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In Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master, Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) re-enters America after having served in World War II and now suffering from post-traumatic stress. Like Vietnam War veteran Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) trying to make sense of America in the late 1970s in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976) Freddie is similarly childlike, emerging into a world that is recognisable to him, but doesn't fully make sense. Conformity, capitalism and consumerism are some of the characteristics of an era of both extraordinary economic growth, but also paranoia where the threat of communist infiltration created a markedly conservative political and social climate. Trying to find a place in an era of pronounced social cohesion, Freddie requires a master. That master is the charismatic Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman), the leader of a quasi-religious philosophical movement known as The Cause.
Like the nervous and volatile Barry Egan (Adam Sandler) in Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love 2002, Freddie is a lost soul who desires to be part of something bigger than just himself. Constantly talking out of the side of his mouth, hunched over and never quite managing to dress in clothes that properly fit him, Freddie is never comfortable in the world he occupies. At the other extreme is Lancaster the father-figure who, similar to Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) in Anderson's There Will Be Blood (2007), is a larger-than-life entrepreneur who captures the American spirit in all its grandiosity, boldness and insanity. If The Master doesn't have the same immediate emotional effect as Anderson's previous work it is because it is dealing with far more subdued and interior subject matter than romantic love or building an oil empire.
While Scientology is the inspiration for The Cause and L Ron Hubbard the inspiration for Lancaster, The Master is more interested in systems of control in general and the psychological desire to obey. Following Lancaster's teaching is something Freddie very quickly and willingly succumbs to, aggressively defending Lancaster even when arguments questioning The Cause are presented reasonably and rationally. Freddie's faith in Lancaster is so strong that he believes him to even be above the law and any evidence contrary to this does shake the foundations of his belief, but not for long. The Master never presents any definitive explanation for why Freddie would be drawn to The Cause. Lancaster certainly never convincingly presents his belief system; an early scene where he discusses his philosophy on life is almost gibberish, he gets extremely defensive when challenged and even his own son claims he is making everything up on the spot. Nevertheless, Freddie watches dutifully, grinning in delight whenever Lancaster speaks.
Freddie begins the film as not only childlike, but almost primal. He is driven by instinct. He likes to drink so creates terrifying homebrew from anything he can find, including a variety of industrial liquids and chemicals. He is constantly horny, masturbating a few metres away from his fellow soldiers after fondling a sand sculpture of a naked woman. In a much later scene he imagines all the women in the room naked, although it is difficult to tell if he is more entranced by them or Lancaster. When Freddie is with a woman sexually he playfully pokes her breasts and giggles. The next day Freddie is confused and angry by his inability to have a sexual relationship and takes out his rage on a customer at the mall where he is working. Freddie talks about a young woman he loved named Doris, although his neglectful actions – until it is too late – suggest that he is really in love with the ideal of her.
The sexual imagery Freddie continually returns to is that of the naked woman sand sculpture, shaped to pose like a nude model in a pornographic magazine. Similar to Brandon (Michael Fassbender) in Steve McQueen's 2011 film Shame, Freddie is obsessed with the manufactured representation of sex rather than the real thing. Like the strange chemical cocktails he drinks, the sex he craves is synthetic and instead of living his own life he looks for a synthetic version of life, and that's the belief system and social hierarchy that Lancaster offers.
The Master is therefore a film about obedience and forming an identity through subservience. Freddie begins with sex and alcohol as his master, but Lancaster and The Cause soon takes the place in the way that people recovering from addictions often turn to religion as a new form of obsessive behaviour. The exercises that Lancaster submits Freddie to seem designed to strip away his sense of self rather than provide any enlightenment.
Freddie isn't the only subservient character in the film as Lancaster is also revealed as a figurehead for The Cause with his wife Peggy Dodd (Amy Adams) as the person who is really in charge. The most overt scene exploring their relationship is when Peggy sternly instructs Lancaster on matters of his fidelity while violently masturbating him. Their relationship is seen to be something highly perverse with Peggy maintaining her power over Lancaster while reducing him to his most basic impulses and desires – taking him down to Freddie's level.
In the same way that the characters in Kenneth Lonergan's Margaret (2011) can be very easily read as representing aspects of the American psyche post-9/11, the characters of The Master similarly represent aspects of the American psyche post-World War II. Social cohesion is desired as the best way for an individual to achieve harmony and any attempt to question that cohesion is met with strong resistance. Sexuality is something to be repressed or at least released in a 'harmless' way, resulting in a perverse obsession with the idea of sex rather than sex itself. The Master is in many ways a straightforward story about a man unsure of the new world he is now in, and wants to belong to something so that he too can move beyond childish and primal urges and become civilised. Anderson doesn't provide any easy answers about whether or not Freddie is successful in his ascent, although the final cryptic scene suggests that while he has moved up by a notch in social status he is still mentally in the same place that he was when the film began.


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Drug convictions linked to driver's green tongue reversed
Court says officer's request to see tongue led to unconstitutional search
A police officer who stopped a driver for a defective taillight acted unlawfully when he asked to see the man's tongue, then used its green hue as the basis for a marijuana arrest, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
The court reversed the drug convictions of the man, Hillman Blesdell-Moore, saying the Enfield officer who stopped the 18-year-old in 2011 had no basis to ask to see his tongue or continue questioning him about whether a drug-sniffing dog might detect drugs in his pickup truck.
Officer Roy Holland's request transformed the routine traffic stop into an unconstitutional search for evidence of drug possession, the court ruled unanimously.
Holland testified that Blesdell-Moore's driving was fine prior to the stop and there was no evidence of impairment. Holland noted that the driver was nervous and his eyes were bloodshot, but the court determined these "otherwise innocent factors" did not amount to a reasonable suspicion of drug activity. The officer did not detect any odor of marijuana and saw no drugs when he approached the truck.
The trial court barred evidence of Holland's request to see Blesdell-Moore's tongue and description of the green film he observed, but let in the several bags of marijuana and hallucinogenic mushrooms that Blesdell-Moore eventually told the officer he had in his truck. The Supreme Court ruled that all evidence of drug possession with intent to sell should have been suppressed.
"Although the brief inspection of the defendant's tongue did not prolong the stop, we conclude that the search altered the fundamental nature of the stop by transforming it from a routine traffic stop into an investigation of potential drug activity," the court ruled.
After Blesdell-Moore repeatedly told Holland he didn't have any drugs, the officer returned his license and registration and gave him a verbal warning to fix the taillight. Holland even spoke to Blesdell-Moore's father, who called his son's cellphone during the stop, and assured him that his son was going to drive the vehicle home and park it until he could get the light fixed. He then told Blesdell-Moore he was free to go.
As Blesdell-Moore was getting into his truck, Holland approached and asked whether he had marijuana in his truck. He said he didn't, and denied Holland's request to search his truck.
Holland then asked if a drug-sniffing canine would detect drugs in the truck and then asked dispatch to send a canine unit to the scene. Blesdell-Moore then confessed he had a couple of ounces of marijuana and mushrooms in the truck.
The court said a traffic stop amounts to a seizure and that officers must limit its purpose to the reason for the stop and not expand it to a search for evidence of criminal activity unless they have "a reasonable and articulable suspicion" that such activity exists.
"Holland was determined to conduct a drug investigation unsupported by reasonable suspicion," the justices said. "This is especially troubling in light of the defendant's youth and Holland's statement to (his) father that he would be releasing the defendant to return home."
Assistant Attorney General Elizabeth Woodcock decline to comment on the ruling.

subset: commoncrawl


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Last updated August 2019
Hotels are increasingly charging mandatory "resort" and "facility" fees, padding profits and making price comparisons harder for travelers. These extra charges—usually $20–$40 per night—aren't shown in the per-night rates displayed in search results on travel booking websites nor on the initial pricing shown on hotels' own sites. Instead, consumers are notified about these additional costs only after they click to book their rooms or, sometimes, not until they check in to their hotels.
Like airlines, hotels increasingly rely on surcharges like these to boost earnings. According to research by the New York University School of Professional Studies, this year hotels will rake in nearly $3 billion this way.
Checkbook's shoppers researched rates for weekend stays in Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Miami Beach, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. They found that resort fees in these popular tourist spots have become commonplace. They hunted for rooms in three-, four-, and five-star hotels via Hotwire's "Hot Rate" offers, one of the few reliable ways we've found to obtain discounted stays.
Of the 205 hotel stays we were offered, more than two-thirds had mandatory resort fees. We discovered each only after clicking on its listing to book and then seeing a notice in fine, light gray print. On average, these junk fees added $29—an extra 13 percent—per night. The bait-and-resort-fee-switch was most common in Boston, Miami Beach, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Vegas:
- Among cities we checked, Miami Beach had the most surprise resort fees: Of the 38 hotel choices Hotwire spit out, all but two charged mandatory extra per-night fees we didn't discover until clicking on the offer. The average surcharge was $29 per night.
- Vegas hotels and casinos know how to separate you from your money, so it's no surprise they excel at charging gotcha resort fees: Of the 28 listings from Hotwire, all but three hit us with an extra $28 to $51 per night.
- For a stay in Midtown New York, Hotwire showed us 30 options, 20 with resort fees tacked on ranging from $10 to an astounding $112 per night.
- In San Francisco, of the 24 properties offered up by Hotwire, 15 charged resort fees from $17 to $40 per night.
- In Boston, 10 out of 16 hotels we considered charged resort fees, averaging $24 a night.
- Resort fees were also common in Seattle (58 percent of hotels we were offered), Washington, D.C. (43 percent), and Chicago (33 percent).
Hidden resort fees are more prevalent in some metro areas than others. We also searched for stays in Atlanta, Dallas, Louisville, Minneapolis, and Philadelphia, but found hotels there rarely charge them—yet. But, like now-the-norm airline baggage fees, it just takes one bold pioneer to abuse customers with ridiculous fees before others join in to make the practice commonplace.
Because resort fees aren't included in the per-night rates shown in initial search results on travel-booking sites, hotels can disguise their real prices and make it difficult for consumers to compare costs. And often, surcharges turn a seemingly good deal into a bad one. For example, when we sorted search results by price, the nightly rate Hotwire gave for Row NYC was an attractive $198, among the lowest in Midtown during our weekend getaway. But add in its poorly disclosed $40-a-night resort fee, and Row fell nine spots on our sorted-by-price-but-not-the-real-price list. Similarly, Harrah's $155-a-night rate on the Vegas Strip seemed like a steal—until we clicked to book and saw its $40 resort fee.
Hotels have long charged outrageous prices for extras. But when you pay $52 a night to park or $19 for a club sandwich, you get something—or can decline to buy. What do these mandatory resort fees buy? Our undercover shoppers called hotels and asked, and few properties offered reasonable explanations:
- The Row NYC's response was typical: Its $40-a-night fee pays for a business center, WiFi, a fitness center, and unlimited phone calls. That's it. It's a four-star hotel; we think most of its guests expect those amenities.
- In Las Vegas, The Palazzo at The Venetian's mandatory $51-a-night fee gets you WiFi, unlimited local and toll-free calls, and digital downloads of newspapers. That makes its neighbor MGM Grand's $42-a-night fee a relative bargain; it buys you WiFi, unlimited local and toll-free calls, notary services, airline-boarding-pass printing, and a fitness center.
- Some hotels throw in some small extras. Hotel Spero in San Francisco told our shopper its $34-per-night resort fee covers coffee, tea, WiFi, lobby newspapers, a fitness center, and a guest amenities bag with two bottles of water, a postcard, and—this was our favorite—a pen with a cap holding flower seeds.
- A few hotels at least made an effort to justify their fees. Mondrian South Beach claimed its extra $39 a night nets "a complimentary welcome drink at check-in; two drink tickets for its bar; bike, kayak, and paddleboard rentals; fitness center; and phone-charger loaners." That's good stuff, but to us those benefits fall well short of $39.
It's silly for hotels to charge extra fees to cover common amenities—especially when they advertise them as reasons to stay there in the first place. And it's not as if guests who don't care to partake of fitness centers or free coffee can forgo the resort fees.
Resort fees are an example of "drip pricing"—you are shown one price, then, before you know it, you're paying more. In some countries, hotels are barred from doing this. We think the practice is a bait-and-switch, which is illegal. So does the Attorney General's office for Washington, D.C., which recently filed a civil lawsuit against Marriott for price deception. The next week, Nebraska's A.G. filed a similar suit against Hilton. Additional cases are likely coming: These actions were taken following an investigation by attorneys general offices across the U.S. into fees charged by hotels.
The Federal Trade Commission recently studied hotels' and booking websites' use of resort fees and other deceptive selling practices, but disappointingly chose not to act. Earlier this year, Consumer Reports included resort fees in its "What the Fee?!" assessment of unfair and hidden surcharges.
We think hotels and travel booking websites should provide their customers with upfront all-in pricing so they can easily compare costs, as airlines are required to do. You shouldn't have to click a few times to discover an extra $40-a-night junk fee. The only reason hotels have for listing them separately from per-night rates is that they wish to hide them and to make price comparisons more difficult.
As hotels began to take heat for resort-fee gouging, Booking Holdings and Expedia, Inc., which own just about all the third-party hotel booking websites (Agoda, Hotels.com, Hotwire, Kayak, momondo, Orbitz, Priceline, Travelocity, Trivago, and many more), claimed they will work to pressure hotels to better disclose resort fees. Booking told us it has begun to collect commissions on mandatory hotel fees, while Expedia claims it might push hotels that charge them down in its search results.
Although Booking's approach might suitably punish the worst actors (hotels that advertise very low per-night base rates but add $50/night resort fees), charging a commission on these surcharges seems like Booking is more interested in making sure it gets its cut, rather than protesting hotels' unfair practices. And we're worried guests will ultimately pay for these commissions in the form of even higher prices.
On the other hand, if Expedia follows through with its threat to provide less visibility to hotels charging resort fees, that might actually influence hotels' business practices. But we researched rates for this article using Hotwire, an Expedia-owned company, and didn't notice a relationship between default sort order and the presence of resort fees.
Websites operated by Booking and Expedia became popular by providing a way to compare prices without having to check rates at multiple properties. Allowing hotels to disguise their real rates means shoppers can't really use these websites the way they expect.
In fact, Booking and Expedia could today fix this mess by adjusting how they display prices to account for these fees in the initial search results they show, ultimately greatly improving customer experience. They already do that for car-rental searches, which include all required taxes and fees. For a few weeks earlier this year, Booking.com did begin to display in its search results this type of all-in pricing for hotels, but the U.S. version of that site quickly reverted back to showing base rates.
Also frustrating: similar hidden fees levied by those listing property rentals on Airbnb and HomeAway/Vrbo. For many vacation homes, the per-night rate advertised is far less than the actual one you'll pay once stuff like management and cleaning fees are tacked on. Often those fees add up to hundreds of extra dollars. These websites could also greatly assist their customers by displaying all-in pricing.
What can you do? When researching rates, compare bottom-line prices. If you stay at a hotel with a resort fee, complain. I travel often and politely protest these fees when I check in and check out of hotels that charge them, explaining they are dishonest, ridiculous, and sleazy. Sometimes hotels waive them.
If you are hit with mandatory fees not clearly disclosed when you booked, demand the hotel remove them from your final bill. If it won't, dispute those costs with your credit card company.


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Bryan KeatingSports Director
Sports Director Bryan Keating was born and raised right here in the state of Oklahoma.
He graduated from Edmond Santa Fe High School in 1997, and Oklahoma State University in 2002 with a degree in political science. He later graduated from the University of Colorado in 2004 with a degree in broadcast news.
While in Boulder, Bryan got his start working on CU Sportsmag. He also was an intern for KOCO and a contributing writer for the Oklahoma Pigskin Preview.
He spent the next two years as the weekend sports anchor for KAVU, in Victoria, Texas. He loved getting a chance to cover the NFL's Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans.
Bryan spent the next 5 years covering high school football in Abilene, Texas as the Sports Director at KTXS. One of his best memories in television was covering Abilene High School winning the state football championship in 2009.
Bryan spends his free time riding his bike, at the gym, watching sports and cooking.


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Tantek Çelik has written an important post about silos vs an open, social web:
The answer is not to not "only [be] relevant to geeks", but rather, reframe it as a positive, and be relevant to yourself. That is, design, architect, create, and build for yourself first, others second. If you're not willing to run your design/code on your own site, for your primary identity on the web, day-in and day-out, why should anyone else? If you started something that way but no longer embrace it as such, start over. Go Selfdogfood or go home.
It's thought-provoking, and worth a read: On Silos vs an Open Social Web.
Tantek defines "selfdogfooding" as "using your own creations on your own personal site that you depend on, day to day." That's an important perspective, because for one thing, many of us don't have personal sites anymore, and yet more of us never did. Some of us have social networking profiles, but I wouldn't classify those as sites.
I've been thinking a lot about how I interface with the modern web, and in the wake of the Google Reader closure that's an even more important discussion. I like the POSSE: (Publish Own Site, Syndicate Everywhere) approach very much – by publishing to something I directly control and then pushing out to sites like Twitter, Facebook and Google+, I'm the one who's in charge of my presence on the Internet, without losing any of the network effects.
This poses other questions. When you control the entire platform that your presence runs on, and you know how to write code, what should your presence look like? Right now I'm using WordPress to power this site, and ThinkUp to process my interactions with the wider social web, but what could I build myself?
This dovetails nicely with another question I've been asking myself lately. I designed the architecture for Elgg 0.x in 2004, and the original 1.x architecture was set down two years later. What would an easy-to-use open source social platform that was easy to deploy onto shared hosting look like, given the set of technologies we have available to us in 2013? Let alone what we know now about user behavior and design? It's a different web out there, and I don't know. But if I want to, I can explore; the best way to do that is to use it myself.
Updated to add: I built this. It's called idno, and I'm using it over at werd.io.


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I originally included this comment in "FrontMotion CEESR.msi naming for Custom Search vs Normal Search" post, but making a separate thread due to the odd behavior.
The download page for FM Firefox (example: http://www.frontmotion.com/news/fmfiref ... sr-52-0-1/)is alternating between one layout that gives you two browser options (Custom or Regular Google Search) and one layout that does not specify which version it is. I can confirm this is happening across multiple browsers, multiple computers, multiple internet connection so it appears to me at least that the content being served gets changed since the page displays the same across all devices at the same time. When the layout reverts to the other, its then visible across all the same devices as well.
Attached is a screenshot taken of what this looks like. Any idea what is going on?
FMFF CEESR Download Page Alternates Between 2 Layouts
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Tamriel Rebuilt is pleased to announce the release of build 14.08!
What's New
This is the first release in our new release system, and contains all updates originally planned for Sacred East 1.6, as well as an updated version of our unfinished Alpha lands which now include the remaining parts of Velothis district including the city of Baan Malur, and the Skyrim border regions. No new lands have been added to TR_Mainland, though some of our existing areas around Bosmora got a huge overhaul. There are also many new quests, including the completion of Akamora's Fighters' guild questline! Between the Main file and the alpha, one can now access the entire Mainland with the exception of the City of Almalexia and the unfinished heightmap of Southern Morrowind.
Please be sure to remove Sacred East, TR_Data, and the previous alpha (if installed), prior to installing the contents of this archive, as this format supersedes all previous TR releases. We have also updated our readme to be in PDF format for increased readability. Those wishing for a text version can find one here. Changelogs will also be included in all future builds of Tamriel Rebuilt. You can find a list of changes in this update here.
Project Status [August 2014]
While this update does not add any new lands to the playable release, you can explore more areas in the Alpha. We anticipate the first of these areas, the Thirr River Valley, will be ready for the next update, possibly in early 2015. We are currently in the final stages of NPCing these areas (shaded in green in the map below). Other areas including the cities of Old Ebonheart and Andothren (areas in Yellow) are well into the NPC planning stages, and it will likely be that they will start the NPCing process as soon as we are finished the Thirr River Valley areas. This is an exciting time for Tamriel Rebuilt, as we begin to solidify our planning processes to bring you areas that are even more captivating than those found in prior versions of Tamriel Rebuilt.
Development Map (not a release schedule).
Thank you for your patience, and we hope you enjoy this release!


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In December 2015 the Education Department of the European Trade Union Institute launches a new online portal devoted to trainign for European Works Council members and SE works council members.
EWC training: tailor-made training for your EWC, SE works council and SNB
The ETUI is your competent partner in training European worker representatives at the European level.
Our training offer for EWCs, SE Works Councils and SNBs benefits from:
many years of experience in training bodies of worker representatives at the European level
a multinational team of trainers experienced in training multicultural groups and with practical EWC experience
direct links and close cooperation with the ETUC, the European Trade Union Federations and national trade unions
relevant experience from across the ETUI - a leading research institute on issues related to Europe's social dimension
close cooperation with the European Worker Participation Competence Centre
possibility of a "full service" offer to organise your training in a range of trade union training centres across Europe or in a Conference hotel of your choice
Visit our dedicated web site www.ewctraining.eu


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A couple of days ago Dan brought me a surprise: he'd caught a Common Buckeye out in our fields. Buckeyes don't normally occur here. They're a southern species that only occasionally strays far enough north to be recorded in eastern Ontario, and nearly all the records are from the southern edge of the province. My mom spotted one last year at her place just fifteen minutes north of the St. Lawrence. It was the first one she'd ever seen. The one Dan brought me was the first one I'd ever encountered, too (perhaps surprisingly, given the time I've spent working and traveling in the US). But interestingly, this was actually the second one Dan's found here on our property this summer (I was away when he found the first one).
The foodplants for this species, such as snapdragons and toadflax, do actually occur in our area. However, like Red Admirals, the adults of this species are not cold-hardy and can't survive the winters of the northern half of the continent. Instead, the butterflies seen in these areas are migrants that move north from the warmer southern regions. It was a really big spring for Red Admirals this year, possibly because the mild winter we had allowed more to survive than ordinarily do, and perhaps survive farther north than they normally can. I would guess this same weather probably benefitted the buckeyes, too.
It's been a great summer for butterflies all 'round. In late May and June we were seeing a lot of Giant Swallowtails; they were more common even than our regular Tigers. I posted about Giants before, when we got one last summer. They also don't normally occur here but will occasionally irrupt north. I'm not sure if they're also affected by winter temperatures, or if the numbers we had this year were the result of some other factor.


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Why Put a Pony Car on a Roof? Because Mustang
Two American Icons are Reunited for a Birthday Bash 50 Years in the Making
Midnight -- Tax day in America is officially over. If you haven't sent your return in -- you're officially late. And late is what we found ourselves being as we entered the loading dock of the Empire State Building. Yes, the one and only icon of the New York skyline. Bizarrely, it's snowing. In April. Never mind it was a balmy 76 degrees just a day earlier. Ridiculous. The big flakes racing down from the black sky replace driving rain that has been pounding Gotham for the entire day. On a 1 to 10 scale, the weather is miserable.
The occasion is seemingly as strange as the weather: Ford invited us to watch behind the scenes as it recreated a uniquely American feat -- putting a Mustang atop the Empire State Building. In 1965, as a follow up to its public debut on April 17, 1964 at the World's Fair in Flushing, NY (just across the river in Queens), Ford pulled off the publicity stunt using a 1965 Mustang Convertible. Why? Why not? Why not celebrate the Mustang's 50th birthday by going full circle and reuniting the now two American icons.
12:40 a.m.: If you negotiate your way through 3 different elevators to get to the 86th floor as we did - you find yourself just inside the world's highest open-air observatory. The first thing that strikes you is how small the footprint of the building is at this level - celebrities may have larger bedrooms. The lobby leading to the deck measure about 15 feet across - and half of it is filled with bins, crates, boxes, and other gear. Bright yellow metal jumps out at you - instantly we recognize fenders, bumpers, and quarter panels. It's a hive of activity with about three dozen people making bee lines to parts and back to the deck. We're in the right place.
The 2015 Mustang that is to be reassembled over the next few hours is actually a prototype that was sacrificed for the project. In a process that began 5 weeks ago, technicians and craftsmen from DST - the same fabrication company that helped Ford in 1965 - began studying ways to get the 2015 Mustang up to the top of the Empire State Building. Like in 1965, the height of the observation deck (1,224 feet, the tip of the mast tops out at 1,454 feet) precludes the use of a mobile crane. Likewise, the profile of the building and deck make a helicopter lift too dangerous.
It turns out the guys in 1965 had the best plan -- cut up the Mustang and send it up the elevators piece by piece. Twenty-five of them, at least the major pieces. The size of the pieces are dictated by the old elevators of the building -- with 36" wide opening and a depth of only 56 inches. All told the DST crew estimates they have to put together at least 100 different pieces to complete the Mustang. All of these parts were moved up to the 86th floor slowly, painstakingly slowly, the previous night -- with at least 23 trips up the one freight elevator that reaches the 86th floor.
1 a.m.: On a typical evening, the Empire State Building observation deck closes to the public at 2 AM. On this night, even the hardiest of tourists wouldn't deal with the silliness of standing on the 86th floor with sleet, 60 mph gusts of wind, and a 31 degree wind chill. Not to mention zero visibility. With the deck closed early, the crew is able to start shortly after midnight instead of 2:30 AM as planned, It's a gain of 2 hours, but every minute is needed given the conditions. Snow is beginning to accumulate on the deck. The crew even briefly considers the worst case scenario -- building the Mustang inside the lobby of the deck. Ford's Mike Samulski, Manager of North American Design and Fabrication is supervising the build and explains, "its not so much the temperature - with the snow and wind gusts, you have to worry about workers slipping or even fenders being blown off the building." Good points.
When we join the crew on the deck, the "Mustang" is just several floor-pan pieces being bolted together with the assistance of a specially sub-frame that allows the car to stay together without welding everything back together (besides, what goes up must come down). And no, this Mustang will never be driven again. In fact - the engine and powertrain are left out of the project for practicality reasons. The windows and lights are wired to a battery though. And the top can be operated manually.
There's actually a six-man DST crew that is tasked with the reassembly. There are probably a dozen more assisting as "pickers". The process is not quite the precision and speed of a F1 pit crew, but much more advanced than say - your buddies helping you put back together your engine in the backyard. Parts are numbered and called out as they are needed - pickers work quickly to bring them out for installation.
2 a.m.: Rear-quarter sections are bolted to the Mustang. Wheels are carried out onto the deck to be installed next. It's starting to look like a car.
The weather is finally starting to improve. The sleet and snow are gone, but the wind gusts and associated wind chill remain. There's less than a dozen invited media gathered to document the overnight process - but initial enthusiasm has given way to numb extremities and wet clothing. Most are starting to stay in the lobby and only venture out when a major part makes its way outside. Like the front quarters and the front end. Then the doors.
The DST crew is supervised by manager Mike Krohn. Despite the conditions, their spirits and demeanor don't betray them. They are determined -- and not afraid to ask media to step aside in the interest of the mission. We are happy to comply.
3 a.m.: Just about three--hours into the build and the front end is installed - the 2015 Mustang is all-new of course, but the face is still distinctively Mustang. The A pillar comes out of the lobby as a U-shaped hoop. A call is made for the windshield. Tail lights are installed. Bolts are all organized by zip-close sandwich bags. The sound of hand-powered ratcheting intermixes with the buzz of the occasional power toot - and they both fight the roar of the wind as it whips around the tower.
Then the sound of a helicopter captures our attention. While the sound or sight of a helicopter is common in NYC (former Mayor Bloomberg's helicopter was a frequent sight), a copter in the air in these conditions and at this hour is rare - and alarming. Building security is heard on the radios questioning the presence of the helicopter - a reminder of the post-9/11 security awareness that the 1965 feat probably didn't have to contend with. No worries here though - the chopper was hired by Ford to help document the build. Props to that pilot.
4 a.m.: The unofficial timer we are running almost hits four hours when the hood come out of the building. It predictably sets off a frenzy among the photographers and videographers that remain. The whole scene is still surreal. The hood features a giant embossed Mustang logo underneath, which a Ford spokesman points out will not be visible in production cars because of insulation -- we're guessing that this will be one of the first "deletes" owners will make. As the craftsmen line up and bolt on the hood, numerous adjustments are made to the fenders and the front end in an attempt to line up all the parts as best as possible. Likewise, there's a lot of excitement when the dashboard is installed.
DST, like Ford, is a company with a long automotive history. And like Ford, there are multi-generational families who have worked for DST. In fact, DST body tech Dan Cochrane worked on the 2015 Empire State Building Mustang project, just like his dad -- mechanic Claude Cochrane, did 49 years earlier.
5 a.m.: -- We're on the final stretch. Just like in the reality car-overhaul shows, the excitement begins to build as the last pieces are lined up. Interior trim pieces are installed one piece at a time. A portable vacuum is pulled out to clean up the interior.
Amazingly, the night has gone by relatively quickly. A partly cloudy, but dry, sky occasionally reveals an almost full moon. The beauty of looking at NYC from atop its second tallest building (the new World Trade Center officially surpassed it last year) is becoming clear. We're distracted long enough to take a few obligatory personal Instagram/Facebook/Twitter shots. The last pieces of the car are -- fittingly -- the seats and they are carried out one by one. A little after 5 AM, the last bolts are tightened and some loose bits are secured. We're given an opportunity to take a few more shots of the completed car under the moonlight before we're asked to retreat to the 58th floor, where a lounge is being built to host a Mustang 50th birthday bash later tonight. The clean-up begins before we even reach the elevators - the crews have to clear the lobby and building staff have to prep the area for an "official unveiling" photo op with Bill Ford at 7AM and then shortly after, business open at 8 AM.
6:30 a.m.: The sun is already high in the air to the east of the building, and coming fast. The lobby, free from the clutter and equipment, and splashed with sunlight is a different place. The final photo op is as chaotic as the build at its height; the overnight media (including us) is overrun by a fresh group of photogs and TV crews -- and the 30 something strong paparazzi are all competing for a spot in front of the Mustang the size of your living room.
7 a.m.: Or a little after, Bill Ford arrives on the 86th floor with a small entourage of executives in tow. He is joined by Empire State Building executives including Anthony E. Malkin, CEO of building owner Empire State Realty Trust. The great-grandson of Henry Ford has an easy charisma - cameras like him, as much as they do a sparking yellow 2015 Mustang GT convertible. Less than 20 minutes and a few photo scrums later, the whole process is over. The deck is cleared for live feeds and the Mustang sits pretty under the now clear skies. The completed Mustang will greet Empire State Building observatory visitors for the next 42 hours - at 2 a.m. on April 18th, the whole process will begin anew in reverse.
It's a truly audacious stunt. But its uniquely American - you can't imagine either roles of the building and car being played by others. Throw in some fireworks and a BBQ on the deck and the picture would be complete. So, don't ask why. It's pointless. Because they can. Because 'merica. Because Mustang.


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Windows Vista security flaw exposed
Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by EStreetJoe, Dec 26, 2006.


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(Reuters) - Home Depot Inc is shifting medical coverage for part-time workers to new public marketplace exchanges ahead of new benefits requirements under the U.S. Affordable Care Act, a spokesman said on Thursday.
The world's largest home improvement retail chain announced its move shortly after a similar announcement from Trader Joe's Co, a popular privately held grocery chain.
A customer wheels purchases from The Home Depot store in Glendale, Calif., Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2006. The company's earnings report was expected to be released Tuesday afternoon. The Home Depot Inc. said Tuesday its second-quarter profit rose 5.3 percent, it will resume same-store sales reporting and it is investing another $350 million in improving its business. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
Home Depot's change would affect roughly 20,000 part-time workers who previously had chosen the limited liability medical plan the company offered, spokesman Stephen Holmes said.
After December 31, companies can no longer offer those plans under the health law, also known as Obamacare.
"We're going to shift them over to the public exchanges, where there are more options," Holmes said.
The public exchanges being set up under the law will allow individuals to buy government-subsidized healthcare based on income. Enrollment begins on October 1.
Until now, many restaurants and retailers offered workers limited liability plans that often provided less than $5,000 in coverage.
Home Depot's plans for part-time workers provided coverage of up to $20,000 depending on the plan and were administered by Aetna Inc.
Experts have said exchanges would provide more comprehensive coverage that may not cost more because government tax credits will help some workers offset premiums.
Some employers are opting to offer coverage through private health insurance changes.
Walgreen Co, the largest U.S. drugstore, and more than a dozen other large employers have said they would offer their employee insurance for 2014 through the Aon Hewitt Corporate Health Exchange.
Home Depot employs about 340,000 people and will continue to offer healthcare benefits to full-time employees, who will be paying more for that coverage next year due to higher healthcare costs, Holmes said.
(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Phil Wahba; Editing by David Gregorio and Tim Dobbyn)
Carousel image via shutterstock.com


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Enraged conservative hedgehog Sean Hannity once again welcomed Ann Coulter to his show the other day, and the two had some pretty fun yuks about sexual harassment to wrap up their talk about politics. It's a shame that someone with as big a stage as Hannity can't come up with a better joke about on-the-job harassment, a topic ripe for comedy.
The exchange went like this:
Hannity: It was good to see you. For once, you did not get to call me names. Like last time, a "gossipy old woman" and "a brat" because I didn't ask you about your dating life.
Coulter: And I miss doing that.
Hannity: Listen, you might sue me for harassment by the time this is over.
Coulter: LOLOL
Fumble, Hannity. Fumble.
It's not that sexism can never be funny, it's just that questioning the existence of sexual harassment is not funny. A good joke should challenge the status quo or upend existing power structures, not reinforce them (a joke at the expense of a victim isn't a joke at all; that's called "bullying"). There's plenty to laugh about when it comes to sexual harassment— the absurdity of how accepted it was in the workplace until fairly recently, the overacted Unsolved Mysteries style reenactments of do's and don'ts in corporate anti-sexual harassment training videos, ascribing ability to sexually harass to inanimate objects like vending machines and free donuts.
And it's not exactly a good idea for people discussing the virtues of Republican Presidential candidates to make jokes that draw attention to the fact that one leading Republican Presidential candidate has actually had some pretty serious sexual harassment charges leveled against him from several women. Herman Cain's support among Republican women is already plummeting without their help.
But this is the dynamic comedy duo of Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter (celebrity couple name: Sann Cann), and together they're about as funny as getting scabies right before a tropical vacation. It's just surprising that two giants of the gabbing conservative face game would be so self-sabotaging.


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We've been talking a lot about our big ass home theater, and today we're going to conduct our in-depth home theater demo. Translation: we are gonna watch some loud-ass movie, and you are going to enjoy it. Yes.
If you stop by Gizmodo Gallery any time today, you'l be able to tear into some video games, and then at 6pm, I'll give everyone a brief walkthrough of everything in our home theater. But I can talk all I want and you won't know what a rocking system is like till we turn it up and let you experience Captain America in 7.1 channels of patriotic excellence.
Gizmodo Gallery 2011 @ White Box
329 Broome Street. New York, NY, 10002
Read more about the Gizmodo Gallery here and follow @gizgallery on Twitter. Special thanks to Land Rover - without them, there would be no Gizmodo Gallery.


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Stars join anti-war hunger strike:
Hollywood stars Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon are to join a fast protesting against the Iraq war.
Protestors will each give up food for 24 hours, with the "rolling fast" due to last until International Peace Day on 21 September.
The protest has been organised by CodePink, a woman's anti-war group who are concerned at the loss of life on both sides of the Iraq conflict.
Other celebrities due to take part include Willie Nelson and Danny Glover.
Around 150 protestors began the fast outside the White House on Tuesday morning, including leading anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, whose son died in Iraq.
Oscar-winner Penn is one of Hollywood's most vocal stars over the issue of war in Iraq.
He visited the country in 2002 and 2003, meeting politicians, visiting a water treatment plant and touring a children's hospital.
This is the lamest thing I've ever seen. A "rolling fast"? What the hell is that? The rest of us do it all the time...its called "skipping meals". I've done it today already: instead of eating breakfast, I blogged about baseball. Instead of lunch, I've chatted with a gorgeous calendar model from Mexico.
No, wait, I've changed my mind. Really I'm on a rolling hunger strike, protesting until...um...well, pick one from the list:
- Sheila Copps is fired from the SUN Media Chain
- Edmonton Police Officers are hauled before a tribunal to justify each and every arrest they made on Whyte Avenue
- Al Gore is sentenced to one month working on Alberta oilsands projects where he is required to interview at least 100 people asking how much they make.
- Faggot Pride Parades are banned and the police who are so happy to crack down on stepping off of Edmonton sidewalks arrest paraders violating indecency laws
- Klondike Days is restored in the City of Edmonton until such time that a less lame festival can be devised to replace it. The Kinsman slide must be permitted to continue there as well. ED Fest can stay.
- 96X returns to being a lame Power-92 clone instead of a lame CISN Country clone
- I get my own Wikipedia entry.
- Andrés Manuel López Obrador is assasinated
- Maybe this effiminate bastard too
- Sania Mirza, Marta Domachowska, and Maria Kirilenko are all given rematches in their Day 1 competitions at Wimbledon
- This guy from American Thinker is promoted as the first ambassador between Alberta and America
- Come to think of it, set Alberta free! Or I swear to God, I will skip a meal or two!


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It looks like something between the Nickelodeon Astro Crag and a piece of swiss cheese, but Timbuk2's latest sleeve has a lot of thought behind it. The casing is meant to ventilate your laptop—just watch for rain.
I've really been digging the freshly-launched sleeve. The materials feel great—soft, sturdy, and well-crafted—although I wish it gave the Air a tighter fit. Having loose room inside the sleeve makes me nervous.
But the overall rationale behind the scheme is clever, if not entirely comprehensive. Sealing up your laptop when it's still on, trapped in its own heat, is definitely a bad idea. Chips loathe heat. Then again, the Air doesn't get particularly warm when it's closed and sleeping, unlike older MacBooks. Still, if you're worried about ventilation and longevity, the porous Crater will let air in and out. Will this make a difference over the lifespan of your computer? Maybe a small one. Will it potentially let in dust and liquids? Yes. There are tradeoffs in this thing, so keep that in mind. But at the very least, the $35 Crater is more pleasing from a design standpoint than your average sleeve. [Timbuk2]


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A piece of aerial firefighting history has flown its last mission and will become the newest display at the Canadian Museum of Flight in Langley, British Columbia, about 30 miles east of Vancouver. Conair Group Inc., which pioneered the conversion of military surplus aircraft into air tankers, is phasing out its fleet of Firecats, modified Grumman CS2F Tracker submarine hunters. It donated the airworthy aircraft to the museum. The twin-radial-engine aircraft were carrier-based patrol aircraft used by the Canadian and U.S. Navies in the 1960s. Conair converted more than 35 for use as firefighting aircraft.
The museum's new plane spent its operational history aboard the Canadian aircraft carrier HMCS Bonaventure. Conair raised the floor of the aircraft and installed an 867-gallon tank where the torpedo bay once was. The result was a relatively maneuverable and powerful air tanker suited to the mountainous terrain of B.C. and the western states. Langley was a natural choice for preservation of the aircraft because it was the location of Conair's predecessor company Skyway Air Services, which pioneered aerial firefighting. Conair is now a major air tanker contractor and modifier based in Abbotsford, B.C., 20 miles east of Langley.


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Integra Baby Carrier Didymos Geckos Emerald
Integra Baby Carrier Didymos Geckos Emerald
Integra Baby Carrier Didymos Geckos Emerald
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Key Features of the Integra Baby
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Front and back carry options.
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Compact and machine washable.
Birth to Toddler and Safety tested.
Didymos Geckos Emerald woven organic cotton outer
Oeko Tex Black Cotton Straps and Inner
Made in the UK
Shipping & Returns
Shipping & Returns
Shipping Information
Free Shipping on Orders over $150
In-stock orders are processed within 72 business hours after receiving your order confirmation email.
If an item is on back-order, you will receive an email to notify you.
Once your order is shipped from our warehouse, you will receive an email notifying you your order has been shipped.
Please note, we see delays in the initial scan of packages at USPS and Canada Post, and this is outside of our control.
We appreciate your patience.
International Shipping
Outside of North America? No problem! Shipping charges for your order will be calculated and displayed at checkout.
Internationally, we offer Carrier Calculated Shipping and a $15 Flat rate Partially Tracked Shipping
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Little Zen One is not responsible for these charges if they are applied, and so they are your responsibility as the customer.
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In North America, If you haven't received your order within 10 days of receiving your shipping confirmation email, please contact us at hello @ littlezenone.com with your name and order number, and we will look into it for you.
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You can also track your order by clicking here.
Refunds, returns, and exchanges
We accept returns up to 30 days after delivery if the items are unused and in its original condition (not tried on), as per our Return Policy.
If your order is eligible for a return, we will refund your order amount minus the shipping costs and a 10% restocking fee. Please view our full return policy here.
If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at hello @ littlezenone.com.


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In an announcement on the WordPress.com blog, WordPress 2.7 will arrive on Thursday, December 4, 2008, at 8PM Eastern Time in the United States.
The article also includes instructions on what to expect on WordPress.com from the new features and instructions on using the new Administration Panel interface, though most of it is really user friendly and intuitive.
WordPress 2.7 Release Candidate 1 was released December 1, with 280 commits since WordPress 2.7 beta 3. This release includes the new menu icons created by the winners of WordPress 2.7: Project Icon, and fixes to the browser bugs that have been giving the development team headaches.
Testing is in high drive if WordPress.com will have WordPress 2.7 on board in two days. This could mean that the full version of WordPress should be released just before or at the same time. Originally, WordPress.com bloggers were told by Matt Mullenweg and Jane Wells of Automattic that WordPress.com bloggers would see WordPress 2.7 about two weeks after the full version launch. Unless WordPress.com will be testing the new version before the full version launch, be ready to install WordPress 2.7 by the weekend.
Cheers and good thoughts to all the hearty developers and testers not getting any sleep to ensure the deadline is met. This is really going to be one of the best versions of WordPress.
For a glimpse of some of the new features, see WordPress 2.7 Release News and Links.
Site Search Tags: wordpress 2.7, wordpressdotcom, wordpresscom, wordpress.com, wordpress 2.7, wordpress release, wordpress news, wordpress version, wordpress, wordpress development
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Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.


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How The Process Works
We Buy Houses in Madeira, Ohio- Any Condition – Price Range – Or Location In The Madeira, Ohio 45243 area.
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You've tried to sell your house but are running into roadblocks. You probably even tried calling a real estate agent. Sometimes selling a house the traditional way with a real estate agent is simply not the best for everyone. As you know, there can be lots of pitfalls when selling a house the agent route, including: having to clean up and repair the property so it shows well, finding an agent who you can trust and who can deliver on their promise ( of selling your house quickly). You have to sign a contract that binds you to an agent for a certain term(usually six months to 1 year). The biggest issue with trying to sell with a real estate agent or selling it yourself is NOT lazy, incompetent agents… it's regular buyers. Traditional buyers have to deal with bank loans- which will tie up a property for weeks or months. What if the buyer bails on the deal at the last second because their bank loan fell through? It can add more stress to an already stressful situation.
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[Editor's note: On Charles Darwin's 200 year birthday and nearly 150 years after "On the Origin of Species" was published, scientists are beginning to unravel our own evolution thru the study of genetic markers spread across different geographies. This graphic explores topics include Malaria, Mysterious Hair, Light Skin Outside Africa, Food and Climate, and Milk Mutations.]
Republished from The Washington Post.
Originally published 12 February 2009.
Graphic by Patterson Clark and Mary Kate Cannistra. (Updated 11 March 2009)
About 10 percent of human genes have continued to evolve since modern human beings emerged in Africa 200,000 years ago. Traits for disease resistance and environmental adaptation are undergoing natural selection.
Going Where Darwin Feared to Tread
Scientists Begin to Decode the History of Human Evolution
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 12, 2009; Page A01
In biology's most famous book, "On the Origin of Species," Charles Darwin steered clear of applying his revolutionary theory of evolution to the species of greatest interest to his readers — their own.
He couldn't avoid it forever, of course. He eventually wrote another tome nearly as famous, "The Descent of Man." But he knew in 1859, when "Species" was published, that to jump right into a description of how human beings had tussled with the environment and one another over eons, changing their appearance, capabilities and behavior in the process, would be hard for people to accept. Better to stick with birds and barnacles.
Darwin was born 200 years ago today. "On the Origin of Species" will be 150 years old in a few months. There's no such reluctance now.
The search for signs of natural selection in human beings has just begun. It will ultimately be as revelatory as Newton's description of the mathematics of motion 322 years ago, or the unlocking of the atom's secrets that began in the late 1800s.
The inundation of data since the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, and the capacity to analyze it at the finest level of detail — the individual DNA nucleotides that make up the molecule of heredity — are giving us a look at humanity's autobiography in a way that was once unimaginable.
In small, discrete changes in our genes that have accumulated over time, we are seeing evolution's tracery, as durable as it is delicate. It is slowly revealing how climate, geography, disease, culture and chance sculpted Homo sapiens into the unique and diverse species it is today.
Biologists are discovering that the size of our limbs and brains, the enzymes in our spit and stomachs, the color of our skin, the contour of our hair, and the armament of our immune systems are each to some degree the products of evolutionary adaptation. They are the hard-earned, but unintended, bequests of our ancestors' struggle to survive.
This, of course, is no surprise. Darwin knew it was so — and he'd never heard of a gene.


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Search Buddhist Channel
Obama gets taste of Thailand at Buddhist temple
by THANYARAT DOKSONE, Associated Press, November 18, 2012
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Leaving behind chants of "Obama, Obama" by adoring crowds on the streets, the president of the United States stepped into the serenity of Thailand's most famous temple compound to marvel at its centerpiece -- a gigantic, golden statue of a reclining Buddha propped up on one elbow before passing into nirvana.
<< U.S. President Barack Obama, left, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, rear, tour the Viharn of the Reclining Buddha with Chaokun Suthee Thammanuwat, the Dean, Faculty of Buddhism Assistant to the Abbot of Wat Phra Chetuphon at the Wat Pho Royal Monastery in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. Photo: Carolyn Kaster / AP
The Temple of Reclining Buddha, formally known as Wat Pho, was the first stop on President Barack Obama's Asian tour that will also take him to Myanmar and Cambodia. Obama arrived at the temple, one of Bangkok's most famous tourist sites, straight from the airport after landing in Bangkok on Sunday. Visits to see the king and the Thai prime minister were saved for later.
But the main attraction is the reclining Buddha statue that at 46 meters (150 feet) long, and 15 meters (50 feet) high, stretches half the length of a football field. The statue is made of bricks and plaster and covered in gold leaf with mother-of-pearl inlay decorating the feet.
The visit was meant to give Obama a taste of Bangkok. But one thing Obama did not get to see as he sped through Bangkok was the city's infamous traffic jams. All roads leading to Wat Pho and his other destinations were blocked and cleared of cars as part of security measures that included bomb squads and shutting the temple to the public hours in advance.
Camera-clad tourists who came to visit the temple or glimpse the American leader were initially dismayed. They were kept hundreds of meters (yards) away as his armored Cadillac pulled to a stop inside a white tent erected at the temple's entrance, which obscured him from sight.
But those who waited an hour for his temple tour to end were elated. A smiling Obama waved from the backseat of his car, which drove slowly alongside cheering crowds as he headed to a royal audience with Thailand's revered, ailing monarch, 84-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
"Yes! I saw him! And he was waving at us!" said 72-year-old American tourist Elizabeth Simon visiting Thailand with her 74-year-old sister. They were at the beach in Pattaya two hours away but rushed to Bangkok just to see him. "I'm so thrilled that he won the election. When we heard he was coming, we decided to get here."
Parts of the temple date to Thai King Rama I in the 1700s. The king's ashes are kept beneath the pedestal of one of the huge seated Buddha statues in the complex, which is located along the banks of the Chao Phraya river near the Grand Palace. It is in the quiet, historic old quarter of Bangkok, outside the skyscraper-and-traffic clogged downtown.
"It's meaningful that Obama came straight to Wat Pho," said Pradab Supradit, a 67-year-old Thai grandmother who took a bus, a river ferry and then walked up roads closed for security hoping to glimpse the man or just see his convoy. "It will bring him blessings because temples are at the center of Thai people's hearts."
"I want to see him with my own eyes," she said. "I like Obama because of his charisma and personality. He's a smart guy. I love the way he talks."
Associated Press Writers Jocelyn Gecker and Todd Pitman contributed to this report.


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Every year Pure Michigan Hunt (PMH) winners get to spend their fall hunting seasons living out their dreams—pursuing elk, bear, deer, turkey and ducks in Michigan's outdoors.
All three 2013 Pure Michigan Hunt winners recently harvested bear. Dave Gittins of Kawkawlin and Jim Bosscher of McBain both successfully harvested bear in the Cadillac area, using Wayne and Rob Nixon as their hunting guides.
Gittins harvested a 450-pound bear on public land. "This is my first bear," said Gittins. "I'm still amazed at his size!"
Bosscher harvested his bear accompanied by Jenny Olsen from Michigan Out-of-Doors TV. "Hunting is all about the experience and the friends that you are with that make the memories," said Bosscher.
Jason Webb, the PMH winner from Westland, also harvested a bear on public land in the Lewiston area.
Webb hasn't hunted for his elk yet; he's waiting to hunt the December elk season, while both Bosscher and Gittins have already taken theirs. PMH winners can hunt any open unit, during any hunt period for that animal. They are not restricted to a unit or a hunt period.
Gittins shot his choice elk on the morning of Sept. 15, the second week of the early elk hunt.
"Hearing those bulls bugle that close was an experience I will never forget," said Gittins. "It truly was a hunt of a lifetime … I had the best hunt ever."
Bosscher started out his elk season passing over many bulls, and even harvested a 9-inch-bearded turkey in between his morning and evening elk hunts. His waiting finally paid off on Sept. 29,when he took a 6×6 beauty. Bosscher used Chad Sides and Brett McVannel as guides to help land his bull in the Vanderbilt area.
"I had a fantastic time and will remember it forever," Bosscher said.
For hunters who have dreams of experiences like this, there's still plenty of time to make 2014 the hunt of your lifetime, by applying now and applying often. Along with all of the hunting licenses, each winner will receive a hunting prize package valued at more than $4,000. Visit www.michigan.gov/puremichiganhunt for more information and to purchase Pure Michigan Hunt applications.
Waterfowl season is coming up next for the Pure Michigan Hunt winners; look for more of their adventures coming soon.


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Kelly: 'Whatever it takes' on guns
The gun control crowd is about to have a powerful and compelling new lobbyist on Capitol Hill: Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.).
Giffords, who was nearly killed in a shooting rampage in Tucson two years ago, resigned her seat in the House a year ago Friday. She hasn't decided whether she'll actually register as a lobbyist yet — a move she can make now that the one-year "cooling off" period is expiring — but she will represent her new outfit, Americans for Responsible Solutions, in pushing Congress to enact new gun-control laws.
( PHOTOS: Politicians speak out on gun control)
"We need to get Congress to act on this issue," Giffords' husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, told POLITICO in an interview on Thursday evening. Kelly and Giffords partnered up to form Americans for Responsible Solutions, which has a a super PAC arm and a lobbying arm.
The aim of the sister organizations is to lobby members of Congress to vote for gun control — and then reward friends and punish enemies on the campaign trail. Whether Giffords and Kelly will appear in districts, or in campaign ads, remains to be seen, as they're still trying to figure out the intricacies of campaign and lobbying laws. But if it's within the law, they'll do it, they say.
"Gabby and I are prepared to do whatever it takes," Kelly said.
Giffords and Kelly describe themselves as gun-owning moderates — a distinction they believe will help them persuade elected officials and voters to support universal background checks, limitations on the ammunition capacity of clips and other legislative proposals.
( PHOTOS: Will these guns be banned again?)
"Gabby and I come from a little bit of a different place" than traditional liberal gun-control advocates, Kelly said.
Neither Kelly nor Giffords jumped into the gun-control debate in the aftermath of the Tuscon massacre, in which the shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, killed six people and put a bullet through Giffords' brain. Giffords was focused on her recovery and Kelly was ensconced in that and preparation for his final spaceflight.
But at the sentencing hearing for Loughner, Kelly made clear where they stood.
"We have a political class that is afraid to do something as simple as have a meaningful debate about our gun laws and how they are being enforced. We have representatives who look at gun violence, not as a problem to solve, but as the white elephant in the room to ignore," he said. "As a nation we have repeatedly passed up the opportunity to address this issue. After Columbine; after Virginia Tech; after Tucson and after Aurora, we have done nothing."
The killing of 20 first-graders in a Newtown, Conn., school late last year was like "getting hit in the head with a 2-by-4," Kelly said. That's what moved them to start the new SuperPAC, which received its first million-dollar donation earlier this month.
"We're going to have all the money we need to play in every relevant race, in '13 and '14 and beyond," said Pia Carusone, who is executive director of both organizations.


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Sony Ericsson just announced a new phone that's made for all you active individuals and its fittingly called the Xperia Active. This phone is the company's attempt to bring you a personalized device to fit your needs and it runs on the latest version of Android just for the hell of it.
This device takes a simplistic approach at the market by bringing minimal specs in conjunction with some useful hardware and software. The device has a 3-inch reality display that has a very low resolution at 320 x 480 pixels. The camera on this phone has a 5 megapixels sensor and can record on the go videos at 720p with an LED flash available for extra lighting.
Aside from running Gingerbread, this phone comes with some software Sony Ericsson packed in to assist you in your active life. The phone has an ANT+ sensor and that gives the phone a heart rate and pulse monitoring capabilities. iMapMyFitness app can monitors your daily workout, so you can keep track of how you're doing with your workouts. The Compass, Barometer, and GPS allow you to use the included software to set your workout route and stick to it.
This phone is certainly something to think about when you're shopping for a new device. It takes out all the unnecessary features and only keeps what you really need to enhance your workout life. Looking at this phone, the inclusion of a water resistant and dust proof body is very smart so you don't have to worry about your phone when you're going through all kinds of terrain. This is a good attempt by Sony Ericsson to bring a device for a market that's generally forgotten.
Press release after the break


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Sep 1st was good to many as salary got credited and it's a day when everyone who get's paid for their hard end money. But things din't go well for T.Nagar giant "Saravana Stores". This morning was usal business for Ranganathan St but then suddenly people and workers in Saravana stores started screaming and running for the lives at 9.00AM as there was a major fire break inside the store. Fire service was informed immediately and swiftly make it to the begning of the steet. They could not enter the street as it was too narro and top of it the newly constructed bridge has been a major barricate and restricted the movemts inside the street. Some saw that there are three people struck inside the building and they are trying to get them out. This horrifying incident is captures live in media channels like Jaya and Sun and shown live.
I saw the news scroll in Jaya tv at 9.00Am today and also huge gusted flames to a height of 100 ft on air. Which everyone who are around 1-4 kms away can see. I saw the dark smoke on my way to office at Saidapet bridge. I couldn't take any pics as there was huge traffic. One of my uncle is working for Metro waters near T.nagar and he was asked to supply 10-12 lorries of water tanker lorries for rescue. Since there are lots of plastic stuff inside the shop it's been heard that the fire is caught on other shops aswell. I hope everybody makes their way safe and sound and there shouldn't be casualities. As of now, the cause for the fire is a short circuit on the switches.
FYi, I heard that after the departure of the legendry owner there are lots of disputed in the family and they have split.
Latest: It is been told that nearly 20 people have got trapped inside the building


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Official expects group to order brain injury class
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An official with a state athletic association says its board will vote next month on a requirement that coaches pass a course dealing with recognizing the signs of traumatic brain injuries.
Alan Beste, the assistant executive director of the Iowa High School Athletic Association, told legislators Thursday that the group's board will likely adopt a rule next month requiring that each year, coaches must pass a course focused on recognizing the signs of brain injuries, including concussions. Student-athletes with such injuries would be removed from play.
The rule would apply to coaches of seventh to 12th grade teams.
The rule would take effect in time for the upcoming school year.
A House education subcommittee was studying the issue. Legislators opted to not take action if the association approves its rule.