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Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd (pronounced YO-an GRIFF-ith) appeared in his first two feature films in 1997, first as one of Oscar Wilde's lovers in Wilde and then as 5th Officer Harold Lowe in a little movie called Titanic. He came to international fame as Horatio Hornblower in eight British telefilms, and also essayed the role of Pip in a telefilm of Great Expectations. But his most iconic role may be Reed Richards, a.k.a Mr. Fantastic, in Fox's Fantastic Four franchise. The hotly anticipated sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer debuts this summer, but first, Gruffud plays MP William Wilberforce in Michael Apted's historical drama Amazing Grace. I spoke with Gruffud at San Francisco's Four Seasons Hotel.
Groucho: I wanted to ask about what you found most useful in your research. Also, in telling a true story, certain liberties must be taken to give it dramatic shape: what those might be in this case?
Ioan Gruffudd: The movie is certainly not a biopic. And I think it was originally, and that's why it took so long to get it off the ground. People wanted to make the movie about every aspect of his life. And it's impossible to make that sort of entertaining. So the research that I did as an actor—I basically read two extensive biographies on Wilberforce, and what I would take from that is different to what a historian would have taken from it. I mean, I took little things, like when he was a child, he showed compassion when he tiptoed in to see his mum who was sick in bed and drew back the curtains quietly in order not to disturb her. So he was already on that journey of being a very compassionate man. And he was, as a young boy, sent to his aunt and uncle to be a Methodist. And that's where religion came into his life at a very young age. And then his mother got very afraid of that and dragged him away from the Methodism—because she was much more of a conformist religion. And Wilberforce being very upset about that as a twelve-year-old. So already you could see the workings of somebody who was very compassionate and thought about things and was influenced by religion and who was destined for greater things—You learn things about him, like he was compassionate towards animals. And his house was surrounded by animals the entire time. He was a great singer. So every time you learn something new about him, you say, "Oh gosh, this man was so extraordinary. How on earth am I going to represent him?"—He was incredibly prolific; he wrote a diary every day of his life. He was very hard on himself; there were periods in his life when he would write on top of his diary things that he was unhappy about what he did that day, and how he was punishing himself constantly. He had great guilt about kind of staying up too late or drinking too much or having said something to somebody or having not done something. So this was a man who lived every minute of his life to try to achieve something or change things: for his own benefit, by educating himself, by reading or whatever, or by taking meetings with different people to try and influence them to help the anti-slave trade movement. So as an actor, it's an incredibly humbling experience to try to represent this person that had so many amazing assets to him.
G: Did the process give you cause to reflect on how things have changed or perhaps stayed the same in terms of politics in England, with the Parliament?
IG: Well, it certainly opened my eyes to how complex being a politician is and how complicated it is—I mean it's not sort of straight-forward, black and white "us versus them." It's such a gray area. And one minute you could seem to be advocating one thing and then the next minute you could seem to be against something. So it's—I mean the benefit that Wilberforce had was that he was sort of an independent member of Parliament. He wasn't sort of—he didn't have allegiance to the Whigs or the Tories. He was an independent sort, which helped his cause immensely, that he just able to advocate this one cause as well as many others without having to be—not to be seen as sort of hypocritical.
G: Does that, do you think, point the way for positive change in government, to retain that independence?
IG: Umm, oh gosh. (Laughs.) Wow. Don't quote me on that one. I don't know, it's—listen, when I was reading about this time—it's such an extraordinary part of history, in the U.K. and also in America, you know, the time of the American war of independence, and the Napoleonic wars in the U.K. I mean, it seems that everybody was constantly at war, and this is a lone voice trying to represent the slaves who were being carted unceremoniously in such horrible conditions, you know, across the world. So yes, he was considered sort of a rebel really, especially during that time of war, and it was very seditious what he was doing as well. I mean, people—Wilberforce's best friend was shoring up everything that would come to threaten the government or the U.K., so you weren't allowed to speak out about anything, and that habeas corpus act, you know, where you have to justify arresting somebody, went out the window. So you can justify anything in times of war. And I think we see that happening today certainly—We were very fortunate. Benedict Cumberbatch and I—who plays William Pitt in the movie—and Michael, we went to have dinner at the House of Parliament with William Haig, the member of Parliament who is the leader of the opposition for many years. And what is extraordinary about it is William Haig—when you see him on television, in Parliament—and he's got a very distinctive way, the way he looks and the way he speaks—and then you meet the guy in person, the guy oozes charisma. It was mind-blowing; he just—he'd knock you over. I mean, he's just charm personified. Not the character that you'd see on television. Not at all: the opposite, the antithesis of that. So I really got a sense of the allure of politics and power. I got a taste of it just being at the House of Parliament that night. And he was wonderful; he's written a great biography on William Pitt the Younger and is now writing a biography on William Wilberforce, so it was appropriate that we sort of sat down with him. And he took us then through to the House of Lords, where we had a glass of port, because William the Younger drank about six bottles of port a day. So Pitt Benedict wanted to have a glass of port, you know, in Parliament. And what was extraordinary was the old House of Parliament that we had in the movie burnt down in I think it was 1833, so they built the new one on the same site. But it's basically the hallway where you enter in now to the great chambers there . And he showed us where we would have stood, and sort of [marks] in the floor to where the thing actually stood, so just as a bit of a spine-tingling moment, we actually stood in the footsteps of these great men—and William Haig lives just round the corner from the House of the Parliament in Westminster, and William Wilberforce lived just outside, in Palace Yard, outside the bottom of this. So we did sort of literally did walk in their footsteps, and it was the eve before we started rehearsals, and it was a very poignant moment for us to get a taste of it.
G: Your speaking voice has been described as musical, and of course, in this film, you break out in song, which is great. Can you talk about your formal training and how you've been called upon to use that, how that's helped you. You had your old—was it your RADA singing coach on set?
IG: Yes, I did. I mean, being a Welshman, we're immersed in singing, and music then, is a part of our culture and heritage. So I always believed that I could sing. And one of my influential teachers at RADA was my singing teacher. We did half an hour every week for three years. And got to know each other very well. And he brought my voice on a long way. So it was just a pleasure, ten years later almost, to call up him to come back and help me with this song. And, of course, lo and behold, on the day of the shooting, you're tired because you've got to boot the flu, and you're coughing and you're just desperate to get a melody out, let alone show off how good a singer you are.
G: But it's more real.
IG: It's more real. I mean, you see there's a real struggle and passion about it because I'm struggling to get the thing out because I was so ill. But it's a very strange moment in the movie that he just gets up there and sings and proclaims. I think it's just a way of proclaiming that he's had this great change in his life. He's become an evangelical Christian, and it's sort of a statement really, through that song.
G: Well, it serves as a metaphor throughout the film, of finding his voice.
IG: Mm. Absolutely.
G: Are you interested in doing a screen musical, were one to come your way?
IG: (Laughs heartily.)
G: Or are there other ambitions of certain kinds of films you would like to make?
IG: You know what? I mean, I love singing and I'd love to have a go at doing a musical, yes. And as an actor, you believe you can have a go at anything. So hence the diverse career—the diverse movies that I have coming out this year. So I wouldn't say no to an opportunity to do a musical, no—
G: Of course, a film like Amazing Grace is partly made possible by the huge international success of a film like Fantastic Four.
IG: Yeah.
G: I wanted to ask a little bit about the sequel. I know you can't give too much away—
IG: Not yet. (Chuckles.)
G: But what sort of new character beats are you able to explore in the sequel?
IG: One, Mr. Fantastic becomes the leader of the Fantastic Four in his own right, now. He's much more confident; he's in control. He's very much the masculine man in this movie compared to the first one, where he's a little bit of the nerdy—unsure of himself. So he's taking control, and he's taking control of the family, and he's getting married. And the Silver Surfer comes in between our relationship, Sue Storm and I. So there's a bit of jealousy and envy there going on. So that's an interesting aspect of it. And of course he's just this shiny, silver, gorgeous sexy thing. (Laughs.) Takes away from us a little bit. He upstages us a little bit.
G: The first film—the first Fantastic Four—though it turned out very well, it was, I know, a bit of a struggle. It's no secret there were a lot of rewrites—
IG: (Acknowledging:) Mm!
G: And some reshooting and what not. Was this film a smoother process? I know they want everything to be right—exactly right.
IG: Well, it's interesting—Amazing Grace, I read it. It was exactly as I'd read it three or four months before we shot the movie. There weren't many changes. The difficulty in doing a film (chuckles breathlessly) like Fantastic Four is that the way these big studio movies are made is, as I said, you get a budget and the release date and that's it. And once the money's released you have to go. I mean, whether the script is in a good state or not. And (exhales) you know, they can't (exhales) make up their minds about certain aspects of it, certain sets they want to build: "No, we don't want that. We want this now." So it's constantly changing because there are so many quote-unquote directors or people involved in a movie—
G: Too many cooks, sometimes.
IG: Yeah, quite literally, there are, and it—. For us, who are the people who are physically making the movie, we don't know whether we're coming or going at some point. I mean, I don't think I'm speaking out of turn, either. That's the process of making a big commercial movie within a studio environment. But what you do have then, it wasn't—the thing is moving. There's a train that can't stop. So that, in turn, then helps the creative process in some way, that you just have to make instant decisions and go with your instincts. For example, there's a lot of improvising in the script. "Okay, let's try and do something funny here." Well, I'm not—an American writer, you know?
G: It's a real test of your accents.
IG: Absolutely! "So why don't I say this?" "Yeah, that sounds great." So it's a fun and exciting ride, but it's sort of exhausting as well because you just wish there was a clear, defined way of going.
G: And the antithesis of that—Michael Apted: "Let's do this thing."
IG: Absolutely. I mean, you know, I'm sure if Michael were to direct Fantastic Four, he'd have the same problems that we had because it's just the nature of the beast, really.
G: Thank you very much.
IG: Thank you very much. I appreciate it. I'm just delighted that everybody's so excited about the movie.
[For Groucho's review of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, click here, and for his review of Amazing Grace, click here.]


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If as mentioned previously the First Opium War opened China to British drug pushers, it also opened up China to the cultural influence of the West, and one of these influences stemmed from the flood of Christian missionaries who thereafter inundated the country.Obviously there was a lot lost in translation between these Christian missionaries and the Chinese, for after Hong Xiuquan, a member of the Hakka ethnic group in southern China, encountered Christianity he became convinced that he was the brother of Jesus who had been sent to China to rid the country of "devils".
The devils Hong Xiuquan was talking about included the Confucian meritocracy, themselves the heirs of a practical variant of utopianism. This resentment towards Confucians was not surprising given that he had failed the civil service exams, based on the Confucian classics numerous time, and thus found himself barred from a government post that would have granted him a stable income and place in society.
This is one of the stupendous what-ifs of history, like Hitler not getting into art school in Vienna, and going on to almost destroy Europe. Would the Taiping Rebellion have never happened, would 20-30 million people not be killed if one man was better at taking standardized tests? Can the gods be so cruel in their irony?
As it was, Hong Xiuquan set to preaching and soon had himself a sect. In part, the attraction of the sect was a reflection of the dystopian environment around him. Bandits robbed seemingly at will, the Hakka people fought incessantly over sparsequality farmland, natural disasters rocked the country . The civil and population pressures gave rise to a pernicious practice of female infanticide that overtime caused the natural ratio of males to females to become all out of whack. Young hot-bloods had too much testosterone in their veins and too little food in their stomachs, and were thus a volatile mix in which Hong Xiuquan served as a match. Much of the popularity of the Taiping movement, like the modern day Taliban, stemmed from their ability to bring a semblance of order and security to this otherwise chaotic and dangerous world .
Yet the the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, established in modern day Nanjing, was something much different than the Taliban. It was a strange hybrid form of utopia, a kind of marriage between what we in the West would understand as Puritanism, abolitionism, feminism, Spartan or pseudo-totalitarian military organization, and perhaps even a version of Malthusian environmentalism.
The Taiping replaced the Confucian classic that had served as the gateway to government office with the Bible, vice laws were passed and came down hard on opium users, gamblers, consumers of alcohol, and prostitutes. The sexes were strictly separated, and, in one of those classic examples of utopian overreach, sex, even by married couples, was discouraged.
At the same time, the Taiping launched a program of radical egalitarianism that gave the rebellion characteristics somewhere between the French Revolution and the American Civil War. In a stroke, they abolished private property, banned the barbaric practice of foot- binding women, and declared the sexes equal, permitting women to take exams and serve in government. They also, before the Emancipation Proclamation was even conceived, abolished slavery (of the Chinese variety).
It was their tight military structure and totalitarian organization of society that made the Taiping so hard to defeat. They proved as effective at mobilizing society as the civic-republicanism of the French people mobilized against Europe only a few decades before. The degenerating Qing Dynasty that ostensibly ruled China had a much harder time putting down the Taiping separatist than the Union armies had bringing down the Confederacy almost simultaneously. And unlike with the American war, the British took sides in the conflict and supported the Qing, which may have been a decisive element in their eventual victory.
Many of the policies of the Taping Heavenly Kingdom might be understood as utilitarian responses to a Malthusian environment. Their prohibitions on sex were efforts to drive the population down, and sexual equality offered an answer to the distortions of female infanticide. Women in the kingdom were just as valued as men.
This weird mash-up of different, and contradictory, forms of utopia to Western eyes seems not to make sense. Yet, when seen from the perspective of what was happening elsewhere in the first half of the 19th century, the strangeness of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom becomes less bewildering.
The Taiping Rebellion occurs in the historical space between the French Revolution and American Civil War and contains aspects of both. Perhaps revolutionary concepts blew like pollen across the Central Asia and the Pacific and cross-fertilized with native Chinese elements to create the strange hybrid of the Taiping Heavenly kingdom.
What the French Revolution, American Civil War and Taiping Rebellion all shared is that they were attempts to create what we now understand to be a modern, sovereign state. What the founding fathers of modern China, Sun Yat Sen and Mao saw in the Taiping utopia was a hopeful harbinger of this new form of the state in China, and therefore, despite their differences in vision from it, admired the rebellion as a failed attempt at necessary transformation.
The current plutocrats ruling China, however, see in the Taiping a dangerous historical precedent that must be guarded against at all costs. What was once the source of partially irrational utopian hopes of the Chinese leadership has become the source of equally irrational dystopian fears. Anyone wondering today about China's often cruel and seemingly paranoid treatment of Christians, Tibetans, or fringe religious sects such as the Falun Gong needs to keep the historical experience of the Taiping Rebellion in mind in order to understand the root of Chinese fears.
What relevance does any of this have today? Some have suggested that we keep the experience of the Taiping Rebellion at the forefront of our minds when we think any future large scale disruptions to Chinese society. One might wonder out-loud how China is going to deal with its massive demographic, environmental and political challenges. One might also wonder how China, now the "workshop of the world", like the British who cleaned their clock in the Opium Wars, might deal with another tectonic shift coming from automation and localized production that challenges that status.
Given how purely speculative all this is, what interests me most is what kinds of strange cross-fertilizations, like that between the Taiping Rebellion and intellectual flora that originated in the West, are going on today, and, more important may occur in the near future.
As I wrote in a recent post, it might be a good idea for people in the West to start looking for novel ideas about politics, culture, technology, art to start emerging from the more dynamic developing world, and that would include China, even though it is rapidly aging and therefore probably missing something of the natural utopianism and innovation of youth.
When the history of the Occupy Wall Street Movement is written one of its most interesting aspects might be that it was inspired by a similar movement in the developing world- the Arab Spring. (Though it might be more accurately called a Mediterranean Spring and have its origin in Greece). One can only imagine, should China ever bloom into its own spring, what strange and interesting ways of thinking and being in the world might emerge there. What bloomed in China might eventually make its way to our shores to combine with Western traditions giving rise to something we have not seen before, perhaps for ill, but let us hope, for good.

subset: commoncrawl


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TAMPA, Fla. — Elias Petterson and Brock Boeser scored 1:10 apart in the third period and Jake Virtanen and Markus Granlund added empty-net goals in the Vancouver Canucks' 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night.
Petterson scored his fourth goal in four games in his rookie season. Anders Nilsson made 33 saves in his season debut.
"I felt confident all night. I was eager to play and it was a good night for us. They had two power plays early, but our PK was great tonight, huge credit to those guys." – Nilsson
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) October 12, 2018
Brayden Point scored his first goal of the season for the Lightning, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 24 saves.
Vancouver withstood an early surge to keep the game close, trailing by a goal entering the third period. The persistence was rewarded first when defenceman Derrick Pouliot threw a wrist shot toward the net from the top of the left point that Petterson was able to deflect around Vasilevskiy and inside the post with 8:53 remaining. Boeser then fired a slap shot from the right circle past Vasilevskiy.
RELATED: Sedin twins to have numbers retired by Canucks
Notes: Lightning C Tyler Johnson returned to the lineup after missing the opener with an upper-body injury. … Vancouver C Antoine Roussel missed his fourth consecutive game with a concussion. Coach Travis Green said following Thrusday's morning skate Roussel is getting close to return. … Tampa Bay scratched RW Cory Conacher, C Danick Martel and D Slater Koekkoek. The Canucks scratched D Michael Del Zotto, D Alex Biega and LW Brandon Leipsic. … The Lightning are 0 for 8 on the power play to start the season.
Canucks: At Florida on Saturday night.
Lightning: Host Columbus on Saturday night.


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Freshmen expected to have impact for No. 14 Irish
It might not take long for Notre Dame's freshman class to have an impact.
The depth chart released Tuesday for the season-opener Saturday against Temple lists Jaylon Smith, who last year won the Butkus Award as the nation's top high school linebacker, as a starting outside linebacker, and lists six other freshmen.
They include 6-5, 317-pound Steve Elmer as No. 2 at right tackle and 6-5, 291-pound Hunter Bivin at left tackle, Corey Robinson as the backup at one wide receiver slot and James Onwualu as the backup at another, Cole Luke as a backup cornerback, Isaac Rochell as No. 2 at defensive end and Greg Bryant as a reserve at running back.
''They're a pretty remarkable group of kids both on and off the field,'' Kelly said.
The Irish are ready to start the season after seven months of turmoil since losing 42-14 to Alabama in the national championship game.
''Certainly getting back on the field for our football team after a loss is the best recipe for any football team. It's been a long time since we played that last game,'' Kelly said.
The 6-2, 230-pound Smith, who is from Fort Wayne, beat out junior Ben Councell for the job after Danny Spond's playing career came to an end because of debilitating headaches. Kelly said Smith doesn't seem to make the same mistakes twice.
''That's a hallmark of a guy that's going to play a lot of football for us,'' Kelly said.
Former Irish standout Manti Te'o didn't get into his first game until the second quarter in 2009 and didn't start until the fifth game. Kelly, who took over the Irish a season later, said in watching the tapes he didn't think Te'o was ready to start when he did. Asked about that Tuesday, Kelly said it was unfair comparison between Te'o and Smith, saying there's a difference between playing inside and outside linebacker, and the two played in different defenses.
''Jaylon is asked to do a different job. He plays so well in space, very smart player, plays instinctively,'' Kelly said.
One of the biggest questions heading into training camp was who would start on the right side of the line. Christian Lombard, who started all 13 games at right tackle, moves inside to guard, while sophomore Ronnie Stanley will start at tackle.
Kelly said he expects Elmer to also play there.
''That's a very fluid situation. We have great confidence that Steve Elmer could go in there and start for us if we needed him to, as well,'' Kelly said.
Robinson, the son of former NBA standout David Robinson, has shown in practices that he can catch anything near him. But at 6-4, 205 pounds, he doesn't yet have the strength to be an every down player.
''He won't be out there playing every snap,'' Kelly said.
Other freshmen, such as highly rated safety Max Redfield, are expected to see action on special teams.
Kelly said the freshman class, which called themselves ''Irish Mob 13'' during the recruiting process and is the highest rated class Kelly has signed, has shown up on campus with the right attitude.
''It's a very unique group. They have never once said, `Hey, we're the group,''' Kelly said. ''They have blended in so well to an established identity within this football team, and it takes a humble group of guys, and that's why it's a pretty good dynamic.''


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Hicks, Thomas
Hicks, Thomas, 1823–90, American portrait painter, b. Newtown, Pa. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and abroad, where he lived for several years. He settled in New York City in 1849 and there became one of the outstanding portraitists of his day. The New-York Historical Society has some interesting portraits; others of President Lincoln, Henry Ward Beecher, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Edwin Booth as Iago, Hamilton Fish, and Daniel W. Middleton are in the Capitol, Washington, D.C. The Metropolitan Museum has a portrait of the artist's wife.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: American and Canadian Art: Biographies


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Students from the UAB School of Medicine will take the stage Friday, Feb. 28, 2014 at the historic Alabama Theatre for The Best Medicine Show, an annual philanthropic event showcasing the students' creative sides with short digital films, music and dance. Proceeds from the event go to Equal Access Birmingham, a student-run program that operates a free primary care clinic for underserved people in the Birmingham area.
The Best Medicine Show is an opportunity for students to poke fun at medical student life and showcase student talent through live singing, dancing and acting, along with pre-recorded video skits.
"Although medical students spend a lot of time studying, we also share interests in a wide variety of other activities ranging from athletics to the outdoors to the fine arts. There often isn't a convenient way in medical school for students to express creative talent, so the Best Medicine Show strives to be that outlet," says Andrew Chou, a second year medical student and producer of this year's The Best Medicine Show.
UAB School of Medicine students have put on the annual skit night for more than 20 years, expanding its audience beyond fellow medical students to family, friends, professors and the public.
"The show is an opportunity for students to create and perform, for classmates to cheer each other on, for teachers to see their students in a non-academic light and for the public to see that their future doctors have a sense of humor and creativity," Chou says.
The show also gives students a meaningful opportunity to serve the Birmingham community by raising money for Equal Access Birmingham. Last year, students raised $13,500 and planned to create an endowment to help ensure EAB's financial sustainability.
And though the performers may be poking fun at their own lives, the show's organizers say there will be acts for everyone in the community to enjoy.
"The whole premise of the show is that laughter is really the best medicine. That's what we're about: coming together as a community to have fun," says Ignasia Tanone, a fourth-year medical student and head of the show's creative direction committee. "I think it's great as a point of pride for Birmingham. UAB is the community's medical school, its students and its future doctors, who are doing something amazing and fun at the same time."
The show begins at 7 p.m. inside the Alabama Theatre, 1817 Third Ave. North, Birmingham. Doors open at 6 p.m. Advance tickets are $7 for students and $10 for general admission. All tickets purchased at the door are $15. The student discount for advanced tickets will extend to students from other colleges and universities.
Visit www.bestmedicineshow.com to purchase tickets or find more information.
February 05, 2014


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It's a Very Special Edition of the Sound Bites Series this at Fulton Stall Market this Sunday (8/19). Don't worry, no one tries drinking for the first time and nearly dies. In this case it's Brooklyn's Caged Animals getting very especially acoustic. Which could all maybe use after Eternal Summers so awesomely destroyed our ear canals last weekend. Caged Animals make manage that rare tightrope walk of being heartfelt without sap, with big catchy choruses you'll be singing along to after first listen. Which is to say they're a great pop band! The band are currently finishing up their second album which will hopefully be out this fall. In the meantime, check out their most recent EP:
Details: The Sound Bites series is a free show, as always, and I DJ at 2PM with the band on at 3PM sharp! The Stage is set up on Beekman just off South Street down by the seaport. Come down! Caged Animals' frontman Vincent Cacchione was nice enough to answer some food-related questions for us:
You'll be playing at the Fulton Stall markets. What's your favorite vegetable? And why.
Avocado because they aren't shallow.
What's your least favorite and why?
Cooked tomatoes (not tomato sauce though) are the nastiest vegetable imaginable. I have no idea why, because raw tomatoes and tomato sauce are both delicious.
You've been busy making the new Caged Animals album. Did any particular food fuel it's making??
Coffee and B Complex have been the most influential over the creative process. Food wise, we Caged Animals keep it varied, Curried Tofu, Chicken Mole Burritos, Pastrami Sandwiches, Granny Smith Apples, you know!
Has food ever influenced your songwriting?
Certain slices of pizza have created miracles and modulations.
Any good food-related band anecdotes?
I can't think of a more food-oriented band than Caged Animals. Our European tour-manager said we're the most fun to tour with because everywhere we go we want to eat whatever that place is known for; this comment came over a plate of snails in some hole-in-the wall Parisian restaurant.
My favorite food related story happened on our way to SXSW this spring. When we were driving to Austin we couldn't stop thinking about gumbo's and Po' Boys as we road through the Louisiana night. The next morning we woke up and started making serious headway into Texas, we were beginning to lose hope that we'd ever taste Cajun in the motherland and then at the eleventh hour we ended up having a totally next level and unbelievably sloppy crawfish experience at a gas-station just east of the border!
Who is the best cook in the band? (And what's their specialty?) Who is the
finickiest eater? Do you often eat together as a band?
Best cooks in the band are Talya and Magali! Most frequent cook in the band is me (Vin). My specialty is curried tofu-scramble or vegetarian tacos! We are always eating together, I think that's why we are such a special band, we're really focused on our own vibe together.
We cook together during almost every practice and for the record there are NO finicky eaters in Caged Animals. Talya is the most likely to order the nastiest thing on the menu. Example: random, gas-station diner in Maine, "yes I'll have the fried Clams."
What's your favorite local restaurants?
David's Brisket House (thanks to Larry Ratso Sloman), Coco Lin Vegetarian Chinese (thanks to Matt Molnar), but if you really wanna treat me right you gotta take me for some Ethiopian.
What's your go-to hangover food?
What food would you imagine Caged Animals music being paired with?
Thanksgiving dinner.


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Contact Information
Hon. Deborah E. Kooperstein
Southampton Town Justice Court
Hon. Helen J. Rosenblum
Shelter Island Town Justice Court
Hon. Eileen A. Powers,
Southold Town Justice Court
James Mullan, PO
Carla Egan, ADA
Dennis Ryan, ADA
John Leonard, Esq.
Charlene Halsey Mascia
Resource Coordinator II
631-852-1722 (County Court, Riverhead)
631-702-2963 (Southampton Town Justice Court)
Mission Statement
The mission of the East End Regional Intervention Court (EERIC) is to assist non-violent, substance abusing defendants, who recognize their problems and voluntarily choose to enter into a contract with a court-supervised program mandating full participation in a drug treatment program, and regular appearances before the EERIC Judge. The court will monitor the participant's progress through all phases of treatment, and will provide other resources and opportunities to improve quality of life. In most cases, successful completion of the program will result in the development of a clean and sober lifestyle which, in turn, will benefit both the participant and the community. In addition, successful completion of the program will result in the dismissal and/or reduction of the participant's current charges.


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Dean's thin crust, brick oven pizza is heaven, served in a stylish restaurant at reasonable prices. Every pizza contain homemade mozzarella and a choice of a dozen fresh toppings. Dean's also offers a full Italian menu, salads, a complete wine list, desserts and much more. Don't forget to check-out Dean's famous thin crust, square "Grandma's style" pizza…Magnifico!.
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Well, in our grand tradition we decided to put together a piece that we knew (You can't stop the beat) with a piece that only had a couple weeks of rehearsal (Wild, Wild, Party). The beginning is a little rough but over all I'm really happy with the performance (especially since it is our third and we've existed for less than 6 months). Woo Hoo!
If you are interested in taking classes, coming to upcoming performances, donating to help us with our mission of spreading dance and Health at Every Size, just go to our official webpage


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Apr 04, 2013
Residents to Enjoy Unlimited Free 24x7 Internet Connectivity
Frasers Hospitality Pte Ltd (Frasers), a global leader in serviced apartments and boutique residences, has announced the launch of unlimited free Internet access across all its properties worldwide.
With high-speed Internet access available throughout all the areas of each property, residents can enjoy seamless connectivity transiting between the home and work environments. There is also the added convenience of always being online 24x7 and the confidence of the quality and security that comes with the connection, which are essential for residents who often need to communicate across different time zones.
A reflection of Frasers' culture of technology adoption and innovation, this follows the launch of the group's new mobile website (www.frasershospitality.com), which allows travellers to make reservations, modify bookings and have instant access to property information, special offers and promotions via their smartphones anytime, anywhere. The mobile-optimised website also allows travellers the added convenience of being able to connect directly with individual properties through the click-to-call function as well as one-touch access to Fraser World.
"The comfort and convenience of our residents is at the heart of everything we do. Knowing how being connected online is so critical to their daily lives, making complimentary high-speed Internet access available as one of the value-add amenities of our Gold-Standard service was therefore important, to complete their whole experience of staying with us," said Mr Choe Peng Sum, Chief Executive Officer of Frasers Hospitality Pte Ltd.
Residents travelling without their computers or mobile devices will also be able to enjoy the free Internet service at designated iMacs workstations that are available for use within the individual properties.
Frasers Hospitality Pte Ltd's current portfolio, including those in the pipeline, stands at 77 properties in 41 key gateway cities, and more than 13,000 apartments worldwide.


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Need for expanded access to two promising MDR TB drugs
1 February 2012. Related: TB coinfection.
Nathan Geffen, Centre for Social Science Research, UCT
Two experimental drugs for the treatment of MDR TB have completed phase II clinical trials. While neither is ready yet to be registered with a regulatory authority, bedaquiline (formerly TMC207, manufactured by Tibotec) is already better tested than most second-line TB drugs and has a good side-effect profile. The results of a Phase II trial of delamanid (formerly OPC-67683, manufactured by Otsuka Pharmaceuticals) are expected to be published soon.
HTB previously reported the development of bedaquiline and Phase II trial results [1,2]. Tibotec reported further results at a Critical Path to TB Drug Regimens meeting in Arlington in November. In this trial of 160 MDR TB patients, that compared an optimised background regimen plus either placebo or bedquiline, there was faster culture conversion in the bedaquiline arm by 24 weeks (p=0.003). This was the primary endpoint. In secondary analyses, median time to culture conversion was 12 weeks vs 18 weeks. And at 24 weeks 79% of bedaquiline patients vs 58% of placebo ones had converted to sputum-negative (p=0.008). Side effects were distributed evenly over the two groups. There were no serious study drug-related side effects nor were there clinically significant differences in laboratory results. QT prolongation was seen on the bedaquiline arm, but there were no adverse events associated with this nor were there any prolongations greater than 500 milliseconds. [3]
In an ongoing open-label study (C209) that is assessing safety, efficacy and tolerability over two years of bedaquiline in smear-positive MDR TB patients, there was an 80% response rate at 24 weeks. Resistance to more drugs was associated with poorer response rates (56% for XDR, 77% for pre-XDR and 87% for MDR; p=0.0006). Patients with no cavitations also responded better (p=0.0157), as did patients on three or more potentially active drugs (p=0.0376). The most frequent side effects were nausea (11%), arthralgia (12%) and hyperuricaemia (14%). About 2% of the patients stopped bedaquiline due to an adverse event.
Tibotec has planned a Phase III superiority study (C210) with 600 subjects. The primary endpoint is intended to be relapse free cure at 15 months and a final analysis will also be done at 21 months.
The company is also considering a paediatric trial of 60 children to examine PK and safety.
The company has a compassionate use/expanded access programme. In countries that have a mechanism to authorise pre-approval access of unregistered medicines, patients with pre-XDR or XDR TB at what the company describes as validated centres can obtain bedaquiline. In countries where this is not feasible, such as China, Russia and Lithuania, an expanded access trial is planned. But at the time of the Critical Path meeting when this was presented, fewer than 30 patients had accessed the drug via compassionate use or expanded access.
In a phase II trial (Trial 204), about 480 patients with MDR TB were divided into three arms, stratified by disease severity. All patients received optimised background regimens. The first group received placebo, the second delamanid 200mg/day and the third delamanid 400mg/day for eight weeks. Patients were followed for an additional four weeks for safety and to confirm sputum conversion. The trial took place at 15 sites in 9 countries. Those patients who successfully completed Trial 204 were eligible to enroll in a 26 week open label protocol. Those who participated in Trial 204 and received placebo therefore had 26 weeks exposure to delamanid and those who received delamanid in trial 204 had a total of 34 weeks exposure to delamanid. [4]
Otsuka is currently recruiting for a Phase 3 trial to test the safety and efficacy of delamanid 200mg daily. [5]
These two drugs are the furthest along in the pipeline to treat drug-resistant TB. It is essential that they soon be tested together, so that if or when they are approved clinicians do not have to grapple with whether or not to add a single drug to failing regimens.
TB drug development is painfully slow. Consider that rilpivirine (TMC278), an antiretroviral of minor importance, was presumably discovered after bedaquiline (given that TMC278 signifies a chronologically later drug than TMC207). Yet the rilpivirine phase III trial started in 2008 and the FDA approved the drug last year. In contrast, bedaquiline is not expected to be registered in the very near future. This is not to single out Tibotec: indeed their TB development is the most advance. But this example shows the comparative lack of resources invested in getting TB drugs to market. Regulatory hurdles specific to TB worsen the situation. For example, some regulators want to see two-year relapse rates before granting approval.
Pre-regulatory approval expanded access should be a priority. Tibotec has committed to this but because of regulatory hurdles, lack of knowledge about the programme and perhaps lack of urgency from the company, we remain far from significant expanded access. It is unclear what commitment Otsuka has to expanded access.
Activists and patients must increase the pressure on Otsuka, Tibotec, health ministries and service providers to make these drugs available more widely for pre-approval access. More pressure must be put on the entire industry to develop more drugs, though as recent TAG/i-Base pipeline reports show, this is starting to improve.
- Geffen N. 2009. TMC207 reduces time to sputum conversion in phase II trial on patients with drug-resistant TB. HTB 10(7) July/August 2009.
- Clayden P. 2011. Faster conversion rates with TMC-207 versus placebo plus OBT for the treatment of MDR-TB. HTB 12(1-2) January/February 2011.
- Presentation by Tibotec to Global TB Community Advisory Board at CPTR 2011.
- Otsuka. A Placebo-controlled, phase 2 Trial to Evaluate OPC 67683 in patients with pulmonary sputum culture-positive, multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB).
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00685360 5.
- Otsuka. Safety and efficacy trial of delamanid for 6 months in patients with multidrug resistant tuberculosis.


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LAS VEGAS – Armed with a court-signed abatement warrant, Las Vegas officials have swarmed a home to deal with what they call the worst case of hoarding they've ever seen.
Officials began hauling away items from Kenneth Epstein's home on Friday after they found materials stacked from floor to ceiling inside and declared it uninhabitable, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
"It's a very tragic situation, but it's also tragic for the neighbors," Councilman Stavros Anthony said.
City spokesman David Riggleman said Epstein had created a space for himself to crawl atop the materials, but wouldn't have been able to walk upright in the house.
Last week, building code officials went to the home but couldn't enter because there was so much stuff blocking the door. They had to take the door off the hinges to enter.
Riggleman said 10 truckloads of stuff were removed by Saturday afternoon and the cleanup continued Sunday. In all, a private removal company was working with officials to remove about 15 truckloads of materials.
Among items removed so far were five refrigerators filled with food so rancid it had liquefied. Five dead cats also have been found, and nine others have been captured by animal-control officers.
Epstein declined to comment. "You can write whatever you like about me," he told the Review-Journal.
He has been cooperative except for when he locked himself in the house Friday as workers tried to enter to remove stuff authorized under the administrative warrant.
Items that Epstein wants to keep will be put in two storage bins and fumigated. If he doesn't pay for the cleanup, the city will file a lien against his house.
Epstein has received eight citations from the city about the hoarding since 2007. According to neighbors, the problem became more severe the last two years as materials also piled up in his front courtyard and back patio.
Epstein became the owner in 2010 after his mother died.
People often become hoarders because of trauma in their lives, according to experts.
"This probably won't be the last episode. We understand we may have to return," Riggleman said.


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Rexhame Beach resolution gets closer
MARSHFIELD – A 16-year-old battle between beach-goers and homeowners over the public's right to use part of Rexhame Beach will likely rage on for one more summer as the case inches through the legal system.
What turned out to be a 12-day trial featuring nearly 600 exhibits – some dating to the 1630s – wrapped up in Massachusetts Land Court on Monday, bringing the suit one step closer to a resolution.
The plaintiffs in the case are residents of Rexhame Terrace, five small streets east of Circuit Avenue. They say they own the beach, the dunes and the roads leading to it. Their legal action seeks to block access to the beach by nearby residents who say the stretch of sand has been open to their families for decades.
The suit was filed in Land Court on July 22, 1998. Named as defendants were some neighbors and the state, which intervened because public-access rights were at issue.
The town joined the suit in 2008 because of its involvement in an 1832 court decision. The public's right to use Rexhame Beach was established in that case after resident Briggs Thomas tried to claim rights to it.
Marshfield Town Counsel Robert Galvin Jr. said it could still be months before Land Court Judge Harry Grossman makes his ruling.
Transcripts of the trial must be sent to the parties, who then have 30 days to brief the case and explain their view of the evidence and the law. The parties will then make their closing arguments, followed by a site visit by Grossman.
"Once it's under advisement, it's an indeterminate amount of time," Galvin said. "It's a huge case about a dispute that went on for many, many, many years before the town was a party."
Galvin said the two principal issues are who owns Rexhame Beach and what that beach consists of, and whether there is public access through or on any streets in Rexhame Terrace.
Technically, in Massachusetts, the public owns everything from the low-tide mark out to sea. The public can use the area between the low- and high-tide marks for hunting, fishing or boating.
"The public will always have that right no matter what, but the question is the area above the high-tide mark and the easement rights," Galvin said. "The town claims that from the beginning, the dry sand, cobble and dunes it's always owned, and those have never been conveyed out to anybody."
Galvin said the Rexhame Terrace streets are privately owned but are open to the public because the town provides snow, ice and trash removal.
"You can't have those services and keep your roadway private," he said.
Brian Rogal, an attorney representing about a dozen Rexhame Terrace residents, has said the case is about protecting the rights of private landowners as well as the sensitive dunes.
Jessica Trufant may be reached at email@example.com.


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|Phrack Inc. XXIII Index
|Taran King & Knight Lightning
|Phrack Prophile XXIII Featuring The Mentor
|Taran King
|Subdivisions (Part 3 of The Vicious Circle Trilogy)
|Knight Lightning
|Utopia; Chapter One of FTSaga
|Knight Lightning
|Foundations On The Horizon; Chapter Two of FTSaga
|Knight Lightning
|Future Trancendent Saga Index A from the Bitnet Services Library
|Future Trancendent Saga Index B from the Bitnet Services Library
|Getting Serious About VMS Hacking
|Can You Find Out If Your Telephone Is Tapped?
|Fred P. Graham & VaxCat
|Big Brother Online
|Phrack World News XXIII Part 1
|Knight Lightning
|Phrack World News XXIII Part 2
|Knight Lightning
==Phrack Inc.== Volume Two, Issue 23, File 8 of 12 ____________________________________ | | | Getting Serious About VMS Hacking | | | | by VAXbusters International | | | | January 1989 | |____________________________________| The VAX/VMS operating system is said to be one of the most secure systems currently available. It has been massively extended in the past to provide features which can help system managers getting their machines locked up to abusers and to trace back any attempts to indiscriminate system security. As such, it is not easy getting into VMS machines now without having insider information, and it's even harder to stay in. The following article describes some of the internals which make up the VMS security features, and tries to give hints what to do to remain undiscovered. The reader should be familiar with the VMS system from the programmer's point of view. Some of the things mentioned are closely related to the internal workings of the VAX/VMS operating system. All descriptions are held as general as possible. It is tried to point out where weak points in the system are located, not to give step-by-step instructions on how to hack VMS machines. The main reason for this is, that it is very hard to remain undiscovered in a VMS system without having good knowledge of the whole system. This knowledge is only aquirable by experience. To use some of the techniques described herein, some literature is recommended: "The VAX Architecture Handbook," published by DEC. This book describes the VAX processor, it's instruction set and it's hardware. It is a good book to have on your desk, since it costs nothing (just go to your local DEC store and ask for it) and is only in paperback format. "MACRO and Instruction Set," part of the VMS documentation kit. This is needed only if you want to program bigger things in MACRO. It's recommended reading, but you don't need to have it on your own normally. "VAX/VMS Internals and Data Structures" by L.Kenah and S.Bate. This is the bible for VMS hackers. It describes the inner workings of the system as well as most of the data structures used within the kernel. The Version published always is one version number behind the current VMS release, but as the VAX architecture doesn't change, it is the best source on a description how the system works. After you've read and understood this book, the VAX won't look more mysterious than your C64. You can order this book from DEC, the order number for the V3.0 version of the book is EY-00014-DP. The major drawback is the price, which is around $70-$100. A good source of information naturally is the source code of the VMS system. The easiest way to snoop around in it is to get the microfiche set, which is delivered by DEC to all bigger customers of the system. The major disadvantage is that you need a fiche reader to use it. The fiche is needed if modifications to the system code are intended, unless you plan to disassemble everything you need. The VMS system is written in BLISS-32 and FORTRAN. BLISS is quite readable, but it might be worthwhile having a FORTRAN hacker around if you intend to do patch any of the programs implemented in FORTRAN. The source fiche always contains the current release, so it's useful to check if the information in "Internals and Data Structures" is still valid. Hacker's Tools ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are several programs which are useful when snooping around on a VMS system. The most important utility might be the System Dump Analyzer (SDA), which is started with the command ANALYZE/SYSTEM. Originally, SDA was developed to analyze system crash dumps, which are created every time the machine crashes in a 'controlled' manner (bugcheck or opcrash). SDA can also be used to analyze the running system, which is the more useful function. A process which wants to run SDA needs the CMKRNL privilege. With SDA, you can examine any process and find out about accessed files and devices, contents of virtual memory (like typeahead and recall buffers), process status and more. SDA is a watching tool, so you normally can't destroy anything with it. Another helpful tool is the PATCH utility, called up by the command PATCH. As VMS is distributed in a binary-only fashion, system updates are normally distributed as patches to binaries. PATCHES can be entered as assembler statements directly. Combined with the source fiche, PATCH is a powerful tool for your modifications and improvements to the VMS operating system. Privileges ~~~~~~~~~~ To do interesting things on the VMS system, you normally need privileges. The following lists describes some of the privileges which are useful in the onliner's daily life. CMKRNL CMEXEC These two privileges enable a user to execute arbitrary routines with KERNEL and EXECUTIVE access mode. These privileges are needed when one plans to access kernel data structures directly. CMKRNL is the most powerful privilege available, everything which is protected can be accessed utilizing it. SYSPRV A process which holds this privilege can access objects via the system protection. A process holding the this privilege has the same access rights as a process running under a system UIC. SHARE This allows a process to assign channels to nonshareable devices which already have channels assigned to them. This can be used to prevent terminal hangups and to assign channels to system mailboxes. Process States And The Process Control Block ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When you get into kernel hacking, you should pay special attention to the field PCB$L_STS. This field tells about the process status. Interesting bits are PCB$V_DELPEN, PCB$V_NOACNT and PCB$V_BATCH. There can be achieved astonishing effects by setting these bits. Hideout ~~~~~~~ A nice possibility to have is to be unseen by a system manager. There are many ways to get invisible to SHOW USERS, but hiding from SHOW SYSTEM is another story, as it doesn't even use standard system calls to get a list of the currently running processes. And in fact, hiding from SDA is even harder, since it directly peeks kernel data structures. Anyway, being invisible to SHOW USERS is useful on small systems, where one user more could ring the alarm bell of the system operator. One possibility to do this is to become a subprocess of some non-interactive job (like a BATCH or NETWORK process). The other way is to patch the PCB to become a BATCH process or to delete the terminal name (which makes SHOW USERS think you are non-interactive as well). Patching the PCB has a disadvantage: The system global variable SYS$GW_IJOBCNT which contains the number of interactive users must be directly decremented before you hide, and MUST be incremented before you log out. If you forget this, the interactive job count will be wrong. If it becomes negative, strange effects will show up, which will confuse every system manager. Accounting And Audits ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The most nasty thing about VMS since release 4.2 is the security auditing feature. It enables the system manager to log almost every security relevant event he desires. For example, access to files, login failures and modification user authorization data base can all be monitored, logged and written to the system printer. The first thing to find out in a new, unknown system is the awareness of the system management. The status of the accounting system is easily determinable by the command SHOW ACCOUNTING. Normally, everything except IMAGE accounting is enabled. When IMAGE accounting is also enabled, this is the first hint to be careful. The second thing to check out is the status of the security auditing system. You need the SECURITY privilege to execute the command SHOW AUDIT. If no audits are enabled, and image accounting is not turned on, the system normally is not set up to be especially secure. Such systems are the right playground for a system hacker, since one doesn't have to be as careful as one has to be on a correctly managed system. Accounting ~~~~~~~~~~ The main intention for running accounting on a system is the need to charge users for resources (cpu time, printer usage etc.) they use on the machine. On the other hand, accounting can be very useful to track down invaders. Luckily, accounting information is being logged in the normal file system, and as such one can edit out information which isn't supposed to be seen by sneaky eyes. The most important utility to handle accounting files is, naturally, the ACCOUNTING utility. It has options to collect information which is stored in accounting files, print it in a human readable manner, and, most importantly, edit accounting files. That is, you can edit all information out of an accounting file which you don't want to appear in reports anymore. The important qualifier to the ACCOUNTING command is /BINARY. File Access Dates ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One way for system managers to discover unwanted guests is to look out for modified system files. Fortunately, there are ways to modify the modification dates in a file's header. This can be done with RMS system calls, but there is no easy way to do that with pure DCL. There are several utilities to do this kind of things in the public domain, so look out in the DECUS catalog. OPCOM ~~~~~ OPCOM is a process which logs system and security relevant events (like tape and disk mount transactions, security auditing messages etc.). OPCOM receives messages via a mailbox device, formats them, logs the event in the operator logfile (SYS$MANAGER:OPERATOR.LOG) and notifies all operators. Additionally, it sends all messages to it's standard output, which normally is the system console device _OPA0:. When OPCOM is started, one message is sent to the standard output announcing that the operator logfile has been initialized. Thus, it's not recommended to kill OPCOM to remain undiscovered, since the system manager most likely will get suspicious if the operator logfile has been initialized without an obvious reason. The elegant solution to suspend OPCOM, for the time where no operator messages shall come through. While OPCOM is suspended, all messages will be buffered in the mailbox device, where every process with sufficient privilege can read them out, thus avoiding that OPCOM reads those messages after it is restarted. There is one problem with this solution though: OPCOM always has a read pending on that mailbox, and this read will be there even if the OPCOM process is suspended. Unless you're heavily into kernel hacking, there is no way to get rid of this read request. As such, the easy solution is to generate an unsuspicious operator message as soon as OPCOM is suspended. Afterwards, your own process (which can be a DCL procedure) reads all subsequent messages off the OPCOM mailbox until you feel save enough to have OPCOM resume it's work. By the way, the OPCOM message mailbox is temporary and has no logical name assigned to it. You'll need SDA to get information about the device name. Command Procedures ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Timely, you'll need DCL procedures to have some routine work done automatically. It is important not to have strange command procedures lying around on a foreign system, since they can be easily read by system managers. Fortunately, a command file may be deleted while someone is executing it. It is good practice to do so, utilizing the lexical function F$ENVIRONMENT. If you need access to the command file itself from the running procedure, just assign a channel to it with OPEN. Piggy-Backing ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's not normally a good idea to add new, possibly privileged accounts to a foreign system. The better approach is to to use accounts which have been unused for some months and to hide privileged programs or piggybacks which gain privilege to the caller by some mechanism. A piggyback is a piece of code which is added to a privileged system program, and which gives privileges and/or special capabilities to callers which have some kind of speciality (like a special process name, for example). Be careful not to change file sizes and dates, since this makes people suspicious. Conclusion ~~~~~~~~~~ This file just tries to give an impression how interesting VMS kernel hacking can be, and what possibilities there are. It of course is not complete, and many details have been left out. Hopefully, it has been useful and/or interesting lecture. (C)opyright 1989 by the VAXBusters International. You may give around this work as long as you don't pretend you wrote it. _______________________________________________________________________________


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Hillary Clinton vs Donald Trump, final stretch and Dyntra's analysis
Tags: candidates, candidatos, Clinton, debate, demócratas, Democrats, Donald, elecciones, election, presidencial, presidential, republicanos, Republicans, transparencia, transparency, trump, TVE, Univisión, USA
Categories: Estrategia, Evento, Organismo, Política, Universidad
It's time for the final debate Clinton vs Trump, 90 face to face minutes. The appointment is at the University of Las Vegas, you can watch it tonight at 03:00 pm (Madrid) 21:00 (NYC). It is the last chance to enjoy the last major political event in the United States before the presidential elections, here are…
H. Clinton vs. D. Trump, time to place your bets! USA 2016
Tags: candidatos, debate, demócratas, Democrats, election, hillary, política, politics, president, republicanos, Republicans, trump, USA 2016, USA2016
Categories: Evento
For many people it is considered the Super Bowl of politics … Tonight will be the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, which promises to generate a large audience record. All looks around the world are placed upon them, event which I will live directly from New York, where tensions are already…
What is an indicator, an index and a dynamic index
Tags: Big Data, Dinámico, dyntra, estadística aplicada, indicador, índice, índice dinámico, Kazmier
Categories: I+D+i, Universidad
A dynamic index is a measuring instrument, whereby measures are assigned to the units of analysis based on the possession or performance indicators: social, economic, infrastructure, technical, and anything that can be quantifiable and measurable objectively, regardless of the investigator / user to analyze it. Regarding the investigation of Social Influence, indexes have many applications, and in the knowledge…
SaaS, what is it and how can it help me as an user
Tags: Cloud, paradigm, Software as a Service, user
Categories: Tecnología
The Saas model of software distribution, acronym which founds its origin from Software as a Service, is a type of distribution of Cloud Computing service model, or simply known under the metaphor of "The Cloud". This new paradigm can offer computing services across the Internet, without relying on local storage and independently of operating systems, devices…
INDYCO, an evaluation method for Digital Ecosystems
Tags: digital ecosystem, ecosistema digital, evaluation, innovation, knowledge society, method, methodology, método, organisations
Indyco Evaluation Method of digital ecosystems in organisations Index for Dynamic Communities Since 2011 I am dedicated on developing a methodology together to several researchers from the University of Granada and Polytechnic University of Valencia. The main mission of this system is to measure the total value of the digital ecosystem in organisations, giving them a…


text:
Here in New York City, we probably engage in a bit more retail therapy than the rest of the country--on the walk from my apartment to the subway alone, there are temptations in the form of Forever 21, a cute jewelry boutique, the unbeatable Trader Joe's wine shop, and countless other emporiums imploring me to spend, spend, spend. That also means we New Yorkers create a lot more garbage than the rest of the country, in the form of plastic bags that never quite biodegrade. But Mayor Bloomberg has a brand new solution to rid ourselves of conspicuous consumption and the pollution it creates.
In an effort to raise some funds for the cash-strapped city and help reduce stress on the environment, Bloomberg is proposing a six cent tax for plastic bags at stores around the city. His reasoning is, "if I had a nickel for every bag..." and I have to say, it's kind of brilliant.
The fashion crowd caught on to the idea of eco-friendly shopping long ago, starting with Anya Hindmarch's "I Am Not A Plastic Bag" phenomenon, and trickling down to Glamour's very own uber-chic Fashion Gives Back totes (above), designed by Phillip Lim, Chris Benz, and Loeffler Randall, which are still available at Henri Bendel online. And now, the rest of New York (and hopefully the country) is catching on, too. Do you guys bring your own bags when you go shopping? Do you do it only at the grocery store, or other places (like the mall) too?


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Japan's Largest Trade Show Organiser
About Organiser
Organised by: Reed Exhibitions Japan Ltd.
Reed Exhibitions Japan Ltd. hosts exhibitions for various industries such as jewellery, eyewear, publication, electronics, energy, IT, medical, biotechnology, etc. 267 trade shows across 34 industries are organised annually.
Best Platform for Business
Reed Exhibitions Japan strive to provide the most effective platform for exhibitors showcasing the latest technologies, products and services to meet professionals from around the world who seek such exhibits. Through organising the show, Reed Exhibitions Japan is fully committed to aid the expansion of the industries.
Feature 1. We attract quality visitors
Attracting industry professionals of great quality to the show is essential in satisfying our exhibitors. We strongly believe it is the essence for a successful trade show.
Founded in 1986, Reed Exhibitions Japan has been focusing on gathering a large number of quality visitors to the shows from all around the world. As a result, we have established a reputation in attracting huge number of high quality professionals for serious business meetings.
Feature 2. Business generating show
Reed Exhibitions Japan works diligently in organising a trade show which generate beneficial business for exhibitors. We arrange a number of services & events to create the business environment for exhibitors.
As a result, most of our shows create JPY 5 billion - 100 billion worth of business.


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Phoenix, Arizona
Learn more about this specific location below. The UCA instructional staff cannot wait to start working with you and your students.
We are excited to partner with you to build skills, confidence, routines, friendships and memories to last a lifetime!
accommodations website
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"'The UCA Staff at camp were amazing! So many of them went above and beyond for my girls so that they left feeling confident and game ready! The individualized private coaching we got for sidelines, cheers and the Rally Routine was so awesome. The one-on-one time is what I look forward to most as a coach so that I can focus with my girls on improving all the important details while we practice. Coaches meetings were the most productive they have ever been. Every request we made was given attention to and worked into the schedule. Kudos to UCA for always making summer camp so memorable for my teams! We can't wait for next summer!'" Coach MattHoggard High School
"'For over 20 years, the Carroll County Cheerleaders have attended UCA Camp and we are tremendously pleased each and every year. From the outstanding staff, wonderful facilities and the material learned while at camp, the UCA program is incredible. The attention and dedication given to the young people is amazing and always top-notch. I can honestly say that I enjoy camp each year because of the UCA Staff and our overnight camp experience. I feel that 20+ years should attest to the fact that the UCA program is second to none.'" Coach NicoleCarroll County High School
This year's theme is Spirit Power featuring our Pep Rally: Super Squad Rally! On night three, be ready to get creative and dress up with your team for an interactive, super hero-themed rally!
Since 2011, Varsity Spirit has raised over $6.5 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital because of cheerleading teams just like yours – through game days, donation letters, and online fundraising. Join the fight and pre-order your letters for UCA Summer Camp today HERE!
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Earlier today, Jalopnik was the first to bring you photos of the custom Ferrari Enzo that went swimming in the Atlantic Ocean. Now we've got a first photo of the rare supercar sliding into the water.
The Enzo pictured is a highly modified version of the Ferrari supercar designed to look and perform like the track-only FXX. Worth an estimated $1.5 million (dry), the car's owner — self-proclaimed bad-boy exotic dealership owner Zahir Rana — was driving it in the Targa Newfoundland alongside other exotics when he went off course.
Here's how eyewitness Mike Boldt describes the accident:
"There was a long bridge and they just came bombing down the hill across the bridge. They took an uneven left off a driveway... and he was on throttle, hit one bump, on throttle, and the next bump threw him right off."
The photo above from Kia Canada shows the vehicle sliding off into the water. It apparently was picked up by the tide and floated for a bit before being towed onshore.
The driver and co-driver are in good shape physically and the car is reportedly in decent condition. Emotionally, this photo suggest Rana is a little bummed.
(Hat tip to Shawn!)
Photo Credit: Andrew Pawliuk/AutoNet.ca


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Referring page: PR In Action


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The second teaser for "Rise Of The Phoenix", the new album from Finnish dark melodic death metal icons BEFORE THE DAWN, can be seen below. The CD will be released on April 27 via Nuclear Blast Records.
After the departure of Lars Eikin (bass/clean vocals) and Atte Palokangas (drums), Finland's BEFORE THE DAWN experienced a rebirth of sorts. What could formerly be described as dark metal started to flow much more into melodic death metal waters.
Armed with new members Pyry Hanski (bass) and Joonas Kauppinen (drums), BEFORE THE DAWN will surprise you with a totally new, incredibly thrilling listening experience on their seventh studio album.
The perfectly fitting phoenix symbolism was chosen prudently as mainman, vocalist and mastermind Tuomas Saukkonen explains. "Massive changes in the line-up during 2011 ended an era of great frustration and brought back 110% dedication and professionalism into the band," he says. "The newfound energy and motivation steered us into a victorious European tour and made it possible to produce the strongest, fastest, heaviest and definitely the most epic BEFORE THE DAWN album so far!"
"Rise Of The Phoenix" track listing:
01. Exordium
02. Pitch-Black Universe
03. Phoenix Rising
04. Cross To Bear
05. Throne Of Ice
06. Perfect Storm
07. Fallen World
08. Eclipse
09. Closure
Bonus tracks:
10. Unbreakable (2012 version)
11. Deliverance
12. Reflection (taken from the very first demo, 1999)
Source: Blabbermouth.net
Teaser #1:
"Phoenix Rising" video:


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In the heart of Ohio's largest Amish settlement. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this 28 room Queen Anne style home serves as the society's museum of Victoriana and collection of Holmes County history. Enjoy your visit with us. For a step back in time, walk through our elegant front door by clicking on the next button below to view several interior rooms of Victorian splendor.
Explore the Historical Towns and Landmarks of
Holmes County Ohio
Beck's Mills had its start in 1822 when the Beck family arrived in Doughty Valley. A dam was built across Doughty Creek and a sawmill was constructed. Later a four-story gristmill for making wheat flour and corn meal was...Read More
Benton was laid out in 1829, and it was the first real town to develop commercially in the county. It had gristmills, a woolen mill, a factory to make windmills and spinning wheels and several distilleries where whiskey...Read More
The village of Berlin is the oldest existing village in Holmes County. It was laid out in 1816 with 108 plots, and all plots were purchased by 1821. Gradually Berlin became a thriving village and the center of commerce for...Read More
Big Prairie was laid out in 1871. It was the Monitor Sadiron Company that put Big Prairie on the map. There was also a Monitor Hotel and a Monitor Theater where silent movies were shown, and various other business shops and...Read More
The small community of Bunker Hill was settled in Berlin Township. A major attraction for early settlers was good soil and ample water supplied by springs that dotted the area. Farming, therefore, supported most early...Read More
Charm began as a village called Stevenson around the 1860s. In 1886 the community made application for a post office. The government submitted a list of town names from which the patrons of the post office could choose. The...Read More
Clark was laid out in Mechanic Township in 1818. It is unique in that the town portion north of Cross Street was located in Holmes County, and the part south of Cross Street was in Coshocton County. The plat was...Read More
The plat for Farmerstown was recorded in 1827. The following business places were listed: a blacksmith shop, a general store, a shoe shop, a harness shop, a cooper shop, and a crockery store. But as the result of good roads...Read More
Fryburg is a small settlement in Salt Creek Township. Pioneers had arrived there by 1833. This date was determined from the earliest gravestone markings in a local cemetery.Read More
Glenmont was laid out in 1841 in a pleasant valley surrounded by seven hills. It soon became a thriving trade center for this area. In the early years Glenmont had many small businesses. There were grocery stores,...Read More
The town of Wilmington was laid out in 1815 west of Killbuck Creek, in anticipation of a proposed canal down the Killbuck Valley. Because the canal never materialized, a new town, Lafayette, was laid out in a more desirable...Read More
Killbuck was first called Palladium and then Oxford. Finally the village was incorporated in 1882 as Killbuck. In the 1820s Killbuck Creek was a navigable stream. Produce, pelts, etc. of the area were sent down the Killbuck...Read More
Lakeville was laid out in 1839. It was situated near Round and Long or Bonnet's Lakes. When the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne, and Chicago Railroad was constructed, the town then slowly moved toward Odell's Lake. Two ice companies...Read More
The small settlement of Martinsville was established in Salt Creek Township along Martins Creek. The fertile soil of the region made this an agricultural area from the time of the first white settlers.Read More
Millersburg was named in honor of Charles Miller, who, in 1815, laid out lots to establish a small village that was later to become the county seat. The first building was a tavern built in 1819. A year later, a log cabin...Read More
Mt. Hope was laid out in 1827. Early settlers were impressed with the fertile soil, rolling land, and good water in the area. In 1841, according to records, Mt. Hope had one store, twelve houses, a post office, a school,...Read More
Nashville is located in both Washington and Knox Townships. The town was formed in 1828 and was built at the major crossroads that took travelers east to Millersburg, west to Mansfield, north to Wooster, and south to...Read More
Paint Valley was settled in Monroe Township in the 1890s. The settlement consisted of the following: a church, a school, a flour mill, a gristmill, a cider mill, two sawmills, two blacksmiths, two barber shops, two stores,...Read More
It is not definitely known when the first true settlement was made in Saltillo, but land claims for the area in Mechanic Township were filed in 1832 and 1837. These dates therefore indicate when pioneers began to settle and...Read More
The small community of Stillwell was settled in the south part of Richland Township near the Coshocton County border. Logging & farming supported most pioneer families. Today the Stillwell Cemetery contains graves of...Read More
The original name of this village was Indian Trail, but in 1883 the post office objected to the unnecessarily long name and thus Indian was dropped and the name Trail remained. Early businesses of the town were: a...Read More
Situated in eastern Holmes County, Walnut Creek was surveyed and laid out in 1827. Early businesses included a hotel, blacksmith and carpenter shops, a tin shop and a warehouse. There was also a tannery and leather shop, a...Read More
Welcome was a small community located in Monroe Township. Coal mining was the strong industry in this area in the early days, particularly in the early 1900s. The little village for many years had a general store that was...Read More
Winesburg, in Paint Township, was laid out in 1832. It was located on the direct route from Canton to Millersburg. Early business places were: pottery, tannery, harness, gunsmith, cooper, and saddle shops. There were small...Read More
About Holmes County Historical Society
The Holmes County Historical Society is a countywide 501C3, non profit organization dedicated to preserving, collecting and archiving the rich Holmes County history for future generations. The society's base of operation is the Victorian House Museum located at 484 Wooster Rd. in Historic Millersburg, Ohio. The museum serves a dual function of exhibiting the county's historical collection and special exhibits as well as a showcase of Victorian living with self guided tours provided. Below is the society's missions statement.
Millersburg Glass Museum
Come and see this special exhibit as well as the rest of the 400+ pieces
of Millersburg Glass
Recently relocated from its storefront location in historic downtown Millersburg, the Millersburg Glass Museum has found a new, permanent home on the campus of the Holmes County Cultural Center Campus. Located in the lower level of the main building, the museum is handicap-accessible in a facility that has been renovated to highlight the glass and its history. Inside the interpretive room, guests can familiarize themselves with the history of the local glass plant, its workers and owner, John Fenton. Beyond, they'll absorb the chronological arrangement of the magnificent glasswork create from within the bowels of the factory and its kilns. Find out why these sterling masterpieces remain works of art cherished by collectors worldwide. Ask about featured pieces and collections on loan to the museum from of these private collectors.
Upcoming Society Programs/Events
FULL SEASONAL HOURS BEGIN VICTORIAN HOUSE MUSEUM and MILLERSBURG GLASS MUSEUMWeekends only in March Sat. and Sun. 1:00-4:00pm. Full seasonal hours begin at the... More Info
Holmes Co. Courthouse - Then and NowThis fascinating program will be held at the Catholic Community Center in... More Info
Get Involved
Volunteer Opportunities with the Holmes County Historical Society
Most volunteers say that helping another person is their greatest reward. Many volunteers enjoy new friendships and camaraderie with fellow volunteers and staff, as well as learning new skills and contributing to the community.


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When films fail at the box office, the marketing chief is usually the first to take the blame — and to get the boot.
So when Disney overhauled its exec ranks after a string of stumbles, MT Carney found herself in an unusual position last year: Not only was she under pressure to turnaround the studio's campaigns, she also had to sell herself to Hollywood.
Carney, after all, was new to the biz, a co-founder of Madison Avenue ad shop Naked Communications (whose clients included Coca-Cola, Kraft and Google), and part of Disney studio chief Rich Ross' efforts to "think outside the box" when it comes to promoting pics.
Although the Scotland-born Carney had never spearheaded a movie marketing campaign, she suddenly found herself with several high-profile tentpoles.
None were easy to launch, with "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" the fourth installment of the franchise, helmed by Rob Marshall, a director known more for musicals, and a cast that didn't feature series regulars Orlando Bloom or Keira Knightley. Film opened domestically to a somewhat disappointing $90 million, but sailed on to haul in an impressive $798.5 million overseas to cross the $1 billion mark.
"Cars 2," revved up nearly $548 million worldwide, despite tepid reviews. And "Tangled" surprised many when it was able to attract a broader audience to the female-skewing Rapunzel tale, which earned $591 million globally.
If Carney has a style it's evident in the singular hyper-realistic photographs, bold fonts and clean, pared-down designs she uses for the studio's marketing materials.
Her ideas can seem unconventional, using Pink's song "Trouble" to sell "Tangled," an animated musical, rather than songs from the film by Alan Menken ("The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast"). For "Pirates," she enlisted former Sony marketing chief Valerie Van Galder to consult on the campaign, which Carney admitted was due to her inexperience in launching a tentpole of such scale.
And when it comes to Disney's films, each must perform at the box office but also inside stores as merchandise and theme parks.
Title: President, marketing, Walt Disney Studios
Role model: "My grandmother. She was kind, brave, fiercely loyal and so wise."
Career mantra: "There's always a better way."
Leisure pursuits: "Spending time with my kids."
Philanthropic passion: Promoting creativity in the arts.


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George Rebane
Thistle and Shamrock is a weekly program of Irish music on NPR hosted for years by Fiona Richie who speaks in a rich Irish brogue. On weekends at our house we hear about the first ten minutes of it before one of us turns it off or to another station. And that is because neither of us have developed an ear for rhythmic Irish tunes, the kind that are played by small combos at gatherings or in public houses. To us they all sound pretty much alike. The deficit is clearly ours, because we like many varieties of music and have always supported this cultural art form. Every time I hear another Irish tune on the radio, the long-held notion always crosses my mind that I could write and program an Irish tune-composing algo that could readily pass the Turing test – i.e. people alternately listening to such machine and human composed music would in their aggregate judgments not be able to tell which is which. Maybe some music major could do that in a graduate program.
Our language continues to languish under progressive pedagogy. So many words have lost their unique meanings as they are required to carry excess semantic baggage that makes their parsimonious use obsolete and obfuscates their meaning, especially in today's political commentary. My latest addition to this list of overburdened words is 'hate', 'hatred', 'hateful', et al. (It joins established residents like 'racist' and 'hero'.) In days gone by, the semantic for using anything from the 'hate genre' was reserved for feelings and expressions of "intense dislike, or extreme aversion or hostility." Not anymore. Today our liberal literary lightweights append the hate-word to any and every person, group, behavior, or expression that simply disagrees with any one of the limited number of shibboleths that for most progressives comprise their politics and worldview. If you happen to disagree with some Democrat or communist's prescriptions or assessments, and write or talk about it, that is immediately labeled as 'hateful' or 'hate speech'. And make no mistake, they are the final arbiters of such judgments, from which there is neither appeal nor available eleisons. The real scary thing is that they all want Big Brother to become the all-seeing and powerful censor of everything that to them is hateful.
Mighty today, missing tomorrow. 'Remember Visicalc?' asks Christopher Mims (here) in the 13jul19 WSJ. Visicalc was the first spreadsheet and killer app, and I remember the relief of switching to it around 1980 after spending a weekend programming a cash planning model on the HP-85 for an electronics manufacturing company I was just hired to turn around. In those days it cost about $10K and over a week to have your accountancy firm do a cashflow projection for, say, the next 8 quarters, and $5K for every subsequent update of the model. Once Visicalc arrived, I turned my people on to it and quickly became a spreadsheet 'expert' – suddenly the PCs had a real and unique business use. Soon Lotus 1-2-3 came along and we all jumped on that bandwagon, until Bill Gates brought us Excel, and we've stayed with that 'forever' (while always keeping an eye out for the next better thing). Anyway, the succession of spreadsheet makers illustrates the history and ongoing saga of companies making it big, and then failing by missing the newest big wave. Next into the breech is Google according to Daniel Colin James in his very readable 'This Is How Google Will Collapse'. Many are now eagerly awaiting its demise, especially since it so obviously and salaciously abandoned 'Do no harm.'
[14jul19 update] Even the vaunted WSJ sometimes comes off the rails, as they did recently in a column written by some worthy claiming economist credentials. He patiently explained to the reader that markets work and trades occur when buyer and seller value equally what they are willing to give each other in the trade. You don't need to be an economic maven to understand that such an arrangement is patently not true. If both parties value equally what they already have, then there is no reason to go through the risk and bother of a trade. It is ONLY when both parties view what the other has as being more valuable to him than what he currently holds that then make functioning markets and dealing possible. When prices are set at value parity or higher, markets stagnate. (Methinks the writer has strong grounds for demanding a refund on his tuition, since he can now demonstrate that they taught him nothing.)
[15jul19 update] President Trump screwed up again tweeting the recommended return of the Democrats' Squad members to their native countries. With another swipe at the English language, Pelosi called his tweets "xenophobic". Representative AOC and her House rabble rouser squad have their origins in Somalia, Puerto Rico, Palestine, and Africa. To be fair, Trump did advise them to go back to fix the obvious problems in their native lands. However, IMHO he should have called attention to their outrageous policy proposals by pointing out that they are seeking to bring to America the same kind of policies and political methods that have devastated places from which they and/or their ancestors hailed.
NYC's DeBlasio is now hands down the top Democrat big city incompetent idiot. Single-handedly he has reversed the city's years-long declining crime rates by denying the legitimacy of its justice system. In the process "He propagates the smear that the majority-minority NYPD unjustifiably targets minorities when conducting street investigations. He knows there is nothing racially proportionate about reported violent crimes in the city, which in the busiest precincts affect only minorities. His posturing and gamesmanship provide fuel for the worst kind of conspiracy theories and hate speech against officers. Never has a mayor been more disdained by his police." Lest you think this turkey is the current Lone Ranger in these generations long urban disasters of governance, DeBlasio is joined by like-minded incompetents from his party in a long list of cities that begins with San Francisco, Chicago, Portland, Seattle, and Los Angeles. (more here)
[16jul19 update] "We have a really hard time ("connecting with voters")," Sen Hirono (D-HI) lamented (here), "and one of the reasons it was told to me at one of our retreats was that we Democrats know so much, that is true. And we kind of have to tell everyone how smart we are and so we have a tendency to be very left brain." Unfortunately, that is neither true nor anywhere close, as Will Rogers said, "It's not what you know that worries me, it's what you know that ain't so." However, she did nail the Dems' attitude about their constituents; intellectually they are a challenged lot as we have pointed out for years. And Sen Hirono herself is one great example of a Deficit Diva leading her flock of gimmes. (H/T to RR commenter for digging this out.)