change, and so even at death what is transferred from one life to the next is not an unchanging psychic principle, but different psychic elements all hanging together, samskaras—memories, various impressions, and so on, none of which is unchanging in itself.
Among the ancient schools of thought, which accepted the notion of continuity of consciousness, there were several non- Buddhist philosophical schools which regarded the entity, the 'I' or 'self,' which migrated from existence to existence as being unitary and permanent. They also suggested that this 'self' was autonomous in its relationship to the psycho-physical components that constitute a person. In other words they believed or posited that there is an essence or 'soul' of the person, which exists independently from the body and the mind of the person.
However, Buddhist philosophy does not accept the existence of such an independent, autonomous entity. In the Buddhist view, the self or the person is understood in terms of a dynamic interdependent relationship of both mental and physical attributes, that is to say the psycho-physical components which constitute a person. In other words our sense of self can, upon examination, be seen as a complex flow of mental and physical events, clustered in clearly identifiable patterns, including our physical features, instincts, emotions, and attitudes, etc., continuing through time. Further, according to Prasangika-Madhyamaka philosophy, which has become the prevailing philosophical view of Tibetan Buddhism today, this sense of self is simply a mental construct, a mere label given to this cluster of dependently arising mental and physical events in dependence on their continuity.
The notion that there is a connection between this life and the events of both our previous existence and our future existence, follows from the Buddhist understanding of the natural law of cause and effect. For example, although we can speak of yesterday's weather and today's weather as distinct, today's weather is inextricably linked with the weather patterns of yesterday. Even at the bodily level, in the case of our physical health for example, we know that events in the past affect the present and those of the present the future. Similarly, in the realm of consciousness the Buddhist view is that there is also this same causal continuum between the events of the past, present and future.
Do You Only Live Once? The Evidence for Rebirth, a profile of reincarnation researcher Jim Tucker
The Tibetan Buddhist View of Death and Rebirth, a teaching by Tibetan Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman
Reincarnation: Modern Research and Traditional Buddhist Teachings, a comparison
The Case for Rebirth, a review of Bhikkhu Analayo's book on the subject
The Rebirth and Reincarnation archives on LionsRoar.com
Sources: The Truth of Rebirth; What Is Zen?; Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly, Fall, 2003; The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa, Vol. VI; Lion's Roar, January, 2012; Thezensite.com; Secular Buddhism; Teaching on 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva; Karma:What It Is, What It Isn't, Why It Matters; The Tibetan Book of the Dead: First Complete Translation.
About Lion's Roar Staff
Lion's Roar is the website of Lion's Roar magazine (formerly the Shambhala Sun) and Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly, with exclusive Buddhist news, teachings, art, and commentary. Sign up for the Lion's Roar weekly newsletter and follow Lion's Roar on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.
Topics: Essentials, Lion's Roar - May '18, Pan-Buddhist, Rebirth and Reincarnation, Teachings
Other Ways to Practice Meditation
by Konda Mason


The Nike KD 10 Fingerprint is the next rendition of the sneaker dropping this summer and it symbolizes Kevin Durant's DNA of his game as well as the impact it has on the NBA. The shoe features a mixed knitted upper in black and white hues for a classic look and a white midsole with the visible Zoom air sole completes the design altogether. This pair also pays homage to KD's unwavering desire to leave his mark on the game, from the blacktop of Seat Pleasant to the hardwood of the Bay.
Retailing for a price tag of $150, look for the Nike KD 10 Fingerprint at select Nike stores and online on July 1. Also, be sure to visit our Air Jordan 6 Low GS Mint Foam hub page now for the shoe's latest release info and up-to-the-minute updates and images. Always keep it locked to KicksOnFire for the latest in sneaker news.


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Mr. Jim Dunaway led the group in prayer.
1. MINUTES FOR JULY 8, 2008.
2. ordinance 2008-22 DOWNTOWN NEIGHBORHOOD ZONING
ORDINANCE 2008-22
AN ORDINANCE FOR THE CITY OF TAYLOR, TEXAS, AMENDING ZONING ORDINANCE NO. 2001-17 ADOPTED MAY 2001, AS AMENDED BY ORDINANCES 2002-18, 2002-42, 2003-36, 2004-25, 2006-35, 2007-14, 2008-02, AND 2008-09 BY AMENDING CHAPTER 2, SECTION 2.11, OF THE ZONING ORDINANCE AS AMENDED AND AS CODIFIED IN THE TAYLOR CITY CODE, BY CREATING A MIXED USE DISTRICT OR DOWNTOWN NEIGHBORHOOD DISTRICT WHICH ALLOWS BOTH RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL USES IN THE DISTRICT AND BY AMENDING CHAPTER 11, SECTION 11.1 BY ADDING A DEFINITION FOR "SIGHT DISTANCE TRIANGLE"; REQUIRING NOTICE FOR PUBLIC HEARINGS REQUIRED UNDER THE ZONING CODE TO BE COMPLY WITH THE TEXAS LOCAL GOVERNMENT CODE, AS AMENDED FROM TIME TO TIME; PROVIDING A SAVINGS CLAUSE; PROVIDING A REPEALER CLAUSE.
3. ORDINANCE 2008-23 HOTEL/MOTEL TAX AMENDMENT
ORDINANCE NO. 2008-23
AN ORDINANCE ADOPTING CHAPTER 351 OF THE TEXAS TAX CODE AND ANY AMENDMENTS HEREAFTER TO COLLECT OR ENFORCE THE HOTEL AND MOTEL OCCUPANCY TAX; PROVIDING A PENALTY OF FINE NOT TO EXCEED THE SUM OF FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($500.00) FOR EACH DAY AN OFFENSE IS COMMITTED OR CONTINUED, EXCEPT WHERE A DIFFERENT PENALTY HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED BY STATE LAW FOR SUCH OFFENSE, OR FOR ANY VIOLATION OF ANY PROVISION WHICH GOVERNS FIRE SAFETY, ZONING OR PUBLIC HEALTH AND SANITATION, WHICH SHALL BE PUNISHED BY PENALTY OF FINE NOT TO EXCEED THE SUM OF TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS ($2,000.00); PROVIDING FOR PUBLICATION; AND PROVIDING EFFECTIVE DATE.; AND A REPEALER CLAUSE.
4. CONCUR WITH FINANCIALS FOR JUNE, 2008
Mayor Pro Tem Jez requested that item number 1, the minutes from the July 8, 2008 council meeting, be removed from the Consent Agenda for discussion. Council Member McDonald moved to approve items 2, 3, and 4 from the Consent Agenda and Mayor Pro Tem Jez seconded the motion. VOTE: Five voted AYE. Motion passed.
Noting a correction from Ms. Jez on item no. 10 of the July 8, 2008 minutes changing the estimated costs from $33,000 to $35,000, Council Member McDonald moved to approve the minutes with corrections. Mayor Pro Tem Jez seconded the motion. VOTE: Five voted Aye. Motion passed.
5. PROCLAMATION: NATIONAL NIGHT OUT.
On behalf of the Taylor Police Department, Chief Jeff Straub accepted the proclamation from Mayor Hortenstine declaring August 5, 2008 as National Night Out in Taylor.
6. PROCLAMATION: RECOGNITION OF TAYLOR TENNIS TOURNAMENT TROPHY WINNERS.
Mayor Hortenstine presented a proclamation to members of the Taylor Tennis Tournament in recognition of their recent win. Accepting the award were David Cuebas, Monee Michna, Britni Gola, Cody Gola, Gary Gola, and Ronnie Michna.
7. PROCLAMATION: NATIONAL BREAST FEEDING MONTH.
Ms. Marisol Dawkins from the WIC Office of with the Williamson County and Cities Health District (WCCHD) accepted the proclamation from Mayor Hortenstine proclaiming August as National Breast Feeding Month.
8. CONSIDER AND TAKE ACTION WITH RESPECT TO THE APPOINTMENT OF HEARING OFFICERS FOR THE CITY FOR THE PURPOSE OF HOLDING THE TEFRA HEARING RELATED TO A FINANCING FOR TEMPLE COLLEGE AT TAYLOR FOUNDATION, INC. AND RELATED PUBLICATION OF NOTICES OF SUCH HEARING.
Mr. Bart Fowler, McCall, Parkhurst & Horton, presented background information regarding the need for a hearing on the financing for EWCHEC and the issuance of revenue bonds by the San Leanna's Higher Education Finance Corporation. As part of the process, the City must appoint a hearing officer and approve the publication of notice for the public hearing.
With no further discussion, Council Member Hill moved to appoint Mr. Fowler as hearing officer and authorized the publication of notices as presented. Mayor Pro Tem Jez seconded the motion. VOTE: Five voted AYE. Motion passed.
9. CONSIDER AND TAKE ACTION ON THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GRANT AGREEMENT WITH TEMPLE COLLEGE AT TAYLOR FOUNDATION (TCAT) REGARDING THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE EST WILLIAMSON COUNTY HIGHER EDUCATION CENTER (EWCHEC).
Mr. Fowler presented details of an agreement between the City and the Temple College at Taylor (TCAT) for funding the first building on the EWCHEC campus. The agreement commits the City to $100,000 for 20 years to assist TCAT with debt service payments. However, the annual payment is subject to annual appropriations by future Councils. Additional partners, the Taylor Independent School District, the Taylor Economic Development Corporation, and Texas State Technical College have also committed funding for this project.
Mayor Pro Tem Jez moved to approve the grant agreement as presented committing $100,000 for twenty years with funds from the Contributions to Civic Programs. Council Member McDonald seconded the motion. VOTE: Five voted AYE. Motion passed.
10. CONSIDER APPROVING ORDINANCE 2008-18 ESTABLISHING SPEED LIMITS ON HIGHWAY 95 /MAIN STREET.
Mr. Scott Cunningham, Texas Department of Transportation, presented a revised plan to change speed limits on Highway 95/Main Street. Mr. Cunningham addressed the Council at the June 12th meeting and was asked to make some adjustments to his original plan. Council continued to express concerns for specific areas including the area in front of the high school and the area south of Walnut Street. Mr. Cunningham said he will continue to look at the Rio Grande intersection and monitor traffic at a later date once school is back in session.
Mr. Johnny Sanford, TISD Board member and resident, expressed his concern for increased speed zones on Main in front of the high school. An error in calculations was noted on the south end of Main Street and Mayor Hortenstine asked Mr. Cunningham to bring back a revised ordinance at a future meeting. No further action was taken on this item.
11. CONSIDER WORK AUTHORIZATION NO. 4 WITH KSA ENGINEERS, INC. FOR THE SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOLS GRANT PROGRAM.
Mr. Danny Thomas, Director of Public Works, presented a request from Mr. Casey Sledge, consulting engineer to the City, to authorize funding for professional engineering design services for the Safe Routes to Schools sidewalk project. Two Requests for Qualifications (RFQ's) for design were submitted and reviewed by a committee who recommended KSA Engineers, Inc. for the project. Public hearings will be scheduled to solicit citizen input regarding the exact route through neighborhoods.
Mayor Pro Tem Jez moved to approve the Work Authorization agreement as presented in the amount of $93,800 with funds from the grant award. Council Member Hill seconded the motion. VOTE: Five voted AYE. Motion passed.
12. CONSIDER AWARDING BID FOR 2008 MANHOLE REHABILITATION PROJECT.
Mr. Thomas presented an overview of bids received for the 2008 Manhole Rehabilitation Project for wastewater drainage basins 4, 5, & 7. Mr. Sledge provided a tabulation of bids received and a recommendation to award the bid to Patin Construction to replace 42 and rehabilitate 71 manholes. The project should be completed within 60-90 days from the onset of construction. Mr. Sledge stressed that the actual number of replacements may change once construction begins and some slated for rehab may actually need replacement.
Council Member McDonald moved to award the base bid to Patin Construction not to exceed $360,830.00 for replacing 42 manholes and rehabilitating 71 with funds from the 2003 C. O.'s and the utility fund balance. Mayor Pro Tem Jez seconded the motion. VOTE: Five voted AYE. Motion passed.
13. CONSIDER HOTEL/MOTEL OCCUPANCY TAX QUARTERLY REPORTS FROM THE TAYLOR CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
Mr. Jim Aanastoos, President, Taylor Chamber of Commerce, presented a report on Hotel/Motel Tax proceeds and expenditures from the Chamber budget. He also provided a comparison regarding how Taylor is performing with respect to other markets in Texas and against the state as a whole, and a summary of tourism activities from January through July, 2008.
Mayor Pro Tem Jez moved to accept the report as presented and Council Member Gonzales seconded the motion. VOTE: Five voted AYE. Motion passed.
14. CONSIDER TEDC BUDGET FOR FY 2008/2009.
Mr. Jason Ford, President, Taylor Economic Development Corporation, (TEDC), presented an overview of the budget for the current fiscal year and the proposed budget for 2008/2009. He stressed the need to continue to develop a business retention program as well as expanding recruitment efforts and workforce development programs.
Council Member McDonald moved to accept the revised budget for 2007/2008 and approve the FY 2008/2009 Budget as presented. Council Member Hill seconded the motion. VOTE: Five voted AYE. Motion passed.
15. CONSIDER TAX ABATEMENT AGREEMENT FOR EXPANSION AND/OR RELOCATION OF A COMPANY IN ACCORDANCE WITH CHAPTER 312, PROPERTY REDEVELOPMENT AND TAX ABATEMENT ACT, OF THE TEXAS TAX CODE; BLACKLAND PUBLISHING.
Mr. Bob vanTil, Director of Community Development, presented a request to consider offering a tax abatement for ten years to a local business interested in expanding. The company intends to invest approximately $1.4 million in the Mustang Creek Industrial Park and add seven new permanent jobs. The amount of the abatement is based on the investment and because it is a target industry. The agreement also includes waiving permit and tap fees and reimbursement of water, wastewater, and roadway impact fees.
Council Member McDonald moved to approve the agreement as presented and Council Member Hill seconded the motion. VOTE: Five voted AYE. Motion passed.
16. EXECUTIVE SESSION I. The Taylor City Council will hold a closed executive meeting pursuant to the provisions of the Open Meetings Law, Chapter 551, Government Code, in accordance with the authority contained in Section 551.087 to discuss or deliberate regarding commercial and/or financial information on a business prospect that the City of Taylor, Texas seeks to have locate, stay, or expand in or near the city of Taylor, Texas and with which the City of Taylor, Texas is conducting economic development negotiations and/or to deliberate the offer of financial or other incentives to the business prospect.
17. CONSIDER ACTION ON EXECUTIVE SESSION.
Mayor Hortenstine opted to hold the Executive Sessions consecutively and any action taken would be at the end of all sessions.
(Council Member McDonald recused himself from the next agenda item.)
18. EXECUTIVE SESSION. The Taylor City Council will conduct a closed executive meeting under Section 551.071 of the Texas Government Code in order to meet with it's City Attorney on a matter in which the duty f the Attorney to the governmental body under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct of the Stat Bar of Texas authorize and allow such a closed meeting and which Rules conflict with the Texas Open Meetings Act.
19. CONSIDER ACTION FROM EXECUTIVE SESSION.
Council met in Executive Sessions consecutively beginning at 7:56 p.m. Mayor Hortenstine reconvened the meeting into Open Session at 9:14 p.m. and stated that no action was taken during any of the Executive Sessions.

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Sex, age, ethnicity influence physical fitness in exercise treadmill tests
Tristan Manalac
Males and younger individuals tend to perform better on the exercise treadmill test (ETT), demonstrating higher functional capacity and physical fitness, according to a Singapore study presented at the recently concluded 23rd ASEAN Federation of Cardiology Congress (AFCC 2018) in Bangkok, Thailand.
The "[r]ecognition of factors that may influence physical fitness in the young is relevant when prescribing ETT to avoid inconclusive studies due to low workload," said researchers, adding that ethnicity, aside from age and gender, should also be considered.
Of the 6,967 patients who underwent ETT and had normal findings, 94.1 percent (n=6,554) achieved ≥85 percent of the target heart rate (THR) and were thus included in the analysis. Majority of these participants were male (86.2 percent), and the median age was 40 years. The remaining 413 patients who did not meet the THR cutoff were excluded. [AFCC 2018, abstract P015]
In terms of ethnic background, the study sample was predominantly Chinese (60.7 percent). There were 19.3 percent Malay and 9.7 percent Indian participants, while the remaining 10.3 percent were of other ethnicities.
Overall, the group achieved a mean functional capacity of 12±2.15 metabolic equivalents (METS). Most participants (48.6 percent) scored 10–13 METS, while 10.8 percent scored <10 METS. Less than half (40.6 percent) scored >13 METS.
Among those who failed to reach the 13-METS threshold, majority (63 percent) were administered the ETT due to chest pains. Other major study indications were as an assessment required for reserve military (21 percent) and health screenings (9 percent).
Chest pains were likewise the principal reason for ETT in those with >13 METS functional capacity (66 percent). Pre-reservist assessment (17 percent) and health screenings (10 percent) remained the major study indications in this group.
Health concerns such as shortness of breath and abnormal findings on electrocardiography were rarely the reasons for undergoing ETT, resulting in a total of only 7 percent in both groups.
On multivariate logistic regression analysis, researchers showed that age was an important factor for functional capacity. Relative to those aged 14–30 years, 31–40-year-olds (risk ratio [RR], 0.38; 95 percent CI, 0.33–0.45; p=0.0000) and 41–50-year-olds (RR, 0.31; 0.27–0.36; p=0.0000) were significantly less likely to achieve functional capacity of >13 METS.
Likewise, males were almost four times as likely as females to achieve METS >13 (RR, 3.53; 3.01–4.15; p=0.0000). Those of Chinese background were also approximately 30 percent and 50 percent more likely than Indians (RR, 0.67; 0.56–0.80; p=0.0000) and Malays (RR, 0.55; 0.48–0.64; p=0.0000) to achieve METS >13.
In contrast, those of other ethnic backgrounds were significantly more likely than Chinese participants to reach METS >13 (RR, 1.54; 1.31–1.82; p=0.0000).


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text:
Purification and partial characterization of fibrillin, a cysteine-rich structural component of connective tissue microfibrils
L. Y. Sakai, D. R. Keene, R. W. Glanville, H. P. Bachinger
Molecular & Medical Genetics
Fibrillin, a connective tissue macromolecule (M(r) = 350,000) which is normally insoluble in its tissue form, has been purified from the medium of human skin fibroblast and ligament cells in culture. Analysis of the amino acid composition indicates that fibrillin contains approximately 14% cysteine, of which one-third appears to be in the free reactive sulfhydryl form. Electron microscopic images of fibrillin reveal an extended, flexible molecule approximately 148 nm long and 2.2 nm wide. These length measurements are consistent with shape calculations based upon velocity sedimentation data. It is likely that the material we have purified from cell culture medium represents monomeric fibrillin consisting of a single polypeptide chain. Additional ultrastructural immunohistochemical data presented here suggest a model for the parallel, head-to-tail alignment of fibrillin molecules in microfibrils.
Fingerprint Dive into the research topics of 'Purification and partial characterization of fibrillin, a cysteine-rich structural component of connective tissue microfibrils'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Fibrillins Chemical Compounds
Microfibrils Medicine & Life Sciences
Purification Chemical Compounds
Cysteine Chemical Compounds
Connective Tissue Medicine & Life Sciences
Tissue Chemical Compounds
Cell culture Chemical Compounds
Molecules Chemical Compounds
Sakai, L. Y., Keene, D. R., Glanville, R. W., & Bachinger, H. P. (1991). Purification and partial characterization of fibrillin, a cysteine-rich structural component of connective tissue microfibrils. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 266(22), 14763-14770.
Purification and partial characterization of fibrillin, a cysteine-rich structural component of connective tissue microfibrils. / Sakai, L. Y.; Keene, D. R.; Glanville, R. W.; Bachinger, H. P.
In: Journal of Biological Chemistry, Vol. 266, No. 22, 01.12.1991, p. 14763-14770.
Sakai, LY, Keene, DR, Glanville, RW & Bachinger, HP 1991, 'Purification and partial characterization of fibrillin, a cysteine-rich structural component of connective tissue microfibrils', Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 266, no. 22, pp. 14763-14770.
Sakai LY, Keene DR, Glanville RW, Bachinger HP. Purification and partial characterization of fibrillin, a cysteine-rich structural component of connective tissue microfibrils. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 1991 Dec 1;266(22):14763-14770.
Sakai, L. Y. ; Keene, D. R. ; Glanville, R. W. ; Bachinger, H. P. / Purification and partial characterization of fibrillin, a cysteine-rich structural component of connective tissue microfibrils. In: Journal of Biological Chemistry. 1991 ; Vol. 266, No. 22. pp. 14763-14770.
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title = "Purification and partial characterization of fibrillin, a cysteine-rich structural component of connective tissue microfibrils",
abstract = "Fibrillin, a connective tissue macromolecule (M(r) = 350,000) which is normally insoluble in its tissue form, has been purified from the medium of human skin fibroblast and ligament cells in culture. Analysis of the amino acid composition indicates that fibrillin contains approximately 14% cysteine, of which one-third appears to be in the free reactive sulfhydryl form. Electron microscopic images of fibrillin reveal an extended, flexible molecule approximately 148 nm long and 2.2 nm wide. These length measurements are consistent with shape calculations based upon velocity sedimentation data. It is likely that the material we have purified from cell culture medium represents monomeric fibrillin consisting of a single polypeptide chain. Additional ultrastructural immunohistochemical data presented here suggest a model for the parallel, head-to-tail alignment of fibrillin molecules in microfibrils.",
author = "Sakai, {L. Y.} and Keene, {D. R.} and Glanville, {R. W.} and Bachinger, {H. P.}",
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AU - Glanville, R. W.
AU - Bachinger, H. P.
N2 - Fibrillin, a connective tissue macromolecule (M(r) = 350,000) which is normally insoluble in its tissue form, has been purified from the medium of human skin fibroblast and ligament cells in culture. Analysis of the amino acid composition indicates that fibrillin contains approximately 14% cysteine, of which one-third appears to be in the free reactive sulfhydryl form. Electron microscopic images of fibrillin reveal an extended, flexible molecule approximately 148 nm long and 2.2 nm wide. These length measurements are consistent with shape calculations based upon velocity sedimentation data. It is likely that the material we have purified from cell culture medium represents monomeric fibrillin consisting of a single polypeptide chain. Additional ultrastructural immunohistochemical data presented here suggest a model for the parallel, head-to-tail alignment of fibrillin molecules in microfibrils.
AB - Fibrillin, a connective tissue macromolecule (M(r) = 350,000) which is normally insoluble in its tissue form, has been purified from the medium of human skin fibroblast and ligament cells in culture. Analysis of the amino acid composition indicates that fibrillin contains approximately 14% cysteine, of which one-third appears to be in the free reactive sulfhydryl form. Electron microscopic images of fibrillin reveal an extended, flexible molecule approximately 148 nm long and 2.2 nm wide. These length measurements are consistent with shape calculations based upon velocity sedimentation data. It is likely that the material we have purified from cell culture medium represents monomeric fibrillin consisting of a single polypeptide chain. Additional ultrastructural immunohistochemical data presented here suggest a model for the parallel, head-to-tail alignment of fibrillin molecules in microfibrils.
JO - Journal of Biological Chemistry
JF - Journal of Biological Chemistry


text:
Japan being treated like the All Blacks, says Tanaka
Tuesday, 01 Oct 2019
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan are riding a wave of support from their fans similar to the kind of adulation the All Blacks receive in New Zealand, Brave Blossoms scrumhalf Fumiaki Tanaka said on Tuesday.
The World Cup hosts, who beat Russia in the opening game, sent local enthusiasm for the tournament soaring when they stunned Ireland 19-12 in Shizuoka on Saturday to grab control of Pool A and put themselves in contention for their first quarter-final place.
"Fans gave us a guard of honour inside Tokyo Station and there are many people talking to us outside, too," Tanaka told reporters on Tuesday when asked about how the side were being treated after the win.
"It feels as if we've become what the All Blacks are in New Zealand."
The 34-year-old is well aware of the importance of the three-times world champion All Blacks in New Zealand, having become the first ethnic Japanese player to sign a Super Rugby contract when he joined the Dunedin-based Otago Highlanders in 2013.
Fans on the street are not the only ones warming to the side and the tournament. World Rugby has highlighted the interest that stemmed from the Ireland match, with early indications that television viewership of the game may have set a record in Japan.
More than 25 million people watched the 2015 side's match with Samoa after they had beaten the Springboks earlier in the tournament. The governing body said the early signs were that the Ireland match had exceeded that.
"While the domestic broadcast audiences are not normally published until 10 days after the event, all signs indicate a largest-ever domestic audience for a rugby match," the governing body said in a statement.
"The match (also) occupied the top five trends on twitter in Japan, while ... the largest-ever single-day Rugby World Cup fan zone attendance saw more than 120,000 fans enjoy the experience the length and breadth of the nation."
Tournament organisers also said that it was headed for a sell out with 96% of tickets sold as of the opening day on Sept. 20.
Japan's next match is against Samoa on Saturday in Toyota City, where Tanaka said their mind was only on winning the game first and then securing a bonus point that could be vital ahead of their final pool match against Scotland on Oct. 13.
"We definitely have the ability to score tries, but we could give away chances if we focus on it too much and make mistakes," he added.
"So we are thinking about winning first and foremost to get the points, and if there's a chance (for a bonus point) that's something we always have in our minds."
(Reporting by Greg Stutchbury in Oita; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
Next In Rugby
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Scotland include uncapped Redpath in Six Nations squad
England skills coach Ryles to miss Six Nations due to COVID-19 lockdown
Boks ready to do whatever it takes to play British & Irish Lions
Sale Sharks appoint former captain Sanderson as new director of rugby
Australia open to hosting 'mini World Cup', says RA chairman
Rugby: Japan to launch new professional league in 2022
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Rugby: European tournaments will go straight to knockout rounds - Childs
Start of Japan's Top League delayed due to COVID-19 outbreaks


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text:
Once Were Brothers
It has been over a month since we've seen a movie. As predicted, the pickings have been slim - and I'm being nice.
I can't say I was jonesing to see Once Were Brothers (which is admittedly a difficult title to say), Robbie Robertson's tale of the Band.
The last part of that last sentence is crucial. It is one man's take. Three are dead and Garth Hudson, who is still alive, didn't participate or wasn't asked to, so I'm pretty sure we're getting partial history.
I think most things in the movie are undeniable, most notably the formation, the music and the importance of the Band.
the Band was THE band that Bob Dylan used when he went electric, which by all accounts - Dylan's included - was just a horrible reception by the fans to his move. Still the five were a tight, both in playing and in friendship. ......until they weren't.
The five guys really were creating music, that at the time, didn't exist. You could now call it roots rock and roll or Americana, but in 1968 it had no designation. They music was both tightly played and yet loose at the same time. Their skills were phenomenal.
Oddly, I've never seen their 1976 film the Last Waltz, documenting their final performance (Martin Scorsese directed), but I'd like to at some point.
Robertson's take was that they'd take time after that to chase their dreams and get their life together before getting back to making music with each other. His recollection was that everyone forgot to come back - which really is the fallacy. The Band did reform in various iterations, the only one not participating was Robertson himself.
Still, the Band had its admirers, Clapton amongst them, who traveled to Woodstock NY to ask if he could be in the band, but was turned down. But you see and hear from Dylan (archived footage), Springsteen and Van Morrison, as well as Scorsese, David Geffen and Jann Wenner.
Again, the right questions never asked. Geffen, by all accounts was after Dylan to sign him, and used Robertson to be the contact. While mentioning signing Dylan, you never got a sense that they did anything with the Band or Robertson, but it was important to Robbie to have it in there to solidify our knowledge on how close he and Dylan were.
It was a decent film, if not a little lopsided in truth. I like Robertson generally - including his solo work.
Like Linda Ronstadt's film last year, it was based / inspired on her memoir. Once Were Brothers was based on Robertson's memoir, which I didn't even know existed. Still for the money, David Crosby's was by far still the best of the bunch.
Song by: Robbie Robertson
Can't see me making the effort to catch this - though I DID see 'The Last Walt' in a cinema way back in 1979, and now recalling sweet F.A. about it. Brothers, pass me by if you will. (Ho-hum!)
From Safety to Where
Boomer's Story
Music Everywhere
Closedown
Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)
Accidents Will Happen
Shopping with Blobby
Man! I Feel Like a Woman!
Watch the Tapes
Letting the Cable Sleep
Cheater's Town


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Low 3/8-inch rail mount for the Razor red dot. Replaces Picatinny rail mount included with the Razor red dot. Allows installation on specialized 3/8-inch width bases.
Will not work with Viper or Venom Red Dots.


I have enjoyed a 20-year professional singing career including live performance and recording. I have taught guitar and singing privately. I have applied myself to musical theatre, gospel choir and continually attend workshops to keep my technique interesting and engaging. My next workshop will be at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in July: a Singer's Weekend as part of the Jazz Summer School 2012.
My teaching experience has been 1-2-1 generally. However, while on practical sessions during the study for a Masters in Music Therapy I did gain experience working with groups of different ages, ethnicity and cognitive abilities, learning how to make each student feel special and valued.
Singing is my passion and I like my students to leave feeling the excitement I have for singing and music, and realize their own potential and give them the confidence to follow their dreams as an artist. I teach fundamentals of music as well as guitar accompaniment, and song writing techniques.


text:
Why doesn't al-Qaeda attack the US?
With daily television coverage of suicide car-bomb attacks, ambushes, drive-by shootings, stabbings, and other Intifada-type attacks around the world, the question arises as to why al-Qaeda does not stage such small-scale but deadly operations in the United States. From Washington and the presidential campaign trail comes a cocky, multi-part answer: our massive homeland security spending has worked; al-Qaeda is on the run and hiding; and/or the U.S. military is fighting the Islamists in Iraq and Afghanistan so they cannot come to America. There may be a mite of truth in each claim, but the correct answer would be frankly to acknowledge that al-Qaeda would have no trouble mounting the kind of attacks made against Israel in America — guns, cars, militant Muslims, and open borders for other needs are all readily available — but that, at this time, it has no interest in staging Intifada-type attacks in the United States.
There are at least three solid reasons why al-Qaeda is not running an Intifada-like campaign in the United States:
Al-Qaeda does not want to fight the United States for any longer than is needed to drive it as far as possible out of the Middle East, and its doctrine for so doing has, in Osama bin Laden's formulation, three components: (a) bleed America to bankruptcy; (b) spread out U.S. forces to the greatest extent possible; and (c) promote Vietnam-era-like domestic disunity. Based on this doctrine, al-Qaeda leaders have decided that attacks in the United States are only worthwhile if they have maximum and simultaneous impact in three areas: high and enduring economic costs, severe casualties, and lasting negative psychological impact. Such an attack, they believe, would require significant U.S. military participation in the post-attack phase — especially if the weapon used is the nuclear device they have sought since the early 1990s — and thereby reduce the military's ability to operate overseas. They also believe that a greater-than-9/11 attack would greatly undermine the confidence of Americans in Washington's ability to protect them. (NB: The usually deft Osama bin Laden also has put himself in something of a box regarding another attack in America because he pledged the next attack will be more destructive than 9/11. Paradoxically, a spate of Intifada-type attacks by al-Qaeda in the United States could well be good news because it probably would signal an admission by bin Laden, et. al that they no longer have the capability to match or exceed the attacks of 9/11 inside America.)
Al-Qaeda appears to recognize the huge difference between attacking Israel and attacking the United States. For Palestinian and Hezbollah insurgents, Intifada-style attacks have sufficed; over the decades, the limited number of casualties the Palestinians and Hezbollah have inflicted on Israel's small population has repeatedly won concessions. Suicide attacks, ambushes, and stabbings against America's 300-plus-million population would cause outrage, a few casualties, and some panic, internal confusion, and perhaps limited inter-ethnic-group violence. They would not, however, shift the strategic balance in al-Qaeda's favor. Intifada-style attacks could not satisfy any of al-Qaeda's three-part doctrine: they would not (a) cause U.S. bankruptcy, (b) require large numbers of U.S. troops to clean-up after, or (c) significantly undermine political cohesion. Indeed, there is reason to surmise that al-Qaeda's leaders have concluded that attacks like those used against Israel — which intend to cause deaths of women, children, and the elderly — would unite Americans rather than divide them.
Al-Qaeda leaders probably think, for the moment, that it would be counterproductive to stage any but a larger-than-9/11 attack in America. Currently, Bin Laden and his senior lieutenants are clearly off balance vis-à-vis the United State because so much substantive success has accrued to al-Qaeda's interests so quickly since 9/11. Neither al-Qaeda nor the Taliban were destroyed in 2001; both escaped with most of their forces largely intact. Each has regrouped, rearmed, and retrained in safe havens in the Pashtun tribal lands that straddle the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The Pakistan army's incursion into the tribal zone was defeated; the new, less-pro-U.S. government in Islamabad is suing for peace with the tribes; and the Islamization of Pakistan continues unabated. The Muslim world perceives that the U.S. military is being defeated in Iraq and Afghanistan, and has been further alienated by the U.S. treatment of captured mujahideen. Finally, the U.S. economy is slowing, Americans are severely divided over Washington's activities overseas, and none of the three major presidential candidates are likely to drastically alter the foreign policies all polls show are hated by up to 80 percent of Muslims. This embarrassment of riches advances each part of al-Qaeda's doctrine for fighting America — casualties, costs, and disunity — and it has been accumulated without a follow-up-to-9/11 attack. While bin Laden might well risk this good fortune for a chance to detonate a nuclear device in the United States, he certainly would not risk it now for the sake of shooting up a half-dozen theaters, coffee shops, and pizza parlors.
So, Americans can relax a bit, go to the movies or the mall, and stop afterwards for coffee or pizza without worrying too much about al-Qaeda launching small-scale attacks. For now, Americans should see themselves as being in standby mode for the larger-than-9/11 attack bin Laden eventually will trigger because the last two U.S. administrations and Senators McCain, Clinton, and Obama have warned about the severe Islamist threat, while knowingly encouraging its worldwide growth by championing status quo foreign policies that degrade U.S. security, as well as by supinely appeasing their Saudi and Israeli masters.
Published: Antiwar.com
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text:
Bodiam () is a small village and civil parish in the Rother District of East Sussex, England. It lies in the valley of the River Rother, near to the villages of Sandhurst and Ewhurst Green.

The MP of the local UK Parliament constituency is Huw Merriman.

Geography
South of the village of Bodiam and extending to the railway station is the site of a Roman settlement investigated in the 1960s. The site was located within the former Guinness hop gardens and the excavations were undertaken in between the rows of hops.
A comprehensive landscape survey was carried out around 2016.

The village is on the line of the Roman road from Rochester to Westfield near Hastings. This road crossed the River Rother at the same position as the present bridge having approached from close to the parish church. At the Kent Ditch to the north at the County boundary the Roman road can be seen in the bank of the present watercourse outcropping as a solid layer of waste material from iron smelting,(slag). This had been recorded in the 1960s and re-examined by later fieldwork in 2000 by Neil Aldridge of the Kent Archaeological Society as part of a project supported by the Romney Marsh Research Trust. The extent of the road surface was found to be wider than previously thought and extends under the present road bridge.

Although famous for its castle, Bodiam was also in a main hop-growing area in the last century and was famous for growing hops for Guinness. Reginald B. Levett of Court Lodge Farm sold part of his land to Guinness to grow hops. A railway was built to provide transport for the hoppers, the Kent and East Sussex Railway (K&ESR), which is a tourist attraction. The village sits almost directly on the 51st Parallel and the same micro-climate that was so ideal for hops has been equally beneficial for the growing of wine grapes. Several local producers including Oastbrook Estates, are now producing English still and sparkling wines.

There is a 12th-century church, which contains a brass of a knight with the arms of the de Bodeham family, one of the first lords of the manor. Originally it was a port and crossing point from Battle to North Kent. During the medieval period a great moated castle Bodiam Castle, was built which is now a visitor attraction. There is a small range of houses, a pub (The Castle), and a restaurant (The Curlew).

Education
It has two schools: Bodiam Primary School, a state school, and Claremont Senior School, an independent. Bodiam Manor School went bankrupt in 2006; consequently Claremont Senior School took over at the start of September 2011.

Notable people
Bodiam was the birthplace in 1881 of Miss A. E. (Ada Elizabeth) Levett, a leading medieval scholar and vice-principal of St. Hilda's College, Oxford. Levett was one of the first female professors of history in England, having been awarded a chair in history at Westfield College, University of London in 1929.

References

Bodiam as a Landscape of Work, Topographical and Geophysical Survey, Barker, Caitlin, Johnson, Sly and Strutt, 2016.

External links

 Hop growing in Bodiam

Villages in East Sussex
Civil parishes in East Sussex
Rother District

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: Python- no module named error. wherever i place the __init__.py file the ingestor file just cant seem to get at it
project structure

__init__.py
backend

      __init__.py

      /log_parser.py

      /ingestor

      /data_aggregation

configuration

scripts

    __init__.py(holding create_app and db)

UI

utils

    /__init__.py

    /models

inside of the log parser is this import
from ingestor import Ingestor
however whenever the ingestor file gets to here
from scripts import create_app, db it fails with the error message
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'scripts'
(venv)
ive tried changing the directory the init.py file is in with no luck. I've also tried importing everything within a directory which also failed. so i'm out of ideas?

A: If with "/" you mean that the __init__.py and ingestor ar on the same folder. Make sure that inside this one (ingestor folder) there is outher __init__.py file and try again.
If yes but always facing the same problem, try with a relative import like this: from .ingestor import Ingestor. Don't miss the "dot" before "ingestor"
If it doesn't work try this last one:
import sys
sys.path.append(".")
from ingestor import Ingestor

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Mark Broyles is the supervising partner for the firm's foreclosure practice. He specializes in creditor's rights and bankruptcy matters. Mark also handles foreclosure related real estate and title issues.
Mark joined the firm in 1994. Mark is also admitted to practice in Louisiana.
He earned his bachelor's degrees in Physics and Math from Vanderbilt University and completed his Juris Doctorate at Memphis University. Mark retired from the United States Marine Corps Reserve as a Lieutenant Colonel after service with various units, including the 2nd Marine Division, 6th Marines in Desert Storm.
Mark has written and lectured on various creditor's rights and bankruptcy topics.
He is admitted to practice in all New York state courts and all four New York federal bankruptcy court jurisdictions.


Devil Sold His Soul: they do down-tuned guitars like Will Haven, stretch single riffs out for seven minutes like only Tool can, and mix in the splintered screamo throat-squall of Hopesfall. The result, however, is painfully less than the sum of its parts. Live, DSHS rock like Armageddon is just round the corner, but on record they're a disorganised slush of compacted guitars and stock metal howls. That they've been hailed as saviours in metal outlets merely proves the current paucity of the British scene. Still, they offer some hope. 'Awaiting The Flood' belies its title by tossing you into the proverbial flood, conjuring up the sensation that salt water is rushing into your lungs while you paw at the fading slivers of topside sunlight. It's scary. In general, though, DSHS are just scarily average.


US Senators have introduced legislation that directs the executive branch to disclose which companies it allows to share nuclear information with countries looking to build nuclear reactors.
Spanish renewable energy firm Acciona's subsidiary Acciona Energía has renewed its clean energy supply contract with Unilever in Spain.
Los Angeles is the leading city in the US for solar power installations, according to a report by the Environment Texas Research and Policy Centre (ETEPC).
The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) has reported that US wind energy capacity has grown by 8% in 2018 to a total of 96.4GW, doubling its capacity from 2010.


text:
Here's To Five Years Of Not Knowing How I Feel About Destiny
Five years ago, I thought we were all a bunch of suckers. Destiny, the new game from the makers of Halo, was an absolute mess, and I didn't understand why anyone would play it. But people did, and what's more, they found something compelling in the inexplicable sci-fi shooter. Across five years, numerous expansions, a sequel (which then came with its own set of expansions) and innumerable updates, I've been trying to understand what's compelling about Destiny. Some days, I think I get it. Others, I don't.
"Be warned," Kotaku's Kirk Hamilton wrote in his review of the original game in 2014. "To play Destiny is to willingly give yourself over to a machine, a machine terrifying in the slickness of its construction and the single-mindedness of its purpose. You may find yourself hating this game as much as you like it, and unable to stop playing nonetheless."
Today, Destiny goes by a slightly different name—today it is Destiny 2: Forsaken and in a few weeks it will be Destiny 2: Shadowkeep—but despite that slick numeral/subtitle combo and multiple overhauls, expansions, backsteps, and course-corrections, playing Destiny is the same as it was back when Kirk wrote that review. You're throwing yourself at the mercy of a machine. A compulsive, endlessly playable machine that's a marvel to consider as you're playing and frightening to think about when you're not.
Here's a dirty little secret about people who play video games: We like being exploited. It feels good. This is precisely why we—rightly—raise concerns about loot boxes and microtransactions that turn predatory when they incorporate the spending of real money, euphemizing gambling as "player choice." We know how games can tune themselves to offer a steady trickle of dopamine: new loot, new content, new guns to shoot and objects to shoot them with. Meters and currencies that accrue and build, short and long-term goals that guarantee rewards. We willingly sign up for this reptilian manipulation as long as it feels like no one as being hurt, as long as the only thing we give up on our end is our free time. Video games play us as much as we play them.
Most days, this is how I think of Destiny. It's far from the first game to actively seek this kind of relationship with its players—compulsive, nigh-irresistible feedback loops are a hallmark of games like Diablo and its many clones, as well as hybrids like Borderlands. These are games where everything is secondary to the pursuit of numbers getting bigger.
But Destiny feels like a special case, because at its start, it could have been more. It almost was, as Kotaku's Jason Schreier would report after the game's disastrous first year, a story of grand ambition coming crashing down to earth. As it recovered from its near-implosion, the real game came into focus. The machine took form, and I played with countless others, many of whom struggled to articulate why they were playing, too.
I remember regularly picking up bounties and being assigned challenges that I would start up a select few missions in order to complete, racing to an early section that I knew would be full of the types of enemies I needed to kill, immediately abandoning the mission once I had killed them. I do not remember why.
I remember being depressed, and finding this empty, meaningless movement comforting. For a little while, Destiny only made sense to me as the only place I made progress at a time in my life when everything else seemed inert. I remember feeling fine and merely bored, and playing Destiny because it was just something to do. I remember nervously logging on to a third-party matchmaking service to find a raid party for the first time in my life, setting a date and time and not knowing what to expect. I remember it being amazing. I'm not sure why I don't do it more.
I remember when Peter Dinklage was in this game.
This has mostly been about Destiny's past, but it's all quite applicable to its present. Destiny is still a machine, albeit more varied, more generous, more everything. It's not different, just a purer version of itself: a place for endless conspicuous consumption, the sickness and the cure. A video game where art sometimes happens in the margins—in beautiful geometric landscapes that are designed to be raced past and not admired. In its attempts at a story, disseminated via an array of text entries to form narrative jigsaw pieces that can occasionally be arranged in compelling shapes. In the way that, via ingenious ephemeral challenges and top-tier raids, it becomes an engine for shared experiences quite unlike any other game of its ilk.
It's always been hard to process Destiny or describe it holistically in a way that feels fair, because at its heart, Destiny's purpose is tautology. Destiny is here to justify more Destiny. And it's done a pretty good job at that.
An early touchstone in the fiction of Destiny was the notion of a Golden Age, one where mankind's aspiration to sail among the stars was finally achieved. It is perhaps the only coherent idea in the story that shipped with the first Destiny back on September 9, 2014. In this story, humankind encountered a benevolent, godlike sphere known as The Traveler on Mars, and with its help, an age of miracles began, followed by a tragic collapse that occurred off-screen, sometime before the first Destiny begins.
I think a lot about that aspirational start, even though it came with a game wholly incapable of delivering on it. I think about how, even as Destiny improved by leaps and bounds, it never fully returned to ideas like that—utopian notions of discovery and outreach, the wonder of a solar system that was suddenly small enough to traverse.
Instead, Destiny's fiction has since given way to dense, arcane fantasy, looking inward to what lurks in the depths of these worlds we explore, detailing their criminal underworlds and the slavish cults of the nightmare-gods that lurk just out of sight. It's optimism slowly drowned in cynicism, a slow death made more complete every time I log on and start a new grind for more sweet loot. I can't help but feel a little deflated by it all.
Ghost-who-walks
You can describe Destiny in 2 words: unfulfilled potential. It had a pedigree that should have guaranteed greatness, an opportunity to deliver what had not yet been done before (a full-fledged MMO designed for consoles instead of ported over from PC) and sky-high aspirations. But endless development snafus, questionable design philosophies, a failure to learn from predecessors and similar competitors, and what we can safely say with hindsight was the disastrous decision to put out a sequel instead of further expand the base game (which had its own development snafus!), have all resulted in a resounding disappointment. It could have been a massive gaming phenomenon, but instead it's an anthology of cautionary tales.
But don't feel too bad, surviving Destiny fans...at least it's not Anthem......


These days, my son's artwork replaces what was in the family room to begin with.
I sped up again, but — DARN! Another car snagged the parking spot before I could get there. The mall parking lot was jammed full. What for, I don't know. We weren't going to there to shop. Rather, we were going there to see my son's artwork, which was being displayed in an ongoing county-wide art show of work by school kids ages kindergarten through 12th grade.
"Everybody must be here for the art show!" Nick, then not quite 7, exclaimed, and immediately, I adored him both for his childlike optimism and his naivete. Chances are, people weren't flocking there to see his killer whale drawing. They were probably there because there was a sale at the Gap.
We found his artwork in the hallway on the second floor near JC Penny's. Nick was proud of his very first art show, but I was more relieved than anything. The child who could barely write his name back in preschool, the kid who brought home pink scribbles for two years and called it "artwork," had overcome his fine motor skill "issues" so well that his drawing was chosen to represent his school in the county art show.
This drawing, I didn't throw out. But I didn't keep all of his artwork year after year, and certainly not during his prolific killer whale period. It would have been easy to stick it in the attic, piling up painting after drawing of some sort of whale or train or cityscape. That's what mommies do, right?
But I'm with the parents in today's New York Times article, "Mom You're One Tough Art Critic," especially with the one who said, "We're not going to build an addition on the back for every piece of crayon art they've ever done." It's one thing to praise their work and quite another to end up on an episode of "Hoarders." Besides, even they knew that their colorings of Jesus talking to Easter lambs was best suited for scratch paper, not frames.
Not everything my kids create is fridge-worthy.
I know, I know. That sounds so Tiger Momof me. But unlike Amy Chua, I have never returned a birthday card to my children, demanding better work. I praise, and then I save some and chuck the rest, especially anything involving glued macaroni and/or various shades of glitter. Doesn't everybody? Why is this worthy of a New York Times article?
Because our generation of parents agonizes over hurting our children's feelings and thereby ruining their psyches for life, that's why. If they see their artwork in the recycling bin 24 hours after bringing it home, they might feel "worthless," as the article stated.
Surely, there's an art to chucking your kids' art, or at least an unwritten rule on time-frame. It's like that Seinfeld episode where he throws out his girlfriend's greeting card immediately after receiving it. You can throw it out, but not like a piece of gum.
Nowadays, Nick manages his own artwork disposal. In fact, some of his stuff is so good, it's replaced what we had on the walls in the living room. The rest? It's in the recycling bin, I suppose. I don't ask.
Tell us: When is it okay to chuck your kids' artwork?
My ex-husband's mother takes it all. I keep what I want and the rest, including his schoolwork, goes in a file folder for her. He's 8 and now in second grade and she has been doing this since preschool. Let her dispose of it. She lives in TX(a 15 hour drive from us) so she can get rid of it a lot easier than I can.
My parents still have ornaments I made in girl scouts or at school as long as they are still intact.
These are great ideas! I have an ever accumulating pile of papers from school/home from my kids (the first just started Kindergarten), and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them.
My mom saved a LOT of our stuff, and I remember being a high schooler and finding an old Christmas tree decoration I had made at the local art museum as a child. I asked my mom why she still used it, and she said, incredulously, "Because you *made* it, honey!!" At that point, everything had fallen off of it, and it was little more than a hunk of clay on a hook…so hilarious! I had to have a little intervention right there and implore her to go ahead and throw it out. Even she admitted sheepishly that, ok, it was time to go through the decorations and get rid of some like that. So so cute!
Each kid has their own corkboard on which they post their artwork, A papers, etc. They need to clean it off after every semester and can save a few pieces they are very proud of in a box under their bed. The nicest pieces of artwork get laminated and hung in our garage. They brighten up the boring walls and I save money by laminating instead of framing.
It's official: I have the most clever readers on the Internet. Thanks all!
Each of my girls has a special box where they get to choose which artwork they can keep for the special box.
Seasonal artwork will get boxed up with the rest of the decorations and displayed during the appropriate holiday.
I also take photos and sometimes will make them into notecards to send to family on birthdays, anniversaries, etc.
Coloring book pages? Gone with the next week's recycling.
I LOVE the idea of making of book of their greatest hits though! That's a great idea!
Each year, I designate one (labeled) box (the size of a boot box) for my kids school work, including any artwork. If it doesn't fit, it doesn't get saved. (At the end of the year, I store it in the attic.) Generally, when it begins to get packed with stuff, I go through and toss what felt like it was important months earlier and leave room for what's to come. It's all about how much space you're willing to give to something, in this case artwork. No need to let the whole house be overrun by kid paraphernalia of any kind. They don't pay the bills, right?
My 3 year old started preschool in September, and let me tell you, the art projects they do are so cute and imaginative. The only ones I've thrown away are the ones that my 12 month old has gotten hold of and destroyed. But the pile of artwork IS building up. I think I'm going to put them in a "Memories" box and put it in the attic.
My daughter also does a lot of your run-of-the-mill (sorry, honey!) crayon/marker/Color Magic drawings at home. What I've begun to do is ooh and aah over them, then put them in the bag with our gift bags, wrapping paper, etc. When I am wrapping a small gift for a family member, I use the artwork as wrapping paper. They LOVE it, and it's kind funny to see their inner battle of, "Okay, it's her artwork, so I should keep it, but how do I open it w/o tearing it? What do I do?" But seriously, it saves me money on wrapping paper, and my daughter is so proud to give the gifts to people. Worked at Christmas with 2/3 of our gifts. It was a hit. Then I don't have to deal with all the artwork!
Congratulations to Nick on having his artwork on display for everyone to admire.
I don't keep our kids artwork either. I have a wall in the play room with large clips that holds about 6 pieces per child. I take things off and hang new artwork as it comes home from preschool, the old artwork is photographed, then thrown away. The thought of having boxes and boxes of artwork in the garage is enough to drive me mad. At the end of the year, I make a 'coffee table' book for each child out of about 25 pieces of very special artwork that I loved from throughout the year using various mediums.


Extinct in the UK for hundreds of years Wild Boar can be seen again roaming rural Berkshire. As ancestors to today's domestic pig, wild boar were once hunted throughout Europe and were renowned for their fearsome nature! Fear not, ours have their own secure area and are actually very sociable – especially Kong, our boar who really is the Big Daddy!
Kong lives with two sows and their offspring, and you are most likely to see the baby boarlets in April: they are very cute with their fawn and brown stripes.
Our two resident llamas are real characters. They are very friendly and not as snooty as they look. They live quite happily with all the other farm animals and share a paddock with our sheep Olive and OK.
We have both standard and miniature donkeys. Clover, the youngest of our miniature donkeys was a surprise arrival when she was born at the farm one January. Violet and Jack our resident Shetland ponies are always pleased to meet and get to know our visitors, especially those who have purchased animal food on their way in! You get to groom (er, and muck out) our donkeys and ponies on fun, hands-on our Be A Farmer experience packages.
Each year at Bucklebury Farm Park we help local farmers by taking in lambs that can not be supported by their mothers, and require bottle feeding. These lambs can arrive at no more than a day or two old and need lots of care. You can help us by joining our daily bottle feeding sessions throughout the Spring which are as popular with the lambs as they are with our young visitors!
We are the proud owners of some fine rare-breed Berkshire pigs. Not only are Berkshire pigs exceptionally friendly, inquisitive and fun to keep, they make good mothers. Ours came all the way from the award-winning Smallicombe farm in Devon and include Beaumont, our young boar and Bucklebury Belle one of three sows we kept from our first litter. Belle has a white stripe to the tip of her nose and you can see a picture of her in Woody's Cafe.
Our family of pygmy goats are very naughty. They frequently escape, and use any opportunity to steal any food our visitors may have – often eating the bag as well!! Thelma and Louise are our two Anglo-Nubian goats. They have bags of charm, delightfully floppy ears and love being groomed. They can often be seen being taken for a sedate stroll around the farm.
Our small herd of short-legged rare-breed Dexter cattle just got a little bigger with the arrival of two beautiful calves, Snowdrop, Mary's daughter was born in January with Primrose, Oreo's calf arriving in March. These two calves are exceptionally pretty and friendly and we hope, will form the foundation of the Bucklebury Farm Park Dexter herd of the future.
In the barn we have a Pat-a-pet area where our gorgeous rabbits and guinea pigs can be handled by our visitors, usually a favourite for our younger visitors.
A fun new addition in 2012, we have a paddock complete with luxury accommodation for our pampered guinea-pigs. They love the freedom to roam, zooming through tunnels and playing hide-and-seek in the long grass. Great fun to watch and a source of irritation to their neighbouring rabbits but don't worry guys, Rabbit Town is coming soon!


"Evaluating highway public-private partnerships: Evidence from U.S. value for money studies," Kweun, Jeong Yun, Porter K. Wheeler, Jonathan L. Gifford. 2017. Transport Policy. In Press.
"Public–private partnerships: a review of economic considerations with particular reference to transportation projects," Button, Kenneth. 2016. Transportation Planning and Technology 39:2, 136-161.
"Data Review of Transportation Infrastructure Public-Private Partnerships: A Meta-Analysis." Chen, Zhenhua, Nobuhiko Daito, Jonathan L. Gifford. 2015. Transport Reviews. doi:10.1080/01441647.2015.1076535.
"The Evolution of Virginia's Public-Private Partnership Enabling Statutes." Gifford, Jonathan, Morghan Transue. 2015. The Journal of Corporation Law. 141, pp.15-23.
"U.S. Highway Public Private Partnerships: Are They More Expensive or Efficient than the Traditional Model?" Daito, Nobuhiko, and Jonathan L. Gifford. 2014. Managerial Finance. 40 (11): 1131 – 1151, doi: 10.1108/MF-03-2014-0072.
"Demand Forecasting Errors and the Ownership of Infrastructure." Button, Kenneth J., and Zhenhua Chen. 2014. Applied Economics Letters. 21 (7): 494-496, doi: 10.1080/13504851.2013.870642.
"Sharing out the costs of a public-private partnership." Button Kenneth J., and Nobuhiko Daito. 2014. Applied Economics Letters. 21 (6): 383-386, doi: 10.1080/13504851.2013.856995.
"Implementing public-private partnerships during challenging economic times: case study of the 495 Express Lanes on the Virginia portion of the Washington Capital beltway Project (USA)." Daito, Nobuhiko, Zhenhua Chen, Jonathan L. Gifford, Tameka Porter, and John Gudgel. 2013. Case Studies on Transport Policy. 1 (1): 25-45, doi: 10.1016/j.cstp.2013.07.001.


Tapely care Home in Liverpool was prosecuted after it broke a series of fire safety regulations, and put its residents 'at risk'.
Failures identified included: failing to maintain fire separation in cupboard ceilings, corridors walls, the ground floor store room and the basement; failing to provide 'appropriate' fire detectors and alarms; a failure to remove combustible materials from a means of escape; failure to provide an 'adequate' fire door with 'appropriate' safety strips and seals; a failure to ensure the facility was 'subject to a suitable system of maintenance, in efficient working order & good state of repair'.
Despite this & the home's guilty plea, due to 'concerns about a very large fine having a detrimental impact on service users' the fine was set at £6,000 plus costs.
A care home resident died from a drugs overdose after an agency nurse gave her a powerful painkiller which was prescribed to a patient with the same name an inquest heard.
The resident 78, had only been at the Cedar Court Care Home in Wigston, Leicestershire, for a few hours when she was accidentally given a dose of oxycodone which was meant for another patient.
At the time of the residents death, the police investigated, but the case was dismissed by the Crown Prosecution Service, the inquest heard.
A private mental health group is facing a multi million-pound fine for breaching health and safety laws after a 14-year old with a history of suicide attempts died in its care.
The girl was treated at the Priory Group's Ticehurst House psychiatric hospital in East Sussex and was deemed high-risk, but three months after she was admitted she died in the trust's care, Brighton Magistrates' Court heard.
The Priory Group is charged with failing to discharge its duty to ensure people were not exposed to risk in what is thought to be the first prosecution of its kind. Prosecutor Sarah Le Fevre proposed a £2.4m fine as the starting point for the offence, although the company could be fined an unlimited amount.
NHS Oxleas Foundation Trust has today been fined £300,000 after two nurses suffered life-changing injuries when they were repeatedly stabbed by a service user.
The Old Bailey heard how, in July 2016 a health care assistant, was preparing toasted sandwiches for the staff and some of the patients in the kitchen on the Burgess Ward of the Bracton Centre, which is a medium secure forensic unit in Kent. He went to leave the kitchen to speak to a service user, leaving the knives on the work surface.
A privately owned care home has today been fined after an employee sustained severe injuries following a fall from height.
Kilmarnock Sheriff Court heard that on 9 July 2015 the lift shaft at Abbotsford Nursing Home had stopped between the upper and lower floor. A lift engineer attended and told the Director there was an issue with the access platform but that, as before, a screwdriver could be used to facilitate opening the door of the lift.
Woodbay allowed its employees to continue to use the lift in these circumstances. An employee used a screwdriver to open the lift, she intended entering the lift backwards, and in doing so fell approximately four metres to the ground as the platform had not been brought up to the landing.
A healthcare company has been fined after a vulnerable patient suffered fatal injuries during a minibus journey.
Nottingham Crown Court heard how, on 16 March 2014, a vulnerable patient was fatally injured when returning from an out of hours GP appointment at Nottingham Emergency Medical Centre in a minibus. Samantha Barton died after opening a door and leaping from a minibus which was traveling at speed on the A52, just outside of Nottingham…….
…..been fined £500,000 and ordered to pay costs of £67,500.


text:
by The M Team August 7, 20209:00 pm
DEMOCRACY: ANOTHER VICTIM OF COVID19?
The advent of the 2020 virus has far wider consequences for society
By Chiara Castro: Politics Columnist
Let's face it, 2020 has had a rough start right from its first days. Australian bushfires, where millions of animals got killed, opened the deadly dance. Following, the Coronavirus pandemic shook the all globe.
Losses from every corner around the world are continuing to mark the pace of this ghastly march, on daily basis. For not talking about the swarms of locusts that have been hitting Kenya and Ethiopia since January, destroying fields and east Africa's economy stability. Nor about new cases of bubonic plague which have been registered at the beginning of July in Mongolia. And now, democracy appears to be the last victim claimed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The recession of democratic values is nothing new. As the last research conducted by Freedom House shows, more countries have lost, rather than acquired, civil and political rights each year during the last decade. As every crisis, also the current health emergency is accelerating this worrying trend. From deepening existing inequalities and consolidating authoritarian powers to imposing restriction on civil liberties and undermining citizens' privacy, COVID-19 has had an overall negative impact on democracies. As a consequence, across the globe fundamental civil rights have been deeply affected on different levels.
Under this light, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) expressed its concerns in an open letter titled "A Call to Defend Democracy". The letter, which was published on its website on the last 25th of June, has been supported by 73 pro-democracy institutions as well as political and civil leaders from all over the world. Its aim is raising awareness about the issue as well as mobilising citizens and policymakers to react against it. If it was not a surprise that authoritarian regimes took advantage of the health crisis for tightening their political grip, " even some democratically elected governments are fighting the pandemic by amassing emergency powers that restrict human rights and enhance state surveillance without regard to legal constraints, parliamentary oversight, or time-frames for the restoration of constitutional order" the letter said.
Media: Nick Bondarev
Yes, the faltering of democracy is coming under different shapes. In some countries, the pandemic has been taken as the perfect opportunity for the introduction of new authoritarian laws. In Israel, a new law, so-called "Framework law", came into force on the 7th of July. It allows the government to bypass the parliament, in guise of facilitating the fight against Coronavirus. A similar process was brought into effect in Romania. In the late of March, Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte use COVID-19 as pretext to consolidate his authority through a bill that gives him expanded emergency powers, a military lockdown and, from the 3d of July, a new anti-terror law which can be defined as an outrage for human rights. Following this wave, the Hungarian Coronavirus Act allows the prime minister Victor Orbán to rule by decree indefinitely. This reinforces his authoritarian campaign, using the pandemic as a further occasion for attacking free press and political dissidents. The reason why the European Union did not intervene after this perceived violation of fundamental democratic rights is not clear, yet. In the meantime, echoing its neighbour, Serbia declared an open-ended state of emergency that enforces strict lockdown measures as well as forbids parliament to object at.
Hungary is not the only nation that used COVID-19 crisis at the expenses of freedom of speech, ineluctable liberty for any democratic government. According to the Global Monitor of Covid-19's Impact on Democracy and Human Rights, put together by the International IDEA, different countries in Europe have developed worrying democratic downturns as a consequence of the current health crisis. Among these, in Ukraine journalists are being threatened or attacked. While the more authoritarian Belarusian regime is keeping arrest its dissidents and opposition supporters.
Meet Chiara on the Team Page or Visit the Politics Department
Moving in Southeast Asia, we can see how the pre-existence illiberal trend has been deepened by the pandemic. In Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and even in what was considered the best example of democracy of the region, Indonesia, authorities have all detained critics, health workers, journalists and opposition members during these last rough months. Also in Azerbaijan and Bangladesh, governments are silencing critics. And how not to mention the national security law introduced in Hong Kong by the Chinese government. Even though it is not strictly linked to the Coronavirus emergency, it has to be seen as another piece of the authoritarian mosaic that is taking shape throughout the globe.
Another collateral effect due to COVID-19 is the postponement of elections. The base upon a democratic countries should be built. Polls represent an important tool for tempering political and socio-economics internal conflicts, peacefully. With the logistic obstacle that the current pandemic causes, many countries across the world have decided to reschedule the big day. What could provoke a delay in nations already shaking? In Latin-American turbulent democracies of Bolivia, Chile and Dominican Republic, the news went along with a wave of protests. In Venezuela, the risk is that the next electoral process would never meet international standard for honest and fair elections. On the other side of the world, in the Balkan peninsula, the situation is not at the best either. In Serbia and North Macedonia, the setback highlighted stronger and loudly the mutual distrust between citizens and governments. Also the path of carrying on with the course of action could lead to a big damage for the democratic health of the country. Poland and Zambia both saw their political campaign's activities affected and restricted due to the pandemic. While, leaders of US, Brazil and India have managed to politicise the COVID-19 situation at their advantage, weakening the opposition.
Last but not least, privacy matters. Concerns regarding privacy's protection have arisen everywhere in the world. In order to defeat the disease, track and trace has become the new mantra to follow. Everyone is naturally worried of how the terrain between necessity and abuse is, actually, subtle and fragile. Authoritarian regimes, like China, have not lost the chance for refining their control over the population. Also South Korea adopted a robust digital surveillance. In European backsliding democracies of Bulgaria, Slovakia, Ukraine and Montenegro, the use of personal data without consent is a huge object of concern. This implemented, also, discriminatory treatments, particularly against the Roma community. Whilst the role of the Israel Security Agency's (Shin Beth) within the phone tracking programme does not reassure either, sparking disagreements among the public opinion. But also here, in UK, we detect that something is afoot. Plans for the long term future of the NHS App, even though still hypothetic, could spring into a new form of social control, without precedents. Governments would be legitimate to spy on citizens, all in the name of safety. Without transparent legislation, it would be like jumping inside an obscure zone without a rope. The impact could deeply affect the concept of democracy as we know. At that point, it would be too late for coming back.
From a health pandemic, an authoritarian virus is now steamrolling throughout nations. As the spread of Coronavirus, this is scaring, nasty and can easily sweep across the world at a fast pace. These kinds of disease do not know borders. In a globalised world where globalised economies operate, a global pandemic will shuffle the global geopolitical deck built after World War II. Look at China, for example. From potential enemy of the EU, the health crisis turned Xi Jinping into the best friend of some European leaders. And, who is going to win the vaccine race? Alliances among Western countries are cracking. A fertile ground for reinforcing negative democratic tendencies.
A global pandemic is an historical moment of changes. It is affecting every person, every relationship.
It is moulding a new normal, a different world. Unlikely the implications that COVID-19 has on countries' healthcare and economy, mainstream media seems to not pay enough attention to its political backlash. The world we all know is falling apart. The extent of damage that Coronavirus emergency will have over democracy will be soon revealed. Depending how economies and societies will be affected as well as how democracies and autocracies will manage the upcoming crisis, that will shape our future. It is not the time to let the guard down.
Tagged with: Covid19 Democracy Global Society Identity


text:
Win 'Cars' On DVD!
Win Cars On DVD!
Evan Jacobs
— November 6, 2006
in DVD, Blu-ray Release Dates
On November 7 Cars speeds to DVD, to celebrate we are giving away copies to some very lucky people!
CLICK HERE to enter our contest!
RELATED: Win Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water on Blu-ray
After taking moviegoers into the magical worlds of toys, bugs, monsters, fish, and superheroes, the masterful storytellers and technical wizards at Pixar Animation Studios and Academy Award®-winning director John Lasseter hit the road with this fast-paced comedy adventure set inside the unique world of cars.
In addition to Owen Wilson, Paul Newman and Bonnie Hunt, Cars includes an all-star vocal cast including, Larry The Cable Guy (as Mater, a wise-cracking, rusty but trusty tow truck), George Carlin (as Fillmore, the town's resident hippie van, Paul Dooley (as Sarge, the no-nonsense Army Jeep) and Cheech Marin (as Ramone, the low-riding, car-painting Impala). As well, the fast-action film favorite includes the voice of Jenifer Lewis (as Flo, the sassy, no-nonsense 50's big-fin show car), Tony Shalhoub (as Luigi, the excitable, tire-brokering Italian import), Michael Wallis (as Sheriff, the Mercury Police Cruiser), Michael Keaton (as Chick Hicks, Lightning McQueen's nemesis), Richard Petty (as The King, the classiest champ on the race-car circuit) and John Ratzenberger (as Mack, the big-hearted Super-liner who ferries McQueen across the country).
Ratzenberger is the only actor to have appeared in all of Pixar's feature films. A fantastic soundtrack supercharges Cars, including tracks from the top artists in music today. Among these are director John Lasseter's longtime collaborator and Academy Award® winner Randy Newman (Best Song "If I Didn't Have You" from MONSTERS, INC. 2002), Sheryl Crow, Rascal Flatts, Brad Paisley, James Taylor, John Mayer, and more. The songs range from originals such as the heartfelt "Our Town" (written by Randy Newman and performed by James Taylor) to rousing renditions of the famous tune "Route 66." The Disney*Pixar's Cars Original Motion Picture Soundtrack debuted in June 2006 at #8, making it the first Pixar soundtrack to enter the Billboard Top 10 and to ship gold. The driving force behind Cars is John Lasseter, who returns to directing for the first time since TOY STORY 2 in 1999. In addition to guiding Cars through the production process, Lasseter has executive produced and overseen all of Pixar's creative endeavors, including MONSTERS, INC., FINDING NEMO, and THE INCREDIBLES, produced at Pixar's state-of-the-art studio in Emeryville, California. Cars taps into Lasseter's personal love of cars, racing, and animation.
Disney Pixar announces the DVD debut of the smash hit #1 animated film of the year, Cars, just in time for the holidays-on DVD November 7! From Pixar's Academy Award® winning director John Lasseter (TOY STORY, TOY STORY 2, A BUG'S LIFE) and the creative team that thrilled audiences with unforgettable hits including THE INCREDIBLES and FINDING NEMO, Cars is a hilarious action-packed adventure into the unique world of cars, starring a hotshot rookie race car who, with a fun cast of car-acters goes on the ride of his life. Starring Owen Wilson (Wedding Crashers), the legendary Paul Newman (Oscar® winner Best Actor The Color of Money 1986), Bonnie Hunt (as Sally, a snazzy Porsche) and an all-star cast, Cars takes audiences of all ages on an incredible adventure that blends comedy, a heartfelt story, great music and breathtaking animation.
Loaded with a full tank of electrifying DVD bonus features, the highly anticipated Cars DVD is freewheeling fun for everyone! Bonus features include an exclusive animated short "Mater and The Ghostlight", the original short from Cars theatrical release; "One Man Band"; "The Inspiration for Cars"; deleted scenes; hilarious end credit vignettes shown in full screen; and a special sneak peek at the highly anticipated next Disney/Pixar feature RATATOUILLE. Available in separate widescreen and fullscreen editions on November 7, 2006, Cars is priced at U.S. $29.99 (SRP) and Canada $36.99 (SRP) from Walt Disney Home Entertainment.
- Mater and the Ghostlight - This all-new exclusive animated short film directed by John Lasseter and co-directed by Dan Scanlon, features Mater, the lovable rusty tow truck from the film. In this funny and spooky tale, mischievous Mater, the prankster of Radiator Springs, has the tables turned on him as he learns the truth behind the mystery of "The Ghostlight."
- One Man Band - This Academy Award®-nominated short film (Best Animated Short 2005) is included exclusively on the Cars DVD. It tells the humorously captivating story of two street musicians where musical mayhem coincides with brilliant visuals.
- Inspiration for Cars - Creator John Lasseter takes viewers on an insightful cruise through the world of Cars. From Lasseter's personal home movies, his life-changing trip across the country with his family, the animators' journey down Route 66 and discovering the thrill of the racetrack, this firsthand account explores how the film was born. Plus, meet the real-life Mater who inspired the beloved character.
- Epilogue - Enjoy the hilarious end credit vignettes, shown full screen, which spoof beloved Pixar films including Monsters, Inc., Toy Story and Finding Nemo.
- Deleted Scenes
- Rated: G
- Run Time: 116 minutes
- Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 enhanced for 16x9 TV screens and separately 1.33:1 formatted 4x3
- Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 EX Surround Sound - Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Sound
- Languages: English Audio
- CC: Yes
CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO CLIPS FROM THIS DVD RELEASE!
Dont't forget to also check out: Cars
Topics: Contests
Longtime Movieweb contributor that was uploading 1-minute movie reviews to the world wide web via AOL before Youtube or social media existed. I make tons of straight-to-video movies you can find at Amazon & Vimeo. DVDs are back and I like it!
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